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+<!DOCTYPE html
+ PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+ "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" >
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+ <head>
+ <meta name="linkgenerator" content="HTML-Kit Tools HTML Tidy plugin" />
+ <title>
+ THE GREAT CONSPIRACY, COMPLETE, By John Logan
+ </title>
+ <style type="text/css">
+ <!--
+ body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+ P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+ H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
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+ margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
+ text-align: right;}
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+ span.dropcap { float: left; margin: 0 0.1em 0 0; line-height: 1 }
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+ -->
+</style>
+ </head>
+ <body>
+ <h1>
+ THE GREAT CONSPIRACY
+ </h1>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+Project Gutenberg's The Great Conspiracy, Complete, by John Alexander Logan
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Great Conspiracy, Complete
+
+Author: John Alexander Logan
+
+Release Date: August 16, 2006 [EBook #7140]
+Last Updated: July 18, 2014
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT CONSPIRACY, COMPLETE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+
+
+<div class="mynote">
+<i><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7140/old/orig7140-h/main.htm"> The original ebook, which was split into several small files, may be found by clicking on this link.&nbsp;&nbsp;DW</a></i>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+<hr />
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h1>
+ THE GREAT CONSPIRACY
+ </h1>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ By John Logan
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h3>
+ Its Origin and History
+ </h3>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="bookcover.jpg (102K)" src="images/cover.jpg" style="width:100%;" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="dedication.jpg (30K)" src="images/dedication.jpg" style="width:100%;" />
+ </div>
+
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="titlepage.jpg (65K)" src="images/titlepage.jpg" style="width:100%;" />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> PREFACE.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ In the preparation of this work it has been the writer's aim to present in
+ it, with historical accuracy, authentic facts; to be fair and impartial in
+ grouping them; and to be true and just in the conclusions necessarily
+ drawn from them. While thus striving to be accurate, fair, and just, he
+ has not thought it his duty to mince words, nor to refrain from "calling
+ things by their right names;" neither has he sought to curry favor, in any
+ quarter, by fulsome adulation on the one side, nor undue denunciation on
+ the other, either of the living, or of the dead. But, while tracing the
+ history of the Great Conspiracy, from its obscure birth in the brooding
+ brains of a few ambitious men of the earliest days of our Republic,
+ through the subsequent years of its devolution, down to the evil days of
+ Nullification, and to the bitter and bloody period of armed Rebellion, or
+ contemplating it in its still more recent and, perhaps, more sinister
+ development, of to-day, he has conscientiously dealt with it, throughout,
+ in the clear and penetrating light of the voluminous records so readily
+ accessible at the seat of our National Government. So far as was
+ practicable, he has endeavored to allow the chief characters in that
+ Conspiracy&mdash;as well as the Union leaders, who, whether in Executive,
+ Legislative, or Military service, devoted their best abilities and
+ energies to its suppression&mdash;to speak for themselves, and thus while
+ securing their own proper places in history, by a process of
+ self-adjustment as it were, themselves to write down that history in their
+ own language. If then there be found within these covers aught which may
+ seem harsh to those directly or indirectly, nearly or remotely, connected
+ with that Conspiracy, he may not unfairly exclaim: "Thou canst not say I
+ did it." If he knows his own heart, the writer can truly declare, with his
+ hand upon it, that it bears neither hatred, malice, nor uncharitableness,
+ to those who, misled by the cunning secrecy of the Conspirators, and
+ without an inkling or even a suspicion of their fell purposes, went
+ manfully into the field, with a courage worthy of a better cause, and for
+ four years of bloody conflict, believing that their cause was just, fought
+ the armies of the Union, in a mad effort to destroy the best government
+ yet devised by man upon this planet. And, perhaps, none can better
+ understand than he, how hard, how very hard, it must be for men of strong
+ nature and intense feeling, after taking a mistaken stand, and especially
+ after carrying their conviction to the cannon's mouth, to acknowledge
+ their error before the world. Hence, while he has endeavored truly to
+ depict&mdash;or to let those who made history at the time help him to
+ depict&mdash;the enormity of the offence of the armed Rebellion and of the
+ heresies and plottings of certain Southern leaders precipitating it, yet
+ not one word will be found, herein, condemnatory of those who, with manly
+ candor, soldierly courage, and true patriotism, acknowledged that error
+ when the ultimate arbitrament of the sword had decided against them. On
+ the contrary, to all such as accept, in good faith, the results of the war
+ of the Rebellion, the writer heartily holds out the hand of forgiveness
+ for the past, and good fellowship for the future.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ WASHINGTON, D. C.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ April 15, 1886.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ CONTENTS
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch1">CHAPTER I.</a><br /> A PRELIMINARY RETROSPECT.<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> AFRICAN SLAVERY IN AMERICA IN 1620&mdash;CONTROVERSY BETWEEN THE
+ COLONIES AND ENGLAND IN 1699&mdash;GEORGIAN ABHORRENCE OF SLAVERY IN 1775&mdash;JEFFERSON
+ AND THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE&mdash;SLAVERY A SOURCE OF WEAKNESS IN
+ THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR&mdash;THE SESSION BY VIRGINIA OF THE GREAT
+ NORTH-WEST&mdash;THEORDINANCE OF 1784 AND ITS FAILURE&mdash;THE ORDINANCE
+ OF 1787 AND ITS ADOPTION&mdash;THE GERM OF SLAVERY AGITATION PLANTED&mdash;THE
+ QUESTION IN THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION&mdash;SUBTERFUGES OF THE OLD
+ CONSTITUTION&mdash;THE BULLDOZING OF THE FATHERS&mdash;THE FIRST FEDERAL
+ CONGRESS, 1789&mdash;CONDITIONS OF TERRITORIAL CESSIONS FROM NORTH
+ CAROLINA AND GEORGIA, 1789-1802&mdash;THE "COLONY OF LOUISIANA"
+ (MISSISSIPPI VALLEY) PURCHASE OF 1803&mdash;THE TREATY&mdash;CONDITIONS
+ TOUCHING SLAVERY&mdash;THE COTTON INDUSTRY REVOLUTIONIZED&mdash;RAPID
+ POPULATING OF THE GREAT VALLEY, BY SLAVEHOLDERS AND SLAVES&mdash;JEFFERSON'S
+ APPARENT INCONSISTENCY EXPLAINED&mdash;THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE&mdash;MULTIPLICATION
+ OF SLAVES&mdash;LOUISIANA ADMITTED, 1812, AS A STATE&mdash;THE TERRITORY
+ OF MISSOURI&mdash;THE MISSOURI STRUGGLE (1818-1820) IN A NUTSHELL&mdash;
+ THE "MISSOURI COMPROMISE"<br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch2">CHAPTER II.</a><br /> PROTECTION AND FREE TRADE.<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> CHIEF CAUSE OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION&mdash;OUR INDEPENDENCE,
+ INDUSTRIAL AS WELL AS POLITICAL&mdash;FAILURE OF THE CONFEDERATION DUE TO
+ LACK OF INDUSTRIAL PROTECTION&mdash;MADISON'S TARIFF ACT OF 1789&mdash;HAMILTON'S
+ TARIFF OF 1790&mdash;SOUTHERN STATESMEN AND SOUTHERN VOTES FOR EARLY
+ TARIFFS&mdash;WASHINGTON AND JEFFERSON ON "PROTECTION "&mdash;EMBARGO OF
+ 1807-8&mdash;WAR OF 1812-15&mdash;CONSEQUENT INCREASE OF AMERICAN
+ MANUFACTURES&mdash;BROUGHAM'S PLAN&mdash;RUIN THREATENED BY GLUT OF
+ BRITISH GOODS&mdash;TARIFF ACT OF 1816&mdash;CALHOUN'S DEFENSE OF
+ "PROTECTION"&mdash;NEW ENGLAND AGAINST THAT ACT&mdash;THE SOUTH SECURES
+ ITS PASSAGE&mdash;THE PROTECTIVE TARIFF ACTS OF 1824 AND 1828&mdash;SUBSEQUENT
+ PROSPERITY IN FREE STATES&mdash;THE BLIGHT OF SLAVERY&mdash;BIRTH OF THE
+ FREE TRADE HERESY IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1797&mdash;SIMULTANEOUS BIRTH OF
+ THE HERESY OF STATE RIGHTS&mdash;KENTUCKY RESOLUTIONS OF 1798&mdash;VIRGINIA
+ RESOLUTIONS OF 1799&mdash;JEFFERSON'S REAL PURPOSE IN FORMULATING THEM&mdash;ACTIVITY
+ OF THE FEW SOUTHERN FREE TRADERS&mdash;PLAUSIBLE ARGUMENTS AGAINST
+ "PROTECTION"&mdash;INGENIOUS METHODS OF "FIRING THE SOUTHERN HEART"&mdash;SOUTHERN
+ DISCONTENT WITH TARIFF OF 1824&mdash;INFLAMMATORY UTTERANCES&mdash;ARMED
+ RESISTANCE URGED TO TARIFF OF 1828&mdash;WALTERBOROUGH ANTI-PROTECTIVE
+ TARIFF ADDRESS&mdash;FREE TRADE AND NULLIFICATION ADVOCACY APPEARS IN
+ CONGRESS&mdash;THE HAYNE-WEBSTER DEBATE&mdash;MODIFIED PROTECTIVE TARIFF
+ OF 1832&mdash;SOUTH CAROLINA'S NULLIFICATION ORDINANCE&mdash;HAYNE ELECTED
+ GOVERNOR OF SOUTH CAROLINA&mdash;HERESY OF "PARAMOUNT ALLEGIANCE TO THE
+ STATE"&mdash;SOUTH CAROLINA ARMS HERSELF&mdash;PRESIDENT JACKSON STAMPS
+ OUT SOUTHERN TREASON&mdash;CLAY'S COMPROMISE TARIFF OF 1833&mdash;CHIEF
+ JUSTICE MARSHALL'S SOLEMN WARNING&mdash;JACKSON'S FORECAST<br /> <br />
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch3">CHAPTER III.</a><br /> GROWTH OF THE SLAVERY QUESTION.<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> "EMANCIPATION" IN NORTHERN AND MIDDLE STATES&mdash;VIRGINIA'S
+ UNSUCCESSFUL EFFORT&mdash;CESSION OF THE FLORIDAS, 1819&mdash;BALANCE OF
+ POWER&mdash;ADMISSION OF ARKANSAS,1836&mdash;SOUTHERN SLAVE HOLDERS'
+ COLONIZATION OF TEXAS&mdash;TEXAN INDEPENDENCE, 1837&mdash;CALHOUN'S
+ SECOND AND GREAT CONSPIRACY&mdash;DETERMINATION BEFORE 1839 TO SECEDE&mdash;PROTECTIVE
+ TARIFF FEATURES AGAIN THE PRETEXT&mdash;CALHOUN, IN 1841, ASKING THE
+ BRITISH GOVERNMENT FOR AID&mdash;NORTHERN OPPOSITION TO ACQUISITION OF
+ TEXAS&mdash;RATIONALE OF THE LOUISIANA AND FLORIDA ACQUISITIONS&mdash;PROPOSED
+ EXTENSION OF SLAVERY LIMITS&mdash;WEBSTER WARNS THE SOUTH&mdash;DISASTERS
+ FOLLOWING COMPROMISE TARIFF OF 1833&mdash;INDUSTRIAL RUIN OF 1840&mdash;ELECTION
+ AND DEATH OF HARRISON&mdash;PROTECTIVE TARIFF OF 1842&mdash;POLK'S
+ CAMPAIGN OF 1844&mdash;CLAY'S BLUNDER AND POLK'S CRIME&mdash;SOUTHERN
+ TREACHERY&mdash;THE NORTH HOODWINKED&mdash;POLK ELECTED BY ABOLITION VOTE&mdash;SLAVE-HOLDING
+ TEXAS UNDER A SHAM "COMPROMISE"&mdash;WAR WITH MEXICO&mdash;FREE-TRADE
+ TARIFF OF 1846&mdash;WILMOT PROVISO&mdash;TREATY OF GUADALUPE&mdash;HIDALGO&mdash;SLAVERY
+ CONTEST IN CONGRESS STILL GROWING&mdash;COMPROMISE OF 1850&mdash;A LULL&mdash;FUGITIVE
+ SLAVE LAW&mdash;NEBRASKA BILL OF 1852-3&mdash;KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL,
+ 1853-4, REPORTED&mdash;PARLIAMENTARY "JUGGLERY"&mdash;THE TRIUMPH OF
+ SLAVERY, IN CONGRESS&mdash;BLEEDING KANSAS&mdash;TOPEKA CONSTITUTION, 1855&mdash;KANSAS
+ LEGISLATURE DISPERSED, 1856, BY UNITED STATES TROOPS&mdash;LECOMPTON
+ CONSTITUTION OF 1857&mdash;FRAUDULENT TRIUMPH OF SLAVERY CONSTITUTION&mdash;ITS
+ SUBSEQUENT DEFEAT&mdash;ELECTION OF BUCHANAN, 1856&mdash;KANSAS ADMITTED&mdash;MISERY
+ AND RUIN CAUSED BY FREE-TRADE TARIFF OF 1846&mdash;FILLMORE AND BUCHANAN
+ TESTIFY<br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch4">CHAPTER IV.</a><br /> "POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY."<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> DOUGLAS'S THEORY OF POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY&mdash;ILLINOIS LEGISLATIVE
+ ENDORSEMENT OF IT, 1851&mdash;DOUGLAS'S POSITION ON KANSAS&mdash;NEBRASKA
+ BILL, 1854&mdash;DRED SCOTT DECISION&mdash;SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS,
+ REPUBLICAN CONVENTION OF 1858&mdash;LINCOLN'S REMARKABLE SPEECH TO THE
+ CONVENTION&mdash;PIERCE AND BUCHANAN, TANEY AND DOUGLAS, CHARGED WITH
+ PRO-SLAVERY CONSPIRACY&mdash;DOUGLAS'S GREAT SPEECH (JULY 9TH, 1858) AT
+ CHICAGO, IN REPLY&mdash;LINCOLN'S POWERFUL REJOINDER, AT CHICAGO, (JULY
+ 10TH)&mdash;THE ADMIXTURE OF RACES&mdash;THE VOTING "UP OR DOWN" OF
+ SLAVERY&mdash;THE "ARGUMENTS OF KINGS"&mdash;TRUTHS OF THE DECLARATION OF
+ INDEPENDENCE&mdash;DOUGLAS'S BLOOMINGTON SPEECH (JULY 16TH), OF
+ VINDICATION AND ATTACK&mdash;HISTORY OF THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA STRUGGLE&mdash;THE
+ UNHOLY ALLIANCE&mdash;THE TWO POINTS AT ISSUE&mdash;THE "WHITE MAN'S"
+ COUNTRY&mdash;DOUGLAS'S PLEDGES TO WEBSTER AND CLAY&mdash;DOUGLAS'S
+ SPRINGFIELD SPEECH, JULY 17TH&mdash;THE IRRECONCILABLE PRINCIPLES AT ISSUE
+ BETWEEN LINCOLN AND HIMSELF&mdash;LINCOLN'S GREAT SPEECH, AT SPRINGFIELD,
+ THE SAME EVENING&mdash;DOUGLAS'S TRIUMPHANT MARCHES AND ENTRIES&mdash;THE
+ "OFFICES SEEN IN HIS ROUND, JOLLY, FRUITFUL FACE"&mdash;LINCOLN'S
+ LEAN-FACED FIGHT, FOR PRINCIPLE ALONE&mdash;DOUGLAS'S VARIOUS SPEECHES
+ REVIEWED&mdash;THE REAL QUESTION BETWEEN REPUBLICANS AND DOUGLAS MEN AND
+ THE BUCHANAN MEN&mdash;JACKSON'S VETO OF THE NATIONAL BANK CHARTER&mdash;DEMOCRATIC
+ REVOLT AGAINST THE SUPREME COURT DECISION&mdash;VINDICATION OF CLAY&mdash;"NEGRO
+ EQUALITY"&mdash;MR. LINCOLN'S CHARGE, OF "CONSPIRACY AND DECEPTION" TO
+ "NATIONALIZE SLAVERY," RENEWED&mdash;GREAT JOINT DEBATE OF 1858, BETWEEN
+ LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS, ARRANGED<br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch5">CHAPTER V</a>.<br /> THE PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST OF 1860&mdash;<br />
+ THE CRISIS APPROACHING.<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> HOW THE GREAT JOINT DEBATE OF 1858 RESULTED&mdash;THE "LITTLE GIANT"
+ CAPTURES THE SENATORSHIP&mdash;THE "BIG GIANT" CAPTURES THE PEOPLE&mdash;THE
+ RISING DEMOCRATIC STAR OF 1860&mdash;DOUGLAS'S GRAND TRIUMPHAL "PROGRESS"
+ THROUGH THE LAND&mdash;A POPULAR DEMOCRATIC IDOL&mdash;FRESH AGGRESSIONS
+ OF THE SLAVE POWER&mdash;NEW MEXICO'S SLAVE CODE OF 1859&mdash;HELPER'S
+ "IMPENDING CRISIS"&mdash;JOHN BROWN AND HARPER'S FERRY&mdash;THE MEETING
+ OF CONGRESS, DECEMBER, 1859&mdash;FORTY-FOUR BALLOTS FOR SPEAKER&mdash;DANGEROUSLY
+ HEATED CONGRESSIONAL DEBATES ON SLAVERY&mdash;THE DEMOCRATIC SPLIT&mdash;JEFFERSON
+ DAVIS'S ARROGANT DOUBLE-EDGED PRO-SLAVERY' RESOLUTIONS&mdash;DEMOCRATIC
+ NATIONAL CONVENTION, CHARLESTON, S. C., 1860&mdash;DECLARATIONS OF THE
+ MAJORITY AND MINORITY REPORTS AND BUTLER'S RECOMMENDATION, WITH VOTES
+ THEREON&mdash;ADOPTION OF THE MINORITY (DOUGLAS) PLATFORM&mdash;SOUTHERN
+ DELEGATES PROTEST AND "BOLT "&mdash;THE BOLTING CONVENTION ADJOURNS TILL
+ JUNE AT RICHMOND&mdash;THE REGULAR CONVENTION BALLOTS AND ADJOURNS TO
+ BALTIMORE&mdash;THE BALTIMORE CONVENTION&mdash;"THE AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADER A
+ TRUE MISSIONARY"&mdash;MORE BOLTING&mdash;DOUGLAS'S NOMINATION FOR THE
+ PRESIDENCY&mdash;THE BOLTING CONVENTION NOMINATES BRECKINRIDGE&mdash;THE
+ REPUBLICAN CONVENTION AND PLATFORM&mdash;NOMINATIONS OF LINCOLN, AND BELL&mdash;COMPARATIVE
+ ANALYSIS OF THE FOUR RIVAL PARTY PLATFORMS&mdash;THE OCTOBER ELECTIONS&mdash;THE
+ SOUTH PREPARING GLEEFULLY FOR SECESSION&mdash;GOVERNOR GIST'S TREASONABLE
+ MESSAGE TO S. C. LEGISLATURE, NOV. 5&mdash;OTHER SIMILAR UTTERANCES<br />
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch6">CHAPTER VI.</a><br /> THE GREAT CONSPIRACY MATURING.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> LINCOLN'S ELECTION ASSURED&mdash;SOUTHERN EXULTATION&mdash;NORTHERN
+ GLOOM&mdash;"FIRING THE SOUTHERN HEART"&mdash;RESIGNATIONS OF FEDERAL
+ OFFICERS AND SENATORS OF SOUTH CAROLINA&mdash;GOVERNOR BROWN, OF GEORGIA,
+ DEFIES "FEDERAL COERCION"&mdash;ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS'S ARGUMENT AGAINST
+ SECESSION&mdash;SOUTH CAROLINA CALLS AN "UNCONDITIONAL SECESSION
+ CONVENTION"&mdash;THE CALL SETS THE SOUTH ABLAZE&mdash;PROCLAMATIONS OF
+ THE GOVERNORS OF THE SOUTHERN STATES, FAVORING REVOLT&mdash;LOYAL ADDRESS
+ OF GOVERNOR MAGOFFIN OF KENTUCKY&mdash;THE CLAMOR OF REVOLT SILENCES
+ APPEALS FOR UNION&mdash;PRESIDENT BUCHANAN'S PITIFUL WEAKNESS&mdash;CONSPIRATORS
+ IN HIS CABINET&mdash;IMBECILITY OF HIS LAST ANNUAL MESSAGE TO CONGRESS,
+ DEC., 1860&mdash;ATTORNEY-GENERAL JEREMIAH BLACK'S OPINION AGAINST
+ COERCION&mdash;CONTRAST AFFORDED BY GENERAL JACKSON'S LOYAL LOGIC&mdash;ENSUING
+ DEBATES IN CONGRESS&mdash;SETTLED PURPOSE OF THE CONSPIRATORS TO RESIST
+ PLACATION&mdash;FUTILE LABORS OF UNION MEN IN CONGRESS FOR A PEACEFUL
+ SOLUTION&mdash;ABSURD DEMANDS OF THE IMPLACABLES&mdash;THE COMMERCIAL
+ NORTH ON ITS KNEES TO THE SOUTH&mdash;CONCILIATION ABJECTLY BEGGED FOR&mdash;BRUTAL
+ SNEERS AT THE NORTH, AND THREATS OF CLINGMAN, IVERSON, AND OTHER SOUTHERN
+ FIREEATERS, IN THE U. S. SENATE&mdash;THEIR BLUSTER MET BY STURDY
+ REPUBLICANS&mdash;BEN WADE GALLANTLY STANDS BY THE "VERDICT OF THE PEOPLE"&mdash;PEACEFUL-SETTLEMENT
+ PROPOSITIONS IN THE HOUSE&mdash;ADRIAN'S RESOLUTION, AND VOTE&mdash;LOVEJOY'S
+ COUNTER-RESOLUTION, AND VOTE&mdash;ADOPTION OF MORRIS'S UNION RESOLUTION
+ IN HOUSE<br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch7">CHAPTER VII.</a><br /> SECESSION ARMING.<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> THE SOUTH CAROLINA SECESSION CONVENTION MEETS&mdash;SPEECHES AT
+ "SECESSION HALL" OF PARKER, KEITT, INGLIS, BARNWELL, RHETT, AND GREGG, THE
+ FIRST ORDINANCE OF SECESSION&mdash;ITS JUBILANT ADOPTION AND RATIFICATION&mdash;SECESSION
+ STAMPEDE&mdash;A SOUTHERN CONGRESS PROPOSED&mdash;PICKENS'S PROCLAMATION
+ OF SOVEREIGN INDEPENDENCE&mdash;SOUTH CAROLINA CONGRESSMEN WITHDRAW&mdash;DISSENSIONS
+ IN BUCHANAN'S CABINET&mdash;COBB FLOYD, AND THOMPSON, DEMAND WITHDRAWAL OF
+ FEDERAL TROOPS&mdash;BUCHANAN'S REPLY&mdash;SEIZURE OF FORTS, ETC.&mdash;THE
+ "STAR OF THE WEST" FIRED ON&mdash;THE MAD RUSH OF REBELLIOUS EVENTS&mdash;SOUTH
+ CAROLINA DEMANDS THE SURRENDER OF FORT SUMTER AND THE DEMAND REFUSED&mdash;SECRETARY
+ HOLT'S LETTER TO CONSPIRING SENATORS AND REBEL AGENT&mdash;TROOP'S AT THE
+ NATIONAL CAPITAL&mdash;HOLT'S REASONS THEREFOR&mdash;THE REVOLUTIONARY
+ PROGRAMME&mdash;"ARMED OCCUPATION OF WASHINGTON CITY"&mdash;LINCOLN'S
+ INAUGURATION TO BE PREVENTED&mdash;THE CRUMBLING AND DISSOLVING UNION&mdash;THE
+ NORTH STANDS AGHAST&mdash;GREAT DEBATE IN CONGRESS, 1860-1861&mdash;CLINGMAN
+ ON THE SOUTHERN TARIFF-GRIEVANCE&mdash;DEFIANCE OF BROWN OF MISSISSIPPI&mdash;IVERSON'S
+ BLOODY THREAT&mdash;WIGFALL'S UNSCRUPULOUS ADVICE&mdash;HIS INSULTING
+ DEMANDS&mdash;BAKER'S GLORIOUSLY ELOQUENT RESPONSE&mdash;ANDY JOHNSON
+ THREATENED WITH BULLETS&mdash;THE NORTH BULLIED&mdash;INSOLENT, IMPOSSIBLE
+ TERMS OF PEACE&mdash;LINCOLN'S SPEECHES EN ROUTE FOR WASHINGTON&mdash;SAVE
+ ARRIVAL&mdash;"I'LL TRY TO STEER HER THROUGH!"&mdash;THE SOUTH TAUNTS HIM&mdash;WIGFALL'S
+ CHALLENGE TO THE BLOODY ISSUE OF ARMS!<br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch8">CHAPTER VIII.</a><br /> THE REJECTED OLIVE BRANCH.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> THE VARIOUS COMPROMISES OFFERED BY THE NORTH&mdash;"THE CRITTENDEN
+ COMPROMISE"&mdash;THE PEACE CONFERENCE&mdash;COMPROMISE PROPOSITIONS OF
+ THE SOUTHERN CONSPIRATORS&mdash;IRRECONCILABLE ATTITUDE OF THE PLOTTERS&mdash;HISTORY
+ OF THE COMPROMISE MEASURES IN CONGRESS&mdash;CLARK'S SUBSTITUTE TO
+ CRITTENDEN RESOLUTIONS IN THE SENATE&mdash;ANTHONY'S MORE THAN EQUITABLE
+ PROPOSITIONS&mdash;HIS AFFECTING APPEAL TO STONY HEARTS&mdash;THE
+ CONSPIRACY DEVELOPING&mdash;SIX SOUTHERN SENATORS REFUSE TO VOTE AGAINST
+ THE CLARK SUBSTITUTE&mdash;ITS CONSEQUENT ADOPTION, AND DEFEAT OF THE
+ CRITTENDEN RESOLUTIONS&mdash;LYING TELEGRAMS FROM CONSPIRING SENATORS TO
+ FURTHER INFLAME REBELLION&mdash;SAULSBURY'S AFTERSTATEMENT (1862) AS TO
+ CAUSES OF FAILURE OF CRITTENDEN'S COMPROMISE&mdash;LATHAM'S GRAPHIC PROOF
+ OF THE CONSPIRATORS' "DELIBERATE, WILFUL DESIGN" TO KILL COMPROMISE&mdash;ANDREW
+ JOHNSON'S EVIDENCE AS TO THEIR ULTIMATE OBJECT "PLACE AND EMOLUMENT FOR
+ THEMSELVES"&mdash;"THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT IN THE HANDS OF THE FEW"&mdash;THE
+ CORWIN COMPROMISE RESOLUTION IN THE HOUSE&mdash;THE BURCH AMENDMENT&mdash;KELLOGG'S
+ PROPOSITION&mdash;THE CLEMENS SUBSTITUTE&mdash;PASSAGE BY THE HOUSE OF
+ CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PROHIBITING CONGRESSIONAL INTERFERENCE WITH
+ SLAVERY WHERE IT EXISTS&mdash;ITS ADOPTION BY THE SENATE&mdash;THE CLARK
+ SUBSTITUTE RECONSIDERED AND DEFEATED&mdash;PROPOSITIONS OF THE PEACE
+ CONGRESS LOST&mdash;REJECTION OF THE CRITTENDEN COMPROMISE<br /> <br />
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch9">CHAPTER IX.</a><br /> SLAVERY'S SETTING AND FREEDOM'S
+ DAWN.<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> THE LAST NIGHT OF THE 36TH CONGRESS&mdash;MR. CRITTENDEN'S PATRIOTIC
+ APPEAL&mdash;"THE SADDEST SPECTACLE EVER SEEN"&mdash;IMPOTENCY OF THE
+ BETRAYED AND FALLING STATE&mdash;DOUGLAS'S POWERFUL PLEA&mdash;PATRIOTISM
+ OF HIMSELF AND SUPPORTERS&mdash;LOGAN SUMMARIZES THE COMPROMISES, AND
+ APPEALS TO PATRIOTISM ABOVE PARTY&mdash;STATESMANLIKE BREADTH OF DOUGLAS,
+ BAKER AND SEWARD&mdash;HENRY WINTER DAVIS ELOQUENTLY CONDENSES "THE
+ SITUATION" IN A NUTSHELL&mdash;"THE FIRST FRUITS OF RECONCILIATION"
+ OFFERED BY THE NORTH, SCORNED BY THE CONSPIRATORS&mdash;WIGFALL AGAIN
+ SPEAKS AS THE MOUTHPIECE OF THE SOUTH&mdash;HE RAVES VIOLENTLY AT THE
+ NORTH&mdash;THE SOUTH REJECTS PEACE "EITHER IN THE UNION, OR OUT OF IT"&mdash;THE
+ DAWN OF FREEDOM APPEARS (MARCH 4TH, 1861)&mdash;INAUGURATION OF PRESIDENT
+ LINCOLN&mdash;LINCOLN'S FIRST INAUGURAL&mdash;GRANDEUR AND PATHOS OF HIS
+ PATRIOTIC UTTERANCES&mdash;HIS FIRST SLEEPLESS AND PRAYERFUL NIGHT AT THE
+ WHITE HOUSE&mdash;THE MORROW, AND ITS BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT&mdash;THE
+ MESSAGE OF "PEACE AND GOOD WILL" REGARDED AS A "CHALLENGE TO WAR"&mdash;PRESIDENT
+ LINCOLN'S CABINET<br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch10">CHAPTER X.</a><br /> THE WAR-DRUM&mdash;"ON TO
+ WASHINGTON!"<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> REBEL COMMISSIONERS AT WASHINGTON ON A "MISSION"&mdash;SEWARD "SITS
+ DOWN" ON THEM&mdash;HE REFUSES TO RECOGNIZE "CONFEDERATE STATES"&mdash;THE
+ REBEL COMMISSIONERS "ACCEPT THE GAGE OF BATTLE THUS THROWN DOWN TO THEM"&mdash;ATTEMPT
+ TO PROVISION FORT SUMTER&mdash;THE REBELS NOTIFIED&mdash;THE FORT AND ITS
+ SURROUNDINGS&mdash;THE FIRST GUN OF SLAVERY FIRED&mdash;TERRIFIC
+ BOMBARDMENT OF THE FORT&mdash;THE GARRISON, STARVED AND BURNED OUT,
+ EVACUATES, WITH ALL THE HONORS OF WAR&mdash;THE SOUTH CRAZY WITH
+ EXULTATION&mdash;TE DEUMS SUNG, SALUTES FIRED, AND THE REBEL GOVERNMENT
+ SERENADED&mdash;"ON TO WASHINGTON!" THE REBEL CRY&mdash;"GRAY JACKETS OVER
+ THE BORDER"&mdash;PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S FIRST PROCLAMATION AND CALL FOR
+ TROOPS&mdash;INSULTING RESPONSES OF GOVERNORS BURTON, HICKS, LETCHER,
+ ELLIS, MAGOFFIN, HARRIS, JACKSON AND RECTOR&mdash;LOYAL RESPONSES FROM
+ GOVERNORS OF THE FREE STATES&mdash;MAGICAL EFFECT OF THE CALL UPON THE
+ LOYAL NORTH&mdash;FEELING IN THE BORDER-STATES&mdash;PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S
+ CLEAR SUMMARY OF THE SITUATION AND ITS PHILOSOPHY&mdash;HIS PLAIN DUTY&mdash;THE
+ WAR POWER&mdash;THE NATIONAL CAPITAL CUT OFF&mdash;EVACUATION OF HARPER'S
+ FERRY&mdash;LOYAL TROOPS TO THE RESCUE&mdash;FIGHTING THEIR WAY THROUGH
+ BALTIMORE&mdash;REBEL THREATS&mdash;"SCOTT THE ARCH&mdash;TRAITOR, AND
+ LINCOLN THE BEAST"&mdash;BUTLER RELIEVES WASHINGTON&mdash;THE SECESSION OF
+ VIRGINIA AND NORTH CAROLINA&mdash;SHAMEFUL EVACUATION OF NORFOLK NAVY YARD&mdash;SEIZURE
+ OF MINTS AND ARSENALS&mdash;UNION AND REBEL FORCES CONCENTRATING&mdash;THE
+ NATIONAL CAPITAL FORTIFIED&mdash;BLOCKADE OF SOUTHERN PORTS&mdash;DEATH OF
+ ELLSWORTH&mdash;BUTLER CONFISCATES NEGRO PROPERTY AS "CONTRABAND OF WAR"&mdash;A
+ REBEL YARN<br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch11">CHAPTER XI.</a><br /> THE CAUSES OF SECESSION.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> ABOUNDING EVIDENCES OF CONSPIRACY&mdash;MACLAY'S UNPUBLISHED DIARY
+ 1787-1791&mdash;PIERCE BUTLER'S FIERCE DENUNCIATION OF THE TARIFF&mdash;SOUTH
+ CAROLINA WILL "LIVE FREE OR DIE GLORIOUS"&mdash;JACKSON'S LETTER TO
+ CRAWFORD, ON TARIFF AND SLAVERY&mdash;BENTON'S TESTIMONY&mdash;HENRY
+ CLAY'S EVIDENCE&mdash;NATHAN APPLETON'S&mdash;A TREASONABLE CAUCUS OF
+ SOUTHERN CONGRESSMEN&mdash;ALEXANDER H. STEPHEN'S EVIDENCE ON THE CAUSES
+ OF SECESSION&mdash;WIGFALL'S ADMISSIONS&mdash;THE ONE "REGRETTED" CLAUSE
+ IN THE CONSTITUTION PRECLUDING MONARCHIAL STATES&mdash;ADMISSIONS OF REBEL
+ COMMISSIONERS TO WASHINGTON&mdash;ADMISSIONS IN ADDRESS OF SOUTH CAROLINA
+ TO THE SLAVE-HOLDERS&mdash;JEFFERSON DAVIS'S STATEMENT IN SPECIAL MESSAGE
+ OF APRIL 29, 1861&mdash;DECLARATIONS OF REBEL COMMISSIONERS, TO LORD JOHN
+ RUSSELL&mdash;HIGH TARIFF AND "NOT SLAVERY" THE PRINCIPAL CAUSE&mdash;PERSONAL
+ LIBERTY BILLS&mdash;PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S DECLARATION OF THE UNDERLYING
+ CAUSE OF REBELLION&mdash;A WAR UPON LABOR AND THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE&mdash;ANDREW
+ JOHNSON ON THE "DELIBERATE DESIGN" FOR A "CHANGE OF GOVERNMENT"&mdash;"TIRED
+ OF FREE GOVERNMENT"&mdash;DOUGLAS ON THE "ENORMOUS CONSPIRACY"&mdash;THE
+ REBEL PLOT TO SEIZE THE CAPITOL, AND HOLD IT&mdash;MCDOUGALL'S GRAPHIC
+ EXPOSURE OF THE TREASONABLE CONSPIRACY&mdash;YANCEY'S FAMOUS "SLAUGHTER"
+ LETTER&mdash;JEFFERSON DAVIS'S STANDARD OF REVOLT, RAISED IN 1858&mdash;LAMAR'S
+ LETTER TO JEFF. DAVIS (186O)&mdash;CAUCUS OF TREASON, AT WASHINGTON&mdash;EVANS'S
+ DISCLOSURES OF THE CAUCUS PROGRAMME OF SECESSION&mdash;CORROBORATING
+ TESTIMONY&mdash;YULEE'S CAPTURED LETTER&mdash;CAUCUS RESOLUTIONS IN FULL<br />
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch12">CHAPTER XII.</a><br /> COPPERHEADISM VS. UNION
+ DEMOCRACY.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> NORTHERN COMPLICITY WITH TREASON&mdash;MAYOR FERNANDO WOOD
+ RECOMMENDS SECESSION OF NEW YORK CITY&mdash;THE REBEL JUNTA AT WASHINGTON
+ INSPIRES HIM&mdash;HE OBEYS ORDERS, BUT SHAKES AT THE KNEES&mdash;KEITT
+ BRAGS OF THE "MILLIONS OF DEMOCRATS IN THE NORTH," FURNISHING A "WALL OF
+ FIRE" AGAINST COERCION&mdash;ATTEMPTED REBEL&mdash;SEDUCTION OF NEW JERSEY&mdash;THE
+ PRICE-BURNETT CORRESPONDENCE&mdash;SECESSION RESOLUTIONS OF THE
+ PHILADELPHIA DEMOCRACY AT NATIONAL HALL&mdash;LANE OF OREGON "SERVES
+ NOTICE" OF "WAR ENOUGH AT HOME" FOR REPUBLICANS&mdash;"NORTHERN DEMOCRATS
+ NEED NOT CROSS THE BORDER TO FIND AN ENEMY"&mdash;EX-PRESIDENT PIERCE'S
+ CAPTURED TREASONABLE LETTER TO JEFF. DAVIS&mdash;THE "FIGHTING" TO BE
+ "WITHIN OUR OWN BORDERS, IN OUR OWN STREETS"&mdash;ATTITUDE OF DOUGLAS,
+ AND THE DOUGLAS DEMOCRACY, AFTER SUMTER&mdash;DOUGLAS CALLS ON MR. LINCOLN
+ AT THE WHITE HOUSE&mdash;HE PATRIOTICALLY SUSTAINS THE UNION&mdash;HE
+ RALLIES THE WHOLE NORTH TO STAND BY THE FLAG&mdash;THERE CAN BE "NO
+ NEUTRALS IN THIS WAR; ONLY PATRIOTS AND TRAITORS"&mdash;LAMENTED DEATH OF
+ "THE LITTLE GIANT"&mdash;TRIBUTES OF TRUMBULL AND MCDOUGALL TO HIS MEMORY&mdash;LOGAN'S
+ ATTITUDE AT THIS TIME, AND HIS RELATIONS TO DOUGLAS&mdash;THEIR LAST
+ PRIVATE INTERVIEW&mdash;DOUGLAS'S INTENTION TO "JOIN THE ARMY AND FIGHT"&mdash;HIS
+ LAST EFFORTS IN CONGRESS&mdash;"CONCILIATION," BEFORE SUMTER&mdash;"NO
+ HALF-WAY GROUND" AFTER IT<br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch13">CHAPTER XIII.</a><br /> THE STORM OF BATTLE.<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> THE MILITARY SITUATION&mdash;THE GREAT UPRISING&mdash;POSITIONS AND
+ NUMBERS OF THE UNION AND REBEL ARMIES&mdash;JOHNSTON EVACUATES HARPER'S
+ FERRY, AND RETREATS UPON WINCHESTER&mdash;PATTERSON'S EXTRAORDINARY
+ CONDUCT&mdash;HE DISOBEYS GENERAL SCOTT'S ORDERS TO "ATTACK AND WHIP THE
+ ENEMY"&mdash;JOHNSTON CONSEQUENTLY FREE TO REINFORCE BEAUREGARD AT
+ MANASSAS&mdash;FITZ JOHN PORTER'S ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THE DISASTROUS
+ CONSEQUENCES&mdash;MCDOWELL'S ADVANCE UPON BEAUREGARD&mdash;PRELIMINARY
+ BATTLE AT BLACKBURN'S FORD&mdash;JUNCTION OF JOHNSTON WITH BEAUREGARD&mdash;REBEL
+ PLANS OF ADVANCE AND ATTACK&mdash;CHANGE IN MCDOWELL'S PLANS&mdash;GREAT
+ PITCHED-BATTLE OF BULL RUN, OR MANASSAS, INCLUDING THE SECOND BATTLE AT
+ BLACKBURN'S FORD&mdash;VICTORY, AT FIRST, WITH MCDOWELL&mdash;THE CHECK&mdash;THE
+ LEISURELY RETREAT&mdash;THE PANIC AT, AND NEAR, THE NATIONAL CAPITAL&mdash;THE
+ WAR FULLY INAUGURATED<br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch14">CHAPTER XIV.</a><br /> THE COLORED CONTRABAND.<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> THE KNELL OF SLAVERY&mdash;THE "IMPLIED POWERS" OF CONGRESS IN THE
+ CONSTITUTION&mdash;PATRICK HENRY'S PREDICTION&mdash;JOHN QUINCY ADAMS'S
+ PROPHECY&mdash;JOHN SHERMAN'S NON-INTERFERENCE&mdash;WITH-SLAVERY
+ RESOLUTIONS&mdash;JOHN Q. ADAMS ON EMANCIPATION&mdash;POWERS OF CONGRESS
+ AND MILITARY COMMANDERS&mdash;GENERAL MCCLELLAN'S WEST VIRGINIA
+ PROCLAMATION OF NONINTERFERENCE WITH SLAVES&mdash;GENERAL BUTLER'S
+ CORRESPONDENCE WITH GENERAL SCOTT AND SECRETARY CAMERON&mdash;CAMERON'S
+ REPLY&mdash;MILITARY TENDERNESS FOR THE DOOMED INSTITUTION&mdash;CONGRESS,
+ AFTER BULL RUN&mdash;CONFISCATION, AND EMANCIPATION, OF SLAVES USED TO AID
+ REBELLION&mdash;RINGING WORDS OF TRUMBULL, WILSON, MCDOUGALL, AND TEN
+ EYCK, IN THE SENATE&mdash;ROMAN COURAGE OF THE HOUSE&mdash;CRITTENDEN'S
+ STATEMENTS&mdash;WAR RESOLUTIONS&mdash;BRECKINRIDGE'S TREASONABLE SPEECH
+ UPON "THE SANCTITY" OF THE CONSTITUTION&mdash;BAKER'S GLORIOUS REPLY&mdash;HIS
+ MATCHLESS APOSTROPHE TO FREEDOM&mdash;HIS SELF-SACRIFICING DEVOTION AND
+ HEROIC DEATH AT BALL'S BLUFF<br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch15">CHAPTER XV.</a><br /> FREEDOM'S EARLY DAWN.<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> THADDEUS STEVENS'S STARTLING UTTERANCES&mdash;CAPTURED SLAVES MUST
+ BE FREE FOREVER&mdash;"NO TRUCES WITH THE REBELS"&mdash;HIS PROPHECY AS TO
+ ARMING SLAVES TO FIGHT REBELLION&mdash;SECRETARY CAMERON'S LETTER TOUCHING
+ FUGITIVES FROM SERVICE&mdash;GENERAL FREMONT'S PROCLAMATION OF
+ CONFISCATION AND EMANCIPATION&mdash;ITS EFFECT NORTH AND SOUTH&mdash;JEFF.
+ THOMPSON'S SAVAGE PROCLAMATION OF RETALIATION&mdash;PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S
+ EMBARRASSMENT&mdash;HE PRIVATELY SUGGESTS TO FREMONT CERTAIN MODIFICATIONS&mdash;FREMONT
+ DEFENDS HIS COURSE&mdash;"STRONG AND VIGOROUS MEASURES NECESSARY TO
+ SUCCESS"&mdash;THE PRESIDENT PUBLICLY ORDERS THE MODIFICATION OF FREMONT'S
+ PROCLAMATION&mdash;THE MILITARY MIND GREATLY CONFUSED&mdash;GENERAL
+ INSTRUCTIONS ISSUED BY THE WAR DEPARTMENT&mdash;GENERAL T. W. SHERMAN'S
+ PORT ROYAL PROCLAMATION&mdash;GENERAL WOOL'S SPECIAL AND GENERAL ORDERS AS
+ TO EMPLOYMENT OF "CONTRABANDS"&mdash;GENERAL DIX'S PROCLAMATION FOR
+ REPULSION OF FUGITIVE SLAVES FROM HIS LINES&mdash;HALLECK ORDERS EXPULSION
+ AS WELL AS REPULSION&mdash;HIS LETTER OF EXPLANATION TO FRANK P. BLAIR&mdash;SEWARD'S
+ LETTER TO MCCLELLAN ON "CONTRABANDS" IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA<br />
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch16">CHAPTER XVI.</a><br /> "COMPENSATED GRADUAL
+ EMANCIPATION."<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S ATTITUDE&mdash;SACRIFICES OF PATRIOTISM&mdash;ASSERTION
+ BY CONGRESS OF ITS EMANCIPATING WAR-POWERS&mdash;THE CAUSE OF FREEDOM
+ SLOWLY "MARCHING ON"&mdash;ABANDONED SLAVES OF BEAUFORT, S. C.&mdash;SECRETARY
+ CAMERON FAVORS ARMING THEM&mdash;THE PRESIDENT'S CAUTIOUS ADVANCES&mdash;HE
+ MODIFIES CAMERON'S REPORT TO CONGRESS ON THE SUBJECT&mdash;THE MILITARY
+ MIND, ALL "AT SEA"&mdash;COMMANDERS GUIDED BY POLITICAL BIAS&mdash;HALLECK'S
+ ST. LOUIS PROCLAMATION, 1862&mdash;BUELL'S LETTER&mdash;CONTRARY ACTION OF
+ DIX AND HALLECK, BUELL AND HOOKER, FREMONT AND DOUBLEDAY&mdash;LINCOLN'S
+ MIDDLE COURSE&mdash;HE PROPOSES TO CONGRESS, COMPENSATED GRADUAL
+ EMANCIPATION&mdash;INTERVIEW BETWEEN MR. LINCOLN AND THE BORDER-STATE
+ REPRESENTATIVES&mdash;INTERESTING REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT&mdash;MR.
+ LINCOLN BETWEEN TWO FIRES&mdash;VIEWS, ON COMPENSATED EMANCIPATION, OF
+ MESSRS. NOELL, CRISFIELD, MENZIES, WICKLIFFE, AND HALL&mdash;ROSCOE
+ CONKLING'S JOINT RESOLUTION, ADOPTED BY BOTH HOUSES&mdash;HOOKER'S "CAMP
+ BAKER" ORDER&mdash;MARYLAND FUGITIVE&mdash;SLAVE HUNTERS PERMITTED TO
+ SEARCH THE CAMP&mdash;UNION SOLDIERS ENRAGED&mdash;SICKLES ORDERS THE
+ SLAVE HUNTERS OFF&mdash;DOUBLEDAY'S DISPATCH AS TO "ALL NEGROES" ENTERING
+ HIS LINES&mdash;TO BE "TREATED AS PERSONS, NOT AS CHATTELS"<br /> <br />
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch17">CHAPTER XVII.</a><br /> BORDER&mdash;STATE OPPOSITION.<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> APPOINTMENT OF A SELECT COMMITTEE, IN HOUSE, ON GRADUAL EMANCIPATION&mdash;DISTRICT
+ OF COLUMBIA EMANCIPATION ACT&mdash;THE PRESIDENT'S SPECIAL MESSAGE OF
+ APPROVAL&mdash;GEN. HUNTER'S EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION&mdash;PRESIDENT
+ LINCOLN PROMPTLY RESCINDS IT BY PROCLAMATION&mdash;HIS SOLEMN AND
+ IMPASSIONED APPEAL TO PEOPLE OF THE BORDER-STATES&mdash;HE BEGS THEIR
+ CONSIDERATION OF GRADUAL COMPENSATED EMANCIPATION&mdash;GEN. WILLIAMS'S
+ ORDER EXPELLING RUNAWAY NEGROES FROM CAMP, AT BATON ROUGE&mdash;LIEUT.-COL.
+ ANTHONY'S ORDER EXCLUDING FUGITIVE-SLAVE HUNTERS FROM "CAMP ETHERIDGE"&mdash;GEN.
+ MCCLELLAN'S FAMOUS "HARRISON'S LANDING LETTER" TO THE PRESIDENT&mdash;"FORCIBLE
+ ABOLITION OF SLAVERY" AND "A CIVIL AND MILITARY POLICY"&mdash;SLAVEHOLDING
+ BORDER-STATE SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES AT THE WHITE HOUSE&mdash;PRESIDENT
+ LINCOLN'S ADDRESS TO THEM, JULY, 1862&mdash;GRADUAL EMANCIPATION THE THEME&mdash;COMPENSATION
+ AND COLONIZATION TO ACCOMPANY IT&mdash;THE ABOLITION PRESSURE UPON THE
+ PRESIDENT INCREASING&mdash;HE BEGS THE BORDER STATESMEN TO RELIEVE HIM AND
+ THE COUNTRY IN ITS PERIL&mdash;THEIR VARIOUS RESPONSES<br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch18">CHAPTER XVIII.</a><br /> FREEDOM PROCLAIMED TO ALL.<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S PERSONAL APPEAL TO COLORED FREEMEN&mdash;HE BEGS
+ THEM TO HELP IN THE COLONIZATION OF THEIR RACE&mdash;PROPOSED AFRICAN
+ COLONY IN CENTRAL AMERICA&mdash;EXECUTIVE ORDER OF JULY 2, 1862&mdash;EMPLOYMENT
+ OF NEGROES FOR MILITARY PURPOSES OF THE UNION&mdash;JEFF. DAVIS RETALIATES&mdash;MCCLELLAN
+ PROMULGATES THE EXECUTIVE ORDER WITH ADDENDA OF HIS OWN&mdash;HORACE
+ GREELEY'S LETTER TO PRESIDENT LINCOLN&mdash;THE LATTER ACCUSED OF
+ "SUBSERVIENCY" TO THE SLAVE HOLDERS&mdash;AN "UNGRUDGING EXECUTION OF THE
+ CONFISCATION ACT" DEMANDED&mdash;MR. LINCOLN'S FAMOUS REPLY&mdash;HIS
+ "PARAMOUNT OBJECT, TO SAVE THE UNION, AND NOT EITHER TO SAVE OR DESTROY
+ SLAVERY"&mdash;VISIT TO THE WHITE HOUSE OF A RELIGIOUS DEPUTATION FROM
+ CHICAGO&mdash;MEMORIAL ASKING FOR IMMEDIATE EMANCIPATION, BY PROCLAMATION&mdash;THE
+ PRESIDENT'S REPLY TO THE DEPUTATION&mdash;"THE POPE'S BULL AGAINST THE
+ COMET"&mdash;VARIOUS OBJECTIONS STATED TENTATIVELY&mdash;"A PROCLAMATION
+ OF LIBERTY TO THE SLAVES" IS "UNDER ADVISEMENT"&mdash;THE PROCLAMATION OF
+ EMANCIPATION ISSUED&mdash;ITS POPULAR RECEPTION&mdash;MEETING OF LOYAL
+ GOVERNORS AT ALTOONA&mdash;THEIR STIRRING ADDRESS&mdash;HOMAGE TO OUR
+ SOLDIERS&mdash;PLEDGED SUPPORT FOR VIGOROUS PROSECUTION OF THE WAR TO
+ TRIUMPHANT END&mdash;PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S HISTORICAL RESUME AND DEFENSE OF
+ EMANCIPATION&mdash;HE SUGGESTS TO CONGRESS, PAYMENT FOR SLAVES AT ONCE
+ EMANCIPATED BY BORDER STATES&mdash;ACTION OF THE HOUSE, ON RESOLUTIONS
+ SEVERALLY REPREHENDING AND ENDORSING THE PROCLAMATION&mdash;SUPPLEMENTAL
+ EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION OF JAN. 1, 1863<br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch19">CHAPTER XIX.</a><br /> HISTORICAL REVIEW.<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> COURSE OF SOUTHERN OLIGARCHS THROUGHOUT&mdash;THEIR EVERLASTING
+ GREED AND RAPACITY&mdash;BROKEN COVENANTS AND AGGRESSIVE METHODS&mdash;THEIR
+ UNIFORM GAINS UNTIL 1861&mdash;UPS AND DOWNS OF THE TARIFF&mdash;FREE
+ TRADE, SLAVERY, STATES RIGHTS, SECESSION, ALL PARTS OF ONE CONSPIRACY&mdash;"INDEPENDENCE"
+ THE FIRST OBJECT OF THE WAR&mdash;DREAMS, AMBITIONS, AND PLANS OF THE
+ CONSPIRATORS&mdash;LINCOLN'S FAITH IN NORTHERN NUMBERS AND ENDURANCE&mdash;"RIGHT
+ MAKES MIGHT"&mdash;THE SOUTH SOLIDLY-CEMENTED BY BLOOD&mdash;THE 37TH
+ CONGRESS&mdash;ITS WAR MEASURES&mdash;PAVING THE WAY TO DOWNFALL OF
+ SLAVERY AND REBELLION<br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch20">CHAPTER XX.</a><br /> LINCOLN'S TROUBLES AND
+ TEMPTATIONS.<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> INTERFERENCE WITH SLAVERY FORCED BY THE WAR&mdash;EDWARD EVERETT'S
+ OPINION&mdash;BORDER-STATES DISTRUST OF LINCOLN&mdash;IMPOSSIBILITY OF
+ SATISFYING THEIR REPRESENTATIVES&mdash;THEIR JEALOUS SUSPICIONS AND
+ CONGRESSIONAL ACTION&mdash;PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE OF KINDLY WARNING&mdash;STORMY
+ CONTENTION IN CONGRESS&mdash;CRITTENDEN'S ARGUMENT ON "PROPERTY" IN MAN&mdash;BORDER&mdash;STATES
+ "BID" FOR MR. LINCOLN&mdash;THE "NICHE IN THE TEMPLE OF FAME" OFFERED HIM&mdash;LOVEJOY'S
+ ELOQUENT COUNTERBLAST&mdash;SUMNER (JUNE, 1862,) ON LINCOLN AND
+ EMANCIPATION&mdash;THE PRESIDENT HARRIED AND WORRIED&mdash;SNUBBED BY
+ BORDER STATESMEN&mdash;MCCLELLAN'S THREAT&mdash;ARMY-MISMANAGEMENT&mdash;ARMING
+ THE BLACKS&mdash;HOW THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION WAS WRITTEN&mdash;CABINET
+ SUGGESTIONS&mdash;MILITARY SITUATION&mdash;REBEL ADVANCE NORTHWARD&mdash;LINCOLN,
+ AND THE BREAST-WORKS&mdash;WASHINGTON AND BALTIMORE MENACED&mdash;ANTIETAM,
+ AND THE FIAT OF FREEDOM&mdash;BORDER-STATE DENUNCIATION&mdash;KNIGHTS OF
+ THE GOLDEN CIRCLE, ETC.<br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch21">CHAPTER XXI.</a><br /> THE ARMED&mdash;NEGRO.<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> "WHO WOULD BE FREE, HIMSELF MUST STRIKE THE BLOW!"&mdash;THE COLORED
+ TROOPS AT PORT HUDSON&mdash;THEIR HEROISM&mdash;STIRRING INCIDENTS&mdash;AT
+ MILLIKEN'S BEND&mdash;AT FORT WAGNER&mdash;AT PETERSBURG AND ABOUT
+ RICHMOND&mdash;THE REBEL CONSPIRATORS FURIOUS&mdash;OUTLAWRY OF GENERAL
+ BUTLER, ETC.&mdash;JEFFERSON DAVIS'S MESSAGE TO THE REBEL CONGRESS&mdash;ATROCIOUS,
+ COLD-BLOODED RESOLUTIONS OF THAT BODY&mdash;DEATH OR SLAVERY TO THE ARMED
+ FREEMAN&mdash;PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S RETALIATORY ORDER&mdash;THE BLOODY
+ BUTCHERY AT FORT PILLOW&mdash;SAVAGE MALIGNITY OF THE REBELS&mdash;A
+ COMMON ERROR, CORRECTED&mdash;ARMING OF NEGROES COMMENCED BY THE REBELS&mdash;SIMILAR
+ SCHEME OF A REVOLUTIONARY HERO, IN 1778&mdash;REBEL CONGRESSIONAL ACT,
+ CONSCRIPTING NEGROES&mdash;JEFFERSON DAVIS'S POSITION&mdash;GENERAL LEE'S
+ LETTER TO BARKSDALE ON THE SUBJECT<br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch22">CHAPTER XXII</a>.<br /> FREEDOM'S SUN STILL RISING.<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> DEFINITE CONGRESSIONAL ACTION, ON EMANCIPATION, GERMINATING&mdash;GLORIOUS
+ NEWS FROM THE WEST AND EAST&mdash;FALL OF VICKSBURG&mdash;GETTYSBURG&mdash;LINCOLN'S
+ GETTYSBURG ORATION&mdash;THE DRAFT&mdash;THE REBEL "FIRE IN THE REAR"&mdash;DRAFT
+ RIOTS IN NEW YORK&mdash;LINCOLN'S LETTER, AUGUST, 1863, ON THE SITUATION&mdash;CHATTANOOGA&mdash;THE
+ CHEERING FALL-ELECTIONS&mdash;VALLANDIGHAM'S DEFEAT&mdash;EMANCIPATION AS
+ A "POLITICAL" MEASURE&mdash;"THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT" REPORTED IN THE SENATE&mdash;THADDEUS
+ STEVENS'S RESOLUTIONS, AND TEST VOTE IN THE HOUSE&mdash;LOVEJOY'S DEATH&mdash;ELOQUENT
+ TRIBUTES OF ARNOLD, WASHBURNE, GRINNELL, THADDEUS STEVENS, AND SUMNER<br />
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch23">CHAPTER XXIII.</a><br /> "THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT" IN THE
+ SENATE.<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> GREAT DEBATE IN THE U. S. SENATE, ON EMANCIPATION&mdash;THE WHOLE
+ VILLANOUS HISTORY OF SLAVERY, LAID BARE&mdash;SPEECHES OF TRUMBULL, HENRY
+ WILSON, HARLAN, SHERMAN, CLARK, HALL, HENDERSON, SUMNER, REVERDY JOHNSON,
+ MCDOUGALL, SAULSBURY, GARRETT DAVIS, POWELL, AND HENDRICKS&mdash;BRILLIANT
+ ARRAIGNMENT AND DEFENSE OF "THE INSTITUTION"&mdash;U. S. GRANT, NOW
+ "GENERAL IN CHIEF"&mdash;HIS PLANS PERFECTED, HE GOES TO THE VIRGINIA
+ FRONT&mdash;MR. LINCOLN'S SOLICITUDE FOR THE THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT&mdash;BORDER&mdash;STATE
+ OBSTRUCTIVE MOTIONS, AMENDMENTS, AND SUBSTITUTES, ALL VOTED DOWN&mdash;MR.
+ LINCOLN'S LETTER TO HODGES, OF KENTUCKY, REVIEWING EMANCIPATION AS A WAR
+ MEASURE&mdash;THE DECISIVE FIELD-DAY (APRIL 8, 1864)&mdash;THE DEBATE ABLY
+ CLOSED&mdash;THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PASSED BY THE SENATE<br /> <br />
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch24">CHAPTER XXIV.</a><br /> TREASON IN THE NORTHERN CAMPS.<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> EMANCIPATION TEST&mdash;VOTES IN THE HOUSE&mdash;ARNOLD'S RESOLUTION&mdash;BLUE
+ PROSPECTS FOR THE THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT&mdash;LINCOLN'S ANXIETY&mdash;CONGRESSIONAL
+ COPPERHEADS&mdash;THINLY-DISGUISED TREASON&mdash;SPEECHES OF VOORHEES,
+ WASHBURNE, AND KELLEY&mdash;SPRINGFIELD COPPERHEAD PEACE-CONVENTION&mdash;"THE
+ UNION AS IT WAS"&mdash;PEACE ON ANY TERMS&mdash;VALLANDIGHAM'S LIEUTENANTS&mdash;ATTITUDE
+ OF COX, DAVIS, SAULSBURY, WOOD, LONG, ALLEN, HOLMAN, AND OTHERS&mdash;NORTHERN
+ ENCOURAGEMENT TO REBELS&mdash;CONSEQUENT SECOND INVASION, OF THE NORTH, BY
+ LEE&mdash;500,000 TREASONABLE NORTHERN "SONS OF LIBERTY"&mdash;RITUAL AND
+ OATHS OF THE "K. G. C." AND "O. A. K."&mdash;COPPERHEAD EFFORTS TO SPLIT
+ THE NORTH AND WEST, ON TARIFF-ISSUES&mdash;SPALDING AND THAD. STEVENS
+ DENOUNCE TREASON-BREEDING COPPERHEADS<br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch25">CHAPTER XXV.</a><br /> THE "FIRE IN THE REAR."<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> THE REBEL MANDATE&mdash;"AGITATE THE NORTH!"&mdash;OBEDIENT
+ COPPERHEADS&mdash;THEIR DENUNCIATIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT&mdash;BROOKS,
+ FERNANDO WOOD, AND WHITE, ON THE "FOLLY" OF THE WAR FOR THE UNION&mdash;EDGERTON'S
+ PEACE RESOLUTIONS&mdash;ECKLEY, ON COPPERHEAD MALIGNITY&mdash;ALEXANDER
+ LONG GOES "A BOW-SHOT BEYOND THEM ALL"&mdash;HE PROPOSES THE
+ ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF SOUTHERN INDEPENDENCE&mdash;GARFIELD ELOQUENTLY
+ DENOUNCES LONG'S TREASON&mdash;LONG DEFIANTLY REITERATES IT&mdash;SPEAKER
+ COLFAX OFFERS A RESOLUTION TO EXPEL LONG&mdash;COX AND JULIAN'S VERBAL
+ DUEL&mdash;HARRIS'S TREASONABLE BID FOR EXPULSION&mdash;EXTRAORDINARY
+ SCENE IN THE HOUSE&mdash;FERNANDO WOOD'S BID&mdash;HE SUBSEQUENTLY
+ "WEAKENS"&mdash;EXCITING DEBATE&mdash;LONG AND HARRIS VOTED "UNWORTHY
+ MEMBERS" OF THE HOUSE<br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch26">CHAPTER XXVI.</a><br /> "THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT" DEFEATED
+ IN THE HOUSE.<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> GLANCE AT THE MILITARY SITUATION&mdash;"BEGINNING OF THE END"&mdash;THE
+ CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT&mdash;HOLMAN "OBJECTS" TO "SECOND READING"&mdash;KELLOGG
+ SCORES THE COPPERHEAD-DEMOCRACY&mdash;CONTINUOUS "FIRE IN THE REAR" IN
+ BOTH HOUSES&mdash;THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT ATTACKED&mdash;THE ADMINISTRATION
+ ATTACKED&mdash;THE TARIFF ATTACKED&mdash;SPEECHES OF GARRETT DAVIS, AND
+ COX&mdash;PEACE-RESOLUTIONS OF LAZEAR AND DAVIS&mdash;GRINNELL AND
+ STEVENS, SCORE COX AND WOOD&mdash;HENDRICKS ON THE DRAFT&mdash;"ON" TO
+ RICHMOND AND ATLANTA&mdash;VIOLENT DIATRIBES OF WOOD, AND HOLMAN&mdash;FARNSWORTH'S
+ REPLY TO ROSS, PRUYN, AND OTHERS&mdash;ARNOLD, ON THE ETHICS OF SLAVERY&mdash;INGERSOLL'S
+ ELOQUENT BURST&mdash;RANDALL, ROLLINS, AND PENDLETON, CLOSING THE DEBATE&mdash;THE
+ THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT DEFEATED&mdash;ASHLEY'S MOTION TO RECONSIDER&mdash;CONGRESS
+ ADJOURNS<br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch27">CHAPTER XXVII.</a><br /> SLAVERY DOOMED AT THE POLLS.<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> THE ISSUE BETWEEN FREEDOM AND SLAVERY&mdash;MR. LINCOLN'S
+ RENOMINATION&mdash;ENDORSED, AT ALL POINTS, BY HIS PARTY&mdash;HIS FAITH
+ IN THE PEOPLE&mdash;HORATIO SEYMOUR'S COPPERHEAD DECLARATIONS&mdash;THE
+ NATIONAL DEMOCRACY DECLARE THE WAR "A FAILURE"&mdash;THEIR COPPERHEAD
+ PLATFORM, AND UNION CANDIDATE&mdash;MCCLELLAN THEIR NOMINEE&mdash;VICTORIES
+ AT ATLANTA AND MOBILE&mdash;FREMONT'S THIRD PARTY&mdash;SUCCESSES OF GRANT
+ AND SHERIDAN&mdash;DEATH OF CHIEF-JUSTICE TANEY&mdash;MARYLAND BECOMES
+ "FREE"&mdash;MORE UNION VICTORIES&mdash;REPUBLICAN "TIDAL-WAVE" SUCCESS&mdash;LINCOLN
+ RE-ELECTED&mdash;HIS SERENADE-SPEECHES&mdash;AMAZING CONGRESSIONAL-RETURNS&mdash;THE
+ DEATH OF SLAVERY INSURED&mdash;IT BECOMES SIMPLY A MATTER OF TIME<br />
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch28">CHAPTER XXVIII.</a><br /> FREEDOM AT LAST ASSURED.<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> THE WINTER OF 1864&mdash;THE MILITARY SITUATION&mdash;THE "MARCH TO
+ THE SEA"&mdash;THOMAS AND HOOD&mdash;LOGAN'S INTERVIEW WITH THE PRESIDENT&mdash;VICTORIES
+ OF NASHVILLE AND SAVANNAH&mdash;MR. LINCOLN'S MESSAGE TO CONGRESS, ON
+ THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT&mdash;CONGRESSIONAL RECESS&mdash;PRESIDENT LINCOLN
+ STILL WORKING WITH, THE BORDER-STATE REPRESENTATIVES&mdash;ROLLINS'S
+ INTERVIEW WITH HIM&mdash;THE THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT UP, IN THE HOUSE, AGAIN&mdash;VIGOROUS
+ AND ELOQUENT DEBATE&mdash;SPEECHES OF COX, BROOKS, VOORHEES, MALLORY,
+ HOLMAN, WOOD, AND PENDLETON, AGAINST THE AMENDMENT&mdash;SPEECHES OF
+ CRESWELL, SCOFIELD, ROLLINS, GARFIELD, AND STEVENS, FOR IT&mdash;RECONSIDERATION
+ OF ADVERSE VOTE&mdash;THE AMENDMENT ADOPTED&mdash;EXCITING SCENE IN THE
+ HOUSE&mdash;THE GRAND SALUTE TO LIBERTY&mdash;SERENADE TO MR. LINCOLN&mdash;"THIS
+ ENDS THE JOB"<br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch29">CHAPTER XXIX.</a><br /> LINCOLN'S SECOND INAUGURATION.<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> REBELLION ON ITS "LAST LEGS"&mdash;PEACE COMMISSIONS AND
+ PROPOSITIONS&mdash;EFFORTS OF GREELEY, JACQUES, GILMORE, AND BLAIR&mdash;LINCOLN'S
+ ADVANCES&mdash;JEFFERSON DAVIS'S DEFIANT MESSAGE TO HIM&mdash;THE
+ PRESIDENT AND THE REBEL COMMISSIONERS AT HAMPTON ROADS&mdash;VARIOUS
+ ACCOUNTS, OF THE SECRET CONFERENCE, BY PARTICIPANTS THE PROPOSITIONS ON
+ BOTH SIDES&mdash;FAILURE&mdash;THE MILITARY OUTLOOK&mdash;THE REBEL CAUSE
+ DESPERATE&mdash;REBEL DESERTIONS&mdash;"MILITARY" PEACE-CONVENTION
+ PROPOSED BY REBELS&mdash;DECLINED&mdash;CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN GRANT AND
+ LEE, ETC.&mdash;THE SECOND INAUGURATION OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN&mdash;A
+ STRANGE OMEN&mdash;HIS IMMORTAL SECOND-INAUGURAL<br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch30">CHAPTER XXX.</a><br /> COLLAPSE OF THE ARMED
+ CONSPIRACY.<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> PROGRESS OF THE WAR&mdash;CAMPAIGN OF THE CAROLINAS, 1865&mdash;MEETING,
+ AT CITY POINT, OF LINCOLN, GRANT, AND SHERMAN&mdash;SHERMAN'S ACCOUNT OF
+ WHAT PASSED&mdash;GRANT NOW FEELS "LIKE ENDING THE MATTER"&mdash;THE
+ BATTLES OF DINWIDDIE COURT HOUSE AND FIVE FORKS&mdash;UNION ASSAULT ON THE
+ PETERSBURG WORKS&mdash;UNION VICTORY EVERYWHERE&mdash;PETERSBURG AND
+ RICHMOND EVACUATED&mdash;LEE'S RETREAT CUT OFF BATTLE OF SAILOR'S CREEK&mdash;GRANT
+ ASKS LEE TO SURRENDER&mdash;LEE DELAYS&mdash;SHERIDAN CATCHES HIM, AND HIS
+ ARMY, IN A TRAP&mdash;THE REBELS SURRENDER, AT APPOMATTOX&mdash;GRANT'S
+ GENEROUS AND MAGNANIMOUS TERMS&mdash;THE STARVING REBELS FED WITH UNION
+ RATIONS&mdash;SURRENDER OF JOHNSTON'S ARMY&mdash;OTHER REBEL FORCES
+ SURRENDER&mdash;THE REBELLION STAMPED OUT&mdash;CAPTURE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS&mdash;THE
+ REBELS "YIELD EVERYTHING THEY HAD FOUGHT FOR"&mdash;THEY CRAVE PARDON AND
+ OBLIVION FOR THEIR OFFENCES<br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch31">CHAPTER XXXI.</a><br /> ASSASSINATION!<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> PRESIDENT LINCOLN AT RICHMOND&mdash;HIS RECEPTIONS AT JEFFERSON
+ DAVIS'S MANSION&mdash;RETURN TO WASHINGTON&mdash;THE NEWS OF LEE'S
+ SURRENDER&mdash;LINCOLN'S LAST PUBLIC SPEECH&mdash;HIS THEME,
+ "RECONSTRUCTION"&mdash;GRANT ARRIVES AT THE NATIONAL CAPITAL&mdash;PRESIDENT
+ LINCOLN'S LAST CABINET MEETING&mdash;HIS FOND HOPES OF THE FUTURE&mdash;AN
+ UNHEEDED PRESENTIMENT&mdash;AT FORD'S THEATRE&mdash;THE LAST ACCLAMATION
+ OF THE PEOPLE&mdash;THE PISTOL SHOT THAT HORRIFIED THE WORLD&mdash;SCULKING,
+ RED HANDED TREASON&mdash;THE ASSASSINATION PLOT-COMPLICITY OF THE REBEL
+ AUTHORITIES, BELIEVED BY THE BEST INFORMED MEN&mdash;TESTIMONY AS TO THREE
+ ATTEMPTS TO KILL LINCOLN&mdash;THE CHIEF REBEL-CONSPIRATORS "RECEIVE
+ PROPOSITIONS TO ASSASSINATE"&mdash;A NATION'S WRATH&mdash;ANDREW JOHNSON'S
+ VEHEMENT ASSEVERATIONS&mdash;"TREASON MUST BE MADE ODIOUS"&mdash;RECONSTRUCTION<br />
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch32">CHAPTER XXXII.</a><br /> TURNING BACK THE HANDS<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> "RECONSTRUCTION" OF THE SOUTH&mdash;MEMORIES OF THE WAR, DYING OUT&mdash;THE
+ FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH AMENDMENTS&mdash;THE SOUTHERN STATES
+ REHABILITATED BY ACCEPTANCE OF AMENDMENTS, ETC.&mdash;REMOVAL OF REBEL
+ DISABILITIES&mdash;CLEMENCY OF THE CONQUERORS&mdash;THE OLD CONSPIRATORS
+ HATCH A NEW CONSPIRACY&mdash;THE "LOST CAUSE" TO BE REGAINED&mdash;THE
+ MISSISSIPPI SHOT-GUN PLAN&mdash;FRAUD, BARBARITY, AND MURDERS, EFFECT THE
+ PURPOSE&mdash;THE "SOUTH" CEMENTED "SOLID" BY BLOOD&mdash;PEONAGE REPLACES
+ SLAVERY&mdash;THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1876&mdash;THE TILDEN "BARREL,"
+ AND "CIPHER DISPATCHES"&mdash;THE "FRAUD" CRY&mdash;THE OLD LEADERS
+ DICTATE THE DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE OF 1880&mdash;THEIR FREE-TRADE
+ ISSUE TO THE FRONT AGAIN&mdash;SUCCESSIVE DEMOCRATIC EFFORTS TO FORCE
+ FREE-TRADE THROUGH THE HOUSE, SINCE REBELLION&mdash;EFFECT OF SUCH EFFORTS&mdash;REPUBLICAN
+ MODIFICATIONS OF THEIR OWN PROTECTIVE TARIFF&mdash;THE "SOLID SOUTH"
+ SUCCEEDS, AT LAST, IN "ELECTING" ITS CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT&mdash;IS THIS
+ STILL A REPUBLIC, OR IS IT AN OLIGARCHY?<br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a href="#linkch33">CHAPTER XXXIII.</a><br /> WHAT NEXT?<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> THE PRESENT OUTLOOK&mdash;COMMERCIAL PROSPECTS, BRIGHT&mdash;WHAT
+ THE PEOPLE OF THE NORTHERN AND WESTERN STATES SEE&mdash;WHAT IS A
+ "REPUBLICAN FORM OF GOVERNMENT?"&mdash;WHAT DID THE FATHERS MEAN BY IT&mdash;THE
+ REASON FOR THE GUARANTEE IN THE NATIONAL CONSTITUTION&mdash;PURPOSES OF
+ "THE PEOPLE" IN CREATING THIS REPUBLIC&mdash;THE "SOLID-SOUTHERN"
+ OLIGARCHS DEFEAT THOSE PURPOSES&mdash;THE REPUBLICAN PARTY NOT BLAMELESS
+ FOR THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THINGS&mdash;THE OLD REBEL-CHIEFTAINS AND
+ COPPERHEADS, IN CONTROL&mdash;THEY GRASP ALMOST EVERYTHING THAT WAS LOST
+ BY THE REBELLION&mdash;THEIR GROWING AGGRESSIVENESS&mdash;THE FUTURE&mdash;"WATCHMAN,
+ WHAT OF THE NIGHT?"<br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <hr />
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h3>
+ IMAGES
+ </h3>
+ <p>
+ <a href="#linkhayne">ISAAC W. HAYNE,</a><br /><br /> <a href="#linkseward">WM.
+ H. SEWARD,</a><br /><br /> <a href="#linkclay">HENRY CLAY,</a><br /><br /> <a
+ href="#linkdavis">JEFFERSON DAVIS,</a><br /><br /> <a href="#linkwebster">DANIEL
+ WEBSTER,</a><br /><br /> <a href="#linkdouglas">STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS,</a><br /><br />
+ <a href="#linkjefferson">THOMAS JEFFERSON,</a><br /><br /> <a
+ href="#linklincoln">ABRAHAM LINCOLN,</a><br /><br /> <a href="#linkcalhoun">JOHN
+ C. CALHOUN,</a><br /><br /> <a href="#linkvirginia">SEAT OF WAR IN VIRGINIA.</a>
+ (Map)<br /><br /> <a href="#linkbull1">FIRST BULL RUN BATTLE-FIELD.</a>
+ (Map)<br /><br /> <a href="#linkbull2">FIRST BULL RUN BATTLE-FIELD,</a>
+ (Map)<br /><br /> <a href="#linkcrittenden">J. J. CRITTENDEN</a><br /><br />
+ <a href="#linkwigfall">LOUIS T. WIGFALL</a><br /><br /> <a href="#linkhunter">DAVID
+ HUNTER</a><br /><br /> <a href="#linkhenry">PATRICK HENRY</a><br /><br /> <a
+ href="#linkbaker">EDWARD D. BAKER</a><br /><br /> <a href="#linkfremont">JOHN
+ C. FREMONT</a><br /><br /> <a href="#linkcameron">SIMON CAMERON</a><br /><br />
+ <a href="#linkhalleck">H. W. HALLECK</a><br /><br /> <a href="#linkbutler">BENJ.
+ F. BUTLER</a><br /><br /> <a href="#linktrumbell">LYMAN TRUMBULL</a><br /><br />
+ <a href="#linkwade">BENJ. F. WADE</a><br /><br /> <a href="#linkmcclellan">GEO.
+ B. MCCLELLAN</a><br /><br /> <a href="#linkstevens">THAD. STEVENS</a><br /><br />
+ <a href="#linkdavis">HENRY WINTER DAVIS</a><br /><br /> <a
+ href="#linkbreckinridge">J. C. BRECKINRIDGE</a><br /><br /> <br /> <br />
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <hr />
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkwebster" id="linkwebster"></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="p024-webster.jpg (88K)" src="images/p024-webster.jpg" style="width:100%;"
+ /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch1" id="linkch1"></a><br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ CHAPTER I.<br /> <br /> A PRELIMINARY RETROSPECT.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ To properly understand the condition of things preceding the great war of
+ the Rebellion, and the causes underlying that condition and the war
+ itself, we must glance backward through the history of the Country to, and
+ even beyond, that memorable 30th of November, 1782, when the Independence
+ of the United States of America was at last conceded by Great Britain. At
+ that time the population of the United States was about 2,500,000 free
+ whites and some 500,000 black slaves. We had gained our Independence of
+ the Mother Country, but she had left fastened upon us the curse of
+ Slavery. Indeed African Slavery had already in 1620 been implanted on the
+ soil of Virginia before Plymouth Rock was pressed by the feet of the
+ Pilgrim Fathers, and had spread, prior to the Revolution, with greater or
+ less rapidity, according to the surrounding adaptations of soil,
+ production and climate, to every one of the thirteen Colonies.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But while it had thus spread more or less throughout all the original
+ Colonies, and was, as it were, recognized and acquiesced in by all, as an
+ existing and established institution, yet there were many, both in the
+ South and North, who looked upon it as an evil&mdash;an inherited evil&mdash;and
+ were anxious to prevent the increase of that evil. Hence it was that even
+ as far back as 1699, a controversy sprang up between the Colonies and the
+ Home Government, upon the African Slavery question&mdash;a controversy
+ continuing with more or less vehemence down to the Declaration of
+ Independence itself.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It was this conviction that it was not alone an evil but a dangerous evil,
+ that induced Jefferson to embody in his original draft of that Declaration
+ a clause strongly condemnatory of the African Slave Trade&mdash;a clause
+ afterward omitted from it solely, he tells us, "in complaisance to South
+ Carolina and Georgia, who had never* attempted to restrain the importation
+ of slaves, and who, on the contrary, still wished to continue it," as well
+ as in deference to the sensitiveness of Northern people, who, though
+ having few slaves themselves, "had been pretty considerable carriers of
+ them to others" a clause of the great indictment of King George III.,
+ which, since it was not omitted for any other reason than that just given,
+ shows pretty conclusively that where the fathers in that Declaration
+ affirmed that "all men are created equal," they included in the term
+ "men," black as well as white, bond as well as free; for the clause ran
+ thus: "Determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought and
+ sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every Legislative
+ attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce. And that this
+ assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished dye, he is now
+ exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and purchase that
+ liberty of which he has deprived them, by murdering the people on whom he
+ also obtruded them; thus paying of former crimes committed against the
+ LIBERTIES of our people with crimes which he urges them to commit against
+ the LIVES of another."
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [Prior to 1752, when Georgia surrendered her charter and became a Royal
+ Colony, the holding of slaves within its limits was expressly prohibited
+ by law; and the Darien (Ga.) resolutions of 1775 declared not only a
+ "disapprobation and abhorrence of the unnatural practice of Slavery in
+ America" as "a practice founded in injustice and cruelty, and highly
+ dangerous to our Liberties (as well as lives) but a determination to use
+ our utmost efforts for the manumission of our slaves in this colony upon
+ the most safe and equitable footing for the masters and themselves."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ During the war of the Revolution following the Declaration of
+ Independence, the half a million of slaves, nearly all of them in the
+ Southern States, were found to be not only a source of weakness, but,
+ through the incitements of British emissaries, a standing menace of peril
+ to the Slaveholders. Thus it was that the South was overrun by hostile
+ British armies, while in the North&mdash;comparatively free of this
+ element of weakness&mdash;disaster after disaster met them. At last,
+ however, in 1782, came the recognition of our Independence, and peace,
+ followed by the evacuation of New York at the close of 1783.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The lessons of the war, touching Slavery, had not been lost upon our
+ statesmen. Early in 1784 Virginia ceded to the United States her claims of
+ jurisdiction and otherwise over the vast territory north-west of the Ohio;
+ and upon its acceptance, Jefferson, as chairman of a Select Committee
+ appointed at his instance to consider a plan of government therefor,
+ reported to the ninth Continental Congress an Ordinance to govern the
+ territory ceded already, or to be ceded, by individual States to the
+ United States, extending from the 31st to the 47th degree of north
+ latitude, which provided as "fundamental conditions between the thirteen
+ original States and those newly described" as embryo States thereafter&mdash;to
+ be carved out of such territory ceded or to be ceded to the United States,
+ not only that "they shall forever remain a part of the United States of
+ America," but also that "after the year 1800 of the Christian era, there
+ shall be neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the said
+ States"&mdash;and that those fundamental conditions were "unalterable but
+ by the joint consent of the United States in Congress assembled, and of
+ the particular State within which such alteration is proposed to be made."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But now a signal misfortune befell. Upon a motion to strike out the clause
+ prohibiting Slavery, six States: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode
+ Island, Connecticut, New York and Pennsylvania, voted to retain the
+ prohibitive clause, while three States, Maryland, Virginia and South
+ Carolina, voted not to retain it. The vote of North Carolina was equally
+ divided; and while one of the Delegates from New Jersey voted to retain
+ it, yet as there was no other delegate present from that State, and the
+ Articles of Confederation required the presence of "two or more" delegates
+ to cast the vote of a State, the vote of New Jersey was lost; and, as the
+ same Articles required an affirmative vote of a majority of all the States&mdash;and
+ not simply of those present&mdash;the retention of the clause prohibiting
+ Slavery was also lost. Thus was lost the great opportunity of restricting
+ Slavery to the then existing Slave States, and of settling the question
+ peaceably for all time. Three years afterward a similar Ordinance, since
+ become famous as "the Ordinance of '87," for the government of the
+ North-west Territory (from which the Free States of Ohio, Indiana,
+ Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin have since been carved and admitted to
+ the Union) was adopted in Congress by the unanimous vote of all the eight
+ States present. And the sixth article of this Ordinance, or "Articles of
+ Compact," which it was stipulated should "forever remain unalterable,
+ unless by common consent," was in these words:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Art. 6. There shall be neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude in the
+ said Territory, otherwise than in punishment of crimes, whereof the party
+ shall have been duly convicted; provided always that any person escaping
+ into the same from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any one of
+ the original States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed, and conveyed
+ to the person claiming his or her labor, or service, as aforesaid."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But this Ordinance of '87, adopted almost simultaneously with the framing
+ of our present Federal Constitution, was essentially different from the
+ Ordinance of three years previous, in this: that while the latter included
+ the territory south of the Ohio River as well as that north-west of it,
+ this did not; and as a direct consequence of this failure to include in it
+ the territory south of that river, the States of Tennessee, Alabama and
+ Mississippi, which were taken out of it, were subsequently admitted to the
+ Union as Slave States, and thus greatly augmented their political power.
+ And at a later period it was this increased political power that secured
+ the admission of still other Slave States&mdash;as Florida, Louisiana and
+ Texas&mdash;which enabled the Slave States to hold the balance of such
+ power as against the original States that had become Free, and the new
+ Free States of the North-west.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Hence, while in a measure quieting the great question of Slavery for the
+ time being, the Ordinance of '87 in reality laid the ground-work for the
+ long series of irritations and agitations touching its restrictions and
+ extension, which eventually culminated in the clash of arms that shook the
+ Union from its centre to its circumference. Meanwhile, as we have seen&mdash;while
+ the Ordinance of 1787 was being enacted in the last Congress of the old
+ Confederation at New York&mdash;the Convention to frame the present
+ Constitution was sitting at Philadelphia under the Presidency of George
+ Washington himself. The old Confederation had proved itself to be "a rope
+ of sand." A new and stronger form of government had become a necessity for
+ National existence.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ To create it out of the discordant elements whose harmony was essential to
+ success, was an herculean task, requiring the utmost forbearance,
+ unselfishness, and wisdom. And of all the great questions, dividing the
+ framers of that Constitution, perhaps none of them required a higher
+ degree of self abnegation and patriotism than those touching human
+ Slavery.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The situation was one of extreme delicacy. The necessity for a closer and
+ stronger Union of all the States was apparently absolute, yet this very
+ necessity seemed to place a whip in the hands of a few States, with which
+ to coerce the greater number of States to do their bidding. It seemed that
+ the majority must yield to a small minority on even vital questions, or
+ lose everything.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Thus it was, that instead of an immediate interdiction of the African
+ Slave Trade, Congress was empowered to prohibit it after the lapse of
+ twenty years; that instead of the basis of Congressional Representation
+ being the total population of each State, and that of direct taxation the
+ total property of each State, a middle ground was conceded, which regarded
+ the Slaves as both persons and property, and the basis both of
+ Representation and of Direct Taxation was fixed as being the total Free
+ population "plus three-fifths of all other persons" in each State; and
+ that there was inserted in the Constitution a similar clause to that which
+ we have seen was almost simultaneously incorporated in the Ordinance of
+ '87, touching the reclamation and return to their owners of Fugitive
+ Slaves from the Free States into which they may have escaped.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The fact of the matter is, that the Convention that framed our
+ Constitution lacked the courage of its convictions, and was "bulldozed" by
+ the few extreme Southern Slave-holding States&mdash;South Carolina and
+ Georgia especially. It actually paltered with those convictions and with
+ the truth itself. Its convictions&mdash;those at least of a great majority
+ of its delegates&mdash;were against not only the spread, but the very
+ existence of Slavery; yet we have seen what they unwillingly agreed to in
+ spite of those convictions; and they were guilty moreover of the
+ subterfuge of using the terms "persons" and "service or labor" when they
+ really meant "Slaves" and "Slavery." "They did this latter," Mr. Madison
+ says, "because they did not choose to admit the right of property in man,"
+ and yet in fixing the basis of Direct Taxation as well as Congressional
+ Representation at the total Free population of each State with
+ "three-fifths of all other persons," they did admit the right of property
+ in man! As was stated by Mr. Iredell to the North Carolina Ratification
+ Convention, when explaining the Fugitive Slave clause: "Though the word
+ 'Slave' is not mentioned, this is the meaning of it." And he added: "The
+ Northern delegates, owing to their peculiar scruples on the subject of
+ Slavery, did not choose the word 'Slave' to be mentioned."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In March, 1789, the first Federal Congress met at New York. It at once
+ enacted a law in accordance with the terms of the Ordinance of '87&mdash;adapting
+ it to the changed order of things under the new Federal Constitution&mdash;prohibiting
+ Slavery in the Territories of the North-west; and the succeeding Congress
+ enacted a Fugitive-Slave law.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In the same year (1789) North Carolina ceded her western territory (now
+ Tennessee) south of the Ohio, to the United States, providing as one of
+ the conditions of that cession, "that no regulation made, or to be made,
+ by Congress, shall tend to emancipate Slaves." Georgia, also, in 1802,
+ ceded her superfluous territorial domain (south of the Ohio, and now known
+ as Alabama and Mississippi), making as a condition of its acceptance that
+ the Ordinance of '87 "shall, in all its parts, extend to the territory
+ contained in the present act of cession, the article only excepted which
+ forbids Slavery."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Thus while the road was open and had been taken advantage of, at the
+ earliest moment, by the Federal Congress to prohibit Slavery in all the
+ territory north-west of the Ohio River by Congressional enactment,
+ Congress considered itself barred by the very conditions of cession from
+ inhibiting Slavery in the territory lying south of that river. Hence it
+ was that while the spread of Slavery was prevented in the one Section of
+ our outlying territories by Congressional legislation, it was stimulated
+ in the other Section by the enforced absence of such legislation. As a
+ necessary sequence, out of the Territories of the one Section grew more
+ Free States and out of the other more Slave States, and this condition of
+ things had a tendency to array the Free and the Slave States in opposition
+ to each other and to Sectionalize the flames of that Slavery agitation
+ which were thus continually fed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Upon the admission of Ohio to Statehood in 1803, the remainder of the
+ North-west territory became the Territory of Indiana. The inhabitants of
+ this Territory (now known as the States of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and
+ Wisconsin), consisting largely of settlers from the Slave States, but
+ chiefly from Virginia and Kentucky, very persistently (in 1803, 1806 and
+ 1807) petitioned Congress for permission to employ Slave Labor, but&mdash;although
+ their petitions were favorably reported in most cases by the Committees to
+ which they were referred&mdash;without avail, Congress evidently being of
+ opinion that a temporary suspension in this respect of the sixth article
+ of the Ordinance of '87 was "not expedient." These frequent rebuffs by
+ Congress, together with the constantly increasing emigration from the Free
+ States, prevented the taking of any further steps to implant Slavery on
+ the soil of that Territory.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Meanwhile the vast territory included within the Valley of the Mississippi
+ and known at that day as the "Colony of Louisiana," was, in 1803, acquired
+ to the United States by purchase from the French&mdash;to whom it had but
+ lately been retroceded by Spain. Both under Spanish and French rule,
+ Slavery had existed throughout this vast yet sparsely populated region.
+ When we acquired it by purchase, it was already there, as an established
+ "institution;" and the Treaty of acquisition not only provided that it
+ should be "incorporated into the Union of the United States, and admitted
+ as soon as possible, according to the principles of the Federal
+ Constitution," but that its inhabitants in the meantime "should be
+ maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property,
+ and the religion which they professed"&mdash;and, as "the right of
+ property in man" had really been admitted in practice, if not in theory,
+ by the framers of that Constitution itself&mdash;that institution was
+ allowed to remain there. Indeed the sparseness of its population at the
+ time of purchase and the amazing fertility of its soil and adaptability of
+ its climate to Slave Labor, together with the then recent invention by Eli
+ Whitney, of Massachusetts, of that wonderful improvement in the separation
+ of cotton-fibre from its seed, known as the "cotton-gin"&mdash;which with
+ the almost simultaneous inventions of Hargreaves, and Arkwright's
+ cotton-spinning machines, and Watt's application of his steam engine,
+ etc., to them, marvelously increased both the cotton supply and demand and
+ completely revolutionized the cotton industry&mdash;contributed to rapidly
+ and thickly populate the whole region with white Slave-holders and black
+ Slaves, and to greatly enrich and increase the power of the former.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ When Jefferson succeeded in negotiating the cession of that vast and rich
+ domain to the United States, it is not to be supposed that either the
+ allurements of territorial aggrandizement on the one hand, or the
+ impending danger to the continued ascendency of the political party which
+ had elevated him to the Presidency, threatening it from all the
+ irritations with republican France likely to grow out of such near
+ proximity to her Colony, on the other, could have blinded his eyes to the
+ fact that its acquisition must inevitably tend to the spread of that very
+ evil, the contemplation of which, at a later day, wrung from his lips the
+ prophetic words, "I tremble for my Country when I reflect that God is
+ just." It is more reasonable to suppose that, as he believed the
+ ascendency of the Republican party of that day essential to the perpetuity
+ of the Republic itself, and revolted against being driven into an armed
+ alliance with Monarchical England against what he termed "our natural
+ friend," Republican France, he reached the conclusion that the
+ preservation of his Republican principles was of more immediate moment
+ than the question of the perpetuation and increase of human Slavery. Be
+ that as it may, it none the less remains a curious fact that it was to
+ Jefferson, the far-seeing statesman and hater of African Slavery and the
+ author of the Ordinance of 1784&mdash;which sought to exclude Slavery from
+ all the Territories of the United States south of, as well as north-west
+ of the Ohio River&mdash;that we also owe the acquisition of the vast
+ territory of the Mississippi Valley burdened with Slavery in such shape
+ that only a War, which nearly wrecked our Republic, could get rid of!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Out of that vast and fertile, but Slave-ridden old French Colony of
+ "Louisiana" were developed in due time the rich and flourishing Slave
+ States of Louisiana, Missouri and Arkansas.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It will have been observed that this acquisition of the Colony of
+ Louisiana and the contemporaneous inventions of the cotton-gin, improved
+ cotton-spinning machinery, and the application to it of steam power, had
+ already completely neutralized the wisdom of the Fathers in securing, as
+ they thought, the gradual but certain extinction of Slavery in the United
+ States, by that provision in the Constitution which enabled Congress,
+ after an interval of twenty years, to prohibit the African Slave Trade;
+ and which led the Congress, on March 22, 1794, to pass an Act prohibiting
+ it; to supplement it in 1800 with another Act in the same direction; and
+ on March 2, 1807, to pass another supplemental Act&mdash;to take effect
+ January 1, 1808&mdash;still more stringent, and covering any such illicit
+ traffic, whether to the United States or with other countries. Never was
+ the adage that, "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley,"
+ more painfully apparent. Slaves increased and multiplied within the land,
+ and enriched their white owners to such a degree that, as the years rolled
+ by, instead of compunctions of conscience on the subject of African
+ Slavery in America, the Southern leaders ultimately persuaded themselves
+ to the belief that it was not only moral, and sanctioned by Divine Law,
+ but that to perpetuate it was a philanthropic duty, beneficial to both
+ races! In fact one of them declared it to be "the highest type of
+ civilization."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In 1812, the State of Louisiana, organized from the purchased Colony of
+ the same name, was admitted to the Union, and the balance of the Louisiana
+ purchase was thereafter known as the Territory of Missouri.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In 1818 commenced the heated and protracted struggle in Congress over the
+ admission of the State of Missouri&mdash;created from the Territory of
+ that name&mdash;as a Slave State, which finally culminated in 1820 in the
+ settlement known thereafter as the "Missouri Compromise."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Briefly stated, that struggle may be said to have consisted in the efforts
+ of the House on the one side, to restrict Slavery in the State of
+ Missouri, and the efforts of the Senate on the other, to give it free
+ rein. The House insisted on a clause in the Act of admission providing,
+ "That the introduction of Slavery or involuntary servitude be prohibited,
+ except for the punishment of crimes whereof the party has been duly
+ convicted; and that all children born within the said State, after the
+ admission thereof into the Union, shall be declared Free at the age of
+ twenty-five years." The Senate resisted it&mdash;and the Bill fell. In the
+ meantime, however, a Bill passed both Houses forming the Territory of
+ Arkansas out of that portion of the Territory of Missouri not included in
+ the proposed State of Missouri, without any such restriction upon Slavery.
+ Subsequently, the House having passed a Bill to admit the State of Maine
+ to the Union, the Senate amended it by tacking on a provision authorizing
+ the people of Missouri to organize a State Government, without restriction
+ as to Slavery. The House decidedly refused to accede to the Senate
+ proposition, and the result of the disagreement was a Committee of
+ Conference between the two Houses, and the celebrated "Missouri
+ Compromise," which, in the language of another&mdash;[Hon. John Holmes of
+ Massachusetts, of said Committee on Conference, March 2, 1820.]&mdash;,
+ was: "that the Senate should give up its combination of Missouri with
+ Maine; that the House should abandon its attempt to restrict Slavery in
+ Missouri; and that both Houses should concur in passing the Bill to admit
+ Missouri as a State, with" a "restriction or proviso, excluding Slavery
+ from all territory north and west of the new State"&mdash;that
+ "restriction or proviso" being in these words: "That in all that territory
+ ceded by France to the United States under the name of Louisiana, which
+ lies north of thirty-six degrees, thirty minutes north latitude, excepting
+ only such part thereof as is included within the limits of the State
+ contemplated by this act, Slavery and involuntary servitude, otherwise
+ than in the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly
+ convicted, shall be and is hereby forever prohibited; Provided always,
+ that any person escaping into the same, from whom labor and service is
+ lawfully claimed in any State or Territory of the United States, such
+ Fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the person claiming his
+ or her labor or service, as aforesaid." At a subsequent session of
+ Congress, at which Missouri asked admission as a State with a Constitution
+ prohibiting her Legislature from passing emancipation laws, or such as
+ would prevent the immigration of Slaves, while requiring it to enact such
+ as would absolutely prevent the immigration of Free Negroes or Mulattoes,
+ a further Compromise was agreed to by Congress under the inspiration of
+ Mr. Clay, by which it was laid down as a condition precedent to her
+ admission as a State&mdash;a condition subsequently complied with&mdash;that
+ Missouri must pledge herself that her Legislature should pass no act "by
+ which any of the citizens of either of the States should be excluded from
+ the enjoyment of the privileges and immunities to which they are entitled
+ under the Constitution of the United States."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This, in a nut-shell, was the memorable Missouri Struggle, and the
+ "Compromise" or Compromises which settled and ended it. But during that
+ struggle&mdash;as during the formation of the Federal Constitution and at
+ various times in the interval when exciting questions had arisen&mdash;the
+ bands of National Union were more than once rudely strained, and this time
+ to such a degree as even to shake the faith of some of the firmest
+ believers in the perpetuity of that Union. It was during this bitter
+ struggle that John Adams wrote to Jefferson: "I am sometimes Cassandra
+ enough to dream that another Hamilton, another Burr, may rend this mighty
+ fabric in twain, or perhaps into a leash, and a few more choice spirits of
+ the same stamp might produce as many Nations in North America as there are
+ in Europe."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is true that we had "sown the wind," but we had not yet "reaped the
+ whirlwind."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkdouglas" id="linkdouglas"></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="p052-douglas.jpg (82K)" src="images/p052-douglas.jpg" style="width:100%;"
+ /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch2" id="linkch2"></a><br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ CHAPTER II.<br /> <br /> PROTECTION AND FREE TRADE.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ We have seen that the first Federal Congress met at New York in March,
+ 1789. It organized April 6th. None knew better than its members that the
+ war of the Americana Revolution chiefly grew out of the efforts of Great
+ Britain to cripple and destroy our Colonial industries to the benefit of
+ the British trader, and that the Independence conquered, was an Industrial
+ as well as Political Independence; and none knew better than they, that
+ the failure of the subsequent political Confederation of States was due
+ mainly to its failure to encourage and protect the budding domestic
+ manufactures of those States. Hence they hastened, under the leadership of
+ James Madison, to pass "An Act laying a duty on goods, wares and
+ merchandize imported into the United States," with a preamble, declaring
+ it to be "necessary" for the "discharge of the debt of the United States
+ and the encouragement and protection of manufactures." It was approved by
+ President Washington July 4, 1789&mdash;a date not without its
+ significance&mdash;and levied imports both specific and ad valorem. It was
+ not only our first Tariff Act, but, next to that prescribing the oath used
+ in organizing the Government, the first Act of the first Federal Congress;
+ and was passed in pursuance of the declaration of President Washington in
+ his first Message, that "The safety and interest of the People" required
+ it. Under the inspiration of Alexander Hamilton the Tariff of 1790 was
+ enacted at the second session of the same Congress, confirming the
+ previous Act and increasing some of the protective duties thereby imposed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ An analysis of the vote in the House of Representatives on this Tariff
+ Bill discloses the fact that of the 39 votes for it, 21 were from Southern
+ States, 13 from the Middle States, and 5 from New England States; while of
+ the 13 votes against it, 9 were from New England States, 3 from Southern
+ States, and 1 from Middle States. In other words, while the Southern
+ States were for the Bill in the proportion of 21 to 3, and the Middle
+ States by 13 to 1, New England was against it by 9 to 5; or again, while
+ 10 of the 13 votes against it were from the New England and Middle States,
+ 21 (or more than half) of the 39 votes for it were from Southern States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It will thus be seen&mdash;singularly enough in view of subsequent events&mdash;that
+ we not only mainly owe our first steps in Protective Tariff legislation to
+ the almost solid Southern vote, but that it was thus secured for us
+ despite the opposition of New England. Nor did our indebtedness to
+ Southern statesmen and Southern votes for the institution of the now fully
+ established American System of Protection cease here, as we shall
+ presently see.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ That Jefferson, as well as Washington and Madison, agreed with the views
+ of Alexander Hamilton on Protection to our domestic manufactures as
+ against those of foreign Nations, is evident in his Annual Message of
+ December 14, 1806, wherein&mdash;discussing an anticipated surplus of
+ Federal revenue above the expenditures, and enumerating the purposes of
+ education and internal improvement to which he thinks the "whole surplus
+ of impost" should during times of peace be applied; by which application
+ of such surplus he prognosticates that "new channels of communication will
+ be opened between the States; the lines of separation will disappear;
+ their interests will be identified, and their Union cemented by new and
+ indissoluble ties"&mdash;he says: "Shall we suppress the impost and give
+ that advantage to foreign over domestic manufactures. On a few articles of
+ more general and necessary use, the suppression in due season, will
+ doubtless be right; but the great mass of the articles on which impost is
+ paid is foreign luxuries, purchased by those only who are rich enough to
+ afford themselves the use of them." But his embargo and other retaliatory
+ measures, put in force in 1807 and 1808, and the War of 1812-15 with Great
+ Britain, which closely followed, furnished Protection in another manner,
+ by shutting the door to foreign imports and throwing our people upon their
+ own resources, and contributed greatly to the encouragement and increase
+ of our home manufactures&mdash;especially those of wool, cotton, and hemp.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At the close of that War the traders of Great Britain determined, even at
+ a temporary loss to themselves, to glut our market with their goods and
+ thus break down forever, as they hoped, our infant manufactures. Their
+ purpose and object were boldly announced in the House of Commons by Mr.
+ Brougham, when he said: "Is it worth while to incur a loss upon the first
+ importation, in order by the glut to stifle in the cradle those rising
+ manufactures in the United States which the War had forced into existence
+ contrary to the natural course of things." Against this threatened ruin,
+ our manufacturers all over the United States&mdash;the sugar planters of
+ Louisiana among them&mdash;clamored for Protection, and Congress at once
+ responded with the Tariff Act of 1816.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This law greatly extended and increased specific duties on, and diminished
+ the application of the ad valorem principle to, foreign imports; and it
+ has been well described as "the practical foundation of the American
+ policy of encouragement of home manufactures&mdash;the practical
+ establishment of the great industrial system upon which rests our present
+ National wealth, and the power and the prosperity and happiness of our
+ whole people." While Henry Clay of Kentucky, William Loundes of South
+ Carolina, and Henry St. George Tucker of Virginia supported the Bill most
+ effectively, no man labored harder and did more effective service in
+ securing its passage than John C. Calhoun of South Carolina. The
+ contention on their part was not for a mere "incidental protection"
+ &mdash;much less a "Tariff for revenue only"&mdash;but for "Protection" in
+ its broadest sense, and especially the protection of their cotton
+ manufactures. Indeed Calhoun's defense of Protection, from the assaults of
+ those from New England and elsewhere who assailed it on the narrow ground
+ that it was inimical to commerce and navigation, was a notable one. He
+ declared that:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It (the encouragement of manufactures) produced a system strictly
+ American, as much so as agriculture, in which it had the decided advantage
+ of commerce and navigation. The country will from this derive much
+ advantage. Again it is calculated to bind together more closely our
+ wide-spread Republic. It will greatly increase our mutual dependence and
+ intercourse, and will, as a necessary consequence, excite an increased
+ attention to internal improvements&mdash;a subject every way so intimately
+ connected with the ultimate attainment of national strength and the
+ perfection of our political institutions."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He regarded the fact that it would make the parts adhere more closely;
+ that it would form a new and most powerful cement far outweighing any
+ political objections that might be urged against the system. In his
+ opinion "the liberty and the union of the country were inseparably united;
+ that as the destruction of the latter would most certainly involve the
+ former, so its maintenance will with equal certainty preserve it;" and he
+ closed with an impressive warning to the Nation of a "new and terrible
+ danger" which threatened it, to wit: "disunion." Nobly as he stood up then&mdash;during
+ the last term of his service in the House of Representatives&mdash;for the
+ great principles of, the American System of Protection to manufactures,
+ for the perpetuity of the Union, and for the increase of "National
+ strength," it seems like the very irony of fate that a few years later
+ should find him battling against Protection as "unconstitutional,"
+ upholding Nullification as a "reserved right" of his State, and
+ championing at the risk of his neck that very "danger" to the "liberties"
+ and life of his Country against which his prophetic words had already
+ given solemn warning.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Strange was it also, in view of the subsequent attitudes of the South and
+ New England, that this essentially Protective Tariff Act of 1816 should
+ have been vigorously protested and voted against by New England, while it
+ was ably advocated and voted for by the South&mdash;the 25 votes of the
+ latter which secured its passage being more than sufficient to have
+ secured its defeat had they been so inclined.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Tariff Acts of 1824 and 1828 followed the great American principle of
+ Protection laid down and supported by the South in the Act of 1816, while
+ widening, increasing, and strengthening it. Under their operation&mdash;especially
+ under that of 1828, with its high duties on wool, hemp, iron, lead, and
+ other staples&mdash;great prosperity smiled upon the land, and
+ particularly upon the Free States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In the cotton-growing belt of the South, however, where the prosperity was
+ relatively less, owing to the blight of Slavery, the very contrast bred
+ discontent; and, instead of attributing it to the real cause, the
+ advocates of Free Trade within that region insisted that the Protective
+ Tariff was responsible for the condition of things existing there.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ A few restless and discontented spirits in the South had indeed agitated
+ the subject of Free Trade as against Protected manufactures as early as
+ 1797, and, hand in hand with it, the doctrine of States Rights. And
+ Jefferson himself, although, as we have already seen, attached to the
+ American System of Protection and believing in its Constitutionality,
+ unwittingly played into the hands of these Free Traders by drawing up the
+ famous Kentucky Resolutions of '98 touching States Rights, which were
+ closely followed by the Virginia Resolutions of 1799 in the same vein by
+ Madison, also an out-and-out Protectionist. It was mainly in condemnation
+ of the Alien and Sedition Laws, then so unpopular everywhere, that these
+ resolutions were professedly fulminated, but they gave to the agitating
+ Free Traders a States-Rights-Secession-weapon of which they quickly
+ availed themselves.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Their drift may be gathered from the first of the Kentucky Resolutions of
+ '98, which was in these words: "Resolved, That the several States
+ composing the United States of America are not united on the principle of
+ unlimited submission to their General Government, but that, by a compact
+ under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States, and of
+ amendments thereto, they constituted a General Government for special
+ purposes&mdash;delegated to that Government certain definite powers,
+ reserving, each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to their own
+ self-government; and that whensoever the General Government assumes
+ undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force;
+ that to this compact each State acceded as a State, and as an integral
+ party, its co-States forming, as to itself, the other party; that the
+ Government created by this compact was not made the exclusive or final
+ judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself; since that would
+ have made its discretion, and not the Constitution, the measure of its
+ powers; but that, as in all other cases of compact among powers having no
+ common judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well
+ of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Resolutions, after enumerating the Alien and Sedition and certain
+ other laws as in point, conclude by calling upon the other States to join
+ Kentucky in her opposition to such Federal usurpations of power as thus
+ embodied, and express confidence: "That they will concur with this
+ Commonwealth in considering the said Acts as so palpably against the
+ Constitution as to amount to an undisguised declaration that that compact
+ is not meant to be the measure of the powers of the General Government,
+ but that it will proceed in the exercise over these States, of all powers
+ whatsoever; that they will view this as seizing the rights of the States,
+ and consolidating them in the hands of the General Government, with the
+ power assumed to bind the States (not merely as to the cases made federal
+ (casus foederis) but) in all cases whatsoever, by laws made, not with
+ their consent, but by others against their consent; that this would be to
+ surrender the form of government we have chosen, and live under one
+ deriving its powers from its own will, and not from our authority; and
+ that the co-States, returning to their natural rights in cases not made
+ federal, will concur in declaring these Acts void and of no force, and
+ will each take measures of its own in providing that neither these Acts,
+ nor any others of the General Government, not plainly and intentionally
+ authorized by the Constitution, shall be exercised within their respective
+ territories."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The doctrine of States Rights as formulated in these Resolutions,
+ including the assumed right of a State to nullify laws of the General
+ Government, naturally led up, as we shall see, not only to threats of
+ disunion, but ultimately to a dreadful sectional War waged in the effort
+ to secure it. That Jefferson, when he penned them, foresaw the terrible
+ results to flow from these specious and pernicious doctrines, is not to be
+ supposed for an instant; but that his conscience troubled him may be
+ fairly inferred from the fact that he withheld from the World for twenty
+ years afterward the knowledge that he was their author. It is probable
+ that in this case, as in others, he was a victim of that casuistry which
+ teaches that "the end justifies the means;" that he hoped and believed
+ that the assertion of these baleful doctrines would act solely as a check
+ upon any tendency to further centralization of power in the General
+ Government and insure that strict construction of the Constitution.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Though afterward violated by himself at the same time that he for the
+ moment threw aside his scruples touching African slavery, when he added to
+ our domain the great French Slave Colony of Louisiana&mdash;was none the
+ less the great aim of his commanding intellect; and that he fortuitously
+ believed in the "saving common sense" of his race and country as capable
+ of correcting an existing evil when it shall have developed into ill
+ effects.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [Mr. Jefferson takes this very ground, in almost the same words, in his
+ letter, 1803, to Wilson C. Nichols in the Louisiana Colony purchase
+ case, when, after proving by his own strict construction of the
+ Constitution that there was no power in that instrument to make such
+ purchase, and confessing the importance in that very case of setting "an
+ example against broad construction," he concludes: "If, however, our
+ friends shall think differently, certainly I shall acquiesce with
+ satisfaction; confiding that the good sense of the country will correct
+ the evil of construction when it shall produce ill ejects."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ Be that as it may, however, the fact remains that the seeds thus sown by
+ the hands of Jefferson on the "sacred soil" of Virginia and Kentucky, were
+ dragon's teeth, destined in after years to spring up as legions of armed
+ men battling for the subversion of that Constitution and the destruction
+ of that Union which he so reverenced, and which he was so largely
+ instrumental in founding&mdash;and which even came back in his own life to
+ plague him and Madison during his embargo, and Madison's war of 1812-15,
+ in the utterances and attitude of some of the New England Federalists.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The few Free Traders of the South&mdash;the Giles's and John Taylor's and
+ men of that ilk&mdash;made up for their paucity in numbers by their
+ unscrupulous ingenuity and active zeal. They put forth the idea that the
+ American Protective Policy was a policy of fostering combinations by
+ Federal laws, the effect of which was to transfer a considerable portion
+ of the profits of slave labor from the Slave States to other parts of the
+ Union where it was massed in the hands of a few individuals, and thus
+ created a moneyed interest which avariciously influenced the General
+ Government to the detriment of the entire community of people, who, made
+ restive by the exactions of this power working through the Federal
+ Government, were as a consequence driven to consider a possible
+ dissolution of the Union, and make "estimates of resources and means of
+ defense." As a means also of inflaming both the poor whites and Southern
+ slave-holders by arousing the apprehensions of the latter concerning the
+ "peculiar institution" of Slavery, they craftily declared that "If the
+ maxim advanced by the advocates of the protecting duty system will justify
+ Congress in assuming, or rather in empowering a few capitalists to assume,
+ the direction of manufacturing labor, it also invests that body with a
+ power of legislating for the direction of every other species of labor and
+ assigning all occupations whatsoever to the care of the intelligence of
+ mercenary combinations"&mdash;and hence untold misery to labor.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ They charged as a further means of firing the Southern heart, that this
+ moneyed power, born of Protection, "works upon the passion of the States
+ it has been able to delude by computations of their physical strength and
+ their naval superiority; and by boasting of an ability to use the
+ weakening circumstance of negro slavery to coerce the defrauded and
+ discontented States into submission." And they declared as fundamental
+ truths upon which they rested that "The Federal is not a National
+ Government; it is a league between nations. By this league, a limited
+ power only over persons and property was given to the representatives of
+ the united nations. This power cannot be further extended, under the
+ pretext of national good, because the league does not create a national
+ government."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It was the passage of the Tariff of 1824 that gave these crafty Free
+ Traders their first great success in spreading their doctrine of Free
+ Trade by coupling it with questions of slave labor, States Rights, and
+ nullification, as laid down in the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions.
+ These arguments created great excitement throughout the South&mdash;especially
+ in South Carolina and Georgia&mdash;which was still further increased by
+ the passage of the Tariff of 1828, since declared by eminent authority to
+ have been "the highest and most protective ever adopted in this country."
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [Mr. Greeley, in his "History of the American Conflict," 1864.]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ Prior to the passage of this Tariff Act, excited assemblages met in some
+ of the Southern States, and protested against it as an outrage upon their
+ rights&mdash;arraying the South in seditious and treasonable attitude
+ against not only the North but the Union, with threats of Secession. At
+ one of these meetings in South Carolina, in 1827, one of their leaders&mdash;[Dr.
+ Thomas Cooper, President of South Carolina College.]&mdash;declared that
+ "a drilled and managed majority" in the House of Representatives had
+ determined "at all hazards to support the claims of the Northern
+ manufacturers, and to offer up the planting interest on the altar of
+ monopoly." He denounced the American system of Protection exemplified in
+ that Tariff measure as "a system by which the earnings of the South are to
+ be transferred to the North&mdash;by which the many are to be sacrificed
+ to the few&mdash;under which powers are usurped that were never conceded&mdash;by
+ which inequality of rights, inequality of burthens, inequality of
+ protection, unequal laws, and unequal taxes are to be enacted and rendered
+ permanent&mdash;that the planter and the farmer under this system are to
+ be considered as inferior beings to the spinner, the bleacher, and the
+ dyer&mdash;that we of the South hold our plantations under this system, as
+ the serfs and operatives of the North, subject to the orders and laboring
+ for the benefit of the master-minds of Massachusetts, the lords of the
+ spinning jenny and peers of the power-loom, who have a right to tax our
+ earnings for their emolument, and to burthen our poverty and to swell
+ their riches;" and after characterizing Protection as "a system of fraud,
+ robbery and usurpation," he continued "I have said that we shall ere long
+ be compelled to calculate the value of our Union; and to enquire of what
+ use to us is this most unequal alliance, by which the South has always
+ been the loser and the North always the gainer. Is it worth our while to
+ continue this union of States, where the North demands to be our masters
+ and we are required to be their tributaries? who with the most insulting
+ mockery call the yoke they put upon our necks the 'American system!' The
+ question, however, is fast approaching the alternative of submission or
+ separation."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Only a few days after this inflammatory speech at Columbus, S. C.,
+ inciting South Carolinians to resist the pending Protective Tariff even to
+ the lengths of Secession, during a grand banquet at Richmond, Va., William
+ B. Giles&mdash;another Free Trade leader&mdash;proposed, and those present
+ drank a toast to the "Tariff Schemer" in which was embodied a declaration
+ that "The Southerners will not long pay tribute." Despite these turbulent
+ and treasonable mutterings, however, the "Jacksonian Congress" passed the
+ Act&mdash;a majority of members from the Cotton and New England States
+ voting against, while the vote of the Middle and Western Free States was
+ almost solidly for, it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At a meeting held soon after the enactment of the Tariff of 1828, at
+ Walterborough Court House, S. C., an address was adopted and issued which,
+ after reciting the steps that had been taken by South Carolina during the
+ previous year to oppose it, by memorials and otherwise, and stating that,
+ despite their "remonstrances and implorations," a Tariff Bill had passed,
+ not indeed, such as they apprehended, but "ten-fold worse in all its
+ oppressive features," proceeded thus:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "From the rapid step of usurpation, whether we now act or not, the day of
+ open opposition to the pretended powers of the Constitution cannot be far
+ off, and it is that it may not go down in blood that we now call upon you
+ to resist. We feel ourselves standing underneath its mighty protection,
+ and declaring forth its free and recorded spirit, when we say we must
+ resist. By all the great principles of liberty&mdash;by the glorious
+ achievements of our fathers in defending them&mdash;by their noble blood
+ poured forth like water in maintaining them&mdash;by their lives in
+ suffering, and their death in honor and in glory;&mdash;our countrymen! we
+ must resist. Not secretly, as timid thieves or skulking smugglers&mdash;not
+ in companies and associations, like money chafferers or stock jobbers&mdash;not
+ separately and individually, as if this was ours and not our country's
+ cause&mdash;but openly, fairly, fearlessly, and unitedly, as becomes a
+ free, sovereign and independent people. Does timidity ask WHEN? We answer
+ NOW!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ These inflammatory utterances, in South Carolina especially, stirred the
+ Southern heart more or less throughout the whole cotton belt; and the
+ pernicious principles which they embodied found ardent advocates even in
+ the Halls of Congress. In the Senate, Mr. Hayne, of South Carolina, was
+ their chief and most vehement spokesman, and in 1830 occurred that
+ memorable debate between him and Daniel Webster, which forever put an end
+ to all reasonable justification of the doctrine of Nullification, and
+ which furnished the ground upon which President Jackson afterward stood in
+ denouncing and crushing it out with the strong arm of the Government.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In that great debate Mr. Hayne's propositions were that the Constitution
+ is a "compact between the States," that "in case of a plain, palpable
+ violation of the Constitution by the General Government, a State may
+ interpose; and that this interposition is constitutional"&mdash;a
+ proposition with which Mr. Webster took direct issue, in these words: "I
+ say, the right of a State to annul a law of Congress cannot be maintained,
+ but on the ground of the inalienable right of man to resist oppression;
+ that is to say, upon the ground of revolution. I admit that there is an
+ ultimate violent remedy, above the Constitution and in defiance of the
+ Constitution, which may be resorted to when a revolution is to be
+ justified. But I do not admit that, under the Constitution, and in
+ conformity with it, there is any mode in which a State Government, as a
+ member of the Union, can interfere and stop the progress of the general
+ movement by force of her own laws under any circumstances whatever." Mr.
+ Webster insisted that "one of two things is true: either the laws of the
+ Union are beyond the discretion and beyond the control of the States, or
+ else we have no Constitution of General Government, and are thrust back
+ again to the days of the Confederation;" and, in concluding his powerful
+ argument, he declared that "even supposing the Constitution to be a
+ compact between the States," Mr. Hayne's doctrine was "not maintainable,
+ because, first, the General Government is not a party to the compact, but
+ a Government established by it, and vested by it with the powers of trying
+ and deciding doubtful questions; and secondly, because, if the
+ Constitution be regarded as a compact, not one State only, but all the
+ States are parties to that compact, and one can have no right to fix upon
+ it her own peculiar construction."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ While the comparatively miserable condition of the cotton-growing States
+ of the South was attributed by most of the Southern Free Traders solely to
+ the Protective Tariff of 1828, yet there were some Southerners willing to
+ concede&mdash;as did Mr. Hayne, in the Senate (1832)&mdash;that there were
+ "other causes besides the Tariff" underlying that condition, and to admit
+ that "Slaves are too improvident, too incapable of that minute, constant,
+ delicate attention, and that persevering industry which are essential to
+ manufacturing establishments," the existence of which would have made
+ those States prosperous. But such admissions were unwilling ones, and the
+ Cotton-lords held only with the more tenacity to the view that the Tariff
+ was the chief cause of their condition.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Tariff Act of 1832, essentially modifying that of 1828, was passed
+ with a view, in part, to quiet Southern clamor. But the Southern Cotton
+ States refused to be mollified. On the contrary, the Free Traders of South
+ Carolina proceeded to extreme measures, putting in action that which they
+ had before but threatened. On November 19, 1832, the leading men of South
+ Carolina met in Convention, and a few days thereafter&mdash;[November
+ 24,1882]&mdash;unanimously passed an Ordinance of Nullification which
+ declared the Tariff Acts of 1828 and 1832 "Unauthorized by the
+ Constitution," and "null, void, and no law, nor binding on this State, its
+ officers, or citizens." The people of the State were forbidden by it to
+ pay, after the ensuing February 1st, the import-duties therein imposed.
+ Under the provisions of the Ordinance, the State Legislature was to pass
+ an act nullifying these Tariff laws, and any appeal to the United States
+ Supreme Court against the validity of such nullifying act was prohibited.
+ Furthermore, in the event of the Federal Government attempting to enforce
+ these Tariff laws, the people of South Carolina would thenceforth consider
+ themselves out of the Union, and will "forthwith proceed to organize a
+ separate Government, and do all other acts and things which sovereign and
+ independent States may of right do."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At the subsequent meeting of the Legislature, Mr. Hayne, who had been a
+ member of the Convention, having resigned his seat in the United States
+ Senate, was elected Governor of the State. He declared in his message that
+ he recognized "No allegiance as paramount to that which the citizens of
+ South Carolina owe to the State of their birth or their adoption"&mdash;that
+ doctrine of "paramount allegiance to the State" which in after-years gave
+ so much trouble to the Union and to Union-loving Southerners&mdash;and
+ declared that he held himself "bound by the highest of all obligations to
+ carry into effect, not only the Ordinance of the Convention, but every act
+ of the Legislature, and every judgment of our own Courts, the enforcement
+ of which may devolve upon the Executive," and "if," continued he, "the
+ sacred soil of Carolina should be polluted by the footsteps of an invader,
+ or be stained with the blood of her citizens, shed in her defense, I trust
+ in Almighty God * * * even should she stand alone in this great struggle
+ for constitutional liberty, encompassed by her enemies, that there will
+ not be found, in the wide limits of the State, one recreant son who will
+ not fly to the rescue, and be ready to lay down his life in her defense."
+ In support of the contemplated treason, he even went to the length of
+ calling for an enrolling of volunteer forces and of holding them ready for
+ service.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But while South Carolina stood in this treasonable and defiant attitude,
+ arming for war against the Union, there happened to be in the Presidential
+ chair one of her own sons&mdash;General Jackson. Foreseeing what was
+ coming, he had, prior to the meeting of the Convention that framed the
+ Nullification Ordinance, ordered General Scott to Charleston to look after
+ "the safety of the ports of the United States" thereabouts, and had sent
+ to the Collector of that port precise instructions as to his duty to
+ resist in all ways any and all attempts made under such Ordinance to
+ defeat the operation of the Tariff laws aforesaid. Having thus quietly
+ prepared the arm of the General Government for the exercise of its power,
+ he issued in December a Proclamation declaring his unalterable resolution
+ to treat Nullification as Treason&mdash;and to crush it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In that famous document President Jackson said of Nullification: "If this
+ doctrine had been established at an earlier day, the Union would have been
+ dissolved in its infancy. The Excise law in Pennsylvania, the Embargo and
+ Non-intercourse law in the Eastern States, the Carriage-tax in Virginia,
+ were all deemed unconstitutional, and were more unequal in their operation
+ than any of the laws now complained of; but fortunately, none of those
+ States discovered that they had the right now claimed by South Carolina. *
+ * * The discovery of this important feature in our Constitution was
+ reserved for the present day. To the statesmen of South Carolina belongs
+ the invention, and upon the citizens of that State will unfortunately fall
+ the evils of reducing it to practice. * * * I consider, then, the power to
+ annul a law of the United States, assumed by one State, incompatible with
+ the existence of the Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of the
+ Constitution, unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every
+ principle on which it was founded and destructive of the great object for
+ which it was formed. * * * To say that any State may at pleasure secede
+ from the Union, is to say that the United States are not a Nation, because
+ it would be a solecism to contend that any part of a Nation might dissolve
+ its connection with the other parts, to their injury or ruin, without
+ committing any, offense."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Farther on, in his moving appeal to the South Carolinians, he bids them
+ beware of their leaders: "Their object is disunion; be not deceived by
+ names. Disunion, by armed force, is Treason." And then, reminding them of
+ the deeds of their fathers in the Revolution, he proceeds: "I adjure you,
+ as you honor their memory, as you love the cause of freedom to which they
+ dedicated their lives, as you prize the peace of your country, the lives
+ of its best citizens, and your own fair fame, to retrace your steps.
+ Snatch from the archives of your State the disorganizing edict of its
+ Convention&mdash;bid its members to reassemble and promulgate the decided
+ expression of your will to remain in the path which alone can conduct you
+ to safety, prosperity, and honor&mdash;tell them that, compared to
+ disunion, all other evils are light, because that brings with it an
+ accumulation of all&mdash;declare that you will never take the field
+ unless the Star-spangled banner of your country shall float over you&mdash;that
+ you will not be stigmatized when dead, and dishonored and scorned while
+ you live, as the authors of the first attack on the Constitution of your
+ country! Its destroyers you cannot be."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After asserting his firm "determination to execute the laws&mdash;to
+ preserve the Union by all constitutional means"&mdash;he concludes with
+ the prayer, "May the great Ruler of Nations grant, that the signal
+ blessings with which He has favored, ours may not, by the madness of
+ party, or personal ambition be disregarded and lost; and may His wise
+ providence bring those who have produced this crisis to see the folly
+ before they feel the misery, of civil strife; and inspire a returning
+ veneration for that Union, which, if we may dare to penetrate His designs,
+ He has chosen as the only means of attaining the high destinies to which
+ we may reasonably aspire."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The firm attitude of General Jackson, together with the wise precautionary
+ measures he had already taken, and the practical unanimity with which his
+ declaration to crush out the Treason was hailed in most of the Southern as
+ well as the Northern States, almost at once broke the back of
+ Nullification.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [In this connection the following letter, written at that time by the
+ great Chief Justice Marshall, to a cousin of his, on the subject of
+ State Sovereignty, is of interest, as showing how clearly his
+ penetrating intellect perceived the dangers to the Union hidden in the
+ plausible doctrine of State Rights:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ RICHMOND, May 7, 1833.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "MY DEAR SIR:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I am much indebted to you for your pamphlet on Federal Relations, which
+ I have read with much satisfaction. No subject, as it seems to me, is
+ more misunderstood or more perverted. You have brought into view
+ numerous important historical facts which, in my judgment, remove the
+ foundation on which the Nullifiers and Seceders have erected that
+ superstructure which overshadows our Union. You have, I think, shown
+ satisfactorily that we never have been perfectly distinct, independent
+ societies, sovereign in the sense in which the Nullifiers use the term.
+ When colonies we certainly were not. We were parts of the British
+ empire, and although not directly connected with each other so far as
+ respected government, we were connected in many respects, and were
+ united to the same stock. The steps we took to effect separation were,
+ as you have fully shown, not only revolutionary in their nature, but
+ they were taken conjointly. Then, as now, we acted in many respects as
+ one people. The representatives of each colony acted for all. Their
+ resolutions proceeded from a common source, and operated on the whole
+ mass. The army was a continental army commanded by a continental
+ general, and supported from a continental treasury. The Declaration of
+ Independence was made by a common government, and was made for all the
+ States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Everything has been mixed. Treaties made by Congress have been
+ considered as binding all the States. Some powers have been exercised by
+ Congress, some by the States separately. The lines were not strictly
+ drawn. The inability of Congress to carry its legitimate powers into
+ execution has gradually annulled those powers practically, but they
+ always existed in theory. Independence was declared `in the name and by
+ the authority of the good people of these colonies.' In fact we have
+ always been united in some respects, separate in others. We have acted
+ as one people for some purposes, as distinct societies for others. I
+ think you have shown this clearly, and in so doing have demonstrated the
+ fallacy of the principle on which either nullification or the right of
+ peaceful, constitutional secession is asserted.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The time is arrived when these truths must be more generally spoken, or
+ our Union is at an end. The idea of complete sovereignty of the State
+ converts our government into a league, and, if carried into practice,
+ dissolves the Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I am, dear sir,
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Yours affectionately,
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "J. MARSHALL.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "HUMPHREY MARSHALL, ESQ.,
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "FRANKFORT, KY."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ The Nullifiers hailed with pretended satisfaction the report from the
+ House Committee on Ways and Means of a Bill making great reductions and
+ equalizations of Tariff duties, as a measure complying with their demands,
+ and postponed the execution of the Ordinance of Nullification until the
+ adjournment of Congress; and almost immediately afterward Mr. Clay's
+ Compromise Tariff Act of 1833 "whereby one tenth of the excess over twenty
+ per cent. of each and every existing impost was to be taken off at the
+ close of that year; another tenth two years thereafter; so proceeding
+ until the 30th of June, 1842, when all duties should be reduced to a
+ maximum of twenty per cent."&mdash;[Says Mr. Greeley, in his History
+ aforesaid.]&mdash;agreed to by Calhoun and other Nullifiers, was passed,
+ became a law without the signature of President Jackson, and South
+ Carolina once more became to all appearances a contented, law-abiding
+ State of the Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But after-events proved conclusively that the enactment of this Compromise
+ Tariff was a terrible blunder, if not a crime. Jackson had fully intended
+ to hang Calhoun and his nullifying coadjutors if they persisted in their
+ Treason. He knew that they had only seized upon the Tariff laws as a
+ pretext with which to justify Disunion, and prophesied that "the next will
+ be the Slavery or Negro question." Jackson's forecast was correct. Free
+ Trade, Slavery and Secession were from that time forward sworn allies; and
+ the ruin wrought to our industries by the disasters of 1840, plainly
+ traceable to that Compromise Tariff measure of 1833, was only to be
+ supplemented by much greater ruin and disasters caused by the Free Trade
+ Tariff of 1846&mdash;and to be followed by the armed Rebellion of the Free
+ Trade and Pro-Slavery States of the South in 1861, in a mad attempt to
+ destroy the Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkjefferson" id="linkjefferson"></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="p078-jefferson.jpg (77K)" src="images/p078-jefferson.jpg" style="width:100%;"
+ /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch3" id="linkch3"></a><br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ CHAPTER III.<br /> <br /> GROWTH OF THE SLAVERY QUESTION.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It will be remembered that during the period of the Missouri Struggle,
+ 1818-1820, the Territory of Arkansas was formed by an Act of Congress out
+ of that part of the Missouri Territory not included in the proposed State
+ of Missouri, and that the Act so creating the Territory of Arkansas
+ contained no provision restricting Slavery. Early in 1836, the people of
+ Arkansas Territory met in Convention and formed a Constitution under
+ which, "and by virtue of the treaty of cession by France to the United
+ States, of the Province of Louisiana," they asked admission to the Union
+ as a State. Among other provisions of that Constitution was a section
+ rendering the State Legislature powerless to pass laws for the
+ emancipation of slaves without the consent of the owners, or to prevent
+ emigrants to that State from bringing with them slaves. On June 15th of
+ the same year, Arkansas was, under that Constitution, admitted to the
+ Union as a Slave State, with the sole reservation, that nothing in the Act
+ of admission should be construed as an assent by Congress to all or any of
+ the propositions contained" in the said Constitution.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Long ere this, all the Northern and Middle States had made provision for
+ the emancipation of such slaves as remained within their borders, and only
+ a few years previous (in 1829 and 1831-32) Virginia had made strong but
+ insufficient efforts toward the same end. The failure to free Virginia of
+ Slavery&mdash;the effort to accomplish which had been made by some of the
+ greatest of her statesmen&mdash;only served to rivet the chains of human
+ bondage more securely throughout all the Slave States, and from that time
+ on, no serious agitation occurred in any one of them, looking toward even
+ the most gradual emancipation. On the other hand, the advocates of the
+ extension of the Slave-Power by the expansion of Slave-territory, were
+ ever on the alert, they considered it of the last importance to maintain
+ the balance of power between the Slave States and the Free States. Hence,
+ while they had secured in 1819 the cession from Spain to the United States
+ of the Slave-holding Floridas, and the organization of the Slave Territory
+ of Florida in 1822&mdash;which subsequently came in as a Slave State under
+ the same Act (1845) that admitted the Free State of Iowa&mdash;their
+ greedy eyes were now cast upon the adjoining rich territories of Mexico.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Efforts had (in 1827-1829) been made to purchase from Mexico the domain
+ which was known as Texas. They had failed. But already a part of Texas had
+ been settled by adventurous Americans under Mexican grants and otherwise;
+ and General Sam Houston, an adherent of the Slave Power, having become a
+ leading spirit among them, fomented a revolution. In March, 1836, Texas,
+ under his guidance, proclaimed herself a Republic independent of Mexico.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The War that ensued between Texas and Mexico ended in the flight of the
+ Mexican Army and the capture of Santa Anna at San Jacinto, and a treaty
+ recognizing Texan independence. In October, 1836, General Houston was
+ inaugurated President of the Republic of Texas. Close upon this followed
+ (in August, 1837) a proposition to our Government from the Texan envoy for
+ the annexation of Texas to the United States. President Van Buren declined
+ the offer. The Northern friends of Freedom were as much opposed to this
+ annexation project as the advocates of Slavery were anxious for it. Even
+ such conservative Northern Statesmen as Daniel Webster strongly opposed
+ the project. In a speech delivered in New York [1837], after showing that
+ the chief aim of our Government in the acquisition of the Territory of
+ Louisiana was to gain command of the mouths of the great rivers to the
+ sea, and that in the acquisition of the Floridas our policy was based on
+ similar considerations, Mr. Webster declared that "no such necessity, no
+ such policy, requires the annexation of Texas," and that we ought "for
+ numerous and powerful reasons to be content with our present boundaries."
+ He recognized that Slavery already existed under the guarantees of the
+ Constitution and those guarantees must be fulfilled; that "Slavery, as it
+ exists in the States, is beyond the power of Congress. It is a concern of
+ the States themselves," but "when we come to speak of admitting new
+ States, the subject assumes an entirely different aspect. Our rights and
+ our duties are then both different. The Free States, and all the States,
+ are then at liberty to accept or to reject;" and he added, "In my opinion
+ the people of the United States will not consent to bring into the Union a
+ new, vastly extensive and Slaveholding country, large enough for a half a
+ dozen or a dozen States. In my opinion, they ought not to consent to it."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Farther on, in the same speech&mdash;after alluding to the strong feeling
+ in the Northern States against the extension of Slavery, not only as a
+ question of politics, but of conscience and religious conviction as wellhe
+ deems him a rash man indeed "who supposes that a feeling of this kind is
+ to be trifled with or despised." Said he: "It will assuredly cause itself
+ to be respected. It may be reasoned with; it may be made willing&mdash;I
+ believe it is entirely willing&mdash;to fulfill all existing engagements
+ and all existing duties&mdash;to uphold and defend the Constitution as it
+ is established, with whatever regrets about some provisions which it does
+ actually contain. But to coerce it into silence, to endeavor to restrain
+ its free expression, to seek to compress and confine it, warm as it is,
+ and more heated as such endeavors would inevitably render it,&mdash;should
+ this be attempted, I know nothing, even in the Constitution or in the
+ Union itself, which would not be endangered by the explosion which might
+ follow."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In 1840, General Harrison, the Whig candidate, was elected to the
+ Presidency, but died within a few weeks after his inauguration in 1841,
+ and was succeeded by John Tyler. The latter favored the Slave Power; and
+ on April 12th, 1844, John C. Calhoun, his Secretary of State, concluded
+ with Texas a treaty of annexation&mdash;which was, however, rejected by
+ the Senate. Meanwhile the public mind was greatly agitated over the
+ annexation and other, questions.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [In the London Index, a journal established there by Jefferson Davis's
+ agents to support the cause of the rebellious States, a communication
+ appeared during the early part of the war, Dec. 4, 1861, supposed to
+ have been written by Mr. Mason, of Virginia, in which he said: "To tell
+ the Norths, the Butes, the Wedderburns of the present day, that previous
+ to the year 1839 the sovereign States of the South had unalterably
+ resolved on the specific ground of the violation of the Federal
+ Constitution by the tariff of spoliation which the New England States
+ had imposed upon them&mdash;to secede from the Union; to tell them that
+ in that year the leader of the South, Calhoun, urged an English
+ gentleman, to whom he had fully explained the position of the South, and
+ the intolerable tyranny which the North inflicted upon it, to be the
+ bearer of credentials from the chief persons of the South, in order to
+ invite the attention of the British Government to the coming event; that
+ on his death-bed (Washington, March 31, 1850), he called around him his
+ political friends&mdash;one of whom is now in England&mdash;warned them
+ that in no event could the Union survive the Presidential election of
+ 1860, though it might possibly break up before that urged them to be
+ prepared; leaving with his dying words the sacred cause of Southern
+ secession a solemn legacy in their hands&mdash;to have told this to the
+ Norths and Dartmouths of the present day, with more and even stronger
+ evidence of the coming events of November, 1860, would have been like
+ speaking to the stones of the street. In November, 1860, they were
+ thoroughly ignorant of all the momentous antecedents of secession&mdash;of
+ their nature, their character, their bearing, import, and consequences."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In the same correspondence the distinguished Rebel emissary
+ substantially let out the fact that Calhoun was indirectly, through
+ himself (Mason), in secret communication with the British Government as
+ far back as 1841, with a view to securing its powerful aid in his
+ aforesaid unalterable resolve to Secede from the Union; and then Mr.
+ Mason pleads&mdash;but pleads in vain&mdash;for the armed intervention
+ of England at this later day. Said he:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In the year 1841 the late Sir William Napier sent in two plans for
+ subduing the Union, to the War Office, in the first of which the South
+ was to be treated as an enemy, in the second as a friend and ally. I was
+ much consulted by him as to the second plan and was referred to by name
+ in it, as he showed by the acknowledgment of this in Lord Fitzroy
+ Somerset's letter of reply. This plan fully provided for the contingency
+ of an invasion of Canada, and its application would, in eighteen or
+ twenty months, have reduced the North to a much more impotent condition
+ than it exhibits at present. At this very moment the most difficult
+ portion of that plan has been perfectly accomplished by the South
+ itself; and the North, in accordance with Sir William Napier's
+ expectations, now lies helpless before England, and at our absolute
+ mercy. Nor is there any doubt of this, and if Lord Palmerston is not
+ aware of it Mr. Seward certainly is. We have nothing remaining to do but
+ to stretch out our arm in the way Sir William Napier proposed, and the
+ Northern power&mdash;power as we ignorantly call it&mdash;must come to
+ an end. Sir William knew and well estimated the elements of which that
+ quasi power consisted; and he knew how to apply the substantive power of
+ England to dissolve it. In the best interest of humanity, I venture to
+ say that it is the duty of England to apply this power without further
+ delay&mdash;its duty to itself, to its starving operatives, to France,
+ to Europe, and to humanity. And in the discharge of this great duty to
+ the world at large there will not even be the dignity of sacrifice or
+ danger."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ Threats and counter-threats of Disunion were made on either hand by the
+ opponents and advocates of Slavery-extension through annexation; nor was
+ it less agitated on the subject of a Protective Tariff.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Compromise Tariff of 1833, together with President Jackson's upheaval
+ of our financial system, produced, as has already been hinted, terrible
+ commercial disasters. "In 1840," says competent authority, "all prices had
+ ruinously fallen; production had greatly diminished, and in many
+ departments of industry had practically ceased; thousands of working men
+ were idle, with no hope of employment, and their families suffering from
+ want. Our farmers were without markets, their products rotted in their
+ barns, and their lands, teeming with rich harvests, were sold by the
+ sheriff for debts and taxes. The Tariff, which robbed our industries of
+ Protection failed to supply Government with its necessary revenues. The
+ National Treasury in consequence was bankrupt, and the credit of the
+ Nation had sunk very low."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Clay himself stated "the average depression in the value of property
+ under that state of things which existed before the Tariff of 1842 came to
+ the rescue of the country, at fifty per cent." And hence it was that
+ Protection was made the chief issue of the Presidential campaign of 1840,
+ which eventuated in the election of Harrison and Tyler, and in the Tariff
+ Act of August 30, 1842, which revived our trade and industries, and
+ brought back to the land a full measure of prosperity. With those
+ disasters fresh in the minds of the people, Protection continued to be a
+ leading issue in the succeeding Presidential campaign of 1844&mdash;but
+ coupled with the Texas-annexation issue. In that campaign Henry Clay was
+ the candidate of the Whig party and James K. Polk of the Democratic party.
+ Polk was an ardent believer in the annexation policy and stood upon a
+ platform declaring for the "re-occupation of Oregon and the re-annexation
+ of Texas at the earliest practicable moment"&mdash;as if the prefix "re"
+ legitimatized the claim in either case; Clay, on the other hand, held that
+ we had "fairly alienated our title to Texas by solemn National compacts,
+ to the fulfilment of which we stand bound by good faith and National
+ honor;" that "Annexation and War with Mexico are identical," and that he
+ was "not willing to involve this country in a foreign War for the object
+ of acquiring Texas."
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [In his letter of April 17, 1844, published in the National
+ Intelligencer.]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ As to the Tariff issue also, Clay was the acknowledged champion of the
+ American system of Protection, while Polk was opposed to it, and was
+ supported by the entire Free-trade sentiment, whether North or South.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ As the campaign progressed, it became evident that Clay would be elected.
+ Then occurred some of those fatalities which have more than once, in the
+ history of Presidential campaigns, overturned the most reasonable
+ expectations and defeated the popular will. Mr. Clay committed a blunder
+ and Mr. Polk an equivocation&mdash;to use the mildest possible term. Mr.
+ Clay was induced by Southern friends to write a letter&mdash;[Published in
+ the North Alabamian, Aug. 16, 1844.]&mdash;in which, after stating that
+ "far from having any personal objection to the annexation of Texas, I
+ should be glad to see it&mdash;without dishonor, without War, with the
+ common consent of the Union, and upon just and fair terms," he added: "I
+ do not think that the subject of Slavery ought to affect the question, one
+ way or the other." Mr. Polk, on the other hand, wrote a letter in which he
+ declared it to be "the duty of the Government to extend, as far as it may
+ be practicable to do so, by its revenue laws and all other means within
+ its power, fair and just Protection to all the great interests of the
+ whole Union, embracing Agriculture, Manufactures, the Mechanic Arts,
+ Commerce and Navigation." This was supplemented by a letter (August 8,
+ 1844) from Judge Wilson McCandless of Pennsylvania, strongly upholding the
+ Protective principle, claiming that Clay in his Compromise Tariff Bill had
+ abandoned it, and that Polk and Dallas had "at heart the true interests of
+ Pennsylvania." Clay, thus betrayed by the treachery of Southern friends,
+ was greatly weakened, while Polk, by his beguiling letter, backed by the
+ false interpretation put upon it by powerful friends in the North, made
+ the North believe him a better Protectionist than Clay.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Polk was elected, and rewarded the misplaced confidence by making Robert
+ J. Walker his Secretary of the Treasury, and, largely through that great
+ Free Trader's exertions, secured a repeal by Congress of the Protective
+ Tariff of 1842 and the enactment of the ruinous Free Trade Tariff of 1846.
+ Had Clay carried New York, his election was secure. As it happened, Polk
+ had a plurality in New York of but 5,106 in an immense vote, and that slim
+ plurality was given to him by the Abolitionists throwing away some 15,000
+ on Birney. And thus also it curiously happened that it was the Abolition
+ vote which secured the election of the candidate who favored immediate
+ annexation and the extension of the Slave Power!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Emboldened and apparently sustained by the result of the election, the
+ Slave Power could not await the inauguration of Mr. Polk, but proceeded at
+ once, under whip and spur, to drive the Texas annexation scheme through
+ Congress; and two days before the 4th of March, 1845, an Act consenting to
+ the admission of the Republic of Texas as a State of the Union was
+ approved by President Tyler.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In that Act it was provided that "New States of convenient size, not
+ exceeding four in number, in addition to the said State of Texas, and
+ having sufficient population, may hereafter, by the consent of said State,
+ be formed out of the territory thereof, which shall be entitled to
+ admission under the provisions of the Federal Constitution; and such
+ States as may be formed out of that portion of said territory lying south
+ of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north latitude, commonly known as the
+ Missouri Compromise line, shall be admitted into the Union with or without
+ Slavery, as the people of each State asking admission may desire. And in
+ such State or States as shall be formed out of said territory north of
+ said Missouri Compromise line, Slavery or involuntary servitude (except
+ for crime) shall be prohibited." As has been lucidly stated by another,&mdash;[Greeley's
+ History]&mdash;"while seeming to curtail and circumscribe Slavery north of
+ the above parallel (that of 36 30' north latitude), this measure really
+ extended it northward to that parallel, which it had not yet approached,
+ under the flag of Texas, within hundreds of miles. But the chief end of
+ this sham Compromise was the involving of Congress in an indirect
+ indorsement of the claim of Texas to the entire left bank of the Rio
+ Grande, from its mouth to its source; and this was effected."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Texas quickly consented to the Act of annexation, and in December, 1845, a
+ Joint Resolution formally admitting her as a State of the Union, reported
+ by Stephen A. Douglas, was duly passed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In May, 1846, the American forces under General Taylor, which had been
+ dispatched to protect Texas from threatened assault, were attacked by the
+ Mexican army, which at Palo Alto was badly defeated and at Resaca de la
+ Palma driven back across the Rio Grande.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Congress immediately declared that by this invasion a state of War existed
+ between Mexico and the United States. Thus commenced the War with Mexico&mdash;destined
+ to end in the triumph of the American Army, and the acquisition of large
+ areas of territory to the United States. In anticipation of such triumph,
+ President Polk lost little time in asking an appropriation of over two
+ million dollars by Congress to facilitate negotiations for peace with, and
+ territorial cession from, Mexico. And a Bill making such appropriation was
+ quickly passed by the House of Representatives&mdash;but with the
+ following significant proviso attached, which had been offered by Mr.
+ Wilmot: "Provided. That as an express and fundamental condition to the
+ acquisition of any territory from the Republic of Mexico by the United
+ States, by virtue of any treaty that may be negotiated between them, and
+ to the use by the Executive of the moneys herein appropriated, neither
+ Slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of said
+ territory, except for crime, whereof the party shall first be duly
+ convicted."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The debate in the Senate upon the Wilmot proviso, which immediately
+ ensued, was cut short by the expiration of the Session of Congress&mdash;and
+ the Bill accordingly failed of passage.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In February, 1848, the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was made between Mexico
+ and the United States, and Peace reigned once more. About the same time a
+ Bill was passed by the Senate providing Territorial Governments for
+ Oregon, California and New Mexico, which provided for the reference of all
+ questions touching Slavery in such Territories to the United States
+ Supreme Court, for arbitration. The Bill, however, failed in the House.
+ The ensuing Presidential campaign resulted in the election of General
+ Taylor, the Whig candidate, who was succeeded upon his death, July 10,
+ 1850, by Fillmore. Meanwhile, on the Oregon Territory Bill, in 1848, a
+ strong effort had been made by Mr. Douglas and others to incorporate a
+ provision extending to the Pacific Ocean the Missouri Compromise line of
+ 36 30' of north latitude and extending to all future organizations of
+ Territories of the United States the principles of said Compromise. This
+ provision was adopted by the Senate, but the House struck it from the
+ Bill; the Senate receded, and Oregon was admitted as a Free Territory. But
+ the conflict in Congress between those who would extend and those who
+ would restrict Slavery still continued, and indeed gathered vehemence with
+ time. In 1850, California was clamoring for admission as a Free State to
+ the Union, and New Mexico and Utah sought to be organized under
+ Territorial Governments.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In the heated discussions upon questions growing out of bills for these
+ purposes, and to rectify the boundaries of Texas, it was no easy matter to
+ reach an agreement of any sort. Finally, however, the Compromise of 1850,
+ offered by Mr. Clay, was practically agreed to and carried out, and under
+ it: California was admitted as a Free State; New Mexico and Utah were
+ admitted to Territorial organization without a word pro or con on the
+ subject of Slavery; the State of Texas was awarded a pecuniary
+ compensation for the rectification of her boundaries; the Slave Trade in
+ the District of Columbia was abolished; and a more effectual Fugitive
+ Slave Act passed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ By both North and South, this Compromise of 1850, and the measures growing
+ out of it, were very generally acquiesced in, and for a while it seemed as
+ though a permanent settlement of the Slavery question had been reached.
+ But in the Fugitive Slave law, thus hastily enacted, lay embedded the seed
+ for further differences and excitements, speedily to germinate. In its
+ operation it proved not only unnecessarily cruel and harsh, in the manner
+ of the return to bondage of escaped slaves, but also afforded a shield and
+ support to the kidnapping of Free Negroes from Northern States. The
+ frequency of arrests in the Northern States, and the accompanying
+ circumstances of cruelty and brutality in the execution of the law, soon
+ made it especially odious throughout the North, and created an active
+ feeling of commiseration for the unhappy victims of the Slave Power, which
+ greatly intensified and increased the growing Anti-Slavery sentiment in
+ the Free States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In 1852-53, an attempt was made in Congress to organize into the Territory
+ of Nebraska, the region of country lying west of Iowa and Missouri. Owing
+ to the opposition of the South the Bill was defeated. In 1853-4 a similar
+ Bill was reported to the Senate by Mr. Douglas, but afterward at his own
+ instance recommitted to the Committee on Territories, and reported back by
+ him again in such shape as to create, instead of one, two Territories,
+ that portion directly west of Missouri to be called Kansas, and the
+ balance to be known as Nebraska&mdash;one of the sections of the Bill
+ enacting:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "That in order to avoid all misconstruction it is hereby declared to be
+ the true intent and meaning of this Act, so far as the question of Slavery
+ is concerned, to carry into practical operation the following propositions
+ and principles, established by the Compromise measures of 1850, to wit:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "First, That all questions pertaining to Slavery in the Territories, and
+ the new States to be formed therefrom, are to be left to the decision of
+ the people residing therein through their appropriate representatives.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Second, That 'all cases involving title to slaves,' and 'questions of
+ personal freedom,' are referred to the adjudication of the local tribunals
+ with the right of appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Third, That the provisions of the Constitution and laws of the United
+ States, in respect to fugitives from service, are to be carried into
+ faithful execution in all the `organized Territories,' the same as in the
+ States."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The sections authorizing Kansas and Nebraska to elect and send delegates
+ to Congress also prescribed:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "That the Constitution, and all laws of the United States which are not
+ locally inapplicable, shall have the same force and effect within the said
+ Territory, as elsewhere in the United States, except the section of the
+ Act preparatory to the admission of Missouri into the Union, approved
+ March 6th, 1820, which was superseded by the principles of the Legislation
+ of 1850, commonly called the Compromise Measures, and is declared
+ inoperative."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And when "explaining this Kansas-Nebraska Bill" Mr. Douglas announced
+ that, in reporting it, "The object of the Committee was neither to
+ legislate Slavery in or out of the Territories; neither to introduce nor
+ exclude it; but to remove whatever obstacle Congress had put there, and
+ apply the doctrine of Congressional Non-intervention in accordance with
+ the principles of the Compromise Measures of 1850, and allow the people to
+ do as they pleased upon this as well as all other matters affecting their
+ interests."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ A vigorous and able debate ensued. A motion by Mr. Chase to strike out the
+ words "which was superseded by the principles of the legislation of 1850,
+ commonly called the Compromise Measures," was defeated decisively.
+ Subsequently Mr. Douglas moved to strike out the same words and insert in
+ place of them, these: "which being inconsistent with the principles of
+ Non-intervention by Congress with Slavery in the States and Territories,
+ as recognized by the legislation of 1850 (commonly called the Compromise
+ Measures), is hereby declared inoperative and void; it being the true
+ intent and meaning of this Act not to legislate Slavery into any Territory
+ or State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof
+ perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their
+ own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States"&mdash;and
+ the motion was agreed to by a vote of 35 yeas to 10 nays. Mr. Chase
+ immediately moved to add to the amendment just adopted these words: "Under
+ which, the people of the Territory, through their appropriate
+ representatives, may, if they see fit, prohibit the existence of Slavery
+ therein;" but this motion was voted down by 36 nays to 10 yeas. This
+ developed the rat in the meal-tub. The people were to be "perfectly free"
+ to act either way on the subject of Slavery, so long as they did not
+ prohibit Slavery! In this shape the Bill passed the Senate.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Public sentiment in the North was greatly stirred by this direct attempt
+ to repeal the Missouri Compromise. But by the superior parliamentary
+ tactics of Southern Representatives in the House, whereby the radical
+ friends of Freedom were shut out from the opportunity of amendment, a
+ House Bill essentially the same as the Senate Bill was subsequently passed
+ by the House, under the previous question, and afterward rapidly passed
+ the Senate, and was approved by the President. At once commenced that long
+ and terrible struggle between the friends of Free-Soil and the friends of
+ Slavery, for the possession of Kansas, which convulsed the whole Country
+ for years, and moistened the soil of that Territory with streams of blood,
+ shed in numerous "border-ruffian" conflicts.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Territorial Government of Kansas was organized late in 1854, and an
+ "election" for Delegate held, at which the Pro-Slavery candidate
+ (Whitfield) was fraudulently elected. On March 30, 1855, a Territorial
+ Legislature was similarly chosen by Pro-Slavery voters "colonized" from
+ Missouri. That Legislature, upon its meeting, proceeded at once to enact
+ most outrageous Pro-Slavery laws, which being vetoed by the Free-Soil
+ Governor (Reeder), were passed over the veto, and the Free-Soil Governor
+ had to give place to one who favored Slavery in Kansas. But the Free-Soil
+ settlers of Kansas, in Mass Convention at Big Springs, utterly repudiated
+ the bogus Legislature and all its acts, to which they refused submission.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In consequence of these radical differences, two separate elections for
+ Delegate in Congress were held by the opposing factions, at one of which
+ was elected the Pro-Slavery Whitfield, and at the other the Free-Soiler
+ Reeder. Furthermore, under a call issued by the Big Springs Convention, a
+ Free-State Constitutional Convention was held in October, 1855, at Topeka,
+ which framed a Free-State Constitution, and asked admission under it to
+ the Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In 1856, the House of Representatives&mdash;which, after a protracted
+ struggle, had elected N. P. Banks Speaker&mdash;passed a Bill, by a bare
+ majority, admitting Kansas under her Topeka Constitution; but the Senate
+ defeated it. July 4, 1856, by order of President Pierce, the Free-State
+ Legislature, chosen under the Topeka Constitution to meet at Topeka, was
+ dispersed by United States Troops. Yet, despite all oppositions,
+ discouragements, and outrages, the Free-State population of Kansas
+ continued to increase from immigration.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In 1857, the Pro-Slavery Legislature elected by the Pro-Slavery voters at
+ their own special election&mdash;the Free-State voters declining to
+ participate&mdash;called a Constitutional Convention at Lecompton, which
+ formed a Pro-Slavery Constitution. This was submitted to the people in
+ such dexterous manner that they could only vote "For the Constitution with
+ Slavery" or "For the Constitution without Slavery"&mdash;and, as the
+ Constitution prescribed that "the rights of property in Slaves now in the
+ Territory, shall in no manner be interfered with," to vote "for the
+ Constitution Without Slavery" was an absurdity only paralleled by the
+ course of the United States Senate in refusing to permit the people of
+ Kansas "to prohibit Slavery" while at the same time declaring them
+ "perfectly free to act" as they chose in the matter.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Constitution, with Slavery, was thus adopted by a vote of over 6,000.
+ But in the meanwhile, at another general election held for the purpose,
+ and despite all the frauds perpetrated by the Pro-Slavery men, a
+ Free-State Legislature, and Free-State Delegate to Congress had been
+ elected; and this Legislature submitted the Lecompton Pro-Slavery
+ Constitution to the people, January 4, 1858, so that they could vote: "For
+ the Lecompton Constitution with Slavery," "For the Lecompton Constitution
+ without Slavery," or "Against the Lecompton Constitution." The consequence
+ was that the Lecompton Constitution was defeated by a majority of over
+ 10,000 votes&mdash;the Missouri Pro-Slavery colonists declining to
+ recognize the validity of any further election on the subject.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Meanwhile, in part upon the issues growing out of this Kansas conflict,
+ the political parties of the Nation had passed through another
+ Presidential campaign (1856), in which the Democratic candidate Buchanan
+ had been elected over Fremont the "Republican," and Fillmore the
+ "American," candidates. Both Houses of Congress being now Democratic, Mr.
+ Buchanan recommended them to accept and ratify the Lecompton Pro-Slavery
+ Constitution.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In March, 1858, the Senate passed a Bill&mdash;against the efforts of
+ Stephen A. Douglas&mdash;accepting it. In the House, however, a substitute
+ offered by Mr. Montgomery (Douglas Democrat) known as the
+ Crittenden-Montgomery Compromise, was adopted. The Senate refused to
+ concur, and the report of a Committee of Conference&mdash;providing for
+ submitting to the Kansas people a proposition placing limitations upon
+ certain public land advantages stipulated for in the Lecompton
+ Constitution, and in case they rejected the proposition that another
+ Constitutional Convention should be held&mdash;was adopted by both Houses;
+ and the proposition being rejected by the people of Kansas, the
+ Pro-Slavery Lecompton Constitution fell with it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In 1859 a Convention, called by the Territorial Legislature for the
+ purpose, met at Wyandot, and framed a Free State Constitution which was
+ adopted by the people in October of that year, and at the ensuing State
+ election in December the State went Republican. In April, 1860, the House
+ of Representatives passed a Bill admitting Kansas as a State under that
+ Constitution, but the Democratic Senate adjourned without action on the
+ Bill; and it was not until early in 1861 that Kansas was at last admitted.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In the meantime, the Free Trade Tariff of 1846 had produced the train of
+ business and financial disasters that its opponents predicted. Instead of
+ prosperity everywhere in the land, there was misery and ruin. Even the
+ discovery and working of the rich placer mines of California and the
+ consequent flow, in enormous volume, of her golden treasure into the
+ Eastern States, could not stay the wide-spread flood of disaster.
+ President Fillmore, who had succeeded General Taylor on the latter's
+ death, frequently called the attention of Congress to the evils produced
+ by this Free Trade, and to the necessity of protecting our manufactures
+ "from ruinous competition from abroad." So also with his successor,
+ President Buchanan, who, in his Message of 1857, declared that "In the
+ midst of unsurpassed plenty in all the productions and in all the elements
+ of national wealth, we find our manufactures suspended, our public works
+ retarded, our private enterprises of different kinds abandoned, and
+ thousands of useful laborers thrown out of employment and reduced to
+ want." Further than this, the financial credit of the Nation was at zero.
+ It was financially bankrupt before the close of Buchanan's Presidential
+ term.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linklincoln" id="linklincoln"></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="p098-lincoln.jpg (86K)" src="images/p098-lincoln.jpg" style="width:100%;"
+ /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch4" id="linkch4"></a><br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ CHAPTER IV.<br /> <br /> POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But now occurred the great Presidential struggle of 1860&mdash;which
+ involved not alone the principles of Protection, but those of human
+ Freedom, and the preservation of the Union itself&mdash;between Abraham
+ Lincoln of Illinois, the candidate of the Republican party, as against
+ Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, the National or Douglas&mdash;Democratic
+ candidate, John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky, the Administration or
+ Breckinridge&mdash;Democratic candidate, and John Bell of Tennessee, the
+ candidate of the Bell-Union party. The great preliminary struggle which
+ largely influenced the determination of the Presidential political
+ conflict of 1860, had, however, taken place in the State of Illinois, two
+ years previously. To that preliminary political contest of 1858,
+ therefore, we will now turn our eyes&mdash;and, in order to fully
+ understand it, it may be well to glance back over a few years. In 1851 the
+ Legislature of Illinois had adopted&mdash;[The vote in the House being 65
+ yeas to 4 nays.]&mdash;the following resolution: "Resolved, That our
+ Liberty and Independence are based upon the right of the people to form
+ for themselves such a government as they may choose; that this great
+ principle, the birthright of freemen, the gift of Heaven, secured to us by
+ the blood of our ancestors, ought to be secured to future generations, and
+ no limitation ought to be applied to this power in the organization of any
+ Territory of the United States, of either Territorial Government or State
+ Constitution, provided the government so established shall be Republican
+ and in conformity with the Constitution of the United States." This
+ resolution was a practical endorsement of the course of Stephen A. Douglas
+ in supporting the Compromise measures of 1850, which he had defended as
+ being "all founded upon the great principle that every people ought to
+ possess the right to form and regulate their own domestic institutions in
+ their own way," and that "the same principle" should be "extended to all
+ of the Territories of the United States."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In accordance with his views and the resolution aforesaid, Mr. Douglas in
+ 1854, as we have already seen, incorporated in the Kansas-Nebraska Bill a
+ clause declaring it to be "the true intent and meaning of the Act not to
+ legislate Slavery into any State or Territory, or to exclude it therefrom,
+ but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their
+ domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution
+ of the United States."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ His position, as stated by himself, was, substantially that the Lecompton
+ Pro-Slavery Constitution was a fraud upon the people of Kansas, in that it
+ did not embody the will of that people; and he denied the right of
+ Congress to force a Constitution upon an unwilling people&mdash;without
+ regard, on his part, to whether that Constitution allowed or prohibited
+ Slavery or any other thing, whether good or bad. He held that the people
+ themselves were the sole judges of whether it is good or bad, and whether
+ desirable or not.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Supreme Court of the United States had in the meantime made a decision
+ in a case afterward known as the "Dred Scott case," which was held back
+ until after the Presidential election of 1856 had taken place, and added
+ fuel to the political fire already raging. Dred Scott was a Negro Slave.
+ His owner voluntarily took him first into a Free State, and afterward into
+ a Territory which came within the Congressional prohibitive legislation
+ aforesaid. That decision in brief was substantially that no Negro Slave
+ imported from Africa, nor his descendant, can be a citizen of any State
+ within the meaning of the Constitution; that neither the Congress nor any
+ Territorial Legislature has under the Constitution of the United States,
+ the power to exclude Slavery from any Territory of the United States; and
+ that it is for the State Courts of the Slave State, into which the negro
+ has been conveyed by his master, and not for the United States Courts, to
+ decide whether that Negro, having been held to actual Slavery in a Free
+ State, has, by virtue of residence in such State, himself become Free.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Now it was, that the meaning of the words, "subject only to the
+ Constitution," as used in the Kansas-Nebraska Act, began to be discerned.
+ For if the people of a Territory were to be "perfectly free," to deal with
+ Slavery as they chose, "subject only to the Constitution" they were by
+ this Judicial interpretation of that instrument "perfectly free" to deal
+ with Slavery in any way so long as they did not attempt "to exclude" it!
+ The thing was all one-sided. Mr. Douglas's attitude in inventing the
+ peculiar phraseology in the Kansas-Nebraska Act&mdash;which to some seemed
+ as if expressly "made to order" for the Dred Scott decision&mdash;was
+ criticized with asperity; the popularity, however, of his courageous stand
+ against President Buchanan on the Lecompton fraud, seemed to make it
+ certain that, his term in the United States Senate being about to expire,
+ he would be overwhelmingly re-elected to that body.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But at this juncture occurred something, which for a long time held the
+ result in doubt, and drew the excited attention of the whole Nation to
+ Illinois as the great battle-ground. In 1858 a Republican State Convention
+ was held at Springfield, Ill., which nominated Abraham Lincoln as the
+ Republican candidate for United States Senator to succeed Senator Douglas
+ in the National Legislature. On June 16th&mdash;after such nomination&mdash;Mr.
+ Lincoln made to the Convention a speech&mdash;in which, with great and
+ incisive power, he assailed Mr. Douglas's position as well as that of the
+ whole Democratic Pro-Slavery Party, and announced in compact and cogent
+ phrase, from his own point of view, the attitude, upon the Slavery
+ question, of the Republican Party.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In that remarkable speech&mdash;which at once attracted the attention of
+ the Country&mdash;Mr. Lincoln said: "We are now far into the fifth year,
+ since a policy was initiated with the avowed object, and confident
+ promise, of putting an end to Slavery agitation. Under the operation of
+ that policy, that agitation has not only not ceased, but has constantly
+ augmented. In my opinion it will not cease, until a crisis shall have been
+ reached and passed. 'A House divided against itself cannot stand.' I
+ believe this Government cannot endure permanently half Slave and half
+ Free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved&mdash;I do not expect the
+ House to fall&mdash;but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will
+ become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of Slavery
+ will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind
+ shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction;
+ or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful
+ in all the States, old as well as new, North as well as South."
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [Governor Seward's announcement of an "irrepressible conflict" was made
+ four months later.]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ He then proceeded to lay bare and closely analyze the history of all that
+ had been done, during the four years preceding, to produce the prevailing
+ condition of things touching human Slavery; describing it as resulting
+ from that, "now almost complete legal combination-piece of machinery, so
+ to speak&mdash;compounded of the Nebraska doctrine and the Dred Scott
+ decision." After stating the several points of that decision, and that the
+ doctrine of the "Sacred right of self-government" had been perverted by
+ the Nebraska "Squatter Sovereignty," argument to mean that, "if any one
+ man chose to enslave another, no third man shall be allowed to object," he
+ proceeded to show the grounds upon which he charged "pre-concert" among
+ the builders of that machinery. Said he: "The people were to be left
+ perfectly free, 'subject only to the Constitution.' What the Constitution
+ had to do with it, outsiders could not see. Plainly enough now, it was an
+ exactly fitted niche for the Dred Scott decision to afterward come in and
+ declare the perfect freedom of the people to be just no freedom at all.
+ Why was the amendment, expressly declaring the right of the people, voted
+ down? Plainly enough now, the adoption of it would have spoiled the niche
+ for the Dred Scott decision. Why was the Court decision held up? Why even
+ a Senator's individual opinion withheld, till after the Presidential
+ election? Plainly enough now: the speaking out then would have damaged the
+ 'perfectly free' argument upon which the election was to be carried. Why
+ the outgoing President's felicitation on the indorsement? Why the delay of
+ a re-argument? Why the incoming President's advance exhortation in favor
+ of the decision? These things look like the cautious patting and petting
+ of a spirited horse, preparatory to mounting him, when it is dreaded that
+ he may give the rider a fall. And why the hasty after-indorsement of the
+ decision, by the President and others? We cannot absolutely know that all
+ these exact adaptations are the result of pre-concert. But when we see a
+ lot of framed timbers, different portions of which we know have been
+ gotten out at different times and places and by different workmen&mdash;Stephen,
+ Franklin, Roger, and James&mdash;[Douglas, Pierce, Taney and Buchanan.]&mdash;for
+ instance&mdash;and when we see these timbers joined together, and see they
+ exactly make the frame of a house or a mill, all the tenons and mortices
+ exactly fitting, and all the lengths and proportions of the different
+ pieces exactly adapted to their respective places, and not a piece too
+ many or too few&mdash;not omitting even the scaffolding, or, if a single
+ piece be lacking, we see the place in the frame exactly fitted and
+ prepared yet to bring such piece in&mdash;in such a case, we find it
+ impossible not to believe that Stephen and Franklin and Roger and James
+ all understood one another from the beginning, and all worked upon a
+ common plan or draft drawn up before the first blow was struck."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He drew attention also to the fact that by the Nebraska Bill the people of
+ a State, as well as a Territory, were to be left "perfectly free,"
+ "subject only to the Constitution," and that the object of lugging a
+ "State" into this merely Territorial law was to enable the United States
+ Supreme Court in some subsequent decision to declare, when the public mind
+ had been sufficiently imbued with Judge Douglas's notion of not caring
+ "whether Slavery be voted up or voted down," that "the Constitution of the
+ United States does not permit a State to exclude Slavery from its limits"&mdash;which
+ would make Slavery "alike lawful in all the States." That, he declared to
+ be Judge Douglas's present mission:&mdash;"His avowed mission is
+ impressing the 'public heart' to care nothing about it." Hence Mr. Lincoln
+ urged Republicans to stand by their cause, which must be placed in the
+ hands of its friends, "Whose hands are free, whose hearts are in the work&mdash;who
+ do care for the result;" for he held that "a living dog is better than a
+ dead lion."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the evening of July 9, 1858, at Chicago, Mr. Douglas (Mr. Lincoln being
+ present) spoke to an enthusiastic assemblage, which he fitly described as
+ a "vast sea of human faces," and, after stating that he regarded "the
+ Lecompton battle as having been fought and the victory won, because the
+ arrogant demand for the admission of Kansas under the Lecompton
+ Constitution unconditionally, whether her people wanted it or not, has
+ been abandoned, and the principle which recognizes the right of the people
+ to decide for themselves has been submitted in its place," he proceeded to
+ vindicate his position throughout; declared that he opposed "the Lecompton
+ monstrosity solely on the ground than it was a violation of the
+ fundamental principles of free government; on the ground that it was not
+ the act and deed of the people of Kansas; that it did not embody their
+ will; that they were averse to it;" and hence he "denied the right of
+ Congress to force it upon them, either as a Free State or a Slave State."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Said he: "I deny the right of Congress to force a Slaveholding State upon
+ an unwilling people. I deny their right to force a Free State upon an
+ unwilling people. I deny their right to force a good thing upon a people
+ who are unwilling to receive it. The great principle is the right of every
+ community to judge and decide for itself, whether a thing is right or
+ wrong, whether it would be good or evil for them to adopt it; and the
+ right of free action, the right of free thought, the right of free
+ judgment upon the question is dearer to every true American than any other
+ under a free Government. * * * It is no answer to this argument to say
+ that Slavery is an evil, and hence should not be tolerated. You must allow
+ the people to decide for themselves whether it is good or evil." He then
+ adverted to the arraignment of himself by Mr. Lincoln, and took direct
+ issue with that gentleman on his proposition that, as to Freedom and
+ Slavery, "the Union will become all one thing or all the other;" and
+ maintained on the contrary, that "it is neither desirable nor possible
+ that there should be uniformity in the local institutions and domestic
+ regulations of the different States of this Union."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Upon the further proposition of Mr. Lincoln, which Mr. Douglas described
+ as "a crusade against the Supreme Court of the United States on account of
+ the Dred Scott decision," and as "an appeal from the decision" of that
+ Court "upon this high Constitutional question to a Republican caucus
+ sitting in the country," he also took "direct and distinct issue with
+ him." To "the reason assigned by Mr. Lincoln for resisting the decision of
+ the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case * * * because it deprives the
+ Negro of the privileges, immunities and rights of citizenship which
+ pertain, according to that decision, only to the White man," Mr. Douglas
+ also took exception thus: "I am free to say to you that in my opinion this
+ Government of ours is founded on the White basis. It was made by the White
+ man for the benefit of the White man, to be administered by White men, in
+ such manner as they should determine. It is also true that a Negro, an
+ Indian, or any other man of inferior race to a White man, should be
+ permitted to enjoy, and humanity requires that he should have, all the
+ rights, privileges, and immunities which he is capable of exercising
+ consistent with the safety of society. * * * But you may ask me what are
+ these rights and these privileges? My answer is, that each State must
+ decide for itself the nature and extent of these rights. * * * Without
+ indorsing the wisdom of that decision, I assert that Virginia has the same
+ power by virtue of her sovereignty to protect Slavery within her limits,
+ as Illinois has to banish it forever from our own borders. I assert the
+ right of each State to decide for itself on all these questions, and I do
+ not subscribe to the doctrine of my friend, Mr. Lincoln, that uniformity
+ is either desirable or possible. I do not acknowledge that the States must
+ all be Free or must all be Slave. I do not acknowledge that the Negro must
+ have civil and political rights everywhere or nowhere. * * * I do not
+ acknowledge any of these doctrines of uniformity in the local and domestic
+ regulations in the different States. * * * Mr. Lincoln goes for a warfare
+ upon the Supreme Court of the United States because of their judicial
+ decision in the Dred Scott case. I yield obedience to the decisions in
+ that Court&mdash;to the final determination of the highest judicial
+ tribunal known to our Constitution. He objects to the Dred Scott decision
+ because it does not put the Negro in the possession of the rights of
+ citizenship on an equality with the White man. I am opposed to Negro
+ equality. * * * I would extend to the Negro, and the Indian, and to all
+ dependent races every right, every privilege, and every immunity
+ consistent with the safety and welfare of the White races; but equality
+ they never should have, either political or social, or in any other
+ respect whatever. * * * My friends, you see that the issues are distinctly
+ drawn."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the following evening (July 10th) at Chicago, Mr. Lincoln addressed
+ another enthusiastic assemblage, in reply to Mr. Douglas; and, after
+ protesting against a charge that had been made the previous night by the
+ latter, of an "unnatural and unholy" alliance between Administration
+ Democrats and Republicans to defeat him, as being beyond his own knowledge
+ and belief, proceeded: "Popular Sovereignty! Everlasting Popular
+ Sovereignty! Let us for a moment inquire into this vast matter of Popular
+ Sovereignty. What is Popular Sovereignty? We recollect at an early period
+ in the history of this struggle there was another name for the same thing&mdash;Squatter
+ Sovereignty. It was not exactly Popular Sovereignty, but Squatter
+ Sovereignty. What do those terms mean? What do those terms mean when used
+ now? And vast credit is taken by our friend, the Judge, in regard to his
+ support of it, when he declares the last years of his life have been, and
+ all the future years of his life shall be, devoted to this matter of
+ Popular Sovereignty. What is it? Why it is the Sovereignty of the People!
+ What was Squatter Sovereignty? I suppose if it had any significance at
+ all, it was the right of the people to govern themselves, to be sovereign
+ in their own affairs while they were squatted down in a country not their
+ own&mdash;while they had squatted on a territory that did not belong to
+ them in the sense that a State belongs to the people who inhabit it&mdash;when
+ it belonged to the Nation&mdash;such right to govern themselves was called
+ 'Squatter Sovereignty.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Now I wish you to mark. What has become of that Squatter Sovereignty?
+ What has become of it? Can you get anybody to tell you now that the people
+ of a Territory have any authority to govern themselves, in regard to this
+ mooted question of Slavery, before they form a State Constitution? No such
+ thing at all, although there is a general running fire and although there
+ has been a hurrah made in every speech on that side, assuming that that
+ policy had given the people of a Territory the right to govern themselves
+ upon this question; yet the point is dodged. To-day it has been decided&mdash;no
+ more than a year ago it was decided by the Supreme Court of the United
+ States, and is insisted upon to-day, that the people of a Territory have
+ no right to exclude Slavery from a Territory, that if any one man chooses
+ to take Slaves into a Territory, all the rest of the people have no right
+ to keep them out. This being so, and this decision being made one of the
+ points that the Judge (Douglas) approved, * * * he says he is in favor of
+ it, and sticks to it, and expects to win his battle on that decision,
+ which says there is no such thing as Squatter Sovereignty; but that any
+ man may take Slaves into a Territory and all the other men in the
+ Territory may be opposed to it, and yet by reason of the Constitution they
+ cannot prohibit it; when that is so, how much is left of this vast matter
+ of Squatter Sovereignty, I should like to know? Again, when we get to the
+ question of the right of the people to form a State Constitution as they
+ please, to form it with Slavery or without Slavery&mdash;if that is
+ anything new, I confess I don't know it * * *.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We do not remember that, in that old Declaration of Independence, it is
+ said that 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
+ created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
+ inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of
+ happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among
+ men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.' There,
+ is the origin of Popular Sovereignty. Who, then, shall come in at this day
+ and claim that he invented it? The Lecompton Constitution connects itself
+ with this question, for it is in this matter of the Lecompton Constitution
+ that our friend, Judge Douglas, claims such vast credit. I agree that in
+ opposing the Lecompton Constitution, so far as I can perceive, he was
+ right. * * * All the Republicans in the Nation opposed it, and they would
+ have opposed it just as much without Judge Douglas's aid as with it. They
+ had all taken ground against it long before he did. Why, the reason that
+ he urges against that Constitution, I urged against him a year before. I
+ have the printed speech in my hand now. The argument that he makes, why
+ that Constitution should not be adopted, that the people were not fairly
+ represented nor allowed to vote, I pointed out in a speech a year ago
+ which I hold in my hand now, that no fair chance was to be given to the
+ people. * * * The Lecompton Constitution, as the Judge tells us, was
+ defeated. The defeat of it was a good thing or it was not. He thinks the
+ defeat of it was a good thing, and so do I, and we agree in that. Who
+ defeated it? [A voice&mdash;'Judge Douglas.'] Yes, he furnished himself,
+ and if you suppose he controlled the other Democrats that went with him,
+ he furnished three votes, while the Republicans furnished twenty. That is
+ what he did to defeat it. In the House of Representatives he and his
+ friends furnished some twenty votes, and the Republicans furnished ninety
+ odd. Now, who was it that did the work? * * * Ground was taken against it
+ by the Republicans long before Douglas did it. The proportion of
+ opposition to that measure is about five to one."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Lincoln then proceeded to take up the issues which Mr. Douglas had
+ joined with him the previous evening. He denied that he had said, or that
+ it could be fairly inferred from what he had said, in his Springfield
+ speech, that he was in favor of making War by the North upon the South for
+ the extinction of Slavery, "or, in favor of inviting the South to a War
+ upon the North, for the purpose of nationalizing Slavery." Said he: "I did
+ not even say that I desired that Slavery should be put in course of
+ ultimate extinction. I do say so now, however; so there need be no longer
+ any difficulty about that. * * * I am tolerably well acquainted with the
+ history of the Country and I know that it has endured eighty-two years
+ half Slave and half Free. I believe&mdash;and that is what I meant to
+ allude to there&mdash;I believe it has endured, because during all that
+ time, until the introduction of the Nebraska Bill, the public mind did
+ rest all the, time in the belief that Slavery was in course of ultimate
+ extinction. That was what gave us the rest that we had through that period
+ of eighty-two years; at least, so I believe.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I have always hated Slavery, I think, as much as any Abolitionist&mdash;I
+ have been an Old Line Whig&mdash;I have always hated it, but I have always
+ been quiet about it until this new era of the introduction of the Nebraska
+ Bill began. I always believed that everybody was against it, and that it
+ was in course of ultimate extinction. * * * The great mass of the Nation
+ have rested in the belief that Slavery was in course of ultimate
+ extinction. They had reason so to believe. The adoption of the
+ Constitution and its attendant history led the People to believe so, and
+ that such was the belief of the framers of the Constitution itself. Why
+ did those old men about the time of the adoption of the Constitution
+ decree that Slavery should not go into the new territory, where it had not
+ already gone? Why declare that within twenty years the African Slave
+ Trade, by which Slaves are supplied, might be cut off by Congress? Why
+ were all these acts? I might enumerate more of these acts&mdash;but
+ enough. What were they but a clear indication that the framers of the
+ Constitution intended and expected the ultimate extinction of that
+ institution?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "And now, when I say, as I said in my speech that Judge Douglas has quoted
+ from, when I say that I think the opponents of Slavery will resist the
+ further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest with
+ the belief that it is in course of ultimate extinction, I only mean to
+ say, that they will place it where the founders of this Government
+ originally placed it. I have said a hundred times, and I have now no
+ inclination to take it back, that I believe there is no right, and ought
+ to be no inclination in the people of the Free States, to enter into the
+ Slave States, and interfere with the question of Slavery at all. I have
+ said that always; Judge Douglas has heard me say it&mdash;if not quite a
+ hundred times, at least as good as a hundred times; and when it is said
+ that I am in favor of interfering with Slavery where it exists, I know
+ that it is unwarranted by anything I have ever intended, and as I believe,
+ by anything I have ever said. If, by any means, I have ever used language
+ which could fairly be so construe (as, however, I believe I never have) I
+ now correct it. So much, then, for the inference that Judge Douglas draws,
+ that I am in favor of setting the Sections at War with one another.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Now in relation to his inference that I am in favor of a general
+ consolidation of all the local institutions of the various States * * * I
+ have said, very many times in Judge Douglas's hearing, that no man
+ believed more than I in the principle of self-government from beginning to
+ end. I have denied that his use of that term applies properly. But for the
+ thing itself, I deny that any man has ever gone ahead of me in his
+ devotion to the principle, whatever he may have done in efficiency in
+ advocating it. I think that I have said it in your hearing&mdash;that I
+ believe each individual is naturally entitled to do as he pleases with
+ himself and the fruit of his labor, so far as it in no wise interferes
+ with any other man's rights&mdash;that each community, as a State, has a
+ right to do exactly as it pleases with all the concerns within that State
+ that interfere with the rights of no other State, and that the General
+ Government, upon principle, has no right to interfere with anything other
+ than that general class of things that does concern the whole. I have said
+ that at all times.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I have said, as illustrations, that I do not believe in the right of
+ Illinois to interfere with the cranberry laws of Indiana, the oyster laws
+ of Virginia, or the liquor laws of Maine. I have said these things over
+ and over again, and I repeat them here as my sentiments. * * * What can
+ authorize him to draw any such inference? I suppose there might be one
+ thing that at least enabled him to draw such an inference that would not
+ be true with me or many others, that is, because he looks upon all this
+ matter of Slavery as an exceedingly little thing&mdash;this matter of
+ keeping one-sixth of the population of the whole Nation in a state of
+ oppression and tyranny unequaled in the World.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "He looks upon it as being an exceedingly little thing only equal to the
+ cranberry laws of Indiana&mdash;as something having no moral question in
+ it&mdash;as something on a par with the question of whether a man shall
+ pasture his land with cattle, or plant it with tobacco&mdash;so little and
+ so small a thing, that he concludes, if I could desire that anything
+ should be done to bring about the ultimate extinction of that little
+ thing, I must be in favor of bringing about an amalgamation of all the
+ other little things in the Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Now it so happens&mdash;and there, I presume, is the foundation of this
+ mistake&mdash;that the Judge thinks thus; and it so happens that there is
+ a vast portion of the American People that do not look upon that matter as
+ being this very little thing. They look upon it as a vast moral evil; they
+ can prove it as such by the writings of those who gave us the blessings of
+ Liberty which we enjoy, and that they so looked upon it, and not as an
+ evil merely confining itself to the States where it is situated; while we
+ agree that, by the Constitution we assented to, in the States where it
+ exists we have no right to interfere with it, because it is in the
+ Constitution; and we are by both duty and inclination to stick by that
+ Constitution in all its letter and spirit, from beginning to end. * * *
+ The Judge can have no issue with me on a question of establishing
+ uniformity in the domestic regulations of the States. * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Another of the issues he says that is to be made with me, is upon his
+ devotion to the Dred Scott decision, and my opposition to it. I have
+ expressed heretofore, and I now repeat, my opposition to the Dred Scott
+ decision; but I should be allowed to state the nature of that opposition.
+ * * * What is fairly implied by the term Judge Douglas has used,
+ 'resistance to the decision?' I do not resist it. If I wanted to take Dred
+ Scott from his master, I would be interfering with property and that
+ terrible difficulty that Judge Douglas speaks of, of interfering with
+ property, would arise. But I am doing no such thing as that, but all that
+ I am doing is refusing to obey it, as a political rule. If I were in
+ Congress, and a vote should come up on a question whether Slavery should
+ be prohibited in a new Territory, in spite of the Dred Scott decision, I
+ would vote that it should. That is what I would do.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Judge Douglas said last night, that before the decision he might advance
+ his opinion, and it might be contrary to the decision when it was made;
+ but after it was made, he would abide by it until it was reversed. Just
+ so! We let this property abide by the decision, but we will try to reverse
+ that decision. We will try to put it where Judge Douglas would not object,
+ for he says he will obey it until it is reversed. Somebody has to reverse
+ that decision, since it is made, and we mean to reverse it, and we mean to
+ do it peaceably.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "What are the uses of decisions of Courts? They have two uses. As rules of
+ property they have two uses. First, they decide upon the question before
+ the Court. They decide in this case that Dred Scott is a Slave. Nobody
+ resists that. Not only that, but they say to everybody else, that persons
+ standing just as Dred Scott stands, are as he is. That is, they say that
+ when a question comes up upon another person, it will be so decided again,
+ unless the Court decides in another way&mdash;unless the Court overrules
+ its decision.&mdash;Well, we mean to do what we can to have the Court
+ decide the other way. That is one thing we mean to try to do.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The sacredness that Judge Douglas throws around this decision is a degree
+ of sacredness that has never before been thrown around any other decision.
+ I have never heard of such a thing. Why, decisions apparently contrary to
+ that decision, or that good lawyers thought were contrary to that
+ decision, have been made by that very Court before. It is the first of its
+ kind; it is an astonisher in legal history. It is a new wonder of the
+ world. It is based upon falsehood in the main as to the facts&mdash;allegations
+ of facts upon which it stands are not facts at all in many instances; and
+ no decision made on any question&mdash;the first instance of a decision
+ made under so many unfavorable circumstances&mdash;thus placed, has ever
+ been held by the profession as law, and it has always needed confirmation
+ before the lawyers regarded it as settled law. But Judge Douglas will have
+ it that all hands must take this extraordinary decision, made under these
+ extraordinary circumstances, and give their vote in Congress in accordance
+ with it, yield to it and obey it in every possible sense.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Circumstances alter cases. Do not gentlemen remember the case of that
+ same Supreme Court, some twenty-five or thirty years ago, deciding that a
+ National Bank was Constitutional? * * * The Bank charter ran out, and a
+ recharter was granted by Congress. That re-charter was laid before General
+ Jackson. It was urged upon him, when he denied the Constitutionality of
+ the Bank, that the Supreme Court had decided that it was Constitutional;
+ and General Jackson then said that the Supreme Court had no right to lay
+ down a rule to govern a co-ordinate branch of the Government, the members
+ of which had sworn to support the Constitution&mdash;that each member had
+ sworn to support that Constitution as he understood it. I will venture
+ here to say, that I have heard Judge Douglas say that he approved of
+ General Jackson for that act. What has now become of all his tirade about
+ 'resistance to the Supreme Court?'"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After adverting to Judge Douglas's warfare on "the leaders" of the
+ Republican party, and his desire to have "it understood that the mass of
+ the Republican party are really his friends," Mr. Lincoln said: "If you
+ indorse him, you tell him you do not care whether Slavery be voted up or
+ down, and he will close, or try to close, your mouths with his declaration
+ repeated by the day, the week, the month, and the year. Is that what you
+ mean? * * * Now I could ask the Republican party, after all the hard names
+ that Judge Douglas has called them by, all his repeated charges of their
+ inclination to marry with and hug negroes&mdash;all his declarations of
+ Black Republicanism&mdash;by the way, we are improving, the black has got
+ rubbed off&mdash;but with all that, if he be indorsed by Republican votes,
+ where do you stand? Plainly, you stand ready saddled, bridled, and
+ harnessed, and waiting to be driven over to the Slavery-extension camp of
+ the Nation&mdash;just ready to be driven over, tied together in a lot&mdash;to
+ be driven over, every man with a rope around his neck, that halter being
+ held by Judge Douglas. That is the question. If Republican men have been
+ in earnest in what they have done, I think that they has better not do it.
+ * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We were often&mdash;more than once at least&mdash;in the course of Judge
+ Douglas's speech last night, reminded that this Government was made for
+ White men&mdash;that he believed it was made for White men. Well, that is
+ putting it in a shape in which no one wants to deny it; but the Judge then
+ goes into his passion for drawing inferences that are not warranted. I
+ protest, now and forever, against that counterfeit logic which presumes
+ that because I do not want a Negro woman for a Slave I do necessarily want
+ her for a wife. My understanding is that I need not have her for either;
+ but, as God has made us separate, we can leave one another alone, and do
+ one another much good thereby. There are White men enough to marry all the
+ White women, and enough Black men to marry all the Black women, and in
+ God's name let them be so married. The Judge regales us with the terrible
+ enormities that take place by the mixture of races; that the inferior race
+ bears the superior down. Why, Judge, if we do not let them get together in
+ the Territories, they won't mix there.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ " * * * Those arguments that are made, that the inferior race are to be
+ treated with as much allowance as they are capable of enjoying; that as
+ much is to be done for them as their condition will allow&mdash;what are
+ these arguments? They are the arguments that Kings have made for enslaving
+ the People in all ages of the World. You will find that all the arguments
+ in favor of king-craft were of this class; they always bestrode the necks
+ of the People, not that they wanted to do it, but because the People were
+ better off for being ridden! That is their argument, and this argument of
+ the Judge is the same old Serpent that says: you work, and I eat; you
+ toil, and I will enjoy the fruits of it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Turn it whatever way you will&mdash;whether it come from the mouth of a
+ King, an excuse for enslaving the People of his Country, or from the mouth
+ of men of one race as a reason for enslaving the men of another race, it
+ is all the same old Serpent; and I hold, if that course of argumentation
+ that is made for the purpose of convincing the public mind that we should
+ not care about this, should be granted, it does not stop with the Negro.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I should like to know, taking this old Declaration of Independence, which
+ declares that all men are equal upon principle, and making exceptions to
+ it, where will it stop? If one man says it does not mean a Negro, why not
+ say it does not mean some other man? If that Declaration is not the truth,
+ let us get the Statute Book, in which we find it, and tear it out! Who is
+ so bold as to do it? If it is not true, let us tear it out!" [Cries of
+ "No, no."] "Let us stick to it then; let us stand firmly by it, then. * *
+ *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ " * * * The Saviour, I suppose, did not expect that any human creature
+ could be perfect as the Father in Heaven; but He said, 'As your Father in
+ Heaven is perfect, be ye also perfect.' He set that up as a standard, and
+ he who did most toward reaching that standard, attained the highest degree
+ of moral perfection. So I say, in relation to the principle that all men
+ are created equal&mdash;let it be as nearly reached as we can. If we
+ cannot give Freedom to every creature, let us do nothing that will impose
+ Slavery upon any other creature. Let us then turn this Government back
+ into the channel in which the framers of the Constitution originally
+ placed it. Let us stand firmly by each other. * * * Let us discard all
+ this quibbling * * * and unite as one People throughout this Land, until
+ we shall once more stand up declaring that all men are created equal."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At Bloomington, July 16th (Mr. Lincoln being present), Judge Douglas made
+ another great speech of vindication and attack. After sketching the
+ history of the Kansas-Nebraska struggle, from the introduction by himself
+ of the Nebraska Bill in the United States Senate, in 1854, down to the
+ passage of the "English" Bill&mdash;which prescribed substantially that if
+ the people of Kansas would come in as a Slave-holding State, they should
+ be admitted with but 35,000 inhabitants; but if they would come in as a
+ Free State, they must have 93,420 inhabitants; which unfair restriction
+ was opposed by Judge Douglas, but to which after it became law he "bowed
+ in deference," because whatever decision the people of Kansas might make
+ on the coming third of August would be "final and conclusive of the whole
+ question"&mdash;he proceeded to compliment the Republicans in Congress,
+ for supporting the Crittenden-Montgomery Bill&mdash;for coming "to the
+ Douglas platform, abandoning their own, believing (in the language of the
+ New York Tribune), that under the peculiar circumstances they would in
+ that mode best subserve the interests of the Country;" and then again
+ attacked Mr. Lincoln for his "unholy and unnatural alliance" with the
+ Lecompton-Democrats to defeat him, because of which, said he: "You will
+ find he does not say a word against the Lecompton Constitution or its
+ supporters. He is as silent as the grave upon that subject. Behold Mr.
+ Lincoln courting Lecompton votes, in order that he may go to the Senate as
+ the representative of Republican principles! You know that the alliance
+ exists. I think you will find that it will ooze out before the contest is
+ over." Then with many handsome compliments to the personal character of
+ Mr. Lincoln, and declaring that the question for decision was "whether his
+ principles are more in accordance with the genius of our free
+ institutions, the peace and harmony of the Republic" than those advocated
+ by himself, Judge Douglas proceeded to discuss what he described as "the
+ two points at issue between Mr. Lincoln and myself."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Said he: "Although the Republic has existed from 1789 to this day, divided
+ into Free States and Slave States, yet we are told that in the future it
+ cannot endure unless they shall become all Free or all Slave. * * * He
+ wishes to go to the Senate of the United States in order to carry out that
+ line of public policy which will compel all the States in the South to
+ become Free. How is he going to do it? Has Congress any power over the
+ subject of Slavery in Kentucky or Virginia or any other State of this
+ Union? How, then, is Mr. Lincoln going to carry out that principle which
+ he says is essential to the existence of this Union, to wit: That Slavery
+ must be abolished in all the States of the Union or must be established in
+ them all? You convince the South that they must either establish Slavery
+ in Illinois and in every other Free State, or submit to its abolition in
+ every Southern State and you invite them to make a warfare upon the
+ Northern States in order to establish Slavery for the sake of perpetuating
+ it at home. Thus, Mr. Lincoln invites, by his proposition, a War of
+ Sections, a War between Illinois and Kentucky, a War between the Free
+ States and the Slave States, a War between the North and South, for the
+ purpose of either exterminating Slavery in every Southern State or
+ planting it in every Northern State. He tells you that the safety of the
+ Republic, that the existence of this Union, depends upon that warfare
+ being carried on until one Section or the other shall be entirely subdued.
+ The States must all be Free or Slave, for a house divided against itself
+ cannot stand. That is Mr. Lincoln's argument upon that question. My
+ friends, is it possible to preserve Peace between the North and the South
+ if such a doctrine shall prevail in either Section of the Union?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Will you ever submit to a warfare waged by the Southern States to
+ establish Slavery in Illinois? What man in Illinois would not lose the
+ last drop of his heart's blood before lie would submit to the institution
+ of Slavery being forced upon us by the other States against our will? And
+ if that be true of us, what Southern man would not shed the last drop of
+ his heart's blood to prevent Illinois, or any other Northern State, from
+ interfering to abolish Slavery in his State? Each of these States is
+ sovereign under the Constitution; and if we wish to preserve our
+ liberties, the reserved rights and sovereignty of each and every State
+ must be maintained. * * * The difference between Mr. Lincoln and myself
+ upon this point is, that he goes for a combination of the Northern States,
+ or the organization of a sectional political party in the Free States, to
+ make War on the domestic institutions of the Southern States, and to
+ prosecute that War until they all shall be subdued, and made to conform to
+ such rules as the North shall dictate to them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I am aware that Mr. Lincoln, on Saturday night last, made a speech at
+ Chicago for the purpose, as he said, of explaining his position on this
+ question. * * * His answer to this point which I have been arguing, is,
+ that he never did mean, and that I ought to know that he never intended to
+ convey the idea, that he wished the people of the Free States to enter
+ into the Southern States and interfere with Slavery. Well, I never did
+ suppose that he ever dreamed of entering into Kentucky, to make War upon
+ her institutions, nor will any Abolitionist ever enter into Kentucky to
+ wage such War. Their mode of making War is not to enter into those States
+ where Slavery exists, and there interfere, and render themselves
+ responsible for the consequences. Oh, no! They stand on this side of the
+ Ohio River and shoot across. They stand in Bloomington and shake their
+ fists at the people of Lexington; they threaten South Carolina from
+ Chicago. And they call that bravery! But they are very particular, as Mr.
+ Lincoln says, not to enter into those States for the purpose of
+ interfering with the institution of Slavery there. I am not only opposed
+ to entering into the Slave States, for the purpose of interfering with
+ their institutions, but I am opposed to a sectional agitation to control
+ the institutions of other States. I am opposed to organizing a sectional
+ party, which appeals to Northern pride, and Northern passion and
+ prejudice, against Southern institutions, thus stirring up ill feeling and
+ hot blood between brethren of the same Republic. I am opposed to that
+ whole system of sectional agitation, which can produce nothing but strife,
+ but discord, but hostility, and finally disunion. * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I ask Mr. Lincoln how it is that he purposes ultimately to bring about
+ this uniformity in each and all the States of the Union? There is but one
+ possible mode which I can see, and perhaps Mr. Lincoln intends to pursue
+ it; that is, to introduce a proposition into the Senate to change the
+ Constitution of the United States in order that all the State Legislatures
+ may be abolished, State Sovereignty blotted out, and the power conferred
+ upon Congress to make local laws and establish the domestic institutions
+ and police regulations uniformly throughout the United States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Are you prepared for such a change in the institutions of your country?
+ Whenever you shall have blotted out the State Sovereignties, abolished the
+ State Legislatures, and consolidated all the power in the Federal
+ Government, you will have established a Consolidated Empire as destructive
+ to the Liberties of the People and the Rights of the Citizen as that of
+ Austria, or Russia, or any other despotism that rests upon the neck of the
+ People. * * * There is but one possible way in which Slavery can be
+ abolished, and that is by leaving a State, according to the principle of
+ the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, perfectly free to form and regulate its
+ institutions in its own way. That was the principle upon which this
+ Republic was founded, and it is under the operation of that principle that
+ we have been able to preserve the Union thus far under its operation.
+ Slavery disappeared from New Hampshire, from Rhode Island, from
+ Connecticut, from New York, from New Jersey, from Pennsylvania, from six
+ of the twelve original Slave-holding States; and this gradual system of
+ emancipation went on quietly, peacefully, and steadily, so long as we in
+ the Free States minded our own business, and left our neighbors alone.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But the moment the Abolition Societies were organized throughout the
+ North, preaching a violent crusade against Slavery in the Southern States,
+ this combination necessarily caused a counter-combination in the South,
+ and a sectional line was drawn which was a barrier to any further
+ emancipation. Bear in mind that emancipation has not taken place in any
+ one State since the Free Soil Party was organized as a political party in
+ this country. Emancipation went on gradually, in State after State, so
+ long as the Free States were content with managing their own affairs and
+ leaving the South perfectly free to do as they pleased; but the moment the
+ North said we are powerful enough to control you of the South, the moment
+ the North proclaimed itself the determined master of the South, that
+ moment the South combined to resist the attack, and thus sectional parties
+ were formed and gradual emancipation ceased in all the Slave-holding
+ States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "And yet Mr. Lincoln, in view of these historical facts, proposes to keep
+ up this sectional agitation, band all the Northern States together in one
+ political Party, elect a President by Northern votes alone, and then, of
+ course, make a Cabinet composed of Northern men, and administer the
+ Government by Northern men only, denying all the Southern States of this
+ Union any participation in the administration of affairs whatsoever. I
+ submit to you, my fellow-citizens, whether such a line of policy is
+ consistent with the peace and harmony of the Country? Can the Union endure
+ under such a system of policy? He has taken his position in favor of
+ sectional agitation and sectional warfare. I have taken mine in favor of
+ securing peace, harmony, and good-will among all the States, by permitting
+ each to mind its own business, and discountenancing any attempt at
+ interference on the part of one State with the domestic concerns of the
+ others. * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Mr. Lincoln tells you that he is opposed to the decision of the Supreme
+ Court in the Dred Scott case. Well, suppose he is; what is he going to do
+ about it? * * * Why, he says he is going to appeal to Congress. Let us see
+ how he will appeal to Congress. He tells us that on the 8th of March,
+ 1820, Congress passed a law called the Missouri Compromise, prohibiting
+ Slavery forever in all the territory west of the Mississippi and north of
+ the Missouri line of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes; that Dred
+ Scott, a slave in Missouri, was taken by his master to Fort Snelling, in
+ the present State of Minnesota, situated on the west branch of the
+ Mississippi River, and consequently in the Territory where Slavery was
+ prohibited by the Act of 1820; and that when Dred Scott appealed for his
+ Freedom in consequence of having been taken into that Territory, the
+ Supreme Court of the United States decided that Dred Scott did not become
+ Free by being taken into that Territory, but that having been carried back
+ to Missouri, was yet a Slave.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Mr. Lincoln is going to appeal from that decision and reverse it. He does
+ not intend to reverse it as to Dred Scott. Oh, no! But he will reverse it
+ so that it shall not stand as a rule in the future. How will he do it? He
+ says that if he is elected to the Senate he will introduce and pass a law
+ just like the Missouri Compromise, prohibiting Slavery again in all the
+ Territories. Suppose he does re-enact the same law which the Court has
+ pronounced unconstitutional, will that make it Constitutional? * * * Will
+ it be any more valid? Will he be able to convince the Court that the
+ second Act is valid, when the first is invalid and void? What good does it
+ do to pass a second Act? Why, it will have the effect to arraign the
+ Supreme Court before the People, and to bring them into all the political
+ discussions of the Country. Will that do any good? * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The functions of Congress are to enact the Statutes, the province of the
+ Court is to pronounce upon their validity, and the duty of the Executive
+ is to carry the decision into effect when rendered by the Court. And yet,
+ notwithstanding the Constitution makes the decision of the Court final in
+ regard to the validity of an Act of Congress, Mr. Lincoln is going to
+ reverse that decision by passing another Act of Congress. When he has
+ become convinced of the Folly of the proposition, perhaps he will resort
+ to the same subterfuge that I have found others of his Party resort to,
+ which is to agitate and agitate until he can change the Supreme Court and
+ put other men in the places of the present incumbents."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After ridiculing this proposition at some length, he proceeded:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Mr. Lincoln is alarmed for fear that, under the Dred Scott decision,
+ Slavery will go into all the Territories of the United States. All I have
+ to say is that, with or without this decision, Slavery will go just where
+ the People want it, and not an inch further. * * * Hence, if the People of
+ a Territory want Slavery, they will encourage it by passing affirmatory
+ laws, and the necessary police regulations, patrol laws and Slave Code; if
+ they do not want it, they will withhold that legislation, and, by
+ withholding it, Slavery is as dead as if it was prohibited by a
+ Constitutional prohibition, especially if, in addition, their legislation
+ is unfriendly, as it would be if they were opposed to it."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Then, taking up what he said was "Mr. Lincoln's main objection to the Dred
+ Scott decision," to wit: "that that decision deprives the Negro of the
+ benefits of that clause of the Constitution of the United States which
+ entitles the citizens of each State to all the privileges and immunities
+ of citizens of the several States," and admitting that such would be its
+ effect, Mr. Douglas contended at some length that this Government was
+ "founded on the White basis" for the benefit of the Whites and their
+ posterity. He did "not believe that it was the design or intention of the
+ signers of the Declaration of Independence or the frames of the
+ Constitution to include Negroes, Indians, or other inferior races, with
+ White men as citizens;" nor that the former "had any reference to Negroes,
+ when they used the expression that all men were created equal," nor to
+ "any other inferior race." He held that, "They were speaking only of the
+ White race, and never dreamed that their language would be construed to
+ apply to the Negro;" and after ridiculing the contrary view, insisted
+ that, "The history of the Country shows that neither the signers of the
+ Declaration, nor the Framers of the Constitution, ever supposed it
+ possible that their language would be used in an attempt to make this
+ Nation a mixed Nation of Indians, Negroes, Whites, and Mongrels."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The "Fathers proceeded on the White basis, making the White people the
+ governing race, but conceding to the Indian and Negro, and all inferior
+ races, all the rights and all the privileges they could enjoy consistent
+ with the safety of the society in which they lived. That," said he, "is my
+ opinion now. I told you that humanity, philanthropy, justice, and sound
+ policy required that we should give the Negro every right, every
+ privilege, every immunity consistent with the safety and welfare of the
+ State. The question, then, naturally arises, what are those rights and
+ privileges, and what is the nature and extent of them? My answer is, that
+ that is a question which each State and each Territory must decide for
+ itself. * * * I am content with that position. My friend Lincoln is not. *
+ * * He thinks that the Almighty made the Negro his equal and his brother.
+ For my part I do not consider the Negro any kin to me, nor to any other
+ White man; but I would still carry my humanity and my philanthropy to the
+ extent of giving him every privilege and every immunity that he could
+ enjoy, consistent with our own good."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After again referring to the principles connected with non-interference in
+ the domestic institutions of the States and Territories, and to the
+ devotion of all his energies to them "since 1850, when," said he, "I acted
+ side by side with the immortal Clay and the god-like Webster, in that
+ memorable struggle in which Whigs and Democrats united upon a common
+ platform of patriotism and the Constitution, throwing aside partisan
+ feelings in order to restore peace and harmony to a distracted Country"&mdash;he
+ alluded to the death-bed of Clay, and the pledges made by himself to both
+ Clay and Webster to devote his own life to the vindication of the
+ principles of that Compromise of 1850 as a means of preserving the Union;
+ and concluded with this appeal: "This Union can only be preserved by
+ maintaining the fraternal feeling between the North and the South, the
+ East and the West. If that good feeling can be preserved, the Union will
+ be as perpetual as the fame of its great founders. It can be maintained by
+ preserving the sovereignty of the States, the right of each State and each
+ Territory to settle its domestic concerns for itself, and the duty of each
+ to refrain from interfering with the other in any of its local or domestic
+ institutions. Let that be done, and the Union will be perpetual; let that
+ be done, and this Republic, which began with thirteen States and which now
+ numbers thirty-two, which when it began, only extended from the Atlantic
+ to the Mississippi, but now reaches to the Pacific, may yet expand, North
+ and South, until it covers the whole Continent, and becomes one vast
+ ocean-bound Confederacy. Then, my friends, the path of duty, of honor, of
+ patriotism, is plain. There are a few simple principles to be preserved.
+ Bear in mind the dividing line between State rights and Federal authority;
+ let us maintain the great principles of Popular Sovereignty, of State
+ rights and of the Federal Union as the Constitution has made it, and this
+ Republic will endure forever."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the next evening, July 17th, at Springfield, both Douglas and Lincoln
+ addressed separate meetings.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After covering much the same ground with regard to the history of the
+ Kansas-Nebraska struggle and his own attitude upon it, as he did in his
+ previous speech, Mr. Douglas declined to comment upon Mr. Lincoln's
+ intimation of a Conspiracy between Douglas, Pierce, Buchanan, and Taney
+ for the passage of the Nebraska Bill, the rendition of the Dred Scott
+ decision, and the extension of Slavery, but proceeded to dilate on the
+ "uniformity" issue between himself and Mr. Lincoln, in much the same
+ strain as before, tersely summing up with the statement that "there is a
+ distinct issue of principles&mdash;principles irreconcilable&mdash;between
+ Mr. Lincoln and myself. He goes for consolidation and uniformity in our
+ Government. I go for maintaining the Confederation of the Sovereign States
+ under the Constitution, as our fathers made it, leaving each State at
+ liberty to manage its own affairs and own internal institutions."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He then ridiculed, at considerable length, Mr. Lincoln's proposed methods
+ of securing a reversal by the United States Supreme Court of the Dred
+ Scott decision&mdash;especially that of an "appeal to the People to elect
+ a President who will appoint judges who will reverse the Dred Scott
+ decision," which he characterized as "a proposition to make that Court the
+ corrupt, unscrupulous tool of a political party," and asked, "when we
+ refuse to abide by Judicial decisions, what protection is there left for
+ life and property? To whom shall you appeal? To mob law, to partisan
+ caucuses, to town meetings, to revolution? Where is the remedy when you
+ refuse obedience to the constituted authorities?" In other respects the
+ speech was largely a repetition of his Bloomington speech.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Lincoln in his speech, the same night, at Springfield, opened by
+ contrasting the disadvantages under which, by reason of an unfair
+ apportionment of State Legislative representation and otherwise, the
+ Republicans of Illinois labored in this fight. Among other disadvantages&mdash;whereby
+ he said the Republicans were forced "to fight this battle upon principle
+ and upon principle alone"&mdash;were those which he said arose "out of the
+ relative positions of the two persons who stand before the State as
+ candidates for the Senate."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Said he: "Senator Douglas is of world-wide renown. All the anxious
+ politicians of his Party, or who have been of his Party for years past,
+ have been looking upon him as certainly, at no distant day, to be the
+ President of the United States. They have seen in his round, jolly,
+ fruitful face, Post-offices, Land-offices, Marshalships, and Cabinet
+ appointments, Chargeships and Foreign Missions, bursting and sprouting out
+ in wonderful exuberance, ready to be laid hold of by their greedy hands.
+ And as they have been gazing upon this attractive picture so long, they
+ cannot, in the little distraction that has taken place in the party, bring
+ themselves to give up the charming hope; but with greedier anxiety they
+ rush about him, sustain him, and give him marches, triumphal entries, and
+ receptions, beyond what even in the days of his highest prosperity they
+ could have brought about in his favor. On the contrary, nobody has ever
+ expected me to be President. In my poor, lean, lank face, nobody has ever
+ seen that any cabbages were sprouting out."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Then he described the main points of Senator Douglas's plan of campaign as
+ being not very numerous. "The first," he said, "is Popular Sovereignty.
+ The second and third are attacks upon my speech made on the 16th of June.
+ Out of these three points&mdash;drawing within the range of Popular
+ Sovereignty the question of the Lecompton Constitution&mdash;he makes his
+ principal assault. Upon these his successive speeches are substantially
+ one and the same." Touching the first point, "Popular Sovereignty"&mdash;"the
+ great staple" of Mr. Douglas's campaign&mdash;Mr. Lincoln affirmed that it
+ was "the most arrant Quixotism that was ever enacted before a community."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He said that everybody understood that "we have not been in a controversy
+ about the right of a People to govern themselves in the ordinary matters
+ of domestic concern in the States and Territories;" that, "in this
+ controversy, whatever has been said has had reference to the question of
+ Negro Slavery;" and "hence," said he, "when hereafter I speak of Popular
+ Sovereignty, I wish to be understood as applying what I say to the
+ question of Slavery only; not to other minor domestic matters of a
+ Territory or a State."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Having cleared away the cobwebs, Mr. Lincoln proceeded:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Does Judge Douglas, when he says that several of the past years of his
+ life have been devoted to the question of 'Popular Sovereignty' * * * mean
+ to say that he has been devoting his life to securing the People of the
+ Territories the right to exclude Slavery from the Territories? If he means
+ so to say, he means to deceive; because he and every one knows that the
+ decision of the Supreme Court, which he approves, and makes special ground
+ of attack upon me for disapproving, forbids the People of a Territory to
+ exclude Slavery.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "This covers the whole ground from the settlement of a Territory till it
+ reaches the degree of maturity entitling it to form a State Constitution.
+ * * * This being so, the period of time from the first settlement of a
+ Territory till it reaches the point of forming a State Constitution, is
+ not the thing that the Judge has fought for, or is fighting for; but, on
+ the contrary, he has fought for, and is fighting for, the thing that
+ annihilates and crushes out that same Popular Sovereignty. Well, so much
+ being disposed of, what is left? Why, he is contending for the right of
+ the People, when they come to make a State Constitution, to make it for
+ themselves, and precisely as best suits themselves. I say again, that is
+ Quixotic. I defy contradiction when I declare that the Judge can find no
+ one to oppose him on that proposition. I repeat, there is nobody opposing
+ that proposition on principle. * * * Nobody is opposing, or has opposed,
+ the right of the People when they form a State Constitution, to form it
+ for themselves. Mr. Buchanan and his friends have not done it; they, too,
+ as well as the Republicans and the Anti-Lecompton Democrats, have not done
+ it; but on the contrary, they together have insisted on the right of the
+ People to form a Constitution for themselves. The difference between the
+ Buchanan men, on the one hand, and the Douglas men and the Republicans, on
+ the other, has not been on a question of principle, but on a question of
+ fact * * * whether the Lecompton Constitution had been fairly formed by
+ the People or not. * * * As to the principle, all were agreed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Judge Douglas voted with the Republicans upon that matter of fact. He and
+ they, by their voices and votes, denied that it was a fair emanation of
+ the People. The Administration affirmed that it was. * * * This being so,
+ what is Judge Douglas going to spend his life for? Is he going to spend
+ his life in maintaining a principle that no body on earth opposes? Does he
+ expect to stand up in majestic dignity and go through his apotheosis and
+ become a god, in the maintaining of a principle which neither man nor
+ mouse in all God's creation is opposing?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After ridiculing the assumption that Judge Douglas was entitled to all the
+ credit for the defeat of the Lecompton Constitution in the House of
+ Representatives&mdash;when the defeating vote numbered 120, of which 6
+ were Americans, 20 Douglas (or Anti-Lecompton) Democrats, and 94
+ Republicans &mdash;and hinting that perhaps he placed "his superior claim
+ to credit, on the ground that he performed a good act which was never
+ expected of him," or "upon the ground of the parable of the lost sheep,"
+ of which it had been said, "that there was more rejoicing over the one
+ sheep that was lost and had been found, than over the ninety and nine in
+ the fold&mdash;" he added: "The application is made by the Saviour in this
+ parable, thus: 'Verily, I say unto you, there is more rejoicing in Heaven
+ over one sinner that repenteth, than over ninety and nine just persons
+ that need no repentance.' And now if the Judge claims the benefit of this
+ parable, let him repent. Let him not come up here and say: 'I am the only
+ just person; and you are the ninety-nine sinners!' Repentance before
+ forgiveness is a provision of the Christian system, and on that condition
+ alone will the Republicans grant his forgiveness."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After complaining that Judge Douglas misrepresented his attitude as
+ indicated in his 16th of June speech at Springfield, in charging that he
+ invited "a War of Sections;"&mdash;that he proposed that "all the local
+ institutions of the different States shall become consolidated and
+ uniform," Mr. Lincoln denied that that speech could fairly bear such
+ construction.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In that speech he (Mr. L.) had simply expressed an expectation that
+ "either the opponents of Slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and
+ place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the
+ course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push it forward till
+ it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new, North
+ as well as South." Since then, at Chicago, he had also expressed a "wish
+ to see the spread of Slavery arrested, and to see it placed where the
+ public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate
+ extinction"&mdash;and, said he: "I said that, because I supposed, when the
+ public mind shall rest in that belief, we shall have Peace on the Slavery
+ question. I have believed&mdash;and now believe&mdash;the public mind did
+ rest on that belief up to the introduction of the Nebraska Bill. Although
+ I have ever been opposed to Slavery, so far I rested in the hope and
+ belief that it was in the course of ultimate extinction. For that reason,
+ it had been a minor question with me. I might have been mistaken; but I
+ had believed, and now believe, that the whole public mind, that is, the
+ mind of the great majority, had rested in that belief up to the Repeal of
+ the Missouri Compromise. But upon that event, I became convinced that
+ either I had been resting in a delusion, or the institution was being
+ placed on a new basis&mdash;a basis for making it Perpetual, National, and
+ Universal. Subsequent events have greatly confirmed me in that belief.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I believe that Bill to be the beginning of a Conspiracy for that purpose.
+ So believing, I have since then considered that question a paramount one.
+ So believing, I thought the public mind would never rest till the power of
+ Congress to restrict the spread of it shall again be acknowledged and
+ exercised on the one hand, or, on the other, all resistance be entirely
+ crushed out. I have expressed that opinion and I entertain it to-night."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Having given some pieces of evidence in proof of the "tendency," he had
+ discovered, to the Nationalization of Slavery in these States, Mr. Lincoln
+ continued: "And now, as to the Judge's inference, that because I wish to
+ see Slavery placed in the course of ultimate extinction&mdash;placed where
+ our fathers originally placed it&mdash;I wish to annihilate the State
+ Legislatures&mdash;to force cotton to grow upon the tops of the Green
+ Mountains&mdash;to freeze ice in Florida&mdash;to cut lumber on the broad
+ Illinois prairies&mdash;that I am in favor of all these ridiculous and
+ impossible things! It seems to me it is a complete answer to all this, to
+ ask if, when Congress did have the fashion of restricting Slavery from
+ Free Territory; when Courts did have the fashion of deciding that taking a
+ Slave into a Free, Country made him Free&mdash;I say it is a sufficient
+ answer to ask, if any of this ridiculous nonsense, about consolidation and
+ uniformity, did actually follow? Who heard of any such thing, because of
+ the Ordinance of '87? because of the Missouri Restriction because of the
+ numerous Court decisions of that character?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Now, as to the Dred Scott decision; for upon that he makes his last point
+ at me. He boldly takes ground in favor of that decision. This is one-half
+ the onslaught and one-third of the entire plan of the campaign. I am
+ opposed to that decision in a certain sense, but not in the sense which he
+ puts on it. I say that in so far as it decided in favor of Dred Scott's
+ master, and against Dred Scott and his family, I do not propose to disturb
+ or resist the decision. I never have proposed to do any such thing. I
+ think, that in respect for judicial authority, my humble history would not
+ suffer in comparison with that of Judge Douglas. He would have the citizen
+ conform his vote to that decision; the member of Congress, his; the
+ President, his use of the veto power. He would make it a rule of political
+ action for the People and all the departments of the Government. I would
+ not. By resisting it as a political rule, I disturb no right of property,
+ create no disorder, excite no mobs."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After quoting from a letter of Mr. Jefferson (vol. vii., p. 177, of his
+ Correspondence,) in which he held that "to consider the judges as the
+ ultimate arbiters of all Constitutional questions," is "a very dangerous
+ doctrine indeed; and one which would place us under the despotism of an
+ Oligarchy," Mr. Lincoln continued: "Let us go a little further. You
+ remember we once had a National Bank. Some one owed the Bank a debt; he
+ was sued, and sought to avoid payment on the ground that the Bank was
+ unconstitutional. The case went to the Supreme Court, and therein it was
+ decided that the Bank was Constitutional. The whole Democratic party
+ revolted against that decision. General Jackson himself asserted that he,
+ as President, would not be bound to hold a National Bank to be
+ Constitutional, even though the Court had decided it to be so. He fell in,
+ precisely, with the view of Mr. Jefferson, and acted upon it under his
+ official oath, in vetoing a charter for a National Bank.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The declaration that Congress does not possess this Constitutional power
+ to charter a Bank, has gone into the Democratic platform, at their
+ National Conventions, and was brought forward and reaffirmed in their last
+ Convention at Cincinnati. They have contended for that declaration, in the
+ very teeth of the Supreme Court, for more than a quarter of a century. In
+ fact, they have reduced the decision to an absolute nullity. That
+ decision, I repeat, is repudiated in the Cincinnati platform; and still,
+ as if to show that effrontery can go no further, Judge Douglas vaunts in
+ the very speeches in which he denounces me for opposing the Dred Scott
+ decision, that he stands on the Cincinnati platform.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Now, I wish to know what the Judge can charge upon me, with respect to
+ decisions of the Supreme Court, which does not lie in all its length,
+ breadth, and proportions, at his own door? The plain truth is simply this:
+ Judge Douglas is for Supreme Court decisions when he likes, and against
+ them when he does not like them. He is for the Dred Scott decision because
+ it tends to Nationalize Slavery&mdash;because it is a part of the original
+ combination for that object. It so happens, singularly enough, that I
+ never stood opposed to a decision of the Supreme Court till this. On the
+ contrary, I have no recollection that he was ever particularly in favor of
+ one till this. He never was in favor of any, nor (I) opposed to any, till
+ the present one, which helps to Nationalize Slavery. Free men of Sangamon&mdash;Free
+ men of Illinois, Free men everywhere&mdash;judge ye between him and me,
+ upon this issue!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "He says this Dred Scott case is a very small matter at most&mdash;that it
+ has no practical effect; that at best, or rather I suppose at worst, it is
+ but an abstraction. * * * How has the planting of Slavery in new countries
+ always been effected? It has now been decided that Slavery cannot be kept
+ out of our new Territories by any legal means. In what do our new
+ Territories now differ in this respect from the old Colonies when Slavery
+ was first planted within them?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It was planted, as Mr. Clay once declared, and as history proves true, by
+ individual men in spite of the wishes of the people; the Mother-Government
+ refusing to prohibit it, and withholding from the People of the Colonies
+ the authority to prohibit it for themselves. Mr. Clay says this was one of
+ the great and just causes of complaint against Great Britain by the
+ Colonies, and the best apology we can now make for having the institution
+ amongst us. In that precise condition our Nebraska politicians have at
+ last succeeded in placing our own new Territories; the Government will not
+ prohibit Slavery within them, nor allow the People to prohibit it."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Alluding to that part of Mr. Douglas's speech the previous night touching
+ the death-bed scene of Mr. Clay, with Mr. Douglas's promise to devote the
+ remainder of his life to "Popular Sovereignty"&mdash;and to his relations
+ with Mr. Webster&mdash;Mr. Lincoln said: "It would be amusing, if it were
+ not disgusting, to see how quick these Compromise breakers administer on
+ the political effects of their dead adversaries. If I should be found dead
+ to-morrow morning, nothing but my insignificance could prevent a speech
+ being made on my authority, before the end of next week. It so happens
+ that in that 'Popular Sovereignty' with which Mr. Clay was identified, the
+ Missouri Compromise was expressly reserved; and it was a little singular
+ if Mr. Clay cast his mantle upon Judge Douglas on purpose to have that
+ Compromise repealed. Again, the Judge did not keep faith with Mr. Clay
+ when he first brought in the Nebraska Bill. He left the Missouri
+ Compromise unrepealed, and in his report accompanying the Bill, he told
+ the World he did it on purpose. The manes of Mr. Clay must have been in
+ great agony, till thirty days later, when 'Popular Sovereignty' stood
+ forth in all its glory."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Touching Mr. Douglas's allegations of Mr. Lincoln's disposition to make
+ Negroes equal with the Whites, socially and politically, the latter said:
+ "My declarations upon this subject of Negro Slavery may be misrepresented,
+ but cannot be misunderstood. I have said that I do not understand the
+ Declaration (of Independence) to mean that all men were created equal in
+ all respects. They are not equal in color; but I suppose that it does mean
+ to declare that all men are equal in some respects; they are equal in
+ their right to 'Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.' Certainly
+ the Negro is not our equal in color&mdash;perhaps not in many other
+ respects; still, in the right to put into his mouth the bread that his own
+ hands have earned, he is the equal of every other man, White or Black. In
+ pointing out that more has been given you, you cannot be justified in
+ taking away the little which has been given him. All I ask for the Negro
+ is that if you do not like him, let him alone. If God gave him but little,
+ that little let him enjoy.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The framers of the Constitution," continued Mr. Lincoln, "found the
+ institution of Slavery amongst their other institutions at the time. They
+ found that by an effort to eradicate it, they might lose much of what they
+ had already gained. They were obliged to bow to the necessity. They gave
+ Congress power to abolish the Slave Trade at the end of twenty years. They
+ also prohibited it in the Territories where it did not exist. They did
+ what they could, and yielded to the necessity for the rest. I also yield
+ to all which follows from that necessity. What I would most desire would
+ be the separation of the White and Black races."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Lincoln closed his speech by referring to the "New Departure" of the
+ Democracy&mdash;to the charge he had made, in his 16th of June speech,
+ touching "the existence of a Conspiracy to Perpetuate and Nationalize
+ Slavery"&mdash;which Mr. Douglas had not contradicted&mdash;and, said he,
+ "on his own tacit admission I renew that charge. I charge him with having
+ been a party to that Conspiracy, and to that deception, for the sole
+ purpose of Nationalizing Slavery."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This closed the series of preliminary speeches in the canvass. But they
+ only served to whet the moral and intellectual and political appetite of
+ the public for more. It was generally conceded that, at last, in the
+ person of Mr. Lincoln, the "Little Giant" had met his match.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On July 24, Mr. Lincoln opened a correspondence with Mr. Douglas, which
+ eventuated in an agreement between them, July 31st, for joint-discussions,
+ to take place at Ottawa, Freeport, Jonesboro, Charleston, Galesburgh,
+ Quincy, and Alton, on fixed dates in August, September and October&mdash;at
+ Ottawa, Mr. Douglas to open and speak one hour, Mr. Lincoln to have an
+ hour and a half in reply, and Mr. Douglas to close in a half hour's
+ speech; at Freeport, Mr. Lincoln to open and speak for one hour, Mr.
+ Douglas to take the next hour and a half in reply, and Mr. Lincoln to have
+ the next half hour to close; and so on, alternating at each successive
+ place, making twenty-one hours of joint political debate.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ To these absorbingly interesting discussions, vast assemblages listened
+ with breathless attention; and to the credit of all parties be it said,
+ with unparalleled decorum. The People evidently felt that the greatest of
+ all political principles&mdash;that of Human Liberty&mdash;was hanging on
+ the issue of this great political contest between intellectual giants,
+ thus openly waged before the World&mdash;and they accordingly rose to the
+ dignity and solemnity of the occasion, vindicating by their very example
+ the sacredness with which the Right of Free Speech should be regarded at
+ all times and everywhere.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="p098-lincoln.jpg (86K)" src="images/p098-lincoln.jpg" style="width:100%;"
+ /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch5" id="linkch5"></a><br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ CHAPTER V.<br /> <br /> THE PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST OF 1860&mdash;<br /> THE
+ CRISIS APPROACHING.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The immediate outcome of the remarkable joint-debate between the two
+ intellectual giants of Illinois was, that while the popular vote stood
+ 124,698 for Lincoln, to 121,130 for Douglas&mdash;showing a victory for
+ Lincoln among the People&mdash;yet, enough Douglas-Democrats were elected
+ to the Legislature, when added to those of his friends in the Illinois
+ Senate, who had been elected two years before, and "held over," to give
+ him, in all, 54 members of both branches of the Legislature on joint
+ ballot, against 46 for Mr. Lincoln. Lincoln had carried the people, but
+ Douglas had secured the Senatorial prize for which they had striven&mdash;and
+ by that Legislative vote was elected to succeed himself in the United
+ States Senate. This result was trumpeted throughout the Union as a great
+ Douglas victory.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ During the canvass of Illinois, Douglas's friends had seen to it that
+ nothing on their part should be wanting to secure success. What with
+ special car trains, and weighty deputations, and imposing processions, and
+ flag raisings, the inspiration of music, the booming of cannon, and the
+ eager shouts of an enthusiastic populace, his political journey through
+ Illinois had been more like a Royal Progress than anything the Country had
+ yet seen; and now that his reelection was accomplished, they proposed to
+ make the most of it&mdash;to extend, as it were, the sphere of his
+ triumph, or vindication, so that it would include not the State alone, but
+ the Nation&mdash;and thus so accentuate and enhance his availability as a
+ candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination of 1860, as to make
+ his nomination and election to the Presidency of the United States an
+ almost foregone conclusion.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The programme was to raise so great a popular tidal-wave in his interest,
+ as would bear him irresistibly upon its crest to the White House.
+ Accordingly, as the idol of the Democratic popular heart, Douglas, upon
+ his return to the National Capital, was triumphantly received by the chief
+ cities of the Mississippi and the Atlantic sea-board. Hailed as victor in
+ the great political contest in Illinois&mdash;upon the extended newspaper
+ reports of which, the absorbed eyes of the entire nation, for months, had
+ greedily fed&mdash;Douglas was received with much ostentation and immense
+ enthusiasm at St. Louis, Memphis, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia,
+ Baltimore and Washington. Like the "Triumphs" decreed by Rome, in her
+ grandest days, to the greatest of her victorious heroes, Douglas's return
+ was a series of magnificent popular ovations,
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In a speech made two years before this period, Mr. Lincoln, while
+ contrasting his own political career with that of Douglas, and modestly
+ describing his own as "a flat failure" had said: "With him it has been one
+ of splendid success. His name fills the Nation, and is not unknown even in
+ foreign lands. I affect no contempt for the high eminence he has reached.
+ So reached, that the oppressed of my species might have shared with me in
+ the elevation, I would rather stand on that eminence than wear the richest
+ crown that ever pressed a monarch's brow." And now the star of Douglas had
+ reached a higher altitude, nearing its meridian splendor. He had become
+ the popular idol of the day.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But Douglas's partial victory&mdash;if such it was&mdash;so far from
+ settling the public mind and public conscience, had the contrary effect.
+ It added to the ferment which the Pro-Slavery Oligarchists of the South&mdash;and
+ especially those of South Carolina&mdash;were intent upon increasing,
+ until so grave and serious a crisis should arrive as would, in their
+ opinion, furnish a justifiable pretext in the eyes of the World for the
+ contemplated Secession of the Slave States from the Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Under the inspiration of the Slave Power, and in the direct line of the
+ Dred Scott decision, and of the "victorious" doctrine of Senator Douglas,
+ which he held not inconsistent therewith, that the people of any Territory
+ of the United States could do as they pleased as to the institution of
+ Slavery within their own limits, and if they desired the institution, they
+ had the right by local legislation to "protect and encourage it," the
+ Legislature of the Territory of New Mexico at once (1859) proceeded to
+ enact a law "for the protection of property in Slaves," and other measures
+ similar to the prevailing Slave Codes in the Southern States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The aggressive attitude of the South&mdash;as thus evidenced anew&mdash;naturally
+ stirred, to their very core, the Abolition elements of the North; on the
+ other hand, the publication of Hinton Rowan Helper's "Impending Crisis,"
+ which handled the Slavery question without gloves, and supported its views
+ with statistics which startled the Northern mind, together with its
+ alleged indorsement by the leading Republicans of the North, exasperated
+ the fiery Southrons to an intense degree. Nor was the capture, in October,
+ 1859, of Harper's Ferry, Virginia, by John Brown and his handful of
+ Northern Abolitionist followers, and his subsequent execution in Virginia,
+ calculated to allay the rapidly intensifying feeling between the
+ Freedom-loving North and the Slaveholding South. When, therefore, the
+ Congress met, in December, 1859, the sectional wrath of the Country was
+ reflected in the proceedings of both branches of that body, and these
+ again reacted upon the People of both the Northern and Southern States,
+ until the fires of Slavery Agitation were stirred to a white heat.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The bitterness of feeling in the House at this time, was shown, in part,
+ by the fact that not until the 1st of February, 1860, was it able, upon a
+ forty-fourth ballot, to organize by the election of a Speaker, and that
+ from the day of its meeting on the 5th of December, 1859, up to such
+ organization, it was involved in an incessant and stormy wrangle upon the
+ Slavery question.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ So also in the Democratic Senate, the split in the Democratic Party,
+ between the Lecompton and Anti-Lecompton Democracy, was widened, at the
+ same time that the Republicans of the North were further irritated, by the
+ significantly decisive passage of a series of resolutions proposed by
+ Jefferson Davis, which, on the one hand, purposely and deliberately knifed
+ Douglas's "Popular Sovereignty" doctrine and read out of the Party all who
+ believed in it, by declaring "That neither Congress nor a Territorial
+ Legislature, whether by direct legislation, or legislation of an indirect
+ and unfriendly character, possesses power to annul or impair the
+ Constitutional right of any citizen of the United States to take his
+ Slave-property into the common Territories, and there hold and enjoy the
+ same while the Territorial condition remains," and, on the other,
+ purposely and deliberately slapped in the face the Republicans of the
+ North, by declaring&mdash;among other things "That in the adoption of the
+ Federal Constitution, the States adopting the same, acted severally as
+ Free and Independent sovereignties, delegating a portion of their powers
+ to be exercised by the Federal Government for the increased security of
+ each against dangers, domestic as well as foreign; and that any
+ intermeddling by any one or more States or by a combination of their
+ citizens, with the domestic institutions of the others, on any pretext
+ whatever, political, moral, or religious, with a view to their disturbance
+ or subversion, is in violation of the Constitution, insulting to the
+ States so interfered with, endangers their domestic peace and tranquillity&mdash;objects
+ for which the Constitution was formed&mdash;and, by necessary consequence,
+ tends to weaken and destroy the Union itself."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Another of these resolutions declared Negro Slavery to be recognized in
+ the Constitution, and that all "open or covert attacks thereon with a view
+ to its overthrow," made either by the Non-Slave-holding States or their
+ citizens, violated the pledges of the Constitution, "are a manifest breach
+ of faith, and a violation of the most solemn obligations."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This last was intended as a blow at the Freedom of Speech and of the Press
+ in the North; and only served, as was doubtless intended, to still more
+ inflame Northern public feeling, while at the same time endeavoring to
+ place the arrogant and aggressive Slave Power in an attitude of injured
+ innocence. In short, the time of both Houses of Congress was almost
+ entirely consumed during the Session of 1859-60 in the heated, and
+ sometimes even furious, discussion of the Slavery question; and
+ everywhere, North and South, the public mind was not alone deeply
+ agitated, but apprehensive that the Union was founded not upon a rock, but
+ upon the crater of a volcano, whose long-smouldering energies might at any
+ moment burst their confines, and reduce it to ruin and desolation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 23rd of April, 1860, the Democratic National Convention met at
+ Charleston, South Carolina. It was several days after the permanent
+ organization of the Convention before the Committee on Resolutions
+ reported to the main body, and not until the 30th of April did it reach a
+ vote upon the various reports, which had in the meantime been modified.
+ The propositions voted upon were three:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ First, The Majority Report of the Committee, which reaffirmed the
+ Cincinnati platform of 1856&mdash;with certain "explanatory" resolutions
+ added, which boldly proclaimed: "That the Government of a Territory
+ organized by an Act of Congress, is provisional and temporary; and, during
+ its existence, all citizens of the United States have an equal right to
+ settle with their property in the Territory, without their rights, either
+ of person or property, being destroyed or impaired by Congressional or
+ Territorial Legislation;" that "it is the duty of the Federal Government,
+ in all its departments, to protect, when necessary, the rights of persons
+ and property in the Territories, and wherever else its Constitutional
+ authority extends;" that "when the settlers in a Territory, having an
+ adequate population, form a State Constitution, the right of Sovereignty
+ commences, and, being consummated by admission into the Union, they stand
+ on an equal footing with the people of other States, and the State thus
+ organized ought to be admitted into the Federal Union, whether its
+ Constitution prohibits or recognizes the institution of Slavery;" and that
+ "the enactments of State Legislatures to defeat the faithful execution of
+ the Fugitive Slave Law, are hostile in character, subversive of the
+ Constitution, and revolutionary in effect." The resolutions also included
+ a declaration in favor of the acquisition of Cuba, and other comparatively
+ minor matters.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Second, The Minority Report of the Committee, which, after re-affirming
+ the Cincinnati platform, declared that "Inasmuch as differences of opinion
+ exist in the Democratic party as to the nature and extent of the powers of
+ a Territorial Legislature, and as to the powers and duties of Congress,
+ under the Constitution of the United States, over the institution of
+ Slavery within the Territories * * * the Democratic Party will abide by
+ the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States on the questions
+ of Constitutional law."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Third, The recommendation of Benjamin F. Butler, that the platform should
+ consist simply of a re-affirmation of the Cincinnati platform, and not
+ another word.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The last proposition was first voted on, and lost, by 105 yeas to 198
+ nays. The Minority platform was then adopted by 165 yeas to 138 nays.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The aggressive Slave-holders (Majority) platform, and the Butler
+ Compromise do-nothing proposition, being both defeated, and the Douglas
+ (Minority) platform adopted, the Alabama delegation, under instructions
+ from their State Convention to withdraw in case the National Convention
+ refused to adopt radical Territorial Pro-Slavery resolutions, at once
+ presented a written protest and withdrew from the Convention, and were
+ followed, in rapid succession, by; the delegates from Mississippi,
+ Louisiana (all but two), South Carolina, Florida, Texas, Arkansas (in
+ part), Delaware (mostly), and Georgia (mostly)&mdash;the seceding
+ delegates afterwards organizing in another Hall, adopting the above
+ Majority platform, and after a four days' sitting, adjourning to meet at
+ Richmond, Virginia, on the 11th of June.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Meanwhile, the Regular Democratic National Convention had proceeded to
+ ballot for President&mdash;after adopting the two-thirds rule.
+ Thirty-seven ballots having been cast, that for Stephen A. Douglas being,
+ on the thirty-seventh, 151, the Convention, on the 3d of May, adjourned to
+ meet again at Baltimore, June 18th.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After re-assembling, and settling contested election cases, the delegates
+ (in whole or in part) from Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee,
+ California, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland and Massachusetts, withdrew from
+ the Convention, the latter upon the ground mainly that there had been "a
+ withdrawal, in part, of a majority of the States," while Butler, who had
+ voted steadily for Jefferson Davis throughout all the balloting at
+ Charleston, gave as an additional ground personal to himself, that "I will
+ not sit in a convention where the African Slave Trade&mdash;which is
+ piracy by the laws of my Country&mdash;is approvingly advocated"&mdash;referring
+ thereby to a speech, that had been much applauded by the Convention at
+ Charleston, made by a Georgia delegate (Gaulden), in which that delegate
+ had said: "I would ask my friends of the South to come up in a proper
+ spirit; ask our Northern friends to give us all our rights, and take off
+ the ruthless restrictions which cut off the supply of Slaves from foreign
+ lands. * * * I tell you, fellow Democrats, that the African Slave Trader
+ is the true Union man (cheers and laughter). I tell you that the Slave
+ Trading of Virginia is more immoral, more unchristian in every possible
+ point of view, than that African Slave Trade which goes to Africa and
+ brings a heathen and worthless man here, makes him a useful man,
+ Christianizes him, and sends him and his posterity down the stream of
+ Time, to enjoy the blessings of civilization. (Cheers and laughter.) * * *
+ I come from the first Congressional District of Georgia. I represent the
+ African Slave Trade interest of that Section. (Applause.) I am proud of
+ the position I occupy in that respect. I believe that the African Slave
+ Trader is a true missionary, and a true Christian. (Applause.) * * * Are
+ you prepared to go back to first principles, and take off your
+ unconstitutional restrictions, and leave this question to be settled by
+ each State? Now, do this, fellow citizens, and you will have Peace in the
+ Country. * * * I advocate the repeal of the laws prohibiting the African
+ Slave Trade, because I believe it to be the true Union movement. * * * I
+ believe that by re-opening this Trade and giving us Negroes to populate
+ the Territories, the equilibrium of the two Sections will be maintained."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After the withdrawal of the bolting delegates at Baltimore, the Convention
+ proceeded to ballot for President, and at the end of the second ballot,
+ Mr. Douglas having received "two-thirds of all votes given in the
+ Convention" (183) was declared the "regular nominee of the Democratic
+ Party, for the office of President of the United States."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ An additional resolution was subsequently adopted as a part of the
+ platform, declaring that "it is in accordance with the true interpretation
+ of the Cincinnati platform, that, during the existence of the Territorial
+ Governments, the measure of restriction, whatever it may be, imposed by
+ the Federal Constitution on the power of the Territorial Legislatures over
+ the subject of the domestic relations, as the same has been, or shall
+ hereafter be, finally determined by the Supreme Court of the United
+ States, should be respected by all good citizens, and enforced with
+ promptness and fidelity by every branch of the General Government."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 11th of June, pursuant to adjournment, the Democratic Bolters'
+ Convention met at Richmond, and, after adjourning to meet at Baltimore,
+ finally met there on the 28th of that month&mdash;twenty-one States being,
+ in whole or in part, represented. This Convention unanimously readopted
+ the Southern-wing platform it had previously adopted at Charleston, and,
+ upon the first ballot, chose, without dissent, John C. Breckinridge of
+ Kentucky, as its candidate for the Presidential office.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In the meantime, however, the National Conventions of other Parties had
+ been held, viz.: that of the Republican Party at Chicago, which, with a
+ session of three days, May 16-18, had nominated Abraham Lincoln of
+ Illinois and Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, for President and Vice-President
+ respectively; and that of the "Constitutional Union" (or Native American)
+ Party which had severally nominated (May 19) for such positions, John Bell
+ of Tennessee, and Edward Everett of Massachusetts.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The material portion of the Republican National platform, adopted with
+ entire unanimity by their Convention, was, so far as the Slavery and
+ Disunion questions were concerned, comprised in these declarations:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ First, That the history of the nation, during the last four years, has
+ fully established the propriety and necessity of the organization and
+ perpetuation of the Republican Party; and that the causes which called it
+ into existence are permanent in their nature, and now, more than ever
+ before, demand its peaceful and Constitutional triumph.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Second, That the maintenance of the principle, promulgated in the
+ Declaration of Independence, and embodied in the Federal Constitution,
+ "that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator
+ with certain inalienable rights; that among these are Life, Liberty and
+ the pursuit of Happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are
+ instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the
+ governed," is essential to the preservation of our Republican
+ institutions; and that the Federal Constitution, the Rights of the States,
+ and the Union of the States must and shall be preserved.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Third, That to the Union of the States, this Nation owes its unprecedented
+ increase in population, its surprising development of material resources,
+ its rapid augmentation of wealth, its happiness at home, and its honor
+ abroad; and we hold in abhorrence all schemes for Disunion, come from
+ whatever source they may: And we congratulate the Country that no
+ Republican member of Congress has uttered or countenanced the threats of
+ Disunion, so often made by Democratic members, without rebuke, and with
+ applause, from their political associates; and we denounce those threats
+ of Disunion, in case of a popular overthrow of their ascendancy, as
+ denying the vital principles of a free Government, and as an avowal of
+ contemplated Treason, which it is the imperative duty of an indignant
+ People, sternly to rebuke and forever silence.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Fourth, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and
+ especially the right of each State, to order and control its own domestic
+ institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to
+ that balance of powers on which the perfection and endurance of our
+ political fabric depend; and we denounce the lawless invasion, by armed
+ force, of any State or Territory, no matter under what pretext, as among
+ the gravest of crimes.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Fifth, That the present Democratic Administration has far exceeded our
+ worst apprehensions, in its measureless subserviency to the exactions of a
+ Sectional interest, as especially evinced in its desperate exertions to
+ force the infamous Lecompton Constitution upon the protesting people of
+ Kansas; in construing the personal relation between master and servant to
+ involve an unqualified property in persons; in its attempted enforcement,
+ everywhere, on land and sea, through the intervention of Congress and of
+ the Federal Courts, of the extreme pretensions of a purely local interest;
+ and in its general and unvarying abuse of the power intrusted to it by a
+ confiding People.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ * * * * * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Seventh, That the new dogma that the Constitution, of its own force,
+ carries Slavery into any or all of the Territories of the United States,
+ is a dangerous political heresy, at variance with the explicit provisions
+ of that instrument itself, with contemporaneous exposition, and with
+ legislation and judicial precedent; is revolutionary in its tendency and
+ subversive of the peace and harmony of the Country.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Eighth, That the normal condition of all the territory of the United
+ States is that of Freedom; that as our Republican fathers, when they had
+ abolished Slavery in all our National Territory, ordained that "No person
+ should be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of
+ law," it becomes our duty, by legislation, whenever such legislation is
+ necessary, to maintain this provision of the Constitution against all
+ attempts to violate it; and we deny the authority of Congress, of a
+ Territorial Legislature, or of any individuals, to give legal existence to
+ Slavery in any Territory of the United States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Ninth, That we brand the recent re-opening of the African Slave-trade
+ under the cover of our National flag, aided by perversions of judicial
+ power, as a crime against humanity and a burning shame to our Country and
+ Age; and we call upon Congress to take prompt and efficient measures for
+ the total and final suppression of that execrable traffic.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Tenth, That in the recent vetoes, by their Federal Governors, of the acts
+ of the Legislatures of Kansas and Nebraska, prohibiting Slavery in those
+ Territories, we find a practical illustration of the boasted Democratic
+ principle of Non-Intervention and Popular Sovereignty embodied in the
+ Kansas-Nebraska Bill, and a demonstration of the deception and fraud
+ involved therein.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Eleventh, That Kansas should, of right, be immediately admitted as a
+ State, under the Constitution recently formed and adopted by the House of
+ Representatives.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ * * * * * * * * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The National platform of the "Constitutional Union" Party, was adopted,
+ unanimously, in these words:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Whereas, experience has demonstrated that platforms adopted by the
+ partisan Conventions of the Country have had the effect to mislead and
+ deceive the People, and at the same time to widen the political divisions
+ of the Country, by the creation and encouragement of geographical and
+ Sectional parties; therefore,
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved, That it is both the part of patriotism and of duty to recognize
+ no political principle other than the Constitution of the Country, the
+ Union of the States, and the Enforcement of the Laws, and that, as
+ representatives of the Constitutional Union men of the Country, in
+ National Convention assembled, we hereby pledge ourselves to maintain,
+ protect, and defend, separately and unitedly, these great principles of
+ public liberty and national safety, against all enemies, at home and
+ abroad; believing that thereby peace may once more be restored to the
+ Country, the rights of the people and of the States re-established, and
+ the Government again placed in that condition of justice, fraternity, and
+ equality which, under the example and Constitution of our fathers, has
+ solemnly bound every citizen of the United States to maintain a more
+ perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide
+ for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the
+ blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Thus, by the last of June, 1860, the four National Parties with their
+ platforms and candidates were all in the political field prepared for the
+ onset.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Briefly, the attitude of the standard-bearers representing the
+ platform-principles of their several Parties, was this:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Lincoln, representing the Republicans, held that Slavery is a wrong, to be
+ tolerated in the States where it exists, but which must be excluded from
+ the Territories, which are all normally Free and must be kept Free by
+ Congressional legislation, if necessary; and that neither Congress, nor
+ the Territorial Legislature, nor any individual, has power to give to it
+ legal existence in such Territories.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Breckinridge, representing the Pro-Slavery wing of the Democracy, held
+ that Slavery is a right, which, when transplanted from the Slave-States
+ into the Territories, neither Congressional nor Territorial legislation
+ can destroy or impair, but which, on the contrary, must, when necessary,
+ be protected everywhere by Congress and all other departments of the
+ Government.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Douglas, representing the Anti-Lecompton wing of Democracy, held that
+ whether Slavery be right or wrong, the white inhabitants of the
+ Territories have the sole right to determine whether it shall or shall not
+ exist within their respective limits, subject to the Constitution and
+ Supreme Court decisions thereon; and that neither Congress nor any State,
+ nor any outside persons, must interfere with that right.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Bell, representing the remaining political elements, held that it was all
+ wrong to have any principles at all, except "the Constitution of the
+ Country, the Union of the States, and the Enforcement of the Laws"&mdash;a
+ platform which Horace Greeley well described as "meaning anything in
+ general, and nothing in particular."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The canvass that ensued was terribly exciting&mdash;Douglas alone, of all
+ the Presidential candidates, bravely taking the field, both North and
+ South, in person, in the hope that the magnetism of his personal presence
+ and powerful intellect might win what, from the start&mdash;owing to the
+ adverse machinations, in the Northern States, of the Administration or
+ Breckinridge-Democratic wing&mdash;seemed an almost hopeless fight. In the
+ South, the Democracy was almost a unit in opposition to Douglas, holding,
+ as they did, that "Douglas Free-Soilism" was "far more dangerous to the
+ South than the election of Lincoln; because it seeks to create a Free-Soil
+ Party there; while, if Lincoln triumphs, the result cannot fail to be a
+ South united in her own defense;" while the old Whig element of the South
+ was as unitedly for Bell. In the North, the Democracy were split in twain,
+ three-fourths of them upholding Douglas, and the balance, powerful beyond
+ their numbers in the possession of Federal Offices, bitterly hostile to
+ him, and anxious to beat him, even at the expense of securing the election
+ of Lincoln.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Douglas's fight was that the candidacy and platform of Bell were
+ meaningless, those of both Lincoln and Breckinridge, Sectional, and that
+ he alone bore aloft the standard of the entire Union; while, on the other
+ hand, the supporters of Lincoln, his chief antagonist, claimed that&mdash;as
+ the burden of the song from the lips of Douglas men, Bell men, and
+ Breckinridge men alike, was the expression of a "fear that," in the
+ language of Mr. Seward, "if the people elected Mr. Lincoln to the
+ Presidency, they would wake up and find that they had no Country for him
+ to preside over"&mdash;"therefore, all three of the parties opposing Mr.
+ Lincoln were in the same boat, and hence the only true Union party, was
+ the party which made no threats of Disunion, to wit, the Republican
+ party."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The October elections of 1860 made it plain that Mr. Lincoln would be
+ elected. South Carolina began to "feel good" over the almost certainty
+ that the pretext for Secession for which her leaders had been hoping in
+ vain for thirty years, was at hand. On the 25th of October, at Augusta,
+ South Carolina, the Governor, the Congressional delegation, and other
+ leading South Carolinians, met, and decided that in the event of Mr.
+ Lincoln's election, that State would secede. Similar meetings, to the same
+ end, were also held about the same time, in others of the Southern States.
+ On the 5th of November&mdash;the day before the Presidential election&mdash;the
+ Legislature of South Carolina met at the special call of Governor Gist,
+ and, having organized, received a Message from the Governor, in which,
+ after stating that he had convened that Body in order that they might on
+ the morrow "appoint the number of electors of President and Vice-President
+ to which this State is entitled," he proceeded to suggest "that the
+ Legislature remain in session, and take such action as will prepare the
+ State for any emergency that may arise." He went on to "earnestly
+ recommend that, in the event of Abraham Lincoln's election to the
+ Presidency, a Convention of the people of this State be immediately
+ called, to consider and determine for themselves the mode and measure of
+ redress," and, he continued: "I am constrained to say that the only
+ alternative left, in my judgment, is the Secession of South Carolina from
+ the Federal Union. The indications from many of the Southern States
+ justify the conclusion that the Secession of South Carolina will be
+ immediately followed, if not adopted simultaneously, by them, and
+ ultimately by the entire South. The long-desired cooperation of the other
+ States having similar institutions, for which so many of our citizens have
+ been waiting, seems to be near at hand; and, if we are true to ourselves,
+ will soon be realized. The State has, with great unanimity declared that
+ she has the right peaceably to Secede, and no power on earth can
+ rightfully prevent it."
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [Referring to the Ordinance of Nullification adopted by the people of
+ South Carolina, November 24, 1832, growing out of the Tariff Act of 1832&mdash;wherein
+ it was declared that, in the event of the Federal Government undertaking
+ to enforce the provisions of that Act: "The people of this State will
+ thenceforth hold themselves absolved from all further obligation to
+ maintain or preserve their political connection with the people of the
+ other States, and will forthwith proceed to organize a separate
+ government, and do all other acts and things which Sovereign and
+ independent States may of right do."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ He proceeded to say that "If, in the exercise of arbitrary power, and
+ forgetful of the lessons of history, the Government of the United States
+ should attempt coercion, it will become our solemn duty to meet force by
+ force"&mdash;and promised that the decision of the aforesaid Convention
+ "representing the Sovereignty of the State, and amenable to no earthly
+ tribunal," should be, by him, "carried out to the letter." He recommended
+ the thorough reorganization of the Militia; the arming of every man in the
+ State between the ages of eighteen and forty-five; and the immediate
+ enrollment of ten thousand volunteers officered by themselves; and
+ concluded with a confident "appeal to the Disposer of all human events,"
+ in whose keeping the "Cause" was to be entrusted.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ That same evening (November 5), being the eve of the election, at Augusta,
+ South Carolina, in response to a serenade, United States Senator Chestnut
+ made a speech of like import, in which, after predicting the election of
+ Mr. Lincoln, he said: "Would the South submit to a Black Republican
+ President, and a Black Republican Congress, which will claim the right to
+ construe the Constitution of the Country, and administer the Government in
+ their own hands, not by the law of the instrument itself, nor by that of
+ the fathers of the Country, nor by the practices of those who administered
+ seventy years ago, but by rules drawn from their own blind consciences and
+ crazy brains? * * * The People now must choose whether they would be
+ governed by enemies, or govern themselves."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He declared that the Secession of South Carolina was an "undoubted right,"
+ a "duty," and their "only safety" and as to himself, he would "unfurl the
+ Palmetto flag, fling it to the breeze, and, with the spirit of a brave
+ man, live and die as became" his "glorious ancestors, and ring the clarion
+ notes of defiance in the ears of an insolent foe!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ So also, in Columbia, South Carolina, Representative Boyce of that State,
+ and other prominent politicians, harangued an enthusiastic crowd that
+ night&mdash;Mr. Boyce declaring: "I think the only policy for us is to
+ arm, as soon as we receive authentic intelligence of the election of
+ Lincoln. It is for South Carolina, in the quickest manner, and by the most
+ direct means, to withdraw from the Union. Then we will not submit, whether
+ the other Southern States will act with us or with our enemies. They
+ cannot take sides with our enemies; they must take sides with us. When an
+ ancient philosopher wished to inaugurate a great revolution, his motto was
+ to dare! to dare!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkhayne" id="linkhayne"></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="p120-hayne.jpg (73K)" src="images/p120-hayne.jpg" style="width:100%;" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch6" id="linkch6"></a><br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ CHAPTER VI.<br /> <br /> THE GREAT CONSPIRACY MATURING.<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ The 6th of November, 1860, came and passed; on the 7th, the prevailing
+ conviction that Lincoln would be elected had become a certainty, and
+ before the close of that day, the fact had been heralded throughout the
+ length and breadth of the Republic. The excitement of the People was
+ unparalleled. The Republicans of the North rejoiced that at last the great
+ wrong of Slavery was to be placed "where the People could rest in the
+ belief that it was in the course of ultimate extinction!" The Douglas
+ Democracy, naturally chagrined at the defeat of their great leader, were
+ filled with gloomy forebodings touching the future of their Country; and
+ the Southern Democracy, or at least a large portion of it, openly exulted
+ that at last the long-wished-for opportunity for a revolt of the Slave
+ Power, and a separation of the Slave from the Free States, was at hand.
+ Especially in South Carolina were the "Fire-eating" Southrons jubilant
+ over the event.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ ["South Carolina rejoiced over the election of Lincoln, with bonfires
+ and processions." p. 172, Arnold's "Life of Abraham Lincoln."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "There was great joy in Charleston, and wherever 'Fire Eaters' most did
+ congregate, on the morning of November 7th. Men rushed to shake hands
+ and congratulate each other on the glad tidings of Lincoln's election. *
+ * * Men thronged the streets, talking, laughing, cheering, like mariners
+ long becalmed on a hateful, treacherous sea, whom a sudden breeze had
+ swiftly wafted within sight of their longed-for haven." p. 332, vol. i.,
+ Greeley's American Conflict.]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ Meanwhile any number of joint resolutions looking to the calling of a
+ Secession Convention, were introduced in the South Carolina Legislature,
+ sitting at Columbia, having in view Secession contingent upon the
+ "cooperation" of the other Slave States, or looking to immediate and
+ "unconditional" Secession.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the evening of November 7th, Edmund Ruffin of Virginia&mdash;a
+ Secession fanatic who had come from thence in hot haste&mdash;in response
+ to a serenade, declared to the people of Columbia that: "The defense of
+ the South, he verily believed, was only to be secured through the lead of
+ South Carolina;" that, "old as he was, he had come here to join them in
+ that lead;" and that "every day delayed, was a day lost to the Cause." He
+ acknowledged that Virginia was "not as ready as South Carolina;" but
+ declared that "The first drop of blood spilled on the soil of South
+ Carolina would bring Virginia, and every Southern State, with them." He
+ thought "it was perhaps better that Virginia, and all other border States,
+ remain quiescent for a time, to serve as a guard against the North. * * *
+ By remaining in the Union for a time, she would not only prevent coercive
+ legislation in Congress, but any attempt for our subjugation."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ That same evening came news that, at Charleston, the Grand Jury of the
+ United States District Court had refused to make any presentments, because
+ of the Presidential vote just cast, which, they said, had "swept away the
+ last hope for the permanence, for the stability, of the Federal Government
+ of these Sovereign States;" and that United States District Judge Magrath
+ had resigned his office, saying to the Grand Jury, as he did so: "In the
+ political history of the United States, an event has happened of ominous
+ import to fifteen Slave-holding States. The State of which we are citizens
+ has been always understood to have deliberately fixed its purpose whenever
+ that event should happen. Feeling an assurance of what will be the action
+ of the State, I consider it my duty, without delay, to prepare to obey its
+ wishes. That preparation is made by the resignation of the office I have
+ held."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The news of the resignations of the Federal Collector and District
+ Attorney at Charleston, followed, with an intimation that that of the
+ Sub-Treasurer would soon be forthcoming. On November 9th, a joint
+ resolution calling an unconditional Secession Convention to meet at
+ Columbia December 17th, was passed by the Senate, and on the 12th of
+ November went through the House; and both of the United States Senators
+ from South Carolina had now resigned their seats in the United States
+ Senate.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Besides all these and many other incitements to Secession was the fact
+ that at Milledgeville, Georgia, Governor Brown had, November 12th,
+ addressed a Georgian Military Convention, affirming "the right of
+ Secession, and the duty of other Southern States to sustain South Carolina
+ in the step she was then taking," and declaring that he "would like to see
+ Federal troops dare attempt the coercion of a seceding Southern State! For
+ every Georgian who fell in a conflict thus incited, the lives of two
+ Federal Soldiers should expiate the outrage on State Sovereignty"&mdash;and
+ that the Convention aforesaid had most decisively given its voice for
+ Secession.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It was about this time, however, that Alexander H. Stephens vainly sought
+ to stem the tide of Secession in his own State, in a speech (November 14)
+ before the Georgia Legislature, in which he declared that Mr. Lincoln "can
+ do nothing unless he is backed by power in Congress. The House of
+ Representatives is largely in the majority against him. In the Senate he
+ will also be powerless. There will be a majority of four against him." He
+ also cogently said: "Many of us have sworn to support it (the
+ Constitution). Can we, therefore, for the mere election of a man to the
+ Presidency&mdash;and that too, in accordance with the prescribed forms of
+ the Constitution&mdash;make a point of resistance to the Government, and,
+ without becoming the breakers of that sacred instrument ourselves,
+ withdraw ourselves from it? Would we not be in the wrong?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But the occasional words of wisdom that fell from the lips of the few
+ far-seeing statesmen of the South, were as chaff before the storm of
+ Disunion raised by the turbulent Fire-eaters, and were blown far from the
+ South, where they might have done some good for the Union cause, away up
+ to the North, where they contributed to aid the success of the
+ contemplated Treason and Rebellion, by lulling many of the people there,
+ into a false sense of security. Unfortunately, also, even the ablest of
+ the Southern Union men were so tainted with the heretical doctrine of
+ States-Rights, which taught the "paramount allegiance" of the citizen to
+ the State, that their otherwise powerful appeals for the preservation of
+ the Union were almost invariably handicapped by the added protestation
+ that in any event&mdash;and however they might deplore the necessity&mdash;they
+ would, if need be, go with their State, against their own convictions of
+ duty to the National Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Hence in this same speech we find that Mr. Stephens destroyed the whole
+ effect of his weighty and logical appeal against Secession from the Union,
+ by adding to it, that, "Should Georgia determine to go out of the Union I
+ shall bow to the will of her people. Their cause is my cause, and their
+ destiny is my destiny; and I trust this will be the ultimate course of
+ all."&mdash;and by further advising the calling of a Convention of the
+ people to decide the matter; thus, in advance, as it were, binding himself
+ hand and foot, despite his previous Union utterances, to do the fell
+ bidding of the most rampant Disunionists. And thus, in due time, it
+ befell, as we shall see, that this "saving clause" in his "Union speech,"
+ brought him at the end, not to that posture of patriotic heroism to which
+ he aspired when he adjured his Georgian auditors to "let us be found to
+ the last moment standing on the deck (of the Republic), with the
+ Constitution of the United States waving over our heads," but to that of
+ an imprisoned traitor and defeated rebel against the very Republic and
+ Constitution which he had sworn to uphold and defend!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The action of the South Carolina Legislature in calling an Unconditional
+ Secession Convention, acted among the Southern States like a spark in a
+ train of gunpowder. Long accustomed to incendiary resolutions of
+ Pro-Slavery political platforms, as embodying the creed of Southern men;
+ committed by those declarations to the most extreme action when, in their
+ judgment, the necessity should arise; and worked up during the
+ Presidential campaign by swarming Federal officials inspired by the
+ fanatical Secession leaders; the entire South only needed the spark from
+ the treasonable torch of South Carolina, to find itself ablaze, almost
+ from one end to the other, with the flames of revolt.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Governor after Governor, in State after State, issued proclamation after
+ proclamation, calling together their respective Legislatures, to consider
+ the situation and whether their respective States should join South
+ Carolina in seceding from the Union. Kentucky alone, of them all, seemed
+ for a time to keep cool, and look calmly and reasonably through the
+ Southern ferment to the horrors beyond. In an address issued by Governor
+ Magoffin of that State, to the people, he said:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "To South Carolina and such other States as may wish to secede from the
+ Union, I would say: The geography of this Country will not admit of a
+ division; the mouth and sources of the Mississippi River cannot be
+ separated without the horrors of Civil War. We cannot sustain you in this
+ movement merely on account of the election of Mr. Lincoln. Do not
+ precipitate by premature action into a revolution or Civil War, the
+ consequences of which will be most frightful to all of us. It may yet be
+ avoided. There is still hope, faint though it be. Kentucky is a Border
+ State, and has suffered more than all of you. * * * She has a right to
+ claim that her voice, and the voice of reason, and moderation and
+ patriotism shall be heard and heeded by you. If you secede, your
+ representatives will go out of Congress and leave us at the mercy of a
+ Black Republican Government. Mr. Lincoln will have no check. He can
+ appoint his Cabinet, and have it confirmed. The Congress will then be
+ Republican, and he will be able to pass such laws as he may suggest. The
+ Supreme Court will be powerless to protect us. We implore you to stand by
+ us, and by our friends in the Free States; and let us all, the bold, the
+ true, and just men in the Free and Slave States, with a united front,
+ stand by each other, by our principles, by our rights, our equality, our
+ honor, and by the Union under the Constitution. I believe this is the only
+ way to save it; and we can do it."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But this "still small voice" of conscience and of reason, heard like a
+ whisper from the mouths of Stephens in Georgia, and Magoffin in Kentucky,
+ was drowned in the clamor and tumult of impassioned harangues and
+ addresses, and the drumming and tramp of the "minute men" of South
+ Carolina, and other military organizations, as they excitedly prepared
+ throughout the South for the dread conflict at arms which they recklessly
+ invited, and savagely welcomed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ We have seen how President Andrew Jackson some thirty years before, had
+ stamped out Nullification and Disunion in South Carolina, with an iron
+ heel.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But a weak and feeble old man&mdash;still suffering from the effects of
+ the mysterious National Hotel poisoning&mdash;was now in the Executive
+ Chair at the White House. Well-meaning, doubtless, and a Union man at
+ heart, his enfeebled intellect was unable to see, and hold firm to, the
+ only true course. He lacked clearness of perception, decision of
+ character, and nerve. He knew Secession was wrong, but allowed himself to
+ be persuaded that he had no Constitutional power to prevent it. He had
+ surrounded himself in the Cabinet with such unbending adherents and tools
+ of the Slave-Power, as Howell Cobb of Georgia, his Secretary of the
+ Treasury, John B. Floyd of Virginia, as Secretary of War, Jacob Thompson
+ of Mississippi, as Secretary of the Interior, and Isaac Toucy of
+ Connecticut, as Secretary of the Navy, before whose malign influence the
+ councils of Lewis Cass of Michigan, the Secretary of State, and other
+ Union men, in and out of the Cabinet, were quite powerless.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ When, therefore, the Congress met (December 3, 1860) and he transmitted to
+ it his last Annual Message, it was found that, instead of treating
+ Secession from the Jacksonian standpoint, President Buchanan feebly wailed
+ over the threatened destruction of the Union, weakly apologized for the
+ contemplated Treason, garrulously scolded the North as being to blame for
+ it, and, while praying to God to "preserve the Constitution and the Union
+ throughout all generations," wrung his nerveless hands in despair over his
+ own powerlessness&mdash;as he construed the Constitution&mdash;to prevent
+ Secession! Before writing his pitifully imbecile Message, President
+ Buchanan had secured from his Attorney-General (Jeremiah S. Black of
+ Pennsylvania) an opinion, in which the latter, after touching upon certain
+ cases in which he believed the President would be justified in using force
+ to sustain the Federal Laws, supposed the case of a State where all the
+ Federal Officers had resigned and where there were neither Federal Courts
+ to issue, nor officers to execute judicial process, and continued: "In
+ that event, troops would certainly be out of place, and their use wholly
+ illegal. If they are sent to aid the Courts and Marshals there must be
+ Courts and Marshals to be aided. Without the exercise of these functions,
+ which belong exclusively to the civil service, the laws cannot be executed
+ in any event, no matter what may be the physical strength which the
+ Government has at its command. Under such circumstances, to send a
+ military force into any State, with orders to act against the people,
+ would be simply making War upon them."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Resting upon that opinion of Attorney-General Black, President Buchanan,
+ in his Message, after referring to the solemn oath taken by the Executive
+ "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed," and stating that
+ there were now no longer any Federal Officers in South Carolina, through
+ whose agency he could keep that oath, took up the laws of February 28,
+ 1795, and March 3, 1807, as "the only Acts of Congress on the Statute-book
+ bearing upon the subject," which "authorize the President, after he shall
+ have ascertained that the Marshal, with his posse comitatus, is unable to
+ execute civil or criminal process in any particular case, to call out the
+ Militia and employ the Army and Navy to aid him in performing this
+ service, having first, by Proclamation, commanded the insurgents to
+ 'disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes, within a
+ limited time'"&mdash;and thereupon held that "This duty cannot, by
+ possibility, be performed in a State where no judicial authority exists to
+ issue process, and where there is no Marshal to execute it; and where even
+ if there were such an officer, the entire population would constitute one
+ solid combination to resist him." And, not satisfied with attempting to
+ show as clearly as he seemed to know how, his own inability under the laws
+ to stamp out Treason, he proceeded to consider what he thought Congress
+ also could not do under the Constitution. Said he: "The question fairly
+ stated, is: Has the Constitution delegated to Congress the power to coerce
+ into submission a State which is attempting to withdraw, or has actually
+ withdrawn, from the Confederacy? If answered in the affirmative, it must
+ be on the principle that the power has been conferred upon Congress to
+ declare and make War against a State. After much serious reflection, I
+ have arrived at the conclusion that no such power has been delegated to
+ Congress or to any other department of the Federal Government." And
+ further: "Congress possesses many means of preserving it (the Union) by
+ conciliation; but the sword was not placed in their hands to preserve it
+ by force."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Thus, in President Buchanan's judgment, while, in another part of his
+ Message, he had declared that no State had any right, Constitutional or
+ otherwise, to Secede from that Union, which was designed for all time&mdash;yet,
+ if any State concluded thus wrongfully to Secede, there existed no power
+ in the Union, by the exercise of force, to preserve itself from instant
+ dissolution! How imbecile the reasoning, how impotent the conclusion,
+ compared with that of President Jackson, thirty years before, in his
+ Proclamation against Nullification and Secession, wherein that sturdy
+ patriot declared to the South Carolinians that "compared to Disunion, all
+ other evils are light, because that brings with it an accumulation of
+ all;" that "Disunion by armed force, is Treason;" and that he was
+ determined "to execute the Laws," and "to preserve the Union!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ President Buchanan's extraordinary Message&mdash;or so much of it as
+ related to the perilous condition of the Union&mdash;was referred, in the
+ House of Representatives, to a Select Committee of Thirty-three,
+ comprising one member from each State, in which there was a very large
+ preponderance of such as favored Conciliation without dishonor. But the
+ debates in both Houses, in which the most violent language was indulged by
+ the Southern Fire-eaters, as well as other events, soon proved that there
+ was a settled purpose on the part of the Slave-Power and its adherents to
+ resist and spit upon all attempts at placation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In the Senate also (December 5), a Select Committee of Thirteen was
+ appointed, to consider the impending dangers to the Union, comprising
+ Senators Powell of Kentucky, Hunter of Virginia, Crittenden of Kentucky,
+ Seward of New York, Toombs of Georgia, Douglas of Illinois, Collamer of
+ Vermont, Davis of Mississippi, Wade of Ohio, Bigler of Pennsylvania, Rice
+ of Minnesota, Doolittle of Wisconsin, and Grimes of Iowa. Their labors
+ were alike without practical result, owing to the irreconcilable attitude
+ of the Southrons, who would accept nothing less than a total repudiation
+ by the Republicans of the very principles upon which the recent
+ Presidential contest had by them been fought and won. Nor would they even
+ accept such a repudiation unless carried by vote of the majority of the
+ Republicans. The dose that they insisted upon the Republican Party
+ swallowing must not only be as noxious as possible, but must absolutely be
+ mixed by that Party itself, and in addition, that Party must also go down
+ on its knees, and beg the privilege of so mixing and swallowing the dose!
+ That was the impossible attitude into which, by their bullying and
+ threats, the Slave Power hoped to force the Republican Party&mdash;either
+ that or "War."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Project after project in both Houses of Congress looking to Conciliation
+ was introduced, referred, reported, discussed, and voted on or not, as the
+ case might be, in vain. And in the meantime, in New York, in Philadelphia,
+ and elsewhere in the North, the timidity of Capital showed itself in great
+ Conciliation meetings, where speeches were applauded and resolutions
+ adopted of the most abject character, in behalf of "Peace, at any price,"
+ regardless of the sacrifice of honor and principles and even decency. In
+ fact the Commercial North, with supplicating hands and beseeching face,
+ sank on its knees in a vain attempt to propitiate its furious creditor,
+ the South, by asking it not only to pull its nose, but to spit in its
+ face, both of which it humbly and even anxiously offered for the purpose!*
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [Thus, in Philadelphia, December 13, 1860, at a great meeting held at
+ the call of the Mayor, in Independence Square, Mayor Henry led off the
+ speaking&mdash;which was nearly all in the same line&mdash;by saying: "I
+ tell you that if in any portion of our Confederacy, sentiments have been
+ entertained and cherished which are inimical to the civil rights and
+ social institutions of any other portion, those sentiments should be
+ relinquished." Another speaker, Judge George W. Woodward, sneeringly
+ asked: "Whence came these excessive sensibilities that cannot bear a few
+ slaves in a remote Territory until the white people establish a
+ Constitution?" Another, Mr. Charles E. Lex (a Republican), speaking of
+ the Southern People, said: "What, then, can we say to them? what more
+ than we have expressed in the resolutions we have offered? If they are
+ really aggrieved by any laws upon our Statute-books opposed to their
+ rights&mdash;if upon examination any such are found to be in conflict
+ with the Constitution of these United States&mdash;nay, further, if they
+ but serve to irritate our brethren of the South, whether Constitutional
+ or not, I, for one, have no objection that they should instantly be
+ repealed." Another said, "Let us repeal our obnoxious Personal Liberty
+ bills * * *; let us receive our brother of the South, if he will come
+ among us for a little time, attended by his servant, and permit him thus
+ to come." And the resolutions adopted were even still more abject in
+ tone than the speeches.]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ But the South at present was too busy in perfecting its long-cherished
+ plans for the disruption of the Union, to more than grimly smile at this
+ evidence of what it chose to consider "a divided sentiment" in the North.
+ While it weakened the North, it strengthened the South, and instead of
+ mollifying the Conspirators against the Union, it inspired them with fresh
+ energy in their fell purpose to destroy it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The tone of the Republican press, too, while more dignified, was
+ thoroughly conciliatory. The Albany Evening Journal,&mdash;[November 30,
+ 1860]&mdash;the organ of Governor Seward, recognizing that the South,
+ blinded by passion, was in dead earnest, but also recognizing the
+ existence of "a Union sentiment there, worth cherishing," suggested "a
+ Convention of the People, consisting of delegates appointed by the States,
+ in which it would not be found unprofitable for the North and South,
+ bringing their respective griefs, claims, and proposed reforms, to a
+ common arbitrament, to meet, discuss, and determine upon a future"&mdash;before
+ a final appeal to arms. So, too, Horace Greeley, in the New York Tribune,&mdash;[November
+ 9, 1860.]&mdash;after weakly conceding, on his own part, the right of
+ peaceable Secession, said: "But while we thus uphold the practical
+ liberty, if not the abstract right, of Secession, we must insist that the
+ step be taken, if it ever shall be, with the deliberation and gravity
+ befitting so momentous an issue. Let ample time be given for reflection;
+ let the subject be fully canvassed before the People; and let a popular
+ vote be taken in every case, before Secession is decreed." Other leading
+ papers of the Northern press, took similar ground for free discussion and
+ conciliatory action.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In the Senate, as well as the House of Representatives&mdash;as also was
+ shown by the appointment, heretofore mentioned, of Select Committees to
+ consider the gravity of the situation, and suggest a remedy&mdash;the same
+ spirit of Conciliation and Concession, and desire for free and frank
+ discussion, was apparent among most of the Northern and Border-State
+ members of those Bodies. But these were only met by sneers and threats on
+ the part of the Fire-eating Secession members of the South. In the Senate,
+ Senator Clingman of North Carolina, sneeringly said: "They want to get up
+ a free debate, as the Senator (Mr. Seward) from New York expressed it, in
+ one of his speeches. But a Senator from Texas told me the other day that a
+ great many of these free debaters were hanging from the trees of that
+ country;" and Senator Iverson, of Georgia, said: "Gentlemen speak of
+ Concession, of the repeal of the Personal Liberty bills. Repeal them all
+ to-morrow, and you cannot stop this revolution." After declaring his
+ belief that "Before the 4th of March, five States will have declared their
+ independence" and that "three other States will follow as soon as the
+ action of the people can be had;" he proceeded to allude to the refusal of
+ Governor Houston of Texas to call together the Texas Legislature for
+ action in accord with the Secession sentiment, and declared that "if he
+ will not yield to that public sentiment, some Texan Brutus will arise to
+ rid his country of this hoary-headed incubus that stands between the
+ people and their sovereign will!" Then, sneering at the presumed cowardice
+ of the North, he continued: "Men talk about their eighteen millions (of
+ Northern population); but we hear a few days afterwards of these same men
+ being switched in the face, and they tremble like sheep-stealing dogs!
+ There will be no War. The North, governed by such far-seeing Statesmen as
+ the Senator (Mr. Seward) from New York, will see the futility of this. In
+ less than twelve months, a Southern Confederacy will be formed; and it
+ will be the most successful Government on Earth. The Southern States, thus
+ banded together, will be able to resist any force in the World. We do not
+ expect War; but we will be prepared for it&mdash;and we are not a feeble
+ race of Mexicans either."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the other hand, there were Republicans in that Body who sturdily met
+ the bluster of the Southern Fire-eaters with frank and courageous words
+ expressing their full convictions on the situation and their belief that
+ Concessions could not be made and that Compromises were mere waste paper.
+ Thus, Senator Ben Wade of Ohio, among the bravest and manliest of them
+ all, in a speech in the Senate, December 17, the very day on which the
+ South Carolina Secession Convention was to assemble, said to the
+ Fire-eaters: "I tell you frankly that we did lay down the principle in our
+ platform, that we would prohibit, if we had the power, Slavery from
+ invading another inch of the Free Soil of this Government. I stand to that
+ principle to-day. I have argued it to half a million of people, and they
+ stand by it; they have commissioned me to stand by it; and, so help me
+ God, I will! * * * On the other hand, our platform repudiates the idea
+ that we have any right, or harbor any ultimate intention to invade or
+ interfere with your institutions in your own States. * * * It is not, by
+ your own confessions, that Mr. Lincoln is expected to commit any overt act
+ by which you may be injured. You will not even wait for any, you say; but,
+ by anticipating that the Government may do you an injury, you will put an
+ end to it&mdash;which means, simply and squarely, that you intend to rule
+ or ruin this Government. * * * As to Compromises, I supposed that we had
+ agreed that the Day of Compromises was at an end. The most solemn we have
+ made have been violated, and are no more. * * * We beat you on the
+ plainest and most palpable issue ever presented to the American people,
+ and one which every man understood; and now, when we come to the Capital,
+ we tell you that our candidates must and shall be inaugurated&mdash;must
+ and shall administer this Government precisely as the Constitution
+ prescribes. * * * I tell you that, with that verdict of the people in my
+ pocket, and standing on the platform on which these candidates were
+ elected, I would suffer anything before I would Compromise in any way."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In the House of Representatives, on December 10, 1860, a number of
+ propositions looking to a peaceful settlement of the threatened danger,
+ were offered and referred to the Select Committee of Thirty-three. On the
+ following Monday, December 17, by 154 yeas to 14 nays, the House adopted a
+ resolution, offered by Mr. Adrian of New Jersey, in these words:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved, That we deprecate the spirit of disobedience to the
+ Constitution, wherever manifested; and that we earnestly recommend the
+ repeal of all Statutes by the State Legislatures in conflict with, and in
+ violation of, that sacred instrument, and the laws of Congress passed in
+ pursuance thereof."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the same day, the House adopted, by 135 yeas to no nays, a resolution
+ offered by Mr. Lovejoy of Illinois, in these words:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Whereas, The Constitution of the United States is the Supreme law of the
+ Land, and ready and faithful obedience to it a duty of all good and
+ law-abiding citizens; Therefore:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved, That we deprecate the spirit of disobedience to the
+ Constitution, wherever manifested; and that we earnestly recommend the
+ repeal of all Nullification laws; and that it is the duty of the President
+ of the United States to protect and defend the property of the United
+ States."
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [This resolution, before adoption, was modified by declaring it to be
+ the duty of all citizens, whether "good and law abiding" or not, to
+ yield obedience to the Constitution, as will be seen by referring to the
+ proceedings in the Globe of that date, where the following appears:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Mr. LOGAN. I hope there will be no objection on this side of the House
+ to the introduction of the [Lovejoy] resolution. I can see no difference
+ myself, between this resolution and the one [Adrian's] just passed,
+ except in regard to verbiage. I can find but one objection to the
+ resolution, and that is in the use of the words declaring that all' law
+ abiding' citizens should obey the Constitution. I think that all men
+ should do so.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Mr. LOVEJOY. I accept the amendment suggested by my Colleague.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Mr. LOGAN. It certainly should include members of Congress; but if it
+ is allowed to remain all 'good and law abiding' citizens, I do not think
+ it will include them. [Laughter.]
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The resolution was modified by the omission of those words."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ It also adopted, by 115 yeas to 44 nays, a resolution offered by Mr.
+ Morris of Illinois, as follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved by the House of Representatives: That we properly estimate the
+ immense value of our National Union to our collective and individual
+ happiness; that we cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment
+ to it; that we will speak of it as the palladium of our political safety
+ and prosperity; that we will watch its preservation with jealous anxiety;
+ that we will discountenance whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it
+ can, in any event, be abandoned, and indignantly frown upon the first
+ dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our Country from the
+ rest, or enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various
+ parts; that we regard it as a main pillar in the edifice of our real
+ independence, the support of tranquillity at home, our peace abroad, our
+ safety, our prosperity, and that very liberty which we so highly prize;
+ that we have seen nothing in the past, nor do we see anything in the
+ present, either in the election of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency of
+ the United States, or from any other existing cause, to justify its
+ dissolution; that we regard its perpetuity as of more value than the
+ temporary triumph of any Party or any man; that whatever evils or abuses
+ exist under it ought to be corrected within the Union, in a peaceful and
+ Constitutional way; that we believe it has sufficient power to redress
+ every wrong and enforce every right growing out of its organization, or
+ pertaining to its proper functions; and that it is a patriotic duty to
+ stand by it as our hope in Peace and our defense in War."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkseward" id="linkseward"></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="p128-seward.jpg (74K)" src="images/p128-seward.jpg" style="width:100%;" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch7" id="linkch7"></a><br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ CHAPTER VII.<br /> <br /> SECESSION ARMING.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ While Congress was encouraging devotion to the Union, and its Committees
+ striving for some mode by which the impending perils might be averted
+ without a wholesale surrender of all just principles, the South Carolina
+ Convention met (December 17, 1860) at Columbia, and after listening to
+ inflammatory addresses by commissioners from the States of Alabama and
+ Mississippi, urging immediate and unconditional Secession, unanimously and
+ with "tremendous cheering" adopted a resolution: "That it is the opinion
+ of the Convention that the State of South Carolina should forthwith Secede
+ from the Federal Union, known as the United States of America,"&mdash;and
+ then adjourned to meet at Charleston, South Carolina.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The next day, and following days, it met there, at "Secession Hall,"
+ listening to stimulating addresses, while a committee of seven worked upon
+ the Ordinance of Secession. Among the statements made by orators, were
+ several clear admissions that the rebellious Conspiracy had existed for
+ very many years, and that Mr. Lincoln's election was simply the
+ long-sought-for pretext for Rebellion. Mr. Parker said: "It is no
+ spasmodic effort that has come suddenly upon us; it has been gradually
+ culminating for a long period of thirty years. At last it has come to that
+ point where we may say, the matter is entirely right." Mr. Inglis said:
+ "Most of us have had this matter under consideration for the last twenty
+ years; and I presume that we have by this time arrived at a decision upon
+ the subject." Mr. Keitt said: "I have been engaged in this movement ever
+ since I entered political life; * * * we have carried the body of this
+ Union to its last resting place, and now we will drop the flag over its
+ grave." Mr. Barnwell Rhett said: "The Secession of South Carolina is not
+ an event of a day. It is not anything produced by Mr. Lincoln's election,
+ or by the non-execution of the Fugitive Slave Law. It has been a matter
+ which has been gathering head for thirty years." Mr. Gregg said: "If we
+ undertake to set forth all the causes, do we not dishonor the memory of
+ all the statesmen of South Carolina, now departed, who commenced forty
+ years ago a war against the tariff and against internal improvement,
+ saying nothing of the United States Bank, and other measures which may now
+ be regarded as obsolete."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 20th of December, 1860&mdash;the fourth day of the sittings&mdash;the
+ Ordinance of Secession was reported by the Committee, and was at once
+ unanimously passed, as also was a resolution that "the passage of the
+ Ordinance be proclaimed by the firing of artillery and ringing of the
+ bells of the city, and such other demonstrations as the people may deem
+ appropriate on the passage of the great Act of Deliverance and Liberty;"
+ after which the Convention jubilantly adjourned to meet, and ratify, that
+ evening. At the evening session of this memorable Convention, the Governor
+ and Legislature attending, the famous Ordinance was read as engrossed,
+ signed by all the delegates, and, after announcement by the President that
+ "the State of South Carolina is now and henceforth a Free and Independent
+ Commonwealth;" amid tremendous cheering, the Convention adjourned. This,
+ the first Ordinance of Secession passed by any of the Revolting States,
+ was in these words:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "An Ordinance to dissolve the Union between the State of South Carolina
+ and other States united with her, under the compact entitled the
+ 'Constitution of the United States of America.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We the people of the State of South Carolina in Convention assembled, do
+ declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, that the
+ Ordinance adopted by us in Convention on the 23rd day of May, in the year
+ of our Lord 1788, whereby the Constitution of the United States of America
+ was ratified, and also all Acts and parts of Acts of the General Assembly
+ of this State ratifying the amendments of the said Constitution, are
+ hereby repealed; and that the Union now subsisting between South Carolina
+ and other States, under the name of the United States of America, is
+ hereby dissolved."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Thus, and in these words, was joyously adopted and ratified, that solemn
+ Act of Separation which was doomed to draw in its fateful train so many
+ other Southern States, in the end only to be blotted out with the blood of
+ hundreds of thousands of their own brave sons, and their equally
+ courageous Northern brothers.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ State after State followed South Carolina in the mad course of Secession
+ from the Union. Mississippi passed a Secession Ordinance, January 9, 1861.
+ Florida followed, January 10th; Alabama, January 11th; Georgia, January
+ 18th; Louisiana, January 26th; and Texas, February 1st; Arkansas, North
+ Carolina, and Virginia held back until a later period; while Kentucky,
+ Tennessee, Missouri, Maryland, and Delaware, abstained altogether from
+ taking the fatal step, despite all attempts to bring them to it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In the meantime, however, South Carolina had put on all the dignity of a
+ Sovereign and Independent State. Her Governor had a "cabinet" comprising
+ Secretaries of State, War, Treasury, the Interior, and a Postmaster
+ General. She had appointed Commissioners, to proceed to the other
+ Slave-holding States, through whom a Southern Congress was proposed, to
+ meet at Montgomery, Alabama; and had appointed seven delegates to meet the
+ delegates from such other States in that proposed Southern Congress. On
+ the 21st of December, 1860, three Commissioners (Messrs. Barnwell, Adams,
+ and Orr) were also appointed to proceed to Washington, and treat for the
+ cession by the United States to South Carolina, of all Federal property
+ within the limits of the latter. On the 24th, Governor Pickens issued a
+ Proclamation announcing the adoption of the Ordinance of Secession,
+ declaring "that the State of South Carolina is, as she has a right to be,
+ a separate sovereign, free and independent State, and as such, has a right
+ to levy war, conclude peace, negotiate treaties, leagues or covenants, and
+ to do all acts whatsoever that rightfully appertain to a free and
+ independent State;" the which proclamation was announced as "Done in the
+ eighty-fifth year of the Sovereignty and Independence of South Carolina."
+ On the same day (the Senators from that State in the United States Senate
+ having long since, as we have seen, withdrawn from that body) the
+ Representatives of South Carolina in the United States House of
+ Representatives withdrew.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Serious dissensions in the Cabinet of President Buchanan, were now rapidly
+ disintegrating the "official family" of the President. Lewis Cass, the
+ Secretary of State, disgusted with the President's cowardice and weakness,
+ and declining to be held responsible for Mr. Buchanan's promise not to
+ reinforce the garrisons of the National Forts, under Major Anderson, in
+ Charleston harbor, retired from the Cabinet December 12th&mdash;Howell
+ Cobb having already, "because his duty to Georgia required it," resigned
+ the Secretaryship of the Treasury, and left it bankrupt and the credit of
+ the Nation almost utterly destroyed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 26th of December, Major Anderson evacuated Fort Moultrie, removing
+ all his troops and munitions of war to Fort Sumter&mdash;whereupon a cry
+ went up from Charleston that this was in violation of the President's
+ promise to take no step looking to hostilities, provided the Secessionists
+ committed no overt act of Rebellion, up to the close of his fast expiring
+ Administration. On the 29th, John B. Floyd, Secretary of War, having
+ failed to secure the consent of the Administration to an entire withdrawal
+ of the Federal garrison from the harbor of Charleston, also resigned, and
+ the next day&mdash;he having in the meantime escaped in safety to Virginia&mdash;was
+ indicted by the Grand Jury at Washington, for malfeasance and conspiracy
+ to defraud the Government in the theft of $870,000 of Indian Trust Bonds
+ from the Interior Department, and the substitution therefor of Floyd's
+ acceptances of worthless army-transportation drafts on the Treasury
+ Department.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Jacob Thompson, Secretary of the Interior, also resigned, January 8th,
+ 1861, on the pretext that "additional troops, he had heard, have been
+ ordered to Charleston" in the "Star of the West."&mdash;[McPherson's
+ History of the Rebellion, p. 28.]
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Several changes were thus necessitated in Mr. Buchanan's cabinet, by these
+ and other resignations, so that by the 18th of January, 1861, Jeremiah S.
+ Black was Secretary of State; General John A. Dix, Secretary of the
+ Treasury; Joseph Holt, Secretary of War; Edwin M. Stanton, Attorney
+ General; and Horatio King, Postmaster General. But before leaving the
+ Cabinet, the conspiring Southern members of it, and their friends, had
+ managed to hamstring the National Government, by scattering the Navy in
+ other quarters of the World; by sending the few troops of the United
+ States to remote points; by robbing the arsenals in the Northern States of
+ arms and munitions of war, so as to abundantly supply the Southern States
+ at the critical moment; by bankrupting the Treasury and shattering the
+ public credit of the Nation; and by other means no less nefarious. Thus
+ swindled, betrayed, and ruined, by its degenerate and perfidious sons, the
+ imbecile Administration stood with dejected mien and folded hands
+ helplessly awaiting the coming catastrophe.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On December 28th, 1860, the three Commissioners of South Carolina having
+ reached Washington, addressed to the President a communication, in which&mdash;after
+ reciting their powers and duties, under the Ordinance of Secession, and
+ stating that they had hoped to have been ready to proceed to negotiate
+ amicably and without "hostile collision," but that "the events&mdash;[The
+ removal, to Fort Sumter, of Major Anderson's command, and what followed.]&mdash;of
+ the last twenty-four hours render such an assurance impossible"&mdash;they
+ declared that the troops must be withdrawn from Charleston harbor, as
+ "they are a standing menace which render negotiation impossible,"
+ threatening speedily to bring the questions involved, to "a bloody issue."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ To this communication Mr. Buchanan replied at considerable length,
+ December 30th, in an apologetic, self-defensive strain, declaring that the
+ removal by Major Anderson of the Federal troops under his command, from
+ Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter was done "upon his own responsibility, and
+ without authority," and that he (the President) "had intended to command
+ him to return to his former position," but that events had so rapidly
+ transpired as to preclude the giving of any such command;
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [The seizure by the Secessionists, under the Palmetto Flag, of Castle
+ Pinckney and Fort Moultrie; the simultaneous raising of that flag over
+ the Federal Custom House and Post Office at Charleston; the resignation
+ of the Federal Collector, Naval Officer and Surveyor of that Port&mdash;all
+ of which occurred December 27th; and the seizure "by force of arms,"
+ December 30th, of the United States Arsenal at that point.]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ and concluding, with a very slight stiffening of backbone, by saying:
+ "After this information, I have only to add that, whilst it is my duty to
+ defend Fort Sumter as a portion of the public property of the United
+ States against hostile attacks, from whatever quarter they may come, by
+ such means as I may possess for this purpose, I do not perceive how such a
+ defense can be construed into a menace against the city of Charleston." To
+ this reply of the President, the Commissioners made rejoinder on the 1st
+ of January, 1861; but the President "declined to receive" the
+ communication.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ From this time on, until the end of President Buchanan's term of office,
+ and the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln as President, March 4th, 1861, events
+ crowded each other so hurriedly, that the flames of Rebellion in the South
+ were continually fanned, while the public mind in the North was staggered
+ and bewildered, by them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On January 2nd, prior to the Secession of Georgia, Forts Pulaski and
+ Jackson, commanding Savannah, and the Federal Arsenal at Augusta, Georgia,
+ with two 12 pound howitzers, two cannon, 22,000 muskets and rifles, and
+ ammunition in quantity, were seized by Rebel militia. About the same date,
+ although North Carolina had not seceded, her Governor (Ellis) seized the
+ Federal Arsenal at Fayetteville, Fort Macon, and other fortifications in
+ that State, "to preserve them" from mob-seizure.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ January 4th, anticipating Secession, Alabama State troops seized Fort
+ Morgan, with 5,000 shot and shell, and Mount Vernon Arsenal at Mobile,
+ with 2,000 stand of arms, 150, 000 pounds of powder, some pieces of
+ cannon, and a large quantity of other munitions of war. The United States
+ Revenue cutter, "Lewis Cass," was also surrendered to Alabama.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 5th, the Federal steamer "Star of the West," with reinforcements
+ and supplies for Fort Sumter, left New York in the night&mdash;and
+ Secretary Jacob Thompson notified the South Carolina Rebels of the fact.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 9th, the "Star of the West" appeared off Charleston bar, and while
+ steaming toward Fort Sumter, was fired upon by Rebel batteries at Fort
+ Moultrie and Morris Island, and struck by a shot, whereupon she returned
+ to New York without accomplishing her mission. That day the State of
+ Mississippi seceded from the Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 10th, the Federal storeship "Texas," with Federal guns and stores,
+ was seized by Texans. On the same day Florida seceded.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 11th, Forts Jackson and St. Philip, commanding the mouth of the
+ Mississippi River, and Fort Pike, dominating Lake Pontchartrain, were
+ seized by Louisiana troops; also the Federal Arsenal at Baton Rouge, with
+ 50,000 small arms, 4 howitzers, 20 heavy pieces of ordnance, 2 batteries,
+ 300 barrels of powder, and other stores. The State of Alabama also seceded
+ the same day.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 12th&mdash;Fort Marion, the coast surveying schooner "Dana," the
+ Arsenal at St. Augustine, and that on the Chattahoochee, with 500,000
+ musket cartridges, 300,000 rifle cartridges and 50,000 pounds of powder,
+ having previously been seized&mdash;Forts Barrancas and McRae, and the
+ Navy Yard at Pensacola, were taken by Rebel troops of Florida, Alabama and
+ Mississippi. On the same day, Colonel Hayne, of South Carolina, arrived at
+ Washington as Agent or Commissioner to the National Government from
+ Governor Pickens of that State.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 14th, the South Carolina Legislature resolved "that any attempt by
+ the Federal Government to reinforce Fort Sumter will be regarded as an act
+ of open hostility, and a Declaration of War."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 16th, Colonel Hayne, of South Carolina, developed his mission,
+ which was to demand of the President the surrender of Fort Sumter to the
+ South Carolina authorities&mdash;a demand that had already been made upon,
+ and refused by, Major Anderson.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The correspondence concerning this demand, between Colonel Hayne and ten
+ Southern United States Senators;&mdash;[Senators Wigfall, Hemphill, Yulee,
+ Mallory, Jeff. Davis, C. C. Clay, Fitzgerald, Iverson, Slidell, and
+ Benjamin.]&mdash;the reply of the President, by Secretary Holt, to those
+ Senators; Governor Pickens's review of the same; and the final demand;
+ consumed the balance of the month of January; and ended, February 6th, in
+ a further reply, through the Secretary of War, from the President,
+ asserting the title of the United States to that Fort, and declining the
+ demand, as "he has no Constitutional power to cede or surrender it."
+ Secretary Holt's letter concluded by saying: "If, with all the multiplied
+ proofs which exist of the President's anxiety for Peace, and of the
+ earnestness with which he has pursued it, the authorities of that State
+ shall assault Fort Sumter, and peril the lives of the handful of brave and
+ loyal men shut up within its walls, and thus plunge our Common Country
+ into the horrors of Civil War, then upon them and those they represent,
+ must rest the responsibility."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But to return from this momentary diversion: On the 18th of January,
+ Georgia seceded; and on the 20th, the Federal Fort at Ship Island,
+ Mississippi, and the United States Hospital on the Mississippi River were
+ seized by Mississippi troops.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 26th, Louisiana seceded. On the 28th, Louisiana troops seized all
+ the quartermaster's and commissary stores held by Federal officials; and
+ the United States Revenue cutter "McClelland" surrendered to the Rebels.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On February 1st, the Louisiana Rebels seized the National Mint and Custom
+ House at New Orleans, with $599,303 in gold and silver. On the same day
+ the State of Texas seceded.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On February 8th, the National Arsenal at Little Rock, Arkansas, with 9,000
+ small arms, 40 cannon, and quantities of ammunition, was seized; and the
+ same day the Governor of Georgia ordered the National Collector of the
+ Port of Savannah to retain all collections and make no further payments to
+ the United States Government.*
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [It was during this eventful month that, certain United States troops
+ having assembled at the National Capital, and the House of
+ Representatives having asked the reason therefor, reply was made by the
+ Secretary of War as follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "WAR DEPARTMENT, February 18, 1861. [Congressional Globe, August 8,
+ 1861, pp. 457,458] "SIR: On the 11th February, the House of
+ Representatives adopted a resolution requesting the President, if not
+ incompatible with the public interests, to communicate 'the reasons that
+ had induced him to assemble so large a number of troops in this city,
+ and why they are kept here; and whether he has any information of a
+ Conspiracy upon the part of any portion of the citizens of this Country
+ to seize upon the Capital and prevent the Inauguration of the President
+ elect.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "This resolution having been submitted to this Department for
+ consideration and report, I have the honor to state, that the body of
+ troops temporarily transferred to this city is not as large as is
+ assumed by the resolution, though it is a well-appointed corps and
+ admirably adapted for the preservation of the public peace. The reasons
+ which led to their being assembled here will now be briefly stated.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I shall make no comment upon the origin of the Revolution which, for
+ the last three months, has been in progress in several of the Southern
+ States, nor shall I enumerate the causes which have hastened its
+ advancement or exasperated its temper. The scope of the questions
+ submitted by the House will be sufficiently met by dealing with the
+ facts as they exist, irrespective of the cause from which they have
+ proceeded. That Revolution has been distinguished by a boldness and
+ completeness of success rarely equaled in the history of Civil
+ Commotions. Its overthrow of the Federal authority has not only been
+ sudden and wide-spread, but has been marked by excesses which have
+ alarmed all and been sources of profound humiliation to a large portion
+ of the American People. Its history is a history of surprises and
+ treacheries and ruthless spoliations. The Forts of the United States
+ have been captured and garrisoned, and hostile flags unfurled upon their
+ ramparts. Its arsenals have been seized, and the vast amount of public
+ arms they contained appropriated to the use of the captors; while more
+ than half a million dollars, found in the Mint at New Orleans, has been
+ unscrupulously applied to replenish the coffers of Louisiana. Officers
+ in command of revenue cutters of the United States have been prevailed
+ on to violate their trusts and surrender the property in their charge;
+ and instead of being branded for their crimes, they, and the vessels
+ they betrayed, have been cordially received into the service of the
+ Seceded States. These movements were attended by yet more discouraging
+ indications of immorality. It was generally believed that this
+ Revolution was guided and urged on by men occupying the highest
+ positions in the public service, and who, with the responsibilities of
+ an oath to support the Constitution still resting upon their
+ consciences, did not hesitate secretly to plan and openly to labor for,
+ the dismemberment of the Republic whose honors they enjoyed and upon
+ whose Treasury they were living. As examples of evil are always more
+ potent than those of good, this spectacle of demoralization on the part
+ of States and statesmen could not fail to produce the most deplorable
+ consequences. The discontented and the disloyal everywhere took courage.
+ In other States, adjacent to and supposed to sympathize in sense of
+ political wrong with those referred to, Revolutionary schemes were set
+ on foot, and Forts and arms of the United States seized. The unchecked
+ prevalence of the Revolution, and the intoxication which its triumphs
+ inspired, naturally suggested wilder and yet more desperate enterprises
+ than the conquest of ungarrisoned Forts, or the plunder of an unguarded
+ Mint. At what time the armed occupation of Washington City became a part
+ of the Revolutionary Programme, is not certainly known. More than six
+ weeks ago, the impression had already extensively obtained that a
+ Conspiracy for the accomplishment of this guilty purpose was in process
+ of formation, if not fully matured. The earnest endeavors made by men
+ known to be devoted to the Revolution, to hurry Virginia and Maryland
+ out of the Union, were regarded as preparatory steps for the subjugation
+ of Washington. This plan was in entire harmony with the aim and spirit
+ of those seeking the subversion of the Government, since no more fatal
+ blow at its existence could be struck than the permanent and hostile
+ possession of the seat of its power. It was in harmony, too, with the
+ avowed designs of the Revolutionists, which looked to the formation of a
+ Confederacy of all the Slave States, and necessarily to the Conquest of
+ the Capital within their limits. It seemed not very indistinctly
+ prefigured in a Proclamation made upon the floor of the Senate, without
+ qualification, if not exultingly, that the Union was already dissolved&mdash;a
+ Proclamation which, however intended, was certainly calculated to
+ invite, on the part of men of desperate fortunes or of Revolutionary
+ States, a raid upon the Capital. In view of the violence and turbulent
+ disorders already exhibited in the South, the public mind could not
+ reject such a scheme as at all improbable. That a belief in its
+ existence was entertained by multitudes, there can be no doubt, and this
+ belief I fully shared. My conviction rested not only on the facts
+ already alluded to, but upon information, some of which was of a most
+ conclusive character, that reached the Government from many parts of the
+ Country, not merely expressing the prevalence of the opinion that such
+ an organization had been formed, but also often furnishing the plausible
+ grounds on which the opinion was based. Superadded to these proofs, were
+ the oft-repeated declarations of men in high political positions here,
+ and who were known to have intimate affiliations with the Revolution&mdash;if
+ indeed they did not hold its reins in their hands&mdash;to the effect
+ that Mr. Lincoln would not, or should not be inaugurated at Washington.
+ Such declarations, from such men, could not be treated as empty bluster.
+ They were the solemn utterances of those who well understood the import
+ of their words, and who, in the exultation of the temporary victories
+ gained over their Country's flag in the South, felt assured that events
+ would soon give them the power to verify their predictions.
+ Simultaneously with these prophetic warnings, a Southern journal of
+ large circulation and influence, and which is published near the city of
+ Washington, advocated its seizure as a possible political necessity.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The nature and power of the testimony thus accumulated may be best
+ estimated by the effect produced upon the popular mind. Apprehensions
+ for the safety of the Capital were communicated from points near and
+ remote, by men unquestionably reliable and loyal. The resident
+ population became disquieted, and the repose of many families in the
+ city was known to be disturbed by painful anxieties. Members of
+ Congress, too&mdash;men of calm and comprehensive views, and of
+ undoubted fidelity to their Country&mdash;frankly expressed their
+ solicitude to the President and to this Department, and formally
+ insisted that the defenses of the Capital should be strengthened. With
+ such warnings, it could not be forgotten that, had the late Secretary of
+ War heeded the anonymous letter which he received, the tragedy at
+ Harper's Ferry would have been avoided; nor could I fail to remember
+ that, had the early admonitions which reached here in regard to the
+ designs of lawless men upon the Forts of Charleston Harbor been acted on
+ by sending forward adequate reinforcements before the Revolution began,
+ the disastrous political complications that ensued might not have
+ occurred.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Impressed by these circumstances and considerations, I earnestly
+ besought you to allow the concentration, at this city, of a sufficient
+ military force to preserve the public peace from all the dangers that
+ seemed to threaten it. An open manifestation, on the part of the
+ Administration, of a determination, as well as of the ability, to
+ maintain the laws, would, I was convinced, prove the surest, as also the
+ most pacific, means of baffling and dissolving any Conspiracy that might
+ have been organized. It was believed too that the highest and most
+ solemn responsibility resting upon a President withdrawing from the
+ Government, was to secure to his successor a peaceful Inauguration. So
+ deeply, in my judgment, did this duty concern the whole Country and the
+ fair fame of our Institutions, that, to guarantee its faithful
+ discharge, I was persuaded no preparation could be too determined or too
+ complete. The presence of the troops alluded to in the resolution is the
+ result of the conclusion arrived at by yourself and Cabinet, on the
+ proposition submitted to you by this Department. Already this display of
+ life and loyalty on the part of your Administration, has produced the
+ happiest effects. Public confidence has been restored, and the feverish
+ apprehension which it was so mortifying to contemplate has been
+ banished. Whatever may have been the machinations of deluded, lawless
+ men, the execution of their purpose has been suspended, if not
+ altogether abandoned in view of preparations which announce more
+ impressively than words that this Administration is alike able and
+ resolved to transfer in peace, to the President elect, the authority
+ that, under the Constitution, belongs to him. To those, if such there
+ be, who desire the destruction of the Republic, the presence of these
+ troops is necessarily offensive; but those who sincerely love our
+ Institutions cannot fail to rejoice that, by this timely precaution they
+ have possibly escaped the deep dishonor which they must have suffered
+ had the Capital, like the Forts and Arsenals of the South, fallen into
+ the hands of the Revolutionists, who have found this great Government
+ weak only because, in the exhaustless beneficence of its spirit, it has
+ refused to strike, even in its own defense, lest it should wound the
+ aggressor.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "J. HOLT. "Secretary of War,
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "THE PRESIDENT."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ On February 20th, Forts Chadbourne and Belknap were seized by the Texan
+ Rebels; and on the 22nd, the Federal General Twiggs basely surrendered to
+ them all the fortifications under his control, his little Army, and all
+ the Government stores in his possession&mdash;comprising $55,000 in
+ specie, 35,000 stand of arms, 26 pieces of mounted artillery, 44
+ dismounted guns, and ammunition, horses, wagons, forage, etc., valued at
+ nearly $2,000,000.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 2nd of March, the Texan Rebels seized the United States Revenue
+ cutter "Dodge" at Galveston; and on the 6th, Fort Brown was surrendered to
+ them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Thus, with surrender after surrender, and seizure after seizure, of its
+ revenue vessels and fortifications and troops and arms and munitions of
+ war in the Southern States&mdash;with Fort Sumter invested and at the
+ mercy of any attack, and Fortress Monroe alone of all the National
+ strongholds yet safe&mdash;with State after State seceding&mdash;what
+ wonder that, while these events gave all encouragement to the Southern
+ Rebels, the Patriots of the North stood aghast at the appalling spectacle
+ of a crumbling and dissolving Union!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ During this period of National peril, the debates in both branches of
+ Congress upon propositions for adjustment of the unfortunate differences
+ between the Southern Seceders and the Union, as has been already hinted,
+ contributed still further to agitate the public mind. Speech after speech
+ by the ablest and most brilliant Americans in public life, for or against
+ such propositions, and discussing the rightfulness or wrongfulness of
+ Secession, were made in Congress day after day, and, by means of the
+ telegraph and the press, alternately swayed the Northern heart with
+ feelings of hope, chagrin, elation or despair.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Great Debate was opened in the Senate on almost the very first day of
+ its session (December 4th, 1860), by Mr. Clingman, of North Carolina, who,
+ referring to South Carolina, declared that "Instead of being precipitate,
+ she and the whole South have been wonderfully patient." A portion of that
+ speech is interesting even at this time, as showing how certain phases of
+ the Tariff and Internal Improvement questions entered into the
+ consideration of some of the Southern Secession leaders. Said he, "I know
+ there are intimations that suffering will fall upon us of the South, if we
+ secede. My people are not terrified by any such considerations. * * * They
+ have no fears of the future if driven to rely on themselves. The Southern
+ States have more territory than all the Colonies had when they Seceded
+ from Great Britain, and a better territory. Taking its position, climate,
+ and fertility into consideration, there is not upon Earth a body of
+ territory superior to it. * * * The Southern States have, too, at this
+ day, four times the population the Colonies had when they Seceded from
+ Great Britain. Their exports to the North and to Foreign Countries were,
+ last year, more than $300,000,000; and a duty of ten per cent. upon the
+ same amount of imports would give $30,000,000 of revenue&mdash;twice as
+ much as General Jackson's administration spent in its first year.
+ Everybody can see, too, how the bringing in of $300,000,000 of imports
+ into Southern ports would enliven business in our seaboard towns. I have
+ seen with some satisfaction, also, Mr. President, that the war made upon
+ us has benefitted certain branches of industry in my State. There are
+ manufacturing establishments in North Carolina, the proprietors of which
+ tell me that they are making fifty per cent. annually on their whole
+ capital, and yet cannot supply one tenth of the demand for their
+ production. The result of only ten per cent. duties in excluding products
+ from abroad, would give life and impetus to mechanical and manufacturing
+ industry, throughout the entire South. Our people understand these things,
+ and they are not afraid of results, if forced to declare Independence.
+ Indeed I do not see why Northern Republicans should wish to continue a
+ connection with us upon any terms. * * * They want High Tariff likewise.
+ They may put on five hundred per cent. if they choose, upon their own
+ imports, and nobody on our side will complain. They may spend all the
+ money they raise on railroads, or opening harbors, or anything on earth
+ they desire, without interference from us; and it does seem to me that if
+ they are sincere in their views they ought to welcome a separation."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ From the very commencement of this long three-months debate, it was the
+ policy of the Southern leaders to make it appear that the Southern States
+ were in an attitude of injured innocence and defensiveness against
+ Northern aggression. Hence, it was that, as early as December 5th, on the
+ floor of the Senate, through Mr. Brown, of Mississippi, they declared:
+ "All we ask is to be allowed to depart in Peace. Submit we will not; and
+ if, because we will not submit to your domination, you choose to make War
+ upon us, let God defend the Right!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At the same time it was esteemed necessary to try and frighten the North
+ into acquiescence with this demand to be "let alone." Hence such
+ utterances as those of Clingman and Iverson, to which reference has
+ already been made, and the especially defiant close of the latter's
+ speech, when&mdash;replying to the temperate but firm Union utterances of
+ Mr. Hale&mdash;the Georgia Senator said: "Sir, I do not believe there will
+ be any War; but if War is to come, let it come; we will meet the Senator
+ from New Hampshire and all the myrmidons of Abolitionism and Black
+ Republicanism everywhere upon our own soil; and, in the language of a
+ distinguished member from Ohio in relation to the Mexican War, we will
+ 'welcome you with bloody hands to hospitable graves.'"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the other hand, in order to encourage the revolting States to the
+ speedy commission of overt acts of Rebellion and violence, that would
+ precipitate War without a peradventure, utterances fell from Southern
+ lips, in the National Senate Chamber, like those of Mr. Wigfall, when he
+ said, during this first day of the debate: "Frederick the Great, on one
+ occasion, when he had trumped up an old title to some of the adjacent
+ territory, quietly put himself in possession and then offered to treat.
+ Were I a South Carolinian, as I am a Texan, and I knew that my State was
+ going out of the Union, and that this Government would attempt to use
+ force, I would, at the first moment that that fact became manifest, seize
+ upon the Forts and the arms and the munitions of war, and raise the cry
+ 'To your tents, O Israel, and to the God of battles be this issue!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And, as we have already seen, the Rebels of the South were not slow in
+ following the baleful advice to the letter. But it was not many days after
+ this utterance when the Conspirators against the Union evidently began to
+ fear that the ground for Rebellion, upon which they had planted
+ themselves, would be taken from under their feet by the impulse of
+ Compromise and Concession which stirred so strongly the fraternal spirit
+ of the North. That peaceful impulse must be checked and exasperated by
+ sneers and impossible demands. Hence, on December 12th we find one of the
+ most active and favorite mouthpieces of Treason, Mr. Wigfall, putting
+ forth such demands, in his most offensive manner.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Said he: "If the two Senators from New York (Seward and King), the Senator
+ from Ohio (Wade), the two Senators from Illinois (Douglas and Trumbull),
+ the Senator from New Hampshire (Hale), the Senator from Maine, and others
+ who are regarded as representative men, who have denied that by the
+ Constitution of the United States, Slaves are recognized as Property; who
+ have urged and advocated those acts which we regard as aggressive on the
+ part of the People&mdash;if they will rise here, and say in their places,
+ that they desire to propose amendments to the Constitution, and beg that
+ we will vote for them; that they will, in good faith, go to their
+ respective constituencies and urge the ratification; that they believe, if
+ these Gulf States will suspend their action, that those amendments will be
+ ratified and carried out in good faith; that they will cease preaching
+ this 'irrepressible conflict'; and if, in those amendments, it is declared
+ that Slaves are Property, that they shall be delivered up upon demand; and
+ that they will assure us that Abolition societies shall be abolished; that
+ Abolition speeches shall no longer be made; that we shall have peace and
+ quiet; that we shall not be called cut-throats and pirates and murderers;
+ that our women shall not be slandered&mdash;these things being said in
+ good faith, the Senators begging that we will stay our hand until an
+ honest effort can be made, I believe that there is a prospect of giving
+ them a fair consideration!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Small wonder is it, that this labored and ridiculous piece of impertinence
+ was received with ironical laughter on the Republican side of the Senate
+ Chamber. And it was in reference to these threats, and these preposterous
+ demands&mdash;including the suppression of the right of Free Discussion
+ and Liberty of the Press&mdash;that, in the same chamber (January 7, 1861)
+ the gallant and eloquent Baker said:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Your Fathers had fought for that right, and more than that, they had
+ declared that the violation of that right was one of the great causes
+ which impelled them to the Separation. * * * Sir, the Liberty of the Press
+ is the highest safeguard to all Free Government. Ours could not exist
+ without it. It is with us, nay, with all men, like a great exulting and
+ abounding river, It is fed by the dews of Heaven, which distil their
+ sweetest drops to form it. It gushes from the rill, as it breaks from the
+ deep caverns of the Earth. It is fed by a thousand affluents, that dash
+ from the mountaintop to separate again into a thousand bounteous and
+ irrigating rills around. On its broad bosom it bears a thousand barks.
+ There, Genius spreads its purpling sail. There, Poetry dips its silver
+ oar. There, Art, Invention, Discovery, Science, Morality, Religion, may
+ safely and securely float. It wanders through every land. It is a genial,
+ cordial source of thought and inspiration, wherever it touches, whatever
+ it surrounds. Sir, upon its borders, there grows every flower of Grace and
+ every fruit of Truth. I am not here to deny that that Stream sometimes
+ becomes a dangerous Torrent, and destroys towns and cities upon its bank;
+ but I am here to say that without it, Civilization, Humanity, Government,
+ all that makes Society itself, would disappear, and the World would return
+ to its ancient Barbarism.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Sir, if that were to be possible, or so thought for a moment, the fine
+ conception of the great Poet would be realized. If that were to be
+ possible, though but for a moment, Civilization itself would roll the
+ wheels of its car backward for two thousand years. Sir, if that were so,
+ it would be true that:
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ 'As one by one in dread Medea's train,<br /> Star after Star fades off
+ th' ethereal plain,<br /> Thus at her fell approach and secret might,<br />
+ Art after art goes out, and all is night.<br /> Philosophy, that leaned
+ on Heaven before,<br /> Sinks to her second cause, and is no more.<br />
+ Religion, blushing, veils her sacred fires,<br /> And, unawares, Morality
+ expires.'<br />
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ "Sir, we will not risk these consequences, even for Slavery; we will not
+ risk these consequences even for Union; we will not risk these
+ consequences to avoid that Civil War with which you threaten us; that War
+ which, you announce so deadly, and which you declare to be inevitable. * *
+ * I will never yield to the idea that the great Government of this Country
+ shall protect Slavery in any Territory now ours, or hereafter to be
+ acquired. It is, in my opinion, a great principle of Free Government, not,
+ to be surrendered.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It is in my judgment, the object of the great battle which we have
+ fought, and which we have won. It is, in my poor opinion, the point upon
+ which there is concord and agreement between the great masses of the
+ North, who may agree in no other political opinion whatever. Be he
+ Republican, or Democrat, or Douglas man, or Lincoln man; be he from the
+ North, or the West, from Oregon, or from Maine, in my judgment nine-tenths
+ of the entire population of the North and West are devoted, in the very
+ depths of their hearts, to the great Constitutional idea that Freedom is
+ the rule, that Slavery is the exception, that it ought not to be extended
+ by virtue of the powers of the Government of the United States; and, come
+ weal, come woe, it never shall be.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But, sir, I add one other thing. When you talk to me about Compromise or
+ Concession, I am not sure that I always understand you. Do you mean that I
+ am to give up my convictions of right? Armies cannot compel that in the
+ breast of a Free People. Do you mean that I am to concede the benefits of
+ the political struggle through which we have passed, considered
+ politically, only? You are too just and too generous to ask that. Do you
+ mean that we are to deny the great principle upon which our political
+ action has been based? You know we cannot. But if you mean by Compromise
+ and Concession to ask us to see whether we have not been hasty, angry,
+ passionate, excited, and in many respects violated your feelings, your
+ character, your right of property, we will look; and, as I said yesterday,
+ if we have, we will undo it. Allow me to say again, if there be any lawyer
+ or any Court that will advise us that our laws are unconstitutional, we
+ will repeal them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Now as to territory. I will not yield one inch to Secession; but there
+ are things that I will yield, and there are things to which I will yield.
+ It is somewhere told that when Harold of England received a messenger from
+ a brother with whom he was at variance, to inquire on what terms
+ reconciliation and peace could be effected between brothers, he replied in
+ a gallant and generous spirit in a few words, 'the terms I offer are the
+ affection of a brother; and the Earldom of Northumberland.' And, said the
+ Envoy, as he marched up the Hall amid the warriors that graced the state
+ of the King, 'if Tosti, thy brother, agree to this, what terms will you
+ allow to his ally and friend, Hadrada, the giant.' 'We will allow,' said
+ Harold, 'to Hadrada, the giant, seven feet of English ground, and if he
+ be, as they say, a giant, some few inches more!' and, as he spake, the
+ Hall rang with acclamation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Sir, in that spirit I speak. I follow, at a humble distance, the ideas
+ and the words of Clay, illustrious, to be venerated, and honored, and
+ remembered, forever. * * * He said&mdash;I say: that I will yield no inch,
+ no word, to the threat of Secession, unconstitutional, revolutionary,
+ dangerous, unwise, at variance with the heart and the hope of all mankind
+ save themselves. To that I yield nothing; but if States loyal to the
+ Constitution, if people magnanimous and just, desiring a return of
+ fraternal feeling, shall come to us and ask for Peace, for permanent,
+ enduring peace and affection, and say, 'What will you grant? I say to
+ them, 'Ask all that a gentleman ought to propose, and I will yield all
+ that a gentleman ought to offer.' Nay, more: if you are galled because we
+ claim the right to prohibit Slavery in territory now Free, or in any
+ Territory which acknowledges our jurisdiction, we will evade&mdash;I speak
+ but for myself&mdash;I will aid in evading that question; I will agree to
+ make it all States, and let the People decide at once. I will agree to
+ place them in that condition where the prohibition of Slavery will never
+ be necessary to justify ourselves to our consciences or to our
+ constituents. I will agree to anything which is not to force upon me the
+ necessity of protecting Slavery in the name of Freedom. To that I never
+ can and never will yield."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The speeches of Seward, of Douglas, of Crittenden, of Andrew Johnson, of
+ Baker, and others, in behalf of the Union, and those of Benjamin, Davis,
+ Wigfall, Lane, and others, in behalf of Secession, did much toward fixing
+ the responsibility for the approaching bloody conflict where it belonged.
+ The speeches of Andrew Johnson of Tennessee&mdash;who, if he at a
+ subsequent period of the Nation's history, proved himself not the
+ worthiest son of the Republic, at this critical time, at all events, did
+ grand service in the National Senate&mdash;especially had great and good
+ effect on the public mind in the Northern and Border States. They were,
+ therefore, gall and wormwood to the Secession leaders, who hoped to drag
+ the Border States into the great Southern Confederacy of States already in
+ process of formation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Their irritation was shown in threats of personal violence to Mr. Johnson,
+ as when Wigfall&mdash;replying February 7th, 1861, to the latter's speech,
+ said, "Now if the Senator wishes to denounce Secession and Nullification
+ eo nomine, let him go back and denounce Jefferson; let him denounce
+ Jackson, if he dare, and go back and look that Tennessee Democracy in the
+ face, and see whether they will content themselves with riddling his
+ effigy!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It would seem also, from another part of Wigfall's reply, that the
+ speeches of Union Senators had been so effective that a necessity was felt
+ on the part of the Southern Conspirators to still further attempt to
+ justify Secession by shifting the blame to Northern shoulders, for, while
+ referring to the Presidential canvass of 1860&mdash;and the attitude of
+ the Southern Secession leaders during that exciting period&mdash;he said:
+ "We (Breckinridge-Democrats) gave notice, both North and South, that if
+ Abraham Lincoln was elected, this Union was dissolved. I never made a
+ speech during the canvass without asserting that fact. * * * Then, I say,
+ that our purpose was not to dissolve the Union; but the dire necessity has
+ been put upon us. The question is, whether we shall live longer in a Union
+ in which a Party, hostile to us in every respect, has the power in
+ Congress, in the Executive department, and in the Electoral Colleges&mdash;a
+ Party who will have the power even in the Judiciary. We think it is not
+ safe. We say that each State has the clear indisputable right to withdraw
+ if she sees fit; and six of the States have already withdrawn, and one
+ other State is upon the eve of withdrawing, if she has not already done
+ so. How far this will spread no man can tell!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ As tending to show the peculiar mixture of brag, cajolery, and threats,
+ involved in the attitude of the South, as expressed by the same favorite
+ Southern mouthpiece, toward the Border-States on the one hand, and the
+ Middle and New England States on the other, a further extract from this
+ (February 7th) speech of the Texan Senator may be of interest. Said he:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "With exports to the amount of hundreds of millions of dollars, our
+ imports must be the same. With a lighter Tariff than any people ever
+ undertook to live under, we could have larger revenue. We would be able to
+ stand Direct Taxation to a greater extent than any people ever could
+ before, since the creation of the World. We feel perfectly competent to
+ meet all issues that may be presented, either by hostility from abroad or
+ treason at home. So far as the Border-States are concerned, it is a matter
+ that concerns them alone. Should they confederate with us, beyond all
+ doubt New England machinery will be worked with the water power of
+ Tennessee, of Kentucky, of Virginia and of Maryland; the Tariff laws that
+ now give New England the monopoly in the thirty-three States, will give to
+ these Border States a monopoly in the Slave-holding States. Should the
+ non-Slave-holding States choose to side against us in organizing their
+ Governments, and cling to their New England brethren, the only result will
+ be, that the meat, the horses, the hemp, and the grain, which we now buy
+ in Pennsylvania, in Ohio, in Indiana and Illinois, will be purchased in
+ Kentucky and in Western Virginia and in Missouri. Should Pennsylvania
+ stand out, the only result will be, that the iron which is now dug in
+ Pennsylvania, will be dug in the mountains of Tennessee and of Virginia
+ and of Kentucky and of North Carolina. These things we know.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We feel no anxiety at all, so far as money or men are concerned. We
+ desire War with nobody; we intend to make no War; but we intend to live
+ under just such a Government as we see fit. Six States have left this
+ Union, and others are going to leave it simply because they choose to do
+ it; that is all. We do not ask your consent; we do not wish it. We have
+ revoked our ratification of the Treaty commonly known as the Constitution
+ of the United States; a treaty for common defense and general welfare; and
+ we shall be perfectly willing to enter into another Treaty with you, of
+ peace and amity. Reject the olive branch and offer us the sword, and we
+ accept it; we have not the slightest objection. Upon that subject we feel
+ as the great William Lowndes felt upon another important subject, the
+ Presidency, which he said was neither to be sought nor declined. When you
+ invade our soil, look to your own borders. You say that you have too many
+ people, too many towns, too dense a population, for us to invade you. I
+ say to you Senators, that there is nothing that ever stops the march of an
+ invading force, except a desert. The more populous a country, the more
+ easy it is to subsist an army."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After declaring that&mdash;"Not only are our non-Slaveholders loyal, but
+ even our Negroes are. We have no apprehensions whatever of insurrection&mdash;not
+ the slightest. We can arm our negroes, and leave them at home, when we are
+ temporarily absent"&mdash;Mr. Wigfall proceeded to say: "We may as well
+ talk plainly about this matter. This is probably the last time I shall
+ have an opportunity of addressing you. There is another thing that an
+ invading army cannot do. It cannot burn up plantations. You can pull down
+ fences, but the Negroes will put them up the next morning. The worst fuel
+ that ever a man undertook to make fire with, is dirt; it will not burn.
+ Now I have told you what an invading army cannot do. Suppose I reverse the
+ picture and tell you what it can do. An invading army in an enemy's
+ country, where there is a dense population, can subsist itself at a very
+ little cost; it does not always pay for what it gets. An invading army can
+ burn down towns; an invading army can burn down manufactories; and it can
+ starve operatives. It can do all these things. But an Invading army, and
+ an army to defend a Country, both require a military chest. You may
+ bankrupt every man south of North Carolina, so that his credit is reduced
+ to such a point that he could not discount a note for thirty dollars, at
+ thirty days; but the next autumn those Cotton States will have just as
+ much money and as much credit as they had before. They pick money off the
+ cotton plant. Every time that a Negro touches a cotton-pod with his hand,
+ he pulls a piece of silver out of it, and he drops it into the basket in
+ which it is carried to the gin-house. It is carried to the packing screw.
+ A bale of cotton rolls out&mdash;in other words, five ten-dollar pieces
+ roll out&mdash;covered with canvas. We shall never again make less than
+ five million bales of cotton. * * * We can produce five million bales of
+ cotton, every bale worth fifty dollars, which is the lowest market price
+ it has been for years past. We shall import a bale of something else, for
+ every bale of cotton that we export, and that bale will be worth fifty
+ dollars. We shall find no difficulty under a War-Tariff in raising an
+ abundance of money. We have been at Peace for a very long time, We are
+ very prosperous. Our planters use their cotton, not to buy the necessaries
+ of life, but for the superfluities, which they can do without. The States
+ themselves have a mine of wealth in the loyalty and the wealth of their
+ citizens. Georgia, Mississippi, any one of those States can issue its six
+ per cent. bonds tomorrow, and receive cotton in payment to the extent
+ almost of the entire crop. They can first borrow from their own citizens;
+ they can tax them to an almost unlimited extent; and they can raise
+ revenue from a Tariff to an almost unlimited extent.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "How will it be with New England? where will their revenue come from? From
+ your Custom-houses? what do you export? You have been telling us here for
+ the last quarter of a century, that you cannot manufacture, even for the
+ home market, under the Tariffs which we have given you. When this Tariff
+ ceases to operate in your favor, and you have to pay for coming into our
+ markets, what will you export? When your machinery ceases to move, and
+ your operatives are turned out, will you tax your broken capitalist or
+ your starving operative? When the navigation laws cease to operate, what
+ will become of your shipping interest? You are going to blockade our
+ ports, you say. That is a very innocent game; and you suppose we shall sit
+ quietly down and submit to a blockade. I speak not of foreign
+ interference, for we look not for it. We are just as competent to take
+ Queen Victoria and Louis Napoleon under our protection, as they are to
+ take us; and they are a great deal more interested to-day in receiving
+ cotton from our ports than we are in shipping it. You may lock up every
+ bale of cotton within the limits of the eight Cotton States, and not allow
+ us to export one for three years, and we shall not feel it further than
+ our military resources are concerned. Exhaust the supply of cotton in
+ Europe for one week, and all Europe is in revolution.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "These are facts. You will blockade us! Do you suppose we shall do
+ nothing, even upon the sea? How many letters of marque and reprisal would
+ it take to put the whole of your ships up at your wharves to rot? Will any
+ merchant at Havre, or Liverpool, or any other portion of the habitable
+ globe, ship a cargo upon a New England, or New York, or Philadelphia
+ clipper, or other ship, when he knows that the seas are swarming with
+ letters of marque and reprisal? Why the mere apprehension of such a thing
+ will cut you out of the Carrying Trade of the civilized World. * * * I
+ speak not of the absurdity of the position that you can blockade our
+ ports, admitting at the same time that we are in the Union. Blockade is a
+ remedy, as all writers on International law say, against a Foreign Power
+ with whom you are at War. You cannot use a blockade against your own
+ people. An embargo even, you cannot use. That is a remedy against a
+ Foreign Nation with whom you expect to be at War. You must treat us as in
+ the Union, or out of it. We have gone out. We are willing to live at peace
+ with you; but, as sure as fate, whenever any flag comes into one of our
+ ports, that has thirty-three stars upon it, that flag will be fired at.
+ Displaying a flag with stars which we have plucked from that bright
+ galaxy, is an insult to the State within whose waters that flag is
+ displayed. You cannot enforce the laws without Coercion, and you cannot
+ Coerce without War.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "These matters, then, can be settled. How? By withdrawing your troops;
+ admitting our right to Self-government clearly, unqualifiedly. Do this,
+ and there is no difficulty about it. You say that you will not do it. Very
+ well; we have no objection&mdash;none whatever. That is Coercion. When you
+ have attempted it, you will find that you have made War. These, Senators,
+ are facts. I come here to plead for Peace; but I have seen so much and
+ felt so much, that I am becoming at last, to tell the plain truth of the
+ matter, rather indifferent as to which way the thing turns. If you want
+ War, you can have it. If you want Peace, you can get it; but I plead not
+ for Peace."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Meanwhile the Seceding States of the South were strengthening their
+ attitude by Confederation. On February 4, 1861, the Convention of Seceding
+ States, called by the South Carolina Convention at the time of her
+ Secession, met, in pursuance of that call, at Montgomery, Alabama, and on
+ the 9th adopted a Provisional Constitution and organized a Provisional
+ Government by the election of Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, as
+ President, and Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia, as Vice-President; to
+ serve until a Presidential election could be held by the people of the
+ Confederacy.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [At a later day, March 11, 1861, a permanent Constitution for the
+ "Confederate States" was adopted, and, in the Fall of the same year,
+ Messrs. Davis and Stephens were elected by popular vote, for the term of
+ six years ensuing, as President and Vice-President, respectively, of the
+ Confederacy.]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Davis almost at once left Jackson, Mississippi, for Montgomery, where
+ he arrived and delivered his Inaugural, February 17, having received on
+ his road thither a succession of ovations from the enthusiastic Rebels, to
+ which he had responded with no less than twenty-five speeches, very
+ similar in tone to those made in the United States Senate by Mr. Wigfall
+ and others of that ilk&mdash;breathing at once defiance and hopefulness,
+ while admitting the difficulties in the way of the new Confederacy.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It may be," said he, at Jackson, "that we will be confronted by War; that
+ the attempt will be made to blockade our ports, to starve us out; but they
+ (the Union men of the North) know little of the Southern heart, of
+ Southern endurance. No amount of privation could force us to remain in a
+ Union on unequal terms. England and France would not allow our great
+ staple to be dammed up within our present limits; the starving thousands
+ in their midst would not allow it. We have nothing to apprehend from
+ Blockade. But if they attempt invasion by land, we must take the War out
+ of our territory. If War must come, it must be upon Northern, and not upon
+ Southern soil. In the meantime, if they were prepared to grant us Peace,
+ to recognize our equality, all is well."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And, in his speech at Stevenson, Alabama, said he "Your Border States will
+ gladly come into the Southern Confederacy within sixty days, as we will be
+ their only friends. England will recognize us, and a glorious future is
+ before us. The grass will grow in the Northern cities, where the pavements
+ have been worn off by the tread of Commerce. We will carry War where it is
+ easy to advance&mdash;where food for the sword and torch await our Armies
+ in the densely populated cities; and though they may come and spoil our
+ crops, we can raise them as before; while they cannot rear the cities
+ which took years of industry and millions of money to build."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Very different in tone to these, were the kindly and sensible utterances
+ of Mr. Lincoln on his journey from Springfield to Washington, about the
+ same time, for Inauguration as President of the United States. Leaving
+ Springfield, Illinois, February 11th, he had pathetically said:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "My friends: No one, not in my position, can realize the sadness I feel at
+ this parting. To this people I owe all that I am. Here I have lived more
+ than a quarter of a century. Here my children were born, and here one of
+ them lies buried. I know not how soon I shall see you again. I go to
+ assume a task more difficult than that which has devolved upon any other
+ man since the days of Washington. He never would have succeeded except for
+ the aid of Divine Providence, upon which he at all times relied. I feel
+ that I cannot succeed without the same Divine blessing which sustained
+ him; and on the same Almighty Being I place my reliance for support. And I
+ hope you, my friends, will all pray that I may receive that Divine
+ assistance, without which I cannot succeed, but with which success is
+ certain. Again I bid you an affectionate farewell."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At Indianapolis, that evening, the eve of his birthday anniversary, after
+ thanking the assembled thousands for their "magnificent welcome," and
+ defining the words "Coercion" and "Invasion"&mdash;at that time so loosely
+ used&mdash;he continued: "But if the United States should merely hold and
+ retake her own Forts and other property, and collect the duties on foreign
+ importation, or even withhold the mails from places where they were
+ habitually violated, would any or all of these things be 'Invasion' or
+ 'Coercion'? Do our professed lovers of the Union, who spitefully resolve
+ that they will resist Coercion and Invasion, understand that such things
+ as these on the part of the United States would be 'Coercion' or
+ 'Invasion' of a State? If so, their idea of means to preserve the object
+ of their great affection would seem to be exceedingly thin and airy."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At Columbus, Ohio, he spoke in a like calm, conservative, reasoning way
+ &mdash;with the evident purpose of throwing oil on the troubled waters&mdash;when
+ he said: "I have not maintained silence from any want of real anxiety. It
+ is a good thing that there is no more than anxiety; for there is nothing
+ going wrong. It is a consoling circumstance that, when we look out, there
+ is nothing that really hurts anybody. We entertain different views upon
+ political questions; but nobody is suffering anything. This is a consoling
+ circumstance; and from it we may conclude that all we want is time,
+ patience, and a reliance on that God who has never forsaken this People."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ So, too, at Pittsburg, Pa., February 15th, he said, of "our friends," as
+ he termed them, the Secessionists: "Take even their own views of the
+ questions involved, and there is nothing to justify the course they are
+ pursuing. I repeat, then, there is no crisis, except such an one as may be
+ gotten up at any time by turbulent men, aided by designing politicians. My
+ advice to them, under the circumstances, is to keep cool. If the great
+ American People only keep their temper both sides of the line, the trouble
+ will come to an end, and the question which now distracts the Country be
+ settled, just as surely as all other difficulties, of a like character,
+ which have been originated in this Government, have been adjusted. Let the
+ people on both sides keep their self-possession, and, just as other clouds
+ have cleared away in due time, so will this great Nation continue to
+ prosper as heretofore."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And toward the end of that journey, on the 22nd of February&mdash;Washington's
+ Birthday&mdash;in the Independence Hall at Philadelphia, after eloquently
+ affirming his belief that "the great principle or idea that kept this
+ Confederacy so long together was * * * that sentiment in the Declaration
+ of Independence which gave Liberty not alone to the People of this
+ Country, but" he hoped "to the World, for all future time * * * which gave
+ promise that, in due time, the weight would be lifted from the shoulders
+ of all men"&mdash;he added, in the same firm, yet temperate and reassuring
+ vein: "Now, my friends, can this Country be saved on that basis? If it
+ can, I will consider myself one of the happiest men in the world, if I can
+ help to save it. If it cannot be saved on that basis, it will be truly
+ awful. But, if this Country cannot be saved without giving up that
+ principle, I was about to say I would rather be assassinated on this spot
+ than surrender it. Now in my view of the present aspect of affairs, there
+ need be no bloodshed or War. There is no necessity for it. I am not in
+ favor of such a course; and I may say, in advance, that there will be no
+ bloodshed, unless it be forced upon the Government, and then it will be
+ compelled to act in self-defense. * * * I have said nothing but what I am
+ willing to live by, and, if it be the pleasure of Almighty God, to die
+ by."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Thus, as he progressed on that memorable journey from his home in
+ Illinois, through Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Columbus, Pittsburgh,
+ Cleveland, Erie, Buffalo, Albany, New York, Trenton, Newark, Philadelphia,
+ and Harrisburg&mdash;amid the prayers and blessings and acclamations of an
+ enthusiastic and patriotic people&mdash;he uttered words of wise
+ conciliation and firm moderation such as beseemed the high functions and
+ tremendous responsibilities to which the voice of that liberty&mdash;and
+ union-loving people had called him, and this too, with a full knowledge,
+ when he made the Philadelphia speech, that the enemies of the Republic had
+ already planned to assassinate him before he could reach Washington.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The prudence of his immediate friends, fortunately defeated the murderous
+ purpose&mdash;and by the simple device of taking the regular night express
+ from Philadelphia instead of a special train next day&mdash;to Washington,
+ he reached the National Capital without molestation early on the morning
+ of the 23rd of February.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ That morning, after Mr. Lincoln's arrival, in company with Mr. Lovejoy,
+ the writer visited him at Willard's Hotel. During the interview both urged
+ him to "Go right along, protect the property of the Country, and put down
+ the Rebellion, no matter at what cost in men and money." He listened with
+ grave attention, and said little, but very clearly indicated his approval
+ of all the sentiments thus expressed&mdash;and then, with the same firm
+ and manly and cheerful faith in the outcome, he added: "As the Country has
+ placed me at the helm of the Ship, I'll try to steer her through."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The spirit in which he proposed to accomplish this superhuman task, was
+ shown when he told the Southern people through the Civic authorities of
+ Washington on the 27th of February&mdash;When the latter called upon him&mdash;that
+ he had no desire or intention to interfere with any of their
+ Constitutional rights&mdash;that they should have all their rights under
+ the Constitution, "not grudgingly, but fully and fairly." And what was the
+ response of the South to this generous and conciliatory message? Personal
+ sneers&mdash;imputations of Northern cowardice&mdash;boasts of Southern
+ prowess&mdash;scornful rejection of all compromise&mdash;and an insolent
+ challenge to the bloody issue of arms!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Said Mr. Wigfall, in the United States Senate, on March 2d, alluding to
+ Mr. Lincoln, "I do not think that a man who disguises himself in a
+ soldier's cloak and a Scotch cap (a more thorough disguise could not be
+ assumed by such a man) and makes his entry between day and day, into the
+ Capital of the Country that he is to govern&mdash;I hardly think that he
+ is going to look War sternly in the face.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [Had Mr. Wigfall been able at this time to look four years into the
+ future and behold the downfall of the Southern Rebellion, the flight of
+ its Chieftains, and the capture of Jefferson Davis while endeavoring to
+ escape, with his body enclosed in a wrapper and a woman's shawl over his
+ head, as stated by Lieutenant-Colonel Stuart of Jefferson Davis's Staff,
+ p. 756, vol. ii., Greeley's American Conflict&mdash;he would hardly have
+ retailed this slander.]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ "I look for nothing else than that the Commissioners from the Confederated
+ States will be received here and recognized by Abraham Lincoln. I will now
+ predict that this Republican Party that is going to enforce the Laws,
+ preserve the Union, and collect Revenue, will never attempt anything so
+ silly; and that instead of taking Forts, the troops will be withdrawn from
+ those which we now have. See if this does not turn out to be so, in less
+ than a week or ten days."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In the same insulting diatribe, he said: "It is very easy for men to
+ bluster who know there is going to be no danger. Four or five million
+ people living in a territory that extends from North Carolina down to the
+ Rio Grande, who have exports to above three hundred million dollars, whose
+ ports cannot be blockaded, but who can issue letters of marque and
+ reprisal, and sweep your commerce from the seas, and who will do it, are
+ not going to be trifled with by that sensible Yankee nation. Mark my
+ words. I did think, at one time, there was going to be War; I do not think
+ so now. * * * The Star of the West swaggered into Charleston harbor,
+ received a blow planted full in the face, and staggered out. Your flag has
+ been insulted; redress it if you dare! You have submitted to it for two
+ months, and you will submit to it for ever. * * * We have dissolved the
+ Union; mend it if you can; cement it with blood; try the experiment! we do
+ not desire War; we wish to avoid it. * * * This we say; and if you choose
+ to settle this question by the Sword, we feel, we know, that we have the
+ Right. We interfere with you in no way. We ask simply that you will not
+ interfere with us. * * * You tell us you will keep us in the Union. Try
+ the experiment!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And then, with brutal frankness, he continued: "Now, whether what are
+ called The Crittenden Resolutions will produce satisfaction in some of
+ these Border States, or not, I am unaware; but I feel perfectly sure they
+ would not be entertained upon the Gulf. As to the Resolutions which the
+ Peace Congress has offered us, we might as well make a clean breast of it.
+ If those Resolutions were adopted, and ratified by three fourths of the
+ States of this Union, and no other cause ever existed, I make the
+ assertion that the seven States now out of the Union, would go out upon
+ that."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkclay" id="linkclay"></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="p132-clay.jpg (78K)" src="images/p132-clay.jpg" style="width:100%;" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch8" id="linkch8"></a><br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ CHAPTER VIII.<br /> <br /> THE REJECTED OLIVE BRANCH.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ While instructive, it will also not be devoid of interest, to pause here,
+ and examine the nature of the Crittenden Resolutions, and also the
+ Resolutions of the Peace Congress, which, we have seen, were spurned by
+ the Secession leaders, through their chief mouthpiece in the United States
+ Senate.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Crittenden Compromise Resolutions * were in these words:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "A Joint Resolution proposing certain Amendments to the Constitution of
+ the United States:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Whereas, serious and alarming dissensions have arisen between the
+ Northern and the Southern States, concerning the Rights and security of
+ the Rights of the Slaveholding States, and especially their Rights in the
+ common territory of the United States; and whereas, it is eminently
+ desirable and proper that these dissensions, which now threaten the very
+ existence of this Union, should be permanently quieted and settled by
+ Constitutional provisions which shall do equal justice to all Sections,
+ and thereby restore to the People that peace and good-will which ought to
+ prevail between all the citizens of the United States; Therefore:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States
+ of America, in Congress assembled, (two thirds of both Houses concurring),
+ the following articles be, and are hereby proposed and submitted as
+ amendments to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid
+ to all intents and purposes, as part of said Constitution, when ratified
+ by Conventions of three-fourths of the several States:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Article I. In all the territory of the United States now held, or
+ hereafter to be acquired, situate north of latitude 36 30', Slavery or
+ involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, is prohibited,
+ while such territory shall remain under Territorial government. In all the
+ territory south of said line of latitude, Slavery of the African race is
+ hereby recognized as existing, and shall not be interfered with by
+ Congress, but shall be protected as Property by all the departments of the
+ Territorial government during its continuance. And when any Territory,
+ north or south of said line, within such boundaries as Congress may
+ prescribe, shall contain the population requisite for a member of
+ Congress, according to the then Federal ratio of representation of the
+ People of the United States, it shall, if its own form of government be
+ republican, be admitted into the Union, on an equal footing with the
+ original States; with or without Slavery, as the Constitution of such new
+ State may provide.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Article II. Congress shall have no power to abolish Slavery in places
+ under its exclusive jurisdiction, and situate within the limits of States
+ that permit the holding of Slaves.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Article III. Congress shall have no power to abolish Slavery within the
+ District of Columbia; so long as it exists in the adjoining States of
+ Virginia and Maryland, or either, nor without the consent of the
+ inhabitants, nor without just compensation first made to such owners of
+ Slaves as do not consent to such abolishment. Nor shall Congress, at any
+ time, prohibit officers of the Federal government, or members of Congress
+ whose duties require them to be in said District, from bringing with them
+ their Slaves, and holding them as such during the time their duties may
+ require them to remain there, and afterward taking them from the District.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Article IV. Congress shall have no power to prohibit or hinder the
+ Transportation of Slaves from one State to another, or to a Territory in
+ which Slaves are, by law, permitted to be held, whether that
+ transportation be by land, navigable rivers, or by the sea.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Article V. That in addition to the provisions of the third paragraph of
+ the second section of the fourth article of the Constitution of the United
+ States, Congress shall have power to provide by law, and it shall be its
+ duty to provide, that the United States shall pay to the owner who shall
+ apply for it, the full value of his Fugitive Slaves in all cases where the
+ Marshal, or other officer whose duty it was to arrest said Fugitive, was
+ prevented from so doing by violence or intimidation, or where, after
+ arrest, said Fugitive was rescued by force, and the owner thereby
+ prevented and obstructed in the pursuit of his remedy for the recovery of
+ his Fugitive Slave under the said clause of the Constitution and the laws
+ made in pursuance thereof.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ ["No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws
+ thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any Law or
+ Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall
+ be delivered up on claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may
+ be due."&mdash;Art. IV., Sec. 2, P 3, U. S. Constitution.]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ "And in all such cases, when the United States shall pay for such
+ Fugitive, they shall have the Right, in their own name, to sue the county
+ in which said violence, intimidation, or rescue, was committed, and
+ recover from it, with interest and damages, the amount paid by them for
+ said Fugitive Slave. And the said county, after it has paid said amount to
+ the United States, may, for its indemnity, sue and recover from the
+ wrong-doers or rescuers by whom the owner was prevented from the recovery
+ of his Fugitive Slave, in like manner as the owner himself might have sued
+ and recovered.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Article VI. No future amendment of the Constitution shall affect the five
+ preceding articles; nor the third paragraph of the second section of the
+ first article of the Constitution, nor the third paragraph of the second
+ section of the fourth article of said Constitution; and no amendment shall
+ be made to the Constitution which shall authorize or give to Congress any
+ power to abolish or interfere with Slavery in any of the States by whose
+ laws it is or may be, allowed or permitted.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ ["Representatives and Direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the
+ several States which may be included within this Union, according to
+ their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the
+ whole Number of Free Persons, including those bound to Service for a
+ Term of Years, and excluding Indians not Taxed, three-fifths of all
+ Other Persons," etc.&mdash;Art. 1., Sec. 2, P 3, U. S. Constitution.]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ "And whereas, also, besides those causes of dissension embraced in the
+ foregoing amendments proposed to the Constitution of the United States,
+ there are others which come within the jurisdiction of Congress, and may
+ be remedied by its legislative power; And whereas it is the desire of
+ Congress, as far as its power will extend, to remove all just cause for
+ the popular discontent and agitation which now disturb the peace of the
+ Country and threaten the stability of its Institutions; Therefore:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "1. Resolved by the Senate and house of Representatives in Congress
+ assembled, that the laws now in force for the recovery of Fugitive Slaves
+ are in strict pursuance of the plain and mandatory provisions of the
+ Constitution, and have been sanctioned as valid and Constitutional by the
+ judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States; that the Slaveholding
+ States are entitled to the faithful observance and execution of those
+ laws; and that they ought not to be repealed, or so modified or changed as
+ to impair their efficiency; and that laws ought to be made for the
+ punishment of those who attempt, by rescue of the Slave, or other illegal
+ means, to hinder or defeat the due execution of said laws.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "2. That all State laws which conflict with the Fugitive Slave Acts of
+ Congress, or any other Constitutional Acts of Congress, or which, in their
+ operation, impede, hinder, or delay, the free course and due execution of
+ any of said Acts, are null and void by the plain provisions of the
+ Constitution of the United States; yet those State laws, void as they are,
+ have given color to practices, and led to consequences, which have
+ obstructed the due administration and execution of Acts of Congress, and
+ especially the Acts for the delivery of Fugitive Slaves; and have thereby
+ contributed much to the discord and commotion now prevailing. Congress,
+ therefore, in the present perilous juncture, does not deem it improper,
+ respectfully and earnestly, to recommend the repeal of those laws to the
+ several States which have enacted them, or such legislative corrections or
+ explanations of them as may prevent their being used or perverted to such
+ mischievous purposes.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "3. That the Act of the 18th of September, 1850, commonly called the
+ Fugitive Slave Law, ought to be so amended as to make the fee of the
+ Commissioner, mentioned in the eighth section of the Act, equal in amount
+ in the cases decided by him, whether his decision be in favor of, or
+ against the claimant. And, to avoid misconstruction, the last clause of
+ the fifth section of said Act, which authorizes the person holding a
+ warrant for the arrest or detention of a Fugitive Slave to summon to his
+ aid the posse comitatus, and which declares it to be the duty of all good
+ citizens to assist him in its execution, ought to be so amended as to
+ expressly limit the authority and duty to cases in which there shall be
+ resistance, or danger of resistance or rescue.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "4. That the laws for the suppression of the African Slave Trade, and
+ especially those prohibiting the importation of Slaves into the United
+ States, ought to be more effectual, and ought to be thoroughly executed;
+ and all further enactments necessary to those ends ought to be promptly
+ made."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Peace Conference, or "Congress," it may here be mentioned, was called,
+ by action of the Legislature of Virginia, to meet at Washington, February
+ 4, 1861. The invitation was extended to all of such "States of this
+ Confederacy * * * whether Slaveholding or Non-Slaveholding, as are willing
+ to unite with Virginia in an earnest effort to adjust the present unhappy
+ controversies in the spirit in which the Constitution was originally
+ formed, and consistently with its principles, so as to afford to the
+ people of the Slaveholding States adequate guarantees for the security of
+ their rights"&mdash;such States to be represented by Commissioners "to
+ consider, and, if practicable, agree upon some suitable adjustment."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Conference, or "Congress," duly convened, at that place and time, and
+ organized by electing ex-President John Tyler, of Virginia, its President.
+ This Peace Congress&mdash;which comprised 133 Commissioners, representing
+ the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
+ Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland,
+ Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Indiana,
+ Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Kansas&mdash;remained in session until
+ February 27, 1861&mdash;and then submitted the result of its labors to
+ Congress, with the request that Congress "will submit it to Conventions in
+ the States, as Article Thirteen of the Amendments to the Constitution of
+ the United States, in the following shape:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Section 1. In all the present territory of the United States, north of
+ the parallel of 36 30' of north latitude, Involuntary Servitude, except in
+ punishment of crime, is prohibited. In all the present territory south of
+ that line, the status of Persons held to Involuntary Service or Labor, as
+ it now exists, shall not be changed; nor shall any law be passed by
+ Congress or the Territorial Legislature to hinder or prevent the taking of
+ such Persons from any of the States of this Union to said Territory, nor
+ to impair the Rights arising from said relation; but the same shall be
+ subject to judicial cognizance in the Federal Courts, according to the
+ course of the common law. When any Territory north or south of said line,
+ within such boundary as Congress may prescribe, shall contain a population
+ equal to that required for a member of Congress, it shall, if its form of
+ government be republican, be admitted into the Union on an equal footing
+ with the original States, with or without Involuntary Servitude, as the
+ Constitution of such State may provide.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Section 2. No territory shall be acquired by the United States, except by
+ discovery and for naval and commercial stations, depots, and transit
+ routes, without the concurrence of a majority of all the Senators from
+ States which allow Involuntary Servitude, and a majority of all the
+ Senators from States which prohibit that relation; nor shall Territory be
+ acquired by treaty, unless the votes of a majority of the Senators from
+ each class of States hereinbefore mentioned be cast as a part of the
+ two-thirds majority necessary to the ratification of such treaty.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Section 3. Neither the Constitution, nor any amendment thereof, shall be
+ construed to give Congress power to regulate, abolish, or control, within
+ any State, the relation established or recognized by the laws thereof
+ touching Persons held to Labor or Involuntary Service therein, nor to
+ interfere with or abolish Involuntary Service in the District of Columbia
+ without the consent of Maryland, and without the consent of the owners, or
+ making the owners who do not consent just compensation; nor the power to
+ interfere with or prohibit Representatives and others from bringing with
+ them to the District of Columbia, retaining, and taking away, Persons so
+ held to Labor or Service; nor the power to interfere with or abolish
+ Involuntary Service in places under the exclusive jurisdiction of the
+ United States within those States and Territories where the same is
+ established or recognized; nor the power to prohibit the removal or
+ transportation of Persons held to Labor or Involuntary Service in any
+ State or Territory of the United States to any other State or Territory
+ thereof where it is established or recognized by law or usage; and the
+ right during transportation, by sea or river, of touching at ports,
+ shores, and landings, and of landing in case of distress, shall exist; but
+ not the right of transit in or through any State or Territory, or of sale
+ or traffic, against the laws thereof. Nor shall Congress have power to
+ authorize any higher rate of taxation on Persons held to Labor or Service
+ than on land. The bringing into the District of Columbia of Persons held
+ to Labor or Service, for sale, or placing them in depots to be afterwards
+ transferred to other places for sale as merchandize, is prohibited.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Section 4. The third paragraph of the second section of the fourth
+ article of the Constitution shall not be construed to prevent any of the
+ States, by appropriate legislation, and through the action of their
+ judicial and ministerial officers, from enforcing the delivery of
+ Fugitives from Labor to the person to whom such Service or Labor is due.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Section 5. The Foreign Slave Trade is hereby forever prohibited; and it
+ shall be the duty of Congress to pass laws to prevent the importation of
+ Slaves, Coolies, or Persons held to Service or Labor, into the United
+ States and the Territories from places beyond the limits thereof.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Section 6. The first, third, and fifth sections, together with this
+ section of these amendments, and the third paragraph of the second section
+ of the first article of the Constitution, and the third paragraph of the
+ second section of the fourth article thereof, shall not be amended or
+ abolished without the consent of all the States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Section 7. Congress shall provide by law that the United States shall pay
+ to the owner the full value of the Fugitive from Labor, in all cases where
+ the Marshal, or other officer, whose duty it was to arrest such Fugitive,
+ was prevented from so doing by violence or intimidation from mobs or
+ riotous assemblages, or when, after arrest, such Fugitive was rescued by
+ like violence or intimidation, and the owner thereby deprived of the same;
+ and the acceptance of such payment shall preclude the owner from further
+ claim to such Fugitive. Congress shall provide by law for securing to the
+ citizens of each State the privileges and immunities of citizens in the
+ several States."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ To spurn such propositions as these&mdash;with all the concessions to the
+ Slave Power therein contained&mdash;was equivalent to spurning any and all
+ propositions that could possibly be made; and by doing this, the Seceding
+ States placed themselves&mdash;as they perhaps desired&mdash;in an utterly
+ irreconcilable attitude, and hence, to a certain extent, which had not
+ entered into their calculations, weakened their "Cause" in the eyes of
+ many of their friends in the North, in the Border States, and in the
+ World. They had become Implacables. Practically considered, this was their
+ great mistake. The Crittenden Compromise Resolutions covered and yielded
+ to the Slaveholders of the South all and even more than they had ever
+ dared seriously to ask or hope for, and had they been open to
+ Conciliation, they could have undoubtedly carried that measure through
+ both Houses of Congress and three-fourths of the States.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ ["Its advocates, with good reason, claimed a large majority of the
+ People in its favor, and clamored for its submission to a direct popular
+ vote. Had such a submission been accorded, it is very likely that the
+ greater number of those who voted at all would have voted to ratify it.
+ * * * The 'Conservatives,' so called, were still able to establish this
+ Crittenden Compromise by their own proper strength, had they been
+ disposed so to do. The President was theirs; the Senate strongly theirs;
+ in the House, they had a small majority, as was evidenced in their
+ defeat of John Sherman for Speaker. Had they now come forward and said,
+ with authority: 'Enable us to pass the Crittenden Compromise, and all
+ shall be peace and harmony,' they would have succeeded without
+ difficulty. It was only through the withdrawal of pro-slavery members
+ that the Republicans had achieved an unexpected majority in either
+ House. Had those members chosen to return to the seats still awaiting
+ them, and to support Mr. Crittenden's proposition, they could have
+ carried it without difficulty."&mdash;Vol. 360, Greeley's Am. Conflict.]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ But no, they wilfully withdrew their Congressional membership, State by
+ State, as each Seceded, and refused all terms save those which involved an
+ absolute surrender to them on all points, including the impossible claim
+ of the "Right of Secession."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Let us now briefly trace the history of the Compromise measures in the two
+ Houses of Congress.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Crittenden-Compromise Joint-Resolution had been introduced in the
+ Senate at the opening of its session and referred to a Select Committee of
+ Thirteen, and subsequently, January 16th, 1861, having been reported back,
+ came up in that body for action. On that day it was amended by inserting
+ the words "now held or hereafter to be acquired" after the words "In all
+ the territory of the United States," in the first line of Article I., so
+ that it would read as given above. This amendment&mdash;by which not only
+ in all territory then belonging to the United States, but also by
+ implication in all that might thereafter be acquired, Slavery South of 36
+ 30' was to be recognized&mdash;was agreed to by 29 yeas to 21 nays, as
+ follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ YEAS.&mdash;Messrs. Baker, Bayard, Benjamin, Bigler, Bragg, Bright,
+ Clingman, Crittenden, Douglas, Fitch, Green, Gwin, Hemphill, Hunter,
+ Iverson, Johnson of Tennessee, Kennedy, Lane, Mason, Nicholson, Pearce,
+ Polk, Powell, Pugh, Rice, Saulsbury, Sebastian, Slidell and Wigfall&mdash;29.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ NAYS.&mdash;Messrs. Anthony, Bingham, Cameron, Chandler, Clark, Collamer,
+ Dixon, Doolittle, Durkee, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Hale, Harlan,
+ King, Latham, Seward, Simmons, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Wade and Wilson&mdash;24.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The question now recurred upon an amendment, in the nature of a
+ substitute, offered by Mr. Clark, to strike out the preamble of the
+ Crittenden proposition and all of the resolutions after the word
+ "resolved," and insert:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "That the provisions of the Constitution are ample for the preservation of
+ the Union, and the protection of all the material interests of the
+ Country; that it needs to be obeyed rather than amended; and that an
+ extrication from our present dangers is to be looked for in strenuous
+ efforts to preserve the peace, protect the public property, and enforce
+ the laws, rather than in new Guarantees for particular interests,
+ Compromises for particular difficulties, or Concessions to unreasonable
+ demands.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved, That all attempts to dissolve the present Union, or overthrow
+ or abandon the present Constitution, with the hope or expectation of
+ constructing a new one, are dangerous, illusory, and destructive; that in
+ the opinion of the Senate of the United States no such Reconstruction is
+ practicable; and, therefore, to the maintenance of the existing Union and
+ Constitution should be directed all the energies of all the departments of
+ the Government, and the efforts of all good citizens."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Before reaching a vote on this amendment, Mr. Anthony, (January 16th) made
+ a most conciliatory speech, pointing out such practical objections to the
+ Crittenden proposition as occurred to his mind, and then, continuing,
+ said: "I believe, Mr. President, that if the danger which menaces us is to
+ be avoided at all, it must be by Legislation; which is more ready, more
+ certain, and more likely to be satisfactory, than Constitutional
+ Amendment. The main difficulty is the Territorial question. The demand of
+ the Senators on the other side of the Chamber, and of those whom they
+ represent, is that the territory south of the line of the Missouri
+ Compromise shall be open to their peculiar Property. All this territory,
+ except the Indian Reservation, is within the limits of New Mexico; which,
+ for a part of its northern boundary, runs up two degrees above that line.
+ This is now a Slave Territory; made so by Territorial Legislation; and
+ Slavery exists there, recognized and protected. Now, I am willing, as soon
+ as Kansas can be admitted, to vote for the admission of New Mexico as a
+ State, with such Constitution as the People may adopt. This disposes of
+ all the territory that is adapted to Slave Labor or that is claimed by the
+ South. It ought to settle the whole question. Surely if we can dispose of
+ all the territory that we have, we ought not to quarrel over that which we
+ have not, and which we have no very honest way of acquiring. Let us settle
+ the difficulties that threaten us now, and not anticipate those which may
+ never come. Let the public mind have time to cool * * *. In offering to
+ settle this question by the admission of New Mexico, we of the North who
+ assent to it propose a great Sacrifice, and offer a large Concession.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "* * * But we make the offer in a spirit of Compromise and good feeling,
+ which we hope will be reciprocated. * * * I appeal to Senators on the
+ other side, when we thus offer to bridge over full seven-eighths of the
+ frightful chasm that separates us, will you not build the other eighth?
+ When, with outstretched arms, we approach you so near that, by reaching
+ out your hands you can clasp ours in the fraternal grasp from which they
+ should never be separated, will you, with folded arms and closed eyes,
+ stand upon extreme demands which you know we cannot accept, and for which,
+ if we did, we could not carry our constituents? * * * Together our Fathers
+ achieved the Independence of their Country; together they laid the
+ foundations of its greatness and its glory; together they constructed this
+ beautiful system under which it is our privilege to live, which it is our
+ duty to preserve and to transmit. Together we enjoy that privilege;
+ together we must perform that duty. I will not believe that, in the
+ madness of popular folly and delusion, the most benignant Government that
+ ever blessed humanity is to be broken up. I will not believe that this
+ great Power which is marching with giant steps toward the first place
+ among the Nations of the Earth, is to be turned 'backward on its mighty
+ track.' There are no grievances, fancied or real, that cannot be redressed
+ within the Union and under the Constitution. There are no differences
+ between us that may not be settled if we will take them up in the spirit
+ of those to whose places we have succeeded, and the fruits of whose labors
+ we have inherited."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And to this more than fair proposition to the Southerners&mdash;to this
+ touching appeal in behalf of Peace&mdash;what was the response? Not a
+ word! It seemed but to harden their hearts.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [Immediately after Mr. Anthony's appeal to the Southern Senators, a
+ motion was made by Mr. Collamer to postpone the Crittenden Resolutions
+ and take up the Kansas Admission Bill. Here was the chance at once
+ offered to them to respond to that appeal&mdash;to make a first step, as
+ it were. They would not make it. The motion was defeated by 25 yeas to
+ 30 nays&mdash;Messrs. Benjamin and Slidell of Louisiana, Hemphill and
+ Wigfall of Texas, Iverson of Georgia, and Johnson of Arkansas, voting
+ "nay." The question at once recurred on the amendment of Mr. Clark&mdash;being
+ a substitute for the Crittenden Resolutions, declaring in effect all
+ Compromise unnecessary. To let that substitute be adopted, was to insure
+ the failure of the Crittenden proposition. Yet these same six Southern
+ Senators though present, refused to vote, and permitted the substitute
+ to be adopted by 25 yeas to 23 nays. The vote of Mr. Douglas, who had
+ been "called out for an instant into the ante-room, and deprived of the
+ opportunity of voting "&mdash;as he afterwards stated when vainly asking
+ unanimous consent to have his vote recorded among the nays&mdash;would
+ have made it 25 yeas to 24 nays, had he been present and voting, while
+ the votes of the six Southern Senators aforesaid, had they voted, would
+ have defeated the substitute by 25 yeas to 30 nays. Then upon a direct
+ vote on the Crittenden Compromise there would not only have been the 30
+ in its favor, but the vote of at least one Republican (Baker) in
+ addition, to carry it, and, although that would not have given the
+ necessary two-thirds, yet it would have been a majority handsome enough
+ to have ultimately turned the scales, in both Houses, for a peaceful
+ adjustment of the trouble, and have avoided all the sad consequences
+ which so speedily befell the Nation. But this would not have suited the
+ Treasonable purposes of the Conspirators. Ten days before this they had
+ probably arranged the Programme in this, as well as other matters. Very
+ certain it is that no time was lost by them and their friends in making
+ the best use for their Cause of this vote, in the doubtful States of
+ Missouri and North Carolina especially. In the St. Louis journals a
+ Washington dispatch, purporting (untruly however) to come from Senators
+ Polk and Green, was published to this effect.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The Crittenden Resolutions were lost by a vote of 25 to 23. A motion of
+ Mr. Cameron to reconsider was lost; and thus ends all hope of
+ reconciliation. Civil War is now considered inevitable, and late
+ accounts declare that Fort Sumter will be attacked without delay. The
+ Missouri delegation recommend immediate Secession."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This is but a sample of other similar dispatches sent elsewhere. And the
+ following dispatch, signed by Mr. Crittenden, and published in the
+ Raleigh, N. C., Register, to quiet the excitement raised by the
+ telegrams of the Conspirators, serves also to indicate that the friends
+ of Compromise were not disheartened by their defeat:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "WASHINGTON, Jan. 17th, 9 P. M.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In reply the vote against my resolutions will be reconsidered. Their
+ failure was the result of the refusal of six Southern Senators to vote.
+ There is yet good hope of success.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "JOHN J. CRITTENDEN."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ There is instruction also to be drawn from the speeches of Senators
+ Saulsbury, and Johnson of Tennessee, made fully a year afterward (Jan.
+ 29-31, 1862) in the Senate, touching the defeat of the Crittenden
+ Compromise by the Clark substitute at this time. Speaking of the second
+ session of the Thirty-sixth Congress, Mr. Saulsbury said:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "At that session, while vainly striving with others for the adoption of
+ those measures, I remarked in my place in the Senate that&mdash;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'If any Gibbon should hereafter write the Decline and Fall of the
+ American Republic, he would date its fall from the rejection by the
+ Senate of the propositions submitted by the Senator from Kentucky.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I believed so then, and I believe so now. I never shall forget, Mr.
+ President, how my heart bounded for joy when I thought I saw a ray of
+ hope for their adoption in the fact that a Republican Senator now on
+ this floor came to me and requested that I should inquire of Mr. Toombs,
+ who was on the eve of his departure for Georgia to take a seat in the
+ Convention of that State which was to determine the momentous question
+ whether she should continue a member of the Union or withdraw from it,
+ whether, if the Crittenden propositions were adopted, Georgia would
+ remain in the Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Said Mr. Toombs:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'Tell him frankly for me that if those resolutions are adopted by the
+ vote of any respectable number of Republican Senators, evidencing their
+ good faith to advocate their ratification by their people, Georgia will
+ not Secede. This is the position I assumed before the people of Georgia.
+ I told them that if the party in power gave evidence of an intention to
+ preserve our rights in the Union, we were bound to wait until their
+ people could act.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I communicated the answer. The Substitute of the Senator from New
+ Hampshire [Mr. Clark] was subsequently adopted, and from that day to
+ this the darkness and the tempest and the storm have thickened, until
+ thousands like myself, as good and as true Union men as you, Sir, though
+ you may question our motives, have not only despaired but are without
+ hope in the future."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ To this speech, Mr. Johnson of Tennessee subsequently replied as follows
+ in the United States Senate (Jan. 31, 1862)
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Sir, it has been said by the distinguished Senator from Delaware [Mr.
+ Saulsbury] that the questions of controversy might all have been settled
+ by Compromise. He dealt rather extensively in the Party aspect of the
+ case, and seemingly desired to throw the onus of the present condition
+ of affairs entirely on one side. He told us that, if so and so had been
+ done, these questions could have been settled, and that now there would
+ have been no War. He referred particularly to the resolution offered
+ during the last Congress by the Senator from New Hampshire [Mr. Clark],
+ and upon the vote on that he based his argument. * * * The Senator told
+ us that the adoption of the Clark amendment to the Crittenden
+ Resolutions defeated the settlement of the questions of controversy; and
+ that, but for that vote, all could have been peace and prosperity now.
+ We were told that the Clark amendment defeated the Crittenden
+ Compromise, and prevented a settlement of the controversy. On this point
+ I will read a portion of the speech of my worthy and talented friend
+ from California [Mr. Latham]; and when I speak of him thus, I do it in
+ no unmeaning sense I intend that he, not I, shall answer the Senator
+ from Delaware. * * * As I have said, the Senator from Delaware told us
+ that the Clark amendment was the turning point in the whole matter; that
+ from it had flowed Rebellion, Revolution, War, the shooting and
+ imprisonment of people in different States&mdash;perhaps he meant to
+ include my own. This was the Pandora's box that has been opened, out of
+ which all the evils that now afflict the Land have flown. * * * My
+ worthy friend from California [Mr. Latham], during the last session of
+ Congress, made one of the best speeches he ever made. * * * In the
+ course of that speech, upon this very point he made use of these
+ remarks:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'Mr. President, being last winter a careful eye-witness of all that
+ occurred, I soon became satisfied that it was a deliberate, wilful
+ design, on the part of some representatives of Southern States, to seize
+ upon the election of Mr. Lincoln merely as an excuse to precipitate this
+ revolution upon the Country. One evidence, to my mind, is the fact that
+ South Carolina never sent her Senators here.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Then they certainly were not influenced by the Clark amendment.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'An additional evidence is, that when gentlemen on this floor, by their
+ votes, could have controlled legislation, they refused to cast them for
+ fear that the very Propositions submitted to this body might have an
+ influence in changing the opinions of their constituencies. Why, Sir,
+ when the resolutions submitted by the Senator from New Hampshire [Mr.
+ Clark], were offered as an amendment to the Crittenden Propositions, for
+ the manifest purpose of embarrassing the latter, and the vote taken on
+ the 16th of January, 1861, I ask, what did we see? There were fifty-five
+ Senators at that time upon this floor, in person. The Globe of the
+ second Session, Thirty-Sixth Congress, Part I., page 409, shows that
+ upon the call of the yeas and nays immediately preceding the vote on the
+ substituting of Mr. Clark's amendment, there were fifty-five votes cast.
+ I will read the vote from the Globe:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'YEAS&mdash;Messrs. Anthony, Baker, Bingham, Cameron, Chandler, Clark,
+ Collamer, Dixon, Doolittle, Durkee, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes,
+ Hale, Harlan, King, Seward, Simmons, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Wade,
+ Wilkinson, and Wilson&mdash;25.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "NAYS&mdash;Messrs. Bayard, Benjamin, Bigler, Bragg, Bright, Clingman,
+ Crittenden, Douglas, Fitch, Green, Gwin, Hemphill, Hunter, Iverson,
+ Johnson of Arkansas, Johnson of Tennessee, Kennedy, Lane, Latham, Mason,
+ Nicholson, Pearce, Polk, Powell, Pugh, Rice, Saulsbury, Sebastian,
+ Slidell and Wigfall&mdash;30.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The vote being taken immediately after, on the Clark Proposition, was
+ as follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "YEAS&mdash;Messrs. Anthony, Baker, Bingham, Cameron, Chandler, Clark,
+ Collamer, Dixon, Doolittle, Durkee, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes,
+ Hale, Harlan, King, Seward, Simmons, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Wade,
+ Wilkinson and Wilson&mdash;25.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "NAYS&mdash;Messrs. Bayard, Bigler, Bragg, Bright, Clingman, Crittenden,
+ Fitch, Green, Gwin, Hunter, Johnson of Tennessee, Kennefly, Lane,
+ Latham, Mason, Nicholson, Pearce, Polk, Powell, Pugh, Rice, Saulsbury
+ and Sebastian&mdash;23.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'Six senators retained their seats and refused to vote, thus themselves
+ allowing the Clark Proposition to supplant the Crittenden Resolution by
+ a vote of twenty-five to twenty-three. Mr. Benjamin of Louisiana, Mr.
+ Hemphill and Mr. Wigfall of Texas, Mr. Iverson of Georgia, Mr. Johnson
+ of Arkansas, and Mr. Slidell of Louisiana, were in their seats, but
+ refused to cast their votes.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I sat right behind Mr. Benjamin, and I am not sure that my worthy
+ friend was not close by, when he refused to vote, and I said to him,
+ 'Mr. Benjamin, why do you not vote? Why not save this Proposition, and
+ see if we cannot bring the Country to it?' He gave me rather an abrupt
+ answer, and said he would control his own action without consulting me
+ or anybody else. Said I: 'Vote, and show yourself an honest man.' As
+ soon as the vote was taken, he and others telegraphed South, 'We cannot
+ get any Compromise.' Here were six Southern men refusing to vote, when
+ the amendment would have been rejected by four majority if they had
+ voted. Who, then, has brought these evils on the Country? Was it Mr.
+ Clark? He was acting out his own policy; but with the help we had from
+ the other side of the chamber, if all those on this side had been true
+ to the Constitution and faithful to their constituents, and had acted
+ with fidelity to the Country, the amendment of the Senator from New
+ Hampshire could have been voted down, the defeat of which the Senator
+ from Delaware says would have saved the Country. Whose fault was it? Who
+ is responsible for it? * * * Who did it? SOUTHERN TRAITORS, as was said
+ in the speech of the Senator from California. They did it. They wanted
+ no Compromise. They accomplished their object by withholding their
+ votes; and hence the Country has been involved in the present
+ difficulty. Let me read another extract from this speech of the Senator
+ from California
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'I recollect full well the joy that pervaded the faces of some of those
+ gentlemen at the result, and the sorrow manifested by the venerable
+ Senator from Kentucky [Mr. Crittenden]. The record shows that Mr. Pugh,
+ from Ohio, despairing of any Compromise between the extremes of ultra
+ Republicanism and Disunionists, working manifestly for the same end,
+ moved, immediately after the vote was announced, to lay the whole
+ subject on the table. If you will turn to page 443, same volume, you
+ will find, when, at a late period, Mr. Cameron, from Pennsylvania, moved
+ to reconsider the vote, appeals having been made to sustain those who
+ were struggling to preserve the Peace of the Country, that the vote was
+ reconsidered; and when, at last, the Crittenden Propositions were
+ submitted on the 2d day of March, these Southern States having 'nearly
+ all Seceded, they were then lost but by one vote. Here is the vote:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "YEAS&mdash;Messrs. Bayard, Bigler, Bright, Crittenden, Douglas, Gwin,
+ Hunter, Johnson of Tennessee, Kennedy, Lane, Latham, Mason, Nicholson,
+ Polk, Pugh, Rice, Sebastian, Thomson and Wigfall&mdash;19.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'NAYS&mdash;Messrs. Anthony, Bingham, Chandler, Clark, Dixon,
+ Doolittle, Durkee, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Harlan, King,
+ Morrill, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Wade, Wilkinson and Wilson&mdash;20.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'If these Seceding Southern senators had remained, there would have
+ passed, by a large vote (as it did without them), an amendment, by a
+ two-third vote, forbidding Congress ever interfering with Slavery in the
+ States. The Crittenden Proposition would have been indorsed by a
+ majority vote, the subject finally going before the People, who have
+ never yet, after consideration, refused Justice, for any length of time,
+ to any portion of the Country.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'I believe more, Mr. President, that these gentlemen were acting in
+ pursuance of a settled and fixed plan to break up and destroy this
+ Government.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "When we had it in our power to vote down the amendment of the Senator
+ from New Hampshire, and adopt the Crittenden Resolutions, certain
+ Southern Senators prevented it; and yet, even at a late day of the
+ session, after they had Seceded, the Crittenden Proposition was only
+ lost by one vote. If Rebellion and bloodshed and murder have followed,
+ to whose skirts does the responsibility attach?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "What else was done at the very same session? The House of
+ Representatives passed, and sent to this body, a Proposition to amend
+ the Constitution of the United States, so as to prohibit Congress from
+ ever hereafter interfering with the Institution of Slavery in the
+ States, making that restriction a part of the Organic law of the Land.
+ That Constitutional Amendment came here after the Senators from seven
+ States had Seceded; and yet it was passed by a two-third vote in the
+ Senate. Have you ever heard of any one of the States which had then
+ Seceded, or which has since Seceded, taking up that Amendment to the
+ Constitution, and saying they would ratify it, and make it a part of
+ that instrument? No. Does not the whole history of this Rebellion tell
+ you that it was Revolution that the Leaders wanted, that they started
+ for, that they intended to have? The facts to which I have referred show
+ how the Crittenden Proposition might have been carried; and when the
+ Senators from the Slave States were reduced to one-fourth of the members
+ of this body, the two Houses passed a Proposition to Amend the
+ Constitution, so as to guarantee to the States perfect security in
+ regard to the Institution of Slavery in all future time, and prohibiting
+ Congress from legislating on the subject.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But what more was done? After Southern Senators had treacherously
+ abandoned the Constitution and deserted their posts here, Congress
+ passed Bills for the Organization of three new Territories: Dakota,
+ Nevada, and Colorado; and in the sixth section of each of those Bills,
+ after conferring, affirmatively, power on the Territorial Legislature,
+ it went on to exclude certain powers by using a negative form of
+ expression; and it provided, among other things, that the Legislature
+ should have no power to legislate so as to impair the right to private
+ property; that it should lay no tax discriminating against one
+ description of Property in favor of another; leaving the power on all
+ these questions, not in the Territorial Legislature, but in the People
+ when they should come to form a State Constitution.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Now, I ask, taking the Amendment to the Constitution, and taking the
+ three Territorial Bills, embracing every square inch of territory in the
+ possession of the United States, how much of the Slavery question was
+ left? What better Compromise could have been made? Still we are told
+ that matters might have been Compromised, and that if we had agreed to
+ Compromise, bloody Rebellion would not now be abroad in the Land. Sir,
+ Southern Senators are responsible for it. They stood here with power to
+ accomplish the result, and yet treacherously, and, I may say, tauntingly
+ they left this chamber, and announced that they had dissolved their
+ connection with the Government. Then, when we were left in the hands of
+ those whom we had been taught to believe would encroach upon our Rights,
+ they gave us, in the Constitutional Amendment and in the three
+ Territorial Bills, all that had ever been asked; and yet gentlemen
+ talked Compromise!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Why was not this taken and accepted? No; it was not Compromise that the
+ Leaders wanted; they wanted Power; they wanted to Destroy this
+ Government, so that they might have place and emolument for themselves.
+ They had lost confidence in the intelligence and virtue and integrity of
+ the People, and their capacity to govern themselves; and they intended
+ to separate and form a government, the chief corner-stone of which
+ should be Slavery, disfranchising the great mass of the People, of which
+ we have seen constant evidence, and merging the Powers of Government in
+ the hands of the Few. I know what I say. I know their feelings and their
+ sentiments. I served in the Senate here with them. I know they were a
+ Close Corporation, that had no more confidence in or respect for the
+ People than has the Dey of Algiers. I fought that Close Corporation
+ here. I knew that they were no friends of the People. I knew that
+ Slidell and Mason and Benjamin and Iverson and Toombs were the enemies
+ of Free Government, and I know so now. I commenced the war upon them
+ before a State Seceded; and I intend to keep on fighting this great
+ battle before the Country, for the perpetuity of Free Government. They
+ seek to overthrow it, and to establish a Despotism in its place. That is
+ the great battle which is upon our hands. * * * Now, the Senator from
+ Delaware tells us that if that (Crittenden) Compromise had been made,
+ all these consequences would have been avoided. It is a mere pretense;
+ it is false. Their object was to overturn the Government. If they could
+ not get the Control of this Government, they were willing to divide the
+ Country and govern part of it."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ The Clark substitute was then agreed to, by 25 (Republican) yeas to 23
+ Democratic and Conservative (Bell-Everett) nays&mdash;6 Pro-Slavery
+ Senators not voting, although present; and then, without division, the
+ Crittenden Resolutions were tabled&mdash;Mr. Cameron, however, entering a
+ motion to reconsider. Subsequently the action of the Senate, both on the
+ Resolutions and Substitute, was reconsidered, and March 2d the matter came
+ up again, as will hereafter appear.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Two days prior to this action in the Senate, Mr. Corwin, Chairman of the
+ Select Committee of Thirty-three, reported to the House (January 14th),
+ from a majority of that Committee, the following Joint Resolution:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States
+ of America in Congress assembled, That all attempts on the parts of the
+ Legislatures of any of the States to obstruct or hinder the recovery and
+ surrender of Fugitives from Service or Labor, are in derogation of the
+ Constitution of the United States, inconsistent with the comity and good
+ neighborhood that should prevail among the several States, and dangerous
+ to the Peace of the Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved, That the several States be respectfully requested to cause
+ their Statutes to be revised, with a view to ascertain if any of them are
+ in conflict with or tend to embarrass or hinder the execution of the Laws
+ of the United States, made in pursuance of the second section of the
+ Fourth Article of the Constitution of the United States for the delivery
+ up of Persons held to Labor by the laws of any State and escaping
+ therefrom; and the Senate and House of Representatives earnestly request
+ that all enactments having such tendency be forthwith repealed, as
+ required by a just sense of Constitutional obligations, and by a due
+ regard for the Peace of the Republic; and the President of the United
+ States is requested to communicate these resolutions to the Governors of
+ the several States, with a request that they will lay the same before the
+ Legislatures thereof respectively.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved, That we recognize Slavery as now existing in fifteen of the
+ United States by the usages and laws of those States; and we recognize no
+ authority, legally or otherwise, outside of a State where it so exists, to
+ interfere with Slaves or Slavery in such States, in disregard of the
+ Rights of their owners or the Peace of society.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved, That we recognize the justice and propriety of a faithful
+ execution of the Constitution, and laws made in pursuance thereof, on the
+ subject of Fugitive Slaves, or Fugitives from Service or Labor, and
+ discountenance all mobs or hindrances to the execution of such laws, and
+ that citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and
+ immunities of citizens in the several States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved, That we recognize no such conflicting elements in its
+ composition, or sufficient cause from any source, for a dissolution of
+ this Government; that we were not sent here to destroy, but to sustain and
+ harmonize the Institutions of the Country, and to see that equal justice
+ is done to all parts of the same; and finally, to perpetuate its existence
+ on terms of equality and justice to all the States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved, That a faithful observance, on the part of all the States, of
+ all their Constitutional obligations to each other and to the Federal
+ Government, is essential to the Peace of the Country.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved, That it is the duty of the Federal Government to enforce the
+ Federal Laws, protect the Federal property, and preserve the Union of
+ these States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved, That each State be requested to revise its Statutes, and, if
+ necessary, so to amend the same as to secure, without Legislation by
+ Congress, to citizens of other States traveling therein, the same
+ protection as citizens of such States enjoy; and also to protect the
+ citizens of other States traveling or sojourning therein against popular
+ violence or illegal summary punishment, without trial in due form of law,
+ for imputed crimes.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved, That each State be also respectfully requested to enact such
+ laws as will prevent and punish any attempt whatever in such State to
+ recognize or set on foot the lawless invasion of any other State or
+ Territory.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved, That the President be requested to transmit copies of the
+ foregoing resolutions to the Governors of the several States, with a
+ request that they be communicated to their respective Legislatures."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This Joint Resolution, with amendments proposed to the same, came up in
+ the House for action, on the 27th of February, 1861&mdash;the same day
+ upon which the Peace Congress or Conference concluded its labors at
+ Washington.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Proposition of Mr. Burch, of California, was the first acted upon. It
+ was to amend the Select Committee's resolutions, as above given, by adding
+ to them another resolution at the end thereof, as follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved, etc., That it be, and is hereby, recommended to the several
+ States of the Union that they, through their respective Legislatures,
+ request the Congress of the United States to call a Convention of all the
+ States, in accordance with Article Fifth of the Constitution, for the
+ purpose of amending said Constitution in such manner and with regard to
+ such subjects as will more adequately respond to the wants, and afford
+ more sufficient Guarantees to the diversified and growing Interests of the
+ Government and of the People composing the same."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This (Burch) amendment, however, was defeated by 14 yeas to 109 nays.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ A Proposition of Mr. Kellogg, of Illinois, came up next for action. It was
+ a motion to strike out all after the first word "That" in the Crittenden
+ Proposition&mdash;which had been offered by Mr. Clemens as a substitute
+ for the Committee Resolutions&mdash;and insert the following:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The following articles be, and are hereby, proposed and submitted as
+ Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid,
+ to all intents and purposes as part of said Constitution, when ratified by
+ Conventions of three-fourths of the several States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Article XIII. That in all the territory now held by the United States
+ situate north of latitude 36 30' Involuntary Servitude, except in the
+ punishment for crime, is prohibited while such territory shall remain
+ under a Territorial government; that in all the territory now held south
+ of said line, neither Congress nor any Territorial Legislature shall
+ hinder or prevent the emigration to said territory of Persons; held to
+ Service from any State of this Union, when that relation exists by virtue
+ of any law or usage of such State, while it shall remain in a Territorial
+ condition; and when any Territory north or south of said line, within such
+ boundaries as Congress may prescribe, shall contain the population
+ requisite for a member of Congress, according to the then Federal ratio of
+ representation of the People of the United States, it may, if its form of
+ government be Republican, be admitted into the Union on an equal footing
+ with the original States, with or without the relation of Persons held to
+ Service and Labor, as the Constitution of such new State may provide.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Article XIV. That nothing in the Constitution of the United States, or
+ any amendment thereto, shall be so construed as to authorize any
+ Department of the Government to in any manner interfere with the relation
+ of Persons held to Service in any State where that relation exists, nor in
+ any manner to establish or sustain that relation in any State where it is
+ prohibited by the Laws or Constitution of such State. And that this
+ Article shall not be altered or amended without the consent of every State
+ in the Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Article XV. The third paragraph of the second section of the Fourth
+ Article of the Constitution shall be taken and construed to authorize and
+ empower Congress to pass laws necessary to secure the return of Persons
+ held to Service or Labor under the laws of any State, who may have escaped
+ therefrom, to the party to whom such Service or Labor may be due.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Article XVI. The migration or importation of Persons held to Service or
+ Involuntary Servitude, into any State, Territory, or place within the
+ United States, from any place or country beyond the limits of the United
+ States or Territories thereof, is forever prohibited.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Article XVII. No territory beyond the present limits of the United States
+ and the Territories thereof, shall be annexed to or be acquired by the
+ United States, unless by treaty, which treaty shall be ratified by a vote
+ of two-thirds of the Senate."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Kellogg Proposition was defeated by 33 yeas to 158 nays.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Clemens Substitute was next voted on. This embraced the whole of the
+ Crittenden Compromise Proposition, as amended in the Senate by inserting
+ the provision as to all territory "hereafter acquired," with the addition
+ of another proposed Article of Amendment to the Constitution, as follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Article VII. Section I. The elective franchise and the Right to hold
+ office, whether Federal, State, Territorial, or Municipal, shall not be
+ exercised by Persons who are, in whole or in part, of the African Race.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Section II. The United States shall have power to acquire from time to
+ time districts of country in Africa and South America, for the
+ colonization, at expense of the Federal Treasury, of such Free Negroes and
+ Mulattoes as the several States may wish to have removed from their
+ limits, and from the District of Columbia, and such other places as may be
+ under the jurisdiction of Congress."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Clemens Substitute (or Crittenden Measure, with the addition of said
+ proposed Article VII.), was defeated by 80 yeas to 113 nays, and then the
+ Joint Resolution of the Select Committee as heretofore given&mdash;after a
+ vain attempt to table it&mdash;was passed by 136 yeas to 53 nays.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Immediately after this action, a Joint Resolution to amend the
+ Constitution of the United States, which had also been previously reported
+ by the Select Committee of Thirty-three, came before the House, as
+ follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
+ States of America in Congress assembled, (two-thirds of both Houses
+ concurring), That the following Article be proposed to the Legislatures of
+ the several States as an Amendment to the Constitution of the United
+ States, which, when ratified by three-fourths of said Legislatures, shall
+ be valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part of the said Constitution,
+ namely:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Article XII. No amendment of this Constitution having for its object any
+ interference within the States with the relation between their citizens
+ and those described in Section II. of the First Article of the
+ Constitution as 'all other persons,' shall originate with any State that
+ does not recognize that relation within its own limits, or shall be valid
+ without the assent of every one of the States composing the Union."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Corwin submitted an Amendment striking out all the words after
+ "namely;" and inserting the following:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Article XII. No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will
+ authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within
+ any State, with the Domestic Institutions thereof, including that of
+ Persons held to Labor or Service by the laws of said State."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Amid scenes of great disorder, the Corwin Amendment was adopted by 120
+ yeas to 61 nays, and then the Joint Resolution as amended, was defeated
+ (two-thirds not voting in the affirmative) by 123 yeas to 71 nays. On the
+ following day (February 28th), amid still greater confusion and disorder,
+ which the Speaker, despite frequent efforts, was unable to quell, that
+ vote was reconsidered, and the Joint Resolution passed by 133 yeas to 65
+ nays&mdash;a result which, when announced was received with "loud and
+ prolonged applause, both on the floor, and in the galleries."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 2d of March, the House Joint Resolution just given, proposing an
+ Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting Congress from touching Slavery
+ within any State where it exists, came up in the Senate for action.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Pugh moved to substitute for it the Crittenden Proposition.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Doolittle moved to amend the proposed substitute (the Crittenden
+ Proposition), by the insertion of the following, as an additional Article:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Under this Constitution, as originally adopted, and as it now exists, no
+ State has power to withdraw from the jurisdiction of the United States;
+ but this Constitution, and all laws passed in pursuance of its delegated
+ powers, are the Supreme Law of the Land, anything contained in any
+ Constitution, Ordinance, or Act of any State, to the contrary
+ notwithstanding."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Doolittle's amendment was lost by 18 yeas to 28 nays.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Pugh's substitute (the Crittenden Proposition), was lost by 14 yeas to
+ 25 nays.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Bingham moved to amend the House Joint Resolution, by striking out all
+ after the word "resolved," and inserting the words of the Clark
+ Proposition as heretofore given, but the amendment was rejected by 13 yeas
+ to 25 nays.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Grimes moved to strike out all after the word "whereas" in the
+ preamble of the House Joint Resolution, and insert the following:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The Legislatures of the States of Kentucky, New Jersey, and Illinois have
+ applied to Congress to call a Convention for proposing Amendments to the
+ Constitution of the United States: Therefore,
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
+ States of America in Congress assembled, That the Legislatures of the
+ other States be invited to take the subject of such a Convention into
+ consideration, and to express their will on that subject to Congress, in
+ pursuance of the Fifth Article of the Constitution."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This amendment was also rejected, by 14 yeas to 25 nays.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Johnson, of Arkansas, offered, as an amendment to the House Joint
+ Resolution, the propositions submitted by the Peace Congress or
+ Conference, but the amendment was disagreed to by 3 yeas to 34 nays.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The House Joint Resolution was then adopted by 24 yeas to 12 nays.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Subsequently the Crittenden Proposition came up again as a separate order,
+ with the Clark substitute to it (once carried, but reconsidered), pending.
+ The Clark substitute was then rejected by 14 yeas to 22 nays.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Crittenden then offered the Propositions of the Peace Congress, as a
+ substitute for his own&mdash;and they were rejected by 7 yeas to 28 nays.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Crittenden Proposition itself was then rejected, by 19 yeas to 20
+ nays.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkdavis" id="linkdavis"></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="p138-davis.jpg (85K)" src="images/p138-davis.jpg" style="width:100%;" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch9" id="linkch9"></a><br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ CHAPTER IX.<br /> <br /> SLAVERY'S SETTING, AND FREEDOM'S DAWN.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On that long last night of the 36th Congress&mdash;and of the Democratic
+ Administration&mdash;to the proceedings of which reference was made in the
+ preceding Chapter, several notable speeches were made, but there was
+ substantially nothing done, in the line of Compromise. The only thing that
+ had been accomplished was the passage, as we have seen, by two-thirds
+ majority in both Houses, of the Joint Resolution proposing a
+ Constitutional Amendment prohibiting Congress from meddling with Slavery
+ in Slave States. There was no Concession nor Compromise in this, because
+ Republicans, as well as Democrats, had always held that Congress had no
+ such power. It is true that the Pro-slavery men had charged the
+ Republicans with ultimate designs, through Congress, upon Slavery in the
+ Slave States; and Mr. Crittenden pleaded for its passage as exhibiting a
+ spirit, on their part, of reconciliation; that was all.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In his speech that night&mdash;that memorable and anxious night preceding
+ the Inauguration of President Lincoln&mdash;the venerable Mr. Crittenden,
+ speaking before the Resolution was agreed to, well sketched the situation
+ when he said in the Senate: "It is an admitted fact that our Union, to
+ some extent, has already been dismembered; and that further dismemberment
+ is impending and threatened. It is a fact that the Country is in danger.
+ This is admitted on all hands. It is our duty, if we can, to provide a
+ remedy for this. We are, under the Constitution and by the election of the
+ People, the great guardians, as well as the administrators of this
+ Government. To our wisdom they have trusted this great chart. Remedies
+ have been proposed; resolutions have been offered, proposing for adoption
+ measures which it was thought would satisfy the Country, and preserve as
+ much of the Union as remained to us at least, if they were not enough at
+ once to recall the Seceding States to the Union. We have passed none of
+ these measures. The differences of opinion among Senators have been such
+ that we have not been able to concur in any of the measures which have
+ been proposed, even by bare majorities, much less by that two-thirds
+ majority which is necessary to carry into effect some of the pacific
+ measures which have been proposed. We are about to adjourn. We have done
+ nothing. Even the Senate of the United States, beholding this great ruin
+ around them, beholding Dismemberment and Revolution going on, and Civil
+ War threatened as the result, have been able to do nothing; we have
+ absolutely done nothing. Sir, is not this a remarkable spectacle? * * *
+ How does it happen that not even a bare majority here, when the Country
+ trusted to our hands is going to ruin, have been competent to devise any
+ measure of public safety? How does it happen that we have not had
+ unanimity enough to agree on any measure of that kind? Can we account for
+ it to ourselves, gentlemen? We see the danger; we acknowledge our duty,
+ and yet, with all this before us, we are acknowledging before the world
+ that we can do nothing; acknowledging before the world, or appearing to
+ all the world, as men who do nothing! Sir, this will make a strange record
+ in the history of Governments and in the history of the world. Some are
+ for Coercion; yet no army has been raised, no navy has been equipped. Some
+ are for pacification; yet they have been able to do nothing; the dissent
+ of their colleagues prevents them; and here we are in the midst of a
+ falling Country, in the midst of a falling State, presenting to the eyes
+ of the World the saddest spectacle it has ever seen. Cato is represented
+ by Addison as a worthy spectacle, 'a great man falling with a falling
+ State,' but he fell struggling. We fall with the ignominy on our heads of
+ doing nothing, like the man who stands by and sees his house in flames,
+ and says to himself, 'perhaps the fire will stop before it consumes all.'"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ One of the strong pleas made in the Senate that night, was by Mr. Douglas,
+ when he said: "The great issue with the South has been that they would not
+ submit to the Wilmot proviso. The Republican Party affirmed the doctrine
+ that Congress must and could prohibit Slavery in the Territories. The
+ issue for ten years was between Non-intervention on the part of Congress,
+ and prohibition by Congress. Up to two years ago, neither the Senator
+ (Mason) from Virginia, nor any other Southern Senator, desired affirmative
+ legislation to protect Slavery. Even up to this day, not one of them has
+ proposed affirmative legislation to protect it. Whenever the question has
+ come up, they have decided that affirmative legislation to protect it was
+ unnecessary; and hence, all that the South required on the Territorial
+ question was 'hands off; Slavery shall not be prohibited by Act of
+ Congress.' Now, what do we find? This very session, in view of the perils
+ which surround the Country, the Republican Party, in both Houses of
+ Congress, by a unanimous vote, have backed down from their platform and
+ abandoned the doctrine of Congressional prohibition. This very week three
+ Territorial Bills have been passed through both Houses of Congress without
+ the Wilmot proviso, and no man proposed to enact it; not even one man on
+ the other side of the Chamber would rise and propose the Wilmot proviso."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In organizing three Territories," continued he, "two of them South of the
+ very line where they imposed the Wilmot proviso twelve years ago, no one
+ on the other side of the Chamber proposed it. They have abandoned the
+ doctrine of the President-elect upon that point. He said, and it is on
+ record, that he had voted for the Wilmot proviso forty-two times, and
+ would do it forty-two times more if he ever had a chance. Not one of his
+ followers this year voted for it once. The Senator from New York (Mr.
+ Seward) the embodiment of the Party, sat quietly and did not propose it.
+ What more? Last year we were told that the Slave Code of New Mexico was to
+ be repealed. I denounced the attempted interference. The House of
+ Representatives passed the Bill, but the Bill remains on your table; no
+ one Republican member has proposed to take it up and pass it. Practically,
+ therefore, the Chicago platform is abandoned; the Philadelphia platform is
+ abandoned; the whole doctrine for which the Republican Party contended, as
+ to the Territories, is abandoned, surrendered, given up. Non-intervention
+ is substituted in its place. Then, when we find that, on the Territorial
+ question, the Republican Party, by a unanimous vote, have surrendered to
+ the South all they ask, the Territorial question ought to be considered
+ pretty well settled. The only question left was that of the States; and
+ after having abandoned their aggressive policy as to the Territories, a
+ portion of them are willing to unite with us, and deprive themselves of
+ the power to do it in the States."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I submit," said he, "that these two great facts&mdash;these startling,
+ tremendous facts&mdash;that they have abandoned their aggressive policy in
+ the Territories, and are willing to give guarantees in the States, ought
+ to be accepted as an evidence of a salutary change in Public Opinion at
+ the North. All I would ask now of the Republican Party is, that they would
+ insert in the Constitution the same principle that they have carried out
+ practically in the Territorial Bills for Colorado, Dakota, and Nevada, by
+ depriving Congress of the power hereafter to do what there cannot be a man
+ of them found willing to do this year; but we cannot ask them to back down
+ too much. I think they have done quite as much within one year, within
+ three months after they have elected a President, as could be expected."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ That Douglas and his followers were also patriotically willing to
+ sacrifice a favorite theory in the face of a National peril, was brought
+ out, at the same time, by Mr. Baker, when he said to Mr. Douglas: "I
+ desire to suggest (and being a little of a Popular Sovereignty man, it
+ comes gracefully from me) that others of us have backed down too, from the
+ idea that Congress has not the power to prohibit Slavery in the
+ Territories; and we are proposing some of us in the Crittenden
+ proposition, and some in the Amendment now before the Senate&mdash;to
+ prohibit Slavery by the Constitution itself, in the Territories;"&mdash;and
+ by Mr. Douglas, when he replied: "I think as circumstances change, the
+ action of public men ought to change in a corresponding degree. * * * I am
+ willing to depart from my cherished theory, by an Amendment to the
+ Constitution by which we shall settle this question on the principles
+ prescribed in the Resolutions of the Senator from Kentucky."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In the House, Mr. Logan, had, on the 5th of February, 1861, said:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Men, Sir, North and South, who love themselves far better than their
+ Country, have brought us to this unhappy condition. * * * Let me say to
+ gentlemen, that I will go as far as any man in the performance of a
+ Constitutional duty to put down Rebellion, to suppress Insurrection, and
+ to enforce the laws; but when we undertake the performance of these
+ duties, let us act in such a manner as will be best calculated to preserve
+ and not destroy the Government, and keep ourselves within the bounds of
+ the Constitution. * * * Sir, I have always denied, and do yet deny, the
+ Right of Secession. There is no warrant for it in the Constitution. It is
+ wrong, it is unlawful, unconstitutional, and should be called by the right
+ name, Revolution. No good, Sir, can result from it, but much mischief may.
+ It is no remedy for any grievance.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I hold that all grievances can be much easier redressed inside the Union
+ than out of it. * * * If a collision must ensue between this Government
+ and any of our own people, let it come when every other means of
+ settlement has been tried and exhausted; and not then, except when the
+ Government shall be compelled to repel assaults for the protection of its
+ property, flag, and the honor of the Country. * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I have been taught to believe that the preservation of this glorious
+ Union, with its broad flag waving over us, as the shield for our
+ protection on land and on sea, is paramount to all the Parties and
+ platforms that ever have existed, or ever can exist. I would, to-day, if I
+ had the power, sink my own Party, and every other one, with all their
+ platforms, into the vortex of ruin, without heaving a sigh or shedding a
+ tear, to save the Union, or even stop the Revolution where it is."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After enumerating the various propositions for adjustment, then pending in
+ the House, to wit: that of Senator Crittenden; that of Senator Douglas;
+ that of the Committee of Thirty-three; that of the Border States; and
+ those of Representatives McClernand, Kellogg, and Morris, of Illinois, Mr.
+ Logan took occasion to declare that "in a crisis like this" he was
+ "willing to give his support to any of them," but his preference was for
+ that of Mr. Morris.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Said he: "He (Morris) proposes that neither Congress nor a Territorial
+ Legislature shall interfere with Slavery in the Territories at all; but
+ leaves the people, when they come to form their State Constitution, to
+ determine the question for themselves. I think this is the best
+ proposition, because it is a fair concession on all sides. The Republicans
+ give up their Congressional intervention; those who are styled 'Squatter
+ Sovereigns' give up their Territorial legislative policy; and the Southern
+ (Slave) protectionists give up their protection-intervention policy; thus
+ every Party yields something. With this proposition as an Article in the
+ Constitution, it would satisfy every conservative man in this Union, both
+ North and South, I do seriously and honestly believe.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Having indicated my preference of these propositions, and my reasons for
+ that preference, I have said all I desire to say on the point, except to
+ repeat again, that I will willingly vote for any of them, or make any
+ other sacrifice necessary to save the Union. It makes no kind of
+ difference to me what the sacrifice; if it will save my Country, I am
+ ready to make it." * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "There are some in this Hall," said he, "that are almost ready to strike
+ the Party fetters from their limbs, and assist in measures of Peace. Halt
+ not; take the step; be independent and free at once! Let us overcome Party
+ passion and error; allow virtue and good sense in this fateful hour to be
+ triumphant; let us invoke Deity to interpose and prepare the way for our
+ Country's escape from the perils by which we are now surrounded; and in
+ view of our present greatness and future prospects, our magnificent and
+ growing cities, our many institutions of learning, our once happy and
+ prosperous People, our fruitful fields and golden forests, our enjoyment
+ of all civil and religious blessings&mdash;let Parties die that these be
+ preserved. Such noble acts of patriotism and concession, on your part,
+ would cause posterity to render them illustrious, and pause to contemplate
+ the magnitude of the events with which they were connected. * * * In the
+ name of the patriotic sires who breasted the storms and vicissitudes of
+ the Revolution; by all the kindred ties of this Country; in the name of
+ the many battles fought for your Freedom; in behalf of the young and the
+ old; in behalf of the Arts and Sciences, Civilization, Peace, Order,
+ Christianity, and Humanity, I appeal to you to strike from your limbs the
+ chains that bind them! Come forth from that loathsome prison, Party
+ Caucus; and in this hour&mdash;the most gloomy and disheartening to the
+ lovers of Free Institutions that has ever existed during our Country's
+ history&mdash;arouse the drooping spirits of our countrymen, by putting
+ forth your good strong arms to assist in steadying the rocking pillars of
+ the mightiest Republic that has ever had an existence."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Mr. Speaker," continued he, "a word or two more, and I am done.
+ Revolution stalks over the Land. States have rebelled against the
+ constituted authorities of the Union, and now stand, sword in hand,
+ prepared to vindicate their new nationality. Others are preparing to take
+ a similar position. Rapidly transpiring events are crowding on us with
+ fearful velocity. Soon, circumstances may force us into an unnatural
+ strife, in which the hand of brother shall be uplifted against brother,
+ and father against son. My God, what a spectacle! If all the evils and
+ calamities that have ever happened since the World began, could be
+ gathered in one great Catastrophe, its horrors could not eclipse, in their
+ frightful proportions, the Drama that impends over us. Whether this black
+ cloud that drapes in mourning the whole political heavens, shall break
+ forth in all the frightful intensity of War, and make Christendom weep at
+ the terrible atrocities that will be enacted&mdash;or, whether it will
+ disappear, and the sky resume its wonted serenity, and the whole Earth be
+ irradiated by the genial sunshine of Peace once more&mdash;are the
+ alternatives which this Congress, in my judgment, has the power to select
+ between."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In this same broad spirit, Mr. Seward, in his great speech of January
+ 12th, had said: "Republicanism is subordinate to Union, as everything else
+ is and ought to be&mdash;Republicanism, Democracy, every other political
+ name and thing; all are subordinate&mdash;and they ought to disappear in
+ the presence of the great question of Union." In another part of it, he
+ had even more emphatically said: "I therefore * * * avow my adherence to
+ the Union in its integrity and with all its parts, with my friends, with
+ my Party, with my State, with my Country, or without either, as they may
+ determine, in every event, whether of Peace or War, with every consequence
+ of honor or dishonor, of life or death. Although I lament the occasion, I
+ hail with cheerfulness the duty of lifting up my voice among distracted
+ debates, for my whole Country and its inestimable Union." And as showing
+ still more clearly the kindly and conciliatory attitude of the great
+ Republican leader, when speaking of those others who seemed to be about to
+ invoke revolutionary action to oppose&mdash;and overthrow the Government&mdash;he
+ said: "In such a case I can afford to meet prejudice with Conciliation,
+ exaction with Concession which surrenders no principle, and violence with
+ the right hand of Peace."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In the House of Representatives, too, the voice of patriotism was often
+ heard through the loud clamor and disorder of that most disorderly and
+ Treason-uttering session&mdash;was heard from the lips of statesmen, who
+ rose high above Party, in their devotion to the Union. The calm,
+ dispassionate recital by Henry Winter Davis (of Maryland), of the
+ successive steps by which the Southern leaders had themselves created that
+ very "North" of whose antagonism they complained, was one of the best of
+ these, in some respects. He was one of the great Select Committee of
+ Thirty-three, and it was (February 5th) after the Resolutions, heretofore
+ quoted, had been reported by it, that he condensed the history of the
+ situation into a nutshell, as follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We are at the end of the insane revel of partisan license which, for
+ thirty years, has, in the United States, worn the mask of Government. We
+ are about to close the masquerade by the dance of death. The Nations of
+ the World look anxiously to see if the People, ere they tread that
+ measure, will come to themselves.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ * * * * * * * * * * * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Southern politicians have created a North. Let us trace the process and
+ draw the moral.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The laws of 1850 calmed and closed the Slavery agitation; and President
+ Pierce, elected by the almost unanimous voice of the States, did not
+ mention Slavery in his first two Messages. In 1854, the repeal of the
+ Missouri Compromise, at the instance of the South, reopened the agitation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Northern men, deserted by Southern Whigs, were left to unite for
+ self-defense.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The invasion of Kansas, in 1855 and 1856, from Missouri; the making a
+ Legislature and laws for that Territory, by the invaders; still further
+ united the Northern people. The election of 1856 measured its extent.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The election of Mr. Buchanan and his opening policy in Kansas, soothed
+ the irritation, and was rapidly demoralizing the new Party, when the
+ Pro-Slavery Party in Kansas perpetrated, and the President and the South
+ accepted, the Lecompton fraud, and again united the North more resolutely
+ in resistance to that invasion of the rights of self-government.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The South for the first time failed to dictate terms; and the People
+ vindicated by their votes the refusal of the Constitution.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Ere this result was attained, the opinions of certain Judges of the
+ Supreme Court scattered doubts over the law of Slavery in the Territories;
+ the South, while repudiating other decisions, instantly made these
+ opinions the criterion of faithfulness to the Constitution; while the
+ North was agitated by this new sanction of the extremest pretensions of
+ their opponents.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The South did not rest satisfied with their Judicial triumph.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Immediately the claim was pressed for protection by Congress to Slavery,
+ declared by the Supreme Court, they said, to exist in all the Territories.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "This completed the union of the Free States in one great defensive
+ league; and the result was registered in November. That result is now
+ itself become the starting point of new agitation&mdash;the demand of new
+ rights and new guarantees. The claim to access to the Territories was
+ followed by the claim to Congressional protection, and that is now
+ followed by the hitherto unheard of claim to a Constitutional Amendment
+ establishing Slavery, not merely in territory now held, but in all
+ hereafter held from the line of 36 30' to Cape Horn, while the debate
+ foreshadows in the distance the claim of the right of transit and the
+ placing of property in Slaves in all respects on the footing of other
+ property&mdash;the topics of future agitation. How long the prohibition of
+ the importation of Slaves will be exempted from the doctrine of equality,
+ it needs no prophet to tell.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In the face of this recital, let the imputation of autocratic and
+ tyrannical aspirations cease to be cast on the people of the Free States;
+ let the Southern people dismiss their fears, return to their friendly
+ confidence in their fellow-citizens of the North, and accept, as pledges
+ of returning Peace, the salutary amendments of the law and the
+ Constitution offered as the first fruits of Reconciliation."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But calmness, kindness, and courtesy were alike thrown away in both Houses
+ upon the implacable Southern leaders. As the last day of that memorable
+ session, which closed in the failure of all peaceful measures to restore
+ the Union, slowly dawned&mdash;with but a few hours lacking of the time
+ when Mr. Lincoln would be inaugurated President of the United States&mdash;Mr.
+ Wigfall thought proper, in the United States Senate, to sneer at him as
+ "an ex-rail-splitter, an ex-grocery keeper, an ex-flatboat captain, and an
+ ex-Abolition lecturer"&mdash;and proceeded to scold and rant at the North
+ with furious volubility.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Then, briefly," said he, "a Party has come into power that represents the
+ antagonism to my own Section of the Country. It represents two million men
+ who hate us, and who, by their votes for such a man as they have elected,
+ have committed an overt act of hostility. That they have done."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "You have won the Presidency," said he, to the Republicans, "and you are
+ now in the situation of the man who had won the elephant at a raffle. You
+ do not know what to do with the beast now that you have it; and one-half
+ of you to-day would give your right arms if you had been defeated. But you
+ succeeded, and you have to deal with facts. Our objection to living in
+ this Union, and therefore the difficulty of reconstructing it, is not your
+ Personal Liberty bills, not the Territorial question, but that you utterly
+ and wholly misapprehend the Form of Government."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "You deny," continued he, "the Sovereignty of the States; you deny the
+ right of self-government in the People; you insist upon Negro Equality;
+ your people interfere impertinently with our Institutions and attempt to
+ subvert them; you publish newspapers; you deliver lectures; you print
+ pamphlets, and you send them among us, first, to excite our Slaves to
+ insurrection against their masters, and next, to array one class of
+ citizens against the other; and I say to you, that we cannot live in
+ peace, either in the Union or out of it, until you have abolished your
+ Abolition societies; not, as I have been misquoted, abolish or destroy
+ your school-houses; but until you have ceased in your schoolhouses
+ teaching your children to hate us; until you have ceased to convert your
+ pulpits into hustings; until you content yourselves with preaching Christ,
+ and Him crucified, and not delivering political harangues on the Sabbath;
+ until you have ceased inciting your own citizens to make raids and commit
+ robberies; until you have done these things we cannot live in the same
+ Union with you. Until you do these things, we cannot live out of the Union
+ at Peace."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Such were the words&mdash;the spiteful, bitter words&mdash;with which this
+ chosen spokesman of the South saluted the cold and cloudy dawn of that day
+ which was to see the sceptre depart from the hands of the Slave Power
+ forever.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ A few hours later, under the shadow of the main Pastern Portico of the
+ Capitol at Washington&mdash;with the retiring President and Cabinet, the
+ Supreme Court Justices, the Foreign Diplomatic Corps, and hundreds of
+ Senators, Representatives and other distinguished persons filling the
+ great platform on either side and behind them&mdash;Abraham Lincoln stood
+ bareheaded before full thirty thousand people, upon whose uplifted faces
+ the unveiled glory of the mild Spring sun now shone&mdash;stood reverently
+ before that far greater and mightier Presence termed by himself, "My
+ rightful masters, the American People"&mdash;and pleaded in a manly,
+ earnest, and affectionate strain with "such as were dissatisfied," to
+ listen to the "better angels" of their nature.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Temperate, reasonable, kindly, persuasive&mdash;it seems strange that Mr.
+ Lincoln's Inaugural Address did not disarm at least the personal
+ resentment of the South toward him, and sufficiently strengthen the
+ Union-loving people there, against the red-hot Secessionists, to put the
+ "brakes" down on Rebellion. Said he:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States, that
+ by the accession of a Republican Administration, their Property and their
+ Peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never been any
+ reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to
+ the contrary has all the while existed, and been open to their inspection.
+ It is found in nearly all the published speeches of him who now addresses
+ you. I do but quote from one of those speeches, when I declare that 'I
+ have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the Institution
+ of Slavery in the States where it exists.' I believe I have no lawful
+ right to do so; and I have no inclination to do so. Those who nominated
+ and elected me, did so with the full knowledge that I had made this, and
+ many similar declarations, and had never recanted them. * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I now reiterate these sentiments; and in doing so, I only press upon the
+ public attention the most conclusive evidence of which the case is
+ susceptible, that the Property, Peace, and Security of no Section are to
+ be in any wise endangered by the now incoming Administration. I add, too,
+ that all the protection which, consistently with the Constitution and the
+ laws, can be given, will be cheerfully given to all the States, when
+ lawfully demanded, for whatever cause&mdash;as cheerfully to one Section
+ as to another.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I take the official oath to-day with no mental reservations, and with no
+ purpose to construe the Constitution or laws by any hypercritical rules. *
+ * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "A disruption of the Federal Union, heretofore only menaced, is now
+ formidably attempted. I hold that, in contemplation of Universal Law, and
+ of the Constitution, the Union of these States is perpetual. Perpetuity is
+ implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all National
+ Governments. It is safe to assert that no Government proper ever had a
+ provision in its organic law for its own termination. Continue to execute
+ all the express provisions of our National Constitution, and the Union
+ will endure forever&mdash;it being impossible to destroy it, except by
+ some action not provided for in the instrument itself.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Again, if the United States be not a Government proper, but an
+ Association of States in the nature of a contract merely, can it, as a
+ contract, be peaceably unmade by less than all the parties who made it?
+ One party to a contract may violate it&mdash;break it, so to speak; but
+ does it not require all, to lawfully rescind it?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Descending from these general principles, we find the proposition that,
+ in legal contemplation, the Union is perpetual, confirmed by the history
+ of the Union itself. The Union is much older than the Constitution. It was
+ formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was matured
+ and continued in the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was further
+ matured, and the faith of all the then thirteen States expressly plighted
+ and engaged that it should be perpetual, by the Articles of Confederation,
+ in 1778; and, finally, in 1787, one of the declared objects, for ordaining
+ and establishing the Constitution, was 'to form a more perfect Union.'
+ But, if destruction of the Union by one, or by a part only, of the States,
+ be lawfully possible, the Union is less perfect than before, the
+ Constitution having lost the vital element of perpetuity.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It follows, from these views, that no State, upon its own mere motion,
+ can lawfully get out of the Union; that Resolves and Ordinances to that
+ effect, are legally void; and that acts of violence within any State or
+ States against the authority of the United States, are insurrectionary or
+ revolutionary, according to circumstances.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I therefore consider that, in view of the Constitution and the laws, the
+ Union is unbroken, and, to the extent of my ability, I shall take care, as
+ the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the
+ Union shall be faithfully executed in all the States. * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as the declared
+ purpose of the Union, that it will Constitutionally defend and maintain
+ itself.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In doing this, there need be no bloodshed or violence, and there shall be
+ none, unless it is forced upon the National Authority.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the
+ property and places belonging to the Government, and to collect the duties
+ and imposts; but, beyond what may be necessary for these objects, there
+ will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the People
+ anywhere.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The mails, unless repelled, will continue to be furnished in all parts of
+ the Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ * * * * * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Is there such perfect identity of interests among the States to compose a
+ new Union, as to produce harmony only, and prevent renewed Secession?
+ Plainly, the central idea of Secession is the essence of anarchy. A
+ majority, held in restraint by Constitutional checks and limitations and
+ always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and
+ sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a Free People. Whoever rejects
+ it, does, of necessity, fly to anarchy, or to despotism. Unanimity is
+ impossible; the rule of a minority, as a permanent arrangement, is wholly
+ inadmissible; so that, rejecting the majority principle, anarchy or
+ despotism in some form is all that is left.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ * * * * * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Physically speaking, we cannot separate. We cannot remove our respective
+ Sections from each other, nor build an impassable wall between them. A
+ husband and wife may be divorced, and go out of the presence and beyond
+ the reach of each other; but the different parts of our Country cannot do
+ this. They cannot but remain face to face; and intercourse, either
+ amicable or hostile, must continue between them. Is it possible, then, to
+ make that intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory after
+ separation than before? Can aliens make treaties, easier than friends can
+ make laws? Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens, than
+ laws can among friends? Suppose you go to War, you cannot fight always;
+ and when, after much loss on both sides, and no gain on either you cease
+ fighting, the identical old questions, as to terms of intercourse, are
+ again upon you.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "This Country, with its Institutions, belongs to the People who inhabit
+ it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can
+ exercise their Constitutional right of amending it, or their Revolutionary
+ right to dismember or overthrow it. I cannot be ignorant of the fact that
+ many worthy and patriotic citizens are desirous of having the National
+ Constitution amended. While I make no recommendations of Amendments, I
+ fully recognize the rightful authority of the People over the whole
+ subject, to be exercised in either of the modes prescribed in the
+ instrument itself; and I should, under existing circumstances, favor,
+ rather than oppose, a fair opportunity being afforded the People to act
+ upon it. * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The Chief Magistrate derives all his authority from the People, and they
+ have conferred none upon him to fix terms for the separation of the
+ States. The People themselves can do this also, if they choose; but the
+ Executive, as such, has nothing to do with it. His duty is to administer
+ the present Government, as it came to his hands, and to transmit it,
+ unimpaired by him, to his successor.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ * * * * * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ " * * * While the People retain their virtue and vigilance, no
+ Administration, by any extreme of weakness or folly, can very seriously
+ injure the Government in the short space of four years.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon this whole
+ subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. If there be an
+ object to hurry any of you, in hot haste, to a step which you would never
+ take deliberately, that object will be frustrated by taking time; but no
+ good object can be frustrated by it. Such of you as are now dissatisfied,
+ still have the old Constitution unimpaired, and, on the sensitive point,
+ the laws of your own framing under it; while the new Administration will
+ have no immediate power, if it would, to change either. If it were
+ admitted that you who are dissatisfied, hold the right side in the
+ dispute, there still is no single good reason for precipitate action.
+ Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has
+ never yet forsaken this favored Land, are still competent to adjust, in
+ the best way, all our present difficulty.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the
+ momentous issue of Civil War. The Government will not assault you. You can
+ have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath
+ registered in Heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the
+ most solemn one to 'preserve, protect, and defend it'.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be
+ enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of
+ affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field
+ and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this
+ broad Land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as
+ surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Strange, indeed, must have been the thoughts that crowded through the
+ brain and oppressed the heart of Abraham Lincoln that night&mdash;his
+ first at the White House!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The city of Washington swarmed with Rebels and Rebel sympathizers, and all
+ the departments of Government were honey-combed with Treason and shadowed
+ with treachery and espionage. Every step proposed or contemplated by the
+ Government would be known to the so-called Government of the Confederate
+ States almost as soon as thought of. All means, to thwart and delay the
+ carrying out of the Government's purposes, that the excuses of routine and
+ red-tape admitted of, would be used by the Traitors within the camp, to
+ aid the Traitors without.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ No one knew all this, better than Mr. Lincoln. With no Army, no Navy, not
+ even a Revenue cutter left&mdash;with forts and arsenals, ammunition and
+ arms in possession of the Rebels, with no money in the National Treasury,
+ and the National credit blasted&mdash;the position must, even to his
+ hopeful nature, have seemed at this time desperate. To be sure, despite
+ threats, neither few nor secret, which had been made, that he should not
+ live to be inaugurated, he had passed the first critical point&mdash;had
+ taken the inaugural oath&mdash;and was now duly installed in the White
+ House. That was something, of course, to be profoundly thankful for. But
+ the matter regarded by him of larger moment&mdash;the safety of the Union&mdash;how
+ about that?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ How that great, and just, and kindly brain, in the dim shadows of that
+ awful first night at the White House, must have searched up and down and
+ along the labyrinths of history and "corridors of time," everywhere in the
+ Past, for any analogy or excuse for the madness of this Secession movement&mdash;and
+ searched in vain!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ With his grand and abounding faith in God, how Abraham Lincoln must have
+ stormed the very gates of Heaven that night with prayer that he might be
+ the means of securing Peace and Union to his beloved but distracted
+ Country! How his great heart must have been racked with the alternations
+ of hope and foreboding&mdash;of trustfulness and doubt! Anxiously he must
+ have looked for the light of the morrow, that he might gather from the
+ Press, the manner in which his Inaugural had been received. Not that he
+ feared the North&mdash;but the South; how would the wayward, wilful,
+ passionate South, receive his proffered olivef-branch?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Surely, surely,&mdash;thus ran his thoughts&mdash;when the brave, and
+ gallant, and generous people of that Section came to read his message of
+ Peace and Good-will, they must see the suicidal folly of their course!
+ Surely their hearts must be touched and the mists of prejudice dissolved,
+ so that reason would resume her sway, and Reconciliation follow! A little
+ more time for reflection would yet make all things right. The young men of
+ the South, fired by the Southern leaders' false appeals, must soon return
+ to reason. The prairie fire is terrible while it sweeps along, but it soon
+ burns out. When the young men face the emblem of their Nation's glory&mdash;the
+ flag of the land of their birth&mdash;then will come the reaction and
+ their false leaders will be hurled from place and power, and all will
+ again be right. Yea, when it comes to firing on the old, old flag, they
+ will not, cannot, do it! Between the Compromise within their reach, and
+ such Sacrilege as this, they cannot waver long.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ So, doubtless, all the long night, whether waking or sleeping, the mind of
+ this true-hearted son of the West, throbbed with the mighty weight of the
+ problem entrusted to him for solution, and the vast responsibilities which
+ he had just assumed toward his fellow-men, his Nation, and his God.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And when, at last, the long lean frame was thrown upon the couch, and
+ "tired Nature's sweet restorer" held him briefly in her arms, the smile of
+ hopefulness on the wan cheek told that, despite all the terrible
+ difficulties of the situation, the sleeper was sustained by a strong and
+ cheerful belief in the Providence of God, the Patriotism of the People,
+ and the efficacy of his Inaugural Peace-offering to the South. But alas,
+ and alas, for the fallibility of human judgment and human hopes! Instead
+ of a message of Peace, the South chose to regard it as a message of
+ Menace;* and it was not received in a much better spirit by some of the
+ Northern papers, which could see no good in it&mdash;"no Union spirit in
+ it"&mdash;but declared that it breathed the spirit of Sectionalism and
+ mischief, and "is the knell and requiem of the Union, and the death of
+ hope."
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ ["Mr. Lincoln fondly regarded his Inaugural as a resistless proffering
+ of the olive branch to the South; the Conspirators everywhere
+ interpreted it as a challenge to War."&mdash;Greeley's Am. Conflict,
+ vol. i., p. 428.]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ Bitter indeed must have been President Lincoln's disappointment and sorrow
+ at the reception of his Inaugural. With the heartiest forgiveness, in the
+ noblest spirit of paternal kindness, he had generously held out his arms,
+ as far as they could reach, to clasp to his heart&mdash;to the great heart
+ of the Union&mdash;the rash children of the South, if they would but let
+ him. It was more with sorrow, than in anger, that he looked upon their
+ contemptuous repulsion of his advances; and his soul still reproachfully
+ yearned toward these his Southern brethren, as did that of a higher than
+ he toward His misguided brethren, when He cried: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
+ thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee,
+ how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen
+ gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the day following his Inauguration, President Lincoln sent to the
+ United States Senate the names of those whom he had chosen to constitute
+ his Cabinet, as follows: William H. Seward, of New York, Secretary of
+ State; Salmon P. Chase, of Ohio, Secretary of the Treasury; Simon Cameron,
+ of Pennsylvania, Secretary of War; Gideon Welles, of Connecticut,
+ Secretary of the Navy; Caleb B. Smith, of Indiana, Secretary of the
+ Interior; Edward Bates, of Missouri, Attorney General; and Montgomery
+ Blair, of Maryland, Postmaster General.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the other hand, the President of the rebellious Confederacy, Jefferson
+ Davis, had partly constituted his Cabinet already, as follows: Robert
+ Toombs, of Georgia, Secretary of State; Charles G. Memminger, of South
+ Carolina, Secretary of the Treasury; Leroy Pope Walker, of Alabama,
+ Secretary of War; to whom he afterwards added: Stephen R. Mallory, of
+ Florida, Secretary of the Navy; and John H. Reagan, of Texas,
+ Postmaster-General.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch10" id="linkch10"></a><br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ CHAPTER X.<br /> <br /> THE WAR-DRUM "ON TO WASHINGTON".
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Scarcely one week had elapsed after the Administration of Mr. Lincoln
+ began, when (March 11th) certain "Commissioners of the Southern
+ Confederacy" (John Forsyth, of Alabama, and Martin J. Crawford, of
+ Georgia), appeared at Washington and served a written request upon the
+ State Department to appoint an early day when they might present to the
+ President of the United States their credentials "from the Government of
+ the Confederate States of America" to the Government of the United States,
+ and open "the objects of the mission with which they are charged."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Secretary Seward, with the President's sanction, declined official
+ intercourse with Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford, in a "Memorandum" (March
+ 15th) reciting their request, etc., in which, after referring to President
+ Lincoln's Inaugural Address&mdash;forwarded to them with the "Memorandum"
+ he says: "A simple reference will be sufficient to satisfy those gentlemen
+ that the Secretary of State, guided by the principles therein announced,
+ is prevented altogether from admitting or assuming that the States
+ referred to by them have, in law or in fact, withdrawn from the Federal
+ Union, or that they could do so in the manner described by Messrs. Forsyth
+ and Crawford, or in any other manner than with the consent and concert of
+ the People of the United States, to be given through a National
+ Convention, to be assembled in conformity with the provisions of the
+ Constitution of the United States. Of course, the Secretary of State
+ cannot act upon the assumption, or in any way admit, that the so-called
+ Confederate States constitute a Foreign Power, with whom diplomatic
+ relations ought to be established."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 9th of April, Messrs. Forsyth, Crawford and Roman&mdash;as
+ "Commissioners of the Southern Confederacy"&mdash;addressed to Secretary
+ Seward a reply to the "Memorandum" aforesaid, in which the following
+ passage occurs:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The undersigned, like the Secretary of State, have no purpose to 'invite
+ or engage in discussion' of the subject on which their two Governments are
+ so irreconcilably at variance. It is this variance that has broken up the
+ old Union, the disintegration of which has only begun.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It is proper, however, to advise you that it were well to dismiss the
+ hopes you seem to entertain that, by any of the modes indicated, the
+ people of the Confederate States will ever be brought to submit to the
+ authority of the Government of the United States. You are dealing with
+ delusions, too, when you seek to separate our people from our Government,
+ and to characterize the deliberate, Sovereign act of that people as a
+ 'perversion of a temporary and partisan excitement.' If you cherish these
+ dreams, you will be awakened from them, and find them as unreal and
+ unsubstantial as others in which you have recently indulged.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The undersigned would omit the performance of an obvious duty were they
+ to fail to make known to the Government of the United States that the
+ people of the Confederate States have declared their independence with a
+ full knowledge of all the responsibilities of that act, and with as firm a
+ determination to maintain it by all the means with which nature has
+ endowed them as that which sustained their fathers when they threw off the
+ authority of the British Crown.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The undersigned clearly understand that you have declined to appoint a
+ day to enable them to lay the objects of the mission with which they are
+ charged, before the President of the United States, because so to do would
+ be to recognize the independence and separate nationality of the
+ Confederate States. This is the vein of thought that pervades the
+ memorandum before us.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The truth of history requires that it should distinctly appear upon the
+ record, that the undersigned did not ask the Government of the United
+ States to recognize the independence of the Confederate States. They only
+ asked audience to adjust, in a spirit of amity and peace, the new
+ relations springing from a manifest and accomplished revolution in the
+ Government of the late Federal Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Your refusal to entertain these overtures for a peaceful solution, the
+ active naval and military preparation of this Government, and a formal
+ notice to the Commanding General of the Confederate forces in the harbor
+ of Charleston that the President intends to provision Fort Sumter by
+ forcible means, if necessary, are viewed by the undersigned, and can only
+ be received by the World, as a Declaration of War against the Confederate
+ States; for the President of the United States knows that Fort Sumter
+ cannot be provisioned without the effusion of blood.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The undersigned, in behalf of their Government and people, accept the
+ gage of battle thus thrown down to them, and, appealing to God and the
+ judgment of mankind for the righteousness of their Cause, the people of
+ the Confederate States will defend their liberties to the last, against
+ this flagrant and open attempt at their subjugation to Sectional power."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Let us now, for a moment, glance at the condition of Fort Sumter, and of
+ the Government with regard to it:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 5th of March, the day after President Lincoln had taken his oath of
+ office, there was placed in his hands a letter of Major Anderson,
+ commanding at Fort Sumter, in which that officer, under date of the 28th
+ of February, expressed the opinion that "reinforcements could not be
+ thrown into that fort within the time for his relief rendered necessary by
+ the limited supply of provisions, and with a view of holding possession of
+ the same, with a force of less than twenty thousand good and
+ well-disciplined men."
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [President Lincoln's first Message, July 4, 1861.]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott concurred in that opinion, and as the
+ provisions in the Fort would be exhausted before any such force could be
+ raised and brought to the ground, evacuation and safe withdrawal of the
+ Federal garrison from the Fort became a Military necessity, and was so
+ regarded by the Administration.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It was believed, however"&mdash;in the language of Mr. Lincoln himself,
+ in his first Message to Congress&mdash;"that to so abandon that position,
+ under the circumstances, would be utterly ruinous: that the necessity
+ under which it was to be done would not be fully understood; that by many
+ it would be construed as a part of a voluntary policy; that at home it
+ would discourage the friends of the Union, embolden its adversaries, and
+ go far to insure to the latter a recognition abroad; that in fact it would
+ be our National destruction consummated. This could not be allowed.
+ Starvation was not yet upon the garrison; and ere it would be reached,
+ Fort Pickens might be reinforced. This last would be a clear indication of
+ policy, and would better enable the country to accept the evacuation of
+ Fort Sumter as a Military necessity."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Owing to misconception or otherwise, an order to reinforce Fort Pickens
+ was not carried out, and an expedition to relieve Fort Sumter was then
+ ordered to be dispatched. On the 8th of April President Lincoln, by
+ messenger, notified Governor Pickens of South Carolina, "that he might
+ expect an attempt would be made to provision the fort; and that if the
+ attempt should not be resisted there would be no effort to throw in men,
+ arms, or ammunition, without further notice, or in case of an attack upon
+ the fort."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ A crisis was evidently approaching, and public feeling all over the
+ Country was wrought up to the highest degree of tension and stood tip-toe
+ with intense expectancy. The test of the doctrine of Secession was about
+ to be made there, in the harbor of Charleston, upon which the eyes of
+ Patriot and Rebel were alike feverishly bent.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ There, in Charleston harbor, grimly erect, stood the octagon-shaped Fort
+ Sumter, mid-way of the harbor entrance, the Stars and Stripes proudly
+ waving from its lofty central flagstaff, its guns bristling on every side
+ through the casemates and embrasures, as if with a knowledge of their
+ defensive power.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ About equidistant from Fort Sumter on either side of the harbor-entrance,
+ were the Rebel works at Fort Moultrie and Battery Bee on Sullivan's
+ Island, on the one side, and Cummings Point Battery, on Morris Island, on
+ the other-besides a number of other batteries facing seaward along the
+ sea-coast line of Morris Island. Further in, on the same side of the
+ harbor, and but little further off from Fort Sumter, stood Fort Johnson on
+ James Island, while Castle Pinckney and a Floating Battery were between
+ the beleagured Fort and the city of Charleston.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Thus, the Federal Fort was threatened with the concentrated fire of these
+ well-manned Rebel fortifications on all sides, and in its then condition
+ was plainly doomed; for, while the swarming Rebels, unmolested by Fort
+ Sumter, had been permitted to surround that Fort with frowning batteries,
+ whose guns outnumbered those of the Fort, as ten to one, and whose caliber
+ was also superior, its own condition was anything but that of readiness
+ for the inevitable coming encounter.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ That the officers' quarters, barracks, and other frame-work wooden
+ buildings should have been permitted to remain as a standing invitation to
+ conflagration from bombardment, can only be accounted for on the
+ supposition that the gallant officer in command, himself a Southerner,
+ would not believe it possible that the thousands of armed Americans by
+ whom he was threatened and encircled, could fire upon the flag of their
+ own native Country. He and his garrison of seventy men, were soon to learn
+ the bitter truth, amid a tempest of bursting shot and shell, the
+ furnace-heat of crackling walls, and suffocating volumes of dense smoke
+ produced by an uncontrollable conflagration.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Rebel leaders at Washington had prevented an attack in January upon
+ the forts in the harbor of Charleston, and at Pensacola.&mdash;[McPherson's
+ History of the Rebellion, p. 112.]&mdash;In consequence of which failure
+ to proceed to the last extremity at once, the energies of the Rebellion
+ had perceptibly diminished.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Said the Mobile Mercury: "The country is sinking into a fatal apathy, and
+ the spirit and even the patriotism of the people is oozing out, under this
+ do-nothing policy. If something is not done pretty soon, decisive, either
+ evacuation or expulsion, the whole country will become so disgusted with
+ the sham of Southern independence that the first chance the people get at
+ a popular election they will turn the whole movement topsy-turvy so bad
+ that it never on Earth can be righted again."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, however, the Rebel authorities at
+ Montgomery lost no time, but strained every nerve to precipitate War. They
+ felt that there was danger to the cause of Secession in delay; that there
+ were wavering States outside the Confederacy, like Virginia, that might be
+ dragged into the Confederacy by prompt and bloody work; and wavering
+ States within, like Alabama, that must be kept in by similar means. Their
+ emissaries were busy everywhere in the South, early in April, preaching an
+ instant crusade against the old flag&mdash;inciting the people to demand
+ instant hostilities against Fort Sumter&mdash;and to cross a Rubicon of
+ blood, over which there could be no return.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Many of the Rebel leaders seemed to be haunted by the fear (no doubt well
+ founded) that unless blood was shed&mdash;unless an impassable barrier,
+ crimsoned with human gore, was raised between the new Confederacy and the
+ old Union&mdash;there would surely be an ever-present danger of that
+ Confederacy falling to pieces. Hence they were now active in working the
+ people up to the required point of frenzy.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ As a specimen of their speeches, may be quoted that of Roger A. Pryor, of
+ Virginia, who, at Charleston, April 10, 1861, replying to a serenade,
+ said:&mdash;[Charleston Mercury's report.]
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ 'Gentlemen, I thank you, especially that you have at last annihilated this
+ accursed Union [Applause] reeking with corruption, and insolent with
+ excess of tyranny. Thank God, it is at last blasted and riven by the
+ lightning wrath of an outraged and indignant people. [Loud applause.] Not
+ only is it gone, but gone forever. [Cries of, 'You're right,' and
+ applause.] In the expressive language of Scripture, it is water spilt upon
+ the ground, which cannot be gathered up. [Applause.] Like Lucifer, son of
+ the morning, it has fallen, never to rise again. [Continued applause.]
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "For my part, gentlemen," he continued, as soon as he could be heard, "if
+ Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin to-morrow were to abdicate their
+ offices and were to give me a blank sheet of paper to write the condition
+ of re-annexation to the defunct Union, I would scornfully spurn the
+ overture. * * * I invoke you, and I make it in some sort a personal appeal&mdash;personal
+ so far as it tends to our assistance in Virginia&mdash;I do invoke you, in
+ your demonstrations of popular opinion, in your exhibitions of official
+ intent, to give no countenance to this idea of reconstruction. [Many
+ voices, emphatically, 'never,' and applause.]
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In Virginia," resumed he, "they all say, if reduced to the dread dilemma
+ of this memorable alternative, they will espouse the cause of the South as
+ against the interest of the Northern Confederacy, but they whisper of
+ reconstruction, and they say Virginia must abide in the Union, with the
+ idea of reconstructing the Union which you have annihilated. I pray you,
+ gentlemen, rob them of that idea. Proclaim to the World that upon no
+ condition, and under no circumstances, will South Carolina ever again
+ enter into political association with the Abolitionists of New England.
+ [Cries of 'never,' and applause.]
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Do not distrust Virginia," he continued; "as sure as tomorrow's sun will
+ rise upon us, just so sure will Virginia be a member of this Southern
+ Confederation. [Applause.] And I will tell you, gentlemen, what will put
+ her in the Southern Confederacy in less than an hour by Shrewsbury clock&mdash;STRIKE
+ A BLOW! [Tremendous applause.] The very moment that blood is shed, old
+ Virginia will make common cause with her sisters of the South. [Applause.]
+ It is impossible she should do otherwise."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The question of the necessity of "Striking a Blow"&mdash;of the immediate
+ "shedding of blood"&mdash;was not only discussed before the Southern
+ people for the purpose of inflaming their rebellious zeal, but was also
+ the subject of excited agitation in the Confederate Cabinet at this time.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In a speech made by ex-United States Senator Clemens of Alabama, at
+ Huntsville, Alabama, at the close of the Rebellion, he told the Alabamians
+ how their State, which, as we have seen, was becoming decidedly shaky in
+ its allegiance to the "Sham of Southern Independence," was kept in the
+ Confederacy.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Said he: "In 1861, shortly after the Confederate Government was put in
+ operation, I was in the city of Montgomery. One day (April 11, 1861) I
+ stepped into the office of the Secretary of War, General Walker, and found
+ there, engaged in a very excited discussion, Mr. Jefferson Davis (the
+ President), Mr. Memminger (Secretary of the Treasury), Mr. Benjamin
+ (Attorney-General), Mr. Gilchrist, a member of our Legislature from
+ Loundes county, and a number of other prominent gentlemen. They were
+ discussing the propriety of immediately opening fire on Fort Sumter, to
+ which General Walker, the Secretary of War, appeared to be opposed. Mr.
+ Gilchrist said to him, 'Sir, unless you sprinkle blood in the face of the
+ people of Alabama, they will be back in the old Union in less than ten
+ days!' THE NEXT DAY GENERAL BEAUREGARD OPENED HIS BATTERIES ON SUMTER, AND
+ ALABAMA WAS SAVED TO THE CONFEDERACY."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 8th of April, G. T. Beauregard, "Brigadier General Commanding" the
+ "Provisional Army C. S. A." at Charleston, S. C., notified the Confederate
+ Secretary of War (Walker) at Montgomery, Ala., that "An authorized
+ messenger from President Lincoln has just informed Gov. Pickens and myself
+ that provisions will be sent to Fort Sumter peaceably, or otherwise by
+ force."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 10th, Confederate Secretary Walker telegraphed to Beauregard: "If
+ you have no doubt of the authorized character of the agent who
+ communicated to, you the intention of the Washington Government to supply
+ Fort Sumter by force, you will at once demand its evacuation, and, if this
+ is refused, proceed, in such manner as you may determine, to reduce it."
+ To this Beauregard at once replied: "The demand will be made to-morrow at
+ 12 o'clock." Thereupon the Confederate Secretary telegraphed again:
+ "Unless there are special reasons connected with your own condition, it is
+ considered proper that you should make the demand at an earlier hour." And
+ Beauregard answered: "The reasons are special for 12 o'clock."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 11th General Beauregard notified Secretary Walker: "The demand was
+ sent at 2 P. M., and until 6 was allowed for the answer." The Secretary
+ desiring to have the reply of Major Anderson, General Beauregard
+ telegraphed: "Major Anderson replies: 'I have the honor to acknowledge the
+ receipt of your communication demanding the evacuation of this Fort, and
+ to say in reply thereto that it is a demand with which I regret that my
+ sense of honor and of my obligation to my Government prevent my
+ compliance.' He adds, verbally, 'I will await the first shot, and, if you
+ do not batter us to pieces, we will be starved out in a few days.'"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ To this, the Confederate Secretary at once responded with: "Do not desire
+ needlessly to bombard Fort Sumter. If Major Anderson will state the time
+ at which, as indicated by himself, he will evacuate, and agree that, in
+ the mean time, he will not use his guns against us unless ours should be
+ employed against Fort Sumter, you are authorized thus to avoid the
+ effusion of blood. If this or its equivalent be refused, reduce the Fort,
+ as your judgment decides to be the most practicable."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At 11 o'clock that night (April 11) General Beauregard sent to Major
+ Anderson, by the hands of his aides-de-camp, Messrs. Chesnut and Lee, a
+ further communication, in which, after alluding to the Major's verbal
+ observation, the General said: "If you will state the time at which you
+ will evacuate Fort Sumter, and agree that in the mean time you will not
+ use your guns against us unless ours shall be employed against Fort
+ Sumter, we shall abstain from opening fire upon you. Col. Chesnut and
+ Capt. Lee are authorized by me to enter into such an agreement with you.
+ You are therefore requested to communicate to them an open answer."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ To this, Major Robert Anderson, at 2.30 A.M. of the 12th, replied "that,
+ cordially uniting with you in the desire to avoid the useless effusion of
+ blood, I will, if provided with the necessary means of transportation,
+ evacuate Fort Sumter by noon on the 15th inst., should I not receive prior
+ to that time, controlling instructions from my Government, or additional
+ supplies, and that I will not in the mean time open my fire upon your
+ forces unless compelled to do so by some hostile act against this Fort or
+ the flag of my Government, by the forces under your command, or by some
+ portion of them, or by the perpetration of some act showing a hostile
+ intention on your part against this Fort or the flag it bears." Thereupon
+ General Beauregard telegraphed Secretary Walker: "He would not consent. I
+ write to-day."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At 3.20 A.M., Major Anderson received from Messrs. Chesnut and Lee a
+ notification to this effect: "By authority of Brigadier General
+ Beauregard, commanding the Provisional Forces of the Confederate States,
+ we have the honor to notify you that he will open the fire of his
+ batteries on Fort Sumter in one hour from this time." And a later dispatch
+ from General Beauregard to Secretary Walker, April 12, laconically stated:
+ "WE OPENED FIRE AT 4.30."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At last the hour and the minute had come, for which the Slave Power of the
+ South had for thirty years so impatiently longed. At last the moment had
+ come, when all the long-treasured vengeance of the South&mdash;outgrown
+ from questions of Tariff, of Slavery, and of Secession&mdash;was to be
+ poured out in blood and battle; when the panoplied powers and forces of
+ rebellious confederated States, standing face to face with the resolute
+ patriotism of an outraged Union, would belch forth flame and fury and
+ hurtling missiles upon the Federal Fort and the old flag floating o'er it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And whose the sacrilegious hand that dared be first raised against his
+ Country and his Country's flag? Stevens's mortar battery at Sullivan's
+ Island is ready to open, when a lean, long-haired old man, with eyes
+ blazing in their deep fanatical sockets, totters hastily forward and
+ ravenously seizing in his bony hands a lanyard, pulls the string, and,
+ with a flash and roar, away speeds the shrieking shell on its mission of
+ destruction; and, while shell after shell, and shot after shot, from
+ battery after battery, screams a savage accompaniment to the boom and
+ flash and bellow of the guns, that lean old man works his clutched fingers
+ in an ecstasy of fiendish pleasure, and chuckles: "Aye, I told them at
+ Columbia that night, that the defense of the South is only to be secured
+ through the lead of South Carolina; and, old as I am, I had come here to
+ join them in that lead&mdash;and I have done it."
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [Edmund Ruffin, see p. 100. This theory of the necessity of South
+ Carolina leading, had long been held, as in the following, first
+ published in the New York Tribune, July 3, 1862, which, among other
+ letters, was found in the house of William H. Trescot, on Barnwell's
+ Island, South Carolina, when re-occupied by United States troops:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "VIRGINIA CONVENTION, May 3, 1851
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "My DEAR, SIR:&mdash;You misunderstood my last letter, if you supposed
+ that I intended to visit South Carolina this Spring. I am exceedingly
+ obliged to you for your kind invitations, and it would afford me the
+ highest pleasure to interchange in person, sentiments with a friend
+ whose manner of thinking so closely agrees with my own. But my
+ engagements here closely confine me to this city, and deny me such a
+ gratification.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I would be especially glad to be in Charleston next week, and witness
+ the proceedings of your Convention of Delegates from the Southern Rights
+ Associations. The condition of things in your State deeply interests me.
+ Her wise foresight and manly independence have placed her, as the head
+ of the South, to whom alone true-hearted men can look with any hope or
+ pleasure.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Momentous are the consequences which depend upon your action. Which
+ party will prevail? The immediate Secessionists, or those who are
+ opposed to separate State action at this time? For my part I forbear to
+ form a wish. Were I a Carolinian, it would be very different; but when I
+ consider the serious effects the decision may have on your future weal
+ or woe, I feel that a citizen of a State which has acted as Virginia,
+ has no right to interfere, even by a wish.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If the General Government allows you peaceably and freely to Secede,
+ neither Virginia, nor any other Southern State, would, in my opinion,
+ follow you at present. But what would be the effect upon South Carolina?
+ Some of our best friends have supposed that it would cut off Charleston
+ from the great Western trade, which she is now striking for, and would
+ retard very greatly the progress of your State. I confess that I think
+ differently. I believe thoroughly in our own theories, and that, even if
+ Charleston did not grow quite as fast in her trade with other States,
+ yet the relief from Federal taxation would vastly stimulate your
+ prosperity. If so, the prestige of the Union would be destroyed, and you
+ would be the nucleus for a Southern Confederation at no distant day.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But I do not doubt, from all I have been able toe to learn that the
+ Federal Government would use force, beginning with the form most
+ embarrassing to you, and least calculated to excite sympathy. I mean a
+ naval blockade. In that event, could you stand the reaction feeling
+ which the suffering commerce of Charleston would probably manifest?
+ Would you not lose that in which your strength consists, the union of
+ your people? I do not mean to imply an opinion, I only ask the question.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If you could force this blockade, and bring the Government to direct
+ force, the feeling in Virginia would be very great. I trust in God it
+ would bring her to your aid. But it would be wrong in me to deceive you
+ by speaking certainly. I cannot express the deep mortification I have
+ felt at her course this Winter. But I do not believe that the course of
+ the Legislature is a fair expression of popular feeling. In the East, at
+ least, the great majority believes in the right of Secession, and feels
+ the deepest sympathy with Carolina in her opposition to measures which
+ they regard as she does. But the West&mdash;Western Virginia&mdash;there
+ is the rub! Only 60,000 slaves to 494,000 whites! When I consider this
+ fact, and the kind of argument which has been heard in this body, I
+ cannot but regard with the greatest fear the question whether Virginia
+ would assist Carolina in such an issue.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I must acknowledge, my dear sir, that I look to the future with almost
+ as much apprehension as hope. You well object to the term Democrat.
+ Democracy, in its original philosophical sense, is indeed incompatible
+ with Slavery and the whole system of Southern society. Yet, if you look
+ back, what change will you find made in any of your State Constitutions,
+ or in our legislation&mdash;that is, in its general course&mdash;for the
+ last fifty years, which was not in the direction of this Democracy? Do
+ not its principles and theories become daily more fixed in our practice?
+ (I had almost said in the opinions of our people, did I not remember
+ with pleasure the great improvement of opinion in regard to the abstract
+ question of Slavery). And if such is the case, what are we to hope in
+ the future? I do not hesitate to say that if the question is raised
+ between Carolina and the Federal Government, and the latter prevails,
+ the last hope of republican government, and, I fear, of Southern
+ civilization, is gone. Russia will then be a better government than
+ ours.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I fear that the confusion and interruptions amid which I write have
+ made this rather a rambling letter. Do you visit the North in the
+ Summer? I would be very happy to welcome you to the Old Dominion.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I am much obliged to you for the offer to send me Hammond's Eulogy on
+ Calhoun, but I am indebted to the author for a copy.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "With esteem and friendship, yours truly,
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "M. R. H. GARNETT.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "WM. H. TRESCOT, ESQ."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ Next morning's New York herald, in its Charleston dispatch of April 12,
+ announced to the World that "The first shot [fired at Fort Sumter] from
+ Stevens's battery was fired by the venerable Edmund Ruffin, of Virginia,"
+ and added, "That ball will do more for the cause of Secession, in
+ Virginia, than volumes of stump speeches."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Soon," says Greeley in his History, "the thunder of fifty heavy breaching
+ cannon, in one grand volley, followed by the crashing and crumbling of
+ brick, stone, and mortar around and above them, apprized the little
+ garrison that their stay must necessarily be short."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Says an eye-witness of the bombardment: "Shells burst with the greatest
+ rapidity in every portion of the work, hurling the loose brick and stone
+ in all directions, breaking the windows and setting fire to whatever
+ woodwork they burst against. * * * The firing from the batteries on
+ Cumming's Point was scattered over the whole of the gorge or rear of the
+ Fort, till it looked like a sieve. The explosion of shells, and the
+ quantity of deadly missiles that were hurled in every direction and at
+ every instant of time, made it almost certain death to go out of the lower
+ tier of casemates, and also made the working of the barbette or upper
+ (uncovered) guns, which contained all our heaviest metal, and by which
+ alone we could throw shells, quite impossible.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "During the first day there was hardly an instant of time that there was a
+ cessation of the whizzing of balls, which were sometimes coming half a
+ dozen at once. There was not a portion of the work which was not taken in
+ reverse from mortars. * * * During Friday, the officers' barracks were
+ three times set on fire by the shells and three times put out under the
+ most galling and destructive cannonade.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "For the fourth time, the barracks were set on fire early on Saturday
+ morning, and attempts were made to extinguish the flames; but it was soon
+ discovered that red-hot shot were being thrown into the Fort with fearful
+ rapidity, and it became evident that it would be impossible to put out the
+ conflagration. The whole garrison was then set to work, or as many as
+ could be spared, to remove the powder from the magazines, which was
+ desperate work, rolling barrels of powder through the fire. * * * After
+ the barracks were well on fire, the batteries directed upon Fort Sumter
+ increased their cannonading to a rapidity greater than had been attained
+ before."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "About this time, the shells and ammunition in the upper service-magazines
+ exploded, scattering the tower and upper portions of the building in every
+ direction. The crash of the beams, the roar of the flames, and the shower
+ of fragments of the Fort, with the blackness of the smoke, made the scene
+ indescribably terrific and grand. This continued for several hours. * * *
+ "
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "There was not a portion of the Fort where a breath of air could be got
+ for hours, except through a wet cloth. The fire spread to the men's
+ quarters on the right hand and on the left, and endangered the powder
+ which had been taken out of the magazines. The men went through the fire,
+ and covered the barrels with wet cloths, but the danger of the Fort's
+ blowing up became so imminent that they were obliged to heave the barrels
+ out of the embrasures."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Major Anderson's official report tells the whole story briefly and well,
+ in these words:
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ "STEAMSHIP BALTIC, OFF SANDY HOOK
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "April 18, 1861, 10.30 A.M., VIA NEW YORK.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Having defended Fort Sumter for thirty-four hours, until the quarters
+ were entirely burnt, the main gates destroyed by fire, the gorge walls
+ seriously injured, the magazine surrounded by flames, and its door
+ closed from the effects of heat; four barrels and three cartridges of
+ powder only being available, and no provisions remaining but pork, I
+ accepted terms of evacuation offered by General Beauregard&mdash;being
+ the same offered by him on the 11th inst., prior to the commencement of
+ hostilities&mdash;and marched out of the Fort on Sunday afternoon, the
+ 14th instant, with colors flying and drums beating, bringing away
+ company and private property, and saluting my flag with fifty guns.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "ROBERT ANDERSON, "Major 1st Artillery, Commanding.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "HON. SIMON CAMERON, "Secretary of War, Washington."
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ During all this thirty-four hours of bombardment, the South rejoiced with
+ exceeding great joy that the time had come for the vindication of its
+ peculiar ideas of State and other rights, even though it be with flames
+ and the sword. At Charleston, the people were crazy with exultation and
+ wine-feasting and drinking being the order of the day and night. But for
+ the surrender, Fort Sumter would have been stormed that Sunday night. As
+ it was, Sunday was turned into a day of general jubilation, and while the
+ people cheered and filled the streets, all the Churches of Charleston
+ celebrated, with more or less devotional fervor and ceremony, the
+ bloodless victory.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At Montgomery, the Chiefs of the Confederate Government were serenaded.
+ "Salvos of artillery were fired, and the whole population seemed to be in
+ an ecstasy of triumph."&mdash;[McPherson's History of the Rebellion, p.
+ 114]
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Confederate Secretary of War, flushed with the success, predicted that
+ the Confederate flag "will, before the first of May, float over the dome
+ of the old Capitol at Washington" and "will eventually float over Faneuil
+ Hall, in Boston."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ From Maryland to Mexico, the protests of Union men of the South were
+ unheard in the fierce clamor of "On to Washington!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Richmond Examiner said: "There never was half the unanimity among the
+ people before, nor a tithe of the zeal upon any subject, that is now
+ manifested to take Washington. From the mountain tops and valleys to the
+ shores of the sea, there is one wild shout of fierce resolve to capture
+ Washington City at all and every human hazard."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ So also, the Mobile Advertiser enthusiastically exclaimed:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We are prepared to fight, and the enemy is not. Now is the time for
+ action, while he is yet unprepared. Let the fife sound 'Gray Jackets over
+ the Border,' and let a hundred thousand men, with such arms as they can
+ snatch, get over the border as quickly as they can. Let a division enter
+ every Northern border State, destroy railroad connection to prevent
+ concentration of the enemy, and the desperate strait of these States, the
+ body of Lincoln's country, will compel him to a peace&mdash;or compel his
+ successor, should Virginia not suffer him to escape from his doomed
+ capital."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It was on Friday morning, the 12th of April, as we have seen, that the
+ first Rebel shot was fired at Fort Sumter. It was on Saturday afternoon
+ and evening that the terms of surrender were agreed to, and on Sunday
+ afternoon that the Federal flag was saluted and hauled down, and the
+ surrender completed. On Monday morning, being the 15th of April, in all
+ the great Northern Journals of the day appeared the following:
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ "PROCLAMATION.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "WHEREAS, the laws of the United States have been for some time past,
+ and now are, opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed, in the
+ States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi,
+ Louisiana, and Texas, by Combinations too powerful to be suppressed by
+ the ordinary course of Judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in
+ the Marshals by law; now, therefore I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the
+ United States, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution
+ and the laws, have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth,
+ the Militia of the several States of the Union to the aggregate number
+ of 75,000, in order to suppress said Combinations, and to cause the laws
+ to be duly executed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The details for this object will be immediately communicated to the
+ State authorities through the War Department. I appeal to all loyal
+ citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the
+ honor, the integrity, and existence of our National Union, and the
+ perpetuity of popular government, and to redress wrongs already long
+ enough endured. I deem it proper to say that the first service assigned
+ to the forces hereby called forth, will probably be to repossess the
+ forts, places, and property which have been seized from the Union; and
+ in every event the utmost care will be observed, consistently with the
+ objects aforesaid, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of, or
+ interference with, property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens of
+ any part of the Country; and I hereby command the persons composing the
+ Combinations aforesaid, to disperse and retire peaceably to their
+ respective abodes, within twenty days from this date.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Deeming that the present condition of public affairs presents an
+ extraordinary occasion, I do hereby, in virtue of the power in me vested
+ by the Constitution, convene both Houses of Congress. The Senators and
+ Representatives are, therefore, summoned to assemble at their respective
+ chambers at twelve o'clock, noon, on Thursday, the 4th day of July next,
+ then and there to consider and determine such measures as, in their
+ wisdom, the public safety and interest may seem to demand.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of
+ the United States to be affixed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Done at the city of Washington, this fifteenth day of April, in the
+ year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and of the
+ independence of the United States the eighty-fifth.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State."
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ While in the North the official responses to this Call for troops were
+ prompt and patriotic, in the Border and Slave States, not yet in
+ Rebellion, they were anything but encouraging.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The reply of Governor Burton, of Delaware, was by the issue of a
+ proclamation "recommending the formation of volunteer companies for the
+ protection of the lives and property of the people of Delaware against
+ violence of any sort to which they may be exposed; the companies not being
+ subject to be ordered by the Executive into the United States service&mdash;the
+ law not vesting him with such authority&mdash;but having the option of
+ offering their services to the General Government for the defense of its
+ capital and the support of the Constitution and laws of the Country."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Governor Hicks, of Maryland, in like manner, issued a proclamation for
+ Maryland's quota of the troops, but stated that her four regiments would
+ be detailed to serve within the limits of Maryland&mdash;or, for the
+ defense of the National Capital.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Governor Letcher, of Virginia, replied: "The militia of Virginia will not
+ be furnished to the powers at Washington for any such use or purpose as
+ they have in view. Your object is to subjugate the Southern States, and a
+ requisition made upon me for such an object&mdash;an object, in my
+ judgment, not within the purview of the Constitution or the Act of 1795
+ &mdash;will not be complied with. You have chosen to inaugurate Civil War,
+ and having done so, we will meet it in a spirit as determined as the
+ Administration has exhibited toward the South."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Governor Ellis, of North Carolina, replied to Secretary Cameron: "Your
+ dispatch is received, and, if genuine&mdash;which its extraordinary
+ character leads me to doubt&mdash;I have to say in reply that I regard the
+ levy of troops made by the Administration, for the purpose of subjugating
+ the States of the South, as in violation of the Constitution and a
+ usurpation of power. I can be no party to this wicked violation of the
+ laws of the country, and to this War upon the liberties of a free people.
+ You can get no troops from North Carolina. I will reply more in detail
+ when your Call is received by mail."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Governor Magoffin, of Kentucky, replied: "Your dispatch is received. In
+ answer I say emphatically, Kentucky will furnish no troops for the wicked
+ purpose of subduing her sister Southern States."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Governor Harris, of Tennessee, replied: "Tennessee will not furnish a
+ single man for Coercion, but fifty thousand, if necessary, for the Defense
+ of our rights or those of our Southern brethren."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Governor Jackson, of Missouri, replied: "Your requisition is illegal,
+ unconstitutional, revolutionary, inhuman, diabolical and cannot be
+ complied with."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Governor Rector, of Arkansas, replied: "None will be furnished. The demand
+ is only adding insult to injury."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Discouraging and even insulting as were most of these replies, the
+ responses of the Governors of the Free States were, on the other hand,
+ full of the ring of true martial Patriotism evoked by the fall of Sumter
+ and the President's first call for troops. Twenty millions of Northern
+ hearts were stirred by that Call, as they had never before been stirred.
+ Party and faction became for the moment, a thing of the past.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Governors of the Free States made instant proclamation for volunteers,
+ and the People responded not by thousands but by hundreds of thousands.
+ New York, the Empire State, by her Governor and her Legislature placed all
+ her tremendous resources at the service of the Union; and the great State
+ of Pennsylvania, through Governor Curtin, did the same. Nor were the other
+ States at all behind.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Loyal North felt that Law, Order, Liberty, the existence of the Nation
+ itself was in peril, and must be both saved and vindicated. Over half a
+ million of men&mdash;from the prairies of the West and the hills and
+ cities of the East&mdash;from farms and counting houses, from factories
+ and mines and workshops&mdash;sprang to arms at the Call, and begged to be
+ enrolled. The merchants and capitalists throughout the North proffered to
+ the Government their wealth and influence and best services. The press and
+ the people responded as only the press and people of a Free land can
+ respond&mdash;with all their heart and soul. "Fort Sumter," said one of
+ the journals, "is lost, but Freedom is saved. Henceforth, the Loyal States
+ are a unit in uncompromising hostility to Treason, wherever plotted,
+ however justified. Fort Sumter is temporarily lost, but the Country is
+ saved. Live the Republic!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This, in a nutshell, was the feeling everywhere expressed, whether by the
+ great crowds that marched through the streets of Northern cities with
+ drums beating and banners flying&mdash;cheering wildly for the Union,
+ singing Union songs, and compelling those of doubtful loyalty to throw out
+ to the breeze from their homes the glorified Stars and Stripes&mdash;by
+ the great majority of newspapers&mdash;by the pulpit, by the rostrum, by
+ the bench, by all of whatever profession or calling in Northern life. For
+ the moment, the voice of the Rebel-sympathizer was hushed in the land, or
+ so tremendously overborne that it seemed as if there was an absolute
+ unanimity of love for the Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Of course, in Border-States, bound to the South by ties of lineage and
+ intermarriage and politics and business association, the feeling could not
+ be the same as elsewhere. There, they were, so to speak, drawn both ways
+ at once, by the beckoning hands of kindred on the one side, and Country on
+ the other! Thus they long waited and hesitated, praying that something
+ might yet happen to save the Union of their fathers, and prevent the
+ shedding of brothers' blood, by brothers&mdash;hoping against hope-waited,
+ in the belief that a position of armed neutrality might be permitted to
+ them; and grieved, when they found this could not be.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Each side to the great Conflict-at-arms naturally enough believed itself
+ right, and that the other side was the first aggressor; but the judgment
+ of Mankind has placed the blame where it properly belonged&mdash;on the
+ shoulders of the Rebels. The calm, clear statement of President Lincoln,
+ in his July Message to Congress, touching the assault and its preceding
+ history&mdash;together with his conclusions&mdash;states the whole matter
+ in such authentic and convincing manner that it may be said to have
+ settled the point beyond further controversy. After stating that it "was
+ resolved to notify the Governor of South Carolina that he might expect an
+ attempt would be made to provision the Fort; and that if the attempt
+ should not be resisted there would be no effort to throw in men, arms, or
+ ammunition, without further notice, or in case of an attack on the Fort,"
+ Mr. Lincoln continues: "This notice was accordingly given; whereupon the
+ Fort was attacked and bombarded to its fall, without even awaiting the
+ arrival of the provisioning expedition."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The President then proceeds: "It is thus seen that the assault upon and
+ reduction of Fort Sumter was, in no sense, a matter of self-defense on the
+ part of the assailants. They well knew that the garrison in the Fort
+ could, by no possibility, commit aggression upon them. They knew&mdash;they
+ were expressly notified&mdash;that the giving of bread to the few brave
+ and hungry men of the garrison was all which would on that occasion be
+ attempted, unless themselves, by resisting so much, should provoke more.
+ They knew that this Government desired to keep the garrison in the Fort
+ &mdash;not to assail them&mdash;but merely to maintain visible possession,
+ and thus to preserve the Union from actual and immediate dissolution&mdash;trusting,
+ as hereinbefore stated, to time, discussion, and the ballot-box for final
+ adjustment; and they assailed and reduced the Fort for precisely the
+ reverse object&mdash;to drive out the visible authority of the Federal
+ Union, and thus force it to immediate dissolution.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "That this was their object, the Executive well understood; and, having
+ said to them, in the Inaugural Address, 'you can have no conflict without
+ being yourselves the aggressors,' he took pains not only to keep this
+ declaration good, but also to keep the case so free from the power of
+ ingenious sophistry as that the World should not be able to misunderstand
+ it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "By the affair at Fort Sumter, with its surrounding circumstances, that
+ point was reached. Then and thereby the assailants of the Government began
+ the Conflict of arms, without a gun in sight or in expectancy to return
+ their fire, save only the few in the Fort sent to that harbor years before
+ for their own protection, and still ready to give that protection in
+ whatever was lawful. In this act, discarding all else, they have forced
+ upon the Country, the distinct issue: 'Immediate dissolution or blood.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "And this issue embraces more than the fate of these United States. It
+ presents to the whole family of Man the question whether a Constitutional
+ Republic or Democracy&mdash;a government of the People by the same People&mdash;can
+ or cannot maintain its territorial integrity against its own domestic
+ foes. It presents the question whether discontented individuals, too few
+ in numbers to control administration according to organic law in any case,
+ can always, upon the pretences made in this case, or on any other
+ pretences, or arbitrarily without any pretence, break up their Government,
+ and thus practically put an end to free government upon the earth. It
+ forces us to ask: 'Is there in all republics, this inherent and fatal
+ weakness?' 'Must a Government of necessity be too strong for the liberties
+ of its own people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "So viewing the issue, no choice was left but to call out the War power of
+ the Government; and so to resist force, employed for its destruction, by
+ force, for its preservation."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Call for Troops was made, as we have seen, on the 15th day of April.
+ On the evening of the following day several companies of a Pennsylvania
+ Regiment reported for duty in Washington. On the 18th, more Pennsylvania
+ Volunteers, including a company of Artillery, arrived there.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 19th of April, the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment&mdash;whose
+ progress through New York city had been triumphal&mdash;was suddenly and
+ unexpectedly assailed, in its passage through Baltimore, to the defense of
+ the National Capital, by a howling mob of Maryland Secessionists&mdash;worked
+ up to a pitch of States-rights frenzy by Confederate emissaries and
+ influential Baltimore Secession-sympathizers, by news of the sudden
+ evacuation of the Federal Arsenal at Harper's Ferry, and other exciting
+ tidings&mdash;and had to fight its way through, leaving three soldiers of
+ that regiment dead, and a number wounded, behind it.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [At a meeting of the "National Volunteer Association," at Monument
+ Square, Baltimore, the previous evening, says Greeley's History of the
+ American Conflict, page 462, "None of the speakers directly advocated
+ attacks on the Northern troops about to pass through the city; but each
+ was open in his hostility to 'Coercion,' and ardently exhorted his
+ hearers to organize, arm and drill, for the Conflict now inevitable.
+ Carr (Wilson C. N. Carr) said: 'I do not care how many Federal troops
+ are sent to Washington; they will soon find themselves surrounded by
+ such an army from Virginia and Maryland, that escape to their homes will
+ be impossible; and when the 75,000 who are intended to invade the South
+ shall have polluted that soil with their touch, the South will
+ extermininate and sweep them from the Earth.' (Frantic cheering and
+ yelling). The meeting broke up with stentorian cheers for 'the South'
+ and for 'President Davis."']
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ Ten companies of Philadelphia troops, reaching Baltimore at the same time,
+ unarmed, were also violently assailed by the crazy mob, and, after a two
+ hours' fight, reached the cars and returned to Philadelphia.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Washington City&mdash;already, by the Secession of Virginia, cut off from
+ the South&mdash;was thus practically cut off from the North as well; and
+ to isolate it more completely, the telegraph wires were cut down and the
+ railroad bridges burned. A mere handful of regulars, the few volunteers
+ that had got through before the outbreak in Baltimore, and a small number
+ of Union residents and Government department clerks&mdash;these, under
+ General Winfield Scott, constituted the paltry force that, for ten days
+ after the Call for troops, held the National Capital.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Informed, as the Rebels must have been, by their swarming spies, of the
+ weakness of the Federal metropolis, it seems absolutely marvelous that
+ instant advantage was not taken of it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Richmond Examiner, of April 23d, said: "The capture of Washington City
+ is perfectly within the power of Virginia and Maryland, if Virginia will
+ only make the effort with her constituted authorities; nor is there a
+ single moment to lose. * * * The fanatical yell for the immediate
+ subjugation of the whole South is going up hourly from the united voices
+ of all the North; and, for the purpose of making their work sure, they
+ have determined to hold Washington City as the point whence to carry on
+ their brutal warfare. Our people can take it&mdash;they will take it&mdash;and
+ Scott, the arch-traitor, and Lincoln, the Beast, combined, cannot prevent
+ it. The just indignation of an outraged and deeply injured people will
+ teach the Illinois Ape to repeat his race and retrace his journey across
+ the borders of the Free Negro States still more rapidly than he came. * *
+ * Great cleansing and purification are needed and will be given to that
+ festering sink of iniquity, that wallow of Lincoln and Scott&mdash;the
+ desecrated city of Washington; and many indeed will be the carcasses of
+ dogs and caitiff that will blacken the air upon the gallows before the
+ great work is accomplished. So let it be!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But despite all this fanfaronade of brutal bluster, and various movements
+ that looked somewhat threatening, and this complete isolation for more
+ than a week from the rest of the World, the city of Washington was not
+ seized by the Rebels, after all.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This nervous condition of affairs, however, existed until the 25th&mdash;and
+ to General Benjamin F. Butler is due the chief credit of putting an end to
+ it. It seems he had reached the Susquehanna river at Perryville, with his
+ Eighth Massachusetts Regiment on the 20th&mdash;the day after the Sixth
+ Massachusetts had been mobbed at Baltimore&mdash;and, finding his further
+ progress to Washington via Baltimore, barred by the destruction of the
+ bridge across the Susquehanna, etc., he at once seized a large ferry
+ steamer, embarked his men on her, steamed down the river and Chesapeake
+ Bay to Annapolis, the capital of Maryland, took possession of the frigate
+ Constitution, the Naval Academy, and the city itself, gathered supplies,
+ and being reinforced by the arrival by water of the famous New York
+ Seventh, and other regiments, repaired the branch railroad to Annapolis
+ Junction (on the main line of railroad between Baltimore and Washington),
+ and transferred his column from thence, by cars, on the 25th, to the
+ National Capital&mdash;soon thereafter also taking military possession of
+ Baltimore, which gave no further trouble to the Union Cause. In the
+ meantime, however, other untoward events to that Cause had happened.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Two days after the Call for troops, the Virginia Convention (April 17th)
+ secretly voted to Secede from the Union. An expedition of Virginia troops
+ was almost at once started to capture the Federal Arsenal at Harper's
+ Ferry, which, as has already been intimated, was evacuated hastily on the
+ night of the 18th, by the handful of Union regulars garrisoning it, after
+ a futile effort to destroy the public property and stores it held. Another
+ expedition was started to seize the Federal Navy Yard at Norfolk&mdash;a
+ rich prize, containing as it did, between 2,000 and 3,000 pieces of heavy
+ ordnance (300 of them Dahlgrens), three old line-of-battle ships and a
+ number of frigates, including the Cumberland and the fine forty-gun steam
+ frigate Merrimac, together with thousands of kegs of powder and immense
+ stores of other munitions of war, and supplies&mdash;that had cost in all
+ some $10,000,000. Without an enemy in sight, however, this fine Navy Yard
+ was shamefully evacuated, after partly scuttling and setting fire to the
+ vessels&mdash;the Cumberland alone being towed away&mdash;and spiking the
+ guns, and doing other not very material damage.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ So also, in North Carolina, Rebel influence was equally active. On the
+ 20th of April Governor Ellis seized the Federal Branch Mint at, Charlotte,
+ and on the 22d the Federal Arsenal at Fayetteville. A few days thereafter
+ his Legislature authorized him to tender to Virginia&mdash;which had
+ already joined the Confederacy&mdash;or to the Government of the
+ Confederate States itself, the volunteer forces of North Carolina. And,
+ although at the end of January the people of that State had decided at the
+ polls that no Secession Convention be held, yet the subservient
+ Legislature did not hesitate, on demand, to call one together which met in
+ May and ordained such Secession.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Thus, by the end of May, 1861, the Confederacy had grown to comprise nine
+ instead of seven States, and the Confederate troops were concentrating on
+ Richmond&mdash;whither the Rebel Government was soon to remove, from
+ Montgomery.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ By this time also not only had the ranks of the regular Union Army been
+ filled and largely added to, but 42,000 additional volunteers had been
+ called out by President Lincoln; and the blockade of the Southern ports
+ (including those of Virginia and North Carolina) that had been proclaimed
+ by him, was, despite all obstacles, now becoming effectual and respected.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Washington City and its suburbs, by the influx of Union volunteers, had
+ during this month become a vast armed camp; the Potomac river had been
+ crossed and the Virginia hills (including Arlington heights) which
+ overlooked the Federal Capital, had been occupied and fortified by Union
+ troops; the young and gallant Colonel Ellsworth had been killed by a
+ Virginia Rebel while pulling down a Rebel flag in Alexandria; and General
+ Benjamin F. Butler, in command at Fortress Monroe, had by an inspiration,
+ solved one of the knottiest points confronting our armies, by declaring of
+ three Negroes who had fled from their master so as to escape working on
+ Rebel fortifications, that they should not be returned to that master&mdash;under
+ the Fugitive Slave Law, as demanded by a Rebel officer with a flag of
+ truce&mdash;but were confiscated "property," and would be retained, as
+ "contraband of war."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It was about this time, too, that the New Orleans Picayune fell into line
+ with other unscrupulous Rebel sheets, by gravely declaring that: "All the
+ Massachusetts troops now in Washington are Negroes, with the exception of
+ two or three drummer boys. General Butler, in command, is a native of
+ Liberia. Our readers may recollect old Ben, the barber, who kept a shop in
+ Poydras street, and emigrated to Liberia with a small competence. General
+ Butler is his son." Little did the writer of that paragraph dream how soon
+ New Orleans would crouch at the very feet of that same General!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And now, while the armed hosts on either side are assembling in hostile
+ array, or resting on their arms, preliminary to the approaching fray of
+ battle, let us glance at the alleged causes underlying this great
+ Rebellion against the Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkcalhoun" id="linkcalhoun"></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="p219-calhoun.jpg (74K)" src="images/p219-calhoun.jpg" style="width:100%;"
+ /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch11" id="linkch11"></a><br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <br /> CHAPTER XI.<br /> <br /> THE CAUSES OF SECESSION.<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ In preceding Chapters of this work, it has been briefly shown, that from
+ the very hour in which the Republic of the United States was born, there
+ have not been wanting, among its own citizens, those who hated it, and
+ when they could not rule, were always ready to do what they could, by
+ Conspiracy, Sedition, Mutiny, Nullification, Secession, or otherwise, to
+ weaken and destroy it. This fact, and the processes by which the
+ Conspirators worked, is very well stated, in his documentary "History of
+ the Rebellion," by Edward McPherson, when he says: "In the Slaveholding
+ States, a considerable body of men have always been disaffected to the
+ Union. They resisted the adoption of the National Constitution, then
+ sought to refine away the rights and powers of the General Government, and
+ by artful expedients, in a series of years, using the excitements growing
+ out of passing questions, finally perverted the sentiments of large masses
+ of men, and prepared them for Revolution."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Before giving further incontestable proofs establishing this fact, and
+ before endeavoring to sift out the true cause or causes of Secession, let
+ us first examine such evidences as are submitted by him in support of his
+ proposition.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The first piece of testimony, is an extract from an unpublished journal of
+ U. S. Senator Maclay of Pennsylvania, from March 4, 1789, to March 3, 1791&mdash;the
+ period of the First Congress under the Federal Constitution. It runs thus:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "1789, June 9.&mdash;In relation to the Tariff Bill, the affair of
+ confining the East India Trade to the citizens of America had been
+ negatived, and a committee had been appointed to report on this business.
+ The report came in with very high duties, amounting to a prohibition. But
+ a new phenomenon had made its appearance in the House (meaning the Senate)
+ since Friday.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Pierce Butler, from South Carolina, had taken his seat, and flamed like a
+ meteor. He arraigned the whole Impost law, and then charged (indirectly)
+ the whole Congress with a design of oppressing South Carolina. He cried
+ out for encouraging the Danes and Swedes, and foreigners of every kind, to
+ come and take away our produce. In fact he was for a Navigation Act
+ reversed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "June 11.&mdash;Attended at the hall as usual.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Mr. Ralph Izard and Mr. Butler opposed the whole of the drawbacks in
+ every shape whatever.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Mr. (William) Grayson, of Virginia, warm on this subject, said we were
+ not ripe for such a thing. We were a new Nation, and had no business for
+ any such regulations&mdash;a Nation /sui generis/.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Mr. (Richard Henry) Lee (of Virginia) said drawbacks were right, but
+ would be so much abused, he could not think of admitting them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Mr. (Oliver) Ellsworth (of Connecticut) said New England rum would be
+ exported, instead of West India, to obtain the drawback.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I thought it best to say a few words in reply to each. We were a new
+ Nation, it was true, but we were not a new People. We were composed of
+ individuals of like manners, habits, and customs with the European
+ Nations. What, therefore, had been found useful among them, came well
+ recommended by experience to us. Drawbacks stand as an example in this
+ point of view to us. If the thing was right in itself, there could be no
+ just argument drawn against the use of a thing from the abuse of it. It
+ would be the duty of Government to guard against abuses, by prudent
+ appointments and watchful attention to officers. That as to changing the
+ kind of rum, I thought the collection Bill would provide for this, by
+ limiting the exportation to the original casks and packages. I said a
+ great deal more, but really did not feel much interest either way. But the
+ debates were very lengthy.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Butler flamed away, and THREATENED A DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION, with
+ regard to his State, as sure as God was in the firmament. He scattered his
+ remarks over the whole Impost bill, calling it partial, oppressive, etc.,
+ and solely calculated to oppress South Carolina, and yet ever and anon
+ declaring how clear of local views and how candid and dispassionate he
+ was. He degenerates into mere declamation. His State would live free, or
+ die glorious."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The next piece of evidence is General Jackson's letter to Rev. A. J.
+ Crawford, as follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ ["Private."]
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "WASHINGTON, May 1, 1833.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "MY DEAR SIR: * * * I have had a laborious task here, but Nullification is
+ dead; and its actors and courtiers will only be remembered by the People
+ to be execrated for their wicked designs to sever and destroy the only
+ good Government on the globe, and that prosperity and happiness we enjoy
+ over every other portion of the World. Haman's gallows ought to be the
+ fate of all such ambitious men who would involve their Country in Civil
+ War, and all the evils in its train, that they might reign and ride on its
+ whirlwinds and direct the storm. The Free People of these United States
+ have spoken, and consigned these wicked demagogues to their proper doom.
+ Take care of your Nullifiers; you have them among you; let them meet with
+ the indignant frowns of every man who loves his Country. The Tariff, it is
+ now known, was a mere pretext&mdash;its burden was on your coarse woolens.
+ By the law of July, 1832, coarse woolen was reduced to five per cent., for
+ the benefit of the South. Mr. Clay's Bill takes it up and classes it with
+ woolens at fifty per cent., reduces it gradually down to twenty per cent.,
+ and there it is to remain, and Mr. Calhoun and all the Nullifiers agree to
+ the principle. The cash duties and home valuation will be equal to fifteen
+ per cent. more, and after the year 1842, you pay on coarse woolens
+ thirty-five per cent. If this is not Protection, I cannot understand;
+ therefore the Tariff was only the pretext, and Disunion and a Southern
+ Confederacy the real object. The next pretext will be the Negro or Slavery
+ question.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "My health is not good, but is improving a little. Present me kindly to
+ your lady and family, and believe me to be your friend. I will always be
+ happy to hear from you. "ANDREW JACKSON."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Another evidence is given in the following extract from Benton's "Thirty
+ Years in the Senate," vol. ii., as follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The regular inauguration of this Slavery agitation dates from the year
+ 1835; but it had commenced two years before, and in this way:
+ Nullification and Disunion had commenced in 1830, upon complaint against
+ Protective Tariff. That, being put down in 1833 under President Jackson's
+ proclamation and energetic measures, was immediately substituted by the
+ Slavery agitation. Mr. Calhoun, when he went home from Congress in the
+ spring of that year, told his friends that 'the South could never be
+ united against the North on the Tariff question&mdash;that the sugar
+ interest of Louisiana would keep her out&mdash;and that the basis of
+ Southern Union must be shifted to the Slave question.' Then all the papers
+ in his interest, and especially the one at Washington, published by Mr.
+ Duff Green, dropped Tariff agitation, and commenced upon Slavery, and in
+ two years had the agitation ripe for inauguration, on the Slavery
+ question. And in tracing this agitation to its present stage, and to
+ comprehend its rationale, it is not to be forgotten that it is a mere
+ continuation of old Tariff Disunion, and preferred because more
+ available."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Again, from p. 490 of his private correspondence, Mr. Clay's words to an
+ Alabamian, in 1844, are thus given:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "From the developments now being made in South Carolina, it is perfectly
+ manifest that a Party exists in that State seeking a Dissolution of the
+ Union, and for that purpose employ the pretext of the rejection of Mr.
+ Tyler's abominable treaty. South Carolina, being surrounded by Slave
+ States, would, in the event of a Dissolution of the Union, suffer only
+ comparative evils; but it is otherwise with Kentucky. She has the boundary
+ of the Ohio extending four hundred miles on three Free States. What would
+ our condition be in the event of the greatest calamity that could befall
+ this Nation?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Allusion is also made to a letter written by Representative Nathan
+ Appleton, of Boston, December 15, 1860, in which that gentleman said that
+ when he was in Congress&mdash;in 1832-33&mdash;he had "made up his mind
+ that Messrs. Calhoun, Hayne, McDuffie, etc., were desirous of a separation
+ of the Slave States into a separate Confederacy, as more favorable to the
+ security of Slave Property."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After mentioning that "About 1835, some South Carolinians attempted a
+ Disunion demonstration," our authority says: It is thus described by
+ ex-Governor Francis Thomas of Maryland, in his speech in Baltimore,
+ October 29, 1861:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Full twenty years ago, when occupying my seat in the House of
+ Representatives, I was surprised one morning, after the assembling of the
+ House, to observe that all the members from the Slaveholding States were
+ absent. Whilst reflecting on this strange occurrence, I was asked why I
+ was not in attendance on the Southern Caucus assembled in the room of the
+ Committee on Claims. I replied that I had received no invitation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I then proposed to go to the Committee-room to see what was being done.
+ When I entered, I found that little cock-sparrow, Governor Pickens, of
+ South Carolina, addressing the meeting, and strutting about like a rooster
+ around a barn-yard coop, discussing the following resolution:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "' Resolved, That no member of Congress, representing a Southern
+ constituency, shall again take his seat until a resolution is passed
+ satisfactory to the South on the subject of Slavery.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I listened to his language, and when he had finished, I obtained the
+ floor, asking to be permitted to take part in the discussion. I determined
+ at once to kill the Treasonable plot hatched by John C. Calhoun, the
+ Catiline of America, by asking questions. I said to Mr. Pickens, 'What
+ next do you propose we shall do? are we to tell the People that
+ Republicanism is a failure? If you are for that, I am not. I came here to
+ sustain and uphold American institutions; to defend the rights of the
+ North as well as the South; to secure harmony and good fellowship between
+ all Sections of our common Country.' They dared not answer these
+ questions. The Southern temper had not then been gotten up. As my
+ questions were not answered, I moved an adjournment of the Caucus /sine
+ die/. Mr. Craig, of Virginia, seconded the motion, and the company was
+ broken up. We returned to the House, and Mr. Ingersoll, of Pennsylvania, a
+ glorious patriot then as now, introduced a resolution which temporarily
+ calmed the excitement."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The remarks upon this statement, made November 4, 1861, by the National
+ Intelligencer, were as follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "However busy Mr. Pickens may have been in the Caucus after it met, the
+ most active man in getting it up and pressing the Southern members to go
+ into it, was Mr. R. B. Rhett, also a member from South Carolina. The
+ occasion, or alleged cause of this withdrawal from the House into secret
+ deliberation was an anti-Slavery speech of Mr. Slade, of Vermont, which
+ Mr. Rhett violently denounced, and proposed to the Southern members to
+ leave the House and go into Conclave in one of the Committee-rooms, which
+ they generally did, if not all of them. We are able to state, however,
+ what may not have been known to Governor Thomas, that at least three
+ besides himself, of those who did attend it, went there with a purpose
+ very different from an intention to consent to any Treasonable measure.
+ These three men were Henry A. Wise, Balie Peyton, and William Cost
+ Johnson. Neither of them opened his lips in the Caucus; they went to
+ observe; and we can assure Governor Thomas, that if Mr. Pickens or Mr.
+ Calhoun, (whom he names) or any one else had presented a distinct
+ proposition looking to Disunion, or Revolt, or Secession, he would have
+ witnessed a scene not soon to be forgotten. The three whom we have
+ mentioned were as brave as they were determined. Fortunately, perhaps, the
+ man whom they went particularly to watch, remained silent and passive."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Let us, however, pursue the inquiry a little further. On the 14th of
+ November, 1860, Alexander H. Stephens addressed the Legislature of
+ Georgia, and in a portion of that address&mdash;replying to a speech made
+ before the same Body the previous evening by Mr. Toombs, in which the
+ latter had "recounted the evils of this Government"&mdash;said:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The first [of these evils] was the Fishing Bounties, paid mostly to the
+ sailors of New England. Our friend stated that forty-eight years of our
+ Government was under the administration of Southern Presidents. Well,
+ these Fishing Bounties began under the rule of a Southern President, I
+ believe. No one of them, during the whole forty-eight years, ever set his
+ Administration against the principle or policy of them. * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The next evil which my friend complained of, was the Tariff. Well, let us
+ look at that for a moment. About the time I commenced noticing public
+ matters, this question was agitating the Country almost as fearfully as
+ the Slave question now is. In 1832, when I was in college, South Carolina
+ was ready to Nullify or Secede from the Union on this account. And what
+ have we seen? The Tariff no longer distracts the public counsels. Reason
+ has triumphed! The present Tariff was voted for by Massachusetts and South
+ Carolina. The lion and the lamb lay down together&mdash;every man in the
+ Senate and House from Massachusetts and South Carolina, I think, voted for
+ it, as did my honorable friend himself. And if it be true, to use the
+ figure of speech of my honorable friend, that every man in the North that
+ works in iron, and brass and wood, has his muscle strengthened by the
+ protection of the Government, that stimulant was given by his vote and I
+ believe (that of) every other Southern man.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Mr. TOOMBS&mdash;The Tariff lessened the duties.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Mr. STEPHENS&mdash;Yes, and Massachusetts with unanimity voted with the
+ South to lessen them, and they were made just as low as Southern men asked
+ them to be, and that is the rate they are now at. If reason and argument,
+ with experience, produced such changes in the sentiments of Massachusetts
+ from 1832 to 1857, on the subject of the Tariff, may not like changes be
+ effected there by the same means&mdash;reason and argument, and appeals to
+ patriotism on the present vexed question? And who can say that by 1875 or
+ 1890, Massachusetts may not vote with South Carolina and Georgia upon all
+ those questions that now distract the Country and threaten its peace and
+ existence.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Another matter of grievance alluded to by my honorable friend was the
+ Navigation Laws. This policy was also commenced under the Administration
+ of one of these Southern Presidents who ruled so well, and has been
+ continued through all of them since. * * * One of the objects (of these)
+ was to build up a commercial American marine by giving American bottoms
+ the exclusive Carrying Trade between our own ports. This is a great arm of
+ national power. This object was accomplished. We have now an amount of
+ shipping, not only coastwise, but to foreign countries, which puts us in
+ the front rank of the Nations of the World. England can no longer be
+ styled the Mistress of the Seas. What American is not proud of the result?
+ Whether those laws should be continued is another question. But one thing
+ is certain; no President, Northern or Southern, has ever yet recommended
+ their repeal. * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "These then were the true main grievances or grounds of complaint against
+ the general system of our Government and its workings&mdash;I mean the
+ administration of the Federal Government. As to the acts of the federal
+ States I shall speak presently: but these three were the main ones used
+ against the common head. Now, suppose it be admitted that all of these are
+ evils in the system; do they overbalance and outweigh the advantages and
+ great good which this same Government affords in a thousand innumerable
+ ways that cannot be estimated? Have we not at the South, as well as the
+ North, grown great, prosperous, and happy under its operations? Has any
+ part of the World ever shown such rapid progress in the development of
+ wealth, and all the material resources of national power and greatness, as
+ the Southern States have under the General Government, notwithstanding all
+ its defects?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Mr. TOOMBS&mdash;In spite of it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Mr. STEPHENS&mdash;My honorable friend says we have, in spite of the
+ General Government; that without it, I suppose he thinks, we might have
+ done as well, or perhaps better, than we have done in spite of it. * * *
+ Whether we of the South would have been better off without the Government,
+ is, to say the least, problematical. On the one side we can only put the
+ fact, against speculation and conjecture on the other. * * * The influence
+ of the Government on us is like that of the atmosphere around us. Its
+ benefits are so silent and unseen that they are seldom thought of or
+ appreciated.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We seldom think of the single element of oxygen in the air we breathe,
+ and yet let this simple, unseen and unfelt agent be withdrawn, this
+ life-giving element be taken away from this all-pervading fluid around us,
+ and what instant and appalling changes would take place in all organic
+ creation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It may be that we are all that we are 'in spite of the General
+ Government,' but it may be that without it we should have been far
+ different from what we are now. It is true that there is no equal part of
+ the Earth with natural resources superior perhaps to ours. That portion of
+ this Country known as the Southern States, stretching from the Chesapeake
+ to the Rio Grande, is fully equal to the picture drawn by the honorable
+ and eloquent Senator last night, in all natural capacities. But how many
+ ages and centuries passed before these capacities were developed to reach
+ this advanced age of civilization. There these same hills, rich in ore,
+ same rivers, same valleys and plains, are as they have been since they
+ came from the hand of the Creator; uneducated and uncivilized man roamed
+ over them for how long no history informs us.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It was only under our institutions that they could be developed. Their
+ development is the result of the enterprise of our people, under
+ operations of the Government and institutions under which we have lived.
+ Even our people, without these, never would have done it. The organization
+ of society has much to do with the development of the natural resources of
+ any Country or any Land. The institutions of a People, political and
+ moral, are the matrix in which the germ of their organic structure
+ quickens into life&mdash;takes root, and develops in form, nature, and
+ character. Our institutions constitute the basis, the matrix, from which
+ spring all our characteristics of development and greatness. Look at
+ Greece. There is the same fertile soil, the same blue sky, the same inlets
+ and harbors, the same AEgean, the same Olympus; there is the same land
+ where Homer sung, where Pericles spoke; it is in nature the same old
+ Greece&mdash;but it is living Greece no more.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Descendants of the same people inhabit the country; yet what is the
+ reason of this vast difference? In the midst of present degradation we see
+ the glorious fragments of ancient works of art-temples, with ornaments and
+ inscriptions that excite wonder and admiration&mdash;the remains of a once
+ high order of civilization, which have outlived the language they spoke&mdash;upon
+ them all, Ichabod is written&mdash;their glory has departed. Why is this
+ so? I answer, their institutions have been destroyed. These were but the
+ fruits of their forms of government, the matrix from which their great
+ development sprang; and when once the institutions of a People have been
+ destroyed, there is no earthly power that can bring back the Promethean
+ spark to kindle them here again, any more than in that ancient land of
+ eloquence, poetry and song.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The same may be said of Italy. Where is Rome, once the mistress of the
+ World? There are the same seven hills now, the same soil, the same natural
+ resources; the nature is the same, but what a ruin of human greatness
+ meets the eye of the traveler throughout the length and breadth of that
+ most down-trodden land! why have not the People of that Heaven-favored
+ clime, the spirit that animated their fathers? Why this sad difference?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It is the destruction of their institutions that has caused it; and, my
+ countrymen, if we shall in an evil hour rashly pull down and destroy those
+ institutions which the patriotic hand of our fathers labored so long and
+ so hard to build up, and which have done so much for us and the World, who
+ can venture the prediction that similar results will not ensue? Let us
+ avoid it if we can. I trust the spirit is among us that will enable us to
+ do it. Let us not rashly try the experiment, for, if it fails, as it did
+ in Greece and Italy, and in the South American Republics, and in every
+ other place wherever liberty is once destroyed, it may never be restored
+ to us again.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "There are defects in our government, errors in administration, and
+ short-comings of many kinds; but in spite of these defects and errors,
+ Georgia has grown to be a great State. Let us pause here a moment.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "When I look around and see our prosperity in everything, agriculture,
+ commerce, art, science, and every department of education, physical and
+ mental, as well as moral advancement&mdash;and our colleges&mdash;I think,
+ in the face of such an exhibition, if we can, without the loss of power,
+ or any essential right or interest, remain in the Union, it is our duty to
+ ourselves and to posterity&mdash;let us not too readily yield to this
+ temptation&mdash;to do so. Our first parents, the great progenitors of the
+ human race, were not without a like temptation, when in the Garden of
+ Eden. They were led to believe that their condition would be bettered&mdash;that
+ their eyes would be opened&mdash;and that they would become as gods. They
+ in an evil hour yielded&mdash;instead of becoming gods they only saw their
+ own nakedness.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I look upon this Country, with our institutions, as the Eden of the
+ World, the Paradise of the Universe. It may be that out of it we may
+ become greater and more prosperous, but I am candid and sincere in telling
+ you that I fear if we rashly evince passion, and without sufficient cause
+ shall take that step, that instead of becoming greater or more peaceful,
+ prosperous, and happy&mdash;instead of becoming gods, we will become
+ demons, and at no distant day commence cutting one another's throats. This
+ is my apprehension.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Let us, therefore, whatever we do, meet those difficulties, great as they
+ are, like wise and sensible men, and consider them in the light of all the
+ consequences which may attend our action. Let us see first clearly where
+ the path of duty leads, and then we may not fear to tread therein."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Said Senator Wigfall, of Texas, March 4, 1861, in the United States
+ Senate, only a few hours before Mr. Lincoln's Inauguration:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I desire to pour oil on the waters, to produce harmony, peace and quiet
+ here. It is early in the morning, and I hope I shall not say anything that
+ may be construed as offensive. I rise merely that we may have an
+ understanding of this question.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It is not Slavery in the Territories, it is not expansion, which is the
+ difficulty. If the resolution which the Senator from Wisconsin introduced
+ here, denying the right of Secession, had been adopted by two-thirds of
+ each branch of this department of the Government, and had been ratified by
+ three-fourths of the States, I have no hesitation in saying that, so far
+ as the State in which I live and to which I owe my allegiance is
+ concerned, if she had no other cause for a disruption of the Union taking
+ place, she would undoubtedly have gone out.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [To insert as an additional article of amendment to the Constitution,
+ the following: "Under this Constitution, as originally adopted, and as
+ it now exists, no State has power to withdraw from the jurisdiction of
+ the United States: but this Constitution, and all laws passed in
+ pursuance of its delegated powers, are the Supreme Law of the Land,
+ anything contained in any constitution, ordinance, or act of any State,
+ to the contrary notwithstanding."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ "The moment you deny the right of self-government to the free White men of
+ the South, they will leave the Government. They believe in the Declaration
+ of Independence. They believe that:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from
+ the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes
+ destructive of these ends, it is the right of the People to alter or to
+ abolish it, and to institute a new Government, laying its foundation on
+ such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall
+ seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "That principle of the Declaration of Independence is the one upon which
+ the free White men of the South predicated their devotion to the present
+ Constitution of the United States; and it was the denial of that, as much
+ as anything else, that has created the dissatisfaction in that Section of
+ the Country.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "There is no instrument of writing that has ever been written that has
+ been more misapprehended and misunderstood and misrepresented than this
+ same unfortunate Declaration of Independence, and no set of gentlemen have
+ ever been so slandered as the fathers who drew and signed that
+ Declaration.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If there was a thing on earth that they did not intend to assert, it was
+ that a Negro was a White man. As I said here, a short time ago, one of the
+ greatest charges they made against the British Government was, that old
+ King George was attempting to establish the fact practically that all men
+ were created Free and Equal. They charged him in the Declaration of
+ Independence with inciting their Slaves to insurrection. That is one of
+ the grounds upon which they threw off their allegiance to the British
+ Parliament.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Another great misapprehension is, that the men who drafted that
+ Declaration of Independence had any peculiar fancy for one form of
+ government rather than another. They were not fighting to establish a
+ Democracy in this country; they were not fighting to establish a
+ Republican form of government in this Country. Nothing was further from
+ their intention.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Alexander Hamilton, after he had fought for seven years, declared that
+ the British form of government was the best that the ingenuity of man had
+ ever devised; and when John Adams said to him, 'without its corruptions;'
+ 'Why,' said he, 'its corruptions are its greatest excellence; without the
+ corruptions, it would be nothing.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In the Declaration of Independence, they speak of George III., after this
+ fashion. They say:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'A prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a
+ tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free People.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Now, I ask any plain common-sense man what was the meaning of that? Was
+ it that they were opposed to a Monarchical form of government? Was it that
+ they believed a Monarchical form of government was incompatible with civil
+ liberty? No, sir; they entertained no such absurd idea. None of them
+ entertained it; but they say that George III, was a prince whose character
+ was 'marked by every act which may define a tyrant' and that therefore he
+ was 'unfit to be the ruler of a free People.' Had his character not been
+ so marked by every quality which would define a tyrant, he might have been
+ the fit ruler of a free People; ergo, a monarchical form of Government was
+ not incompatible with civil liberty.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "That was clearly the opinion of those men. I do not advocate it now; for
+ I have said frequently that we are wiser than our fathers, and our
+ children will be wiser than we are. One hundred years hence, men will
+ understand their own affairs much better than we do. We understand our
+ affairs better than those who preceded us one hundred years. But what I
+ assert is, that the men of the Revolution did not believe that a
+ Monarchical form of Government was incompatible with civil liberty.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "What I assert is, that when they spoke of 'all men being created equal,'
+ they were speaking of the White men who then had unsheathed their swords&mdash;for
+ what purpose? To establish the right of self-government in themselves; and
+ when they had achieved that, they established, not Democracies, but
+ Republican forms of Government in the thirteen sovereign, separate and
+ independent Colonies. Yet the Declaration of Independence is constantly
+ quoted to prove Negro equality. It proves no such thing; it was intended
+ to prove no such thing.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The 'glittering generalities' which a distinguished former Senator from
+ Massachusetts (Mr. Choate) spoke of, as contained in the Declaration of
+ Independence, one of them at least, about all men being created equal&mdash;was
+ not original with Mr. Jefferson. I recollect seeing a pamphlet called the
+ Principles of the Whigs and Jacobites, published about the year 1745, when
+ the last of the Stuarts, called 'the Pretender,' was striking a blow that
+ was fatal to himself, but a blow for his crown, in which pamphlet the very
+ phraseology is used, word for word and letter for letter. I have not got
+ it here to-night. I sent the other day to the Library to try and find it,
+ but could not find it; it was burnt, I believe, with the pamphlets that
+ were burnt some time ago.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "That Mr. Jefferson copied it or plagiarized it, is not true, I suppose,
+ any more than the charge that the distinguished Senator from New York
+ plagiarized from the Federalist in preparing his celebrated compromising
+ speech which was made here a short time ago. It was the cant phrase of the
+ day in 1745, which was only about thirty years previous to the Declaration
+ of Independence. This particular pamphlet, which I have read, was
+ published; others were published at the same time. That sort of
+ phraseology was used.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "There was a war of classes in England; there were men who were contending
+ for legitimacy; who were contending for the right of the Crown being
+ inherent and depending on the will of God, 'the divine right of Kings,'
+ for maintaining an hereditary landed-aristocracy; there was another Party
+ who were contending against this doctrine of legitimacy, and the right of
+ primogeniture. These were called the Whigs; they established this general
+ phraseology in denouncing the divine right and the doctrine of legitimacy,
+ and it became the common phraseology of the Country; so that in the
+ obscure county of Mecklenburg, in North Carolina, a declaration containing
+ the same assertions was found as in this celebrated Declaration of
+ Independence, written by the immortal Jefferson.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Which of us, I ask, is there upon this floor who has not read and re-read
+ whatever was written within the last twenty-five or thirty years by the
+ distinguished men of this country? But enough of that.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "As I said before, there ought not have been, and there did not
+ necessarily result from our form of Government, any irrepressible conflict
+ between the Slaveholding and the non-Slaveholding States. Nothing of the
+ sort was necessary.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Strike out a single clause in the Constitution of the United States, that
+ which secures to each State a Republican form of Government, and there is
+ no reason why, under precisely such a Constitution as we have, States that
+ are Monarchical and States that are Republican, could not live in peace
+ and quiet. They confederate together for common defense and general
+ welfare, each State regulating its domestic concerns in its own way; those
+ which preferred a Republican form of Government maintaining it, and those
+ which preferred a Monarchical form of Government maintaining it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But how long could small States, with different forms of Government, live
+ together, confederated for common defense and general welfare, if the
+ people of one Section were to come to the conclusion that their
+ institutions were better than those of the other, and thereupon
+ straightway set about subverting the institutions of the other?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In the reply of the Rebel "Commissioners of the Southern Confederacy" to
+ Mr. Seward, April 9, 1861, they speak of our Government as being
+ "persistently wedded to those fatal theories of construction of the
+ Federal Constitution always rejected by the statesmen of the South, and
+ adhered to by those of the Administration school, until they have produced
+ their natural and often-predicted result of the destruction of the Union,
+ under which we might have continued to live happily and gloriously
+ together, had the spirit of the ancestry who framed the common
+ Constitution animated the hearts of all their sons."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In the "Address of the people of South Carolina, assembled in Convention,
+ to the people of the Slaveholding States of the United States," by which
+ the attempt was made to justify the passage of the South Carolina
+ Secession Ordinance of 1860, it is declared that:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Discontent and contention have moved in the bosom of the Confederacy, for
+ the last thirty-five years. During this time South Carolina has twice
+ called her people together in solemn Convention, to take into
+ consideration, the aggressions and unconstitutional wrongs, perpetrated by
+ the people of the North on the people of the South. These wrongs were
+ submitted to by the people of the South, under the hope and expectation
+ that they would be final. But such hope and expectation have proved to be
+ vain. Instead of producing forbearance, our acquiescence has only
+ instigated to new forms of aggressions and outrage; and South Carolina,
+ having again assembled her people in Convention, has this day dissolved
+ her connection with the States constituting the United States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The one great evil from which all other evils have flowed, is the
+ overthrow of the Constitution of the United States. The Government of the
+ United States, is no longer the Government of Confederated Republics, but
+ of a consolidated Democracy. It is no longer a free Government, but a
+ Despotism. It is, in fact, such a Government as Great Britain attempted to
+ set over our Fathers; and which was resisted and defeated by a seven years
+ struggle for Independence.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The Revolution of 1776, turned upon one great principle, self-government,&mdash;and
+ self-taxation, the criterion of self-government.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The Southern States now stand exactly in the same position towards the
+ Northern States, that the Colonies did towards Great Britain. The Northern
+ States, having the majority in Congress, claim the same power of
+ omnipotence in legislation as the British Parliament. 'The General
+ Welfare' is the only limit to the legislation of either; and the majority
+ in Congress, as in the British Parliament, are the sole judges of the
+ expediency of the legislation this 'General Welfare' requires. Thus the
+ Government of the United States has become a consolidated Government; and
+ the people of the Southern States are compelled to meet the very despotism
+ their fathers threw off in the Revolution of 1776.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The consolidation of the Government of Great Britain over the Colonies,
+ was attempted to be carried out by the taxes. The British Parliament
+ undertook to tax the Colonies to promote British interests. Our fathers
+ resisted this pretension. They claimed the right of self-taxation through
+ their Colonial Legislatures. They were not represented in the British
+ Parliament, and, therefore, could not rightly be taxed by its legislation.
+ The British Government, however, offered them a representation in
+ Parliament; but it was not sufficient to enable them to protect themselves
+ from the majority, and they refused the offer. Between taxation without
+ any representation, and taxation without a representation adequate to
+ protection, there was no difference. In neither case would the Colonies
+ tax themselves. Hence, they refused to pay the taxes laid by the British
+ Parliament.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "And so with the Southern States, towards the Northern States, in the
+ vital matter of taxation. They are in a minority in Congress. Their
+ representation in Congress is useless to protect them against unjust
+ taxation; and they are taxed by the people of the North for their benefit,
+ exactly as the people of Great Britain taxed our ancestors in the British
+ Parliament for their benefit. For the last forty years, the taxes laid by
+ the Congress of the United States have been laid with a view of subserving
+ the interests of the North. The people of the South have been taxed by
+ duties on imports, not for revenue, but for an object inconsistent with
+ revenue&mdash;to promote, by prohibitions, Northern interests in the
+ productions of their mines and manufactures.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "There is another evil, in the condition of the Southern towards the
+ Northern States, which our ancestors refused to bear towards Great
+ Britain. Our ancestors not only taxed themselves, but all the taxes
+ collected from them were expended amongst them. Had they submitted to the
+ pretensions of the British Government, the taxes collected from them,
+ would have been expended in other parts of the British Empire. They were
+ fully aware of the effect of such a policy in impoverishing the people
+ from whom taxes are collected, and in enriching those who receive the
+ benefit of their expenditure.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "To prevent the evils of such a policy, was one of the motives which drove
+ them on to Revolution, yet this British policy has been fully realized
+ towards the Southern States, by the Northern States. The people of the
+ Southern States are not only taxed for the benefit of the Northern States,
+ but after the taxes are collected, three fourths of them are expended at
+ the North. This cause, with others, connected with the operation of the
+ General Government, has made the cities of the South provincial. Their
+ growth is paralyzed; they are mere suburbs of Northern cities. The
+ agricultural productions of the South are the basis of the foreign
+ commerce of the United States; yet Southern cities do not carry it on. Our
+ foreign trade is almost annihilated. * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "No man can for a moment believe, that our ancestors intended to establish
+ over their posterity, exactly the same sort of Government they had
+ overthrown. * * * Yet by gradual and steady encroachments on the part of
+ the people of the North, and acquiescence on the part of the South, the
+ limitations in the Constitution have been swept away; and the Government
+ of the United States has become consolidated, with a claim of limitless
+ powers in its operations. * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "A majority in Congress, according to their interested and perverted
+ views, is omnipotent. * * * Numbers with them, is the great element of
+ free Government. A majority is infallible and omnipotent. 'The right
+ divine to rule in Kings,' is only transferred to their majority. The very
+ object of all Constitutions, in free popular Government, is to restrain
+ the majority. Constitutions, therefore, according to their theory, must be
+ most unrighteous inventions, restricting liberty. None ought to exist; but
+ the body politic ought simply to have a political organization, to bring
+ out and enforce the will of the majority. This theory is a remorseless
+ despotism. In resisting it, as applicable to ourselves, we are vindicating
+ the great cause of free Government, more important, perhaps, to the World,
+ than the existence of all the United States."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In his Special Message to the Confederate Congress at Montgomery, April
+ 29, 1861, Mr. Jefferson Davis said:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "From a period as early as 1798, there had existed in all the States a
+ Party, almost uninterruptedly in the majority, based upon the creed that
+ each State was, in the last resort, the sole judge, as well of its wrongs
+ as of the mode and measure of redress. * * * The Democratic Party of the
+ United States repeated, in its successful canvas of 1836, the declaration,
+ made in numerous previous political contests, that it would faithfully
+ abide by and uphold the principles laid down in the Kentucky and Virginia
+ Legislatures of [1798 and] 1799, and that it adopts those principles as
+ constituting one of the main foundations of its political creed."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In a letter addressed by the Rebel Commissioners in London (Yancey, Rost
+ and Mann), August 14, 1861, to Lord John Russell, Secretary of Foreign
+ Affairs, it appears that they said: "It was from no fear that the Slaves
+ would be liberated, that Secession took place. The very Party in power has
+ proposed to guarantee Slavery forever in the States, if the South would
+ but remain in the Union." On the 4th of May preceding, Lord John had
+ received these Commissioners at his house; and in a letter of May 11,
+ 1861, wrote, from the Foreign Office, to Lord Lyons, the British Minister
+ at Washington, a letter, in which, alluding to his informal communication
+ with them, he said: "One of these gentlemen, speaking for the others,
+ dilated on the causes which had induced the Southern States to Secede from
+ the Northern. The principal of these causes, he said, was not Slavery, but
+ the very high price which, for the sake of Protecting the Northern
+ manufacturers, the South were obliged to pay for the manufactured goods
+ which they required. One of the first acts of the Southern Congress was to
+ reduce these duties, and to prove their sincerity he gave as an instance
+ that Louisiana had given up altogether that Protection on her sugar which
+ she enjoyed by the legislation of the United States. As a proof of the
+ riches of the South. He stated that of $350,000,000 of exports of produce
+ to foreign countries $270,000,000 were furnished by the Southern States."
+ * * * They pointed to the new Tariff of the United States as a proof that
+ British manufactures would be nearly excluded from the North, and freely
+ admitted in the South.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This may be as good a place as any other to say a few words touching
+ another alleged "cause" of Secession. During the exciting period just
+ prior to the breaking out of the great War of the Rebellion, the
+ Slave-holding and Secession-nursing States of the South, made a terrible
+ hubbub over the Personal Liberty Bills of the Northern States. And when
+ Secession came, many people of the North supposed these Bills to be the
+ prime, if not the only real cause of it. Not so. They constituted, as we
+ now know, only a part of the mere pretext. But, none the less, they
+ constituted a portion of the history of that eventful time, and cannot be
+ altogether ignored.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In order then, that the reader may quickly grasp, not only the general
+ nature, but also the most important details of the Personal Liberty Bills
+ (in force, in 1860, in many of the Free States) so frequently alluded to
+ in the Debates of Congress, in speeches on the stump, and in the
+ fulminations of Seceding States and their authorized agents,
+ commissioners, and representatives, it may be well now, briefly to refer
+ to them, and to state that no such laws existed in California, Illinois,
+ Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, New York, Ohio and Oregon.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Those of Maine provided that no officer of the State should in any way
+ assist in the arrest or detention of a Fugitive Slave, and made it the
+ duty of county attorneys to defend the Fugitive Slave against the claim of
+ his master. A Bill to repeal these laws passed the Maine Senate, but
+ failed in the House.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ That of Massachusetts provided for commissioners in each county to defend
+ alleged Fugitives from Service or Labor; for payment by the Commonwealth
+ of all expenses of defense; prohibited the issue or service of process by
+ State officers for arrest of alleged Fugitives, or the use of any prisons
+ in the State for their detention, or that of any person aiding their
+ escape; prohibited the kidnapping or removal of alleged Fugitive Slaves by
+ any person; prohibited all officers within the State, down to Town
+ officers, from arresting, imprisoning, detaining or returning to Service
+ "any Person for the reason that he is claimed or adjudged to be a Fugitive
+ from Service or Labor"&mdash;all such prohibitions being enforced by heavy
+ fines and imprisonment. The Act of March 25, 1861, materially modified and
+ softened the above provisions.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ New Hampshire's law, provided that all Slaves entering the State with
+ consent of the master shall be Free, and made the attempt to hold any
+ person as a Slave within the State a felony.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Vermont's, prescribed that no process under the Fugitive Slave Law should
+ be recognized by any of her Courts, officers, or citizens; nor any aid
+ given in arresting or removing from the State any Person claimed as a Fugitive
+ Slave; provided counsel for alleged Fugitives; for the issue of habeas
+ corpus and trial by jury of issues of fact between the parties; ordained
+ Freedom to all within the State who may have been held as Slaves before
+ coming into it, and prescribed heavy penalties for any attempt to return
+ any such to Slavery. A bill to repeal these laws, proposed November, 1860,
+ in the Vermont House of Representatives, was beaten by two to one.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Connecticut's, provided that there must be two witnesses to prove that a
+ Person is a Slave; that depositions are not evidence; that false
+ testifying in Fugitive Slave cases shall be punishable by fine of $5,000
+ and five years in State prison.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In New Jersey, the only laws touching the subject, permitted persons
+ temporarily sojourning in the State to bring and hold their Slaves, and
+ made it the duty of all State officers to aid in the recovery of Fugitives
+ from Service.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In Pennsylvania, barring an old dead-letter Statute, they simply
+ prohibited any interference by any of the Courts, Aldermen, or Justices of
+ the Peace, of the Commonwealth, with the functions of the Commissioner
+ appointed under the United States Statute in Fugitive Slave cases.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In Michigan, the law required States' attorneys to defend Fugitive Slaves;
+ prescribed the privileges of habeas corpus and jury trial for all such
+ arrested; prohibited the use of prisons of the State for their detention;
+ required evidence of two credible witnesses as to identity; and provided
+ heavy penalties of fine and imprisonment for the seizure of any Free
+ Person, with intent to have such Person held in Slavery. A Bill to repeal
+ the Michigan law was defeated in the House by about two to one.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Wisconsin's Personal Liberty law was similar to that of Michigan, but with
+ this addition, that no judgment recovered against any person in that State
+ for violating the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 should be enforced by sale or
+ execution of any real or personal property in that State.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ That of Rhode Island, forbade the carrying away of any Person by force out
+ of the State; forbade the official aiding in the arrest or detention of a
+ Fugitive Slave; and denied her jails to the United States for any such
+ detention.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Apropos of this subject, and before leaving it, it may be well to quote
+ remarks of Mr. Simons of Rhode Island, in the United States Senate. Said
+ he: "Complaint has been made of Personal Liberty Bills. Now, the
+ Massachusetts Personal Liberty Bill was passed by a Democratic House, a
+ Democratic Senate, and signed by a Democratic Governor, a man who was
+ afterwards nominated by Mr. Polk for the very best office in New England,
+ and was unanimously confirmed by a Democratic United States Senate.
+ Further than this, the very first time the attention of the Massachusetts
+ Legislature was called to the propriety of a repeal of this law was by a
+ Republican Governor. Now, on the other hand, South Carolina had repealed a
+ law imprisoning British colored sailors, but retained the one imprisoning
+ those coming from States inhabited by her own brethren!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ These Personal Liberty Bills were undoubtedly largely responsible for some
+ of the irritation on the Slavery question preceding open hostilities
+ between the Sections. But President Lincoln sounded the real depths of the
+ Rebellion when he declared it to be a War upon the rights of the People.
+ In his First Annual Message, December 3, 1861, he said:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It continues to develop that the insurrection is largely, if not
+ exclusively, a War upon the first principle of popular government&mdash;the
+ rights of the People. Conclusive evidence of this is found in the most
+ grave and maturely considered public documents, as well as in the general
+ tone of the insurgents. In those documents we find the abridgment of the
+ existing right of suffrage, and the denial to the People of all right to
+ participate in the selection of public officers, except the legislative,
+ boldly advocated, with labored arguments to prove that large control of
+ the People in government is the source of all political evil. Monarchy
+ itself is sometimes hinted at as a possible refuge from the power of the
+ People.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In my present position, I could scarcely be justified were I to omit
+ raising a warning voice against this approach of returning despotism.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It is not needed, nor fitting here, that a general argument should be
+ made in favor of popular institutions; but there is one point, with its
+ connections, not so hackneyed as most others, to which I ask brief
+ attention. It is the effort to place Capital on an equal footing with, if
+ not above Labor, in the structure of the Government.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It is assumed that Labor is available only in connection with Capital;
+ that nobody labors unless somebody else, owning Capital, somehow by the
+ use of it induces him to labor. This assumed, it is next considered
+ whether it is best that Capital shall hire laborers, and thus induce them
+ to work by their own consent, or buy them, and drive them to it without
+ their consent. Having proceeded so far, it is naturally concluded that all
+ laborers are either hired laborers, or what we call Slaves. And further,
+ it is assumed that whoever is once a hired laborer is fixed in that
+ condition for life.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Now, there is no such relation between Capital and Labor as assumed; nor
+ is there any such thing as a free man being fixed for life, in the
+ condition of a hired laborer. Both these assumptions are false, and all
+ inferences from them are groundless.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Labor is prior to, and independent of Capital. Capital is only the fruit
+ of Labor, and could never have existed if Labor had not first existed.
+ Labor is the superior of Capital, and deserves much the higher
+ consideration. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection
+ as any other rights. Nor is it denied that there is, and probably always
+ will be, a relation between Labor and Capital, producing mutual benefits.
+ The error is in assuming that the whole Labor of the community exists
+ within that relation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "A few men own Capital, and that few, avoid labor themselves, and with
+ their Capital hire or buy another few to labor for them. A large majority
+ belong to neither class&mdash;neither work for others, nor have others
+ working for them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In most of the Southern States, a majority of the whole people of all
+ colors are neither Slaves nor masters; while in the Northern, a large
+ majority are neither hirers nor hired. Men with their families&mdash;wives,
+ sons, and daughters&mdash;work for themselves, on their farms, in their
+ houses, and in their shops, taking the whole product to themselves, and
+ asking no favors of Capital on the one hand, nor of hired laborers or
+ Slaves on the other.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It is not forgotten that a considerable number of persons mingle their
+ own Labor with Capital&mdash;that is they labor with their own hands, and
+ also buy or hire others to labor for them; but this is only a mixed, and
+ not a distinct class. No principle stated is disturbed by the existence of
+ this mixed class.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Again, as has already been said, there is not, of necessity, any such
+ thing as the free hired-laborer being fixed to that condition for life.
+ Many independent men everywhere in these States, a few years back in their
+ lives, were hired laborers.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The prudent, penniless beginner in the World, labors for wages awhile,
+ saves a surplus with which to buy tools or land for himself, then labors
+ on his own account another while, and at length hires another new beginner
+ to help him. This is the just and generous and prosperous system, which
+ opens the way to all, gives hope to all, and consequent energy and
+ progress, and improvement of condition to all.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "No men living are more worthy to be trusted than those who toil up from
+ poverty&mdash;none less inclined to take or touch aught which they have
+ not honestly earned. Let them beware of surrendering a political power
+ which they already possess, and which, if surrendered, will surely be used
+ to close the door of advancement against such as they, and to fix new
+ disabilities and burdens upon them, till all of Liberty shall be lost. * *
+ * The struggle of to-day is not altogether for to-day-it is a vast future
+ also. * * * "
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ So too, Andrew Johnson, in his speech before the Senate, January 31, 1862,
+ spake well and truly when he said that "there has been a deliberate design
+ for years to change the nature and character and genius of this
+ Government." And he added: "Do we not know that these schemers have been
+ deliberately at work, and that there is a Party in the South, with some
+ associates in the North, and even in the West, that have become tired of
+ Free Government, in which they have lost confidence."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Said he: "They raise an outcry against 'Coercion,' that they may paralyze
+ the Government, cripple the exercise of the great powers with which it was
+ invested, finally to change its form and subject us to a Southern
+ despotism. Do we not know it to be so? Why disguise this great truth? Do
+ we not know that they have been anxious for a change of Government for
+ years? Since this Rebellion commenced it has manifested itself in many
+ quarters.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "How long is it since the organ of the Government at Richmond, the
+ Richmond Whig, declared that rather than live under the Government of the
+ United States, they preferred to take the Constitutional Queen of Great
+ Britain as their protector; that they would make an alliance with Great
+ Britain for the purpose of preventing the enforcement of the Laws of the
+ United States. Do we not know this?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Stephen A. Douglas also, in his great Union speech at Chicago, May 1, 1861&mdash;only
+ a few days before his lamented death&mdash;said:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The election of Mr. Lincoln is a mere pretext. The present Secession
+ movement is the result of an enormous Conspiracy formed more than a year
+ since formed by leaders in the Southern Confederacy more than twelve
+ months ago. They use the Slavery question as a means to aid the
+ accomplishment of their ends. They desired the election of a Northern
+ candidate by a Sectional vote, in order to show that the two Sections
+ cannot live together.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "When the history of the two years from the Lecompton question down to the
+ Presidential election shall be written, it will be shown that the scheme
+ was deliberately made to break up this Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "They desired a Northern Republican to be elected by a purely Northern
+ vote, and then assign this fact as a reason why the Sections cannot live
+ together. If the Disunion candidate&mdash;(Breckinridge) in the late
+ Presidential contest had carried the united South, their scheme was, the
+ Northern candidate successful, to seize the Capital last Spring, and by a
+ united South and divided North, hold it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Their scheme was defeated, in the defeat of the Disunion candidates in
+ several of the Southern States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But this is no time for a detail of causes. The Conspiracy is now known;
+ Armies have been raised. War is levied to accomplish it. There are only
+ two sides to the question.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Every man must be for the United States, or against it. There can be no
+ Neutrals in this War; only Patriots or Traitors! [Cheer after Cheer]."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In a speech made in the United States Senate, January 31, 1862, Senator
+ McDougall of California&mdash;conceded to be intellectually the peer of
+ any man in that Body&mdash;said:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We are at War. How long have we been at War? We have been engaged in a
+ war of opinion, according to my historical recollection, since 1838. There
+ has been a Systematic organized war against the Institutions established
+ by our fathers, since 1832. This is known of all men who have read
+ carefully the history of our Country. If I had the leisure, or had
+ consulted the authorities, I would give it year by year, and date by date,
+ from that time until the present, how men adversary to our Republican
+ Institutions have been organizing War against us, because they did not
+ approve of our Republican Institutions.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Before the Mexican War, it is well known that General Quitman, then
+ Governor of Mississippi, was organizing to produce the same condition of
+ things (and he hoped a better condition of things, for he hoped a
+ successful Secession), to produce this same revolution that is now
+ disturbing our whole Land. The War with Mexico, fighting for a Southern
+ proposition, for which I fought myself, made the Nation a unit until 1849;
+ and then again they undertook an Organization to produce Revolution. These
+ things are history. This statement is true, and cannot be denied among
+ intelligent men anywhere, and cannot be denied in this Senate.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The great men who sat in Council in this Hall, the great men of the
+ Nation, men whose equals are not, and I fear will not be for many years,
+ uniting their judgments, settled the controversy in 1850. They did not
+ settle it for the Conspirators of the South, for they were not parties to
+ the compact. Clay and Webster, and the great men who united with them, had
+ no relation with the extremes of either extreme faction. The Compromise
+ was made, and immediately after it had been effected, again commenced the
+ work of organization. I had the honor to come from my State on the Pacific
+ into the other branch of the Federal Congress, and there I learned as
+ early as 1853, that the work of Treason was as industriously pursued as it
+ is being pursued to-day. I saw it; I felt it; I knew it. I went home to
+ the shores of the Pacific instructed somewhat on this subject.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Years passed by. I engaged in my duties as a simple professional man, not
+ connected with public affairs. The question of the last Presidential
+ election arose before the Country&mdash;one of those great questions that
+ are not appreciated, I regret from my heart, by the American Nation, when
+ we elect a President, a man who has more power for his time than any
+ enthroned Monarch in Europe. We organize a Government and place him in
+ front as the head and the Chief of the Government. That question came
+ before the American People.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "At that time I was advised of this state of feeling&mdash;and I will
+ state it in as exact form of words as I can state it, that it may be
+ understood by Senators: Mr. Douglas is a man acceptable to the South. Mr.
+ Douglas is a man to whom no one has just cause of exception throughout the
+ South. Mr. Douglas is more acceptable to Mississippi and Louisiana than
+ Mr. Breckinridge. Mr. Breckinridge is not acceptable to the South; or at
+ least, if he is so, he is not in the same degree with Mr. Douglas. Mr.
+ Douglas is the accepted man of a great National Party, and if he is
+ brought into the field he will be triumphantly elected. THAT MUST NOT BE
+ DONE, because THE ORGANIZATION FOR SECESSION IS MATURED. EVERYTHING IS
+ PREPARED, and the election of Mr. Douglas would only postpone it for four
+ years; and Now when we are PREPARED to carry out these things WE MUST
+ INDULGE IN STRATAGEM, and the nomination of Mr. Breckinridge is a mere
+ strategic movement to divide the great conservative Party of the Nation
+ into two, so as to elect a Republican candidate AND CONSOLIDATE THE SOUTH
+ BY THE CRY OF 'ABOLITIONIST!'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "That is a mere simple statement of the truth, and it cannot be
+ contradicted. Now, in that scheme all the men of counsel of that Party
+ were engaged. * * * I, on the far shores of the Pacific understood those
+ things as long ago as a year last September (1860). I was advised about
+ this policy and well informed of it. * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I was at war, in California, in January (1861) last; in the maintenance
+ of the opinions that I am now maintaining, I had to go armed to protect
+ myself from violence. The country, whenever there was controversy, was
+ agitated to its deepest foundations. That is known, perhaps, not to
+ gentlemen who live up in Maine or Massachusetts, or where you are foreign
+ to all this agitation; but known to all people where disturbance might
+ have been effective in consequences. I felt it, and had to carry my life
+ in my hand by the month, as did my friends surrounding me.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I say that all through last winter (that of 1860-61) War had been
+ inaugurated in all those parts of the Country where disturbed elements
+ could have efficient result. In January (1861), a year ago, I stood in the
+ hall of the House of Representatives of my State, and there was War then,
+ and angry faces and hostile men were gathered; and we knew then well that
+ the Southern States had determined to withdraw themselves from the Federal
+ Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I happened to be one of those men who said, 'they shall not do it;' and
+ it appears to me that the whole argument is between that class of men and
+ the class of men who said they would let them do it. * * * When this
+ doctrine was started here of disintegrating the Cotton States from the
+ rest of the Confederacy, I opposed it at once. I saw immediately that War
+ was to be invoked. * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I will not say these things were understood by gentlemen of the
+ Republican Party * * * but I, having been accepted and received as a
+ Democrat of the old school from the olden time, and HAVING FAST SOUTHERN
+ SYMPATHIES, I DID KNOW ALL ABOUT THEM. * * * I KNOW THAT SECESSION WAS A
+ THING DETERMINED UPON. * * * I was advised of and understood the whole
+ programme, KNEW HOW IT WAS TO BE DONE IN ITS DETAILS; and I being advised,
+ made war against it. * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "War had been, in fact, inaugurated. What is War? Was it the firing on our
+ flag at Sumter? Was that the first adversary passage? To say so, is
+ trifling with men's judgments and information. No, sir; when they
+ organized a Government, and set us at defiance, they commenced War; and
+ the various steps they took afterwards, by organizing their troops, and
+ forming their armies, and advancing upon Sumter; all these were merely
+ acts of War; but War was inaugurated whenever they undertook to say they
+ would maintain themselves as a separate and independent government; and,
+ after that time, every man who gave his assistance to them was a Traitor,
+ according to the highest Law."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The following letter, written by one of the most active of the Southern
+ conspirators in 1858, during the great Douglas and Lincoln Debate of that
+ year, to which extended reference has already been made, is of interest in
+ this connection, not only as corroborative evidence of the fact that the
+ Rebellion of the Cotton States had been determined on long before Mr.
+ Lincoln was elected President, but as showing also that the machinery for
+ "firing the Southern heart" and for making a "solid South" was being
+ perfected even then. The subsequent split in the Democratic Party, and
+ nomination of Breckinridge by the Southern wing of it, was managed by this
+ same Yancey, simply as parts of the deliberate programme of Secession and
+ Rebellion long before determined on by the Cotton Lords of the Cotton
+ States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "MONTGOMERY, June 15, 1858.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "DEAR SIR:&mdash;Your kind favor of the 13th is received.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I hardly agree with you that a general movement can be made that will
+ clean out the Augean Stable. If the Democracy were overthrown it would
+ result in giving place to a greedier and hungrier swarm of flies.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The remedy of the South is not in such a process. It is in a diligent
+ organization of her true men for prompt resistance to the next aggression.
+ It must come in the nature of things. No National Party can save us. No
+ Sectional Party can ever do it. But if we could do as our fathers did&mdash;organize
+ 'Committees of Safety' all over the Cotton States (and it is only in them
+ that we can hope for any effective movement), we shall fire the Southern
+ heart, instruct the Southern mind, give courage to each other, and at the
+ proper moment, by one organized, concerted action, we can precipitate the
+ Cotton States into a revolution.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The idea has been shadowed forth in the South by Mr. Ruffin; has been
+ taken up and recommended in the Advertiser under the name of 'League of
+ United Southerners,' who, keeping up their old relations on all other
+ questions, will hold the Southern issues paramount, and influence parties,
+ legislatures and statesmen. I have no time to enlarge, but to suggest
+ merely.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In haste, yours, etc. "W. L. YANCEY.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "To JAMES S. SLAUGHTER."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At Jackson, Mississippi, in the fall of the same year (1858) just after
+ the great Debate between Douglas and Lincoln had closed, Jefferson Davis
+ had already raised the standard of Revolution, Secession and Disunion,
+ during the course of a speech, in which he said: "If an Abolitionist be
+ chosen President of the United States, you will have presented to you the
+ question of whether you will permit the Government to pass into the hands
+ of your avowed and implacable enemies? Without pausing for an answer, I
+ will state my own position to be, that such a result would be a species of
+ revolution by which the purposes of the Government would be destroyed, and
+ the observance of its mere forms entitled to no respect. In that event, in
+ such a manner as should be most expedient, I should deem it your duty to
+ provide for your safety, outside of the Union with those who have already
+ shown the will, and would have acquired the power to deprive you of your
+ birthright, and to reduce you to worse than the Colonial dependence of
+ your fathers."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The "birthright" thus referred to was of course, the alleged right to have
+ Slaves; but what was this "worse than Colonial dependence" to which, in
+ addition to the peril supposed to threaten the Southern "birthright," the
+ Cotton States of Mississippi were reduced? "Dependence" upon whom, and
+ with regard to what? Plainly upon the North; and with regard, not to
+ Slavery alone&mdash;for Jefferson Davis held, down to the very close of
+ the War, that the South fought "not for Slavery"&mdash;but as to Tariff
+ Legislation also. There was the rub! These Cotton Lords believed, or
+ pretended to believe, that the High Tariff Legislation, advocated and
+ insisted upon both by the Whigs and Republicans for the Protection of the
+ American Manufacturer and working man, built up and made prosperous the
+ North, and elevated Northern laborers; at the expense of the South, and
+ especially themselves, the Cotton Lords aforesaid.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ We have already seen from the utterances of leading men in the South
+ Carolina, Secession Convention, "that"&mdash;as Governor Hicks, himself a
+ Southern man, said in his address to the people of Maryland, after the War
+ broke out "neither the election of Mr. Lincoln, nor the non-execution of
+ the Fugitive Slave Law, nor both combined, constitute their grievances.
+ They declare that THE REAL CAUSE of their discontent DATES AS FAR BACK AS
+ 1833."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And what was the chief cause or pretext for discontent at that time?
+ Nothing less than the Tariff. They wanted Free Trade, as well as Slavery.
+ The balance of the Union wanted Protection, as well as Freedom.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The subsequent War, then, was not a War waged for Slavery alone, but for
+ Independence with a view to Free Trade, as set forth in the "Confederate
+ Constitution," as soon as that Independence could be achieved. And the War
+ on our part, while for the integrity of the Union in all its parts&mdash;for
+ the life of the Nation itself, and for the freedom of man, should also
+ have brought the triumph of the American idea of a Protective Tariff,
+ whose chief object is the building up of American manufactures and the
+ Protection of the Free working-man, in the essential matters of education,
+ food, clothing, rents, wages, and work.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is mentioned in McPherson's History of the Rebellion, p. 392, that in a
+ letter making public his reasons for going to Washington and taking his
+ seat in Congress, Mr. James L. Pugh, a Representative from Alabama,
+ November 24, 1860, said: "The sole object of my visit is to promote the
+ cause of Secession."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ From the manner in which they acted after reaching Washington, it is not
+ unreasonable to suppose that most of those persons representing, in both
+ branches of Congress, the Southern States which afterwards seceded, came
+ to the National Capital with a similar object in view&mdash;taking their
+ salaries and mileages for services supposed to be performed for the
+ benefit of the very Government they were conspiring to injure, and
+ swearing anew the sacred oath to support and defend the very Constitution
+ which they were moving heaven and earth to undermine and destroy!
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [As a part of the history of those times, the following letter is not
+ without interest:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "OXFORD, December 24, 1860.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "MY DEAR SIR:&mdash;I regretted having to leave Washington without
+ having with you a full conference as to the great events whose shadows
+ are upon us. The result of the election here is what the most sanguine
+ among us expected; that is, its general result is so. It is as yet
+ somewhat difficult to determine the distinctive complexion of the
+ convention to meet on the 7th of January. The friends of Southern
+ Independence, of firm and bona fide resistance, won an overwhelming
+ victory; but I doubt whether there is any precise plan.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "No doubt a large majority of the Convention will be for separate
+ Secession. But unless intervening events work important changes of
+ sentiment, not all of those elected as resistance men will be for
+ immediate and separate Secession. Our friends in Pontotoc, Tippah, De
+ Soto and Pauola took grounds which fell far short of that idea, though
+ their resolutions were very firm in regard to Disunion and an ultimate
+ result.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In the meantime the Disunion sentiment among the people is growing
+ every day more intense.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Upon the whole, you have great cause for gratification in the action of
+ your State.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The submissionists are routed, horse, foot, and dragoons, and any
+ concession by the North will fail to restore that sacred attachment to
+ the Union which was once so deeply radicated in the hearts of our
+ people. What they want now, is wise and sober leading. I think that
+ there might be more of dignity and prudent foresight in the action of
+ our State than have marked the proceedings of South Carolina. I have
+ often rejoiced that we have you to rest upon and confide in. I do not
+ know what we could do without you. That God may preserve you to us, and
+ that your mind may retain all its vigor to carry us through these
+ perilous times, is my most fervent aspiration.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I am as ever, and forever, your supporter, ally and friend.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "L. Q. C. LAMAR.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "COL. JEFF. DAVIS, Washington, D. C."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ This was but a part of the deliberate, cold-blooded plan mapped out in
+ detail, early in the session succeeding the election of Mr. Lincoln, in a
+ secret Caucus of the Chief Plotters of the Treason. It was a secret
+ conference, but the programme resolved on, soon leaked out.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The following, which appeared in the Washington National Intelligencer on
+ Friday, January 11, 1861, tells the story of this stage of the Great
+ Conspiracy pretty clearly:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The subjoined communication, disclosing the designs of those who have
+ undertaken to lead the movement now threatening a permanent dissolution of
+ the Union, comes to us from a distinguished citizen of the South
+ [understood to be Honorable Lemuel D. Evans, Representative from Texas in
+ the 34th Congress, from March 4, 1855, to March 3, 1857] who formerly
+ represented his State with great distinction in the popular branch of
+ Congress.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Temporarily sojourning in this city he has become authentically informed
+ of the facts recited in the subjoined letter, which he communicates to us
+ under a sense of duty, and for the accuracy of which he makes himself
+ responsible.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Nothing but assurances coming from such an intelligent, reliable source
+ could induce us to accept the authenticity of these startling statements,
+ which so deeply concern not only the welfare but the honor of the Southern
+ people.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "To them we submit, without present comment, the programme to which they
+ are expected to yield their implicit adhesion, without any scruples of
+ conscience as without any regard for their own safety.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'WASHINGTON, January 9, 1861.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'I charge that on last Saturday night (January 5th), a Caucus was held in
+ this city by the Southern Secession Senators from Florida, Georgia,
+ Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas. It was then and there
+ resolved in effect to assume to themselves the political power of the
+ South, and, to control all political and military operations for the
+ present, they telegraphed to complete the plan of seizing forts, arsenals,
+ and custom-houses, and advised the Conventions now in session, and soon to
+ assemble, to pass Ordinances for immediate Secession; but, in order to
+ thwart any operations of the Government here, the Conventions of the
+ Seceding States are to retain their representations in the Senate and the
+ House.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'They also advised, ordered, or directed the assembling of a Convention
+ of delegates from the Seceding States at Montgomery on the 13th of
+ February. This can of course only be done by the revolutionary Conventions
+ usurping the powers of the people, and sending delegates over whom they
+ will lose all control in the establishment of a Provisional Government,
+ which is the plan of the dictators.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'This Caucus also resolved to take the most effectual means to dragoon
+ the Legislatures of Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, and
+ Virginia into following the Seceding States. Maryland is also to be
+ influenced by such appeals to popular passion as have led to the
+ revolutionary steps which promise a conflict with the State and Federal
+ Governments in Texas.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'They have possessed themselves of all the avenues of information in the
+ South&mdash;the telegraph, the press, and the general control of the
+ postmasters. They also confidently rely upon defections in the army and
+ navy.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'The spectacle here presented is startling to contemplate. Senators
+ entrusted with the representative sovereignty of the States, and sworn to
+ support the Constitution of the United States, while yet acting as the
+ privy councillors of the President, and anxiously looked to by their
+ constituents to effect some practical plan of adjustment, deliberately
+ conceive a Conspiracy for the overthrow of the Government through the
+ military organizations, the dangerous secret order, the 'Knights of the
+ Golden Circle,' 'Committees of Safety,' Southern leagues, and other
+ agencies at their command; they have instituted as thorough a military and
+ civil despotism as ever cursed a maddened Country.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'It is not difficult to foresee the form of government which a Convention
+ thus hurriedly thrown together at Montgomery will irrevocably fasten upon
+ a deluded and unsuspecting people. It must essentially be 'a Monarchy
+ founded upon military principles,' or it cannot endure. Those who usurp
+ power never fail to forge strong chains.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'It may be too late to sound the alarm. Nothing may be able to arrest the
+ action of revolutionary tribunals whose decrees are principally in 'secret
+ sessions.' But I call upon the people to pause and reflect before they are
+ forced to surrender every principle of liberty, or to fight those who are
+ becoming their masters rather than their servants. "'EATON"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "As confirming the intelligence furnished by our informant we may cite the
+ following extract from the Washington correspondence of yesterday's
+ Baltimore Sun:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'The leaders of the Southern movement are consulting as to the best mode
+ of consolidating their interests into a Confederacy under a Provisional
+ Government. The plan is to make Senator Hunter, of Virginia, Provisional
+ President, and Jefferson Davis Commander-in-Chief of the army of defense.
+ Mr. Hunter possesses in a more eminent degree the philosophical
+ characteristics of Jefferson than any other statesman now living. Colonel
+ Davis is a graduate of West Point, was distinguished for gallantry at
+ Buena Vista, and served as Secretary of War under President Pierce, and is
+ not second to General Scott in military science or courage.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "As further confirmatory of the above, the following telegraphic dispatch
+ in the Charleston Mercury of January 7, 1861, is given:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'[From our Own Correspondent.]
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'WASHINGTON, January 6.&mdash;The Senators from those of the Southern
+ States which have called Conventions of their people, met in caucus last
+ night, and adopted the following resolutions:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'Resolved, That we recommend to our respective States immediate
+ Secession.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'Resolved, That we recommend the holding of a General Convention of the
+ said States, to be holden in the city of Montgomery, Alabama, at some
+ period not later than the 15th day of February, 1861.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "These resolutions were telegraphed this evening to the Conventions of
+ Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. A third resolution is also known to
+ have been adopted, but it is of a confidential character, not to be
+ divulged at present. There was a good deal of discussion in the caucus on
+ the question of whether the Seceding States ought to continue their
+ delegations in Congress till the 4th of March, to prevent unfriendly
+ legislation, or whether the Representatives of the Seceding States should
+ all resign together, and leave a clear field for the opposition to pass
+ such bills, looking to Coercion, as they may see fit. It is believed that
+ the opinion that they should remain prevailed."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Furthermore, upon the capture of Fernandina, Florida, in 1862, the
+ following letter was found and published. Senator Yulee, the writer, was
+ present and participated as one of the Florida Senators, in the traitorous
+ "Consultation" therein referred to&mdash;and hence its especial value:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "WASHINGTON, January 7, 1861.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "My DEAR SIR:&mdash;On the other side is a copy of resolutions adopted at
+ a consultation of the Senators from the Seceding States&mdash;in which
+ Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi, and Florida
+ were present.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The idea of the meeting was that the States should go out at once, and
+ provide for the early organization of a Confederate Government, not later
+ than 15th February. This time is allowed to enable Louisiana and Texas to
+ participate. It seemed to be the opinion that if we left here, force,
+ loan, and volunteer Bills might be passed, which would put Mr. Lincoln in
+ immediate condition for hostilities; whereas, by remaining in our places
+ until the 4th of March, it is thought we can keep the hands of Mr.
+ Buchanan tied, and disable the Republicans from effecting any legislation
+ which will strengthen the hands of the incoming Administration.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The resolutions will be sent by the delegation to the President of the
+ Convention. I have not been able to find Mr. Mallory (his Senatorial
+ colleague) this morning. Hawkins (Representative from Florida) is in
+ Connecticut. I have therefore thought it best to send you this copy of the
+ resolutions.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In haste, yours truly "D. L. YULEE.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "JOSEPH FINEGAN, Esq., "'Sovereignty Convention,' Tallahassee, Fla."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The resolutions "on the other side" of this letter, to which he refers,
+ are as follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved, 1&mdash;That in our opinion each of the Southern States should,
+ as soon as may be, Secede from the Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved, 2&mdash;That provision should be made for a Convention to
+ organize a Confederacy of the Seceding States, the Convention to meet not
+ later than the 15th of February, at the city of Montgomery, in the State
+ of Alabama.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved, That in view of the hostile legislation that is threatened
+ against the Seceding States, and which may be consummated before the 4th
+ of March, we ask instructions whether the delegations are to remain in
+ Congress until that date for the purpose of defeating such legislation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved, That a committee be and are hereby appointed, consisting of
+ Messrs. Davis, Slidell, and Mallory, to carry out the objects of this
+ meeting."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In giving this letter to the World&mdash;from its correspondent
+ accompanying the expedition&mdash;the New York Times of March 15, 1862,
+ made these forcible and clear-headed comments:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The telegraphic columns of the Times of January 7, 1861, contained the
+ following Washington dispatch: 'The Southern Senators last night (January
+ 5th) held a conference, and telegraphed to the Conventions of their
+ respective States to advise immediate Secession.' Now, the present letter
+ is a report by Mr. Yulee, who was present at this 'consultation' as he
+ calls it, of the resolutions adopted on this occasion, transmitted to the
+ said Finegan, who by the way, was a member of the 'Sovereign Convention'
+ of Florida, then sitting in the town of Tallahassee.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It will thus be seen that this remarkable letter, which breathes
+ throughout the spirit of the Conspirator, in reality lets us into one of
+ the most important of the numerous Secret Conclaves which the Plotters of
+ Treason then held in the Capital. It was then, as it appears, that they
+ determined to strike the blow and precipitate their States into Secession.
+ But at the same time they resolved that it would be imprudent for them
+ openly to withdraw, as in that case Congress might pass 'force, loan, and
+ volunteer bills,' which would put Mr. Lincoln in immediate condition for
+ hostilities. No, no! that would not do. (So much patriotic virtue they
+ half suspected, half feared, was left in the Country.) On the contrary,
+ 'by remaining in our places until the 4th of March it is thought we can
+ keep the hands of Mr. Buchanan tied, and disable the Republicans from
+ effecting any legislation which will strengthen the hands of the incoming
+ Administration.' Ah what a tragic back-ground, full of things unutterable,
+ is there!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It appears, however, that events were faster than they, and instead of
+ being able to retain their seats up to the 4th of March, they were able to
+ remain but a very few weeks. Mr. Davis withdrew on the 21st of January,
+ just a fortnight after this 'consultation.' But for the rest, mark how
+ faithfully the programme here drawn up by this knot of Traitors in secret
+ session was realized. Each of the named States represented by this Cabal
+ did, 'as soon as may be, Secede from the Union'&mdash;the Mississippi
+ Convention passing its Ordinance on the heels of the receipt of these
+ resolutions, on the 9th of January; Florida and Alabama on the 11th;
+ Louisiana on the 26th, and Texas on the 1st of February; while the
+ 'organization of the Confederate Government' took place at the very time
+ appointed, Davis being inaugurated on the 18th of February.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "And here is another Plot of the Traitors brought to light. These very
+ men, on withdrawing from the Senate, urged that they were doing so in
+ obedience to the command of their respective States. As Mr. Davis put it,
+ in his parting speech, 'the Ordinance of Secession having passed the
+ Convention of his State, he felt obliged to obey the summons, and retire
+ from all official connection with the Federal Government.' This letter of
+ Mr. Yulee's clearly reveals that they had themselves pushed their State
+ Conventions to the adoption of the very measure which they had the
+ hardihood to put forward as an imperious 'summons' which they could not
+ disobey. It is thus that Treason did its Work."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch12" id="linkch12"></a><br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ CHAPTER XII.<br /> <br /> COPPERHEADISM VS. UNION DEMOCRACY.<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ When we remember that it was on the night of the 5th of January, 1861,
+ that the Rebel Conspirators in the United States Senate met and plotted
+ their confederated Treason, as shown in the Yulee letter, given in the
+ preceding Chapter of this work, and that on the very next day, January 6,
+ 1861, Fernando Wood, then Mayor of the great city of New York, sent in to
+ the Common Council of that metropolis, his recommendation that New York
+ city should Secede from its own State, as well as the United States, and
+ become "a Free City," which, said he, "may shed the only light and hope of
+ a future reconstruction of our once blessed Confederacy," it is impossible
+ to resist the conviction that this extraordinary movement of his, was
+ inspired and prompted, if not absolutely directed, by the secret Rebel
+ Conclave at Washington. It bears within itself internal evidences of such
+ prompting.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Thus, when Mayor Wood states the case in the following words, he seems to
+ be almost quoting word for word an instruction received by him from these
+ Rebel leaders&mdash;in connection with their plausible argument, upholding
+ it. Says he:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Much, no doubt, can be said in favor of the justice and policy of a
+ separation. It may be said that Secession or revolution in any of the
+ United States would be subversive of all Federal authority, and, so far as
+ the central Government is concerned, the resolving of the community into
+ its original elements&mdash;that, if part of the States form new
+ combinations and, Governments, other States may do the same. Then it may
+ be said, why should not New York city, instead of supporting by her
+ contributions in revenue two-thirds of the expenses of the United States,
+ become also equally independent? As a Free City, with but nominal duty on
+ imports, her local Government could be supported without taxation upon her
+ people. Thus we could live free from taxes, and have cheap goods nearly
+ duty free. In this she would have the whole and united support of the
+ Southern States, as well as all the other States to whose interests and
+ rights under the Constitution she has always been true."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ That is the persuasive casuistry peculiar to the minds of the Southern
+ Secession leaders. It is naturally followed by a touch of that
+ self-confident bluster, also at that time peculiar to Southern lips&mdash;as
+ follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It is well for individuals or communities to look every danger square in
+ the face, and to meet it calmly and bravely. As dreadful as the severing
+ of the bonds that have hitherto united the States has been in
+ contemplation, it is now apparently a stern and inevitable fact. We have
+ now to meet it, with all the consequences, whatever they may be. If the
+ Confederacy is broken up the Government is dissolved, and it behooves
+ every distinct community, as well as every individual, to take care of
+ themselves.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "When Disunion has become a fixed and certain fact, why may not New York
+ disrupt the bands which bind her to a venal and corrupt master&mdash;to a
+ people and a Party that have plundered her revenues, attempted to ruin her
+ commerce, taken away the power of self-government, and destroyed the
+ Confederacy of which she was the proud Empire City? * * *"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After thus restating, as it were, the views and "arguments" of the Rebel
+ Junta, as we may presume them to have been pressed on him, he becomes
+ suddenly startled at the Conclave's idea of meeting "all the consequences,
+ whatever they may be," and, turning completely around, with blanching pen,
+ concludes:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But I am not prepared to recommend the violence implied in these views.
+ In stating this argument in favor of freedom, 'peaceably if we can,
+ forcibly if we must,' let me not be misunderstood. The redress can be
+ found only in appeals to the magnanimity of the people of the whole
+ State." * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ If "these views" were his own, and not those of the Rebel Conclave, he
+ would either have been "prepared to recommend the violence implied in
+ them," or else he would have suppressed them altogether. But his utterance
+ is that of one who has certain views for the first time placed before him,
+ and shrinks from the consequences of their advocacy&mdash;shrinks from
+ "the violence implied" in them&mdash;although for some reason he dares not
+ refuse to place those views before the people.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And, in carrying out his promise to do so&mdash;"In stating this
+ argument," presumably of the Rebel Conclave, "in favor of freedom,
+ 'peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must'"&mdash;the language used is an
+ admission that the argument is not his own. Were it his own, would he not
+ have said in "making" it, instead of in "stating" it? Furthermore, had he
+ been "making" it of his own accord, he would hardly have involved himself
+ in such singular contradictions and explanations as are here apparent. He
+ was plainly "stating" the Rebel Conclave's argument, not making one
+ himself. He was obeying orders, under the protest of his fears. And those
+ fears forced his trembling pen to write the saving-clause which
+ "qualifies" the Conclave's second-hand bluster preceding it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ That the Rebels hoped for Northern assistance in case of Secession, is
+ very clear from many speeches made prior to and soon after the election of
+ Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency&mdash;and from other sources of information.
+ Thus we find in a speech made by Representative L. M. Keitt, of South
+ Carolina, in Charleston, November, 1860, the following language, reported
+ by the Mercury:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But we have been threatened. Mr. Amos Kendall wrote a letter, in which he
+ said to Colonel Orr, that if the State went out, three hundred thousand
+ volunteers were ready to march against her. I know little about Kendall&mdash;and
+ the less the better. He was under General Jackson; but for him the Federal
+ treasury seemed to have a magnetic attraction.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Jackson was a pure man, but he had too many around him who made fortunes
+ far transcending their salaries. [Applause.] And this Amos Kendall had the
+ same good fortune under Van Buren. He (Kendall) threatened us on the one
+ side, and John Hickman on the other. John Hickman said, defiantly, that if
+ we went out of the Union, eighteen millions of Northern men would bring us
+ back.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Let me tell you, there are a million of Democrats in the North who, when
+ the Black Republicans attempt to march upon the South, will be found a
+ wall of fire in the front. [Cries of 'that's so,' and applause.]"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Harper's Weekly of May 28, 1864, commenting on certain letters of M. F.
+ Maury and others, then just come to light, said:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "How far Maury and his fellow-conspirators were justified in their hopes
+ of seducing New Jersey into the Rebellion, may be gathered from the
+ correspondence that took place, in the spring of 1861, between Ex-Governor
+ Price, of New Jersey, who was one of the representatives from that State
+ in the Peace Congress, and L. W. Burnet, Esq., of Newark.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Mr. Price, in answering the question what ought New Jersey to do, says:
+ 'I believe the Southern confederation permanent. The proceeding has been
+ taken with forethought and deliberation&mdash;it is no hurried impulse,
+ but an irrevocable act, based upon the sacred, as was supposed, equality
+ of the States; and in my opinion every Slave State will in a short period
+ of time be found united in one Confederacy. * * * Before that event
+ happens, we cannot act, however much we may suffer in our material
+ interests. It is in that contingency, then, that I answer the second part
+ of your question:&mdash;What position for New Jersey will best accord with
+ her interests, honor, and the patriotic instincts of her people? I say
+ emphatically she would go with the South from every wise, prudential, and
+ patriotic reason.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Ex-Governor Price proceeds to say that he is confident the States of
+ Pennsylvania and New York will 'choose also to cast their lot with the
+ South, and after them, the Western and Northwestern States.'"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The following resolution,* was adopted with others, by a meeting of
+ Democrats held January 16, 1861, at National Hall, Philadelphia, and has
+ been supposed to disclose "a plan, of which ex-Governor Price was likely
+ aware:"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Twelfth&mdash;That in the deliberate judgment of the Democracy of
+ Philadelphia, and, so far as we know it, of Pennsylvania, the dissolution
+ of the Union by the separation of the whole South, a result we shall most
+ sincerely lament, may release this Commonwealth to a large extent from the
+ bonds which now connect her with the Confederacy, except so far as for
+ temporary convenience she chooses to submit to them, and would authorize
+ and require her citizens, through a Convention, to be assembled for that
+ purpose, to determine with whom her lot should be cast, whether with the
+ North and the East, whose fanaticism has precipitated this misery upon us,
+ or with our brethren of the South, whose wrongs we feel as our own; or
+ whether Pennsylvania should stand by herself, as a distinct community,
+ ready when occasion offers, to bind together the broken Union, and resume
+ her place of loyalty and devotion."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Senator Lane of Oregon, replying to Senator Johnson of Tennessee, December
+ 19, 1860, in the United States Senate, and speaking of and for the
+ Northern Democracy, said:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "They will not march with him under his bloody banner, or Mr. Lincoln's,
+ to invade the soil of the gallant State of South Carolina, when she may
+ withdraw from a Confederacy that has refused her that equality to which
+ she is entitled, as a member of the Union, under the Constitution. On the
+ contrary, when he or any other gentleman raises that banner and attempts
+ to subjugate that gallant people, instead of marching with him, we will
+ meet him there, ready to repel him and his forces. He shall not bring with
+ him the Northern Democracy to strike down a people contending for rights
+ that have been refused them in a Union that ought to recognize the
+ equality of every member of the Confederacy. * * * I now serve notice
+ that, when War is made upon that gallant South for withdrawing from a
+ Union which refuses them their rights, the Northern Democracy will not
+ join in the crusade. THE REPUBLICAN PARTY WILL HAVE WAR ENOUGH AT HOME.
+ THE DEMOCRACY OF THE NORTH NEED NOT CROSS THE BORDER TO FIND AN ENEMY."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The following letter from Ex-President Pierce is in the same misleading
+ strain:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "CLARENDON HOTEL, January 6, 1860.&mdash;[This letter was captured, at
+ Jeff. Davis's house in Mississippi, by the Union troops.]
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "MY DEAR FRIEND:&mdash;I wrote you an unsatisfactory note a day or two
+ since. I have just had a pleasant interview with Mr. Shepley, whose
+ courage and fidelity are equal to his learning and talents. He says he
+ would rather fight the battle with you as the standard-bearer in 1860,
+ than under the auspices of any other leader. The feeling and judgment of
+ Mr. S. in this relation is, I am confident, rapidly gaining ground in New
+ England. Our people are looking for 'the coming man,' one who is raised by
+ all the elements of his character above the atmosphere ordinarily breathed
+ by politicians, a man really fitted for this exigency by his ability,
+ courage, broad statesmanship, and patriotism. Colonel Seymour (Thomas H.)
+ arrived here this morning, and expressed his views in this relation in
+ almost the identical language used by Mr. Shepley.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It is true that, in the present state of things at Washington and
+ throughout the country, no man can predict what changes two or three
+ months may bring forth. Let me suggest that, in the running debates in
+ Congress, full justice seems to me not to have been done to the Democracy
+ of the North. I do not believe that our friends at the South have any just
+ idea of the state of feeling, hurrying at this moment to the pitch of
+ intense exasperation, between those who respect their political
+ obligations and those who have apparently no impelling power but that
+ which fanatical passion on the subject of Domestic Slavery imparts.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Without discussing the question of right, of abstract power to Secede, I
+ have never believed that actual disruption of the Union can occur without
+ blood; and if, through the madness of Northern Abolitionism, that dire
+ calamity must come, THE FIGHTING WILL NOT BE ALONG MASON'S AND DIXON'S
+ LINE MERELY. IT [WILL] BE WITHIN OUR OWN BORDERS, IN OUR OWN STREETS,
+ BETWEEN THE TWO CLASSES OF CITIZENS TO WHOM I HAVE REFERRED. Those who
+ defy law and scout Constitutional obligations will, if we ever reach the
+ arbitrament of arms, FIND OCCUPATION ENOUGH AT HOME.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Nothing but the state of Mrs. Pierce's health would induce me to leave
+ the Country now, although it is quite likely that my presence at home
+ would be of little service.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I have tried to impress upon our people, especially in New Hampshire and
+ Connecticut, where the only elections are to take place during the coming
+ spring, that while our Union meetings are all in the right direction, and
+ well enough for the present, they will not be worth the paper upon which
+ their resolutions are written unless we can overthrow political
+ Abolitionism at the polls and repeal the Unconstitutional and obnoxious
+ laws which, in the cause of 'personal liberty,' have been placed upon our
+ statute-books. I shall look with deep interest, and not without hope, for
+ a decided change in this relation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Ever and truly your friend, "FRANKLIN PIERCE.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Hon. JEFF. DAVIS, "Washington, D. C."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But let us turn from contemplating the encouragements to Southern Treason
+ and Rebellion, held out by Northern Democratic Copperheads, to the more
+ pleasing spectacle of Loyalty and Patriotism exhibited by the Douglas wing
+ of Democracy.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Immediately after Sumter, and while the President was formulating his
+ Message, calling for 75,000 volunteers, Douglas called upon him at the
+ White House, regretted that Mr. Lincoln did not propose to call for thrice
+ as many; and on the 18th of April, having again visited the White House,
+ wrote, and gave the following dispatch to the Associated Press, for
+ circulation throughout the Country:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "April 18, 1861, Senator Douglas called on the President, and had an
+ interesting conversation on the present condition of the Country. The
+ substance of it was, on the part of Mr. Douglas, that while he was
+ unalterably opposed to the administration in all its political issues, he
+ was prepared to fully sustain the President in the exercise of all his
+ Constitutional functions, to preserve the Union, maintain the Government,
+ and defend the Federal Capital. A firm policy and prompt action was
+ necessary. The Capital was in danger and must be defended at all hazards,
+ and at any expense of men and money. He spoke of the present and future
+ without any reference to the past."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is stated of this meeting and its immediate results: "The President was
+ deeply gratified by the interview. To the West, Douglas telegraphed, 'I am
+ for my Country and against all its assailants.' The fire of his patriotism
+ spread to the masses of the North, and Democrat and Republican rallied to
+ the support of the flag. In Illinois the Democratic and Republican presses
+ vied with each other in the utterance of patriotic sentiments. * * * Large
+ and numerously attended Mass meetings met, as it were with one accord,
+ irrespective of parties, and the people of all shades of political
+ opinions buried their party hatchets. Glowing and eloquent orators
+ exhorted the people to ignore political differences in the present crisis,
+ join in the common cause, and rally to the flag of the Union and the
+ Constitution. It was a noble truce. From the many resolutions of that
+ great outpouring of patriotic sentiment, which ignored all previous party
+ ties, we subjoin the following:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'Resolved, that it is the duty of all patriotic citizens of Illinois,
+ without distinction of party or sect, to sustain the Government through
+ the peril which now threatens the existence of the Union; and of our
+ Legislature to grant such aid of men and money as the exigency of the hour
+ and the patriotism of our people shall demand.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Governor Yates promptly issued his proclamation, dated the 15th of April,
+ convening the Legislature for the 23rd inst. in Extraordinary Session.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ * * * * * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "On the evening of the 25th of April, Mr. Douglas, who had arrived at the
+ Capital the day before, addressed the General Assembly and a densely
+ packed audience, in the Hall of Representatives, in that masterly effort,
+ which must live and be enshrined in the hearts of his countrymen so long
+ as our Government shall endure. Douglas had ever delighted in the mental
+ conflicts of Party strife; but now, when his Country was assailed by the
+ red hand of Treason, he was instantly divested of his Party armor and
+ stood forth panoplied only in the pure garb of a true Patriot.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "He taught his auditory&mdash;he taught his Country, for his speeches were
+ telegraphed all over it&mdash;the duty of patriotism at that perilous hour
+ of the Nation's Life. He implored both Democrats and Republicans to lay
+ aside their Party creeds and Platforms; to dispense with Party
+ Organizations and Party Appeals; to forget that they were ever divided
+ until they had first rescued the Government from its assailants. His
+ arguments were clear, convincing, and unanswerable; his appeals for the
+ Salvation of his Country, irresistible. It was the last speech, but one,
+ he ever made."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Among other pithy and patriotic points made by him in that great speech
+ &mdash;[July 9, 1861.]&mdash;were these: "So long as there was a hope of a
+ peaceful solution, I prayed and implored for Compromise. I have spared no
+ effort for a peaceful solution of these troubles; I have failed, and there
+ is but one thing to do&mdash;to rally under the flag." "The South has no
+ cause of complaint." "Shall we obey the laws or adopt the Mexican system
+ of War, on every election." "Forget Party&mdash;all remember only your
+ Country." "The shortest road to Peace is the most tremendous preparation
+ for War." "It is with a sad heart and with a grief I have never before
+ experienced, that I have to contemplate this fearful Struggle. * * * But
+ it is our duty to protect the Government and the flag from every
+ assailant, be he who he may."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In Chicago, Douglas repeated his patriotic appeal for the preservation of
+ the Union, and tersely declared that "There can be no Neutrals in this War&mdash;only
+ Patriots and Traitors." In that city he was taken with a mortal illness,
+ and expired at the Tremont House, June 3, 1861&mdash;just one month prior
+ to the meeting of the called Session of Congress.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The wonderful influence wielded by Douglas throughout the North, was well
+ described afterward by his colleague, Judge Trumbull, in the Senate, when
+ he said: "His course had much to do in producing that unanimity in support
+ of the Government which is now seen throughout the Loyal States. The
+ sublime spectacle of twenty million people rising as one man in
+ vindication of Constitutional Liberty and Free Government, when assailed
+ by misguided Rebels and plotting Traitors, is, to a considerable extent
+ due to his efforts. His magnanimous and patriotic course in this trying
+ hour of his Country's destiny was the crowning act of his life."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And Senator McDougall of California&mdash;his life-long friend&mdash;in
+ describing the shock of the first intelligence that reached him, of his
+ friend's sudden death, with words of even greater power, continued: "But,
+ as, powerless for the moment to resist the tide of emotions, I bowed my
+ head in silent grief, it came to me that the Senator had lived to witness
+ the opening of the present unholy War upon our Government; that,
+ witnessing it, from the Capital of his State, as his highest and best
+ position, he had sent forth a War-cry worthy of that Douglass, who, as
+ ancient legends tell, with the welcome of the knightly Andalusian King,
+ was told,
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ '"Take thou the leading of the van, And charge the Moors amain; There is
+ not such a lance as thine In all the hosts of Spain.'
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ "Those trumpet notes, with a continuous swell, are sounding still
+ throughout all the borders of our Land. I heard them upon the mountains
+ and in the valleys of the far State whence I come. They have communicated
+ faith and strength to millions. * * * I ceased to grieve for Douglas. The
+ last voice of the dead Douglas I felt to be stronger than the voice of
+ multitudes of living men."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And here it may not be considered out of place for a brief reference to
+ the writer's own position at this time; especially as it has been much
+ misapprehended and misstated. One of the fairest of these statements* runs
+ thus:
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [Lusk's History of the Politics of Illinois from 1856 to 1884, p. 175.]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ "It is said that Logan did not approve the great speech made by Senator
+ Douglas, at Springfield, in April, 1861, wherein he took the bold ground
+ that in the contest which was then clearly imminent to him, between the
+ North and the South, that there could be but two parties, Patriots and
+ Traitors. But granting that there was a difference between Douglas and
+ Logan at that time, it did not relate to their adhesion to the Cause of
+ their Country Logan had fought for the Union upon the plains of Mexico,
+ and again stood ready to give his life, if need be, for his Country, even
+ amid the cowardly slanders that were then following his pathway.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The difference between Douglas and Logan was this: Mr. Douglas was fresh
+ from an extended campaign in the dissatisfied Sections of the Southern
+ States, and he was fully apprised of their intention to attempt the
+ overthrow of the Union, and was therefore in favor of the most stupendous
+ preparations for War.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Mr. Logan, on the other hand, believed in exhausting all peaceable means
+ before a resort to Arms, and in this he was like President Lincoln; but
+ when he saw there was no alternative but to fight, he was ready and
+ willing for armed resistance, and, resigning his seat in Congress, entered
+ the Army, as Colonel of the Thirty-first Illinois Infantry, and remained
+ in the field in active service until Peace was declared."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This statement is, in the main, both fair and correct.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is no more correct, however, in intimating that "Logan did not approve
+ the great speech made by Senator Douglas, at Springfield, in April, 1861,
+ wherein he took the bold ground that in the contest which was then clearly
+ imminent to him, between the North and the South, that there could be but
+ two parties, Patriots and Traitors," than others have been in intimating
+ that he was disloyal to the Union, prior to the breaking out of
+ hostilities&mdash;a charge which was laid out flat in the Senate Chamber,
+ April 19, 1881.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [In Dawson's Life of Logan, pp. 348-353, this matter is thus alluded to:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In an early part of this work the base charge that Logan was not loyal
+ before the War has been briefly touched on. It may be well here to touch
+ on it more fully. As was then remarked, the only man that ever dared
+ insinuate to Logan's face that he was a Secession sympathizer before the
+ War, was Senator Ben Hill of Georgia, in the United States Senate
+ Chamber, March 30, 1881; and Logan instantly retorted: 'Any man who
+ insinuates that I sympathized with it at that time insinuates what is
+ false,' and Senator Hill at once retracted the insinuation."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Subsequently, April 19, 1881, Senator Logan, in a speech, fortified
+ with indisputable record and documentary evidence, forever set at rest
+ the atrocious calumny. From that record it appears that on the 17th
+ December, 1860, while still a Douglas Democrat, immediately after
+ Lincoln's election, and long before his inauguration, and before even
+ the first gun of the war was fired, Mr. Logan, then a Representative in
+ the House, voted affirmatively on a resolution, offered by Morris of
+ Illinois, which declared an 'immovable attachment' to 'our National
+ Union,' and 'that it is our patriotic duty to stand by it as our hope in
+ peace and our defense in war;' that on the 7th January, 1861, Mr. Adrian
+ having offered the following 'Resolved, That we fully approve of the
+ bold and patriotic act of Major Anderson in withdrawing from Fort
+ Moultrie to Fort Sumter, and of the determination of the President to
+ maintain that fearless officer in his present position; and that we will
+ support the President in all constitutional measures to enforce the laws
+ and preserve the Union'&mdash;Mr. Logan, in casting his vote, said: 'As
+ the resolution receives my unqualified approval, I vote Aye;' and that
+ further on the 5th of February, 1861, before the inauguration of
+ President Lincoln, in a speech made by Logan in the House in favor of
+ the Crittenden Compromise measures, he used the following language
+ touching Secession:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'Sir, I have always denied, and do yet deny, the right of Secession.
+ There is no warrant for it in the Constitution. It is wrong, it is
+ unlawful, unconstitutional, and should be called by the right name&mdash;revolution.
+ No good, sir, can result from it, but much mischief may. It is no remedy
+ for any grievances. I hold that all grievances can be much easier
+ redressed inside the Union than out of it.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In that same speech he also * * * said:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'I have been taught that the preservation of this glorious Union, with
+ its broad flag waving over us as the shield for our protection on land
+ and on sea, is paramount to all the parties and platforms that ever have
+ existed or ever can exist. I would, to day, if I had the power, sink my
+ own party and every other one, with all their platforms, into the vortex
+ of ruin, without heaving a sigh or shedding a tear, to save the Union,
+ or even stop the revolution where it is.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In this most complete speech of vindication&mdash;which Senator Logan
+ said he put upon record, 'First, that my children, after me, may not
+ have these slanders thrown in their faces without the power of
+ dispelling or refuting them; and second, that they may endure in this
+ Senate Chamber, so that it may be a notice to Senators of all parties
+ and all creeds that hereafter, while I am here in the Senate, no
+ insinuation of that kind will be submitted to by me'&mdash;the proofs of
+ the falsity of the charge were piled mountain-high, and among them the
+ following voluntary statements from two Democratic Senators, who were
+ with him before the War, in the House of Representatives:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'United States Senate Chamber, WASHINGTON, April 14, 1881.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'DEAR SIR: In a discussion in the Senate a few weeks since you referred
+ to the fact that a Southern Senator, who had served with you in Congress
+ before the War, could testify that during your term of service there you
+ gave no encouragement to the Secession of the Southern States, adding,
+ however, that you did not ask such testimony. I was not sure at the time
+ that your reference was to me, as Senator Pugh of Alabama, was also a
+ member of that Congress.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'Since then, having learned that your reference was to me, I propose on
+ the floor of the Senate, should suitable occasion offer, to state what I
+ know of your position and views at the time referred to. But, as I may
+ be absent from the Senate for some time, I deem it best to give you this
+ written statement, with full authority to use it in any way that seems
+ proper to you.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'When you first came to Congress in&mdash;&mdash;, you were a very
+ ardent and impetuous Democrat. In the division which took place between
+ Mr. Douglas and his friends, on the one hand, and the Southern
+ Democrats, on the other, you were a warm and uncompromising supporter of
+ Mr. Douglas; and in the course of that convention you became somewhat
+ estranged from your party associates in the South. In our frequent
+ discussions upon the subjects of difference, I never heard a word of
+ sympathy from your lips with Secession in either theory or practice. On
+ the contrary, you were vehement in your opposition to it.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'I remember well a conversation I had with you just before leaving
+ Washington to become a candidate for the Secession convention. You
+ expressed the deep regret you felt at my proposed action, and deplored
+ the contemplated movement in terms as strong as any I heard from any
+ Republican.' Yours truly, "'L. Q. C. LAMAR
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'Hon. JOHN A. LOGAN. "United States Senate, Washington, D. C.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Senate Chamber, April 14, 1881.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'Having read the above statement of Senator Lamar, I fully concur with
+ him in my recollection of your expressions and action in opposition to
+ Secession. Truly yours, J. L. PUGH.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "At the conclusion of Senator Logan's speech of refutation, Senator
+ Brown of Georgia (Democrat) said:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'Our newspapers may have misrepresented his position. I am now
+ satisfied they did. I have heard the Senator's statement with great
+ interest, and I take pleasure in saying&mdash;for I had some idea before
+ that there was some shadow of truth in this report&mdash;that I think
+ his vindication' is full, complete, and conclusive.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'I recollect very well during the war, when I was Governor of my State
+ and the Federal army was invading it, to have had a large force of
+ militia aiding the Confederate army, and that Gen. Logan was considered
+ by us as one of the ablest, most gallant, and skillful leaders of the
+ Federal army. We had occasion to feel his power, and we learned to
+ respect him.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Senator Beck, of Kentucky (Democrat), referring to the fact that he was
+ kept out of the House at one time, and a great many suggestions had been
+ made to him as to General Logan, continued:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'As I said the other day, I never proposed to go into such things, and
+ never have done so; but at that time General Frank Blair was here, and I
+ submitted many of the papers I received to him,&mdash;I never thought of
+ using any of them,&mdash;and I remember the remark that he made to me:
+ Beck, John Logan was one of the hardest fighters of the war; and when
+ many men who were seeking to whistle him down the wind because of his
+ politics when the war began, were snugly fixed in safe places, he was
+ taking his life in his hand wherever the danger was greatest&mdash;and I
+ tore up every paper I got, and burnt it in the fire before his eyes.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Senator Dawes of Massachusetts (Republican), also took occasion to say:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Mr. President, I do not know that anything which can be said on this
+ side would be of any consequence to the Senator from Illinois in this
+ matter. But I came into the House of Representatives at the same session
+ that the Senator did.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'He was at that time one of the most intense of Democrats, and I was
+ there with him when the Rebellion first took root and manifested itself
+ in open and flagrant war; and I wish to say as a Republican of that day,
+ when the Senator from Illinois was a Democrat, that at the earliest
+ possible moment when the Republican Party was in anxiety as to the
+ position of the Northern Democracy on the question of forcible assault
+ on the Union, nothing did they hail with more delight than the early
+ stand which the Senator from Illinois, from the Democratic side of the
+ House, took upon the question of resistance to the Government of the
+ United States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I feel that it is right that I should state that he was among the
+ first, if not the very first, of the Northern Democrats who came out
+ openly and declared, whatever may have been their opinion about the
+ doctrines of the Republican Party, that when it came to a question of
+ forcible resistance, they should be counted on the side of the
+ Government, and in co-operation with the Republican Party in the attempt
+ to maintain its authority.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'I am very glad, whether it be of any service or not, to bear this
+ testimony to the early stand the Senator from Illinois took while he was
+ still a Democrat, and the large influence he exerted upon the Northern
+ Democracy, which kept it from being involved in the condition and in the
+ work of the Southern Democracy at that time.'"]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ So far from this being the case, the fact is&mdash;and it is here
+ mentioned in part to bring out the interesting point that, had he lived,
+ Douglas would have been no idle spectator of the great War that was about
+ to be waged&mdash;that when Douglas visited Springfield, Illinois, to make
+ that great speech in the latter part of April, 1861, the writer went there
+ also, to see and talk over with him the grave situation of affairs, not
+ only in the Nation generally, but particularly in Illinois. And on that
+ occasion Mr. Douglas said to him, substantially: "The time has now arrived
+ when a man must be either for or against his Country. Indeed so strongly
+ do I feel this, and that further dalliance with this question is useless,
+ that I shall myself take steps to join the Array, and fight for the
+ maintenance of the Union."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ To this the writer replied that he was "equally well convinced that each
+ and every man must take his stand," and that he also "purposed at an early
+ day to raise a Regiment and draw the sword in that Union's defense."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This was after Sumter, and only seventy days before Congress was to meet
+ in Called Session. When that session met, Douglas had, weeks before, gone
+ down to the grave amid the tears of a distracted Nation, with the solemn
+ injunction upon his dying lips: "Obey the Laws and Defend the
+ Constitution"&mdash;and the writer had returned to Washington, to take his
+ seat in Congress, with that determination still alive in his heart.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In fact there had been all along, substantial accord between Mr. Douglas
+ and the writer. There really was no "difference between Douglas and Logan"
+ as to "preparations for War," or in "exhausting all Peaceable means before
+ a resort to Arms," and both were in full accord with President Lincoln on
+ these points.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Let us see if this is not of record: Take the writer's speech in the House
+ of Representatives, February 5, 1861, and it will be seen that he said: "I
+ will go as far as any man in the performance of a Constitutional duty to
+ put down Rebellion, to suppress Insurrection, and to enforce the Laws."
+ Again, he said, "If all the evils and calamities that have ever happened
+ since the World began, could be gathered in one Great Catastrophe, its
+ horrors could not eclipse, in their frightful proportions, the Drama that
+ impends over us."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ From these extracts it is plain enough that even at this very early day
+ the writer fully understood the "frightful proportions" of the impending
+ struggle, and would "go as far as"&mdash;not only Mr. Douglas, but&mdash;"any
+ man, to put down Rebellion"&mdash;which necessarily involved War, and
+ "preparations for War." But none the less, but rather the more, because of
+ the horrors which he foresaw must be inseparable from so terrible a War,
+ was he anxious by timely mutual Concessions&mdash;"by any sacrifice," as
+ he termed it&mdash;if possible, to avert it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He was ready to sink Party, self, and to accept any of the Propositions to
+ that end&mdash;Mr. Douglas's among them.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [See his speech of February 5, 1861, Congressional Globe]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ In this attitude also he was in accord with Mr. Douglas, who, as well as
+ the writer, was ready to make any sacrifice, of Party or self; to "exhaust
+ every effort at peaceful adjustment," before resorting to War. The fact is
+ they were much of the time in consultation, and always in substantial
+ accord.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In a speech made in the Senate, March 15, 1861, Mr. Douglas had reduced
+ the situation to the following three alternative points:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "1. THE RESTORATION AND PRESERVATION OF THE UNION by such Amendments to
+ the Constitution as will insure the domestic tranquillity, safety, and
+ equality of all the States, and thus restore peace, unity, and fraternity,
+ to the whole Country.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "2. A PEACEFUL DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION by recognizing the Independence of
+ such States as refuse to remain in the Union without such Constitutional
+ Amendments, and the establishment of a liberal system of commercial and
+ social intercourse with them by treaties of commerce and amity.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "3. WAR, with a view to the subjugation and military occupation of those
+ States which have Seceded or may Secede from the Union."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ As a thorough Union man, he could never have agreed to a "Peaceful
+ Dissolution of the Union." On the other hand he was equally averse to War,
+ because he held that "War is Disunion. War is final, eternal Separation."
+ Hence, all his energies and talents were given to carrying out his
+ first-stated line of policy, and to persuading the Seceders to accept what
+ in that line was offered to them by the dominant party.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ His speech in the Senate, March 25, 1861, was a remarkable effort in that
+ respect. Mr. Breckinridge had previously spoken, and had declared that:
+ "Whatever settlement may be made of other questions, this must be settled
+ upon terms that will give them [the Southern States] either a right, in
+ common with others, to emigrate into all the territory, or will secure to
+ them their rights on a principle of equitable division."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Douglas replied: "Now, under the laws as they stand, in every
+ Territory of the United States, without any exception, a Southern man can
+ go with his Slave-property on equal terms with all other property. * * *
+ Every man, either from the North or South, may go into the Territories
+ with his property on terms of exact equality, subject to the local law;
+ and Slave-property stands on an equal footing with all other kinds of
+ property in the Territories of the United States. It now stands on an
+ equal footing in all the Territories for the first time.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I have shown you that, up to 1859, little more than a year ago, it was
+ prohibited in part of the Territories. It is not prohibited anywhere now.
+ For the first time, under Republican rule, the Southern States have
+ secured that equality of rights in the Territories for their
+ Slave-property which they have been demanding so long."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He held that the doctrine of Congressional prohibition in all the
+ Territories, as incorporated in the Wilmot proviso, had now been
+ repudiated by the Republicans of both Houses of Congress, who had "all
+ come over to Non-intervention and Popular Sovereignty;" that the "Wilmot
+ proviso is given up; that Congressional prohibition is given up; that the
+ aggressive policy is repudiated; and hereafter the Southern man and the
+ Northern man may move into the Territories with their Property on terms of
+ entire equality, without excepting Slaves or any other kind of property."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Continuing, he said: "What more do the Southern States want? What more can
+ any man demand? Non-intervention is all you asked. Will it be said the
+ South required in addition to this, laws of Congress to protect Slavery in
+ the Territories? That cannot be said; for only last May, the Senate, by a
+ nearly unanimous vote&mdash;a unanimous vote of the Southern men, with one
+ or two exceptions&mdash;declared that affirmative legislation was not
+ needed at this time. * * * What cause is there for further alarm in the
+ Southern States, so far as the Territories are concerned? * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I repeat, the South has got all they ever claimed in all the Territories.
+ * * * Then, sir, according to law, the Slaveholding States have got
+ equality in the Territories. How is it in fact. * * * Now, I propose to
+ show that they have got the actual equitable partition, giving them more
+ than they were disposed to demand.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The Senator from Kentucky, * * * Mr. Crittenden, introduced a proposition
+ for an equitable partition. That proposition was, that north of 36 30'
+ Slavery should be prohibited, and South of it should be protected, by
+ Territorial law. * * * What is now the case? It is true the Crittenden
+ proposition has not yet become part of the Constitution; but it is also
+ true that an equitable partition has been made by the vote of the people
+ themselves, establishing, maintaining, and protecting Slavery in every
+ inch of territory South of the thirty-seventh parallel, giving the South
+ half a degree more than the Crittenden Proposition.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "There stands your Slave-code in New Mexico protecting Slavery up to the
+ thirty-seventh degree as effectually as laws can be made to protect it.
+ There it stands the Law of the Land. Therefore the South has all below the
+ thirty-seventh parallel, while Congress has not prohibited Slavery even
+ North of it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ * * * * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "What more, then, is demanded? Simply that a Constitutional Amendment
+ shall be adopted, affirming&mdash;what? Precisely what every Republican in
+ both Houses of Congress has voted for within a month. Just do, by
+ Constitutional Amendment, what you have voted in the Senate and House of
+ Representatives, that is all. You are not even required to do that, but
+ merely to vote for a proposition submitting the question to the People of
+ the States whether they will make a Constitutional Amendment affirming the
+ equitable partition of the Territories which the People have already made.
+ * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "You may ask, why does the South want us to do it by Constitutional
+ Amendment, when we have just done it voluntarily by Law? The President of
+ the United States, in his Inaugural, has told you the reason. He has
+ informed you that all of these troubles grow out of the absence of a
+ Constitutional provision defining the power of Congress over the subject
+ of Slavery. * * * He thinks that the trouble has arisen from the absence
+ of such a Constitutional Provision, and suggests a National Convention to
+ enable the People to supply the defect, leaving the People to say what it
+ is, instead of dictating to them what it shall be."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It may here be remarked that while Mr. Douglas held that "So far as the
+ doctrine of Popular Sovereignty and Nonintervention is concerned, the
+ Colorado Bill, the Nevada Bill, and the Dakota Bill, are identically the
+ same with the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, and in its precise language"&mdash;these
+ former Bills having been passed at the last Session of the 36th Congress&mdash;the
+ Republicans, on the contrary, held that neither in these nor other
+ measures had they abandoned any distinctive Republican principle; while
+ Breckinridge declared that they had passed those Territorial Bills,
+ without the Wilmot proviso, because they felt perfectly secure in those
+ Territories, with all the Federal patronage in Republican hands.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ However that may be, we have here, brought out in strong contrast, the
+ conciliatory feeling which inspired such Union men as Douglas, and the
+ strong and persistent efforts they made in behalf of Concession and Peace
+ up to a period only a few weeks before the bombardment of Sumter; and the
+ almost total revulsion in their sentiments after that event, as to the
+ only proper means to preserve the Union. For it was only then that the
+ truth, as it fell from Douglas's lips at Springfield, was fully
+ recognized, to wit: that there was no half-way ground betwixt Patriotism
+ and Treason; that War was an existing fact; and that Patriots must arm to
+ defend and preserve the Union against the armed Traitors assailing it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At last, July 4, 1861, the Congress met, and proceeded at once with
+ commendable alacrity and patriotism, to the consideration and enactment of
+ measures sufficient to meet the extraordinary exigency, whether as regards
+ the raising and equipment of the vast bodies of Union volunteers needed to
+ put down Rebellion, or in the raising of those enormous amounts of money
+ which the Government was now, or might thereafter be, called upon to spend
+ like water in preserving the Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It was at this memorable Session, of little over one month, that the chief
+ of the great "War Measures" as they were termed, were enacted.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkvirginia" id="linkvirginia"></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="p274-map.jpg (153K)" src="images/p274-map.jpg" style="width:100%;" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch13" id="linkch13"></a><br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ CHAPTER XIII.<br /> <br /> THE STORM OF BATTLE.<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ We have seen how Fort Sumter fell; how the patriotic North responded to
+ President Lincoln's Call, for 75,000 three-months volunteers, with such
+ enthusiasm that, had there been a sufficiency of arms and accoutrements,
+ he might have had, within three months of that Call, an Army of 500,000
+ men in the field; how he had called for 42,000 three-years volunteers
+ early in May, besides swelling what little there was of a regular Army by
+ ten full regiments; and how a strict blockade of the entire Southern
+ Coast-line had not only been declared, but was now enforced and respected.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ General Butler, promoted Major-General for his Military successes at
+ Annapolis and Baltimore, was now in command of Fortress Monroe and
+ vicinity, with some 12,000 volunteers under him, confronted, on the
+ Peninsula, by a nearly equal number of Rebel troops, under Generals Huger
+ and Magruder&mdash;General Banks, with less than 10,000 Union troops,
+ occupying Baltimore, and its vicinage.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ General Patterson, with some 20,000 Union troops&mdash;mostly Pennsylvania
+ militia&mdash;was at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, with about an equal
+ number of the Enemy, under General Joseph E. Johnston, at Harper's Ferry,
+ on the Potomac, watching him.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Some 50,000 Union troops were in camp, in and about Washington, on the
+ Virginia side, under the immediate command of Generals McDowell and
+ Mansfield&mdash;Lieutenant General Scott, at Washington, being in
+ Chief-command of the Union Armies&mdash;and, confronting these Union
+ forces, in Virginia, near the National Capital, were some 30,000 Rebel
+ troops under the command of General Beauregard, whose success in securing
+ the evacuation of Fort Sumter by its little garrison of half-starved Union
+ soldiers, had magnified him, in the eyes of the rebellious South, into the
+ proportions of a Military genius of the first order.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ There had been no fighting, nor movements, worthy of special note, until
+ June 7th, when General Patterson advanced from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania,
+ to Hagerstown, Maryland. General Johnston at once evacuated Harper's
+ Ferry, and retreated upon Winchester, Virginia.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ General McClellan, in command of the Department of the Ohio, had, however,
+ crossed the Ohio river, and by the 4th of July, being at Grafton, West
+ Virginia, with his small Army of Union troops, to which a greatly inferior
+ Rebel force was opposed, commenced that successful advance against it,
+ which led, after Bull Run, to his being placed at the head of all the
+ Armies of the United States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Subsequently Patterson crossed the Potomac, and after trifling away over
+ one month's time, at last, on the 15th of July, got within nine miles of
+ Winchester and Johnston's Army. Barring a spiritless reconnaissance,
+ Patterson&mdash;who was a fervent Breckinridge-Democrat in politics, and
+ whose Military judgment, as we shall see, was greatly influenced, if not
+ entirely controlled, by his Chief of staff, Fitz John Porter&mdash;never
+ got any nearer to the Enemy!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Instead of attacking the Rebel force, under Johnston, or at least keeping
+ it "employed," as he was ordered to do by General Scott; instead of
+ getting nearer, and attempting to get between Winchester and the
+ Shenandoah River, as was suggested to him by his second in command,
+ General Sanford; and instead of permitting Sanford to go ahead, as that
+ General desired to, with his own 8,000 men, and do it himself; General
+ Patterson ordered him off to Charlestown&mdash;twelve miles to the Union
+ left and rear,&mdash;and then took the balance of his Army, with himself,
+ to the same place!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In other words, while he had the most positive and definite orders, from
+ General Scott, if not to attack and whip Johnston, to at least keep him
+ busy and prevent that Rebel General from forming a junction, via the
+ Manassas Gap railroad or otherwise, with Beauregard, Patterson
+ deliberately moved his Army further away from Winchester and gave to the
+ Enemy the very chance of escaping and forming that junction which was
+ essential to Rebel success in the vicinity of Manassas.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But for this disobedience of orders, Bull Run would doubtless have been a
+ great victory to the Union Arms, instead of a reverse, and the War, which
+ afterward lasted four years, might have been over in as many months.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is foreign to the design of this work, to present in it detailed
+ descriptions of the battles waged during the great War of the Rebellion
+ &mdash;it being the present intention of the writer, at some later day, to
+ prepare and publish another work devoted to such stirring Military scenes.
+ Yet, as it might seem strange and unaccountable for him to pass by, at
+ this time, without any description or comment, the first pitched battle of
+ the Rebellion, he is constrained to pause and view that memorable contest.
+ And first, it may be well to say a word of the general topography of the
+ country about the battle-field.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Alleghany Mountains, or that part of them with which we have now to
+ do, stretch in three almost equidistant parallel ridges, from North-East
+ to South-West, through the heart of Old Virginia. An occasional pass, or
+ "Gap," through these ridges, affords communication, by good roads, between
+ the enclosed parallel valleys and the Eastern part of that State.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Western of these Alleghany ridges bears the name of "Alleghany
+ Mountains" proper; the Eastern is called the "Blue Ridge;" while the
+ Middle Ridge, at its Northern end&mdash;which rests upon the Potomac,
+ where that river sweeps through three parallel ridges almost at right
+ angles to their own line of direction&mdash;is called the "Great North
+ Mountain."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The valley, between the Middle Ridge and the Blue Ridge, is known as the
+ Shenandoah Valley, taking its name from the Shenandoah River, which, for
+ more than one hundred miles, flows along the Western foot of the Blue
+ Ridge, toward the North-East, until it empties into the Potomac, at
+ Harper's Ferry.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Orange and Alexandria railroad runs from Alexandria,&mdash;on the
+ opposite bank of the Potomac from Washington, and a few miles below the
+ Capital,&mdash;in a general Southeasterly direction, to Culpepper
+ Court-House; thence Southerly to Gordonsville, where it joins the Virginia
+ Central&mdash;the Western branch of which runs thence through
+ Charlotteville, Staunton, and Covington, across the ridges and valleys of
+ the Alleghanies, while its Eastern branch, taking a general South-easterly
+ direction, crosses the Richmond and Fredricksburg railroad at Hanover
+ Junction, some twenty miles North of Richmond, and thence sweeps Southerly
+ to the Rebel capital.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is along this Easterly branch of the Virginia Central that Rebel
+ re-enforcements will be hurried to Beauregard, from Richmond to
+ Gordonsville, and thence, by the Orange and Alexandria railroad, to
+ Manassas Junction.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Some twenty-five miles from Alexandria, a short railroad-feeder&mdash;which
+ runs from Strasburg, in the Shenandoah Valley, through the Blue Ridge, at
+ Manassas Gap, in an East-South-easterly direction&mdash;strikes the
+ Alexandria and Orange railroad. The point of contact is Manassas Junction;
+ and it is along this Manassas-Gap feeder that Johnston, with his Army at
+ Winchester&mdash;some twenty miles North-North-East of Strasburg&mdash;expects,
+ in case of attack by Patterson, to be re-enforced by Beauregard; or, in
+ case the latter is assailed, to go to his assistance, after shaking off
+ Patterson.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This little link of railroad, known as the Manassas Gap railroad, is
+ therefore an important factor in the game of War, now commencing in
+ earnest; and it had, as we shall see, very much to do, not only with the
+ advance of McDowell's Union Army upon Bull Run, but also with the result
+ of the first pitched battle thereabout fought.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ From Alexandria, some twelve miles to the Westward, runs a fine turnpike
+ road to Fairfax Court-House; thence, continuing Westward, but gradually
+ and slightly dipping award the South, it passes through Germantown,
+ Centreville, and Groveton, to Warrenton.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This "Warrenton Pike"&mdash;as it is termed&mdash;also plays a somewhat
+ conspicuous part, before, during, and after the Battle of Bull Run. For
+ most of its length, from Fairfax Court-House to Warrenton, the Warrenton
+ Pike pursues a course almost parallel with the Orange and Alexandria
+ railroad aforesaid, while the stream of Bull Run, pursuing a
+ South-easterly course, has a general direction almost parallel with that
+ of the Manassas Gap railroad.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ We shall find that it is the diamond-shaped parallelogram, formed by the
+ obtuse angle junction of the two railroads on the South, and the similarly
+ obtuse-angled crossing of the stream of Bull Run by the Warrenton Pike on
+ the North, that is destined to become the historic battle-field of the
+ first "Bull Run," or "Manassas;" and it is in the Northern obtuse-angle of
+ this parallelogram that the main fighting is done, upon a spot not much
+ more than one mile square, three sides of the same being bounded
+ respectively by the Bull Run stream, the Warrenton Pike, which crosses it
+ on a stone bridge, and the Sudley Springs road, which crosses the Pike, at
+ right-angles to it, near a stone house.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 3rd of June, 1861, General McDowell, in command of the Department
+ of North-Eastern Virginia, with head-quarters at Arlington, near
+ Washington, receives from Colonel Townsend, Assistant Adjutant-General
+ with Lieutenant-General Scott&mdash;who is in Chief command of all the
+ Union Forces, with Headquarters at Washington&mdash;a brief but pregnant
+ communication, the body of which runs thus: "General Scott desires you to
+ submit an estimate of the number and composition of a column to be pushed
+ toward Manassas Junction, and perhaps the Gap, say in four or five days,
+ to favor Patterson's attack on Harper's Ferry. The rumor is that Arlington
+ Heights will be attacked to-night."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In response to this request, General McDowell submits, on the day
+ following, an estimate that "the actual entire force at the head of the
+ column should, for the purpose of carrying the position at Manassas and of
+ occupying both the road to Culpepper, and the one to the Gap, be as much
+ as 12,000 Infantry, two batteries of regular Artillery, and from six to
+ eight companies of Cavalry, with an available reserve, ready to move
+ forward from Alexandria by rail, of 5,000 Infantry and one heavy field
+ battery, rifled if possible; these numbers to be increased or diminished
+ as events may indicate." This force of raw troops he proposes to organize
+ into field brigades under the command of "active and experienced colonels"
+ of the regular Army. And while giving this estimate as to the number of
+ troops necessary, he suggestively adds that "in proportion to the numbers
+ used will be the lives saved; and as we have such numbers pressing to be
+ allowed to serve, might it not be well to overwhelm and conquer as much by
+ the show of force as by the use of it?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Subsequently McDowell presents to General Scott, and Mr. Lincoln's
+ Cabinet, a project of advance and attack, which is duly approved and
+ ordered to be put in execution. In that project or plan of operations,
+ submitted by verbal request of General Scott, near the end of June,&mdash;the
+ success of which is made contingent upon Patterson's holding Johnston
+ engaged at Winchester in the Shenandoah Valley, and also upon Butler's
+ holding the Rebel force near Fortress Monroe from coming to Beauregard's
+ aid at Manassas Junction,&mdash;McDowell estimates Beauregard's strength
+ at 25,000, with a possible increase, bringing it up to 35,000 men. The
+ objective point in McDowell's plan, is Manassas Junction, and he proposes
+ "to move against Manassas with a force of 30,000 of all arms, organized
+ into three columns, with a reserve of 10,000."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ McDowell is fully aware that the Enemy has "batteries in position at
+ several places in his front, and defensive works on Bull Run, and Manassas
+ Junction." These batteries he proposes to turn. He believes Bull Run to be
+ "fordable at almost anyplace,"&mdash;an error which ultimately renders his
+ plan abortive,&mdash;and his proposition is, after uniting his columns on
+ the Eastern side of Bull Run, "to attack the main position by turning it,
+ if possible, so as to cut off communications by rail with the South, or
+ threaten to do so sufficiently to force the Enemy to leave his
+ intrenchments to guard them."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In other words, assuming the Enemy driven back, by minor flanking
+ movements, or otherwise, upon his intrenched position at Bull Run, or
+ Manassas, the plan is to turn his right, destroy the Orange and Alexandria
+ railroad leading South, and the bridge at Bristol, so as to cut off his
+ supplies. This done, the Enemy&mdash;if nothing worse ensues for him&mdash;will
+ be in a "bad box."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ McDowell, however, has no idea that the Enemy will stand still to let this
+ thing be done. On the contrary, he is well satisfied that Beauregard will
+ accept battle on some chosen ground between Manassas Junction and
+ Washington.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the afternoon of Tuesday, the 16th of July, the advance of McDowell's
+ Army commences. That Army is organized into five divisions&mdash;four of
+ which accompany McDowell, while a fifth is left to protect the defensive
+ works of Washington, on the South bank of the Potomac. This latter, the
+ Fourth Division, commanded by Brigadier-General Theodore Runyon, comprises
+ eight unbrigaded New Jersey regiments of (three months, and three years)
+ volunteers&mdash;none of which take part in the ensuing conflicts-at-arms.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The moving column consists of the First Division, commanded by
+ Brigadier-General Daniel Tyler, comprising four brigades, respectively
+ under Brigadier-General R. C. Schenck, and Colonels E. D. Keyes, W. T.
+ Sherman, and I. B. Richardson; the Second Division, commanded by Colonel
+ David Hunter, comprising two brigades, under Colonels Andrew Porter and A.
+ E. Burnside respectively; the Third Division, commanded by Colonel S. P.
+ Heintzelman, comprising three brigades, under Colonels W. B. Franklin, O.
+ B. Wilcox, and O. O. Howard, respectively; and the Fifth Division,
+ commanded by Colonel Dixon S. Miles, comprising two brigades, under
+ Colonels Lewis Blenker, and Thomas A. Davies, respectively.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Tyler's Division leads the advance, moving along the Leesburg road to
+ Vienna, on our right, with orders to cross sharply to its left, upon
+ Fairfax Court House, the following (Wednesday) morning. Miles's Division
+ follows the turnpike road to Annandale, and then moves, by the Braddock
+ road,&mdash;along which Braddock, a century before, had marched his doomed
+ army to disaster,&mdash;upon Fairfax Court House, then known to be held by
+ Bonham's Rebel Brigade of South Carolinians. Hunter follows Miles, to
+ Annandale, and thence advances direct upon Fairfax, by the turnpike road&mdash;McDowell's
+ idea being to bag Bonham's Brigade, if possible, by a simultaneous attack
+ on the front and both flanks. But the advance is too slow, and the Enemy's
+ outposts, both there and elsewhere, have ample opportunity of falling
+ safely back upon their main position, behind the stream of Bull Run.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [McDowell in his testimony before the "Committee on the Conduct of the
+ War," said: "At Fairfax Court House was the South Carolina Brigade. And
+ I do not suppose anything would have had a greater cheering effect upon
+ the troops, and perhaps upon the Country, than the capture of that
+ brigade. And if General Tyler could have got down there any time in the
+ forenoon instead of in the afternoon, the capture of that brigade was
+ beyond question. It was about 5,000 or 6,000 men, and Tyler had 12,000,
+ at the same time that we were pressing on in front. He did not get down
+ there until in the afternoon; none of us got forward in time."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ This slowness is due to various causes. There is a pretty general dread,
+ for example, among our troops, of threatened ambuscades, and hence the
+ advance is more cautious than it otherwise would be. It is thought the
+ part of wisdom, as it were, to "feel the way." The marching, moreover, is
+ new to our troops. General Scott had checked McDowell when the latter
+ undertook to handle eight regiments together, near Washington, by
+ intimating that he was "trying to make a show." Thus the very essential
+ knowledge of how to manoeuvre troops in large bodies, has been withheld
+ from our Union generals, while the volunteer regiments have either rusted
+ in camp from inaction, or have been denied the opportunity of acquiring
+ that endurance and hardiness and discipline which frequent movement of
+ troops confers. Hence, all unused to the discipline of the march, every
+ moment some one falls out of line to "pick blackberries, or to get water."
+ Says McDowell, in afterward reporting this march: "They would not keep in
+ the ranks, order as much as you pleased. When they came where water was
+ fresh, they would pour the old water out of their canteens and fill them
+ with fresh water; they were not used to denying themselves much."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Meantime, Heintzelman's Division is also advancing, by cross-roads, more
+ to the left and South of the railroad line,&mdash;in accordance with
+ McDowell's plan, which comprehends not only the bagging of Bonham, but an
+ immediate subsequent demonstration, by Tyler, upon Centreville and beyond,
+ while Heintzelman, supported by Hunter and Miles, shall swoop across Bull
+ Run, at Wolf Run Shoals, some distance below Union Mills, turn the Enemy's
+ right, and cut off his Southern line of railroad communications. Thus, by
+ the evening of Wednesday, the 17th, Heintzelman is at Sangster's Station,
+ while Tyler, Miles, and Hunter, are at Fairfax.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is a rather rough experience that now befalls the Grand Army of the
+ Union. All unused, as we have seen, to the fatigues and other hardships of
+ the march, the raw levies, of which it almost wholly consists, which
+ started bright and fresh, strong and hopeful, full of the buoyant ardor of
+ enthusiastic patriotism, on that hot July afternoon, only some thirty
+ hours back, are now dust-begrimed, footsore, broken down, exhausted by the
+ scorching sun, hungry, and without food,&mdash;for they have wasted the
+ rations with which they started, and the supply-trains have not yet
+ arrived. Thus, hungry and physically prostrated, "utterly played out," as
+ many of them confess, and demoralized also by straggling and loss of
+ organization, they bivouac that night in the woods, and dream uneasy
+ dreams beneath the comfortless stars.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ A mile beyond Fairfax Court House, on the Warrenton Turnpike, is
+ Germantown. It is here that Tyler's Division has rested, on the night of
+ the 17th. At 7 o'clock on the morning of Thursday, the 18th, in obedience
+ to written orders from McDowell, it presses forward, on that "Pike," to
+ Centreville, five miles nearer to the Enemy's position behind Bull Run&mdash;Richardson's
+ Brigade in advance&mdash;and, at 9 o'clock, occupies it. Here McDowell has
+ intended Tyler to remain, in accordance with the plan, which he has
+ imparted to him in conversation, and in obedience to the written
+ instructions to: "Observe well the roads to Bull Run and to Warrenton. Do
+ not bring on an engagement, but keep up the impression that we are moving
+ on Manassas,"&mdash;this advance, by way of Centreville, being intended
+ solely as a "demonstration" to mask the real movement, which, as we have
+ seen, is to be made by the other divisions across Wolf Run Shoals, a point
+ on Bull Run, some five or six miles below Union Mills, and some seven
+ miles below Blackburn's Ford.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Upon the arrival of Richardson's Brigade, Thursday morning, at
+ Centreville, it is found that, under cover of the darkness of the previous
+ night, the Enemy has retreated, in two bodies, upon Bull Run, the one
+ along the Warrenton Pike, the other (the largest) down the ridge-road from
+ Centreville to Blackburn's Ford. Richardson's Brigade at once turns down
+ the latter road and halts about a mile beyond Centreville, at a point
+ convenient to some springs of water. Tyler soon afterward rides up, and,
+ taking from that brigade two companies of light Infantry and a squadron of
+ Cavalry, proceeds, with Colonel Richardson, to reconnoitre the Enemy,
+ finding him in a strong position on the opposite bank of Bull Run, at
+ Blackburn's Ford.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ While this is going on, McDowell has ridden in a Southerly direction down
+ to Heintzelman's Division, at Sangster's Station, "to make arrangements to
+ turn the Enemy's right, and intercept his communications with the South,"
+ but has found, owing to the narrowness and crookedness of the roads, and
+ the great distance that must be traversed in making the necessary detour,
+ that his contemplated movement is too risky to be ventured. Hence he at
+ once abandons his original plan of turning the Enemy's right, and
+ determines on "going around his left, where the country is more open, and
+ the roads broad and good."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ McDowell now orders a concentration, for that night, of the four
+ divisions, with two days cooked rations in their haversacks, upon and
+ about Centreville,&mdash;the movement to commence as soon as they shall
+ receive expected commissariat supplies. But, later on the 18th,&mdash;learning
+ that his advance, under Tyler, has, against orders, become engaged with
+ the Enemy&mdash;he directs the concentration to be made at once.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Let us examine, for a moment, how this premature engagement comes about.
+ We left Tyler, accompanied by Richardson, with a squadron of Cavalry and a
+ battalion of light Infantry making a reconnaissance, on Thursday morning
+ the 18th, toward Blackburn's Ford. They approach within a mile of the
+ ford, when they discover a Rebel battery on the farther bank of Bull Run&mdash;so
+ placed as to enfilade the road descending from their own position of
+ observation down to the ford,&mdash;strong Rebel infantry pickets and
+ skirmishing parties being in front.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Tyler at once orders up his two rifled guns, Ayres' Battery, and
+ Richardson's entire Brigade&mdash;and later, Sherman's Brigade as a
+ reserve. As soon as they come up,&mdash;about noon&mdash;he orders the
+ rifled guns into battery on the crest of the hill, about one mile from,
+ and looking down upon, the Rebel battery aforesaid, and opens upon the
+ Enemy; giving him a dozen shells,&mdash;one of them making it lively for a
+ body of Rebel Cavalry which appears between the ford and Manassas.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Rebel battery responds with half a dozen shots, and then ceases. Tyler
+ now orders Richardson to advance his brigade and throw out skirmishers to
+ scour the thick woods which cover the Bull Run bottom-land. Richardson at
+ once rapidly deploys the battalion of light Infantry as skirmishers in
+ advance of his brigade, pushes them forward to the edge of the woods,
+ drives in the skirmishers of the Enemy in fine style, and supports their
+ further advance into the woods, with the 1st Massachusetts Regiment.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Meanwhile Tyler, discovering a favorable opening in the woods, "low down
+ on the bottom of the stream," for a couple of howitzers in battery, sends
+ Captain Ayres of the 5th U. S. Artillery, and a detached section (two
+ 12-pound howitzers) of his battery, with orders to post it himself on that
+ spot, and sends Brackett's squadron of the 2d Cavalry to his support.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ No sooner does Ayres open fire on the Enemy, than he awakens a Rebel
+ hornet's-nest. Volley after volley of musketry shows that the Bull Run
+ bottom fairly swarms with Rebel troops, while another Rebel battery, more
+ to the Rebel right, opens, with that already mentioned, a concentrated
+ cross-fire upon him.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And now Richardson orders up the 12th New York, Colonel Walrath, to the
+ left of our battery. Forming it into line-of-battle, Richardson orders it
+ to charge through the woods upon the Enemy. Gallantly the regiment moves
+ forward, after the skirmishers, into the woods, but, being met by a very
+ heavy fire of musketry and artillery along the whole line of the Enemy's
+ position, is, for the most part, thrown back in confusion&mdash;a mere
+ fragment* remaining in line, and retreating,&mdash;while the howitzers,
+ and Cavalry also, are withdrawn.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Meantime, however, Richardson has ordered up, and placed in
+ line-of-battle, on the right of our battery, the 1st Massachusetts, the 2d
+ Michigan (his own), and the 3d Michigan. The skirmishers in the woods
+ still bravely hold their ground, undercover, and these three regiments are
+ plucky, and anxious to assault the Enemy. Richardson proposes to lead them
+ in a charge upon the Enemy's position, and drive him out of it; but Tyler
+ declines to give permission, on the ground that this being "merely a
+ reconnaissance," the object of which&mdash;ascertaining the strength and
+ position of the Enemy&mdash;having been attained, a further attack is
+ unnecessary. He therefore orders Richardson to "fall back in good order to
+ our batteries on the hill,"&mdash;which he does.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Upon reaching these batteries, Richardson forms his 2d Michigan, in "close
+ column by division," on their right, and the 1st Massachusetts and 3d
+ Michigan, in "line of battle," on their left&mdash;the 12th New York
+ re-forming, under cover of the woods at the rear, later on. Then, with our
+ skirmishers thrown into the woods in front, their scattering fire, and the
+ musketry responses of the Rebels, are drowned in the volume of sound
+ produced by the deafening contest which ensues between our Artillery, and
+ that of the Enemy from his batteries behind Bull Run.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This artillery-duel continues about one hour; and then seems to cease by
+ mutual consent, about dusk&mdash;after 415 shots have been fired on the
+ Union side, and have been responded to by an equal number from the Rebel
+ batteries, "gun for gun"&mdash;the total loss in the engagement, on the
+ Union side, being 83, to a total loss among the Enemy, of Thursday night,
+ Richardson retires his brigade upon Centreville, in order to secure
+ rations and water for his hungry and thirsty troops,&mdash;as no water has
+ yet been found in the vicinity of the Union batteries aforesaid. On the
+ morrow, however, when his brigade re-occupies that position, water is
+ found in abundance, by digging for it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This premature attack, at Blackburn's Ford, by Tyler, against orders,
+ having failed, throws a wet blanket upon the martial spirit of McDowell's
+ Army. In like degree is the morale of the Rebel Army increased.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is true that Longstreet, in command of the Rebel troops at Blackburn's
+ Ford, has not had things all his own way; that some of his artillery had
+ to be "withdrawn;" that, as he acknowledges in his report, his brigade of
+ three Virginia regiments (the 1st, 11th, and 17th) had "with some
+ difficulty repelled" the Union assault upon his position; that he had to
+ call upon General Early for re-enforcements; that Early re-enforced him
+ with two Infantry regiments (the 7th Louisiana and 7th Virginia) at first;
+ that one of these (the 7th Virginia) was "thrown into confusion;" that
+ Early then brought up his own regiment (the 24th Virginia) under
+ Lieutenant Colonel Hairston, and the entire seven guns of the "Washington
+ Artillery;" and that but for the active "personal exertions" of
+ Longstreet, in "encouraging the men under his command," and the great
+ numerical superiority of the Rebels, there might have been no Union
+ "repulse" at all. Yet still the attack has failed, and that failure, while
+ it dispirits the Patriot Army, inspires the Rebel Army with renewed
+ courage.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Under these circumstances, Friday, the 19th of July, is devoted to
+ reconnaissances by the Engineer officers of the Union Army; to the cooking
+ of the supplies, which have at last arrived; and to resting the weary and
+ road-worn soldiers of the Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Let us take advantage of this halt in the advance of McDowell's "Grand
+ Army of the United States"&mdash;as it was termed&mdash;to view the Rebel
+ position at, and about Manassas, and to note certain other matters having
+ an important and even determining bearing upon the issue of the impending
+ shock-at-arms.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Beauregard has received early information of McDowell's advance from
+ Arlington, and of his plans.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [This he admits, in his report, when he says; "Opportunely informed of
+ the determination of the Enemy to advance on Manassas, my advanced
+ brigades, on the night of the 16th of July, were made aware, from these
+ headquarters, of the impending movement,"]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ On Tuesday the 16th, he notifies his advanced brigades. On Wednesday, he
+ sends a dispatch from Manassas, to Jefferson Davis, at Richmond,
+ announcing that the Union troops have assailed his outposts in heavy
+ force; that he has fallen back before them, on the line of Bull Run; and
+ that he intends to make a stand at Mitchell's Ford (close to Blackburn's
+ Ford) on that stream,&mdash;adding: if his (McDowell's) force is
+ overwhelming, "I shall retire to the Rappahannock railroad bridge, saving
+ my command for defense there, and future operations. Please inform
+ Johnston of this, via Staunton, and also Holmes. Send forward any
+ re-enforcements at the earliest possible instant, and by every possible
+ means."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In the meantime, however, Beauregard loses no time in advantageously
+ posting his troops. On the morning of the 18th of July, when the Union
+ advance enters Centreville, he has withdrawn all his advanced brigades
+ within the Rebel lines of Bull Run, resting them on the South side of that
+ stream, from Union Mills Ford, near the Orange and Alexandria railroad
+ bridge, up to the stone bridge over which the Warrenton Pike crosses the
+ Run,&mdash;a distance of some six to eight miles.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Between the Rebel left, at Stone Bridge, and the Rebel right, at Union
+ Mills Ford, are several fords across Bull Run&mdash;the general course of
+ the stream being from the North-West to South-East, to its confluence with
+ the Occoquan River, some twelve miles from the Potomac River.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mitchell's Ford, the Rebel center, is about three miles to the South-West
+ of, and about the same distance North-East from, Manassas Junction. But it
+ may be well, right here, to locate all these fordable crossings of the
+ rocky, precipitous, and well-wooded Bull Run stream, between the Stone
+ Bridge and Union Mills Ford. Thus, half a mile below the Stone Bridge is
+ Lewis's Ford; half a mile below that, Ball's Ford; half a mile below that,
+ Island Ford; one and one-half miles below that, Mitchell's Ford&mdash;one
+ mile below that.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Blackburn's Ford; three-quarters of a mile farther down, McLean's Ford;
+ and nearly two miles lower down the stream, Union Mills Ford.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ By Thursday morning, the 18th of July, Beauregard has advantageously
+ posted the seven brigades into which he has organized his forces, at these
+ various positions along his extended front, as follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At the Stone Bridge, Brigadier-General N. G. Evans's Seventh Brigade, of
+ one regiment and one battalion of Infantry, two companies of Cavalry, and
+ a battery of four six-pounders.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At Lewis's, Balls, and Island Fords&mdash;Colonel P. St. George Cocke's
+ Fifth Brigade, of three regiments of Infantry, one battery of Artillery,
+ and one company of Cavalry.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At Mitchell's Ford, Brigadier-General M. L. Bonham's First Brigade, of
+ four Infantry regiments, two batteries, and six companies of Cavalry.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At Blackburn's Ford, Brigadier-General J. Longstreet's Fourth Brigade, of
+ four Infantry regiments, with two 6-pounders.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At McLean's Ford, Brigadier-General D. R. Jones's Third Brigade of three
+ Infantry regiments, one Cavalry company, and two 6-pounders.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At Union Mills Ford, Brigadier-General R. S. Ewell's Second Brigade, of
+ three Infantry regiments, three Cavalry companies, and four 12-powder
+ howitzers&mdash;Colonel Jubal A. Early's Sixth Brigade, of three Infantry
+ regiments and three rifled pieces of Walton's Battery, being posted in the
+ rear of, and as a support to, Ewell's Brigade.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [Johnston also found, on the 20th, the Reserve Brigade of Brig. Gen. T.
+ H. Holmes&mdash;comprising two regiments of Infantry, Walker's Battery
+ of Artillery, and Scott's Cavalry-with Early's Brigade, "in reserve, in
+ rear of the right."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ The disposition and strength of Beauregard's forces at these various
+ points along his line of defense on Bull Run stream, plainly shows his
+ expectation of an attack on his right; but he is evidently suspicious that
+ it may come upon his centre; for, as far back as July 8th, he had issued
+ special orders to the effect that:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Should the Enemy march to the attack of Mitchell's Ford, via Centreville,
+ the following movements will be made with celerity:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I. The Fourth Brigade will march from Blackburn's Ford to attack him on
+ the flank and centre.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "II. The Third Brigade will be thrown to the attack of his centre and rear
+ toward Centreville.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "III. The Second and Sixth Brigades united will also push forward and
+ attack him in the rear by way of Centreville, protecting their own right
+ flanks and rear from the direction of Fairfax Station and Court House.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "IV. In the event of the defeat of the Enemy, the troops at Mitchell's
+ Ford and Stone Bridge, especially the Cavalry and Artillery, will join in
+ the pursuit, which will be conducted with vigor but unceasing prudence,
+ and continued until he shall have been driven beyond the Potomac."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And it is not without interest to note Beauregard's subsequent indorsement
+ on the back of these Special Orders, that: "The plan of attack prescribed
+ within would have been executed, with modifications affecting First and
+ Fifth Brigades, to meet the attack upon Blackburn's Ford, but for the
+ expected coming of General Johnston's command, which was known to be en
+ route to join me on [Thursday] the 18th of July."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The knowledge thus possessed on Thursday, the 18th, by Beauregard, that
+ Johnston's Army is on its way to join him, is of infinite advantage to the
+ former. On the other hand, the complete ignorance, at this time, of
+ McDowell on this point,&mdash;and the further fact that he has been lulled
+ into a feeling of security on the subject, by General Scott's emphatic
+ assurance to him that "if Johnston joins Beauregard, he shall have
+ Patterson on his heels"&mdash;is a great disadvantage to the Union
+ general.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Were McDowell now aware of the real Military situation, he would
+ unquestionably make an immediate attack, with the object of crushing
+ Beauregard before Johnston can effect a junction with him. It would then
+ be a mere matter of detail for the armies of McDowell, McClellan, and
+ Patterson, to bag Johnston, and bring the armed Rebellion to an inglorious
+ and speedy end. But Providence&mdash;through the plottings of individuals
+ within our own lines&mdash;wills it otherwise.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Long before this, Patterson has been informed by General Winfield Scott of
+ the proposed movement by McDowell upon Manassas,&mdash;and of its date.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On Saturday, July 13th, General Scott telegraphed to Patterson: "I
+ telegraphed to you yesterday, if not strong enough to beat the Enemy early
+ next week, make demonstrations so as to detain him in the Valley of
+ Winchester; but if he retreats in force toward Manassas, and it be too
+ hazardous to follow him, then consider the route via Keys Ferry, Leesburg,
+ etc."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On Wednesday, the 17th, Scott telegraphs to Patterson: "I have nothing
+ official from you since Sunday (14th), but am glad to learn, through
+ Philadelphia papers, that you have advanced. Do not let the Enemy amuse
+ and delay you with a small force in front whilst he re-enforces the
+ Junction with his main body. McDowell's first day's work has driven the
+ Enemy beyond Fairfax Court House. The Junction will probably be carried by
+ to-morrow."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On Thursday, the 18th, Patterson replies that to attack "the greatly
+ superior force at Winchester when the three months volunteers' time was
+ about up, and they were threatening to leave him&mdash;would be most
+ hazardous" and then he asks: "Shall I attack?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Scott answers the same day: "I have certainly been expecting you to beat
+ the Enemy. If not, to hear that you had felt him strongly, or, at least,
+ had occupied him by threats and demonstrations. You have been at least his
+ equal, and, I suppose, superior in numbers. Has he not stolen a march and
+ sent re-enforcements toward Manassas Junction? A week is enough to win
+ victories," etc.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Patterson retorts, on the same day: "The Enemy has stolen no march upon
+ me. I have kept him actively employed, and by threats, and reconnaissances
+ in force, caused him to be re-enforced. I have accomplished in this
+ respect more than the General-in-Chief asked, or could well be expected,
+ in face of an Enemy far superior in numbers, with no line of communication
+ to protect."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In another dispatch, to Assistant Adjutant-General Townsend (with General
+ Scott), he says, that same afternoon of Thursday, the 18th: "I have
+ succeeded, in accordance with the wishes of the General-in-Chief, in
+ keeping General Johnston's Force at Winchester. A reconnaissance in force,
+ on Tuesday, caused him to be largely re-enforced from Strasburg."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Again, on Friday, the 19th, he informs Colonel Townsend that: "The Enemy,
+ from last information, are still at Winchester, and being re-enforced
+ every night."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is not until Saturday, the 20th of July, that he telegraphs to
+ Townsend: "With a portion of his force, Johnston left Winchester, by the
+ road to Millwood, on the afternoon of the 18th." And he adds the
+ ridiculous statement: "His whole force was about 35,200."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Thus, despite all the anxious care of General Scott, to have Johnston's
+ Army detained in the Shenandoah Valley, it has escaped Patterson so
+ successfully, and entirely, that the latter does not even suspect its
+ disappearance until the day before the pitched Battle of Bull Run is
+ fought! Its main body has actually reached Manassas twenty-four hours
+ before Patterson is aware that it has left Winchester!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And how is it, that Johnston gets away from Patterson so neatly? And when
+ does he do it?
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [The extraordinary conduct of General Patterson at this critical period,
+ when everything seemed to depend upon his exertions, was afterward the
+ subject of inquiry by the Joint-Committee on the Conduct of the War. The
+ testimony taken by that Committee makes it clear, to any unprejudiced
+ mind, that while Patterson himself may have been loyal to the Union, he
+ was weak enough to be swayed from the path of duty by some of the
+ faithless and unpatriotic officers with whom he had partly surrounded
+ himself&mdash;and especially by Fitz John Porter, his Chief-of-staff.
+ Let us examine the sworn testimony of two or three witnesses on this
+ point.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ General CHARLES W. SANFORD, who was second in command under Patterson,
+ and in command of Patterson's Left Wing, testified [see pages 54-66,
+ Report on Conduct of the War, Vol. 3, Part 2,] that he was at a Council
+ of War held at the White House, June 29th, when the propriety of an
+ attack on the Rebel lines at Manassas was discussed; that he objected to
+ any such movement until Patterson was in such a position as to prevent
+ the junction between General Johnston's Army and the troops at Manassas;
+ that on the 6th of July, he was sent by General Scott, with four picked
+ New York regiments, to Patterson, and (waiving his own seniority rank)
+ reported to that General, at Williamsport; that Patterson gave him
+ command of a division of 8,000 men (and two batteries) out of a total in
+ his Army of 22,000; that he "delivered orders from General Scott to
+ General Patterson, and urged a forward movement as soon as possible;"
+ that there was "Some delay at Martinsburg, notwithstanding the urgency
+ of our matter," but they "left there on [Monday] the 15th of July, and
+ went in the direction of Winchester,"&mdash;down to Bunker Hill,&mdash;Patterson
+ with two divisions going down the turnpike, and Sanford taking his
+ division a little in advance and more easterly on the side roads so as
+ to be in a position to flank Johnston's right; that on that afternoon
+ (Monday, July 15) General Patterson rode up to where Sanford was
+ locating his camp.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Continuing his testimony, General Sanford said: "I was then within about
+ nine miles of Johnston's fortified camp at Winchester. Patterson was
+ complimenting me upon the manner in which my regiments were located, and
+ inquiring about my pickets, which I had informed him I had sent down
+ about three miles to a stream below. I had driven out the Enemy's
+ skirmishers ahead of us. They had some cavalry there. In answer to his
+ compliments about the comfortable location I had made, I said: 'Very
+ comfortable, General, when shall we move on?' * * * He hesitated a
+ moment or two, and then said: 'I don't know yet when we shall move. And
+ if I did I would not tell my own father.' I thought that was rather a
+ queer speech to make to me under the circumstances. But I smiled and
+ said: 'General, I am only anxious that we shall get forward, that the
+ Enemy shall not escape us.' He replied: 'There is no danger of that. I
+ will have a reconnaissance to-morrow, and we will arrange about moving
+ at a very early period.' He then took his leave.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The next day [Tuesday, July 16th], there was a reconnaissance on the
+ Winchester turnpike, about four or five miles below the General's camp.
+ He sent forward a section of artillery and some cavalry, and they found
+ a post-and-log fence across the Winchester turnpike, and some of the
+ Enemy's cavalry on the other side of it. They gave them a round of
+ grape. The cavalry scattered off, and the reconnaissance returned. That
+ was the only reconnaissance I heard of while we were there. My own
+ pickets went further than that. But it was understood, the next
+ afternoon, that we were to march forward at daylight. I sent down Col.
+ Morell, with 40 men, to open a road down to Opequan Creek, within five
+ miles of the camp at Winchester, on the side-roads I was upon, which
+ would enable me, in the course of three hours, to get between Johnston
+ and the Shenandoah River, and effectually bar his way to Manassas. I had
+ my ammunition all distributed, and ordered my men to have 24 hours'
+ rations in their haversacks, independent of their breakfast. We were to
+ march at 4 o'clock the next morning. I had this road to the Opequan
+ completed that night. I had then with me, in addition to my eight
+ regiments amounting to about 8,000 men and a few cavalry, Doubleday's
+ heavy United States battery of 20 and 30 pounders, and a very good Rhode
+ Island battery. And I was willing to take the risk, whether Gen.
+ Patterson followed me up or not, of placing myself between Johnston and
+ the Shenandoah River, rather than let Johnston escape. And, at 4 o'clock
+ [July 17th] I should have moved over that road for that purpose, if I
+ had had no further orders. But, a little after 12 o'clock at night [July
+ 16th-17th,] I received a long order of three pages from Gen. Patterson,
+ instructing me to move on to Charlestown, which is nearly at right
+ angles to the road I was going to move on, and twenty-two miles from
+ Winchester. This was after I had given my orders for the other
+ movement."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ * * * * * * * * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ 'Question [by the Chairman].&mdash;And that left Johnston free? "Answer&mdash;Yes,
+ Sir; left him free to make his escape, which he did. * * *"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ 'Question.&mdash;In what direction would Johnston have had to move to
+ get by you? "Answer&mdash;Right out to the Shenandoah River, which he
+ forded. He found out from his cavalry, who were watching us, that we
+ were actually leaving, and he started at 1 o'clock that same day, with
+ 8,000 men, forded the Shenandoah where it was so deep that he ordered
+ his men to put their cartridge-boxes on their bayonets, got out on the
+ Leesburg road, and went down to Manassas."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Question [by the Chairman].&mdash;Did he [Patterson] assign any reason
+ for that movement? "Answer.&mdash;I was, of course, very indignant about
+ it, and so were all my officers and men; so much so that when,
+ subsequently, at Harper's Ferry, Patterson came by my camp, there was a
+ universal groan&mdash;against all discipline, of course, and we
+ suppressed it as soon as possible. The excuse given by Gen. Patterson
+ was this: that he had received intelligence that he could rely upon,
+ that Gen. Johnston had been re-enforced by 20,000 men from Manassas, and
+ was going to make an attack upon him; and in the order which I received
+ that night&mdash;a long order of three pages&mdash;I was ordered to
+ occupy all the communicating roads, turning off a regiment here, and two
+ or three regiments there, and a battery at another place, to occupy all
+ the roads from Winchester to the neighborhood of Charlestown, and all
+ the cross-roads, and hold them all that day, until Gen. Patterson's
+ whole army went by me to Charlestown; and I sat seven hours in the
+ saddle near a place called Smithfield, while Patterson, with his whole
+ army, went by me on their way to Charlestown, he being apprehensive, as
+ he said, of an attack from Johnston's forces."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Question [by Mr. Odell].&mdash;You covered his movement? "Answer&mdash;Yes,
+ Sir. Now the statement that he made, which came to me through Colonel
+ Abercrombie, who was Patterson's brother-in-law, and commanded one
+ division in that army, was, that Johnston had been re-enforced; and Gen.
+ Fitz-John Porter reported the same thing to my officers. Gen. Porter was
+ then the chief of Patterson's staff, and was a very excellent officer,
+ and an accomplished soldier. They all had got this story, which was
+ without the slightest shadow of foundation; for there had not a single
+ man arrived at the camp since we had got full information that their
+ force consisted of 20,000 men, of whom 1,800 were sick with the measles.
+ The story was, however, that they had ascertained, by reliable
+ information, of this re-enforcement. Where they got their information, I
+ do not know. None such reached me; and I picked up deserters and other
+ persons to get all the information I could; and we since have learned,
+ as a matter of certainty, that Johnston's forces never did exceed 20,000
+ men there. But the excuse Patterson gave was, that Johnson had been
+ re-enforced by 20,000 men from Manassas, and was going to attack him.
+ That was the reason he gave then for this movement. But in this paper he
+ has lately published, he hints at another reason&mdash;another excuse&mdash;which
+ was that it was by order of Gen. Scott. Now, I know that the peremptory
+ order of Gen. Scott to Gen. Patterson, repeated over and over again, was
+ this&mdash;I was present on several occasions when telegraphic
+ communications went from Gen. Scott to Gen. Patterson: Gen. Scott's
+ orders to Gen. Patterson were that, if he were strong enough, he was to
+ attack and beat Johnston. But if not, then he was to place himself in
+ such a position as to keep Johnston employed, and prevent him from
+ making a junction with Beauregard at Manassas. That was the repeated
+ direction of Gen. Scott to Gen. Patterson; and it was because of
+ Patterson's hesitancy, and his hanging back, and keeping so far beyond
+ the reach of Johnston's camp, that I was ordered to go up there and
+ re-enforce him, and assist him in any operations necessary to effect
+ that object. The excuse of Gen. Patterson now is, that he had orders
+ from Gen. Scott to move to Charlestown. Now, that is not so. But this
+ state of things existed: Before the movement was made from Martinsburg,
+ General Patterson suggested to General Scott that Charlestown would be a
+ better base of operations than Martinsburg and suggested that he had
+ better move on Charlestown, and thence make his approaches to
+ Winchester; that it would be better to do that than to move directly to
+ Winchester from Martinsburg; and General Scott wrote back to say that,
+ if he found that movement a better one, he was at liberty to make it.
+ But Gen. Patterson had already commenced his movement on Winchester
+ direct from Martinsburg, and had got as far as Bunker Hill; so that the
+ movement which he had formerly suggested, to Charlestown, was suppressed
+ by his own act. But that is the pretence now given in his published
+ speech for making the movement from Bunker Hill to Charlestown, which
+ was a retreat, instead of the advance which the movement to Charlestown
+ he first proposed to Gen. Scott was intended to be."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ * * * * * * * * * * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Question [by the Chairman].&mdash;Was not that change of direction and
+ movement to Charlestown a total abandonment of the object which you were
+ pursuing? "Answer.&mdash;Entirely an abandonment of the main principles
+ of the orders he was acting under."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Question.&mdash;And of course an abandonment of the purpose for which
+ you were there? "Answer.&mdash;Yes, Sir.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Question [by Mr. Odell].&mdash;Was it not your understanding in leaving
+ here, and was it not the understanding also of Gen. Scott, that your
+ purpose in going there was to check Johnston with direct reference to
+ the movement here? "Answer&mdash;Undoubtedly. It was in consequence of
+ the suggestion made by me at the Council at the President's house. * * *
+ And upon the suggestion of General Scott they wanted me to go up there
+ and assist Patterson in this movement against Johnston, so as to carry
+ out the point I had suggested of first checkmating Johnston before the
+ movement against Manassas was made here."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ * * * * * * * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Question [by the Chairman].&mdash;Would there have been any difficulty
+ in preventing Johnston from going to Manassas? "Answer.&mdash;None
+ whatever."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ * * * * * * * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Question [by the Chairman.]&mdash;I have heard it suggested that he
+ (Patterson) undertook to excuse this movement on the ground that the
+ time of many of his troops had expired, and they refused to accompany
+ him. "Answer.&mdash;That to my knowledge, is untrue. The time of none of
+ them had expired when this movement was made. All the troops that were
+ there were in the highest condition for the service. These three-months'
+ men, it may be well to state to you who are not Military men, were
+ superior to any other volunteer troops that we had, in point of
+ discipline. They were the disciplined troops of the Country. The
+ three-months' men were generally the organized troops of the different
+ States&mdash;New York, Pennsylvania, etc. We had, for instance, from
+ Patterson's own city, Philadelphia, one of the finest regiments in the
+ service, which was turned over to me, at their own request; and the most
+ of my regiments were disciplined and organized troops. They were all in
+ fine condition, anxious, zealous, and earnest for a fight. They thought
+ they were going to attack Johnston's camp at Winchester. Although I had
+ suggested to Gen. Patterson that there was no necessity for that, the
+ camp being admirably fortified with many of their heavy guns from
+ Norfolk, I proposed to him to place ourselves between Johnston and the
+ Shenandoah, which would have compelled him to fight us there, or to
+ remain in his camp, either of which would have effected General Scott's
+ object. If I had got into a fight, it was very easy, over this road I
+ had just been opening, for Patterson to have re-enforced me and to have
+ come up to the fight in time. The proposition was to place ourselves
+ between Johnston's fortified camp and the Shenandoah, where his
+ fortified camp would have been of no use to him."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Question.&mdash;Even if you had received a check there, it would have
+ prevented his junction with the forces at Manassas? "Answer.&mdash;Yes,
+ Sir; I would have risked a battle with my own division rather than
+ Johnston should have escaped. If he had attacked me, I could have taken
+ a position where I could have held it, while Patterson could have fallen
+ upon him and repulsed him."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Question [by Mr. Odell].&mdash;Had you any such understanding with
+ Patterson? "Answer.&mdash;I told him I would move down on this side-road
+ in advance, leaving Gen. Patterson to sustain me if I got into a fight.
+ So, on the other hand, if he should attack Patterson, I was near enough
+ to fall upon Johnston's flank and to support Patterson. By using this
+ communication of mine to pass Opequan Creek&mdash;where, I had informed
+ Patterson, I had already pushed forward my pickets, [200 men in the day
+ and 400 more at night,] to prevent the Enemy from burning the bridge&mdash;it
+ would have enabled me to get between Johnston and the Shenandoah River.
+ On the morning [Wednesday, July 17th] of our march to Charlestown,
+ Stuart's cavalry, which figured so vigorously at Bull Run, was upon my
+ flank all day. They were apparently about 800 strong. I saw them
+ constantly on my flank for a number of miles. I could distinguish them,
+ with my glass, with great ease. Finally, they came within about a mile
+ of the line of march I was pursuing and I sent a battery around to head
+ them off, and the 12th Regiment across the fields in double-quick time
+ to take them in the rear. I thought I had got them hemmed in. But they
+ broke down the fences, and went across the country to Winchester, and I
+ saw nothing more of them. They were then about eight miles from
+ Winchester, and must have got there in the course of a couple of hours.
+ That day [Wednesday, the 17th] at 10 o'clock&mdash;as was ascertained
+ from those who saw him crossing the Shenandoah&mdash;Johnston started
+ from Winchester with 8,000 men, forded the Shenandoah, and got to
+ Manassas on Friday night; and his second in command started the next day
+ with all the rest of the available troops&mdash;something like 9,000
+ men; leaving only the sick, and a few to guard them, in the camp at
+ Winchester&mdash;and they arrived at the battle-field in the midst of
+ the fight, got out of the cars, rushed on the battle-field, and turned
+ the scale. I have no doubt that, if we had intercepted Johnston, as we
+ ought to have done, the battle of Bull Run would have been a victory for
+ us instead of a defeat. Johnston was undoubtedly the ablest general they
+ had in their army."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Colonel CRAIG BIDDLE, testified that he was General Patterson's
+ aide-de-camp at the time. In answer to a question by the Chairman, he
+ continued:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Answer.&mdash;I was present, of course, at all the discussions. The
+ discussion at Martinsburg was as to whether or not General Patterson
+ should go on to Winchester. General Patterson was very full of that
+ himself. He was determined to go to Winchester; but the opinions of all
+ the regular officers who were with him, were against it. The opinions of
+ all the men in whose judgment I had any confidence, were against it.
+ They seemed to have the notion that General Patterson had got his Irish
+ blood up by the fight we had had at Falling Waters, and was bound to go
+ ahead. He decided upon going ahead, against the remonstrances of General
+ [Fitz John] Porter, who advised against it. He told me he considered he
+ had done his duty, and said no more. The movement was delayed in
+ consequence of General Stone's command not being able to move right
+ away. It was then evident that there was so much opposition to it that
+ the General was induced to call a council of the general officers in his
+ command, at which I was present. They were unanimously opposed to the
+ advance. That was at Martinsburg."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ * * * * * * * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Question.&mdash;While at Bunker Hill, the night before you left there,
+ were any orders issued to march in the evening? "Answer.&mdash;I think
+ there were such orders."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Question.&mdash;Did not General Patterson issue orders at Bunker Hill,
+ the night before you marched to Charlestown, for an attack on the Enemy?
+ "Answer.&mdash;I think such orders were written. I do not think they
+ were issued. I think General Patterson was again persuaded not to make
+ an advance."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Colonel R. BUTLER PRICE, Senior aide to Patterson, testified as follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ * * * * * * * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Question [by Mr. Gooch].&mdash;Was it not the intention to move from
+ Bunker Hill to Winchester? "Answer.&mdash;Yes, Sir. At one time General
+ Patterson had given an order to move from Bunker Hill to Winchester. He
+ was very unwilling to leave Johnston even at Winchester without
+ attacking him; and on the afternoon before we left Bunker Hill he
+ decided to attack him, notwithstanding his strong force."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Question.&mdash;Behind his intrenchments? "Answer.&mdash;Yes, Sir; it
+ went so far that his order was written by his adjutant, General [Fitz
+ John] Porter. It was very much against the wishes of General [Fitz John]
+ Porter; and he asked General Patterson if he would send for Colonel
+ Abercrombie and Colonel Thomas and consult them on the movement. General
+ Patterson replied: No, Sir; for I know they will attempt to dissuade me
+ from it, and I have made up my mind to fight Johnston under all
+ circumstances. That was the day before we left Bunker Hill. Then Colonel
+ [Fitz John] Porter asked to have Colonel Abercrombie and Colonel Thomas
+ sent for and consulted as to the best manner to carry out his wishes. He
+ consented, and they came, and after half an hour they dissuaded him from
+ it."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Question.&mdash;At that time General Patterson felt it was so important
+ to attack Johnston that he had determined to do it? "Answer.&mdash;Yes,
+ Sir; the order was not published, but it was written."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Question.&mdash;You understood General Patterson to be influenced to
+ make that attempt because he felt there was a necessity for detaining
+ Johnston? "Answer.&mdash;Yes, Sir; to detain him as long as he possibly
+ could."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Question.&mdash;That order was not countermanded until late on Tuesday,
+ the 16th, was it? "Answer.&mdash;That order never was published. It was
+ written; but, at the earnest solicitation of Colonel [Fitz John] Porter,
+ it was withheld until he could have a consultation with Colonel
+ Abercrombie and Colonel Thomas."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkbull1" id="linkbull1"></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="p288-map.jpg (98K)" src="images/p288-map.jpg" style="width:100%;" />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is about 1 o'clock on the morning of Thursday, July 18th,&mdash;that
+ same day which witnesses the preliminary Battle of Blackburn's Ford&mdash;that
+ Johnston, being at Winchester, and knowing of Patterson's peculiarly
+ inoffensive and timid movement to his own left and rear, on Charlestown,
+ receives from the Rebel Government at Richmond, a telegraphic dispatch, of
+ July 17th, in these words: "General Beauregard is attacked. To strike the
+ Enemy a decisive blow, a junction of all your effective force will be
+ needed. If practicable, make the movement. * * * In all the arrangements
+ exercise your discretion."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Johnston loses no time in deciding that it is his duty to prevent, if
+ possible, disaster to Beauregard's Army; that to do this he must effect a
+ junction with him; and that this necessitates either an immediate fight
+ with, and defeat of, Patterson,&mdash;which may occasion a fatal delay&mdash;or
+ else, that Union general must be eluded. Johnston determines on the latter
+ course.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Leaving his sick, with some militia to make a pretense of defending the
+ town in case of attack, Johnston secretly and rapidly marches his Army, of
+ 9,000 effective men, Southeasterly from Winchester, at noon of Thursday,
+ the 18th; across by a short cut, wading the Shenandoah River, and then on
+ through Asby's Gap, in the Blue Ridge, that same night; still on, in the
+ same direction, to a station on the Manassas Gap railroad, known as
+ Piedmont, which is reached by the next (Friday) morning,&mdash;the erratic
+ movements of Stuart's Cavalry entirely concealing the manoeuvre from the
+ knowledge of Patterson.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ From Piedmont, the Artillery and Cavalry proceed to march the remaining
+ twenty-five miles, or so, to Manassas Junction, by the roads. The 7th and
+ 8th Georgia Regiments of Bartow's Brigade, with Jackson's Brigade,&mdash;comprising
+ the 2d, 4th, 5th, 27th and 33d Virginia Regiments&mdash;are embarked on
+ the cars, and hurriedly sent in advance, by rail, to Manassas, reaching
+ there on that same (Friday) afternoon and evening. These are followed by
+ General Johnston, with Bee's Brigade&mdash;comprising the 4th Alabama, 2d
+ Mississippi, and a battalion of the 11th Mississippi&mdash;which arrive at
+ Manassas about noon of Saturday, the 20th of July, the balance of
+ Johnston's Infantry being billed for arrival that same day, or night.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Upon Johnston's own arrival at Manassas, Saturday noon,&mdash;the very day
+ that Patterson ascertains that "the bird has flown,"&mdash;after assuming
+ command, by virtue of seniority, he proceeds to examine Beauregard's
+ position. This he finds "too extensive, and the ground too densely wooded
+ and intricate," to be learned quickly, and hence he is impelled to rely
+ largely upon Beauregard for information touching the strength and
+ positions of both the Rebel and Union Armies.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Beauregard has now 21,833 men, and 29 pieces of artillery of his own "Army
+ of the Potomac." Johnston's and Holmes's junction with him has raised the
+ Rebel total to 32,000 effectives, and 55 guns. McDowell, on the other
+ hand, who started with 30,000 effectives, finds himself on the 19th&mdash;owing
+ to the departure of one of his regiments and a battery of Artillery,
+ because of the expiration of their term of enlistment,&mdash;with but
+ "28,000 men at the utmost."&mdash;[Comte de Paris.]
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the evening of Saturday, the 20th of July, Johnston and Beauregard hold
+ an important consultation. The former feels certain that Patterson, with
+ his more than 20,000 effectives, will now lose no time in essaying a
+ junction with McDowell's Army, and that such junction will probably be
+ effected by July 22nd. Hence he perceives the necessity of attacking
+ McDowell, and if possible, with the combined Rebel Forces, whipping him
+ before Patterson can come up to his assistance.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At this consultation it is agreed by the two Rebel generals to assume the
+ offensive, at once. Beauregard proposes a plan of battle&mdash;which is an
+ immediate general advance of the Rebel centre and left, concentrating,
+ from all the fords of Bull Run, upon Centreville, while the Rebel right
+ advances toward Sangster's cross-roads, ready to fall either on
+ Centreville, or upon Fairfax Court House, in its rear, according to
+ circumstances.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The plan proposed, is accepted at once by Johnston. The necessary order is
+ drawn up by Beauregard that night; and at half past four o'clock on Sunday
+ morning, July 21st, Johnston signs the written order. Nothing now remains,
+ apparently, but the delivery of the order to the Rebel brigade commanders,
+ a hurried preparation for the forward movement, and then the grand attack
+ upon McDowell, at Centreville.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Already, no doubt, the fevered brain of Beauregard pictures, in his vivid
+ imagination, the invincible thunders of his Artillery, the impetuous
+ advance of his Infantry, the glorious onset of his Cavalry, the flight and
+ rout of the Union forces, his triumphal entry into Washington&mdash;Lincoln
+ and Scott and the Congress crouching at his feet&mdash;and the victorious
+ South and conquered North acclaiming him Dictator! The plan is
+ Beauregard's own, and Beauregard is to have command. Hence all the glory
+ of capturing the National Capital, must be Beauregard's. Why not? But "man
+ proposes, and God disposes." The advance and attack, are, in that shape,
+ never to be made.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ McDowell, in the meantime, all unconscious of what has transpired in the
+ Shenandoah Valley, and between there and Manassas; never dreaming for an
+ instant that Patterson has failed to keep Johnson there&mdash;even if he
+ has not attacked and defeated him; utterly unsuspicious that his own
+ lessened Union Army has now to deal with the Forces of Johnston and
+ Beauregard combined&mdash;with a superior instead of an inferior force; is
+ executing a plan of battle which he has decided upon, and announced to his
+ general officers, on that same Saturday evening, at his Headquarters in
+ Centreville.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Instead of attempting to turn the Enemy's right, and cut off his
+ communications with Richmond and the South, McDowell has now determined to
+ attack the Enemy's left, cut his communication, via the Manassas Gap
+ railroad, with Johnston's Army,&mdash;still supposed by him to be in the
+ Valley of the Shenandoah&mdash;and, taking him in the left flank and rear,
+ roll him upon Manassas, in disorder and defeat&mdash;with whatever might
+ follow.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ That is the plan&mdash;in its general features. In executing it, Blenker's
+ Brigade of Miles's Division is to remain at Centreville as a reserve,
+ throwing up intrenchments about its Heights, upon which to fall back, in
+ case of necessity; Davies's Brigade of the same Division, with
+ Richardson's Brigade of Tyler's Division&mdash;as the Left Wing&mdash;are
+ to demonstrate at Blackburn's Ford, toward the Enemy's right; Tyler's
+ other three brigades, under Keyes, Schenck, and Sherman, are to feign an
+ attack on the Enemy's left, posted behind the strongly-defended Stone
+ Bridge over which the Warrenton turnpike, running Westward, on its way
+ from Centreville to Warrenton, crosses Bull Run stream; while the strong
+ divisions under Hunter and Heintzelman&mdash;forming McDowell's Right Wing&mdash;are
+ to follow Tyler's Division Westward down the turnpike to a point within
+ one mile and a half of the Stone Bridge, thence, by cross-road, diverge
+ several miles to the North, then sweep around gradually to the West, and
+ then Southwardly over Bull Run at Sudley Springs Ford, swooping down the
+ Sudley road upon the Enemy's left flank and rear, near Stone Bridge,
+ rolling it back toward his center, while Tyler's remaining three brigades
+ cross the bridge and join in the assault. That is the whole plan in a
+ nutshell.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It has been McDowell's intention to push forward, from Centreville along
+ the Warrenton Pike a few miles, on the evening of this Military
+ conference; but he makes his first mistake, in allowing himself to be
+ dissuaded from that, by those, who, in his own words, "have the greatest
+ distance to go," and who prefer "starting early in the morning and making
+ but one move."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The attacking divisions now have orders to march at 2:30 A. M., in order
+ "to avoid the heat," which is excessive. Tyler's three immediate brigades&mdash;or
+ some of them&mdash;are slow in starting Westward, along the Warrenton
+ Pike, to the Stone Bridge; and this leads to a two or three hours delay of
+ the divisions of Hunter and Heintzelman, before they can follow that Pike
+ beyond Centreville, and commence the secret detour to their right, along
+ the cross-road leading to Sudley Springs.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At 6:30 A.M., Tyler's Artillery gets into position, to cannonade the
+ Enemy's batteries, on the West Bank of Bull Run, commanding the Stone
+ Bridge, and opens fire. Half an hour before this, (at 6 A.M.), the Rebel
+ artillerists, posted on a hill South of the Pike, and 600 yards West of
+ the bridge, have caught sight of Tyler's Union blue-jackets. Those of the
+ Rebel gunners whose eyes are directed to the North-East, soon see, nearly
+ a mile away, up the gradual slope, a puff of blue smoke. Immediately the
+ bang of a solitary rifle cannon is heard, and the scream of a rifled shot
+ as it passes over their heads. At intervals, until past 9 A.M., that piece
+ and others in the same position, keep hammering away at the Rebel left,
+ under Evans, at Stone Bridge.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Rebel response to this cannonade, is very feeble. McDowell observes
+ this. He suspects there has been a weakening of the Enemy's force at the
+ bridge, in order to strengthen his right for some purpose. And what can
+ that purpose be, but to throw his augmented right upon our left, at
+ Blackburn's Ford, and so, along the ridge-road, upon Centreville? Thus
+ McDowell guesses, and guesses well. To be in readiness to protect his own
+ left and rear, by reenforcing Miles's Division, at Centreville and along
+ the ridge to Blackburn's Ford, he temporarily holds back Howard's Brigade
+ of Heintzelman's Division at the point where the cross-road to Sudley
+ Springs Ford&mdash;along which Hunter's Division, followed by the Brigades
+ of Franklin and Wilcox, of Heintzelman's Division, have already gone&mdash;intersects
+ the Warrenton Pike.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is 9 o'clock. Beauregard, as yet unaware of McDowell's new plan, sends
+ an order to Ewell, on his right, to hold himself ready "to take the
+ offensive, at a moment's notice,"&mdash;and directing that Ewell be
+ supported in his advance, toward Sangster's cross-roads and the rear of
+ Centreville, by Holmes's Brigade. In accordance with that order, Ewell,
+ who is "at Union Mills and its neighborhood," gets his brigade ready, and
+ Holmes moves up to his support. After waiting two hours, Ewell receives
+ another order, for both Ewell and Holmes "to resume their places."
+ Something must have occurred since 9 o'clock, to defeat Beauregard's plan
+ of attack on Centreville&mdash;with all its glorious consequences! What
+ can it be? We shall see.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ While Tyler's Artillery has been cannonading the Rebel left, under Evans,
+ at Stone Bridge,&mdash;fully impressed with the prevailing Union belief
+ that the bridge is not only protected by strong masked batteries, heavy
+ supports of Infantry, and by abatis as well as other defenses, but is also
+ mined and ready to be blown up at the approach of our troops, when in
+ reality the bridge is not mined, and the Rebel force in men and guns at
+ that point has been greatly weakened in anticipation of Beauregard's
+ projected advance upon Centreville,&mdash;the Union column, under Hunter
+ and Heintzelman, is advancing from Centreville, in the scorching heat and
+ suffocating dust of this tropical July morning, slowly, but surely, along
+ the Warrenton Pike and the cross-road to Sudley Springs Ford&mdash;a
+ distance of some eight miles of weary and toilsome marching for raw troops
+ in such a temperature&mdash;in this order: Burnside's Brigade, followed by
+ Andrew Porter's Brigade,&mdash;both of Hunter's Division; then Franklin's
+ Brigade, followed by Willcox's Brigade,&mdash;both of Heintzelman's
+ Division.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is half past 9 o'clock; before Burnside's Brigade has crossed the Bull
+ Run stream, at Sudley's Ford, and the head of Andrew Porter's Brigade
+ commences to ford it. The troops are somewhat slow in crossing. They are
+ warm, tired, thirsty, and as to dust,&mdash;their hair and eyes and
+ nostrils and mouths are full of it, while most of the uniforms, once blue,
+ have become a dirty gray. The sky is clear. The sun already is fiercely
+ hot. The men stop to drink and fill their canteens. It is well they do.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ McDowell, who has been waiting two or three hours at the turn, impatient
+ at the delay, has ridden over to the front of the Flanking column, and now
+ reaches Sudley's Ford. He feels that much valuable time is already lost.
+ His plan has, in a measure, been frustrated by delay. He had calculated on
+ crossing Bull Run, at Sudley's Ford, and getting to the rear of the
+ Enemy's position, at Stone Bridge, before a sufficient Rebel force could
+ be assembled to contest the Union advance. He sends back an aide with
+ orders to the regimental commanders in the rear, to "break from column,
+ and hurry forward separately, as fast as possible." Another aide he sends,
+ with orders to Howard to bring his brigade across-fields. To Tyler he also
+ sends orders to "press forward his attack, as large bodies of the Enemy
+ are passing in front of him to attack the division (Hunter's) which has
+ passed over."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It may here be explained, that the Sudley road, running about six miles
+ South-Southeasterly from Sudley Springs Ford to Manassas Junction, is
+ crossed at right angles, about two miles South of the Springs, by the
+ Warrenton Pike, at a point about one mile and a half West of the Stone
+ Bridge. For nearly a mile South of Sudley Ford, the Sudley road passes
+ through thick woods on the left, and alternate patches of wooded and
+ cleared lands on the right. The country farther South, opens into rolling
+ fields, occasionally cut by transverse gullies, and patched with woods.
+ This is what Burnside's Brigade beholds, as it marches Southward, along
+ the Sudley road, this eventful morning.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Thus far, the cannonade of Tyler's batteries, and the weak return-fire of
+ the Rebel Artillery, at Stone Bridge, over two miles South-East of Sudley
+ Ford, is about the only music by which the Union march has kept time.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But now, as Burnside's foremost regiment emerges from the woods, at half
+ past 10 o'clock, the Artillery of the Enemy opens upon it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Let us see how this happens. Evans's Brigade, defending the Stone Bridge,
+ and constituting the Enemy's extreme left, comprises, as has already been
+ mentioned, Sloan's 4th South Carolina Regiment, Wheat's Louisiana
+ battalion, Terry's squadron of Virginia Cavalry, and Davidson's section of
+ Latham's Battery of six-pounders.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Earlier in the morning Evans has supposed, from the cannonade of Tyler's
+ batteries among the pines on the hills obliquely opposite the Enemy's
+ left, as well as from the sound of the cannonade of the Union batteries
+ away down the stream on the Enemy's right, near Blackburn's Ford, that
+ McDowell is about to make an attack upon the whole front of the Rebel line
+ of defense along Bull Run&mdash;by way of the Stone Bridge, and the
+ various fords below it, which cross that stream. But by 10 o'clock, that
+ Rebel general begins to feel doubtful, suspicious, and uneasy. Despite the
+ booming of Tyler's guns, he has caught in the distance the rumbling sounds
+ of Hunter's Artillery wheels.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Evans finds himself pondering the meaning of those long lines of dust,
+ away to his left; and then, like a flash, it bursts upon him, that all
+ this Military hubbub in his front, and far away to his right, is but a
+ feint; that the real danger is somehow connected with that mysterious
+ far-away rumble, and those lines of yellow dust; that the main attack is
+ to be on the unprepared left and rear of the Rebel position!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ No sooner has the Rebel brigade-commander thus divined the Union plan of
+ attack, than he prepares, with the limited force at his command, to thwart
+ it. Burnside and he are about equidistant, by this time, from the
+ intersection of the Sudley road, running South, with the Warrenton Pike,
+ running West. Much depends upon which of them shall be the first to reach
+ it,&mdash;and the instinctive, intuitive knowledge of this, spurs Evans to
+ his utmost energy. He leaves four of his fifteen companies, and Rogers's
+ section of the Loudoun Artillery,&mdash;which has come up from Cocke's
+ Brigade, at the ford below&mdash;to defend the approaches to the Stone
+ Bridge, from the East side of Bull Run,&mdash;and, with the other eleven
+ companies, and Latham's half-battery, he hurries Westward, along the
+ Warrenton Pike, toward the Sudley road-crossing, to resist the impending
+ Union attack.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is now 10:30 o'clock, and, as he hurries along, with anxious eyes,
+ scanning the woods at the North, he suddenly catches the glitter of
+ Burnside's bayonets coming down through them, East of the Sudley road, in
+ "column of regiments" toward Young's Branch&mdash;a small stream turning,
+ in a Northern and Southern loop, respectively above and below the
+ Warrenton Pike, much as the S of a prostrate dollar-mark twines above and
+ below its horizontal line, the vicinity of which is destined to be
+ hotly-contested ground ere night-fall.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [Says Captain D. P. Woodbury, U. S. corps of engineers, and who, with
+ Captain Wright, guided the divisions of Hunter and Heintzelman in making
+ the detour to the upper part of Bull Run: "At Sudley's Mills we lingered
+ about an hour to give the men and horses water and a little rest before
+ going into action, our advance guard in the mean time going ahead about
+ three quarters of a mile. Resuming our march, we emerged from the woods
+ about one mile South of the ford, and came upon a beautiful open valley
+ about one and a quarter miles square, bounded on the right or West by a
+ wooded ridge, on the Fast by the rough spurs or bluffs of Bull Run, on
+ the North by an open plain and ridge, on which our troops began to form,
+ and on the South by another ridge, on which the Enemy was strongly
+ posted, with woods behind their backs. The Enemy was also in possession
+ of the bluffs of Bull Run on our left."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ Sending word to Headquarters, Evans pushes forward and gaining Buck Ridge,
+ to the North of the Northern loop of Young's Branch, forms his
+ line-of-battle upon that elevation&mdash;which somewhat compensates him
+ for the inferiority of his numbers&mdash;nearly at right angles to the
+ Bull Run line; rapidly puts his Artillery in position; the Rebel guns open
+ on Burnside's advance&mdash;their hoarse roar soon supplemented by the
+ rattle of Rebel musketry, and the answering roar and rattle of the Union
+ onset; and the Battle of Bull Run has commenced!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is after 10:30 A.M., and Beauregard and Johnston are upon an eminence
+ in the rear of the centre of the Enemy's Bull Run line. They have been
+ there since 8 o'clock. An hour ago, or more, their Signal Officer has
+ reported a large body of Union troops crossing the Bull Run Valley, some
+ two or three miles above the Stone Bridge; upon the strength of which,
+ Johnston has ordered Bee's Brigade from near Cocke's position, with
+ Hampton's Legion and Stonewall Jackson's Brigade from near Bonham's left,
+ to move to the Rebel left, at Stone Bridge; and these troops are now
+ hastening thither, guided by the sound of the guns.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The artillery-firing is also heard by Johnston and Beauregard, but
+ intervening wooded slopes prevent them from determining precisely whence
+ it comes. Beauregard, with a badly-organized staff, is chaffing over the
+ delay that has occurred in carrying out his own plan of battle. He is
+ waiting to hear of the progress of the attack which he has ordered upon
+ the Union Army,&mdash;supposed by him to be at Centreville,&mdash;and
+ especially as to the advance of his right toward Sangster's Station. In
+ the meantime also,&mdash;from early morning,&mdash;the Rebel commanders
+ have heard heavy firing in the direction of Blackburn's Ford, toward their
+ right, where the Artillery attached to the brigades of Davies and
+ Richardson, constituting McDowell's Left Wing, is demonstrating in a
+ lively manner, in accordance with McDowell's plan.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is 11 o'clock. Beauregard has become satisfied that his orders for the
+ Rebel advance and attack on Centreville, have failed or miscarried. His
+ plan is abandoned, and the orders countermanded. At the same time the
+ growing volume of artillery-detonations upon the left of the Bull Run line
+ of defense&mdash;together with the clouds of dust which indicate the route
+ of march of Hunter's and Heintzelman's Divisions from near Centreville to
+ the point of conflict, satisfies both Johnston and Beauregard, that a
+ serious attack is imperilling the Rebel left.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Beauregard at once proposes to Johnston "a modification of the abandoned
+ plan," viz.: "to attack with the" Rebel "right, while the left stands on
+ the defensive." But rapidly transpiring events conspire to make even the
+ modified plan impracticable.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Johnston, convinced by the still growing volume of battle-sounds on the
+ Rebel left, that the main attack of McDowell is being made there, urges
+ Beauregard to strengthen the left, as much as possible; and, after that
+ general has sent orders to this end,&mdash;to Holmes and Early to come up
+ with their Brigades from Union Mills Ford, moving "with all speed to the
+ sound of the firing," and to Bonham to promptly send up, from Mitchell's
+ Ford, a battery and two of his regiments&mdash;both he and Beauregard put
+ spurs to their horses, and gallop at full speed toward the firing, four
+ miles away on their left,&mdash;stopping on the way only long enough for
+ Johnston to order his Chief-of-artillery, Colonel Pendleton, to "follow,
+ with his own, and Alburtis's Batteries."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Meanwhile let us return and witness the progress of the battle, on the
+ Rebel left,&mdash;where we were looking on, at 10:30 o'clock. Evans had
+ then just posted his eleven companies of Infantry on Buck Ridge, with one
+ of his two guns on his left, near the Sudley road, and the other not far
+ from the Robinson House, upon the Northern spur of the elevated plateau
+ just South of Young's Branch, and nearly midway between the Sudley road
+ and Stone Bridge.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The battle, as we have seen, has opened. As Burnside's Brigade appears on
+ the slope, to the North of Buck Ridge (or Hill), it is received by a
+ rapid, well-sustained, and uncomfortable, but not very destructive fire,
+ from Evans's Artillery, and, as the Union regiments press forward, in
+ column, full of impulsive ardor, the Enemy welcomes the head of the column
+ with a hot musketry-fire also, delivered from the crest of the elevation
+ behind which the Rebel Infantry lie flat upon the ground.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This defense by Evan's demi-Brigade still continues, although half an
+ hour, or more, has elapsed. Burnside has not yet been able to dislodge the
+ Enemy from the position. Emboldened to temerity by this fact, Major
+ Wheat's Louisiana battalion advances through the woods in front, upon
+ Burnside, but is hurled back by a galling fire, which throws it into
+ disorder and flight.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At this moment, however, the brigades of Bee and Bartow&mdash;comprising
+ the 7th and 8th Georgia, 2nd Mississippi, 4th Alabama, 6th North Carolina,
+ and two companies of the 11th Mississippi, with Imboden's Battery of four
+ pieces&mdash;recently arrived with Johnston from Winchester, come up, form
+ on the right of Sloan's 4th South Carolina Regiment, while Wheat rallies
+ his remnant on Sloan's left, now resting on the Sudley road, and the whole
+ new Rebel line opens a hot fire upon Burnside's Brigade.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Hunter, for the purpose of better directing the Union attack, is at this
+ moment rapidly riding to the left of the Union line,&mdash;which is
+ advancing Southwardly, at right angles to Bull Run stream and the old line
+ of Rebel defense thereon. He is struck by the fragment of a shell, and
+ carried to the rear.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Colonel John S. Slocum's, 2nd Rhode Island, Regiment, with Reynold's Rhode
+ Island Battery (six 13-pounders), having been sent to the front of
+ Burnside's left, and being closely pressed by the Enemy, Burnside's own
+ regiment the 1st Rhode Island, is gallantly led by Major Balch to the
+ support of the 2nd, and together they handsomely repulse the Rebel onset.
+ Burnside now sends forward Martin's 71st New York, with its two howitzers,
+ and Marston's 2nd New Hampshire,&mdash;his whole Brigade, of four
+ regiments and a light artillery battery, being engaged with the heavy
+ masked battery (Imboden's and two other pieces), and nearly seven full
+ regiments of the Enemy.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The regiments of Burnside's Brigade are getting considerably cut up.
+ Colonels Slocum and Marston, and Major Balch, are wounded. There is some
+ confusion in the ranks, and the Rhode Island Battery is in danger of
+ capture, when General Andrew Porter&mdash;whose own brigade has just
+ reached the field and is deploying to the right of Burnside's&mdash;succeeds
+ Hunter in command of the division, and rides over to his left. Burnside
+ asks him for Sykes's battalion of regulars, which is accordingly detached
+ from the extreme right of Andrew Porter's Division, rapidly forms on the
+ left, in support of the Rhode Island Battery, and opens a hot and
+ effective fire which, in connection with the renewed fire of Burnside's
+ rallied regiments, and the opening artillery practice of Griffin's Battery&mdash;that
+ has just come up at a gallop and gone into a good position upon an
+ eminence to the right of Porter's Division, and to the right of the Sudley
+ road looking South&mdash;fairly staggers the Enemy.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And now the brigades of Sherman and Keyes, having been ordered across Bull
+ Run by General Tyler, are seen advancing from Poplar Ford, at the rear of
+ our left,&mdash;Sherman's Brigade, headed by Corcoran's 69th New York
+ Regiment, coming up on Burnside's left, while Keves's Brigade is
+ following, to the left again of, Sherman.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [Sherman, in his Official Report, after mentioning the receipt by him of
+ Tyler's order to "cross over with the whole brigade to the assistance of
+ Colonel Hunter"&mdash;which he did, so far as the Infantry was
+ concerned, but left his battery under Ayres behind, on account of the
+ impassability of the bluff on the Western bank of Bull Run&mdash;says:
+ "Early in the day, when reconnoitering the ground, I had seen a horseman
+ descend from a bluff in our front, cross the stream, and show himself in
+ the open field, and, inferring we could cross over at the same point, I
+ sent forward a company as skirmishers, and followed with the whole
+ brigade, the New York Sixty-ninth leading."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This is evidently the ford at the elbow of Bull Run, to the right of
+ Sherman's front, which is laid down on the Army-maps as "Poplar Ford,"
+ and which McDowell's engineers had previously discovered and mapped; and
+ to which Major Barnard of the U. S. Engineer Corps alludes when, in his
+ Official Report, he says: "Midway between the Stone Bridge and Sudley
+ Spring our maps indicated another ford, which was said to be good."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Comte de Paris, at page 241, vol. I. of his admirable "History of
+ the Civil War in America," and perhaps other Military historians, having
+ assumed and stated&mdash;upon the strength of this passage in Sherman's
+ Report&mdash;that "the Military instinct" of that successful soldier had
+ "discovered" this ford; and the impression being thus conveyed, however
+ undesignedly, to their readers, that McDowell's Engineer corps, after
+ spending two or three days in reconnaissances, had failed to find the
+ ford which Sherman had in a few minutes "discovered" by "Military
+ instinct;" it is surely due to the truth of Military history, that the
+ Engineers be fairly credited with the discovery and mapping of that
+ ford, the existence of which should also have been known to McDowell's
+ brigade commanders.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ If, on the other hand, the Report of the Rebel Captain Arthur L. Rogers,
+ of the Loudoun Artillery, to General Philip St. George Cocke, be
+ correct, it would seem that Sherman attempted to cross Bull Run lower
+ down than Poplar Ford, which is "about one mile above the Stone Bridge,"
+ but was driven back by the fire of Rogers's guns to cross at that
+ particular ford; for Rogers, in that Report, says that about 11 o'clock
+ A. M., the first section of the Loudoun Artillery, under his command,
+ "proceeded to the crest of the hill on the West Side of Bull Run,
+ commanding Stone Bridge. * * * Here." continues he, "I posted my section
+ of Artillery, and opened a brisk fire upon a column of the Enemy's
+ Infantry, supposed to be two regiments, advancing towards me, and
+ supported by his battery of rifled cannon on the hills opposite. These
+ poured into my section a steady fire of shot and shell. After giving
+ them some fifty rounds, I succeeded in heading his column, and turned it
+ up Bull Run to a ford about one mile above Stone Bridge, where, with the
+ regiments which followed, they crossed, and proceeded to join the rest
+ of the Enemy's forces in front of the main body of our Army."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ Before this developing, expanding, and advancing attack of the Union
+ forces, the Rebel General Bee, who&mdash;since his coming up to support
+ Evans, with his own and Bartow's Brigades, to which had since been added
+ Hampton's Legion,&mdash;has been in command of this new Rebel line of
+ defense upon the left of the Bull Run line, concludes that that attack is
+ getting too strong for him, and orders his forces to retreat to the
+ Southward, and re-form on a second line, parallel to their present line,
+ and behind the rising ground at their rear. They do so, somewhat faster
+ than he desires. The whole line of the Rebel centre gives way, followed by
+ the wings, as far as the victorious Union troops can see.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ We must be blind if we cannot perceive that thus far, the outlook, from
+ the Union point of view,&mdash;despite numberless mistakes of detail, and
+ some, perhaps, more general in their character&mdash;is very good. The
+ "Boys in Blue" are irresistibly advancing, driving the "Rebel Gray" back
+ and back, without let or hindrance, over the Buck Hill ridge, over Young's
+ Branch, back to, and even over, the Warrenton Pike. Time, to be sure, is
+ flying&mdash;valuable time; but the Enemy also is retiring.&mdash;There is
+ some slight confusion in parts of our own ranks; but there is much more in
+ his. At present, we have decidedly the best of it. McDowell's plan has
+ been, thus far, successful. Will that success continue? We shall see.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Heintzelman's Division is coming, up from the rear, to the Union right&mdash;Franklin's
+ Brigade, made up of the 5th and 11th Massachusetts, and 1st Minnesota,
+ with Ricketts's splendid battery of six 10-pounder Parrotts, forming on
+ the right of Andrew Porter's Brigade and Division; while Willcox's
+ demi-Brigade, with its 11th ("Fire Zouaves") and 38th New York&mdash;having
+ left Arnold's Battery of four pieces, with the 1st Michigan as its
+ support, posted on a hill commanding Sudley's Ford&mdash;comes in, on the
+ right of Franklin, thus forming the extreme right of the advancing Union
+ line of attack.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ As our re-enforcing brigades come up, on our right, and on our left, the
+ Enemy falls back, more and more discouraged and dismayed. It seems to him,
+ as it does to us, "as though nothing can stop us." Jackson, however, is
+ now hurrying up to the relief of the flying and disordered remnants of
+ Bee's, Bartow's, and Evans's Brigades; and these subsequently rally, with
+ Hampton's Legion, upon Jackson's strong brigade of fresh troops, so that,
+ on a third new line, to which they have been driven back, they soon have&mdash;6,500
+ Infantry, 13 pieces of Artillery, and Stuart's cavalry&mdash;posted in a
+ belt of pines which fringes the Southern skirt of the Henry House plateau&mdash;in
+ a line-of-battle which, with its left resting upon the Sudley road,
+ three-quarters of a mile South of its intersection with the Warrenton
+ Pike, is the irregular hypothenuse of a right-angled triangle, formed by
+ itself and those two intersecting roads, to the South-East of such
+ intersection. It is within this right-angled triangular space that the
+ battle, now proceeding, bids fair to rage most fiercely.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Johnston and Beauregard, riding up from their rear, reach this new (third)
+ line to which the Rebel troops have been driven, about noon. They find the
+ brigades of Bee, Bartow, and Evans, falling back in great disorder, and
+ taking shelter in a wooded ravine, South of the Robinson House and of the
+ Warrenton Pike. Hampton's Legion, which has just been driven backward over
+ the Pike, with great loss, still holds the Robinson House. Jackson,
+ however, has reached the front of this line of defense, with his brigade
+ of the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 27th, and 33rd Virginia Infantry, and Pendleton's
+ Battery&mdash;all of which have been well rested, since their arrival,
+ with other brigades of Johnston's Army of the Shenandoah, from Winchester,
+ a day or two back.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ As Jackson comes up, on the left of "the ravine and woods occupied by the
+ mingled remnants of Bee's, Bartow's and Evans's commands," he posts
+ Imboden's, Stanard's, and Pendleton's Batteries in line, "below the brim
+ of the Henry House plateau," perhaps one-eighth of a mile to the
+ East-Southeastward of the Henry House, at his centre; Preston's 4th
+ Virginia, and Echol's 27th Virginia, at the rear of the battery-line;
+ Harper's 5th Virginia, with Radford's Cavalry, at its right; and, on its
+ left, Allen's 2nd Virginia; with Cumming's 33rd Virginia to the left of
+ that again, and Stuart's Cavalry covering the Rebel left flank.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is about this time that the chief Rebel generals find their position so
+ desperate, as to necessitate extraordinary measures, and personal
+ exposure, on their part. Now it is, that Jackson earns the famous
+ sobriquet which sticks to him until he dies.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [Bee approaches Jackson&mdash;so goes the story, according to Swinton;
+ he points to the disordered remnants of his own brigade mingled with
+ those of the brigades of Bartow and Evans huddled together in the woods,
+ and exclaims: "General, they are beating us back!" "Sir," responds
+ Jackson, drawing himself up, severely, "We'll give them the bayonet!"
+ And Bee, rushing back among his confused troops, rallies them with the
+ cry: "There is Jackson, standing like a Stone wall! Let us determine to
+ die here, and we will conquer."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ Now it is, that Johnston and Beauregard, accompanied by their staffs, ride
+ backward and forward among the Rebel ranks, rallying and encouraging them.
+ Now it is, that, Bee and Bartow and Hampton being wounded, and the
+ Lieutenant-Colonel of the Hampton Legion killed, Beauregard leads a
+ gallant charge of that legion in person. And now it is, that Johnston
+ himself, finding all the field-officers of the 4th Alabama disabled,
+ "impressively and gallantly charges to the front" with the colors of that
+ regiment at his side!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ These conspicuous examples of bravery, inspire the Rebel troops with fresh
+ courage, at this admittedly "critical" moment.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Johnston now assigns to Beauregard the chief "command of the left" of the
+ Bull Run line,&mdash;that is to say, the chief command of the Enemy's new
+ line of defense, which, as we have seen, is on the left of, and at right
+ angles to, the old Bull Run line&mdash;while he himself, riding back to
+ the Lewis House, resumes "the command of the whole field."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On his way to his rear, Johnston orders Cocke to send reenforcements to
+ Beauregard. He also dispatches orders to hurry up to that Rebel general's
+ support, the brigades of Holmes and Early from near the Union Mills Ford,
+ and that of Bonham from Mitchell's Ford,&mdash;Ewell with his brigade,
+ being also directed to "follow with all speed" from Union Mills
+ Ford-making a total of over 10,000 fresh troops.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ From the "commanding elevation" of the Lewis House, Johnston can observe
+ the position of the Union forces beyond Bull Run, at Blackburn's Ford and
+ Stone Bridge; the coming of his own re-enforcing brigades from far down
+ the valley, toward Manassas; and the manoeuvres of our advancing columns
+ under McDowell.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ As the battle proceeds, the Enemy's strength on the third new line of
+ defense increases, until he has 22 guns, 260 Cavalry, and 12 regiments of
+ Infantry, now engaged. It is interesting to observe also, that, of these,
+ 16 of the guns, 9 of the regiments, and all of the Cavalry (Stuart's),
+ belong to Johnston's Army of the Shenandoah, while only 6 guns and 3
+ Infantry regiments thus engaged, belong to Beauregard's Army of the
+ Potomac. Thus the burden of the battle has been, and is being, borne by
+ Johnston's, and not Beauregard's troops&mdash;in the proportion of about
+ three of the former, to one of the latter,&mdash;which, for over two
+ hours, maintain their position despite many successive assaults we make
+ upon them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is after 2 o'clock P.M., when Howard's Brigade, of Heintzelman's
+ Division, reaches the battle-field, almost broken down with exhaustion. By
+ order of Heintzelman it has moved at double-quick for a mile of the way,
+ until, under the broiling heat, it can do so no longer. The last two miles
+ of the weary tramp, while the head of the brigade has moved at quick time,
+ the rear, having lost distances, moves, much of the time, at a
+ double-quick. As a consequence, many of Howard's men drop out, and
+ absolutely faint from exhaustion.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ As Howard's Brigade approaches the field, besides the ambulances and
+ litters, conveying to the rear the wounded and dying, crowds of retreating
+ stragglers meet and tell it to hurry along; that the Enemy has been driven
+ back a mile; but, as it marches along, its regiments do not feel
+ particularly encouraged by the disorganization so prevalent; and the fact
+ that as they come into action, the thunders of the Rebel Artillery do not
+ seem to meet an adequately voluminous response&mdash;from the Union side,
+ seems to them, a portent of evil. Weary and fagged out, they are permitted
+ to rest, for a while, under cover.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Up to this time, our line, increased, as it has been, by the brigades of
+ Sherman and Keyes, on the left of Burnside, and of Franklin and Wilcox, on
+ the right of Porter, has continued to advance victoriously. Our troops
+ are, to be sure, considerably scattered, having been "moved from point to
+ point" a good deal. On our left, the Enemy has been driven back nearly a
+ mile, and Keyes's Brigade is pushing down Bull Run, under shelter of the
+ bluffs, trying to turn the right of the Enemy's new line, and give
+ Schenck's Brigade a better chance for crossing the Stone Bridge, still
+ commanded by some of the Rebel guns.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Having "nothing to do" there, "several of the Union regiments" are coming
+ over, from our left toward our right, with a view of overlapping, and
+ turning, the Enemy's left.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is about half past 2 o'clock. The batteries of Griffin and Ricketts
+ have already been advanced as far as the eminence, upon our right, upon
+ which stands the Dogan House. Supported by Lyons's gallant 14th New York
+ Chasseurs, Griffin's and Ricketts's Batteries are still pouring a terribly
+ destructive fire into the batteries and columns of the Enemy, now behind
+ the brow of the Henry House hill, wherever exposed, while Palmer's seven
+ companies of Union Cavalry are feeling the Enemy's left flank, which
+ McDowell proposes to turn. The flags of eight Union regiments, though
+ "borne somewhat wearily" now point toward the hilly Henry House plateau,
+ beyond which "disordered masses of Rebels" have been seen "hastily
+ retiring."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ There is a lull in the battle. The terrible heat is exhausting to the
+ combatants on both sides. Griffin and Ricketts have wrought such havoc
+ with their guns, that "nothing remains to be fired at." Victory seems most
+ surely to be ours.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Away down at his headquarters at the Lewis House, the Rebel General
+ Johnston stands watching the progress of the battle, as it goes against
+ him. Nervously he glances, every now and then, over his left shoulder, as
+ if expecting something. An officer is galloping toward him, from Manassas.
+ He comes from the office of Beauregard's Adjutant-General, at that point.
+ He rides up and salutes. "General," says he, breathlessly, "a United
+ States Army has reached the line of the Manassas Gap railroad, and is now
+ but three or four miles from our left flank!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Johnston clenches his teeth nervously. Thick beads of perspiration start
+ from his forehead. He believes it is Patterson's Army that has followed
+ "upon his heels" from before Winchester, faster than has been anticipated;
+ and, as he thinks of Kirby Smith, who should long since have arrived with
+ Elzey's Brigade&mdash;all, of his own "Army of the Shenandoah," that has
+ not yet followed him to Manassas,&mdash;the exclamation involuntarily
+ bursts from his lips: "Oh, for four regiments!"
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [Says a correspondent and eye-witness of the battle, writing to the
+ Richmond Dispatch, from the battle-field, July 23d: "Between two and
+ three o'clock large numbers of men were leaving the field, some of them
+ wounded, others exhausted by the long struggle, who gave us gloomy
+ reports; but, as the firing on both sides continued steadily, we felt
+ sure that our brave Southerners had not been conquered by the
+ overwhelming hordes of the North. It is, however, due to truth to say
+ that the result at this hour hung trembling in the balance. We had lost
+ numbers of our most distinguished officers. Gens. Barlow and Bee had
+ been stricken down; Lieut; Col. Johnson of the Hampton Legion had been
+ killed; Col. Hampton had been wounded. But there was at hand a fearless
+ general whose reputation was staked on this battle: Gen. Beauregard
+ promptly offered to lead the Hampton Legion into action, which he
+ executed in a style unsurpassed and unsurpassable. Gen. Beauregard rode
+ up and down our lines, between the Enemy and his own men, regardless of
+ the heavy fire, cheering and encouraging our troops. About this time, a
+ shell struck his horse, taking its head off, and killing the horses of
+ his aides, Messrs. Ferguson and Hayward. * * * Gen. Johnston also threw
+ himself into the thickest of the fight, seizing the colors of a Georgia
+ (Alabama) regiment, and rallying then to the charge. * * * Your
+ correspondent heard Gen. Johnston exclaim to Gen. Cocke, just at the
+ critical moment, 'Oh, for four regiments!' His wish was answered; for in
+ the distance our re-enforcements appeared. The tide of battle was turned
+ in our favor by the arrival of Gen. Kirby Smith, from Winchester, with
+ 4,000 men of Gen. Johnston's Division. Gen. Smith heard, while on the
+ Manassas Railroad cars, the roar of battle. He stopped the train, and
+ hurried his troops across the fields to the point just where he was most
+ needed. They were at first supposed to be the Enemy, their arrival at
+ that point of the field being entirely unexpected. The Enemy fell back,
+ and a panic seized them. Cheer after cheer from our men went up, and we
+ knew the battle had been won."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Another Rebel correspondent who, as an officer of the Kentucky battalion
+ of General Johnston's Division of the Rebel Army, participated in the
+ battle, wrote to the Louisville Courier from Manassas, July 22, an
+ account of it, in which, after mentioning that the Rebel Army had been
+ forced back for two miles, he continues; "The fortunes of the day were
+ evidently against us. Some of our best officers had been slain, and the
+ flower of our Army lay strewn upon the field, ghastly in death or gaping
+ with wounds. At noon, the cannonading is described as terrific. It was
+ an incessant roar for more than two hours, the havoc and devastation at
+ this time being fear ful. McDowell * * * had nearly outflanked us, and
+ they were just in the act of possessing themselves of the Railway to
+ Richmond. Then all would have been lost. But most opportunely&mdash;I
+ may say Providentially&mdash;at this juncture, Gen. Johnston, [Kirby
+ Smith it should be] with the remnant of Johnston's Division&mdash;our
+ Army, as we fondly call it, for we have been friends and brothers in
+ camp and field for three months&mdash;reappeared, and made one other
+ desperate struggle to obtain the vantage-ground. Elzey's Brigade of
+ Marylanders and Virginians led the charge; and right manfully did they
+ execute the work,"]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ "The prayer of the wicked availeth not," 'tis said; yet never was the
+ prayer of the righteous more quickly answered than is that of the Rebel
+ General-in-chief! Johnston himself, alluding to this exigent moment,
+ afterward remarks, in his report: "The expected reenforcements appeared
+ soon after." Instead of Patterson's Union Army, it is Kirby Smith, coming
+ up, with Elzey's Brigade, from Winchester!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Satisfied of the safe arrival of Kirby Smith, and ordering him up, with
+ Elzey's Brigade, Johnston directs Kershaw's 2nd and Cash's 8th South
+ Carolina Regiments, which have just come up, with Kemper's Battery, from
+ Bonham's Brigade, to strengthen the Rebel left, against the attempt which
+ we are still making to reach around it, about the Sudley road, to take it
+ in reverse. Fisher's 6th North Carolina Regiment arriving about the same
+ time, is also hurried along to help Beauregard.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But during the victorious lull, heretofore alluded to, something is
+ happening on our side, that is of very serious moment. Let us see what it
+ is:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The batteries of Griffin and Ricketts, at the Dogan House, having nothing
+ to fire at, as we have seen, are resting, pleased with the consciousness
+ of their brilliant and victorious service against the Rebel batteries and
+ Infantry columns, when they are ordered by McDowell &mdash;who, with his
+ staff, is upon elevated ground to the rear of our right,&mdash;to advance
+ 1,000 yards further to the front, "upon a hill near the Henry House."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Ricketts considers this a perilous job&mdash;but proceeds to execute the
+ order as to his own battery. A small ravine is in his front. With Ricketts
+ gallantly leading, the battery dashes across the ravine at full gallop,
+ breaking one wheel as it goes, which is at once replaced. A fence lies
+ across the way. The cannoniers demolish it. The battery ascends the hill
+ near the Henry House, which is full of the Enemy's sharpshooters.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [For this, and what immediately follows, see the testimony of Ricketts
+ and others, before the Committee on the Conduct of the War.]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ Soon as Ricketts gets his guns in battery, his men and horses begin to
+ fall, under the fire of these sharpshooters. He turns his guns upon the
+ Henry House,&mdash;and "literally riddles it." Amid the moans of the
+ wounded, the death scream of a woman is heard! The Enemy had permitted her
+ to remain in her doomed house!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But the execution is not all on one side, by any means. Ricketts is in a
+ very hot place&mdash;the hottest, he afterward declares, that he has ever
+ seen in his life&mdash;and he has seen fighting before this.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Enemy is behind the woods, at the front and right of Ricketts's
+ Battery. This, with the added advantage of the natural slope of the
+ ground, enables him to deliver upon the brave Union artillerists a
+ concentrated fire, which is terribly destructive, and disables so many of
+ Rickett's horses that he cannot move, if he would. Rickett's own guns,
+ however, are so admirably served, that a smooth-bore battery of the Enemy,
+ which has been stubbornly opposing him, is driven back, despite its heavy
+ supports.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And Griffin's Battery now comes rapidly up into position on the left of,
+ and in line with, Ricketts. For Griffin also has been ordered from the
+ Dogan House hill, to this new, and dangerously exposed, position.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But when Major Barry, General McDowell's Chief of Artillery, brings him
+ the order, Griffin hesitates&mdash;for he has no Infantry support.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The Fire Zouaves&mdash;[The 11th New York]&mdash;will support you," says
+ Barry, "They are just ready to follow you at the double-quick!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Then why not let them go and get in position on the hill," says Griffin;
+ "then, let Ricketts's and my batteries come into battery behind; and then,
+ let them (the Zouaves) fall back?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Griffin advises, also, as a better position for his own battery, a hill
+ 500 yards in the rear of the Henry House hill. But advice is thrown away.
+ His artillery-chief is inflexible.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I tell you," says Griffin again, "the Fire Zouaves won't support us."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "They will," replies Barry. "At any rate it is General McDowell's order to
+ go there!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ That settles the business. "I will go," responds Griffin; "but mark my
+ words, they will not support us!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Griffin's Battery, indeed, starts first, but, owing to the mistake of one
+ of his officers, it has to be countermarched, so that Ricketts's is thrown
+ to the front, and, as we have seen, first reaches the crest of the Henry
+ House hill.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Griffin, as he comes up with his guns, goes into battery on the left of
+ Ricketts, and at once opens briskly on the Enemy. One of Griffin's guns
+ has a ball lodged in the bore, which cannot be got in or out. His other
+ five guns, with the six guns of Ricketts, make eleven pieces, which are
+ now side by side-all of them driving away at the Enemy's (Stonewall
+ Jackson's) strong batteries, not more than 300 yards away.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ They have been at it half an hour perhaps, when Griffin moves two of his
+ pieces to the right of Ricketts, and commences firing with them. He has
+ hardly been there five minutes, when a Rebel regiment coming out of the
+ woods at Griffin's right front, gets over a rail fence, its Colonel steps
+ out between his regiment (now standing up to the knees in rank grass) and
+ the battery, and commences a speech to his men!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Griffin orders one of his officers to load with canister, and let drive at
+ them. The guns are loaded, and ready to fire, when up gallops Barry,
+ exclaiming: "Captain, don't fire there; those are your battery-supports!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At this supreme moment, Reynolds's gorgeous looking Marines are sitting
+ down in close column, on the ground, to the left of the Union batteries.
+ The showy 11th New York "Fire Zouaves" are a little to the rear of the
+ right of the guns. The gallant 14th New York Chasseurs, in their
+ dust-covered red uniforms, who had followed Griffin's Battery, at some
+ distance, have, only a little while since, pushed finely up, from the
+ ravine at the rear of our batteries, into the woods, to the right of
+ Griffin and Ricketts, at a double-quick. To the left of the batteries,
+ close to the battalion of Marines, Heintzelman bestrides his horse, near
+ some of his own Division.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ To Major Barry's startling declaration, Captain Griffin excitedly shouts:
+ "They are Confederates! Sure as the world, they are Confederates!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But Barry thinks he knows better, and hastily responds: "I know they are
+ your battery-support."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Griffin spurs toward his pieces, countermands his previous order, and
+ firing is resumed in the old direction.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Andrew Porter, has just ridden up to Heintzelman's side, and now catches
+ sight of the Rebel regiment. "What troops are those?" he asks of General
+ Hientzelman, pointing in their direction.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ While Heintzelman is replying, and just as Averell drops his reins and
+ levels his field-glass at them, "down come their pieces-rifles and
+ muskets,&mdash;and probably," as Averell afterward said, "there never was
+ such a destructive fire for a few minutes. It seemed as though every man
+ and horse of that battery just laid right down, and died right off!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is a dreadful mistake that has been made. And there seems to have been
+ no excuse for it either. The deliberateness of the Rebel colonel has given
+ Barry abundant time to have discovered his error. For Griffin subsequently
+ declared, under oath, that, "After the officer who had been talking to the
+ regiment had got through, he faced them to the left, marched them about
+ fifty yards to the woods, then faced them to the right again, marched them
+ about forty yards toward us, then opened fire upon us&mdash;and that was
+ the last of us!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is a terrible blunder. For, up to this moment, the battle is undeniably
+ ours. And, while the Rebel colonel has been haranguing his brave men,
+ there has been plenty of time to have "passed the word" along the line of
+ our batteries, and poured canister into the Rebel regiment from the whole
+ line of eleven guns, at point-blank range, which must inevitably have cut
+ it all to pieces. The fate of the day hung balanced right there and then&mdash;with
+ all the chances in favor of McDowell. But those chances are now reversed.
+ Such are the fickle changes in the fortunes of battle!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Instead of our batteries cutting to pieces the Rebel Infantry regiment,
+ the Rebel Infantry regiment has mowed down the gallant artillerists of our
+ batteries. Hardly a man of them escapes. Death and destruction reap a
+ wondrous and instant harvest. Wounded, dying, or dead, lie the brave
+ cannoniers at their guns, officers and men alike hors du combat, while
+ wounded horses gallop wildly back, with bounding caissons, down the gentle
+ declivity, carrying disorder, and further danger, in their mad flight.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The supporting Fire Zouaves and Marines, on the right and left of our line
+ of guns, stand, with staring eyes and dumb open-mouths, at the sudden turn
+ of affairs. They are absolutely paralyzed with astonishment. They do not
+ run at first. They stand, quaking and panic-stricken. They are urged to
+ advance upon the Rebel regiment&mdash;"to give them a volley, and then try
+ the bayonet." In vain! They fire perhaps 100 scattering shots; and receive
+ in return, as they break and run down the hill to the rear, volley after
+ volley, of deadly lead, from the Rebel muskets.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But, as this Rebel regiment (Cummings's 33rd Virginia) advances to seize
+ the crippled and defenceless guns, it is checked, and driven back, by the
+ 1st Michigan Regiment of Willcox's Brigade, which has pushed forward in
+ the woods at our extreme right.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Meanwhile, having been ordered by McDowell to support Ricketts's Battery,
+ Howard has formed his four tired regiments into two lines&mdash;Berry's
+ 4th Maine, and Whitney's 2nd Vermont, on the right and left of the first;
+ and Dunnell's 5th, and his own 3rd Maine, under Staples, in the second
+ line. Howard himself leads his first line up the elevated plateau of the
+ Henry House. Reaching the crest, the line delivers its fire, volley after
+ volley, despite the concentrated hail of the Enemy's Artillery and
+ muskets. As the second line advances, a Rebel cannon-ball, and an
+ unfortunate charge of our own Cavalry, scatters most of the 5th Maine. The
+ 2nd Vermont, which has advanced 200 yards beyond the crest, rapidly
+ firing, while the Enemy retires, is now, in turn, forced back by the
+ Enemy's hot fire, and is replaced by the 3rd Maine, while the remnant of
+ the 5th moves up to the extreme right of Howard's now single line. But the
+ Rebel fire grows hotter and hotter, and owing to this, and a misunderstood
+ order, Howard's line begins to dissolve, and then retires in confusion,&mdash;Howard
+ and others vainly striving to rally his own utterly exhausted men.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Sherman's Brigade, too, has come over from our left, and now advances upon
+ the deadly plateau, where lie the disabled Union batteries&mdash;the
+ prizes, in full sight of both Armies, for which each seems now to be so
+ desperately striving.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Quinby's 13th New York Rifles, in column of companies, leads the brigade,
+ followed by Lieutenant-Colonel Peck's 2d Wisconsin, Cameron's 79th New
+ York (Highlanders), and Corcoran's 69th New York (Irish), "in line of
+ battle." Down the slope, across the ravine, and up, on the other side,
+ steadily presses Quinby, till he reaches the crest. He opens fire. An
+ advancing Rebel regiment retires, as he pushes up to where the Union
+ batteries and cannoniers lie wounded and dying&mdash;the other three
+ regiments following in line-of-battle until near the crest, when the fire
+ of the Enemy's rifles and musketry, added to his heavy cannonading, grows
+ so severe that the brigade is forced back to shelter in a roadway leading
+ up the plateau.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Peck's 2nd Wisconsin, now emerges from this sheltered roadway, and
+ steadily mounts the elevation, in the face of the Enemy's severe
+ fire-returning it, with spirit, as it advances. But the Rebel fire becomes
+ too galling. The gray-clad Wisconsin boys return to the sheltered road
+ again, while the cry goes up from Sherman's ranks: "Our own men are firing
+ at them!" Rallying at the road, the 2nd Wisconsin again returns, with
+ desperate courage, to the crest of the hill, delivers its fire, and then,
+ unable to withstand the dreadful carnage, falls back once more, in
+ disorder.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At this, the 79th (Highland) Regiment springs forward, to mount the brow
+ of the fatal hill, swept as it is, with this storm of shot and shell and
+ musket-balls. Up, through the lowering smoke, lit with the Enemy's
+ incessant discharges in the woods beyond, the brave Highlanders jauntily
+ march, and, with Cameron and their colors at their head, charge
+ impetuously across the bloody hill-crest, and still farther, to the front.
+ But it is not in human nature to continue that advance in the teeth of the
+ withering fire from Jackson's batteries, strengthened, as they are, by
+ Pelham's and Kemper's. The gallant fellows fall back, rally again, advance
+ once more, retire again, and at last,&mdash;the heroic Cameron being
+ mortally wounded,&mdash;fall back, in confusion, under the cover of the
+ hill.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And now, while Quinby's Regiment, on another ridge, more to the left, is
+ also again engaging the Enemy, the 69th New York, led by the fearless
+ Corcoran, dashes forward, up the Henry House hill, over the forbidding
+ brow, and beyond. As the brave Irishmen reach the abandoned batteries, the
+ hoarse roar of cannon, the sharp rattle of musketry-volleys, the scream of
+ shot and shell, and the whistling of bullets, is at once deafening and
+ appalling, while the air seems filled with the iron and leaden sleet which
+ sweeps across the scorched and blasted plateau of the Henry House. Nobly
+ the Irish Regiment holds its ground for a time; but, at last, it too falls
+ back, before the hurtling tempest.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The fortunes of the day are plainly turning against us. Time is also
+ against us&mdash;as it has been all along&mdash;while it is with the
+ Enemy. It is past 3 o'clock.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Since we last looked at Beauregard's third new defensive line, there have
+ been material accessions to it. The remains of the brigades of Bee, Evans,
+ and Bartow, have been reformed on the right of Jackson's Brigade&mdash;Bee
+ on his immediate right, Evans to the right of Bee, and Bartow to the right
+ of Evans, with a battery which has been engaging Schenck's Brigade on the
+ other side of Bull Run near the Stone Bridge; while Cocke's Brigade
+ watches Bull Run to the rear of Bartow. On the left of Jackson's. Brigade,
+ is now to be seen a part of Bonham's Brigade (Kershaw's 2nd South
+ Carolina, and Cash's 8th South Carolina) with Kemper's Battery on its
+ left. Kirby Smith has reached the front, from Manassas, and&mdash;in
+ advancing from his position on the left of Bonham's demi-Brigade, just
+ West of the Sudley road, with Elzey's Brigade, in a counter-attack upon
+ our right-is wounded, and carried to the rear, leaving his command to
+ Elzey. Stuart's Cavalry are in the woods, still farther to the Enemy's
+ left, supporting Beckham's Battery. Early's Brigade is also coming up,
+ from Union Mills Ford, not far to the rear of the Enemy's left, with the
+ design of coming into line between Elzey's Brigade and Beckham's Battery,
+ and out-flanking and attacking our right. But let us bring our eyes back
+ to the bloody contest, still going on, for the possession of the batteries
+ of Griffin and Ricketts.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Arnold's Battery has raced up on our right, and is delivering shot, shell,
+ spherical case, and canister, with effect, although exposed to a severe
+ and accurate fire from the Enemy. Wilcox, with what is left of the 1st
+ Michigan, after once retaking the batteries on the plateau, from the 7th
+ Georgia, has got around the Enemy's left flank and is actually engaged
+ with the Enemy's rear, while that Enemy's front is engaged with Franklin
+ and Sherman! But Hobart Ward's 38th New York, which Wilcox has ordered up
+ to support the 1st Michigan, on our extreme right, in this flanking
+ movement, has been misdirected, and is now attacking the Enemy's centre,
+ instead of his left; and Preston's 28th Virginia&mdash;which, with
+ Withers's 18th Virginia, has come up to the Rebel left, from Cocke's
+ Brigade, on the Enemy's right&mdash;finding the 1st Michigan broken, in
+ the woods, attacks it, and wounds and captures Wilcox. Withers's Regiment
+ has, with a yell&mdash;the old "Rebel yell," now rising everywhere from
+ Rebel throats, and so often heard afterward,&mdash;charged the 14th New
+ York Chasseurs, in the woods; and the Chasseurs, though retiring, have
+ fired upon it with such precision as to throw some of their assailants
+ into disorder.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [Says General Keyes, who had kept on down the Run, "on the extreme left
+ of our advance&mdash;having separated from Sherman on his right:&mdash;I
+ thought the day was won about 2 o'clock; but about half past 3 o'clock a
+ sudden change in the firing took place, which, to my ear, was very
+ ominous. I knew that the moment the shout went up from the other side,
+ there appeared to be an instantaneous change in the whole sound of the
+ battle. * * * That, as far as I can learn, was the shout that went up
+ from the Enemy's line when they found out for certain that it was
+ Johnston [Kirby Smith] and not Patterson, that had come."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ Meanwhile McDowell is making one more effort to retrieve the misfortunes
+ of the day. Lawrence's 5th, and Clark's 11th Massachusetts, with Gorman's
+ 1st Minnesota,&mdash;all belonging to Franklin's Brigade&mdash;together
+ with Corcoran's 69th New York, of Sherman's Brigade, have been brought
+ into line-of-battle, by the united efforts of Franklin, Averell, and other
+ officers, at our centre, and with the remnants of two or three other
+ regiments, are moving against the Enemy's centre, to support the attack of
+ the Chasseurs&mdash;rallied and led forward again by Heintzelman upon the
+ Rebel left, and that of the 38th New York upon the Rebel left centre,&mdash;in
+ another effort to recapture the abandoned batteries.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Charge after charge, is made by our gallant regiments, and counter-charge
+ after counter-charge, is made by the fresh troops of the Enemy. For almost
+ half an hour, has the contest over the batteries rolled backward and
+ forward. Three several times have the batteries been taken, and re-taken,&mdash;much
+ of the determined and desperate struggle going on, over the prostrate and
+ bleeding bodies of the brave Union artillerists,&mdash;but without avail.
+ Regiment after regiment, has been thrown back, by the deadly fusillade of
+ the Enemy's musketry from the skirt of woods at his front and left, and
+ the canister, case, and bursting shells, of his rapidly-served Artillery.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is now near upon 4 o'clock. Our last effort to recapture the batteries
+ has failed. The Union line of advance has been seriously checked. Some of
+ our own guns in those batteries are turned on us. The Enemy's Infantry
+ make a rush over the blood-soaked brow of the fatal plateau, pouring into
+ our men a deadly fire, as they advance,&mdash;while over to our right and
+ rear, at the same moment, are seen the fresh regiments of Early's Brigade
+ coming out of the woods&mdash;deploying rapidly in several lines&mdash;with
+ Stuart's handful of Rebel Cavalry, while Beckham's guns, in the same
+ quarter, open an oblique enfilading reverse fire upon us, in a lively
+ manner.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At once the minds of the fagged-out Union troops become filled with the
+ dispiriting idea that the exhausting fight which they have made all day
+ long, has been simply with Beauregard's Army of the Potomac, and that
+ these fresh Rebel troops, on the Union right and rear, are the vanguard of
+ Johnston's Army of the Shenandoah! After all the hard marching and
+ fighting they have done during the last thirteen hours,&mdash;with empty
+ stomachs, and parched lips, under a scorching sun that still, as it
+ descends in the West, glowers down upon them, through the murky air, like
+ a great, red, glaring eye,&mdash;the very thought is terrible!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Without fear, yet equally without hope, the Union troops crumble to
+ groups, and then to individuals. The attempt of McDowell to turn the left
+ of the Enemy's Bull Run line, has failed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ McDowell and his officers heroically but vainly strive, at great personal
+ risk to themselves, to stem the tide of confusion, and disorder. Sykes's
+ battalion of regulars, which has been at our left, now steadily moves
+ obliquely across the field of battle toward our right, to a hill in the
+ midground, which it occupies, and, with the aid of Arnold's Battery and
+ Palmer's Cavalry, holds, while the exhausted and disorganized troops of
+ the Union Army doggedly and slowly retire toward Sudley Ford, their rear
+ covered by an irregular square of Infantry, which, mainly by the exertions
+ of Colonel Corcoran, has been formed to resist a threatened charge of
+ Stuart's Cavalry.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [At the rate of "not more than two, or two and a half, miles an hour,"
+ and not "helter-skelter," as some narrators state.]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ It is not fear, that has got the better of our Union troops. It is
+ physical exhaustion for one thing; it is thirst for another. Men must
+ drink,&mdash;even if they have foolishly thrown away their canteens,&mdash;and
+ many have retired to get water. It is the moral effect also&mdash;the
+ terrible disappointment&mdash;of seeing what they suppose are Johnston's
+ fresh troops from the Shenandoah Valley, without Patterson "on their
+ heels," suddenly appear on their flank and rear. It is not fear; though
+ some of them are panic-stricken, and, as they catch sight of Stuart's
+ mounted men,&mdash;no black horse or uniform among them,&mdash;raise the
+ cry of "The Black Horse Cavalry!&mdash;The Black Horse Cavalry!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Union attack has been repulsed, it is true; but the Union soldiers,
+ though disorganized, discouraged, and disappointed, are not dismayed.
+ Their officers not yet having learned how to fight, and themselves lacking
+ the cohesion of discipline, the men have lost their regimental
+ organizations, and owing to the causes mentioned, slowly retire across
+ Sudley Ford of Bull Run, in a condition of disintegration, their retreat
+ being bravely covered by the 27th and 69th New York, (which have rallied
+ and formed there), Sykes's Infantry battalion, Arnold's Battery, and
+ Palmer's Cavalry.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [In his report to Major Barnard, Capt. D. P. Woodbury, of the corps of
+ Engineers, says: "It is not for me to give a history of the battle. The
+ Enemy was driven on our left, from cover to cover, a mile and a half.
+ Our position for renewing the action the next morning was excellent;
+ whence, then, our failure? It will not be out of place, I hope, for me
+ to give my own opinion of the cause of this failure. An old soldier
+ feels safe in the ranks, unsafe out of the ranks, and the greater the
+ danger the more pertinaciously he clings to his place. The volunteer of
+ three months never attains this instinct of discipline. Under danger,
+ and even under mere excitement, he flies away from his ranks, and looks
+ for safety in dispersion. At four o'clock in the afternoon of the 21st,
+ there were more than twelve thousand volunteers on the battle-field of
+ Bull Run, who had entirely lost their regimental organizations. They
+ could no longer be handled as troops, for the officers and men were not
+ together. Men and officers mingled together promiscuously; and it is
+ worthy of remark that this disorganization did not result from defeat or
+ fear, for up to four o'clock we had been uniformly successful. The
+ instinct of discipline, which keeps every man in his place, had not been
+ acquired. We cannot suppose that the troops of the Enemy had attained a
+ higher degree of discipline than our own, but they acted on the
+ defensive, and were not equally exposed to disorganization."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ While the divisions of Hunter and Heintzelman, which came down in the
+ morning across Sudley Ford, are now, with one brigade (Sherman's) of
+ Tyler's Division, retiring again, in this disordered condition, by that
+ ford; two other brigades of Tyler's Division, viz., that of Schenck&mdash;which,
+ at 4 o'clock, was just in the act of advancing upon, and across, the Stone
+ Bridge, to join in the Union attack, and of Keyes, which was, at the same
+ time, just succeeding in its effort to turn the right flank of the Enemy's
+ third new line,&mdash;are withdrawing from the field, across Bull Run
+ stream, by the Warrenton Pike, and other roads leading them directly
+ toward Centreville. The brigades of both Keyes and Schenck are retiring in
+ good order; that of Keyes, at "an ordinary pace," following close after
+ McDowell, who, with his staff, has ridden across the battlefield and Bull
+ Run; while part of that of Schenck, united with the 2nd Maine (of Keyes'
+ Brigade) and Ayres's Battery, "promptly and effectively" repulses a charge
+ of the Enemy's Cavalry, and covers the rear of Tyler's Division. Both of
+ these brigades reach Centreville, hungry and weary, but otherwise, for the
+ most part, in good shape.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But during this grand all-day attack, by two of McDowell's divisions,
+ directly aided by part of a third, upon the left of the Enemy's original
+ Bull Run line of defense&mdash;which attack, while it has failed in its
+ purpose, has also utterly upset and defeated the Enemy's purpose to carry
+ out Beauregard's plan of attacking Centreville that same morning&mdash;what
+ has the Left Wing of McDowell's Army been doing? Let us go back to Sunday
+ morning, and ascertain:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ All the Army of McDowell, save his Left Wing&mdash;which, comprising the
+ two brigades (Blenker's and Davies's) of Miles's Division, and
+ Richardson's Brigade of Tyler's Division that fought the preliminary
+ battle of Blackburn's Ford, is now under the command of Miles,&mdash;moved
+ away from Centreville, down the Warrenton Pike, as we have seen, very
+ early in the morning.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Blenker remains with his brigade as a reserve, on the heights a little
+ East of Centreville, to throw up intrenchments; which, however, he does
+ not do, for lack of trenching implements. Richardson and Davies are to
+ make a feint, at Blackburn's Ford, so as to draw the Enemy's troops there,
+ while the heavy blow of McDowell's Right Wing and Centre falls upon the
+ left flank and rear of the Enemy's Bull Run line.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Richardson's Brigade is already down the ridge, in his old position at
+ Blackburn's Ford, when Davies with his brigade reaches it, from
+ Centreville, and, by virtue of seniority, takes command of the two
+ brigades. Leaving Richardson's Brigade and Greene's Battery exactly on the
+ battle-ground of the 18th July, Davies posts two regiments (the 18th and
+ 32nd New York) of his own brigade, with Hunt's Battery, on the brow of a
+ hill, in an open wheat field, some eighty yards to the South-Eastward of
+ Richardson, distant some 1,500 yards from Longstreet's batteries on the
+ Western side of Bull Run,&mdash;and commences a rapid fire, upon the
+ Enemy's position at Blackburn's Ford, from both of the Union batteries.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At 10 o'clock, there is a lull in this Union fire. The Artillery
+ ammunition is running short. The demonstration, however, seems, thus far,
+ to be successful&mdash;judging by the movement of Rebel troops toward
+ Blackburn's Ford. The lull continues until 11 o'clock. At that time Miles
+ arrives at his front, in a towering rage.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkbull2" id="linkbull2"></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="p304-map.jpg (427K)" src="images/p304-map.jpg" style="width:100%;" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <a href="images/p304-map.jpg" style="width:100%;" >ENLARGE TO FULL SIZE</a><br /> <br /> <br />
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On his way down the ridge, that morning, early, Davies had made a
+ discovery. While passing a roadway, his guide had casually remarked:
+ "There is a road that leads around to the Enemy's camp, direct." "Ah!"
+ &mdash;said Davies&mdash;"and can they get through that road?" "Oh, yes,"
+ replied the guide. Davies had at once halted, and, after posting his 16th
+ and 31st New York Regiments, with two guns of Hunt's Battery, near this
+ road, at its junction with the ridge road running up to Centreville and
+ Black burn's Ford, had proceeded, with the rest of his regiments and guns,
+ to the position where Miles finds him.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But Miles has discovered what Davies has done, in this matter of the
+ flanking roadway; and&mdash;without knowing, or apparently caring to know,
+ the reason underlying the posting of the two regiments and two guns in its
+ vicinity,&mdash;flies into "a terrible passion" because of it; in "no very
+ measured language," gives Davies "a severe dressing down;" and orders him
+ to bring both regiments and guns down to the front. Davies complies, and
+ says nothing. Miles also orders him to continue the firing from his
+ batteries, without regard to the quantity of ammunition. This order, also,
+ Davies obeys&mdash;and the firing proceeds, for two solid hours, until
+ another order comes, about 1 o'clock P.M., to stop firing.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The fact is, that Miles is not at all himself&mdash;but is suffering under
+ such a strain of mental excitement, he afterward claims, that he is not
+ responsible.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Miles, however, returns to Centreville about noon; and no sooner is he
+ gone, than Davies at once sends back pioneers to obstruct that road which
+ would bring the Enemy around his left flank and rear, to Centreville.
+ These, work so industriously, that they cut down a quarter of a mile of
+ trees, and block the road up completely. Davies also posts a few pickets
+ there, in case of accidents. It is well he does so. It is not long before
+ the Enemy makes an attempt to get around to his rear, by that road; but,
+ finding it both obstructed and picketed, retires again. Davies does not
+ see the Rebels making that attempt, but catches sight of them on their
+ return, and gives them a severe shelling for their pains.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Davies keeps up his firing, more or less&mdash;according to the condition
+ of the Enemy and of his own ammunition&mdash;until 4 o'clock, when the
+ firing occasioned by the Union flanking movement, six miles to his right,
+ ceases. Then there reaches him a note from Richardson, so badly penciled
+ that he can only make out the one word "beaten,"&mdash;but cannot, for the
+ life of him, make out, whether the beaten one is our Right Wing, or the
+ Enemy!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Of what followed, he tells the story himself,&mdash;under oath, before the
+ Committee on the Conduct of the War&mdash;so graphically, that the
+ temptation to give it, in his own words, is irresistible. "I saw
+ unmistakable evidence," said he, "that we were going to be attacked on our
+ Left Wing. I got all ready for the attack, but did not change my front.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "About 5 o'clock, I think, the Rebels made their appearance back upon this
+ very road up which they had gone before; but instead of keeping up the
+ road, they turned past a farm-house, went through the farm-yard, and came
+ down and formed right in front of me, in a hollow, out of my sight. Well,
+ I let them all come down there, keeping a watch upon their movements. I
+ told the Artillery not to fire any shot at them until they saw the rear
+ column go down, so as to get them all down in the little hollow or basin,
+ there. There was a little basin there, probably a quarter of a mile every
+ way. I should think that, maybe, 3,000 men filed down, before I changed
+ front.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We lay there, with two regiments back, and the Artillery in front, facing
+ Bull Run. As soon as about 3,000 of the Enemy got down in this basin, I
+ changed the front of the Artillery around to the left, in face of the
+ Enemy, and put a company of Infantry between each of the pieces of
+ Artillery, and then deployed the balance of the regiments right and left,
+ and made my line-of-battle.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I gave directions to the Infantry not to fire a shot, under any
+ circumstances, until they got the word of command from me. I furthermore
+ said I would shoot the first man that fired a shot before I gave the
+ command to do so.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I gave them orders all to lie down on their faces. They, (the Rebels)
+ were just over the brow of the hill, so that, if they came up in front of
+ us, they could not hit a man.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "As soon as I saw the rear column, I told * * * Lieutenant Benjamin to
+ fire. * * * He fired the first shot when the rear column presented itself.
+ It just went over their heads, and hit a horse and rider in their rear. As
+ soon as the first shot was fired, I gave the order for the whole six
+ pieces of Artillery to open with grape and canister. The effect was
+ terrible. They were all there, right before us, about 450 yards off, and
+ had not suspected that we were going to fire at all, though they did not
+ know what the reason was. Hunt's Battery (belonging to Richardson&mdash;who
+ had by mistake got Greene's) performed so well, that, in thirty minutes,
+ we dispersed every one of them!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I do not know how many were killed, but we so crippled their entire force
+ that they never came after us an inch. A man, who saw the effect of the
+ firing, in the valley, said it was just like firing into a wheat field;
+ the column gave way at once, before the grape and canister; they were just
+ within available distance. I knew very well that if they but got into that
+ basin, the first fire would cut them all to pieces; and it did. We
+ continued to fire for thirty minutes, when there was nothing more to fire
+ at, and no more shots were returned."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At a later hour&mdash;while remaining victorious at their well defended
+ position, with the Enemy at their front, dispersed and silenced,&mdash;these
+ two brigades of the Left Wing, receive orders to fall back on Centreville,
+ and encamp. With the brigade of Richardson, and Greene's Battery in
+ advance, Davies's own brigade and Hunt's Battery following, they fall back
+ on the heights of Centreville "without the least confusion and in perfect
+ order"&mdash;reaching them at 7 P.M.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Meantime Miles has been relieved from command, and McDowell has ordered
+ Blenker's Brigade to take position a mile or more in advance of
+ Centreville, toward Bull Run, on both sides of the Warrenton Pike, to
+ protect the retreat, now being made, in "a few collected bodies," but
+ mainly in great disorder&mdash;owing partly to the baggage-wagons choking
+ the road, along which both venturesome civilians and fagged-out troops are
+ retreating upon Centreville. This confused retreat passes through
+ Blenker's lines until 9 o'clock P.M.&mdash;and then, all is secure.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At midnight, McDowell has decided to make no stand at Centreville, but to
+ retire upon the defensive works at Washington. The order to retreat, is
+ given, and, with the rear well guarded by Richardson's and Blenker's
+ Brigades, is carried out, the van of the retreat, with no Enemy pursuing,
+ degenerating finally into a "mob," which carries more or less panic into
+ Washington itself, as well as terrible disappointment and chagrin to all
+ the Loyal States of the Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Knowing what we now do, concerning the Battle of Bull Run, it is somewhat
+ surprising, at this day, to read the dispatches sent by McDowell to
+ General Scott's headquarters at Washington, immediately after it. They are
+ in these words:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "CENTREVILLE, July 21, 1861&mdash;5:45 P.M.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We passed Bull Run, engaged the Enemy, who, it seems, had just been
+ re-enforced by General Johnston. We drove them for several hours, and
+ finally routed them."
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ ["No one who did not share in the sad experience will be able to realize
+ the consternation which the news of this discomfiture&mdash;grossly
+ exaggerated&mdash;diffused over the loyal portion of our Country. Only
+ the tidings which had reached Washington up to four o'clock&mdash;all
+ presaging certain and decisive victory&mdash;were permitted to go North
+ by telegraph that day and evening; so that, on Monday morning, when the
+ crowd of fugitives from our grand Army was pouring into Washington, a
+ heedless, harmless, worthless mob, the Loyal States were exulting over
+ accounts of a decisive triumph. But a few hours brought different
+ advices; and these were as much worse than the truth as the former had
+ been better: our Army had been utterly destroyed-cut to pieces, with a
+ loss of twenty-five to thirty thousand men, besides all its artillery
+ and munitions, and Washington lay at the mercy of the Enemy, who were
+ soon to advance to the capture and sack of our great commercial cities.
+ Never before had so black a day as that black Monday lowered upon the
+ loyal hearts of the North; and the leaden, weeping skies reflected and
+ heightened, while they seemed to sympathize with, the general gloom. It
+ would have been easy, with ordinary effort and care, to have gathered
+ and remanded to their camps or forts around Alexandria or Arlington, all
+ the wretched stragglers to whom fear had lent wings, and who, throwing
+ away their arms and equipments, and abandoning all semblance of Military
+ order or discipline, had rushed to the Capital to hide therein their
+ shame, behind a cloud of exaggerations and falsehoods. The still
+ effective batteries, the solid battalions, that were then wending their
+ way slowly back to their old encampments along the South bank of the
+ Potomac, depressed but unshaken, dauntless and utterly unassailed, were
+ unseen and unheard from; while the panic-stricken racers filled and
+ distended the general ear with their tales of impregnable intrenchments
+ and masked batteries, of regiments slaughtered, brigades utterly cut to
+ pieces, etc., making out their miserable selves to be about all that was
+ left of the Army. That these men were allowed thus to straggle into
+ Washington, instead of being peremptorily stopped at the bridges and
+ sent back to the encampments of their several regiments, is only to be
+ accounted for on the hypothesis that the reason of our Military magnates
+ had been temporarily dethroned, so as to divest them of all moral
+ responsibility," Greeley's Am. Conflict, pp. 552-53., vol. I.]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ "They rallied and repulsed us, but only to give us again the victory,
+ which seemed complete. But our men, exhausted with fatigue and thirst, and
+ confused by firing into each other, were attacked by the Enemy's reserves,
+ and driven from the position we had gained, overlooking Manassas. After
+ this, the men could not be rallied, but slowly left the field. In the
+ meantime the Enemy outflanked Richardson at Blackburn's Ford, and we have
+ now to hold Centreville till our men can get behind it. Miles's Division
+ is holding the town. It is reported that Colonel Cameron is killed, Hunter
+ and Heintzelman wounded, neither dangerously.<br /> "IRWIN MCDOWELL,<br />
+ "Brigadier-General, Commanding.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Lieutenant-Colonel TOWNSEND."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "FAIRFAX COURT HOUSE, July 21, 1861.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The men having thrown away their haversacks in the battle, and left them
+ behind, they are without food; have eaten nothing since breakfast. We are
+ without artillery ammunition. The larger part of the men are a confused
+ mob, entirely demoralized. It was the opinion of all the commanders that
+ no stand could be made this side of the Potomac. We will, however, make
+ the attempt at Fairfax Court House. From a prisoner we learn that 20,000
+ from Johnston joined last night, and they march on us to-night.<br />
+ "IRWIN MCDOWELL.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Colonel TOWNSEND"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "FAIRFAX COURT HOUSE, [July] 22, 1861.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Many of the volunteers did not wait for authority to proceed to the
+ Potomac, but left on their own decision. They are now pouring through this
+ place in a state of utter disorganization. They could not be prepared for
+ action by to-morrow morning even were they willing. I learn from prisoners
+ that we are to be pressed here to-night and tomorrow morning, as the
+ Enemy's force is very large, and they are elated. I think we heard cannon
+ on our rear-guard. I think now, as all of my commanders thought at
+ Centreville, there is no alternative but to fall back to the Potomac, and
+ I shall proceed to do so with as much regularity as possible.<br /> "IRWIN
+ MCDOWELL.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Colonel TOWNSEND."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "ARLINGTON, July 22, 1861.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I avail myself of the re-establishing of telegraph to report my arrival.
+ When I left the forks of the Little River turnpike and Columbia turnpike,
+ where I had been for a couple of hours turning stragglers and parties of
+ regiments upon this place and Alexandria, I received intelligence that the
+ rear-guard, under Colonel Richardson, had left Fairfax Court House, and
+ was getting along well. Had not been attacked. I am now trying to get
+ matters a little organized over here.<br /> "IRWIN MCDOWELL.<br />
+ "Brigadier-General.<br /> <br /> "E. D. TOWNSEND."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ McDowell had unquestionably been repulsed, in his main attack, with his
+ Right Wing, and much of his Army was badly demoralized; but, on the other
+ hand, it may be well to repeat that the Enemy's plan of attack that same
+ morning had been frustrated, and most of his forces so badly shattered and
+ demoralized that he dared not follow up the advantage which, more by our
+ own blunders than by his prowess, he had gained.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ If the Union forces&mdash;or at least the Right Wing of them&mdash;were
+ whipped, the Enemy also was whipped. Jackson himself confesses that while
+ he had, at the last moment, broken our centre, our forces had turned both
+ of his flanks. The Enemy was, in fact, so badly used up, that he not only
+ dared not pursue us to Washington&mdash;as he would have down had he been
+ able&mdash;but he was absolutely afraid McDowell would resume the attack,
+ on the right of the original Bull Run line, that very night! For, in a
+ letter to General Beauregard; dated Richmond, Virginia, August 4, 1861,
+ Jefferson Davis,&mdash;who was on the ground at Bull Run, July 21st,&mdash;alluding
+ to the Battle of Bull Run, and Beauregard's excuses for not pursuing the
+ Union troops, says:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I think you are unjust to yourself in putting your failure to pursue the
+ Enemy to Washington, to the account of short supplies of subsistence and
+ transportation. Under the circumstances of our Army, and in the absence of
+ the knowledge since acquired&mdash;if, indeed, the statements be true&mdash;it
+ would have been extremely hazardous to have done more than was performed.
+ You will not fail to remember that, so far from knowing that the Enemy was
+ routed, a large part of our forces was moved by you, in the night of the
+ 21st, to repel a supposed attack upon our right, and the next day's
+ operations did not fully reveal what has since been reported of the
+ Enemy's panic."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And Jefferson Davis's statement is corroborated by the Report of Colonel
+ Withers, of the 18th Virginia, who, after starting with other regiments,
+ in an attempt to cut off the Union retreat, was recalled to the Stone
+ Bridge,&mdash;and who says: "Before reaching the point we designed to
+ occupy (near the Stone Bridge) we were met by another order to march
+ immediately to Manassas Junction, as an attack was apprehended that night.
+ Although it was now after sunset, and my men had had no food all day, when
+ the command to march to Manassas was given, they cheerfully took the route
+ to that place."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Colonel Davies, who, as we have seen, commanded McDowell's stubborn Left
+ Wing, was after all, not far wrong, when, in his testimony before the
+ Committee on the Conduct of the War, he declared, touching the story of
+ the Bull Run Battle: "It ought to have read that we were victorious with
+ the 13,000 troops of the Left Wing, and defeated in the 18,000 of the
+ Right Wing. That is all that Bull Run amounts to."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In point of fact, the Battle of Bull Run&mdash;the first pitched battle of
+ the War&mdash;was a drawn battle.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ War was now fully inaugurated&mdash;Civil War&mdash;a stupendous War
+ between two great Sections of one common Country; those of our People, on
+ the one side, fighting for the dissolution of the Union&mdash;and
+ incidentally for Free Trade, and for Slavery; those on the other side,
+ fighting for the preservation of the Union&mdash;and incidentally for
+ Protection to our Free Industries, and for the Freedom of the Slave.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ As soon as the Republican Party controlled both Houses of Congress it
+ provided Protection to our Free Industries, and to the Free Labor engaged
+ in them, by the Morill Tariff Act of 1860&mdash;the foundation Act of all
+ subsequent enactments on the subject. In subsequent pages of this work we
+ shall see how the Freedom of the Slave was also accomplished by the same
+ great Party.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkcrittenden"
+ id="linkcrittenden"></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="p154-crittenden.jpg (69K)" src="images/p154-crittenden.jpg" style="width:100%;"
+ /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <a name="linkch14" id="linkch14"></a><br /> <br /> CHAPTER XIV.<br /> <br /> THE
+ COLORED CONTRABAND.<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ When the first gun was fired at Fort Sumter, its sullen echoes sounded the
+ funeral knell of Slavery. Years before, it had been foretold, and now it
+ was to happen. Years before, it had been declared, by competent authority,
+ that among the implications of the Constitution was that of the power of
+ the General Government to Emancipate the Slaves, as a War measure. Hence,
+ in thus commencing the War of the Rebellion, the South marched with open
+ eyes upon this, as among other of the legitimate and logical results of
+ such a War.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Patrick Henry, in opposing the ratification by Virginia of the Federal
+ Constitution, had declared to the Slaveholders of that State that "Among
+ ten thousand implied powers" which Congress may assume, "they may, if we
+ be engaged in War, liberate every one of your Slaves, if they please, * *
+ * Have they not power to provide for the General Defense and Welfare? May
+ they not think that these call for the abolition of Slavery? May they not
+ pronounce all Slaves Free? and will they not be warranted by that power? *
+ * * They have the power, in clear, unequivocal terms, and will clearly and
+ certainly exercise it."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ So, too, in his great speech of May 25, 1836, in the House of
+ Representatives, John Quincy Adams had declared that in "the last great
+ conflict which must be fought between Slavery and Emancipation," Congress
+ "must and will interfere" with Slavery, "and they will not only possess
+ the Constitutional power so to interfere, but they will be bound in duty
+ to do it, by the express provisions of the Constitution itself." And he
+ followed this declaration with the equally emphatic words: "From the
+ instant that your Slave-holding States become the theatre of War&mdash;civil,
+ servile, or foreign&mdash;from that instant, the War powers of Congress
+ extend to interference with the Institution of Slavery in every Way by
+ which it can be interfered with."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The position thus announced by these expounders of the Constitution&mdash;the
+ one from Virginia, the other from Massachusetts&mdash;was not to be shaken
+ even by the unanimous adoption, February 11, 1861, by the House of
+ Representatives on roll call, of the resolution of Mr. Sherman, of Ohio,
+ in these words:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved, That neither the Congress of the United States nor the people
+ or governments of the non-Slaveholding States have the Constitutional
+ right to legislate upon or interfere with Slavery in any of the
+ Slaveholding States in the Union."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Ex-President J. Q. Adams's cogent exposition of the Constitution,
+ twenty-five years before, in that same House, demonstrating not only that
+ Congress had the right but the Constitutional power to so interfere&mdash;and
+ his further demonstration April 15, 1842, of his statement that under the
+ laws of War, "when a Country is invaded, and two hostile armies are set in
+ martial array, the Commanders of both Armies have power to Emancipate all
+ the Slaves in the invaded territory"&mdash;as not to be overcome by a mere
+ vote of one House, however unanimous. For the time being, however, it
+ contributed, with other circumstances, to confuse the public mind and
+ conscience. Indeed as early as May of 1861, the attitude of our Government
+ and its troops toward Negro Slaves owned or used by Rebels in rebellious
+ States, began to perturb the public, bother the Administration, and worry
+ the Military officers.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ For instance, in Major-General McClellan's proclamation to the Union men
+ of West Virginia, issued May 26, 1861, he said:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The General Government cannot close its ears to the demand you have made
+ for assistance. I have ordered troops to cross the river. They come as
+ your friends and brothers&mdash;as enemies only to armed Rebels, who are
+ preying upon you; your homes, your families, and your property are safe
+ under our protection. All your rights shall be religiously respected,
+ notwithstanding all that has been said by the Traitors to induce you to
+ believe our advent among you will be signalized by an interference with
+ your Slaves. Understand one thing clearly: not only will we abstain from
+ all such interference, but we will, on the contrary, with an iron hand
+ crush any attempt at insurrection on their part."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the other hand, the very next day, May 27, 1861, Major-General Butler,
+ in command of the "Department of A Virginia," wrote to Lieutenant-General
+ Scott as follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Since I wrote my last dispatch the question in regard to Slave property
+ is becoming one of very serious magnitude. The inhabitants of Virginia are
+ using their Negroes in the batteries, and are preparing to send the women
+ and children South. The escapes from them are very numerous, and a squad
+ has come in this morning to my pickets bringing their women and children.
+ Of course these cannot be dealt with upon the theory on which I designed
+ to treat the services of able-bodied men and women who might come within
+ my lines, and of which I gave you a detailed account in my last dispatch.
+ I am in the utmost doubt what to do with this species of Property.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Up to this time I have had come within my lines men and women with their
+ children, entire families, each family belonging to the same owner. I
+ have, therefore, determined to employ, as I can do very profitably, the
+ able-bodied persons in the party, issuing proper food for the support of
+ all, and charging against their services the expense of care and
+ sustenance of the non-laborers, keeping a strict and accurate account as
+ well of the services as of the expenditure, having the worth of the
+ services, and the cost of the expenditure, determined by a Board of
+ Survey, to be hereafter detailed. I know of no other manner in which to
+ dispose of this subject and the questions connected therewith.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "As a matter of Property to the Insurgents, it will be of very great
+ moment, the number that I now have amounting, as I am informed, to what,
+ in good times, would be of the value of sixty thousand dollars. Twelve of
+ these Negroes, I am informed, have escaped from the batteries on Sewall's
+ Point, which, this morning, fired upon my expedition as it passed by out
+ of range. As a means of offense, therefore, in the Enemy's hands, these
+ Negroes, when able-bodied, are of the last importance. Without them the
+ batteries could not have been erected, at least for many weeks.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "As a Military question it would seem to be a measure of necessity to
+ deprive their masters of their services. How can this be done? As a
+ political question and a question of humanity, can I receive the services
+ of a father and mother, and not take the children? Of the humanitarian
+ aspect I have no doubt. Of the political one I have no right to judge. I
+ therefore submit all this to your better judgment, and as the questions
+ have a political aspect, I have ventured, and I trust I am not wrong in so
+ doing, to duplicate the parts of my dispatch relating to this subject, and
+ forward them to the Secretary of War."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In reply to the duplicate copy of this letter received by him, Secretary
+ Cameron thus answered:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "WASHINGTON, May 30, 1861.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "SIR: Your action in respect to the Negroes who came within your lines
+ from the service of the Rebels is approved. The Department is sensible of
+ the embarrassments which must surround officers conducting Military
+ operations in a State by the laws of which Slavery is sanctioned.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The Government cannot recognize the rejection by any State of the Federal
+ obligations, nor can it refuse the performance of the Federal obligations
+ resting upon itself. Among these Federal obligations, however, none can be
+ more important than that of suppressing and dispersing armed combinations
+ formed for the purpose of overthrowing its whole Constitutional authority.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "While, therefore, you will permit no interference by the persons under
+ your command, with the relations of Persons held to Service under the laws
+ of any State, you will, on the other hand, so long as any State, within
+ which your Military operations are conducted, is under the control of such
+ armed combinations, refrain from surrendering to alleged masters any
+ Person who may come within your lines.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "You will employ such Persons in the services to which they may be best
+ adapted, keeping an account of the labor by them performed, of the value
+ of it, and the expenses of their maintenance. The question of their final
+ disposition will be reserved for future determination.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "SIMON CAMERON,<br /> "Secretary of War.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "To Major General BUTLER."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Great tenderness, however, was exhibited by many of the Union Generals for
+ the doomed Institution. On June 3, 1861, from Chambersburg, Pa., a
+ proclamation signed "By order of Major General Patterson, F. J. Porter,
+ Asst. Adj. General," was issued from "Headquarters Department of
+ Pennsylvania," "To the United States troops of this Department," in which
+ they are admonished "that, in the coming campaign in Virginia, while it is
+ your duty to punish Sedition, you must protect the Loyal, and, should the
+ occasion offer, at once suppress Servile Insurrection."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "General Orders No. 33," issued from "Headquarters Department of
+ Washington," July 17, 1861, "By command of Brigadier General Mansfield,
+ Theo. Talbot, Assistant Adjutant General," were to this effect: "Fugitive
+ Slaves will under no pretext whatever, be permitted to reside, or be in
+ any way harbored, in the quarters or camps of the troops serving in this
+ Department. Neither will such Slaves be allowed to accompany troops on the
+ march. Commanders of troops will be held responsible for a strict
+ observance of this order." And early in August a Military order was issued
+ at Washington "that no Negroes, without sufficient evidence of their being
+ Free or of their right to travel, are permitted to leave the city upon the
+ cars."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But Bull Run did much to settle the Military as well as public mind in
+ proper grooves on this subject.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Besides employing Negro Slaves to aid Rebellion, by the digging of
+ ditches, the throwing up of intrenchments, and the erection of batteries,
+ their Rebel masters placed in their hands arms with which to shoot down
+ Union soldiers at the Battle of Bull Run, which, as we have seen, occurred
+ on Sunday, July 21, 1861&mdash;and resulted in a check to the Union Cause.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The terror and confusion and excitement already referred to, that
+ prevailed in Washington all that night and the next day, as the
+ panic-stricken crowd of soldiers and civilians poured over the Long
+ Bridge, footsore with running, faint with weariness, weak with hunger, and
+ parched with thirst and the dust of the rout, can hardly be described.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But, however panicky the general condition of the inhabitants of the
+ National Capital, the Congress bravely maintained its equanimity.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In the Senate, on the day following the disaster, a bill touching the
+ Confiscation of Property used for insurrectionary purposes being up for
+ consideration, the following amendment was offered to it:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "And be it further enacted, That whenever any person claiming to be
+ entitled to the Service or Labor of any other Person under the laws of any
+ State, shall employ such Person in aiding or promoting any Insurrection,
+ or in resisting the Laws of the United States, or shall permit him to be
+ so employed, he shall forfeit all right to such Service or Labor, and the
+ Person whose Labor or Service is thus claimed shall be thenceforth
+ discharged therefrom, any law to the contrary notwithstanding."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This amendment, emancipating Slaves employed by their masters to aid
+ Rebellion, was adopted by 33 yeas to 6 nays.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ As showing the feeling expressed right upon the very heels of what seemed
+ to be a great disaster, and when rumor, at any rate, placed the victorious
+ Enemy at the very gates of the Capital City, a few lines from the debate
+ may be interesting.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Trumbull said: "I am glad the yeas and nays have been called to let us
+ see who is willing to vote that the Traitorous owner of a Negro shall
+ employ him to shoot down the Union men of the Country, and yet insist upon
+ restoring him to the Traitor that owns him. I understand that Negroes were
+ in the fight which has recently occurred. I take it that Negroes who are
+ used to destroy the Union, and to shoot down the Union men by the consent
+ of Traitorous masters, ought not to be restored to them. If the Senator
+ from Kentucky is in favor of restoring them, let him vote against the
+ amendment."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Senator Wilson, of Massachusetts, said: "I shall vote with more heart than
+ I vote for ordinary measures, for this proposition. I hope the Senate and
+ the House of Representatives will sustain it, and that this Government
+ will carry it out with an inflexibility that knows no change. The idea
+ that men who are in arms destroying their Country shall be permitted to
+ use others for that purpose, and that we shall stand by and issue orders
+ to our Commanders, that we should disgrace our Cause and our Country, by
+ returning such men to their Traitorous masters, ought not longer to be
+ entertained. The time has come for that to cease; and, by the blessing of
+ God, so far as I am concerned, I mean it shall cease.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If there is anybody in this Chamber that chooses to take the other path,
+ let him do it; let him know what our purpose is. Our purpose is to save
+ this Government and save this Country, and to put down Treason; and if
+ Traitors use bondsmen to destroy this Country, my doctrine is that the
+ Government shall at once convert these bondsmen into men that cannot be
+ used to destroy our Country. I have no apologies to make for this
+ position, I take it proudly.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I think the time has come when this Government, and the men who are in
+ arms under the Government, should cease to return to Traitors their
+ Fugitive Slaves, whom they are using to erect batteries to murder brave
+ men who are fighting under the flag of their Country. The time has come
+ when we should deal with the men who are organizing Negro companies, and
+ teaching them to shoot down loyal men for the only offence of upholding
+ the flag of their Country.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I hope further, Sir, that there is a public sentiment in this Country
+ that will blast men who will rise, in the Senate or out it, to make
+ apologies for Treason, or to defend or to maintain the doctrine that this
+ Government is bound to protect Traitors in converting their Slaves into
+ tools for the destruction of the Republic."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Senator McDougall, of California, said: "I regard this as a Confiscation
+ for Treason, and I am for the proposition."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Ten Eyck, said: "No longer ago than Saturday last I voted in the
+ Judiciary Committee against this amendment, for two reasons: First, I did
+ not believe that persons in Rebellion against this Government would make
+ use of such means as the employment of Persons held to Labor or Service,
+ in their Armies; secondly, because I did not know what was to become of
+ these poor wretches if they were discharged. God knows we do not want them
+ in our Section of the Union. But, Sir, having learned and believing that
+ these persons have been employed with arms in their hands to shed the
+ blood of the Union-loving men of this Country, I shall now vote in favor
+ of that amendment with less regard to what may become of these people than
+ I had on Saturday. I will merely instance that there is a precedent for
+ this. If I recollect history aright, General Jackson, in the Seminole War,
+ declared that every Slave who was taken in arms against the United States
+ should be set Free,"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ So, too, in the House of Representatives, the retrograde of a badly
+ demoralized Army, its routed fragments still coming in with alarming
+ stories of a pursuing Enemy almost at the gates of the city, had no
+ terrors for our legislators; and there was something of Roman dignity,
+ patriotism, and courage, in the adoption, on that painfully memorable Blue
+ Monday, (the first&mdash;[Offered by Mr. Crittenden, of Kentucky]&mdash;with
+ only two dissenting votes, on a yea and nay vote; and, the second&mdash;[Offered
+ by Mr. Vandever, of Iowa.]&mdash;with entire unanimity) of the following
+ Resolutions:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United
+ States, That the present deplorable Civil War has been forced upon the
+ Country by the Disunionists of the Southern States, now in arms against
+ the Constitutional Government, and in arms around the Capital; that in
+ this National emergency, Congress, banishing all feelings of mere passion
+ or resentment, will recollect only its duty to the whole Country; that
+ this War is not waged on their part in any spirit of oppression, or for
+ any purpose of conquest or subjugation, or purpose of overthrowing or
+ interfering with the rights or established Institutions of those States,
+ but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution, and to
+ preserve the Union with all the dignity, equality, and rights of the
+ several States unimpaired; and that as soon as these objects are
+ accomplished, the War ought to cease."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved, That the maintenance of the Constitution, the preservation of
+ the Union, and the enforcement of the Laws, are sacred trusts which must
+ be executed; that no disaster shall discourage us from the most ample
+ performance of this high duty; and that we pledge to the Country and the
+ World, the employment of every resource, National and individual, for the
+ suppression, overthrow, and punishment of Rebels in arms."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The first of these Resolutions was intended to calm the fears of the
+ Border States&mdash;excited by Rebel emissaries; the second, to restore
+ confidence and courage to the patriot hearts of Union-men, everywhere.
+ Both were effectual.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And here it will hardly be amiss to glance, for an instant, toward the
+ Senate Chamber; and especially at one characteristic incident. It was the
+ afternoon of August the 1st, 1861,&mdash;scarce ten days since the check
+ to the Union arms at Bull Run; and Breckinridge, of Kentucky, not yet
+ expelled from the United States Senate, was making in that Body his great
+ speech against the "Insurrection and Sedition Bill," and upon "the
+ sanctity of the Constitution."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Baker, of Oregon,&mdash;who, as Sumner afterward said: "with a zeal that
+ never tired, after recruiting men drawn by the attraction of his name, in
+ New York and Philadelphia and elsewhere, held his Brigade in camp, near
+ the Capitol, so that he passed easily from one to the other, and thus
+ alternated the duties of a Senator and a General," having reached the
+ Capitol, direct from his Brigade-camp, entered the Senate Chamber, in his
+ uniform, while Breckinridge was speaking.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ When the Kentucky Senator "with Treason in his heart, if not on his lips,"
+ resumed his seat, the gray-haired soldier-Senator at once rose to reply.
+ "He began,"&mdash;said Charles Sumner, in alluding to the incident&mdash;"simply
+ and calmly; but as he proceeded, his fervid soul broke forth in words of
+ surpassing power. As on a former occasion he had presented the
+ well-ripened fruits of study, so now he spoke with the spontaneous
+ utterance of his own mature and exuberant eloquence&mdash;meeting the
+ polished Traitor at every point with weapons keener and brighter than his
+ own."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After demolishing Breckinridge's position touching the alleged
+ Unconstitutionality of the measure, and characterizing his other
+ utterances as "reproof, malediction, and prediction combined," the Patriot
+ from the Far-West turned with rising voice and flashing eye upon the
+ gloomy Kentuckian:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I would ask him," said he, "what would you have us do now&mdash;a
+ Confederate Army within twenty miles of us, advancing, or threatening to
+ advance, to overwhelm your Government; to shake the pillars of the Union,
+ to bring it around your head, if you stay here, in ruins? Are we to stop
+ and talk about an uprising sentiment in the North against the War? Are we
+ to predict evil, and retire from what we predict? Is it not the manly part
+ to go on as we have begun, to raise money, and levy Armies, to organize
+ them, to prepare to advance; when we do advance, to regulate that advance
+ by all the laws and regulations that civilization and humanity will allow
+ in time of battle? Can we do anything more? To talk to us about stopping,
+ is idle; we will never stop. Will the Senator yield to Rebellion? Will he
+ shrink from armed Insurrection? Will his State justify it? Will its better
+ public opinion allow it? Shall we send a flag of Truce? What would he
+ have? Or would he conduct this War so feebly, that the whole World would
+ smile at us in derision?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And then cried the orator-his voice rising to a higher key, penetrating,
+ yet musical as the blast from a silver trumpet: "What would he have? These
+ speeches of his, sown broadcast over the Land, what clear distinct meaning
+ have they? Are they not intended for disorganization in our very midst?
+ Are they not intended to dull our weapons? Are they not intended to
+ destroy our zeal? Are they not intended to animate our enemies? Sir, are
+ they not words of brilliant, polished Treason, even in the very Capitol of
+ the Nation?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "What would have been thought, if, in another Capitol, in another
+ Republic, in a yet more martial age, a Senator as grave, not more eloquent
+ or dignified than the Senator from Kentucky, yet with the Roman purple
+ flowing over his shoulder, had risen in his place, surrounded by all the
+ illustrations of Roman glory, and declared that the cause of advancing
+ Hannibal was just, and that Carthage ought to be dealt with in terms of
+ peace? What would have been thought if, after the battle of Cannae, a
+ Senator there had risen in his place and denounced every levy of the Roman
+ People, every expenditure of its treasure, and every appeal to the old
+ recollections and the old glories?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The speaker paused. The sudden and intent silence was broken by another
+ voice: "He would have been hurled from the Tarpeian rock."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Sir," continued the soldier-orator, "a Senator, himself learned far more
+ than myself in such lore, [Mr. Fessenden,] tells me, in a voice that I am
+ glad is audible, that he would have been hurled from the Tarpeian Rock! It
+ is a grand commentary upon the American Constitution that we permit these
+ words [Senator Breckinridge's] to be uttered.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I ask the Senator to recollect, too, what, save to send aid and comfort
+ to the Enemy, do these predictions of his amount to? Every word thus
+ uttered falls as a note of inspiration upon every Confederate ear. Every
+ sound thus uttered is a word, (and, falling from his lips, a mighty word)
+ of kindling and triumph to a Foe that determines to advance.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "For me, I have no such word as a Senator, to utter. For me"&mdash;and
+ here his eyes flashed again while his martial voice rang like a
+ clarion-call to battle&mdash;"amid temporary defeat, disaster, disgrace,
+ it seems that my duty calls me to utter another word, and that word is,
+ bold, sudden, forward, determined, WAR, according to the laws of War, by
+ Armies, by Military Commanders clothed with full power, advancing with all
+ the past glories of the Republic urging them on to conquest!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ * * * * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I tell the Senator," continued the inspired Patriot, "that his
+ predictions, sometimes for the South, sometimes for the Middle States,
+ sometimes for the North-East, and then wandering away in airy visions out
+ to the Far Pacific, about the dread of our people, as for loss of blood
+ and treasure, provoking them to Disloyalty, are false in sentiment, false
+ in fact, and false in Loyalty. The Senator from Kentucky is mistaken in
+ them all.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Five hundred million dollars! What then? Great Britain gave more than two
+ thousand million in the great Battle for Constitutional Liberty which she
+ led at one time almost single-handed against the World. Five hundred
+ thousand men! What then? We have them; they are ours; they are the
+ children of the Country; they belong to the whole Country; they are our
+ sons; our kinsmen; and there are many of us who will give them all up
+ before we will abate one word of our just demand, or will retreat one inch
+ from the line which divides right from wrong.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Sir, it is not a question of men or of money in that sense. All the
+ money, all the men, are, in our judgment, well bestowed in such a cause.
+ When we give them, we know their value. Knowing their value well, we give
+ them with the more pride and the, more joy. Sir, how can we retreat? Sir,
+ how can we make Peace? Who shall treat? What Commissioners? Who would go?
+ Upon what terms? Where is to be your boundary line? Where the end of the
+ principles we shall have to give up? What will become of Constitutional
+ Government? What will become of public Liberty? What of past glories? What
+ of future hopes?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Shall we sink into the insignificance of the grave&mdash;a degraded,
+ defeated, emasculated People, frightened by the results of one battle, and
+ scared at the visions raised by the imagination of the Senator from
+ Kentucky on this floor? No, Sir! a thousand times, no, Sir! We will rally&mdash;if,
+ indeed, our words be necessary&mdash;we will rally the People, the Loyal
+ People, of the whole Country. They will pour forth their treasure, their
+ money, their men, without stint, without measure. The most peaceable man
+ in this body may stamp his foot upon this Senate Chamber floor, as of old
+ a warrior and a Senator did, and from that single tramp there will spring
+ forth armed Legions.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Shall one battle determine the fate of empire, or a dozen?&mdash;the loss
+ of one thousand men, or twenty thousand? or one hundred million or five
+ hundred million dollars? In a year's Peace&mdash;in ten years, at most, of
+ peaceful progress&mdash;we can restore them all. There will be some graves
+ reeking with blood, watered by the tears of affection. There will be some
+ privation; there will be some loss of luxury; there will be somewhat more
+ need for labor to procure the necessaries of life. When that is said, all
+ is said. If we have the Country, the whole Country, the Union, the
+ Constitution, Free Government&mdash;with these there will return all the
+ blessings of well-ordered civilization; the path of the Country will be a
+ career of greatness and of glory such as, in the olden time, our Fathers
+ saw in the dim visions of years yet to come, and such as would have been
+ ours now, to-day, if it had not been for the Treason for which the Senator
+ too often seeks to apologize."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This remarkable speech was the last utterance of that glorious and
+ courageous soul, in the National Senate. Within three months, his lifeless
+ body, riddled by Rebel rifle balls, was borne away from the fatal field of
+ Ball's Bluff&mdash;away, amid the lamentations of a Nation&mdash;away,
+ across land and ocean&mdash;to lie beside his brave friend Broderick, on
+ that Lone Mountain whose solemn front looks out upon the calm Pacific.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He had not lived in vain. In his great speech at the American Theatre in
+ San Francisco, after his election by Oregon (1860) to represent her in the
+ United States Senate, he had aroused the people to a sense of shame, that,
+ as he said: "Here, in a land of written Constitutional Liberty it is
+ reserved for us to teach the World that, under the American Stars and
+ Stripes, Slavery marches in solemn procession; that, under the American
+ flag, Slavery is protected to the utmost verge of acquired territory; that
+ under the American banner, the name of Freedom is to be faintly heard, the
+ songs of Freedom faintly sung; that, while Garibaldi, Victor Emanuel,
+ every great and good man in the World, strives, struggles, fights, prays,
+ suffers and dies, sometimes on the scaffold, sometimes in the dungeon,
+ often on the field of battle, rendered immortal by his blood and his
+ valor; that, while this triumphal procession marches on through the arches
+ of Freedom&mdash;we, in this land, of all the World, shrink back trembling
+ when Freedom is but mentioned!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And never was a shamed people more suddenly lifted up from that shame into
+ a grand frenzy of patriotic devotion than were his auditors, when, with
+ the inspiration of his matchless genius, he continued:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "As for me, I dare not, will not, be false to Freedom. Where the feet of
+ my youth were planted, there, by Freedom, my feet shall ever stand. I will
+ walk beneath her banner. I will glory in her strength. I have watched her
+ in history struck down on an hundred chosen fields of battle. I have seen
+ her friends fly from her; her foes gather around her. I have seen her
+ bound to the stake; I have seen them give her ashes to the winds. But when
+ they turned to exult, I have seen her again meet them face to face,
+ resplendent in complete steel, brandishing in her strong right hand a
+ flaming sword, red with Insufferable light! I take courage. The People
+ gather around her. The genius of America will, at last, lead her sons to
+ Freedom."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Never were grander utterances delivered by man in all the ages; never was
+ there exhibited a more sublime faith; never a truer spirit of prophecy;
+ never a more heroic spirit.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He was then on his way to Washington; on his way to perform the last acts
+ in the drama of his own career&mdash;on his way to death. He knew the time
+ had come, of which, ten years before, he had prophetically spoken in the
+ House of Representatives, when he said: "I have only to say that, if the
+ time should come when Disunion rules the hour, and discord is to reign
+ supreme, I shall again be ready to give the best blood in my veins to my
+ Country's Cause. I shall be prepared to meet all antagonists with lance in
+ rest, to do battle in every land, in defense of the Constitution of the
+ Country which I have sworn to support, to the last extremity, against
+ Disunionists, and all its Enemies, whether of the South or North; to meet
+ them everywhere, at all times, with speech or hand, with word or blow,
+ until thought and being shall be no longer mine." And right nobly did he
+ fulfil in all respects his promise; so that at the end&mdash;as was
+ afterward well said of him by Mr. Colfax&mdash;he had mounted so high,
+ that, "doubly crowned, as statesman, and as warrior&mdash;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ 'From the top of Fame's ladder he stepped to the Sky!'"
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [This orator and hero was a naturalized Englishman, and commanded an
+ American regiment in the Mexican War.]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkwigfall" id="linkwigfall"></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="p180-wigfall.jpg (70K)" src="images/p180-wigfall.jpg" style="width:100%;"
+ /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch15" id="linkch15"></a><br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ CHAPTER XV.<br /> <br /> FREEDOM'S EARLY DAWN.<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ On the day following Baker's great reply to Breckinridge, another notable
+ speech was made, in the House of Representatives&mdash;notable,
+ especially, in that it foreshadowed Emancipation, and, coming so soon
+ after Bull Run, seemed to accentuate a new departure in political thought
+ as an outgrowth of that Military reverse. It was upon the Confiscation
+ Act, and it was Thaddeus Stevens who made it. Said he:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If we are justified in taking property from the Enemy in War, when you
+ have rescued an oppressed People from the oppression of that Enemy, by
+ what principle of the Law of Nations, by what principle of philanthropy,
+ can you return them to the bondage from which you have delivered them, and
+ again rivet the chains you have once broken? It is a disgrace to the Party
+ which advocates it. It is against the principle of the Law of Nations. It
+ is against every principle of philanthropy. I for one, shall never shrink
+ from saying when these Slaves are once conquered by us, 'Go and be Free.'
+ God forbid that I should ever agree that they should be returned again to
+ their masters! I do not say that this War is made for that purpose. Ask
+ those who made the War, what is its object. Do not ask us. * * * Our
+ object is to subdue the Rebels.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But," continued he, "it is said that if we hold out this thing, they will
+ never submit&mdash;that we cannot conquer them&mdash;that they will suffer
+ themselves to be slaughtered, and their whole country to be laid waste.
+ Sir, War is a grievous thing at best, and Civil War more than any other;
+ but if they hold this language, and the means which they have suggested
+ must be resorted to; if their whole country must be laid waste, and made a
+ desert, in order to save this Union from destruction, so let it be. I
+ would rather, Sir, reduce them to a condition where their whole country is
+ to be re-peopled by a band of freemen than to see them perpetrate the
+ destruction of this People through our agency. I do not say that it is
+ time to resort to such means, and I do not know when the time will come;
+ but I never fear to express my sentiments. It is not a question with me of
+ policy, but a question of principle.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If this War is continued long, and is bloody, I do not believe that the
+ free people of the North will stand by and see their sons and brothers and
+ neighbors slaughtered by thousands and tens of thousands by Rebels, with
+ arms in their hands, and forbear to call upon their enemies to be our
+ friends, and to help us in subduing them; I for one, if it continues long,
+ and has the consequences mentioned, shall be ready to go for it, let it
+ horrify the gentleman from New York (Mr. Diven) or anybody else. That is
+ my doctrine, and that will be the doctrine of the whole free people of the
+ North before two years roll round, if this War continues.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "As to the end of the War, until the Rebels are subdued, no man in the
+ North thinks of it. If the Government are equal to the People, and I
+ believe they are, there will be no bargaining, there will be no
+ negotiation, there will be no truces with the Rebels, except to bury the
+ dead, until every man shall have laid down his arms, disbanded his
+ organization, submitted himself to the Government, and sued for mercy.
+ And, Sir, if those who have the control of the Government are not fit for
+ this task and have not the nerve and mind for it, the People will take
+ care that there are others who are&mdash;although, Sir, I have not a bit
+ of fear of the present Administration, or of the present Executive.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I have spoken more freely, perhaps, than gentlemen within my hearing
+ might think politic, but I have spoken just what I felt. I have spoken
+ what I believe will be the result; and I warn Southern gentlemen, that if
+ this War is to continue, there will be a time when my friend from New York
+ (Mr. Diven) will see it declared by this free Nation, that every bondman
+ in the South&mdash;belonging to a Rebel, recollect; I confine it to them&mdash;shall
+ be called upon to aid us in War against their masters, and to restore this
+ Union."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The following letter of instruction from Secretary Cameron, touching the
+ Fugitive Slave question, dated seven days after Thaddeus Stevens' speech,
+ had also an interesting bearing on the subject:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "WASHINGTON, August 8, 1861.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "GENERAL: The important question of the proper disposition to be made of
+ Fugitives from Service in States in Insurrection against the Federal
+ Government, to which you have again directed my attention in your letter
+ of July 30, has received my most attentive consideration.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It is the desire of the President that all existing rights, in all the
+ States, be fully respected and maintained. The War now prosecuted on the
+ part of the Federal Government is a War for the Union, and for the
+ preservation of all Constitutional rights of States, and the citizens of
+ the States, in the Union. Hence, no question can arise as to Fugitives
+ from Service within the States and Territories in which the authority of
+ the Union is fully acknowledged. The ordinary forms of Judicial
+ proceeding, which must be respected by Military and Civil authorities
+ alike, will suffice for the enforcement of all legal claims.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But in States wholly or partially under Insurrectionary control, where
+ the Laws of the United States are so far opposed and resisted that they
+ cannot be effectually enforced, it is obvious that rights dependent on the
+ execution of those laws must, temporarily, fail; and it is equally obvious
+ that rights dependent on the laws of the States within which Military
+ operations are conducted must be necessarily subordinated to the Military
+ exigences created by the Insurrection, if not wholly forfeited by the
+ Treasonable conduct of parties claiming them. To this general rule, rights
+ to Services can form no exception.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The Act of Congress, approved August 6, 1861, declares that if Persons
+ held to Service shall be employed in hostility to the United States, the
+ right to their services shall be forfeited, and such Persons shall be
+ discharged therefrom. It follows, of necessity, that no claim can be
+ recognized by the Military authorities of the Union to the services of
+ such Persons when fugitives.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "A more difficult question is presented in respect to Persons escaping
+ from the Service of Loyal masters. It is quite apparent that the laws of
+ the State, under which only the services of such fugitives can be claimed,
+ must needs be wholly, or almost wholly, suspended, as to remedies, by the
+ Insurrection and the Military measures necessitated by it. And it is
+ equally apparent that the substitution of Military for Judicial measures
+ for the enforcement of such claims must be attended by great
+ inconveniences, embarrassments, and injuries.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Under these circumstances it seems quite clear that the substantial
+ rights of Loyal masters will be best protected by receiving such
+ fugitives, as well as fugitives from Disloyal masters, into the service of
+ the United States, and employing them under such organizations and in such
+ occupations as circumstances may suggest or require.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Of course a record should be kept showing the name and description of the
+ fugitives, the name and the character, as Loyal or Disloyal, of the
+ master, and such facts as may be necessary to a correct understanding of
+ the circumstances of each case after tranquillity shall have been
+ restored. Upon the return of Peace, Congress will, doubtless, properly
+ provide for all the persons thus received into the service of the Union,
+ and for just compensation to Loyal masters. In this way only, it would
+ seem, can the duty and safety of the Government and the just rights of all
+ be fully reconciled and harmonized.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "You will therefore consider yourself as instructed to govern your future
+ action, in respect to Fugitives from Service, by the principles here
+ stated, and will report from time to time, and at least twice in each
+ month, your action in the premises to this Department.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "You will, however, neither authorize, nor permit any interference, by the
+ troops under your command, with the servants of peaceful citizens in house
+ or field; nor will you, in any way, encourage such servants to leave the
+ lawful Service of their masters; nor will you, except in cases where the
+ Public Safety may seem to require, prevent the voluntary return of any
+ Fugitive, to the Service from which he may have escaped."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "SIMON CAMERON,<br /> "Secretary of War.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Major-General B. F. BUTLER,<br /> "Commanding Department of Virginia,<br />
+ "Fortress Monroe."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Whether or not inspired by the prophetic speech of Thaddeus Stevens,
+ aforesaid, the month of August was hardly out before its prophecy seemed
+ in a fair way of immediate fulfilment. Major-General John Charles Fremont
+ at that time commanded the Eastern Department&mdash;comprising the States
+ of Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, and Kentucky&mdash;and he startled the
+ Country by issuing the following Emancipation proclamation:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "HEADQUARTERS OF THE WESTERN DEPARTMENT.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "St. Louis, August 30, 1861.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Circumstances, in my judgment, of sufficient urgency, render it necessary
+ that the commanding general of this Department should assume the
+ administrative powers of the State. Its disorganized condition, the
+ helplessness of the civil authority, the total insecurity of life, and the
+ devastation of property by bands of murderers and marauders, who infest
+ nearly every county of the State, and avail themselves of the public
+ misfortunes and the vicinity of a hostile force to gratify private and
+ neighborhood vengeance, and who find an enemy wherever they find plunder,
+ finally demand the severest measures to repress the daily increasing
+ crimes and outrages which are driving off the inhabitants and ruining the
+ State.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In this condition, the public safety and the success of our arms require
+ unity of purpose, without let or hinderance, to the prompt administration
+ of affairs.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In order, therefore, to suppress disorder, to maintain as far as now
+ practicable the public peace, and to give security and protection to the
+ persons and property of loyal citizens, I do hereby extend and declare
+ established Martial Law throughout the State of Missouri.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The lines of the Army of Occupation in this State are for the present
+ declared to extend from Leavenworth by way of the posts of Jefferson City,
+ Rolla, and Ironton, to Cape Girardeau, on the Mississippi river.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "All persons who shall betaken with arms in their hands within these lines
+ shall be tried by Court-Martial, and if found guilty will be shot.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The property, real and personal, of all persons, in the State of
+ Missouri, who shall take up arms against the United States, or who shall
+ be directly proven to have taken an active part with their Enemies in the
+ field, is declared to be confiscated to the public use, and their Slaves,
+ if any they have, are hereby declared Free men.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "All persons who shall be proven to have destroyed, after the publication
+ of this order, railroad tracks, bridges, or telegraphs, shall suffer the
+ extreme penalty of the law.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "All persons engaged in Treasonable correspondence, in giving or procuring
+ aid to the Enemies of the United States, in fomenting tumults, in
+ disturbing the public tranquillity by creating and circulating false
+ reports or incendiary documents, are in their own interests warned that
+ they are exposing themselves to sudden and severe punishment.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "All persons who have been led away from their allegiance, are required to
+ return to their homes forthwith; any such absence, without sufficient
+ cause, will be held to be presumptive evidence against them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The object of this declaration is to place in the hands of the Military
+ authorities the power to give instantaneous effect to existing laws, and
+ to supply such deficiencies as the conditions of War demand. But this is
+ not intended to suspend the ordinary Tribunals of the Country, where the
+ Law will be administered by the Civil officers in the usual manner, and
+ with their customary authority, while the same can be peaceably exercised.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The commanding general will labor vigilantly for the public Welfare, and
+ in his efforts for their safety hopes to obtain not only the acquiescence,
+ but the active support of the Loyal People of the Country.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "J. C. FREMONT,<br /> "Major-General Commanding."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Fremont's Proclamation of Confiscation and Emancipation, was hailed with
+ joy by some Patriots in the North, but was by others looked upon as rash
+ and premature and inexpedient; while it bitterly stirred the anger of the
+ Rebels everywhere.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Rebel Jeff. Thompson, then in command of the Rebel forces about St.
+ Louis, at once issued the following savage proclamation of retaliation:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "HEADQUARTERS FIRST MILITARY DISTRICT, M. S. G.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ 'St. Louis, August 31, 1861.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "To all whom it may concern:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Whereas Major-General John C. Fremont, commanding the minions of Abraham
+ Lincoln in the State of Missouri, has seen fit to declare Martial Law
+ throughout the whole State, and has threatened to shoot any
+ citizen-soldier found in arms within certain limits; also, to Confiscate
+ the property and Free the Negroes belonging to the members of the Missouri
+ State Guard:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Therefore, know ye, that I, M. Jeff. Thompson, Brigadier-General of the
+ First Military District of Missouri, having not only the Military
+ authority of Brigadier-General, but certain police powers granted by
+ Acting-Governor Thomas C. Reynolds, and confirmed afterward by Governor
+ Jackson, do most solemnly promise that for every member of the Missouri
+ State Guard, or soldier of our allies, the Armies of the Confederate
+ States, who shall be put to death in pursuance of the said order of
+ General Fremont, I will hang, draw, and quarter a minion of said Abraham
+ Lincoln.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "While I am anxious that this unfortunate War shall be conducted, if
+ possible, upon the most liberal principles of civilized warfare&mdash;and
+ every order that I have issued has been with that object&mdash;yet, if
+ this rule is to be adopted (and it must first be done by our Enemies) I
+ intend to exceed General Fremont in his excesses, and will make all tories
+ that come within my reach rue the day that a different policy was adopted
+ by their leaders.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Already mills, barns, warehouses, and other private property have been
+ wastefully and wantonly destroyed by the Enemy in this district, while we
+ have taken nothing except articles strictly contraband or absolutely
+ necessary. Should these things be repeated, I will retaliate ten-fold, so
+ help me God!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "M. JEFF. THOMPSON,<br /> "Brigadier-General Commanding."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "President Lincoln, greatly embarrassed by the precipitate action of his
+ subordinate, lost no time in suggesting to General Fremont certain
+ modifications of his Emancipation proclamation&mdash;as follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "[PRIVATE.] "WASHINGTON, D. C., September 2, 1861.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "MY DEAR SIR: Two points in your proclamation of August 30th give me some
+ anxiety:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "First. Should you shoot a man according to the proclamation, the
+ Confederates would very certainly shoot our best man in their hands, in
+ retaliation; and so, man for man, indefinitely. It is, therefore, my order
+ that you allow no man to be shot under the proclamation without first
+ having my approbation or consent.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Second. I think there is great danger that the closing paragraph, in
+ relation to the Confiscation of Property, and the liberating Slaves of
+ Traitorous owners, will alarm our Southern Union friends, and turn them
+ against us; perhaps ruin our rather fair prospect for Kentucky.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Allow me, therefore, to ask that you will, as of your own motion, modify
+ that paragraph so as to conform to the first and fourth sections of the
+ Act of Congress entitled, 'An Act to Confiscate Property used for
+ Insurrectionary purposes,' approved August 6, 1861, a copy of which Act I
+ herewith send you.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "This letter is written in a spirit of caution, and not of censure.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I send it by a special messenger, in that it may certainly and speedily
+ reach you.<br /> "Yours very truly,<br /> "A. LINCOLN.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Major-General FREMONT."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ General Fremont replied to President Lincoln's suggestions, as follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "HEADQUARTERS WESTERN DEPARTMENT,<br /> "St. Louis, September 8, 1861.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "MY DEAR SIR: Your letter of the second, by special messenger, I know to
+ have been written before you had received my letter, and before my
+ telegraphic dispatches and the rapid developments of critical conditions
+ here had informed you of affairs in this quarter. I had not written to you
+ fully and frequently, first, because in the incessant change of affairs I
+ would be exposed to give you contradictory accounts; and secondly, because
+ the amount of the subjects to be laid before you would demand too much of
+ your time.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Trusting to have your confidence, I have been leaving it to events
+ themselves to show you whether or not I was shaping affairs here according
+ to your ideas. The shortest communication between Washington and St. Louis
+ generally involves two days, and the employment of two days, in time of
+ War, goes largely toward success or disaster. I therefore went along
+ according to my own judgment, leaving the result of my movement to justify
+ me with you.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "And so in regard to my proclamation of the thirtieth. Between the Rebel
+ Armies, the Provisional Government, and the home Traitors, I felt the
+ position bad, and saw danger. In the night I decided upon the proclamation
+ and the form of it&mdash;I wrote it the next morning and printed it the
+ same day. I did it without consultation or advice with any one, acting
+ solely with my best judgment to serve the Country and yourself, and
+ perfectly willing to receive the amount of censure which should be thought
+ due, if I had made a false movement.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "This is as much a movement in the War, as a battle, and, in going into
+ these, I shall have to act according to my judgment of the ground before
+ me, as I did on this occasion. If upon reflection, your better judgment
+ still decides that I am wrong in the article respecting the Liberation of
+ Slaves, I have to ask that you will openly direct me to make the
+ correction. The implied censure will be received as a soldier always
+ should the reprimand of his chief.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If I were to retract of my own accord, it would imply that I myself
+ thought it wrong, and that I had acted without the reflection which the
+ gravity of the point demanded. But I did not. I acted with full
+ deliberation, and upon the certain conviction that it was a measure right
+ and necessary, and I think so still.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In regard to the other point of the proclamation to which you refer, I
+ desire to say that I do not think the Enemy can either misconstrue or urge
+ anything against it, or undertake to make unusual retaliation. The
+ shooting of men who shall rise in arms against an Army in the Military
+ occupation of a Country, is merely a necessary measure of defense, and
+ entirely according to the usages of civilized warfare. The article does
+ not at all refer to prisoners of war, and certainly our Enemies have no
+ grounds for requiring that we should waive in their benefit any of the
+ ordinary advantages which the usages of War allow to us.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "As promptitude is itself an advantage in War, I have also to ask that you
+ will permit me to carry out upon the spot the provisions of the
+ proclamation in this respect.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Looking at affairs from this point of view, I am satisfied that strong
+ and vigorous measures have now become necessary to the success of our
+ Arms; and hoping that my views may have the honor to meet your approval,
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I am, with respect and regard, very truly yours,<br /> "J. C. FREMONT.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "THE PRESIDENT."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ President Lincoln subsequently rejoined, ordering a modification of the
+ proclamation. His letter ran thus:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "WASHINGTON, September 11, 1861.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "SIR: Yours of the 8th, in answer to mine of the 2d instant, is just
+ received. Assuming that you, upon the ground, could better judge of the
+ necessities of your position than I could at this distance, on seeing your
+ Proclamation of August 30th, I perceived no general objection to it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The particular clause, however, in relation to the Confiscation of
+ Property and the Liberation of Slaves, appeared to me to be objectionable
+ in its non-conformity to the Act of Congress, passed the 6th of last
+ August, upon the same subjects; and hence I wrote you expressing my wish
+ that that clause should be modified accordingly.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Your answer, just received, expresses the preference, on your part, that
+ I should make an open order for the modification, which I very cheerfully
+ do.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It is therefore Ordered, that the said clause of said proclamation be so
+ modified, held, and construed as to conform to, and not to transcend, the
+ provisions on the same subject contained in the Act of Congress entitled,
+ 'An Act to Confiscate Property used for Insurrectionary Purposes,'
+ approved August 6, 1861, and that said Act be published at length with
+ this Order.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Your obedient servant,<br /> "A. LINCOLN.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Major-General JOHN C. FREMONT."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In consequence, however, of the agitation on the subject, the extreme
+ delicacy with which it was thought advisable in the earliest stages of the
+ Rebellion to treat it, and the confusion of ideas among Military men with
+ regard to it, the War Department issued the following General Instructions
+ on the occasion of the departure of the Port Royal Expedition, commanded
+ by General T. W. Sherman:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "WAR DEPARTMENT, October 14, 1861.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "SIR: In conducting Military Operations within States declared by the
+ Proclamation of the President to be in a State of Insurrection, you will
+ govern yourself, so far as Persons held to Service under the laws of such
+ States are concerned, by the principles of the letters addressed by me to
+ Major-General Butler on the 30th of May and the 8th of August, copies of
+ which are herewith furnished to you.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "As special directions, adapted to special circumstances, cannot be given,
+ much must be referred to your own discretion as Commanding General of the
+ Expedition. You will, however, in general avail yourself of the services
+ of any Persons, whether Fugitives from Labor or not, who may offer them to
+ the National Government; you will employ such Persons in such services as
+ they may be fitted for, either as ordinary employees, or, if special
+ circumstances seem to require it, in any other capacity with such
+ organization, in squads, companies, or otherwise, as you deem most
+ beneficial to the service. This, however, not to mean a general arming of
+ them for Military service.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "You will assure all Loyal masters that Congress will provide just
+ compensation to them for the loss of the services of the Persons so
+ employed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It is believed that the course thus indicated will best secure the
+ substantial rights of Loyal masters, and the benefits to the United States
+ of the services of all disposed to support the Government, while it avoids
+ all interference with the social systems or local Institutions of every
+ State, beyond that which Insurrection makes unavoidable and which a
+ restoration of peaceful relations to the Union, under the Constitution,
+ will immediately remove. "Respectfully,<br /> "SIMON CAMERON,<br />
+ "Secretary of War.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Brigadier-General T. W. SHERMAN,<br /> "Commanding Expedition to the
+ Southern Coast."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Brigadier-General Thomas W. Sherman, acting upon his own interpretation of
+ these instructions, issued a proclamation to the people of South Carolina,
+ upon occupying the Forts at Port Royal, in which he said:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In obedience to the orders of the President of these United States of
+ America, I have landed on your shores with a small force of National
+ troops. The dictates of a duty which, under these circumstances, I owe to
+ a great sovereign State, and to a proud and hospitable people, among whom
+ I have passed some of the pleasantest days of my life, prompt me to
+ proclaim that we have come amongst you with no feelings of personal
+ animosity, no desire to harm your citizens, destroy your property, or
+ interfere with any of your lawful rights or your social or local
+ Institutions, beyond what the causes herein alluded to may render
+ unavoidable."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Major-General Wool, at Fortress Monroe, where he had succeeded General
+ Butler, likewise issued a Special Order on the subject of Contrabands, as
+ follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA,<br /> "FORT MONROE, October 14, 1861.<br />
+ "[Special Orders No. 72.]
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "All Colored Persons called Contrabands, employed as servants by officers
+ and others residing within Fort Monroe, or outside of the Fort at Camp
+ Hamilton and Camp Butler, will be furnished with their subsistence and at
+ least eight dollars per month for males, and four dollars per month for
+ females, by the officers or others thus employing them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "So much of the above-named sums, as may be necessary to furnish clothing,
+ to be decided by the Chief Quartermaster of the Department, will be
+ applied to that purpose, and the remainder will be paid into his hands to
+ create a fund for the support of those Contrabands who are unable to work
+ for their own support.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "All able-bodied Colored Persons who are under the protection of the
+ troops of this Department, and who are not employed as servants, will be
+ immediately put to work in either the Engineer's or Quartermaster's
+ Department.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "By command of Major-General Wool:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "[Signed] WILLIAM D. WHIPPLE,<br /> "Assistant Adjutant General."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He subsequently also issued the following General Order:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA,<br /> "FORT MONROE, November 1, 1861.<br />
+ "[General Orders No. 34.]
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The following pay and allowances will constitute the valuation of the
+ Labor of the Contrabands at work in the Engineer, Ordnance, Quartermaster,
+ Commissary, and Medical Departments at this Post, to be paid as
+ hereinafter mentioned;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Class 1st.&mdash;Negro man over eighteen years of age, and able-bodied,
+ ten dollars per month, one ration and the necessary amount of clothing.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Class 2d.&mdash;Negro boys from 12 to 18 years of age, and sickly and
+ infirm Negro men, five dollars per month, one ration, and the necessary
+ amount of clothing.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The Quartermaster will furnish all the clothing. The Department employing
+ these men will furnish the subsistence specified above, and as an
+ incentive to good behavior (to be withheld at the direction of the chiefs
+ of the departments respectively), each individual of the first class will
+ receive $2 per month, and each individual of the second class $1 per
+ month, for their own use. The remainder of the money valuation of their
+ Labor, will be turned over to the Quartermaster, who will deduct from it
+ the cost of the clothing issued to them; the balance will constitute a
+ fund to be expended by the Quartermaster under the direction of the
+ Commanding officer of the Department of Virginia for the support of the
+ women and children and those that are unable to work.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "For any unusual amount of Labor performed, they may receive extra pay,
+ varying in amount from fifty cents to one dollar, this to be paid by the
+ departments employing them, to the men themselves, and to be for their own
+ use.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Should any man be prevented from working, on account of sickness, for six
+ consecutive days, or ten days in any one month, one-half of the money
+ value will be paid. For being prevented from laboring for a longer period
+ than ten days in any one month all pay and allowances cease.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "By command of Major-General Wool:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "[Signed] "WILLIAM D. WHIPPLE,<br /> "Assistant Adjutant General."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On November 13, 1861, Major-General Dix, in a proclamation addressed to
+ the people of Accomac and Northampton Counties, Va., ordered the repulsion
+ of Fugitive Slaves seeking to enter the Union lines, in these words:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The Military Forces of the United States are about to enter your Counties
+ as a part of the Union. They will go among you as friends, and with the
+ earnest hope that they may not, by your own acts, be forced to become your
+ enemies. They will invade no rights of person or property. On the
+ contrary, your Laws, your Institutions, your Usages, will be scrupulously
+ respected. There need be no fear that the quietude of any fireside will be
+ disturbed, unless the disturbance is caused by yourselves.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Special directions have been given not to interfere with the condition of
+ any Person held to domestic service; and, in order that there may be no
+ ground for mistake or pretext for misrepresent action, Commanders of
+ Regiments and Corps have been instructed not to permit any such Persons to
+ come within their lines."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 20th of November, 1861, Major General Halleck issued the following
+ Genera., Order&mdash;which went even further, in that it expelled, as well
+ as repelled Fugitive Slaves from our lines:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF MISSOURI,<br /> "St. Louis, November 20, 1861.<br />
+ "[General Orders No. 3.]
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I. It has been represented that important information respecting the
+ number and condition of our Forces, is conveyed to the Enemy by means of
+ Fugitive Slaves who are admitted within our lines. In order to remedy this
+ evil, it is directed that no such Persons be hereafter permitted to enter
+ the lines of any camp, or of any forces on the march; and that any now
+ within such lines be immediately excluded therefrom."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This Order was subsequently explained in a letter, of December 8, 1861,
+ from General Halleck to Hon. F. P. Blair, in which he said:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ " * * * Order No. 3 was in my mind, clearly a Military necessity.
+ Unauthorized persons, black or white, Free or Slaves, must be kept out of
+ our camps, unless we are willing to publish to the Enemy everything we do
+ or intend to do. It was a Military and not a political order. I am ready
+ to carry out any lawful instructions in regard to Fugitive Slaves which my
+ superiors may give me, and to enforce any law which Congress may pass. But
+ I cannot make law, and will not violate it. You know my private opinion on
+ the policy of Confiscating the Slave Property of Rebels in Arms. If
+ Congress shall pass it, you may be certain that I shall enforce it.
+ Perhaps my policy as to the treatment of Rebels and their property is as
+ well set out in Order No. 13, issued the day (December 4, 1861), your
+ letter was written, as I could now describe it."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It may be well also to add here, as belonging to this period of
+ doubtfulness touching the status of escaped Slaves, the following
+ communication sent by Secretary Seward to General McClellan, touching
+ "Contrabands" in the District of Columbia:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "DEPARTMENT OF STATE,<br /> "WASHINGTON, December 4, 1861.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "To Major-General GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN, Washington:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "GENERAL: I am directed by the President to call your attention to the
+ following subject:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Persons claimed to be held to Service or Labor under the laws of the
+ State of Virginia, and actually employed in hostile service against the
+ Government of the United States, frequently escape from the lines of the
+ Enemy's Forces and are received within the lines of the Army of the
+ Potomac.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "This Department understands that such Persons afterward coming into the
+ city of Washington are liable to be arrested by the city police, upon the
+ presumption, arising from color, that they are Fugitives from Service or
+ Labor.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "By the 4th section of the Act of Congress approved August 6, 1861,
+ entitled, 'An Act to Confiscate Property used for Insurrectionary
+ purposes,' such hostile employment is made a full and sufficient answer to
+ any further claim to Service or Labor. Persons thus employed and escaping
+ are received into the Military protection of the United States, and their
+ arrest as Fugitives from Service or Labor should be immediately followed
+ by the Military arrest of the parties making the seizure.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Copies of this communication will be sent to the Mayor of the city of
+ Washington and to the Marshal of the District of Columbia, that any
+ collision between the Civil and Military authorities may be avoided.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I am, General, your very obedient,
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "WILLIAM H. SEWARD."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkhunter" id="linkhunter"></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="p312-hunter.jpg (63K)" src="images/p312-hunter.jpg" style="width:100%;" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch16" id="linkch16"></a><br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ CHAPTER XVI.<br /> <br /> "COMPENSATED GRADUAL EMANCIPATION.".<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ Thus far the reader's eye has been able to review in their successive
+ order some of the many difficulties and perplexities which beset the
+ pathway of President Lincoln as he felt his way in the dark, as it were,
+ toward Emancipation. It must seem pretty evident now, however, that his
+ chief concern was for the preservation of the Union, even though all other
+ things&mdash;Emancipation with them&mdash;had to be temporarily
+ sacrificed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Something definite, however, had been already gained. Congress had
+ asserted its right under the War powers of the Constitution, to release
+ from all claim to Service or Labor those Slaves whose Service or Labor had
+ been used in hostility to the Union. And while some of the Union Generals
+ obstructed the execution of the Act enforcing that right, by repelling and
+ even as we have seen, expelling, from the Union lines all Fugitive Slaves&mdash;whether
+ such as had or had not been used in hostility to us&mdash;yet still the
+ cause of Freedom to all, was slowly and silently perhaps, yet surely and
+ irresistibly, marching on until the time when, becoming a chief factor in
+ the determination of the question of "whether we should have a Country at
+ all," it should triumph coincidently with the preservation of the
+ Republic.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But now a new phase of the Slave question arose&mdash;a question not
+ involving what to do with Fugitive Slaves of any sort, whether engaged or
+ not engaged in performing services hostile to the Union cause, but what to
+ do with Slaves whom their panic-stricken owners had, for the time being,
+ abandoned in the presence of our Armies.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This question was well discussed in the original draft of the report of
+ the Secretary of War, December 1, 1861 in which Secretary Cameron said:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It has become a grave question for determination what shall be done with
+ the Slaves abandoned by their owners on the advance of our troops into
+ Southern territory, as in the Beaufort district of South Carolina. The
+ whole White population therein is six thousand, while the number of
+ Negroes exceeds thirty-two thousand. The panic which drove their masters
+ in wild confusion from their homes, leaves them in undisputed possession
+ of the soil. Shall they, armed by their masters, be placed in the field to
+ fight against us, or shall their labor be continually employed in
+ reproducing the means for supporting the Armies of Rebellion?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The War into which this Government has been forced by rebellious Traitors
+ is carried on for the purpose of repossessing the property violently and
+ treacherously seized upon by the Enemies of the Government, and to
+ re-establish the authority and Laws of the United States in the places
+ where it is opposed or overthrown by armed Insurrection and Rebellion. Its
+ purpose is to recover and defend what is justly its own.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "War, even between Independent Nations, is made to subdue the Enemy, and
+ all that belongs to that Enemy, by occupying the hostile country, and
+ exercising dominion over all the men and things within its territory. This
+ being true in respect to Independent Nations at war with each other, it
+ follows that Rebels who are laboring by force of arms to overthrow a
+ Government, justly bring upon themselves all the consequences of War, and
+ provoke the destruction merited by the worst of crimes. That Government
+ would be false to National trust, and would justly excite the ridicule of
+ the civilized World, that would abstain from the use of any efficient
+ means to preserve its own existence, or to overcome a rebellious and
+ traitorous Enemy, by sparing or protecting the property of those who are
+ waging War against it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The principal wealth and power of the Rebel States is a peculiar species
+ of Property, consisting of the service or labor of African Slaves, or the
+ descendants of Africans. This Property has been variously estimated at the
+ value of from seven hundred million to one thousand million dollars.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Why should this Property be exempt from the hazards and consequences of a
+ rebellious War?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It was the boast of the leader of the Rebellion, while he yet had a seat
+ in the Senate of the United States, that the Southern States would be
+ comparatively safe and free from the burdens of War, if it should be
+ brought on by the contemplated Rebellion, and that boast was accompanied
+ by the savage threat that 'Northern towns and cities would become the
+ victims of rapine and Military spoil,' and that 'Northern men should smell
+ Southern gunpowder and feel Southern steel.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "No one doubts the disposition of the Rebels to carry that threat into
+ execution. The wealth of Northern towns and cities, the produce of
+ Northern farms, Northern workshops and manufactories would certainly be
+ seized, destroyed, or appropriated as Military spoil. No property in the
+ North would be spared from the hands of the Rebels, and their rapine would
+ be defended under the laws of War. While the Loyal States thus have all
+ their property and possessions at stake, are the insurgent Rebels to carry
+ on warfare against the Government in peace and security to their own
+ property?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Reason and justice and self-preservation forbid that such should be; the
+ policy of this Government, but demand, on the contrary, that, being forced
+ by Traitors and Rebels to the extremity of war, all the rights and powers
+ of war should be exercised to bring it to a speedy end.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Those who war against the Government justly forfeit all rights of
+ property, privilege, or security, derived from the Constitution and Laws,
+ against which they are in armed Rebellion; and as the labor and service of
+ their Slaves constitute the chief Property of the Rebels, such Property
+ should share the common fate of War to which they have devoted the
+ property of Loyal citizens.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "While it is plain that the Slave Property of the South is justly
+ subjected to all the consequences of this Rebellious War, and that the
+ Government would be untrue to its trust in not employing all the rights
+ and powers of War to bring it to a speedy close, the details of the plan
+ for doing so, like all other Military measures, must, in a great degree,
+ be left to be determined by particular exigencies. The disposition of
+ other property belonging to the Rebels that becomes subject to our arms is
+ governed by the circumstances of the case.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The Government has no power to hold Slaves, none to restrain a Slave of
+ his Liberty, or to exact his service. It has a right, however, to use the
+ voluntary service of Slaves liberated by War from their Rebel masters,
+ like any other property of the Rebels, in whatever mode may be most
+ efficient for the defense of the Government, the prosecution of the War,
+ and the suppression of Rebellion. It is clearly a right of the Government
+ to arm Slaves when it may become necessary, as it is to take gunpowder
+ from the Enemy; whether it is expedient to do so, is purely a Military
+ question. The right is unquestionable by the laws of War. The expediency
+ must be determined by circumstances, keeping in view the great object of
+ overcoming the Rebels, reestablishing the Laws, and restoring Peace to the
+ Nation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It is vain and idle for the Government to carry on this War, or hope to
+ maintain its existence against rebellious force, without employing all the
+ rights and powers of War. As has been said, the right to deprive the
+ Rebels of their Property in Slaves and Slave Labor is as clear and
+ absolute as the right to take forage from the field, or cotton from the
+ warehouse, or powder and arms from the magazine. To leave the Enemy in the
+ possession of such property as forage and cotton and military stores, and
+ the means of constantly reproducing them, would be madness. It is,
+ therefore, equal madness to leave them in peaceful and secure possession
+ of Slave Property, more valuable and efficient to them for war than
+ forage, cotton, military stores. Such policy would be National suicide.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "What to do with that species of Property is a question that time and
+ circumstances will solve, and need not be anticipated further than to
+ repeat that they cannot be held by the Government as Slaves. It would be
+ useless to keep them as prisoners of War; and self-preservation, the
+ highest duty of a Government, or of individuals, demands that they should
+ be disposed of or employed in the most effective manner that will tend
+ most speedily to suppress the Insurrection and restore the authority of
+ the Government. If it shall be found that the men who have been held by
+ the Rebels as Slaves, are capable of bearing arms and performing efficient
+ Military service, it is the right, and may become the duty, of this
+ Government to arm and equip them, and employ their services against the
+ Rebels, under proper Military regulations, discipline, and command.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But in whatever manner they may be used by the Government, it is plain
+ that, once liberated by the rebellious act of their masters they should
+ never again be restored to bondage. By the master's Treason and Rebellion
+ he forfeits all right to the labor and service of his Slave; and the Slave
+ of the rebellious master, by his service to the Government, becomes justly
+ entitled to Freedom and protection.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The disposition to be made of the Slaves of Rebels, after the close of
+ the War, can be safely left to the wisdom and patriotism of Congress. The
+ Representatives of the People will unquestionably secure to the Loyal
+ Slaveholders every right to which they are entitled under the Constitution
+ of the Country."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This original draft of the report was modified, at the instance of
+ President Lincoln, to the following&mdash;and thus appeared in Secretary
+ Cameron's report of that date, as printed:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It is already a grave question what shall be done with those Slaves who
+ were abandoned by their owners on the advance of our troops into Southern
+ territory, as at Beaufort district, in South Carolina. The number left
+ within our control at that point is very considerable, and similar cases
+ will probably occur. What should be done with them? Can we afford to send
+ them forward to their masters, to be by them armed against us, or used in
+ producing supplies to sustain the Rebellion?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Their labor may be useful to us; withheld from the Enemy it lessens his
+ Military resources, and withholding them has no tendency to induce the
+ horrors of Insurrection, even in the Rebel communities. They constitute a
+ Military resource, and, being such, that they should not be turned over to
+ the Enemy is too plain to discuss. Why deprive him of supplies by a
+ blockade, and voluntarily give him men to produce them?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The disposition to be made of the Slaves of Rebels, after the close of
+ the War, can be safely left to the wisdom and patriotism of Congress. The
+ Representatives of the People will unquestionably secure to the Loyal
+ Slaveholders every right to which they are entitled under the Constitution
+ of the Country.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ SIMON CAMERON.<br /> "Secretary of War."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The language of this modification is given to show that the President, at
+ the close of the year 1861, had already reached a further step forward
+ toward Emancipation&mdash;and the sound reasoning upon which he made that
+ advance. He was satisfying his own mind and conscience as he proceeded,
+ and thus, while justifying himself to himself, was also simultaneously
+ carrying conviction to the minds and consciences of the People, whose
+ servant and agent he was.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ That these abandoned Slaves would "constitute a Military resource" and
+ "should not be turned over to the Enemy" and that "their labor may be
+ useful to us" were propositions which could not be gainsaid. But to quiet
+ uncalled-for apprehensions, and to encourage Southern loyalty, he added,
+ in substance, that at the close of this War&mdash;waged solely for the
+ preservation of the Union&mdash;Congress would decide the doubtful status
+ of the Slaves of Rebels, while the rights of Union Slave-holders would be
+ secured.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Contraband-Slave question, however, continued to agitate the public
+ mind for many months&mdash;owing to the various ways in which it was
+ treated by the various Military commanders, to whose discretion its
+ treatment, in their several commands, was left&mdash;a discretion which
+ almost invariably leaned toward the political bias of the commander. Thus,
+ in a proclamation, dated St. Louis, February 23, 1862, Halleck, commanding
+ the Department of Missouri, said:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Soldiers! let no excess on your part tarnish the glory of our arms!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The order heretofore issued in this department, in regard to pillaging
+ and marauding, the destruction of private property, and the stealing or
+ concealment of Slaves, must be strictly enforced. It does not belong to
+ the Military to decide upon the relation of Master and Slave. Such
+ questions must be settled by the civil Courts. No Fugitive Slaves will
+ therefore be admitted within our lines or camps, except when especially
+ ordered by the General Commanding. * * * "
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And Buell, commanding the Department of the Ohio, in response to a
+ communication on the subject from the Chairman of the Military Committee
+ of the Kentucky Legislature, wrote, March 6, 1862:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It has come to my knowledge that Slaves sometimes make their way
+ improperly into our lines, and in some instances they may be enticed
+ there, but I think the number has been magnified by report. Several
+ applications have been made to me by persons whose servants have been
+ found in our camps, and in every instance that I know of the master has
+ recovered his servant and taken him away."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Thus, while some of our Commanders, like Dix and Halleck, repelled or even
+ expelled the Fugitive Slave from their lines; and others, like Buell and
+ Hooker, facilitated the search for, and restoration to his master, of the
+ black Fugitive found within our lines; on the other hand, Fremont, as we
+ have seen, and Doubleday and Hunter, as we shall yet see, took totally
+ different ground on this question.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ President Lincoln, however, harassed as he was by the extremists on both
+ sides of the Slavery question, still maintained that calm statesman-like
+ middle-course from which the best results were likely to flow. But he now
+ thought the time had come to broach the question of a compensated, gradual
+ Emancipation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Accordingly, on March 6, 1862, he sent to Congress the following message:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Fellow citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I recommend the adoption of a joint Resolution by your honorable bodies,
+ which shall be substantially as follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved, That the United States ought to co-operate with any State which
+ may adopt gradual abolishment of Slavery, giving to such State pecuniary
+ aid, to be used by such State in its discretion, to compensate for the
+ inconveniences, public and private, produced by such change of system.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If the proposition contained in the Resolution does not meet the approval
+ of Congress and the Country, there is the end; but if it does command such
+ approval, I deem it of importance that the States and people immediately
+ interested should be at once distinctly notified of the fact, so that they
+ may begin to consider whether to accept or reject it, The Federal
+ Government would find its highest interest in such a measure, as one of
+ the most efficient means of self preservation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The leaders of the existing Insurrection entertain the hope that this
+ Government will ultimately be forced to acknowledge the Independence of
+ some part of the disaffected region, and that all the Slave States North
+ of such part will then say, 'the Union for which we have struggled being
+ already gone, we now choose to go with the Southern Section.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "To deprive them of this hope, substantially ends the Rebellion; and the
+ initiation of Emancipation completely deprives them of it, as to all the
+ States initiating it. The point is not that all the States tolerating
+ Slavery would very soon, if at all, initiate Emancipation; but that, while
+ the offer is equally made to all, the more Northern shall, by such
+ initiation, make it certain to the more Southern that in no event will the
+ former ever join the latter in their proposed Confederacy. I say,
+ 'initiation,' because in my judgment, gradual, and not sudden
+ Emancipation, is better for all.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In the mere financial or pecuniary view, any member of Congress, with the
+ census tables and Treasury reports before him, can readily see for himself
+ how very soon the current expenditures of this War would purchase, at fair
+ valuation, all the Slaves in any named State.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Such a proposition on the part of the General Government sets up no claim
+ of a right by Federal authority to interfere with Slavery within State
+ limits, referring, as it does, the absolute control of the subject in each
+ case to the State and its people immediately interested. It is proposed as
+ a matter of perfectly free choice with them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In the Annual Message last December, I thought fit to say, 'the Union
+ must be preserved; and hence all indispensable means must be employed.' I
+ said this, not hastily, but deliberately. War has been made, and continues
+ to be an indispensable means to this end. A practical reacknowledgment of
+ the National authority would render the War unnecessary, and it would at
+ once cease. If, however, resistance continues, the War must also continue;
+ and it is impossible to foresee all the incidents which may attend, and
+ all the ruin which may follow it. Such as may seem indispensable, or may
+ obviously promise great efficiency toward ending the struggle, must and
+ will come.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The proposition now made, though an offer only, I hope it may be esteemed
+ no offense to ask whether the pecuniary consideration tendered would not
+ be of more value to the States and private persons concerned, than are the
+ Institution, and Property in it, in the present aspect of affairs?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "While it is true that the adoption of the proposed resolution would be
+ merely initiatory, and not within itself a practical measure, it is
+ recommended in the hope that it would soon lead to important practical
+ results. In full view of my great responsibility to my God and to my
+ Country, I earnestly beg the attention of Congress and the People to the
+ subject.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "March 6, 1862."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In compliance with the above suggestion from the President, a Joint
+ Resolution, in the precise words suggested, was introduced into the House,
+ March 10, by Roscoe Conkling, and on the following day was adopted in the
+ House by 97 yeas to 36 nays.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Of the 36 members of the House who voted against this Resolution, were 34
+ Democrats, and among them were Messrs. Crisfield of Maryland, and Messrs.
+ Crittenden, Mallory, and Menzies of Kentucky. These gentleman afterward
+ made public a report, drawn by themselves, of an interesting interview
+ they had held with President Lincoln on this important subject, in the
+ words following:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "MEMORANDUM OF AN INTERVIEW BETWEEN THE PRESIDENT AND SOME BORDER
+ SLAVE-STATE REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 10, 1862.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'DEAR SIR:&mdash;I called, at the request of the President, to ask you to
+ come to the White House to-morrow morning, at nine o'clock, and bring such
+ of your colleagues as are in town.'"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'WASHINGTON, March 10, 1862.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Yesterday on my return from church I found Mr. Postmaster General Blair
+ in my room, writing the above note, which he immediately suspended, and
+ verbally communicated the President's invitation; and stated that the
+ President's purpose was to have some conversation with the delegations of
+ Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware, in explanation of
+ his Message of the 6th inst.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "This morning these delegations, or such of them as were in town,
+ assembled at the White House at the appointed time, and after some little
+ delay were admitted to an audience.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "After the usual salutations and we were seated, the President said, in
+ substance, that he had invited us to meet him to have some conversation
+ with us in explanation of his Message of the 6th; that since he had sent
+ it in, several of the gentlemen then present had visited him, but had
+ avoided any allusion to the Message, and he therefore inferred that the
+ import of the Message had been misunderstood, and was regarded as inimical
+ to the interests we represented; and he had resolved he would talk with
+ us, and disabuse our minds of that erroneous opinion.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The President then disclaimed any intent to injure the interests or wound
+ the sensibilities of the Slave States. On the contrary, his purpose was to
+ protect the one and respect the other; that we were engaged in a terrible,
+ wasting, and tedious War; immense Armies were in the field, and must
+ continue in the field as long as the War lasts; that these Armies must, of
+ necessity, be brought into contact with Slaves in the States we
+ represented and in other States as they advanced; that Slaves would come
+ to the camps, and continual irritation was kept up; that he was constantly
+ annoyed by conflicting and antagonistic complaints; on the one side, a
+ certain class complained if the Slave was not protected by the Army;
+ persons were frequently found who, participating in these views, acted in
+ a way unfriendly to the Slaveholder; on the other hand, Slaveholders
+ complained that their rights were interfered with, their Slaves induced to
+ abscond, and protected within the lines, these complaints were numerous,
+ loud, and deep; were a serious annoyance to him and embarrassing to the
+ progress of the War; that it kept alive a spirit hostile to the Government
+ in the States we represented; strengthened the hopes of the Confederates
+ that at some day the Border States would unite with them, and thus tend to
+ prolong the War; and he was of opinion, if this Resolution should be
+ adopted by Congress and accepted by our States, these causes of irritation
+ and these hopes would be removed, and more would be accomplished towards
+ shortening the War than could be hoped from the greatest victory achieved
+ by Union Armies; that he made this proposition in good faith, and desired
+ it to be accepted, if at all, voluntarily, and in the same patriotic
+ spirit in which it was made; that Emancipation was a subject exclusively
+ under the control of the States, and must be adopted or rejected by each
+ for itself; that he did not claim nor had this Government any right to
+ coerce them for that purpose; that such was no part of his purpose in
+ making this proposition, and he wished it to be clearly understood; that
+ he did not expect us there to be prepared to give him an answer, but he
+ hoped we would take the subject into serious consideration; confer with
+ one another, and then take such course as we felt our duty and the
+ interests of our constituents required of us.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Mr. Noell, of Missouri, said that in his State, Slavery was not
+ considered a permanent Institution; that natural causes were there in
+ operation which would, at no distant day, extinguish it, and he did not
+ think that this proposition was necessary for that; and, besides that, he
+ and his friends felt solicitous as to the Message on account of the
+ different constructions which the Resolution and Message had received. The
+ New York Tribune was for it, and understood it to mean that we must accept
+ gradual Emancipation according to the plan suggested, or get something
+ worse.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The President replied, he must not be expected to quarrel with the New
+ York Tribune before the right time; he hoped never to have to do it; he
+ would not anticipate events. In respect to Emancipation in Missouri, he
+ said that what had been observed by Mr. Noell was probably true, but the
+ operation of these natural causes had not prevented the irritating conduct
+ to which he had referred, or destroyed the hopes of the Confederates that
+ Missouri would at some time range herself alongside of them, which, in his
+ judgment, the passage of this Resolution by Congress, and its acceptance
+ by Missouri, would accomplish.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Mr. Crisfield, of Maryland, asked what would be the effect of the refusal
+ of the State to accept this proposal, and desired to know if the President
+ looked to any policy beyond the acceptance or rejection of this scheme.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The President replied that he had no designs beyond the action of the
+ States on this particular subject. He should lament their refusal to
+ accept it, but he had no designs beyond their refusal of it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Mr. Menzies, of Kentucky, inquired if the President thought there was any
+ power, except in the States themselves, to carry out his scheme of
+ Emancipation?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The President replied, he thought there could not be. He then went off
+ into a course of remark not qualifying the foregoing declaration, nor
+ material to be repeated to a just understanding of his meaning.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Mr. Crisfield said he did not think the people of Maryland looked upon
+ Slavery as a permanent Institution; and he did not know that they would be
+ very reluctant to give it up if provision was made to meet the loss, and
+ they could be rid of the race; but they did not like to be coerced into
+ Emancipation, either by the direct action of the Government or by
+ indirection, as through the Emancipation of Slaves in this District, or
+ the Confiscation of Southern Property as now threatened; and he thought
+ before they would consent to consider this proposition they would require
+ to be informed on these points.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The President replied that 'unless he was expelled by the act of God or
+ the Confederate Armies, he should occupy that house for three years, and
+ as long as he remained there, Maryland had nothing to fear, either for her
+ Institutions or her interests, on the points referred to.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Mr. Crisfield immediately added: 'Mr. President, what you now say could
+ be heard by the people of Maryland, they would consider your proposition
+ with a much better feeling than I fear without it they will be inclined to
+ do.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The President: 'That (meaning a publication of what he said), will not
+ do; it would force me into a quarrel before the proper time;' and again
+ intimating, as he had before done, that a quarrel with the 'Greeley
+ faction' was impending, he said, 'he did not wish to encounter it before
+ the proper time, nor at all if it could be avoided.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Governor Wickliffe, of Kentucky, then asked him respecting the
+ Constitutionality of his scheme.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The President replied: 'As you may suppose, I have considered that; and
+ the proposition now submitted does not encounter any Constitutional
+ difficulty. It proposes simply to co-operate with any State by giving such
+ State pecuniary aid;' and he thought that the Resolution, as proposed by
+ him, would be considered rather as the expression of a sentiment than as
+ involving any Constitutional question.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Mr. Hall, of Missouri, thought that if this proposition was adopted at
+ all, it should be by the votes of the Free States, and come as a
+ proposition from them to the Slave States, affording them an inducement to
+ put aside this subject of discord; that it ought not to be expected that
+ members representing Slaveholding Constituencies should declare at once,
+ and in advance of any proposition to them, for the Emancipation of Slaves.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The President said he saw and felt the force of the objection; it was a
+ fearful responsibility, and every gentleman must do as he thought best;
+ that he did not know how this scheme was received by the Members from the
+ Free States; some of them had spoken to him and received it kindly; but
+ for the most part they were as reserved and chary as we had been, and he
+ could not tell how they would vote.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "And, in reply to some expression of Mr. Hall as to his own opinion
+ regarding Slavery, he said he did not pretend to disguise his Anti-Slavery
+ feeling; that he thought it was wrong and should continue to think so; but
+ that was not the question we had to deal with now. Slavery existed, and
+ that, too, as well by the act of the North, as of the South; and in any
+ scheme to get rid of it, the North, as well as the South, was morally
+ bound to do its full and equal share. He thought the Institution, wrong,
+ and ought never to have existed; but yet he recognized the rights of
+ Property which had grown out of it, and would respect those rights as
+ fully as similar rights in any other property; that Property can exist,
+ and does legally exist. He thought such a law, wrong, but the rights of
+ Property resulting must be respected; he would get rid of the odious law,
+ not by violating the right, but by encouraging the proposition, and
+ offering inducements to give it up."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Here the interview, so far as this subject is concerned, terminated by
+ Mr. Crittenden's assuring the President that whatever might be our final
+ action, we all thought him solely moved by a high patriotism and sincere
+ devotion to the happiness and glory of his Country; and with that
+ conviction we should consider respectfully the important suggestions he
+ had made.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "After some conversation on the current war news we retired, and I
+ immediately proceeded to my room and wrote out this paper.<br /> <br /> "J.
+ W. CRISFIELD."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We were present at the interview described in the foregoing paper of Mr.
+ Crisfield, and we certify that the substance of what passed on the
+ occasion is in this paper, faithfully and fully given.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "J. W. MENZIES,<br /> "J. J. CRITTENDEN,<br /> "R. MALLORY.<br /> "March 10,
+ 1862."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Upon the passage of the Joint-Resolution in the House only four Democrats
+ (Messrs. Cobb, Haight, Lehman, and Sheffield) voted in the affirmative,
+ and but two Republicans (Francis Thomas, and Leary) in the negative. On
+ the 2nd of April, it passed the Senate by a vote of 32 yeas&mdash;all
+ Republicans save Messrs. Davis and Thomson&mdash;to 10 nays, all
+ Democrats.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Meantime the question of the treatment of the "Contraband" in our Military
+ camps, continued to grow in importance.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On March 26, 1862, General Hooker issued the following order touching
+ certain Fugitive Slaves and their alleged owners:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "HEADQUARTERS, HOOKER'S DIVISION, CAMP BAKER,<br /> "LOWER POTOMAC, March
+ 26, 1862.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "To BRIGADE AND REGIMENTAL COMMANDERS OF THIS DIVISION:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Messrs. Nally, Gray, Dummington, Dent, Adams, Speake, Price, Posey, and
+ Cobey, citizens of Maryland, have Negroes supposed to be with some of the
+ regiments of this Division; the Brigadier General commanding directs that
+ they be permitted to visit all the camps of his command, in search of
+ their Property, and if found, that they be allowed to take possession of
+ the same, without any interference whatever. Should any obstacle be thrown
+ in their way by any officer or soldier in the Division, they will be at
+ once reported by the regimental commanders to these headquarters.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "By command of Brigadier General Hooker;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "JOSEPH DICKINSON,<br /> "Assistant Adjutant General."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the following day, by direction of General Sickles, the following
+ significant report was made touching the above order:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "HEADQUARTERS, SECOND REGIMENT, EXCELSIOR BRIGADE.<br /> "CAMP HALL, March
+ 27, 1862.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "LIEUTENANT:&mdash;In compliance with verbal directions from Brigadier
+ General D. E. Sickles, to report as to the occurrence at this camp on the
+ afternoon of the 26th instant, I beg leave to submit the following:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "At about 3:30 o'clock P. M., March 26, 1862, admission within our lines
+ was demanded by a party of horsemen (civilians), numbering, perhaps,
+ fifteen. They presented the lieutenant commanding the guard, with an order
+ of entrance from Brigadier General Joseph Hooker, Commanding Division
+ (copy appended), the order stating that nine men should be admitted.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I ordered that the balance of the party should remain without the lines;
+ which was done. Upon the appearance of the others, there was visible
+ dissatisfaction and considerable murmuring among the soldiers, to so great
+ an extent that I almost feared for the safety of the Slaveholders. At this
+ time General Sickles opportunely arrived, and instructed me to order them
+ outside the camp, which I did, amidst the loud cheers of our soldiers.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It is proper to add, that before entering our lines, and within about
+ seventy-five or one hundred yards of our camp, one of their number
+ discharged two pistol shots at a Negro, who was running past them, with an
+ evident intention of taking his life. This justly enraged our men.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "All of which is respectfully submitted.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Your obedient servant,<br /> "JOHN TOLEN.<br /> "Major Commanding Second
+ Regiment, E. B.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "To Lieutenant J. L. PALMER, Jr.,<br /> "A. D. C. and A. A. A. General."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On April 6, the following important dispatch, in the nature of an order,
+ was issued by General Doubleday to one of his subordinate officers:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DEFENSES,<br /> "NORTH OF THE POTOMAC,<br />
+ "WASHINGTON, April 6, 1862.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "SIR:&mdash;I am directed by General Doubleday to say, in answer to your
+ letter of the 2d instant, that all Negroes coming into the lines of any of
+ the camps or forts under his command, are to be treated as persons, and
+ not as chattels.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Under no circumstances has the Commander of a fort or camp the power of
+ surrendering persons claimed as Fugitive Slaves, as it cannot be done
+ without determining their character.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The Additional Article of War recently passed by Congress positively
+ prohibits this.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The question has been asked, whether it would not be better to exclude
+ Negroes altogether from the lines. The General is of the opinion that they
+ bring much valuable information, which cannot be obtained from any other
+ source. They are acquainted with all the roads, paths, fords, and other
+ natural features of the country, and they make excellent guides. They also
+ know and frequently have exposed the haunts of Secession spies and
+ Traitors and the existence of Rebel organizations. They will not,
+ therefore, be excluded.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The General also directs me to say that civil process cannot be served
+ directly in the camps or forts of his command, without full authority be
+ obtained from the Commanding Officer for that purpose.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I am very respectfully, your obedient servant,
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "E. P. HALSTED,<br /> "Assistant Adjutant General.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Lieut. Col. JOHN D. SHANE,<br /> "Commanding 76th Reg. N. Y. Vols."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkhenry" id="linkhenry"></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="p344-henry.jpg (75K)" src="images/p344-henry.jpg" style="width:100%;" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch17" id="linkch17"></a><br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ CHAPTER XVII.<br /> <br /> BORDER-STATE OPPOSITION.<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ On April 3, 1862, the United States Senate passed a Bill to liberate all
+ Persons of African descent held to Service or Labor within the District of
+ Columbia, and prohibiting Slavery or involuntary servitude in the District
+ except as a punishment for crime&mdash;an appropriation being made to pay
+ to loyal owners an appraised value of the liberated Slaves not to exceed
+ $300 for each Slave. The vote on its passage in the Senate was 29 yeas to
+ 14 nays&mdash;all the yeas being Republican, and all but two of the nays
+ Democratic.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ April 11th, the Bill passed the House by 92 yeas to 39 nays&mdash;all the
+ yeas save 5 being Republican, and all the nays, save three, being
+ Democratic.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ April 7, 1862, the House adopted a resolution, by 67 yeas to 52 nays&mdash;all
+ the yeas, save one, Republican, and all the nays, save 12, Democratic&mdash;for
+ the appointment of a Select Committee of nine, to consider and report
+ whether any plan could be proposed and recommended for the gradual
+ Emancipation of all the African Slaves, and the extinction of Slavery in
+ Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri, by the
+ people or local authorities thereof, and how far and in what way the
+ Government of the United States could and ought equitably to aid in
+ facilitating either of those objects.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 16th President Lincoln sent the following Message to Congress:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Fellow citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The Act entitled 'An Act for the release of certain Persons held to
+ Service or Labor in the District of Columbia,' has this day been approved
+ and signed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I have never doubted the Constitutional authority of Congress to abolish
+ Slavery in this District; and I have ever desired to see the National
+ Capital freed from the Institution in some satisfactory way. Hence there
+ has never been in my mind any question upon the subject except the one of
+ expediency, arising in view of all the circumstances.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If there be matters within and about this Act which might have taken a
+ course or shape more satisfactory to my judgment, I do not attempt to
+ specify them. I am gratified that the two principles of compensation and
+ colonization are both recognized and practically applied in the Act.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In the matter of compensation, it is provided that claims may be
+ presented within ninety days from the passage of the Act, 'but not
+ thereafter;' and there is no saving for minors, femmes covert, insane, or
+ absent persons. I presume this is an omission by mere oversight, and I
+ recommend that it be supplied by an amendatory or Supplemental Act.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "ABRAHAM LINCOLN.<br /> "April 16, 1862."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Subsequently, in order to meet the President's views, such an amendatory
+ or Supplemental Act was passed and approved.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But now, Major General Hunter having taken upon himself to issue an
+ Emancipation proclamation, May 9, 1862, the President, May 19, 1862,
+ issued a proclamation rescinding it as follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Whereas there appears in the public prints what purports to be a
+ proclamation of Major General Hunter, in the words and figures following,
+ to wit:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH,<br /> 'HILTON HEAD, S. C., May 9,
+ 1862.<br /> '[General Orders No. 11.]
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ 'The three States of Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina, comprising the
+ Military Department of the South, having deliberately declared themselves
+ no longer under the protection of the United States of America, and having
+ taken up arms against the said United States, it becomes a Military
+ necessity to declare them under Martial Law. This was accordingly done on
+ the 25th day of April, 1862. Slavery and Martial Law, in a Free Country,
+ are altogether incompatible; the Persons in these three States&mdash;Georgia,
+ Florida, and South Carolina&mdash;heretofore held as Slaves, are therefore
+ declared forever Free.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ 'DAVID HUNTER,<br /> 'Major-General Commanding.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ 'Official:<br /> ED. W. SMITH,<br /> 'Acting Assistant Adjutant General.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "And whereas the same is producing some excitement and misunderstanding,
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Therefore, I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, proclaim
+ and declare, that the Government of the United States had no knowledge,
+ information, or belief, of an intention on the part of General Hunter to
+ issue such a proclamation; nor has it yet any authentic information that
+ the document is genuine. And further, that neither General Hunter, nor any
+ other Commander, or person, has been authorized by the Government of the
+ United States to make proclamations declaring the Slaves of any State
+ Free; and that the supposed proclamation, now in question, whether genuine
+ or false, is altogether void, so far as respects such declaration.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I further make known that whether it be competent for me, as
+ Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, to declare the Slaves of any
+ State or States free, and whether, at any time, in any case, it shall have
+ become a necessity indispensable to the maintenance of the Government, to
+ exercise such supposed power, are questions which, under my
+ responsibility, I reserve to myself, and which I cannot feel justified in
+ leaving to the decision of Commanders in the field. These are totally
+ different questions from those of police regulations in armies and camps.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "On the sixth day of March last, by a Special Message, I recommended to
+ Congress the adoption of a Joint Resolution to be substantially as
+ follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "' Resolved, That the United States ought to co-operate with any State
+ which may adopt a gradual abolishment of Slavery, giving to such State
+ pecuniary aid, to be used by such State, in its discretion, to compensate
+ for the inconveniences, public and private, produced by such change of
+ system.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The Resolution, in the language above quoted, was adopted by large
+ majorities in both branches of Congress, and now stands an authentic,
+ definite, and solemn proposal of the Nation to the States and people most
+ immediately interested in the subject-matter. To the people of those
+ States I now earnestly appeal&mdash;I do not argue&mdash;I beseech you to
+ make the argument for yourselves&mdash;you cannot, if you would, be blind
+ to the signs of the times&mdash;I beg of you a calm and enlarged
+ consideration of them, ranging, if it may be, far above personal and
+ partisan politics. This proposal makes common cause for a common object,
+ casting no reproaches upon any. It acts not the Pharisee. The changes it
+ contemplates would come gently as the dews of Heaven, not rending or
+ wrecking anything. Will you not embrace it? So much good has not been
+ done, by one effort, in all past time, as, in the providence of God, it is
+ now your high privilege to do. May the vast future not have to lament that
+ you have neglected it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In witness thereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
+ the United States to be affixed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Done at the city of Washington this nineteenth day of May, in the year of
+ our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the Independence
+ of the United States the eighty-sixth.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "By the President. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On June 5th, 1862, General T. Williams issued the following Order:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "HEADQUARTERS SECOND BRIGADE,<br /> "BATON ROUGE, June 5, 1862.<br />
+ "[General Orders No. 46.]
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In consequence of the demoralizing and disorganizing tendencies to the
+ troops, of harboring runaway Negroes, it is hereby ordered that the
+ respective Commanders of the camps and garrisons of the several regiments,
+ Second Brigade, turn all such Fugitives in their camps or garrisons out
+ beyond the limits of their respective guards and sentinels.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "By order of Brigadier-General T. Williams:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "WICKHAM HOFFMAN,<br /> "Assistant-Adjutant General."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Lieutenant-Colonel D. R. Anthony, of the Seventh Kansas Volunteers,
+ commanding a Brigade, issued the following order, at a date subsequent to
+ the Battle of Pittsburg Landing and the evacuation of Corinth:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "HEADQUARTERS MITCHELL'S BRIGADE,<br /> "ADVANCE COLUMN, FIRST BRIGADE,
+ FIRST DIVISION,<br /> "GENERAL ARMY OF THE MISSISSIPPI,<br /> "CAMP
+ ETHERIDGE, TENNESSEE, June 18, 1862.<br /> "[General Orders No. 26.]
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "1. The impudence&mdash;and impertinence of the open and armed Rebels,
+ Traitors, Secessionists, and Southern-Rightsmen of this section of the
+ State of Tennessee, in arrogantly demanding the right to search our camp
+ for Fugitive Slaves, has become a nuisance, and will no longer be
+ tolerated. "Officers will see that this class of men, who visit our camp
+ for this purpose, are excluded from our lines.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "2. Should any such persons be found within our lines, they will be
+ arrested and sent to headquarters.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "3. Any officer or soldier of this command who shall arrest and deliver to
+ his master a Fugitive Slave, shall be summarily and severely punished,
+ according to the laws relative to such crimes.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "4. The strong Union sentiment in this Section is most gratifying, and all
+ officers and soldiers, in their intercourse with the loyal, and those
+ favorably disposed, are requested to act in their usual kind and courteous
+ manner and protect them to the fullest extent.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "By order of D. R. Anthony,<br /> Lieutenant-Colonel Seventh Kansas
+ Volunteers, commanding:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "W. W. H. LAWRENCE,<br /> "Captain and Assistant-Adjutant General."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Lieutenant-Colonel Anthony was subsequently placed under arrest for
+ issuing the above order.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It was about this time, also, that General McClellan addressed to
+ President Lincoln a letter on "forcible Abolition of Slavery," and "a
+ Civil and Military policy"&mdash;in these terms:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,<br /> "CAMP NEAR HARRISON'S LANDING,
+ VA., July 7, 1862.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "MR. PRESIDENT:&mdash;You have been fully informed that the Rebel Army is
+ in the front, with the purpose of overwhelming us by attacking our
+ positions or reducing us by blocking our river communications. I cannot
+ but regard our condition as critical, and I earnestly desire, in view of
+ possible contingencies, to lay before your Excellency, for your private
+ consideration, my general views concerning the existing state of the
+ Rebellion, although they do not strictly relate to the situation of this
+ Army, or strictly come within the scope of my official duties. These views
+ amount to convictions, and are deeply impressed upon my mind and heart.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Our cause must never be abandoned; it is the cause of Free institutions
+ and Self-government. The Constitution and the Union must be preserved,
+ whatever may be the cost in time, treasure, and blood.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If Secession is successful, other dissolutions are clearly to be seen in
+ the future. Let neither Military disaster, political faction, nor Foreign
+ War shake your settled purpose to enforce the equal operation of the Laws
+ of the United States upon the people of every State.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The time has come when the Government must determine upon a Civil and
+ Military policy, covering the whole ground of our National trouble.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The responsibility of determining, declaring, and supporting such Civil
+ and Military policy, and of directing the whole course of National affairs
+ in regard to the Rebellion, must now be assumed and exercised by you, or
+ our Cause will be lost. The Constitution gives you power, even for the
+ present terrible exigency.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "This Rebellion has assumed the character of a War; as such it should be
+ regarded, and it should be conducted upon the highest principles known to
+ Christian civilization. It should not be a War looking to the subjugation
+ of the people of any State, in any event. It should not be at all a war
+ upon population, but against armed forces and political organizations.
+ Neither Confiscation of property, political executions of persons,
+ territorial organizations of States, or forcible Abolition of Slavery,
+ should be contemplated for a moment.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In prosecuting the War, all private property and unarmed persons should
+ be strictly protected, subject only to the necessity of Military
+ operations; all private property taken for Military use should be paid or
+ receipted for; pillage and waste should be treated as high crimes; all
+ unnecessary trespass sternly prohibited and offensive demeanor by the
+ military towards citizens promptly rebuked.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Military arrests should not be tolerated, except in places where active
+ hostilities exist; and oaths, not required by enactments, Constitutionally
+ made, should be neither demanded nor received.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Military Government should be confined to the preservation of public
+ order and the protection of political right. Military power should not be
+ allowed to interfere with the relations of Servitude, either by supporting
+ or impairing the authority of the master, except for repressing disorder,
+ as in other cases. Slaves, contraband under the Act of Congress, seeking
+ Military protection, should receive it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The right of the Government to appropriate permanently to its own service
+ claims to Slave-labor should be asserted, and the right of the owner to
+ compensation therefor should be recognized.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "This principle might be extended, upon grounds of Military necessity and
+ security, to all the Slaves of a particular State, thus working
+ manumission in such State; and in Missouri, perhaps in Western Virginia
+ also, and possibly even in Maryland, the expediency of such a measure is
+ only a question of time.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "A system of policy thus Constitutional, and pervaded by the influences of
+ Christianity and Freedom, would receive the support of almost all truly
+ Loyal men, would deeply impress the Rebel masses and all foreign nations,
+ and it might be humbly hoped that it would commend itself to the favor of
+ the Almighty.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Unless the principles governing the future conduct of our Struggle shall
+ be made known and approved, the effort to obtain requisite forces will be
+ almost hopeless. A declaration of radical views, especially upon Slavery,
+ will rapidly disintegrate our present Armies.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The policy of the Government must be supported by concentrations of
+ Military power. The National Forces should not be dispersed in
+ expeditions, posts of occupation, and numerous armies, but should be
+ mainly collected into masses, and brought to bear upon the Armies of the
+ Confederate States. Those Armies thoroughly defeated, the political
+ structure which they support would soon cease to exist,
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In carrying out any system of policy which you may form, you will require
+ a Commander-in-chief of the Army, one who possesses your confidence,
+ understands your views, and who is competent to execute your orders, by
+ directing the Military Forces of the Nation to the accomplishment of the
+ objects by you proposed. I do not ask that place for myself, I am willing
+ to serve you in such position as you may assign me, and I will do so as
+ faithfully as ever subordinate served superior.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I may be on the brink of Eternity; and as I hope forgiveness from my
+ Maker, I have written this letter with sincerity towards you and from love
+ for my Country.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN,<br /> "Major-General Commanding.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "His Excellency A. LINCOLN, President."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ July 12, 1862, Senators and Representatives of the Border Slave-holding
+ States, having been specially invited to the White House for the purpose,
+ were addressed by President Lincoln, as follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "GENTLEMEN:&mdash;After the adjournment of Congress, now near, I shall
+ have no opportunity of seeing you for several months. Believing that you
+ of the Border States hold more power for good than any other equal number
+ of members, I feel it a duty which I cannot justifiably waive, to make
+ this appeal to you.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I intend no reproach or complaint when I assure you that, in my opinion,
+ if you all had voted for the Resolution in the Gradual Emancipation
+ Message of last March, the War would now be substantially ended. And the
+ plan therein proposed is yet one of the most potent and swift means of
+ ending it. Let the States which are in Rebellion see definitely and
+ certainly that in no event will the States you represent ever join their
+ proposed Confederacy, and they cannot much longer maintain the contest.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But you cannot divest them of their hope to ultimately have you with them
+ so long as you show a determination to perpetuate the Institution within
+ your own States. Beat them at elections, as you have overwhelmingly done,
+ and nothing daunted, they still claim you as their own. You and I know
+ what the lever of their power is. Break that lever before their faces, and
+ they can shake you no more forever.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Most of you have treated me with kindness and consideration, and I trust
+ you will not now think I improperly touch what is exclusively your own,
+ when, for the sake of the whole Country, I ask, 'Can you, for your States,
+ do better than to take the course I urge?' Discarding punctilio and maxims
+ adapted to more manageable times, and looking only to the unprecedentedly
+ stern facts of our case, can you do better in any possible event?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "You prefer that the Constitutional relations of the States to the Nation
+ shall be practically restored without disturbance of the Institution; and,
+ if this were done, my whole duty, in this respect, under the Constitution
+ and my oath of office, would be performed. But it is not done, and we are
+ trying to accomplish it by War.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The incidents of the War cannot be avoided. If the War continues long, as
+ it must, if the object be not sooner attained, the Institution in your
+ States will be extinguished by mere friction and abrasion&mdash;by the
+ mere incidents of the War. It will be gone, and you will have nothing
+ valuable in lieu of it. Much of its value is gone already.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "How much better for you and for your people to take the step which at
+ once shortens the War and secures substantial compensation for that which
+ is sure to be wholly lost in any other event! How much better to thus save
+ the money which else we sink forever in the War! How: much better to do it
+ while we can, lest the War ere long render us pecuniarily unable to do it!
+ How much better for you, as seller, and the Nation, as buyer, to sell out
+ and buy out that without which the War could never have been, than to sink
+ both the thing to be sold and the price of it in cutting one another's
+ throats!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I do not speak of Emancipation at once, but of a decision at once to
+ Emancipate gradually. Room in South America for colonization can be
+ obtained cheaply and in abundance, and when numbers shall be large enough
+ to be company and encouragement for one another, the freed people will not
+ be so reluctant to go.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I am pressed with a difficulty not yet mentioned; one which threatens
+ division among those who, united, are none too strong. An instance of it
+ is known to you. General Hunter is an honest man. He was, and I hope still
+ is, my friend. I value him none the less for his agreeing with me in the
+ general wish that all men everywhere could be freed. He proclaimed all men
+ Free within certain States, and I repudiated the proclamation. He expected
+ more good and less harm from the measure than I could believe would
+ follow.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Yet, in repudiating it, I gave dissatisfaction, if not offense, to many
+ whose support the Country cannot afford to lose. And this is not the end
+ of it. The pressure in this direction is still upon me, and is increasing.
+ By conceding what I now ask, you can relieve me, and, much more, can
+ relieve the Country in this important point.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Upon these considerations I have again begged your attention to the
+ Message of March last. Before leaving the Capitol, consider and discuss it
+ among yourselves. You are Patriots and Statesmen, and as such I pray you
+ consider this proposition; and, at the least, commend it to the
+ consideration of your States and people. As you would perpetuate popular
+ Government for the best people in the World, I beseech you that you do in
+ nowise omit this.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Our common Country is in great peril, demanding the loftiest views and
+ boldest action to bring a speedy relief. Once relieved, its form of
+ Government is saved to the World, its beloved history and cherished
+ memories are vindicated, and its happy future fully assured and rendered
+ inconceivable grand. To you, more than to any others, the privilege is
+ given to assure that happiness and swell that grandeur, and to link your
+ own names therewith forever."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The gentlemen representing in Congress the Border-States, to whom this
+ address was made, subsequently met and discussed its subject matter, and
+ made written reply in the shape of majority and minority replies, as
+ follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ THE MAJORITY REPLY:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "WASHINGTON, July 14, 1862.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "TO THE PRESIDENT:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The undersigned, Representatives of Kentucky, Virginia, Missouri, and
+ Maryland, in the two Houses of Congress, have listened to your address
+ with the profound sensibility naturally inspired by the high source from
+ which it emanates, the earnestness which marked its delivery, and the
+ overwhelming importance of the subject of which it treats. We have given
+ it a most respectful consideration, and now lay before you our response.
+ We regret that want of time has not permitted us to make it more perfect.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We have not been wanting, Mr. President, in respect to you, and in
+ devotion to the Constitution and the Union. We have not been indifferent
+ to the great difficulties surrounding you, compared with which all former
+ National troubles have been but as the summer cloud; and we have freely
+ given you our sympathy and support. Repudiating the dangerous heresies of
+ the Secessionists, we believed, with you, that the War on their part is
+ aggressive and wicked, and the objects for which it was to be prosecuted
+ on ours, defined by your Message at the opening of the present Congress,
+ to be such as all good men should approve.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We have not hesitated to vote all supplies necessary to carry it on
+ vigorously. We have voted all the men and money you have asked for, and
+ even more; we have imposed onerous taxes on our people, and they are
+ paying them with cheerfulness and alacrity; we have encouraged
+ enlistments, and sent to the field many of our best men; and some of our
+ number have offered their persons to the enemy as pledges of their
+ sincerity and devotion to the Country.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We have done all this under the most discouraging circumstances, and in
+ the face of measures most distasteful to us and injurious to the interests
+ we represent, and in the hearing of doctrines avowed by those who claim to
+ be your friends, must be abhorrent to us and our constituents.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But, for all this, we have never faltered, nor shall we as long as we
+ have a Constitution to defend and a Government which protects us. And we
+ are ready for renewed efforts, and even greater sacrifices, yea, any
+ sacrifice, when we are satisfied it is required to preserve our admirable
+ form of Government and the priceless blessings of Constitutional Liberty.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "A few of our number voted for the Resolution recommended by your Message
+ of the 6th of March last, the greater portion of us did not, and we will
+ briefly state the prominent reasons which influenced our action.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In the first place, it proposed a radical change of our social system,
+ and was hurried through both Houses with undue haste, without reasonable
+ time for consideration and debate, and with no time at all for
+ consultation with our constituents, whose interests it deeply involved. It
+ seemed like an interference by this Government with a question which
+ peculiarly and exclusively belonged to our respective States, on which
+ they had not sought advice or solicited aid.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Many of us doubted the Constitutional power of this Government to make
+ appropriations of money for the object designated, and all of us thought
+ our finances were in no condition to bear the immense outlay which its
+ adoption and faithful execution would impose upon the National Treasury.
+ If we pause but a moment to think of the debt its acceptance would have
+ entailed, we are appalled by its magnitude. The proposition was addressed
+ to all the States, and embraced the whole number of Slaves.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "According to the census of 1860 there were then nearly four million
+ Slaves in the Country; from natural increase they exceed that number now.
+ At even the low average of $300, the price fixed by the Emancipation Act
+ for the Slaves of this District, and greatly below their real worth, their
+ value runs up to the enormous sum of $1,200,000,000; and if to that we add
+ the cost of deportation and colonization, at $100 each, which is but a
+ fraction more than is actually paid&mdash;by the Maryland Colonization
+ Society, we have $400,000,000 more.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We were not willing to impose a tax on our people sufficient to pay the
+ interest on that sum, in addition to the vast and daily increasing debt
+ already fixed upon them by exigencies of the War, and if we had been
+ willing, the Country could not bear it. Stated in this form the
+ proposition is nothing less than the deportation from the Country of
+ $1,600,000,000 worth of producing labor, and the substitution, in its
+ place, of an interest-bearing debt of the same amount.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But, if we are told that it was expected that only the States we
+ represent would accept the proposition, we respectfully submit that even
+ then it involves a sum too great for the financial ability of this
+ Government at this time. According to the census of 1860:
+ </p>
+ <table summary="">
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td>
+ &nbsp;
+ </td>
+ <td>
+ Slaves
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td>
+ Kentucky had
+ </td>
+ <td>
+ 225,490
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td>
+ Maryland
+ </td>
+ <td>
+ 87,188
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td>
+ Virginia
+ </td>
+ <td>
+ 490,887
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td>
+ Delaware
+ </td>
+ <td>
+ 1,798
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td>
+ Missouri
+ </td>
+ <td>
+ 114,965
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td>
+ Tennessee
+ </td>
+ <td>
+ 275,784
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ &nbsp;
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td>
+ Making in the whole
+ </td>
+ <td>
+ 1,196,112
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ &nbsp;
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td>
+ At the same rate of valuation these would
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td>
+ amount to
+ </td>
+ <td>
+ $358,933,500
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ &nbsp;
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td>
+ Add for deportation and colonization $100 each
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ &nbsp;
+ </td>
+ <td>
+ &nbsp;
+ </td>
+ <td>
+ $118,244,533
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ &nbsp;
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td>
+ And we have the
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td>
+ enormous sum of
+ </td>
+ <td>
+ $478,038,133
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ <p>
+ "We did not feel that we should be justified in voting for a measure
+ which, if carried out, would add this vast amount to our public debt at a
+ moment when the Treasury was reeling under the enormous expenditure of the
+ War.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Again, it seemed to us that this Resolution was but the annunciation of a
+ sentiment which could not or was not likely to be reduced to an actual
+ tangible proposition. No movement was then made to provide and appropriate
+ the funds required to carry it into effect; and we were not encouraged to
+ believe that funds would be provided. And our belief has been fully
+ justified by subsequent events.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Not to mention other circumstances, it is quite sufficient for our
+ purpose to bring to your notice the fact that, while this resolution was
+ under consideration in the Senate, our colleague, the Senator from
+ Kentucky, moved an amendment appropriating $500,000 to the object therein
+ designated, and it was voted down with great unanimity.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "What confidence, then, could we reasonably feel that if we committed
+ ourselves to the policy it proposed, our constituents would reap the
+ fruits of the promise held out; and on what ground could we, as fair men,
+ approach them and challenge their support?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The right to hold Slaves, is a right appertaining to all the States of
+ this Union. They have the right to cherish or abolish the Institution, as
+ their tastes or their interests may prompt, and no one is authorized to
+ question the right or limit the enjoyment. And no one has more clearly
+ affirmed that right than you have. Your Inaugural Address does you great
+ honor in this respect, and inspired the Country with confidence in your
+ fairness and respect for the Law. Our States are in the enjoyment of that
+ right.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We do not feel called on to defend the Institution or to affirm it is one
+ which ought to be cherished; perhaps, if we were to make the attempt, we
+ might find that we differ even among ourselves. It is enough for our
+ purpose to know that it is a right; and, so knowing, we did not see why we
+ should now be expected to yield it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We had contributed our full share to relieve the Country at this terrible
+ crisis; we had done as much as had been required of others in like
+ circumstances; and we did not see why sacrifices should be expected of us
+ from which others, no more loyal, were exempt. Nor could we see what good
+ the Nation would derive from it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Such a sacrifice submitted to by us would not have strengthened the arm
+ of this Government or weakened that of the Enemy. It was not necessary as
+ a pledge of our Loyalty, for that had been manifested beyond a reasonable
+ doubt, in every form, and at every place possible. There was not the
+ remotest probability that the States we represent would join in the
+ Rebellion, nor is there now, or of their electing to go with the Southern
+ Section in the event of a recognition of the Independence of any part of
+ the disaffected region.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Our States are fixed unalterably in their resolution to adhere to and
+ support the Union. They see no safety for themselves, and no hope for
+ Constitutional Liberty, but by its preservation. They will, under no
+ circumstances, consent to its dissolution; and we do them no more than
+ justice when we assure you that, while the War is conducted to prevent
+ that deplorable catastrophe, they will sustain it as long as they can
+ muster a man, or command a dollar.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Nor will they ever consent, in any event, to unite with the Southern
+ Confederacy. The bitter fruits of the peculiar doctrines of that region
+ will forever prevent them from placing their security and happiness in the
+ custody of an association which has incorporated in its Organic Law the
+ seeds of its own destruction.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We cannot admit, Mr. President, that if we had voted for the Resolution
+ in the Emancipation Message of March last, the War would now be
+ substantially ended. We are unable to see how our action in this
+ particular has given, or could give, encouragement to the Rebellion. The
+ Resolution has passed; and if there be virtue in it, it will be quite as
+ efficacious as if we had voted for it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We have no power to bind our States in this respect by our votes here;
+ and, whether we had voted the one way or the other, they are in the same
+ condition of freedom to accept or reject its provisions.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "No, Sir, the War has not been prolonged or hindered by our action on this
+ or any other measure. We must look for other causes for that lamented
+ fact. We think there is not much difficulty, not much uncertainty, in
+ pointing out others far more probable and potent in their agencies to that
+ end.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The Rebellion derives its strength from the Union of all classes in the
+ Insurgent States; and while that Union lasts the War will never end until
+ they are utterly exhausted. We know that, at the inception of these
+ troubles, Southern society was divided, and that a large portion, perhaps
+ a majority, were opposed to Secession. Now the great mass of Southern
+ people are united.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "To discover why they are so, we must glance at Southern society, and
+ notice the classes into which it has been divided, and which still
+ distinguish it. They are in arms, but not for the same objects; they are
+ moved to a common end, but by different and even inconsistent reasons.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The leaders, which comprehend what was previously known as the State
+ Rights Party, and is much the lesser class, seek to break down National
+ Independence and set up State domination. With them it is a War against
+ Nationality.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The other class is fighting, as it supposes, to maintain and preserve its
+ rights of Property and domestic safety, which it has been made to believe
+ are assailed by this Government. This latter class are not Disunionists
+ per se; they are so only because they have been made to believe that this
+ Administration is inimical to their rights, and is making War on their
+ domestic Institutions. As long as these two classes act together they will
+ never assent to a Peace.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The policy, then, to be pursued, is obvious. The former class will never
+ be reconciled, but the latter may be. Remove their apprehensions; satisfy
+ them that no harm is intended to them and their Institutions; that this
+ Government is not making War on their rights of Property, but is simply
+ defending its legitimate authority, and they will gladly return to their
+ allegiance as soon as the pressure of Military dominion imposed by the
+ Confederate authority is removed from them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Twelve months ago, both Houses of Congress, adopting the spirit of your
+ Message, then but recently sent in, declared with singular unanimity the
+ objects of the War, and the Country instantly bounded to your side to
+ assist you in carrying it on. If the spirit of that Resolution had been
+ adhered to, we are confident that we should before now have seen the end
+ of this deplorable conflict. But what have we seen?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In both Houses of Congress we have heard doctrines subversive of the
+ principles of the Constitution, and seen measure after measure, founded in
+ substance on those doctrines, proposed and carried through, which can have
+ no other effect than to distract and divide loyal men, and exasperate and
+ drive still further from us and their duty the people of the rebellious
+ States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Military officers, following these bad examples, have stepped beyond the
+ just limits of their authority in the same direction, until in several
+ instances you have felt the necessity of interfering to arrest them. And
+ even the passage of the Resolution to which you refer has been
+ ostentatiously proclaimed as the triumph of a principle which the people
+ of the Southern States regard as ruinous to them. The effect of these
+ measures was foretold, and may now be seen in the indurated state of
+ Southern feeling.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "To these causes, Mr. President, and not to our omission to vote for the
+ Resolution recommended by you, we solemnly believe we are to attribute the
+ terrible earnestness of those in arms against the Government, and the
+ continuance of the War. Nor do we (permit us to say, Mr. President, with
+ all respect to you) agree that the Institution of Slavery is 'the lever of
+ their power,' but we are of the opinion that 'the lever of their power' is
+ the apprehension that the powers of a common Government, created for
+ common and equal protection to the interests of all, will be wielded
+ against the Institutions of the Southern States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "There is one other idea in your address we feel called on to notice.
+ After stating the fact of your repudiation of General Hunter's
+ Proclamation, you add:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'Yet, in repudiating it, I gave dissatisfaction, if not offense, to many
+ whose support the Country cannot afford to lose. And this is not the end
+ of it. The pressure in this direction is still upon me and is increasing.
+ By conceding what I now ask, you can relieve me, and, much more, can
+ relieve the Country, in this important point,'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We have anxiously looked into this passage to discover its true import,
+ but we are yet in painful uncertainty. How can we, by conceding what you
+ now ask, relieve you and the Country from the increasing pressure to which
+ you refer? We will not allow ourselves to think that the proposition is,
+ that we consent to give up Slavery, to the end that the Hunter
+ proclamation may be let loose on the Southern people, for it is too well
+ known that we would not be parties to any such measure, and we have too
+ much respect for you to imagine you would propose it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Can it mean that by sacrificing our interest in Slavery we appease the
+ spirit that controls that pressure, cause it to be withdrawn, and rid the
+ Country of the pestilent agitation of the Slavery question? We are
+ forbidden so to think, for that spirit would not be satisfied with the
+ liberation of 100,000 Slaves, and cease its agitation while 3,000,000
+ remain in bondage. Can it mean that by abandoning Slavery in our States we
+ are removing the pressure from you and the Country, by preparing for a
+ separation on the line of the Cotton States?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We are forbidden so to think, because it is known that we are, and we
+ believe that you are, unalterably opposed to any division at all. We would
+ prefer to think that you desire this concession as a pledge of our
+ support, and thus enable you to withstand a pressure which weighs heavily
+ on you and the Country.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Mr. President, no such sacrifice is necessary to secure our support.
+ Confine yourself to your Constitutional authority; confine your
+ subordinates within the same limits; conduct this War solely for the
+ purpose of restoring the Constitution to its legitimate authority; concede
+ to each State and its loyal citizens their just rights, and we are wedded
+ to you by indissoluble ties. Do this, Mr. President, and you touch the
+ American heart, and invigorate it with new hope. You will, as we solemnly
+ believe, in due time restore Peace to your Country, lift it from
+ despondency to a future of glory, and preserve to your countrymen, their
+ posterity, and man, the inestimable treasure of a Constitutional
+ Government.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Mr. President, we have stated with frankness and candor the reasons on
+ which we forbore to vote for the Resolution you have mentioned; but you
+ have again presented this proposition, and appealed to us with an
+ earnestness and eloquence which have not failed to impress us, to
+ 'consider it, and at the least to commend it to the consideration of our
+ States and people.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Thus appealed to by the Chief Magistrate of our beloved Country, in the
+ hour of its greatest peril, we cannot wholly decline. We are willing to
+ trust every question relating to their interest and happiness to the
+ consideration and ultimate judgment of our own people.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "While differing from you as to the necessity of Emancipating the Slaves
+ of our States as a means of putting down the Rebellion, and while
+ protesting against the propriety of any extra-territorial interference to
+ induce the people of our States to adopt any particular line of policy on
+ a subject which peculiarly and exclusively belongs to them, yet, when you
+ and our brethren of the Loyal States sincerely believe that the retention
+ of Slavery by us is an obstacle to Peace and National harmony, and are
+ willing to contribute pecuniary aid to compensate our States and people
+ for the inconveniences produced by such a change of system, we are not
+ unwilling that our people shall consider the propriety of putting it
+ aside.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But we have already said that we regard this Resolution as the utterance
+ of a sentiment, and we had no confidence that it would assume the shape of
+ a tangible practical proposition, which would yield the fruits of the
+ sacrifice it required. Our people are influenced by the same want of
+ confidence, and will not consider the proposition in its present
+ impalpable form. The interest they are asked to give up is, to them, of
+ immense importance, and they ought not to be expected even to entertain
+ the proposal until they are assured that when they accept it their just
+ expectations will not be frustrated.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We regard your plan as a proposition from the Nation to the States to
+ exercise an admitted Constitutional right in a particular manner, and
+ yield up a valuable interest. Before they ought to consider the
+ proposition, it should be presented in such a tangible, practical,
+ efficient shape, as to command their confidence that its fruits are
+ contingent only upon their acceptance. We cannot trust anything to the
+ contingencies of future legislation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If Congress, by proper and necessary legislation, shall provide
+ sufficient funds and place them at your disposal to be applied by you to
+ the payment of any of our States, or the citizens thereof, who shall adopt
+ the Abolishment of Slavery, either gradual or immediate, as they may
+ determine, and the expense of deportation and colonization of the
+ liberated Slaves, then will our States and people take this proposition
+ into careful consideration, for such decision as in their judgment is
+ demanded by their interest, their honor, and their duty to the whole
+ Country. We have the honor to be, with great respect,
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "C. A. WICKLIFFE, Ch'man,<br /> CHAS. B. CALVERT,<br /> GARRETT DAVIS,<br />
+ C. L. L. LEARY,<br /> R. WILSON,<br /> EDWIN H. WEBSTER,<br /> J. J.
+ CRITTENDEN,<br /> R. MALLORY,<br /> JOHN S. CARLILE,<br /> AARON HARDING,<br />
+ J. W. CRISFIELD,<br /> JAMES S. ROLLINS,<br /> J. S. JACKSON,<br /> J. W.
+ MENZIES,<br /> H. GRIDER,<br /> THOMAS L. PRICE,<br /> JOHN S. PHELPS,<br />
+ G. W. DUNLAP,<br /> FRANCIS THOMAS, WILLIAM A. HALL."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ THE MINORITY REPLY.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "WASHINGTON, July 15, 1863.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "MR. PRESIDENT:&mdash;The undersigned, members of Congress from the Border
+ States, in response to your address of Saturday last, beg leave to say
+ that they attended a meeting, on the same day the address was delivered,
+ for the purpose of considering the same. The meeting appointed a Committee
+ to report a response to your address. That report was made on yesterday,
+ and the action of the majority indicated clearly that the response, or one
+ in substance the same, would be adopted and presented to you.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Inasmuch as we cannot, consistently with our own sense of duty to the
+ Country, under the existing perils which surround us, concur in that
+ response, we feel it to be due to you and to ourselves to make to you a
+ brief and candid answer over our own signatures.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We believe that the whole power of the Government, upheld and sustained
+ by all the influences and means of all loyal men in all Sections, and of
+ all Parties, is essentially necessary to put down the Rebellion and
+ preserve the Union and the Constitution. We understand your appeal to us
+ to have been made for the purpose of securing this result.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "A very large portion of the People in the Northern States believe that
+ Slavery is the 'lever-power of the Rebellion.' It matters not whether this
+ belief be well-founded or not. The belief does exist, and we have to deal
+ with things as they are, and not as we would have them be.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In consequence of the existence of this belief, we understand that an
+ immense pressure is brought to bear for the purpose of striking down this
+ Institution through the exercise of Military authority. The Government
+ cannot maintain this great struggle if the support and influence of the
+ men who entertain these opinions be withdrawn. Neither can the Government
+ hope for early success if the support of that element called
+ "Conservative" be withdrawn.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Such being the condition of things, the President appeals to the
+ Border-State men to step forward and prove their patriotism by making the
+ first sacrifice. No doubt, like appeals have been made to extreme men in
+ the North to meet us half-way, in order that the whole moral, political,
+ pecuniary, and physical force of the Nation may be firmly and earnestly
+ united in one grand effort to save the Union and the Constitution.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Believing that such were the motives that prompted your Address, and such
+ the results to which it looked, we cannot reconcile it to our sense of
+ duty, in this trying hour, to respond in a spirit of fault-finding or
+ querulousness over the things that are past.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We are not disposed to seek for the cause of present misfortunes in the
+ errors and wrongs of others who now propose to unite with us in a common
+ purpose.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But, on the other hand, we meet your address in the spirit in which it
+ was made, and, as loyal Americans, declare to you and to the World that
+ there is no sacrifice that we are not ready to make to save the Government
+ and institutions of our fathers. That we, few of us though there may be,
+ will permit no man, from the North or from the South, to go further than
+ we in the accomplishment of the great work before us. That, in order to
+ carry out these views, we will, so far as may be in our power, ask the
+ people of the Border States calmly, deliberately, and fairly to consider
+ your recommendations.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We are the more emboldened to assume this position from the fact, now
+ become history, that the leaders of the Southern Rebellion have offered to
+ abolish Slavery among them as a condition to foreign intervention in favor
+ of their Independence as a Nation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If they can give up Slavery to destroy the Union, we can surely ask our
+ people to consider the question of Emancipation to save the Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "With great respect, your obedient servants,
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "JOHN W. NOELL,<br /> "SAMUEL L. CASEY,<br /> "GEORGE P. FISHER,<br /> "A. J.
+ CLEMENTS,<br /> "WILLIAM G. BROWN,<br /> "JACOB B. BLAIR, "W. T. WILLEY."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [The following separate replies, subsequently made, by Representative
+ Maynard of Tennessee, and Senator Henderson of Missouri, are necessarily
+ given to complete this part of the Border State record.]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ MR. MAYNARD'S REPLY.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, July 16, 1862.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "SIR:&mdash;The magnitude and gravity of the proposition submitted by you
+ to Representatives from the Slave States would naturally occasion
+ diversity, if not contrariety, of opinion. You will not, therefore, be
+ surprised that I have not been able to concur in view with the majority of
+ them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "This is attributable, possibly, to the fact that my State is not a Border
+ State, properly so called, and that my immediate constituents are not yet
+ disenthralled from the hostile arms of the Rebellion. This fact is a
+ physical obstacle in the way of my now submitting to their consideration
+ this, or any other proposition looking to political action, especially
+ such as, in this case, would require a change in the Organic Law of the
+ State.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But do not infer that I am insensible to your appeal. I am not; you are
+ surrounded with difficulties far greater than have embarrassed any of your
+ predecessors. You need the support of every American citizen, and you
+ ought to have it&mdash;active, zealous and honest. The union of all Union
+ men to aid you in preserving the Union, is the duty of the time.
+ Differences as to policy and methods must be subordinated to the common
+ purpose.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In looking for the cause of this Rebellion, it is natural that each
+ Section and each Party should ascribe as little blame as possible to
+ itself, and as much as possible to its opponent Section and Party.
+ Possibly you and I might not agree on a comparison of our views. That
+ there should be differences of opinion as to the best mode of conducting
+ our Military operations, and the best men to lead our Armies, is equally
+ natural. Contests on such questions weaken ourselves and strengthen our
+ enemies. They are unprofitable, and possibly unpatriotic. Somebody must
+ yield, or we waste our strength in a contemptible struggle among
+ ourselves.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "You appeal to the loyal men of the Slave States to sacrifice something of
+ feeling and a great deal of interest. The sacrifices they have already
+ made and the sufferings they have endured give the best assurance that the
+ appeal will not have been made in vain. He who is not ready to yield all
+ his material interests, and to forego his most cherished sentiments and
+ opinions for the preservation of his Country, although he may have periled
+ his life on the battle-field in her defense, is but half a Patriot. Among
+ the loyal people that I represent, there are no half-patriots.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Already the Rebellion has cost us much, even to our undoing; we are
+ content, if need be, to give up the rest, to suppress it. We have stood by
+ you from the beginning of this struggle, and we mean to stand by you, God
+ willing, till the end of it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I did not vote for the Resolution to which you allude, solely for the
+ reason that I was absent at the Capital of my own State. It is right.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Should any of the Slave States think proper to terminate that
+ Institution, as several of them, I understand, or at least some of their
+ citizens propose, justice and a generous comity require that the Country
+ should interpose to aid in lessening the burden, public and private,
+ occasioned by so radical a change in its social and industrial relations.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I will not now speculate upon the effect, at home or abroad, of the
+ adoption of your policy, nor inquire what action of the Rebel leaders has
+ rendered something of the kind important. Your whole administration gives
+ the highest assurance that you are moved, not so much from a desire to see
+ all men everywhere made free, as from a higher desire to preserve free
+ institutions for the benefit of men already free; not to make Slaves,
+ Freemen, but to prevent Freemen from being made Slaves; not to destroy an
+ Institution, which a portion of us only consider bad, but to save
+ institutions which we all alike consider good. I am satisfied you would
+ not ask from any of your fellow-citizens a sacrifice not, in your
+ judgment, imperatively required by the safety of the Country.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "This is the spirit of your appeal, and I respond to it in the same
+ spirit.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "HORACE MAYNARD.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "To the PRESIDENT."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ SENATOR HENDERSON'S REPLY.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "WASHINGTON CITY, July 21, 1862.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "MR. PRESIDENT:&mdash;The pressure of business in the Senate during the
+ last few days of the session prevented my attendance at the meeting of the
+ Border-State members, called to consider your proposition in reference to
+ gradual emancipation in our States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It is for this reason only, and not because I fail to appreciate their
+ importance or properly respect your suggestions, that my name does not
+ appear to any of the several papers submitted in response. I may also add
+ that it was my intention, when the subject came up practically for
+ consideration in the Senate, to express fully my views in regard to it.
+ This of course would have rendered any other response unnecessary. But the
+ want of time to consider the matter deprived me of that opportunity, and,
+ lest now my silence be misconstrued, I deem it proper to say to you that I
+ am by no means indifferent to the great questions so earnestly, and as I
+ believe so honestly, urged by you upon our consideration.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The Border States, so far, are the chief sufferers by this War, and the
+ true Union men of those States have made the greatest sacrifices for the
+ preservation of the Government. This fact does not proceed from
+ mismanagement on the part of the Union authorities, or a want of regard
+ for our people, but it is the necessary result of the War that is upon us.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Our States are the battle-fields. Our people, divided among themselves,
+ maddened by the struggle, and blinded by the smoke of battle, invited upon
+ our soil contending armies&mdash;the one to destroy the Government, the
+ other to maintain it. The consequence to us is plain. The shock of the
+ contest upturns Society and desolates the Land. We have made sacrifices,
+ but at last they were only the sacrifices demanded by duty, and unless we
+ are willing to make others, indeed any that the good of the Country,
+ involved in the overthrow of Treason, may expect at our hands, our title
+ to patriotism is not complete.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "When you submitted your proposition to Congress, in March last, 'that the
+ United States ought to co-operate with any State which may adopt a gradual
+ abolishment of Slavery, giving to such State pecuniary aid, to be used by
+ such State in its discretion, to compensate for the inconveniences, public
+ and private, produced by such change of system,' I gave it a most cheerful
+ support, and I am satisfied it would have received the approbation of a
+ large majority of the Border States delegations in both Branches of
+ Congress, if, in the first place, they had believed the War, with its
+ continued evils&mdash;the most prominent of which, in a material point of
+ view, is its injurious effect on the Institution of Slavery in our States&mdash;could
+ possibly have been protracted for another twelve months; and if, in the
+ second place, they had felt assured that the party having the majority in
+ Congress would, like yourself, be equally prompt in practical action as in
+ the expression of a sentiment.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "While scarcely any one doubted your own sincerity in the premises, and
+ your earnest wish speedily to terminate the War, you can readily conceive
+ the grounds for difference of opinion where conclusions could only be
+ based on conjecture.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Believing, as I did, that the War was not so near its termination as some
+ supposed, and feeling disposed to accord to others the same sincerity of
+ purpose that I should claim for myself under similar circumstances, I
+ voted for the proposition. I will suppose that others were actuated by no
+ sinister motives.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In doing so, Mr. President, I desire to be distinctly understood by you
+ and by my constituents. I did not suppose at the time that I was
+ personally making any sacrifice by supporting the Resolution, nor that the
+ people of my State were called upon to make any sacrifices, either in
+ considering or accepting the proposition, if they saw fit.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I agreed with you in the remarks contained in the Message accompanying
+ the Resolution, that 'the Union must be preserved, and hence all
+ indispensable means must be employed. * * * War has been and continues to
+ be an indispensable means to this end. A practical reacknowledgment of the
+ National authority would render the War unnecessary, and it would at once
+ cease. If, however, resistance continues, the War must also continue; and
+ it is impossible to foresee all the incidents which may attend and all the
+ ruin which may follow it.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It is truly 'impossible' to foresee all the evils resulting from a War so
+ stupendous as the present. I shall be much rejoiced if something more
+ dreadful than the sale of Freedom to a few Slaves in the Border States
+ shall not result from it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If it closes with the Government of our Fathers secure, and
+ Constitutional Liberty in all its purity guaranteed to the White man, the
+ result will be better than that having a place in the fears of many good
+ men at present, and much better than the past history of such revolutions
+ can justify us in expecting.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In this period of the Nation's distress, I know of no human institution
+ too sacred for discussion; no material interest belonging to the citizen
+ that he should not willingly place upon the altar of his Country, if
+ demanded by the public good.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The man who cannot now sacrifice Party and put aside selfish
+ considerations is more than half disloyal. Such a man does not deserve the
+ blessings of good government. Pride of opinion, based upon Sectional
+ jealousies, should not be permitted to control the decision of any
+ political question. These remarks are general, but apply with peculiar
+ force to the People of the Border States at present.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Let us look at our condition. A desolating War is upon us. We cannot
+ escape it if we would. If the Union Armies were to-day withdrawn from the
+ Border States without first crushing the Rebellion in the South, no
+ rational man can doubt for a moment that the adherents of the Union Cause
+ in those States would soon be driven in exile from their homes by the
+ exultant Rebels, who have so long hoped to return and take vengeance upon
+ us.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The People of the Border States understand very well the unfriendly and
+ selfish spirit exercised toward them by the leaders of this Cotton-State
+ Rebellion, beginning some time previous to its outbreak. They will not
+ fail to remember their insolent refusal to counsel with us, and their
+ haughty assumption of responsibility upon themselves for their misguided
+ action.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Our people will not soon forget that, while declaiming against Coercion,
+ they closed their doors against the exportation of Slaves from the Border
+ States into the South, with the avowed purpose of forcing us into
+ Rebellion through fears of losing that species of Property. They knew very
+ well the effect to be produced on Slavery by a Civil War, especially in
+ those States into which hostile Armies might penetrate, and upon the soil
+ of which the great contests for the success of Republican Government were
+ to be decided.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "They wanted some intermediate ground for the conflict of arms-territory
+ where the population would be divided. They knew, also, that by keeping
+ Slavery in the Border States the mere 'friction and abrasion' to which you
+ so appropriately allude, would keep up a constant irritation, resulting
+ necessarily from the frequent losses to which the owners would be
+ subjected.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "They also calculated largely, and not without reason, upon the repugnance
+ of Non-Slaveholders in those States to a Free Negro population. In the
+ meantime they intended persistently to charge the overthrow of Slavery to
+ be the object of the Government, and hostility to this Institution the
+ origin of the War. By this means the unavoidable incidents of the strife
+ might easily he charged as the settled purposes of the Government.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Again, it was well understood, by these men, that exemplary conduct on
+ the part of every officer and soldier employed by the Government could not
+ in the nature of things be expected, and the hope was entertained, upon
+ the most reasonable grounds, that every commission of wrong and every
+ omission of duty would produce a new cause for excitement and a new
+ incentive to Rebellion.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "By these means the War was to be kept in the Border States, regardless of
+ our interests, until an exhausted Treasury should render it necessary to
+ send the tax-gatherer among our people, to take the little that might be
+ left them from the devastations of War.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "They then expected a clamor for Peace by us, resulting in the
+ interference of France and England, whose operatives in the meantime would
+ be driven to want, and whose aristocracy have ever been ready to welcome a
+ dissolution of the American Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "This cunningly-devised plan for securing a Gulf-Confederacy, commanding
+ the mouths of the great Western rivers, the Gulf of Mexico, and the
+ Southern Atlantic ocean, with their own territory unscathed by the horrors
+ of war, and surrounded by the Border States, half of whose population
+ would be left in sympathy with them, for many years to come, owing to the
+ irritations to which I have alluded, has, so far, succeeded too well.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In Missouri they have already caused us to lose a third or more of the
+ Slaves owned at the time of the last census. In addition to this, I can
+ make no estimate of the vast amount of property of every character that
+ has been destroyed by Military operations in the State. The loss from
+ general depreciation of values, and the utter prostration of every
+ business-interest of our people, is wholly beyond calculation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The experience of Missouri is but the experience of other Sections of the
+ Country similarly situated. The question is therefore forced upon us, 'How
+ long is this War to continue; and, if continued, as it has been, on our
+ soil, aided by the Treason and folly of our own citizens, acting in
+ concert with the Confederates, how long can Slavery, or, if you please,
+ any other property-interest, survive in our States?'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "As things now are, the people of the Border-States yet divided, we cannot
+ expect an immediate termination of the struggle, except upon condition of
+ Southern Independence, losing thereby control of the lower Mississippi.
+ For this, we in Missouri are not prepared, nor are we prepared to become
+ one of the Confederate States, should the terrible calamity of Dissolution
+ occur.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "This, I presume, the Union men of Missouri would resist to the death. And
+ whether they should do so or not, I will not suppose for an instant, that
+ the Government of the United States would, upon any condition, submit to
+ the loss of territory so essential to its future commercial greatness as
+ is the State of Missouri.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But should all other reasons fail to prevent such a misfortune to our
+ people of Missouri, there is one that cannot fail. The Confederates never
+ wanted us, and would not have us. I assume, therefore, that the War will
+ not cease, but will be continued until the Rebellion shall be overcome. It
+ cannot and will not cease, so far as the people of Missouri are concerned,
+ except upon condition of our remaining in the Union, and the whole West
+ will demand the entire control of the Mississippi river to the Gulf.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Our interest is therefore bound up with the interests of those States
+ maintaining the Union, and especially with the great States of the West
+ that must be consulted in regard to the terms of any Peace that may be
+ suggested, even by the Nations of Europe, should they at any time
+ unfortunately depart from their former pacific policy and determine to
+ intervene in our affairs.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The War, then, will have to be continued until the Union shall be
+ practically restored. In this alone consists the future safety of the
+ Border-States themselves. A separation of the Union is ruinous to them.
+ The preservation of the Union can only be secured by a continuation of the
+ War. The consequences of that continuation may be judged of by the
+ experience of the last twelve months. The people of my State are as
+ competent to pass judgment in the premises as I am. I have every
+ confidence in their intelligence, their honesty, and their patriotism.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In your own language, the proposition you make 'sets up no claim of a
+ right by Federal authority to interfere with Slavery within State limits,'
+ referring, as it does, the absolute control of the subject in each case to
+ the State and its people immediately interested. It is proposed as a
+ matter of perfectly free choice with them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In this view of the subject I can frankly say to you that, personally, I
+ never could appreciate the objections so frequently urged against the
+ proposition. If I understood you properly, it was your opinion, not that
+ Slavery should be removed in order to secure our loyalty to the
+ Government, for every personal act of your administration precludes such
+ an inference, but you believe that the peculiar species of Property was in
+ imminent danger from the War in which we were engaged, and that common
+ justice demanded remuneration for the loss of it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "You then believe, and again express the opinion, that the peculiar nature
+ of the contest is such that its loss is almost inevitable, and lest any
+ pretext for a charge of injustice against the Government be given to its
+ enemies, you propose to extend to the people of those States standing by
+ the Union, the choice of payment for their Slaves or the responsibility of
+ loss, should it occur, without complaint against the Government.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Placing the matter in this light, (a mere remuneration for losses
+ rendered inevitable by the casualties of War), the objection of a
+ Constitutional character may be rendered much less formidable in the minds
+ of Northern Representatives whose constituents will have to share in the
+ payment of the money; and, so far as the Border States are concerned, this
+ objection should be most sparingly urged, for it being a matter entirely
+ of their 'own free choice,' in case of a desire to accept, no serious
+ argument will likely be urged against the receipt of the money, or a fund
+ for Colonization.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But, aside from the power derived from the operations of war, there may
+ be found numerous precedents in the legislation of the past, such as
+ grants of land and money to the several States for specified objects
+ deemed worthy by the Federal Congress. And in addition to this may be
+ cited a deliberate opinion of Mr. Webster upon this very subject, in one
+ of the ablest arguments of his life.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I allude to this question of power merely in vindication of the position
+ assumed by me in my vote for the Resolution of March last.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In your last communication to us, you beg of us 'to commend this subject
+ to the consideration of our States and people.' While I entirely differ
+ with you in the opinion expressed, that had the members from the Border
+ States approved of your Resolution of March last 'the War would now be
+ substantially ended,' and while I do not regard the suggestion 'as one of
+ the most potent and swift means of ending' the War, I am yet free to say
+ that I have the most unbounded confidence in your sincerity of purpose in
+ calling our attention to the dangers surrounding us.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I am satisfied that you appreciate the troubles of the Border States, and
+ that your suggestions are intended for our good. I feel the force of your
+ urgent appeal, and the logic of surrounding circumstances brings
+ conviction even to an unwilling believer.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Having said that, in my judgment, you attached too much importance to
+ this measure as a means for suppressing the Rebellion, it is due to you
+ that I shall explain.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Whatever may be the status of the Border States in this respect, the War
+ cannot be ended until the power of the Government is made manifest in the
+ seceded States. They appealed to the sword; give them the sword. They
+ asked for War; let them see its evils on their own soil.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "They have erected a Government, and they force obedience to its behests.
+ This structure must be destroyed; this image, before which an unwilling
+ People have been compelled to bow, must be broken. The authority of the
+ Federal Government must be felt in the heart of the rebellious district.
+ To do this, let armies be marched upon them at once, and let them feel
+ what they have inflicted on us in the Border. Do not fear our States; we
+ will stand by the Government in this work.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I ought not to disguise from you or the people of my State, that
+ personally I have fixed and unalterable opinions on the subject of your
+ communication. Those opinions I shall communicate to the people in that
+ spirit of frankness that should characterize the intercourse of the
+ Representative with his constituents.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If I were to-day the owner of the lands and Slaves of Missouri, your
+ proposition, so far as that State is concerned, would be immediately
+ accepted. Not a day would be lost. Aside from public considerations, which
+ you suppose to be involved in the proposition, and which no Patriot, I
+ agree, should disregard at present, my own personal interest would prompt
+ favorable and immediate action.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But having said this, it is proper that I say something more. The
+ Representative is the servant and not the master of the People. He has no
+ authority to bind them to any course of action, or even to indicate what
+ they will, or will not, do when the subject is exclusively theirs and not
+ his.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I shall take occasion, I hope honestly, to give my views of existing
+ troubles and impending dangers, and shall leave the rest to them,
+ disposed, as I am, rather to trust their judgment upon the case stated
+ than my own, and at the same time most cheerfully to acquiesce in their
+ decision.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "For you, personally, Mr. President, I think I can pledge the kindest
+ considerations of the people of Missouri, and I shall not hesitate to
+ express the belief that your recommendation will be considered by them in
+ the same spirit of kindness manifested by you in its presentation to us,
+ and that their decision will be such as is demanded 'by their interests,
+ their honor, and their duty to the whole Country.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I am very respectfully, your obedient servant,
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "J. B. HENDERSON.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "To his Excellency,<br /> "A. LINCOLN, PRESIDENT."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkbaker" id="linkbaker"></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="p354-baker.jpg (76K)" src="images/p354-baker.jpg" style="width:100%;" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch18" id="linkch18"></a><br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ <br /> <br /> CHAPTER XVIII.<br /> <br /> FREEDOM PROCLAIMED TO ALL.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ While mentally revolving the question of Emancipation&mdash;now, evidently
+ "coming to a head,"&mdash;no inconsiderable portion of Mr. Lincoln's
+ thoughts centered upon, and his perplexities grew out of, his assumption
+ that the "physical difference" between the Black and White&mdash;the
+ African and Caucasian races, precluded the idea of their living together
+ in the one land as Free men and equals.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In his speeches during the great Lincoln-Douglas debate we have seen this
+ idea frequently advanced, and so, in his later public utterances as
+ President.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ As in his appeal to the Congressional delegations from the Border-States
+ on the 12th of July, 1862, he had held out to them the hope that "the
+ Freed people will not be so reluctant to go" to his projected colony in
+ South America, when their "numbers shall be large enough to be company and
+ encouragement for one another," so, at a later date&mdash;on the 14th of
+ August following&mdash;he appealed to the Colored Free men themselves to
+ help him found a proposed Negro colony in New Granada, and thus aid in the
+ solution of this part of the knotty problem, by the disenthrallment of the
+ new race from its unhappy environments here.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The substance of the President's interesting address, at the White House,
+ to the delegation of Colored men, for whom he had sent, was thus reported
+ at the time:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Having all been seated, the President, after a few preliminary
+ observations, informed them that a sum of money had been appropriated by
+ Congress, and placed at his disposition, for the purpose of aiding the
+ colonization in some country of the people, or a portion of them, of
+ African descent, thereby making it his duty, as it had for a long time
+ been his inclination, to favor that cause; and why, he asked, should the
+ people of your race be colonized, and where?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Why should they leave this Country? This is perhaps the first question
+ for proper consideration. You and we are different races. We have between
+ us a broader difference than exists between almost any other two races.
+ Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss; but this physical
+ difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think. Your race
+ suffers very greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffers
+ from your presence. In a word we suffer on each side. If this is admitted,
+ it affords a reason, at least, why we should be separated. You here are
+ Freemen, I suppose?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "A VOICE&mdash;Yes, Sir.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "THE PRESIDENT&mdash;Perhaps you have long been free, or all your lives.
+ Your race are suffering, in my judgment, the greatest wrong inflicted on
+ any people. But even when you cease to be Slaves, you are yet far removed
+ from being placed on an equality with the White race. You are cut off from
+ many of the advantages which the other race enjoys. The aspiration of men
+ is to enjoy equality with the best when free; but on this broad continent
+ not a single man of your race is made the equal of a single man of ours.
+ Go where you are treated the best, and the ban is still upon you. I do not
+ propose to discuss this, but to present it as a fact, with which we have
+ to deal. I cannot alter it if I would. It is a fact about which we all
+ think and feel alike, I and you. We look to our condition.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Owing to the existence of the two races on this continent, I need not
+ recount to you the effects upon White men, growing out of the institution
+ of Slavery. I believe in its general evil effects on the White race. See
+ our present condition&mdash;the Country engaged in War! our white men
+ cutting one another's throats&mdash;none knowing how far it will extend&mdash;and
+ then consider what we know to be the truth. But for your race among us
+ there could not be War, although many men engaged on either side do not
+ care for you one way or the other. Nevertheless, I repeat, without the
+ institution of Slavery, and the Colored race as a basis, the War could not
+ have an existence. It is better for us both, therefore, to be separated.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I know that there are Free men among you who, even if they could better
+ their condition, are not as much inclined to go out of the Country as
+ those who, being Slaves, could obtain their Freedom on this condition. I
+ suppose one of the principal difficulties in the way of colonization is
+ that the free colored man cannot see that his comfort would be advanced by
+ it. You may believe that you can live in Washington, or elsewhere in the
+ United States, the remainder of your life; perhaps more so than you can in
+ any foreign country, and hence you may come to the conclusion that you
+ have nothing to do with the idea of going to a foreign country.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "This is, (I speak in no unkind sense) an extremely selfish view of the
+ case. But you ought to do something to help those who are not so fortunate
+ as yourselves. There is an unwillingness on the part of our People, harsh
+ as it may be, for you free Colored people to remain with us. Now if you
+ could give a start to the White people you would open a wide door for many
+ to be made free. If we deal with those who are not free at the beginning,
+ and whose intellects are clouded by Slavery, we have very poor material to
+ start with.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If intelligent Colored men, such as are before me, could move in this
+ matter, much might be accomplished. It is exceedingly important that we
+ have men at the beginning capable of thinking as White men, and not those
+ who have been systematically oppressed. There is much to encourage you.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "For the sake of your race you should sacrifice something of your present
+ comfort for the purpose of being as grand in that respect as the White
+ people. It is a cheering thought throughout life, that something can be
+ done to ameliorate the condition of those who have been subject to the
+ hard usages of the World. It is difficult to make a man miserable while he
+ feels he is worthy of himself and claims kindred to the great God who made
+ him.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In the American Revolutionary War, sacrifices were made by men engaged in
+ it, but they were cheered by the future. General Washington himself
+ endured greater physical hardships than if he had remained a British
+ subject, yet he was a happy man, because he was engaged in benefiting his
+ race, in doing something for the children of his neighbors, having none of
+ his own.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The Colony of Liberia has been in existence a long time. In a certain
+ sense it is a success. The old President of Liberia, Roberts, has just
+ been with me the first time I ever saw him. He says they have, within the
+ bounds of that Colony, between three and four hundred thousand people, or
+ more than in some of our old States, such as Rhode Island, or Delaware, or
+ in some of our newer States, and less than in some of our larger ones.
+ They are not all American colonists or their descendants. Something less
+ than 12,000 have been sent thither from this Country. Many of the original
+ settlers have died, yet, like people elsewhere, their offspring outnumber
+ those deceased.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The question is, if the Colored people are persuaded to go anywhere, why
+ not there? One reason for unwillingness to do so is that some of you would
+ rather remain within reach of the country of your nativity. I do not know
+ how much attachment you may have toward our race. It does not strike me
+ that you have the greatest reason to love them. But still you are attached
+ to them at all events.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The place I am thinking about having for a colony, is in Central America.
+ It is nearer to us than Liberia&mdash;not much more than one-fourth as far
+ as Liberia, and within seven days' run by steamers. Unlike Liberia, it is
+ a great line of travel&mdash;it is a highway. The country is a very
+ excellent one for any people, and with great natural resources and
+ advantages, and especially because of the similarity of climate with your
+ native soil, thus being suited to your physical condition.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The particular place I have in view, is to be a great highway from the
+ Atlantic or Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean, and this particular place
+ has all the advantages for a colony. On both sides there are harbors among
+ the finest in the World. Again, there is evidence of very rich coal mines.
+ A certain amount of coal is valuable in any country. Why I attach so much
+ importance to coal is, it will afford an opportunity to the inhabitants
+ for immediate employment till they get ready to settle permanently in
+ their homes.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If you take colonists where there is no good landing, there is a bad
+ show; and so, where there is nothing to cultivate, and of which to make a
+ farm. But if something is started so that you can get your daily bread as
+ soon as you reach there, it is a great advantage. Coal land is the best
+ thing I know of, with which to commence an enterprise.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "To return&mdash;you have been talked to upon this subject, and told that
+ a speculation is intended by gentlemen who have an interest in the
+ country, including the coal mines. We have been mistaken all our lives if
+ we do not know Whites, as well as Blacks, look to their self-interest.
+ Unless among those deficient of intellect, everybody you trade with makes
+ something. You meet with these things here and everywhere. If such persons
+ have what will be an advantage to them, the question is, whether it cannot
+ be made of advantage to you?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "You are intelligent, and know that success does not as much depend on
+ external help, as on self-reliance. Much, therefore, depends upon
+ yourselves. As to the coal mines, I think I see the means available for
+ your self-reliance. I shall, if I get a sufficient number of you engaged,
+ have provision made that you shall not be wronged. If you will engage in
+ the enterprise, I will spend some of the money intrusted to me. I am not
+ sure you will succeed. The Government may lose the money, but we cannot
+ succeed unless we try; but we think, with care, we can succeed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The political affairs in Central America are not in quite as satisfactory
+ condition as I wish. There are contending factions in that quarter; but it
+ is true, all the factions are agreed alike on the subject of colonization,
+ and want it; and are more generous than we are here. To your Colored race
+ they have no objection. Besides, I would endeavor to have you made equals,
+ and have the best assurance that you should be the equals of the best.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The practical thing I want to ascertain is, whether I can get a number of
+ able-bodied men, with their wives and children, who are willing to go,
+ when I present evidence of encouragement and protection. Could I get a
+ hundred tolerably intelligent men, with their wives and children, and able
+ to 'cut their own fodder' so to speak? Can I have fifty? If I could find
+ twenty-five able-bodied men, with a mixture of women and children&mdash;good
+ things in the family relation, I think I could make a successful
+ commencement.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I want you to let me know whether this can be done or not. This is the
+ practical part of my wish to see you. These are subjects of very great
+ importance&mdash;worthy of a month's study, of a speech delivered in an
+ hour. I ask you, then, to consider seriously, not as pertaining to
+ yourselves merely, nor for your race, and ours, for the present time, but
+ as one of the things, if successfully managed, for the good of mankind&mdash;not
+ confined to the present generation, but as:
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ 'From age to age descends the lay<br /> To millions yet to be,<br /> Till
+ far its echoes roll away<br /> Into eternity.'"<br />
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ President Lincoln's well-meant colored colonization project, however, fell
+ through, owing partly to opposition to it in Central America, and partly
+ to the very natural and deeply-rooted disinclination of the Colored free
+ men to leave the land of their birth.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Meanwhile, limited Military Emancipation of Slaves was announced and
+ regulated, on the 22d July, 1862, by the following Executive Instructions,
+ which were issued from the War Department by order of the President&mdash;the
+ issue of which was assigned by Jefferson Davis as one reason for his Order
+ of August 1, 1862, directing "that the commissioned officers of Pope's and
+ Steinwehr's commands be not entitled, when captured, to be treated as
+ soldiers and entitled to the benefit of the cartel of exchange:"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "WAR DEPARTMENT,<br /> "WASHINGTON, D.C., July 22, 1862.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "First. Ordered that Military Commanders within the States of Virginia,
+ North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas,
+ and Arkansas, in an orderly manner seize and use any property, real or
+ personal, which may be necessary or convenient for their several commands,
+ for supplies, or for other Military purposes; and that while property may
+ be destroyed for proper Military objects, none shall be destroyed in
+ wantonness or malice.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Second. That Military and Naval Commanders shall employ as laborers,
+ within and from said States, so many Persons of African descent as can be
+ advantageously used for Military or Naval purposes, giving them reasonable
+ wages for their labor.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Third. That, as to both property, and Persons of African descent,
+ accounts shall be kept sufficiently accurate and in detail to show
+ quantities and amounts, and from whom both property and such Persons shall
+ have come, as a basis upon which compensation can be made in proper cases;
+ and the several departments of this Government shall attend to and perform
+ their appropriate parts towards the execution of these orders.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "By Order of the President:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "EDWIN M. STANTON,<br /> "Secretary of War."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 9th of August, 1862, Major General McClellan promulgated the
+ Executive Order of July 22, 1862, from his Headquarters at Harrison's
+ Landing, Va., with certain directions of his own, among which were the
+ following:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Inhabitants, especially women and children, remaining peaceably at their
+ homes, must not be molested; and wherever commanding officers find
+ families peculiarly exposed in their persons or property to marauding from
+ this Army, they will, as heretofore, so far as they can do with safety and
+ without detriment to the service, post guards for their protection.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In protecting private property, no reference is intended to Persons held
+ to service or labor by reason of African Descent. Such Persons will be
+ regarded by this Army, as they heretofore have been, as occupying simply a
+ peculiar legal status under State laws, which condition the Military
+ authorities of the United States are not required to regard at all in
+ districts where Military operations are made necessary by the rebellious
+ action of the State governments.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Persons subject to suspicion of hostile purposes, residing or being near
+ our Forces, will be, as heretofore, subject to arrest and detention, until
+ the cause or necessity is removed. All such arrested parties will be sent,
+ as usual, to the Provost-Marshal General, with a statement of the facts in
+ each case.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The General Commanding takes this occasion to remind the officers and
+ soldiers of this Army that we are engaged in supporting the Constitution
+ and the Laws of the United States and suppressing Rebellion against their
+ authority; that we are not engaged in a War of rapine, revenge, or
+ subjugation; that this is not a contest against populations, but against
+ armed forces and political organizations; that it is a struggle carried on
+ with the United States, and should be conducted by us upon the highest
+ principles known to Christian civilization.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Since this Army commenced active operations, Persons of African descent,
+ including those held to service or labor under State laws, have always
+ been received, protected, and employed as laborers at wages. Hereafter it
+ shall be the duty of the Provost-Marshal General to cause lists to be made
+ of all persons of African descent employed in this Army as laborers for
+ Military purposes&mdash;such lists being made sufficiently accurate and in
+ detail to show from whom such persons shall have come.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Persons so subject and so employed have always understood that after
+ being received into the Military service of the United States, in any
+ capacity, they could never be reclaimed by their former holders. Except
+ upon such understanding on their part, the order of the President, as to
+ this class of Persons, would be inoperative. The General Commanding
+ therefore feels authorized to declare to all such employees, that they
+ will receive permanent Military protection against any compulsory return
+ to a condition of servitude."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Public opinion was now rapidly advancing, under the pressure of Military
+ necessity, and the energetic efforts of the immediate Emancipationists, to
+ a belief that Emancipation by Presidential Proclamation would be wise and
+ efficacious as an instrumentality toward subduing the Rebellion; that it
+ must come, sooner or later&mdash;and the sooner, the better.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Indeed, great fault was found, by some of these, with what they
+ characterized as President Lincoln's "obstinate slowness" to come up to
+ their advanced ideas on the subject. He was even accused of failing to
+ execute existing laws touching confiscation of Slaves of Rebels coming
+ within the lines of the Union Armies. On the 19th of August, 1862, a
+ letter was addressed to him by Horace Greeley which concluded thus:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "On the face of this wide Earth, Mr. President, there is not one
+ disinterested, determined, intelligent champion of the Union Cause who
+ does not feel that all attempts to put down the Rebellion, and at the same
+ time uphold its inciting cause, are preposterous and futile&mdash;that the
+ Rebellion, if crushed out to-morrow, would be renewed within a year if
+ Slavery were left in full vigor&mdash;that Army officers, who remain to
+ this day devoted to Slavery, can at best be but half-way loyal to the
+ Union&mdash;and that every hour of deference to Slavery is an hour of
+ added and deepened peril to the Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I appeal to the testimony of your embassadors in Europe. It is freely at
+ your service, not mine. Ask them to tell you candidly whether the seeming
+ subserviency of your policy to the Slaveholding, Slavery-upholding
+ interest, is not the perplexity, the despair, of Statesmen of all parties;
+ and be admonished by the general answer.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I close, as I began, with the statement that what an immense majority of
+ the loyal millions of your countrymen require of you, is a frank,
+ declared, unqualified, ungrudging execution of the Laws of the Land, more
+ especially of the Confiscation Act. That Act gives Freedom to the Slaves
+ of Rebels coming within our lines, or whom those lines may at any time
+ inclose. We ask you to render it due obedience by publicly requiring all
+ your subordinates to recognize and obey it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The Rebels are everywhere using the late Anti-Negro riots in the North
+ &mdash;as they have long used your officers' treatment of Negroes in the
+ South&mdash;to convince the Slaves that they have nothing to hope from a
+ Union success&mdash;that we mean in that case to sell them into a bitter
+ Bondage to defray the cost of the War.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Let them impress this as a truth on the great mass of their ignorant and
+ credulous Bondmen, and the Union will never be restored&mdash;never. We
+ can not conquer ten millions of people united in solid phalanx against us,
+ powerfully aided by Northern sympathizers and European allies.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We must have scouts, guides, spies, cooks, teamsters, diggers, and
+ choppers, from the Blacks of the South&mdash;whether we allow them to
+ fight for us or not&mdash;or we shall be baffled and repelled.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "As one of the Millions who would gladly have avoided this struggle, at
+ any sacrifice but that of principle and honor, but who now feel that the
+ triumph of the Union is indispensable not only to the existence of our
+ Country, but to the well-being of mankind, I entreat you to render a
+ hearty and unequivocal obedience to the Law of the Land.<br /> "Yours,<br />
+ "HORACE GREELEY."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ To this letter, President Lincoln at once made the following memorable
+ reply:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "EXECUTIVE MANSION,<br /> "WASHINGTON, Friday, August 22, 1862.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "HON. HORACE GREELEY
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "DEAR SIR:&mdash;I have just read yours of the 19th inst. addressed to
+ myself through the New York Tribune.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If there be in it any statements or assumptions of fact which I may know
+ to be erroneous, I do not now and here controvert them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If there be any inferences which I may believe to be falsely drawn, I do
+ not now and here argue against them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If there be perceptible in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, I waive
+ it in deference to an old friend whose heart I have always supposed to be
+ right.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "As to the policy I 'seem to be pursuing,' as you say, I have not meant to
+ leave any one in doubt. I would save the Union. I would save it in the
+ shortest way under the Constitution.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The sooner the National authority can be restored, the nearer the Union
+ will be&mdash;the Union as it was.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the
+ same time save Slavery, I do not agree with them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the
+ same time destroy Slavery, I do not agree, with them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "My paramount object is to save the Union and not either to save or
+ destroy Slavery.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If I could save the Union without freeing any Slave, I would do it&mdash;and
+ if I could save it by freeing all the Slaves, I would do it&mdash;and if I
+ could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do
+ that.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "What I do about Slavery and the Colored race, I do because I believe it
+ helps to save the Union, and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not
+ believe it would help to save the Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause,
+ and shall do more whenever I believe doing more will help the cause.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors, and I shall adopt
+ new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty, and
+ I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men
+ everywhere could be free.<br /> "Yours,<br /> "A. LINCOLN."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 13th of September, 1862, a deputation from all the religious
+ denominations of Chicago presented to President Lincoln a memorial for the
+ immediate issue of a Proclamation of Emancipation, to which, and the
+ Chairman's remarks, he thus replied:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The subject presented in the Memorial is one upon which I have thought
+ much for weeks past, and I may even say, for months. I am approached with
+ the most opposite opinions, and advice, and that by religious men, who are
+ equally certain that they represent the Divine will. I am sure that either
+ the one or the other class is mistaken in that belief, and perhaps, in
+ some respects, both. I hope it will not be irreverent for me to say that
+ if it is probable that God would reveal His will to others, on a point so
+ connected with my duty, it might be supposed He would reveal it directly
+ to me; for, unless I am more deceived in myself than I often am, it is my
+ earnest desire to know the will of Providence in this matter. And if I can
+ learn what it is, I will do it!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "These are not, however, the days of miracles, and I suppose it will be
+ granted that I am not to expect a direct Revelation; I must study the
+ plain physical aspects of the case, ascertain what is possible, and learn
+ what appears to be wise and right!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The subject is difficult, and good men do not agree. For instance, the
+ other day, four gentlemen, of standing and intelligence, from New York,
+ called, as a delegation, on business connected with the War; but, before
+ leaving, two of them earnestly besought me to proclaim general
+ Emancipation, upon which the other two at once attacked them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "You know also that the last Session of Congress had a decided majority of
+ Anti-Slavery men, yet they could not unite on this policy. And the same is
+ true of the religious people; why the Rebel soldiers are praying with a
+ great deal more earnestness, I fear, than our own troops, and expecting
+ God to favor their side; for one of our soldiers, who had been taken
+ prisoner, told Senator Wilson, a few days since, that he met nothing so
+ discouraging as the evident sincerity of those he was among in their
+ prayers. But we will talk over the merits of the case.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "What good would a Proclamation of Emancipation from me do, especially as
+ we are now situated? I do not want to issue a document that the whole
+ World will see must necessarily be inoperative, like the Pope's Bull
+ against the Comet! Would my word free the Slaves, when I cannot even
+ enforce the Constitution in the Rebel States? Is there a single Court or
+ Magistrate, or individual that would be influenced by it there? And what
+ reason is there to think it would have any greater effect upon the Slaves
+ than the late law of Congress, which I approved and which offers
+ protection and Freedom to the Slaves of Rebel masters who came within our
+ lines? Yet I cannot learn that that law has caused a single Slave to come
+ over to us.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "And suppose they could be induced by a Proclamation of Freedom from me to
+ throw themselves upon us, what should we do with them? How can we feed and
+ care for such a multitude? General Butler wrote me a few days since that
+ he was issuing more rations to the Slaves who have rushed to him, than to
+ all the White troops under his command. They eat, and that is all; though
+ it is true General Butler is feeding the Whites also, by the thousand; for
+ it nearly amounts to a famine there.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If, now, the pressure of the War should call off our forces from New
+ Orleans to defend some other point, what is to prevent the masters from
+ reducing the Blacks to Slavery again; for I am told that whenever the
+ Rebels take any Black prisoners, Free or Slave, they immediately auction
+ them off! They did so with those they took from a boat that was aground in
+ the Tennessee river a few days ago.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "And then I am very ungenerously attacked for it! For instance, when,
+ after the late battles at and near Bull Run, an expedition went out from
+ Washington, under a flag of truce, to bury the dead and bring in the
+ wounded, and the Rebels seized the Blacks who went along to help, and sent
+ them into Slavery, Horace Greeley said in his paper that the Government
+ would probably do nothing about it. What could I do?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Now, then, tell me, if you please, what possible result of good would
+ follow the issuing of such a Proclamation as you desire? Understand, I
+ raise no objections against it on legal or Constitutional grounds, for, as
+ Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, in time of War, I suppose I have
+ a right to take any measure which may best subdue the Enemy, nor do I urge
+ objections of a moral nature, in view of possible consequences of
+ insurrection and massacre at the South. I view this matter as a practical
+ War measure, to be decided on according to the advantages or disadvantages
+ it may offer to the suppression of the Rebellion.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ * * * * * * * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I admit that Slavery is at the root of the Rebellion, or, at least, its
+ sine qua non. The ambition of politicians may have instigated them to act,
+ but they would have been impotent without Slavery as their instrument. I
+ will also concede that Emancipation would help us in Europe, and convince
+ them that we are incited by something more than ambition. I grant,
+ further, that it would help somewhat at the North, though not so much, I
+ fear, as you and those you represent imagine.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Still, some additional strength would be added in that way to the War,
+ and then, unquestionably, it would weaken the Rebels by drawing off their
+ laborers, which is of great importance; but I am not so sure we could do
+ much with the Blacks. If we were to arm them, I fear that in a few weeks
+ the arms would be in the hands of the Rebels; and, indeed, thus far, we
+ have not had arms enough to equip our White troops.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I will mention another thing, though it meet only your scorn and
+ contempt. There are 50,000 bayonets in the Union Army from the Border
+ Slave States. It would be a serious matter if, in consequence of a
+ Proclamation such as you desire, they should go over to the Rebels. I do
+ not think they all would&mdash;not so many, indeed, as a year ago, or as
+ six months ago&mdash;not so many to-day, as yesterday. Every day increases
+ their Union feeling. They are also getting their pride enlisted, and want
+ to beat the Rebels.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Let me say one thing more: I think you should admit that we already have
+ an important principle to rally and unite the People, in the fact that
+ Constitutional Government is at stake. This is a fundamental idea going
+ down about as deep as anything!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ * * * * * * * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Do not misunderstand me because I have mentioned these objections. They
+ indicate the difficulties that have thus far prevented my action in some
+ such way as you desire.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I have not decided against a Proclamation of Liberty to the Slaves, but
+ hold the matter under advisement. And I can assure you that the subject is
+ on my mind, by day and night, more than any other. Whatever shall appear
+ to be God's will I will do.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I trust that in the freedom with which I have canvassed your views I have
+ not in any respect injured your feelings."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 22d day of September, 1862, not only the Nation, but the whole
+ World, was electrified by the publication&mdash;close upon the heels of
+ the Union victory of Antietam&mdash;of the Proclamation of Emancipation&mdash;weighted
+ with consequences so wide and far-reaching that even at this late day they
+ cannot all be discerned. It was in these words:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States of America, and
+ Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy thereof, do hereby proclaim and
+ declare that hereafter, as heretofore, the War will be prosecuted for the
+ object of practically restoring the Constitutional relation between the
+ United States and each of the States and the people thereof, in which
+ States that relation is or may be suspended or disturbed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "That it is my purpose, upon the next meeting of Congress, to again
+ recommend the adoption of a practical measure tendering pecuniary aid to
+ the free acceptance or rejection of all Slave States, so called, the
+ people whereof may not then be in Rebellion against the United States, and
+ which States may then have voluntarily adopted, or thereafter may
+ voluntarily adopt, immediate or gradual abolishment of Slavery within
+ their respective limits; and that the effort to colonize Persons of
+ African descent with their consent upon this continent or elsewhere, with
+ the previously obtained consent of the Governments existing there, will be
+ continued.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand
+ eight hundred and sixty-three, all Persons held as Slaves within any State
+ or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in
+ Rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and
+ forever Free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including
+ the Military and Naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the
+ Freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such
+ persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual
+ Freedom.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by
+ Proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which
+ the people thereof respectively, shall then be in Rebellion against the
+ United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall
+ on that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United
+ States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the
+ qualified voters of such States shall have participated, shall, in the
+ absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence
+ that such State, and the people thereof, are not in Rebellion against the
+ United States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "That attention is hereby called to an Act of Congress entitled 'An Act to
+ make an additional Article of War,' approved March 31, 1862, and which Act
+ is in the words and figures following:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
+ States of America in Congress assembled, That hereafter the following
+ shall be promulgated as an additional Article of War, for the government
+ of the Army of the United States, and shall be obeyed and observed as
+ such.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "ARTICLE&mdash;All officers or persons in the Military or Naval service of
+ the United States are prohibited from employing any of the forces under
+ their respective commands for the purpose of returning Fugitives from
+ service or labor who may have escaped from any persons to whom such
+ service or labor is claimed to be due, and any officer who shall be found
+ guilty by a court-martial of violating this article shall be dismissed
+ from the service.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'SECTION 2.&mdash;And be it further enacted, That this Act shall take
+ effect from and after its passage.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Also to the ninth and tenth sections of an Act entitled 'An Act to
+ suppress Insurrection, to punish Treason and Rebellion, to seize and
+ confiscate property of Rebels, and for other purposes,' approved July 17,
+ 1862, and which sections are in the words and figures following:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'SEC. 9.&mdash;And be it further enacted, That all Slaves of persons who
+ shall hereafter be engaged in Rebellion against the Government of the
+ United States or who shall in any way give aid or comfort thereto,
+ escaping from such persons and taking refuge within the lines of the Army;
+ and all Slaves captured from such persons or deserted by them, and coming
+ under the control of the Government of the United States; and all Slaves
+ of such persons found on [or] being within any place occupied by Rebel
+ forces and afterward occupied by the forces of the United States, shall be
+ deemed captives of war, and shall be forever Free of their servitude, and
+ not again held as Slaves.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'SEC. 10.&mdash;And be it further enacted, That no Slave escaping into
+ any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, from any other State,
+ shall be delivered up, or in any way impeded or hindered of his liberty,
+ except for crime, or some offense against the laws, unless the person
+ claiming said Fugitive shall first make oath that the person to whom the
+ labor or service of such Fugitive is alleged to be due is his lawful
+ owner, and has not borne arms against the United States in the present
+ Rebellion, nor in any way given aid and comfort thereto; and no person
+ engaged in the Military or Naval service of the United States shall, under
+ any pretense whatever, assume to decide on the validity of the claim of
+ any person to the service or labor of any other person, or surrender up
+ any such Person to the claimant, on pain of being dismissed from the
+ service."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "And I do hereby enjoin upon and order all persons engaged in the Military
+ and Naval service of the United States to observe, obey, and enforce,
+ within their respective spheres of service, the Act and sections above
+ recited.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "And the Executive will in due time recommend that all citizens of the
+ United States who shall have remained loyal thereto throughout the
+ Rebellion shall (upon the restoration of the Constitutional relation
+ between the United States and their respective States and people, if that
+ relation shall have been suspended or disturbed) be compensated for all
+ losses by acts of the United States, including the loss of Slaves.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of
+ the United States to be affixed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Done at the city of Washington this twenty-second day of September, in
+ the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the
+ Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "By the President:<br /> "ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This Proclamation, promising Freedom to an Enslaved race, was hailed with
+ acclamations everywhere save in the rebellious Southern-Slave States, and
+ in the Border-Slave States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At a meeting of Governors of Loyal States, held at Altoona, Pennsylvania,
+ to take measures for the more active support of the Government, an Address
+ was adopted, on the very day that the Proclamation was promulgated, which
+ well expressed the general feeling prevailing throughout the Northern
+ States, at this time. It was in these patriotic words:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "After nearly one year and a half spent in contest with an armed and
+ gigantic Rebellion against the National Government of the United States,
+ the duty and purpose of the Loyal States and people continue, and must
+ always remain as they were at its origin&mdash;namely to restore and
+ perpetuate the authority of this Government and the life of the Nation. No
+ matter what consequences are involved in our fidelity, this work of
+ restoring the Republic, preserving the institutions of democratic Liberty,
+ and justifying the hopes and toils of our Fathers, shall not fail to be
+ performed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "And we pledge, without hesitation, to the President of the United States,
+ the most loyal and cordial support, hereto as heretofore, in the exercise
+ of the functions of his great office. We recognize in him the chief
+ Executive magistrate of the Nation, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and
+ Navy of the United States, their responsible and constitutional head,
+ whose rightful authority and power, as well as the Constitutional powers
+ of Congress, must be rigorously and religiously guarded and preserved, as
+ the condition on which alone our form of Government and the constitutional
+ rights and liberties of the People themselves can be saved from the wreck
+ of anarchy or from the gulf 'despotism.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In submission to the laws which may have been or which may be duly
+ enacted, and to the lawful orders of the President, cooperating always in
+ our own spheres with the National Government, we mean to continue in the
+ most rigorous exercise of all our lawful and proper powers, contending
+ against Treason, Rebellion, and the public Enemies, and, whether in public
+ life or in private station, supporting the arms of the Union, until its
+ Cause shall conquer, until final victory shall perch upon its standard, or
+ the Rebel foe will yield a dutiful, rightful, and unconditional
+ submission. And, impressed with the conviction that an Army of reserve
+ ought, until the War shall end, to be constantly kept on foot, to be
+ raised, armed, equipped, and trained at home, and ready for emergencies,
+ we respectfully ask the President to call such a force of volunteers for
+ one year's service, of not less than one hundred thousand in the
+ aggregate, the quota of each State to be raised after it shall have led
+ its quota of the requisitions already made, both for volunteers and
+ militia. We believe that this would be a Leasure of Military prudence,
+ while it would greatly promote the Military education of the People.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We hail with heartfelt gratitude and encouraged hope the Proclamation of
+ the President, issued on the 22nd instant, declaring Emancipated from
+ their bondage all Persons held to Service or Labor as Slaves in the Rebel
+ States, whose Rebellion shall last until the first day of January next
+ ensuing.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The right of any person to retain authority to compel any portion of the
+ subjects of the National Government to rebel against it, or to maintain
+ its Enemies, implies in those who are allowed possession of such authority
+ the right to rebel themselves; and therefore, the right to establish
+ Martial Law or Military Government in a State or Territory in Rebellion
+ implies the right and the duty of the Government to liberate the minds of
+ all men living therein by appropriate Proclamations and assurances of
+ protection, in order that all who are capable, intellectually and morally,
+ of loyalty and obedience, may not be forced into Treason as the unwilling
+ tools of rebellious Traitors.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "To have continued indefinitely the most efficient cause, support, and
+ stay of the Rebellion, would have been, in our judgment, unjust to the
+ Loyal people whose treasure and lives are made a willing sacrifice on the
+ altar of patriotism&mdash;would have discriminated against the wife who is
+ compelled to surrender her husband, against the parent who is to surrender
+ his child, to the hardships of the camp and the perils of battle, in favor
+ of Rebel masters permitted to retain their Slaves. It would have been a
+ final decision alike against humanity, justice, the rights and dignity of
+ the Government, and against sound and wise National policy.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The decision of the President to strike at the root of the Rebellion will
+ lend new vigor to efforts, and new life and hope to the hearts of the
+ People. Cordially tendering to the President our respectful assurances of
+ personal and official confidence, we trust and believe that the policy now
+ inaugurated will be crowned with success, will give speedy and triumphant
+ victories over our enemies, and secure to this Nation and this People the
+ blessing and favor of Almighty God.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We believe that the blood of the heroes who have already fallen, and
+ those who may yet give their lives to their Country, will not have been
+ shed in vain.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The splendid valor of our soldiers, their patient endurance, their manly
+ patriotism, and their devotion to duty, demand from us and from all their
+ countrymen the homage of the sincerest gratitude and the pledge of our
+ constant reinforcement and support. A just regard for these brave men,
+ whom we have contributed to place in the field, and for the importance of
+ the duties which may lawfully pertain to us hereafter, has called us into
+ friendly conference.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "And now, presenting to our National Chief Magistrate this conclusion of
+ our deliberations, we devote ourselves to our Country's service, and we
+ will surround the President with our constant support, trusting that the
+ fidelity and zeal of the Loyal States and People will always assure him
+ that he will be constantly maintained in pursuing, with the utmost vigor,
+ this War for the preservation of the National life and hope of humanity.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "A. G. CURTIN,<br /> "JOHN A. ANDREW,<br /> "RICHARD YATES,<br /> "ISRAEL
+ WASHBURNE, Jr.,<br /> "EDWARD SOLOMON,<br /> "SAMUEL J. KIRKWOOD,<br /> "O.
+ P. MORTON,&mdash;By D. G. ROSE, his Representative,<br /> "WM. SPRAGUE,<br />
+ "F. H. PEIRPOINT,<br /> "DAVID TOD,<br /> "N. S. BERRY, "AUSTIN BLAIR."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Some two months after the issue of his great Proclamation of Liberty,
+ President Lincoln (in his Second Annual Message to Congress, December 1,
+ 1862), took occasion again to refer to compensated Emancipation, and,
+ indeed, to the entire matter of Slavery and Freedom, in most instructive
+ and convincing manner, as follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "On the 22d day of September last, a Proclamation was issued by the
+ Executive, a copy of which is herewith submitted.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In accordance with the purpose in the second paragraph of that paper, I
+ now respectfully recall your attention to what may be called 'compensated
+ Emancipation.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "A Nation may be said to consist of its territory, its people, and its
+ laws. The territory is the only part which is of certain durability. 'One
+ generation passeth away, and another generation cometh, but the Earth
+ abideth forever.' It is of the first importance to duly consider and
+ estimate this ever-enduring part.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "That portion of the Earth's surface which is owned and inhabited by the
+ People of the United States, is well adapted to be the home of one
+ National family; and it is not well adapted for two, or more. Its vast
+ extent, and its variety of climate and productions, are of advantage, in
+ this age, for one People, whatever they might have been in former ages.
+ Steam, telegraphs, and intelligence, have brought these to be an
+ advantageous combination for one united People.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In the Inaugural Address I briefly pointed out the total inadequacy of
+ Disunion, as a remedy for the differences between the people of the two
+ Sections. I did so in language which I cannot improve, and which,
+ therefore, I beg to repeat:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'One Section of our Country believes Slavery is right, and ought to be
+ extended, while the other believes it is wrong, and ought not to be
+ extended. This is the only substantial dispute. The Fugitive Slave clause
+ of the Constitution, and the law for the suppression of the foreign Slave
+ Trade, are each as well enforced, perhaps, as any law can ever be in a
+ community where the moral sense of the People imperfectly supports the law
+ itself.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The great body of the People abide by the dry legal obligation in both
+ cases, and a few break over in each. This, I think, cannot be perfectly
+ cured; and it would be worse in both cases after the separation of the
+ Sections, than before. The foreign Slave Trade, now imperfectly
+ suppressed, would be ultimately revived without restriction in one
+ Section; while Fugitive Slaves, now only partially surrendered, would not
+ be surrendered at all by the other.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Physically speaking, we cannot separate. We cannot remove our respective
+ Sections from each other, nor build an impassable wall between them. A
+ husband and wife may be divorced, and each go out of the presence and
+ beyond the reach of the other; but the different parts of our Country
+ cannot do this. They cannot but remain face to face; and intercourse,
+ either amicable or hostile, must continue between them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'Is it possible, then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or more
+ satisfactory after separation than before? Can aliens make treaties easier
+ than friends can make laws? Can treaties be more faithfully enforced
+ between aliens than laws can among friends? suppose you go to War, you
+ cannot fight always; and when, after much loss on both sides, and no gain
+ on either, you cease fighting, the identical old questions as to terms of
+ intercourse are again upon you.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "There is no line, straight or crooked, suitable for a National boundary
+ upon which to divide. Trace through, from East to West, upon the line
+ between the Free and Slave Country, and we shall find a little more than
+ one third of its length are rivers, easy to be crossed, and populated, or
+ soon to be populated, thickly upon both sides; while nearly all its
+ remaining length are merely surveyors' lines, over which people may walk
+ back and forth without any consciousness of their presence.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "No part of this line can be made any more difficult to pass, by writing
+ it down on paper or parchment as a National boundary. The fact of
+ separation, if it comes, gives up, on the part of the seceding Section,
+ the Fugitive Slave clause, along with all other Constitutional obligations
+ upon the Section seceded from, while I should expect no treaty
+ stipulations would ever be made to take its place.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But there is another difficulty. The great interior region, bounded East
+ by the Alleghanies, North by the British dominions, West by the Rocky
+ Mountains, and South by the line along which the culture of corn and
+ cotton meets, and which includes part of Virginia, part of Tennessee, all
+ of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri,
+ Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, and the Territories of Dakota, Nebraska, and part
+ of Colorado, already has above ten million people, and will have fifty
+ millions within fifty years, if not prevented by any political folly or
+ mistake.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It contains more than one-third of the country owned by the United
+ States-certainly more than one million square miles. Once half as populous
+ as Massachusetts already is, it would have more than seventy-five million
+ people. A glance at the map shows that, territorially speaking, it is the
+ great body of the Republic. The other parts are but marginal borders to
+ it, the magnificent region sloping West, from the Rocky Mountains to the
+ Pacific, being the deepest and also the richest in undeveloped resources.
+ In the production of provisions, grains, grasses, and all which proceed
+ from them, this great interior region is naturally one of the most
+ important in the World.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Ascertain from the statistics the small proportion of the region which
+ has, as yet, been brought into cultivation, and also the large and rapidly
+ increasing amount of its products, and we shall be overwhelmed with the
+ magnitude of the prospect presented. And yet this region has no sea coast,
+ touches no ocean anywhere. As part of one Nation, its people now find, and
+ may forever find, their way to Europe by New York, to South America and
+ Africa by New Orleans, and to Asia by San Francisco.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But separate our common Country into two nations, as designed by the
+ present Rebellion, and every man of this great interior region is thereby
+ cut off from some one or more of these outlets, not, perhaps, by a
+ physical barrier, but by embarrassing and onerous trade regulations.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "And this is true, wherever a dividing or boundary line may be fixed.
+ Place it between the now Free and Slave country, or place it South of
+ Kentucky, or North of Ohio, and still the truth remains, that none South
+ of it can trade to any port or place North of it, and none North of it can
+ trade to any port or place South of it except upon terms dictated by a
+ Government foreign to them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "These outlets, East, West, and South, are indispensable to the well-being
+ of the people inhabiting, and to inhabit, this vast interior region. Which
+ of the three may be the best, is no proper question. All, are better than
+ either; and all, of right belong to that People, and to their successors
+ forever. True to themselves, they will not ask where a line of separation
+ shall be, but will vow rather that there shall be no such line.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Nor are the marginal regions less interested in these communications to
+ and through them, to the great outside World. They too, and each of them,
+ must have access to this Egypt of the West without paying toll at the
+ crossing of any National boundary.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Our National strife springs not from our permanent part; not from the
+ Land we inhabit; not from our National homestead. There is no possible
+ severing of this, but would multiply, and not mitigate, evils among us. In
+ all its adaptations and aptitudes it demands Union, and abhors separation.
+ In fact it would, ere long, force reunion, however much of blood and
+ treasure the separation might have cost.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Our strife pertains to ourselves&mdash;to the passing generations of men;
+ and it can, without convulsion, be hushed forever&mdash;with the passing
+ of one generation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In this view I recommend the adoption of the following Resolution and
+ Articles Amendatory of the Constitution of the United States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States
+ of America, in Congress assembled, (two-thirds of both Houses concurring).
+ That the following Articles be proposed to the Legislatures (or
+ Conventions) of the several States, as Amendments to the Constitution of
+ the United States, all or any of which Articles when ratified by
+ three-fourths of the said Legislatures (or Conventions) to be valid as
+ part or parts of the said Constitution, namely:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'ARTICLE&mdash;Every State wherein Slavery now exists, which shall
+ abolish the same therein, at any time, or times, before the first day of
+ January, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred, shall receive
+ compensation from the United States, as follows, to wit;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'The President of the United States shall deliver to every such State,
+ bonds of the United States, bearing interest at the rate of per cent. per
+ annum, to an amount equal to the aggregate sum of for each Slave shown to
+ have been therein by the eighth census of the United States, said bonds to
+ be delivered to such States by installments, or in one parcel, at the
+ completion of the abolishment, accordingly as the same shall have been
+ gradual, or at one time, within such State; and interest shall begin to
+ run upon any such bond only from the proper time of its delivery as
+ aforesaid. Any State having received bonds as aforesaid, and afterward
+ reintroducing or tolerating Slavery therein, shall refund to the United
+ States the bonds so received, or the value thereof, and all interest paid
+ thereon.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'ARTICLE&mdash;All Slaves who shall have enjoyed actual freedom by the
+ chances of the War at any time before the end of the Rebellion, shall be
+ forever Free; but all owners of such, who shall not have been disloyal,
+ shall be compensated for them, at the same rates as is provided for States
+ adopting abolishment of Slavery, but in such way that no Slave shall be
+ twice accounted for.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'ARTICLE&mdash;Congress may appropriate money, and otherwise provide for
+ colonizing Free Colored Persons, with their own consent, at any place or
+ places within the United States.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I beg indulgence to discuss these proposed Articles at some length.
+ Without Slavery the Rebellion could never have existed; without Slavery it
+ could not continue.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Among the friends of the Union there is great diversity of sentiment and
+ of policy in regard to Slavery, and the African race among us. Some would
+ perpetuate Slavery; some would abolish it suddenly, without compensation;
+ some would abolish it gradually, and with compensation; some would remove
+ the Freed people from us; and some would retain them with us; and there
+ are yet other minor diversities. Because of these diversities, we waste
+ much strength in struggles among ourselves.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "By mutual Concession we should harmonize and act together. This would be
+ Compromise; but it would be Compromise among the friends, and not with the
+ enemies of the Union. These Articles are intended to embody a plan of such
+ mutual concessions. If the plan shall be adopted, it is assumed that
+ Emancipation will follow, at least, in several of the States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "As to the first Article, the main points are: first, the Emancipation;
+ secondly, the length of time for consummating it&mdash;thirty-seven years;
+ and, thirdly, the compensation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The Emancipation will be unsatisfactory to the advocates of perpetual
+ Slavery; but the length of time should greatly mitigate their
+ dissatisfaction. The time spares both races from the evils of sudden
+ derangement&mdash;in fact from the necessity of any derangement&mdash;while
+ most of those whose habitual course of thought will be disturbed by the
+ measure will have passed away before its consummation. They will never see
+ it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Another class will hail the prospect of Emancipation, but will deprecate
+ the length of time. They will feel that it gives too little to the now
+ living Slaves. But it really gives them much. It saves them from the
+ vagrant destitution which must largely attend immediate Emancipation in
+ localities where their numbers are very great; and it gives the inspiring
+ assurance that their posterity shall be Free forever.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The plan leaves to each State, choosing to act under it, to abolish
+ Slavery now, or at the end of the century, or at any intermediate time, or
+ by degrees, extending over the whole or any part of the period; and it
+ obliges no two States to proceed alike. It also provides for compensation,&mdash;and
+ generally, the mode of making it. This, it would seem, must further
+ mitigate the dissatisfaction of those who favor perpetual Slavery, and
+ especially of those who are to receive the compensation. Doubtless some of
+ those who are to pay, and not to receive, will object. Yet the measure is
+ both just and economical.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In a certain sense, the liberation of Slaves is the destruction of
+ Property&mdash;Property acquired by descent, or by purchase, the same as
+ any other property. It is no less true for having been often said, that
+ the people of the South are not more responsible for the original
+ introduction of this Property than are the people of the North; and when
+ it is remembered how unhesitatingly we all use cotton and sugar, and share
+ the profits of dealing in them, it may not be quite safe to say that the
+ South has been more responsible than the North for its continuance.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If, then, for a common object, this Property is to be sacrificed, is it
+ not just that it be done at a common charge?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "And if, with less money, or money more easily paid, we can preserve the
+ benefits of the Union by this means than we can by the War alone, is it
+ not also economical to do it? Let us consider it then. Let us ascertain
+ the sum we have expended in the War since compensated Emancipation was
+ proposed last March, and consider whether, if that measure had been
+ promptly accepted, by even some of the Slave States, the same sum would
+ not have done more to close the War than has been otherwise done. If so,
+ the measure would save money, and, in that view, would be a prudent and
+ economical measure.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Certainly it is not so easy to pay something as it is to pay nothing; but
+ it is easier to pay a large sum than it is to pay a larger one. And it is
+ easier to pay any sum when we are able, than it is to pay it before we are
+ able. The War requires large sums, and requires them at once.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The aggregate sum necessary for compensated Emancipation of course would
+ be large. But it would require no ready cash, nor the bonds, even, any
+ faster than the Emancipation progresses. This might not, and probably
+ would not, close before the end of the thirty-seven years. At that time we
+ shall probably have a hundred million people to share the burden, instead
+ of thirty-one millions, as now. And not only so, but the increase of our
+ population may be expected to continue, for a long time after that period,
+ as rapidly as before; because our territory will not have become full.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I do not state this inconsiderately. At the same ratio of increase which
+ we have maintained, on an average, from our first National census in 1790,
+ until that of 1860, we should, in 1900, have a population of 103,208,415.
+ And why may we not continue that ratio far beyond that period?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Our abundant room&mdash;our broad National homestead&mdash;is our ample
+ resource. Were our territory as limited as are the British Isles, very
+ certainly our population could not expand as stated. Instead of receiving
+ the foreign born, as now, we should be compelled to send part of the
+ Native-born away.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But such is not our condition. We have two million nine hundred and
+ sixty-three thousand square miles. Europe has three million and eight
+ hundred thousand, with a population averaging seventy-three and one-third
+ persons to the square mile. Why may not our Country at some time, average
+ as many? Is it less fertile? Has it more waste surface by mountains,
+ rivers, lakes, deserts, or other causes? Is it inferior to Europe in any
+ natural advantage?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If, then, we are at some time to be as populous as Europe, how soon? As
+ to when this may be, we can judge by the past and the present; as to when
+ it will be, if ever, depends much on whether we maintain the Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Several of our States are already above the average of Europe&mdash;seventy-three
+ and a third to the square mile. Massachusetts has 157; Rhode Island, 133;
+ Connecticut, 99; New York and New Jersey, each, 80. Also two other great
+ States, Pennsylvania and Ohio, are not far below, the former having 63,
+ and the latter 59. The States already above the European average, except
+ New York, have increased in as rapid a ratio, since passing that point, as
+ ever before; while no one of them is equal to some other parts of our
+ Country in natural capacity for sustaining a dense population.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Taking the Nation in the aggregate, and we find its population and ratio
+ of increase, for the several decennial periods, to be as follows:
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ YEAR. POPULATION. RATIO OF INCREASE
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ 1790&mdash; 3,929,827
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ 1800&mdash; 5,305,937 &mdash;35.02 Per Cent.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ 1810&mdash; 7,239,814 &mdash;36.45
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ 1820&mdash; 9,638,131 &mdash;33.13
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ 1830&mdash; 12,866,020 &mdash;33.49
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ 1840&mdash; 17,069,453 &mdash;32.67
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ 1850&mdash; 23,191,876 &mdash;35.87
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ 1860&mdash; 31,443,790 &mdash;35.58
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ "This shows an average Decennial Increase of 34.69 per cent. in population
+ through the seventy years from our first to our last census yet taken. It
+ is seen that the ratio of increase, at no one of these seven periods, is
+ either two per cent. below or two per cent. above the average; thus
+ showing how inflexible, and, consequently, how reliable, the law of
+ Increase, in our case, is.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Assuming that it will continue, gives the following results:
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ YEAR. POPULATION.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ 1870&mdash; 42,323,041
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ 1880&mdash; 56,967,216
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ 1890&mdash; 76,677,872
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ 1900&mdash; 103,208,415
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ 1910&mdash; 138,918,526
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ 1920&mdash; 186,984,335
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ 1930&mdash; 251,680,914
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ "These figures show that our Country may be as populous as Europe now is
+ at some point between 1920 and 1930&mdash;say about 1925&mdash;our
+ territory, at seventy-three and a third persons to the square mile, being
+ of capacity to contain 217,186,000.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "And we will reach this, too, if we do not ourselves relinquish the chance
+ by the folly and evils of Disunion or by long and exhausting War springing
+ from the only great element of National discord among us. While it cannot
+ be foreseen exactly how much one huge example of Secession, breeding
+ lesser ones indefinitely, would retard population, civilization and
+ prosperity, no one can doubt that the extent of it would be very great and
+ injurious.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The proposed Emancipation would shorten the War, perpetuate Peace, insure
+ this increase of population, and proportionately the wealth of the
+ Country. With these, we should pay all the Emancipation would cost,
+ together with our other debt, easier than we should pay our other debt
+ without it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If we had allowed our old National debt to run at six per cent. per
+ annum, simple interest, from the end of our Revolutionary Struggle until
+ to-day, without paying anything on either principal or interest, each man
+ of us would owe less upon that debt now than each man owed upon it then;
+ and this because our increase of men through the whole period has been
+ greater than six per cent.; has run faster than the interest upon the
+ debt. Thus, time alone, relieves a debtor Nation, so long as its
+ population increases faster than unpaid interest accumulates on its debt.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "This fact would be no excuse for delaying payment of what is justly due,
+ but it shows the great importance of time in this connection&mdash;the
+ great advantage of a policy by which we shall not have to pay until we
+ number a hundred millions, what, by a different policy, we would have to
+ pay now, when we number but thirty-one millions. In a word, it shows that
+ a dollar will be much harder to pay for the War, than will be a dollar for
+ Emancipation on the proposed plan. And then the latter will cost no blood,
+ no precious life. It will be a saving of both.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "As to the Second Article, I think it would be impracticable to return to
+ Bondage the class of Persons therein contemplated. Some of them,
+ doubtless, in the property sense, belong to loyal owners and hence
+ provision is made in this Article for compensating such.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The Third Article relates to the future of the Freed people. It does not
+ oblige, but merely authorizes, Congress to aid in colonizing such as may
+ consent. This ought not to be regarded as objectionable on the one hand or
+ on the other, insomuch as it comes to nothing, unless by the mutual
+ consent of the people to be deported, and the American voters, through
+ their Representatives in Congress.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I cannot make it better known than it already is, that I strongly favor
+ colonization. And yet I wish to say there is an objection urged against
+ free Colored persons remaining in the Country which is largely imaginary,
+ if not sometimes malicious.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It is insisted that their presence would injure and displace White labor
+ and White laborers. If there ever could be a proper time for mere catch
+ arguments, that time surely is not now. In times like the present men
+ should utter nothing for which they would not willingly be responsible
+ through Time and in Eternity.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Is it true, then, that Colored people can displace any more White labor
+ by being Free, than by remaining Slaves? If they stay in their old places,
+ they jostle no White laborers; if they leave their old places, they leave
+ them open to White laborers. Logically, there is neither more nor less of
+ it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Emancipation, even without deportation, would probably enhance the wages
+ of White labor, and, very surely would not reduce them. Thus, the
+ customary amount of labor would still have to be performed; the freed
+ people would surely not do more than their old proportion of it and, very
+ probably, for a time would do less, leaving an increased part to White
+ laborers, bringing their labor into greater demand, and consequently
+ enhancing the wages of it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "With deportation, even to a limited extent, enhanced wages to White labor
+ is mathematically certain. Labor is like any other commodity in the
+ market-increase the demand for it and you increase the price of it. Reduce
+ the supply of Black labor by colonizing the Black laborer out of the
+ Country, and by precisely so much you increase the demand for and wages of
+ White labor.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But it is dreaded that the freed people will swarm forth and cover the
+ whole Land! Are they not already in the Land? Will liberation make them
+ any more numerous? Equally distributed among the Whites of the whole
+ Country, there would be but one Colored, in seven Whites. Could the one,
+ in any way, greatly disturb the seven?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "There are many communities now, having more than one free Colored person
+ to seven Whites; and this, without any apparent consciousness of evil from
+ it. The District of Columbia, and the States of Maryland and Delaware, are
+ all in this condition. The District has more than one free Colored to six
+ Whites; and yet, in its frequent petitions to Congress I believe it has
+ never presented the presence of free Colored persons as one of its
+ grievances.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But why should Emancipation South, send the freed people North? people of
+ any color, seldom run, unless there be something to run from. Heretofore,
+ Colored people, to some extent, have fled North from bondage, and now,
+ perhaps, from both bondage and destitution. But if gradual Emancipation
+ and deportation be adopted, they will have neither to flee from.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Their old masters will give them wages at least until new laborers can be
+ procured; and the freed men, in turn, will gladly give their labor for the
+ wages, till new homes can be found for them, in congenial climes, and with
+ people of their own blood and race.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "This proposition can be trusted on the mutual interests involved. And, in
+ any event, cannot the North decide for itself, whether to receive them?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Again, as practice proves more than theory, in any case, has there been
+ any irruption of Colored people Northward because of the abolishment of
+ Slavery in this District last Spring? What I have said of the proportion
+ of free Colored persons to the Whites in the District is from the census
+ of 1860, having no reference to persons called Contrabands, nor to those
+ made free by the Act of Congress abolishing Slavery here.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The plan consisting of these Articles is recommended, not but that a
+ restoration of the National authority would be accepted without its
+ adoption.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Nor will the War, nor proceedings under the Proclamation of September 22,
+ 1862, be stayed because of the recommendation of this plan. Its timely
+ adoption, I doubt not, would bring restoration, and thereby stay both.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "And, notwithstanding this plan, the recommendation that Congress provides
+ by law for compensating any State which may adopt Emancipation before this
+ plan shall have been acted upon, is hereby earnestly renewed. Such would
+ be only an advance part of the plan, and the same arguments apply to both.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "This plan is recommended as a means, not in exclusion of, but additional
+ to, all others, for restoring and preserving the National authority
+ throughout the Union. The subject is presented exclusively in its
+ economical aspect.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The plan would, I am confident, secure Peace more speedily, and maintain
+ it more permanently, than can be done by force alone; while all it would
+ cost, considering amounts, and manner of payment, and times of payment,
+ would be easier paid than will be the additional cost of the War, if we
+ rely solely upon force. It is much, very much, that it would cost no blood
+ at all.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The plan is proposed as permanent Constitutional Law. It cannot become
+ such without the concurrence of, first, two-thirds of Congress, and
+ afterward, three-fourths of the Slave States. The requisite three-fourths
+ of the States will necessarily include seven of the Slave States. Their
+ concurrence, if obtained, will give assurance of their severally adopting
+ Emancipation at no very distant day upon the new Constitutional terms.
+ This assurance would end the struggle now and save the Union forever.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I do not forget the gravity which should characterize a paper addressed
+ to the Congress of the Nation by the Chief Magistrate of the Nation. Nor
+ do I forget that some of you are my seniors, nor that many of you have
+ more experience than I in the conduct of public affairs. Yet I trust that
+ in view of the great responsibility resting upon me, you will perceive no
+ want of respect to yourselves in any undue earnestness I may seem to
+ display.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Is it doubted, then, that the plan I propose, if adopted, would shorten
+ the War, and thus lessen its expenditure of money and of blood? Is it
+ doubted that it would restore the National authority and National
+ prosperity, and perpetuate both indefinitely? Is it doubted that we here&mdash;Congress
+ and Executive&mdash;can secure its adoption; will not the good people
+ respond to a united and earnest appeal from us? Can we, can they, by any
+ other means so certainly or so speedily assure these vital objects; we can
+ succeed only by concert.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It is not, 'Can any of us imagine better?' but,'Can we all do better?'
+ Object whatsoever is possible, still the question recurs, 'Can we do
+ better? The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present.
+ The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the
+ occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must
+ disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our Country.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We, of this Congress and this
+ Administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal
+ significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery
+ trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor, to
+ the latest generation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We say we are for the Union. The World will not forget that we say this.
+ We know how to save the Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The World knows we do know how to save it. We even we here&mdash;hold the
+ power, and bear the responsibility.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In giving Freedom to the Slave, we assure Freedom to the Free-Honorable
+ alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly
+ lose, the last, best hope of Earth. Other means may succeed; this could
+ not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just&mdash;a way which, if
+ followed, the World would forever applaud, and God must forever bless.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "ABRAHAM LINCOLN."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The popular Branch of Congress responded with heartiness to what Mr.
+ Lincoln had done. On December 11, 1862, resolutions were offered by Mr.
+ Yeaman in the House of Representatives, as follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate Concurring), That
+ the Proclamation of the President of the United States, of date the 22d of
+ September, 1862, is not warranted by the Constitution.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved, That the policy of Emancipation as indicated in that
+ Proclamation, is not calculated to hasten the restoration of Peace, was
+ not well chosen as a War measure, and is an assumption of power dangerous
+ to the rights of citizens and to the perpetuity of a Free People."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ These resolutions were laid on the table by 95 yeas to 47 nays&mdash;the
+ yeas all Republicans, save three, and the nays all Democrats save five.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On December 15, 1862, Mr. S. C. Fessenden, of Maine, offered resolutions
+ to the House, in these words:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved, That the Proclamation of the President of the United States, of
+ the date of 22d September, 1862, is warranted by the Constitution.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved, That the policy of Emancipation, as indicated in that
+ Proclamation, is well adapted to hasten the restoration of Peace, was well
+ chosen as a War measure, and is an exercise of power with proper regard
+ for the rights of the States, and the perpetuity of Free Government."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ These resolutions were adopted by 78 yeas to 52 nays&mdash;the yeas all
+ Republicans, save two, and the nays all Democrats, save seven.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Proclamation of September 22d, 1862, was very generally endorsed and
+ upheld by the People at large; and, in accordance with its promise, it was
+ followed at the appointed time, January 1st, 1863, by the supplemental
+ Proclamation specifically Emancipating the Slaves in the rebellious parts
+ of the United States&mdash;in the following terms:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "WHEREAS, On the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord
+ one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a Proclamation was issued by the
+ President of the United States, containing, among other things, the
+ following, to wit:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand
+ eight hundred and sixty-three, all Persons held as Slaves within any
+ State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in
+ Rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and
+ forever Free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including
+ the Military and Naval Authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the
+ Freedom of such Persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such
+ Persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual
+ Freedom.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'That the Executive will, on the First day of January aforesaid, by
+ Proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which
+ the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in Rebellion against the
+ United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall
+ on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United
+ States, by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the
+ qualified voters of such States shall have participated, shall, in the
+ absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence
+ that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in Rebellion against
+ the United States.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Now, therefore, I ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, by
+ virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and
+ Navy of the United States, in time of actual armed Rebellion against the
+ authority and Government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary
+ War measure for suppressing said Rebellion, do, on this First day of
+ January, in the Year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
+ sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly
+ proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days from the day first
+ above mentioned, Order and designate as the States and parts of States
+ wherein the people thereof, respectively, are this day in Rebellion
+ against the United States, the following, to wit:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes of St. Bernard,
+ Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension,
+ Assumption, Terre Bonne, Lafouche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans,
+ including the City of New Orleans,) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida,
+ Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the
+ forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of
+ Berkeley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and
+ Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which
+ excepted parts are for the present left precisely as if this Proclamation
+ were not issued.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do Order and
+ declare that all Persons held as Slaves within said designated States and
+ parts of States are, and henceforward shall be, Free; and that the
+ Executive Government of the United States, including the Military and
+ Naval authorities thereof; will recognize and maintain the Freedom of said
+ Persons.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be Free, to abstain
+ from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence; and I recommend to
+ them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable
+ wages.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "And I further declare and make known that such Persons, of suitable
+ condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to
+ garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels
+ of all sorts in said service.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted
+ by the Constitution upon Military necessity, I invoke the considerate
+ judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of
+ the United States to be affixed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Done at the City of Washington, this First day of January, in the year of
+ Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the
+ Independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "By the President:<br /> "ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkfremont" id="linkfremont"></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="p368-fremont.jpg (70K)" src="images/p368-fremont.jpg" style="width:100%;"
+ /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch19" id="linkch19"></a><br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ CHAPTER XIX.<br /> <br /> HISTORICAL REVIEW.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Let us now refresh recollection by glancing backward over the history of
+ our Country, and we shall see, as recorded in these pages, that, from the
+ first, there existed in this Nation a class of individuals greedily
+ ambitious of power and determined to secure and maintain control of this
+ Government; that they left unturned no stone which would contribute to the
+ fostering and to the extension of African Slavery; that, hand in hand with
+ African Slavery&mdash;and as a natural corollary to it&mdash;they
+ advocated Free Trade as a means of degrading Free White labor to the level
+ of Black Slave labor, and thus increasing their own power; that from the
+ first, ever taking advantage of the general necessities of the Union, they
+ arrogantly demanded and received from a brow-beaten People, concession
+ after concession, and compromise after compromise; that every possible
+ pretext and occasion was seized by them to increase, consolidate, and
+ secure their power, and to extend the territorial limits over which their
+ peculiar Pro-Slavery and Pro-Free-Trade doctrines prevailed; and that
+ their nature was so exacting, and their greed so rapacious, that it was
+ impossible ever to satisfy them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Nor were they burdened with over-much of that high sense of honor&mdash;a
+ quality of which they often vaunted themselves&mdash;which impelled others
+ to stand by their agreements. It seemed as though they considered the most
+ sacred promises and covenants of no account, and made only to be trampled
+ upon, when in the way of their Moloch.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ We remember the bitter Slavery agitation in Congress over the admission of
+ the State of Missouri, and how it eventuated in the Missouri Compromise.
+ That compromise, we have seen, they afterward trod upon, and broke, with
+ as little compunction as they would have stepped upon and crushed a toad.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ They felt their own growing power, and gloried in their strength and
+ arrogance; and Northern timidity became a scoff and by-word in their
+ mouths.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The fact is, that from its very conception, as well as birth, they hated
+ and opposed the Union, because they disliked a Republican and preferred a
+ Monarchical form of Government. Their very inability to prevent the
+ consummation of that Union, imbittered them. Hence their determination to
+ seize every possible occasion and pretext afterward to destroy it,
+ believing, as they doubtless did, that upon the crumbled and mouldering
+ ruins of a dissevered Union and ruptured Republic, Monarchical ideas might
+ the more easily take root and grow. But experience had already taught them
+ that it would be long before their real object could even be covertly
+ hinted at, and that in the meantime it must be kept out of sight by the
+ agitation of other political issues. The formulation and promulgation
+ therefore, by Jefferson, in the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798, and by
+ Madison, in the Virginia Resolutions of 1799, of the doctrine of States
+ Rights already referred to, was a perfect "God-send" to these men. For it
+ not only enabled them to keep from public view and knowledge their
+ ultimate aim and purpose, but constituted the whip which they thenceforth
+ everlastingly flourished and cracked over the shrinking heads of other and
+ more patriotic people&mdash;the whip with which, through the litter of
+ their broken promises, they ruthlessly rode into, and, for so long a
+ period of years held on to, supreme power and place in the Land.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Including within the scope of States Rights, the threats of Nullification,
+ Disunion and Secession&mdash;ideas abhorrent to the Patriot's mind&mdash;small
+ wonder is it that, in those days, every fresh demand made by these
+ political autocrats was tremblingly acceded to, until patience and
+ concession almost utterly exhausted themselves.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Originally disturbing only South Carolina and Georgia to any extent, these
+ ambitious men, who believed in anything rather than a Republic, and who
+ were determined to destroy the Union, gradually spread the spirit of
+ jealousy and discontent into other States of the South; their immediate
+ object being to bring the Southern States into the closest possible
+ relations the one with the other; to inspire them all with common
+ sympathies and purposes; to compact and solidify them, so that in all
+ coming movements against the other States of the Union, they might move
+ with proportionately increased power, and force, and effect, because of
+ such unity of aim and strength.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This spirit of Southern discontent, and jealousy of the Northern States,
+ was, as we have seen, artfully fanned by the Conspirators, in heated
+ discussions over the Tariff Acts of 1824, and 1828, and 1832, until, by
+ the latter date, the people of the Cotton-States were almost frantic, and
+ ready to fight over their imaginary grievances. Then it was that the
+ Conspirators thought the time had come, for which they had so long and so
+ earnestly prayed and worked, when the cotton Sampson should wind his
+ strong arms around the pillars of the Constitution and pull down the great
+ Temple of our Union&mdash;that they might rear upon its site another and a
+ stronger edifice, dedicated not to Freedom, but to Free-Trade and to other
+ false gods.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ South Carolina was to lead off, and the other Cotton States would follow.
+ South Carolina did lead off&mdash;but the other Cotton-States did not
+ follow.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It has been shown in these pages how South Carolina declared the Tariff
+ Acts aforesaid, null and void, armed herself to resist force, and declared
+ that any attempt of the general Government to enforce those Acts would
+ cause her to withdraw from the Union. But Jackson as we know throttled the
+ treason with so firm a grip that Nullification and Secession and Disunion
+ were at once paralyzed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The concessions to the domineering South, in Clay's Compromise Tariff of
+ 1833, let the Conspirators down easily, so to speak; and they pretended to
+ be satisfied. But they were satisfied only as are the thirsty sands of
+ Africa with the passing shower.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Conspirators had, however, after all, made substantial gains. They had
+ established a precedent for an attempt to secede. That was something. They
+ had demonstrated that a single Southern State could stand up, armed and
+ threatening, strutting, blustering, and bullying, and at least make faces
+ at the general Government without suffering any very dreadful
+ consequences. That was still more.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ They had also ascertained that, by adopting such a course, a single
+ Southern State could force concessions from the fears of the rest of the
+ United States. That was worth knowing, because the time might come, when
+ it might be desirable not only for one but for all the Southern States to
+ secede upon some other pretext, and when it would be awkward, and would
+ interfere with the Disunion programme, to have the other States either
+ offer or make concessions.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ They had also learned the valuable lesson that the single issue of
+ Free-Trade was not sufficiently strong of itself to unite all the Southern
+ States in a determination to secede, and thus dissolve the Union. They saw
+ they must agitate some other issue to unify the South more thoroughly and
+ justify Disunion. On looking over the whole field they concluded that the
+ Slavery question would best answer their purpose, and they adopted it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It was doubtless a full knowledge of the fact that they had adopted it,
+ that led Jackson to make the declaration, heretofore in these pages given,
+ which has been termed "prophetic." At any rate, thenceforth the programme
+ of the Conspirators was to agitate the Slavery question in all ways
+ possible, so as to increase, extend and solidify the influence and
+ strength of the Slave power; strain the bonds uniting them with the Free
+ States; and weaken the Free States by dividing them upon the question. At
+ the same time the Free-Trade question was to be pressed forward to a
+ triumphal issue, so that the South might be enriched and strengthened, and
+ the North impoverished and weakened, by the result.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ That was their programme, in the rough, and it was relentlessly adhered
+ to. Free-Trade and Slavery by turns, if not together, from that time
+ onward, were ever at the front, agitating our People both North and South,
+ and not only consolidating the Southern States on those lines, as the
+ Conspirators designed, but also serving ultimately to consolidate, to some
+ extent&mdash;in a manner quite unlooked for by the Conspirators&mdash;Northern
+ sentiment, on the opposite lines of Protection and Freedom.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Compromise Tariff Act of 1833&mdash;which Clay was weak enough to
+ concede, and even stout old Jackson to permit to become law without his
+ signature&mdash;gave to the Conspirators great joy for years afterward, as
+ they witnessed the distress and disaster brought by it to Northern homes
+ and incomes&mdash;not distress and disaster alone, but absolute and
+ apparently irreparable ruin.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The reaction occasioned by this widespread ruin having brought the Whigs
+ into power, led to the enactment of the Protective-Tariff of 1842 and&mdash;to
+ the chagrin of the Conspirators&mdash;industrial prosperity and plenty to
+ the Free North again ensued.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Even as Cain hated his brother Abel because his sacrifices were acceptable
+ in the sight of God, while his own were not, so the Southern Conspirators,
+ and other Slave-owners also, had, by this time, come to hate the Northern
+ free-thinking, free-acting, freedom-loving mechanic and laboring man,
+ because the very fact and existence of his Godgiven Freedom and
+ higher-resulting civilization was a powerful and perpetual protest against
+ the&mdash;abounding iniquities and degradations of Slavery as practiced by
+ themselves.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Hence, by trickery, by cajoling the People With his, and their own,
+ assurances that he was in favor of Protection&mdash;they secured the
+ election in 1844 of a Free-Trade President, the consequent repeal of the
+ Protective-Tariff of 1842&mdash;which had repaired the dreadful mischief
+ wrought by the Compromise Act of 1833&mdash;and the enactment of the
+ infamous Free-Trade Tariff of 1846, which blasted the manufacturing and
+ farming and trade industries of the Country again, as with fire.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The discovery of the great gold fields of California, and the enormous
+ amount of the precious metal poured by her for many succeeding years into
+ the lap of the Nation, alone averted what otherwise would inevitably have
+ been total ruin. As it was, in 1860, the National credit had sunk to a
+ lower point than ever before in all its history. It was confessedly
+ bankrupt, and ruin stalked abroad throughout the United States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But while, with rapid pen, the carrying out of that part of the Southern
+ Conspirators' Disunion programme which related to Free-Trade, is thus
+ brought again to mind, the other part of that programme, which related to
+ Slavery, must not be neglected or overlooked. On this question they had
+ determined, as we have seen, to agitate without ceasing&mdash;having in
+ view, primarily, as already hinted, the extension of Slave territory and
+ the resulting increase of Slave power in the Land; and, ulteriorly, the
+ solidifying of that power, and Disunion of the Republic, with a view to
+ its conversion into an Oligarchy, if not a Monarchy.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The bitterness of the struggle over the admission of Missouri as a Slave
+ State in 1820, under the Missouri Compromise, was to be revived by the
+ Conspirators, at the earliest possible moment.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Accordingly in 1836&mdash;only three years after the failure of
+ Nullification in South Carolina, the Territory, of Arkansas was forced in
+ as a Slave State, and simultaneously the Slave-owning henchmen of the
+ Conspirators, previously settled there for the purpose, proclaimed the
+ secession from Mexico, and independence, of Texas. This was quickly
+ followed, in 1844, by Calhoun's hastily negotiated treaty of annexation
+ with Texas; its miscarriage in the Senate; and the Act of March 2, 1845&mdash;with
+ its sham compromise&mdash;consenting to the admission of Texas to the
+ Union of States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Then came the War with Mexico; the attempt by means of the Wilmot proviso
+ to check the growing territorial-greed and rapacity of the Slave-power;
+ and the acquisition by the United States, of California and New Mexico,
+ under the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, which brought Peace.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Then occurred the agitation over the organization of Territorial
+ governments for Oregon, California, and New Mexico, and the strong effort
+ to extend to the Pacific Ocean the Missouri-Compromise line of 36 30', and
+ to extend to all future Territorial organizations the principles of that
+ compromise.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Then came the struggle in 1850, over the admission of California as a
+ State, and New Mexico and Utah to Territorial organization&mdash;ending in
+ the passage of Clay's Compromise measures of 1850.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Yet still the Southern Conspirators&mdash;whose forces, both in Congress
+ and out, were now well-disciplined, compacted, solidified, experienced,
+ and bigotedly enthusiastic and overbearing&mdash;were not satisfied. It
+ was not their intention to be satisfied with anything less than the
+ destruction of the Union and of our Republican form of Government. The
+ trouble was only beginning, and, so far, almost everything had progressed
+ to their liking. The work must proceed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In 1852-3 they commenced the Kansas-Nebraska agitation; and, what with
+ their incessant political and colonizing movements in those Territories;
+ the frequent and dreadful atrocities committed by their tools, the
+ Border-ruffians; the incessant turmoil created by cruelties to their
+ Fugitive-slaves; their persistent efforts to change the Supreme Court to
+ their notions; these&mdash;with the decision and opinion of the Supreme
+ Court in the Dred Scott case&mdash;together worked the Slavery question up
+ to a dangerous degree of heat, by the year 1858.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And, by 1860&mdash;when the people of the Free States, grown sick unto
+ death of the rule of the Slave-power in the General Government, arose in
+ their political might, and shook off this "Old Man of the Sea," electing,
+ beyond cavil and by the Constitutional mode, to the Presidential office, a
+ man who thoroughly represented in himself their conscience, on the one
+ hand, which instinctively revolted against human Slavery as a wrong
+ committed against the laws of God, and their sense of justice and equity
+ on the other, which would not lightly overlook, or interfere with vested
+ rights under the Constitution and the laws of man&mdash;the Conspirators
+ had reached the point at which they had been aiming ever since that
+ failure in 1832 of their first attempt at Disunion, in South Carolina.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ They had now succeeded in irritating both the Free and the Slave-holding
+ Sections of our Country against each other, to an almost unbearable point;
+ had solidified the Southern States on the Slavery and Free-Trade
+ questions; and at last&mdash;the machinations of these same Conspirators
+ having resulted in a split in the Democratic Party, and the election of
+ the Republican candidate to the Presidency, as the embodiment of the
+ preponderating National belief in Freedom and equality to all before the
+ Law, with Protection to both Labor and Capital&mdash;they also had the
+ pretext for which they had both been praying and scheming and preparing
+ all those long, long years&mdash;they, and some of their fathers before
+ them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It cannot be too often repeated that to secure a Monarchy, or at least an
+ Oligarchy, over which the leading Conspirators should rule for life&mdash;whether
+ that Monarchy or that Oligarchy should comprise the States of the South by
+ themselves, or all the States on a new basis of Union&mdash;was the great
+ ultimate aim of the Conspirators; and this could be secured only by first
+ disrupting the then existing Republican Union of Republican States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The doctrine of the right of Secession had now long been taught, and had
+ become a part of the Southern Slave-holders' Democratic creed, as fully as
+ had the desirability of Slavery and Free-Trade&mdash;and even many of the
+ Northern Democrats, and some Republicans as well, were not much inclined
+ to dispute, although they cared not to canvass, the point.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The programme of action was therefore much the same as had been laid down
+ in the first attempt in 1832:&mdash;first South Carolina would secede and
+ declare her independence; then the other Slave States in quick succession
+ would do likewise; then a new Constitution for a solid Southern Union;
+ then, if necessary, a brief War to cement it&mdash;which would end, of
+ course, in the independence of the South at least, but more probably in
+ the utter subjugation and humiliation of the Free States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ When the time should come, during or after this War&mdash;as come, in
+ their belief, it would&mdash;for a change in the form of Government, then
+ they could seize the first favorable occasion and change it. At present,
+ however, the cry must be for "independence." That accomplished, the rest
+ would be easy. And until that independence was accomplished, no terms of
+ any sort, no settlement of any kind, were either to be proposed or
+ accepted by them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ These were their dreams, their ambitions, their plans; and the tenacious
+ courage with which they stuck to them "through thick and thin," through
+ victory and disaster, were worthy of a better cause.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ While, therefore, the pretexts for Secession were "Slavery" and
+ "Free-Trade"&mdash;both of which were alleged to be jeopardized in the
+ election and inauguration of Abraham Lincoln&mdash;yet, no sooner had
+ hostilities commenced between the seceding States and the Union, than they
+ declared to the World that their fight was not for Slavery, but for
+ Independence.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ They dared not acknowledge to the World that they fought for Slavery, lest
+ the sympathies of the World should be against them. But it was well
+ understood by the Southern masses, as well as the other people of the
+ Union, that both Slavery and Free-Trade were involved in the fight&mdash;as
+ much as independence, and the consequent downfall of the Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ President Lincoln, however, had made up his mind to do all he properly
+ could to placate the South. None knew better than he, the history of this
+ Secession movement, as herein described. None knew better than he, the
+ fell purpose and spirit of the Conspirators. Yet still, his kindly heart
+ refused to believe that the madness of the Southern leaders was so
+ frenzied, and their hatred of Free men, Free labor, and Free institutions,
+ so implacable, that they would wilfully refuse to listen to reason and
+ ever insist on absolutely inadmissible terms of reconciliation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ From the very beginning of his Administration, he did all that was
+ possible to mollify their resentment and calm their real or pretended
+ fears. Nor was this from any dread or doubt as to what the outcome of an
+ armed Conflict would be; for, in his speech at Cincinnati, in the Autumn
+ of 1859, he had said, while addressing himself to Kentuckians and other
+ Southern men: "Why, gentlemen, I think you are as gallant and as brave men
+ as live; that you can fight as bravely in a good cause, man for man, as
+ any other people living; that you have shown yourselves capable of this
+ upon various occasions; but man for man, you are not better than we are,
+ and there are not so many of you as there are of us. You will never make
+ much of a hand at whipping us. If we were fewer in numbers than you, I
+ think that you could whip us; if we were equal it would likely be a drawn
+ battle; but being inferior in numbers, you will make nothing by attempting
+ to master us."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And early in 1860, in his famous New York Cooper Institute speech he had
+ said "Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us,
+ to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it." He plainly believed
+ to the end, that "right makes might;" and he believed in the power of
+ numbers&mdash;as also did Napoleon, if we may judge from his famous
+ declaration that "The God of battles is always on the side of the heaviest
+ battalions." Yet, so believing, President Lincoln exerted himself in all
+ possible ways to mollify the South. His assurances, however, were far from
+ satisfying the Conspirators. They never had been satisfied with anything
+ in the shape of concession. They never would be. They had been
+ dissatisfied with and had broken all the compacts and compromises, and had
+ spit upon all the concessions, of the past; and nothing would now satisfy
+ them, short of the impossible.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ They were not satisfied now with Lincoln's promise that the Government
+ would not assail them&mdash;organized as, by this time, they were into a
+ so-called Southern "Confederacy" of States&mdash;and they proceeded
+ accordingly to assail that Government which would not assail them. They
+ opened fire on Fort Sumter.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This was done, as has duly appeared, in the hope that the shedding of
+ blood would not only draw the States of the Southern Confederacy more
+ closely together in their common cause, and prevent the return of any of
+ them to their old allegiance, but also to so influence the wavering
+ allegiance to the Union, of the Border States, as to strengthen that
+ Confederacy and equivalently weaken that Union, by their Secession.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas, of the Border States
+ that were wavering, were thus gathered into the Confederate fold, by this
+ policy of blood-spilling&mdash;carried bodily thither, by a desperate and
+ frenzied minority, against the wishes of a patriotic majority.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Virginia, especially, was a great accession to the Rebel cause. She
+ brought to it the prestige of her great name. To secure the active
+ cooperation of "staid old Virginia," "the Mother of Statesmen," in the
+ struggle, was, in the estimation of the Rebels, an assurance of victory to
+ their cause. And the Secession of Virginia for a time had a depressing
+ influence upon the friends of the Union everywhere.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The refusal of West Virginia to go with the rest of the State into
+ Rebellion, was, to be sure, some consolation; and the checkmating of the
+ Conspirators' designs to secure to the Confederacy the States of Maryland,
+ Kentucky and Missouri, helped the confidence of Union men. In fact, as
+ long as the National Capital was secure, it was felt that the Union was
+ still safe.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But while the Confederacy, by the firing upon Fort Sumter, and thus
+ assailing that Government which Lincoln had promised would not assail the
+ Rebels, had gained much in securing the aid of the States mentioned, yet
+ the Union Cause, by that very act, had gained more. For the echoes of the
+ Rebel guns of Fort Moultrie were the signal for such an uprising of the
+ Patriots of the North and West and Middle States, as, for the moment,
+ struck awe to the hearts of Traitors and inspired with courage and
+ hopefulness the hearts of Union men throughout the Land.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Moreover it put the Rebels in their proper attitude, in the eyes of the
+ World&mdash;as the first aggressors&mdash;and thus deprived them, to a
+ certain extent, of that moral support from the outside which flows from
+ sympathy.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Those echoes were the signal, not only of that call to arms which led to
+ such an uprising, but for the simultaneous calling together of the
+ Thirty-seventh Congress of the United States in Extra Session&mdash;the
+ Congress whose measures ultimately enabled President Lincoln and the Union
+ Armies to subdue the Rebellion and save the Union&mdash;the Congress whose
+ wise and patriotic deliberations resulted in the raising of those gigantic
+ Armies and Navies, and in supplying the unlimited means, through the
+ Tariff and National Bank Systems and otherwise, by which those tremendous
+ Forces could be both created and effectively operated&mdash;the Congress
+ which cooperated with President Lincoln and those Forces in preparing the
+ way for the destruction of the very corner-stone of the Confederacy,
+ Slavery itself.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkcameron" id="linkcameron"></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="p384-cameron.jpg (77K)" src="images/p384-cameron.jpg" style="width:100%;"
+ /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch20" id="linkch20"></a><br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ CHAPTER XX.<br /> <br /> LINCOLN'S TROUBLES AND TEMPTATIONS.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Rebels themselves, as has already been noted, by the employment of
+ their Slaves in the construction of earthworks and other fortifications,
+ and even in battle, at Bull Run and elsewhere, against the Union Forces,
+ brought the Thirty-seventh Congress, as well as the Military Commanders,
+ and the President, to an early consideration of the Slavery question. But
+ it was none the less a question to be treated with the utmost delicacy.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Union men, as well as the Secession-sympathizers, of Kentucky and
+ Tennessee and Missouri and Maryland, largely believed in Slavery, or at
+ least were averse to any interference with it. These, would not see that
+ the right to destroy that unholy Institution could pertain to any
+ authority, or be justified by any exigency; much less that, as held by
+ some authorities, its existence ceased at the moment when its hands, or
+ those of the State in which it had existed, were used to assail the
+ General Government.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ They looked with especial suspicion and distrust upon the guarded
+ utterances of the President upon all questions touching the future of the
+ Colored Race.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [At Faneuil Hall, Edward Everett is reported to have said, in October of
+ 1864:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It is very doubtful whether any act of the Government of the United
+ States was necessary to liberate the Slaves in a State which is in
+ Rebellion. There is much reason for the opinion that, by the simple act
+ of levying War against the United States, the relation of Slavery was
+ terminated; certainly, so far as concerns the duty of the United States
+ to recognize it, or to refrain from interfering with it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Not being founded on the Law of Nature, and resting solely on positive
+ Local Law&mdash;and that, not of the United States&mdash;as soon as it
+ becomes either the motive or pretext of an unjust War against the Union&mdash;an
+ efficient instrument in the hands of the Rebels for carrying on the War&mdash;source
+ of Military strength to the Rebellion, and of danger to the Government
+ at home and abroad, with the additional certainty that, in any event but
+ its abandonment, it will continue, in all future time to work these
+ mischiefs, who can suppose it is the duty of the United States to
+ continue to recognize it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "To maintain this would be a contradiction in terms. It would be two
+ recognize a right in a Rebel master to employ his Slave in acts of
+ Rebellion and Treason, and the duty of the Slave to aid and abet his
+ master in the commission of the greatest crime known to the Law. No such
+ absurdity can be admitted; and any citizen of the United States, from
+ thee President down, who should, by any overt act, recognize the duty of
+ a Slave to obey a Rebel master in a hostile operation, would himself be
+ giving aid and comfort to the Enemy."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ They believed that when Fremont issued the General Order&mdash;heretofore
+ given in full&mdash;in which that General declared that "The property,
+ real and personal, of all persons, in the State of Missouri, who shall
+ take up arms against the United States, or who shall be directly proven to
+ have taken an active part with their enemies in the field, is declared to
+ be confiscated to the public use, and their Slaves, if any they have, are
+ hereby declared Free men," it must have been with the concurrence, if not
+ at the suggestion, of the President; and, when the President subsequently,
+ September 11,1861, made an open Order directing that this clause of
+ Fremont's General Order, or proclamation, should be "so modified, held,
+ and construed, as to conform to, and not to transcend, the provisions on
+ the same subject contained in the Act of Congress entitled 'An Act to
+ Confiscate Property used for Insurrectionary Purposes,' approved August 6,
+ 1861," they still were not satisfied.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [The sections of the above Act, bearing upon the matter, are the first
+ and fourth, which are in these words:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "That if, during the present or any future insurrection against the
+ Government of the United States, after the President of the United
+ States shall have declared, by proclamation, that the laws of the United
+ States are opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed, by
+ combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of
+ judicial proceedings, or by the power vested in the marshals by law, any
+ person or persons, his, her, or their agent, attorney, or employee,
+ shall purchase or acquire, sell or give, any property of whatsoever kind
+ or description, with intent to use or employ the same, or suffer the
+ same to be used or employed, in aiding, abetting, or promoting such
+ insurrection or resistance to the laws, or any persons engaged therein;
+ or if any person or persons, being the owner or owners of any such
+ property, shall knowingly use or employ, or consent to the use or
+ employment of the same as aforesaid, all such property is hereby
+ declared to be lawful subject of prize and capture wherever found; and
+ it shall be the duty of the President of the United States to cause the
+ same to be seized, confiscated and condemned."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ * * * * * * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "SEC. 4. That whenever hereafter, during the present insurrection
+ against the Government of the United States, any person claimed to be
+ held to Labor or Service under the law of any State shall be required or
+ permitted by the person to whom such Labor or Service is claimed to be
+ due, or by the lawful agent of such person, to take up arms against the
+ United States; or shall be required or permitted by the person to whom
+ such Labor or Service is claimed to be due, or his lawful agent, to work
+ or to be employed in or upon any fort, navy-yard, dock, armory, ship,
+ entrenchment, or in any Military or Naval service whatsoever, against
+ the Government and lawful authority of the United States, then, and in
+ every such case, the person to whom such Labor or Service is claimed to
+ be due, shall forfeit his claim to such Labor, any law of the State or
+ of the United States to the contrary notwithstanding. And whenever
+ thereafter the person claiming such Labor or Service shall seek to
+ enforce his claim, it shall be a full and sufficient answer to such
+ claim that the person whose Service or Labor is claimed had been
+ employed in hostile service against the Government of the United States,
+ contrary to the provisions of this act."
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ It seemed as impossible to satisfy these Border-State men as it had been
+ to satisfy the Rebels themselves.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Act of Congress, to which President Lincoln referred in his Order
+ modifying Fremont's proclamation, had itself been opposed by them, under
+ the lead of their most influential Representative and spokesman, Mr.
+ Crittenden, of Kentucky, in its passage through that Body. It did not
+ satisfy them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Neither had they been satisfied, when, within one year and four days after
+ "Slavery opened its batteries of Treason, upon Fort Sumter," that National
+ curse and shame was banished from the Nation's Capital by Congressional
+ enactment.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ They were not satisfied even with Mr. Lincoln's conservative suggestions
+ embodied in the Supplemental Act.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Nor were they satisfied with the General Instructions, of October 14,
+ 1861, from the War Department to its Generals, touching the employment of
+ Fugitive Slaves within the Union Lines, and the assurance of just
+ compensation to loyal masters, therein contained, although all avoidable
+ interference with the Institution was therein reprobated.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Nothing satisfied them. It was indeed one of the most curious of the many
+ phenomena of the War of the Rebellion, that when&mdash;as at the end of
+ 1861&mdash;it had become evident, as Secretary Cameron held, that it
+ "would be National suicide" to leave the Rebels in "peaceful and secure
+ possession of Slave Property, more valuable and efficient to them for War,
+ than forage, cotton, and Military stores," and that the Slaves coming
+ within our lines could not "be held by the Government as Slaves," and
+ should not be held as prisoners of War&mdash;still the loyal people of
+ these Border-States, could not bring themselves to save that Union, which
+ they professed to love, by legislation on this tender subject.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the contrary, they opposed all legislation looking to any interference
+ with such Slave property. Nothing that was proposed by Mr. Lincoln, or any
+ other, on this subject, could satisfy them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Congress enacted a law, approved March 13, 1862, embracing an additional
+ Article of War, which prohibited all officers "from employing any of the
+ forces under their respective Commands for the purpose of returning
+ Fugitives from Service or Labor who may have escaped from any persons to
+ whom such Service or Labor is claimed to be due," and prescribed that "Any
+ officer who shall be found guilty by Court-Martial of violating this
+ Article shall be dismissed from the Service." In both Houses, the loyal
+ Border-State Representatives spoke and voted against its passage.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ One week previously (March 6, 1862), President Lincoln, in an admirable
+ Message, hitherto herein given at length, found himself driven to broach
+ to Congress the subject of Emancipation. He had, in his First Annual
+ Message (December, 1861), declared that "the Union must be preserved; and
+ hence all indispensable means must be employed;" but now, as a part of the
+ War Policy, he proposed to Congress the adoption of a Joint Resolution
+ declaring "That the United States ought to cooperate with any State which
+ may adopt gradual abolishment of Slavery, giving to such State, pecuniary
+ aid, to be used by such State in its discretion, to compensate for the
+ inconveniences, public and private, produced by such change of System."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It was high time, he thought, that the idea of a gradual, compensated
+ Emancipation, should begin to occupy the minds of those interested, "so
+ that," to use his own words, "they may begin to consider whether to accept
+ or reject it," should Congress approve the suggestion.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Congress did approve, and adopt, the Joint-Resolution, as we know&mdash;despite
+ the opposition from the loyal element of the Border States&mdash;an
+ opposition made in the teeth of their concession that Mr. Lincoln, in
+ recommending its adoption, was "solely moved by a high patriotism and
+ sincere devotion to the glory of his Country."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But, consistently with their usual course, they went to the House of
+ Representatives, fresh from the Presidential presence, and, with their
+ ears still ringing with the common-sense utterances of the President, half
+ of them voted against the Resolution, while the other half refrained from
+ voting at all. And their opposition to this wise and moderate proposition
+ was mainly based upon the idea that it carried with it a threat&mdash;a
+ covert threat.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It certainly was a warning, taking it in connection with the balance of
+ the Message, but a very wise and timely one.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ These loyal Border-State men, however, could not see its wisdom, and at a
+ full meeting held upon the subject decided to oppose it, as they afterward
+ did. Its conciliatory spirit they could not comprehend; the kindly,
+ temperate warning, they would not heed. The most moderate of them all,&mdash;[Mr.
+ Crittenden of Kentucky.]&mdash;in the most moderate of his utterances,
+ could not bring himself to the belief that this Resolution was "a measure
+ exactly suited to the times."
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [And such was the fatuity existing among the Slave-holders of the Border
+ States, that not one of those Slave States had wisdom enough to take the
+ liberal offer thus made by the General Government, of compensation. They
+ afterward found their Slaves freed without compensation.]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ So, also, one month later, (April 11, 1862), when the Senate Bill
+ proposing Emancipation in the District of Columbia, was before the House,
+ the same spokesman and leader of the loyal Border-State men opposed it
+ strenuously as not being suited to the times. For, he persuasively
+ protested: "I do not say that you have not the power; but would not that
+ power be, at such a time as this, most unwisely and indiscreetly
+ exercised. That is the point. Of all the times when an attempt was ever
+ made to carry this measure, is not this the most inauspicious? Is it not a
+ time when the measure is most likely to produce danger and mischief to the
+ Country at large? So it seems to me."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It was not now, nor would it ever be, the time, to pass this, or any other
+ measure, touching the Institution of Slavery, likely to benefit that Union
+ to which these men professed such love and loyalty.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Their opposition, however, to the march of events, was of little avail&mdash;even
+ when backed, as was almost invariably the case, by the other Democratic
+ votes from the Free States. The opposition was obstructive, but not
+ effectual. For this reason it was perhaps the more irritating to the
+ Republicans, who were anxious to put Slavery where their great leader, Mr.
+ Lincoln, had long before said it should be placed&mdash;"in course of
+ ultimate extinction."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This very irritation, however, only served to press such Anti-Slavery
+ Measures more rapidly forward. By the 19th of June, 1862, a Bill "to
+ secure Freedom to all persons within the Territories of the United States"&mdash;after
+ a more strenuous fight against it than ever, on the part of Loyal and
+ Copperhead Democrats, both from the Border and Free States,&mdash;had
+ passed Congress, and been approved by President Lincoln. It provided, in
+ just so many words, "That, from and after the passage of this Act, there
+ shall be neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the
+ Territories of the United States now existing, or which may at any time
+ hereafter be formed or acquired by the United States, otherwise than in
+ punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Here, then, at last, was the great end and aim, with which Mr. Lincoln and
+ the Republican Party started out, accomplished. To repeat his phrase,
+ Slavery was certainly now in course of ultimate extinction.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But since that doctrine had been first enunciated by Mr. Lincoln, events
+ had changed the aspect of things. War had broken out, and the Slaves of
+ those engaged in armed Rebellion against the authority of the United
+ States Government, had been actually employed, as we have seen, on Rebel
+ works and fortifications whose guns were trailed upon the Armies of the
+ Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And now, the question of Slavery had ceased to be simply whether it should
+ be put in course of ultimate extinction, but whether, as a War Measure&mdash;as
+ a means of weakening the Enemy and strengthening the Union&mdash;the time
+ had not already come to extinguish it, so far, at least, as the Slaves of
+ those participating in the Rebellion, were concerned.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Congress, as has been heretofore noted, had already long and heatedly
+ debated various propositions referring to Slavery and African
+ Colonization, and had enacted such of them as, in its wisdom, were
+ considered necessary; and was now entering a further stormy period of
+ contention upon various other projects touching the Abolition of the
+ Fugitive Slave Laws, the Confiscation of Rebel Property, and the
+ Emancipation of Slaves&mdash;all of which, of course, had been, and would
+ be, vehemently assailed by the loyal Border-States men and their
+ Free-State Democratic allies.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This contention proceeded largely upon the lines of construction of that
+ clause in the Constitution of the United States and its Amendments, which
+ provides that no person shall be deprived of Life, Liberty, or Property,
+ without due process of Law, etc. The one side holding that, since the
+ beginning of our Government, Slaves had been, under this clause,
+ Unconstitutionally deprived of their Liberty; the other side holding that
+ Slaves being "property," it would be Unconstitutional under the same
+ clause, to deprive the Slave-owner of his Slave property.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Crittenden, the leader of the loyal Border-States men in Congress, was
+ at this time especially eloquent on this latter view of the Constitution.
+ In his speech of April 23, 1862, in the House of Representatives, he even
+ undertook to defend American Slavery under the shield of English Liberty!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Said he: "It is necessary for the prosperity of any Government, for peace
+ and harmony, that every man who acquires property shall feel that he shall
+ be protected in the enjoyment of it, and in his right to hold it. It
+ elevates the man; it gives him a feeling of dignity. It is the great old
+ English doctrine of Liberty. Said Lord Mansfield, the rain may beat
+ against the cabin of an Englishman, the snow may penetrate it, but the
+ King dare not enter it without the consent of its owner. That is the true
+ English spirit. It is the source of England's power."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And again: "The idea of property is deeply seated in our minds. By the
+ English Law and by the American Law you have the right to take the life of
+ any man who attempts, by violence, to take your property from you. So far
+ does the Spirit of these Laws go. Let us not break down this idea of
+ property. It is the animating spirit of the Country. Indeed it is the
+ Spirit of Liberty and Freedom."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ There was at this time, a growing belief in the minds of these loyal
+ Border-States men, that this question of Slavery-abolition was reaching a
+ crisis. They saw "the handwriting on the wall," but left no stone unturned
+ to prevent, or at least to avert for a time, the coming catastrophe. They
+ egged Congress, in the language of the distinguished Kentuckian, to "Let
+ these unnecessary measures alone, for the present;" and, as to the
+ President, they now, not only volunteered in his defense, against the
+ attacks of others, but strove also to capture him by their arch
+ flatteries.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Sir,"&mdash;said Mr. Crittenden, in one of his most eloquent bursts, in
+ the House of Representatives,&mdash;"it is not my duty, perhaps, to defend
+ the President of the United States. * * * I voted against Mr. Lincoln, and
+ opposed him honestly and sincerely; but Mr. Lincoln has won me to his
+ side. There is a niche in the Temple of Fame, a niche near to Washington,
+ which should be occupied by the statue of him who shall, save this
+ Country. Mr. Lincoln has a mighty destiny. It is for him, if he will, to
+ step into that niche. It is for him to be but President of the People of
+ the United States, and there will his statue be. But, if he choose to be,
+ in these times, a mere sectarian and a party man, that niche will be
+ reserved for some future and better Patriot. It is in his power to occupy
+ a place next Washington,&mdash;the Founder, and the Preserver, side by
+ side. Sir, Mr. Lincoln is no coward. His not doing what the Constitution
+ forbade him to do, is no proof of his cowardice."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the other hand, Owen Lovejoy, the fiery Abolitionist, the very next day
+ after the above remarks of Mr. Crittenden were delivered in the House,
+ made a great speech in reply, taking the position that "either Slavery, or
+ the Republic, must perish; and the question for us to decide is, which
+ shall it be?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He declared to the House: "You cannot put down the rebellion and restore
+ the Union, without destroying Slavery." He quoted the sublime language of
+ Curran touching the Spirit of the British Law, which consecrates the soil
+ of Britain to the genius of Universal Emancipation,
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [In these words:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I speak in the Spirit of the British law, which makes Liberty
+ commensurate with, and inseparable from, the British soil; which
+ proclaims even to the stranger and the sojourner the moment he sets his
+ foot upon British earth, that the ground on which he treads is holy, and
+ consecrated by the genius Of UNIVERSAL EMANCIPATION.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "No matter in what language his doom may have been pronounced; no matter
+ what complexion incompatible with Freedom, an Indian or an African sun
+ may have burnt upon him; no matter in what disastrous battle his Liberty
+ may have been cloven down; no matter with what solemnities he may have
+ been devoted upon the altar of Slavery; the first moment he touches the
+ sacred soil of Britain, the altar and the god sink together in the dust;
+ his Soul walks abroad in her own majesty; his Body swells beyond the
+ measure of his chains, that burst from around him, and he stands
+ redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled by the irresistible genius of
+ UNIVERSAL EMANCIPATION."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ And Cowper's verse, wherein the poet says:
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ "Slaves cannot breathe in England; if their lungs Receive our air, that
+ moment they are Free,"
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ &mdash;and, after expressing his solicitude to have this true of America,
+ as it already was true of the District of Columbia, he proceeded to say:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The gentleman from Kentucky says he has a niche for Abraham Lincoln.
+ Where is it? He pointed upward! But, Sir, should the President follow the
+ counsels of that gentleman, and become the defender and perpetuator of
+ human Slavery, he should point downward to some dungeon in the Temple of
+ Moloch, who feeds on human blood and is surrounded with fires, where are
+ forged manacles and chains for human limbs&mdash;in the crypts and
+ recesses of whose Temple, woman is scourged, and man tortured, and outside
+ whose walls are lying dogs, gorged with human flesh, as Byron describes
+ them stretched around Stamboul. That is a suitable place for the statue of
+ one who would defend and perpetuate human Slavery."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And then&mdash;after saying that "the friends of American Slavery need not
+ beslime the President with their praise. He is an Anti-Slavery man. He
+ hates human Bondage "&mdash;the orator added these glowing words:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I, too, have a niche for Abraham Lincoln; but it is in Freedom's Holy
+ Fane, and not in the blood-besmeared Temple of human Bondage; not
+ surrounded by Slaves, fetters and chains, but with the symbols of Freedom;
+ not dark with Bondage, but radiant with the light of Liberty. In that
+ niche he shall stand proudly, nobly, gloriously, with shattered fetters
+ and broken chains and slave-whips beneath his feet. If Abraham Lincoln
+ pursues the path, evidently pointed out for him in the providence of God,
+ as I believe he will, then he will occupy the proud position I have
+ indicated. That is a fame worth living for; ay, more, that is a fame worth
+ dying for, though that death led through the blood of Gethsemane and the
+ agony of the Accursed Tree. That is a fame which has glory and honor and
+ immortality and Eternal Life. Let Abraham Lincoln make himself, as I trust
+ he will, the Emancipator, the Liberator, as he has the opportunity of
+ doing, and his name shall not only be enrolled in this Earthly Temple, but
+ it will be traced on the living stones of that Temple which rears itself
+ amid the Thrones and Hierarchies of Heaven, whose top-stone is to be
+ brought in with shouting of 'Grace, grace unto it!'"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ We have seen how the loyal Border-State men, through their chosen
+ Representative&mdash;finding that their steady and unfaltering opposition
+ to all Mr. Lincoln's propositions, while quite ineffectual, did not serve
+ by any means to increase his respect for their peculiar kind of loyalty
+ &mdash;offered him posthumous honors and worship if he would but do as
+ they desired. Had they possessed the power, no doubt they would have taken
+ him up into an exceeding high mountain and have offered to him all the
+ Kingdoms of the Earth to do their bidding. But their temptations were of
+ no avail.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ President Lincoln's duty, and inclination alike&mdash;no less than the
+ earnest importunities of the Abolitionists&mdash;carried him in the
+ opposite direction; but carried him no farther than he thought it safe,
+ and wise, to go. For, in whatever he might do on this burning question of
+ Emancipation, he was determined to secure that adequate support from the
+ People without which even Presidential Proclamations are waste paper.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But now, May 9, 1862, was suddenly issued by General Hunter, commanding
+ the "Department of the South," comprising Georgia, Florida and South
+ Carolina, his celebrated Order announcing Martial Law, in those States, as
+ a Military Necessity, and&mdash;as "Slavery and Martial Law in a Free
+ Country are altogether incompatible"&mdash;declaring all Slaves therein,
+ "forever Free."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This second edition, as it were, of Fremont's performance, at once threw
+ the loyal Border-State men into a terrible ferment. Again, they, and their
+ Copperhead and other Democratic friends of the North, meanly professed
+ belief that this was but a part of Mr. Lincoln's programme, and that his
+ apparent backwardness was the cloak to hide his Anti-Slavery
+ aggressiveness and insincerity.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ How hurtful the insinuations, and even direct charges, of the day, made by
+ these men against President Lincoln, must have been to his honest,
+ sincere, and sensitive nature, can scarcely be conceived by those who did
+ not know him; while, on the other hand, the reckless impatience of some of
+ his friends for "immediate and universal Emancipation," and their
+ complaints at his slow progress toward that goal of their hopes, must have
+ been equally trying.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ True to himself, however, and to the wise conservative course which he had
+ marked out, and, thus far, followed, President Lincoln hastened to disavow
+ Hunter's action in the premises, by a Proclamation, heretofore given,
+ declaring that no person had been authorized by the United States
+ Government to declare the Slaves of any State, Free; that Hunter's action
+ in this respect was void; that, as Commander-in-chief he reserved solely
+ to himself, the questions, first, as to whether he had the power to
+ declare the Slaves of any State or States, Free, and, second, whether the
+ time and necessity for the exercise of such supposed power had arrived.
+ And then, as we may remember, he proceeded to cite the adoption, by
+ overwhelming majorities in Congress, of the Joint Resolution offering
+ pecuniary aid from the National Government to "any State which may adopt a
+ gradual abolishment of Slavery;" and to make a most earnest appeal, for
+ support, to the Border-States and to their people, as being "the most
+ interested in the subject matter."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In his Special Message to Congress,&mdash;[Of March 6, 1862.]&mdash;recommending
+ the passage of that Joint Resolution, he had plainly and emphatically
+ declared himself against sudden Emancipation of Slaves. He had therein
+ distinctly said: "In my judgment, gradual, and not immediate,
+ Emancipation, is better for all." And now, in this second appeal of his to
+ the Border-States men, to patriotically close with the proposal embraced
+ in that. Resolution, he said: "The changes it contemplates would come
+ gently as the dews of Heaven, not rending or wrecking anything. Will you
+ not embrace it? So much good has not been done, by one effort, in all past
+ time, as, in the providence of God, it is now your high privilege to do!
+ May the vast future not have to lament that you have neglected it!"
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [The following letter, from Sumner, shows the impatience of some of the
+ President's friends, the confidence he inspired in others nearer in his
+ counsels, and how entirely, at this time, his mind was absorbed in his
+ project for gradual and compensated Emancipation.]
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "SENATE CHAMBER, June 5, 1862.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "MY DEAR SIR.&mdash;Your criticism of the President is hasty. I am
+ confident that, if you knew him as I do, you would not make it. Of
+ course the President cannot be held responsible for the misfeasances of
+ subordinates, unless adopted or at least tolerated by him. And I am sure
+ that nothing unjust or ungenerous will be tolerated, much less adopted,
+ by him.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I am happy to let you know that he has no sympathy with Stanly in his
+ absurd wickedness, closing the schools, nor again in his other act of
+ turning our camp into a hunting ground for Slaves. He repudiates both&mdash;positively.
+ The latter point has occupied much of his thought; and the newspapers
+ have not gone too far in recording his repeated declarations, which I
+ have often heard from his own lips, that Slaves finding their way into
+ the National lines are never to be Re-enslaved&mdash;This is his
+ conviction, expressed without reserve.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Could you have seen the President&mdash;as it was my privilege often&mdash;while
+ he was considering the great questions on which he has already acted&mdash;the
+ invitation to Emancipation in the States, Emancipation in the District
+ of Columbia, and the acknowledgment of the Independence of Hayti and
+ Liberia&mdash;even your zeal would have been satisfied, for you would
+ have felt the sincerity of his purpose to do what he could to carry
+ forward the principles of the Declaration of Independence.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "His whole soul was occupied, especially by the first proposition, which
+ was peculiarly his own. In familiar intercourse with him, I remember
+ nothing more touching than the earnestness and completeness with which
+ he embraced this idea. To his mind, it was just and beneficent, while it
+ promised the sure end of Slavery. Of course, to me, who had already
+ proposed a bridge of gold for the retreating fiend, it was most welcome.
+ Proceeding from the President, it must take its place among the great
+ events of history.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If you are disposed to be impatient at any seeming shortcomings, think,
+ I pray you, of what has been done in a brief period, and from the past
+ discern the sure promise of the future. Knowing something of my
+ convictions and of the ardor with which I maintain them, you may,
+ perhaps, derive some assurance from my confidence; I may say to you,
+ therefore, stand by the Administration. If need be, help it by word and
+ act, but stand by it and have faith in it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I wish that you really knew the President, and had heard the artless
+ expression of his convictions on those questions which concern you so
+ deeply. You might, perhaps, wish that he were less cautious, but you
+ would be grateful that he is so true to all that you have at heart.
+ Believe me, therefore, you are wrong, and I regret it the more because
+ of my desire to see all our friends stand firmly together.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If I write strongly it is because I feel strongly; for my constant and
+ intimate intercourse with the President, beginning with the 4th of
+ March, not only binds me peculiarly to his Administration, but gives me
+ a personal as well as a political interest in seeing that justice is
+ done him.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Believe me, my dear Sir, with much regard, ever faithfully yours,<br />
+ "CHARLES SUMNER."
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But stones are not more deaf to entreaty than were the ears of the loyal
+ Border-State men and their allies to President Lincoln's renewed appeal.
+ "Ephraim" was "wedded to his idols."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ McClellan too&mdash;immediately after his retreat from the Chickahominy to
+ the James River&mdash;seized the opportunity afforded by the disasters to
+ our arms, for which he was responsible, to write to President Lincoln a
+ letter (dated July 7, 1862) in which he admonished him that owing to the
+ "critical" condition of the Army of the Potomac, and the danger of its
+ being "overwhelmed" by the Enemy in front, the President must now
+ substantially assume and exercise the powers of a Dictator, or all would
+ be lost; that "neither Confiscation of property * * * nor forcible
+ Abolition of Slavery, should be contemplated for a moment;" and that "A
+ declaration of Radical views, especially upon Slavery, will rapidly
+ disintegrate our present Armies."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Harried, and worried, on all sides,&mdash;threatened even by the Commander
+ of the Army of the Potomac,&mdash;it is not surprising, in view of the
+ apparently irreconcilable attitude of the loyal Border-State men to
+ gradual and compensated Emancipation, that the tension of President
+ Lincoln's mind began to feel a measure of relief in contemplating Military
+ Emancipation in the teeth of all such threats.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He had long since made up his mind that the existence of Slavery was not
+ compatible with the preservation of the Union. The only question now was,
+ how to get rid of it? If the worst should come to the worst&mdash;despite
+ McClellan's threat&mdash;he would have to risk everything on the turn of
+ the die&mdash;would have to "play his last card;" and that "last card" was
+ Military Emancipation. Yet still he disliked to play it. The time and
+ necessity for it had not yet arrived&mdash;although he thought he saw them
+ coming.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [In the course of an article in the New York Tribune, August, 1885, Hon.
+ George S. Boutwell tells of an interview in "July or early in August" of
+ 1862, with President Lincoln, at which the latter read two letters: one
+ from a Louisiana man "who claimed to be a Union man," but sought to
+ impress the President with "the dangers and evils of Emancipation;" the
+ other, Mr. Lincoln's reply to him, in which, says Mr. B., "he used this
+ expression: 'you must not expect me to give up this Government without
+ playing my last card.' Emancipation was his last card."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ Things were certainly, at this time, sufficiently unpromising to chill the
+ sturdiest Patriot's heart. It is true, we had scored some important
+ victories in the West; but in the East, our arms seemed fated to disaster
+ after disaster. Belmont, Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, and Pittsburg Landing,
+ were names whose mention made the blood of Patriots to surge in their
+ veins; and Corinth, too, had fallen. But in the East, McClellan's
+ profitless campaign against Richmond, and especially his disastrous
+ "change of base" by a "masterly" seven days' retreat, involving as many
+ bloody battles, had greatly dispirited all Union men, and encouraged the
+ Rebels and Rebel-sympathizers to renewed hopes and efforts.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And, as reverses came to the Union Arms, so seemed to grow proportionately
+ the efforts, on all sides, to force forward, or to stave off, as the case
+ might be, the great question of the liberation and arming of the Slaves,
+ as a War Measure, under the War powers of the Constitution. It was about
+ this time (July 12, 1862) that President Lincoln determined to make a
+ third, and last, attempt to avert the necessity for thus emancipating and
+ arming the Slaves. He invited all the Senators and Representatives in
+ Congress from the Border-States, to an interview at the White House, and
+ made to them the appeal, heretofore in these pages given at length.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It was an earnest, eloquent, wise, kindly, patriotic, fatherly appeal in
+ behalf of his old proposition, for a gradual, compensated Emancipation, by
+ the Slave States, aided by the resources of the National Government.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At the very time of making it, he probably had, in his drawer, the rough
+ draft of the Proclamation which was soon to give Liberty to all the
+ Colored millions of the Land.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [McPherson gives a letter, written from Washington, by Owen Lovejoy
+ (Feb. 22, 1864), to Wm. Lloyd Garrison, in which the following passage
+ occurs:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Recurring to the President, there are a great many reports concerning
+ him which seem to be reliable and authentic, which, after all, are not
+ so. It was currently reported among the Anti-Slavery men of Illinois
+ that the Emancipation Proclamation was extorted from him by the outward
+ pressure, and particularly by the Delegation from the Christian
+ Convention that met at Chicago.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Now, the fact is this, as I had it from his own lips: He had written
+ the Proclamation in the Summer, as early as June, I think&mdash;but will
+ not be certain as to the precise time&mdash;and called his Cabinet
+ together, and informed them he had written it and meant to make it, but
+ wanted to read it to them for any criticism or remarks as to its
+ features or details.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "After having done so, Mr. Seward suggested whether it would not be well
+ for him to withhold its publication until after we had gained some
+ substantial advantage in the Field, as at that time we had met with many
+ reverses, and it might be considered a cry of despair. He told me he
+ thought the suggestion a wise one, and so held on to the Proclamation
+ until after the Battle of Antietam."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ Be that as it may, however, sufficient evidences exist, to prove that he
+ must have been fully aware, at the time of making that appeal to the
+ supposed patriotism of these Border-State men, how much, how very much,
+ depended on the manner of their reception of it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ To him, that meeting was a very solemn and portentous one. He had studied
+ the question long and deeply&mdash;not from the standpoint of his own mere
+ individual feelings and judgment, but from that of fair Constitutional
+ construction, as interpreted by the light of Natural or General Law and
+ right reason. What he sought to impress upon them was, that an immediate
+ decision by the Border-States to adopt, and in due time carry out, with
+ the financial help of the General Government, a policy of gradual
+ Emancipation, would simultaneously solve the two intimately-blended
+ problems of Slavery-destruction and Union-preservation, in the best
+ possible manner for the pockets and feelings of the Border-State
+ Slave-holder, and for the other interests of both Border-State
+ Slave-holder and Slave.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ His great anxiety was to "perpetuate," as well as to save, to the People
+ of the World, the imperiled form of Popular Government, and assure to it a
+ happy and a grand future.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He begged these Congressmen from the Border-States, to help him carry out
+ this, his beneficent plan, in the way that was best for all, and thus at
+ the same time utterly deprive the Rebel Confederacy of that hope, which
+ still possessed them, of ultimately gathering these States into their
+ rebellious fold. And he very plainly, at the same time, confessed that he
+ desired this relief from the Abolition pressure upon him, which had been
+ growing more intense ever since he had repudiated the Hunter proclamation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But the President's earnest appeal to these loyal Representatives in
+ Congress from the Border-States, was, as we have seen, in vain. It might
+ as well have been made to actual Rebels, for all the good it did. For, a
+ few days afterward, they sent to him a reply signed by more than
+ two-thirds of those present, hitherto given at length in these pages, in
+ which-after loftily sneering at the proposition as "an interference by
+ this Government with a question which peculiarly and exclusively belonged
+ to" their "respective States, on which they had not sought advice or
+ solicited aid," throwing doubts upon the Constitutional power of the
+ General Government to give the financial aid, and undertaking by
+ statistics to prove that it would absolutely bankrupt the Government to
+ give such aid,&mdash;they insultingly declared, in substance, that they
+ could not "trust anything to the contingencies of future legislation," and
+ that Congress must "provide sufficient funds" and place those funds in the
+ President's hands for the purpose, before the Border-States and their
+ people would condescend even to "take this proposition into careful
+ consideration, for such decision as in their judgment is demanded by their
+ interest, their honor, and their duty to the whole Country."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Very different in tone, to be sure, was the minority reply, which, after
+ stating that "the leaders of the Southern Rebellion have offered to
+ abolish Slavery among them as a condition to Foreign Intervention in favor
+ of their Independence as a Nation," concluded with the terse and loyal
+ deduction: "If they can give up Slavery to destroy the Union, we can
+ surely ask our people to consider the question of Emancipation to save the
+ Union."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But those who signed this latter reply were few, among the many.
+ Practically, the Border-State men were a unit against Mr. Lincoln's
+ proposition, and against its fair consideration by their people. He asked
+ for meat, and they gave him a stone.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Only a few days before this interview, President Lincoln&mdash;alarmed by
+ the report of McClellan, that the magnificent Army of the Potomac under
+ his command, which, only three months before, had boasted 161,000 men, had
+ dwindled down to not more than "50,000 men left with their colors"&mdash;had
+ been to the front, at Harrison's Landing, on the James river, and,
+ although he had not found things quite so disheartening as he had been led
+ to believe, yet they were bad enough, for only 86,000 men were found by
+ him on duty, while 75,000 were unaccounted for&mdash;of which number
+ 34,4172 were afterward reported as "absent by authority."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This condition of affairs, in connection with the fact that McClellan was
+ always calling for more troops, undoubtedly had its influence in bringing
+ Mr. Lincoln's mind to the conviction, hitherto mentioned, of the
+ fast-approaching Military necessity for Freeing and Arming the Slaves.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It was to ward this off, if possible, that he had met and appealed to the
+ Border-State Representatives. They had answered him with sneers and
+ insults; and nothing was left him but the extreme course of almost
+ immediate Emancipation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Long and anxiously he had thought over the matter, but the time for action
+ was at hand.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And now, it cannot be better told, than in President Lincoln's own words,
+ as given to the portrait-painter Carpenter, and recorded in the latter's,
+ "Six months in the White House," what followed:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It had got to be," said he, "midsummer, 1862. Things had gone on from bad
+ to worse, until I felt that we had reached the end of our rope on the plan
+ of operations we had been pursuing; that we had about played our last
+ card, and must change our tactics, or lose the game!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I now determined upon the adoption of the Emancipation Policy; and,
+ without consultation with, or the knowledge of, the Cabinet, I prepared
+ the original draft of the Proclamation, and, after much anxious thought,
+ called a Cabinet meeting upon the subject. This was the last of July, or
+ the first part of the month of August, 1862." (The exact date he did not
+ remember.)
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "This Cabinet meeting took place, I think, upon a Saturday. All were
+ present, excepting Mr. Blair, the Postmaster-General, who was absent at
+ the opening of the discussion, but came in subsequently. I said to the
+ Cabinet, that I had resolved upon this step, and had not called them
+ together to ask their advice, but to lay the subject-matter of a
+ Proclamation before them; suggestions as to which would be in order, after
+ they had heard it read.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Mr. Lovejoy was in error" when he stated "that it excited no comment,
+ excepting on the part of Secretary Seward. Various suggestions were
+ offered. Secretary Chase wished the language stronger, in reference to the
+ arming of the Blacks. Mr. Blair, after he came in, deprecated the policy,
+ on the ground that it would cost the Administration the fall elections.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Nothing, however, was offered, that I had not already fully anticipated
+ and settled in my own mind, until Secretary Seward spoke. He said in
+ substance: 'Mr. President, I approve of the Proclamation, but I question
+ the expediency of its issue at this juncture. The depression of the public
+ mind, consequent upon our repeated reverses, is so great that I fear the
+ effect of so important a step. It may be viewed as the last Measure of an
+ exhausted Government, a cry for help, the Government stretching forth its
+ hands to Ethiopia, instead of Ethiopia stretching forth her hands to the
+ Government.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "His idea," said the President "was that it would be considered our last
+ shriek, on the retreat." (This was his precise expression.) "' Now,'
+ continued Mr. Seward, 'while I approve the Measure, I suggest, Sir, that
+ you postpone its issue, until you can give it to the Country supported by
+ Military success, instead of issuing it, as would be the case now, upon
+ the greatest disasters of the War!'"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Lincoln continued: "The wisdom of the view of the Secretary of State,
+ struck me with very great force. It was an aspect of the case that, in all
+ my thought upon the subject, I had entirely overlooked. The result was
+ that I put the draft of the Proclamation aside, as you do your sketch for
+ a picture, waiting for a victory."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It may not be amiss to interrupt the President's narration to Mr.
+ Carpenter, at this point, with a few words touching "the Military
+ Situation."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After McClellan's inexplicable retreat from before the Rebel Capital&mdash;when,
+ having gained a great victory at Malvern Hills, Richmond would undoubtedly
+ have been ours, had he but followed it up, instead of ordering his
+ victorious troops to retreat like "a whipped Army"&mdash;[See General
+ Hooker's testimony before the Committee on the Conduct of the War.]&mdash;his
+ recommendation, in the extraordinary letter (of July 7th) to the
+ President, for the creation of the office of General-in-Chief, was
+ adopted, and Halleck, then at Corinth, was ordered East, to fill it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Pope had previously been called from the West, to take command of the
+ troops covering Washington, comprising some 40,000 men, known as the Army
+ of Virginia; and, finding cordial cooperation with McClellan impossible,
+ had made a similar suggestion.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Soon after Halleck's arrival, that General ordered the transfer of the
+ Army of the Potomac, from Harrison's Landing to Acquia creek&mdash;on the
+ Potomac&mdash;with a view to a new advance upon Richmond, from the
+ Rappahannock river.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ While this was being slowly accomplished, Lee, relieved from fears for
+ Richmond, decided to advance upon Washington, and speedily commenced the
+ movement.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 8th of August, 1862, Stonewall Jackson, leading the Rebel advance,
+ had crossed the Rapidan; on the 9th the bloody Battle of Cedar Mountain
+ had been fought with part of Pope's Army; and on the 11th, Jackson had
+ retreated across the Rapidan again.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Subsequently, Pope having retired across the Rappahannock, Lee's Forces,
+ by flanking Pope's Army, again resumed their Northern advance. August 28th
+ and 29th witnessed the bloody Battles of Groveton and Gainesville,
+ Virginia; the 30th saw the defeat of Pope, by Lee, at the second great
+ Battle of Bull Run, and the falling back of Pope's Army toward Washington;
+ and the succeeding Battle of Chantilly took place September 1, 1862.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is not necessary at this time to even touch upon the causes and
+ agencies which brought such misfortune to the Union Arms, under Pope. It
+ is sufficient to say here, that the disaster of the second Bull Run was a
+ dreadful blow to the Union Cause, and correspondingly elated the Rebels.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Jefferson Davis, in transmitting to the Rebel Congress at Richmond, Lee's
+ victorious announcements, said, in his message: "From these dispatches it
+ will be seen that God has again extended His shield over our patriotic
+ Army, and has blessed the cause of the Confederacy with a second signal
+ victory, on the field already memorable by the gallant achievement of our
+ troops."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Flushed with victory, but wisely avoiding the fortifications of the
+ National Capital, Lee's Forces now swept past Washington; crossed the
+ Potomac, near Point of Rocks, at its rear; and menaced both the National
+ Capital and Baltimore.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Yielding to the apparent necessity of the moment, the President again
+ placed. McClellan in command of the Armies about Washington, to wit: the
+ Army of the Potomac; Burnside's troops that had come up from North
+ Carolina; what remained of Pope's Army of Virginia; and the large
+ reinforcements from fresh levies, constantly and rapidly pouring in.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [This was probably about the time of the occurrence of an amusing
+ incident, touching Lincoln, McClellan, and the fortifications around
+ Washington, afterward told by General J. G. Barnard, then Chief of
+ Engineers on the staff of General George B. McClellan.&mdash;See New
+ York Tribune, October 21, 1885. It seems that the fortifications having
+ been completed, McClellan invited Mr. Lincoln and his Cabinet to inspect
+ them. "On the day appointed," said Barnard, "the Inspection commenced at
+ Arlington, to the Southwest of Washington, and in front of the Enemy. We
+ followed the line of the works southerly, and recrossed the Potomac to
+ the easterly side of the river, and continued along the line easterly of
+ Washington and into the heaviest of all the fortifications on the
+ northerly side of Washington. When we reached this point the President
+ asked General McClellan to explain the necessity of so strong a
+ fortification between Washington and the North.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "General McClellan replied: 'Why, Mr. President, according to Military
+ Science it is our duty to guard against every possible or supposable
+ contingency that may arise. For example, if under any circumstances,
+ however fortuitous, the Enemy, by any chance or freak, should, in a last
+ resort, get in behind Washington, in his efforts to capture the city,
+ why, there the fort is to defend it.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'Yes, that's so General,' said the President; 'the precaution is
+ doubtless a wise one, and I'm glad to get so clear an explanation, for
+ it reminds me of an interesting question once discussed for several
+ weeks in our Lyceum, or Moot Court, at Springfield, Ill., soon after I
+ began reading law.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'Ah!' says General McClellan. 'What question was that, Mr. President?'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'The question,' Mr. Lincoln replied, 'was, "Why does man have
+ breasts?"' and he added that after many evenings' debate, the question
+ was submitted to the presiding Judge, who wisely decided 'That if under
+ any circumstances, however fortuitous, or by any chance or freak, no
+ matter of what nature or by what cause, a man should have a baby, there
+ would be the breasts to nurse it.'"]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ Yet, it was not until the 17th of September that the Battle of Antietam
+ was fought, and Lee defeated&mdash;and then only to be allowed to slip
+ back, across the Potomac, on the 18th&mdash;McClellan leisurely following
+ him, across that river, on the 2nd of November!
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [Arnold, in his "Life of Abraham Lincoln," says that President Lincoln
+ said of him: "With all his failings as a soldier, McClellan is a
+ pleasant and scholarly gentleman. He is an admirable Engineer, but" he
+ added, "he seems to have a special talent for a stationary Engine."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ On the 5th, McClellan was relieved,&mdash;Burnside taking the command,&mdash;and
+ Union men breathed more freely again.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But to return to the subject of Emancipation. President Lincoln's own
+ words have already been given&mdash;in conversation with Carpenter&mdash;down
+ to the reading of the Proclamation to his Cabinet, and Seward's suggestion
+ to "wait for a victory" before issuing it, and how, adopting that advice,
+ he laid the Proclamation aside, waiting for a victory.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "From time to time," said Mr. Lincoln, continuing his narration, "I added
+ or changed a line, touching it up here and there, anxiously waiting the
+ progress of events. Well, the next news we had was of Pope's disaster at
+ Bull Run. Things looked darker than ever. Finally, came the week of the
+ Battle of Antietam. I determined to wait no longer.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The news came, I think, on Wednesday, that the advantage was on our side.
+ I was then staying at the Soldiers' Home (three miles out of Washington.)
+ Here I finished writing the second draft of the preliminary Proclamation;
+ came up on Saturday; called the Cabinet together to hear it; and it was
+ published the following Monday."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is not uninteresting to note, in this connection, upon the same
+ authority, that at the final meeting of the Cabinet prior to this issue of
+ the Proclamation, when the third paragraph was read, and the words of the
+ draft "will recognize the Freedom of such Persons," were reached, Mr.
+ Seward suggested the insertion of the words "and maintain" after the word
+ "recognize;" and upon his insistence, the President said, "the words
+ finally went in."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At last, then, had gone forth the Fiat&mdash;telegraphed and read
+ throughout the Land, on that memorable 22d of September, 1862&mdash;which,
+ with the supplemental Proclamation of January 1, 1863, was to bring joy
+ and Freedom to the millions of Black Bondsmen of the South.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Just one month before its issue, in answer to Horace Greeley's Open letter
+ berating him for "the seeming subserviency" of his "policy to the
+ Slave-holding, Slave up-holding interest," etc., President Lincoln had
+ written his famous "Union letter" in which he had conservatively said: "My
+ paramount object is to save the Union, and not either to save or destroy
+ Slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any Slave, I would do
+ it&mdash;and if I could save it by freeing all the Slaves, I would do it&mdash;and
+ if I could save it by freeing some, and leaving others alone, I would also
+ do that."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ No one outside of his Cabinet dreamed, at the time he made that answer,
+ that the Proclamation of Emancipation was already written, and simply
+ awaited a turn in the tide of battle for its issue!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Still less could it have been supposed, when, on the 13th of September&mdash;only
+ two days before Stonewall Jackson had invested, attacked, and captured
+ Harper's Ferry with nearly 12,000 prisoners, 73 cannon, and 13,000 small
+ arms, besides other spoils of War&mdash;Mr. Lincoln received the
+ deputation from the religious bodies of Chicago, bearing a Memorial for
+ the immediate issue of such a Proclamation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The very language of his reply,&mdash;where he said to them: "It is my
+ earnest desire to know the will of Providence in this matter. And if I can
+ learn what it is, I will do it! These are not, however, the days of
+ miracles, and I suppose it will be granted that I am not to expect a
+ direct revelation. I must study the plain physical aspects of the case,
+ ascertain what is possible, and learn what appears to be wise and right"&mdash;when
+ taken in connection with the very strong argument with which he followed
+ it up, against the policy of Emancipation advocated in the Memorial, and
+ his intimation that a Proclamation of Emancipation issued by him "must
+ necessarily be inoperative, like the Pope's Bull against the Comet!"&mdash;would
+ almost seem to have been adopted with the very object of veiling his real
+ purpose from the public eye, and leaving the public mind in doubt. At all
+ events, it had that effect.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Arnold, in his "Life of Lincoln," says of this time, when General Lee was
+ marching Northward toward Pennsylvania, that "now, the President, with
+ that tinge of superstition which ran through his character, 'made,' as he
+ said, 'a solemn vow to God, that, if Lee was driven back, he would issue
+ the Proclamation;'" and, in the light of that statement, the concluding
+ words of Mr. Lincoln's reply to the deputation aforesaid:&mdash;"I can
+ assure you that the subject is on my mind, by day and night, more than any
+ other. Whatever shall appear to be God's will, I will do,"&mdash;have a
+ new meaning.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Emancipation Proclamation, when issued, was a great surprise, but was
+ none the less generally well-received by the Union Armies, and throughout
+ the Loyal States of the Union, while, in some of them, its reception was
+ most enthusiastic.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It happened, too, as we have seen, that the Convention of the Governors of
+ the Loyal States met at Altoona, Penn., on the very day of its
+ promulgation, and in an address to the President adopted by these loyal
+ Governors, they publicly hailed it "with heartfelt gratitude and
+ encouraged hope," and declared that "the decision of the President to
+ strike at the root of the Rebellion will lend new vigor to efforts, and
+ new life and hope to the hearts, of the People."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the other hand, the loyal Border-States men were dreadfully exercised
+ on the subject; and those of them in the House of Representatives
+ emphasized their disapproval by their votes, when, on the 11th and 15th of
+ the following December, Resolutions, respectively denouncing, and
+ endorsing, "the policy of Emancipation, as indicated in that
+ Proclamation," of September 22, 1862, were offered and voted on.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In spite of the loyal Border-States men's bitter opposition, however, the
+ Resolution endorsing that policy as a War Measure, and declaring the
+ Proclamation to be "an exercise of power with proper regard for the rights
+ of the States and the perpetuity of Free Government," as we have seen,
+ passed the House.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Of course the Rebels themselves, against whom it was aimed, gnashed their
+ teeth in impotent rage over the Proclamation. But they lost no time in
+ declaring that it was only a proof of what they had always announced: that
+ the War was not for the preservation of the American Union, but for the
+ destruction of African Slavery, and the spoilation of the Southern States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Through their friends and emissaries, in the Border and other Loyal States
+ of the Union,&mdash;the "Knights of the Golden Circle,"&mdash;
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [The "Knights of the Golden Circle" was the most extensive of these
+ Rebel organizations. It was "an auxiliary force to the Rebel Army." Its
+ members took an obligation of the most binding character, the violation
+ of which was punishable by death, which obligation, in the language of
+ another, "pledged them to use every possible means in their power to aid
+ the Rebels to gain their Independence; to aid and assist Rebel prisoners
+ to escape; to vote for no one for Office who was not opposed to the
+ further prosecution of the War; to encourage desertions from the Union
+ Army; to protect the Rebels in all things necessary to carry out their
+ designs, even to the burning and destroying of towns and cities, if
+ necessary to produce the desired result; to give such information as
+ they had, at all times, of the movements of our Armies, and of the
+ return of soldiers to their homes; and to try and prevent their going
+ back to their regiments at the front."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In other words the duty of the Organization and of its members, was to
+ hamper, oppose, and prevent all things possible that were being done at
+ any time for the Union Cause, and to encourage, forward, and help all
+ things possible in behalf of the Rebel Cause.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It was to be a flanking force of the Enemy&mdash;a reverse fire&mdash;a
+ fire in the rear of the Union Army, by Northern men; a powerful
+ cooperating force&mdash;all the more powerful because secret&mdash;operating
+ safely because secretly and in silence&mdash;and breeding discontent,
+ envy, hatred, and other ill feelings wherever possible, in and out of
+ Army circles, from the highest to the lowest, at all possible times, and
+ on all possible occasions.]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ &mdash;the "Order of American Knights" or "Sons of Liberty," and other
+ Copperhead organizations, tainted with more or less of Treason&mdash;they
+ stirred up all the old dregs of Pro-Slavery feeling that could possibly he
+ reached; but while the venomous acts and utterances of such organizations,
+ and the increased and vindictive energy of the armed Rebels themselves,
+ had a tendency to disquiet the public mind with apprehensions as to the
+ result of the Proclamation, and whether, indeed, Mr. Lincoln himself would
+ be able to resist the pressure, and stand up to his promise of that
+ Supplemental Proclamation which would give definiteness and practical
+ effect to the preliminary one, the masses of the people of the Loyal
+ States had faith in him.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ There was also another element, in chains, at the South, which at this
+ time must have been trembling with that mysterious hope of coming
+ Emancipation for their Race, conveyed so well in Whittier's lines,
+ commencing: "We pray de Lord; he gib us signs, dat some day we be Free"
+ &mdash;a hope which had long animated them, as of something almost too
+ good for them to live to enjoy, but which, as the War progressed, appeared
+ to grow nearer and nearer, until now they seemed to see the promised Land,
+ flowing with milk and honey, its beautiful hills and vales smiling under
+ the quickening beams of Freedom's glorious sun. But ah! should they enter
+ there?&mdash;or must they turn away again into the old wilderness of their
+ Slavery, and this blessed Liberty, almost within their grasp, mockingly
+ elude them?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ They had not long to wait for an answer. The 1st of January, 1863,
+ arrived, and with it&mdash;as a precious New Year's Gift&mdash;came the
+ Supplemental Proclamation, bearing the sacred boon of Liberty to the
+ Emancipated millions.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At last, at last, no American need blush to stand up and proclaim his land
+ indeed, and in truth, "the Land of Freedom."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkhalleck" id="linkhalleck"></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="p492-halleck.jpg (83K)" src="images/p492-halleck.jpg" style="width:100%;"
+ /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch21" id="linkch21"></a><br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ CHAPTER XXI.<br /> <br /> THE ARMED NEGRO.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Little over five months had passed, since the occurrence of the great
+ event in the history of the American Nation mentioned in the preceding
+ Chapter, before the Freed Negro, now bearing arms in defense of the Union
+ and of his own Freedom, demonstrated at the first attack on Port Hudson
+ the wisdom of emancipating and arming the Slave, as a War measure. He
+ seemed thoroughly to appreciate and enter into the spirit of the words;
+ "who would be Free, himself must strike the blow."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At the attack (of May 27th, 1863), on Port Hudson, where it held the
+ right, the "Black Brigade" covered itself with glory.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ At Baton Rouge, before starting for Port Hudson, the color-guard of the
+ First Louisiana Regiment&mdash;of the Black Brigade&mdash;received the
+ Regimental flags from their white colonel, (Col. Stafford,) then under
+ arrest, in a speech which ended with the injunction: "Color-guard,
+ protect, defend, die for, but do not surrender these flags;" to which
+ Sergeant Planciancois replied: "Colonel, I will bring these colors to
+ you in honor, or report to God the reason why!" He fell, mortally
+ wounded, in one of the many desperate charges at Port Hudson, with his
+ face to the Enemy, and the colors in his hand.
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ Banks, in his Report, speaking of the Colored regiments, said: "Their
+ conduct was heroic. No troops could be more determined or more daring.
+ They made, during the day, three charges upon the batteries of the Enemy,
+ suffering very heavy losses, and holding their positions at nightfall with
+ the other troops on the right of our line. The highest commendation is
+ bestowed upon them by all the officers in command on the right."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The New York Times' correspondent said:&mdash;"The deeds of heroism
+ performed by these Colored men were such as the proudest White men might
+ emulate. Their colors are torn to pieces by shot, and literally
+ bespattered by blood and brains. The color-sergeant of the 1st Louisiana,
+ on being mortally wounded (the top of his head taken off by a sixpounder),
+ hugged the colors to his breast, when a struggle ensued between the two
+ color-corporals on each side of him, as to who should have the honor of
+ bearing the sacred standard, and during this generous contention one was
+ seriously wounded."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ So again, on Sunday the 6th of June following, at Milliken's Bend, where
+ an African brigade, with 160 men of the 23rd Iowa, although surprised in
+ camp by a largely superior force of the Enemy, repulsed him gallantly&mdash;of
+ which action General Grant, in his official Report, said: "In this battle,
+ most of the troops engaged were Africans, who had but little experience in
+ the use of fire-arms. Their conduct is said, however, to have been most
+ gallant."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ So, also, in the bloody assault of July 18th, on Fort Wagner, which was
+ led by the 54th Massachusetts (Colored) Regiment with intrepidity, and
+ where they planted, and for some time maintained, their Country's flag on
+ the parapet, until they "melted away before the Enemy's fire, their bodies
+ falling down the slope and into the ditch."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And from that time on, through the War&mdash;at Wilson's Wharf, in the
+ many bloody charges at Petersburg, at Deep Bottom, at Chapin's Farm, Fair
+ Oaks, and numerous other battle-fields, in Virginia and elsewhere, right
+ down to Appomattox&mdash;the African soldier fought courageously, fully
+ vindicating the War-wisdom of Abraham Lincoln in emancipating and arming
+ the Race.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The promulgation of this New Year's Proclamation of Freedom unquestionably
+ had a wonderful effect in various ways, upon the outcome of the War.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It cleared away the cobwebs which the arguments of the loyal Border-State
+ men, and of the Northern Copperheads and other Disunion and Pro-Slavery
+ allies of the Rebels were forever weaving for the discouragement,
+ perplexity and ensnarement, of the thoroughly loyal out-and-out Union men
+ of the Land. It largely increased our strength in fighting material. It
+ brought to us the moral support of the World, with the active sympathy of
+ philanthropy's various forces. And besides, it correspondingly weakened
+ the Rebels. Every man thus freed from his Bondage, and mustered into the
+ Union Armies, was not only a gain of one man on the Union side, but a loss
+ of one man to the Enemy. It is not, therefore, surprising that the
+ Disunion Conspirators&mdash;whether at the South or at the North&mdash;were
+ furious.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Chief Conspirator, Jefferson Davis, had already, (December 23, 1862,)
+ issued a proclamation of outlawry against General B. F. Butler, for arming
+ certain Slaves that had become Free upon entering his lines&mdash;the two
+ last clauses of which provided: "That all Negro Slaves captured in arms,
+ be at once delivered over to the Executive authorities of the respective
+ States to which they belong, to be dealt with according to the laws of
+ said States," and "That the like orders be executed in all cases with
+ respect to all commissioned Officers of the United States, when found
+ serving in company with said Slaves in insurrection against the
+ authorities of the different States of this Confederacy."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He now called the attention of the Rebel Congress to President Lincoln's
+ two Proclamations of Emancipation, early in January of 1863; and that Body
+ responded by adopting, on the 1st of May of that year, a Resolution, the
+ character of which was so cold-bloodedly atrocious, that modern
+ Civilization might well wonder and Christianity shudder at its purport.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [It was in these words:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved, by the Congress of the Confederate States of America, In
+ response to the Message of the President, transmitted to Congress at the
+ commencement of the present session, That, in the opinion of Congress,
+ the commissioned officers of the Enemy ought not to be delivered to the
+ authorities of the respective States, as suggested in the said Message,
+ but all captives taken by the Confederate forces ought to be dealt with
+ and disposed of by the Confederate Government.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "SEC. 2.&mdash;That, in the judgment of Congress, the proclamations of
+ the President of the United States, dated respectively September 22,
+ 1862, and January 1, 1863, and the other measures of the Government of
+ the United States and of its authorities, commanders, and forces,
+ designed or tending to emancipate slaves in the Confederate States, or
+ to abduct such slaves, or to incite them to insurrection, or to employ
+ negroes in war against the Confederate States, or to overthrow the
+ institution of African Slavery, and bring on a servile war in these
+ States, would, if successful, produce atrocious consequences, and they
+ are inconsistent with the spirit of those usages which, in modern
+ warfare, prevail among civilized nations; they may, therefore, be
+ properly and lawfully repressed by retaliation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "SEC. 3.&mdash;That in every case wherein, during the present war, any
+ violation of the laws or usages of war among civilized nations shall be,
+ or has been, done and perpetrated by those acting under authority of the
+ Government of the United States, on persons or property of citizens of
+ the Confederate States, or of those under the protection or in the land
+ or naval service of the Confederate States, or of any State of the
+ Confederacy, the President of the Confederate States is hereby
+ authorized to cause full and ample retaliation to be made for every such
+ violation, in such manner and to such extent as he may think proper.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "SEC. 4.&mdash;That every white person, being a commissioned officer, or
+ acting as such, who, during the present war, shall command negroes or
+ mulattoes in arms against the Confederate States, or who shall arm,
+ train, organize, or prepare negroes or mulattoes for military service
+ against the Confederate States, or who shall voluntarily aid negroes or
+ mulattoes in any military enterprise, attack, or conflict in such
+ service, shall be deemed as inciting servile insurrection, and shall, if
+ captured, be put to death, or be otherwise punished at the discretion of
+ the Court.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "SEC. 5.&mdash;Every person, being a commissioned officer, or acting as
+ such in the service of the Enemy, who shall, during the present war,
+ excite, attempt to excite, or cause to be excited, a servile
+ insurrection, or who shall incite, or cause to be incited, a slave to
+ rebel, shall, if captured, be put to death, or be otherwise punished at
+ the discretion of the court.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "SEC. 6.&mdash;Every person charged with an offense punishable under the
+ preceding resolutions shall, during the present war, be tried before the
+ military court attached to the army or corps by the troops of which he
+ shall have been captured, or by such other military court as the
+ President may direct, and in such manner and under such regulations as
+ the President shall prescribe; and, after conviction, the President may
+ commute the punishment in such manner and on such terms as he may deem
+ proper.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "SEC. 7.&mdash;All negroes and mulattoes who shall be engaged in war, or
+ be taken in arms against the Confederate States, or shall give aid or
+ comfort to the enemies of the Confederate States, shall, when captured
+ in the Confederate States, be delivered to the authorities of the State
+ or States in which they shall be captured, to be dealt with according to
+ the present or future laws of such State or States."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ But atrocious as were the provisions of the Resolution, or Act aforesaid,
+ in that they threatened death or Slavery to every Black man taken with
+ Union arms in his hand, and death to every White commissioned officer
+ commanding Black soldiers, yet the manner in which they were executed was
+ still more barbarous.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At last it became necessary to adopt some measure by which captured
+ Colored Union soldiers might be protected equally with captured White
+ Union soldiers from the frequent Rebel violations of the Laws of War in
+ the cases of the former.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ President Lincoln, therefore, issued an Executive Order prescribing
+ retaliatory measures.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [In the following words:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "EXECUTIVE MANSION,
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "WASHINGTON, July 30, 1863.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It is the duty of every Government to give protection to its citizens,
+ of whatever class, color, or condition, and especially to those who are
+ duly organized as soldiers in the public service. The Law of Nations,
+ and the usages and customs of War, as carried on by civilized Powers,
+ permit no distinction as to color in the treatment of prisoners of War,
+ as public enemies.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "To sell or Enslave any captured person, on account of his Color, and
+ for no offense against the Laws of War, is a relapse into barbarism, and
+ a crime against the civilization of the age.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The Government of the United States will give the same protection to
+ all its soldiers, and if the Enemy shall sell or Enslave any one because
+ of his color, the offense shall be punished by Retaliation upon the
+ Enemy's prisoners in our possession.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It is therefore Ordered, that, for every soldier of the United States
+ killed in violation of the Laws of War, a Rebel soldier shall be
+ executed; and for every one Enslaved by the Enemy or sold into Slavery,
+ a Rebel soldier shall be placed at hard work on the public works, and
+ continued at such labor until the other shall be released and receive
+ the treatment due to a prisoner of War.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "By order of the Secretary of War.<br /> ABRAHAM LINCOLN. E. D.<br />
+ TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant-General."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It was hoped that the mere announcement of the decision of our Government
+ to retaliate, would put an instant stop to the barbarous conduct of the
+ Rebels toward the captured Colored Union troops, but the hope was vain.
+ The atrocities continued, and their climax was capped by the cold-blooded
+ massacres perpetrated by Forrest's 5,000 Cavalry, after capturing Fort
+ Pillow, a short distance above Memphis, on the Mississippi river.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The garrison of that Fort comprised less than 600 Union soldiers, about
+ one-half of whom were White, and the balance Black. These brave fellows
+ gallantly defended the Fort against eight times their number, from before
+ sunrise until the afternoon, when&mdash;having failed to win by fair
+ means, under the Laws of War,&mdash;the Enemy treacherously crept up the
+ ravines on either side of the Fort, under cover of flags of truce, and
+ then, with a sudden rush, carried it, butchering both Blacks and Whites
+ &mdash;who had thrown away their arms, and were striving to escape&mdash;until
+ night temporarily put an end to the sanguinary tragedy.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the following morning the massacre was completed by the butchery and
+ torture of wounded remnants of these brave Union defenders&mdash;some
+ being buried alive, and others nailed to boards, and burned to death.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [For full account of these hideous atrocities, see testimony of
+ survivors before the Committee on Conduct and Expenditures of the War.
+ (H. R. Report, No. 65, 1st S. 38th Cong.)]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ And all this murderous malignity, for what?&mdash;Simply, and only,
+ because one-half of the Patriot victims had Black skins, while the other
+ half had dared to fight by the side of the Blacks!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In the after-days of the War, the cry with which our Union Black regiments
+ went into battle:&mdash;"Remember Fort Pillow!"&mdash;inspired them to
+ deeds of valor, and struck with terror the hearts of the Enemy. On many a
+ bloody field, Fort Pillow was avenged.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is a common error to suppose that the first arming of the Black man was
+ on the Union side. The first Black volunteer company was a Rebel one,
+ raised early in May, 1861, in the city of Memphis, Tenn.; and at
+ Charleston, S. C., Lynchburg, Va., and Norfolk, Va., large bodies of Free
+ Negroes volunteered, and were engaged, earlier than that, to do work on
+ the Rebel batteries.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On June 28th of the same year, the Rebel Legislature of Tennessee passed
+ an Act not only authorizing the Governor "to receive into the Military
+ service of the State all male Free persons of Color between the ages of
+ fifteen and fifty, or such number as may be necessary, who may be sound in
+ mind and body, and capable of actual service," but also prescribing "That
+ in the event a sufficient number of Free persons of Color to meet the
+ wants of the State shall not tender their services, the Governor is
+ empowered, through the Sheriffs of the different counties, to press such
+ persons until the requisite number is obtained."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At a review of Rebel troops, at New Orleans, November 23, 1861, "One
+ regiment comprised 1,400 Free Colored men." Vast numbers of both Free
+ Negroes and Slaves were employed to construct Rebel fortifications
+ throughout the War, in all the Rebel States. And on the 17th of February,
+ 1864, the Rebel Congress passed an Act which provides in its first section
+ "That all male Free Negroes * * * resident in the Confederate States,
+ between the ages of eighteen and fifty years, shall be held liable to
+ perform such duties with the Army, or in connection with the Military
+ defenses of the Country, in the way of work upon the fortifications, or in
+ Government works for the production or preparation of materials of War, or
+ in Military hospitals, as the Secretary of War or the Commanding General
+ of the Trans-Mississippi Department may, from time to time, prescribe:"
+ while the third section provides that when the Secretary of War shall "be
+ unable to procure the service of Slaves in any Military Department, then
+ he is authorized to impress the services of as many male Slaves, not to
+ exceed twenty thousand, as may be required, from time to time, to
+ discharge the duties indicated in the first section of the Act."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And this Act of, the Rebel Congress was passed only forty days before the
+ fiendish massacre of the Union Whites and Blacks who together, at Fort
+ Pillow, were performing for the Union, "such duties with the Army," and
+ "in connection with the Military defenses of the Country," as had been
+ prescribed for them by their Commanding General!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Under any circumstances&mdash;and especially under this state of facts&mdash;nothing
+ could excuse or palliate that shocking and disgraceful and barbarous crime
+ against humanity; and the human mind is incapable of understanding how
+ such savagery can be accounted for, except upon the theory that "He that
+ nameth Rebellion nameth not a singular, or one only sin, as is theft,
+ robbery, murder, and such like; but he nameth the whole puddle and sink of
+ all sins against God and man; against his country, his countrymen, his
+ children, his kinsfolk, his friends, and against all men universally; all
+ sins against God and all men heaped together, nameth he that nameth
+ Rebellion."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The inconsistency of the Rebels, in getting insanely and murderously
+ furious over the arming of Negroes for the defense of the imperiled Union
+ and the newly gained liberties of the Black Race, when they had themselves
+ already armed some of them and made them fight to uphold the
+ Slave-holders' Rebellion and the continued Enslavement of their race, is
+ already plain enough.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [The writer is indebted to the courtesy of a prominent South Carolinian,
+ for calling his attention to the "Singular coincidence, that a South
+ Carolinian should have proposed in 1778, what was executed in 1863-64&mdash;the
+ arming of Negroes for achieving their Freedom"&mdash;as shown in the
+ following very curious and interesting letters written by the brave and
+ gifted Colonel John Laurens, of Washington's staff, to his distinguished
+ father:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ HEAD QUARTERS, 14th Jan., 1778.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ I barely hinted to you, my dearest father, my desire to augment the
+ Continental forces from an untried source. I wish I had any foundation
+ to ask for an extraordinary addition to those favours which I have
+ already received from you. I would solicit you to cede me a number of
+ your able bodied men slaves, instead of leaving me a fortune.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ I would bring about a two-fold good; first I would advance those who are
+ unjustly deprived of the rights of mankind to a state which would be a
+ proper gradation between abject slavery and perfect liberty, and besides
+ I would reinforce the defenders of liberty with a number of gallant
+ soldiers. Men, who have the habit of subordination almost indelibly
+ impressed on them, would have one very essential qualification of
+ soldiers. I am persuaded that if I could obtain authority for the
+ purpose, I would have a corps of such men trained, uniformly clad,
+ equip'd and ready in every respect to act at the opening of the next
+ campaign. The ridicule that may be thrown on the color, I despise,
+ because I am sure of rendering essential service to my country.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ I am tired of the languor with which so sacred a war as this is carried
+ on. My circumstances prevent me from writing so long a letter as I
+ expected and wish'd to have done on a subject which I have much at
+ heart. I entreat you to give a favorable answer to<br /> Your most
+ affectionate<br /> JOHN LAURENS.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Honble Henry Laurens Esq.<br /> President of Congress.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ HEAD QUARTERS, 2nd Feb., 1778.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ My Dear Father:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The more I reflect upon the difficulties and delays which are likely to
+ attend the completing our Continental regiments, the more anxiously is
+ my mind bent upon the scheme, which I lately communicated to you. The
+ obstacles to the execution of it had presented themselves to me, but by
+ no means appeared insurmountable. I was aware of having that monstrous
+ popular prejudice, open-mouthed against me, of undertaking to transform
+ beings almost irrational, into well disciplined soldiers, of being
+ obliged to combat the arguments, and perhaps the intrigues, of
+ interested persons. But zeal for the public service, and an ardent
+ desire to assert the rights of humanity, determined me to engage in this
+ arduous business, with the sanction of your consent. My own
+ perseverance, aided by the countenance of a few virtuous men, will, I
+ hope, enable me to accomplish it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ You seem to think, my dear father, that men reconciled by long habit to
+ the miseries of their condition, would prefer their ignominious bonds to
+ the untasted sweets of liberty, especially when offer'd upon the terms
+ which I propose.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ I confess, indeed, that the minds of this unhappy species must be
+ debased by a servitude, from which they can hope for no relief but
+ death, and that every motive to action but fear, must be nearly
+ extinguished in them. But do you think they are so perfectly moulded to
+ their state as to be insensible that a better exists? Will the galling
+ comparison between themselves and their masters leave them unenlightened
+ in this respect? Can their self love be so totally annihilated as not
+ frequently to induce ardent wishes for a change?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ You will accuse me, perhaps, my dearest friend, of consulting my own
+ feelings too much; but I am tempted to believe that this trampled people
+ have so much human left in them, as to be capable of aspiring to the
+ rights of men by noble exertions, if some friend to mankind would point
+ the road, and give them a prospect of success. If I am mistaken in this,
+ I would avail myself, even of their weakness, and, conquering one fear
+ by another, produce equal good to the public. You will ask in this view,
+ how do you consult the benefit of the slaves? I answer, that like other
+ men, they are creatures of habit. Their cowardly ideas will be gradually
+ effaced, and they will be modified anew. Their being rescued from a
+ state of perpetual humiliation, and being advanced as it were, in the
+ scale of being, will compensate the dangers incident to their new state.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The hope that will spring in each man's mind, respecting his own escape,
+ will prevent his being miserable. Those who fall in battle will not lose
+ much; those who survive will obtain their reward. Habits of
+ subordination, patience under fatigues, sufferings and privations of
+ every kind, are soldierly qualifications, which these men possess in an
+ eminent degree.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Upon the whole, my dearest friend and father, I hope that my plan for
+ serving my country and the oppressed negro race will not appear to you
+ the chimera of a young mind, deceived by a false appearance of moral
+ beauty, but a laudable sacrifice of private interest, to justice and the
+ public good.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ You say, that my resources would be small, on account of the proportion
+ of women and children. I do not know whether I am right, for I speak
+ from impulse, and have not reasoned upon the matter. I say, altho' my
+ plan is at once to give freedom to the negroes, and gain soldiers to the
+ states; in case of concurrence, I should sacrifice the former interest,
+ and therefore we change the women and children for able-bodied men. The
+ more of these I could obtain, the better; but forty might be a good
+ foundation to begin upon.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is a pity that some such plan as I propose could not be more
+ extensively executed by public authority. A well-chosen body of 5,000
+ black men, properly officer'd, to act as light troops, in addition to
+ our present establishment, might give us decisive success in the next
+ campaign.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ I have long deplored the wretched state of these men, and considered in
+ their history, the bloody wars excited in Africa, to furnish America
+ with slaves&mdash;the groans of despairing multitudes, toiling for the
+ luxuries of merciless tyrants.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ I have had the pleasure of conversing with you, sometimes, upon the
+ means of restoring them to their rights. When can it be better done,
+ than when their enfranchisement may be made conducive to the public
+ good, and be modified, as not to overpower their weak minds?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ You ask, what is the general's opinion, upon this subject? He is
+ convinced, that the numerous tribes of blacks in the southern parts of
+ the continent, offer a resource to us that should not be neglected. With
+ respect to my particular plan, he only objects to it, with the arguments
+ of pity for a man who would be less rich than he might be.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ I am obliged, my dearest friend and father, to take my leave for the
+ present; you will excuse whatever exceptionable may have escaped in the
+ course of my letter, and accept the assurance of filial love, and
+ respect of<br /> Your<br /> JOHN LAURENS]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ If, however, it be objected that the arming of Negroes by the Rebels was
+ exceptional and local, and, that otherwise, the Rebels always used their
+ volunteer or impressed Negro forces in work upon fortifications and other
+ unarmed Military Works, and never proposed using them in the clash of
+ arms, as armed soldiers against armed White men, the contrary is easily
+ proven.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In a message to the Rebel Congress, November 7, 1864, Jefferson Davis
+ himself, while dissenting at that time from the policy, advanced by many,
+ of "a general levy and arming of the Slaves, for the duty of soldiers,"
+ none the less declared that "should the alternative ever be presented of
+ subjugation, or of the employment of the Slave as a soldier, there seems
+ no reason to doubt what should then be our decision."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In the meantime, however, he recommended the employment of forty thousand
+ Slaves as pioneer and engineer laborers, on the ground that "even this
+ limited number, by their preparatory training in intermediate duties Would
+ form a more valuable reserve force in case of urgency, than threefold
+ their number suddenly called from field labor; while a fresh levy could,
+ to a certain extent, supply their places in the special service" of
+ pioneer and engineer work; and he undertook to justify the inconsistency
+ between his present recommendation, and his past attitude, by declaring
+ that "A broad, moral distinction exists between the use of Slaves as
+ soldiers in defense of their homes, and the incitement of the same persons
+ to insurrection against their masters, for," said he, "the one is
+ justifiable, if necessary; the other is iniquitous and unworthy of a
+ civilized people."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ So also, while a Bill for the arming of Slaves was pending before the
+ Rebel Congress early in 1865, General Robert E. Lee wrote, February 18th,
+ from the Headquarters of the Rebel Armies, to Hon. E. Barksdale, of the
+ Rebel House of Representatives, a communication, in which, after
+ acknowledging the receipt of a letter from him of February 12th, "with
+ reference to the employment of Negroes as soldiers," he said: "I think the
+ Measure not only expedient but necessary * * * in my opinion, the Negroes,
+ under proper circumstances, will make efficient soldiers. * * * I think
+ those who are employed, should be freed. It would be neither just nor
+ wise, in my opinion, to require them to remain as Slaves"&mdash;thus, not
+ only approving the employment of Black Slaves as soldiers, to fight White
+ Union men, but justifying their Emancipation as a reward for Military
+ service. And, a few days afterward, that Rebel Congress passed a Bill
+ authorizing Jefferson Davis to take into the Rebel Army as many Negro
+ Slaves "as he may deem expedient, for and during the War, to perform
+ Military service in whatever capacity he may direct," and at the same time
+ authorizing General Lee to organize them as other "troops" are organized.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [This Negro soldier Bill, according to McPherson's Appendix, p. 611-612,
+ passed both Houses, and was in these words:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ A Bill to increase the Military Forces of the Confederate States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The Congress of the Confederate States of America do Enact, That in
+ order to provide additional forces to repel invasion, maintain the
+ rightful possession of the Confederate States, secure their Independence
+ and preserve their Institutions, the President be and he is hereby
+ authorized to ask for and accept from the owners of Slaves the services
+ of such number of able-bodied Negro men as he may deem expedient for and
+ during the War, to perform Military service in whatever capacity he may
+ direct.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "SEC. 2.&mdash;That the General-in-Chief be authorized to organize the
+ said Slaves into companies, battalions, regiments, and brigades, under
+ such rules and regulations as the Secretary of War may prescribe, and to
+ be commanded by such officers as the President may appoint.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "SEC. 3.&mdash;That, while employed in the Service, the said troops
+ shall receive the same rations, clothing, and compensation as are
+ allowed to other troops in the same branch of the Service.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "SEC. 4.&mdash;That if, under the previous sections of this Act, the
+ President shall not be able to raise a sufficient number of troops to
+ prosecute the War successfully and maintain the Sovereignty of the
+ States, and the Independence of the Confederate States, then he is
+ hereby authorized to call on each State, whenever he thinks it
+ expedient, for her quota of 300,000 troops, in addition to those subject
+ to Military service, under existing laws, or so many thereof as the
+ President may deem necessary, to be raised from such classes of the
+ population, irrespective of color, in each State, as the proper
+ authorities thereof may determine: Provided, that not more than 25 per
+ cent. of the male Slaves, between the ages of 18 and 45, in any State,
+ shall be called for under the provisions of this Act.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "SEC. 5.&mdash;That nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize
+ a change in the relation of said Slaves."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkbutler" id="linkbutler"></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="p502-butler.jpg (85K)" src="images/p502-butler.jpg" style="width:100%;" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch22" id="linkch22"></a><br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ CHAPTER XXII.<br /> <br /> FREEDOM'S SUN STILL RISING.<br />
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After President Lincoln had issued his Proclamation of Emancipation, the
+ friends of Freedom clearly perceived&mdash;and none of them more clearly
+ than himself that until the incorporation of that great Act into the
+ Constitution of the United States itself, there could be no real assurance
+ of safety to the liberties of the emancipated; that unless this were done
+ there would be left, even after the suppression of the Rebellion, a living
+ spark of dissension which might at any time again be fanned into the
+ flames of Civil War.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Hence, at all proper times, Mr. Lincoln favored and even urged
+ Congressional action upon the subject. It was not, however, until the
+ following year that definite action may be said to have commenced in
+ Congress toward that end; and, as Congress was slow, he found it necessary
+ to say in his third Annual Message: "while I remain in my present position
+ I shall not attempt to retract or modify the Emancipation Proclamation;
+ nor shall I return to Slavery any person who is Free by the terms of that
+ Proclamation, or by any of the Acts of Congress."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Meantime, however, occurred the series of glorious Union victories in the
+ West, ending with the surrender to Grant's triumphant Forces on the 4th of
+ July, 1863, of Vicksburg&mdash;"the Gibraltar of the West"&mdash;with its
+ Garrison, Army, and enormous quantities of arms and munitions of war; thus
+ closing a brilliant and successful Campaign with a blow which literally
+ "broke the back" of the Rebellion; while, almost simultaneously, July 1-3,
+ the Union Forces of the East, under Meade, gained the great victory of
+ Gettysburg, and, driving the hosts of Lee from Pennsylvania, put a second
+ and final end to Rebel invasion of Northern soil; gaining it, on ground
+ dedicated by President Lincoln, before that year had closed&mdash;as a
+ place of sepulture for the Patriot-soldiers who there had fallen in a
+ brief, touching and immortal Address, which every American child should
+ learn by heart, and every American adult ponder deeply, as embodying the
+ very essence of true Republicanism.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [President Lincoln's Address, when the National Cemetery at Gettysburg,
+ Pa., was dedicated Nov. 19, 1863, was in these memorable words:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Fourscore and seven years ago, our Fathers brought forth upon this
+ continent a new Nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the
+ proposition that all men are created equal.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Now we are engaged in a great Civil War, testing whether that Nation,
+ or any Nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We are met on a great battlefield of that War. We have come here to
+ dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who
+ here gave their lives that that Nation might live.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we
+ can not hallow, this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who
+ struggled here, have consecrated it far above our power to add or
+ detract.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The World will little note, nor long remember, what we say here; but it
+ can never forget what they did here.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished
+ work which they who fought here have, thus far, so nobly advanced.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining
+ before us; that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to
+ that Cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that
+ we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that
+ this Nation, under God, shall have a new birth of Freedom; and that
+ Government of the People, by the People, and for the People, shall not
+ perish front the Earth."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ That season of victory for the Union arms, coming, as it did, upon a
+ season of depression and doubtfulness, was doubly grateful to the loyal
+ heart of the Nation. Daylight seemed to be breaking at last. Gettysburg
+ had hurled back the Southern invader from our soil; and Vicksburg, with
+ the immediately resulting surrender of Port Hudson, had opened the
+ Mississippi river from Cairo to the Gulf, and split the Confederacy in
+ twain.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But it happened just about this time that, the enrollment of the whole
+ Militia of the United States (under the Act of March, 1863), having been
+ completed, and a Draft for 300,000 men ordered to be made and executed, if
+ by a subsequent time the quotas of the various States should not be filled
+ by volunteering, certain malcontents and Copperheads, inspired by agents
+ and other friends of the Southern Conspirators, started and fomented, in
+ the city of New York, a spirit of unreasoning opposition both to voluntary
+ enlistment, and conscription under the Draft, that finally culminated,
+ July 13th, in a terrible Riot, lasting several days, during which that
+ great metropolis was in the hands, and completely at the mercy, of a
+ brutal mob of Secession sympathizers, who made day and night hideous with
+ their drunken bellowings, terrorized everybody even suspected of love for
+ the Union, plundered and burned dwellings, including a Colored Orphan
+ Asylum, and added to the crime of arson, that of murdering the mob-chased,
+ terror-stricken Negroes, by hanging them to the lamp-posts.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ These Riots constituted a part of that "Fire in the Rear" with which the
+ Rebels and their Northern Democratic sympathizers had so frequently
+ menaced the Armies of the Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Alluding to them, the N. Y. Tribune on July 15th, while its office was
+ invested and threatened with attack and demolition, bravely said: "They
+ are, in purpose and in essence, a Diversion in favor of Jefferson Davis
+ and Lee. Listen to the yells of the mob and the harangues of its favorite
+ orators, and you will find them surcharged with 'Nigger,' 'Abolition,'
+ 'Black Republican,' denunciation of prominent Republicans, The Tribune,
+ etc. etc.&mdash;all very wide of the Draft and the exemption. Had the
+ Abolitionists, instead of the Slaveholders, revolted, and undertaken to
+ upset the Government and dissolve the Union, nine-tenths of these rioters
+ would have eagerly volunteered to put them down. It is the fear,
+ stimulated by the recent and glorious triumphs of the Union Arms, that
+ Slavery and the Rebellion must suffer, which is at the bottom of all this
+ arson, devastation, robbery, and murder."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Democratic Governor, Seymour, by promising to "have this Draft
+ suspended and stopped," did something toward quieting the Riots, but it
+ was not until the Army of the Potomac, now following Lee's retreat, was
+ weakened by the sending of several regiments to New York that the
+ Draft-rioting spirit, in that city, and to a less extent in other cities,
+ was thoroughly cowed.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [In reply to Gov. Seymour's appeal for delay in the execution of the
+ Draft Law, in order to test its Constitutionality, Mr. Lincoln, on the
+ 7th of August, said he could not consent to lose the time that would be
+ involved in obtaining a decision from the U. S. Supreme Court on that
+ point, and proceeded: "We are contending with an Enemy who, as I
+ understand, drives every able-bodied man he can reach into his ranks,
+ very much as a butcher drives bullocks into a slaughter-pen. No time is
+ wasted, no argument is used.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "This system produces an Army which will soon turn upon our now
+ victorious soldiers already in the field, if they shall not be sustained
+ by recruits as they should be.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It produces an Army with a rapidity not to be matched on our side, if we
+ first waste time to re-experiment with the Volunteer system, already
+ deemed by Congress, and palpably, in fact, so far exhausted as to be
+ inadequate; and then more time to obtain a Court decision as to whether
+ a law is Constitutional which requires a part of those not now in the
+ Service to go to those who are already in it, and still more time to
+ determine with absolute certainty that we get those who are to go, in
+ the precisely legal proportion to those who are not to go.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "My purpose is to be in my action Just and Constitutional, and yet
+ Practical, in performing the important duty with which I am charged, of
+ maintaining the Unity and the Free principles of our common Country."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ Worried and weakened by this Democratic opposition to the Draft, and the
+ threatened consequent delays and dangers to the success of the Union
+ Cause, and depressed moreover by the defeat of the National forces under
+ Rosecrans at Chickamauga; yet, the favorable determination of the Fall
+ elections on the side of Union and Freedom, and the immense majorities
+ upholding those issues, together with Grant's great victory (November,
+ 1863) of Chattanooga&mdash;where the three days of fighting in the
+ Chattanooga Valley and up among the clouds of Lookout Mountain and Mission
+ Ridge, not only effaced the memory of Rosecrans's previous disaster, but
+ brought fresh and imperishable laurels to the Union Arms&mdash;stiffened
+ the President's backbone, and that of Union men everywhere.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Not that Mr. Lincoln had shown any signs of weakness or wavering, or any
+ loss of hope in the ultimate result of this War for the preservation of
+ the Union&mdash;which now also involved Freedom to all beneath its banner.
+ On the contrary, a letter of his written late in August shows conclusively
+ enough that he even then began to see clearly the coming final triumph&mdash;not
+ perhaps as "speedy," as he would like, in its coming, but none the less
+ sure to come in God's "own good time," and furthermore not appearing "to
+ be so distant as it did" before Gettysburg, and especially Vicksburg, was
+ won; for, said he: "The signs look better. The Father of Waters again goes
+ unvexed to the Sea".
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [This admirable letter, reviewing "the situation" and his policy, was in
+ these words
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ EXECUTIVE MANSION,<br /> WASHINGTON, August 26. 1863.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ HON. JAMES C. CONKLING
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ MY DEAR SIR; Your letter inviting me to attend a Mass Meeting of
+ unconditional Union men to be held at the Capital of Illinois, on the
+ 3rd day of September, has been received. It would be very agreeable for
+ me thus to meet my old friends at my own home; but I cannot just now be
+ absent from here so long a time as a visit there would require.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The meeting is to be of all those who maintain unconditional devotion to
+ the Union; and I am sure that my old political friends will thank me for
+ tendering, as I do, the Nation's gratitude to those other noble men whom
+ no partisan malice or partisan hope can make false to the Nation's life.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ There are those who are dissatisfied with me. To such I would say: you
+ desire Peace, and you blame me that we do not have it. But how can we
+ attain it? There are but three conceivable ways: First, to suppress the
+ Rebellion by force of Arms. This I am trying to do. Are you for it? If
+ you are, so far we are agreed. If you are not for it, a second way is to
+ give up the Union. I am against this. Are you for it? If you are, you
+ should say so plainly. If you are not for Force, nor yet for
+ Dissolution, there only remains some imaginable Compromise.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ I do not believe that any Compromise embracing the maintenance of the
+ Union is now possible. All that I learn leads to a directly opposite
+ belief. The strength of the Rebellion is its Military, its Army. That
+ Army dominates all the Country, and all the people, within its range.
+ Any offer of terms made by any man or men within that range, in
+ opposition to that Army, is simply nothing for the present: because such
+ man or men have no power whatever to enforce their side of a Compromise,
+ if one were made with them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ To illustrate: Suppose refugees from the South, and Peace men of the
+ North, get together in Convention, and frame and proclaim a Compromise
+ embracing a restoration of the Union. In what way can that Compromise be
+ used to keep Lee's Army out of Pennsylvania? Meade's Army can keep Lee's
+ Army out of Pennsylvania, and, I think, can ultimately drive it out of
+ existence. But no paper Compromise to which the controllers of Lee's
+ Army are not agreed, can at all affect that Army. In an effort at such
+ Compromise we would waste time, which the Enemy would improve to our
+ disadvantage; and that would be all.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ A Compromise, to be effective, must be made either with those who
+ control the Rebel Army, or with the people, first liberated from the
+ domination of that Army, by the success of our own Army. Now, allow me
+ to assure you that no word or intimation from that Rebel Army, or from
+ any of the men controlling it, in relation to any Peace Compromise, has
+ ever come to my knowledge or belief. All charges and insinuations to the
+ contrary are deceptive and groundless. And I promise you that if any
+ such proposition shall hereafter come, it shall not be rejected and kept
+ a secret from you. I freely acknowledge myself to be the servant of the
+ People, according to the bond of service, the United States
+ Constitution; and that, as such, I am responsible to them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But, to be plain. You are dissatisfied with me about the Negro. Quite
+ likely there is a difference of opinion between you and myself upon that
+ subject. I certainly wish that all men could be Free, while you, I
+ suppose, do not. Yet I have neither adopted nor proposed any measure
+ which is not consistent with even your view, provided that you are for
+ the Union. I suggested compensated Emancipation; to which you replied
+ you wished not to be taxed to buy Negroes. But I had not asked you to be
+ taxed to buy Negroes, except in such a way as to save you from greater
+ taxation to save the Union, exclusively by other means.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ You dislike the Emancipation Proclamation, and perhaps would have it
+ retracted. You say it is Unconstitutional. I think differently. I think
+ the Constitution invests the Commander-in-Chief with the Law of War in
+ Time of War. The most that can be said, if so much, is, that Slaves are
+ property. Is there, has there ever been, any question that, by the Law
+ of War, property, both of enemies and friends, may be taken when needed?
+ And is it not needed whenever it helps us and hurts the Enemy? Armies,
+ the World over, destroy enemies' property when they cannot use it; and
+ even destroy their own to keep it from the Enemy. Civilized belligerents
+ do all in their power to help themselves or hurt the Enemy, except a few
+ things regarded as barbarous or cruel. Among the exceptions are the
+ massacre of vanquished foes and non-combatants, male and female.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But the Proclamation, as law, either is valid or is not valid. If it is
+ not valid, it needs no retraction. If it is valid it cannot be
+ retracted, any more than the dead can be brought to life. Some of you
+ profess to think its retraction would operate favorably for the Union.
+ Why better after the retraction than before the issue? There was more
+ than a year and a half of trial to suppress the Rebellion before the
+ Proclamation was issued, the last one hundred days of which passed under
+ an explicit notice that it was coming, unless averted by those in revolt
+ returning to their allegiance. The War has certainly progressed as
+ favorably for us since the issue of the Proclamation as before.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ I know as fully as one can know the opinions of others that some of the
+ Commanders of our Armies in the field, who have given us our most
+ important victories, believe the Emancipation policy and the use of
+ Colored troops constitute the heaviest blows yet dealt to the Rebellion,
+ and that at least one of those important successes could not have been
+ achieved when it was, but for the aid of Black soldiers.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Among the Commanders who hold these views are some who have never had an
+ affinity with what is called "Abolitionism," or with "Republican party
+ politics," but who hold them purely as Military opinions. I submit their
+ opinions as entitled to some weight against the objections often urged
+ that Emancipation and arming the Blacks are unwise as Military measures,
+ and were not adopted as such, in good faith.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ You say that you will not fight to Free Negroes. Some of them seem
+ willing to fight for you; but no matter. Fight you, then, exclusively to
+ save the Union. I issued the Proclamation on purpose to aid you in
+ saving the Union. Whenever you shall have conquered all resistance to
+ the Union, if I shall urge you to continue fighting, it will be an apt
+ time then for you to declare you will not fight to Free Negroes. I
+ thought that in your struggle for the Union, to whatever extent the
+ Negroes should cease helping the Enemy, to that extent it weakened the
+ Enemy in his resistance to you. Do you think differently? I thought
+ whatever Negroes can be got to do as soldiers, leaves just so much less
+ for White soldiers to do in saving the Union. Does it appear otherwise
+ to you? But Negroes, like other people, act upon motives. Why should
+ they do anything for us if we will do nothing for them? If they stake
+ their lives for us they must be prompted by the strongest motives, even
+ the promise of Freedom. And the promise, being made, must be kept.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The signs look better. The Father of Waters again goes unvexed to the
+ Sea. Thanks to the great Northwest for it; nor yet wholly to them. Three
+ hundred miles up, they met New England, Empire, Keystone, and Jersey,
+ hewing their way right and left. The Sunny South, too, in more colors
+ than one, also lent a helping hand. On the spot, their part of the
+ history was jotted down in Black and White. The job was a great National
+ one, and let none be slighted who bore an honorable part in it. And
+ while those who have cleared the Great River may well be proud, even
+ that is not all. It is hard to say that anything has been more bravely
+ and well done than at Antietam, Murfreesboro, Gettysburg, and on many
+ fields of less note. Nor must Uncle Sam's web-feet be forgotten. At all
+ the watery margins they have been present, not only on the deep Sea, the
+ broad Bay, and the rapid River, but also up the narrow, muddy Bayou, and
+ wherever the ground was a little damp they had been, and made their
+ tracks. Thanks to all. For the Great Republic&mdash;for the principle it
+ lives by, and keeps alive&mdash;for Man's vast future&mdash;thanks to
+ all.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Peace does not appear so distant as it did. I hope it will come soon,
+ and come to stay; and so come as to be worth the keeping in all future
+ time. It will then have been proved that among Freemen there can be no
+ successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet, and that they who take
+ such appeal are sure to lose their case and pay the cost. And there will
+ be some Black men who can remember that, with silent tongue, and
+ clinched teeth, and steady eye, and well poised bayonet, they have
+ helped mankind on to this great consummation, while I fear there will be
+ some White ones unable to forget that with malignant heart and deceitful
+ speech they have striven to hinder it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Still, let us not be over sanguine of a speedy, final triumph. Let us be
+ quite sober. Let us diligently apply the means, never doubting that a
+ just God, in his own good time, will give us the rightful result.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Yours very truly,<br /> A. LINCOLN.]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But Chattanooga, and the grand majorities in all the Fall State-elections,
+ save that of New Jersey,&mdash;and especially the manner in which loyal
+ Ohio sat down upon the chief Copperhead-Democrat and Treason-breeder of
+ the North, Vallandigham&mdash;came most auspiciously to strengthen the
+ President's hands.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [The head of the Knights of the Golden Circle, and the Democratic
+ candidate for Governor of Ohio]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ And now he saw, more clearly still, the approach of that time when the
+ solemn promise and declaration of Emancipation might be recorded upon the
+ sacred roll of the Constitution, and thus be made safe for all time.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In his Annual Message of December, 1863, therefore, President Lincoln,
+ after adverting to the fact that "a year ago the War had already lasted
+ nearly twenty months," without much ground for hopefulness, proceeded to
+ say:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, issued in September, was
+ running its assigned period to the beginning of the New Year. A month
+ later the final Proclamation came, including the announcement that Colored
+ men of suitable condition would be received into the War service. The
+ policy of Emancipation, and of employing Black soldiers, gave to the
+ future a new aspect, about which hope, and fear, and doubt, contended in
+ uncertain conflict.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "According to our political system, as a matter of Civil Administration,
+ the General Government had no lawful power to effect Emancipation in any
+ State, and for a long time it had been hoped that the Rebellion could be
+ suppressed without resorting to it as a Military measure. It was all the
+ while deemed possible that the necessity for it might come, and that if it
+ should, the crisis of the contest would then be presented. It came, and,
+ as was anticipated, it was followed by dark and doubtful days.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Eleven months having now passed, we are permitted to take another view *
+ * * Of those who were Slaves at the beginning of the Rebellion, full one
+ hundred thousand are now in the United States Military service, about one
+ half of which number actually bear arms in the ranks; thus giving the
+ double advantage of taking so much labor from the Insurgent cause, and
+ supplying the places which otherwise must be filled with so many White
+ men. So far as tested, it is difficult to say they are not as good
+ soldiers as any.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "No servile insurrection, or tendency to violence or cruelty, has marked
+ the measures of Emancipation and arming the Blacks. These measures have
+ been much discussed in Foreign Countries, and contemporary with such
+ discussion the tone of public sentiment there is much improved. At home,
+ the same measures have been fully discussed, supported, criticised, and
+ denounced, and the annual elections following are highly encouraging to
+ those whose official duty it is to bear the Country through this great
+ trial. Thus we have the new reckoning. The crisis which threatened to
+ divide the friends of the Union is past."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After alluding to his Proclamation of Amnesty, issued simultaneously with
+ this Message, to all repentant Rebels who would take an oath therein
+ prescribed, and contending that such an oath should be (as he had drawn
+ it) to uphold not alone the Constitution and the Union, but the Laws and
+ Proclamations touching Slavery as well, President Lincoln continued:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In my judgment they have aided and will further aid, the Cause for which
+ they were intended. To now abandon them, would be not only to relinquish a
+ lever of power, but would also be a cruel and an astounding breach of
+ faith." And, toward the close of the Message, he added:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The movements by State action, for Emancipation, in several of the States
+ not included in the Emancipation Proclamation, are matters of profound
+ gratulation. And while I do not repeat in detail what I have heretofore so
+ earnestly urged upon the subject, my general views remain unchanged; and I
+ trust that Congress will omit no fair opportunity of AIDING THESE
+ IMPORTANT STEPS TO A GREAT CONSUMMATION."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Lincoln's patient but persistent solicitude, his earnest and
+ unintermitted efforts&mdash;exercised publicly through his Messages and
+ speeches, and privately upon Members of Congress who called upon, or whose
+ presence was requested by him at the White House&mdash;in behalf of
+ incorporating Emancipation in the Constitution, were now to give promise,
+ at least, of bearing good fruit.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Measures looking to this end were submitted in both Houses of Congress
+ soon after its meeting, and were referred to the respective Judiciary
+ Committees of the same, and on the 10th of February, 1864, Mr. Trumbull
+ reported to the Senate, from the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which he
+ was Chairman, a substitute Joint Resolution providing for the submission
+ to the States of an Amendment to the United States Constitution in the
+ following words:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "ART. XIII., SEC. I. Neither Slavery nor Involuntary Servitude, except as
+ a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted,
+ shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their
+ jurisdiction.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "SEC. II. Congress shall have power to enforce this Article by appropriate
+ legislation."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This proposed Amendment came up for consideration in the Senate, on the
+ 28th of March, and a notable debate ensued.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the same day, in the House of Representatives, Thaddeus Stevens&mdash;with
+ the object perhaps of ascertaining the strength, in that Body, of the
+ friends of out-and-out Emancipation&mdash;offered a Resolution proposing
+ to the States the following Amendments to the United States Constitution:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "ART. I. Slavery and Involuntary Servitude, except for the punishment of
+ crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, is forever
+ prohibited in the United States and all its Territories.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "ART. II. So much of Article four, Section two, as refers to the delivery
+ up of Persons held to Service or Labor, escaping into another State, is
+ annulled."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The test was made upon a motion to table the Resolution, which motion was
+ defeated by 38 yeas to 69 nays, and showed the necessity for converting
+ three members from the Opposition. Subsequently, at the instance of Mr.
+ Stevens himself, the second Article of the Resolution was struck out by 72
+ yeas to 26 nays.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The proceedings in both Houses of Congress upon these propositions to
+ engraft upon the National Constitution a provision guaranteeing Freedom to
+ all men upon our soil, were now interrupted by the death of one who would
+ almost have been willing to die twice over, if, by doing so, he could have
+ hastened their adoption.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Owen Lovejoy, the life-long apostle of Abolitionism, the fervid gospeller
+ of Emancipation, was dead; and it seemed almost the irony of Fate that, at
+ such a time, when Emancipation most needed all its friends to make it
+ secure, its doughtiest champion should fall.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But perhaps the eloquent tributes paid to his memory, in the Halls of
+ Congress, helped the Cause no less. They at least brought back to the
+ public mind the old and abhorrent tyrannies of the Southern Slave power;
+ how it had sought not not only to destroy freedom of Action, but freedom
+ of Speech, and hesitated not to destroy human Life with these; reminded
+ the Loyal People of the Union of much that was hateful, from which they
+ had escaped; and strengthened the purpose of Patriots to fix in the chief
+ corner-stone of the Constitution, imperishable muniments of human Liberty.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Lovejoy's brother had been murdered at Alton, Illinois, while vindicating
+ freedom of Speech and of the Press; and the blood of that martyr truly
+ became "the seed of the Church." Arnold&mdash;recalling a speech of Owen
+ Lovejoy's at Chicago, and a passage in it, descriptive of the martyrdom,&mdash;said
+ to the House, on this sad occasion: "I remember that, after describing the
+ scene of that death, in words&mdash;which stirred every heart, he said he
+ went a pilgrim to his brother's grave, and, kneeling upon the sod beneath
+ which sleeps that brother, he swore, by the everlasting God, eternal
+ hostility to African Slavery." And, continued Arnold, "Well and nobly has
+ he kept that oath."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Washburne, too, reminded the House of the memorable episode in that very
+ Hall when, (April 5, 1860), the adherents of Slavery crowding around
+ Lovejoy with fierce imprecations and threats, seeking then and there to
+ prevent Free Speech, "he displayed that undaunted courage and matchless
+ bearing which extorted the admiration of even his most deadly foes." "His"&mdash;continued
+ the same speaker&mdash;"was the eloquence of Mirabeau, which in the Tiers
+ Etat and in the National Assembly made to totter the throne of France; it
+ was the eloquence of Danton, who made all France to tremble from his
+ tempestuous utterances in the National Convention. Like those apostles of
+ the French Revolution, his eloquence could stir from the lowest depths all
+ the passions of Man; but unlike them, he was as good and as pure as he was
+ eloquent and brave, a noble minded Christian man, a lover of the whole
+ human Race, and of universal Liberty regulated by Law."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Grinnell, in his turn, told also with real pathos, of his having recently
+ seen Lovejoy in the chamber of sickness. "When," said Grinnell, "I
+ expressed fears for his recovery, I saw the tears course down his manly
+ cheek, as he said 'Ah! God's will be done, but I have been laboring,
+ voting, and praying for twenty years that I might see the great day of
+ Freedom which is so near and which I hope God will let me live to rejoice
+ in. I want a vote on my Bill for the destruction of Slavery, root and
+ branch.'"
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [Sumner, afterward speaking of Lovejoy and this Measure, said: "On the
+ 14th of December, 1863, he introduced a Bill, whose title discloses its
+ character: 'A Bill to give effect to the Declaration of Independence,
+ and also to certain Provisions of the Constitution of the United
+ States.' It proceeds to recite that All Men were Created Equal, and were
+ Endowed by the Creator with the Inalienable Right to Life, Liberty and
+ the Fruits of honest Toil; that the Government of the United States was
+ Instituted to Secure those Rights; that the Constitution declares that
+ No Person shall be Deprived of Liberty without due Process of Law, and
+ also provides&mdash;article five, clause two&mdash;that this
+ Constitution, and the Laws of the United States made in pursuance
+ thereof, shall be the Supreme Law of the Land, and the Judges in each
+ State shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution and Laws of
+ any State to the contrary notwithstanding; that it is now demonstrated
+ by the Rebellion that Slavery is absolutely incompatible with the Union,
+ Peace, and General Welfare for which Congress is to Provide; and it
+ therefore Enacts that All Persons heretofore held in Slavery in any of
+ the States or Territories of the United States are declared Freedmen,
+ and are Forever Released from Slavery or Involuntary Servitude except as
+ Punishment for Crime on due conviction. On the same day he introduced
+ another Bill to Protect Freedmen and to Punish any one for Enslaving
+ them. These were among his last Public acts,"&mdash;Cong. Globe, 1st S.,
+ 38th C., Pt. 2, p. 1334]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ And staunch old Thaddeus Stevens said: "The change to him, is great gain.
+ The only regret we can feel is that he did not live to see the salvation
+ of his Country; to see Peace and Union restored, and universal
+ Emancipation given to his native land. But such are the ways of
+ Providence. Moses was not permitted to enter the Promised Land with those
+ he had led out of Bondage; he beheld it from afar off, and slept with his
+ fathers." "The deceased," he impressively added, "needs no perishable
+ monuments of brass or marble to perpetuate his name. So long as the
+ English language shall be spoken or deciphered, so long as Liberty shall
+ have a worshipper, his name will be known!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ What influence the death of Owen Lovejoy may have had on the subsequent
+ proceedings touching Emancipation interrupted as we have seen by his
+ demise&mdash;cannot be known; but among all the eloquent tributes to his
+ memory called forth by the mournful incident, perhaps none, could he have
+ heard it, would have better pleased him than those two opening sentences
+ of Charles Summer's oration in the Senate&mdash;where he said of Owen
+ Lovejoy: "Could his wishes prevail, he would prefer much that Senators
+ should continue in their seats and help to enact into Law some one of the
+ several Measures now pending to secure the obliteration of Slavery. Such
+ an Act would be more acceptable to him than any personal tribute,&mdash;"
+ unless it might be these other words, which followed from the same lips:
+ "How his enfranchised Soul would be elevated even in those Abodes to which
+ he has been removed, to know that his voice was still heard on Earth
+ encouraging, exhorting, insisting that there should be no hesitation
+ anywhere in striking at Slavery; that this unpardonable wrong, from which
+ alone the Rebellion draws its wicked life, must be blasted by Presidential
+ proclamation, blasted by Act of Congress, blasted by Constitutional
+ prohibition, blasted in every possible way, by every available agency, and
+ at every occurring opportunity, so that no trace of the outrage may
+ continue in the institutions of the Land, and especially that its accursed
+ foot-prints may no longer defile the National Statute-book. Sir, it will
+ be in vain that you pass Resolutions in tribute to him, if you neglect
+ that Cause for which he lived, and do not hearken to his voice!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linktrumbell" id="linktrumbell"></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="p528-trumbell.jpg (65K)" src="images/p528-trumbell.jpg" style="width:100%;"
+ /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch23" id="linkch23"></a><br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ CHAPTER XXIII.<br /> <br /> "THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT" IN THE SENATE.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ During the great debate, which now opened in the Senate, upon the
+ Judiciary Committee's substitute resolution for the Amendment of the
+ Constitution, so as forever to prohibit Slavery within the United States,
+ and to empower Congress to pass such laws as would make that prohibition
+ effective&mdash;participated in by Messrs. Trumbull, Wilson, Saulsbury,
+ Davis, Harlan, Powell, Sherman, Clark, Hale, Hendricks, Henderson, Sumner,
+ McDougall and others&mdash;the whole history of Slavery was enquired into
+ and laid bare.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Trumbull insisted that Slavery was at the bottom of all the internal
+ troubles with which the Nation had from its birth been afflicted, down to
+ this wicked Rebellion, with all the resulting "distress, desolation, and
+ death;" and that by 1860, it had grown to such power and arrogance that
+ "its advocates demanded the control of the Nation in its interests,
+ failing in which, they attempted its overthrow." He reviewed, at some
+ length, what had been done by our Government with regard to Slavery, since
+ the breaking out of hostilities against us in that mad attempt against the
+ National life; how, "in the earlier stages of the War, there was an
+ indisposition on the part of the Executive Authority to interfere with
+ Slavery at all;" how, for a long time, Slaves, escaping to our lines, were
+ driven back to their Rebel masters; how the Act of Congress of July, 1861,
+ which gave Freedom to all Slaves allowed by their Rebel masters to assist
+ in the erection of Rebel works and fortifications, had "not been
+ executed," and, said Mr. Trumbull, "so far as I am advised, not a single
+ Slave has been set at liberty under it;" how, "it was more than a year
+ after its enactment before any considerable number of Persons of African
+ descent were organized and armed" under the subsequent law of December,
+ 1861, which not only gave Freedom to all Slaves entering our Military
+ lines, or who, belonging to Rebel masters, were deserted by them, or were
+ found in regions once occupied by Rebel forces and later by those of the
+ Union, but also empowered the President to organize and arm them to aid in
+ the suppression of the Rebellion; how, it was not until this law had been
+ enacted that Union officers ceased to expel Slaves coming within our lines&mdash;and
+ then only when dismissal from the public service was made the penalty for
+ such expulsion; how, by his Proclamations of Emancipation, of September,
+ 1862, and January, 1863, the President undertook to supplement
+ Congressional action&mdash;which had, theretofore, been confined to
+ freeing the Slaves of Rebels, and of such of these only as had come within
+ the lines of our Military power-by also declaring, Free, the Slaves "who
+ were in regions of country from which the authority of the United States
+ was expelled;" and how, the "force and effect" of these Proclamations were
+ variously understood by the enemies and friends of those measures&mdash;it
+ being insisted on the one side that Emancipation as a War-stroke was
+ within the Constitutional War-power of the President as
+ Commander-in-Chief, and that, by virtue of those Proclamations, "all
+ Slaves within the localities designated become ipso facto Free," and on
+ the other, that the Proclamations were "issued without competent
+ authority," and had not effected and could not effect, "the Emancipation
+ of a single Slave," nor indeed could at any time, without additional
+ legislation, go farther than to liberate Slaves coming within the Union
+ Army lines.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After demonstrating that "any and all these laws and Proclamations, giving
+ to each the largest effect claimed by its friends, are ineffectual to the
+ destruction of Slavery," and protesting that some more effectual method of
+ getting rid of that Institution must be adopted, he declared, as his
+ judgment, that "the only effectual way of ridding the Country of Slavery,
+ so that it cannot be resuscitated, is by an Amendment of the Constitution
+ forever prohibiting it within the jurisdiction of the United States."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He then canvassed the chances of adoption of such an Amendment by an
+ affirmative vote of two thirds in each House of Congress, and of its
+ subsequent ratification by three-fourths of the States of the Union, and
+ declared that "it is reasonable to suppose that if this proposed Amendment
+ passes Congress, it will, within a year, receive the ratification of the
+ requisite number of States to make it a part of the Constitution." His
+ prediction proved correct&mdash;but only after a protracted struggle.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Henry Wilson also made a strong speech, but on different grounds. He held
+ that the Emancipation Proclamations formed, together, a "complete,
+ absolute, and final decree of Emancipation in Rebel States," and, being
+ "born of Military necessity" and "proclaimed by the Commander-in-Chief of
+ the Army and Navy, is the settled and irrepealable Law of the Republic, to
+ be observed, obeyed, and enforced, by Army and Navy, and is the
+ irreversible voice of the Nation."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He also reviewed what had been done since the outbreak of the Rebellion,
+ by Congress and the President, by Laws and Proclamations; and, while
+ standing by the Emancipation Proclamations, declared that "the crowning
+ Act, in this series of Acts, for the restriction and extinction of Slavery
+ in America, is this proposed Amendment to the Constitution prohibiting the
+ existence of Slavery in the Republic of the United States."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Emancipation Proclamation, according to his view, only needed
+ enforcement, to give "Peace and Order, Freedom and Unity, to a now
+ distracted Country;" but the "crowning act" of incorporating this
+ Amendment into the Constitution would do even more than all this, in that
+ it would "obliterate the last lingering vestiges of the Slave System; its
+ chattelizing, degrading, and bloody codes; its malignant, barbarizing
+ spirit; all it was, and is; everything connected with it or pertaining to
+ it, from the face of the Nation it has scarred with moral desolation, from
+ the bosom of the Country it has reddened with the blood and strewn with
+ the graves of patriotism."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ While the debate proceeded, President Lincoln watched it with careful
+ interest. Other matters, however, had, since the Battle of Chattanooga,
+ largely engrossed his attention.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The right man had at last been found&mdash;it was believed&mdash;to
+ control as well as to lead our Armies. That man was Ulysses S. Grant. The
+ grade of Lieutenant General of the Army of the United States&mdash;in
+ desuetude since the days of Washington, except by brevet, in the case of
+ Winfield Scott,&mdash;having been especially revived by Congress for and
+ filled by the appointment and confirmation of Grant, March 2, 1864, that
+ great soldier immediately came on to Washington, received his commission
+ at the hands of President Lincoln, in the cabinet chamber of the White
+ House, on the 9th, paid a flying visit to the Army of the Potomac, on the
+ 10th, and at once returned to Nashville to plan future movements.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 12th, a General Order of the War Department (No. 98) was issued,
+ relieving Major-General Halleck, "at his own request," from duty as
+ "General-in-Chief" of the Army, and assigning Lieutenant-General U. S.
+ Grant to "the command of the Armies of the United States," "the
+ Headquarters of the Army" to be in Washington, and also with
+ Lieutenant-General Grant in the Field, Halleck being assigned to "duty, in
+ Washington, as Chief-of-staff of the Army, under the direction of the
+ Secretary of War and the Lieutenant-General commanding."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ By the same order, Sherman was assigned to the command of the "Military
+ Division of the Mississippi," composed of the Departments of the Ohio, the
+ Cumberland, the Tennessee, and the Arkansas; and McPherson to that of the
+ Department and Army of the Tennessee.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 23rd of March, Grant was back again at Washington, and at once
+ proceeded to Culpepper Court-house, Virginia, where his Headquarters in
+ the field were, for a time, to be.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Here he completed his plans, and reorganized his Forces, for the coming
+ conflicts, in the South-west and South-east, which were to result in a
+ full triumph to the Union Arms, and Peace to a preserved Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is evident, from the utterances of Mr. Lincoln when Vicksburg fell,
+ that he had then become pretty well satisfied that Grant was "the coming
+ man," to whom it would be safe to confide the management and chief
+ leadership of our Armies. Chattanooga merely confirmed that belief&mdash;as
+ indeed it did that of Union men generally. But the concurrent judgment of
+ Congress and the President had now, as we have seen, placed Grant in that
+ chief command; and the consequent relief to Mr. Lincoln, in thus having
+ the heavy responsibility of Army-control, long unwillingly exercised by
+ him, taken from his own shoulders and placed upon those of the one great
+ soldier in whom he had learned to have implicit faith,&mdash;a faith
+ earned by steady and unvaryingly successful achievements in the Field&mdash;must
+ have been most grateful.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Other responsibilities would still press heavily enough upon the
+ President's time and attention. Questions touching the Military and Civil
+ government of regions of the Enemy's country, conquered by the Union arms;
+ of the rehabilitation or reconstruction of the Rebel States; of a thousand
+ and one other matters, of greater or lesser perplexity, growing out of
+ these and other questions; besides the ever pressing and gigantic problems
+ involved in the raising of enormous levies of troops, and prodigious sums
+ of money, needed in securing, moving, and supplying them, and defraying
+ the extraordinary expenses growing out of the necessary blockade of
+ thousands of miles of Southern Coast, and other Naval movements; not to
+ speak of those expenditures belonging to the more ordinary business
+ transactions of the Government.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But chief of all things claiming his especial solicitude, as we have seen,
+ was this question of Emancipation by Constitutional enactment, the debate
+ upon which was now proceeding in the Senate. That solicitude was
+ necessarily increased by the bitter opposition to it of Northern
+ Copperheads, and by the attitude of the Border-State men, upon whose final
+ action, the triumph or defeat of this great measure must ultimately
+ depend.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Many of the latter, were, as has already been shown in these pages, loyal
+ men; but the loyalty of some of these to their Country, was still so
+ questionably and so thoroughly tainted with their worshipful devotion to
+ Slavery&mdash;although they must have been blind indeed not to have
+ discovered, long ere this, that it was a "slowly-dying cause"&mdash;that
+ they were ever on the alert to delay, hamper, and defeat, any action,
+ whether Executive or Legislative, and however necessary for the
+ preservation of the Union and the overthrow of its mortal enemies, which,
+ never so lightly, impinged upon their "sacred Institution."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This fact was well set forth, in this very debate, by a Senator from New
+ England&mdash;[Wilson of Massachusetts]&mdash;when, after adjuring the
+ anti-Slavery men of the age, not to forget the long list of Slavery's
+ crimes, he eloquently proceeded:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Let them remember, too, that hundreds of thousands of our countrymen in
+ Loyal States&mdash;since Slavery raised the banners of Insurrection, and
+ sent death, wounds, sickness, and sorrow, into the homes of the People&mdash;have
+ resisted, and still continue to resist, any measure for the defense of the
+ Nation, if that measure tended to impair the vital and animating powers of
+ Slavery. They resisted the Act making Free the Slaves used by Rebels for
+ Military purposes; the Confiscation of Rebel property and the Freedom of
+ the Slaves of Rebel masters; the Abolition of Slavery in the Capital of
+ the Nation, and the consecration of the Territories to Free Labor and Free
+ laboring men; the Proclamation of Emancipation; the enlistment of Colored
+ men to fight the battles of the Country; the Freedom of the Black soldier,
+ who is fighting, bleeding, dying for the Country; and the Freedom of his
+ wife and children. And now, when War has for nearly three years menaced
+ the life of the Nation, bathed the Land in blood, and filled two hundred
+ thousand graves with our slain sons, these men of the Loyal States still
+ cling to the falling fortunes of the relentless and unappeasable Enemy of
+ their Country and its democratic institutions; they mourn, and will not be
+ comforted, over the expiring System, in the Border Slave-States; and, in
+ tones of indignation or of anguish, they utter lamentations over the
+ Proclamation of Emancipation, and the policy that is bringing Rebel States
+ back again radiant with Freedom."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Among these "loyal" Democratic opponents of Emancipation, in any shape, or
+ any where, were not wanting men&mdash;whether from Loyal Northern or
+ Border States&mdash;who still openly avowed that Slavery was right; that
+ Rebellion, to preserve its continuance, was justifiable; and that there
+ was no Constitutional method of uprooting it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Saulsbury of Delaware, was representative and spokesman of this class, and
+ he took occasion during this very debate&mdash;[In the Senate, March 31,
+ 1864.]&mdash;to defend Slavery as a Divine Institution, which had the
+ sanction both of the Mosaic and Christian Dispensations!
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [Said he: "Slavery had existed under some form or other from the first
+ period of recorded history. It dates back even beyond the period of
+ Abraham, the Father of the Faithful, in whose seed all the Nations of
+ the Earth were to be blessed. We find that, immediately after the Flood,
+ the Almighty, for purposes inscrutable to us, condemned a whole race to
+ Servitude: 'Vayomer Orur Knoan Efet Afoatim Yeahio Le-echot:' 'And he
+ said, Cursed be Canaan; Slave of Slaves he shall be to his brethren.' It
+ continued among all people until the advent of the Christian era. It was
+ recognized in that New Dispensation, which was to supersede the Old. It
+ has the sanction of God's own Apostle; for when Paul sent back Onesimus
+ to Philemon, whom did he send? A Freeman? No, Sir. He sent his (doulos,)
+ a Slave, born as such, not even his andrapodon, who was such by
+ captivity in War. Among all people, and in all ages, has this
+ Institution, if such it is to be called, existed, and had the
+ countenance of wise and good men, and even of the Christian Church
+ itself, until these modern times, up at least to the Nineteenth Century.
+ It exists in this Country, and has existed from the beginning."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Harlan's reply to the position of Mr. Saulsbury that Slavery is
+ right, is a Divine Institution, etc., was very able and interesting. He
+ piled up authority after authority, English as well as American, to show
+ that there is no support of Slavery&mdash;and especially of the title to
+ services of the adult offspring of a Slave&mdash;at Common Law; and,
+ after also proving, by the mouth of a favorite son of Virginia, that it
+ has no legal existence by virtue of any Municipal or Statutory Law, he
+ declared that the only remaining Law that can be cited for its support
+ is the Levitical Code"&mdash;as follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'Both thy Bondmen, and thy Bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be
+ of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy Bondmen
+ and Bondmaids.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'Moreover, of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you,
+ of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which
+ they begat in your land; and they shall be your possession.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'And ye shall take them as an Inheritance for your children after you,
+ to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your Bondmen forever."'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I remark," said he, "in this connection, that the Levitical Code, or
+ the Hebrew Law, contains a provision for the Naturalization of
+ Foreigners, whether captives of War, or voluntary emigrants. By
+ compliance with the requirements of this law they became citizens,
+ entitled to all the rights and privileges and immunities of native
+ Hebrews. The Hebrew Slave Code, applicable to Enslaved Hebrews, is in
+ these words:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto
+ thee, and serve thee six years, then in the seventh year thou shalt let
+ him go Free from thee.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Here I request the attention of those who claim compensation for
+ Emancipated Slaves to the text:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'And when thou sendest him out Free from thee, thou shalt not let him
+ go away empty:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy floor'&mdash;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Which means granaries&mdash;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'and out of thy wine-press: of that wherewith the Lord thy God hath
+ blessed thee, thou shalt give unto him.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou sendest him away Free from
+ thee, for he hath been worth a double-hired servant to thee, in serving
+ thee six years.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "These Hebrew Statutes provide that the heathen might be purchased and
+ held as Slaves, and their posterity after them; that under their
+ Naturalization Laws all strangers and sojourners, Bond and Free, have
+ the privilege of acquiring the rights of citizenship; that all Hebrews,
+ natives or naturalized, might assert and maintain their right to
+ Freedom.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "At the end of six years a Hebrew Slave thus demanding his Liberty, was
+ not to be sent away empty; the owner, so far from claiming compensation
+ from his neighbors or from the Public Treasury for setting him Free, was
+ bound to divide with the Freedman, of his own possessions: to give him
+ of his flocks, of his herds, of his granary, and of his winepress, of
+ everything with which the Lord Almighty had blessed the master during
+ the years of his Servitude; and then the owner was admonished that he
+ was not to regard it as a hardship to be required to Liberate the Slave,
+ and to divide with him of his substance.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The Almighty places the Liberated Slave's claim to a division of his
+ former master's property on the eternal principles of Justice, the duty
+ to render an equivalent for an equivalent. The Slave having served six
+ years must be paid for his Service, must be paid liberally because he
+ had been worth even more than a hired servant during the period of his
+ enslavement.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If, then," continued Mr. Harlan, "the justice of this claim cannot be
+ found either in Reason, Natural Justice, or the principles of the Common
+ Law, or in any positive Municipal or Statute regulation of any State, or
+ in the Hebrew Code written by the Finger of God protruded from the flame
+ of fire on the summit of Sinai, I ask whence the origin of the title to
+ the services of the adult offspring of the Slave mother? or is it not
+ manifest that there is no just title? Is it not a mere usurpation
+ without any known mode of justification, under any existing Code of
+ Laws, human or Divine?"]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ He also undertook to justify Secession on the singular ground that "we are
+ sprung from a Race of Secessionists," the proof of which he held to be in
+ the fact that, while the preamble to, as well as the body of the
+ Convention of Ratification of, the old Articles of Confederation between
+ the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and
+ Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
+ Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia,
+ declared that Confederation to be a "Perpetual Union," yet, within nine
+ years thereafter, all the other States Seceded from New York, Virginia,
+ North Carolina, and Rhode Island by ratifying the new Constitution for "a
+ more perfect Union."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He also endeavored to maintain the extraordinary proposition that "if the
+ Senate of the United States were to adopt this Joint-resolution, and were
+ to submit it to all the States of this Union, and if three-fourths of the
+ States should ratify the Amendment, it would not be binding on any State
+ whose interest was affected by it, if that State protested against it!"
+ And beyond all this, he re-echoed the old, old cry of the Border-state
+ men, that "the time is unpropitious for such a measure as this."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland, however, by his great speech, of April 5th,
+ in the Senate, did much to clear the tangle in the minds of some faltering
+ Union statesmen on this important subject.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He reviewed the question of human Slavery from the time when the
+ Constitutional Convention was held; showed that at that period, as well as
+ at the time of the Declaration of our Independence "there was but one
+ sentiment upon the subject among enlightened Southern statesmen"&mdash;and
+ that was, that Slavery "is a great affliction to any Country where it
+ prevails;" and declared that "a prosperous and permanent Peace can never
+ be secured if the Institution is permitted to survive."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He then traversed the various methods by which statesmen were seeking to
+ prevent that survival of Slavery, addressing himself by turns to the
+ arguments of those who, with John Sherman, "seemed," said he, "to consider
+ it as within the power of Congress by virtue of its Legislative
+ authority;" to those of the "many well-judging men, with the President at
+ their head, who," to again use his own words, "seem to suppose that it is
+ within the reach of the Executive;" and lastly, to those "who express the
+ opinion that it is not within the scope of either Executive or Legislative
+ authority, or of Constitutional Amendment;" and after demolishing the
+ arguments of those who held the two former of these positions, he
+ proceeded to rebut the assumption that Slavery could not be abolished at
+ all because it was not originally abolished by the Constitution.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Continuing, he said: "Remember, now, the question is, can that
+ Institution, which deals with Humanity as Property, which claims to
+ shackle the mind, the soul, and the body, which brings to the level of the
+ brute a portion of the race of Man, cease to be within the reach of the
+ political power of the People of the United States, not because it was not
+ at one time within their power, but because at that time they did not
+ exert the power?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "What says the Preamble to the Constitution? How pregnant with a
+ conclusive answer is the Preamble, to the proposition that Slavery cannot
+ be abolished! What does that Preamble state to have been the chief objects
+ that the great and wise and good men had at heart, in recommending the
+ Constitution, with that Preamble, to the adoption of the American People?
+ That Justice might be established; that Tranquillity might be preserved;
+ that the common Defense and general Welfare might be maintained; and, last
+ and chief of all, that Liberty might be secured.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Is there no Justice in putting an end to human Slavery? Is there no
+ danger to the Tranquillity of the Country in its existence? May it not
+ interfere with the common Defense and general Welfare? And, above all, is
+ it consistent with any notion, which the mind of man can conceive, of
+ human Liberty?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He held that the very Amendatory clause of the Constitution under which it
+ was proposed to make this Amendment, was probably inserted there from a
+ conviction of that coming time "when Justice would call so loudly for the
+ extinction of the Institution that her call could not be disobeyed," and,
+ when "the Peace and Tranquillity of the Land would demand, in thunder
+ tones," its destruction, "as inconsistent with such Peace and
+ Tranquillity."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ To the atrocious pretence that "there was a right to make a Slave of any
+ human being"&mdash;which he said would have shocked every one of the
+ framers of the Constitution had they heard it; and, what he termed, the
+ nauseous declaration that "Slavery of the Black race is of Divine origin,"
+ and was intended to be perpetual; he said:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The Saviour of Mankind did not put an end to it by physical power, or by
+ the declaration of any existing illegality, in word. His mission upon
+ Earth was not to propagate His doctrines by force. He came to save, not to
+ conquer. His purpose was not to march armed legions throughout the
+ habitable Globe, securing the allegiance of those for whose safety He was
+ striving. He warred by other influences. He aimed at the heart,
+ principally. He inculcated his doctrines, more ennobling than any that the
+ World, enlightened as it was before His advent upon Earth, had been able
+ to discover. He taught to Man the obligation of brotherhood. He announced
+ that the true duty of Man was to do to others as he would have others do
+ to him&mdash;to all men, the World over; and unless some convert to the
+ modern doctrine that Slavery itself finds not only a guarantee for its
+ existence, but for its legal existence, in the Scripture, excepts from the
+ operation of the influences which His morality brought to bear on the mind
+ of the Christian world, the Black man, and shows that it was not intended
+ to apply to Black men, then it is not true, it cannot be true, that He
+ designed His doctrine not to be equally applicable to the Black and to the
+ White, to the Race of Man as he then existed, or as he might exist in all
+ after-time."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ To the assumption that the African Slaves were too utterly deficient and
+ degraded, mentally and morally, to appreciate the blessings of Freedom, he
+ opposed the eloquent fact that "wherever the flag of the United States,
+ the symbol of human Liberty, now goes; under it, from their hereditary
+ bondage, are to be found men and women and children assembling and craving
+ its protection 'fleeing from' the iron of oppression that had pierced
+ their souls, to the protection of that flag where they are 'gladdened by
+ the light of Liberty.'"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It is idle to deny," said he&mdash;"we feel it in our own persons&mdash;how,
+ with reference to that sentiment, all men are brethren. Look to the
+ illustrations which the times now afford, how, in the illustration of that
+ sentiment, do we differ from the Black man? He is willing to incur every
+ personal danger which promises to result in throwing down his shackles,
+ and making him tread the Earth, which God has created for all, as a man,
+ and not as a Slave."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Said he: "It is an instinct of the Soul. Tyranny may oppress it for ages
+ and centuries; the pall of despotism may hang over it; but the sentiment
+ is ever there; it kindles into a flame in the very furnace of affliction,
+ and it avails itself of the first opportunity that offers, promising the
+ least chance of escape, and wades through blood and slaughter to achieve
+ it, and, whether it succeeds or fails, demonstrates, vindicates in the
+ very effort, the inextinguishable right to Liberty."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He thought that mischiefs might result from this measure, owing to the
+ uneducated condition of the Slave, but they would be but temporary. At all
+ events to "suffer those Africans," said he, "whom we are calling around
+ our standard, and asking to aid us in restoring the Constitution and the
+ power of the Government to its rightful authority, to be reduced to
+ bondage again," would be "a disgrace to the Nation." The "Institution"
+ must be terminated.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Terminate it," continued he, "and the wit of man will, as I think, be
+ unable to devise any other topic upon which we can be involved in a
+ fratricidal strife. God and nature, judging by the history of the past,
+ intend us to be one. Our unity is written in the mountains and the rivers,
+ in which we all have an interest. The very differences of climate render
+ each important to the other, and alike important.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "That mighty horde which, from time to time, have gone from the Atlantic,
+ imbued with all the principles of human Freedom which animated their
+ fathers in running the perils of the mighty Deep and seeking Liberty here,
+ are now there; and as they have said, they will continue to say, until
+ time shall be no more: 'We mean that the Government in future shall be, as
+ it has been in the past&mdash;Once an exemplar of human Freedom, for the
+ light and example of the World; illustrating in the blessings and the
+ happiness it confers, the truth of the principles incorporated into the
+ Declaration of Independence, that Life and Liberty are Man's inalienable
+ right."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Fortunately the Democratic opposition, in the Senate, to this measure, was
+ too small in numbers to beat the proposed Amendment, but by offering
+ amendments to it, its enemies succeeded in delaying its adoption.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ However, on the 5th of April, an amendment, offered by Garrett Davis, was
+ acted upon. It was to strike out all after the preamble of the XIIIth
+ Article of Amendment to the Constitution, proposed by the Judiciary
+ Committee, and insert the words:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "No Negro, or Person whose mother or grandmother is or was a Negro, shall
+ be a citizen of the United States and be eligible to any Civil or Military
+ office, or to any place of trust or profit under the United States."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Davis's amendment was rejected by a vote of 5 yeas to 32 nays; when he
+ immediately moved to amend, by adding precisely the same words at the end
+ of Section 1 of the proposed Article. It was again rejected. He then moved
+ to amend by adding to the said Section these words:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But no Slave shall be entitled to his or her Freedom under this Amendment
+ if resident at the time it takes effect in any State, the laws of which
+ forbid Free Negroes to reside therein, until removed from such State by
+ the Government of the United States."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This also was rejected. Whereupon Mr. Powell moved to add, at the end of
+ the first Section, the words:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "No Slave shall be Emancipated by this Article unless the owner thereof
+ shall be first paid the value of the Slave or Slaves so Emancipated."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This likewise was rejected, on a yea and nay vote, by 2 yeas (Davis and
+ Powell) to 34 nays; when Mr. Davis moved another amendment, viz.: to add
+ at the end of Section 2 of the proposed Article, the following:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "And when this Amendment of the Constitution shall have taken effect by
+ Freeing the Slaves, Congress shall provide for the distribution and
+ settlement of all the population of African descent in the United States
+ among the several States and Territories thereof, in proportion to the
+ White population of each State and Territory to the aggregate population
+ of those of African descent."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This met a like fate; whereupon the Senate adjourned, but, on the
+ following day, the matter came up again for consideration:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Hale, of New Hampshire, jubilantly declared that "this is a day that I and
+ many others have long wished for, long hoped for, long striven for. * * *
+ A day when the Nation is to commence its real life; or, if it is not the
+ day, it is the dawning of the day; the day is near at hand * * * when the
+ American People are to wake up to the meaning of the sublime truths which
+ their fathers uttered years ago, and which have slumbered, dead-letters,
+ upon the pages of our Constitution, of our Declaration of Independence,
+ and of our history."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ McDougall, of California, on the other hand,&mdash;utterly regardless of
+ the grandly patriotic resolutions of the Legislature of his State, which
+ had just been presented to the Senate by his colleague&mdash;lugubriously
+ declared:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In my judgment, it may well be said of us:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ 'Let the Heavens be hung in black<br /> And let the Earth put mourning on,'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ for in the history of no Free People, since the time the Persians came
+ down upon Athens, have I known as melancholy a period as this day and year
+ of Our Lord in our history; and if we can, by the blessing of God and by
+ His favor, rise above it, it will be by His special providence, and by no
+ act of ours."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The obstructive tactics were now resumed, Mr. Powell leading off by a
+ motion to amend, by adding to the Judiciary Committee's proposed
+ Thirteenth Article of the Constitution, the following:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "ART. 14.&mdash;The President and Vice-President shall hold their Offices
+ for the term of four&mdash;[Which he subsequently modified to: 'six years']&mdash;years.
+ The person who has filled the Office of President shall not be
+ reeligible."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This amendment was rejected by 12 yeas to 32 nays; whereupon Mr. Powell
+ moved to add to the Committee's Proposition another new Article, as
+ follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "ART. 14.&mdash;The principal Officer in each of the Executive
+ Departments, and all persons connected with the Diplomatic Service, may be
+ removed from office at the pleasure of the President. All other officers
+ of the Executive Departments may be removed at any time by the President
+ or other appointing power when their services are unnecessary, or for
+ dishonesty, incapacity, inefficiency, misconduct, or neglect of duty, and
+ when so removed, the removal shall be reported to the Senate, together
+ with the reasons therefor."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This amendment also being rejected, Mr. Powell offered another, which was
+ to add a separate Article as follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "ART. 14.&mdash;Every law, or Resolution having the force of law, shall
+ relate to but one subject, and that shall be expressed in its title."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This also being rejected&mdash;the negative vote being, as in other cases,
+ without reference to the merits of the proposition&mdash;and Mr. Powell
+ having now apparently exhausted his obstructive amendatory talents, Mr.
+ Davis came to the aid of his Kentucky colleague by moving an amendment, to
+ come in as an additional Article, being a new plan of Presidential
+ election designed to do away with the quadrennial Presidential campaign
+ before the People by giving to each State the right to nominate one
+ candidate, and leaving it to a Convention of both Houses of Congress&mdash;and,
+ in case of disagreement, to the Supreme Court of the United States &mdash;to
+ elect a President and a Vice-President.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The rejection of this proposition apparently exhausted the stock of
+ possible amendments possessed by the Democratic opposition, and the Joint
+ Resolution, precisely as it came from the Judiciary Committee, having been
+ agreed to by that body, "as in Committee of the Whole," was now, April
+ 6th, reported to the Senate for its concurrence.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the following day, Mr. Hendricks uttered a lengthy jeremiad on the War,
+ and its lamentable results; intimated that along the Mississippi, the
+ Negroes, freed by the advance of our invading Armies and Navies, instead
+ of being happy and industrious, were without protection or provision and
+ almost without clothing, while at least 200,000 of them had prematurely
+ perished, and that such was the fate reserved for the 4,000,000 Negroes if
+ liberated; and declared he would not vote for the Resolution, "because,"
+ said he, "the times are not auspicious."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Very different indeed was the attitude of Mr. Henderson, of Missouri,
+ Border-State man though he was. In the course of a speech, of much power,
+ which he opened with an allusion to the 115,000 Slaves owned in his State
+ in 1860&mdash;as showing how deeply interested Missouri "must be in the
+ pending proposition"&mdash;the Senator announced that: "Our great
+ interest, as lovers of the Union, is in the preservation and perpetuation
+ of the Union." He declared himself a Slaveholder, yet none the less
+ desired the adoption of this Thirteenth Article of Amendment, for, said
+ he: "We cannot save the Institution if we would. We ought not if we could.
+ * * * If it were a blessing, I, for one, would be defending it to the
+ last. It is a curse, and not a blessing. Therefore let it go. * * * Let
+ the iniquity be cast away!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It was about this time that a remarkable letter written by Mr. Lincoln to
+ a Kentuckian, on the subject of Emancipation, appeared in print. It is
+ interesting as being not alone the President's own statement of his views,
+ from the beginning, as to Slavery, and how he came to be "driven" to issue
+ the Proclamation of Emancipation, and as showing how the Union Cause had
+ gained by its issue, but also in disclosing, indirectly, how incessantly
+ the subject was revolved in his own mind, and urged by him upon the minds
+ of others. The publication of the letter, moreover, was not without its
+ effect on the ultimate action of the Congress and the States in adopting
+ the Thirteenth Amendment. It ran thus:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "EXECUTIVE MANSION.<br /> "WASHINGTON, April 4, 1864.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "A. G. HODGES, Esq., Frankfort, Ky.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "MY DEAR SIR: You ask me to put in writing the substance of&mdash;what I
+ verbally said the other day, in your presence, to Governor Bramlette and
+ Senator Dixon. It was about as follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I am naturally anti-Slavery. If Slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. I
+ cannot remember when I did not so think and feel, and yet I have never
+ understood that the 'Presidency conferred upon me an unrestricted right to
+ act officially upon this judgment and feeling.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It was in the oath I took, that I would to the best of my ability
+ preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. I
+ could not take the Office without taking the oath. Nor was it my view that
+ I might take an oath to get power, and break the oath in using the power.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I understood, too, that in ordinary and Civil Administration this oath
+ even forbade me to practically indulge my primary abstract judgment on the
+ moral question of Slavery. I had publicly declared this many times, and in
+ many ways.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "And I aver that, to this day, I have done no Official act in mere
+ deference to my abstract judgment and feeling on Slavery.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I did understand, however, that my oath to preserve the Constitution to
+ the best of my ability, imposed upon me the duty of preserving by every
+ indispensable means, that Government&mdash;that Nation, of which that
+ Constitution was the Organic Law.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Was it possible to lose the Nation and yet preserve the Constitution?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "By General Law, life and limb must be protected; yet often a limb must be
+ amputated to save a life; but a life is never wisely given to save a limb.
+ I felt that measures, otherwise Unconstitutional, might become lawful, by
+ becoming Indispensable to the Constitution through the preservation of the
+ Nation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Right or wrong, I assumed this ground, and now avow it. I could not feel
+ that, to the best of my ability, I have even tried to preserve the
+ Constitution, if, to save Slavery, or any minor matter, I should permit
+ the wreck of Government, Country, and Constitution, altogether.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "When, early in the War, General Fremont attempted Military Emancipation,
+ I forbade it, because I did not then think it an Indispensable Necessity.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "When, a little later, General Cameron, then Secretary of War, suggested
+ the Arming of the Blacks, I objected, because I did not yet think it an
+ Indispensable Necessity.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "When, still later, General Hunter attempted Military Emancipation, I
+ again forbade it, because I did not yet think the Indispensable Necessity
+ had come.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "When in March, and May, and July, 1862, I made earnest and successive
+ appeals to the Border-States to favor compensated Emancipation, I believed
+ the Indispensable Necessity for Military Emancipation and arming the
+ Blacks would come, unless averted by that measure.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "They declined the proposition, and I was, in my best judgment, driven to
+ the alternative of either surrendering the Union, and with it, the
+ Constitution, or of laying strong hand upon the Colored element. I chose
+ the latter. In choosing it, I hoped for greater gain than loss, but of
+ this I was not entirely confident.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "More than a year of trial now shows no loss by it in our Foreign
+ Relations, none in our home popular sentiment, none in our white Military
+ force, no loss by it anyhow, or anywhere. On the contrary, it shows a gain
+ of quite a hundred and thirty thousand soldiers, seamen, and laborers.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "These are palpable facts, about which, as facts, there can be no
+ cavilling. We have the men; and we could not have had them without the
+ measure.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "And now let any Union man who complains of this measure, test himself by
+ writing down in one line, that he is for subduing the Rebellion by force
+ of arms; and in the next, that he is for taking one hundred and thirty
+ thousand men from the Union side, and placing them where they would be
+ best for the measure he condemns. If he cannot face his case so stated, it
+ is only because he cannot face the truth.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I add a word which was not in the verbal conversation. In telling this
+ tale, I attempt no compliment to my own sagacity. I claim not to have
+ controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me. Now
+ at the end of three years' struggle, the Nation's condition is not what
+ either Party, or any man, devised or expected. God alone can claim it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Whither it is tending seems plain. If God now wills the removal of a
+ great wrong, and wills also that we of the North, as well as you of the
+ South, shall pay fairly for our complicity in that wrong, impartial
+ history will find therein new causes to attest and revere the Justice and
+ goodness of God.<br /> "Yours truly,<br /> "A. LINCOLN."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The 8th of April (1864) turned out to be the decisive field-day in the
+ Senate. Sumner endeavored to close the debate on that day in a speech
+ remarkable no less for its power and eloquence of statement, its strength
+ of Constitutional exposition, and its abounding evidences of extensive
+ historical research and varied learning, than for its patriotic fervor and
+ devotion to human Freedom.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Toward the end of that great speech, however, he somewhat weakened its
+ force by suggesting a change in the phraseology of the proposed Thirteenth
+ Amendment, so that, instead of almost precisely following the language of
+ the Jeffersonian Ordinance of 1787, as recommended by the Judiciary
+ Committee of the Senate, it should read thus:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "All Persons are Equal before the Law, so that no person can hold another
+ as a Slave; and the Congress may make all laws necessary and proper to
+ carry this Article into effect everywhere within the United States and the
+ jurisdiction thereof."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Sumner's idea in antagonizing the Judiciary Committee's proposition
+ with this, was to introduce into our Organic Act, distinctive words
+ asserting the "Equality before the Law" of all persons, as expressed in
+ the Constitutional Charters of Belgium, Italy and Greece, as well as in
+ the various Constitutions of France&mdash;beginning with that of
+ September, 1791, which declared (Art. 1) that "Men are born and continue
+ Free and Equal in Rights;" continuing in that of June, 1793, which
+ declares that "All Men are Equal by Nature and before the Law:" in that of
+ June, 1814, which declares that "Frenchmen are Equal before the Law,
+ whatever may be otherwise their title and ranks;" and in the
+ Constitutional Charter of August, 1830 in similar terms to the last.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But," said he, "while desirous of seeing the great rule of Freedom which
+ we are about to ordain, embodied in a text which shall be like the
+ precious casket to the more precious treasure, yet * * * I am consoled by
+ the thought that the most homely text containing such a rule will be more
+ beautiful far than any words of poetry or eloquence, and that it will
+ endure to be read with gratitude when the rising dome of this Capitol,
+ with the Statue of Liberty which surmounts it, has crumbled to dust."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Sumner's great speech, however, by no means ended the debate. It
+ brought Mr. Powell to his feet with a long and elaborate contention
+ against the general proposition, in the course of which he took occasion
+ to sneer at Sumner's "most remarkable effort," as one of his "long
+ illogical rhapsodies on Slavery, like:
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ '&mdash;a Tale Told by an Idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying
+ nothing.'"
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ He professed that he wanted "the Union to be restored with the
+ Constitution as it is;" that he verily believed the passage of this
+ Amendment would be "the most effective Disunion measure that could be
+ passed by Congress"&mdash;and, said he, "As a lover of the Union I oppose
+ it."
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [This phrase slightly altered, in words, but not in meaning, to "The
+ Union as it was, and the Constitution as it is," afterward became the
+ Shibboleth under which the Democratic Party in the Presidential Campaign
+ of 1864, marched to defeat.]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ He endeavored to impute the blame for the War, to the northern
+ Abolitionists, for, said he: "Had there been no Abolitionists, North,
+ there never would have been a Fire-eater, South,"&mdash;apparently
+ ignoring the palpable fact that had there been no Slavery in the South,
+ there could have been no "Abolitionists, North."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He heatedly denounced the "fanatical gentlemen" who desired the passage of
+ this measure; declared they intended by its passage "to destroy the
+ Institution of Slavery or to destroy the Union," and exclaimed: "Pass this
+ Amendment and you make an impassable chasm, as if you were to put a lake
+ of burning fire, between the adhering States and those who are out. You
+ will then have to make it a War of conquest and extermination before you
+ can ever bring them back under the flag of the Government. There is no
+ doubt about that proposition."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Sumner, at this point, withdrew his proposed amendment, at the
+ suggestion of Mr. Howard, who expressed a preference "to dismiss all
+ reference to French Constitutions and French Codes, and go back to the
+ good old Anglo-Saxon language employed by our Fathers, in the Ordinance of
+ 1787, (in) an expression adjudicated upon repeatedly, which is perfectly
+ well understood both by the public and by Judicial Tribunals&mdash;a
+ phrase, which is peculiarly near and dear to the people of the
+ Northwestern Territory, from whose soil Slavery was excluded by it."
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [The following is the language of "the Ordinance of 1787" thus referred
+ to:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "ART. 6.&mdash;There shall be neither Slavery nor Involuntary Servitude
+ in the said Territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes,
+ whereof the party shall have been duly convicted: * * *."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Davis thereupon made another opposition speech and, at its conclusion,
+ Mr. Saulsbury offered, as a substitute, an Article, comprising no less
+ than twenty sections&mdash;that, he said, "embodied in them some things"
+ which "did not meet his personal approbation," but he had consented to
+ offer them to the Senate as "a Compromise"&mdash;as "a Peace offering."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Saulsbury substitute being voted down, the debate closed with a speech
+ by Mr. McDougall&mdash;an eloquent protest from his standpoint, in which,
+ after endorsing the wild statement of Mr. Hendricks that 250,000 of the
+ people of African descent had been prematurely destroyed on the
+ Mississippi, he continued.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "This policy will ingulf them. It is as simple a truth as has ever been
+ taught by any history. The Slaves of ancient time were not the Slaves of a
+ different Race. The Romans compelled the Gaul and the Celt, brought them
+ to their own Country, and some of them became great poets, and some
+ eloquent orators, and some accomplished wits, and they became citizens of
+ the Republic of Greece, and of the Republic of Rome, and of the Empire.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "This is not the condition of these persons with whom we are now
+ associated, and about whose affairs we undertake to establish
+ administration. They can never commingle with us. It may not be within the
+ reading of some learned Senators, and yet it belongs to demonstrated
+ Science, that the African race and the European are different; and I here
+ now say it as a fact established by science, that the eighth generation of
+ the Mixed race formed by the union of the African and European, cannot
+ continue their species. Quadroons have few children; with Octoroons
+ reproduction is impossible.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It establishes as a law of nature that the African has no proper relation
+ to the European, Caucasian, blood. I would have them kindly treated. * * *
+ Against all such policy and all such conduct I shall protest as a man, in
+ the name of humanity, and of law, and of truth, and of religion."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The amendment made, as in Committee of the Whole, having been concurred
+ in, etc., the Joint Resolution, as originally reported by the Judiciary
+ Committee, was at last passed, (April 8th)&mdash;by a vote of 38 yeas to 6
+ nays&mdash;Messrs. Hendricks and McDougall having the unenviable
+ distinction of being the only two Senators, (mis-)representing Free
+ States, who voted against this definitive Charter of American Liberty.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [The full Senate vote, on passing the Thirteenth Amendment, was:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ YEAS&mdash;Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Chandler, Clark, Collamer, Conness,
+ Cowan, Dixon, Doolittle, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Hale, Harding,
+ Harlan, Harris, Henderson, Howard, Howe, Johnson, Lane of Indiana, Lane
+ of Kansas, Morgan, Morrill, Nesmith, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Sherman, Sprague,
+ Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Van Winkle, Wade, Wilkinson, Willey, and
+ Wilson&mdash;38.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ NAYs&mdash;Messrs. Davis, Hendricks, McDougall, Powell, Riddle, and
+ Saulsbury.]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkwade" id="linkwade"></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="p552-wade.jpg (82K)" src="images/p552-wade.jpg" style="width:100%;" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch24" id="linkch24"></a><br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ CHAPTER XXIV.<br /> <br /> TREASON IN THE NORTHERN CAMPS.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The immortal Charter of Freedom had, as we have seen, with comparative
+ ease, after a ten days' debate, by the power of numbers, run the gauntlet
+ of the Senate; but now it was to be subjected to the much more trying and
+ doubtful ordeal of the House. What would be its fate there? This was a
+ question which gave to Mr. Lincoln, and the other friends of Liberty and
+ Union, great concern.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is true that various votes had recently been taken in that body, upon
+ propositions which had an indirect bearing upon the subject of
+ Emancipation, as, for instance, that of the 1st of February, 1864, when,
+ by a vote of 80 yeas to 46 nays, it had adopted a Resolution declaring
+ "That a more vigorous policy to enlist, at an early day, and in larger
+ numbers, in our Army, persons of African descent, would meet the
+ approbation of the House;" and that vote, although indirect, being so very
+ nearly a two-thirds vote, was most encouraging. But, on the other hand, a
+ subsequent Resolution, squarely testing the sense of the House upon the
+ subject, had been carried by much less than a two-thirds vote.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This latter Resolution, offered by Mr. Arnold, after conference with Mr.
+ Lincoln, with the very purpose of making a test, was in these direct
+ terms:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved, That the Constitution shall be so amended as to Abolish Slavery
+ in the United States wherever it now exists, and to prohibit its existence
+ in every part thereof forever."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The vote, adopting it, was but 78 yeas to 62 nays. * This vote, therefore,
+ upon the Arnold Resolution, being nowhere near the two-thirds affirmative
+ vote necessary to secure the passage through the House of the Senate Joint
+ Resolution on this subject amendatory of the Constitution, was most
+ discouraging.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It was definite enough, however, to show the necessity of a change from
+ the negative to the affirmative side of at least fifteen votes. While
+ therefore the outlook was discouraging it was far from hopeless. The
+ debate in the Senate had already had its effect upon the public mind.
+ That, and the utterances of Mr. Lincoln&mdash;and further discussion in
+ the House, it was thought, might produce such a pressure from the loyal
+ constituencies both in the Free and Border Slave-States as to compel
+ success.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But from the very beginning of the year 1864, as if instinctively aware
+ that their Rebel friends were approaching the crisis of their fate, and
+ needed now all the help that their allies of the North could give them,
+ the Anti-War Democrats, in Congress, and out, had been stirring themselves
+ with unusual activity.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In both Houses of Congress, upon all possible occasions, they had been
+ striving, as they still strove, with the venom of their widely-circulated
+ speeches, to poison the loyal Northern and Border-State mind, in the hope
+ that the renomination of Mr. Lincoln might be defeated, the chance for
+ Democratic success at the coming Presidential election be thereby
+ increased, and, if nothing else came of it, the Union Cause be weakened
+ and the Rebel Cause correspondingly strengthened.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At the same time, evidently under secret instructions from their friends,
+ the Conspirators in arms, they endeavored to create heart-burnings and
+ jealousies and ill-feeling between the Eastern (especially the New
+ England) States and the Western States, and unceasingly attacked the
+ Protective-Tariff, Internal Revenue, the Greenback, the Draft, and every
+ other measure or thing upon which the life of the Union depended.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Most of these Northern-Democratic agitators, "Stealing the livery of
+ Heaven to serve the Devil in," endeavored to conceal their treacherous
+ designs under a veneer of gushing lip-loyalty, but that disguise was "too
+ thin" to deceive either their contemporaries or those who come after them.
+ Some of their language too, as well as their blustering manner, strangely
+ brought back to recollection the old days of Slavery when the
+ plantation-whip was cracked in the House, and the air was blue with
+ execration of New England.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Said Voorhees, of Indiana, (January 11, 1864) when the House was
+ considering a Bill "to increase the Internal Revenue and for other
+ purposes:"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I want to know whether the West has any friends upon the floor of this
+ House? We pay every dollar that is to be levied by this Tax Bill. * * *
+ The Manufacturing Interest pays not a dollar into the public Treasury that
+ stays there. And yet airs of patriotism are put on here by men
+ representing that interest. I visited New England last Summer, * * * when
+ I heard the swelling hum of her Manufactories, and saw those who only a
+ short time ago worked but a few hands, now working their thousands, and
+ rolling up their countless wealth, I felt that it was an unhealthy
+ prosperity. To my mind it presented a wealth wrung from the labor, the
+ sinews, the bone and muscle of the men who till the soil, taxed to an
+ illegitimate extent to foster and support that great System of local
+ wealth. * * * I do not intend to stand idly by and see one portion of the
+ Country robbed and oppressed for the benefit of another."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And the same day, replying to Mr. Morrill of Vermont, he exclaimed: "Let
+ him show me that the plethoric, bloated Manufacturers of New England are
+ paying anything to support the Government, and I will recognize it."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Washburne, of Illinois got back at this part of Mr. Voorhees's speech
+ rather neatly, by defending the North-west as being "not only willing to
+ stand taxation" which had been "already imposed, but * * * any additional
+ taxation which," said he, "may be necessary to crush out this Rebellion,
+ and to hang the Rebels in the South, and the Rebel sympathizers in the
+ North." And, he pointedly added: "Complaint has been made against New
+ England. I know that kind of talk. I have heard too often that kind of
+ slang about New England. I heard it here for ten years, when your
+ Barksdales, and your Keitts's, and your other Traitors, now in arms
+ against the Government, filled these Halls with their pestilential
+ assaults not only upon New England, but on the Free North generally."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Kelley of Pennsylvania, however, more fitly characterized the speech of
+ Voorhees, when he termed it "a pretty, indeed a somewhat striking,
+ paraphrase of the argument of Mr. Lamar, the Rebel Agent,&mdash;[in 1886,
+ Secretary of the Interior]&mdash;to his confreres in Treason, as we find
+ it in the recently published correspondence: 'Drive gold coin out of the
+ Country, and induce undue Importation of Foreign products so as to strike
+ down the Financial System. You can have no further hope for Foreign
+ recognition. It is evident the weight of arms is against us; and it is
+ clear that we can only succeed by striking down the Financial System of
+ the Country.' It was an admirable paraphrase of the Instructions of Mr.
+ Lamar to the Rebel Agents in the North."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The impression was at this time abroad, and there were not wanting
+ elements of proof, that certain members of Congress were trusted
+ Lieutenants of the Arch-copperhead and Outlaw, Vallandigham. Certain it
+ is, that many of these leaders, six months before, attended and addressed
+ the great gathering from various parts of the Country, of nearly one
+ hundred thousand Vallandigham-Anti-War Peace-Democrats, at Springfield,
+ Illinois&mdash;the very home of Abraham Lincoln&mdash;which adopted,
+ during a lull, when they were not yelling themselves hoarse for
+ Vallandigham, a resolution declaring against "the further offensive
+ prosecution of the War" as being subversive of the Constitution and
+ Government, and proposing a National Peace Convention, and, as a
+ consequence, Peace, "the Union as it was," and, substantially such
+ Constitutional guarantees as the Rebels might choose to demand! And this
+ too, at a time (June 13, 1863), when Grant, after many recent glorious
+ victories, had been laying siege to Vicksburg, and its Rebel Army of
+ 37,000 men, for nearly a month, with every reason to hope for its speedy
+ fall.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ No wonder that under such circumstances, the news of such a gathering of
+ the Northern Democratic sympathizers with Treason, and of their adoption
+ of such treasonable Resolutions, should encourage the Rebels in the same
+ degree that Union men were disheartened! No wonder that Lee, elated by
+ this and other evidences of Northern sympathy with Rebellion, at once
+ determined to commence a second grand invasion of the North, and on the
+ very next day (June 14th,) moved Northward with all his Rebel hosts to be
+ welcomed, he fondly hoped, by his Northern friends of Maryland and
+ elsewhere! As we have seen, it took the bloody Battle of Gettysburg to
+ undeceive him as to the character of that welcome.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Further than this, Mr. Cox had stumped Ohio, in the succeeding election,
+ in a desperate effort to make the banished Traitor, Vallandigham&mdash;the
+ Chief Northern commander of the "Knights of the Golden Circle" (otherwise
+ known as the "Order of the Sons of Liberty," and "O. A. K." or "Order of
+ American Knights")&mdash;Governor of that great State.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [The Rebel General Sterling Price being the chief Southern commander of
+ this many-named treasonable organization, which in the North alone
+ numbered over 500,000 men.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ August, 1864.&mdash;See Report of Judge Advocate Holt on certain "Secret
+ Associations," in Appendix,]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ And it only lacked a few months of the time when quantities of copies of
+ the treasonable Ritual of the "Order of American Knights"&mdash;as well as
+ correspondence touching the purchase of thousands of Garibaldi rifles for
+ transportation to the West&mdash;were found in the offices of leading
+ Democrats then in Congress.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ When, therefore, it is said, and repeated, that there were not wanting
+ elements of proof, outside of Congressional utterances and actions, that
+ leading Democrats in Congress were trusted Lieutenants of the Supreme
+ Commander of over half a million of Northern Rebel-sympathizers bound
+ together, and to secrecy, by oaths, which were declared to be paramount to
+ all other oaths, the violation of which subjected the offender to a
+ shameful death somewhat like that, of being "hung, drawn, and quartered,"
+ which was inflicted in the middle ages for the crime of Treason to the
+ Crown&mdash;it will be seen that the statement is supported by
+ circumstantial, if not by positive and direct, evidence.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Whether the Coxes, the Garret Davises, the Saulsburys, the Fernando Woods,
+ the Alexander Longs, the Allens, the Holmans, and many other prominent
+ Congressmen of that sort,&mdash;were merely in close communion with these
+ banded "Knights," or were actual members of their secret organizations,
+ may be an open question. But it is very certain that if they all were not
+ oath-bound members, they generally pursued the precise methods of those
+ who were; and that, as a rule, while they often loudly proclaimed loyalty
+ and love for the Union, they were always ready to act as if their loyalty
+ and love were for the so-called Confederacy.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Indeed, it was one of these other "loyal" Democrats, who even preceded
+ Voorhees, in raising the Sectional cry of: The West, against New England.
+ It was on this same Internal Revenue Bill, that Holman of Indiana had, the
+ day before Voorhees's attack, said:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If the Manufacture of the Northwest is to be taxed so heavily, a
+ corresponding rate of increase must be imposed on the Manufactures of New
+ England and Pennsylvania, or, will gentlemen tax us without limit for the
+ benefit of their own Section? * * * I protest against what I believe is
+ intended to be a discrimination against one Section of the Country, by
+ increasing the tax three-fold, without a corresponding increase upon the
+ burdens of other Sections."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But these dreadfully "loyal" Democrats&mdash;who did the bidding of
+ traitorous masters in their Treason to the Union, and thus, while
+ posturing as "Patriots," "fired upon the rear" of our hard-pressed Armies&mdash;were
+ super-sensitive on this point. And, when they could get hold of a quiet
+ sort of a man, inclined to peaceful methods of discussion, how they would,
+ terrier-like, pounce upon him, and extract from him, if they could, some
+ sort of negative satisfaction!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Thus, for instance, on the 22nd of January, when one of these quiet men
+ &mdash;Morris of New York&mdash;was in the midst of an inoffensive speech,
+ Mr. Cox "bristled up," and blusteringly asked whether he meant to say that
+ he (Cox) had "ever been the apologist or the defender of a Traitor?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And Morris not having said so, mildly replied that he did "not so charge"&mdash;all
+ of which little bit of by-play hugely pleased the touchy Mr. Cox, and his
+ clansmen.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But on the day following, their smiles vanished under the words of
+ Spalding or Ohio, who, after referring to the crocodile-tears shed by
+ Democratic Congressmen over the Confiscation Resolution&mdash;on the
+ pretense that it would hunt down "innocent women and children" of the
+ Rebels, when they had never a word of sympathy for the widows and children
+ of the two hundred thousand dead soldiers of the Union&mdash;continued:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "They can see our poor soldiers return, minus an arm, minus a leg, as they
+ pass through these lobbies, but their only care is to protect the property
+ of Rebels. And we are asked by one of my colleagues, (Mr. Cox) does the
+ gentleman from New York intend to call us Traitors? My friend, Mr. Morris,
+ modestly answered no! If he had asked that question of me, he knows what
+ my answer would have been! I have seen Rebel officers at Johnson's Island,
+ and I have taken them by the hand because they have fought us fairly in
+ the field and did not seek to break down the Government while living under
+ its protection. Yes, Sir, that gentleman knows that I would have said to
+ him that I have more respect for an open and avowed Traitor in the field,
+ than for a sympathizer in this Hall. Four months have scarcely gone by
+ since that gentleman and his political friends were advocating the
+ election of a man for the Gubernatorial office in my State, who was an
+ open and avowed advocate of Secession&mdash;AN OUTLAW AT THAT!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And old Thaddeus Stevens&mdash;the clear-sighted and courageous "Old
+ Commoner"&mdash;followed up Spalding, and struck very close to the root
+ and animus of the Democratic opposition, when he exclaimed:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "All this struggle by calm and dignified and moderate 'Patriots;' all this
+ clamor against 'Radicals;' all this cry of 'the Union as it Was, and the
+ Constitution as it Is;' is but a persistent effort to reestablish Slavery,
+ and to rivet anew and forever the chains of Bondage on the limbs of
+ Immortal beings. May the God of Justice thwart their designs and paralyze
+ their wicked efforts!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkmcclellan" id="linkmcclellan"></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="p594-mcclellan.jpg (63K)" src="images/p594-mcclellan.jpg" style="width:100%;"
+ /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch25" id="linkch25"></a><br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ CHAPTER XXV.<br /> <br /> "THE FIRE IN THE REAR."
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The treacherous purposes of professedly-loyal Copperheads being seen
+ through, and promptly and emphatically denounced to the Country by Union
+ statesmen, the Copperheads aforesaid concluded that the profuse
+ circulation of their own Treason-breeding speeches&mdash;through the
+ medium of the treasonable organizations before referred to, permeating the
+ Northern States,&mdash;would more than counteract all that Union men could
+ say or do. Besides, the fiat had gone forth, from their Rebel masters at
+ Richmond, to Agitate the North.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Hence, day after day, Democrat after Democrat, in the one House or the
+ other, continued to air his disloyal opinions, and to utter more or less
+ virulent denunciations of the Government which guarded and protected him.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Thus, Brooks, of New York, on the 25th of January (1864), sneeringly
+ exclaimed: "Why, what absurdity it is to talk at this Capitol of
+ prosecuting the War by the liberation of Slaves, when from the dome of
+ this building there can be heard at this hour the booming of cannon in the
+ distance!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Thus, also, on the day following, Fernando Wood&mdash;the same man who,
+ while Mayor of New York at the outbreak of the Rebellion, had, under
+ Rebel-guidance, proposed the Secession from the Union, and the
+ Independence, of that great Metropolis,&mdash;declared to the House that:
+ "No Government has pursued a foe with such unrelenting, vindictive
+ malignity as we are now pursuing those who came into the Union with us,
+ whose blood has been freely shed on every battle-field of the Country
+ until now, with our own; who fought by our side in the American
+ Revolution, and in the War of 1812 with Great Britain; who bore our
+ banners bravest and highest in our victorious march from Vera Cruz to the
+ City of Mexico, and who but yesterday sat in these Halls contributing
+ toward the maintenance of our glorious institutions."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Then he went on, in the spirit of prophecy, to declare that: "No purely
+ agricultural people, fighting for the protection of their own Domestic
+ Institutions upon their own soil, have ever yet been conquered. I say
+ further, that no revolted people have ever been subdued after they have
+ been able to maintain an Independent government for three years." And
+ then, warming up to an imperative mood, he made this explicit
+ announcement: "We are at War. * * * Whether it be a Civil War, Rebellion,
+ Revolution, or Foreign War, it matters little. IT MUST CEASE; and I want
+ this Administration to tell the American People WHEN it will cease!"
+ Again, only two days afterward, he took occasion to characterize a Bill,
+ amendatory of the enrollment Act, as "this infamous, Unconstitutional
+ conscription Act!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ C. A. White, of Ohio, was another of the malcontents who undertook, with
+ others of the same Copperhead faith, to "maintain, that," as he expressed
+ it, "the War in which we are at present engaged is wrong in itself; that
+ the policy adopted by the Party in power for its prosecution is wrong;
+ that the Union cannot be restored, or, if restored, maintained, by the
+ exercise of the coercive power of the Government, by War; that the War is
+ opposed to the restoration of the Union, destructive of the rights of the
+ States and the liberties of the People. It ought, therefore, to be brought
+ to a speedy and immediate close."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It was about this time also that, emboldened by immunity from punishment
+ for these utterances in the interest of armed Rebels, Edgerton of Indiana,
+ was put forward to offer resolutions "for Peace, upon the basis of a
+ restoration of the Federal Union under the Constitution as it is," etc.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Thereafter, in both Senate and House, such speeches by Rebel-sympathizers,
+ the aiders and abettors of Treason, grew more frequent and more virulent
+ than ever. As was well said to the House, by one of the Union members from
+ Ohio (Mr. Eckley):
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "A stranger, if he listened to the debates here, would think himself in
+ the Confederate Congress. I do not believe that if these Halls were
+ occupied to-day by Davis, Toombs, Wigfall, Rhett, and Pryor, they could
+ add anything to the violence of assault, the falsity of accusation, or the
+ malignity of attack, with which the Government has been assailed, and the
+ able, patriotic, and devoted men who are charged with its Administration
+ have been maligned, in both ends of the Capitol. The closing scenes of the
+ Thirty-Sixth Congress, the treasonable declarations there made, contain
+ nothing that we cannot hear, in the freedom of debate, without going to
+ Richmond or to the camps of Treason, where most of the actors in those
+ scenes are now in arms against us."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ With such a condition of things in Congress, it is not surprising that the
+ Richmond Enquirer announced that the North was "distracted, exhausted, and
+ impoverished," and would, "through the agency of a strong conservative
+ element in the Free States," soon treat with the Rebels "on acceptable
+ terms."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Things indeed had reached such a pass, in the House of Representatives
+ especially, that it was felt they could not much longer go on in this
+ manner; that an example must be made of some one or other of these
+ Copperheads. But the very knowledge of the existence of such a feeling of
+ just and patriotic irritation against the continued free utterance of such
+ sentiments in the Halls of Congress, seemed only to make some of them
+ still more defiant. And, when the 8th of April dawned, it was known among
+ all the Democrats in Congress, that Alexander Long proposed that day to
+ make a speech which would "go a bow-shot beyond them all" in uttered
+ Treason. He would speak right out, what the other Conspirators thought and
+ meant, but dared not utter, before the World.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ A crowded floor, and packed galleries, were on hand to listen to the
+ written, deliberate Treason, as it fell from his lips in the House. His
+ speech began with an arraignment of the Government for treachery,
+ incompetence, failure, tyranny, and all sorts of barbarous actions and
+ harsh intentions, toward the Rebels&mdash;which led him to the indignant
+ exclamation:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Will they throw down their arms and submit to the terms? Who shall
+ believe that the free, proud American blood, which courses with as quick
+ pulsation through their veins as our own, will not be spilled to the last
+ drop in resistance?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Warming up, he proceeded to say: "Can the Union be restored by War? I
+ answer most unhesitatingly and deliberately, No, never; 'War is final,
+ eternal separation.'"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He claimed that the War was "wrong;" that it was waged "in violation of
+ the Constitution," and would "if continued, result speedily in the
+ destruction of the Government and the loss of Civil Liberty, and ought
+ therefore, to immediately cease."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He held also "that the Confederate States are out of the Union, occupying
+ the position of an Independent Power de facto; have been acknowledged as a
+ belligerent both by Foreign Nations and our own Government; maintained
+ their Declaration of Independence, for three years, by force of arms; and
+ the War has cut asunder all the obligations that bound them under the
+ Constitution."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Much better," said he, "would it have been for us in the beginning, much
+ better would it be for us now, to consent to a division of our magnificent
+ Empire, and cultivate amicable relations with our estranged brethren, than
+ to seek to hold them to us by the power of the sword. * * * I am
+ reluctantly and despondingly forced to the conclusion that the Union is
+ lost, never to be restored. * * * I see neither North nor South, any
+ sentiment on which it is possible to build a Union. * * * in attempting to
+ preserve our Jurisdiction over the Southern States we have lost our
+ Constitutional Form of Government over the Northern. * * * The very idea
+ upon which this War is founded, coercion of States, leads to despotism. *
+ * * I now believe that there are but two alternatives, and they are either
+ an acknowledgment of the Independence of the South as an independent
+ Nation, or their complete subjugation and extermination as a People; and
+ of these alternatives I prefer the former."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ As Long took his seat, amid the congratulations of his Democratic friends,
+ Garfield arose, and, to compliments upon the former's peculiar candor and
+ honesty, added denunciation for his Treason. After drawing an effective
+ parallel between Lord Fairfax and Robert E. Lee, both of whom had cast
+ their lots unwillingly with the enemies of this Land, when the Wars of the
+ Revolution and of the Rebellion respectively opened, Garfield proceeded:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But now, when hundreds of thousands of brave souls have gone up to God
+ under the shadow of the Flag, and when thousands more, maimed and
+ shattered in the Contest, are sadly awaiting the deliverance of death;
+ now, when three years of terrific warfare have raged over us, when our
+ Armies have pushed the Rebellion back over mountains and rivers and
+ crowded it back into narrow limits, until a wall of fire girds it; now,
+ when the uplifted hand of a majestic People is about to let fall the
+ lightning of its conquering power upon the Rebellion; now, in the quiet of
+ this Hall, hatched in the lowest depths of a similar dark Treason, there
+ rises a Benedict Arnold and proposes to surrender us all up, body and
+ spirit, the Nation and the Flag, its genius and its honor, now and
+ forever, to the accursed Traitors to our Country. And that proposition
+ comes&mdash;God forgive and pity my beloved State!&mdash;it comes from a
+ citizen of the honored and loyal Commonwealth of Ohio! I implore you,
+ brethren in this House, not to believe that many such births ever gave
+ pangs to my mother-State such as she suffered when that Traitor was born!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ As he uttered these sturdy words, the House and galleries were agitated
+ with that peculiar rustling movement and low murmuring sound known as a
+ "sensation," while the Republican side with difficulty restrained the
+ applause they felt like giving, until he sadly proceeded:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I beg you not to believe that on the soil of that State another such
+ growth has ever deformed the face of Nature and darkened the light of
+ God's day."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The hush that followed was broken by the suggestive whisper:
+ "Vallandigham!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But, ah," continued the Speaker&mdash;as his voice grew sadder still&mdash;"I
+ am reminded that there are other such. My zeal and love for Ohio have
+ carried me too far. I retract. I remember that only a few days since, a
+ political Convention met at the Capital of my State, and almost decided,
+ to select from just such material, a representative for the Democratic
+ Party in the coming contest; and today, what claims to be a majority of
+ the Democracy of that State say that they have been cheated or they would
+ have made that choice!"
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [This refers to Horatio Seymour, the Democratic Governor of New York.]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ After referring to the "insidious work" of the "Knights of the Golden
+ Circle" in seeking "to corrupt the Army and destroy its efficiency;" the
+ "riots and murders which," said he, "their agents are committing
+ throughout the Loyal North, under the lead and guidance of the Party whose
+ Representatives sit yonder across the aisle;" he continued: "and now, just
+ as the time is coming on when we are to select a President for the next
+ four years, one rises among them and fires the Beacon, throws up the
+ blue-light&mdash;which will be seen, and rejoiced over, at the Rebel
+ Capital in Richmond&mdash;as the signal that the Traitors in our camp are
+ organized and ready for their hellish work! I believe the utterance of
+ to-day is the uplifted banner of revolt. I ask you to mark the signal that
+ blazes here, and see if there will not soon appear the answering signals
+ of Traitors all over the Land. * * * If these men do mean to light the
+ torch of War in all our homes; if they have resolved to begin the fearful
+ work which will redden our streets, and this Capitol, with blood, the
+ American People should know it at once, and prepare to meet it."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At the close of Mr. Garfield's patriotic and eloquent remarks, Mr. Long
+ again got the floor, declared that what he had said, he believed to be
+ right, and he would "stand by it," though he had to "stand solitary and
+ alone," and "even if it were necessary to brave bayonets, and prisons, and
+ all the tyranny which may be imposed by the whole power and force of the
+ Administration."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Said he: "I have deliberately uttered my sentiments in that speech, and I
+ will not retract one syllable of it." And, to "rub it in" a little
+ stronger, he exclaimed, as he took his seat, just before adjournment:
+ "Give me Liberty, even if confined to an Island of Greece, or a Canton of
+ Switzerland, rather than an Empire and a Despotism as we have here
+ to-day!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This treasonable speech naturally created much excitement throughout the
+ Country.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the following day (Saturday, April 9, 1864), immediately after prayer,
+ the reading of the Journal being dispensed with, the Speaker of the House
+ (Colfax) came down from the Speaker's Chair, and, from the floor, offered
+ a Preamble and Resolution, which ended thus:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved, That Alexander Long, a Representative from the second district
+ of Ohio, having, on the 8th day of April, 1864, declared himself in favor
+ of recognizing the Independence and Nationality of the so-called
+ Confederacy now in arms against the Union, and thereby 'given aid,
+ Countenance and encouragement to persons engaged in armed hostility to the
+ United States,' is hereby expelled."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The debate which ensued consumed nearly a week, and every member of
+ prominence, on both the Republican and Democratic sides, took part in it&mdash;the
+ Democrats almost invariably being careful to protest their own loyalty,
+ and yet attempting to justify the braver and more candid utterances of the
+ accused member.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Cox led off, April 9th, in the defense, by counterattack. He quoted
+ remarks made to the House (March 18, 1864) by Mr. Julian, of Indiana, to
+ the effect that "Our Country, united and Free, must be saved, at whatever
+ hazard or cost; and nothing, not even the Constitution, must be allowed to
+ hold back the uplifted arm of the Government in blasting the power of the
+ Rebels forever;"&mdash;and upon this, adopting the language of another&mdash;[Judge
+ Thomas, of Massachusetts.]&mdash;Mr. Cox declared that "to make this a
+ War, with the sword in one hand to defend the Constitution, and a hammer
+ in the other to break it to pieces, is no less treasonable than Secession
+ itself; and that, outside the pale of the Constitution, the whole struggle
+ is revolutionary."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He thought, for such words as he had just quoted, Julian ought to have
+ been expelled, if those of Long justified expulsion!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Finally, being pressed by Julian to define his own position, as between
+ the Life of the Nation, and the Infraction of the United States
+ Constitution, Mr. Cox said: "I will say this, that UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES
+ CONCEIVABLE BY THE HUMAN MIND WOULD I EVER VIOLATE THAT CONSTITUTION FOR
+ ANY PURPOSE!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This sentiment was loudly applauded, and received with cries of "THAT IS
+ IT!" "THAT'S IT!" by the Democratic side of the House, apparently in utter
+ contempt for the express and emphatic declaration of Jefferson that: "A
+ strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the highest
+ duties of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of
+ Necessity, of Self-preservation, of SAVING OUR COUNTRY WHEN IN DANGER, are
+ of higher obligation. To LOSE OUR COUNTRY by a scrupulous adherence to
+ written law WOULD BE TO LOSE THE LAW ITSELF, with Life, Liberty, Property,
+ and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus absolutely SACRIFICING
+ THE END TO THE MEANS."
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [In a letter to J. B. Colvin, Sept. 20, 1810, quoted at the time for
+ their information, and which may be found at page 542 of vol. v., of
+ Jefferson's Works.]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ Indeed these extreme sticklers for the letter of the Constitution, who
+ would have sacrificed Country, kindred, friends, honesty, truth, and all
+ ambitions on Earth and hopes for Heaven, rather than violate it&mdash;for
+ that is what Mr. Cox's announcement and the Democratic endorsement of it
+ meant, if they meant anything&mdash;were of the same stripe as those
+ querulous Ancients, for the benefit of whom the Apostle wrote: "For THE
+ LETTER KILLETH, but the Spirit giveth life."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And now, inspired apparently by the reckless utterances of Long, if not by
+ the more cautious diatribe of Cox, Harris of Maryland, determining if
+ possible to outdo them all, not only declared that he was willing to go
+ with his friend Long wherever the House chose to send him, but added: "I
+ am a peace man, a radical peace man; and I am for Peace by the recognition
+ of the South, for the recognition of the Southern Confederacy; and I am
+ for acquiescence in the doctrine of Secession." And, said he, in the midst
+ of the laughter which followed the sensation his treasonable words
+ occasioned, "Laugh as you may, you have got to come to it!" And then, with
+ that singular obfuscation of ideas engendered, in the heads of their
+ followers, by the astute Rebel-sympathizing leaders, he went on:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I am for Peace, and I am for Union too. I am as good a Union man as any
+ of you. [Laughter.] I am a better Union man than any of you! [Great
+ Laughter.] * * * I look upon War as Disunion."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After declaring that, if the principle of the expulsion Resolution was to
+ be carried out, his "friend," Mr. Long, "would be a martyr in a glorious
+ cause"&mdash;he proceeded to announce his own candidacy for expulsion, in
+ the following terms:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Mr. Speaker, in the early part of this Secession movement, there was a
+ Resolution offered, pledging men and money to carry on the War. My
+ principles were then, and are now, against the War. I stood, solitary and
+ alone, in voting against that Resolution, and whenever a similar
+ proposition is brought here it will meet with my opposition. Not one
+ dollar, nor one man, I swear, by the Eternal, will I vote for this
+ infernal, this stupendous folly, more stupendous than ever disgraced any
+ civilized People on the face of God's Earth. If that be Treason, make the
+ most of it!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The South asked you to let them go in peace. But no, you said you would
+ bring them into subjugation. That is not done yet, and God Almighty grant
+ that it never may be. I hope that you will never subjugate the South. If
+ she is to be ever again in the Union, I hope it will be with her own
+ consent; and I hope that that consent will be obtained by some other mode
+ than by the sword. 'If this be Treason, make the most of it!'"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ An extraordinary scene at once occurred&mdash;Mr. Tracy desiring "to know
+ whether, in these Halls, the gentleman from Maryland invoked Almighty God
+ that the American Arms should not prevail?" "Whether such language is not
+ Treason?" and "whether it is in order to talk Treason in this Hall?"&mdash;his
+ patriotic queries being almost drowned in the incessant cries of "Order!"
+ "Order!" and great disorder, and confusion, on the Democratic side of the
+ House.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Finally the treasonable language was taken down by the Clerk, and, while a
+ Resolution for the expulsion of Mr. Harris was being written out, Mr.
+ Fernando Wood&mdash;coming, as he said, from a bed of "severe sickness,"
+ quoted the language used by Mr. Long, to wit:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I now believe there are but two alternatives, and they are either the
+ acknowledgment of the Independence of the South as an independent Nation,
+ or their complete subjugation and extermination as a People; and of these
+ alternatives I prefer the former"&mdash;and declared that "if he is to be
+ expelled for the utterance of that sentiment, you may include me in it,
+ because I concur fully in that sentiment."
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [He afterwards (April 11,) said he did not agree with Mr. Long's
+ opinions.]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ Every effort was unavailingly made by the Democrats, under the lead of
+ Messrs. Cox&mdash;[In 1886 American Minister at Constantinople.]&mdash;and
+ Pendleton,&mdash;[In 1886 American Minister at Berlin.]&mdash;to prevent
+ action upon the new Resolution of expulsion, which was in these words:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Whereas, Hon. Benjamin G. Harris, a member of the House of
+ Representatives of the United States from the State of Maryland, has on
+ this day used the following language, to wit: 'The South asked you to let
+ them go in peace. But no; you said you would bring them into subjection.
+ That is not done yet, and God Almighty grant that it never may be. I hope
+ that you will never subjugate the South.' And whereas, such language is
+ treasonable, and is a gross disrespect of this House: Therefore, Be it
+ Resolved, That the said Benjamin G. Harris be expelled from this House."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Upon reaching a vote, however, the Resolution was lost, there being only
+ 81 yeas, to 58 (Democratic) nays&mdash;two-thirds not having voted
+ affirmatively. Subsequently, despite Democratic efforts to obstruct, a
+ Resolution, declaring Harris to be "an unworthy Member" of the House, and
+ "severely" censuring him, was adopted.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The debate upon the Long-expulsion Resolution now proceeded, and its
+ mover, in view of the hopelessness of securing a two-thirds affirmative
+ vote, having accepted an amendment comprising other two Resolutions and a
+ Preamble, the question upon adopting these was submitted on the 14th of
+ April. They were in the words following:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Whereas, ALEXANDER LONG, a Representative from the second district of
+ Ohio, by his open declarations in the National Capitol, and publications
+ in the City of New York, has shown himself to be in favor of a recognition
+ of the so-called Confederacy now trying to establish itself upon the ruins
+ of our Country, thereby giving aid and comfort to the Enemy in that
+ destructive purpose&mdash;aid to avowed Traitors, in creating an illegal
+ Government within our borders, comfort to them by assurances of their
+ success and affirmations of the justice of their Cause; and whereas, such
+ conduct is at the same time evidence of disloyalty, and inconsistent with
+ his oath of office, and his duty as a Member of this Body: Therefore,
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved, That the said Alexander Long, a Representative from the second
+ district of Ohio, be, and he is hereby declared to be an unworthy Member
+ of the House of Representatives.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Resolved, That the Speaker shall read these Resolutions to the said
+ Alexander Long during the session of the House."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The first of these Resolutions was adopted, by 80 yeas to 69 nays; the
+ second was tabled, by 71 yeas to 69 nays; and the Preamble was agreed to,
+ by 78 yeas to 63 nays.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And, among the 63 Democrats, who were not only unwilling to declare
+ Alexander Long "an unworthy Member," or to have the Speaker read such a
+ declaration to him in a session of the House, but also refused by their
+ votes even to intimate that his conduct evidenced disloyalty, or gave aid
+ and comfort to the Enemy, were the names of such democrats as Cox,
+ Eldridge, Holman, Kernan, Morrisson, Pendleton, Samuel J. Randall,
+ Voorhees, and Fernando Wood.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Hence Mr. Long not only escaped expulsion for his treasonable utterances,
+ but did not even receive the "severe censure" which, in addition to being
+ declared (like himself) "an unworthy Member," had been voted to Mr. Harris
+ for recklessly rushing into the breach to help him!
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [The Northern Democracy comprised two well-recognized classes: The
+ Anti-War (or Peace) Democrats, commonly called "Copperheads," who
+ sympathized with the Rebellion, and opposed the War for the Union; and
+ the War (or Union) Democrats, who favored a vigorous prosecution of the
+ War for the preservation of the Union.]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch26" id="linkch26"></a><br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ CHAPTER XXVI.<br /> <br /> "THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT" DEFEATED IN THE HOUSE.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The debate in the House of Representatives, upon the Thirteenth Amendment
+ to the Constitution&mdash;interrupted by the treasonable episode referred
+ to in the last Chapter&mdash;was subsequently resumed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Meanwhile, however, Fort Pillow had been stormed, and its garrison of
+ Whites and Blacks, massacred.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And now commenced the beginning of the end&mdash;so far as the Military
+ aspect of the Rebellion was concerned. Early in May, Sherman's Atlanta
+ Campaign commenced, and, simultaneously, General Grant began his movement
+ toward Richmond. In quick succession came the news of the bloody battles
+ of the Wilderness, and those around Spottsylvania, Va.; at Buzzard Roost
+ Gap, Snake Creek Gap, and Dalton, Ga.; Drury's Bluff, Va.; Resaca, Ga.;
+ the battles of the North Anna, Va.; those around Dallas, and New Hope
+ church, Ga; the crossing of Grant's forces to the South side of the James
+ and the assault on Petersburg. While the Union Armies were thus valiantly
+ attacking and beating those of the Rebels, on many a sanguinary field the
+ loyal men of the North, both in and out of Congress, pressed for favorable
+ action upon the Thirteenth Amendment. "Friends of the wounded in
+ Fredericksburg from the Battle of the Wilderness"&mdash;exclaimed Horace
+ Greeley in the New York Tribune, of May 31st,&mdash;"friends and relatives
+ of the soldiers of Grant's Army beyond the Wilderness, let us all join
+ hands and swear upon our Country's altar that we will never cease this War
+ until African Slavery in the United States is dead forever, and forever
+ buried!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Peace Democrats, however, were deaf to all such entreaties. On the very
+ same day, Mr. Holman, in the House, objected even to the second reading of
+ the Joint Resolution Amendatory of the Constitution, and there were so
+ many "Peace Democrats" to back him, that the vote was: 55 yeas to 76 nays,
+ on the question "shall the Joint Resolution be rejected!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The old cry, that had been repeated by Hendricks and others, in the Senate
+ and House, time and again, was still used&mdash;threadbare though it was&mdash;"this
+ is not the right time for it!" On this very day, for instance, Mr. Herrick
+ said: "I ask if this is the proper time for our People to consider so
+ grave a measure as the Amendment of the Constitution in so vital a point?
+ * * * this is no fitting time for such work."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Very different was the attitude of Kellogg, of New York, and well did he
+ show up the depths to which the Democracy&mdash;the Peace Democracy&mdash;had
+ now fallen. "We are told," said he, "of a War Democracy, and such there
+ are&mdash;their name is legion&mdash;good men and true; they are found in
+ the Union ranks bearing arms in support of the Government and the
+ Administration that wields it. At the ballot-box, whether at home or in
+ the camp, they are Union men, and vote as they fight, and hold little in
+ common with the political leaders of the Democratic Party in or out of
+ this Hall&mdash;the Seymours, the Woods, the Vallandighams, the Woodwards,
+ and their indorsers, who hold and control the Democratic Party here, and
+ taint it with Treason, till it is a stench in the nostrils of all
+ patriotic men."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After referring to the fact that the leaders of the Rebellion had from the
+ start relied confidently upon assistance from the Northern Democracy, he
+ proceeded:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The Peace Democracy, and mere Party-hacks in the North, are fulfilling
+ their masters' expectations industriously, unceasingly, and as far as in
+ them lies. Not even the shouts for victory, in these Halls, can divert
+ their Southern allies here. A sullen gloom at the defeat and discomfiture
+ of their Southern brethren settles down on their disastrous countenances,
+ from which no ray of joy can be reflected. * * * They even vote solid
+ against a law to punish guerrillas.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Sir," continued he, "in my judgment, many of those who withhold from
+ their Country the support they would otherwise give, find allegiance to
+ Party too strong for their patriotism. * * * Rejecting the example and
+ counsels of Stanton and Dickinson and Butler and Douglas and Dix and Holt
+ and Andrew Johnson and Logan and Rosecrans and Grant and a host of others,
+ all Democrats of the straightest sect, to forget all other ties, and
+ cleave only to their Country for their Country's sake, and rejecting the
+ overtures and example of the Republican Party to drop and forget their
+ Party name, that all might unite and band together for their Country's
+ salvation as Union men, they turn a deaf ear and cold shoulder, and
+ sullenly pass by on the other side, thanking God they are not as other men
+ are, and lend, if at all, a calculating, qualified, and conditional and
+ halting support, under protest, to their Country's cause; thus justifying
+ the only hope of the Rebellion to-day, that Party spirit at the North will
+ distract its counsels, divide and discourage and palsy its efforts, and
+ ultimately make way for the Traitor and the parricide to do their worst."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Besides the set speeches made against the proposed Constitutional
+ amendment in the House, Peace-Democrats of the Senate continued to keep up
+ a running fire at it in that Chamber, on every possible occasion. Garrett
+ Davis was especially garrulous on the subject, and also launched the
+ thunders of his wrath at the President quite frequently and even
+ vindictively. For instance, speaking in the Senate&mdash;[May 31,1864,]&mdash;of
+ the right of Property in Slaves; said he:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "This new-born heresy 'Military Necessity,' as President Lincoln claims,
+ and exercises it, is the sum of all political and Military villianies * *
+ * and it is no less absurd than it is villianous. * * * The man has never
+ spoken or lived who can prove by any provision of the Constitution, or by
+ any principle, or by any argument to be deduced logically and fairly from
+ it, that he has any such power as this vast, gigantic, all-conquering and
+ all-crushing power of Military Necessity which he has the audacity to
+ claim.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "This modern Emperor, this Tiberius, a sort of a Tiberius, and his
+ Sejanus, a sort of a Sejanus, the head of the War Department, are
+ organizing daily their Military Courts to try civilians. * * *
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Sir, I want one labor of love before I die. I want the President of the
+ United States, I want his Secretary of War, I want some of his high
+ officers in Military command to bring a civilian to a Military execution,
+ and me to have the proud privilege of prosecuting them for murder. * * * I
+ want the law and its just retribution to be visited upon these great
+ delinquents.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I would sooner, if I had the power, bring about such an atonement as
+ that, than I would even put down the Rebellion. It would be a greater
+ victory in favor of Freedom and Constitutional Liberty, a thousand-fold,
+ of all the People of America besides, than the subjugation of the Rebel
+ States could possibly be."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But there seemed to be no end to the' attacks upon the Administration,
+ made, in both Houses, by these peculiar Peace-Democrats. Union blood might
+ flow in torrents on the fields of the rebellious South, atrocities
+ innumerable might be committed by the Rebels, cold-blooded massacres of
+ Blacks and Whites, as at Fort Pillow, might occur without rebuke from
+ them; but let the Administration even dare to sneeze, and&mdash;woe to the
+ Administration.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It was not the Thirteenth Amendment only, that they assailed, but
+ everything else which the Administration thought might help it in its
+ effort to put down the Rebellion. Nor was it so much their malignant
+ activity in opposition to any one measure intended to strengthen the hands
+ of the Union, but to all such measures; and superadded to this was the
+ incessant bringing forward, in both Houses of Congress, by these restless
+ Rebel-sympathizers, of Peace-Resolutions, the mere presentation of which
+ would be, and were, construed by the Rebel authorities at Richmond, as
+ evidences of a weakening.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Even some of the best of the Peace-Democrats, like S. S. Cox, for
+ instance, not only assailed the Tariff&mdash;under which the Union
+ Republican Party sought to protect and build up American Industry, as well
+ as to raise as much revenue as possible to help meet the enormous current
+ expenditures of the Government&mdash;but also denounced our great
+ paper-money system, which alone enabled us to secure means to meet all
+ deficiencies in the revenues otherwise obtained, and thus to ultimately
+ conquer the hosts of Rebellion.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He declared (June 2, 1864) that "The People are the victims of the
+ joint-robbery of a system of bounties under the guise of duties, and of an
+ inconvertible and depreciated paper currency under the guise of money,"
+ and added: "No man is now so wise and gifted that he can save this Nation
+ from bankruptcy. * * * No borrowing system can save us. The scheme of
+ making greenbacks a legal tender, which enabled the debtor to cheat his
+ creditor, thereby playing the old game of kingcraft, to debase the
+ currency in order to aid the designs of despotism, may float us for a
+ while amidst the fluctuations and bubbles of the day; but as no one
+ possesses the power to repeal the Law of the Almighty, which decrees (and
+ as our Constitution has established) that gold and silver shall be the
+ standard of value in the World, so they will ever thus remain,
+ notwithstanding the legislation of Congress."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Not satisfied with this sort of "fire in the rear," it was attempted by
+ means of Democratic Free-Trade and antipaper-currency sophistries, to
+ arouse jealousies, heart-burnings and resentful feelings in the breasts of
+ those living in different parts of the Union&mdash;to implant bitter
+ Sectional antagonisms and implacable resentments between the Eastern
+ States, on the one hand, and the Western States, on the other&mdash;and
+ thus, by dividing, to weaken the Loyal Union States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ That this was the cold-blooded purpose of all who pursued this course,
+ would no doubt be warmly denied by some of them; but the fact remains no
+ less clear, that the effect of that course, whether so intended or not,
+ was to give aid and comfort to the Enemy at that critical time when the
+ Nation most needed all the men, money, and moral as well as material
+ support, it was possible to get, to put an end to the bloody Rebellion,
+ now&mdash;under the continuous poundings of Grant's Army upon that of Lee
+ in Virginia, and the advance of Sherman's Army upon that of Johnston in
+ Georgia&mdash;tottering to its overthrow. Thus this same speaker (S. S.
+ Cox), in his untimely speech, undertook to divide the Union-loving States
+ "into two great classes: the Protected States and the Unprotected States;"
+ and&mdash;having declared that "The Manufacturing States, mainly the New
+ England States and Pennsylvania, are the Protected States," and "The
+ Agricultural States," mainly the eleven Western States, which he named,
+ "are the Unprotected States"&mdash;proceeded to intemperately and
+ violently arraign New England, and especially Massachusetts, in the same
+ way that had years before been adopted by the old Conspirators of the
+ South when they sought&mdash;alas, too successfully!&mdash;to inflame the
+ minds of Southern citizens to a condition of unreasoning frenzy which made
+ attempted Nullification and subsequent armed Rebellion and Secession
+ possible.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Well might the thoroughly loyal Grinnell, of Iowa&mdash;after exposing
+ what he termed the "sophistry of figures" by which Mr. Cox had seen fit
+ "to misrepresent and traduce" the Western States&mdash;exclaim: "Sir, I
+ have no words which I can use to execrate sufficiently such language, in
+ arraying the Sections in opposition during a time of War; as if we were
+ not one People, descended from one stock, having one interest, and bound
+ up in one destiny!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The damage that might have been done to the Union Cause by such malignant
+ Democratic attacks upon the National unity and strength, may be imagined
+ when we reflect that at this very time the annual expenses of our
+ Government were over $600,000,000, and growing still larger; and that
+ $1.90 in legal tender notes of the United States was worth but $1.00 in
+ gold, with a downward tendency. Said stern old Thaddeus Stevens, alluding
+ on this occasion, to Statesmanship of the peculiar stamp of the Coxes and
+ Fernando Woods: "He who in this time will pursue such a course of argument
+ for the mere sake of party, can never hope to be ranked among Statesmen;
+ nay, Sir, he will not even rise to the dignity of a respectable
+ Demagogue!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Within a week after this, (June 9, 1864), we find in the Senate also,
+ similarly insidious attacks upon the strength of the Government, made by
+ certain Northern Democrats, who never tired of undermining Loyalty, and
+ creating and spreading discontent among the People. The Bill then up, for
+ consideration, was one "to prohibit the discharge of persons from
+ liability to Military duty, by reason of the payment of money."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In the terribly bloody Campaign that had now been entered upon by Grant
+ &mdash;in the West, under Sherman, and in the East, under his own personal
+ eye&mdash;it was essential to send to the front, every man possible. Hence
+ the necessity for a Bill of this sort, which moreover provided, in order
+ as far as possible to popularize conscription, that all calls for drafts
+ theretofore made under the Enrolling Act of March 3, 1863, should be for
+ not over one year's service, etc.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This furnished the occasion for Mr. Hendricks, among other Peace
+ Democrats, to make opposing speeches. He, it seems, had all along been
+ opposed to drafting Union soldiers; and because, during the previous
+ Winter, the Senate had been unwilling to abolish the clause permitting a
+ drafted man to pay a commutation of $300 (with which money a substitute
+ could be procured) instead of himself going, at a time when men were not
+ quite so badly needed as now, therefore Mr. Hendricks pretended to think
+ it very strange and unjustifiable that now, when everything depended on
+ getting every possible man in the field, the Senate should think of
+ "abandoning that which it thought right last Winter!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He opposed drafting; but if drafting must be resorted to, then he thought
+ that what he termed "the Horror of the Draft" should be felt by as many of
+ the Union people as possible!&mdash;or, in his own words: "the Horror of
+ the Draft ought to be divided among the People." As if this were not
+ sufficient to conjure dreadful imaginings, he added: "if one set of men
+ are drafted this year to serve twelve months, and they have to go because
+ the power of the Government makes them go, whether they can go well or
+ not, then at the end of the year their neighbors should be subjected to
+ the same Horror, and let this dreadful demand upon the service, upon the
+ blood, and upon the life of the People be distributed upon all."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And, in order apparently to still further intensify public feeling against
+ all drafting, and sow the seeds of dissatisfaction in the hearts of those
+ drafted at this critical time, when the fate of the Union and of
+ Republican Government palpably depended upon conscription, he added: "It
+ is not so right to say to twenty men in a neighborhood: 'You shall go; you
+ shall leave your families whether you can or not; you shall go without the
+ privilege of commutation whether you leave starving wives and children
+ behind you or not,' and then say to every other man of the neighborhood:
+ 'Because we have taken these twenty men for three years, you shall remain
+ with your wives and children safely and comfortably at home for these
+ three years.' I like this feature of the amendment, because it distributes
+ the Horror of the Draft more equally and justly over the whole People."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Not satisfied with rolling the "Horror of the Draft" so often and
+ trippingly over his tongue, he also essayed the role of Prophet in the
+ interest of the tottering god of Slavery. "The People," said he, "expect
+ great results from this Campaign; and when another year comes rolling
+ around, and it is found that this War is not closed, and that there is no
+ reasonable probability of its early close, my colleague (Lane) and other
+ Senators who agree with him will find that the People will say that this
+ effusion of blood must stop; that THERE MUST BE SOME ADJUSTMENT. I
+ PROPHESY THIS."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And, as a further declaration likely to give aid and comfort to the Rebel
+ leaders, he said: "I do not believe many men are going to be obtained by a
+ draft; I do not believe a very good Army will be got by a draft; I do not
+ believe an Army will be put in the field, by a draft, that will whip
+ General Lee."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But while all such statements were, no doubt, intended to help the foes of
+ the Union, and dishearten or dismay its friends, the really loyal People,
+ understanding their fell object, paid little heed to them. The predictions
+ of these Prophets of evil fell flat upon the ears of lovers of their
+ Country. Conspirators, however much they might masquerade in the raiment
+ of Loyalty, could not wholly conceal the ear-marks of Treason. The hand
+ might be the hand of Esau, but the voice was the voice of Jacob.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 8th of June&mdash;after a month of terrific and bloody fighting
+ between the immediate forces of Grant and Lee&mdash;a dispatch from
+ Sherman, just received at Washington, was read to the House of
+ Representatives, which said: "The Enemy is not in our immediate front, but
+ his signals are seen at Lost Mountain, and Kenesaw." So, at the same time,
+ at the National Capital, while the friends of the Union there, were not
+ immediately confronted with an armed Enemy, yet the signals of his Allies
+ could be seen, and their fire upon our rear could be heard, daily and
+ almost hourly, both in the Senate and the House of Representatives.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The fight in the House, upon the Thirteenth Amendment, now seemed indeed,
+ to be reaching a climax. During the whole of June 14th, until midnight,
+ speech after speech on the subject, followed each other in rapid
+ succession. Among the opposition speeches, perhaps those of Fernando Wood
+ and Holman were most notable for extravagant and unreasoning denunciation
+ of the Administration and Party in power&mdash;whose every effort was put
+ forth, and strained at this very time to the utmost, to save the Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Holman, for instance, declared that, "Of all the measures of this
+ disastrous Administration, each in its turn producing new calamities, this
+ attempt to tamper with the Constitution threatens the most permanent
+ injury." He enumerated the chief measures of the Administration during its
+ three and a half years of power&mdash;among them the Emancipation
+ Proclamation, the arming of the Blacks, and what he sneeringly termed
+ "their pet system of finance" which was to "sustain the public credit for
+ infinite years," but which "even now," said he, "totters to its fall!" And
+ then, having succeeded in convincing himself of Republican failure, he
+ exultingly exclaimed: "But why enumerate? What measure of this
+ Administration has failed to be fatal! Every step in your progress has
+ been a mistake. I use the mildest terms of censure!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Fernando Wood, in his turn also, "mildly" remarked upon Republican policy
+ as "the bloody and brutal policy of the Administration Party." He
+ considered this "the crisis of the fate of the Union;" declared that
+ Slavery was "the best possible condition to insure the happiness of the
+ Negro race"&mdash;a position which, on the following day, he "reaffirmed"&mdash;and
+ characterized those members of the Democratic Party who saw Treason in the
+ ways and methods and expressions of Peace Democrats of his own stamp, as a
+ "pack of political jackals known as War Democrats."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 15th of June, Farnsworth made a reply to Ross&mdash;who had claimed
+ to be friendly to the Union soldier&mdash;in which the former handled the
+ Democratic Party without gloves. "What," said he, referring to Mr. Ross,
+ "has been the course of that gentleman and his Party on this floor in
+ regard to voting supplies to the Army? What has been their course in
+ regard to raising money to pay the Army? His vote will be found recorded
+ in almost every instance against the Appropriation Bills, against ways and
+ means for raising money to pay the Army. It is only a week ago last
+ Monday, that a Bill was introduced here to punish guerrillas * * * and how
+ did my colleague vote? Against the Bill.* * * On the subject of arming
+ Slaves, of putting Negroes into the Army, how has my colleague and his
+ Party voted? Universally against it. They would strip from the backs of
+ these Black soldiers, now in the service of the Country, their uniforms,
+ and would send them back to Slavery with chains and manacles. And yet they
+ are the friends of the soldier!"* * * "On the vote to repeal the Fugitive
+ Slave Law, how did that (Democratic) side of the House vote? Does not the
+ Fugitive Slave Law affect the Black soldier in the Army who was a Slave?
+ That side of the House are in favor of continuing the Fugitive Slave Law,
+ and of disbanding Colored troops. How did that side of the House vote on
+ the question of arming Slaves and paying them as soldiers? They voted
+ against it. They are in favor of disbanding the Colored regiments, and,
+ armed with the Fugitive Slave Law, sending them back to their masters!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He took occasion also to meet various Democratic arguments against the
+ Resolution,&mdash;among them, one, hinging on the alleged right of
+ Property in Slaves. This was a favorite idea with the Border-State men
+ especially, that Slaves were Property&mdash;mere chattels as it were,&mdash;and,
+ only the day before, a Northern man, Coffroth of Pennsylvania, had said:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Sir, we should pause before proceeding any further in this
+ Unconstitutional and censurable legislation. The mere abolition of Slavery
+ is not my cause of complaint. I care not whether Slavery is retained or
+ abolished by the people of the States in which it exists&mdash;the only
+ rightful authority. The question to me is, has Congress a right to take
+ from the people of the South their Property; or, in other words, having no
+ pecuniary interest therein, are we justified in freeing the Slave-property
+ of others? Can we Abolish Slavery in the Loyal State of Kentucky against
+ her will? If this Resolution should pass, and be ratified by three-fourths
+ of the States&mdash;States already Free&mdash;and Kentucky refuses to
+ ratify it, upon what principle of right or law would we be justified in
+ taking this Slave-property of the people of Kentucky? Would it be less
+ than stealing?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And Farnsworth met this idea&mdash;which had also been advanced by Messrs.
+ Ross, Fernando Wood, and Pruyn&mdash;by saying: "What constitutes
+ property? I know it is said by some gentlemen on the other side, that what
+ the statute makes property, is property. I deny it. What 'vested right'
+ has any man or State in Property in Man? We of the North hold property,
+ not by virtue of statute law, not by virtue of enactments. Our property
+ consists in lands, in chattels, in things. Our property was made property
+ by Jehovah when He gave Man dominion over it. But nowhere did He give
+ dominion of Man over Man. Our title extends back to the foundation of the
+ World. That constitutes property. There is where we get our title. There
+ is where we get our 'vested rights' to property."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Touching the ethics of Slavery, Mr. Arnold's speech on the same occasion
+ was also able, and in parts eloquent, as where he said: 'Slavery is to-day
+ an open enemy striking at the heart of the Republic. It is the soul and
+ body, the spirit and motive of the Rebellion. It is Slavery which marshals
+ yonder Rebel hosts, which confront the patriot Armies of Grant and
+ Sherman. It is the savage spirit of this barbarous Institution which
+ starves the Union prisoners at Richmond, which assassinates them at Fort
+ Pillow, which murders the wounded on the field of battle, and which fills
+ up the catalogue of wrong and outrage which mark the conduct of the Rebels
+ during all this War.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In view of all the long catalogue of wrongs which Slavery has inflicted
+ upon the Country, I demand to-day, of the Congress of the United States,
+ the death of African Slavery. We can have no permanent Peace, while
+ Slavery lives. It now reels and staggers toward its last death-struggle.
+ Let us strike the monster this last decisive blow."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And, after appealing to both Border-State men, and Democrats of the Free
+ States, not to stay the passage of this Resolution which "will strike the
+ Rebellion at the heart," he continued: "Gentlemen may flatter themselves
+ with a restoration of the Slave-power in this Country. 'The Union as it
+ was!' It is a dream, never again to be realized. The America of the past,
+ has gone forever. A new Nation is to be born from the agony through which
+ the People are now passing. This new Nation is to be wholly Free. Liberty,
+ Equality before the Law, is to be the great Corner-stone."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ So, too, Mr. Ingersoll eloquently said&mdash;among many other good things:&mdash;"It
+ is well to eradicate an evil. That Slavery is an evil, no sane, honest man
+ will deny. It has been the great curse of this Country from its infancy to
+ the present hour, And now that the States in Rebellion have given the
+ Loyal States the opportunity to take off that curse, to wipe away the foul
+ stain, I say let it be done. We owe it to ourselves; we owe it to
+ posterity; we owe it to the Slaves themselves to exterminate Slavery
+ forever by the adoption of the proposed Amendment to the Constitution. * *
+ * I believe Slavery is the mother of this Rebellion, that this Rebellion
+ can be attributed to no other cause but Slavery; from that it derived its
+ life, and gathers its strength to-day. Destroy the mother, and the child
+ dies. Destroy the cause, and the effect will disappear.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Slavery has ever been the enemy of liberal principles. It has ever been
+ the friend of ignorance, prejudice, and all the unlawful, savage, and
+ detestable passions which proceed therefrom. It has ever been domineering,
+ arrogant, exacting, and overbearing. It has claimed to be a polished
+ aristocrat, when in reality it has only been a coarse, swaggering, and
+ brutal boor. It has ever claimed to be a gentleman, when in reality it has
+ ever been a villain. I think it is high time to clip its overgrown
+ pretensions, strip it of its mask, and expose it, in all its hideous
+ deformity, to the detestation of all honest and patriotic men."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After Mr. Samuel J. Randall had, at a somewhat later hour, pathetically
+ and poetically invoked the House, in its collective unity, as a "Woodman,"
+ to "spare that tree" of the Constitution, and to "touch not a single
+ bough," because, among other reasons, "in youth it sheltered" him; and
+ furthermore, because "the time" was "most inopportune;" and, after Mr.
+ Rollins, of Missouri, had made a speech, which he afterward suppressed;
+ Mr. Pendleton closed the debate in an able effort, from his point of view,
+ in which he objected to the passage of the Joint Resolution because "the
+ time is not auspicious;" because, said he, "it is impossible that the
+ Amendment proposed, should be ratified without a fraudulent use of the
+ power to admit new States, or a fraudulent use of the Military power of
+ the Federal Government in the Seceded States,"&mdash;and, said he, "if you
+ should attempt to amend the Constitution by such means, what binding
+ obligation would it have?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He objected, also, because "the States cannot, under the pretense of
+ amending the Constitution, subvert the structure, spirit, and theory of
+ this Government." "But," said he, "if this Amendment were within the
+ Constitutional power of amendment; if this were a proper time to consider
+ it; if three-fourths of the States were willing to ratify it; and if it
+ did not require the fraudulent use of power, either in this House or in
+ the Executive Department, to secure its adoption, I would still resist the
+ passage of this Resolution. It is another step toward consolidation, and
+ consolidation is Despotism; confederation is Liberty."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It was about 4 o'clock in the afternoon of June 15th, that the House came
+ to a vote, on the passage of the Joint Resolution. At first the strain of
+ anxiety on both sides was great, but, as the roll proceeded, it soon
+ became evident that the Resolution was doomed to defeat. And so it
+ transpired. The vote stood 93 yeas, to 65 nays&mdash;Mr. Ashley having
+ changed his vote, from the affirmative to the negative, for the purpose of
+ submitting, at the proper time, a motion to reconsider.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ That same evening, Mr. Ashley made the motion to reconsider the vote by
+ which the proposed Constitutional Amendment was rejected; and the motion
+ was duly entered in the Journal, despite the persistent efforts of Messrs.
+ Cox, Holman, and others, to prevent it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 28th of June, just prior to the Congressional Recess, Mr. Ashley
+ announced that he had been disappointed in the hope of securing enough
+ votes from the Democratic side of the House to carry the Amendment.
+ "Those," said he, "who ought to have been the champions of this great
+ proposition are unfortunately its strongest opponents. They have permitted
+ the golden opportunity to pass. The record is made up, and we must go to
+ the Country on this issue thus presented." And then he gave notice that he
+ would call the matter up, at the earliest possible moment after the
+ opening of the December Session of Congress.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch27" id="linkch27"></a><br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ CHAPTER XXVII.<br /> <br /> SLAVERY DOOMED AT THE POLLS.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The record was indeed made up, and the issue thus made, between Slavery
+ and Freedom, would be the chief one before the People. Already the
+ Republican National Convention, which met at Baltimore, June 7, 1864, had
+ not only with "enthusiastic unanimity," renominated Mr. Lincoln for the
+ Presidency, but amid "tremendous applause," the delegates rising and
+ waving their hats&mdash;had adopted a platform which declared, in behalf
+ of that great Party: "That, as Slavery was the cause, and now constitutes
+ the strength, of this Rebellion, and as it must be, always and everywhere,
+ hostile to the principles of Republican government, Justice and the
+ National safety demand its utter and complete extirpation from the soil of
+ the Republic; and that while we uphold and maintain the Acts and
+ Proclamations by which the Government, in its own defense, has aimed a
+ death-blow at this gigantic evil, we are in favor, furthermore, of such an
+ Amendment to the Constitution, to be made by the People in conformity with
+ its provisions, as shall terminate and forever prohibit the existence of
+ Slavery within the limits or the jurisdiction of the United States."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ So, too, with vociferous plaudits, had they received and adopted another
+ Resolution, wherein they declared "That we approve and applaud the
+ practical wisdom, the unselfish patriotism and the unswerving fidelity to
+ the Constitution and the principles of American Liberty, with which
+ Abraham Lincoln has discharged, under circumstances of unparalleled
+ difficulty, the great duties and responsibilities of the Presidential
+ Office; that we approve and endorse, as demanded by the emergency, and
+ essential to the preservation of the Nation, and as within the provisions
+ of the Constitution; the Measures and Acts which he has adopted to defend
+ the Nation against its open and secret foes; that we approve, especially,
+ the Proclamation of Emancipation, and the employment, as Union soldiers,
+ of men heretofore held in Slavery; and that we have full confidence in his
+ determination to carry these and all other Constitutional Measures
+ essential to the salvation of the Country, into full and complete effect."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Thus heartily, thoroughly and unreservedly, endorsed in all the great acts
+ of his Administration&mdash;and even more emphatically, if possible, in
+ his Emancipation policy&mdash;by the unanimous vote of his Party, Mr.
+ Lincoln, although necessarily "chagrined and disappointed" by the
+ House-vote which had defeated the Thirteenth Amendment, might well feel
+ undismayed. He always had implicit faith in the People; he felt sure that
+ they would sustain him; and this done, why could not the votes of a dozen,
+ out of the seventy Congressional Representatives opposing that Amendment,
+ be changed? Even failing in this, it must be but a question of time. He
+ thought he could afford to bide that time.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 29th of August, the Democratic National Convention met at Chicago.
+ Horatio Seymour was its permanent President; that same Governor of New
+ York whom the 4th of July, 1863, almost at the moment when Vicksburg and
+ Gettysburg had brought great encouragement to the Union cause, and when
+ public necessity demanded the enforcement of the Draft in order to drive
+ the Rebel invader from Northern soil and bring the Rebellion speedily to
+ an end&mdash;had threateningly said to the Republicans, in the course of a
+ public speech, during the Draft-riots at New York City: "Remember this,
+ that the bloody, and treasonable, and revolutionary doctrine of public
+ necessity can be proclaimed by a mob as well as by a Government. * * *
+ When men accept despotism, they may have a choice as to who the despot
+ shall be!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In his speech to this Democratic-Copperhead National Convention,
+ therefore, it is not surprising that he should, at this time, declare that
+ "this Administration cannot now save this Union, if it would." That the
+ body which elected such a presiding officer,&mdash;after the bloody series
+ of glorious Union victories about Atlanta, Ga., then fast leading up to
+ the fall of that great Rebel stronghold, (which event actually occurred
+ long before most of these Democratic delegates, on their return, could
+ even reach their homes)&mdash;should adopt a Resolution declaring that the
+ War was a "failure," was not surprising either.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ That Resolution&mdash;"the material resolution of the Chicago platform,"
+ as Vallandigham afterward characters it, was written and "carried through
+ both the Subcommittee and the General Committee" by that Arch-Copperhead
+ and Conspirator himself.&mdash;[See his letter of October 22, 1864, to the
+ editor of the New York News,]
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It was in these words: "Resolved, That this Convention does explicitly
+ declare as the sense of the American People, that after four years of
+ failure to restore the Union by the experiment of War, during which, under
+ the pretense of a military necessity, or War&mdash;power higher than the
+ Constitution, the Constitution itself has been disregarded in every part,
+ and public Liberty and private right alike trodden down and the material
+ prosperity of the Country essentially impaired&mdash;Justice, Humanity,
+ Liberty, and the public welfare demand that immediate efforts be made for
+ a cessation of hostilities, with a view to an ultimate Convention of the
+ States, or other peaceable means, to the end that at the earliest
+ practicable moment Peace may be restored on the basis of the Federal Union
+ of the States."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ With a Copperhead platform, this Democratic Convention thought it politic
+ to have a Union candidate for the Presidency. Hence, the nomination of
+ General McClellan; but to propitiate the out-and-out Vallandigham Peace
+ men, Mr. Pendleton was nominated to the second place on the ticket.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This combination was almost as great a blunder as was the platform&mdash;than
+ which nothing could have been worse. Farragut's Naval victory at Mobile,
+ and Sherman's capture of Atlanta, followed so closely upon the adjournment
+ of the Convention as to make its platform and candidates the laughing
+ stock of the Nation; and all the efforts of Democratic orators, and of
+ McClellan himself, in his letter of acceptance, could not prevent the rise
+ of that great tidal wave of Unionism which was soon to engulf the hosts of
+ Copperhead-Democracy.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Thanksgiving-services in the churches, and the thundering salutes of
+ 100 guns from every Military and Naval post in the United States, which
+ &mdash;during the week succeeding that Convention's sitting&mdash;betokened
+ the Nation's especial joy and gratitude to the victorious Union Forces of
+ Sherman and Farragut for their fortuitously-timed demonstration that the
+ "experiment of War" for the restoration of the Union was anything but a
+ "Failure" all helped to add to the proportions of that rapidly-swelling
+ volume of loyal public feeling.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The withdrawal from the canvass, of General Fremont, nominated for the
+ Presidency by the "radical men of the Nation," at Cleveland, also
+ contributed to it. In his letter of withdrawal, September 17th, he said:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The Presidential contest has, in effect, been entered upon in such a way
+ that the union of the Republican Party has become a paramount necessity.
+ The policy of the Democratic Party signifies either separation, or
+ reestablishment with Slavery. The Chicago platform is simply separation.
+ General McClellan's letter of acceptance is reestablishment, with Slavery.
+ The Republican candidate is, on the contrary, pledged to the
+ reestablishment of the Union without Slavery; and, however hesitating his
+ policy may be, the pressure of his Party will, we may hope, force him to
+ it. Between these issues, I think no man of the Liberal Party can remain
+ in doubt."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And now, following the fall of Atlanta before Sherman's Forces, Grant had
+ stormed "Fort Hell," in front of Petersburg; Sheridan had routed the
+ Rebels, under Early, at Winchester, and had again defeated Early at
+ Fisher's Hill; Lee had been repulsed in his attack on Grant's works at
+ Petersburg; and Allatoona had been made famous, by Corse and his 2,000
+ Union men gallantly repulsing the 5,000 men of Hood's Rebel Army, who had
+ completely surrounded and attacked them in front, flank, and rear.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ All these Military successes for the Union Cause helped the Union
+ political campaign considerably, and, when supplemented by the remarkable
+ results of the October elections in Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Maryland,
+ made the election of Lincoln and Johnson a foregone conclusion.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The sudden death of Chief-Justice Taney, too, happening, by a strange
+ coincidence, simultaneously with the triumph of the Union Party of
+ Maryland in carrying the new Constitution of that State, which prohibited
+ Slavery within her borders, seemed to have a significance* not without its
+ effect upon the public mind, now fast settling down to the belief that
+ Slavery everywhere upon the soil of the United States must die.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [Greeley well said of it: "His death, at this moment, seemed to mark the
+ transition from the Era of Slavery to that of Universal Freedom."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ Then came, October 19th, the Battle of Cedar Creek, Va. where the Rebel
+ General Early, during Sheridan's absence, surprised and defeated the
+ latter's forces, until Sheridan, riding down from Winchester, turned
+ defeat into victory for the Union Arms, and chased the armed Rebels out of
+ the Shenandoah Valley forever; and the fights of October 27th and 28th, to
+ the left of Grant's position, at Petersburg, by which the railroad
+ communications of Lee's Army at Richmond were broken up.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At last, November 8, 1864, dawned the eventful day of election. By
+ midnight of that date it was generally believed, all over the Union, that
+ Lincoln and Johnson were overwhelmingly elected, and that the Life as well
+ as Freedom of the Nation had thus been saved by the People.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Late that very night, President Lincoln was serenaded by a Pennsylvania
+ political club, and, in responding to the compliment, modestly said:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I earnestly believe that the consequences of this day's work (if it be as
+ you assure, and as now seems probable) will be to the lasting advantage,
+ if not to the very salvation, of the Country. I cannot at this hour say
+ what has been the result of the election. But whatever it may be, I have
+ no desire to modify this opinion, that all who have labored to-day in
+ behalf of the Union organization have wrought for the best interests of
+ their Country and the World, not only for the present but for all future
+ ages.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I am thankful to God," continued he, "for this approval of the People;
+ but, while deeply gratified for this mark of their confidence in me, if I
+ know my heart, my gratitude is free from any taint of personal triumph. I
+ do not impugn the motives of any one opposed to me. It is no pleasure to
+ me to triumph over any one; but I give thanks to the Almighty for this
+ evidence of the People's resolution to stand by Free Government and the
+ rights of Humanity."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 10th of November, in response to another serenade given at the
+ White House, in the presence of an immense and jubilantly enthusiastic
+ gathering of Union men, by the Republican clubs of the District of
+ Columbia, Mr. Lincoln said:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It has long been a grave question whether any Government, not too strong
+ for the Liberties of its People, can be strong enough to maintain its
+ existence in great emergencies. On this point the present Rebellion has
+ brought our Republic to a severe test, and a Presidential election,
+ occurring in regular course during the Rebellion, has added not a little
+ to the strain. * * * But the election, along with its incidental and
+ undesired strife, has done good, too. It has demonstrated that a People's
+ Government can sustain a National election in the midst of a great Civil
+ War, until now it has not been known to the World that this was a
+ possibility. It shows, also, how sound and how strong we still are.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But," said he, "the Rebellion continues; and now that the election is
+ over, may not all having a common interest reunite in a common effort to
+ save our common Country?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "For my own part," continued he&mdash;as the cheering, elicited by this
+ forcible appeal, ceased&mdash;"I have striven, and shall strive, to avoid
+ placing any obstacle in the way. So long as I have been here I have not
+ willingly planted a thorn in any man's bosom. While I am deeply sensible
+ to the high compliment of a reelection, and duly grateful, as I trust, to
+ Almighty God for having directed my countrymen to a right conclusion, as I
+ think, for their own good, it adds nothing to my satisfaction that any
+ other man may be disappointed or pained by the result."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And, as the renewed cheering evoked by this kindly, Christian utterance
+ died away again, he impressively added: "May I ask those who have not
+ differed with me, to join with me in this same spirit, towards those who
+ have?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ So, too, on the 17th of November, in his response to the complimentary
+ address of a delegation of Union men from Maryland.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [W. H. Purnell, Esq., in behalf of the Committee, delivered an address,
+ in which he said they rejoiced that the People, by such an overwhelming
+ and unprecedented majority, had again reelected Mr. Lincoln to the
+ Presidency and endorsed his course&mdash;elevating him to the proudest
+ and most honorable position on Earth. They felt under deep obligation to
+ him because he had appreciated their condition as a Slave-State. It was
+ not too much to say that by the exercise of rare discretion on his part,
+ Maryland to-day occupies her position in favor of Freedom. Slavery has
+ been abolished therefrom by the Sovereign Decree of the People. With
+ deep and lasting gratitude they desired that his Administration, as it
+ had been approved in the past, might also be successful in the future,
+ and result in the Restoration of the Union, with Freedom as its
+ immutable basis. They trusted that, on retiring from his high and
+ honorable position, the universal verdict might be that he deserved well
+ of mankind, and that favoring Heaven might 'Crown his days with loving
+ kindness and tender mercies.']
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ The same kindly anxiety to soften and dispel the feeling of bitterness
+ that had been engendered in the malignant bosoms of the
+ Copperhead-Democracy by their defeat, was apparent when he said with
+ emphasis and feeling:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I have said before, and now repeat, that I indulge in no feeling of
+ triumph over any man who has thought or acted differently from myself. I
+ have no such feeling toward any living man;" and again, after
+ complimenting Maryland for doing "more than double her share" in the
+ elections, in that she had not only carried the Republican ticket, but
+ also the Free Constitution, he added: "Those who have differed with us and
+ opposed us will yet see that the result of the Presidential election is
+ better for their own good than if they had been successful."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The victory of the Union-Republican Party at this election was an amazing
+ one, and in the words of General Grant's dispatch of congratulation to the
+ President, the fact of its "having passed off quietly" was, in itself, "a
+ victory worth more to the Country than a battle won,"&mdash;for the
+ Copperheads had left no stone unturned in their efforts to create the
+ utmost possible rancor, in the minds of their partisans, against the
+ Administration and its Party.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Of twenty-five States voting, Lincoln and Johnson had carried the
+ electoral votes of twenty-two of them, viz.: Maine, New Hampshire,
+ Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania,
+ Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin,
+ Minnesota, California, Oregon, Kansas, West Virginia, and Nevada; while
+ McClellan and Pendleton had carried the twenty-one electoral votes of the
+ remaining three, viz.: New Jersey, Delaware, and Kentucky&mdash;the
+ popular vote reaching the enormous number of 2,216,067 for Lincoln, to
+ 1,808,725 for McClellan&mdash;making Lincoln's popular majority 407,342,
+ and his electoral majority 191!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkpoll" id="linkpoll"></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="p598-poll.jpg (170K)" src="images/p598-poll.jpg" style="width:100%;" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But if the figures upon the Presidential candidacy were so gratifying and
+ surprising to all who held the cause of Union above all others, no less
+ gratifying and surprising were those of the Congressional elections, which
+ indicated an entire revulsion of popular feeling on the subject of the
+ Administration's policy. For, while in the current Congress (the 38th),
+ there were only 106 Republican-Union to 77 Democratic Representatives, in
+ that for which the elections had just been held, (the 39th), there would
+ be 143 Republican-Union to 41 Democratic Representatives.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It was at once seen, therefore, that, should the existing House of
+ Representatives fail to adopt the Thirteenth Amendment to the
+ Constitution, there would be much more than the requisite two-thirds
+ majority for such a Measure in both Houses of the succeeding Congress; and
+ moreover that in the event of its failure at the coming Session, it was
+ more than probable that President Lincoln would consider himself justified
+ in calling an Extra Session of the Thirty-ninth Congress for the especial
+ purpose of taking such action. So far then, as the prospects of the
+ Thirteenth Amendment were concerned, they looked decidedly more
+ encouraging.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkstevens" id="linkstevens"></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="p606-stevens.jpg (72K)" src="images/p606-stevens.jpg" style="width:100%;"
+ /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch28" id="linkch28"></a><br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ CHAPTER XXVIII.<br /> <br /> FREEDOM AT LAST ASSURED.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ As to the Military situation, a few words are, at this time, necessary:
+ Hood had now marched Northward, with some 50,000 men, toward Nashville,
+ Tenn., while Sherman, leaving Thomas and some 35,000 men behind, to thwart
+ him, had abandoned his base, and was marching Southward from Atlanta,
+ through Georgia, toward the Sea.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 30th of November, 1864, General Schofield, in command of the 4th
+ and 23rd Corps of Thomas's Army, decided to make a stand against Hood's
+ Army, at Franklin, in the angle of the Harpeth river, in order to give
+ time for the Union supply-trains to cross the river. Here, with less than
+ 20,000 Union troops, behind some hastily constructed works, he had
+ received the impetuous and overwhelming assault of the Enemy&mdash;at
+ first so successful as to threaten a bloody and disastrous rout to the
+ Union troops&mdash;and, by a brilliant counter-charge, and subsequent
+ obstinate defensive-fighting, had repulsed the Rebel forces, with nearly
+ three times the Union losses, and withdrew the next day in safety to the
+ defenses of Nashville.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ A few days later, Hood, with his diminished Rebel Army, sat down before
+ the lines of Thomas's somewhat augmented Army, which stretched from bank
+ to bank of the bight of the Cumberland river upon which Nashville is
+ situated.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And now a season of intense cold set in, lasting a week or ten days.
+ During this period of apparent inaction on both sides&mdash;which aroused
+ public apprehension in the North, and greatly disturbed General Grant&mdash;I
+ was ordered to City Point, by the General-in-Chief, with a view to his
+ detailing me to Thomas's Command, at Nashville.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the way, I called on President Lincoln, at the White House. I found him
+ not very well, and with his feet considerably swollen. He was sitting on a
+ chair, with his feet resting on a table, while a barber was shaving him.
+ Shaking him by the hand, and asking after his health, he answered, with a
+ humorous twinkle of the eye, that he would illustrate his condition by
+ telling me a story. Said he: "Two of my neighbors, on a certain occasion,
+ swapped horses. One of these horses was large, but quite thin. A few days
+ after, on inquiry being made of the man who had the big boney horse, how
+ the animal was getting along?&mdash;whether improving or not?&mdash;the
+ owner said he was doing finely; that he had fattened almost up to the
+ knees already!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Afterward&mdash;when, the process of shaving had been completed, we passed
+ to another room&mdash;our conversation naturally turned upon the War; and
+ his ideas upon all subjects connected with it were as clear as those of
+ any other person with whom I ever talked. He had an absolute conviction as
+ to the ultimate outcome of the War&mdash;the final triumph of the Union
+ Arms; and I well remember, with what an air of complete relief and perfect
+ satisfaction he said to me, referring to Grant&mdash;"We have now at the
+ head of the Armies, a man in whom all the People can have confidence."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But to return to Military operations: On December 10th? Sherman reached
+ the sea-board and commenced the siege of Savannah, Georgia; on the 13th,
+ Fort McAllister was stormed and Sherman's communications opened with the
+ Sea; on the 15th and 16th, the great Battle of Nashville was fought,
+ between the Armies of Thomas and Hood, and a glorious victory gained by
+ the Union Arms&mdash;Hood's Rebel forces being routed, pursued for days,
+ and practically dispersed; and, before the year ended, Savannah
+ surrendered, and was presented to the Nation, as "a Christmas gift," by
+ Sherman.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And now the last Session of the Thirty-eighth Congress having commenced,
+ the Thirteenth Amendment might at any time come up again in the House. In
+ his fourth and last Annual Message, just sent in to that Body, President
+ Lincoln had said:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "At the last Session of Congress a proposed Amendment of the Constitution
+ abolishing Slavery throughout the United States, passed the Senate, but
+ failed for lack of the requisite two-thirds vote in the House of
+ Representatives. Although the present is the same Congress, and nearly the
+ same members, and without questioning the wisdom or patriotism of those
+ who stood in opposition, I venture to recommend the reconsideration and
+ passage of the measure at the present Session. Of course the abstract
+ question is not changed; but an intervening election shows, almost
+ certainly, that the next Congress will pass the measure if this does not.
+ Hence there is only a question of time as to when the proposed Amendment
+ will go to, the States for their action. And as it is to so go, at all,
+ events, may we not agree that the sooner the better? It is not claimed
+ that the election has imposed a duty on members to change their views or
+ their votes, any farther than, as an additional element to be considered,
+ their judgment may be affected by it. It is the voice of the People now,
+ for the first time, heard upon the question. In a great National crisis
+ like ours, unanimity of action among those seeking a common end is very
+ desirable&mdash;almost indispensable. And yet no approach to such
+ unanimity is attainable unless some deference shall be paid to the will of
+ the majority simply because it is the will of the majority. In this case
+ the common end is the maintenance of the Union; and, among the means to
+ secure that end, such will, through the election, is most clearly declared
+ in favor of such Constitutional Amendment."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After affirming that, on the subject of the preservation of the Union, the
+ recent elections had shown the existence of "no diversity among the
+ People;" that "we have more men now than we had when the War began;" that
+ "we are gaining strength" in all ways; and that, after the evidences given
+ by Jefferson Davis of his unchangeable opposition to accept anything short
+ of severance from the Union, "no attempt at negotiation with the Insurgent
+ leader could result in any good," he appealed to the other Insurgents to
+ come back to the fold&mdash;the door of amnesty and pardon, being still
+ "open to all." But, he continued:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In presenting the abandonment of armed resistance to the National
+ Authority, on the part of the Insurgents, as the only indispensable
+ condition to ending the War, on the part of the Government, I retract
+ nothing heretofore said as to Slavery. I repeat the declaration made a
+ year ago, that 'while I remain in my present position I shall not attempt
+ to retract or modify the Emancipation Proclamation, nor shall I return to
+ Slavery any Person who is Free by the terms of that Proclamation, or by
+ any of the Acts of Congress.' If the People should, by whatever mode or
+ means, make it an Executive duty to Reenslave such Persons, another, and
+ not I, must be their instrument to perform it. In stating a single
+ condition of Peace I mean simply to say that the War will cease on the
+ part of the Government, whenever it shall have ceased on the part of those
+ who began it."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 22d of December, 1864, in accordance with the terms of a Concurrent
+ Resolution that had passed both Houses, Congress adjourned until January
+ 5, 1865. During the Congressional Recess, however, Mr. Lincoln, anxious
+ for the fate of the Thirteenth Amendment, exerted himself, as it afterward
+ appeared, to some purpose, in its behalf, by inviting private conferences
+ with him, at the White House, of such of the Border-State and other
+ War-Democratic Representatives as had before voted against the measure,
+ but whose general character gave him ground for hoping that they might not
+ be altogether deaf to the voice of reason and patriotism.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [Among those for whom he sent was Mr. Rollins, of Missouri, who
+ afterward gave the following interesting account of the interview:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The President had several times in my presence expressed his deep
+ anxiety in favor of the passage of this great measure. He and others had
+ repeatedly counted votes in order to ascertain, as far as they could,
+ the strength of the measure upon a second trial in the House. He was
+ doubtful about its passage, and some ten days or two weeks before it
+ came up for consideration in the House, I received a note from him,
+ written in pencil on a card, while sitting at my desk in the House,
+ stating that he wished to see me, and asking that I call on him at the
+ White House. I responded that I would be there the next morning at nine
+ o'clock.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I was prompt in calling upon him and found him alone in his office. He
+ received me in the most cordial manner, and said in his usual familiar
+ way: 'Rollins, I have been wanting to talk to you for some time about
+ the Thirteenth Amendment proposed to the Constitution of the United
+ States, which will have to be voted on now, before a great while.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I said: 'Well, I am here, and ready to talk upon that subject.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "He said: 'You and I were old Whigs, both of us followers of that great
+ statesman, Henry Clay, and I tell you I never had an opinion upon the
+ subject of Slavery in my life that I did not get from him. I am very
+ anxious that the War should be brought to a close at the earliest
+ possible date, and I don't believe this can be accomplished as long as
+ those fellows down South can rely upon the Border-States to help them;
+ but if the Members from the Border-States would unite, at least enough
+ of them to pass the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, they would
+ soon see that they could not expect much help from that quarter, and be
+ willing to give up their opposition and quit their War upon the
+ Government; that is my chief hope and main reliance to bring the War to
+ a speedy close, and I have sent for you as an old Whig friend to come
+ and see me, that I might make an appeal to you to vote for this
+ Amendment. It is going to be very close; a few votes one way or the
+ other will decide it.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "To this, I responded: 'Mr. President, so far as I am concerned, you
+ need not have sent for me to ascertain my views on this subject, for
+ although I represent perhaps the strongest Slave-district in Missouri,
+ and have the misfortune to be one of the largest Slave-owners in the
+ country where I reside, I had already determined to vote for the
+ Amendment.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "He arose from his chair, and grasping me by the hand, gave it a hearty
+ shake, and said: 'I am most delighted to hear that.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "He asked me how many more of the Missouri delegates in the House would
+ vote for it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I said I could not tell; the Republicans of course would; General Loan,
+ Mr. Blow, Mr. Boyd, and Colonel McClurg.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "He said, 'Won't General Price vote for it? He is a good Union man.' I
+ said I could not answer.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'Well, what about General King?'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I told him I did not know.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "He then asked about Judges Hall and Norton.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I said they would both vote against it, I thought.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'Well,' he said, 'are you on good terms with Price and King?'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I responded in the affirmative, and that I was on easy terms with the
+ entire delegation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "He then asked me if I would not talk with those who might be persuaded
+ to vote for the amendment, and report to him as soon as I could find out
+ what the prospect was.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I answered that I would do so with pleasure, and remarked at the same
+ time, that when I was a young man, in 1848, I was the Whig competitor of
+ King for Governor of Missouri, and, as he beat me very badly, I thought
+ now he should pay me back by voting as I desired him on this important
+ question.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I promised the President I would talk to this gentleman upon the
+ subject.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "He said: 'I would like you to talk to all the Border-State men whom you
+ can approach properly, and tell them of my anxiety to have the measure
+ pass; and let me know the prospect of the Border-State vote,' which I
+ promised to do.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "He again said: 'The passage of this Amendment will clinch the whole
+ subject; it will bring the War, I have no doubt, rapidly to a close.'"&mdash;Arnold's
+ Life of Lincoln, pp. 358-359,]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ On the 5th of January, 1865, the Christmas Recess having expired, Congress
+ re-assembled. The motion to reconsider the vote-by which the Joint
+ Resolution, to amend the Constitution by the abolition of Slavery, had
+ been defeated&mdash;was not called up, on that day, as its friends had not
+ all returned; but the time was mainly consumed in able speeches, by Mr.
+ Creswell of Maryland, and Stevens of Pennsylvania, in which the former
+ declared that "whether we would or not, we must establish Freedom if we
+ would exterminate Treason. Events have left us no choice. The People have
+ learned their duty and have instructed us accordingly." And Mr. Thaddeus
+ Stevens solemnly said: "We are about to ascertain the National will, by
+ another vote to amend the Constitution. If gentlemen opposite will yield
+ to the voice of God and Humanity, and vote for it, I verily believe the
+ sword of the Destroying Angel will be stayed, and this People be reunited.
+ If we still harden our hearts, and blood must still flow, may the ghosts
+ of the slaughtered victims sit heavily upon the souls of those who cause
+ it!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 6th of January, Mr. Ashley called up his motion to reconsider the
+ vote defeating the Thirteenth Amendment, and opened the debate with a
+ lengthy and able speech in favor of that measure, in concluding which he
+ said:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The genius of history, with iron pen, is waiting to record our verdict
+ where it will remain forever for all the coming generations of men to
+ approve or condemn. God grant that this verdict may be one over which the
+ friends of Liberty, impartial and universal, in this Country and Europe,
+ and in every Land beneath the sun, may rejoice; a verdict which shall
+ declare that America is Free; a verdict which shall add another day of
+ jubilee, and the brightest of all, to our National calendar."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The debate was participated in by nearly all the prominent men, on both
+ sides of the House&mdash;the speeches of Messrs. Cox, Brooks, Voorhees,
+ Mallory, Holman, Woods and Pendleton being the most notable, in opposition
+ to, and those of Scofield, Rollins, Garfield and Stevens, in favor of, the
+ Amendment. That of Scofield probably stirred up "the adversary" more
+ thoroughly than any other; that of Rollins was more calculated to
+ conciliate and capture the votes of hesitating, or Border-State men; that
+ of Garfield was perhaps the most scholarly and eloquent; while that of
+ Stevens was remarkable for its sledge-hammer pungency and characteristic
+ brevity.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Pendleton, toward the end of his speech, had said of Mr. Stevens: "Let
+ him be careful, lest when the passions of these times be passed away, and
+ the historian shall go back to discover where was the original infraction
+ of the Constitution, he may find that sin lies at the door of others than
+ the people now in arms." And it was this that brought the sterling old
+ Patriot again to his feet, in vindication of the acts of his
+ liberty-inspired life, and in defense of the power to amend the
+ Constitution, which had been assailed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The personal antithesis with which he concluded his remarks was in itself
+ most dramatically effective, Said he:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "So far as the appeals of the learned gentleman (Mr. Pendleton) are
+ concerned, in his pathetic winding up, I will be willing to take my
+ chance, when we all moulder in the dust. He may have his epitaph written,
+ if it be truly written, 'Here rests the ablest and most pertinacious
+ defender of Slavery, and opponent of Liberty;' and I will be satisfied if
+ my epitaph shall be written thus: 'Here lies one who never rose to any
+ eminence, and who only courted the low ambition to have it said that he
+ had striven to ameliorate the condition of the poor, the lowly, the
+ downtrodden, of every race, and language, and color."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ As he said these words, the crowded floors and galleries broke out into
+ involuntary applause for the grand "Old Commoner"&mdash;who only awaited
+ its cessation, to caustically add: "I shall be content, with such a eulogy
+ on his lofty tomb and such an inscription on my humble grave, to trust our
+ memories to the judgment of after ages."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The debate, frequently interrupted by Appropriation Bills, and other
+ important and importunate measures, lasted until the 31st of January, when
+ Mr. Ashley called the previous question on his motion to reconsider.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Stiles at once moved to table the motion to reconsider. Mr. Stiles's
+ motion was lost by 57 yeas to 111 nays. This was in the nature of a
+ test-vote, and the result, when announced, was listened to, with
+ breathless attention, by the crowded House and galleries. It was too close
+ for either side to be satisfied; but it showed a gain to the friends of
+ the Amendment; that was something. How the final vote would be, none could
+ tell. Meanwhile it was known, from the announcements on the floor, that
+ Rogers was absent through his own illness and Voorhees through illness in
+ his family.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The previous question being seconded and the main question ordered, the
+ yeas and nays were called on the motion to reconsider&mdash;and the
+ intense silence succeeding the monotonous calling of the names was broken
+ by the voice of the Speaker declaring the motion to reconsider, carried,
+ by 112 yeas to 57 nays.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This vote created a slight sensation. There was a gain of one, (English),
+ at any rate, from among those not voting on the previous motion. Now, if
+ there should be but the change of a single vote, from the nays to the
+ yeas, the Amendment would be carried!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The most intensely anxious solicitude was on nearly every face, as Mr.
+ Mallory, at this critical moment, made the point of order that "a vote to
+ reconsider the vote by which the subject now before the House was disposed
+ of, in June last, requires two-thirds of this Body," and emphatically
+ added: "that two-thirds vote has not been obtained."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ A sigh of relief swept across the galleries, as the Speaker overruled the
+ point of order. Other attempted interruptions being resolutely met and
+ defeated by Mr. Ashley, in charge of the Resolution, the "previous
+ question" was demanded, seconded, and the main question ordered&mdash;which
+ was on the passage of the Resolution.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And now, amid the hush of a breathless and intent anxiety&mdash;so
+ absolute that the scratch of the recording pencil could be heard&mdash;the
+ Clerk commenced to call the roll!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ So consuming was the solicitude, on all sides, for the fate of this
+ portentous measure, that fully one-half the Representatives kept tally at
+ their desks as the vote proceeded, while the heads of the gathered
+ thousands of both sexes, in the galleries, craned forward, as though
+ fearing to lose the startlingly clear responses, while the roll-call
+ progressed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ When it reached the name of English&mdash;Governor English, a Connecticut
+ Democrat, who had not voted on the first motion, to table the motion to
+ reconsider, but had voted "yea" on the motion to reconsider,&mdash;and he
+ responded with a clear-cut "aye" on the passage of the Resolution&mdash;it
+ looked as though light were coming at last, and applause involuntarily
+ broke forth from the Republican side of the floor, spreading instantly to
+ the galleries, despite the efforts of the Speaker to preserve order.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ So, when Ganson of New York, and other Democrats, voted "aye," the
+ applause was renewed again and again, and still louder again, when, with
+ smiling face&mdash;which corroborated the thrilling, fast-spreading,
+ whisper, that "the Amendment is safe!"&mdash;Speaker Colfax directed the
+ Clerk to call his name, as a member of the House, and, in response to that
+ call, voted "aye!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Then came dead silence, as the Clerk passed the result to the Speaker&mdash;
+ during which a pin might have been heard to drop,&mdash;broken at last by
+ the Speaker's ringing voice: "The Constitutional majority of two-thirds
+ having voted in the affirmative, the Joint Resolution is passed."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ [The enrolled Resolution received the approval and signature of the
+ President, Feb. 1, 1865,]
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The words had scarcely left the Speaker's lips, when House and galleries
+ sprang to their feet, clapping their hands, stamping their feet, waving
+ hats and handkerchiefs, and cheering so loudly and so long that it seemed
+ as if this great outburst of enthusiasm&mdash;indulged in, in defiance of
+ all parliamentary rules&mdash;would never cease!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In his efforts to control it, Speaker Colfax hammered the desk until he
+ nearly broke his mallet. Finally, by 4 o'clock, P.M., after several
+ minutes of useless effort&mdash;during which the pounding of the mallet
+ was utterly lost in the noisy enthusiasm and excitement, in which both the
+ Freedom-loving men and women of the Land, there present, participated&mdash;the
+ Speaker at last succeeded in securing a lull.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Advantage was instantly taken of it, by the successor of the dead Owen
+ Lovejoy, Mr. Ingersoll of Illinois, his young face flushing with the glow
+ of patriotism, as he cried: "Mr. Speaker! In honor of this Immortal and
+ Sublime Event I move that the House do now adjourn." The Speaker declared
+ the motion carried, amid renewed demonstrations of enthusiasm.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ During all these uncontrollable ebullitions of popular feeling in behalf
+ of personal Liberty and National Freedom and strength, the Democratic
+ members of the House had sat, many of them moving uneasily in their seats,
+ with chagrin painted in deep lines upon their faces, while others were
+ bolt upright, as if riveted to their chairs, looking straight before them
+ at the Speaker, in a vain attempt, belied by the pallid anger of their set
+ countenances, to appear unconscious of the storm of popular feeling
+ breaking around them, which they now doggedly perceived might be but a
+ forecast of the joyful enthusiasm which on that day, and on the morrow,
+ would spread from one end of the Land to the other.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Harris, of Maryland, made a sort of "Last Ditch" protest against
+ adjournment, by demanding the "yeas and nays" on the motion to adjourn.
+ The motion was, however, carried, by 121 yeas to 24 nays; and, as the
+ members left their places in the Hall&mdash;many of them to hurry with
+ their hearty congratulations to President Lincoln at the White House&mdash;the
+ triumph, in the Halls of our National Congress, of Freedom and Justice and
+ Civilization, over Slavery and Tyranny and Barbarism, was already being
+ saluted by the booming of one hundred guns on Capitol Hill.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ How large a share was Mr. Lincoln's, in that triumph, these pages have
+ already sufficiently indicated. Sweet indeed must have been the joy that
+ thrilled his whole being, when, sitting in the White House, he heard the
+ bellowing artillery attest the success of his labors in behalf of
+ Emancipation. Proud indeed must he have felt when, the following night, in
+ response to the loud and jubilant cries of "Lincoln!" "Lincoln!" "Abe
+ Lincoln!" "Uncle Abe!" and other affectionate calls, from a great
+ concourse of people who, with music, had assembled outside the White House
+ to give him a grand serenade and popular ovation, he appeared at an open
+ window, bowed to the tumult of their acclamations, and declared that "The
+ great Job is ended!"&mdash;adding, among other things, that the occasion
+ was one fit for congratulation, and, said he, "I cannot but congratulate
+ all present&mdash;myself, the Country, and the whole World&mdash;upon this
+ great moral victory. * * * This ends the Job!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Substantially the job was ended. There was little doubt, after such a send
+ off, by the President and by Congress, in view of the character of the
+ State Legislatures, as well as the temper of the People, that the
+ requisite number of States would be secured to ratify the Thirteenth
+ Amendment. Already, on the 1st of February, that is to say, on the very
+ day of this popular demonstration at the Executive Mansion, the
+ President's own State, Illinois, had ratified it&mdash;and this
+ circumstance added to the satisfaction and happiness which beamed from,
+ and almost made beautiful, his homely face.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Other States quickly followed; Maryland, on February 1st and 3rd; Rhode
+ Island and Michigan, on February 2nd; New York, February 2nd and 3rd; West
+ Virginia, February 3rd; Maine and Kansas, February 7th; Massachusetts and
+ Pennsylvania, February 8th; Virginia, February 9th; Ohio and Missouri,
+ February 10th; Nevada and Indiana, February 16th; Louisiana, February
+ 17th; Minnesota, February 8th and 23rd; Wisconsin, March 1st; Vermont,
+ March 9th; Tennessee, April 5th and 7th; Arkansas, April 20th;
+ Connecticut, May 5th; New Hampshire, July 1st; South Carolina, November
+ 13th; Alabama, December 2nd; North Carolina, December 4th; Georgia,
+ December 9th; Oregon, December 11th; California, December 20th; and
+ Florida, December 28th;&mdash;all in 1865; with New Jersey, closely
+ following, on January 23rd; and Iowa, January 24th;&mdash;in 1866.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Long ere this last date, however, the Secretary of State (Mr. Seward) had
+ been able to, and did, announce (November 18, 1865) the ratification of
+ the Amendment by the requisite number of States, and certified that the
+ same had "become, to all intents and purposes, valid as a part of the
+ Constitution of the United States."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Not until then, was "the job" absolutely ended; but, as has been already
+ mentioned, it was, at the time Mr. Lincoln spoke, as good as ended. It was
+ a foregone conclusion, that the great end for which he, and so many other
+ great and good men of the Republic had for so many years been earnestly
+ striving, would be an accomplished fact. They had not failed; they had
+ stood firm; the victory which he had predicted six years before had come!
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [He had said in his Springfield speech, of 1858: "We shall not fail; if
+ we stand firm we shall not fail; wise counsels may accelerate, or
+ mistakes delay, but sooner or later the Victory is sure to come."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch29" id="linkch29"></a><br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ CHAPTER XXIX.<br /> <br /> LINCOLN'S SECOND INAUGURATION.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ While the death of Slavery in America was decreed, as we have seen; yet,
+ the sanguine anticipations of Mr. Lincoln, and other friends of Freedom,
+ that such a decree, imperishably grafted into the Constitution, must at
+ once end the Rebellion, and bring Peace with a restored Union, were not
+ realized. The War went on. Grant was still holding Lee, at Petersburg,
+ near Richmond, while Sherman's victorious Army was about entering upon a
+ campaign from Savannah, up through the Carolinas.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ During the previous Summer, efforts had been made, by Horace Greeley, and
+ certain parties supposed to represent the Rebel authorities, to lay the
+ ground-work for an early Peace and adjustment of the differences between
+ the Government of the United States and the Rebels, but they miscarried.
+ They led, however, to the publication of the following important
+ conciliatory Presidential announcement:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "EXECUTIVE MANSION,<br /> "WASHINGTON, July 18, 1864.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "To whom it may concern:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Any proposition which embraces the restoration of Peace, the integrity of
+ the whole Union, and the abandonment of Slavery, and which comes by and
+ with an authority that can control the Armies now at War against the
+ United States, will be received and considered by the Executive Government
+ of the United States, and will be met by liberal terms on substantial and
+ collateral points; and the bearer or bearers thereof shall have safe
+ conduct both ways.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "(Signed) ABRAHAM LINCOLN."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ About the same time, other efforts were being made, with a similar object
+ in view, but which came to naught. The visit of Messrs. Jacques and
+ Gilmore to the Rebel Capital on an informal Peace-errand was, at least,
+ valuable in this, that it secured from the head and front of the armed
+ Conspiracy, Jefferson Davis himself, the following definite statement:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I desire Peace as much as you do; I deplore bloodshed as much as you do;
+ but I feel that not one drop of the blood shed in this War is on my hands.
+ I can look up to my God and say this. I tried all in my power to avert
+ this War. I saw it coming, and for twelve years I worked night and day to
+ prevent it; but I could not. The North was mad and blind; it would not let
+ us govern ourselves; and so the War came: and now it must go on till the
+ last man of this generation falls in his tracks, and his children seize
+ his musket and fight our battle, unless you acknowledge our right to
+ self-government. We are not fighting for Slavery. We are fighting for
+ INDEPENDENCE; and that, or EXTERMINATION, we WILL have."
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [The Nation, July 2, 1885, contained the following remarks, which may be
+ pertinently quoted in support of this authoritative statement that the
+ South was "not fighting for Slavery," but for Independence&mdash;that is
+ to say: for Power, and what would flow from it.]
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ ["The Charleston News and Courier a fortnight ago remarked that 'not
+ more than one Southern soldier in ten or fifteen was a Slaveholder, or
+ had any interest in Slave Property.' The Laurensville Herald disputed
+ the statement, and declared that 'the Southern Army was really an Army
+ of Slaveholders and the sons of Slaveholders.' The Charleston paper
+ stands by its original position, and cites figures which are conclusive.
+ The Military population of the eleven States which seceded, according to
+ the census of 1860, was 1,064,193. The entire number of Slaveholders in
+ the Country at the same time was 383,637, but of these 77,335 lived in
+ the Border States, so that the number in the Seceding States was only
+ 306,302. Most of the small Slaveholders, however, were not Slave-owners,
+ but Slave hirers, and Mr. De Bow, the statistician who supervised the
+ census of 1850, estimated that but little over half the holders were
+ actually owners. The proportion of owners diminished between 1850 and
+ 1860, and the News and Courier thinks that there were not more than
+ 150,000 Slave-owners in the Confederate States when the War broke out.
+ This would be one owner to every seven White males between eighteen and
+ forty-five; but as many of the owners were women, and many of the men
+ were relieved from Military service, the Charleston paper is confirmed
+ in its original opinion that there were ten men in the Southern Army who
+ were not Slave-owners for every soldier who had Slaves of his own."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ And when these self-constituted Peace-delegates had fulfilled the duty
+ which their zeal had impelled them to perform, and were taking their leave
+ of the Rebel chieftain, Jefferson Davis added:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Say to Mr. Lincoln, from me, that I shall at any time be pleased to
+ receive proposals for PEACE on the basis of our INDEPENDENCE. It will be
+ useless to approach me with any other."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Thus the lines had been definitely and distinctly drawn, on both sides.
+ The issue of Slavery became admittedly, as between the Government and the
+ Rebels, a dead one. The great cardinal issue was now clearly seen and
+ authoritatively admitted to be, "the integrity of the whole Union" on the
+ one side, and on the other, "Independence of a part of it." These precise
+ declarations did great good to the Union Cause in the North, and not only
+ helped the triumphant re-election of Mr. Lincoln, but also contributed to
+ weaken the position of the Northern advocates of Slavery, and to bring
+ about, as we have seen, the extinction of that inherited National curse,
+ by Constitutional Amendment.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ During January, of 1865, Francis P. Blair having been permitted to pass
+ both the Union and Rebel Army lines, showed to Mr. Lincoln a letter,
+ written to the former, by Jefferson Davis&mdash;and which the latter had
+ authorized him to read to the President&mdash;stating that he had always
+ been, and was still, ready to send or to receive Commissioners "to enter
+ into a Conference, with a view to secure Peace to the two Countries." On
+ the 18th of that month, purposing to having it shown to Jefferson Davis,
+ Mr. Lincoln wrote to Mr. Blair a letter in which, after referring to Mr.
+ Davis, he said: "You may say to him that I have constantly been, am now,
+ and shall continue, ready to receive any agent whom he, or any other
+ influential person now resisting the National Authority, may informally
+ send to me, with the view of securing Peace to the People of our common
+ Country." On the 21st of January, Mr. Blair was again in Richmond; and Mr.
+ Davis had read and retained Mr. Lincoln's letter to Blair, who
+ specifically drew the Rebel chieftain's attention to the fact that "the
+ part about 'our common Country' related to the part of Mr. Davis's letter
+ about 'the two Countries,' to which Mr. Davis replied that he so
+ understood it." Yet subsequently, he sent Messrs. Alexander H. Stephens,
+ R. M. T. Hunter, and John A. Campbell as Commissioners, with instructions,
+ (January 28, 1865,) which, after setting forth the language of Mr.
+ Lincoln's letter, proceeded strangely enough to say: "In conformity with
+ the letter of Mr. Lincoln, of which the foregoing is a copy, you are to
+ proceed to Washington city for informal Conference with him upon the
+ issues involved in the existing War, and for the purpose of securing Peace
+ to the two Countries!" The Commissioners themselves stated in writing that
+ "The substantial object to be obtained by the informal Conference is, to
+ ascertain upon what terms the existing War can be terminated honorably. *
+ * * Our earnest desire is, that a just and honorable Peace may be agreed
+ upon, and we are prepared to receive or to submit propositions which may,
+ possibly, lead to the attainment of that end." In consequence of this
+ peculiarly "mixed" overture, the President sent Secretary Seward to
+ Fortress Monroe, to informally confer with the parties, specifically
+ instructing him to "make known to them that three things are
+ indispensable, to wit:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "1. The restoration of the National Authority throughout all the States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "2. No receding, by the Executive of the United States, on the Slavery
+ question, from the position assumed thereon in the late Annual Message to
+ Congress, and in preceding documents.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "3. No cessation of hostilities short of an end of the War and the
+ disbanding of all forces hostile to the Government."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Lincoln also instructed the Secretary to "inform them that all
+ propositions of theirs, not inconsistent with the above, will be
+ considered and passed upon in a spirit of sincere liberality;" to "hear
+ all they may choose to say, and report it" to him, and not to "assume to
+ definitely consummate anything." Subsequently, the President, in
+ consequence of a dispatch from General Grant to Secretary Stanton, decided
+ to go himself to Fortress Monroe.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ Following is the dispatch:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ [In Cipher]
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ OFFICE UNITED STATES MILITARY TELEGRAPH. WAR DEPARTMENT.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The following telegram received at Washington, 4.35 A.M.,<br /> February
+ 2, 1865. From City Point, Va.,<br /> February 1, 10.30 P.M., 1865
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Now that the interview between Major Eckert, under his written
+ instructions, and Mr. Stephens and party has ended, I will state
+ confidentially, but not officially, to become a matter of record, that I
+ am convinced, upon conversation with Messrs. Stephens and Hunter, that
+ their intentions are good and their desire sincere to restore Peace and
+ Union. I have not felt myself at liberty to express, even, views of my
+ own, or to account for my reticency. This has placed me in an awkward
+ position, which I could have avoided by not seeing them in the first
+ instance. I fear now their going back without any expression from any
+ one in authority will have a bad influence. At the same time I recognize
+ the difficulties in the way of receiving these informal Commissioners at
+ this time, and do not know what to recommend. I am sorry, however, that
+ Mr. Lincoln cannot have an interview with the two named in this
+ dispatch, if not all three now within our lines. Their letter to me was
+ all that the President's instructions contemplated to secure their safe
+ conduct, if they had used the same language to Major Eckert.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "U. S. GRANT,<br /> "Lieutenant General.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON,<br /> "Secretary of War."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Stephens is stated by a Georgia paper to have repeated the following
+ characteristic anecdote of what occurred during the interview. "The
+ three Southern gentlemen met Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Seward, and after some
+ preliminary remarks, the subject of Peace was opened. Mr. Stephens, well
+ aware that one who asks much may get more than he who confesses to
+ humble wishes at the outset, urged the claims of his Section with that
+ skill and address for which the Northern papers have given him credit.
+ Mr. Lincoln, holding the vantage ground of conscious power, was,
+ however, perfectly frank, and submitted his views almost in the form of
+ an argument. * * * Davis had, on this occasion, as on that of Mr.
+ Stephens's visit to Washington, made it a condition that no Conference
+ should be had unless his rank as Commander or President should first be
+ recognized. Mr. Lincoln declared that the only ground on which he could
+ rest the justice of War&mdash;either with his own people, or with
+ foreign powers&mdash;was that it was not a War for conquest, for that
+ the States had never been separated from the Union. Consequently, he
+ could not recognize another Government inside of the one of which he
+ alone was President; nor admit the separate Independence of States that
+ were yet a part of the Union. 'That' said he 'would be doing what you
+ have so long asked Europe to do in vain, and be resigning the only thing
+ the Armies of the Union have been fighting for.' Mr. Hunter made a long
+ reply to this, insisting that the recognition of Davis's power to make a
+ Treaty was the first and indispensable step to Peace, and referred to
+ the correspondence between King Charles I., and his Parliament, as a
+ trustworthy precedent of a Constitutional ruler treating with Rebels.
+ Mr. Lincoln's face then wore that indescribable expression which
+ generally preceded his hardest hits, and he remarked: 'Upon questions of
+ history I must refer you to Mr. Seward, for he is posted in such things,
+ and I don't pretend to be bright. My only distinct recollection of the
+ matter is that Charles lost his head,' That settled Mr. Hunter for a
+ while." Arnold's Lincoln, p. 400.
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ On the night of February 2nd, Mr. Lincoln reached Hampton Roads, and
+ joined Secretary Seward on board a steamer anchored off the shore. The
+ next morning, from another steamer, similarly anchored, Messrs. Stephens,
+ Hunter, and Campbell were brought aboard the President's steamer and a
+ Conference with the President and Secretary of several hours' duration was
+ the result. Mr. Lincoln's own statement of what transpired was in these
+ words:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "No question of preliminaries to the meeting was then and there made or
+ mentioned. No other person was present; no papers were exchanged or
+ produced; and it was, in advance, agreed that the conversation was to be
+ informal and verbal merely. On our part, the whole substance of the
+ instructions to the Secretary of State, hereinbefore recited, was stated
+ and insisted upon, and nothing was said inconsistent therewith; while, by
+ the other party, it was not said that in any event or on any condition,
+ they ever would consent to Re-union; and yet they equally omitted to
+ declare that they never would so consent. They seemed to desire a
+ postponement of that question, and the adoption of some other course
+ first, which, as some of them seemed to argue, might or might not lead to
+ Reunion; but which course, we thought, would amount to an indefinite
+ postponement. The Conference ended without result."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In his communication to the Rebel Congress at Richmond, February 6. 1865,
+ Jefferson Davis, after mentioning his appointment of Messrs. Stephens,
+ Hunter and Campbell, for the purpose stated, proceeded to say:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I herewith transmit, for the information of Congress, the report of the
+ eminent citizens above named, showing that the Enemy refused to enter into
+ negotiations with the Confederate States, or any one of them separately,
+ or to give to our people any other terms or guarantees than those which
+ the conqueror may grant, or to permit us to have Peace on any other basis
+ than our unconditional submission to their rule, coupled with the
+ acceptance of their recent legislation on the subject of the relations
+ between the White and Black population of each State."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 5th and 9th of February, public meetings were held at Richmond, in
+ connection with these Peace negotiations. At the first, Jefferson Davis
+ made a speech in which the Richmond Dispatch reported him as emphatically
+ asserting that no conditions of Peace "save the Independence of the
+ Confederacy could ever receive his sanction. He doubted not that victory
+ would yet crown our labors, * * * and sooner than we should ever be united
+ again he would be willing to yield up everything he had on Earth, and if
+ it were possible would sacrifice a thousand lives before he would
+ succumb." Thereupon the meeting of Rebels passed resolutions "spurning"
+ Mr. Lincoln's terms "with the indignation due to so gross an insult;"
+ declared that the circumstances connected with his offer could only "add
+ to the outrage and stamp it as a designed and premeditated indignity"
+ offered to them; and invoking "the aid of Almighty God" to carry out their
+ "resolve to maintain" their "Liberties and Independence"&mdash;to which,
+ said they, "we mutually pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred
+ honor." So too, at the second of these meetings, presided over by R. M. T.
+ Hunter, and addressed by the Rebel Secretary Judah P. Benjamin,
+ resolutions were adopted amid "wild and long continued cheering," one of
+ which stated that they would "never lay down" their "arms until" their
+ "Independence" had "been won," while another declared a full confidence in
+ the sufficiency of their resources to "conduct the War successfully and to
+ that issue," and invoked "the People, in the name of the holiest of all
+ causes, to spare neither their blood nor their treasure in its maintenance
+ and support."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ As during these Peace negotiations, General Grant, by express direction of
+ President Lincoln, had not changed, hindered, nor delayed, any of his
+ "Military movements or plans," so, now that the negotiations had failed,
+ those Military movements were pressed more strenuously than ever.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [The main object of this Conference on the part of the Rebels was to
+ secure an immediate truce, or breathing spell, during which they could
+ get themselves in better condition for continuing the War. Indeed a
+ portion of Mr. Seward's letter of Feb. 7, 1865, to Mr. Adams, our
+ Minister at the Court of St. James, giving him an account of the
+ Conference with the party of Insurgent Commissioners, would not alone
+ indicate this, but also that it was proposed by that "Insurgent party,"
+ that both sides, during the time they would thus cease to fight one
+ another, might profitably combine their forces to drive the French
+ invaders out of Mexico and annex that valuable country. At least, the
+ following passage in that letter will bear that construction:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "What the Insurgent party seemed chiefly to favor was a postponement of
+ the question of separation, upon which the War is waged, and a mutual
+ direction of efforts of the Government, as well as those of the
+ Insurgents, to some extrinsic policy or scheme for a season, during
+ which passions might be expected to subside, and the Armies be reduced,
+ and trade and intercourse between the People of both Sections resumed.
+ It was suggested by them that through such postponements we might now
+ have immediate Peace, with some not very certain prospect of an ultimate
+ satisfactory adjustment of political relations between this Government,
+ and the States, Section, or People, now engaged in conflict with it."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ For the whole of this letter see McPherson's History of the Rebellion,
+ p. 570.]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ Fort Fisher, North Carolina, had already been captured by a combined
+ Military and Naval attack of the Union forces under General Terry and
+ Admiral Porter; and Sherman's Army was now victoriously advancing from
+ Savannah, Georgia, Northwardly through South Carolina. On the 17th of
+ February, Columbia, the capital of the latter State, surrendered, and, the
+ day following, Charleston was evacuated, and its defenses, including
+ historic Fort Sumter, were once more under that glorious old flag of the
+ Union which four years before had been driven away, by shot and shell and
+ flame, amid the frantic exultations of the temporarily successful armed
+ Conspirators of South Carolina. On the 22nd of February, General
+ Schofield, who had been sent by Grant with his 23rd Corps, by water, to
+ form a junction with Terry's troops about Fort Fisher, and capture
+ Wilmington, North Carolina, had also accomplished his purpose
+ successfully.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Rebel Cause now began to look pretty desperate, even to Rebel eyes.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [Hundreds of Rebels were now deserting from Lee's Armies about Richmond,
+ every night, owing partly to despondency. "These desertions," wrote Lee,
+ on the 24th February, "have a very bad effect upon the troops who
+ remain, and give rise to painful apprehensions." Another cause was the
+ lack of food and clothing. Says Badeau (Military History of Ulysses S.
+ Grant, vol. iii., p. 399): "On the 8th of January, Lee wrote to the
+ Rebel Government that the entire Right Wing of his Army had been in line
+ for three days and nights, in the most inclement weather of the season.
+ 'Under these circumstances,' he said, 'heightened by assaults and fire
+ of the Enemy, some of the men had been without meat for three days, and
+ all were suffering from reduced rations and scant clothing. Colonel
+ Cole, chief commissary, reports that he has not a pound of meat at his
+ disposal. If some change is not made, and the commissary department
+ reorganized, I apprehend dire results. The physical strength of the men,
+ if their courage survives, must fail under this treatment. Our Cavalry
+ has to be dispersed for want of forage. Fitz Lee's and Lomax's Divisions
+ are scattered because supplies cannot be transported where their
+ services are required. I had to bring Fitz Lee's Division sixty miles
+ Sunday night, to get them in position. Taking these facts in connection
+ with the paucity of our numbers, you must not be surprised if calamity
+ befalls us.'" Badeau's (Grant, vol. iii., p. 401,)]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ Toward the end of February, the Rebel General Longstreet having requested
+ an interview with General Ord "to arrange for the exchange of citizen
+ prisoners, and prisoners of war, improperly captured," General Grant
+ authorized General Ord to hold such interview t and "to arrange definitely
+ for such as were confined in his department, arrangements for all others
+ to be submitted for approval." In the course of that interview "a general
+ conversation ensued on the subject of the War," when it would seem that
+ Longstreet suggested the idea of a composition of the questions at issue,
+ and Peace between the United States and the Rebels, by means of a Military
+ Convention. It is quite probable that this idea originated with Jefferson
+ Davis, as a <i>dernier resort</i>; for Longstreet appears to have
+ communicated directly with Davis concerning his interview or "interviews"
+ with Ord. On the 28th of February, 1865 the Rebel Chief wrote to Lee, as
+ follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "RICHMOND, VA., February 28.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Gen. R. E. LEE, Commanding, etc.,
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "GENERAL: You will learn by the letter of General Longstreet the result of
+ his second interview with General Ord. The points as to whether yourself
+ or General Grant should invite the other to a Conference is not worth
+ discussing. If you think the statements of General Ord render it probably
+ useful that the Conference suggested should be had, you will proceed as
+ you may prefer, and are clothed with all the supplemental authority you
+ may need in the consideration of any proposition for a Military
+ Convention, or the appointment of a Commissioner to enter into such an
+ arrangement as will cause at least temporary suspension of hostilities.<br />
+ "Very truly yours<br /> "JEFFERSON DAVIS."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Thereupon General Lee wrote, and sent to General Grant, the following
+ communication:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "HEADQUARTERS C. S. ARMIES, March 2, 1865.<br /> "Lieut. Gen. U. S. GRANT,<br />
+ "Commanding United States Armies:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "GENERAL: Lieut.-Gen. Longstreet has informed me that, in a recent
+ conversation between himself and Maj.-Gen. Ord, as to the possibility of
+ arriving at a satisfactory adjustment of the present unhappy difficulties
+ by means of a Military Convention, General Ord stated that if I desired to
+ have an interview with you on the subject, you would not decline, provided
+ I had authority to act. Sincerely desirous to leave nothing untried which
+ may put an end to the calamities of War, I propose to meet you at such
+ convenient time and place as you may designate, with the hope that, upon
+ an interchange of views, it may be found practicable to submit the
+ subjects of controversy between the belligerents to a Convention of the
+ kind mentioned.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In such event, I am authorized to do whatever the result of the proposed
+ interview may render necessary or advisable. Should you accede to this
+ proposition, I would suggest that, if agreeable to you, we meet at the
+ place selected by Generals Ord and Longstreet, for the interview, at 11
+ A.M., on Monday next.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Very respectfully your obedient servant,<br /> "R. E. LEE, General."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Upon receipt of this letter, General Grant sent a telegraphic dispatch to
+ Secretary Stanton, informing him of Lee's proposition. It reached the
+ Secretary of War just before midnight of March 3rd. He, and the other
+ members of the Cabinet were with the President, in the latter's room at
+ the Capitol, whither they had gone on this, the last, night of the last
+ Session of the Thirty-Eighth Congress, the Cabinet to advise, and the
+ President to act, upon bills submitted to him for approval. The Secretary,
+ after reading the dispatch, handed it to Mr. Lincoln. The latter read and
+ thought over it briefly, and then himself wrote the following reply:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "WASHINGTON, March, 3, 1865, 12 P.M.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "LIEUTENANT GENERAL GRANT: The President directs me to say to you that he
+ wishes you to have no Conference with General Lee, unless it be for the
+ capitulation of General Lee's Army, or on some other minor and purely
+ Military matter. He instructs me to say to you that you are not to decide,
+ discuss, or confer upon any political question. Such questions the
+ President holds in his own hands, and will submit them to no Military
+ Conferences or Conventions. Meanwhile you are to press to the utmost your
+ Military advantages.<br /> "EDWIN M. STANTON,<br /> "Secretary of War."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ General Grant received this dispatch, on the day following, and at once
+ wrote and sent to General Lee a communication in which, after referring to
+ the subject of the exchange of prisoners, he said: "In regard to meeting
+ you on the 6th inst., I would state that&mdash;I have no authority to
+ accede to your proposition for a Conference on the subject proposed. Such
+ authority is vested in the President of the United States alone. General
+ Ord could only have meant that I would not refuse an interview on any
+ subject on which I have a right to act; which, of course, would be such as
+ are purely of a Military character, and on the subject of exchange, which
+ has been entrusted to me."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Thus perished the last reasonable hope entertained by the Rebel Chieftains
+ to ward off the inevitable and mortal blow that was about to smite their
+ Cause.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The 4th of March, 1865, had come. The Thirty-Eighth Congress was no more.
+ Mr. Lincoln was about to be inaugurated, for a second term, as President
+ of the United States. The previous night had been vexed with a stormy
+ snow-fall. The morning had also been stormy and rainy. By mid-day,
+ however, as if to mark the event auspiciously, the skies cleared and the
+ sun shone gloriously upon the thousands and tens of thousands who had come
+ to Washington, to witness the second Inauguration of him whom the people
+ had now, long since, learned to affectionately term "Father Abraham"&mdash;of
+ him who had become the veritable Father of his People. As the President
+ left the White House, to join the grand procession to the Capitol, a
+ brilliant meteor shot athwart the heavens, above his head. At the time,
+ the superstitious thought it an Omen of triumph&mdash;of coming Peace&mdash;but
+ in the sad after-days when armed Rebellion had ceased and Peace had come,
+ it was remembered, with a shudder, as a portent of ill. When, at last, Mr.
+ Lincoln stood, with bared head, upon the platform at the eastern portico
+ of the Capitol, where four years before, he had made his vows before the
+ People, under such very different circumstances and surroundings, the
+ contrast between that time and this&mdash;and all the terrible and
+ eventful history of the interim&mdash;could not fail to present itself to
+ every mind of all those congregated, whether upon the platform among the
+ gorgeously costumed foreign diplomats, the full-uniformed Military and
+ Naval officers of the United States, and the more soberly-clad statesmen
+ and Civic and Judicial functionaries of the Land, or in the vast and
+ indiscriminate mass of the enthusiastic people in front and on both sides
+ of it. As Chief Justice Chase administered the oath, and Abraham Lincoln,
+ in view of all the people, reverently bowed his head and kissed the open
+ Bible, at a passage in Isaiah (27th and 28th verses of the 5th Chapter)
+ which it was thought "admonished him to be on his guard, and not to relax
+ at all, in his efforts," the people, whose first cheers of welcome had
+ been stayed by the President's uplifted hand, broke forth in a tumult of
+ cheering, until again hushed by the clear, strong, even voice of the
+ President, as he delivered that second Inaugural Address, whose touching
+ tenderness, religious resignation, and Christian charity, were clad in
+ these imperishable words:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "FELLOW COUNTRYMEN: At this second appearing to take the Oath of the
+ Presidential office, there is less occasion for an extended address than
+ there was at the first. Then, a statement, somewhat in detail, of a course
+ to be pursued, seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four
+ years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth
+ on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the
+ attention and engrosses the energy of the Nation, little that is new could
+ be presented. The progress of our Arms, upon which all else depends, is as
+ well known to the public as to myself; and it is, I trust, reasonably
+ satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no
+ prediction in regard to it is ventured.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "On the occasion corresponding to this, four years ago, all thoughts were
+ anxiously directed to an impending Civil War. All dreaded it&mdash;all
+ sought to avert it. While the Inaugural Address was being delivered from
+ this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without War, Insurgent
+ agents were in the city, seeking to destroy it without War&mdash;seeking
+ to dissolve the Union, and divide the effects, by negotiation. Both
+ parties deprecated War; but one of them would make War rather than let the
+ Nation survive; and the other would accept War rather than let it perish&mdash;and
+ the War came.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "One-eighth of the whole population were colored Slaves, not distributed
+ generally over the Union, but localized in the Southern part of it. These
+ Slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this
+ interest was, somehow, the cause of the War. To strengthen, perpetuate and
+ extend this interest was the object for which the Insurgents would rend
+ the Union, even by War; while the Government claimed no right to do more
+ than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither Party expected
+ for the War the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained.
+ Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with, or
+ even before, the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier
+ triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same
+ Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the
+ other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's
+ assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces;
+ but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not
+ be answered&mdash;that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty
+ has His own purposes. 'Woe unto the World because of offences! for it must
+ needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence
+ cometh.' If we shall suppose that American Slavery is one of those
+ offences which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which,
+ having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and
+ that He gives to both North and South this terrible War, as the woe due to
+ those by Whom the offence came, shall we discern therein any departure
+ from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always
+ ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope&mdash;fervently do we pray&mdash;that
+ this mighty scourge of War may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that
+ it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondman's two hundred and
+ fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of
+ blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword,
+ as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, 'The
+ judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the
+ right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the
+ work we are in; to bind up the Nation's wounds, to care for him who shall
+ have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan&mdash;to do all
+ which may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting Peace among ourselves,
+ and with all Nations."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ With utterances so just and fair, so firm and hopeful, so penitent and
+ humble, so benignant and charitable, so mournfully tender and sweetly
+ solemn, so full of the fervor of true piety and the very pathos of
+ patriotism, small wonder is it that among those numberless thousands who,
+ on this memorable occasion, gazed upon the tall, gaunt form of Abraham
+ Lincoln, and heard his clear, sad voice, were some who almost imagined
+ they saw the form and heard the voice of one of the great prophets and
+ leaders of Israel; while others were more reminded of one of the Holy
+ Apostles of the later Dispensation who preached the glorious Gospel "On
+ Earth, Peace, good will toward Men," and received in the end the crown of
+ Christian martyrdom. But not one soul of those present&mdash;unless his
+ own felt such presentiment&mdash;dreamed for a moment that, all too soon,
+ the light of those brave and kindly eyes was fated to go out in darkness,
+ that sad voice to be hushed forever, that form to lie bleeding and dead, a
+ martyred sacrifice indeed, upon the altar of his Country!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="p608-hw-davis.jpg (74K)" src="images/p608-hw-davis.jpg" style="width:100%;"
+ /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch30" id="linkch30"></a><br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ CHAPTER XXX.<br /> <br /> COLLAPSE OF THE ARMED CONSPIRACY.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Meantime, Sherman's Armies were pressing along upward, toward Raleigh,
+ from Columbia, marching through swamps and over quicksands and across
+ swollen streams&mdash;cold, wet, hungry, tired&mdash;often up to their
+ armpits in water, yet keeping their powder dry, and silencing opposing
+ batteries or driving the Enemy, who doggedly retired before them, through
+ the drenching rains which poured down unceasingly for days, and even
+ weeks, at a time. On the 16th of March, 1865, a part of Sherman's Forces
+ met the Enemy, under General Joe Johnston, at Averysboro, N. C., and
+ forced him to retire. On the 19th and 20th of March, occurred the series
+ of engagements, about Mill Creek and the Bentonville and Smithfield
+ cross-roads, which culminated in the attack upon the Enemy, of the 21st of
+ March, and his evacuation, that night, of his entire line of works, and
+ retreat upon Smithfield. This was known as the Battle of Bentonville, and
+ was the last battle fought between the rival Forces under Sherman and
+ Johnston. The Armies of Sherman, now swollen by having formed a junction
+ with the troops under Schofield and Terry, which had come from Newbern and
+ Wilmington, went into camp at Goldsboro, North Carolina, to await the
+ rebuilding of the railroads from those two points on the coast, and the
+ arrival of badly needed clothing, provision, and other supplies, after
+ which the march would be resumed to Burksville, Virginia. By the 25th of
+ March, the railroad from Newbern was in running order, and General
+ Sherman, leaving General Schofield in command of his eighty thousand
+ troops, went to Newbern and Morehead City, and thence by steamer to City
+ Point, for a personal interview with General Grant. On the same day, Lee
+ made a desperate but useless assault, with twenty thousand (of his seventy
+ thousand) men upon Fort Stedman&mdash;a portion of Grant's works in front
+ of Petersburg. On the 27th, President Lincoln reached City Point, on the
+ James River, in the steamer "Ocean Queen." Sherman reached City Point the
+ same day, and, after meeting the General-in-Chief, Grant took him on board
+ the "Ocean Queen" to see the President. Together they explained to Mr.
+ Lincoln the Military situation, during the "hour or more" they were with
+ him. Of this interview with Mr. Lincoln, General Sherman afterwards wrote:
+ "General Grant and I explained to him that my next move from Goldsboro
+ would bring my Army, increased to eighty thousand men by Schofield's and
+ Terry's reinforcements, in close communication with General Grant's Army,
+ then investing Lee in Richmond, and that unless Lee could effect his
+ escape, and make junction with Johnston in North Carolina, he would soon
+ be shut up in Richmond with no possibility of supplies, and would have to
+ surrender. Mr. Lincoln was extremely interested in this view of the case,
+ and when we explained that Lee's only chance was to escape, join Johnston,
+ and, being then between me in North Carolina, and Grant in Virginia, could
+ choose which to fight. Mr. Lincoln seemed unusually impressed with this;
+ but General Grant explained that, at the very moment of our conversation,
+ General Sheridan was passing his Cavalry across James River, from the
+ North to the South; that he would, with this Cavalry, so extend his left
+ below Petersburg as to meet the South Shore Road; and that if Lee should
+ 'let go' his fortified lines, he (Grant) would follow him so close that he
+ could not possibly fall on me alone in North Carolina. I, in like manner,
+ expressed the fullest confidence that my Army in North Carolina was
+ willing to cope with Lee and Johnston combined, till Grant could come up.
+ But we both agreed that one more bloody battle was likely to occur before
+ the close of the War. Mr. Lincoln * * * more than once exclaimed: 'Must
+ more blood be shed? Cannot this last bloody battle be avoided?' We
+ explained that we had to presume that General Lee was a real general; that
+ he must see that Johnston alone was no barrier to my progress; and that if
+ my Army of eighty thousand veterans should reach Burksville, he was lost
+ in Richmond; and that we were forced to believe he would not await that
+ inevitable conclusion, but make one more desperate effort."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ President Lincoln's intense anxiety caused him to remain at City Point,
+ from this time forth, almost until the end&mdash;receiving from General
+ Grant, when absent, at the immediate front, frequent dispatches, which, as
+ fast as received and read, he transmitted to the Secretary of War, at
+ Washington. Grant had already given general instructions to Major-Generals
+ Meade, Ord, and Sheridan, for the closing movements of his immediate
+ Forces, against Lee and his lines of supply and possible retreat. He saw
+ that the time had come for which he had so long waited, and he now felt
+ "like ending the matter." On the morning of the 29th of March&mdash;preliminary
+ dispositions having been executed&mdash;the movements began. That night,
+ Grant wrote to Sheridan, who was at Dinwiddie Court House, with his ten
+ thousand Cavalry: "Our line is now unbroken from the Appomattox to
+ Dinwiddie. * * * I feel now like ending the matter, if it is possible to
+ do so, before going back. * * * In the morning, push around the Enemy, if
+ you can, and get on his right rear. * * * We will all act together as one
+ Army, until it is seen what can be done with the Enemy." The rain fell all
+ that night in torrents. The face of the country, where forests, swamps,
+ and quicksands alternated in presenting apparently insuperable obstacles
+ to immediate advance, was very discouraging next morning, but Sheridan's
+ heart was gladdened by orders to seize Five Forks.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 31st, the Battle of Dinwiddie Court House occurred&mdash;the Enemy
+ attacking Sheridan and Warren with a largely superior force. During the
+ night, Sheridan was reinforced with the Fifth Corps, and other troops. On
+ April 1st, Sheridan fought, and won, the glorious Battle of Five Forks,
+ against this detached Rebel force, and, besides capturing 6,000 prisoners
+ and six pieces of artillery, dispersed the rest to the North and West,
+ away from the balance of Lee's Army. That night, after Grant received the
+ news of this victory, he went into his tent, wrote a dispatch, sent it by
+ an orderly, and returning to the fire outside his tent, calmly said: "I
+ have ordered an immediate assault along the lines." This was afterward
+ modified to an attack at three points, on the Petersburg works, at 4
+ o'clock in the morning&mdash;a terrific bombardment, however, to be kept
+ up all night. Grant also sent more reinforcements to Sheridan. On the
+ morning of April 2nd, the assault was made, and the Enemy's works were
+ gallantly carried, while Sheridan was coming up to the West of Petersburg.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Rebel Chieftain Lee, when his works were stormed and carried, is said
+ to have exclaimed: "It has happened as I thought; the lines have been
+ stretched until they broke." At 10.30 A. M. he telegraphed to Jefferson
+ Davis: "My lines are broken in three places. Richmond must be evacuated
+ this evening." This dispatch of Parke, Ord on Wright's left, Humphreys on
+ Ord's left and Warren on Humphrey's left&mdash;Sheridan being to the rear
+ and left of Warren, reached Davis, while at church. All present felt, as
+ he retired, that the end of the Rebellion had come. At 10.40 A. M. Lee
+ reported further: "I see no prospect of doing more than holding our
+ position here till night. I am not certain that I can do that. If I can, I
+ shall withdraw tonight, North of the Appomattox, and if possible, it will
+ be better to withdraw the whole line to-night from James river. * * * Our
+ only chance of concentrating our Forces is to do so near Danville
+ railroad, which I shall endeavor to do at once. I advise that all
+ preparations be made for leaving Richmond to-night. I will advise you
+ later, according to circumstances. "At 7 o'clock P. M. Lee again
+ communicated to the Rebel Secretary of War this information: "It is
+ absolutely necessary that we should abandon our position to-night, or run
+ the risk of being cut off in the morning. I have given all the orders to
+ officers on both sides of the river, and have taken every precaution that
+ I can to make the movement successful. It will be a difficult operation,
+ but I hope not impracticable. Please give all orders that you find
+ necessary, in and about Richmond. The troops will all be directed to
+ Amelia Court House." This was the last dispatch sent by Lee to the Rebel
+ Government.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 3rd of April, Petersburg and Richmond were evacuated, and again
+ under the Union flag, while Grant's immediate Forces were pressing forward
+ to cut off the retreat of Lee, upon Amelia Court House and Danville, in an
+ effort to form a junction with Johnston. On the 6th, the important Battle
+ of Sailor's Creek, Va., was fought and won by Sheridan. On the evening of
+ the 7th, at the Farmville hotel, where Lee had slept the night before,
+ Grant, after sending dispatches to Sheridan at Prospect Station, Ord at
+ Prince Edward's Court House, and Mead at Rice Station, wrote the following
+ letter to Lee:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "FARMVILLE, April 7th, 1865.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "GENERAL: The results of the last week must convince you of the
+ hopelessness of further resistance, on the part of the Army of Northern
+ Virginia, in this struggle. I feel that it is so, and regard it as my duty
+ to shift from myself the responsibility of any further effusion of blood,
+ by asking of you the surrender of that portion of the Confederate States'
+ army known as the Army of Northern Virginia.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "U. S. GRANT,<br /> "Lieutenant-General."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Lee, however, in replying to this demand, and in subsequent
+ correspondence, seemed to be unable to see "the hopelessness of further
+ resistance." He thought "the emergency had not yet come." Hence, Grant
+ decided to so press and harass him, as to bring the emergency along
+ quickly. Accordingly, by the night of the 8th of April, Sheridan with his
+ Cavalry had completely headed Lee off, at Appomattox Court House. By
+ morning, Ord's forces had reached Sheridan, and were in line behind him.
+ Two Corps of the Army of the Potomac, under Meade, were also, by this
+ time, close on the Enemy's rear. And now the harassed Enemy, conscious
+ that his rear was threatened, and seeing only Cavalry in his front,
+ through which to fight his way, advanced to the attack. The dismounted
+ Cavalry of Sheridan contested the advance, in order to give Ord and
+ Griffin as much time as possible to form, then, mounting and moving
+ rapidly aside, they suddenly uncovered, to the charging Rebels, Ord's
+ impenetrable barrier of Infantry, advancing upon them at a double-quick!
+ At the same time that this appalling sight staggered them, and rolled them
+ back in despair, they became aware that Sheridan's impetuous Cavalry, now
+ mounted, were hovering on their left flank, evidently about to charge!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Lee at once concluded that the emergency "had now come," and sent, both to
+ Sheridan and Meade, a flag of truce, asking that hostilities cease,
+ pending negotiations for a surrender&mdash;having also requested of Grant
+ an audience with a view to such surrender. That afternoon the two great
+ rival Military Chieftains met by appointment in the plain little
+ farm-house of one McLean&mdash;Lee dressed in his best full-dress uniform
+ and sword, Grant in a uniform soiled and dusty, and without any sword&mdash;and,
+ after a few preliminary words, as to the terms proposed by Grant, the
+ latter sat down to the table, and wrote the following:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "APPOMATTOX COURT HOUSE,<br /> "VIRGINIA, April 9, 1865.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "GENERAL: In accordance with the substance of my letter to you of the 8th
+ instant, I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of Northern
+ Virginia on the following terms, to wit: Rolls of all the officers and men
+ to be made in duplicate, one copy to be given to an officer to be
+ designated by me, the other to be retained by such officer or officers as
+ you may designate. The officers to give their individual paroles not to
+ take up arms against the Government of the United States, until properly
+ exchanged; and each company or regimental commander to sign a like parole
+ for the men of their commands. The arms, artillery, and public property to
+ be parked and stacked, and turned over to the officers appointed by me to
+ receive them. This will not embrace the side-arms of the officers nor
+ their private horses or baggage. This done, each officer and man will be
+ allowed to return to his home, not to be disturbed by United States
+ authority so long as they observe their paroles and the laws in force
+ where they may reside.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "U. S. GRANT,<br /> "Lieutenant-General.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "General R. E. LEE."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After some further conversation, in which Grant intimated that his
+ officers receiving paroles would be instructed to "allow the Cavalry and
+ Artillery men to retain their horses, and take them home to work their
+ little farms"&mdash;a kindness which Lee said, would "have the best
+ possible effect," the latter wrote his surrender in the following words:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "HEAD-QUARTERS, ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA, April 9, 1865.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "GENERAL: I received your letter of this date containing the terms of the
+ surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, as proposed by you. As they
+ are substantially the same as those expressed in your letter of the 8th
+ instant, they are accepted. I will proceed to designate the proper
+ officers to carry the stipulations into effect. "R. E. LEE, General.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Lieutenant-General U. S. GRANT."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Before parting, Lee told Grant that his men were starving; and Grant at
+ once ordered 25,000 rations to be issued to the surrendered Rebels&mdash;and
+ then the Rebel Chieftain, shaking hands with the Victor, rode away to his
+ conquered legions. It was 4.30 P.M. when Grant, on his way to his own
+ headquarters, now with Sheridan's command, dismounted from his horse, and
+ sitting on a stone by the roadside, wrote the following dispatch:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Hon. E. M. STANTON,<br /> Secretary of War, Washington.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "General Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia this afternoon on
+ terms proposed by myself. The accompanying additional correspondence will
+ show the conditions fully.<br /> "U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant General."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Meanwhile on the 5th of April, Grant, who had kept Sherman, as well as
+ Sheridan, advised of his main movements, had also ordered the former to
+ press Johnston's Army as he was pressing Lee, so as, between them, they
+ might "push on, and finish the job." In accordance with this order,
+ Sherman's Forces advanced toward Smithfield, and, Johnston having rapidly
+ retreated before them, entered Raleigh, North Carolina, on the 13th. The
+ 14th of April, brought the news of the surrender of Lee to Grant, and the
+ same day a correspondence was opened between Sherman and Johnston, looking
+ to the surrender of the latter's Army&mdash;terms for which were actually
+ agreed upon, subject, however, to approval of Sherman's superiors. Those
+ terms, however, being considered unsatisfactory, were promptly
+ disapproved, and similar terms to those allowed to Lee's Army, were
+ substituted, and agreed to, the actual surrender taking place April 26th,
+ near Durham, North Carolina. On the 21st, Macon, Georgia, with 12,000
+ Rebel Militia, and sixty guns, was surrendered to Wilson's
+ Cavalry-command, by General Howell Cobb. On the 4th of May, General
+ Richard Taylor surrendered all the armed Rebel troops, East of the
+ Mississippi river; and on the 26th of May, General Kirby Smith surrendered
+ all of them, West of that river.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On that day, organized, armed Rebellion against the United States ceased,
+ and became a thing of the past. It had been conquered, stamped out, and
+ extinguished, while its civic head, Jefferson Davis, captured May 11th, at
+ Irwinsville, Georgia, while attempting to escape, was, with other leading
+ Rebels, a prisoner in a Union fort. Four years of armed Rebellion had been
+ enough for them. They were absolutely sick of it. And the magnanimity of
+ the terms given them by Grant, completed their subjugation. "The wisdom of
+ his course," says Badeau, "was proved by the haste which the Rebels made
+ to yield everything they had fought for. They were ready not only to give
+ up their arms, but literally to implore forgiveness of the Government.
+ They acquiesced in the abolition of Slavery. They abandoned the heresy of
+ Secession, and waited to learn what else their conquerors would dictate.
+ They dreamed not of political power. They only asked to be let live
+ quietly under the flag they had outraged, and attempt in some degree to
+ rebuild their shattered fortunes. The greatest General of the Rebellion
+ asked for pardon."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch31" id="linkch31"></a><br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ CHAPTER XXXI.<br /> <br /> ASSASSINATION!
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But while some of the great Military events alluded to in the preceding
+ Chapter, had been transpiring at the theatre of War, something else had
+ happened at the National Capital, so momentous, so atrocious, so
+ execrable, that it was with difficulty the victorious soldiers of the
+ Union, when they first heard the news, could be restrained from turning
+ upon the then remaining armed Rebels, and annihilating them in their
+ righteous fury.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Let us go back, for a moment, to President Lincoln, whom we left on board
+ the Ocean Queen, at City Point, toward the end of March and the beginning
+ of April, receiving dispatches from Grant, who was victoriously engaged at
+ the front. On the very day that Richmond fell&mdash;April 4th&mdash;President
+ Lincoln, with his little son "Tad," Admiral Porter, and others, visited
+ the burning city, and held a reception in the parlors of the Mansion which
+ had now, for so many years, been occupied by the Chief Conspirator,
+ Jefferson Davis, and which had been precipitately abandoned when the
+ flight of that Arch-Rebel and his "Cabinet" commenced. On the 6th, the
+ President, accompanied by his wife, Vice-President Johnson, and others
+ from Washington, again visited Richmond, and received distinguished
+ Virginians, to whom he addressed words of wisdom and patriotism.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ ["On this occasion," says Arnold, "he was called upon by several
+ prominent citizens of Virginia, anxious to learn what the policy of the
+ Government towards them would be. Without committing himself to specific
+ details, he satisfied them that his policy would be magnanimous,
+ forgiving, and generous. He told these Virginians they must learn
+ loyalty and devotion to the Nation. They need not love Virginia less,
+ but they must love the Republic more."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ On the 9th of April, he returned to Washington, and the same day&mdash;his
+ last Sunday on Earth&mdash;came the grand and glorious news of Lee's
+ surrender.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the Wednesday evening following, he made a lengthy speech, at the White
+ House, to the great crowd that had assembled about it, to congratulate
+ him, and the Nation, upon the downfall of Rebellion. His first thought in
+ that speech, was of gratitude to God. His second, to put himself in the
+ background, and to give all the credit of Union Military success, to those
+ who, under God, had achieved it. Said he: "We meet this evening, not in
+ sorrow, but in gladness of heart. The evacuation of Petersburg and
+ Richmond, and the surrender of the principal Insurgent Army, give hope of
+ a righteous and speedy Peace, whose joyous expression cannot be
+ restrained. In the midst of this, however, He from whom all blessings
+ flow, must not be forgotten. A Call for a National Thanksgiving is being
+ prepared, and will be duly promulgated. Nor must those whose harder part
+ gives us the cause of rejoicing, be overlooked. Their honors must not be
+ parcelled out with others. I myself was near the front, and had the high
+ pleasure of transmitting much of the good news to you; but no part of the
+ honor, for plan or execution, is mine. To General Grant, his skilful
+ officers and brave men, all belongs."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This speech was almost entirely devoted to the subject of reconstruction
+ of the States lately in Rebellion, and to an argument in favor of the
+ Reconstruction policy, under which a new and loyal government had been
+ formed for the State of Louisiana. "Some twelve thousand voters in the
+ heretofore Slave State of Louisiana," said he, "have sworn allegiance to
+ the Union, assumed to be the rightful political power of the State, held
+ elections, organized a State government, adopted a Free State
+ Constitution, giving the benefit of public schools equally to Black and
+ White, and empowering the Legislature to confer the elective franchise
+ upon the colored man. Their Legislature has already voted to ratify the
+ Constitutional Amendment recently passed by Congress, abolishing Slavery
+ throughout the Nation. These twelve thousand persons are thus fully
+ committed to the Union, and to perpetual Freedom in the State; committed
+ to the very things, and nearly all the things, the Nation wants; and they
+ ask the Nation's recognition and its assistance to make good that
+ committal. Now, if we reject and spurn them, we do our utmost to
+ disorganize and disperse them. We, in effect, say to the White men, 'You
+ are worthless, or worse; we will neither help you, nor be helped by you.'
+ To the Blacks we say, 'This cup of Liberty which these, your old masters,
+ hold to your lips, we will dash from you and leave you to the chances of
+ gathering the spilled and scattered contents in some vague and undefined
+ when, where, and how.' If this course, discouraging and paralyzing both
+ White and Black, has any tendency to bring Louisiana into proper practical
+ relations with the Union, I have, so far, been unable to perceive it. If,
+ on the contrary, we recognize and sustain the new government of Louisiana,
+ the converse of all this is made true."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ While, however, Mr. Lincoln thus upheld and defended this Louisiana plan
+ of reconstruction, yet he conceded that in applying it to other States,
+ with their varying conditions, "no exclusive and inflexible plan can
+ safely be prescribed as to details and collaterals." The entire speech
+ shows the greatest solicitude to make no mistake necessitating backward
+ steps, and consequent delay in reconstructing the Rebel States into Loyal
+ ones; and especially anxious was he, in this, his last public utterance,
+ touching the outcome of his great life-work, Emancipation. "If," said he,
+ "we reject Louisiana, we also reject one vote in favor of the proposed
+ Amendment to the National Constitution. To meet this proposition it has
+ been argued that no more than three-fourths of those States which have not
+ attempted Secession are necessary to validly ratify the Amendment. I do
+ not commit myself against this further than to say that such a
+ ratification would be questionable, and sure to be persistently
+ questioned; whilst a ratification by three-fourths of all the States would
+ be unquestioned and unquestionable."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On Thursday, by the President's direction, a War Department Order was
+ drawn up and issued, putting an end to drafting and recruiting, and the
+ purchase of Military supplies, and removing all restrictions which
+ Military necessity had imposed upon the trade and commerce and intercourse
+ of any one part of the Union with the other. On Friday, the 14th of April,
+ there was a meeting of the Cabinet at noon, to receive a report from
+ General Grant, in person&mdash;he having just arrived from the scene of
+ Lee's surrender. Later, the President rode out with Mrs. Lincoln, and
+ talked of the hard time they had had since coming to Washington; "but,"
+ continued he, "the War is over, and, with God's blessing, we may hope for
+ four years of Peace and happiness, and then we will go back to Illinois,
+ and pass the rest of our lives in quiet." At Ford's Theatre, that evening,
+ was played "The American Cousin," and it had been announced that both the
+ President and General Grant would be present. Grant, however, was
+ prevented from attending. President Lincoln attended with reluctance&mdash;possibly
+ because of a presentiment which he had that day had, that "something
+ serious is going to happen," of which he made mention at the Cabinet
+ meeting aforesaid.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It was about 9 o-clock P.M., that the President, with Mrs. Lincoln, Major
+ Rathbone, and Miss Harris, entered the Theatre, and, after acknowledging
+ with a bow the patriotic acclamations with which the audience saluted him,
+ entered the door of the private box, reserved for his party, which was
+ draped with the folds of the American flag. At half past 10 o'clock, while
+ all were absorbed in the play, a pistol-shot was heard, and a man,
+ brandishing a bloody dagger, was seen to leap to the stage from the
+ President's box, crying "Sic Semper Tyrannis!" His spurred boot, catching
+ in the bunting, tripped him, so that he half fell and injured one leg, but
+ instantly recovered himself, and, shouting "The South is avenged!" rushed
+ across the stage, and disappeared. It was an actor, John Wilkes Booth by
+ name, who&mdash;inspired with all the mad, unreasoning, malignant hatred
+ of everything representing Freedom and Union, which was purposely
+ instilled into the minds and hearts of their followers and sympathizers by
+ the Rebel leaders and their chief accomplices in the North&mdash;had
+ basely skulked into the box, behind Mr. Lincoln, mortally wounded him with
+ a pistol-bullet, and escaped&mdash;after stabbing Major Rathbone for
+ vainly striving to arrest the vile assassin's flight.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Thus this great and good Ruler of our reunited People was foully stricken
+ down in the very moment of his triumph; when the Union troops were
+ everywhere victorious; when Lee had surrendered the chief Army of the
+ downfallen Confederacy; when Johnston was on the point of surrendering the
+ only remaining Rebel force which could be termed an Army; on the self-same
+ day too, which saw the identical flag of the Union, that four years before
+ had been sadly hauled down from the flagstaff of Fort Sumter, triumphantly
+ raised again over that historic fort; when, the War being at an end,
+ everything in the future looked hopeful; at the very time when his
+ merciful and kindly mind was doubtless far away from the mimic scenes upon
+ which he looked, revolving beneficent plans for reconstructing and
+ rebuilding the waste and desolate places in the South which War had made;
+ at this time, of all times, when his clear and just perceptions and firm
+ patriotism were most needed,
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [For his last public words, two nights before, had been: "In the present
+ 'situation,' as the phrase goes, it may be my duty to make some new
+ announcement to the people of the South. I am CONSIDERING, and shall not
+ fail to act when satisfied that action will be proper."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ alike by conquerors and conquered, to guide and aid the Nation in the
+ difficult task of reconstruction, and of the new departure, looming up
+ before it, with newer and broader and better political issues upon which
+ all Patriot might safely divide, while all the old issues of
+ States-rights, Secession, Free-Trade, and Slavery, and all the mental and
+ moral leprosy growing out of them, should lie buried far out of sight as
+ dead-and-gone relics of the cruel and devastating War which they alone had
+ brought on! Abraham Lincoln never spoke again. The early beams of the
+ tomorrow's sun touched, but failed to warm, the lifeless remain of the
+ great War-President and Liberator, as they were borne, in mournful
+ silence, back to the White House, mute and ghastly witness of the sheer
+ desperation of those who, although armed Rebellion, in the open field, by
+ the fair and legitimate modes of Military warfare, had ceased, were
+ determined still to keep up that cowardly "fire in the rear" which had
+ been promised to the Rebel leaders by their Northern henchmen and
+ sympathizers.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The assassination of President Lincoln was but a part of the plot of Booth
+ and his murderous Rebel-sympathizing fellow conspirators. It was their
+ purpose also to kill Grant, and Seward, and other prominent members of the
+ Cabinet, simultaneously, in the wild hope that anarchy might follow, and
+ Treason find its opportunity. In this they almost miraculously failed,
+ although Seward was badly wounded by one of the assassins.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ That the Rebel authorities were cognizant of, and encouraged, this
+ dastardly plot, cannot be distinctly proven. But, while they naturally
+ would be likely, especially in the face of the storm of public
+ exasperation which it raised throughout the Union, to disavow all
+ knowledge of, or complicity in, the vengeful murder of President Lincoln,
+ and to destroy all evidences possible of any such guilty knowledge or
+ complicity, yet there will ever be a strong suspicion that they were not
+ innocent. From the time when it was first known that Mr. Lincoln had been
+ elected President, the air was full of threats that he should not live to
+ be inaugurated.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ That the assassination, consummated in April, 1865, would have taken place
+ in February of 1861, had it not been for the timely efforts of
+ Lieutenant-General Scott, Brigadier-General Stone, Hon. William H. Seward,
+ Frederick W. Seward, Esq., and David S. Bookstaver of the Metropolitan
+ Police of New York&mdash;is abundantly shown by Superintendent John A.
+ Kennedy, in a letter of August 13, 1866, to be found in vol. ii., of
+ Lossing's "Civil War in America," pages 147-149, containing also an
+ extract from a letter of General Stone, in which the latter&mdash;after
+ mentioning that General Scott and himself considered it "almost a
+ certainty that Mr. Lincoln could not pass Baltimore alive by the train on
+ the day fixed"&mdash;proceeds to say: "I recommended that Mr. Lincoln
+ should be officially warned; and suggested that it would be altogether
+ best that he should take the train of that evening from Philadelphia, and
+ so reach Washington early the next day." * * * General Scott, after asking
+ me how the details could be arranged in so short a time, and receiving my
+ suggestion that Mr. Lincoln should be advised quietly to take the evening
+ train, and that it would do him no harm to have the telegraph wires cut
+ for a few hours, he directed me to seek Mr. W. H. Seward, to whom he wrote
+ a few lines, which he handed to me. It was already ten o'clock, and when I
+ reached Mr. Seward's house he had left; I followed him to the Capitol, but
+ did not succeed in finding him until after 12 M. I handed him the
+ General's note; he listened attentively to what I said, and asked me to
+ write down my information and suggestions, and then, taking the paper I
+ had written, he hastily left. The note I wrote was what Mr. Frederick
+ Seward carried to Mr. Lincoln in Philadelphia. Mr. Lincoln has stated that
+ it was this note which induced him to change his journey as he did. The
+ stories of disguise are all nonsense; Mr. Lincoln merely took the
+ sleeping-car in the night train.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Equally certain also, is it, that the Rebel authorities were utterly
+ indifferent to the means that might be availed of to secure success to
+ Rebellion. Riots and arson, were among the mildest methods proposed to be
+ used in the Northern cities, to make the War for the Union a "failure"&mdash;as
+ their Northern Democratic allies termed it&mdash;while, among other more
+ devilish projects, was that of introducing cholera and yellow fever into
+ the North, by importing infected rags! Another much-talked-of scheme
+ throughout the War, was that of kidnapping President Lincoln, and other
+ high officials of the Union Government. There is also evidence, that the
+ Rebel chiefs not only received, but considered, the plans of desperadoes
+ and cut-throats looking to the success of the Rebellion by means of
+ assassination. Thus, in a footnote to page 448, vol. ii., of his "Civil
+ War in America," Lossing does not hesitate to characterize Jefferson Davis
+ as "the crafty and malignant Chief Conspirator, who seems to have been
+ ready at all times to entertain propositions to assassinate, by the hand
+ of secret murder, the officers of the Government at Washington;" and,
+ after fortifying that statement by a reference to page 523 of the first
+ volume of his work, proceeds to say: "About the time (July, 1862) we are
+ now considering, a Georgian, named Burnham, wrote to Jefferson Davis,
+ proposing to organize a corps of five hundred assassins, to be distributed
+ over the North, and sworn to murder President Lincoln, members of his
+ Cabinet, and leading Republican Senators, and other supporters of the
+ Government. This proposition was made in writing, and was regularly filed
+ in the 'Confederate War Department,' indorsed 'Respectfully referred to
+ the Secretary of War, by order of the President,' and signed 'J. C Ives.'
+ Other communications of similar tenor, 'respectfully referred' by
+ Jefferson Davis, were placed on file in that 'War Department.'" All the
+ denials, therefore, of the Rebel chieftains, as to their complicity in the
+ various attempts to assassinate Abraham Lincoln, ending with his dastardly
+ murder in April, 1865, will not clear their skirts of the odium of that
+ unparalleled infamy. It will cling to them, living or dead, until that
+ great Day of Judgment when the exact truth shall be made known, and "their
+ sin shall find them out."
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [The New York Tribune, August 16, 1885, under the heading "A NARROW
+ ESCAPE OF LINCOLN," quotes an interesting "Omaha Letter, to the St. Paul
+ Pioneer Press," as follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "That more than one attempt was made to assassinate Abraham Lincoln is a
+ fact known to John W. Nichols, ex-president of the Omaha Fire
+ Department. Mr. Nichols was one of the body-guard of President Lincoln
+ from the Summer of 1862 until 1865. The following narrative, related to
+ your correspondent by Mr. Nichols, is strictly true, and the incident is
+ not generally known:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ One night about the middle of August, 1864, I was doing sentinel duty at
+ the large gate through which entrance was had to the grounds of the
+ Soldiers' Home. The grounds are situated about a quarter of a mile off
+ the Bladensburg road, and are reached by devious driveways. About 11
+ o'clock I heard a rifle shot in the direction of the city, and shortly
+ afterwards I heard approaching hoof-beats. In two or three minutes a
+ horse came dashing-up, and I recognized the belated President. The horse
+ was very spirited, and belonged to Mr. Lamon, marshal of the District of
+ Columbia. This horse was Mr. Lincoln's favorite, and when he was in the
+ White House stables he always chose him. As horse and rider approached
+ the gate, I noticed that the President was bareheaded. After assisting
+ him in checking his steed, the President said to me: 'He came pretty
+ near getting away with me, didn't he? He got the bit in his teeth before
+ I could draw the rein.' I then asked him where his hat was, and he
+ replied that somebody had fired a gun off down at the foot of the hill,
+ and that his horse had become scared and jerked his hat off. I led the
+ animal to the Executive Cottage, and the President dismounted and
+ entered. Thinking the affair rather strange, a corporal and myself
+ started in the direction of the place from where the sound of the rifle
+ report had proceeded, to investigate the occurrence. When we reached the
+ spot where the driveway intersects with the main road we found the
+ President's hat&mdash;a plain silk hat&mdash;and upon examining it we
+ discovered a bullet hole through the crown. The shot had been fired
+ upwards, and it was evident that the person who fired the shot had
+ secreted himself close to the roadside. We listened and searched the
+ locality thoroughly, but to no avail. The next day I gave Mr. Lincoln
+ his hat and called his attention to the bullet hole. He rather
+ unconcernedly remarked that it was put there by some foolish gunner, and
+ was not intended for him. He said, however, that he wanted the matter
+ kept quiet, and admonished us to say nothing about it. We all felt
+ confident that it was an attempt to kill him, and a well-nigh successful
+ one, too. The affair was kept quiet, in accordance with his request.
+ After that, the President never rode alone."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ That this dark and wicked and bloody Rebellion, waged by the upholders and
+ advocates of Slavery, Free Trade, and Secession, had descended so low as
+ to culminate in murder&mdash;deliberate, cold-blooded, cowardly murder&mdash;at
+ a time when the Southern Conspirators would apparently be the least
+ benefitted by it, was regarded at first as evidencing their mad fatuity;
+ and the public mind was dreadfully incensed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The successor of the murdered President&mdash;Andrew Johnson&mdash;lost
+ little time in offering (May the 2d) rewards, ranging from $25,000 to
+ $100,000, for the arrest of Jefferson Davis, Jacob Thompson,
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [The same individual at whose death, in 1885, the Secretary of the
+ Interior, ordered the National flag of the Union&mdash;which he had
+ swindled, betrayed, fought, spit upon, and conspired against&mdash;to be
+ lowered at halfmast over the Interior Departmental Building, at
+ Washington, D. C.]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ Clement C. Clay, Beverly Tucker, George N. Sanders, and W. C. Cleary, in a
+ Proclamation which directly charged that they, "and other Rebels and
+ Traitors against the Government of the United States, harbored in Canada,"
+ had "incited, concerted, and procured" the perpetration of the appalling
+ crime.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 10th of May, one of them, Jacob Thompson, from his place of
+ security, in Canada, published a letter claiming to be innocent;
+ characterized himself as "a persecuted man;" arrayed certain suspicious
+ facts in support of an intimation that Johnson himself was the only one
+ man in the Republic who would be benefited by President Lincoln's death;
+ and, as he was found "asleep" at the "unusual hour" of nine o'clock P.M.,
+ of the 14th of April, and had made haste to take the oath of office as
+ President of the United States as soon as the breath had left the body of
+ his predecessor, insinuated that he (Johnson) might with more reason be
+ suspected of "complicity" in "the foul work" than the "Rebels and
+ Traitors" charged with it, in his Proclamation; so charged, for the very
+ purpose&mdash;Thompson insinuated&mdash;of shielding himself from
+ discovery, and conviction!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But while, for a moment, perhaps, there flitted across the public mind a
+ half suspicion of the possibility of what this Rebel intimated as true,
+ yet another moment saw it dissipated. For the People remembered that
+ between "Andrew Johnson," one of the "poor white trash" of Tennessee, and
+ the "aristocratic Slave-owners" of the South, who headed the Rebellion,
+ there could be neither sympathy nor cooperation&mdash;nothing, but hatred;
+ and that this same Andrew Johnson, who, by power of an indomitable will,
+ self-education, and natural ability, had, despite the efforts of that
+ "aristocracy," forced himself upward, step by step, from the tailor's
+ bench, to the successful honors of alderman and Mayor, and then still
+ upward through both branches of his State Legislature, into the House of
+ Representatives and the Senate of the United States&mdash;and, in the
+ latter Body, had so gallantly met, and worsted in debate, the chosen
+ representatives of that class upon whose treasonable heads he poured forth
+ in invective, the gathered hatred of a life-time&mdash;would probably be
+ the very last man whom these same "aristocratic" Conspirators, "Rebels,
+ and Traitors," would prefer as arbiter of their fate.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The popular feeling responded heartily, at this time, to the denunciations
+ which, in his righteous indignation, he had, in the Senate, and since,
+ heaped upon Rebellion, and especially his declaration that "Treason must
+ be made odious!"&mdash;utterances now substantially reiterated by him more
+ vehemently than ever, and multiplied in posters and transparencies and
+ newspapers all over the Land. Thus the public mind rapidly grew to believe
+ it impossible that the Rebel leaders could gain, by the substitution, in
+ the Executive chair, of this harsh, determined, despotic nature, for the
+ mild, kindly, merciful, even-tempered, Abraham Lincoln. With Andrew
+ Johnson for President, the People felt that justice would fall upon the
+ heads of the guilty, and that the Country was safe. And so it happened
+ that, while the mere instruments of the assassination conspiracy were
+ hurried to an ignominious death, in the lull that followed, Jefferson
+ Davis and others of the Rebel chiefs, who had been captured and
+ imprisoned, were allowed to go "Scott-free, without even the semblance of
+ a trial for their Treason!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is not the purpose of this work to deal with the history of the
+ Reconstruction or rehabilitation of the Rebel States; to look too closely
+ into the devious ways and subtle methods through and by which the Rebel
+ leaders succeeded in flattering the vanity, and worming themselves into
+ the confidence and control, of Andrew Johnson&mdash;by pretending to
+ believe that his occupation of the Presidential Office had now, at last,
+ brought him to their "aristocratic" altitude, and to a hearty recognition
+ by them of his "social equality;" or to follow, either in or out of
+ Congress, the great political conflict, between their unsuspecting
+ Presidential dupe and the Congress, which led to the impeachment trial of
+ President Andrew Johnson, for high crimes and misdemeanors in office, his
+ narrow escape from conviction and deposition, and to much consequent
+ excitement and turmoil among the People, which, but for wise counsels and
+ prudent forethought of the Republican leaders, in both Civil and Military
+ life, might have eventuated in the outbreak of serious civil commotions.
+ Suffice it to say, that in due time; long after the Thirteenth Amendment
+ to the United States Constitution had been ratified by three-fourths of
+ all the States; after Johnson had vexed the White House, with his noisy
+ presence, for the nearly four years succeeding the death of the great and
+ good Lincoln; and after the People, with almost unexampled unanimity, had
+ called their great Military hero, Grant, to the helm of State; the
+ difficult and perplexing problems involved in the Reconstruction of the
+ Union were, at last, successfully solved by the Republican Party, and
+ every State that had been in armed Rebellion against that Union, was not
+ only back again, with a Loyal State Constitution, but was represented in
+ both branches of Congress, and in other Departments of the National
+ Government.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkbreckinridge" id="linkbreckinridge"></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+ <img alt="p244-breckinridge.jpg (83K)" src="images/p244-breckinridge.jpg" style="width:100%;"
+ /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch32" id="linkch32"></a><br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ CHAPTER XXXII.<br /> <br /> TURNING BACK THE HANDS!
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And now, the War having ended in the defeat, conquest, and capture, of
+ those who, inspired by the false teachings of Southern leaders, had
+ arrayed themselves in arms beneath the standard of Rebellion, and fought
+ for Sectional Independence against National Union, for Slavery against
+ Freedom, and for Free Trade against a benignant Tariff protective alike to
+ manufacturer, mechanic, and laborer, it might naturally be supposed that,
+ with the collapse of this Rebellion, all the issues which made up "the
+ Cause"&mdash;the "Lost Cause," as those leaders well termed it&mdash;would
+ be lost with it, and disappear from political sight; that we would never
+ again hear of a Section of the Nation, and last of all the Southern
+ Section, organized, banded together, solidified in the line of its own
+ Sectional ideas as against the National ideas prevailing elsewhere through
+ the Union; that Free Trade, conscious of the ruin and desolation which it
+ had often wrought, and of the awful sacrifices, in blood and treasure,
+ that had been made in its behalf by the conquered South, would slink from
+ sight and hide its famine-breeding front forever; and that Slavery, in all
+ its various disguises, was banished, never more to obtrude its hateful
+ form upon our Liberty-loving Land. That was indeed the supposition and
+ belief which everywhere pervaded the Nation, when Rebellion was conquered
+ by the legions of the Union&mdash;and which especially pervaded the South.
+ Never were Rebels more thoroughly exhausted and sick of Rebellion and of
+ everything that led to it, than these. As Badeau said, they made haste "to
+ yield everything they had fought for," and "dreamed not of political
+ power." They had been brought to their knees, suing for forgiveness, and
+ thankful that their forfeit lives were spared.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ For awhile, with chastened spirit, the reconstructed South seemed to
+ reconcile itself in good faith to the legitimate results of the War, and
+ all went well. But Time and Peace soon obliterate the lessons and the
+ memories of War. And it was not very long after the Rebellion had ceased,
+ and the old issues upon which it was fought had disappeared from the arena
+ of National politics, when its old leaders and their successors began
+ slowly, carefully, and systematically, to relay the tumbled-down, ruined
+ foundations and walls of the Lost Cause&mdash;a work in which,
+ unfortunately, they were too well aided by the mistaken clemency and
+ magnanimity of the Republican Party, in hastily removing the political
+ disabilities of those leaders.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Before proceeding farther, it is necessary to remark here, that, after the
+ suppression of the Rebellion and adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment to
+ the Constitution of the United States, which prohibits Slavery and
+ Involuntary Servitude within the United States, it soon became apparent
+ that it was necessary to the protection of the Freedmen, in the civil and
+ political rights and privileges which it was considered desirable to
+ secure to them, as well as to the creation and fostering of a wholesome
+ loyal sentiment in, and real reconstruction of, the States then lately
+ insurgent, and for certain other reasons, that other safeguards, in the
+ shape of further Amendments to the Constitution, should be adopted.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Accordingly the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments were, on the 16th of
+ June, 1866, and 27th of February, 1869, respectively, proposed by Congress
+ to the Legislatures of the several States, and were declared duly
+ ratified, and a part of the Constitution, respectively on the 28th of
+ July, 1868, and March 30, 1870. Those Amendments were in these words:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "ARTICLE XIV.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "SECTION 1.&mdash;All persons born or naturalized in the United States,
+ and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States
+ and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any
+ law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the
+ United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or
+ property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its
+ jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "SECTION 2.&mdash;Representatives shall be apportioned among the several
+ States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of
+ persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to
+ vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice
+ President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive
+ and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature
+ thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being
+ twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way
+ abridged, except for participation in Rebellion, or other crime, the basis
+ of Representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the
+ number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male
+ citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "SECTION 3.&mdash;No person shall be a Senator or Representative in
+ Congress, or Elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office,
+ civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who,
+ having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer
+ of the United States, or as a member of any State Legislature, or as an
+ executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of
+ the United States, shall have engaged in Insurrection or Rebellion against
+ the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may
+ by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "SECTION 4.&mdash;The validity of the public debt of the United States,
+ authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and
+ bounties for services in suppressing Insurrection or Rebellion, shall not
+ be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or
+ pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of Insurrection or Rebellion
+ against the United States, or any claim for the loss or Emancipation of
+ any Slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held
+ illegal and void.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "SECTION 5.&mdash;The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate
+ legislation, the provisions of this article."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "ARTICLE XV.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "SECTION 1.&mdash;The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall
+ not be denied or abridged by, the United States or by any State on account
+ of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "SECTION 2.&mdash;The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
+ appropriate legislation."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It would seem, then, from the provisions of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth,
+ and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution, and the Congressional
+ legislation subsequently enacted for the purpose of enforcing them, that
+ not only the absolute personal Freedom of every man, woman, and child in
+ the United States was thus irrevocably decreed; that United States
+ citizenship was clearly defined; that the life, liberty, property,
+ privileges and immunities of all were secured by throwing around them the
+ "equal protection of the laws;" that the right of the United States
+ citizen to vote, was placed beyond denial or abridgment, on "account of
+ race, color, or previous condition of servitude;" but, to make this more
+ certain, the basis of Congressional Representative&mdash;apportionment was
+ changed from its former mixed relation, comprehending both persons and
+ "property," so-called, to one of personal numbers&mdash;the Black man now
+ counting quite as much as the White man, instead of only three-fifths as
+ much; and it was decreed, that, except for crime, any denial to United
+ States citizens, whether Black or White, of the right to vote at any
+ election of Presidential electors, Congressional Representatives, State
+ Governors, Judges, or Legislative members, "shall" work a reduction,
+ proportioned to the extent of such denial, in the Congressional
+ Representation of the State, or States, guilty of it. As a further
+ safeguard, in the process of reconstruction, none of the insurgent States
+ were rehabilitated in the Union except upon acceptance of those three
+ Amendments as an integral part of the United States Constitution, to be
+ binding upon it; and it was this Constitution as it is, and not the
+ Constitution as it was, that all the Representatives, in both Houses of
+ Congress, from those insurgent States&mdash;as well as all their State
+ officers&mdash;swore to obey as the supreme law of the Land, when taking
+ their respective oaths of office.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Biding their time, and pretending to act in good faith, as the years
+ rolled by, the distrust and suspicion with which the old
+ Rebel-conspirators had naturally been regarded, gradually lessened in the
+ public mind. With a glad heart, the Congress, year after year, removed the
+ political disabilities from class after class of those who had incurred
+ them, until at last all, so desiring, had been reinstated in the full
+ privileges of citizenship, save the very few unrepentant instigators and
+ leaders of the Rebellion, who, in the depths of that oblivion to which
+ they seemingly had been consigned, continued to nurse the bitterness of
+ their downfall into an implacable hatred of that Republic which had
+ paralyzed the bloody hands of Rebellion, and shattered all their ambitious
+ dreams of Oligarchic rule, if not of Empire.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But, while the chieftains of the great Conspiracy&mdash;and of the armed
+ Rebellion itself&mdash;remained at their homes unpunished, through the
+ clemency of the American People; the active and malignant minds of some of
+ them were plotting a future triumph for the "Lost Cause," in the
+ overthrow, in consecutive detail, of the Loyal governments of the Southern
+ States, by any and all means which might be by them considered most
+ desirable, judicious, expedient, and effectual; the solidifying of these
+ Southern States into a new Confederation, or league, in fact&mdash;with an
+ unwritten but well understood Constitution of its own&mdash;to be known
+ under the apparently harmless title of the "Solid South," whose mission it
+ would be to build up, and strengthen, and populate, and enrich itself
+ within the Union, for a time, greater or less, according to circumstances,
+ and in the meanwhile to work up, with untiring devotion and energy, not
+ only to this practical autonomy and Sectional Independence within the
+ Union, but also to a practical re-enslavement of the Blacks, and to the
+ vigorous reassertion and triumph, by the aid of British gold, of those
+ pernicious doctrines of Free-Trade which, while beneficial to the
+ Cotton-lords of the South, would again check and drag down the robust
+ expansion of manufactures and commerce in all other parts of the Land, and
+ destroy the glorious prosperity of farmers, mechanics, and laborers, while
+ at the same time crippling Capital, in the North and West.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In order to accomplish these results&mdash;after whatever of suspicion and
+ distrust that might have still remained in Northern minds had been removed
+ by the public declaration in 1874, by one of the ablest and most
+ persuasively eloquent of Southern statesmen, that "The South&mdash;prostrate,
+ exhausted, drained of her life-blood as well as of her material resources,
+ yet still honorable and true&mdash;accepts the bitter award of the bloody
+ arbitrament without reservation, resolutely determined to abide the result
+ with chivalrous fidelity"&mdash;these old Rebel leaders commenced in good
+ earnest to carry out their well organized programme, which they had
+ already experimentally tested, to their own satisfaction, in certain
+ localities.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The plan was this: By the use of shot-guns and rifles, and cavalcades of
+ armed white Democrats, in red shirts, riding around the country at dead of
+ night, whipping prominent Republican Whites and Negroes to death, or
+ shooting or hanging them if thought advisable, such terror would fall upon
+ the colored Republican voters that they would keep away from the polls,
+ and consequently the white Democrats, undeterred by such influences, and
+ on the contrary, eager to take advantage of them, would poll not only a
+ full vote, but a majority vote, on all questions, whether involving the
+ mere election of Democratic officials, or otherwise; and where
+ intimidation of this, or any other kind, should fail, then a resort to be
+ had to whatever devices might be found necessary to make a fraudulent
+ count and return, and thus secure Democratic triumph; and furthermore,
+ when evidences of these intimidations and frauds should be presented to
+ those people of the Union who believe in every citizen of this free
+ Republic having one free vote, and that vote fairly counted, then to laugh
+ the complainants out of Court with the cry that such stories are not true;
+ are "campaign lies" devised solely for political effect; and are merely
+ the product of Republican "outrage mills," ground out, to order.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This plan was first thoroughly tried in Mississippi, and has hence been
+ called the "Mississippi plan." So magically effectual was it, that, with
+ variations adapted to locality and circumstances, this "Mississippi plan"
+ soon enveloped the entire South in its mesh-work of fraud, barbarity, and
+ blood. The massacres, and other outrages, while methodical, were
+ remittent, wave-like, sometimes in one Southern State, sometimes another,
+ and occurring only in years of hot political conflict, until one after
+ another of those States had, by these crimes, been again brought under the
+ absolute control of the old Rebel leaders. By 1876, they had almost
+ succeeded in their entire programme. They had captured all, save three, of
+ the Southern States, and strained every nerve and every resource of
+ unprincipled ingenuity, of bribery and perjury, after the Presidential
+ election of that year had taken place, in the effort to defeat the will of
+ the People and "count in," the Presidential candidate of the Democratic
+ Party.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [The shameful history of the "Tilden barrel" and the "Cipher Dispatches"
+ is too fresh in the public mind to be entirely forgotten,]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ Failing in this effort, the very failure became a grievance. On the
+ principle of a fleeing thief diverting pursuit by shouting "Stop thief,"
+ the cry of "fraud" was raised by the Democratic leaders, North and South,
+ against the Republican Party, and was iterated and reiterated so long and
+ loudly, that soon they actually began, themselves, to believe, that
+ President Hayes had been "counted in," by improper methods! At all events,
+ under cover of the hue and cry thus raised, the Southern leaders hurried
+ up their work of Southern solidification, by multiplied outrages on the
+ "Mississippi plan," so that, by 1880, they were ready to dictate, and did
+ dictate, the Democratic Presidential nominations.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [Senator Wallace, of Pennsylvania, telegraphed from Cincinnati his
+ congratulations to General Hancock, and added: "General Buell tells me
+ that Murat Halsted says Hancock's nomination by the Confederate
+ Brigadiers sets the old Rebel yell to the music of the Union." In the
+ Convention which nominated Hancock, Wade Hampton made a speech, saying;
+ "On behalf of the 'Solid South,' that South which once was arrayed
+ against the great soldier of Pennsylvania, I stand here to pledge you
+ its solid vote. [cheers] * * * There is no name which is held in higher
+ respect among the people of the South, than that of the man you have
+ given to us as our standard-bearer." And afterward, in a speech at
+ Staunton, Virginia, the same Southern leader, in referring to the action
+ of the Democratic Convention at Cincinnati, said: "There was but one
+ feeling among the Southern delegates. That feeling was expressed when we
+ said to our Northern Democratic brethren 'Give us an available man.'
+ They gave us that man."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ While these old Rebel leaders of the South had insisted upon, and had
+ succeeded in, nominating a man whose record as a Union soldier would make
+ him popular in the North and West, and while their knowledge of his
+ availability for Southern purposes would help them in their work of
+ absolutely solidifying the South, they took very good care also to press
+ forward their pet Free-Trade issue&mdash;that principle so dear to the
+ hearts of the Rebel Cotton-lords that, as has already been hinted, they
+ incorporated it into their Constitution of Confederation in these words:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "SEC. 8.&mdash;Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties,
+ imposts and excises for revenue necessary to pay the debts, provide for
+ the common defense, and carry on the Government of the Confederate States;
+ but no bounty shall be granted from the Treasury, nor shall any duty or
+ tax on importation from Foreign Nations be laid to promote or foster any
+ branch of industry."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It may also be remarked that, under the inspiration of those Southern
+ leaders who afterward rebelled, it had been laid down as Democratic
+ doctrine, in the National Democratic platform of 1856&mdash;and
+ "reaffirmed" as such, in 1860&mdash;that "The time has come for the People
+ of the United States to declare themselves in favor of * * * progressive
+ Free-Trade. * * * That justice and sound policy forbid the Federal
+ Government to foster one branch of industry to the detriment of another."
+ But, by 1864, the Republican Protective-Tariff of 1860, had so abundantly
+ demonstrated, to all our people engaged in industrial occupations, the
+ beneficence of the great principle of home industrial Protection, that
+ Tariff-agitation actually ceased, and the National Democratic platform of
+ that year had nothing to say in behalf of Free-Trade!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After the close of the War, however, at the very first National Democratic
+ Convention, in 1868, at which there were delegations from the lately
+ rebellious States, the question was at once brought to the front, and,
+ under the inspiration of the old Rebel leaders aforesaid, the Democratic
+ platform again raised the banner of Free-Trade by declaring for a Tariff
+ for revenue. But the mass of the People, at that time still freshly
+ remembered the terrible commercial disasters and industrial depressions
+ which had befallen the Land, through the practical operation of that
+ baleful Democratic Free-Trade doctrine, before the Rebellion broke out,
+ and sharply contrasted the misery and poverty and despair of those dark
+ days of ruin and desolation, with the comfort and prosperity and
+ hopefulness which had since come to them through the Republican
+ Protective-Tariff Accordingly, the Republican Presidential candidate,
+ representing the great principle of Protection to American Industries, was
+ elected over the Democratic Free-Trade candidate, by 214 to 71 electoral
+ votes-or nearly three to one!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Taught, by this lesson, that the People were not yet sufficiently prepared
+ for a successful appeal in behalf of anything like Free-Trade, the next
+ National Democratic Convention, (that of 1872), under the same Southern
+ inspiration, more cautiously declared, in its platform, that "Recognizing
+ that there are in our midst, honest but irreconcilable differences of
+ opinion, with regard to the respective systems of Protection and
+ Free-Trade, we remit the discussion of the subject to the People in their
+ Congressional districts, and to the decision of the Congress thereon,
+ wholly free from Executive interference or dictation." The People,
+ however, rebuked the moral cowardice thus exhibited by the Democracy&mdash;in
+ avoiding a direct issue on the doctrine which Democracy itself had
+ galvanized at least into simulated life,&mdash;by giving 286 electoral
+ votes to the Republican candidate, to 63 for the Democratic,&mdash;or in
+ the proportion of nearly five to one.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Warned, by this overwhelming defeat, not to flinch from, or avoid, or try
+ to convert the great National question of Tariff, into a merely local one,
+ the National Democratic platform of 1876, at the instigation of the old
+ Rebel leaders of the now fast solidifying South, came out flat-footedly
+ again with the "demand that all Custom-house taxation shall be only for
+ revenue." This time, the electoral vote stood almost evenly divided, viz.:
+ for the Republican candidate, 185; for the Democratic candidate, 184;&mdash;a
+ result so extremely close, as to lead to the attempted perpetration of
+ great frauds against the successful candidate; the necessary settlement of
+ the questions growing out of them, by an Electoral commission&mdash;created
+ by Congress at the instance of the Democratic Party; great irritation,
+ among the defeated Democracy, over the just findings of that august
+ Tribunal; and to the birth of the alleged Democratic "grievance,"
+ aforesaid.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The closeness of this vote&mdash;their almost triumph, in 1876,&mdash;encouraged
+ the Solid South to press upon the National Democratic Convention of 1880,
+ the expediency of adopting a Free-Trade "plank" similar to that with
+ which, in 1876, they had so nearly succeeded. Hence the Democratic
+ platform of 1880, also declared decidedly for "A Tariff for revenue only."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The old Rebel leaders, at last in full control of the entire Democratic
+ Party, had now got things pretty much as they wanted them. They had
+ created that close corporation within the Union&mdash;that <i>imperium in
+ imperio</i> that oligarchically&mdash;governed league of States (within
+ the Republic of the United States) which they termed the "Solid South,"
+ and which would vote as a unit, on all questions, as they directed; they
+ had dictated the nomination, by the Democratic Party, of a Presidential
+ candidate who would not dare to act counter to their wishes; and their pet
+ doctrine of Free-Trade was held up, to the whole Democratic front, under
+ the attractive disguise of a Tariff for revenue only.
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [As Ex-Senator Toombs, of Georgia, wrote: "The old boys of the South
+ will see that 'Hancock' does the fair thing by them. In other words, he
+ will run the machine to suit them, or they will run the thing
+ themselves. They are not going to be played with any longer."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ In other words, they had already secured a "Solid South," an "available"
+ candidate, and an "expedient" Free-Trade platform. All that remained for
+ them, at this stage, to do, was to elect the candidate, and enact their
+ Free-Trade doctrine into legislation. This was their current work, so to
+ speak&mdash;to be first attended to&mdash;but not all their work; for one
+ of the most brilliant and candid of their coadjutors had said, only a few
+ months before: "We do not intend to stop until we have stricken the last
+ vestige of your War measures from the Statute-book."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Unfortunately, however, for their plans, an attempt made by them, under
+ the lead of Mr. Morrison of Illinois, in 1876, to meddle with the
+ Republican Protective-Tariff, had caused considerable public alarm, and
+ had been credited with having much to do with a succeeding monetary panic,
+ and industrial depression. Another and more determined effort, made by
+ them in 1878, under the lead of their old Copperhead ally, Fernando Wood,
+ to cut down the wise Protective duties imposed by the Tariff Act, about 15
+ per cent.,&mdash;together with the cold-blooded Free-Trade declaration of
+ Mr. Wood, touching his ruinous Bill, that "Its reductions are trifling as
+ compared with what they should be. * * * If I had the power to commence de
+ novo, I should reduce the duties 50 per cent., instead of less than 15 per
+ cent., upon an average as now proposed,"&mdash;an effort which was
+ narrowly, and with great difficulty, defeated by the Republicans, aided by
+ a mere handful of others,&mdash;had also occasioned great excitement
+ throughout the Country, the suspension and failure of thousands of
+ business firms, the destruction of confidence in the stability and
+ profitableness of American industries, and great consequent suffering, and
+ enforced idleness, to the working men and working women of the Land.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The sad recollection of these facts&mdash;made more poignant by the airy
+ declaration of the Democratic Presidential candidate, that the great
+ National question of the Tariff is a mere "local issue,"&mdash;was largely
+ instrumental, in connection with the insolent aggressiveness of the
+ Southern leaders, in Congress, in occasioning their defeat in the
+ Presidential contest of 1880, the Republican candidate receiving 214
+ electoral votes, while the Democratic candidate received but 155 electoral
+ votes.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In 1882, the House of Representatives was under Republican control, and,
+ despite determined Democratic resistance, created a Tariff-commission,
+ whose duty it was "to take into consideration, and to thoroughly
+ investigate, all the various questions relating to the agricultural,
+ commercial, mercantile, manufacturing, mining, and (other) industrial
+ interests of the United States, so far as the same may be necessary to the
+ establishment of a judicious Tariff, or a revision of the existing Tariff,
+ upon a scale of justice to all interests."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ That same year, in the face of most protracted and persistent opposition
+ by the great bulk of Democratic members, both of the Senate and House of
+ Representatives, and an effort to substitute for it the utterly ruinous
+ Democratic Free-Trade Tariff of 1846, the Bill recommended by this
+ Republican Tariff-commission, was enacted; and, in 1883, a modified
+ Tariff-measure, comprehending a large annual reduction of import duties,
+ while also carefully preserving the great Republican American principle of
+ Protection, was placed by the Republicans on the Statute-book, despite the
+ renewed and bitter opposition of the Democrats, who, as usual, fought it
+ desperately in both branches of Congress. But Republican efforts failed in
+ 1884, in the interest of the wool-growers of the country, to restore the
+ Protective-duties on wool, which had been sacrificed, in 1883, to an
+ exigency created by Democratic opposition to them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Another Democratic effort, in the direction of Free-Trade, known as "the
+ Morrison Tariff-Bill of 1884," was made in the latter year, which, besides
+ increasing the free-list, by adding to it salt, coal, timber, and wood
+ unmanufactured, as well as many manufactures thereof, decreased the import
+ duties "horizontally" on everything else to the extent of twenty per cent.
+ The Republicans, aided by a few Democrats, killed this undigested and
+ indigestible Democratic Bill, by striking out its enacting clause.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ By this time, however, by dint of the incessant special-pleading in behalf
+ of the obnoxious and un-American doctrine of Free-Trade,&mdash;or the
+ nearest possible approach to it, consistent with the absolutely essential
+ collection of revenues for the mere support of the Government &mdash;indulged
+ in (by some of the professors) in our colleges of learning; through a
+ portion of the press; upon the stump; and in Congress; together with the
+ liberal use of British gold in the wide distribution of printed British
+ arguments in its favor,&mdash;this pernicious but favorite idea of the
+ Solid South had taken such firm root in the minds of the greater part of
+ the Democratic Party in the North and West, as well as the South, that a
+ declaration in the National Democratic platform in its favor was now
+ looked for, as a matter of course. The "little leaven" of this monstrous
+ un-American heresy seemed likely to leaven "the whole mass" of the
+ Democracy.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But, as in spite of the tremendous advantage given to that Party by the
+ united vote of the Solid South, the Presidential contest of 1884 was
+ likely to be so close that, to give Democracy any chance to win, the few
+ Democrats opposed to Free-Trade must be quieted, the utterances of the
+ Democratic National Platform of that year, on the subject, were so
+ wonderfully pieced, and ludicrously intermixed, that they could be
+ construed to mean "all things to all men."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At last, after an exciting campaign, the Presidential election of 1884 was
+ held, and for the first time since 1856, the old Free-Trade Democracy of
+ the South could rejoice over the triumph of their Presidential candidate.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Great was the joy of the Solid South! At last, its numberless crimes
+ against personal Freedom, and political Liberty, would reap a generous
+ harvest. At last, participation in Rebellion would no more be regarded as
+ a blot upon the political escutcheon. At last, commensurate rewards for
+ all the long years of disconsolate waiting, and of hard work in night
+ ridings, and house-burnings, and "nigger"-whippings, and
+ "nigger"-shootings, and "nigger"-hangings, and ballot-box stuffings, and
+ all the other dreadful doings to which these old leaders were impelled by
+ a sense of Solid-Southern patriotism, and pride of race, and lust for
+ power, would come, and come in profusion.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Grand places in the Cabinet, and foreign Missions, for the old Rebels of
+ distinction, now Chiefs of the "Solid-Southern" Conspiracy, and for those
+ other able Northern Democrats who had helped them, during or since the
+ Rebellion; fat consulates abroad, for others of less degree; post-offices,
+ without stint, for the lesser lights; all this, and more, must now come.
+ The long-hidden light of a glorious day was about to break. The
+ "restoration of the Government to the principles and practices of the
+ earlier period," predicted by the unreconstructed "Rebel chieftains" those
+ "same principles for which they fought for four years" the principles of
+ Southern Independence, Slavery, Free Trade and Oligarchic rule&mdash;were
+ now plainly in sight, and within reach!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The triumph of the Free-Trade Democracy, if continued to another
+ Presidential election, would make Free-Trade a certainty. The old forms of
+ Slavery, to be sure, were dead beyond reanimation&mdash;perhaps; but, in
+ their place, were other forms of Slavery, which attracted less attention
+ and reprobation from the World at large, and yet were quite as effectual
+ for all Southern purposes. The system of Peonage and contracted
+ convict-labor, growing out of the codes of Black laws, were all-sufficient
+ to keep the bulk of the Negro race in practical subjection and bondage.
+ The solidifying of the South had already made the South not only
+ practically independent within the Union, but the overshadowing power,
+ potential enough to make, and unmake, the rulers and policies of the
+ Democratic Party, and of that Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This, indeed, was a grand outcome for the tireless efforts of the once
+ defeated Conspirators! And as to Oligarchal rule&mdash;the rule of the few
+ (and those the Southern chiefs) over the many,&mdash;was not that already
+ accomplished? For these old Rebel leaders and oligarchs who had secured
+ the supreme rule over the Solid South, had also, through their ability to
+ wield the power of that Solid South within the Union, actually secured the
+ power of practically governing the entire Union!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ That Union, then, which we have been wont to look upon as the grandest,
+ noblest, freest, greatest Republic upon Earth,&mdash;is it really such, in
+ all respects, at the present? Does the Free Republic of the United States
+ exist, in fact, to-day?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="linkch33" id="linkch33"></a><br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ CHAPTER XXXIII.<br /> <br /> WHAT NEXT?
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And what next? Aye, what next? Do the patriotic, innocent-minded lovers of
+ a Republican form of Government imagine, for an instant, that all danger
+ to its continued existence and well-being has ceased to threaten?&mdash;that
+ all the crises perilous to that beneficent popular governmental form have
+ vanished?&mdash;that the climacteric came, and went, with the breaking
+ out, and suppression, of the Rebellion?&mdash;and that there is nothing
+ alarming in the outlook? Quite likely. The public mind has not yet been
+ aroused to a sense of the actual revolution against Republican form of
+ government that has already taken place in many of the Southern States,
+ much less as to the likelihood of things to come. The people of any one of
+ the Western, or Northern States,&mdash;take New York, for example,&mdash;feel
+ prosperous and happy under the beneficent workings of the Republican
+ Protective-Tariff system. Business, of all sorts, recovering from the
+ numerous attacks made upon that prime bulwark of our American industries,
+ if only let alone, will fairly hum, and look bright, so far as "the
+ Almighty dollar" is concerned. They know they have their primaries and
+ conventions, in their wards and counties throughout their State, and their
+ State Conventions, and their elections. They know that the voice of the
+ majority of their own people, uttered through the sacred ballot-box, is
+ practically the Vox Dei&mdash;and that all bow to it. They know also, that
+ this State government of theirs, with all its ramifications&mdash;whether
+ as to its Executive, its Legislative, its Judicial, and other officials,
+ either elective or appointed&mdash;is a Republican form of government, in
+ the American sense&mdash;in the sense contemplated by the Fathers, when
+ they incorporated into the revered Constitution of our Country the vital
+ words: "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a
+ Republican Form of government." But they do not realize the vastly
+ different condition of things in many States of the Solid South, nor how
+ it affects themselves.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And what is this "republican" form of government, thus pledged? It is true
+ that there are not wanting respectable authorities whose definitions of
+ the words "republic," and "republican," are strongly inharmonious with
+ their true meaning, as correctly understood by the great bulk of
+ Americans. Thus, Brande asserts that "A republic may be either a democracy
+ or an aristocracy!"&mdash;and proceeds to say: "In the former, the supreme
+ power is vested in the whole body of the people, or in representatives
+ elected by the people; in the latter, it is vested in a nobility, or a
+ privileged class of comparatively a small number of persons." John Adams
+ also wrote: "The customary meanings of the words republic and commonwealth
+ have been infinite. They have been applied to every Government under
+ heaven; that of Turkey and that of Spain, as well as that of Athens and of
+ Rome, of Geneva and San Marino." But the true meaning of the word
+ "republican" as applied to a "form of government," and as commonly and
+ almost invariably understood by those who, above all others in the wide
+ World, should best understand and appreciate its blessings&mdash;to wit:
+ the American People has none of the looseness and indefiniteness which
+ these authorities throw about it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The prevailing and correct American idea is that "Republican" means: of,
+ or pertaining to, a Republic; that "Republic" means a thing, affair, or
+ matter, closely related to, and touching the "public;" and that the
+ "public" are the "people"&mdash;not a small proportion of them, but "the
+ people at large," the whole community, the Nation, the commonalty, the
+ generality. Hence, "a Republican form of government" is, in their opinion,
+ plainly that form which is most closely identified with, and
+ representative of, the generality or majority of the people; or, in the
+ language of Dr. J. E. Worcester, it is "That form of government or of a
+ State, in which the supreme power is vested in the people, or in
+ representatives elected by the people."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is obvious that there can be no such thing as "a republic," which is,
+ at the same time, "an aristocracy;" for the moment that which was "a
+ republic" becomes "an aristocracy," that moment it ceases to be "a
+ republic." So also can there be no such thing as "a republic" which is "an
+ oligarchy," for, as "a republic" is a government of the many, or, as
+ President Lincoln well termed it, "a government of the people, by the
+ people, for the people"&mdash;so it must cease to be "a republic," when
+ the supreme power is in the hands of the oligarchic few.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ There can be but two kinds of republics proper&mdash;one a democratic
+ republic, which is impossible for a great and populous Nation like ours,
+ but which may have answered for some of the small republics of ancient
+ Greece; the other, a representative republic, such as is boasted by the
+ United States. And this is the kind palpably meant by the Fathers, when,
+ for the very purpose of nipping in the bud any anti-republican Conspiracy
+ likely to germinate from Slavery, they inserted in the Great Charter of
+ American Liberties the solemn and irrevocable mandate: "The United States
+ shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of
+ Government." That they meant this majority rule&mdash;this government by
+ the many, instead of the few&mdash;this rule of the People, as against any
+ possible minority rule, by, or through, oligarchs or aristocrats, is
+ susceptible of proof in other ways.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is a safe guide, in attempting to correctly expound the Constitution of
+ the United States, to be careful that the construction insisted on, is
+ compatible and harmonious with the spirit of that great instrument; so
+ that&mdash;as was said by an eloquent and distinguished Massachusetts
+ statesman of twenty years ago, in discussing this very point&mdash;"the
+ guarantee of a Republican form of government must have a meaning congenial
+ with the purposes of the Constitution." Those purposes, of course, are
+ expressed in its preamble, or in the body of the instrument, or in both.
+ The preamble itself, in this case, is sufficient to show them. It
+ commences with the significant words: "We THE PEOPLE of the United States"&mdash;words,
+ instinct with the very consciousness of the possession of that supreme
+ power by the People or public, which made this not only a Nation, but a
+ Republic; and, after stating the purposes or objects sought by the People
+ in thus instituting this Republic, proceeds to use that supreme political
+ power vested in them, by ordaining and establishing "this CONSTITUTION for
+ the United States of America." And, from the very first article, down to
+ the last, of that "Constitution," or "structure," or "frame," or "form" of
+ government, already self-evidently and self-consciously and avowedly
+ Republican, that form is fashioned into a distinctively representative
+ Republican government.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The purposes themselves, as declared in the preamble, for which the People
+ of the United States thus spake this representative Republic into being,
+ are also full of light. Those purposes were "to form a more perfect Union,
+ establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquillity, provide for the common
+ defense, promote the General Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty
+ to ourselves and our Posterity."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ How is it possible, for instance, that "the Blessings of Liberty" are to
+ be secured to "ourselves and our Posterity," if citizens of the United
+ States, despite the XVth Amendment of that Constitution, find&mdash;through
+ the machinations of political organizations&mdash;their right to vote,
+ both abridged and denied, in many of the States, "on account of race,
+ color, or previous condition of servitude?" How, if, in such States, "the
+ right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, and effects,
+ against unreasonable searches and seizures," is habitually violated,
+ despite the IVth Amendment of that Constitution? How, if, in such States,
+ persons are notoriously and frequently "deprived of life, liberty, or
+ property, without due process of law," in violation of the Vth Amendment
+ of that Constitution? Yet such is the state of affairs generally prevalent
+ in many States of the Solid South.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ These provisions in the Constitution were, with others, placed there for
+ the very purpose of securing "the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and
+ our Posterity," of promoting the "General Welfare," of establishing
+ "Justice," of insuring "domestic Tranquillity" and making "a more perfect
+ Union"&mdash;and the violation of those provisions, or any one of them, in
+ any part of our Land, by any part of our People, in any one of the States,
+ is not only subversive of the Constitution, and revolutionary, but
+ constitutes a demand, in itself, upon the National Government, to obey
+ that imperative mandate of the Constitution (Sec. 4, article IV.)
+ comprehended in the words: "The United States SHALL guarantee to every
+ State in this Union a Republican Form of Government."
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ [The meaning of these words is correctly given in an opinion of Justice
+ Bronson of New York (4 Hill's Reports, 146) in these words:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The meaning of the section then seems to be, that no member of the
+ State shall be disfranchised or deprived of any of his rights or
+ privileges unless the matter shall be adjudged against him upon trial
+ had according to the course of common law. The words 'due process of
+ law' cannot mean less than a prosecution or suit instituted and
+ conducted according to the prescribed forms and solemnities for
+ ascertaining guilt or determining the title to property."]
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ It is well that the truth should be spoken out, and known of all men. The
+ blame for this condition of things belongs partly to the Republican Party.
+ The question is sometimes asked: "If these outrages against citizenship,
+ against the purity of the ballot, against humanity, against both the
+ letter and spirit of the Constitution of our Republic, are perpetrated,
+ why is it that the Republican Party&mdash;so long in power during their
+ alleged perpetration&mdash;did not put a stop to them?" The answer is:
+ that while there are remedial measures, and measures of prevention, fully
+ warranted by the Constitution&mdash;while there are Constitutional ways
+ and means for the suppression of such outrages&mdash;yet, out of exceeding
+ tenderness of heart, which prompted the hope and belief that the folly of
+ continuing them must ere long come home to the Southern mind and
+ conscience, the Republican Party has been loath to put them in force. The&mdash;best
+ remedy of all, and the best manner of administering it, lies with the
+ people themselves, of those States where these outrages are perpetrated.
+ Let them stop it. The People of the United States may be long-suffering,
+ and slow to wrath; but they will not permit such things to continue
+ forever.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ When the Rebellion was quelled, the evil spirit which brought it about
+ should have been utterly crushed out, and none of the questions involved
+ in it should have been permitted to be raised again. But the Republican
+ Party acted from its heart, instead of its head. It was merciful,
+ forgiving, and magnanimous. In the magnificent sweep of its generosity to
+ the erring son, it perhaps failed to insure the exact justice to the other
+ sons which was their right. For, as has already been shown in these pages,
+ Free-Trade, imbedded in the Rebel Constitution, as well as Slavery,
+ entered into and became a part, and an essential part, of the Rebellion
+ against the Union&mdash;to triumph with Slavery, if the Rebellion
+ succeeded&mdash;to fall with Slavery, if the Rebellion failed. And, while
+ Slavery and Free-Trade, were two leading ideas inspiring the Southern
+ Conspirators and leaders in their Rebellion; Freedom to Man, and
+ Protection to Labor, were the nobler ideas inspiring those who fought for
+ the Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Morrill-Tariff of 1860, with modifications to it subsequently made by
+ its Republican friends, secured to the Nation, through the triumph of the
+ Union arms, great and manifold blessings and abundant prosperity flowing
+ from the American Protective policy; while the Emancipation proclamations,
+ together with the Constitutional amendments, and Congressional
+ legislation, through the same triumph, and the acceptance of the
+ legitimate results of the War, gave Freedom to all within the Nation's
+ bound aries. This, at least, was the logical outcome of the failure of the
+ Rebellion. Such was the general understanding, on all sides, at the
+ conclusion of the War. Yet the Republican Party, in failing to stigmatize
+ the heresy of Free Trade&mdash;which had so large an agency in bringing
+ about the equally heretical doctrines of State Sovereignty and the right
+ of Secession, and Rebellion itself,&mdash;as an issue or question settled
+ by the War, as a part and parcel of the Rebellion, was guilty of a grave
+ fault of omission, some of the ill-effects of which have already been
+ felt, while others are yet to come. For, quickly after the War of the
+ Rebellion closed,&mdash;as has been already mentioned&mdash;the defeated
+ Rebel leaders, casting in their lot with their Democratic friends and
+ allies, openly and without special rebuke, prevailed upon the National
+ Democracy to adopt the Rebel Free-Trade Shibboleth of "a Tariff for
+ revenue;" and that same Democracy, obtaining power and place, through
+ violence and fraud and falsehood at the so-called "elections" in the Solid
+ Southern States, now threatens the Country once more with iniquitous
+ Free-Trade legislation, and all its attendant train of commercial
+ disasters and general industrial ruin.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Were Abraham Lincoln able bodily to revisit the United States to-day, how
+ his keen gray eyes would open in amazement, to find that many legitimate
+ fruits of our Union victories had been filched from us; that &mdash;save
+ the honorable few, who, accepting the legitimate results of the War, were
+ still honestly striving for the success of principles harmonizing with
+ such results, and inuring to the general welfare&mdash;they who strove
+ with all their might to wreck the Government,&mdash;were now,&mdash;through
+ the fraudulent and forcible restriction of voters in their right to vote&mdash;at
+ the helm of State; that these, who sought to ruin the Nation, had thus
+ wrongfully usurped its rule; that Free-Trade&mdash;after "running-a-muck"
+ of panic and disaster, from the birth of the Republic, to the outbreak of
+ the Rebellion, with whose failure it should naturally have expired&mdash;was
+ now reanimated, and stood, defiantly threatening all the great industries
+ of our Land; that all his own painstaking efforts, and those of the band
+ of devoted Patriots who stood by him to free the Southern Slaves, had
+ mainly resulted in hiding from sight the repulsive chains of enforced
+ servitude, under the outward garb of Freedom; that the old Black codes had
+ simply been replaced by enactments adapted to the new conditions; that the
+ old system of African Slavery had merely been succeeded by the heartless
+ and galling system of African Peonage; that the sacrifices made by him&mdash;including
+ that of his martyrdom&mdash;had, to a certain extent, been made in vain;
+ that all the sacrifices, the sorrows, the sufferings, of this Nation, made
+ in blood, in tears, and in vast expenditures of time and treasure, had, in
+ some degree, and in a certain sense, been useless; that the Union, to be
+ sure, was saved&mdash;but saved to be measurably perverted from its grand
+ purpose; that the power which animated Rebellion and which was supposed to
+ have expired in the "last ditch" with the "Lost Cause" had, by political
+ legerdemain and jugglery and violence, been regained; that the time had
+ actually come for Patriots to take back seats, while unrepentant Rebels
+ came to the front; that the Republic still lived, but only by sufferance,
+ with the hands of Southern oligarchs about its palpitating throat&mdash;a
+ Republic, not such as he expected, where all men are equal before the law,
+ and protected in their rights, but where the rights of a certain class are
+ persistently trampled under foot; that the people of the Northern, Middle,
+ and Western States, observing nothing beyond their own vicinage, so to
+ speak, and finding that each of their own States is still Republican in
+ its form of government, persistently, and perversely, shut their eyes to
+ the election terrorism practiced in the Solid South by, which the 16
+ solid, Southern States were, and are, solidified by these conspiring
+ oligarchs into one compact, and powerful, political mass, ever ready to be
+ hurled, in and out of Congress, against the best interests of the Nation&mdash;16
+ States, not all "Republican" in form, but many of them Despotisms, in
+ substance,&mdash;16 States, misnamed "Democratic," many of them ruled not
+ by a majority, but by an Oligarch-ridden minority&mdash;16 States,
+ leagued, banded, bound solidly together, as one great controlling
+ Oligarchy, to hold, in its merciless and selfish hands, the balance of
+ power within this Republican Union; and that these confederated Southern
+ States are now actually able to dictate to all the other States of the
+ Union, the particular man, or men, to whose rule the Nation must submit,
+ and the particular policy, or policies, which the Nation must adopt and
+ follow:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "What next?"&mdash;you ask&mdash;"What next?" Alas, it is not difficult to
+ predict! Power, lawlessly gained, is always mercilessly used. Power,
+ usurped, is never tamely surrendered. The old French proverb, that
+ "revolutions never go backward," is as true to-day, as when it was
+ written. Already we see the signs of great preparations throughout the
+ Solid South. Already we hear the shout of partisan hosts marshalled behind
+ the leaders of the disarmed Rebellion, in order that the same old
+ political organization which brought distress upon this Land shall again
+ control the Government. Already the spirit of the former aggressiveness is
+ defiantly bestirring itself. The old chieftains intend to take no more
+ chances. They feel that their Great Conspiracy is now assured of success,
+ inside the Union. They hesitate not to declare that the power once held by
+ them, and temporarily lost, is regained. Like the Old Man of the Sea, they
+ are now on top, and they:
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ MEAN TO KEEP THERE&mdash;IF THEY CAN.
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Conspiracy, Complete
+by John Alexander Logan
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+ </body>
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+Project Gutenberg's The Great Conspiracy, Complete, by John Alexander Logan
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Great Conspiracy, Complete
+
+Author: John Alexander Logan
+
+Release Date: August 16, 2006 [EBook #7140]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT CONSPIRACY, COMPLETE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+ THE GREAT CONSPIRACY
+
+ Its Origin and History
+
+ BY
+
+ JOHN LOGAN
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+In the preparation of this work it has been the writer's aim to present
+in it, with historical accuracy, authentic facts; to be fair and
+impartial in grouping them; and to be true and just in the conclusions
+necessarily drawn from them. While thus striving to be accurate, fair,
+and just, he has not thought it his duty to mince words, nor to refrain
+from "calling things by their right names;" neither has he sought to
+curry favor, in any quarter, by fulsome adulation on the one side, nor
+undue denunciation on the other, either of the living, or of the dead.
+But, while tracing the history of the Great Conspiracy, from its obscure
+birth in the brooding brains of a few ambitious men of the earliest days
+of our Republic, through the subsequent years of its devolution, down to
+the evil days of Nullification, and to the bitter and bloody period of
+armed Rebellion, or contemplating it in its still more recent and,
+perhaps, more sinister development, of to-day, he has conscientiously
+dealt with it, throughout, in the clear and penetrating light of the
+voluminous records so readily accessible at the seat of our National
+Government. So far as was practicable, he has endeavored to allow the
+chief characters in that Conspiracy-as well as the Union leaders, who,
+whether in Executive, Legislative, or Military service, devoted their
+best abilities and energies to its suppression--to speak for themselves,
+and thus while securing their own proper places in history, by a process
+of self-adjustment as it were, themselves to write down that history in
+their own language. If then there be found within these covers aught
+which may seem harsh to those directly or indirectly, nearly or
+remotely, connected with that Conspiracy, he may not unfairly exclaim:
+"Thou canst not say I did it." If he knows his own heart, the writer
+can truly declare, with his hand upon it, that it bears neither hatred,
+malice, nor uncharitableness, to those who, misled by the cunning
+secrecy of the Conspirators, and without an inkling or even a suspicion
+of their fell purposes, went manfully into the field, with a courage
+worthy of a better cause, and for four years of bloody conflict,
+believing that their cause was just, fought the armies of the Union, in
+a mad effort to destroy the best government yet devised by man upon this
+planet. And, perhaps, none can better understand than he, how hard, how
+very hard, it must be for men of strong nature and intense feeling,
+after taking a mistaken stand, and especially after carrying their
+conviction to the cannon's mouth, to acknowledge their error before the
+world. Hence, while he has endeavored truly to depict--or to let those
+who made history at the time help him to depict--the enormity of the
+offence of the armed Rebellion and of the heresies and plottings of
+certain Southern leaders precipitating it, yet not one word will be
+found, herein, condemnatory of those who, with manly candor, soldierly
+courage, and true patriotism, acknowledged that error when the ultimate
+arbitrament of the sword had decided against them. On the contrary, to
+all such as accept, in good faith, the results of the war of the
+Rebellion, the writer heartily holds out the hand of forgiveness for the
+past, and good fellowship for the future.
+
+WASHINGTON, D. C.
+
+April 15, 1886.
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+[For detailed Table of Contents see below]
+
+
+
+CHAPTER.
+
+I. A Preliminary Retrospect,
+
+II. Protection, and Free Trade,
+
+III. Growth of the Slavery Question,
+
+IV. Popular Sovereignty,
+
+V. Presidential Contest of 1860,
+
+VI. The Great Conspiracy Maturing,
+
+VII. "Secession" Arming,
+
+VIII. The Rejected Olive Branch,
+
+IX. Slavery's Setting Sun,
+
+X. The War Drum--"On to Washington,"
+
+XI. Causes of Secession
+
+XII. Copperheadism vs. Union-Democracy,
+
+XIII. The Storm of Battle,
+
+XIV. The Colored Contraband,
+
+XV. Freedom's Early Dawn,
+
+XVI. Compensated, Gradual, Emancipation,
+
+XVII. Border-State Opposition,
+
+XVIII. Freedom Proclaimed to All,
+
+XIX. Historical Review,
+
+XX. Lincoln's Troubles and Temptations,
+
+XXI. The Armed Negro
+
+XXII. Freedom's Sun still Rising,
+
+XXIII. Thirteenth Amendment Passes the Senate
+
+XXIV. Treason in the Northern Camp,
+
+XXV. The "Fire in the Rear,"
+
+XXVI. Thirteenth Amendment Defeated in House,
+
+XXVII. Slavery Doomed at the Polls,
+
+XXVIII. Freedom at last Assured,
+
+XXIX. Lincoln's Second Inauguration,
+
+XXX. Collapse of Armed Conspiracy,
+
+XXXI. Assassination!
+
+XXXII. Turning Back the Hands,
+
+XXXIII. What Next?
+
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER I.
+ A PRELIMINARY RETROSPECT.
+
+AFRICAN SLAVERY IN AMERICA IN 1620--CONTROVERSY BETWEEN THE COLONIES AND
+ENGLAND IN 1699--GEORGIAN ABHORRENCE OF SLAVERY IN 1775--JEFFERSON AND
+THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE--SLAVERY A SOURCE OF WEAKNESS IN THE
+REVOLUTIONARY WAR--THE SESSION BY VIRGINIA OF THE GREAT NORTH-WEST--THE
+ORDINANCE OF 1784 AND ITS FAILURE--THE ORDINANCE OF 1787 AND ITS
+ADOPTION--THE GERM OF SLAVERY AGITATION PLANTED--THE QUESTION IN THE
+CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION--SUBTERFUGES OF THE OLD CONSTITUTION--THE
+BULLDOZING OF THE FATHERS--THE FIRST FEDERAL CONGRESS, 1789--CONDITIONS
+OF TERRITORIAL CESSIONS FROM NORTH CAROLINA AND GEORGIA, 1789-1802--THE
+"COLONY OF LOUISIANA" (MISSISSIPPI VALLEY) PURCHASE OF 1803--THE TREATY
+--CONDITIONS TOUCHING SLAVERY--THE COTTON INDUSTRY REVOLUTIONIZED--RAPID
+POPULATING OF THE GREAT VALLEY, BY SLAVEHOLDERS AND SLAVES--JEFFERSON'S
+APPARENT INCONSISTENCY EXPLAINED--THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE--MULTIPLICATION
+OF SLAVES--LOUISIANA ADMITTED, 1812, AS A STATE--THE TERRITORY OF
+MISSOURI--THE MISSOURI STRUGGLE (1818-1820) IN A NUTSHELL--THE "MISSOURI
+COMPROMISE"
+
+
+ CHAPTER II.
+ PROTECTION AND FREE TRADE.
+
+CHIEF CAUSE OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION--OUR INDEPENDENCE, INDUSTRIAL AS
+WELL AS POLITICAL--FAILURE OF THE CONFEDERATION DUE TO LACK OF
+INDUSTRIAL PROTECTION--MADISON'S TARIFF ACT OF 1789--HAMILTON'S TARIFF
+OF 1790--SOUTHERN STATESMEN AND SOUTHERN VOTES FOR EARLY TARIFFS
+--WASHINGTON AND JEFFERSON ON "PROTECTION "--EMBARGO OF 1807-8--WAR OF
+1812-15--CONSEQUENT INCREASE OF AMERICAN MANUFACTURES--BROUGHAM'S PLAN
+--RUIN THREATENED BY GLUT OF BRITISH GOODS--TARIFF ACT OF 1816--CALHOUN'S
+DEFENSE OF "PROTECTION"--NEW ENGLAND AGAINST THAT ACT--THE SOUTH SECURES
+ITS PASSAGE--THE PROTECTIVE TARIFF ACTS OF 1824 AND 1828--SUBSEQUENT
+PROSPERITY IN FREE STATES--THE BLIGHT OF SLAVERY--BIRTH OF THE FREE
+TRADE HERESY IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1797--SIMULTANEOUS BIRTH OF THE
+HERESY OF STATE RIGHTS--KENTUCKY RESOLUTIONS OF 1798--VIRGINIA
+RESOLUTIONS OF 1799--JEFFERSON'S REAL PURPOSE IN FORMULATING THEM
+--ACTIVITY OF THE FEW SOUTHERN FREE TRADERS--PLAUSIBLE ARGUMENTS AGAINST
+"PROTECTION"--INGENIOUS METHODS OF "FIRING THE SOUTHERN HEART"--SOUTHERN
+DISCONTENT WITH TARIFF OF 1824--INFLAMMATORY UTTERANCES--ARMED
+RESISTANCE URGED TO TARIFF OF 1828--WALTERBOROUGH ANTI-PROTECTIVE TARIFF
+ADDRESS--FREE TRADE AND NULLIFICATION ADVOCACY APPEARS IN CONGRESS--THE
+HAYNE-WEBSTER DEBATE--MODIFIED PROTECTIVE TARIFF OF 1832--SOUTH
+CAROLINA'S NULLIFICATION ORDINANCE--HAYNE ELECTED GOVERNOR OF SOUTH
+CAROLINA--HERESY OF "PARAMOUNT ALLEGIANCE TO THE STATE"--SOUTH CAROLINA
+ARMS HERSELF--PRESIDENT JACKSON STAMPS OUT SOUTHERN TREASON--CLAY'S
+COMPROMISE TARIFF OF 1833--CHIEF JUSTICE MARSHALL'S SOLEMN WARNING
+--JACKSON'S FORECAST
+
+
+ CHAPTER III.
+ GROWTH OF THE SLAVERY QUESTION.
+
+"EMANCIPATION" IN NORTHERN AND MIDDLE STATES--VIRGINIA'S UNSUCCESSFUL
+EFFORT--CESSION OF THE FLORIDAS, 1819--BALANCE OF POWER--ADMISSION OF
+ARKANSAS,1836--SOUTHERN SLAVE HOLDERS' COLONIZATION OF TEXAS--TEXAN
+INDEPENDENCE, 1837--CALHOUN'S SECOND AND GREAT CONSPIRACY--DETERMINATION
+BEFORE 1839 TO SECEDE--PROTECTIVE TARIFF FEATURES AGAIN THE PRETEXT
+--CALHOUN, IN 1841, ASKING THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT FOR AID--NORTHERN
+OPPOSITION TO ACQUISITION OF TEXAS--RATIONALE OF THE LOUISIANA AND
+FLORIDA ACQUISITIONS--PROPOSED EXTENSION OF SLAVERY LIMITS--WEBSTER
+WARNS THE SOUTH--DISASTERS FOLLOWING COMPROMISE TARIFF OF 1833
+--INDUSTRIAL RUIN OF 1840--ELECTION AND DEATH OF HARRISON--PROTECTIVE
+TARIFF OF 1842--POLK'S CAMPAIGN OF 1844--CLAY'S BLUNDER AND POLK'S
+CRIME--SOUTHERN TREACHERY--THE NORTH HOODWINKED--POLK ELECTED BY
+ABOLITION VOTE--SLAVE-HOLDING TEXAS UNDER A SHAM "COMPROMISE"--WAR WITH
+MEXICO--FREE-TRADE TARIFF OF 1846--WILMOT PROVISO--TREATY OF GUADALUPE
+--HIDALGO--SLAVERY CONTEST IN CONGRESS STILL GROWING--COMPROMISE OF 1850
+--A LULL--FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW--NEBRASKA BILL OF 1852-3--KANSAS-NEBRASKA
+BILL, 1853-4, REPORTED--PARLIAMENTARY "JUGGLERY"--THE TRIUMPH OF
+SLAVERY, IN CONGRESS--BLEEDING KANSAS--TOPEKA CONSTITUTION, 1855
+--KANSAS LEGISLATURE DISPERSED, 1856, BY UNITED STATES TROOPS--LECOMPTON
+CONSTITUTION OF 1857--FRAUDULENT TRIUMPH OF SLAVERY CONSTITUTION--ITS
+SUBSEQUENT DEFEAT--ELECTION OF BUCHANAN, 1856--KANSAS ADMITTED--MISERY
+AND RUIN CAUSED BY FREE-TRADE TARIFF OF 1846--FILLMORE AND BUCHANAN
+TESTIFY
+
+
+ CHAPTER IV.
+ "POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY."
+
+DOUGLAS'S THEORY OF POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY--ILLINOIS LEGISLATIVE
+ENDORSEMENT OF IT, 1851--DOUGLAS'S POSITION ON KANSAS--NEBRASKA BILL,
+1854--DRED SCOTT DECISION--SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, REPUBLICAN CONVENTION
+OF 1858--LINCOLN'S REMARKABLE SPEECH TO THE CONVENTION--PIERCE AND
+BUCHANAN, TANEY AND DOUGLAS, CHARGED WITH PRO-SLAVERY CONSPIRACY
+--DOUGLAS'S GREAT SPEECH (JULY 9TH, 1858) AT CHICAGO, IN REPLY--LINCOLN'S
+POWERFUL REJOINDER, AT CHICAGO, (JULY 10TH)--THE ADMIXTURE OF RACES--THE
+VOTING "UP OR DOWN" OF SLAVERY--THE "ARGUMENTS OF KINGS"--TRUTHS OF THE
+DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE--DOUGLAS'S BLOOMINGTON SPEECH (JULY 16TH),
+OF VINDICATION AND ATTACK--HISTORY OF THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA STRUGGLE--THE
+UNHOLY ALLIANCE--THE TWO POINTS AT ISSUE--THE "WHITE MAN'S" COUNTRY
+--DOUGLAS'S PLEDGES TO WEBSTER AND CLAY--DOUGLAS'S SPRINGFIELD SPEECH,
+JULY 17TH--THE IRRECONCILABLE PRINCIPLES AT ISSUE BETWEEN LINCOLN AND
+HIMSELF--LINCOLN'S GREAT SPEECH, AT SPRINGFIELD, THE SAME EVENING
+--DOUGLAS'S TRIUMPHANT MARCHES AND ENTRIES--THE "OFFICES SEEN IN HIS
+ROUND, JOLLY, FRUITFUL FACE"--LINCOLN'S LEAN-FACED FIGHT, FOR PRINCIPLE
+ALONE--DOUGLAS'S VARIOUS SPEECHES REVIEWED--THE REAL QUESTION BETWEEN
+REPUBLICANS AND DOUGLAS MEN AND THE BUCHANAN MEN--JACKSON'S VETO OF THE
+NATIONAL BANK CHARTER--DEMOCRATIC REVOLT AGAINST THE SUPREME COURT
+DECISION--VINDICATION OF CLAY--"NEGRO EQUALITY"--MR. LINCOLN'S CHARGE,
+OF "CONSPIRACY AND DECEPTION" TO "NATIONALIZE SLAVERY," RENEWED--GREAT
+JOINT DEBATE OF 1858, BETWEEN LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS, ARRANGED
+
+
+ CHAPTER V.
+ THE PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST OF 1860
+ THE CRISIS APPROACHING.
+
+
+HOW THE GREAT JOINT DEBATE OF 1858 RESULTED--THE "LITTLE GIANT" CAPTURES
+THE SENATORSHIP--THE "BIG GIANT" CAPTURES THE PEOPLE--THE RISING
+DEMOCRATIC STAR OF 1860--DOUGLAS'S GRAND TRIUMPHAL "PROGRESS" THROUGH
+THE LAND--A POPULAR DEMOCRATIC IDOL--FRESH AGGRESSIONS OF THE SLAVE
+POWER--NEW MEXICO'S SLAVE CODE OF 1859--HELPER'S "IMPENDING CRISIS"
+--JOHN BROWN AND HARPER'S FERRY--THE MEETING OF CONGRESS, DECEMBER, 1859
+--FORTY-FOUR BALLOTS FOR SPEAKER--DANGEROUSLY HEATED CONGRESSIONAL DEBATES
+ON SLAVERY--THE DEMOCRATIC SPLIT--JEFFERSON DAVIS'S ARROGANT
+DOUBLE-EDGED PRO-SLAVERY' RESOLUTIONS--DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION,
+CHARLESTON, S. C., 1860--DECLARATIONS OF THE MAJORITY AND MINORITY
+REPORTS AND BUTLER'S RECOMMENDATION, WITH VOTES THEREON--ADOPTION OF THE
+MINORITY (DOUGLAS) PLATFORM--SOUTHERN DELEGATES PROTEST AND "BOLT "--THE
+BOLTING CONVENTION ADJOURNS TILL JUNE AT RICHMOND--THE REGULAR
+CONVENTION BALLOTS AND ADJOURNS TO BALTIMORE--THE BALTIMORE CONVENTION
+--"THE AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADER A TRUE MISSIONARY"--MORE BOLTING--DOUGLAS'S
+NOMINATION FOR THE PRESIDENCY--THE BOLTING CONVENTION NOMINATES
+BRECKINRIDGE--THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION AND PLATFORM--NOMINATIONS OF
+LINCOLN, AND BELL--COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE FOUR RIVAL PARTY
+PLATFORMS--THE OCTOBER ELECTIONS--THE SOUTH PREPARING GLEEFULLY FOR
+SECESSION--GOVERNOR GIST'S TREASONABLE MESSAGE TO S. C. LEGISLATURE,
+NOV. 5--OTHER SIMILAR UTTERANCES
+
+
+ CHAPTER VI.
+ THE GREAT CONSPIRACY MATURING.
+
+LINCOLN'S ELECTION ASSURED--SOUTHERN EXULTATION--NORTHERN GLOOM--"FIRING
+THE SOUTHERN HEART"--RESIGNATIONS OF FEDERAL OFFICERS AND SENATORS OF
+SOUTH CAROLINA--GOVERNOR BROWN, OF GEORGIA, DEFIES "FEDERAL COERCION"
+--ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS'S ARGUMENT AGAINST SECESSION--SOUTH CAROLINA
+CALLS AN "UNCONDITIONAL SECESSION CONVENTION"--THE CALL SETS THE SOUTH
+ABLAZE--PROCLAMATIONS OF THE GOVERNORS OF THE SOUTHERN STATES, FAVORING
+REVOLT--LOYAL ADDRESS OF GOVERNOR MAGOFFIN OF KENTUCKY--THE CLAMOR OF
+REVOLT SILENCES APPEALS FOR UNION--PRESIDENT BUCHANAN'S PITIFUL
+WEAKNESS--CONSPIRATORS IN HIS CABINET--IMBECILITY OF HIS LAST ANNUAL
+MESSAGE TO CONGRESS, DEC., 1860--ATTORNEY-GENERAL JEREMIAH BLACK'S
+OPINION AGAINST COERCION--CONTRAST AFFORDED BY GENERAL JACKSON'S LOYAL
+LOGIC--ENSUING DEBATES IN CONGRESS--SETTLED PURPOSE OF THE CONSPIRATORS
+TO RESIST PLACATION--FUTILE LABORS OF UNION MEN IN CONGRESS FOR A
+PEACEFUL SOLUTION--ABSURD DEMANDS OF THE IMPLACABLES--THE COMMERCIAL
+NORTH ON ITS KNEES TO THE SOUTH--CONCILIATION ABJECTLY BEGGED FOR
+--BRUTAL SNEERS AT THE NORTH, AND THREATS OF CLINGMAN, IVERSON, AND OTHER
+SOUTHERN FIREEATERS, IN THE U. S. SENATE--THEIR BLUSTER MET BY STURDY
+REPUBLICANS--BEN WADE GALLANTLY STANDS BY THE "VERDICT OF THE PEOPLE"
+--PEACEFUL-SETTLEMENT PROPOSITIONS IN THE HOUSE--ADRIAN'S RESOLUTION, AND
+VOTE--LOVEJOY'S COUNTER-RESOLUTION, AND VOTE--ADOPTION OF MORRIS'S UNION
+RESOLUTION IN HOUSE
+
+
+ CHAPTER VII.
+ SECESSION ARMING.
+
+THE SOUTH CAROLINA SECESSION CONVENTION MEETS--SPEECHES AT "SECESSION
+HALL" OF PARKER, KEITT, INGLIS, BARNWELL, RHETT, AND GREGG, THE FIRST
+ORDINANCE OF SECESSION--ITS JUBILANT ADOPTION AND RATIFICATION
+--SECESSION STAMPEDE--A SOUTHERN CONGRESS PROPOSED--PICKENS'S PROCLAMATION
+OF SOVEREIGN INDEPENDENCE--SOUTH CAROLINA CONGRESSMEN WITHDRAW
+--DISSENSIONS IN BUCHANAN'S CABINET--COBB FLOYD, AND THOMPSON,
+DEMAND WITHDRAWAL OF FEDERAL TROOPS--BUCHANAN'S REPLY
+--SEIZURE OF FORTS, ETC.--THE "STAR OF THE WEST" FIRED ON--THE MAD
+RUSH OF REBELLIOUS EVENTS--SOUTH CAROLINA DEMANDS THE SURRENDER OF FORT
+SUMTER AND THE DEMAND REFUSED--SECRETARY HOLT'S LETTER TO CONSPIRING
+SENATORS AND REBEL AGENT--TROOP'S AT THE NATIONAL CAPITAL--HOLT'S
+REASONS THEREFOR--THE REVOLUTIONARY PROGRAMME--"ARMED OCCUPATION OF
+WASHINGTON CITY"--LINCOLN'S INAUGURATION TO BE PREVENTED--THE CRUMBLING
+AND DISSOLVING UNION--THE NORTH STANDS AGHAST--GREAT DEBATE IN CONGRESS,
+1860-1861--CLINGMAN ON THE SOUTHERN TARIFF-GRIEVANCE--DEFIANCE OF BROWN
+OF MISSISSIPPI--IVERSON'S BLOODY THREAT--WIGFALL'S UNSCRUPULOUS ADVICE
+--HIS INSULTING DEMANDS--BAKER'S GLORIOUSLY ELOQUENT RESPONSE--ANDY
+JOHNSON THREATENED WITH BULLETS--THE NORTH BULLIED--INSOLENT, IMPOSSIBLE
+TERMS OF PEACE--LINCOLN'S SPEECHES EN ROUTE FOR WASHINGTON--SAVE
+ARRIVAL--"I'LL TRY TO STEER HER THROUGH!"--THE SOUTH TAUNTS HIM
+--WIGFALL'S CHALLENGE TO THE BLOODY ISSUE OF ARMS!
+
+
+ CHAPTER VIII.
+ THE REJECTED OLIVE BRANCH.
+
+THE VARIOUS COMPROMISES OFFERED BY THE NORTH--"THE CRITTENDEN
+COMPROMISE"--THE PEACE CONFERENCE--COMPROMISE PROPOSITIONS OF THE
+SOUTHERN CONSPIRATORS--IRRECONCILABLE ATTITUDE OF THE PLOTTERS--HISTORY
+OF THE COMPROMISE MEASURES IN CONGRESS--CLARK'S SUBSTITUTE TO CRITTENDEN
+RESOLUTIONS IN THE SENATE--ANTHONY'S MORE THAN EQUITABLE PROPOSITIONS
+--HIS AFFECTING APPEAL TO STONY HEARTS--THE CONSPIRACY DEVELOPING--SIX
+SOUTHERN SENATORS REFUSE TO VOTE AGAINST THE CLARK SUBSTITUTE--ITS
+CONSEQUENT ADOPTION, AND DEFEAT OF THE CRITTENDEN RESOLUTIONS--LYING
+TELEGRAMS FROM CONSPIRING SENATORS TO FURTHER INFLAME REBELLION
+--SAULSBURY'S AFTER-STATEMENT (1862) AS TO CAUSES OF FAILURE OF
+CRITTENDEN'S COMPROMISE--LATHAM'S GRAPHIC PROOF OF THE CONSPIRATORS'
+"DELIBERATE, WILFUL DESIGN" TO KILL COMPROMISE--ANDREW JOHNSON'S
+EVIDENCE AS TO THEIR ULTIMATE OBJECT "PLACE AND EMOLUMENT FOR
+THEMSELVES"--"THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT IN THE HANDS OF THE FEW"
+--THE CORWIN COMPROMISE RESOLUTION IN THE HOUSE--THE BURCH AMENDMENT
+--KELLOGG'S PROPOSITION--THE CLEMENS SUBSTITUTE--PASSAGE BY THE HOUSE OF
+CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PROHIBITING CONGRESSIONAL INTERFERENCE WITH
+SLAVERY WHERE IT EXISTS--ITS ADOPTION BY THE SENATE--THE CLARK
+SUBSTITUTE RECONSIDERED AND DEFEATED--PROPOSITIONS OF THE PEACE CONGRESS
+LOST--REJECTION OF THE CRITTENDEN COMPROMISE
+
+
+ CHAPTER IX.
+ SLAVERY'S SETTING AND FREEDOM'S DAWN.
+
+THE LAST NIGHT OF THE 36TH CONGRESS--MR. CRITTENDEN'S PATRIOTIC APPEAL
+--"THE SADDEST SPECTACLE EVER SEEN"--IMPOTENCY OF THE BETRAYED AND FALLING
+STATE--DOUGLAS'S POWERFUL PLEA--PATRIOTISM OF HIMSELF AND SUPPORTERS
+--LOGAN SUMMARIZES THE COMPROMISES, AND APPEALS TO PATRIOTISM ABOVE PARTY
+--STATESMANLIKE BREADTH OF DOUGLAS, BAKER AND SEWARD--HENRY WINTER DAVIS
+ELOQUENTLY CONDENSES "THE SITUATION" IN A NUTSHELL--"THE FIRST FRUITS OF
+RECONCILIATION" OFFERED BY THE NORTH, SCORNED BY THE CONSPIRATORS
+--WIGFALL AGAIN SPEAKS AS THE MOUTHPIECE OF THE SOUTH--HE RAVES VIOLENTLY
+AT THE NORTH--THE SOUTH REJECTS PEACE "EITHER IN THE UNION, OR OUT OF
+IT"--THE DAWN OF FREEDOM APPEARS (MARCH 4TH, 1861)--INAUGURATION OF
+PRESIDENT LINCOLN--LINCOLN'S FIRST INAUGURAL--GRANDEUR AND PATHOS OF HIS
+PATRIOTIC UTTERANCES--HIS FIRST SLEEPLESS AND PRAYERFUL NIGHT AT THE
+WHITE HOUSE--THE MORROW, AND ITS BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT--THE MESSAGE OF
+"PEACE AND GOOD WILL" REGARDED AS A "CHALLENGE TO WAR"--PRESIDENT
+LINCOLN'S CABINET
+
+
+ CHAPTER X.
+ THE WAR-DRUM--"ON TO WASHINGTON!"
+
+REBEL COMMISSIONERS AT WASHINGTON ON A "MISSION"--SEWARD "SITS DOWN"
+ON THEM--HE REFUSES TO RECOGNIZE "CONFEDERATE STATES"--THE REBEL
+COMMISSIONERS "ACCEPT THE GAGE OF BATTLE THUS THROWN DOWN TO THEM"
+--ATTEMPT TO PROVISION FORT SUMTER--THE REBELS NOTIFIED--THE FORT AND ITS
+SURROUNDINGS--THE FIRST GUN OF SLAVERY FIRED--TERRIFIC BOMBARDMENT OF
+THE FORT--THE GARRISON, STARVED AND BURNED OUT, EVACUATES, WITH ALL THE
+HONORS OF WAR--THE SOUTH CRAZY WITH EXULTATION--TE DEUMS SUNG, SALUTES
+FIRED, AND THE REBEL GOVERNMENT SERENADED--"ON TO WASHINGTON!" THE
+REBEL CRY--"GRAY JACKETS OVER THE BORDER"--PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S FIRST
+PROCLAMATION AND CALL FOR TROOPS--INSULTING RESPONSES OF GOVERNORS
+BURTON, HICKS, LETCHER, ELLIS, MAGOFFIN, HARRIS, JACKSON AND RECTOR
+--LOYAL RESPONSES FROM GOVERNORS OF THE FREE STATES--MAGICAL EFFECT OF
+THE CALL UPON THE LOYAL NORTH--FEELING IN THE BORDER-STATES--PRESIDENT
+LINCOLN'S CLEAR SUMMARY OF THE SITUATION AND ITS PHILOSOPHY--HIS PLAIN
+DUTY--THE WAR POWER--THE NATIONAL CAPITAL CUT OFF--EVACUATION OF
+HARPER'S FERRY--LOYAL TROOPS TO THE RESCUE--FIGHTING THEIR WAY THROUGH
+BALTIMORE--REBEL THREATS--"SCOTT THE ARCH--TRAITOR, AND LINCOLN THE
+BEAST"--BUTLER RELIEVES WASHINGTON--THE SECESSION OF VIRGINIA AND NORTH
+CAROLINA--SHAMEFUL EVACUATION OF NORFOLK NAVY YARD--SEIZURE OF MINTS AND
+ARSENALS--UNION AND REBEL FORCES CONCENTRATING--THE NATIONAL CAPITAL
+FORTIFIED--BLOCKADE OF SOUTHERN PORTS--DEATH OF ELLSWORTH--BUTLER
+CONFISCATES NEGRO PROPERTY AS "CONTRABAND OF WAR"--A REBEL YARN
+
+
+ CHAPTER XI.
+ THE CAUSES OF SECESSION.
+
+ABOUNDING EVIDENCES OF CONSPIRACY--MACLAY'S UNPUBLISHED DIARY
+1787-1791--PIERCE BUTLER'S FIERCE DENUNCIATION OF THE TARIFF--SOUTH
+CAROLINA WILL "LIVE FREE OR DIE GLORIOUS"--JACKSON'S LETTER TO CRAWFORD,
+ON TARIFF AND SLAVERY--BENTON'S TESTIMONY--HENRY CLAY'S EVIDENCE--NATHAN
+APPLETON'S--A TREASONABLE CAUCUS OF SOUTHERN CONGRESSMEN--ALEXANDER H.
+STEPHEN'S EVIDENCE ON THE CAUSES OF SECESSION--WIGFALL'S ADMISSIONS--THE
+ONE "REGRETTED" CLAUSE IN THE CONSTITUTION PRECLUDING MONARCHIAL STATES
+--ADMISSIONS OF REBEL COMMISSIONERS TO WASHINGTON--ADMISSIONS IN ADDRESS
+OF SOUTH CAROLINA TO THE SLAVE-HOLDERS--JEFFERSON DAVIS'S STATEMENT IN
+SPECIAL MESSAGE OF APRIL 29, 1861--DECLARATIONS OF REBEL COMMISSIONERS,
+TO LORD JOHN RUSSELL--HIGH TARIFF AND "NOT SLAVERY" THE PRINCIPAL CAUSE
+--PERSONAL LIBERTY BILLS--PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S DECLARATION OF THE
+UNDERLYING CAUSE OF REBELLION--A WAR UPON LABOR AND THE RIGHTS OF THE
+PEOPLE--ANDREW JOHNSON ON THE "DELIBERATE DESIGN" FOR A "CHANGE OF
+GOVERNMENT"--"TIRED OF FREE GOVERNMENT"--DOUGLAS ON THE "ENORMOUS
+CONSPIRACY"--THE REBEL PLOT TO SEIZE THE CAPITOL, AND HOLD IT
+--MCDOUGALL'S GRAPHIC EXPOSURE OF THE TREASONABLE CONSPIRACY--YANCEY'S
+FAMOUS "SLAUGHTER" LETTER--JEFFERSON DAVIS'S STANDARD OF REVOLT, RAISED
+IN 1858--LAMAR'S LETTER TO JEFF. DAVIS (1860)--CAUCUS OF TREASON, AT
+WASHINGTON--EVANS'S DISCLOSURES OF THE CAUCUS PROGRAMME OF SECESSION
+--CORROBORATING TESTIMONY--YULEE'S CAPTURED LETTER--CAUCUS RESOLUTIONS IN
+FULL
+
+
+ CHAPTER XII.
+ COPPERHEADISM VS. UNION DEMOCRACY.
+
+NORTHERN COMPLICITY WITH TREASON--MAYOR FERNANDO WOOD RECOMMENDS
+SECESSION OF NEW YORK CITY--THE REBEL JUNTA AT WASHINGTON INSPIRES HIM
+--HE OBEYS ORDERS, BUT SHAKES AT THE KNEES--KEITT BRAGS OF THE "MILLIONS
+OF DEMOCRATS IN THE NORTH," FURNISHING A "WALL OF FIRE" AGAINST
+COERCION--ATTEMPTED REBEL--SEDUCTION OF NEW JERSEY--THE PRICE-BURNETT
+CORRESPONDENCE--SECESSION RESOLUTIONS OF THE PHILADELPHIA DEMOCRACY AT
+NATIONAL HALL--LANE OF OREGON "SERVES NOTICE" OF "WAR ENOUGH AT HOME"
+FOR REPUBLICANS--"NORTHERN DEMOCRATS NEED NOT CROSS THE BORDER TO FIND
+AN ENEMY"--EX-PRESIDENT PIERCE'S CAPTURED TREASONABLE LETTER TO JEFF.
+DAVIS--THE "FIGHTING" TO BE "WITHIN OUR OWN BORDERS, IN OUR OWN
+STREETS"--ATTITUDE OF DOUGLAS, AND THE DOUGLAS DEMOCRACY, AFTER SUMTER
+--DOUGLAS CALLS ON MR. LINCOLN AT THE WHITE HOUSE--HE PATRIOTICALLY
+SUSTAINS THE UNION--HE RALLIES THE WHOLE NORTH TO STAND BY THE FLAG
+--THERE CAN BE "NO NEUTRALS IN THIS WAR; ONLY PATRIOTS AND TRAITORS"
+--LAMENTED DEATH OF "THE LITTLE GIANT"--TRIBUTES OF TRUMBULL AND
+MCDOUGALL TO HIS MEMORY--LOGAN'S ATTITUDE AT THIS TIME, AND HIS
+RELATIONS TO DOUGLAS--THEIR LAST PRIVATE INTERVIEW--DOUGLAS'S INTENTION
+TO "JOIN THE ARMY AND FIGHT"--HIS LAST EFFORTS IN CONGRESS
+--"CONCILIATION," BEFORE SUMTER--"NO HALF-WAY GROUND" AFTER IT
+
+
+ CHAPTER XIII.
+ THE STORM OF BATTLE.
+
+THE MILITARY SITUATION--THE GREAT UPRISING--POSITIONS AND NUMBERS OF THE
+UNION AND REBEL ARMIES--JOHNSTON EVACUATES HARPER'S FERRY, AND RETREATS
+UPON WINCHESTER--PATTERSON'S EXTRAORDINARY CONDUCT--HE DISOBEYS GENERAL
+SCOTT'S ORDERS TO "ATTACK AND WHIP THE ENEMY"--JOHNSTON CONSEQUENTLY
+FREE TO REINFORCE BEAUREGARD AT MANASSAS--FITZ JOHN PORTER'S
+ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THE DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES--MCDOWELL'S ADVANCE UPON
+BEAUREGARD--PRELIMINARY BATTLE AT BLACKBURN'S FORD--JUNCTION OF JOHNSTON
+WITH BEAUREGARD--REBEL PLANS OF ADVANCE AND ATTACK--CHANGE IN MCDOWELL'S
+PLANS--GREAT PITCHED-BATTLE OF BULL RUN, OR MANASSAS, INCLUDING THE
+SECOND BATTLE AT BLACKBURN'S FORD--VICTORY, AT FIRST, WITH MCDOWELL
+--THE CHECK--THE LEISURELY RETREAT--THE PANIC AT, AND NEAR, THE NATIONAL
+CAPITAL--THE WAR FULLY INAUGURATED
+
+
+ CHAPTER XIV.
+ THE COLORED CONTRABAND.
+
+THE KNELL OF SLAVERY--THE "IMPLIED POWERS" OF CONGRESS IN THE
+CONSTITUTION--PATRICK HENRY'S PREDICTION--JOHN QUINCY ADAMS'S PROPHECY
+--JOHN SHERMAN'S NON-INTERFERENCE--WITH-SLAVERY RESOLUTIONS--JOHN Q. ADAMS
+ON EMANCIPATION--POWERS OF CONGRESS AND MILITARY COMMANDERS--GENERAL
+MCCLELLAN'S WEST VIRGINIA PROCLAMATION OF NONINTERFERENCE WITH SLAVES
+--GENERAL BUTLER'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH GENERAL SCOTT AND SECRETARY
+CAMERON--CAMERON'S REPLY--MILITARY TENDERNESS FOR THE DOOMED
+INSTITUTION--CONGRESS, AFTER BULL RUN--CONFISCATION, AND EMANCIPATION,
+OF SLAVES USED TO AID REBELLION--RINGING WORDS OF TRUMBULL, WILSON,
+MCDOUGALL, AND TEN EYCK, IN THE SENATE--ROMAN COURAGE OF THE HOUSE
+--CRITTENDEN'S STATEMENTS--WAR RESOLUTIONS--BRECKINRIDGE'S TREASONABLE
+SPEECH UPON "THE SANCTITY" OF THE CONSTITUTION--BAKER'S GLORIOUS REPLY
+--HIS MATCHLESS APOSTROPHE TO FREEDOM--HIS SELF-SACRIFICING DEVOTION AND
+HEROIC DEATH AT BALL'S BLUFF
+
+
+ CHAPTER XV.
+ FREEDOM'S EARLY DAWN.
+
+THADDEUS STEVENS'S STARTLING UTTERANCES--CAPTURED SLAVES MUST BE FREE
+FOREVER--"NO TRUCES WITH THE REBELS"--HIS PROPHECY AS TO ARMING SLAVES
+TO FIGHT REBELLION--SECRETARY CAMERON'S LETTER TOUCHING FUGITIVES FROM
+SERVICE--GENERAL FREMONT'S PROCLAMATION OF CONFISCATION AND
+EMANCIPATION--ITS EFFECT NORTH AND SOUTH--JEFF. THOMPSON'S SAVAGE
+PROCLAMATION OF RETALIATION--PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S EMBARRASSMENT--HE
+PRIVATELY SUGGESTS TO FREMONT CERTAIN MODIFICATIONS--FREMONT DEFENDS HIS
+COURSE--"STRONG AND VIGOROUS MEASURES NECESSARY TO SUCCESS"--THE
+PRESIDENT PUBLICLY ORDERS THE MODIFICATION OF FREMONT'S PROCLAMATION
+--THE MILITARY MIND GREATLY CONFUSED--GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS ISSUED BY THE
+WAR DEPARTMENT--GENERAL T. W. SHERMAN'S PORT ROYAL PROCLAMATION--GENERAL
+WOOL'S SPECIAL AND GENERAL ORDERS AS TO EMPLOYMENT OF "CONTRABANDS"
+--GENERAL DIX'S PROCLAMATION FOR REPULSION OF FUGITIVE SLAVES FROM HIS
+LINES--HALLECK ORDERS EXPULSION AS WELL AS REPULSION--HIS LETTER OF
+EXPLANATION TO FRANK P. BLAIR--SEWARD'S LETTER TO MCCLELLAN ON
+"CONTRABANDS" IN THE DISTRICT
+OF COLUMBIA
+
+
+ CHAPTER XVI.
+ "COMPENSATED GRADUAL EMANCIPATION."
+
+PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S ATTITUDE--SACRIFICES OF PATRIOTISM--ASSERTION BY
+CONGRESS OF ITS EMANCIPATING WAR-POWERS--THE CAUSE OF FREEDOM SLOWLY
+"MARCHING ON"--ABANDONED SLAVES OF BEAUFORT, S. C.--SECRETARY CAMERON
+FAVORS ARMING THEM--THE PRESIDENT'S CAUTIOUS ADVANCES--HE MODIFIES
+CAMERON'S REPORT TO CONGRESS ON THE SUBJECT--THE MILITARY MIND, ALL "AT
+SEA"--COMMANDERS GUIDED BY POLITICAL BIAS--HALLECK'S ST. LOUIS
+PROCLAMATION, 1862--BUELL'S LETTER--CONTRARY ACTION OF DIX AND HALLECK,
+BUELL AND HOOKER, FREMONT AND DOUBLEDAY--LINCOLN'S MIDDLE COURSE--HE
+PROPOSES TO CONGRESS, COMPENSATED GRADUAL EMANCIPATION--INTERVIEW
+BETWEEN MR. LINCOLN AND THE BORDER-STATE REPRESENTATIVES--INTERESTING
+REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT--MR. LINCOLN BETWEEN TWO FIRES--VIEWS, ON
+COMPENSATED EMANCIPATION, OF MESSRS. NOELL, CRISFIELD, MENZIES,
+WICKLIFFE, AND HALL--ROSCOE CONKLING'S JOINT RESOLUTION, ADOPTED BY BOTH
+HOUSES--HOOKER'S "CAMP BAKER" ORDER--MARYLAND FUGITIVE--SLAVE HUNTERS
+PERMITTED TO SEARCH THE CAMP--UNION SOLDIERS ENRAGED--SICKLES ORDERS THE
+SLAVE HUNTERS OFF--DOUBLEDAY'S DISPATCH AS TO "ALL NEGROES" ENTERING HIS
+LINES--TO BE "TREATED AS PERSONS, NOT AS CHATTELS"
+
+
+ CHAPTER XVII.
+ BORDER--STATE OPPOSITION.
+
+APPOINTMENT OF A SELECT COMMITTEE, IN HOUSE, ON GRADUAL EMANCIPATION
+--DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA EMANCIPATION ACT--THE PRESIDENT'S SPECIAL MESSAGE
+OF APPROVAL--GEN. HUNTER'S EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION--PRESIDENT LINCOLN
+PROMPTLY RESCINDS IT BY PROCLAMATION--HIS SOLEMN AND IMPASSIONED APPEAL
+TO PEOPLE OF THE BORDER-STATES--HE BEGS THEIR CONSIDERATION OF GRADUAL
+COMPENSATED EMANCIPATION--GEN. WILLIAMS'S ORDER EXPELLING RUNAWAY
+NEGROES FROM CAMP, AT BATON ROUGE--LIEUT.-COL. ANTHONY'S ORDER EXCLUDING
+FUGITIVE-SLAVE HUNTERS FROM "CAMP ETHERIDGE"--GEN. MCCLELLAN'S FAMOUS
+"HARRISON'S LANDING LETTER" TO THE PRESIDENT--"FORCIBLE ABOLITION OF
+SLAVERY" AND "A CIVIL AND MILITARY POLICY"--SLAVEHOLDING BORDER-STATE
+SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES AT THE WHITE HOUSE--PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S
+ADDRESS TO THEM, JULY, 1862--GRADUAL EMANCIPATION THE THEME
+--COMPENSATION AND COLONIZATION TO ACCOMPANY IT--THE ABOLITION PRESSURE
+UPON THE PRESIDENT INCREASING--HE BEGS THE BORDER STATESMEN TO RELIEVE
+HIM AND THE COUNTRY IN ITS PERIL--THEIR VARIOUS RESPONSES
+
+
+ CHAPTER XVIII.
+ FREEDOM PROCLAIMED TO ALL.
+
+PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S PERSONAL APPEAL TO COLORED FREEMEN--HE BEGS THEM TO
+HELP IN THE COLONIZATION OF THEIR RACE--PROPOSED AFRICAN COLONY IN
+CENTRAL AMERICA--EXECUTIVE ORDER OF JULY 2, 1862--EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES
+FOR MILITARY PURPOSES OF THE UNION--JEFF. DAVIS RETALIATES--MCCLELLAN
+PROMULGATES THE EXECUTIVE ORDER WITH ADDENDA OF HIS OWN--HORACE
+GREELEY'S LETTER TO PRESIDENT LINCOLN--THE LATTER ACCUSED OF
+"SUBSERVIENCY" TO THE SLAVE HOLDERS--AN "UNGRUDGING EXECUTION OF THE
+CONFISCATION ACT" DEMANDED--MR. LINCOLN'S FAMOUS REPLY--HIS "PARAMOUNT
+OBJECT, TO SAVE THE UNION, AND NOT EITHER TO SAVE OR DESTROY SLAVERY"
+--VISIT TO THE WHITE HOUSE OF A RELIGIOUS DEPUTATION FROM CHICAGO
+--MEMORIAL ASKING FOR IMMEDIATE EMANCIPATION, BY PROCLAMATION--THE
+PRESIDENT'S REPLY TO THE DEPUTATION--"THE POPE'S BULL AGAINST THE
+COMET"--VARIOUS OBJECTIONS STATED TENTATIVELY--"A PROCLAMATION OF
+LIBERTY TO THE SLAVES" IS "UNDER ADVISEMENT"--THE PROCLAMATION OF
+EMANCIPATION ISSUED--ITS POPULAR RECEPTION--MEETING OF LOYAL GOVERNORS
+AT ALTOONA--THEIR STIRRING ADDRESS--HOMAGE TO OUR SOLDIERS--PLEDGED
+SUPPORT FOR VIGOROUS PROSECUTION OF THE WAR TO TRIUMPHANT END--PRESIDENT
+LINCOLN'S HISTORICAL RESUME AND DEFENSE OF EMANCIPATION--HE SUGGESTS TO
+CONGRESS, PAYMENT FOR SLAVES AT ONCE EMANCIPATED BY BORDER STATES
+--ACTION OF THE HOUSE, ON RESOLUTIONS SEVERALLY REPREHENDING AND ENDORSING
+THE PROCLAMATION--SUPPLEMENTAL EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION OF JAN. 1, 1863
+
+
+ CHAPTER XIX.
+ HISTORICAL REVIEW.
+
+COURSE OF SOUTHERN OLIGARCHS THROUGHOUT--THEIR EVERLASTING GREED AND
+RAPACITY--BROKEN COVENANTS AND AGGRESSIVE METHODS--THEIR UNIFORM GAINS
+UNTIL 1861--UPS AND DOWNS OF THE TARIFF--FREE TRADE, SLAVERY,
+STATES-RIGHTS, SECESSION, ALL PARTS OF ONE CONSPIRACY--"INDEPENDENCE"
+THE FIRST OBJECT OF THE WAR--DREAMS, AMBITIONS, AND PLANS OF THE
+CONSPIRATORS--LINCOLN'S FAITH IN NORTHERN NUMBERS AND ENDURANCE--"RIGHT
+MAKES MIGHT"--THE SOUTH SOLIDLY-CEMENTED BY BLOOD--THE 37TH CONGRESS
+--ITS WAR MEASURES--PAVING THE WAY TO DOWNFALL OF SLAVERY AND REBELLION
+
+
+ CHAPTER XX.
+ LINCOLN'S TROUBLES AND TEMPTATIONS.
+
+INTERFERENCE WITH SLAVERY FORCED BY THE WAR--EDWARD EVERETT'S OPINION
+--BORDER-STATES DISTRUST OF LINCOLN--IMPOSSIBILITY OF SATISFYING THEIR
+REPRESENTATIVES--THEIR JEALOUS SUSPICIONS AND CONGRESSIONAL ACTION
+--PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE OF KINDLY WARNING--STORMY CONTENTION IN CONGRESS
+--CRITTENDEN'S ARGUMENT ON "PROPERTY" IN MAN--BORDER--STATES "BID" FOR
+MR. LINCOLN--THE "NICHE IN THE TEMPLE OF FAME" OFFERED HIM--LOVEJOY'S
+ELOQUENT COUNTERBLAST--SUMNER (JUNE, 1862,) ON LINCOLN AND EMANCIPATION
+--THE PRESIDENT HARRIED AND WORRIED--SNUBBED BY BORDER STATESMEN
+--MCCLELLAN'S THREAT--ARMY-MISMANAGEMENT--ARMING THE BLACKS--HOW THE
+EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION WAS WRITTEN--CABINET SUGGESTIONS--MILITARY
+SITUATION--REBEL ADVANCE NORTHWARD--LINCOLN, AND THE BREAST-WORKS
+--WASHINGTON AND BALTIMORE MENACED--ANTIETAM, AND THE FIAT OF FREEDOM
+--BORDER-STATE DENUNCIATION--KNIGHTS OF THE GOLDEN CIRCLE, ETC.
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXI.
+ THE ARMED--NEGRO.
+
+"WHO WOULD BE FREE, HIMSELF MUST STRIKE THE BLOW!"--THE COLORED TROOPS
+AT PORT HUDSON--THEIR HEROISM--STIRRING INCIDENTS--AT MILLIKEN'S BEND
+--AT FORT WAGNER--AT PETERSBURG AND ABOUT RICHMOND--THE REBEL CONSPIRATORS
+FURIOUS--OUTLAWRY OF GENERAL BUTLER, ETC.--JEFFERSON DAVIS'S MESSAGE TO
+THE REBEL CONGRESS--ATROCIOUS, COLD-BLOODED RESOLUTIONS OF THAT BODY
+--DEATH OR SLAVERY TO THE ARMED FREEMAN--PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S RETALIATORY
+ORDER--THE BLOODY BUTCHERY AT FORT PILLOW--SAVAGE MALIGNITY OF THE REBELS
+--A COMMON ERROR, CORRECTED--ARMING OF NEGROES COMMENCED BY THE REBELS
+--SIMILAR SCHEME OF A REVOLUTIONARY HERO, IN 1778--REBEL CONGRESSIONAL ACT,
+CONSCRIPTING NEGROES--JEFFERSON DAVIS'S POSITION--GENERAL LEE'S LETTER
+TO BARKSDALE ON THE SUBJECT
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXII.
+ FREEDOM'S SUN STILL RISING.
+
+DEFINITE CONGRESSIONAL ACTION, ON EMANCIPATION, GERMINATING--GLORIOUS
+NEWS FROM THE WEST AND EAST--FALL OF VICKSBURG--GETTYSBURG--LINCOLN'S
+GETTYSBURG ORATION--THE DRAFT--THE REBEL "FIRE IN THE REAR"--DRAFT RIOTS
+IN NEW YORK--LINCOLN'S LETTER, AUGUST, 1863, ON THE SITUATION
+--CHATTANOOGA--THE CHEERING FALL-ELECTIONS--VALLANDIGHAM'S DEFEAT
+--EMANCIPATION AS A "POLITICAL" MEASURE--"THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT" REPORTED
+IN THE SENATE--THADDEUS STEVENS'S RESOLUTIONS, AND TEST VOTE IN THE
+HOUSE--LOVEJOY'S DEATH--ELOQUENT TRIBUTES OF ARNOLD, WASHBURNE,
+GRINNELL, THADDEUS STEVENS, AND SUMNER
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXIII.
+ "THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT" IN THE SENATE.
+
+GREAT DEBATE IN THE U. S. SENATE, ON EMANCIPATION--THE WHOLE VILLANOUS
+HISTORY OF SLAVERY, LAID BARE--SPEECHES OF TRUMBULL, HENRY WILSON,
+HARLAN, SHERMAN, CLARK, HALL, HENDERSON, SUMNER, REVERDY JOHNSON,
+MCDOUGALL, SAULSBURY, GARRETT DAVIS, POWELL, AND HENDRICKS--BRILLIANT
+ARRAIGNMENT AND DEFENSE OF "THE INSTITUTION"--U. S. GRANT, NOW "GENERAL
+IN CHIEF"--HIS PLANS PERFECTED, HE GOES TO THE VIRGINIA FRONT--MR.
+LINCOLN'S SOLICITUDE FOR THE THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT--BORDER--STATE
+OBSTRUCTIVE MOTIONS, AMENDMENTS, AND SUBSTITUTES, ALL VOTED DOWN--MR.
+LINCOLN'S LETTER TO HODGES, OF KENTUCKY, REVIEWING EMANCIPATION AS A WAR
+MEASURE--THE DECISIVE FIELD-DAY (APRIL 8, 1864)--THE DEBATE ABLY CLOSED
+--THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PASSED BY THE SENATE
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXIV.
+ TREASON IN THE NORTHERN CAMPS.
+
+EMANCIPATION TEST--VOTES IN THE HOUSE--ARNOLD'S RESOLUTION--BLUE
+PROSPECTS FOR THE THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT--LINCOLN'S ANXIETY--CONGRESSIONAL
+COPPERHEADS--THINLY-DISGUISED TREASON--SPEECHES OF VOORHEES, WASHBURNE,
+AND KELLEY--SPRINGFIELD COPPERHEAD PEACE-CONVENTION--"THE UNION AS IT
+WAS"--PEACE ON ANY TERMS--VALLANDIGHAM'S LIEUTENANTS--ATTITUDE OF COX,
+DAVIS, SAULSBURY, WOOD, LONG, ALLEN, HOLMAN, AND OTHERS--NORTHERN
+ENCOURAGEMENT TO REBELS--CONSEQUENT SECOND INVASION, OF THE NORTH, BY
+LEE--500,000 TREASONABLE NORTHERN "SONS OF LIBERTY"--RITUAL AND OATHS OF
+THE "K. G. C." AND "O. A. K."--COPPERHEAD EFFORTS TO SPLIT THE NORTH
+AND WEST, ON TARIFF-ISSUES--SPALDING AND THAD. STEVENS DENOUNCE
+TREASON-BREEDING COPPERHEADS
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXV.
+ THE "FIRE IN THE REAR."
+
+THE REBEL MANDATE--"AGITATE THE NORTH!"--OBEDIENT COPPERHEADS--THEIR
+DENUNCIATIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT--BROOKS, FERNANDO WOOD, AND WHITE, ON
+THE "FOLLY" OF THE WAR FOR THE UNION--EDGERTON'S PEACE RESOLUTIONS
+--ECKLEY, ON COPPERHEAD MALIGNITY--ALEXANDER LONG GOES "A BOW-SHOT BEYOND
+THEM ALL"--HE PROPOSES THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF SOUTHERN INDEPENDENCE
+--GARFIELD ELOQUENTLY DENOUNCES LONG'S TREASON--LONG DEFIANTLY REITERATES
+IT--SPEAKER COLFAX OFFERS A RESOLUTION TO EXPEL LONG--COX AND JULIAN'S
+VERBAL DUEL--HARRIS'S TREASONABLE BID FOR EXPULSION--EXTRAORDINARY SCENE
+IN THE HOUSE--FERNANDO WOOD'S BID--HE SUBSEQUENTLY "WEAKENS"--EXCITING
+DEBATE--LONG AND HARRIS VOTED "UNWORTHY MEMBERS" OF THE HOUSE
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXVI.
+ "THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT" DEFEATED IN THE HOUSE.
+
+GLANCE AT THE MILITARY SITUATION--"BEGINNING OF THE END"--THE
+CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT--HOLMAN "OBJECTS" TO "SECOND READING"--KELLOGG
+SCORES THE COPPERHEAD-DEMOCRACY--CONTINUOUS "FIRE IN THE REAR" IN BOTH
+HOUSES--THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT ATTACKED--THE ADMINISTRATION ATTACKED
+--THE TARIFF ATTACKED--SPEECHES OF GARRETT DAVIS, AND COX
+--PEACE-RESOLUTIONS OF LAZEAR AND DAVIS--GRINNELL AND STEVENS, SCORE COX
+AND WOOD--HENDRICKS ON THE DRAFT--"ON" TO RICHMOND AND ATLANTA--VIOLENT
+DIATRIBES OF WOOD, AND HOLMAN--FARNSWORTH'S REPLY TO ROSS, PRUYN, AND
+OTHERS--ARNOLD, ON THE ETHICS OF SLAVERY--INGERSOLL'S ELOQUENT BURST
+--RANDALL, ROLLINS, AND PENDLETON, CLOSING THE DEBATE--THE THIRTEENTH
+AMENDMENT DEFEATED--ASHLEY'S MOTION TO RECONSIDER--CONGRESS ADJOURNS
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXVII.
+ SLAVERY DOOMED AT THE POLLS.
+
+THE ISSUE BETWEEN FREEDOM AND SLAVERY--MR. LINCOLN'S RENOMINATION
+--ENDORSED, AT ALL POINTS, BY HIS PARTY--HIS FAITH IN THE PEOPLE--HORATIO
+SEYMOUR'S COPPERHEAD DECLARATIONS--THE NATIONAL DEMOCRACY DECLARE THE
+WAR "A FAILURE"--THEIR COPPERHEAD PLATFORM, AND UNION CANDIDATE
+--MCCLELLAN THEIR NOMINEE--VICTORIES AT ATLANTA AND MOBILE--FREMONT'S
+THIRD PARTY--SUCCESSES OF GRANT AND SHERIDAN--DEATH OF CHIEF-JUSTICE
+TANEY--MARYLAND BECOMES "FREE"--MORE UNION VICTORIES--REPUBLICAN
+"TIDAL-WAVE" SUCCESS--LINCOLN RE-ELECTED--HIS SERENADE-SPEECHES--AMAZING
+CONGRESSIONAL-RETURNS--THE DEATH OF SLAVERY INSURED--IT BECOMES SIMPLY A
+MATTER OF TIME
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXVIII.
+ FREEDOM AT LAST ASSURED.
+
+THE WINTER OF 1864--THE MILITARY SITUATION--THE "MARCH TO THE SEA"
+--THOMAS AND HOOD--LOGAN'S INTERVIEW WITH THE PRESIDENT--VICTORIES OF
+NASHVILLE AND SAVANNAH--MR. LINCOLN'S MESSAGE TO CONGRESS, ON THIRTEENTH
+AMENDMENT--CONGRESSIONAL RECESS--PRESIDENT LINCOLN STILL WORKING WITH,
+THE BORDER-STATE REPRESENTATIVES--ROLLINS'S INTERVIEW WITH HIM--THE
+THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT UP, IN THE HOUSE, AGAIN--VIGOROUS AND ELOQUENT
+DEBATE--SPEECHES OF COX, BROOKS, VOORHEES, MALLORY, HOLMAN, WOOD, AND
+PENDLETON, AGAINST THE AMENDMENT--SPEECHES OF CRESWELL, SCOFIELD,
+ROLLINS, GARFIELD, AND STEVENS, FOR IT--RECONSIDERATION OF ADVERSE VOTE
+--THE AMENDMENT ADOPTED--EXCITING SCENE IN THE HOUSE--THE GRAND SALUTE TO
+LIBERTY--SERENADE TO MR. LINCOLN--"THIS ENDS THE JOB"
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXIX.
+ LINCOLN'S SECOND INAUGURATION.
+
+REBELLION ON ITS "LAST LEGS"--PEACE COMMISSIONS AND PROPOSITIONS
+--EFFORTS OF GREELEY, JACQUES, GILMORE, AND BLAIR--LINCOLN'S ADVANCES
+--JEFFERSON DAVIS'S DEFIANT MESSAGE TO HIM--THE PRESIDENT AND THE REBEL
+COMMISSIONERS AT HAMPTON ROADS--VARIOUS ACCOUNTS, OF THE SECRET
+CONFERENCE, BY PARTICIPANTS THE PROPOSITIONS ON BOTH SIDES--FAILURE
+--THE MILITARY OUTLOOK--THE REBEL CAUSE DESPERATE--REBEL DESERTIONS
+--"MILITARY" PEACE-CONVENTION PROPOSED BY REBELS--DECLINED--CORRESPONDENCE
+BETWEEN GRANT AND LEE, ETC.--THE SECOND INAUGURATION OF PRESIDENT
+LINCOLN--A STRANGE OMEN--HIS IMMORTAL SECOND-INAUGURAL
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXX.
+ COLLAPSE OF THE ARMED CONSPIRACY.
+
+PROGRESS OF THE WAR--CAMPAIGN OF THE CAROLINAS, 1865--MEETING, AT CITY
+POINT, OF LINCOLN, GRANT, AND SHERMAN--SHERMAN'S ACCOUNT OF WHAT PASSED
+--GRANT NOW FEELS "LIKE ENDING THE MATTER"--THE BATTLES OF DINWIDDIE
+COURT HOUSE AND FIVE FORKS--UNION ASSAULT ON THE PETERSBURG WORKS--UNION
+VICTORY EVERYWHERE--PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND EVACUATED--LEE'S RETREAT CUT
+OFF BATTLE OF SAILOR'S CREEK--GRANT ASKS LEE TO SURRENDER--LEE DELAYS
+--SHERIDAN CATCHES HIM, AND HIS ARMY, IN A TRAP--THE REBELS SURRENDER, AT
+APPOMATTOX--GRANT'S GENEROUS AND MAGNANIMOUS TERMS--THE STARVING REBELS
+FED WITH UNION RATIONS--SURRENDER OF JOHNSTON'S ARMY--OTHER REBEL FORCES
+SURRENDER--THE REBELLION STAMPED OUT--CAPTURE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS--THE
+REBELS "YIELD EVERYTHING THEY HAD FOUGHT FOR"--THEY CRAVE PARDON AND
+OBLIVION FOR THEIR OFFENCES
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXXI.
+ ASSASSINATION!
+
+PRESIDENT LINCOLN AT RICHMOND--HIS RECEPTIONS AT JEFFERSON DAVIS'S
+MANSION--RETURN TO WASHINGTON--THE NEWS OF LEE'S SURRENDER--LINCOLN'S
+LAST PUBLIC SPEECH--HIS THEME, "RECONSTRUCTION"--GRANT ARRIVES AT THE
+NATIONAL CAPITAL--PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S LAST CABINET MEETING--HIS FOND
+HOPES OF THE FUTURE--AN UNHEEDED PRESENTIMENT--AT FORD'S THEATRE--THE
+LAST ACCLAMATION OF THE PEOPLE--THE PISTOL SHOT THAT HORRIFIED THE
+WORLD--SCULKING, RED HANDED TREASON--THE ASSASSINATION PLOT-COMPLICITY
+OF THE REBEL AUTHORITIES, BELIEVED BY THE BEST INFORMED MEN--TESTIMONY
+AS TO THREE ATTEMPTS TO KILL LINCOLN--THE CHIEF REBEL-CONSPIRATORS
+"RECEIVE PROPOSITIONS TO ASSASSINATE"--A NATION'S WRATH--ANDREW
+JOHNSON'S VEHEMENT ASSEVERATIONS--"TREASON MUST BE MADE ODIOUS"
+--RECONSTRUCTION
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXXII.
+ TURNING BACK THE HANDS
+
+"RECONSTRUCTION" OF THE SOUTH--MEMORIES OF THE WAR, DYING OUT--THE
+FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH AMENDMENTS--THE SOUTHERN STATES REHABILITATED
+BY ACCEPTANCE OF AMENDMENTS, ETC.--REMOVAL OF REBEL DISABILITIES
+--CLEMENCY OF THE CONQUERORS--THE OLD CONSPIRATORS HATCH A NEW CONSPIRACY
+--THE "LOST CAUSE" TO BE REGAINED--THE MISSISSIPPI SHOT-GUN PLAN--FRAUD,
+BARBARITY, AND MURDERS, EFFECT THE PURPOSE--THE "SOUTH" CEMENTED "SOLID"
+BY BLOOD--PEONAGE REPLACES SLAVERY--THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1876
+--THE TILDEN "BARREL," AND "CIPHER DISPATCHES"--THE "FRAUD" CRY--THE OLD
+LEADERS DICTATE THE DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE OF 1880--THEIR
+FREE-TRADE ISSUE TO THE FRONT AGAIN--SUCCESSIVE DEMOCRATIC EFFORTS TO FORCE
+FREE-TRADE THROUGH THE HOUSE, SINCE REBELLION--EFFECT OF SUCH EFFORTS
+--REPUBLICAN MODIFICATIONS OF THEIR OWN PROTECTIVE TARIFF--THE "SOLID
+SOUTH" SUCCEEDS, AT LAST, IN "ELECTING" ITS CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT
+--IS THIS STILL A REPUBLIC, OR IS IT AN OLIGARCHY?
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXXIII.
+ WHAT NEXT?
+
+THE PRESENT OUTLOOK--COMMERCIAL PROSPECTS, BRIGHT--WHAT THE PEOPLE OF
+THE NORTHERN AND WESTERN STATES SEE--WHAT IS A "REPUBLICAN FORM OF
+GOVERNMENT?"--WHAT DID THE FATHERS MEAN BY IT--THE REASON FOR THE
+GUARANTEE IN THE NATIONAL CONSTITUTION--PURPOSES OF "THE PEOPLE" IN
+CREATING THIS REPUBLIC--THE "SOLID-SOUTHERN" OLIGARCHS DEFEAT THOSE
+PURPOSES--THE REPUBLICAN PARTY NOT BLAMELESS FOR THE PRESENT CONDITION
+OF THINGS--THE OLD REBEL-CHIEFTAINS AND COPPERHEADS, IN CONTROL--THEY
+GRASP ALMOST EVERYTHING THAT WAS LOST BY THE REBELLION--THEIR GROWING
+AGGRESSIVENESS--THE FUTURE--"WATCHMAN, WHAT OF THE NIGHT?"
+
+
+
+PORTRAITS.
+
+MAPS.
+
+SEAT OF WAR IN VIRGINIA.
+
+FIRST BULL RUN BATTLE-FIELD.
+
+FIRST BULL RUN BATTLE-FIELD, SHOWING POSITION OF ARMIES.
+
+
+EDWARD D. BAKER,
+BENJ. F. BUTLER,
+J. C. BRECKINRIDGE,
+JOHN C. CALHOUN,
+HENRY CLAY,
+J. J. CRITTENDEN,
+HENRY WINTER DAVIS,
+JEFFERSON DAVIS,
+SIMON CAMERON,
+STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS,
+JOHN C. FREMONT,
+H. W. HALLECK,
+ISAAC W. HAYNE,
+PATRICK HENRY,
+DAVID HUNTER,
+THOMAS JEFFERSON,
+ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
+GEO. B. MCCLELLAN,
+THAD. STEVENS,
+WM. H. SEWARD,
+LYMAN TRUMBULL,
+BENJ. F. WADE,
+DANIEL WEBSTER,
+LOUIS T. WIGFALL.
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER I.
+
+ A PRELIMINARY RETROSPECT.
+
+
+To properly understand the condition of things preceding the great war
+of the Rebellion, and the causes underlying that condition and the war
+itself, we must glance backward through the history of the Country to,
+and even beyond, that memorable 30th of November, 1782, when the
+Independence of the United States of America was at last conceded by
+Great Britain. At that time the population of the United States was
+about 2,500,000 free whites and some 500,000 black slaves. We had
+gained our Independence of the Mother Country, but she had left fastened
+upon us the curse of Slavery. Indeed African Slavery had already in
+1620 been implanted on the soil of Virginia before Plymouth Rock was
+pressed by the feet of the Pilgrim Fathers, and had spread, prior to the
+Revolution, with greater or less rapidity, according to the surrounding
+adaptations of soil, production and climate, to every one of the
+thirteen Colonies.
+
+But while it had thus spread more or less throughout all the original
+Colonies, and was, as it were, recognized and acquiesced in by all, as
+an existing and established institution, yet there were many, both in
+the South and North, who looked upon it as an evil--an inherited evil
+--and were anxious to prevent the increase of that evil. Hence it was
+that even as far back as 1699, a controversy sprang up between the
+Colonies and the Home Government, upon the African Slavery question
+--a controversy continuing with more or less vehemence down to the
+Declaration of Independence itself.
+
+It was this conviction that it was not alone an evil but a dangerous
+evil, that induced Jefferson to embody in his original draft of that
+Declaration a clause strongly condemnatory of the African Slave Trade--a
+clause afterward omitted from it solely, he tells us, "in complaisance
+to South Carolina and Georgia, who had never* attempted to restrain the
+importation of slaves, and who, on the contrary, still wished to
+continue it," as well as in deference to the sensitiveness of Northern
+people, who, though having few slaves themselves, "had been pretty
+considerable carriers of them to others" a clause of the great
+indictment of King George III., which, since it was not omitted for any
+other reason than that just given, shows pretty conclusively that where
+the fathers in that Declaration affirmed that "all men are created
+equal," they included in the term "men," black as well as white, bond as
+well as free; for the clause ran thus: "Determined to keep open a market
+where MEN should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative for
+suppressing every Legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this
+execrable commerce. And that this assemblage of horrors might want no
+fact of distinguished dye, he is now exciting those very people to rise
+in arms among us, and purchase that liberty of which he has deprived
+them, by murdering the people on whom he also obtruded them; thus paying
+of former crimes committed against the LIBERTIES of our people with
+crimes which he urges them to commit against the LIVES of another."
+
+ [Prior to 1752, when Georgia surrendered her charter and became a
+ Royal Colony, the holding of slaves within its limits was expressly
+ prohibited by law; and the Darien (Ga.) resolutions of 1775
+ declared not only a "disapprobation and abhorrence of the unnatural
+ practice of Slavery in America" as "a practice founded in injustice
+ and cruelty, and highly dangerous to our Liberties (as well as
+ lives) but a determination to use our utmost efforts for the
+ manumission of our slaves in this colony upon the most safe and
+ equitable footing for the masters and themselves."]
+
+
+During the war of the Revolution following the Declaration of
+Independence, the half a million of slaves, nearly all of them in the
+Southern States, were found to be not only a source of weakness, but,
+through the incitements of British emissaries, a standing menace of
+peril to the Slaveholders. Thus it was that the South was overrun by
+hostile British armies, while in the North-comparatively free of this
+element of weakness--disaster after disaster met them. At last,
+however, in 1782, came the recognition of our Independence, and peace,
+followed by the evacuation of New York at the close of 1783.
+
+The lessons of the war, touching Slavery, had not been lost upon our
+statesmen. Early in 1784 Virginia ceded to the United States her claims
+of jurisdiction and otherwise over the vast territory north-west of the
+Ohio; and upon its acceptance, Jefferson, as chairman of a Select
+Committee appointed at his instance to consider a plan of government
+therefor, reported to the ninth Continental Congress an Ordinance to
+govern the territory ceded already, or to be ceded, by individual States
+to the United States, extending from the 31st to the 47th degree of
+north latitude, which provided as "fundamental conditions between the
+thirteen original States and those newly described" as embryo States
+thereafter--to be carved out of such territory ceded or to be ceded to
+the United States, not only that "they shall forever remain a part of
+the United States of America," but also that "after the year 1800 of the
+Christian era, there shall be neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude
+in any of the said States"--and that those fundamental conditions were
+"unalterable but by the joint consent of the United States in Congress
+assembled, and of the particular State within which such alteration
+is proposed to be made."
+
+But now a signal misfortune befell. Upon a motion to strike out the
+clause prohibiting Slavery, six States: New Hampshire, Massachusetts,
+Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and Pennsylvania, voted to retain
+the prohibitive clause, while three States, Maryland, Virginia and South
+Carolina, voted not to retain it. The vote of North Carolina was
+equally divided; and while one of the Delegates from New Jersey voted to
+retain it, yet as there was no other delegate present from that State,
+and the Articles of Confederation required the presence of "two or more"
+delegates to cast the vote of a State, the vote of New Jersey was lost;
+and, as the same Articles required an affirmative vote of a majority of
+all the States--and not simply of those present--the retention of the
+clause prohibiting Slavery was also lost. Thus was lost the great
+opportunity of restricting Slavery to the then existing Slave States,
+and of settling the question peaceably for all time. Three years
+afterward a similar Ordinance, since become famous as "the Ordinance of
+'87," for the government of the North-west Territory (from which the
+Free States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin have
+since been carved and admitted to the Union) was adopted in Congress by
+the unanimous vote of all the eight States present. And the sixth
+article of this Ordinance, or "Articles of Compact," which it was
+stipulated should "forever remain unalterable, unless by common
+consent," was in these words:
+
+"Art. 6. There shall be neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude in
+the said Territory, otherwise than in punishment of crimes, whereof the
+party shall have been duly convicted; provided always that any person
+escaping into the same from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in
+any one of the original States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed,
+and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor, or service, as
+aforesaid."
+
+But this Ordinance of '87, adopted almost simultaneously with the
+framing of our present Federal Constitution, was essentially different
+from the Ordinance of three years previous, in this: that while the
+latter included the territory south of the Ohio River as well as that
+north-west of it, this did not; and as a direct consequence of this
+failure to include in it the territory south of that river, the States
+of Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi, which were taken out of it, were
+subsequently admitted to the Union as Slave States, and thus greatly
+augmented their political power. And at a later period it was this
+increased political power that secured the admission of still other
+Slave States--as Florida, Louisiana and Texas--which enabled the Slave
+States to hold the balance of such power as against the original States
+that had become Free, and the new Free States of the North-west.
+
+Hence, while in a measure quieting the great question of Slavery for the
+time being, the Ordinance of '87 in reality laid the ground-work for the
+long series of irritations and agitations touching its restrictions and
+extension, which eventually culminated in the clash of arms that shook
+the Union from its centre to its circumference. Meanwhile, as we have
+seen--while the Ordinance of 1787 was being enacted in the last Congress
+of the old Confederation at New York--the Convention to frame the
+present Constitution was sitting at Philadelphia under the Presidency of
+George Washington himself. The old Confederation had proved itself to
+be "a rope of sand." A new and stronger form of government had become a
+necessity for National existence.
+
+To create it out of the discordant elements whose harmony was essential
+to success, was an herculean task, requiring the utmost forbearance,
+unselfishness, and wisdom. And of all the great questions, dividing the
+framers of that Constitution, perhaps none of them required a higher
+degree of self abnegation and patriotism than those touching human
+Slavery.
+
+The situation was one of extreme delicacy. The necessity for a closer
+and stronger Union of all the States was apparently absolute, yet this
+very necessity seemed to place a whip in the hands of a few States, with
+which to coerce the greater number of States to do their bidding. It
+seemed that the majority must yield to a small minority on even vital
+questions, or lose everything.
+
+Thus it was, that instead of an immediate interdiction of the African
+Slave Trade, Congress was empowered to prohibit it after the lapse of
+twenty years; that instead of the basis of Congressional Representation
+being the total population of each State, and that of direct taxation
+the total property of each State, a middle ground was conceded, which
+regarded the Slaves as both persons and property, and the basis both of
+Representation and of Direct Taxation was fixed as being the total Free
+population "plus three-fifths of all other persons" in each State; and
+that there was inserted in the Constitution a similar clause to that
+which we have seen was almost simultaneously incorporated in the
+Ordinance of '87, touching the reclamation and return to their owners of
+Fugitive Slaves from the Free States into which they may have escaped.
+
+The fact of the matter is, that the Convention that framed our
+Constitution lacked the courage of its convictions, and was "bulldozed"
+by the few extreme Southern Slave-holding States--South Carolina and
+Georgia especially. It actually paltered with those convictions and
+with the truth itself. Its convictions--those at least of a great
+majority of its delegates--were against not only the spread, but the
+very existence of Slavery; yet we have seen what they unwillingly agreed
+to in spite of those convictions; and they were guilty moreover of the
+subterfuge of using the terms "persons" and "service or labor" when they
+really meant "Slaves" and "Slavery." "They did this latter," Mr.
+Madison says, "because they did not choose to admit the right of
+property in man," and yet in fixing the basis of Direct Taxation as well
+as Congressional Representation at the total Free population of each
+State with "three-fifths of all other persons," they did admit the right
+of property in man! As was stated by Mr. Iredell to the North Carolina
+Ratification Convention, when explaining the Fugitive Slave clause:
+"Though the word 'Slave' is not mentioned, this is the meaning of it."
+And he added: "The Northern delegates, owing to their peculiar scruples
+on the subject of Slavery, did not choose the word 'Slave' to be
+mentioned."
+
+In March, 1789, the first Federal Congress met at New York. It at once
+enacted a law in accordance with the terms of the Ordinance of '87
+--adapting it to the changed order of things under the new Federal
+Constitution--prohibiting Slavery in the Territories of the North-west;
+and the succeeding Congress enacted a Fugitive-Slave law.
+
+In the same year (1789) North Carolina ceded her western territory (now
+Tennessee) south of the Ohio, to the United States, providing as one of
+the conditions of that cession, "that no regulation made, or to be made,
+by Congress, shall tend to emancipate Slaves." Georgia, also, in 1802,
+ceded her superfluous territorial domain (south of the Ohio, and now
+known as Alabama and Mississippi), making as a condition of its
+acceptance that the Ordinance of '87 "shall, in all its parts, extend to
+the territory contained in the present act of cession, the article only
+excepted which forbids Slavery."
+
+Thus while the road was open and had been taken advantage of, at the
+earliest moment, by the Federal Congress to prohibit Slavery in all the
+territory north-west of the Ohio River by Congressional enactment,
+Congress considered itself barred by the very conditions of cession from
+inhibiting Slavery in the territory lying south of that river. Hence it
+was that while the spread of Slavery was prevented in the one Section of
+our outlying territories by Congressional legislation, it was stimulated
+in the other Section by the enforced absence of such legislation. As a
+necessary sequence, out of the Territories of the one Section grew more
+Free States and out of the other more Slave States, and this condition
+of things had a tendency to array the Free and the Slave States in
+opposition to each other and to Sectionalize the flames of that Slavery
+agitation which were thus continually fed.
+
+Upon the admission of Ohio to Statehood in 1803, the remainder of the
+North-west territory became the Territory of Indiana. The inhabitants
+of this Territory (now known as the States of Indiana, Illinois,
+Michigan and Wisconsin), consisting largely of settlers from the Slave
+States, but chiefly from Virginia and Kentucky, very persistently (in
+1803, 1806 and 1807) petitioned Congress for permission to employ Slave
+Labor, but--although their petitions were favorably reported in most
+cases by the Committees to which they were referred--without avail,
+Congress evidently being of opinion that a temporary suspension in this
+respect of the sixth article of the Ordinance of '87 was "not
+expedient." These frequent rebuffs by Congress, together with the
+constantly increasing emigration from the Free States, prevented the
+taking of any further steps to implant Slavery on the soil of that
+Territory.
+
+Meanwhile the vast territory included within the Valley of the
+Mississippi and known at that day as the "Colony of Louisiana," was, in
+1803, acquired to the United States by purchase from the French--to whom
+it had but lately been retroceded by Spain. Both under Spanish and
+French rule, Slavery had existed throughout this vast yet sparsely
+populated region. When we acquired it by purchase, it was already
+there, as an established "institution;" and the Treaty of acquisition
+not only provided that it should be "incorporated into the Union of the
+United States, and admitted as soon as possible, according to the
+principles of the Federal Constitution," but that its inhabitants in the
+meantime "should be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of
+their liberty, property, and the religion which they professed"--and,
+as "the right of property in man" had really been admitted in practice,
+if not in theory, by the framers of that Constitution itself--that
+institution was allowed to remain there. Indeed the sparseness of its
+population at the time of purchase and the amazing fertility of its soil
+and adaptability of its climate to Slave Labor, together with the then
+recent invention by Eli Whitney, of Massachusetts, of that wonderful
+improvement in the separation of cotton-fibre from its seed, known as
+the "cotton-gin"--which with the almost simultaneous inventions of
+Hargreaves, and Arkwright's cotton-spinning machines, and Watt's
+application of his steam engine, etc., to them, marvelously increased
+both the cotton supply and demand and completely revolutionized the
+cotton industry--contributed to rapidly and thickly populate the whole
+region with white Slave-holders and black Slaves, and to greatly enrich
+and increase the power of the former.
+
+When Jefferson succeeded in negotiating the cession of that vast and
+rich domain to the United States, it is not to be supposed that either
+the allurements of territorial aggrandizement on the one hand, or the
+impending danger to the continued ascendency of the political party
+which had elevated him to the Presidency, threatening it from all the
+irritations with republican France likely to grow out of such near
+proximity to her Colony, on the other, could have blinded his eyes to
+the fact that its acquisition must inevitably tend to the spread of that
+very evil, the contemplation of which, at a later day, wrung from his
+lips the prophetic words, "I tremble for my Country when I reflect that
+God is just." It is more reasonable to suppose that, as he believed the
+ascendency of the Republican party of that day essential to the
+perpetuity of the Republic itself, and revolted against being driven
+into an armed alliance with Monarchical England against what he termed
+"our natural friend," Republican France, he reached the conclusion that
+the preservation of his Republican principles was of more immediate
+moment than the question of the perpetuation and increase of human
+Slavery. Be that as it may, it none the less remains a curious fact
+that it was to Jefferson, the far-seeing statesman and hater of African
+Slavery and the author of the Ordinance of 1784--which sought to exclude
+Slavery from all the Territories of the United States south of, as well
+as north-west of the Ohio River--that we also owe the acquisition of the
+vast territory of the Mississippi Valley burdened with Slavery in such
+shape that only a War, which nearly wrecked our Republic, could get rid
+of!
+
+Out of that vast and fertile, but Slave-ridden old French Colony of
+"Louisiana" were developed in due time the rich and flourishing Slave
+States of Louisiana, Missouri and Arkansas.
+
+It will have been observed that this acquisition of the Colony of
+Louisiana and the contemporaneous inventions of the cotton-gin, improved
+cotton-spinning machinery, and the application to it of steam power, had
+already completely neutralized the wisdom of the Fathers in securing, as
+they thought, the gradual but certain extinction of Slavery in the
+United States, by that provision in the Constitution which enabled
+Congress, after an interval of twenty years, to prohibit the African
+Slave Trade; and which led the Congress, on March 22, 1794, to pass an
+Act prohibiting it; to supplement it in 1800 with another Act in the
+same direction; and on March 2, 1807, to pass another supplemental Act
+--to take effect January 1, 1808--still more stringent, and covering any
+such illicit traffic, whether to the United States or with other
+countries. Never was the adage that, "The best laid schemes o' mice an'
+men gang aft agley," more painfully apparent. Slaves increased and
+multiplied within the land, and enriched their white owners to such a
+degree that, as the years rolled by, instead of compunctions of
+conscience on the subject of African Slavery in America, the Southern
+leaders ultimately persuaded themselves to the belief that it was not
+only moral, and sanctioned by Divine Law, but that to perpetuate it was
+a philanthropic duty, beneficial to both races! In fact one of them
+declared it to be "the highest type of civilization."
+
+In 1812, the State of Louisiana, organized from the purchased Colony of
+the same name, was admitted to the Union, and the balance of the
+Louisiana purchase was thereafter known as the Territory of Missouri.
+
+In 1818 commenced the heated and protracted struggle in Congress over
+the admission of the State of Missouri--created from the Territory of
+that name--as a Slave State, which finally culminated in 1820 in the
+settlement known thereafter as the "Missouri Compromise."
+
+Briefly stated, that struggle may be said to have consisted in the
+efforts of the House on the one side, to restrict Slavery in the State
+of Missouri, and the efforts of the Senate on the other, to give it free
+rein. The House insisted on a clause in the Act of admission providing,
+"That the introduction of Slavery or involuntary servitude be
+prohibited, except for the punishment of crimes whereof the party has
+been duly convicted; and that all children born within the said State,
+after the admission thereof into the Union, shall be declared Free at
+the age of twenty-five years." The Senate resisted it--and the Bill
+fell. In the meantime, however, a Bill passed both Houses forming the
+Territory of Arkansas out of that portion of the Territory of Missouri
+not included in the proposed State of Missouri, without any such
+restriction upon Slavery. Subsequently, the House having passed a Bill
+to admit the State of Maine to the Union, the Senate amended it by
+tacking on a provision authorizing the people of Missouri to organize a
+State Government, without restriction as to Slavery. The House
+decidedly refused to accede to the Senate proposition, and the result of
+the disagreement was a Committee of Conference between the two Houses,
+and the celebrated "Missouri Compromise," which, in the language of
+another--[Hon. John Holmes of Massachusetts, of said Committee on
+Conference, March 2, 1820.]--, was: "that the Senate should give up its
+combination of Missouri with Maine; that the House should abandon its
+attempt to restrict Slavery in Missouri; and that both Houses should
+concur in passing the Bill to admit Missouri as a State, with" a
+"restriction or proviso, excluding Slavery from all territory north and
+west of the new State"--that "restriction or proviso" being in these
+words: "That in all that territory ceded by France to the United States
+under the name of Louisiana, which lies north of thirty-six degrees,
+thirty minutes north latitude, excepting only such part thereof as is
+included within the limits of the State contemplated by this act,
+Slavery and involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment of
+crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall be and is
+hereby forever prohibited; Provided always, that any person escaping
+into the same, from whom labor and service is lawfully claimed in any
+State or Territory of the United States, such Fugitive may be lawfully
+reclaimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or
+service, as aforesaid." At a subsequent session of Congress, at which
+Missouri asked admission as a State with a Constitution prohibiting her
+Legislature from passing emancipation laws, or such as would prevent the
+immigration of Slaves, while requiring it to enact such as would
+absolutely prevent the immigration of Free Negroes or Mulattoes, a
+further Compromise was agreed to by Congress under the inspiration of
+Mr. Clay, by which it was laid down as a condition precedent to her
+admission as a State--a condition subsequently complied with--that
+Missouri must pledge herself that her Legislature should pass no act "by
+which any of the citizens of either of the States should be excluded
+from the enjoyment of the privileges and immunities to which they are
+entitled under the Constitution of the United States."
+
+This, in a nut-shell, was the memorable Missouri Struggle, and the
+"Compromise" or Compromises which settled and ended it. But during that
+struggle--as during the formation of the Federal Constitution and at
+various times in the interval when exciting questions had arisen--the
+bands of National Union were more than once rudely strained, and this
+time to such a degree as even to shake the faith of some of the firmest
+believers in the perpetuity of that Union. It was during this bitter
+struggle that John Adams wrote to Jefferson: "I am sometimes Cassandra
+enough to dream that another Hamilton, another Burr, may rend this
+mighty fabric in twain, or perhaps into a leash, and a few more choice
+spirits of the same stamp might produce as many Nations in North America
+as there are in Europe."
+
+It is true that we had "sown the wind," but we had not yet "reaped the
+whirlwind."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER II.
+
+ PROTECTION AND FREE TRADE.
+
+We have seen that the first Federal Congress met at New York in March,
+1789. It organized April 6th. None knew better than its members that
+the war of the Americana Revolution chiefly grew out of the efforts of
+Great Britain to cripple and destroy our Colonial industries to the
+benefit of the British trader, and that the Independence conquered, was
+an Industrial as well as Political Independence; and none knew better
+than they, that the failure of the subsequent political Confederation of
+States was due mainly to its failure to encourage and protect the
+budding domestic manufactures of those States. Hence they hastened,
+under the leadership of James Madison, to pass "An Act laying a duty on
+goods, wares and merchandize imported into the United States," with a
+preamble, declaring it to be "necessary" for the "discharge of the debt
+of the United States and the encouragement and protection of
+manufactures." It was approved by President Washington July 4, 1789--a
+date not without its significance--and levied imports both specific and
+ad valorem. It was not only our first Tariff Act, but, next to that
+prescribing the oath used in organizing the Government, the first Act of
+the first Federal Congress; and was passed in pursuance of the
+declaration of President Washington in his first Message, that "The
+safety and interest of the People" required it. Under the inspiration
+of Alexander Hamilton the Tariff of 1790 was enacted at the second
+session of the same Congress, confirming the previous Act and increasing
+some of the protective duties thereby imposed.
+
+An analysis of the vote in the House of Representatives on this Tariff
+Bill discloses the fact that of the 39 votes for it, 21 were from
+Southern States, 13 from the Middle States, and 5 from New England
+States; while of the 13 votes against it, 9 were from New England
+States, 3 from Southern States, and 1 from Middle States. In other
+words, while the Southern States were for the Bill in the proportion of
+21 to 3, and the Middle States by 13 to 1, New England was against it by
+9 to 5; or again, while 10 of the 13 votes against it were from the New
+England and Middle States, 21 (or more than half) of the 39 votes for it
+were from Southern States.
+
+It will thus be seen-singularly enough in view of subsequent events
+--that we not only mainly owe our first steps in Protective Tariff
+legislation to the almost solid Southern vote, but that it was thus
+secured for us despite the opposition of New England. Nor did our
+indebtedness to Southern statesmen and Southern votes for the
+institution of the now fully established American System of Protection
+cease here, as we shall presently see.
+
+That Jefferson, as well as Washington and Madison, agreed with the views
+of Alexander Hamilton on Protection to our domestic manufactures as
+against those of foreign Nations, is evident in his Annual Message of
+December 14, 1806, wherein-discussing an anticipated surplus of Federal
+revenue above the expenditures, and enumerating the purposes of
+education and internal improvement to which he thinks the "whole surplus
+of impost" should during times of peace be applied; by which application
+of such surplus he prognosticates that "new channels of communication
+will be opened between the States; the lines of separation will
+disappear; their interests will be identified, and their Union cemented
+by new and indissoluble ties"--he says: "Shall we suppress the impost
+and give that advantage to foreign over domestic manufactures. On a few
+articles of more general and necessary use, the suppression in due
+season, will doubtless be right; but the great mass of the articles on
+which impost is paid is foreign luxuries, purchased by those only who
+are rich enough to afford themselves the use of them." But his embargo
+and other retaliatory measures, put in force in 1807 and 1808, and the
+War of 1812-15 with Great Britain, which closely followed, furnished
+Protection in another manner, by shutting the door to foreign imports
+and throwing our people upon their own resources, and contributed
+greatly to the encouragement and increase of our home manufactures
+--especially those of wool, cotton, and hemp.
+
+At the close of that War the traders of Great Britain determined, even
+at a temporary loss to themselves, to glut our market with their goods
+and thus break down forever, as they hoped, our infant manufactures.
+Their purpose and object were boldly announced in the House of Commons
+by Mr. Brougham, when he said: "Is it worth while to incur a loss upon
+the first importation, in order by the glut to stifle in the cradle
+those rising manufactures in the United States which the War had forced
+into existence contrary to the natural course of things." Against this
+threatened ruin, our manufacturers all over the United States--the sugar
+planters of Louisiana among them--clamored for Protection, and Congress
+at once responded with the Tariff Act of 1816.
+
+This law greatly extended and increased specific duties on, and
+diminished the application of the ad valorem principle to, foreign
+imports; and it has been well described as "the practical foundation of
+the American policy of encouragement of home manufactures--the practical
+establishment of the great industrial system upon which rests our
+present National wealth, and the power and the prosperity and happiness
+of our whole people." While Henry Clay of Kentucky, William Loundes of
+South Carolina, and Henry St. George Tucker of Virginia supported the
+Bill most effectively, no man labored harder and did more effective
+service in securing its passage than John C. Calhoun of South Carolina.
+The contention on their part was not for a mere "incidental protection"
+--much less a "Tariff for revenue only"--but for "Protection" in its
+broadest sense, and especially the protection of their cotton
+manufactures. Indeed Calhoun's defense of Protection, from the assaults
+of those from New England and elsewhere who assailed it on the narrow
+ground that it was inimical to commerce and navigation, was a notable
+one. He declared that:
+
+"It (the encouragement of manufactures) produced a system strictly
+American, as much so as agriculture, in which it had the decided
+advantage of commerce and navigation. The country will from this derive
+much advantage. Again it is calculated to bind together more closely
+our wide-spread Republic. It will greatly increase our mutual
+dependence and intercourse, and will, as a necessary consequence, excite
+an increased attention to internal improvements--a subject every way so
+intimately connected with the ultimate attainment of national strength
+and the perfection of our political institutions."
+
+He regarded the fact that it would make the parts adhere more closely;
+that it would form a new and most powerful cement far outweighing any
+political objections that might be urged against the system. In his
+opinion "the liberty and the union of the country were inseparably
+united; that as the destruction of the latter would most certainly
+involve the former, so its maintenance will with equal certainty
+preserve it;" and he closed with an impressive warning to the Nation of
+a "new and terrible danger" which threatened it, to wit: "disunion."
+Nobly as he stood up then--during the last term of his service in the
+House of Representatives--for the great principles of, the American
+System of Protection to manufactures, for the perpetuity of the Union,
+and for the increase of "National strength," it seems like the very
+irony of fate that a few years later should find him battling against
+Protection as "unconstitutional," upholding Nullification as a "reserved
+right" of his State, and championing at the risk of his neck that very
+"danger" to the "liberties" and life of his Country against which his
+prophetic words had already given solemn warning.
+
+Strange was it also, in view of the subsequent attitudes of the South
+and New England, that this essentially Protective Tariff Act of 1816
+should have been vigorously protested and voted against by New England,
+while it was ably advocated and voted for by the South--the 25 votes of
+the latter which secured its passage being more than sufficient to have
+secured its defeat had they been so inclined.
+
+The Tariff Acts of 1824 and 1828 followed the great American principle
+of Protection laid down and supported by the South in the Act of 1816,
+while widening, increasing, and strengthening it. Under their
+operation-especially under that of 1828, with its high duties on wool,
+hemp, iron, lead, and other staples--great prosperity smiled upon the
+land, and particularly upon the Free States.
+
+In the cotton-growing belt of the South, however, where the prosperity
+was relatively less, owing to the blight of Slavery, the very contrast
+bred discontent; and, instead of attributing it to the real cause, the
+advocates of Free Trade within that region insisted that the Protective
+Tariff was responsible for the condition of things existing there.
+
+A few restless and discontented spirits in the South had indeed agitated
+the subject of Free Trade as against Protected manufactures as early as
+1797, and, hand in hand with it, the doctrine of States Rights. And
+Jefferson himself, although, as we have already seen, attached to the
+American System of Protection and believing in its Constitutionality,
+unwittingly played into the hands of these Free Traders by drawing up
+the famous Kentucky Resolutions of '98 touching States Rights, which
+were closely followed by the Virginia Resolutions of 1799 in the same
+vein by Madison, also an out-and-out Protectionist. It was mainly in
+condemnation of the Alien and Sedition Laws, then so unpopular
+everywhere, that these resolutions were professedly fulminated, but they
+gave to the agitating Free Traders a States-Rights-Secession-weapon of
+which they quickly availed themselves.
+
+Their drift may be gathered from the first of the Kentucky Resolutions
+of '98, which was in these words: "Resolved, That the several States
+composing the United States of America are not united on the principle
+of unlimited submission to their General Government, but that, by a
+compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United
+States, and of amendments thereto, they constituted a General Government
+for special purposes--delegated to that Government certain definite
+powers, reserving, each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to
+their own self-government; and that whensoever the General Government
+assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of
+no force; that to this compact each State acceded as a State, and as an
+integral party, its co-States forming, as to itself, the other party;
+that the Government created by this compact was not made the exclusive
+or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself; since
+that would have made its discretion, and not the Constitution, the
+measure of its powers; but that, as in all other cases of compact among
+powers having no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge
+for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of
+redress."
+
+The Resolutions, after enumerating the Alien and Sedition and certain
+other laws as in point, conclude by calling upon the other States to
+join Kentucky in her opposition to such Federal usurpations of power as
+thus embodied, and express confidence: "That they will concur with this
+Commonwealth in considering the said Acts as so palpably against the
+Constitution as to amount to an undisguised declaration that that
+compact is not meant to be the measure of the powers of the General
+Government, but that it will proceed in the exercise over these States,
+of all powers whatsoever; that they will view this as seizing the rights
+of the States, and consolidating them in the hands of the General
+Government, with the power assumed to bind the States (not merely as to
+the cases made federal (casus foederis) but) in all cases whatsoever, by
+laws made, not with their consent, but by others against their consent;
+that this would be to surrender the form of government we have chosen,
+and live under one deriving its powers from its own will, and not from
+our authority; and that the co-States, returning to their natural rights
+in cases not made federal, will concur in declaring these Acts void and
+of no force, and will each take measures of its own in providing that
+neither these Acts, nor any others of the General Government, not
+plainly and intentionally authorized by the Constitution, shall be
+exercised within their respective territories."
+
+The doctrine of States Rights as formulated in these Resolutions,
+including the assumed right of a State to nullify laws of the General
+Government, naturally led up, as we shall see, not only to threats of
+disunion, but ultimately to a dreadful sectional War waged in the effort
+to secure it. That Jefferson, when he penned them, foresaw the terrible
+results to flow from these specious and pernicious doctrines, is not to
+be supposed for an instant; but that his conscience troubled him may be
+fairly inferred from the fact that he withheld from the World for twenty
+years afterward the knowledge that he was their author. It is probable
+that in this case, as in others, he was a victim of that casuistry which
+teaches that "the end justifies the means;" that he hoped and believed
+that the assertion of these baleful doctrines would act solely as a
+check upon any tendency to further centralization of power in the
+General Government and insure that strict construction of the
+Constitution.
+
+Though afterward violated by himself at the same time that he for the
+moment threw aside his scruples touching African slavery, when he added
+to our domain the great French Slave Colony of Louisiana--was none the
+less the great aim of his commanding intellect; and that he fortuitously
+believed in the "saving common sense" of his race and country as capable
+of correcting an existing evil when it shall have developed into ill
+effects.
+
+ [Mr. Jefferson takes this very ground, in almost the same words, in
+ his letter, 1803, to Wilson C. Nichols in the Louisiana Colony
+ purchase case, when, after proving by his own strict construction
+ of the Constitution that there was no power in that instrument to
+ make such purchase, and confessing the importance in that very case
+ of setting "an example against broad construction," he concludes:
+ "If, however, our friends shall think differently, certainly I
+ shall acquiesce with satisfaction; confiding that the good sense of
+ the country will correct the evil of construction when it shall
+ produce ill ejects."]
+
+Be that as it may, however, the fact remains that the seeds thus sown by
+the hands of Jefferson on the "sacred soil" of Virginia and Kentucky,
+were dragon's teeth, destined in after years to spring up as legions of
+armed men battling for the subversion of that Constitution and the
+destruction of that Union which he so reverenced, and which he was so
+largely instrumental in founding--and which even came back in his own
+life to plague him and Madison during his embargo, and Madison's war of
+1812-15, in the utterances and attitude of some of the New England
+Federalists.
+
+The few Free Traders of the South--the Giles's and John Taylor's and men
+of that ilk--made up for their paucity in numbers by their unscrupulous
+ingenuity and active zeal. They put forth the idea that the American
+Protective Policy was a policy of fostering combinations by Federal
+laws, the effect of which was to transfer a considerable portion of the
+profits of slave labor from the Slave States to other parts of the Union
+where it was massed in the hands of a few individuals, and thus created
+a moneyed interest which avariciously influenced the General Government
+to the detriment of the entire community of people, who, made restive by
+the exactions of this power working through the Federal Government, were
+as a consequence driven to consider a possible dissolution of the Union,
+and make "estimates of resources and means of defense." As a means also
+of inflaming both the poor whites and Southern slave-holders by arousing
+the apprehensions of the latter concerning the "peculiar institution" of
+Slavery, they craftily declared that "If the maxim advanced by the
+advocates of the protecting duty system will justify Congress in
+assuming, or rather in empowering a few capitalists to assume, the
+direction of manufacturing labor, it also invests that body with a power
+of legislating for the direction of every other species of labor and
+assigning all occupations whatsoever to the care of the intelligence of
+mercenary combinations"--and hence untold misery to labor.
+
+They charged as a further means of firing the Southern heart, that this
+moneyed power, born of Protection, "works upon the passion of the States
+it has been able to delude by computations of their physical strength
+and their naval superiority; and by boasting of an ability to use the
+weakening circumstance of negro slavery to coerce the defrauded and
+discontented States into submission." And they declared as fundamental
+truths upon which they rested that "The Federal is not a National
+Government; it is a league between nations. By this league, a limited
+power only over persons and property was given to the representatives of
+the united nations. This power cannot be further extended, under the
+pretext of national good, because the league does not create a national
+government."
+
+It was the passage of the Tariff of 1824 that gave these crafty Free
+Traders their first great success in spreading their doctrine of Free
+Trade by coupling it with questions of slave labor, States Rights, and
+nullification, as laid down in the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions.
+These arguments created great excitement throughout the South
+--especially in South Carolina and Georgia--which was still further
+increased by the passage of the Tariff of 1828, since declared by
+eminent authority to have been "the highest and most protective ever
+adopted in this country."
+
+ [Mr. Greeley, in his "History of the American Conflict," 1864.]
+
+Prior to the passage of this Tariff Act, excited assemblages met in some
+of the Southern States, and protested against it as an outrage upon
+their rights--arraying the South in seditious and treasonable attitude
+against not only the North but the Union, with threats of Secession. At
+one of these meetings in South Carolina, in 1827, one of their leaders
+--[Dr. Thomas Cooper, President of South Carolina College.]--declared that
+"a drilled and managed majority" in the House of Representatives had
+determined "at all hazards to support the claims of the Northern
+manufacturers, and to offer up the planting interest on the altar of
+monopoly." He denounced the American system of Protection exemplified
+in that Tariff measure as "a system by which the earnings of the South
+are to be transferred to the North--by which the many are to be
+sacrificed to the few--under which powers are usurped that were never
+conceded--by which inequality of rights, inequality of burthens,
+inequality of protection, unequal laws, and unequal taxes are to be
+enacted and rendered permanent--that the planter and the farmer under
+this system are to be considered as inferior beings to the spinner, the
+bleacher, and the dyer--that we of the South hold our plantations under
+this system, as the serfs and operatives of the North, subject to the
+orders and laboring for the benefit of the master-minds of
+Massachusetts, the lords of the spinning jenny and peers of the
+power-loom, who have a right to tax our earnings for their emolument,
+and to burthen our poverty and to swell their riches;" and after
+characterizing Protection as "a system of fraud, robbery and
+usurpation," he continued "I have said that we shall ere long be
+compelled to calculate the value of our Union; and to enquire of what
+use to us is this most unequal alliance, by which the South has always
+been the loser and the North always the gainer. Is it worth our while
+to continue this union of States, where the North demands to be our
+masters and we are required to be their tributaries? who with the most
+insulting mockery call the yoke they put upon our necks the 'American
+system!' The question, however, is fast approaching the alternative of
+submission or separation."
+
+Only a few days after this inflammatory speech at Columbus, S. C.,
+inciting South Carolinians to resist the pending Protective Tariff even
+to the lengths of Secession, during a grand banquet at Richmond, Va.,
+William B. Giles--another Free Trade leader--proposed, and those present
+drank a toast to the "Tariff Schemer" in which was embodied a
+declaration that "The Southerners will not long pay tribute." Despite
+these turbulent and treasonable mutterings, however, the "Jacksonian
+Congress" passed the Act--a majority of members from the Cotton and New
+England States voting against, while the vote of the Middle and Western
+Free States was almost solidly for, it.
+
+At a meeting held soon after the enactment of the Tariff of 1828, at
+Walterborough Court House, S. C., an address was adopted and issued
+which, after reciting the steps that had been taken by South Carolina
+during the previous year to oppose it, by memorials and otherwise, and
+stating that, despite their "remonstrances and implorations," a Tariff
+Bill had passed, not indeed, such as they apprehended, but "ten-fold
+worse in all its oppressive features," proceeded thus:
+
+"From the rapid step of usurpation, whether we now act or not, the day
+of open opposition to the pretended powers of the Constitution cannot be
+far off, and it is that it may not go down in blood that we now call
+upon you to resist. We feel ourselves standing underneath its mighty
+protection, and declaring forth its free and recorded spirit, when we
+say we must resist. By all the great principles of liberty--by the
+glorious achievements of our fathers in defending them--by their noble
+blood poured forth like water in maintaining them--by their lives in
+suffering, and their death in honor and in glory;--our countrymen! we
+must resist. Not secretly, as timid thieves or skulking smugglers--not
+in companies and associations, like money chafferers or stock jobbers
+--not separately and individually, as if this was ours and not our
+country's cause--but openly, fairly, fearlessly, and unitedly, as
+becomes a free, sovereign and independent people. Does timidity ask
+WHEN? We answer NOW!"
+
+These inflammatory utterances, in South Carolina especially, stirred the
+Southern heart more or less throughout the whole cotton belt; and the
+pernicious principles which they embodied found ardent advocates even in
+the Halls of Congress. In the Senate, Mr. Hayne, of South Carolina, was
+their chief and most vehement spokesman, and in 1830 occurred that
+memorable debate between him and Daniel Webster, which forever put an
+end to all reasonable justification of the doctrine of Nullification,
+and which furnished the ground upon which President Jackson afterward
+stood in denouncing and crushing it out with the strong arm of the
+Government.
+
+In that great debate Mr. Hayne's propositions were that the Constitution
+is a "compact between the States," that "in case of a plain, palpable
+violation of the Constitution by the General Government, a State may
+interpose; and that this interposition is constitutional"--a proposition
+with which Mr. Webster took direct issue, in these words: "I say, the
+right of a State to annul a law of Congress cannot be maintained, but on
+the ground of the inalienable right of man to resist oppression; that is
+to say, upon the ground of revolution. I admit that there is an
+ultimate violent remedy, above the Constitution and in defiance of the
+Constitution, which may be resorted to when a revolution is to be
+justified. But I do not admit that, under the Constitution, and in
+conformity with it, there is any mode in which a State Government, as a
+member of the Union, can interfere and stop the progress of the general
+movement by force of her own laws under any circumstances whatever."
+Mr. Webster insisted that "one of two things is true: either the laws of
+the Union are beyond the discretion and beyond the control of the
+States, or else we have no Constitution of General Government, and are
+thrust back again to the days of the Confederation;" and, in concluding
+his powerful argument, he declared that "even supposing the Constitution
+to be a compact between the States," Mr. Hayne's doctrine was "not
+maintainable, because, first, the General Government is not a party to
+the compact, but a Government established by it, and vested by it with
+the powers of trying and deciding doubtful questions; and secondly,
+because, if the Constitution be regarded as a compact, not one State
+only, but all the States are parties to that compact, and one can have
+no right to fix upon it her own peculiar construction."
+
+While the comparatively miserable condition of the cotton-growing States
+of the South was attributed by most of the Southern Free Traders solely
+to the Protective Tariff of 1828, yet there were some Southerners
+willing to concede--as did Mr. Hayne, in the Senate (1832)--that there
+were "other causes besides the Tariff" underlying that condition, and to
+admit that "Slaves are too improvident, too incapable of that minute,
+constant, delicate attention, and that persevering industry which are
+essential to manufacturing establishments," the existence of which would
+have made those States prosperous. But such admissions were unwilling
+ones, and the Cotton-lords held only with the more tenacity to the view
+that the Tariff was the chief cause of their condition.
+
+The Tariff Act of 1832, essentially modifying that of 1828, was passed
+with a view, in part, to quiet Southern clamor. But the Southern Cotton
+States refused to be mollified. On the contrary, the Free Traders of
+South Carolina proceeded to extreme measures, putting in action that
+which they had before but threatened. On November 19, 1832, the leading
+men of South Carolina met in Convention, and a few days thereafter
+--[November 24,1882]--unanimously passed an Ordinance of Nullification
+which declared the Tariff Acts of 1828 and 1832 "Unauthorized by the
+Constitution," and "null, void, and no law, nor binding on this State,
+its officers, or citizens." The people of the State were forbidden by
+it to pay, after the ensuing February 1st, the import-duties therein
+imposed. Under the provisions of the Ordinance, the State Legislature
+was to pass an act nullifying these Tariff laws, and any appeal to the
+United States Supreme Court against the validity of such nullifying act
+was prohibited. Furthermore, in the event of the Federal Government
+attempting to enforce these Tariff laws, the people of South Carolina
+would thenceforth consider themselves out of the Union, and will
+"forthwith proceed to organize a separate Government, and do all other
+acts and things which sovereign and independent States may of right do."
+
+At the subsequent meeting of the Legislature, Mr. Hayne, who had been a
+member of the Convention, having resigned his seat in the United States
+Senate, was elected Governor of the State. He declared in his message
+that he recognized "No allegiance as paramount to that which the
+citizens of South Carolina owe to the State of their birth or their
+adoption"--that doctrine of "paramount allegiance to the State" which in
+after-years gave so much trouble to the Union and to Union-loving
+Southerners--and declared that he held himself "bound by the highest of
+all obligations to carry into effect, not only the Ordinance of the
+Convention, but every act of the Legislature, and every judgment of our
+own Courts, the enforcement of which may devolve upon the Executive,"
+and "if," continued he, "the sacred soil of Carolina should be polluted
+by the footsteps of an invader, or be stained with the blood of her
+citizens, shed in her defense, I trust in Almighty God * * * even should
+she stand alone in this great struggle for constitutional liberty,
+encompassed by her enemies, that there will not be found, in the wide
+limits of the State, one recreant son who will not fly to the rescue,
+and be ready to lay down his life in her defense." In support of the
+contemplated treason, he even went to the length of calling for an
+enrolling of volunteer forces and of holding them ready for service.
+
+But while South Carolina stood in this treasonable and defiant attitude,
+arming for war against the Union, there happened to be in the
+Presidential chair one of her own sons--General Jackson. Foreseeing
+what was coming, he had, prior to the meeting of the Convention that
+framed the Nullification Ordinance, ordered General Scott to Charleston
+to look after "the safety of the ports of the United States"
+thereabouts, and had sent to the Collector of that port precise
+instructions as to his duty to resist in all ways any and all attempts
+made under such Ordinance to defeat the operation of the Tariff laws
+aforesaid. Having thus quietly prepared the arm of the General
+Government for the exercise of its power, he issued in December a
+Proclamation declaring his unalterable resolution to treat Nullification
+as Treason--and to crush it.
+
+In that famous document President Jackson said of Nullification: "If
+this doctrine had been established at an earlier day, the Union would
+have been dissolved in its infancy. The Excise law in Pennsylvania, the
+Embargo and Non-intercourse law in the Eastern States, the Carriage-tax
+in Virginia, were all deemed unconstitutional, and were more unequal in
+their operation than any of the laws now complained of; but fortunately,
+none of those States discovered that they had the right now claimed by
+South Carolina. * * * The discovery of this important feature in our
+Constitution was reserved for the present day. To the statesmen of
+South Carolina belongs the invention, and upon the citizens of that
+State will unfortunately fall the evils of reducing it to practice. * *
+* I consider, then, the power to annul a law of the United States,
+assumed by one State, incompatible with the existence of the Union,
+contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution, unauthorized
+by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on which it was founded
+and destructive of the great object for which it was formed. * * * To
+say that any State may at pleasure secede from the Union, is to say that
+the United States are not a Nation, because it would be a solecism to
+contend that any part of a Nation might dissolve its connection with the
+other parts, to their injury or ruin, without committing any, offense."
+
+Farther on, in his moving appeal to the South Carolinians, he bids them
+beware of their leaders: "Their object is disunion; be not deceived by
+names. Disunion, by armed force, is Treason." And then, reminding them
+of the deeds of their fathers in the Revolution, he proceeds: "I adjure
+you, as you honor their memory, as you love the cause of freedom to
+which they dedicated their lives, as you prize the peace of your
+country, the lives of its best citizens, and your own fair fame, to
+retrace your steps. Snatch from the archives of your State the
+disorganizing edict of its Convention--bid its members to reassemble and
+promulgate the decided expression of your will to remain in the path
+which alone can conduct you to safety, prosperity, and honor--tell them
+that, compared to disunion, all other evils are light, because that
+brings with it an accumulation of all--declare that you will never take
+the field unless the Star-spangled banner of your country shall float
+over you--that you will not be stigmatized when dead, and dishonored and
+scorned while you live, as the authors of the first attack on the
+Constitution of your country! Its destroyers you cannot be."
+
+After asserting his firm "determination to execute the laws-to preserve
+the Union by all constitutional means"--he concludes with the prayer,
+"May the great Ruler of Nations grant, that the signal blessings with
+which He has favored, ours may not, by the madness of party, or personal
+ambition be disregarded and lost; and may His wise providence bring
+those who have produced this crisis to see the folly before they feel
+the misery, of civil strife; and inspire a returning veneration for that
+Union, which, if we may dare to penetrate His designs, He has chosen as
+the only means of attaining the high destinies to which we may
+reasonably aspire."
+
+The firm attitude of General Jackson, together with the wise
+precautionary measures he had already taken, and the practical unanimity
+with which his declaration to crush out the Treason was hailed in most
+of the Southern as well as the Northern States, almost at once broke the
+back of Nullification.
+
+
+ [In this connection the following letter, written at that time by
+ the great Chief Justice Marshall, to a cousin of his, on the
+ subject of State Sovereignty, is of interest, as showing how
+ clearly his penetrating intellect perceived the dangers to the
+ Union hidden in the plausible doctrine of State Rights:
+
+ RICHMOND, May 7, 1833.
+
+ "MY DEAR SIR:
+
+ "I am much indebted to you for your pamphlet on Federal Relations,
+ which I have read with much satisfaction. No subject, as it seems
+ to me, is more misunderstood or more perverted. You have brought
+ into view numerous important historical facts which, in my
+ judgment, remove the foundation on which the Nullifiers and
+ Seceders have erected that superstructure which overshadows our
+ Union. You have, I think, shown satisfactorily that we never have
+ been perfectly distinct, independent societies, sovereign in the
+ sense in which the Nullifiers use the term. When colonies we
+ certainly were not. We were parts of the British empire, and
+ although not directly connected with each other so far as respected
+ government, we were connected in many respects, and were united to
+ the same stock. The steps we took to effect separation were, as
+ you have fully shown, not only revolutionary in their nature, but
+ they were taken conjointly. Then, as now, we acted in many
+ respects as one people. The representatives of each colony acted
+ for all. Their resolutions proceeded from a common source, and
+ operated on the whole mass. The army was a continental army
+ commanded by a continental general, and supported from a
+ continental treasury. The Declaration of Independence was made by
+ a common government, and was made for all the States.
+
+ "Everything has been mixed. Treaties made by Congress have been
+ considered as binding all the States. Some powers have been
+ exercised by Congress, some by the States separately. The lines
+ were not strictly drawn. The inability of Congress to carry its
+ legitimate powers into execution has gradually annulled those
+ powers practically, but they always existed in theory.
+ Independence was declared `in the name and by the authority of the
+ good people of these colonies.' In fact we have always been united
+ in some respects, separate in others. We have acted as one people
+ for some purposes, as distinct societies for others. I think you
+ have shown this clearly, and in so doing have demonstrated the
+ fallacy of the principle on which either nullification or the right
+ of peaceful, constitutional secession is asserted.
+
+ "The time is arrived when these truths must be more generally
+ spoken, or our Union is at an end. The idea of complete
+ sovereignty of the State converts our government into a league,
+ and, if carried into practice, dissolves the Union.
+
+ "I am, dear sir,
+
+ "Yours affectionately,
+
+ "J. MARSHALL.
+
+ "HUMPHREY MARSHALL, ESQ.,
+
+ "FRANKFORT, KY."]
+
+
+The Nullifiers hailed with pretended satisfaction the report from the
+House Committee on Ways and Means of a Bill making great reductions and
+equalizations of Tariff duties, as a measure complying with their
+demands, and postponed the execution of the Ordinance of Nullification
+until the adjournment of Congress; and almost immediately afterward Mr.
+Clay's Compromise Tariff Act of 1833 "whereby one tenth of the excess
+over twenty per cent. of each and every existing impost was to be taken
+off at the close of that year; another tenth two years thereafter; so
+proceeding until the 30th of June, 1842, when all duties should be
+reduced to a maximum of twenty per cent."--[Says Mr. Greeley, in his
+History aforesaid.]--agreed to by Calhoun and other Nullifiers, was
+passed, became a law without the signature of President Jackson, and
+South Carolina once more became to all appearances a contented,
+law-abiding State of the Union.
+
+But after-events proved conclusively that the enactment of this
+Compromise Tariff was a terrible blunder, if not a crime. Jackson had
+fully intended to hang Calhoun and his nullifying coadjutors if they
+persisted in their Treason. He knew that they had only seized upon the
+Tariff laws as a pretext with which to justify Disunion, and prophesied
+that "the next will be the Slavery or Negro question." Jackson's
+forecast was correct. Free Trade, Slavery and Secession were from that
+time forward sworn allies; and the ruin wrought to our industries by the
+disasters of 1840, plainly traceable to that Compromise Tariff measure
+of 1833, was only to be supplemented by much greater ruin and disasters
+caused by the Free Trade Tariff of 1846--and to be followed by the armed
+Rebellion of the Free Trade and Pro-Slavery States of the South in 1861,
+in a mad attempt to destroy the Union.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER III.
+
+ GROWTH OF THE SLAVERY QUESTION.
+
+
+It will be remembered that during the period of the Missouri Struggle,
+1818-1820, the Territory of Arkansas was formed by an Act of Congress
+out of that part of the Missouri Territory not included in the proposed
+State of Missouri, and that the Act so creating the Territory of
+Arkansas contained no provision restricting Slavery. Early in 1836, the
+people of Arkansas Territory met in Convention and formed a Constitution
+under which, "and by virtue of the treaty of cession by France to the
+United States, of the Province of Louisiana," they asked admission to
+the Union as a State. Among other provisions of that Constitution was a
+section rendering the State Legislature powerless to pass laws for the
+emancipation of slaves without the consent of the owners, or to prevent
+emigrants to that State from bringing with them slaves. On June 15th of
+the same year, Arkansas was, under that Constitution, admitted to the
+Union as a Slave State, with the sole reservation, that nothing in the
+Act of admission should be "construed as an assent by Congress to all or
+any of the propositions contained" in the said Constitution.
+
+Long ere this, all the Northern and Middle States had made provision for
+the emancipation of such slaves as remained within their borders, and
+only a few years previous (in 1829 and 1831-32) Virginia had made strong
+but insufficient efforts toward the same end. The failure to free
+Virginia of Slavery--the effort to accomplish which had been made by
+some of the greatest of her statesmen--only served to rivet the chains
+of human bondage more securely throughout all the Slave States, and from
+that time on, no serious agitation occurred in any one of them, looking
+toward even the most gradual emancipation. On the other hand, the
+advocates of the extension of the Slave-Power by the expansion of
+Slave-territory, were ever on the alert, they considered it of the last
+importance to maintain the balance of power between the Slave States and
+the Free States. Hence, while they had secured in 1819 the cession from
+Spain to the United States of the Slave-holding Floridas, and the
+organization of the Slave Territory of Florida in 1822--which
+subsequently came in as a Slave State under the same Act (1845) that
+admitted the Free State of Iowa--their greedy eyes were now cast upon
+the adjoining rich territories of Mexico.
+
+Efforts had (in 1827-1829) been made to purchase from Mexico the domain
+which was known as Texas. They had failed. But already a part of Texas
+had been settled by adventurous Americans under Mexican grants and
+otherwise; and General Sam Houston, an adherent of the Slave Power,
+having become a leading spirit among them, fomented a revolution. In
+March, 1836, Texas, under his guidance, proclaimed herself a Republic
+independent of Mexico.
+
+The War that ensued between Texas and Mexico ended in the flight of the
+Mexican Army and the capture of Santa Anna at San Jacinto, and a treaty
+recognizing Texan independence. In October, 1836, General Houston was
+inaugurated President of the Republic of Texas. Close upon this
+followed (in August, 1837) a proposition to our Government from the
+Texan envoy for the annexation of Texas to the United States. President
+Van Buren declined the offer. The Northern friends of Freedom were as
+much opposed to this annexation project as the advocates of Slavery were
+anxious for it. Even such conservative Northern Statesmen as Daniel
+Webster strongly opposed the project. In a speech delivered in New York
+[1837], after showing that the chief aim of our Government in the
+acquisition of the Territory of Louisiana was to gain command of the
+mouths of the great rivers to the sea, and that in the acquisition of
+the Floridas our policy was based on similar considerations, Mr. Webster
+declared that "no such necessity, no such policy, requires the
+annexation of Texas," and that we ought "for numerous and powerful
+reasons to be content with our present boundaries." He recognized that
+Slavery already existed under the guarantees of the Constitution and
+those guarantees must be fulfilled; that "Slavery, as it exists in the
+States, is beyond the power of Congress. It is a concern of the States
+themselves," but "when we come to speak of admitting new States, the
+subject assumes an entirely different aspect. Our rights and our duties
+are then both different. The Free States, and all the States, are then
+at liberty to accept or to reject;" and he added, "In my opinion the
+people of the United States will not consent to bring into the Union a
+new, vastly extensive and Slaveholding country, large enough for a half
+a dozen or a dozen States. In my opinion, they ought not to consent to
+it."
+
+Farther on, in the same speech--after alluding to the strong feeling in
+the Northern States against the extension of Slavery, not only as a
+question of politics, but of conscience and religious conviction as
+well-he deems him a rash man indeed "who supposes that a feeling of this
+kind is to be trifled with or despised." Said he: "It will assuredly
+cause itself to be respected. It may be reasoned with; it may be made
+willing--I believe it is entirely willing--to fulfill all existing
+engagements and all existing duties--to uphold and defend the
+Constitution as it is established, with whatever regrets about some
+provisions which it does actually contain. But to coerce it into
+silence, to endeavor to restrain its free expression, to seek to
+compress and confine it, warm as it is, and more heated as such
+endeavors would inevitably render it,--should this be attempted, I know
+nothing, even in the Constitution or in the Union itself, which would
+not be endangered by the explosion which might follow."
+
+In 1840, General Harrison, the Whig candidate, was elected to the
+Presidency, but died within a few weeks after his inauguration in 1841,
+and was succeeded by John Tyler. The latter favored the Slave Power;
+and on April 12th, 1844, John C. Calhoun, his Secretary of State,
+concluded with Texas a treaty of annexation--which was, however,
+rejected by the Senate. Meanwhile the public mind was greatly agitated
+over the annexation and other, questions.
+
+ [In the London Index, a journal established there by Jefferson
+ Davis's agents to support the cause of the rebellious States, a
+ communication appeared during the early part of the war, Dec. 4,
+ 1861, supposed to have been written by Mr. Mason, of Virginia, in
+ which he said: "To tell the Norths, the Butes, the Wedderburns of
+ the present day, that previous to the year 1839 the sovereign
+ States of the South had unalterably resolved on the specific ground
+ of the violation of the Federal Constitution by the tariff of
+ spoliation which the New England States had imposed upon them--to
+ secede from the Union; to tell them that in that year the leader of
+ the South, Calhoun, urged an English gentleman, to whom he had
+ fully explained the position of the South, and the intolerable
+ tyranny which the North inflicted upon it, to be the bearer of
+ credentials from the chief persons of the South, in order to invite
+ the attention of the British Government to the coming event; that
+ on his death-bed (Washington, March 31, 1850), he called around him
+ his political friends--one of whom is now in England--warned them
+ that in no event could the Union survive the Presidential election
+ of 1860, though it might possibly break up before that urged them
+ to be prepared; leaving with his dying words the sacred cause of
+ Southern secession a solemn legacy in their hands--to have told
+ this to the Norths and Dartmouths of the present day, with more and
+ even stronger evidence of the coming events of November, 1860,
+ would have been like speaking to the stones of the street. In
+ November, 1860, they were thoroughly ignorant of all the momentous
+ antecedents of secession--of their nature, their character, their
+ bearing, import, and consequences."
+
+ In the same correspondence the distinguished Rebel emissary
+ substantially let out the fact that Calhoun was indirectly, through
+ himself (Mason), in secret communication with the British
+ Government as far back as 1841, with a view to securing its
+ powerful aid in his aforesaid unalterable resolve to Secede from
+ the Union; and then Mr. Mason pleads--but pleads in vain--for the
+ armed intervention of England at this later day. Said he:
+
+ "In the year 1841 the late Sir William Napier sent in two plans for
+ subduing the Union, to the War Office, in the first of which the
+ South was to be treated as an enemy, in the second as a friend and
+ ally. I was much consulted by him as to the second plan and was
+ referred to by name in it, as he showed by the acknowledgment of
+ this in Lord Fitzroy Somerset's letter of reply. This plan fully
+ provided for the contingency of an invasion of Canada, and its
+ application would, in eighteen or twenty months, have reduced the
+ North to a much more impotent condition than it exhibits at
+ present. At this very moment the most difficult portion of that
+ plan has been perfectly accomplished by the South itself; and the
+ North, in accordance with Sir William Napier's expectations, now
+ lies helpless before England, and at our absolute mercy. Nor is
+ there any doubt of this, and if Lord Palmerston is not aware of it
+ Mr. Seward certainly is. We have nothing remaining to do but to
+ stretch out our arm in the way Sir William Napier proposed, and the
+ Northern power--power as we ignorantly call it--must come to an
+ end. Sir William knew and well estimated the elements of which
+ that quasi power consisted; and he knew how to apply the
+ substantive power of England to dissolve it. In the best interest
+ of humanity, I venture to say that it is the duty of England to
+ apply this power without further delay--its duty to itself, to its
+ starving operatives, to France, to Europe, and to humanity. And in
+ the discharge of this great duty to the world at large there will
+ not even be the dignity of sacrifice or danger."]
+
+Threats and counter-threats of Disunion were made on either hand by the
+opponents and advocates of Slavery-extension through annexation; nor was
+it less agitated on the subject of a Protective Tariff.
+
+The Compromise Tariff of 1833, together with President Jackson's
+upheaval of our financial system, produced, as has already been hinted,
+terrible commercial disasters. "In 1840," says competent authority, "all
+prices had ruinously fallen; production had greatly diminished, and in
+many departments of industry had practically ceased; thousands of
+working men were idle, with no hope of employment, and their families
+suffering from want. Our farmers were without markets, their products
+rotted in their barns, and their lands, teeming with rich harvests, were
+sold by the sheriff for debts and taxes. The Tariff, which robbed our
+industries of Protection failed to supply Government with its necessary
+revenues. The National Treasury in consequence was bankrupt, and the
+credit of the Nation had sunk very low."
+
+Mr. Clay himself stated "the average depression in the value of property
+under that state of things which existed before the Tariff of 1842 came
+to the rescue of the country, at fifty per cent." And hence it was that
+Protection was made the chief issue of the Presidential campaign of
+1840, which eventuated in the election of Harrison and Tyler, and in the
+Tariff Act of August 30, 1842, which revived our trade and industries,
+and brought back to the land a full measure of prosperity. With those
+disasters fresh in the minds of the people, Protection continued to be a
+leading issue in the succeeding Presidential campaign of 1844--but
+coupled with the Texas-annexation issue. In that campaign Henry Clay
+was the candidate of the Whig party and James K. Polk of the Democratic
+party. Polk was an ardent believer in the annexation policy and stood
+upon a platform declaring for the "re-occupation of Oregon and the
+re-annexation of Texas at the earliest practicable moment"--as if the
+prefix "re" legitimatized the claim in either case; Clay, on the other
+hand, held that we had "fairly alienated our title to Texas by solemn
+National compacts, to the fulfilment of which we stand bound by good
+faith and National honor;" that "Annexation and War with Mexico are
+identical," and that he was "not willing to involve this country in a
+foreign War for the object of acquiring Texas."
+
+ [In his letter of April 17, 1844, published in the National
+ Intelligencer.]
+
+As to the Tariff issue also, Clay was the acknowledged champion of the
+American system of Protection, while Polk was opposed to it, and was
+supported by the entire Free-trade sentiment, whether North or South.
+
+As the campaign progressed, it became evident that Clay would be
+elected. Then occurred some of those fatalities which have more than
+once, in the history of Presidential campaigns, overturned the most
+reasonable expectations and defeated the popular will. Mr. Clay
+committed a blunder and Mr. Polk an equivocation--to use the mildest
+possible term. Mr. Clay was induced by Southern friends to write a
+letter--[Published in the North Alabamian, Aug. 16, 1844.]--in which,
+after stating that "far from having any personal objection to the
+annexation of Texas, I should be glad to see it--without dishonor,
+without War, with the common consent of the Union, and upon just and
+fair terms," he added: "I do not think that the subject of Slavery ought
+to affect the question, one way or the other." Mr. Polk, on the other
+hand, wrote a letter in which he declared it to be "the duty of the
+Government to extend, as far as it may be practicable to do so, by its
+revenue laws and all other means within its power, fair and just
+Protection to all the great interests of the whole Union, embracing
+Agriculture, Manufactures, the Mechanic Arts, Commerce and Navigation."
+This was supplemented by a letter (August 8, 1844) from Judge Wilson
+McCandless of Pennsylvania, strongly upholding the Protective principle,
+claiming that Clay in his Compromise Tariff Bill had abandoned it, and
+that Polk and Dallas had "at heart the true interests of Pennsylvania."
+Clay, thus betrayed by the treachery of Southern friends, was greatly
+weakened, while Polk, by his beguiling letter, backed by the false
+interpretation put upon it by powerful friends in the North, made the
+North believe him a better Protectionist than Clay.
+
+Polk was elected, and rewarded the misplaced confidence by making Robert
+J. Walker his Secretary of the Treasury, and, largely through that
+great Free Trader's exertions, secured a repeal by Congress of the
+Protective Tariff of 1842 and the enactment of the ruinous Free Trade
+Tariff of 1846. Had Clay carried New York, his election was secure. As
+it happened, Polk had a plurality in New York of but 5,106 in an immense
+vote, and that slim plurality was given to him by the Abolitionists
+throwing away some 15,000 on Birney. And thus also it curiously
+happened that it was the Abolition vote which secured the election of
+the candidate who favored immediate annexation and the extension of the
+Slave Power!
+
+Emboldened and apparently sustained by the result of the election, the
+Slave Power could not await the inauguration of Mr. Polk, but proceeded
+at once, under whip and spur, to drive the Texas annexation scheme
+through Congress; and two days before the 4th of March, 1845, an Act
+consenting to the admission of the Republic of Texas as a State of the
+Union was approved by President Tyler.
+
+In that Act it was provided that "New States of convenient size, not
+exceeding four in number, in addition to the said State of Texas, and
+having sufficient population, may hereafter, by the consent of said
+State, be formed out of the territory thereof, which shall be entitled
+to admission under the provisions of the Federal Constitution; and such
+States as may be formed out of that portion of said territory lying
+south of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north latitude, commonly
+known as the Missouri Compromise line, shall be admitted into the Union
+with or without Slavery, as the people of each State asking admission
+may desire. And in such State or States as shall be formed out of said
+territory north of said Missouri Compromise line, Slavery or involuntary
+servitude (except for crime) shall be prohibited." As has been lucidly
+stated by another,--[Greeley's History]--"while seeming to curtail and
+circumscribe Slavery north of the above parallel (that of 36 30' north
+latitude), this measure really extended it northward to that parallel,
+which it had not yet approached, under the flag of Texas, within
+hundreds of miles. But the chief end of this sham Compromise was the
+involving of Congress in an indirect indorsement of the claim of Texas
+to the entire left bank of the Rio Grande, from its mouth to its source;
+and this was effected."
+
+Texas quickly consented to the Act of annexation, and in December, 1845,
+a Joint Resolution formally admitting her as a State of the Union,
+reported by Stephen A. Douglas, was duly passed.
+
+In May, 1846, the American forces under General Taylor, which had been
+dispatched to protect Texas from threatened assault, were attacked by
+the Mexican army, which at Palo Alto was badly defeated and at Resaca de
+la Palma driven back across the Rio Grande.
+
+Congress immediately declared that by this invasion a state of War
+existed between Mexico and the United States. Thus commenced the War
+with Mexico--destined to end in the triumph of the American Army, and
+the acquisition of large areas of territory to the United States. In
+anticipation of such triumph, President Polk lost little time in asking
+an appropriation of over two million dollars by Congress to facilitate
+negotiations for peace with, and territorial cession from, Mexico. And
+a Bill making such appropriation was quickly passed by the House of
+Representatives--but with the following significant proviso attached,
+which had been offered by Mr. Wilmot: "Provided. That as an express and
+fundamental condition to the acquisition of any territory from the
+Republic of Mexico by the United States, by virtue of any treaty that
+may be negotiated between them, and to the use by the Executive of the
+moneys herein appropriated, neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude
+shall ever exist in any part of said territory, except for crime,
+whereof the party shall first be duly convicted."
+
+The debate in the Senate upon the Wilmot proviso, which immediately
+ensued, was cut short by the expiration of the Session of Congress--and
+the Bill accordingly failed of passage.
+
+In February, 1848, the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was made between
+Mexico and the United States, and Peace reigned once more. About the
+same time a Bill was passed by the Senate providing Territorial
+Governments for Oregon, California and New Mexico, which provided for
+the reference of all questions touching Slavery in such Territories to
+the United States Supreme Court, for arbitration. The Bill, however,
+failed in the House. The ensuing Presidential campaign resulted in the
+election of General Taylor, the Whig candidate, who was succeeded upon
+his death, July 10, 1850, by Fillmore. Meanwhile, on the Oregon
+Territory Bill, in 1848, a strong effort had been made by Mr. Douglas
+and others to incorporate a provision extending to the Pacific Ocean the
+Missouri Compromise line of 36 30' of north latitude and extending to
+all future organizations of Territories of the United States the
+principles of said Compromise. This provision was adopted by the
+Senate, but the House struck it from the Bill; the Senate receded, and
+Oregon was admitted as a Free Territory. But the conflict in Congress
+between those who would extend and those who would restrict Slavery
+still continued, and indeed gathered vehemence with time. In 1850,
+California was clamoring for admission as a Free State to the Union, and
+New Mexico and Utah sought to be organized under Territorial
+Governments.
+
+In the heated discussions upon questions growing out of bills for these
+purposes, and to rectify the boundaries of Texas, it was no easy matter
+to reach an agreement of any sort. Finally, however, the Compromise of
+1850, offered by Mr. Clay, was practically agreed to and carried out,
+and under it: California was admitted as a Free State; New Mexico and
+Utah were admitted to Territorial organization without a word pro or con
+on the subject of Slavery; the State of Texas was awarded a pecuniary
+compensation for the rectification of her boundaries; the Slave Trade in
+the District of Columbia was abolished; and a more effectual Fugitive
+Slave Act passed.
+
+By both North and South, this Compromise of 1850, and the measures
+growing out of it, were very generally acquiesced in, and for a while it
+seemed as though a permanent settlement of the Slavery question had been
+reached. But in the Fugitive Slave law, thus hastily enacted, lay
+embedded the seed for further differences and excitements, speedily to
+germinate. In its operation it proved not only unnecessarily cruel and
+harsh, in the manner of the return to bondage of escaped slaves, but
+also afforded a shield and support to the kidnapping of Free Negroes
+from Northern States. The frequency of arrests in the Northern States,
+and the accompanying circumstances of cruelty and brutality in the
+execution of the law, soon made it especially odious throughout the
+North, and created an active feeling of commiseration for the unhappy
+victims of the Slave Power, which greatly intensified and increased the
+growing Anti-Slavery sentiment in the Free States.
+
+In 1852-53, an attempt was made in Congress to organize into the
+Territory of Nebraska, the region of country lying west of Iowa and
+Missouri. Owing to the opposition of the South the Bill was defeated.
+In 1853-4 a similar Bill was reported to the Senate by Mr. Douglas, but
+afterward at his own instance recommitted to the Committee on
+Territories, and reported back by him again in such shape as to create,
+instead of one, two Territories, that portion directly west of Missouri
+to be called Kansas, and the balance to be known as Nebraska--one of the
+sections of the Bill enacting:
+
+"That in order to avoid all misconstruction it is hereby declared to be
+the true intent and meaning of this Act, so far as the question of
+Slavery is concerned, to carry into practical operation the following
+propositions and principles, established by the Compromise measures of
+1850, to wit:
+
+"First, That all questions pertaining to Slavery in the Territories, and
+the new States to be formed therefrom, are to be left to the decision of
+the people residing therein through their appropriate representatives.
+
+"Second, That 'all cases involving title to slaves,' and 'questions of
+personal freedom,' are referred to the adjudication of the local
+tribunals with the right of appeal to the Supreme Court of the United
+States.
+
+"Third, That the provisions of the Constitution and laws of the United
+States, in respect to fugitives from service, are to be carried into
+faithful execution in all the `organized Territories,' the same as in
+the States."
+
+The sections authorizing Kansas and Nebraska to elect and send delegates
+to Congress also prescribed:
+
+"That the Constitution, and all laws of the United States which are not
+locally inapplicable, shall have the same force and effect within the
+said Territory, as elsewhere in the United States, except the section of
+the Act preparatory to the admission of Missouri into the Union,
+approved March 6th, 1820, which was superseded by the principles of the
+Legislation of 1850, commonly called the Compromise Measures, and is
+declared inoperative."
+
+And when "explaining this Kansas-Nebraska Bill" Mr. Douglas announced
+that, in reporting it, "The object of the Committee was neither to
+legislate Slavery in or out of the Territories; neither to introduce nor
+exclude it; but to remove whatever obstacle Congress had put there, and
+apply the doctrine of Congressional Non-intervention in accordance with
+the principles of the Compromise Measures of 1850, and allow the people
+to do as they pleased upon this as well as all other matters affecting
+their interests."
+
+A vigorous and able debate ensued. A motion by Mr. Chase to strike out
+the words "which was superseded by the principles of the legislation of
+1850, commonly called the Compromise Measures," was defeated decisively.
+Subsequently Mr. Douglas moved to strike out the same words and insert
+in place of them, these: "which being inconsistent with the principles
+of Non-intervention by Congress with Slavery in the States and
+Territories, as recognized by the legislation of 1850 (commonly called
+the Compromise Measures), is hereby declared inoperative and void; it
+being the true intent and meaning of this Act not to legislate Slavery
+into any Territory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave
+the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic
+institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the
+United States"--and the motion was agreed to by a vote of 35 yeas to 10
+nays. Mr. Chase immediately moved to add to the amendment just adopted
+these words: "Under which, the people of the Territory, through their
+appropriate representatives, may, if they see fit, prohibit the
+existence of Slavery therein;" but this motion was voted down by 36 nays
+to 10 yeas. This developed the rat in the meal-tub. The people were to
+be "perfectly free" to act either way on the subject of Slavery, so long
+as they did not prohibit Slavery! In this shape the Bill passed the
+Senate.
+
+Public sentiment in the North was greatly stirred by this direct attempt
+to repeal the Missouri Compromise. But by the superior parliamentary
+tactics of Southern Representatives in the House, whereby the radical
+friends of Freedom were shut out from the opportunity of amendment, a
+House Bill essentially the same as the Senate Bill was subsequently
+passed by the House, under the previous question, and afterward rapidly
+passed the Senate, and was approved by the President. At once commenced
+that long and terrible struggle between the friends of Free-Soil and the
+friends of Slavery, for the possession of Kansas, which convulsed the
+whole Country for years, and moistened the soil of that Territory with
+streams of blood, shed in numerous "border-ruffian" conflicts.
+
+The Territorial Government of Kansas was organized late in 1854, and an
+"election" for Delegate held, at which the Pro-Slavery candidate
+(Whitfield) was fraudulently elected. On March 30, 1855, a Territorial
+Legislature was similarly chosen by Pro-Slavery voters "colonized" from
+Missouri. That Legislature, upon its meeting, proceeded at once to
+enact most outrageous Pro-Slavery laws, which being vetoed by the
+Free-Soil Governor (Reeder), were passed over the veto, and the Free-Soil
+Governor had to give place to one who favored Slavery in Kansas. But
+the Free-Soil settlers of Kansas, in Mass Convention at Big Springs,
+utterly repudiated the bogus Legislature and all its acts, to which they
+refused submission.
+
+In consequence of these radical differences, two separate elections for
+Delegate in Congress were held by the opposing factions, at one of which
+was elected the Pro-Slavery Whitfield, and at the other the Free-Soiler
+Reeder. Furthermore, under a call issued by the Big Springs Convention,
+a Free-State Constitutional Convention was held in October, 1855, at
+Topeka, which framed a Free-State Constitution, and asked admission
+under it to the Union.
+
+In 1856, the House of Representatives--which, after a protracted
+struggle, had elected N. P. Banks Speaker--passed a Bill, by a bare
+majority, admitting Kansas under her Topeka Constitution; but the Senate
+defeated it. July 4, 1856, by order of President Pierce, the Free-State
+Legislature, chosen under the Topeka Constitution to meet at Topeka, was
+dispersed by United States Troops. Yet, despite all oppositions,
+discouragements, and outrages, the Free-State population of
+Kansas continued to increase from immigration.
+
+In 1857, the Pro-Slavery Legislature elected by the Pro-Slavery voters
+at their own special election--the Free-State voters declining to
+participate--called a Constitutional Convention at Lecompton, which
+formed a Pro-Slavery Constitution. This was submitted to the people in
+such dexterous manner that they could only vote "For the Constitution
+with Slavery" or "For the Constitution without Slavery"--and, as the
+Constitution prescribed that "the rights of property in Slaves now in
+the Territory, shall in no manner be interfered with," to vote "for the
+Constitution Without Slavery" was an absurdity only paralleled by the
+course of the United States Senate in refusing to permit the people of
+Kansas "to prohibit Slavery" while at the same time declaring them
+"perfectly free to act" as they chose in the matter.
+
+The Constitution, with Slavery, was thus adopted by a vote of over
+6,000. But in the meanwhile, at another general election held for the
+purpose, and despite all the frauds perpetrated by the Pro-Slavery men,
+a Free-State Legislature, and Free-State Delegate to Congress had been
+elected; and this Legislature submitted the Lecompton Pro-Slavery
+Constitution to the people, January 4, 1858, so that they could vote:
+"For the Lecompton Constitution with Slavery," "For the Lecompton
+Constitution without Slavery," or "Against the Lecompton Constitution."
+The consequence was that the Lecompton Constitution was defeated by a
+majority of over 10,000 votes--the Missouri Pro-Slavery colonists
+declining to recognize the validity of any further election on the
+subject.
+
+Meanwhile, in part upon the issues growing out of this Kansas conflict,
+the political parties of the Nation had passed through another
+Presidential campaign (1856), in which the Democratic candidate Buchanan
+had been elected over Fremont the "Republican," and Fillmore the
+"American," candidates. Both Houses of Congress being now Democratic,
+Mr. Buchanan recommended them to accept and ratify the Lecompton
+Pro-Slavery Constitution.
+
+In March, 1858, the Senate passed a Bill--against the efforts of Stephen
+A. Douglas--accepting it. In the House, however, a substitute offered
+by Mr. Montgomery (Douglas Democrat) known as the Crittenden-Montgomery
+Compromise, was adopted. The Senate refused to concur, and the report
+of a Committee of Conference--providing for submitting to the Kansas
+people a proposition placing limitations upon certain public land
+advantages stipulated for in the Lecompton Constitution, and in case
+they rejected the proposition that another Constitutional Convention
+should be held--was adopted by both Houses; and the proposition being
+rejected by the people of Kansas, the Pro-Slavery Lecompton Constitution
+fell with it.
+
+In 1859 a Convention, called by the Territorial Legislature for the
+purpose, met at Wyandot, and framed a Free State Constitution which was
+adopted by the people in October of that year, and at the ensuing State
+election in December the State went Republican. In April, 1860, the
+House of Representatives passed a Bill admitting Kansas as a State under
+that Constitution, but the Democratic Senate adjourned without action on
+the Bill; and it was not until early in 1861 that Kansas was at last
+admitted.
+
+In the meantime, the Free Trade Tariff of 1846 had produced the train of
+business and financial disasters that its opponents predicted. Instead
+of prosperity everywhere in the land, there was misery and ruin. Even
+the discovery and working of the rich placer mines of California and the
+consequent flow, in enormous volume, of her golden treasure into the
+Eastern States, could not stay-the wide-spread flood of disaster.
+President Fillmore, who had succeeded General Taylor on the latter's
+death, frequently called the attention of Congress to the evils produced
+by this Free Trade, and to the necessity of protecting our manufactures
+"from ruinous competition from abroad." So also with his successor,
+President Buchanan, who, in his Message of 1857, declared that "In the
+midst of unsurpassed plenty in all the productions and in all the
+elements of national wealth, we find our manufactures suspended, our
+public works retarded, our private enterprises of different kinds
+abandoned, and thousands of useful laborers thrown out of employment and
+reduced to want." Further than this, the financial credit of the Nation
+was at zero. It was financially bankrupt before the close of Buchanan's
+Presidential term.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER IV.
+
+ POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY.
+
+But now occurred the great Presidential struggle of 1860--which
+involved not alone the principles of Protection, but those of human
+Freedom, and the preservation of the Union itself--between Abraham
+Lincoln of Illinois, the candidate of the Republican party, as against
+Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, the National or Douglas-Democratic
+candidate, John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky, the Administration or
+Breckinridge-Democratic candidate, and John Bell of Tennessee, the
+candidate of the Bell-Union party. The great preliminary struggle which
+largely influenced the determination of the Presidential political
+conflict of 1860, had, however, taken place in the State of Illinois,
+two years previously. To that preliminary political contest of 1858,
+therefore, we will now turn our eyes--and, in order to fully understand
+it, it may be well to glance back over a few years. In 1851 the
+Legislature of Illinois had adopted--[The vote in the House being 65
+yeas to 4 nays.]--the following resolution: "Resolved, That our Liberty
+and Independence are based upon the right of the people to form for
+themselves such a government as they may choose; that this great
+principle, the birthright of freemen, the gift of Heaven, secured to us
+by the blood of our ancestors, ought to be secured to future
+generations, and no limitation ought to be applied to this power in the
+organization of any Territory of the United States, of either
+Territorial Government or State Constitution, provided the government so
+established shall be Republican and in conformity with the Constitution
+of the United States." This resolution was a practical endorsement of
+the course of Stephen A. Douglas in supporting the Compromise measures
+of 1850, which he had defended as being "all founded upon the great
+principle that every people ought to possess the right to form and
+regulate their own domestic institutions in their own way," and that
+"the same principle" should be "extended to all of the Territories of
+the United States."
+
+In accordance with his views and the resolution aforesaid, Mr. Douglas
+in 1854, as we have already seen, incorporated in the Kansas-Nebraska
+Bill a clause declaring it to be "the true intent and meaning of the Act
+not to legislate Slavery into any State or Territory, or to exclude it
+therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and
+regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to
+the Constitution of the United States."
+
+His position, as stated by himself, was, substantially that the
+Lecompton Pro-Slavery Constitution was a fraud upon the people of
+Kansas, in that it did not embody the will of that people; and he denied
+the right of Congress to force a Constitution upon an unwilling people
+--without regard, on his part, to whether that Constitution allowed or
+prohibited Slavery or any other thing, whether good or bad. He held
+that the people themselves were the sole judges of whether it is good or
+bad, and whether desirable or not.
+
+The Supreme Court of the United States had in the meantime made a
+decision in a case afterward known as the "Dred Scott case," which was
+held back until after the Presidential election of 1856 had taken place,
+and added fuel to the political fire already raging. Dred Scott was a
+Negro Slave. His owner voluntarily took him first into a Free State,
+and afterward into a Territory which came within the Congressional
+prohibitive legislation aforesaid. That decision in brief was
+substantially that no Negro Slave imported from Africa, nor his
+descendant, can be a citizen of any State within the meaning of the
+Constitution; that neither the Congress nor any Territorial Legislature
+has under the Constitution of the United States, the power to exclude
+Slavery from any Territory of the United States; and that it is for the
+State Courts of the Slave State, into which the negro has been conveyed
+by his master, and not for the United States Courts, to decide whether
+that Negro, having been held to actual Slavery in a Free State, has, by
+virtue of residence in such State, himself become Free.
+
+Now it was, that the meaning of the words, "subject only to the
+Constitution," as used in the Kansas-Nebraska Act, began to be
+discerned. For if the people of a Territory were to be "perfectly
+free," to deal with Slavery as they chose, "subject only to the
+Constitution" they were by this Judicial interpretation of that
+instrument "perfectly free" to deal with Slavery in any way so long as
+they did not attempt "to exclude" it! The thing was all one-sided.
+Mr. Douglas's attitude in inventing the peculiar phraseology in the
+Kansas-Nebraska Act--which to some seemed as if expressly "made to
+order" for the Dred Scott decision--was criticized with asperity; the
+popularity, however, of his courageous stand against President Buchanan
+on the Lecompton fraud, seemed to make it certain that, his term in the
+United States Senate being about to expire, he would be overwhelmingly
+re-elected to that body.
+
+But at this juncture occurred something, which for a long time held the
+result in doubt, and drew the excited attention of the whole Nation to
+Illinois as the great battle-ground. In 1858 a Republican State
+Convention was held at Springfield, Ill., which nominated Abraham
+Lincoln as the Republican candidate for United States Senator to succeed
+Senator Douglas in the National Legislature. On June 16th--after such
+nomination--Mr. Lincoln made to the Convention a speech--in which, with
+great and incisive power, he assailed Mr. Douglas's position as well as
+that of the whole Democratic Pro-Slavery Party, and announced in compact
+and cogent phrase, from his own point of view, the attitude, upon the
+Slavery question, of the Republican Party.
+
+In that remarkable speech--which at once attracted the attention of the
+Country--Mr. Lincoln said: "We are now far into the fifth year, since a
+policy was initiated with the avowed object, and confident promise, of
+putting an end to Slavery agitation. Under the operation of that
+policy, that agitation has not only not ceased, but has constantly
+augmented. In my opinion it will not cease, until a crisis shall have
+been reached and passed. 'A House divided against itself cannot stand.'
+I believe this Government cannot endure permanently half Slave and half
+Free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved--I do not expect the
+House to fall--but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will
+become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of Slavery
+will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind
+shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate
+extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become
+alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new, North as well as
+South."
+
+ [Governor Seward's announcement of an "irrepressible conflict" was
+ made four months later.]
+
+He then proceeded to lay bare and closely analyze the history of all
+that had been done, during the four years preceding, to produce the
+prevailing condition of things touching human Slavery; describing it as
+resulting from that, "now almost complete legal combination-piece of
+machinery, so to speak--compounded of the Nebraska doctrine and the Dred
+Scott decision." After stating the several points of that decision, and
+that the doctrine of the "Sacred right of self-government" had been
+perverted by the Nebraska "Squatter Sovereignty," argument to mean that,
+"if any one man chose to enslave another, no third man shall be allowed
+to object," he proceeded to show the grounds upon which he charged
+"pre-concert" among the builders of that machinery. Said he: "The people
+were to be left perfectly free, 'subject only to the Constitution.'
+What the Constitution had to do with it, outsiders could not see.
+Plainly enough now, it was an exactly fitted niche for the Dred Scott
+decision to afterward come in and declare the perfect freedom of the
+people to be just no freedom at all. Why was the amendment, expressly
+declaring the right of the people, voted down? Plainly enough now, the
+adoption of it would have spoiled the niche for the Dred Scott decision.
+Why was the Court decision held up? Why even a Senator's individual
+opinion withheld, till after the Presidential election? Plainly enough
+now: the speaking out then would have damaged the 'perfectly free'
+argument upon which the election was to be carried. Why the outgoing
+President's felicitation on the indorsement? Why the delay of a
+re-argument? Why the incoming President's advance exhortation in favor of
+the decision? These things look like the cautious patting and petting
+of a spirited horse, preparatory to mounting him, when it is dreaded
+that he may give the rider a fall. And why the hasty after-indorsement
+of the decision, by the President and others? We cannot absolutely know
+that all these exact adaptations are the result of pre-concert. But
+when we see a lot of framed timbers, different portions of which we know
+have been gotten out at different times and places and by different
+workmen--Stephen, Franklin, Roger, and James--[Douglas, Pierce, Taney
+and Buchanan.]--for instance--and when we see these timbers joined
+together, and see they exactly make the frame of a house or a mill, all
+the tenons and mortices exactly fitting, and all the lengths and
+proportions of the different pieces exactly adapted to their respective
+places, and not a piece too many or too few--not omitting even the
+scaffolding, or, if a single piece be lacking, we see the place in the
+frame exactly fitted and prepared yet to bring such piece in--in such a
+case, we find it impossible not to believe that Stephen and Franklin and
+Roger and James all understood one another from the beginning, and all
+worked upon a common plan or draft drawn up before the first blow was
+struck."
+
+He drew attention also to the fact that by the Nebraska Bill the people
+of a State, as well as a Territory, were to be left "perfectly free,"
+"subject only to the Constitution," and that the object of lugging a
+"State" into this merely Territorial law was to enable the United States
+Supreme Court in some subsequent decision to declare, when the public
+mind had been sufficiently imbued with Judge Douglas's notion of not
+caring "whether Slavery be voted up or voted down," that "the
+Constitution of the United States does not permit a State to exclude
+Slavery from its limits"--which would make Slavery "alike lawful in all
+the States." That, he declared to be Judge Douglas's present mission:
+--"His avowed mission is impressing the 'public heart' to care nothing
+about it." Hence Mr. Lincoln urged Republicans to stand by their cause,
+which must be placed in the hands of its friends, "Whose hands are free,
+whose hearts are in the work--who do care for the result;" for he held
+that "a living dog is better than a dead lion."
+
+On the evening of July 9, 1858, at Chicago, Mr. Douglas (Mr. Lincoln
+being present) spoke to an enthusiastic assemblage, which he fitly
+described as a "vast sea of human faces," and, after stating that he
+regarded "the Lecompton battle as having been fought and the victory
+won, because the arrogant demand for the admission of Kansas under the
+Lecompton Constitution unconditionally, whether her people wanted it or
+not, has been abandoned, and the principle which recognizes the right of
+the people to decide for themselves has been submitted in its place," he
+proceeded to vindicate his position throughout; declared that he opposed
+"the Lecompton monstrosity solely on the ground than it was a violation
+of the fundamental principles of free government; on the ground that it
+was not the act and deed of the people of Kansas; that it did not embody
+their will; that they were averse to it;" and hence he "denied the right
+of Congress to force it upon them, either as a Free State or a Slave
+State."
+
+Said he: "I deny the right of Congress to force a Slaveholding State
+upon an unwilling people. I deny their right to force a Free State upon
+an unwilling people. I deny their right to force a good thing upon a
+people who are unwilling to receive it. The great principle is the
+right of every community to judge and decide for itself, whether a thing
+is right or wrong, whether it would be good or evil for them to adopt
+it; and the right of free action, the right of free thought, the right
+of free judgment upon the question is dearer to every true American than
+any other under a free Government. * * * It is no answer to this
+argument to say that Slavery is an evil, and hence should not be
+tolerated. You must allow the people to decide for themselves whether
+it is good or evil." He then adverted to the arraignment of himself by
+Mr. Lincoln, and took direct issue with that gentleman on his
+proposition that, as to Freedom and Slavery, "the Union will become all
+one thing or all the other;" and maintained on the contrary, that "it is
+neither desirable nor possible that there should be uniformity in the
+local institutions and domestic regulations of the different States of
+this Union."
+
+Upon the further proposition of Mr. Lincoln, which Mr. Douglas described
+as "a crusade against the Supreme Court of the United States on account
+of the Dred Scott decision," and as "an appeal from the decision" of
+that Court "upon this high Constitutional question to a Republican
+caucus sitting in the country," he also took "direct and distinct issue
+with him." To "the reason assigned by Mr. Lincoln for resisting the
+decision of the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case * * * because it
+deprives the Negro of the privileges, immunities and rights of
+citizenship which pertain, according to that decision, only to the White
+man," Mr. Douglas also took exception thus: "I am free to say to you
+that in my opinion this Government of ours is founded on the White
+basis. It was made by the White man for the benefit of the White man,
+to be administered by White men, in such manner as they should
+determine. It is also true that a Negro, an Indian, or any other man of
+inferior race to a White man, should be permitted to enjoy, and humanity
+requires that he should have, all the rights, privileges, and immunities
+which he is capable of exercising consistent with the safety of society.
+* * * But you may ask me what are these rights and these privileges?
+My answer is, that each State must decide for itself the nature and
+extent of these rights. * * * Without indorsing the wisdom of that
+decision, I assert that Virginia has the same power by virtue of her
+sovereignty to protect Slavery within her limits, as Illinois has to
+banish it forever from our own borders. I assert the right of each
+State to decide for itself on all these questions, and I do not
+subscribe to the doctrine of my friend, Mr. Lincoln, that uniformity is
+either desirable or possible. I do not acknowledge that the States must
+all be Free or must all be Slave. I do not acknowledge that the Negro
+must have civil and political rights everywhere or nowhere. * * * I do
+not acknowledge any of these doctrines of uniformity in the local and
+domestic regulations in the different States. * * * Mr. Lincoln goes
+for a warfare upon the Supreme Court of the United States because of
+their judicial decision in the Dred Scott case. I yield obedience to
+the decisions in that Court--to the final determination of the highest
+judicial tribunal known to our Constitution. He objects to the Dred
+Scott decision because it does not put the Negro in the possession of
+the rights of citizenship on an equality with the White man. I am
+opposed to Negro equality. * * * I would extend to the Negro, and the
+Indian, and to all dependent races every right, every privilege, and
+every immunity consistent with the safety and welfare of the White
+races; but equality they never should have, either political or social,
+or in any other respect whatever. * * * My friends, you see that the
+issues are distinctly drawn."
+
+On the following evening (July 10th) at Chicago, Mr. Lincoln addressed
+another enthusiastic assemblage, in reply to Mr. Douglas; and, after
+protesting against a charge that had been made the previous night by the
+latter, of an "unnatural and unholy" alliance between Administration
+Democrats and Republicans to defeat him, as being beyond his own
+knowledge and belief, proceeded: "Popular Sovereignty! Everlasting
+Popular Sovereignty! Let us for a moment inquire into this vast matter
+of Popular Sovereignty. What is Popular Sovereignty? We recollect at
+an early period in the history of this struggle there was another name
+for the same thing--Squatter Sovereignty. It was not exactly Popular
+Sovereignty, but Squatter Sovereignty. What do those terms mean? What
+do those terms mean when used now? And vast credit is taken by our
+friend, the Judge, in regard to his support of it, when he declares the
+last years of his life have been, and all the future years of his life
+shall be, devoted to this matter of Popular Sovereignty. What is it?
+Why it is the Sovereignty of the People! What was Squatter Sovereignty?
+I suppose if it had any significance at all, it was the right of the
+people to govern themselves, to be sovereign in their own affairs while
+they were squatted down in a country not their own--while they had
+squatted on a territory that did not belong to them in the sense that a
+State belongs to the people who inhabit it--when it belonged to the
+Nation--such right to govern themselves was called 'Squatter
+Sovereignty.'
+
+"Now I wish you to mark. What has become of that Squatter Sovereignty?
+What has become of it? Can you get anybody to tell you now that the
+people of a Territory have any authority to govern themselves, in regard
+to this mooted question of Slavery, before they form a State
+Constitution? No such thing at all, although there is a general running
+fire and although there has been a hurrah made in every speech on that
+side, assuming that that policy had given the people of a Territory the
+right to govern themselves upon this question; yet the point is dodged.
+To-day it has been decided--no more than a year ago it was decided by
+the Supreme Court of the United States, and is insisted upon to-day,
+that the people of a Territory have no right to exclude Slavery from a
+Territory, that if any one man chooses to take Slaves into a Territory,
+all the rest of the people have no right to keep them out. This being
+so, and this decision being made one of the points that the Judge
+(Douglas) approved, * * * he says he is in favor of it, and sticks to
+it, and expects to win his battle on that decision, which says there is
+no such thing as Squatter Sovereignty; but that any man may take Slaves
+into a Territory and all the other men in the Territory may be opposed
+to it, and yet by reason of the Constitution they cannot prohibit it;
+when that is so, how much is left of this vast matter of Squatter
+Sovereignty, I should like to know? Again, when we get to the question
+of the right of the people to form a State Constitution as they please,
+to form it with Slavery or without Slavery--if that is anything new, I
+confess I don't know it * * *.
+
+"We do not remember that, in that old Declaration of Independence, it is
+said that 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
+created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
+inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit
+of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted
+among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.'
+There, is the origin of Popular Sovereignty. Who, then, shall come in
+at this day and claim that he invented it? The Lecompton Constitution
+connects itself with this question, for it is in this matter of the
+Lecompton Constitution that our friend, Judge Douglas, claims such vast
+credit. I agree that in opposing the Lecompton Constitution, so far as
+I can perceive, he was right. * * * All the Republicans in the Nation
+opposed it, and they would have opposed it just as much without Judge
+Douglas's aid as with it. They had all taken ground against it long
+before he did. Why, the reason that he urges against that Constitution,
+I urged against him a year before. I have the printed speech in my hand
+now. The argument that he makes, why that Constitution should not be
+adopted, that the people were not fairly represented nor allowed to
+vote, I pointed out in a speech a year ago which I hold in my hand now,
+that no fair chance was to be given to the people. * * * The Lecompton
+Constitution, as the Judge tells us, was defeated. The defeat of it was
+a good thing or it was not. He thinks the defeat of it was a good
+thing, and so do I, and we agree in that. Who defeated it? [A voice
+--'Judge Douglas.'] Yes, he furnished himself, and if you suppose he
+controlled the other Democrats that went with him, he furnished three
+votes, while the Republicans furnished twenty. That is what he did to
+defeat it. In the House of Representatives he and his friends furnished
+some twenty votes, and the Republicans furnished ninety odd. Now, who
+was it that did the work? * * * Ground was taken against it by the
+Republicans long before Douglas did it. The proportion of opposition to
+that measure is about five to one."
+
+Mr. Lincoln then proceeded to take up the issues which Mr. Douglas had
+joined with him the previous evening. He denied that he had said, or
+that it could be fairly inferred from what he had said, in his
+Springfield speech, that he was in favor of making War by the North upon
+the South for the extinction of Slavery, "or, in favor of inviting the
+South to a War upon the North, for the purpose of nationalizing
+Slavery." Said he: "I did not even say that I desired that Slavery
+should be put in course of ultimate extinction. I do say so now,
+however; so there need be no longer any difficulty about that. * * * I
+am tolerably well acquainted with the history of the Country and I know
+that it has endured eighty-two years half Slave and half Free. I
+believe--and that is what I meant to allude to there--I believe it has
+endured, because during all that time, until the introduction of the
+Nebraska Bill, the public mind did rest all the time in the belief that
+Slavery was in course of ultimate extinction. That was what gave us the
+rest that we had through that period of eighty-two years; at least, so I
+believe.
+
+"I have always hated Slavery, I think, as much as any Abolitionist--I
+have been an Old Line Whig--I have always hated it, but I have always
+been quiet about it until this new era of the introduction of the
+Nebraska Bill began. I always believed that everybody was against it,
+and that it was in course of ultimate extinction. * * * The great mass
+of the Nation have rested in the belief that Slavery was in course of
+ultimate extinction. They had reason so to believe. The adoption of
+the Constitution and its attendant history led the People to believe so,
+and that such was the belief of the framers of the Constitution itself.
+Why did those old men about the time of the adoption of the Constitution
+decree that Slavery should not go into the new territory, where it had
+not already gone? Why declare that within twenty years the African
+Slave Trade, by which Slaves are supplied, might be cut off by Congress?
+Why were all these acts? I might enumerate more of these acts--but
+enough. What were they but a clear indication that the framers of the
+Constitution intended and expected the ultimate extinction of that
+institution?
+
+"And now, when I say, as I said in my speech that Judge Douglas has
+quoted from, when I say that I think the opponents of Slavery will
+resist the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind
+shall rest with the belief that it is in course of ultimate extinction,
+I only mean to say, that they will place it where the founders of this
+Government originally placed it. I have said a hundred times, and I
+have now no inclination to take it back, that I believe there is no
+right, and ought to be no inclination in the people of the Free States,
+to enter into the Slave States, and interfere with the question of
+Slavery at all. I have said that always; Judge Douglas has heard me say
+it--if not quite a hundred times, at least as good as a hundred times;
+and when it is said that I am in favor of interfering with Slavery where
+it exists, I know that it is unwarranted by anything I have ever
+intended, and as I believe, by anything I have ever said. If, by any
+means, I have ever used language which could fairly be so construe (as,
+however, I believe I never have) I now correct it. So much, then, for
+the inference that Judge Douglas draws, that I am in favor of setting
+the Sections at War with one another.
+
+"Now in relation to his inference that I am in favor of a general
+consolidation of all the local institutions of the various States * * *
+I have said, very many times in Judge Douglas's hearing, that no man
+believed more than I in the principle of self-government from beginning
+to end. I have denied that his use of that term applies properly. But
+for the thing itself, I deny that any man has ever gone ahead of me in
+his devotion to the principle, whatever he may have done in efficiency
+in advocating it. I think that I have said it in your hearing--that I
+believe each individual is naturally entitled to do as he pleases with
+himself and the fruit of his labor, so far as it in no wise interferes
+with any other man's rights--that each community, as a State, has a
+right to do exactly as it pleases with all the concerns within that
+State that interfere with the rights of no other State, and that the
+General Government, upon principle, has no right to interfere with
+anything other than that general class of things that does concern the
+whole. I have said that at all times.
+
+"I have said, as illustrations, that I do not believe in the right of
+Illinois to interfere with the cranberry laws of Indiana, the oyster
+laws of Virginia, or the liquor laws of Maine. I have said these things
+over and over again, and I repeat them here as my sentiments. * * *
+What can authorize him to draw any such inference? I suppose there
+might be one thing that at least enabled him to draw such an inference
+that would not be true with me or many others, that is, because he looks
+upon all this matter of Slavery as an exceedingly little thing--this
+matter of keeping one-sixth of the population of the whole Nation in a
+state of oppression and tyranny unequaled in the World.
+
+"He looks upon it as being an exceedingly little thing only equal to the
+cranberry laws of Indiana--as something having no moral question in it
+--as something on a par with the question of whether a man shall pasture
+his land with cattle, or plant it with tobacco--so little and so small a
+thing, that he concludes, if I could desire that anything should be done
+to bring about the ultimate extinction of that little thing, I must be
+in favor of bringing about an amalgamation of all the other little
+things in the Union.
+
+"Now it so happens--and there, I presume, is the foundation of this
+mistake--that the Judge thinks thus; and it so happens that there is a
+vast portion of the American People that do not look upon that matter as
+being this very little thing. They look upon it as a vast moral evil;
+they can prove it as such by the writings of those who gave us the
+blessings of Liberty which we enjoy, and that they so looked upon it,
+and not as an evil merely confining itself to the States where it is
+situated; while we agree that, by the Constitution we assented to, in
+the States where it exists we have no right to interfere with it,
+because it is in the Constitution; and we are by both duty and
+inclination to stick by that Constitution in all its letter and spirit,
+from beginning to end. * * * The Judge can have no issue with me on a
+question of establishing uniformity in the domestic regulations of the
+States. * * *
+
+"Another of the issues he says that is to be made with me, is upon his
+devotion to the Dred Scott decision, and my opposition to it. I have
+expressed heretofore, and I now repeat, my opposition to the Dred Scott
+decision; but I should be allowed to state the nature of that
+opposition. * * * What is fairly implied by the term Judge Douglas has
+used, 'resistance to the decision?' I do not resist it. If I wanted to
+take Dred Scott from his master, I would be interfering with property
+and that terrible difficulty that Judge Douglas speaks of, of
+interfering with property, would arise. But I am doing no such thing as
+that, but all that I am doing is refusing to obey it, as a political
+rule. If I were in Congress, and a vote should come up on a question
+whether Slavery should be prohibited in a new Territory, in spite of the
+Dred Scott decision, I would vote that it should. That is what I would
+do.
+
+"Judge Douglas said last night, that before the decision he might
+advance his opinion, and it might be contrary to the decision when it
+was made; but after it was made, he would abide by it until it was
+reversed. Just so! We let this property abide by the decision, but we
+will try to reverse that decision. We will try to put it where Judge
+Douglas would not object, for he says he will obey it until it is
+reversed. Somebody has to reverse that decision, since it is made, and
+we mean to reverse it, and we mean to do it peaceably.
+
+"What are the uses of decisions of Courts? They have two uses. As
+rules of property they have two uses. First, they decide upon the
+question before the Court. They decide in this case that Dred Scott is
+a Slave. Nobody resists that. Not only that, but they say to everybody
+else, that persons standing just as Dred Scott stands, are as he is.
+That is, they say that when a question comes up upon another person, it
+will be so decided again, unless the Court decides in another way
+--unless the Court overrules its decision.--Well, we mean to do what we
+can to have the Court decide the other way. That is one thing we mean
+to try to do.
+
+"The sacredness that Judge Douglas throws around this decision is a
+degree of sacredness that has never before been thrown around any other
+decision. I have never heard of such a thing. Why, decisions
+apparently contrary to that decision, or that good lawyers thought were
+contrary to that decision, have been made by that very Court before. It
+is the first of its kind; it is an astonisher in legal history. It is a
+new wonder of the world. It is based upon falsehood in the main as to
+the facts--allegations of facts upon which it stands are not facts at
+all in many instances; and no decision made on any question--the first
+instance of a decision made under so many unfavorable circumstances
+--thus placed, has ever been held by the profession as law, and it has
+always needed confirmation before the lawyers regarded it as settled
+law. But Judge Douglas will have it that all hands must take this
+extraordinary decision, made under these extraordinary circumstances,
+and give their vote in Congress in accordance with it, yield to it and
+obey it in every possible sense.
+
+"Circumstances alter cases. Do not gentlemen remember the case of that
+same Supreme Court, some twenty-five or thirty years ago, deciding that
+a National Bank was Constitutional? * * * The Bank charter ran out,
+and a recharter was granted by Congress. That re-charter was laid
+before General Jackson. It was urged upon him, when he denied the
+Constitutionality of the Bank, that the Supreme Court had decided that
+it was Constitutional; and General Jackson then said that the Supreme
+Court had no right to lay down a rule to govern a co-ordinate branch of
+the Government, the members of which had sworn to support the
+Constitution--that each member had sworn to support that Constitution as
+he understood it. I will venture here to say, that I have heard Judge
+Douglas say that he approved of General Jackson for that act. What has
+now become of all his tirade about 'resistance to the Supreme Court?'"
+
+After adverting to Judge Douglas's warfare on "the leaders" of the
+Republican party, and his desire to have "it understood that the mass of
+the Republican party are really his friends," Mr. Lincoln said: "If you
+indorse him, you tell him you do not care whether Slavery be voted up or
+down, and he will close, or try to close, your mouths with his
+declaration repeated by the day, the week, the month, and the year. Is
+that what you mean? * * * Now I could ask the Republican party, after
+all the hard names that Judge Douglas has called them by, all his
+repeated charges of their inclination to marry with and hug negroes--all
+his declarations of Black Republicanism--by the way, we are improving,
+the black has got rubbed off--but with all that, if he be indorsed by
+Republican votes, where do you stand? Plainly, you stand ready saddled,
+bridled, and harnessed, and waiting to be driven over to the
+Slavery-extension camp of the Nation--just ready to be driven over, tied
+together in a lot--to be driven over, every man with a rope around his
+neck, that halter being held by Judge Douglas. That is the question.
+If Republican men have been in earnest in what they have done, I think
+that they has better not do it. * * *
+
+"We were often--more than once at least--in the course of Judge
+Douglas's speech last night, reminded that this Government was made for
+White men--that he believed it was made for White men. Well, that is
+putting it in a shape in which no one wants to deny it; but the Judge
+then goes into his passion for drawing inferences that are not
+warranted. I protest, now and forever, against that counterfeit logic
+which presumes that because I do not want a Negro woman for a Slave I do
+necessarily want her for a wife. My understanding is that I need not
+have her for either; but, as God has made us separate, we can leave one
+another alone, and do one another much good thereby. There are White
+men enough to marry all the White women, and enough Black men to marry
+all the Black women, and in God's name let them be so married. The
+Judge regales us with the terrible enormities that take place by the
+mixture of races; that the inferior race bears the superior down. Why,
+Judge, if we do not let them get together in the Territories, they won't
+mix there.
+
+" * * * Those arguments that are made, that the inferior race are to be
+treated with as much allowance as they are capable of enjoying; that as
+much is to be done for them as their condition will allow--what are
+these arguments? They are the arguments that Kings have made for
+enslaving the People in all ages of the World. You will find that all
+the arguments in favor of king-craft were of this class; they always
+bestrode the necks of the People, not that they wanted to do it, but
+because the People were better off for being ridden! That is their
+argument, and this argument of the Judge is the same old Serpent that
+says: you work, and I eat; you toil, and I will enjoy the fruits of it.
+
+"Turn it whatever way you will--whether it come from the mouth of a
+King, an excuse for enslaving the People of his Country, or from the
+mouth of men of one race as a reason for enslaving the men of another
+race, it is all the same old Serpent; and I hold, if that course of
+argumentation that is made for the purpose of convincing the public mind
+that we should not care about this, should be granted, it does not stop
+with the Negro.
+
+"I should like to know, taking this old Declaration of Independence,
+which declares that all men are equal upon principle, and making
+exceptions to it, where will it stop? If one man says it does not mean
+a Negro, why not say it does not mean some other man? If that
+Declaration is not the truth, let us get the Statute Book, in which we
+find it, and tear it out! Who is so bold as to do it? If it is not
+true, let us tear it out!" [Cries of "No, no."] "Let us stick to it
+then; let us stand firmly by it, then. * * *
+
+" * * * The Saviour, I suppose, did not expect that any human creature
+could be perfect as the Father in Heaven; but He said, 'As your Father
+in Heaven is perfect, be ye also perfect.' He set that up as a
+standard, and he who did most toward reaching that standard, attained
+the highest degree of moral perfection. So I say, in relation to the
+principle that all men are created equal--let it be as nearly reached as
+we can. If we cannot give Freedom to every creature, let us do nothing
+that will impose Slavery upon any other creature. Let us then turn this
+Government back into the channel in which the framers of the
+Constitution originally placed it. Let us stand firmly by each other.
+* * * Let us discard all this quibbling * * * and unite as one People
+throughout this Land, until we shall once more stand up declaring that
+all men are created equal."
+
+At Bloomington, July 16th (Mr. Lincoln being present), Judge Douglas
+made another great speech of vindication and attack. After sketching
+the history of the Kansas-Nebraska struggle, from the introduction by
+himself of the Nebraska Bill in the United States Senate, in 1854, down
+to the passage of the "English" Bill--which prescribed substantially
+that if the people of Kansas would come in as a Slave-holding State,
+they should be admitted with but 35,000 inhabitants; but if they would
+come in as a Free State, they must have 93,420 inhabitants; which unfair
+restriction was opposed by Judge Douglas, but to which after it became
+law he "bowed in deference," because whatever decision the people of
+Kansas might make on the coming third of August would be "final and
+conclusive of the whole question"--he proceeded to compliment the
+Republicans in Congress, for supporting the Crittenden-Montgomery Bill
+--for coming "to the Douglas platform, abandoning their own, believing
+(in the language of the New York Tribune), that under the peculiar
+circumstances they would in that mode best subserve the interests of the
+Country;" and then again attacked Mr. Lincoln for his "unholy and
+unnatural alliance" with the Lecompton-Democrats to defeat him, because
+of which, said he: "You will find he does not say a word against the
+Lecompton Constitution or its supporters. He is as silent as the grave
+upon that subject. Behold Mr. Lincoln courting Lecompton votes, in
+order that he may go to the Senate as the representative of Republican
+principles! You know that the alliance exists. I think you will find
+that it will ooze out before the contest is over." Then with many
+handsome compliments to the personal character of Mr. Lincoln, and
+declaring that the question for decision was "whether his principles are
+more in accordance with the genius of our free institutions, the peace
+and harmony of the Republic" than those advocated by himself, Judge
+Douglas proceeded to discuss what he described as "the two points at
+issue between Mr. Lincoln and myself."
+
+Said he: "Although the Republic has existed from 1789 to this day,
+divided into Free States and Slave States, yet we are told that in the
+future it cannot endure unless they shall become all Free or all Slave.
+* * * He wishes to go to the Senate of the United States in order to
+carry out that line of public policy which will compel all the States in
+the South to become Free. How is he going to do it? Has Congress any
+power over the subject of Slavery in Kentucky or Virginia or any other
+State of this Union? How, then, is Mr. Lincoln going to carry out that
+principle which he says is essential to the existence of this Union, to
+wit: That Slavery must be abolished in all the States of the Union or
+must be established in them all? You convince the South that they must
+either establish Slavery in Illinois and in every other Free State, or
+submit to its abolition in every Southern State and you invite them to
+make a warfare upon the Northern States in order to establish Slavery
+for the sake of perpetuating it at home. Thus, Mr. Lincoln invites, by
+his proposition, a War of Sections, a War between Illinois and Kentucky,
+a War between the Free States and the Slave States, a War between the
+North and South, for the purpose of either exterminating Slavery in
+every Southern State or planting it in every Northern State. He tells
+you that the safety of the Republic, that the existence of this Union,
+depends upon that warfare being carried on until one Section or the
+other shall be entirely subdued. The States must all be Free or Slave,
+for a house divided against itself cannot stand. That is Mr. Lincoln's
+argument upon that question. My friends, is it possible to preserve
+Peace between the North and the South if such a doctrine shall prevail
+in either Section of the Union?
+
+"Will you ever submit to a warfare waged by the Southern States to
+establish Slavery in Illinois? What man in Illinois would not lose the
+last drop of his heart's blood before lie would submit to the
+institution of Slavery being forced upon us by the other States against
+our will? And if that be true of us, what Southern man would not shed
+the last drop of his heart's blood to prevent Illinois, or any other
+Northern State, from interfering to abolish Slavery in his State? Each
+of these States is sovereign under the Constitution; and if we wish to
+preserve our liberties, the reserved rights and sovereignty of each and
+every State must be maintained. * * * The difference between Mr.
+Lincoln and myself upon this point is, that he goes for a combination of
+the Northern States, or the organization of a sectional political party
+in the Free States, to make War on the domestic institutions of the
+Southern States, and to prosecute that War until they all shall be
+subdued, and made to conform to such rules as the North shall dictate to
+them.
+
+"I am aware that Mr. Lincoln, on Saturday night last, made a speech at
+Chicago for the purpose, as he said, of explaining his position on this
+question. * * * His answer to this point which I have been arguing,
+is, that he never did mean, and that I ought to know that he never
+intended to convey the idea, that he wished the people of
+the Free States to enter into the Southern States and interfere with
+Slavery. Well, I never did suppose that he ever dreamed of entering
+into Kentucky, to make War upon her institutions, nor will any
+Abolitionist ever enter into Kentucky to wage such War. Their mode of
+making War is not to enter into those States where Slavery exists, and
+there interfere, and render themselves responsible for the consequences.
+Oh, no! They stand on this side of the Ohio River and shoot across.
+They stand in Bloomington and shake their fists at the people of
+Lexington; they threaten South Carolina from Chicago. And they call
+that bravery! But they are very particular, as Mr. Lincoln says, not to
+enter into those States for the purpose of interfering with the
+institution of Slavery there. I am not only opposed to entering into
+the Slave States, for the purpose of interfering with their
+institutions, but I am opposed to a sectional agitation to control the
+institutions of other States. I am opposed to organizing a sectional
+party, which appeals to Northern pride, and Northern passion and
+prejudice, against Southern institutions, thus stirring up ill feeling
+and hot blood between brethren of the same Republic. I am opposed to
+that whole system of sectional agitation, which can produce nothing but
+strife, but discord, but hostility, and finally disunion. * * *
+
+"I ask Mr. Lincoln how it is that he purposes ultimately to bring about
+this uniformity in each and all the States of the Union? There is but
+one possible mode which I can see, and perhaps Mr. Lincoln intends to
+pursue it; that is, to introduce a proposition into the Senate to change
+the Constitution of the United States in order that all the State
+Legislatures may be abolished, State Sovereignty blotted out, and the
+power conferred upon Congress to make local laws and establish the
+domestic institutions and police regulations uniformly throughout the
+United States.
+
+"Are you prepared for such a change in the institutions of your country?
+Whenever you shall have blotted out the State Sovereignties, abolished
+the State Legislatures, and consolidated all the power in the Federal
+Government, you will have established a Consolidated Empire as
+destructive to the Liberties of the People and the Rights of the Citizen
+as that of Austria, or Russia, or any other despotism that rests upon
+the neck of the People. * * * There is but one possible way in which
+Slavery can be abolished, and that is by leaving a State, according to
+the principle of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, perfectly free to form and
+regulate its institutions in its own way. That was the principle upon
+which this Republic was founded, and it is under the operation of that
+principle that we have been able to preserve the Union thus far under
+its operation. Slavery disappeared from New Hampshire, from Rhode
+Island, from Connecticut, from New York, from New Jersey, from
+Pennsylvania, from six of the twelve original Slave-holding States; and
+this gradual system of emancipation went on quietly, peacefully, and
+steadily, so long as we in the Free States minded our own business, and
+left our neighbors alone.
+
+"But the moment the Abolition Societies were organized throughout the
+North, preaching a violent crusade against Slavery in the Southern
+States, this combination necessarily caused a counter-combination in the
+South, and a sectional line was drawn which was a barrier to any further
+emancipation. Bear in mind that emancipation has not taken place in any
+one State since the Free Soil Party was organized as a political party
+in this country. Emancipation went on gradually, in State after State,
+so long as the Free States were content with managing their own affairs
+and leaving the South perfectly free to do as they pleased; but the
+moment the North said we are powerful enough to control you of the
+South, the moment the North proclaimed itself the determined master of
+the South, that moment the South combined to resist the attack, and thus
+sectional parties were formed and gradual emancipation ceased in all the
+Slave-holding States.
+
+"And yet Mr. Lincoln, in view of these historical facts, proposes to
+keep up this sectional agitation, band all the Northern States together
+in one political Party, elect a President by Northern votes alone, and
+then, of course, make a Cabinet composed of Northern men, and administer
+the Government by Northern men only, denying all the Southern States of
+this Union any participation in the administration of affairs
+whatsoever. I submit to you, my fellow-citizens, whether such a line of
+policy is consistent with the peace and harmony of the Country? Can the
+Union endure under such a system of policy? He has taken his position
+in favor of sectional agitation and sectional warfare. I have taken
+mine in favor of securing peace, harmony, and good-will among all the
+States, by permitting each to mind its own business, and
+discountenancing any attempt at interference on the part of one State
+with the domestic concerns of the others. * * *
+
+"Mr. Lincoln tells you that he is opposed to the decision of the Supreme
+Court in the Dred Scott case. Well, suppose he is; what is he going to
+do about it? * * * Why, he says he is going to appeal to Congress. Let
+us see how he will appeal to Congress. He tells us that on the 8th of
+March, 1820, Congress passed a law called the Missouri Compromise,
+prohibiting Slavery forever in all the territory west of the Mississippi
+and north of the Missouri line of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes;
+that Dred Scott, a slave in Missouri, was taken by his master to Fort
+Snelling, in the present State of Minnesota, situated on the west branch
+of the Mississippi River, and consequently in the Territory where
+Slavery was prohibited by the Act of 1820; and that when Dred Scott
+appealed for his Freedom in consequence of having been taken into that
+Territory, the Supreme Court of the United States decided that Dred
+Scott did not become Free by being taken into that Territory, but that
+having been carried back to Missouri, was yet a Slave.
+
+"Mr. Lincoln is going to appeal from that decision and reverse it. He
+does not intend to reverse it as to Dred Scott. Oh, no! But he will
+reverse it so that it shall not stand as a rule in the future. How will
+he do it? He says that if he is elected to the Senate he will introduce
+and pass a law just like the Missouri Compromise, prohibiting Slavery
+again in all the Territories. Suppose he does re-enact the same law
+which the Court has pronounced unconstitutional, will that make it
+Constitutional? * * * Will it be any more valid? Will he be able to
+convince the Court that the second Act is valid, when the first is
+invalid and void? What good does it do to pass a second Act? Why, it
+will have the effect to arraign the Supreme Court before the People, and
+to bring them into all the political discussions of the Country. Will
+that do any good? * * *
+
+"The functions of Congress are to enact the Statutes, the province of
+the Court is to pronounce upon their validity, and the duty of the
+Executive is to carry the decision into effect when rendered by the
+Court. And yet, notwithstanding the Constitution makes the decision of
+the Court final in regard to the validity of an Act of Congress, Mr.
+Lincoln is going to reverse that decision by passing another Act of
+Congress. When he has become convinced of the Folly of the proposition,
+perhaps he will resort to the same subterfuge that I have found others
+of his Party resort to, which is to agitate and agitate until he can
+change the Supreme Court and put other men in the places of the present
+incumbents."
+
+After ridiculing this proposition at some length, he proceeded:
+
+"Mr. Lincoln is alarmed for fear that, under the Dred Scott decision,
+Slavery will go into all the Territories of the United States. All I
+have to say is that, with or without this decision, Slavery will go just
+where the People want it, and not an inch further. * * * Hence, if the
+People of a Territory want Slavery, they will encourage it by passing
+affirmatory laws, and the necessary police regulations, patrol laws and
+Slave Code; if they do not want it, they will withhold that legislation,
+and, by withholding it, Slavery is as dead as if it was prohibited by a
+Constitutional prohibition, especially if, in addition, their
+legislation is unfriendly, as it would be if they were opposed to it."
+
+Then, taking up what he said was "Mr. Lincoln's main objection to the
+Dred Scott decision," to wit: "that that decision deprives the Negro of
+the benefits of that clause of the Constitution of the United States
+which entitles the citizens of each State to all the privileges and
+immunities of citizens of the several States," and admitting that such
+would be its effect, Mr. Douglas contended at some length that this
+Government was "founded on the White basis" for the benefit of the
+Whites and their posterity. He did "not believe that it was the design
+or intention of the signers of the Declaration of Independence or the
+frames of the Constitution to include Negroes, Indians, or other
+inferior races, with White men as citizens;" nor that the former "had
+any reference to Negroes, when they used the expression that all men
+were created equal," nor to "any other inferior race." He held that,
+"They were speaking only of the White race, and never dreamed that their
+language would be construed to apply to the Negro;" and after ridiculing
+the contrary view, insisted that, "The history of the Country shows that
+neither the signers of the Declaration, nor the Framers of the
+Constitution, ever supposed it possible that their language would be
+used in an attempt to make this Nation a mixed Nation of Indians,
+Negroes, Whites, and Mongrels."
+
+The "Fathers proceeded on the White basis, making the White people the
+governing race, but conceding to the Indian and Negro, and all inferior
+races, all the rights and all the privileges they could enjoy consistent
+with the safety of the society in which they lived. That," said he, "is
+my opinion now. I told you that humanity, philanthropy, justice, and
+sound policy required that we should give the Negro every right, every
+privilege, every immunity consistent with the safety and welfare of the
+State. The question, then, naturally arises, what are those rights and
+privileges, and what is the nature and extent of them? My answer is,
+that that is a question which each State and each Territory must decide
+for itself. * * * I am content with that position. My friend Lincoln
+is not. * * * He thinks that the Almighty made the Negro his equal and
+his brother. For my part I do not consider the Negro any kin to me, nor
+to any other White man; but I would still carry my humanity and my
+philanthropy to the extent of giving him every privilege and every
+immunity that he could enjoy, consistent with our own good."
+
+After again referring to the principles connected with non-interference
+in the domestic institutions of the States and Territories, and to the
+devotion of all his energies to them "since 1850, when," said he, "I
+acted side by side with the immortal Clay and the god-like Webster, in
+that memorable struggle in which Whigs and Democrats united upon a
+common platform of patriotism and the Constitution, throwing aside
+partisan feelings in order to restore peace and harmony to a distracted
+Country"--he alluded to the death-bed of Clay, and the pledges made by
+himself to both Clay and Webster to devote his own life to the
+vindication of the principles of that Compromise of 1850 as a means of
+preserving the Union; and concluded with this appeal: "This Union can
+only be preserved by maintaining the fraternal feeling between the North
+and the South, the East and the West. If that good feeling can be
+preserved, the Union will be as perpetual as the fame of its great
+founders. It can be maintained by preserving the sovereignty of the
+States, the right of each State and each Territory to settle its
+domestic concerns for itself, and the duty of each to refrain from
+interfering with the other in any of its local or domestic institutions.
+Let that be done, and the Union will be perpetual; let that be done, and
+this Republic, which began with thirteen States and which now numbers
+thirty-two, which when it began, only extended from the Atlantic to the
+Mississippi, but now reaches to the Pacific, may yet expand, North and
+South, until it covers the whole Continent, and becomes one vast
+ocean-bound Confederacy. Then, my friends, the path of duty, of honor,
+of patriotism, is plain. There are a few simple principles to be
+preserved. Bear in mind the dividing line between State rights and
+Federal authority; let us maintain the great principles of Popular
+Sovereignty, of State rights and of the Federal Union as the
+Constitution has made it, and this Republic will endure forever."
+
+On the next evening, July 17th, at Springfield, both Douglas and Lincoln
+addressed separate meetings.
+
+After covering much the same ground with regard to the history of the
+Kansas-Nebraska struggle and his own attitude upon it, as he did in his
+previous speech, Mr. Douglas declined to comment upon Mr. Lincoln's
+intimation of a Conspiracy between Douglas, Pierce, Buchanan, and Taney
+for the passage of the Nebraska Bill, the rendition of the Dred Scott
+decision, and the extension of Slavery, but proceeded to dilate on the
+"uniformity" issue between himself and Mr. Lincoln, in much the same
+strain as before, tersely summing up with the statement that "there is a
+distinct issue of principles--principles irreconcilable--between Mr.
+Lincoln and myself. He goes for consolidation and uniformity in our
+Government. I go for maintaining the Confederation of the Sovereign
+States under the Constitution, as our fathers made it, leaving each
+State at liberty to manage its own affairs and own internal
+institutions."
+
+He then ridiculed, at considerable length, Mr. Lincoln's proposed
+methods of securing a reversal by the United States Supreme Court of the
+Dred Scott decision--especially that of an "appeal to the People to
+elect a President who will appoint judges who will reverse the Dred
+Scott decision," which he characterized as "a proposition to make that
+Court the corrupt, unscrupulous tool of a political party," and asked,
+"when we refuse to abide by Judicial decisions, what protection is there
+left for life and property? To whom shall you appeal? To mob law, to
+partisan caucuses, to town meetings, to revolution? Where is the remedy
+when you refuse obedience to the constituted authorities?" In other
+respects the speech was largely a repetition of his Bloomington speech.
+
+Mr. Lincoln in his speech, the same night, at Springfield, opened by
+contrasting the disadvantages under which, by reason of an unfair
+apportionment of State Legislative representation and otherwise, the
+Republicans of Illinois labored in this fight. Among other
+disadvantages--whereby he said the Republicans were forced "to fight
+this battle upon principle and upon principle alone"--were those which
+he said arose "out of the relative positions of the two persons who
+stand before the State as candidates for the Senate."
+
+Said he: "Senator Douglas is of world-wide renown. All the anxious
+politicians of his Party, or who have been of his Party for years past,
+have been looking upon him as certainly, at no distant day, to be the
+President of the United States. They have seen in his round, jolly,
+fruitful face, Post-offices, Land-offices, Marshalships, and Cabinet
+appointments, Chargeships and Foreign Missions, bursting and sprouting
+out in wonderful exuberance, ready to be laid hold of by their greedy
+hands. And as they have been gazing upon this attractive picture so
+long, they cannot, in the little distraction that has taken place in the
+party, bring themselves to give up the charming hope; but with greedier
+anxiety they rush about him, sustain him, and give him marches,
+triumphal entries, and receptions, beyond what even in the days of his
+highest prosperity they could have brought about in his favor. On the
+contrary, nobody has ever expected me to be President. In my poor,
+lean, lank face, nobody has ever seen that any cabbages were sprouting
+out."
+
+Then he described the main points of Senator Douglas's plan of campaign
+as being not very numerous. "The first," he said, "is Popular
+Sovereignty. The second and third are attacks upon my speech made on
+the 16th of June. Out of these three points-drawing within the range of
+Popular Sovereignty the question of the Lecompton Constitution--he makes
+his principal assault. Upon these his successive speeches are
+substantially one and the same." Touching the first point, "Popular
+Sovereignty"--"the great staple" of Mr. Douglas's campaign--Mr. Lincoln
+affirmed that it was "the most arrant Quixotism that was ever enacted
+before a community."
+
+He said that everybody understood that "we have not been in a
+controversy about the right of a People to govern themselves in the
+ordinary matters of domestic concern in the States and Territories;"
+that, "in this controversy, whatever has been said has had reference to
+the question of Negro Slavery;" and "hence," said he, "when hereafter I
+speak of Popular Sovereignty, I wish to be understood as applying what I
+say to the question of Slavery only; not to other minor domestic matters
+of a Territory or a State."
+
+Having cleared away the cobwebs, Mr. Lincoln proceeded:
+
+"Does Judge Douglas, when he says that several of the past years of his
+life have been devoted to the question of 'Popular Sovereignty' * * *
+mean to say that he has been devoting his life to securing the People of
+the Territories the right to exclude Slavery from the Territories? If
+he means so to say, he means to deceive; because he and every one knows
+that the decision of the Supreme Court, which he approves, and makes
+special ground of attack upon me for disapproving, forbids the People of
+a Territory to exclude Slavery.
+
+"This covers the whole ground from the settlement of a Territory till it
+reaches the degree of maturity entitling it to form a State
+Constitution. * * * This being so, the period of time from the first
+settlement of a Territory till it reaches the point of forming a State
+Constitution, is not the thing that the Judge has fought for, or is
+fighting for; but, on the contrary, he has fought for, and is fighting
+for, the thing that annihilates and crushes out that same Popular
+Sovereignty. Well, so much being disposed of, what is left? Why, he is
+contending for the right of the People, when they come to make a State
+Constitution, to make it for themselves, and precisely as best suits
+themselves. I say again, that is Quixotic. I defy contradiction when I
+declare that the Judge can find no one to oppose him on that
+proposition. I repeat, there is nobody opposing that proposition on
+principle. * * * Nobody is opposing, or has opposed, the right of the
+People when they form a State Constitution, to form it for themselves.
+Mr. Buchanan and his friends have not done it; they, too, as well as the
+Republicans and the Anti-Lecompton Democrats, have not done it; but on
+the contrary, they together have insisted on the right of the People to
+form a Constitution for themselves. The difference between the Buchanan
+men, on the one hand, and the Douglas men and the Republicans, on the
+other, has not been on a question of principle, but on a question of
+fact * * * whether the Lecompton Constitution had been fairly formed by
+the People or not. * * * As to the principle, all were agreed.
+
+"Judge Douglas voted with the Republicans upon that matter of fact. He
+and they, by their voices and votes, denied that it was a fair emanation
+of the People. The Administration affirmed that it was. * * * This
+being so, what is Judge Douglas going to spend his life for? Is he
+going to spend his life in maintaining a principle that no body on earth
+opposes? Does he expect to stand up in majestic dignity and go through
+his apotheosis and become a god, in the maintaining of a principle which
+neither man nor mouse in all God's creation is opposing?"
+
+After ridiculing the assumption that Judge Douglas was entitled to all
+the credit for the defeat of the Lecompton Constitution in the House of
+Representatives--when the defeating vote numbered 120, of which 6 were
+Americans, 20 Douglas (or Anti-Lecompton) Democrats, and 94 Republicans
+--and hinting that perhaps he placed "his superior claim to credit, on
+the ground that he performed a good act which was never expected of
+him," or "upon the ground of the parable of the lost sheep," of which it
+had been said, "that there was more rejoicing over the one sheep that
+was lost and had been found, than over the ninety and nine in the fold
+--" he added: "The application is made by the Saviour in this parable,
+thus: 'Verily, I say unto you, there is more rejoicing in Heaven over
+one sinner that repenteth, than over ninety and nine just persons that
+need no repentance.' And now if the Judge claims the benefit of this
+parable, let him repent. Let him not come up here and say: 'I am the
+only just person; and you are the ninety-nine sinners!' Repentance
+before forgiveness is a provision of the Christian system, and on that
+condition alone will the Republicans grant his forgiveness."
+
+After complaining that Judge Douglas misrepresented his attitude as
+indicated in his 16th of June speech at Springfield, in charging that he
+invited "a War of Sections;"--that he proposed that "all the local
+institutions of the different States shall become consolidated and
+uniform," Mr. Lincoln denied that that speech could fairly bear such
+construction.
+
+In that speech he (Mr. L.) had simply expressed an expectation that
+"either the opponents of Slavery will arrest the further spread of it,
+and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is
+in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push it
+forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well
+as new, North as well as South." Since then, at Chicago, he had also
+expressed a "wish to see the spread of Slavery arrested, and to see it
+placed where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the
+course of ultimate extinction"--and, said he: "I said that, because I
+supposed, when the public mind shall rest in that belief, we shall have
+Peace on the Slavery question. I have believed--and now believe--the
+public mind did rest on that belief up to the introduction of the
+Nebraska Bill. Although I have ever been opposed to Slavery, so far I
+rested in the hope and belief that it was in the course of ultimate
+extinction. For that reason, it had been a minor question with me. I
+might have been mistaken; but I had believed, and now believe, that the
+whole public mind, that is, the mind of the great majority, had rested
+in that belief up to the Repeal of the Missouri Compromise. But upon
+that event, I became convinced that either I had been resting in a
+delusion, or the institution was being placed on a new basis--a basis
+for making it Perpetual, National, and Universal. Subsequent events
+have greatly confirmed me in that belief.
+
+"I believe that Bill to be the beginning of a Conspiracy for that
+purpose. So believing, I have since then considered that question a
+paramount one. So believing, I thought the public mind would never rest
+till the power of Congress to restrict the spread of it shall again be
+acknowledged and exercised on the one hand, or, on the other, all
+resistance be entirely crushed out. I have expressed that opinion and I
+entertain it to-night."
+
+Having given some pieces of evidence in proof of the "tendency," he had
+discovered, to the Nationalization of Slavery in these States, Mr.
+Lincoln continued: "And now, as to the Judge's inference, that because I
+wish to see Slavery placed in the course of ultimate extinction--placed
+where our fathers originally placed it--I wish to annihilate the State
+Legislatures--to force cotton to grow upon the tops of the Green
+Mountains--to freeze ice in Florida--to cut lumber on the broad Illinois
+prairies--that I am in favor of all these ridiculous and impossible
+things! It seems to me it is a complete answer to all this, to ask if,
+when Congress did have the fashion of restricting Slavery from Free
+Territory; when Courts did have the fashion of deciding that taking a
+Slave into a Free, Country made him Free--I say it is a sufficient
+answer to ask, if any of this ridiculous nonsense, about consolidation
+and uniformity, did actually follow? Who heard of any such thing,
+because of the Ordinance of '87? because of the Missouri Restriction
+because of the numerous Court decisions of that character?
+
+"Now, as to the Dred Scott decision; for upon that he makes his last
+point at me. He boldly takes ground in favor of that decision. This is
+one-half the onslaught and one-third of the entire plan of the campaign.
+I am opposed to that decision in a certain sense, but not in the sense
+which he puts on it. I say that in so far as it decided in favor of
+Dred Scott's master, and against Dred Scott and his family, I do not
+propose to disturb or resist the decision. I never have proposed to do
+any such thing. I think, that in respect for judicial authority, my
+humble history would not suffer in comparison with that of Judge
+Douglas. He would have the citizen conform his vote to that decision;
+the member of Congress, his; the President, his use of the veto power.
+He would make it a rule of political action for the People and all the
+departments of the Government. I would not. By resisting it as a
+political rule, I disturb no right of property, create no disorder,
+excite no mobs."
+
+After quoting from a letter of Mr. Jefferson (vol. vii., p. 177, of his
+Correspondence,) in which he held that "to consider the judges as the
+ultimate arbiters of all Constitutional questions," is "a very dangerous
+doctrine indeed; and one which would place us under the despotism of an
+Oligarchy," Mr. Lincoln continued: "Let us go a little further. You
+remember we once had a National Bank. Some one owed the Bank a debt; he
+was sued, and sought to avoid payment on the ground that the Bank was
+unconstitutional. The case went to the Supreme Court, and therein it
+was decided that the Bank was Constitutional. The whole Democratic
+party revolted against that decision. General Jackson himself asserted
+that he, as President, would not be bound to hold a National Bank to be
+Constitutional, even though the Court had decided it to be so. He fell
+in, precisely, with the view of Mr. Jefferson, and acted upon it under
+his official oath, in vetoing a charter for a National Bank.
+
+"The declaration that Congress does not possess this Constitutional
+power to charter a Bank, has gone into the Democratic platform, at their
+National Conventions, and was brought forward and reaffirmed in their
+last Convention at Cincinnati. They have contended for that
+declaration, in the very teeth of the Supreme Court, for more than a
+quarter of a century. In fact, they have reduced the decision to an
+absolute nullity. That decision, I repeat, is repudiated in the
+Cincinnati platform; and still, as if to show that effrontery can go no
+further, Judge Douglas vaunts in the very speeches in which he denounces
+me for opposing the Dred Scott decision, that he stands on the
+Cincinnati platform.
+
+"Now, I wish to know what the Judge can charge upon me, with respect to
+decisions of the Supreme Court, which does not lie in all its length,
+breadth, and proportions, at his own door? The plain truth is simply
+this: Judge Douglas is for Supreme Court decisions when he likes, and
+against them when he does not like them. He is for the Dred Scott
+decision because it tends to Nationalize Slavery--because it is a part
+of the original combination for that object. It so happens, singularly
+enough, that I never stood opposed to a decision of the Supreme Court
+till this. On the contrary, I have no recollection that he was ever
+particularly in favor of one till this. He never was in favor of any,
+nor (I) opposed to any, till the present one, which helps to Nationalize
+Slavery. Free men of Sangamon--Free men of Illinois, Free men
+everywhere--judge ye between him and me, upon this issue!
+
+"He says this Dred Scott case is a very small matter at
+most--that it has no practical effect; that at best, or rather I suppose
+at worst, it is but an abstraction. * * * How has the planting of
+Slavery in new countries always been effected? It has now been decided
+that Slavery cannot be kept out of our new Territories by any legal
+means. In what do our new Territories now differ in this respect from
+the old Colonies when Slavery was first planted within them?
+
+"It was planted, as Mr. Clay once declared, and as history proves true,
+by individual men in spite of the wishes of the people; the
+Mother-Government refusing to prohibit it, and withholding from the
+People of the Colonies the authority to prohibit it for themselves. Mr.
+Clay says this was one of the great and just causes of complaint against
+Great Britain by the Colonies, and the best apology we can now make for
+having the institution amongst us. In that precise condition our
+Nebraska politicians have at last succeeded in placing our own new
+Territories; the Government will not prohibit Slavery within them, nor
+allow the People to prohibit it."
+
+Alluding to that part of Mr. Douglas's speech the previous night
+touching the death-bed scene of Mr. Clay, with Mr. Douglas's promise to
+devote the remainder of his life to "Popular Sovereignty"--and to his
+relations with Mr. Webster--Mr. Lincoln said: "It would be amusing, if
+it were not disgusting, to see how quick these Compromise breakers
+administer on the political effects of their dead adversaries. If I
+should be found dead to-morrow morning, nothing but my insignificance
+could prevent a speech being made on my authority, before the end of
+next week. It so happens that in that 'Popular Sovereignty' with which
+Mr. Clay was identified, the Missouri Compromise was expressly reserved;
+and it was a little singular if Mr. Clay cast his mantle upon Judge
+Douglas on purpose to have that Compromise repealed. Again, the Judge
+did not keep faith with Mr. Clay when he first brought in the Nebraska
+Bill. He left the Missouri Compromise unrepealed, and in his report
+accompanying the Bill, he told the World he did it on purpose. The
+manes of Mr. Clay must have been in great agony, till thirty days later,
+when 'Popular Sovereignty' stood forth in all its glory."
+
+Touching Mr. Douglas's allegations of Mr. Lincoln's disposition to make
+Negroes equal with the Whites, socially and politically, the latter
+said: "My declarations upon this subject of Negro Slavery may be
+misrepresented, but cannot be misunderstood. I have said that I do not
+understand the Declaration (of Independence) to mean that all men were
+created equal in all respects. They are not equal in color; but I
+suppose that it does mean to declare that all men are equal in some
+respects; they are equal in their right to 'Life, Liberty, and the
+pursuit of Happiness.' Certainly the Negro is not our equal in color
+--perhaps not in many other respects; still, in the right to put into his
+mouth the bread that his own hands have earned, he is the equal of every
+other man, White or Black. In pointing out that more has been given
+you, you cannot be justified in taking away the little which has been
+given him. All I ask for the Negro is that if you do not like him, let
+him alone. If God gave him but little, that little let him enjoy.
+
+"The framers of the Constitution," continued Mr. Lincoln, "found the
+institution of Slavery amongst their other institutions at the time.
+They found that by an effort to eradicate it, they might lose much of
+what they had already gained. They were obliged to bow to the
+necessity. They gave Congress power to abolish the Slave Trade at the
+end of twenty years. They also prohibited it in the Territories where
+it did not exist. They did what they could, and yielded to the
+necessity for the rest. I also yield to all which follows from that
+necessity. What I would most desire would be the separation of the
+White and Black races."
+
+Mr. Lincoln closed his speech by referring to the "New Departure" of
+the Democracy--to the charge he had made, in his 16th of June speech,
+touching "the existence of a Conspiracy to Perpetuate and Nationalize
+Slavery"--which Mr. Douglas had not contradicted--and, said he, "on his
+own tacit admission I renew that charge. I charge him with having been
+a party to that Conspiracy, and to that deception, for the sole purpose
+of Nationalizing Slavery."
+
+This closed the series of preliminary speeches in the canvass. But they
+only served to whet the moral and intellectual and political appetite of
+the public for more. It was generally conceded that, at last, in the
+person of Mr. Lincoln, the "Little Giant" had met his match.
+
+On July 24, Mr. Lincoln opened a correspondence with Mr. Douglas,
+which eventuated in an agreement between them, July 31st, for
+joint-discussions, to take place at Ottawa, Freeport, Jonesboro,
+Charleston, Galesburgh, Quincy, and Alton, on fixed dates in August,
+September and October--at Ottawa, Mr. Douglas to open and speak one
+hour, Mr. Lincoln to have an hour and a half in reply, and Mr. Douglas
+to close in a half hour's speech; at Freeport, Mr. Lincoln to open and
+speak for one hour, Mr. Douglas to take the next hour and a half in
+reply, and Mr. Lincoln to have the next half hour to close; and so on,
+alternating at each successive place, making twenty-one hours of joint
+political debate.
+
+To these absorbingly interesting discussions, vast assemblages listened
+with breathless attention; and to the credit of all parties be it said,
+with unparalleled decorum. The People evidently felt that the greatest
+of all political principles--that of Human Liberty--was hanging on the
+issue of this great political contest between intellectual giants, thus
+openly waged before the World--and they accordingly rose to the dignity
+and solemnity of the occasion, vindicating by their very example the
+sacredness with which the Right of Free Speech should be regarded at all
+times and everywhere.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER V.
+
+ THE PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST OF 1860
+ THE CRISIS APPROACHING.
+
+The immediate outcome of the remarkable joint-debate between the two
+intellectual giants of Illinois was, that while the popular vote stood
+124,698 for Lincoln, to 121,130 for Douglas--showing a victory for
+Lincoln among the People--yet, enough Douglas-Democrats were elected to
+the Legislature, when added to those of his friends in the Illinois
+Senate, who had been elected two years before, and "held over," to give
+him, in all, 54 members of both branches of the Legislature on joint
+ballot, against 46 for Mr. Lincoln. Lincoln had carried the people, but
+Douglas had secured the Senatorial prize for which they had striven--and
+by that Legislative vote was elected to succeed himself in the United
+States Senate. This result was trumpeted throughout the Union as a
+great Douglas victory.
+
+During the canvass of Illinois, Douglas's friends had seen to it that
+nothing on their part should be wanting to secure success. What with
+special car trains, and weighty deputations, and imposing processions,
+and flag raisings, the inspiration of music, the booming of cannon, and
+the eager shouts of an enthusiastic populace, his political journey
+through Illinois had been more like a Royal Progress than anything the
+Country had yet seen; and now that his reelection was accomplished, they
+proposed to make the most of it--to extend, as it were, the sphere of
+his triumph, or vindication, so that it would include not the State
+alone, but the Nation--and thus so accentuate and enhance his
+availability as a candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination
+of 1860, as to make his nomination and election to the Presidency of the
+United States an almost foregone conclusion.
+
+The programme was to raise so great a popular tidal-wave in his
+interest, as would bear him irresistibly upon its crest to the White
+House. Accordingly, as the idol of the Democratic popular heart,
+Douglas, upon his return to the National Capital, was triumphantly
+received by the chief cities of the Mississippi and the Atlantic
+sea-board. Hailed as victor in the great political contest in Illinois
+--upon the extended newspaper reports of which, the absorbed eyes of the
+entire nation, for months, had greedily fed--Douglas was received with
+much ostentation and immense enthusiasm at St. Louis, Memphis, New
+Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington. Like the
+"Triumphs" decreed by Rome, in her grandest days, to the greatest of her
+victorious heroes, Douglas's return was a series of magnificent popular
+ovations.
+
+In a speech made two years before this period, Mr. Lincoln, while
+contrasting his own political career with that of Douglas, and modestly
+describing his own as "a flat failure" had said: "With him it has been
+one of splendid success. His name fills the Nation, and is not unknown
+even in foreign lands. I affect no contempt for the high eminence he
+has reached. So reached, that the oppressed of my species might have
+shared with me in the elevation, I would rather stand on that eminence
+than wear the richest crown that ever pressed a monarch's brow." And
+now the star of Douglas had reached a higher altitude, nearing its
+meridian splendor. He had become the popular idol of the day.
+
+But Douglas's partial victory--if such it was--so far from settling the
+public mind and public conscience, had the contrary effect. It added to
+the ferment which the Pro-Slavery Oligarchists of the South--and
+especially those of South Carolina--were intent upon increasing, until
+so grave and serious a crisis should arrive as would, in their opinion,
+furnish a justifiable pretext in the eyes of the World for the
+contemplated Secession of the Slave States from the Union.
+
+Under the inspiration of the Slave Power, and in the direct line of the
+Dred Scott decision, and of the "victorious" doctrine of Senator
+Douglas, which he held not inconsistent therewith, that the people of
+any Territory of the United States could do as they pleased as to the
+institution of Slavery within their own limits, and if they desired the
+institution, they had the right by local legislation to "protect and
+encourage it," the Legislature of the Territory of New Mexico at once
+(1859) proceeded to enact a law "for the protection of property in
+Slaves," and other measures similar to the prevailing Slave Codes in the
+Southern States.
+
+The aggressive attitude of the South--as thus evidenced anew--naturally
+stirred, to their very core, the Abolition elements of the North; on the
+other hand, the publication of Hinton Rowan Helper's "Impending Crisis,"
+which handled the Slavery question without gloves, and supported its
+views with statistics which startled the Northern mind, together with
+its alleged indorsement by the leading Republicans of the North,
+exasperated the fiery Southrons to an intense degree. Nor was the
+capture, in October, 1859, of Harper's Ferry, Virginia, by John Brown
+and his handful of Northern Abolitionist followers, and his subsequent
+execution in Virginia, calculated to allay the rapidly intensifying
+feeling between the Freedom-loving North and the Slaveholding South.
+When, therefore, the Congress met, in December, 1859, the sectional
+wrath of the Country was reflected in the proceedings of both branches
+of that body, and these again reacted upon the People of both the
+Northern and Southern States, until the fires of Slavery Agitation were
+stirred to a white heat.
+
+The bitterness of feeling in the House at this time, was shown, in part,
+by the fact that not until the 1st of February, 1860, was it able, upon
+a forty-fourth ballot, to organize by the election of a Speaker, and
+that from the day of its meeting on the 5th of December, 1859, up to
+such organization, it was involved in an incessant and stormy wrangle
+upon the Slavery question.
+
+So also in the Democratic Senate, the split in the Democratic Party,
+between the Lecompton and Anti-Lecompton Democracy, was widened, at the
+same time that the Republicans of the North were further irritated, by
+the significantly decisive passage of a series of resolutions proposed
+by Jefferson Davis, which, on the one hand, purposely and deliberately
+knifed Douglas's "Popular Sovereignty" doctrine and read out of the
+Party all who believed in it, by declaring "That neither Congress nor a
+Territorial Legislature, whether by direct legislation, or legislation
+of an indirect and unfriendly character, possesses power to annul or
+impair the Constitutional right of any citizen of the United States to
+take his Slave-property into the common Territories, and there hold and
+enjoy the same while the Territorial condition remains," and, on the
+other, purposely and deliberately slapped in the face the Republicans of
+the North, by declaring-among other things "That in the adoption of the
+Federal Constitution, the States adopting the same, acted severally as
+Free and Independent sovereignties, delegating a portion of their powers
+to be exercised by the Federal Government for the increased security of
+each against dangers, domestic as well as foreign; and that any
+intermeddling by any one or more States or by a combination of their
+citizens, with the domestic institutions of the others, on any pretext
+whatever, political, moral, or religious, with a view to their
+disturbance or subversion, is in violation of the Constitution,
+insulting to the States so interfered with, endangers their domestic
+peace and tranquillity--objects for which the Constitution was formed
+--and, by necessary consequence, tends to weaken and destroy the Union
+itself."
+
+Another of these resolutions declared Negro Slavery to be recognized in
+the Constitution, and that all "open or covert attacks thereon with a
+view to its overthrow," made either by the Non-Slave-holding States or
+their citizens, violated the pledges of the Constitution, "are a
+manifest breach of faith, and a violation of the most solemn
+obligations."
+
+This last was intended as a blow at the Freedom of Speech and of the
+Press in the North; and only served, as was doubtless intended, to still
+more inflame Northern public feeling, while at the same time endeavoring
+to place the arrogant and aggressive Slave Power in an attitude of
+injured innocence. In short, the time of both Houses of Congress was
+almost entirely consumed during the Session of 1859-60 in the heated,
+and sometimes even furious, discussion of the Slavery question; and
+everywhere, North and South, the public mind was not alone deeply
+agitated, but apprehensive that the Union was founded not upon a rock,
+but upon the crater of a volcano, whose long-smouldering energies might
+at any moment burst their confines, and reduce it to ruin and
+desolation.
+
+On the 23rd of April, 1860, the Democratic National Convention met at
+Charleston, South Carolina. It was several days after the permanent
+organization of the Convention before the Committee on Resolutions
+reported to the main body, and not until the 30th of April did it reach
+a vote upon the various reports, which had in the meantime been
+modified. The propositions voted upon were three:
+
+First, The Majority Report of the Committee, which reaffirmed the
+Cincinnati platform of 1856--with certain "explanatory" resolutions
+added, which boldly proclaimed: "That the Government of a Territory
+organized by an Act of Congress, is provisional and temporary; and,
+during its existence, all citizens of the United States have an equal
+right to settle with their property in the Territory, without their
+rights, either of person or property, being destroyed or impaired by
+Congressional or Territorial Legislation;" that "it is the duty of the
+Federal Government, in all its departments, to protect, when necessary,
+the rights of persons and property in the Territories, and wherever else
+its Constitutional authority extends;" that "when the settlers in a
+Territory, having an adequate population, form a State Constitution, the
+right of Sovereignty commences, and, being consummated by admission into
+the Union, they stand on an equal footing with the people of other
+States, and the State thus organized ought to be admitted into the
+Federal Union, whether its Constitution prohibits or recognizes the
+institution of Slavery;" and that "the enactments of State Legislatures
+to defeat the faithful execution of the Fugitive Slave Law, are hostile
+in character, subversive of the Constitution, and revolutionary in
+effect." The resolutions also included a declaration in favor of the
+acquisition of Cuba, and other comparatively minor matters.
+
+Second, The Minority Report of the Committee, which, after re-affirming
+the Cincinnati platform, declared that "Inasmuch as differences of
+opinion exist in the Democratic party as to the nature and extent of the
+powers of a Territorial Legislature, and as to the powers and duties of
+Congress, under the Constitution of the United States, over the
+institution of Slavery within the Territories * * * the Democratic Party
+will abide by the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States on
+the questions of Constitutional law."
+
+Third, The recommendation of Benjamin F. Butler, that the platform
+should consist simply of a re-affirmation of the Cincinnati platform,
+and not another word.
+
+The last proposition was first voted on, and lost, by 105 yeas to 198
+nays. The Minority platform was then adopted by 165 yeas to 138 nays.
+
+The aggressive Slave-holders (Majority) platform, and the Butler
+Compromise do-nothing proposition, being both defeated, and the Douglas
+(Minority) platform adopted, the Alabama delegation, under instructions
+from their State Convention to withdraw in case the National Convention
+refused to adopt radical Territorial Pro-Slavery resolutions, at once
+presented a written protest and withdrew from the Convention, and were
+followed, in rapid succession, by; the delegates from Mississippi,
+Louisiana (all but two), South Carolina, Florida, Texas, Arkansas (in
+part), Delaware (mostly), and Georgia (mostly)--the seceding delegates
+afterwards organizing in another Hall, adopting the above Majority
+platform, and after a four days' sitting, adjourning to meet at
+Richmond, Virginia, on the 11th of June.
+
+Meanwhile, the Regular Democratic National Convention had proceeded to
+ballot for President--after adopting the two-thirds rule. Thirty-seven
+ballots having been cast, that for Stephen A. Douglas being, on the
+thirty-seventh, 151, the Convention, on the 3d of May, adjourned to meet
+again at Baltimore, June 18th.
+
+After re-assembling, and settling contested election cases, the
+delegates (in whole or in part) from Virginia, North Carolina,
+Tennessee, California, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland and Massachusetts,
+withdrew from the Convention, the latter upon the ground mainly that
+there had been "a withdrawal, in part, of a majority of the States,"
+while Butler, who had voted steadily for Jefferson Davis throughout all
+the balloting at Charleston, gave as an additional ground personal to
+himself, that "I will not sit in a convention where the African Slave
+Trade--which is piracy by the laws of my Country--is approvingly
+advocated"--referring thereby to a speech, that had been much applauded
+by the Convention at Charleston, made by a Georgia delegate (Gaulden),
+in which that delegate had said: "I would ask my friends of the South to
+come up in a proper spirit; ask our Northern friends to give us all our
+rights, and take off the ruthless restrictions which cut off the supply
+of Slaves from foreign lands. * * * I tell you, fellow Democrats, that
+the African Slave Trader is the true Union man (cheers and laughter). I
+tell you that the Slave Trading of Virginia is more immoral, more
+unchristian in every possible point of view, than that African Slave
+Trade which goes to Africa and brings a heathen and worthless man here,
+makes him a useful man, Christianizes him, and sends him and his
+posterity down the stream of Time, to enjoy the blessings of
+civilization. (Cheers and laughter.) * * * I come from the first
+Congressional District of Georgia. I represent the African Slave Trade
+interest of that Section. (Applause.) I am proud of the position I
+occupy in that respect. I believe that the African Slave Trader is a
+true missionary, and a true Christian. (Applause.) * * * Are you
+prepared to go back to first principles, and take off your
+unconstitutional restrictions, and leave this question to be settled by
+each State? Now, do this, fellow citizens, and you will have Peace in
+the Country. * * * I advocate the repeal of the laws prohibiting the
+African Slave Trade, because I believe it to be the true Union movement.
+* * * I believe that by re-opening this Trade and giving us Negroes to
+populate the Territories, the equilibrium of the two Sections will be
+maintained."
+
+After the withdrawal of the bolting delegates at Baltimore, the
+Convention proceeded to ballot for President, and at the end of the
+second ballot, Mr. Douglas having received "two-thirds of all votes
+given in the Convention" (183) was declared the "regular nominee of the
+Democratic Party, for the office of President of the United States."
+
+An additional resolution was subsequently adopted as a part of the
+platform, declaring that "it is in accordance with the true
+interpretation of the Cincinnati platform, that, during the existence of
+the Territorial Governments, the measure of restriction, whatever it may
+be, imposed by the Federal Constitution on the power of the Territorial
+Legislatures over the subject of the domestic relations, as the same has
+been, or shall hereafter be, finally determined by the Supreme Court of
+the United States, should be respected by all good citizens, and
+enforced with promptness and fidelity by every branch of the General
+Government."
+
+On the 11th of June, pursuant to adjournment, the Democratic Bolters'
+Convention met at Richmond, and, after adjourning to meet at Baltimore,
+finally met there on the 28th of that month--twenty-one States being, in
+whole or in part, represented. This Convention unanimously readopted
+the Southern-wing platform it had previously adopted at Charleston, and,
+upon the first ballot, chose, without dissent, John C. Breckinridge of
+Kentucky, as its candidate for the Presidential office.
+
+In the meantime, however, the National Conventions of other Parties had
+been held, viz.: that of the Republican Party at Chicago, which, with a
+session of three days, May 16-18, had nominated Abraham Lincoln of
+Illinois and Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, for President and Vice-President
+respectively; and that of the "Constitutional Union" (or Native
+American) Party which had severally nominated (May 19) for such
+positions, John Bell of Tennessee, and Edward Everett of Massachusetts.
+
+The material portion of the Republican National platform, adopted with
+entire unanimity by their Convention, was, so far as the Slavery and
+Disunion questions were concerned, comprised in these declarations:
+
+First, That the history of the nation, during the last four years, has
+fully established the propriety and necessity of the organization and
+perpetuation of the Republican Party; and that the causes which called
+it into existence are permanent in their nature, and now, more than ever
+before, demand its peaceful and Constitutional triumph.
+
+Second, That the maintenance of the principle, promulgated in the
+Declaration of Independence, and embodied in the Federal Constitution,
+"that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator
+with certain inalienable rights; that among these are Life, Liberty and
+the pursuit of Happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are
+instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the
+governed," is essential to the preservation of our Republican
+institutions; and that the Federal Constitution, the Rights of the
+States, and the Union of the States must and shall be preserved.
+
+Third, That to the Union of the States, this Nation owes its
+unprecedented increase in population, its surprising development of
+material resources, its rapid augmentation of wealth, its happiness at
+home, and its honor abroad; and we hold in abhorrence all schemes for
+Disunion, come from whatever source they may: And we congratulate the
+Country that no Republican member of Congress has uttered or
+countenanced the threats of Disunion, so often made by Democratic
+members, without rebuke, and with applause, from their political
+associates; and we denounce those threats of Disunion, in case of a
+popular overthrow of their ascendancy, as denying the vital principles
+of a free Government, and as an avowal of contemplated Treason, which it
+is the imperative duty of an indignant People, sternly to rebuke and
+forever silence.
+
+Fourth, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and
+especially the right of each State, to order and control its own
+domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is
+essential to that balance of powers on which the perfection and
+endurance of our political fabric depend; and we denounce the lawless
+invasion, by armed force, of any State or Territory, no matter under
+what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes.
+
+Fifth, That the present Democratic Administration has far exceeded our
+worst apprehensions, in its measureless subserviency to the exactions of
+a Sectional interest, as especially evinced in its desperate exertions
+to force the infamous Lecompton Constitution upon the protesting people
+of Kansas; in construing the personal relation between master and
+servant to involve an unqualified property in persons; in its attempted
+enforcement, everywhere, on land and sea, through the intervention of
+Congress and of the Federal Courts, of the extreme pretensions of a
+purely local interest; and in its general and unvarying abuse of the
+power intrusted to it by a confiding People.
+
+* * * * * * *
+
+Seventh, That the new dogma that the Constitution, of its own force,
+carries Slavery into any or all of the Territories of the United States,
+is a dangerous political heresy, at variance with the explicit
+provisions of that instrument itself, with contemporaneous exposition,
+and with legislation and judicial precedent; is revolutionary in its
+tendency and subversive of the peace and harmony of the Country.
+
+Eighth, That the normal condition of all the territory of the United
+States is that of Freedom; that as our Republican fathers, when they had
+abolished Slavery in all our National Territory, ordained that "No
+person should be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due
+process of law," it becomes our duty, by legislation, whenever such
+legislation is necessary, to maintain this provision of the Constitution
+against all attempts to violate it; and we deny the authority of
+Congress, of a Territorial Legislature, or of any individuals, to give
+legal existence to Slavery in any Territory of the United States.
+
+Ninth, That we brand the recent re-opening of the African Slave-trade
+under the cover of our National flag, aided by perversions of judicial
+power, as a crime against humanity and a burning shame to our Country
+and Age; and we call upon Congress to take prompt and efficient measures
+for the total and final suppression of that execrable traffic.
+
+Tenth, That in the recent vetoes, by their Federal Governors, of the
+acts of the Legislatures of Kansas and Nebraska, prohibiting Slavery in
+those Territories, we find a practical illustration of the boasted
+Democratic principle of Non-Intervention and Popular Sovereignty
+embodied in the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, and a demonstration of the
+deception and fraud involved therein.
+
+Eleventh, That Kansas should, of right, be immediately admitted as a
+State, under the Constitution recently formed and adopted by the House
+of Representatives.
+
+ * * * * * * * * * *
+
+The National platform of the "Constitutional Union" Party, was adopted,
+unanimously, in these words:
+
+"Whereas, experience has demonstrated that platforms adopted by the
+partisan Conventions of the Country have had the effect to mislead and
+deceive the People, and at the same time to widen the political
+divisions of the Country, by the creation and encouragement of
+geographical and Sectional parties; therefore,
+
+"Resolved, That it is both the part of patriotism and of
+duty to recognize no political principle other than the Constitution of
+the Country, the Union of the States, and the Enforcement of the Laws,
+and that, as representatives of the Constitutional Union men of the
+Country, in National Convention assembled, we hereby pledge ourselves to
+maintain, protect, and defend, separately and unitedly, these great
+principles of public liberty and national safety, against all enemies,
+at home and abroad; believing that thereby peace may once more be
+restored to the Country, the rights of the people and of the States
+re-established, and the Government again placed in that condition of
+justice, fraternity, and equality which, under the example and
+Constitution of our fathers, has solemnly bound every citizen of the
+United States to maintain a more perfect Union, establish justice,
+insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote
+the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves
+and our posterity."
+
+Thus, by the last of June, 1860, the four National Parties with their
+platforms and candidates were all in the political field prepared for
+the onset.
+
+Briefly, the attitude of the standard-bearers representing the
+platform-principles of their several Parties, was this:
+
+Lincoln, representing the Republicans, held that Slavery is a wrong, to
+be tolerated in the States where it exists, but which must be excluded
+from the Territories, which are all normally Free and must be kept Free
+by Congressional legislation, if necessary; and that neither Congress,
+nor the Territorial Legislature, nor any individual, has power to give
+to it legal existence in such Territories.
+
+Breckinridge, representing the Pro-Slavery wing of the Democracy, held
+that Slavery is a right, which, when transplanted from the Slave-States
+into the Territories, neither Congressional nor Territorial legislation
+can destroy or impair, but which, on the contrary, must, when necessary,
+be protected everywhere by Congress and all other departments of the
+Government.
+
+Douglas, representing the Anti-Lecompton wing of Democracy, held that
+whether Slavery be right or wrong, the white inhabitants of the
+Territories have the sole right to determine whether it shall or shall
+not exist within their respective limits, subject to the Constitution
+and Supreme Court decisions thereon; and that neither Congress nor any
+State, nor any outside persons, must interfere with that right.
+
+Bell, representing the remaining political elements, held that it was
+all wrong to have any principles at all, except "the Constitution of the
+Country, the Union of the States, and the Enforcement of the Laws"--a
+platform which Horace Greeley well described as "meaning anything in
+general, and nothing in particular."
+
+The canvass that ensued was terribly exciting--Douglas alone, of all the
+Presidential candidates, bravely taking the field, both North and South,
+in person, in the hope that the magnetism of his personal presence and
+powerful intellect might win what, from the start--owing to the adverse
+machinations, in the Northern States, of the Administration or
+Breckinridge-Democratic wing--seemed an almost hopeless fight. In the
+South, the Democracy was almost a unit in opposition to Douglas,
+holding, as they did, that "Douglas Free-Soilism" was "far more
+dangerous to the South than the election of Lincoln; because it seeks to
+create a Free-Soil Party there; while, if Lincoln triumphs, the result
+cannot fail to be a South united in her own defense;" while the old Whig
+element of the South was as unitedly for Bell. In the North, the
+Democracy were split in twain, three-fourths of them upholding Douglas,
+and the balance, powerful beyond their numbers in the possession of
+Federal Offices, bitterly hostile to him, and anxious to beat him, even
+at the expense of securing the election of Lincoln.
+
+Douglas's fight was that the candidacy and platform of Bell were
+meaningless, those of both Lincoln and Breckinridge, Sectional, and that
+he alone bore aloft the standard of the entire Union; while, on the
+other hand, the supporters of Lincoln, his chief antagonist, claimed
+that--as the burden of the song from the lips of Douglas men, Bell men,
+and Breckinridge men alike, was the expression of a "fear that," in the
+language of Mr. Seward, "if the people elected Mr. Lincoln to the
+Presidency, they would wake up and find that they had no Country for him
+to preside over"--"therefore, all three of the parties opposing Mr.
+Lincoln were in the same boat, and hence the only true Union party, was
+the party which made no threats of Disunion, to wit, the Republican
+party."
+
+The October elections of 1860 made it plain that Mr. Lincoln would be
+elected. South Carolina began to "feel good" over the almost certainty
+that the pretext for Secession for which her leaders had been hoping in
+vain for thirty years, was at hand. On the 25th of October, at Augusta,
+South Carolina, the Governor, the Congressional delegation, and other
+leading South Carolinians, met, and decided that in the event of Mr.
+Lincoln's election, that State would secede. Similar meetings, to the
+same end, were also held about the same time, in others of the Southern
+States. On the 5th of November--the day before the Presidential
+election--the Legislature of South Carolina met at the special call of
+Governor Gist, and, having organized, received a Message from the
+Governor, in which, after stating that he had convened that Body in
+order that they might on the morrow "appoint the number of electors of
+President and Vice-President to which this State is entitled," he
+proceeded to suggest "that the Legislature remain in session, and take
+such action as will prepare the State for any emergency that may arise."
+He went on to "earnestly recommend that, in the event of Abraham
+Lincoln's election to the Presidency, a Convention of the people of this
+State be immediately called, to consider and determine for themselves
+the mode and measure of redress," and, he continued: "I am constrained
+to say that the only alternative left, in my judgment, is the Secession
+of South Carolina from the Federal Union. The indications from many of
+the Southern States justify the conclusion that the Secession of South
+Carolina will be immediately followed, if not adopted simultaneously, by
+them, and ultimately by the entire South. The long-desired cooperation
+of the other States having similar institutions, for which so many of
+our citizens have been waiting, seems to be near at hand; and, if we are
+true to ourselves, will soon be realized. The State has, with great
+unanimity declared that she has the right peaceably to Secede, and no
+power on earth can rightfully prevent it."
+
+ [Referring to the Ordinance of Nullification adopted by the people
+ of South Carolina, November 24, 1832, growing out of the Tariff Act
+ of 1832--wherein it was declared that, in the event of the Federal
+ Government undertaking to enforce the provisions of that Act: "The
+ people of this State will thenceforth hold themselves absolved from
+ all further obligation to maintain or preserve their political
+ connection with the people of the other States, and will forthwith
+ proceed to organize a separate government, and do all other acts
+ and things which Sovereign and independent States may of right
+ do."]
+
+He proceeded to say that "If, in the exercise of arbitrary power, and
+forgetful of the lessons of history, the Government of the United States
+should attempt coercion, it will become our solemn duty to meet force by
+force"--and promised that the decision of the aforesaid Convention
+"representing the Sovereignty of the State, and amenable to no earthly
+tribunal," should be, by him, "carried out to the letter." He
+recommended the thorough reorganization of the Militia; the arming of
+every man in the State between the ages of eighteen and forty-five; and
+the immediate enrollment of ten thousand volunteers officered by
+themselves; and concluded with a confident "appeal to the Disposer of
+all human events," in whose keeping the "Cause" was to be entrusted.
+
+That same evening (November 5), being the eve of the election, at
+Augusta, South Carolina, in response to a serenade, United States
+Senator Chestnut made a speech of like import, in which, after
+predicting the election of Mr. Lincoln, he said: "Would the South submit
+to a Black Republican President, and a Black Republican Congress, which
+will claim the right to construe the Constitution of the Country, and
+administer the Government in their own hands, not by the law of the
+instrument itself, nor by that of the fathers of the Country, nor by the
+practices of those who administered seventy years ago, but by rules
+drawn from their own blind consciences and crazy brains? * * * The
+People now must choose whether they would be governed by enemies, or
+govern themselves."
+
+He declared that the Secession of South Carolina was an "undoubted
+right," a "duty," and their "only safety" and as to himself, he would
+"unfurl the Palmetto flag, fling it to the breeze, and, with the spirit
+of a brave man, live and die as became" his "glorious ancestors, and
+ring the clarion notes of defiance in the ears of an insolent foe!"
+
+So also, in Columbia, South Carolina, Representative Boyce of that
+State, and other prominent politicians, harangued an enthusiastic crowd
+that night--Mr. Boyce declaring: "I think the only policy for us is to
+arm, as soon as we receive authentic intelligence of the election of
+Lincoln. It is for South Carolina, in the quickest manner, and by the
+most direct means, to withdraw from the Union. Then we will not submit,
+whether the other Southern States will act with us or with our enemies.
+They cannot take sides with our enemies; they must take sides with us.
+When an ancient philosopher wished to inaugurate a great revolution, his
+motto was to dare! to dare!"
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER VI.
+
+ THE GREAT CONSPIRACY MATURING.
+
+THE 6th of November, 1860, came and passed; on the 7th, the prevailing
+conviction that Lincoln would be elected had become a certainty, and
+before the close of that day, the fact had been heralded throughout the
+length and breadth of the Republic. The excitement of the People was
+unparalleled. The Republicans of the North rejoiced that at last the
+great wrong of Slavery was to be placed "where the People could rest in
+the belief that it was in the course of ultimate extinction!" The
+Douglas Democracy, naturally chagrined at the defeat of their great
+leader, were filled with gloomy forebodings touching the future of their
+Country; and the Southern Democracy, or at least a large portion of it,
+openly exulted that at last the long-wished-for opportunity for a revolt
+of the Slave Power, and a separation of the Slave from the Free States,
+was at hand. Especially in South Carolina were the "Fire-eating"
+Southrons jubilant over the event.
+
+ ["South Carolina rejoiced over the election of Lincoln, with
+ bonfires and processions." p. 172, Arnold's "Life of Abraham
+ Lincoln."
+
+ "There was great joy in Charleston, and wherever 'Fire Eaters' most
+ did congregate, on the morning of November 7th. Men rushed to
+ shake hands and congratulate each other on the glad tidings of
+ Lincoln's election. * * * Men thronged the streets, talking,
+ laughing, cheering, like mariners long becalmed on a hateful,
+ treacherous sea, whom a sudden breeze had swiftly wafted within
+ sight of their longed-for haven." p. 332, vol. i., Greeley's
+ American Conflict.]
+
+Meanwhile any number of joint resolutions looking to the calling of a
+Secession Convention, were introduced in the South Carolina Legislature,
+sitting at Columbia, having in view Secession contingent upon the
+"cooperation" of the other Slave States, or looking to immediate and
+"unconditional" Secession.
+
+On the evening of November 7th, Edmund Ruffin of Virginia--a Secession
+fanatic who had come from thence in hot haste--in response to a
+serenade, declared to the people of Columbia that: "The defense of the
+South, he verily believed, was only to be secured through the lead of
+South Carolina;" that, "old as he was, he had come here to join them in
+that lead;" and that "every day delayed, was a day lost to the Cause."
+He acknowledged that Virginia was "not as ready as South Carolina;" but
+declared that "The first drop of blood spilled on the soil of South
+Carolina would bring Virginia, and every Southern State, with them." He
+thought "it was perhaps better that Virginia, and all other border
+States, remain quiescent for a time, to serve as a guard against the
+North. * * * By remaining in the Union for a time, she would not only
+prevent coercive legislation in Congress, but any attempt for our
+subjugation."
+
+That same evening came news that, at Charleston, the Grand Jury of the
+United States District Court had refused to make any presentments,
+because of the Presidential vote just cast, which, they said, had "swept
+away the last hope for the permanence, for the stability, of the Federal
+Government of these Sovereign States;" and that United States District
+Judge Magrath had resigned his office, saying to the Grand Jury, as he
+did so: "In the political history of the United States, an event has
+happened of ominous import to fifteen Slave-holding States. The State
+of which we are citizens has been always understood to have deliberately
+fixed its purpose whenever that event should happen. Feeling an
+assurance of what will be the action of the State, I consider it my
+duty, without delay, to prepare to obey its wishes. That preparation is
+made by the resignation of the office I have held."
+
+The news of the resignations of the Federal Collector and District
+Attorney at Charleston, followed, with an intimation that that of the
+Sub-Treasurer would soon be forthcoming. On November 9th, a joint
+resolution calling an unconditional Secession Convention to meet at
+Columbia December 17th, was passed by the Senate, and on the 12th of
+November went through the House; and both of the United States Senators
+from South Carolina had now resigned their seats in the United States
+Senate.
+
+Besides all these and many other incitements to Secession was the fact
+that at Milledgeville, Georgia, Governor Brown had, November 12th,
+addressed a Georgian Military Convention, affirming "the right of
+Secession, and the duty of other Southern States to sustain South
+Carolina in the step she was then taking," and declaring that he "would
+like to see Federal troops dare attempt the coercion of a seceding
+Southern State! For every Georgian who fell in a conflict thus incited,
+the lives of two Federal Soldiers should expiate the outrage on State
+Sovereignty"--and that the Convention aforesaid had most decisively
+given its voice for Secession.
+
+It was about this time, however, that Alexander H. Stephens vainly
+sought to stem the tide of Secession in his own State, in a speech
+(November 14) before the Georgia Legislature, in which he declared that
+Mr. Lincoln "can do nothing unless he is backed by power in Congress.
+The House of Representatives is largely in the majority against him. In
+the Senate he will also be powerless. There will be a majority of four
+against him." He also cogently said: "Many of us have sworn to support
+it (the Constitution). Can we, therefore, for the mere election of a
+man to the Presidency--and that too, in accordance with the prescribed
+forms of the Constitution--make a point of resistance to the Government,
+and, without becoming the breakers of that sacred instrument ourselves,
+withdraw ourselves from it? Would we not be in the wrong?"
+
+But the occasional words of wisdom that fell from the lips of the few
+far-seeing statesmen of the South, were as chaff before the storm of
+Disunion raised by the turbulent Fire-eaters, and were blown far from
+the South, where they might have done some good for the Union cause,
+away up to the North, where they contributed to aid the success of the
+contemplated Treason and Rebellion, by lulling many of the people there,
+into a false sense of security. Unfortunately, also, even the ablest of
+the Southern Union men were so tainted with the heretical doctrine of
+States-Rights, which taught the "paramount allegiance" of the citizen to
+the State, that their otherwise powerful appeals for the preservation of
+the Union were almost invariably handicapped by the added protestation
+that in any event--and however they might deplore the necessity--they
+would, if need be, go with their State, against their own convictions of
+duty to the National Union.
+
+Hence in this same speech we find that Mr. Stephens destroyed the whole
+effect of his weighty and logical appeal against Secession from the
+Union, by adding to it, that, "Should Georgia determine to go out of the
+Union I shall bow to the will of her people. Their cause is my cause,
+and their destiny is my destiny; and I trust this will be the ultimate
+course of all."--and by further advising the calling of a Convention of
+the people to decide the matter; thus, in advance, as it were, binding
+himself hand and foot, despite his previous Union utterances, to do the
+fell bidding of the most rampant Disunionists. And thus, in due time,
+it befell, as we shall see, that this "saving clause" in his "Union
+speech," brought him at the end, not to that posture of patriotic
+heroism to which he aspired when he adjured his Georgian auditors to
+"let us be found to the last moment standing on the deck (of the
+Republic), with the Constitution of the United States waving over our
+heads," but to that of an imprisoned traitor and defeated rebel against
+the very Republic and Constitution which he had sworn to uphold and
+defend!
+
+The action of the South Carolina Legislature in calling an Unconditional
+Secession Convention, acted among the Southern States like a spark in a
+train of gunpowder. Long accustomed to incendiary resolutions of
+Pro-Slavery political platforms, as embodying the creed of Southern men;
+committed by those declarations to the most extreme action when, in
+their judgment, the necessity should arise; and worked up during the
+Presidential campaign by swarming Federal officials inspired by the
+fanatical Secession leaders; the entire South only needed the spark from
+the treasonable torch of South Carolina, to find itself ablaze, almost
+from one end to the other, with the flames of revolt.
+
+Governor after Governor, in State after State, issued proclamation after
+proclamation, calling together their respective Legislatures, to
+consider the situation and whether their respective States should join
+South Carolina in seceding from the Union. Kentucky alone, of them all,
+seemed for a time to keep cool, and look calmly and reasonably through
+the Southern ferment to the horrors beyond. In an address issued by
+Governor Magoffin of that State, to the people, he said:
+
+"To South Carolina and such other States as may wish to secede from the
+Union, I would say: The geography of this Country will not admit of a
+division; the mouth and sources of the Mississippi River cannot be
+separated without the horrors of Civil War. We cannot sustain you in
+this movement merely on account of the election of Mr. Lincoln. Do not
+precipitate by premature action into a revolution or Civil War, the
+consequences of which will be most frightful to all of us. It may yet
+be avoided. There is still hope, faint though it be. Kentucky is a
+Border State, and has suffered more than all of you. * * * She has a
+right to claim that her voice, and the voice of reason, and moderation
+and patriotism shall be heard and heeded by you. If you secede, your
+representatives will go out of Congress and leave us at the mercy of a
+Black Republican Government. Mr. Lincoln will have no check. He can
+appoint his Cabinet, and have it confirmed. The Congress will then be
+Republican, and he will be able to pass such laws as he may suggest.
+The Supreme Court will be powerless to protect us. We implore you to
+stand by us, and by our friends in the Free States; and let us all, the
+bold, the true, and just men in the Free and Slave States, with a united
+front, stand by each other, by our principles, by our rights, our
+equality, our honor, and by the Union under the Constitution. I believe
+this is the only way to save it; and we can do it."
+
+But this "still small voice" of conscience and of reason, heard like a
+whisper from the mouths of Stephens in Georgia, and Magoffin in
+Kentucky, was drowned in the clamor and tumult of impassioned harangues
+and addresses, and the drumming and tramp of the "minute men" of South
+Carolina, and other military organizations, as they excitedly prepared
+throughout the South for the dread conflict at arms which they
+recklessly invited, and savagely welcomed.
+
+We have seen how President Andrew Jackson some thirty years before, had
+stamped out Nullification and Disunion in South Carolina, with an iron
+heel.
+
+But a weak and feeble old man--still suffering from the effects of the
+mysterious National Hotel poisoning--was now in the Executive Chair at
+the White House. Well-meaning, doubtless, and a Union man at heart, his
+enfeebled intellect was unable to see, and hold firm to, the only true
+course. He lacked clearness of perception, decision of character, and
+nerve. He knew Secession was wrong, but allowed himself to be persuaded
+that he had no Constitutional power to prevent it. He had surrounded
+himself in the Cabinet with such unbending adherents and tools of the
+Slave-Power, as Howell Cobb of Georgia, his Secretary of the Treasury,
+John B. Floyd of Virginia, as Secretary of War, Jacob Thompson of
+Mississippi, as Secretary of the Interior, and Isaac Toucy of
+Connecticut, as Secretary of the Navy, before whose malign influence the
+councils of Lewis Cass of Michigan, the Secretary of State, and other
+Union men, in and out of the Cabinet, were quite powerless.
+
+When, therefore, the Congress met (December 3, 1860) and he transmitted
+to it his last Annual Message, it was found that, instead of treating
+Secession from the Jacksonian standpoint, President Buchanan feebly
+wailed over the threatened destruction of the Union, weakly apologized
+for the contemplated Treason, garrulously scolded the North as being to
+blame for it, and, while praying to God to "preserve the Constitution
+and the Union throughout all generations," wrung his nerveless hands in
+despair over his own powerlessness--as he construed the Constitution--to
+prevent Secession! Before writing his pitifully imbecile Message,
+President Buchanan had secured from his Attorney-General (Jeremiah S.
+Black of Pennsylvania) an opinion, in which the latter, after touching
+upon certain cases in which he believed the President would be justified
+in using force to sustain the Federal Laws, supposed the case of a State
+where all the Federal Officers had resigned and where there were neither
+Federal Courts to issue, nor officers to execute judicial process, and
+continued: "In that event, troops would certainly be out of place, and
+their use wholly illegal. If they are sent to aid the Courts and
+Marshals there must be Courts and Marshals to be aided. Without the
+exercise of these functions, which belong exclusively to the civil
+service, the laws cannot be executed in any event, no matter what may be
+the physical strength which the Government has at its command. Under
+such circumstances, to send a military force into any State, with orders
+to act against the people, would be simply making War upon them."
+
+Resting upon that opinion of Attorney-General Black, President Buchanan,
+in his Message, after referring to the solemn oath taken by the
+Executive "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed," and
+stating that there were now no longer any Federal Officers in South
+Carolina, through whose agency he could keep that oath, took up the laws
+of February 28, 1795, and March 3, 1807, as "the only Acts of Congress
+on the Statute-book bearing upon the subject," which "authorize the
+President, after he shall have ascertained that the Marshal, with his
+posse comitatus, is unable to execute civil or criminal process in any
+particular case, to call out the Militia and employ the Army and Navy to
+aid him in performing this service, having first, by Proclamation,
+commanded the insurgents to 'disperse and retire peaceably to their
+respective abodes, within a limited time'"--and thereupon held that
+"This duty cannot, by possibility, be performed in a State where no
+judicial authority exists to issue process, and where there is no
+Marshal to execute it; and where even if there were such an officer, the
+entire population would constitute one solid combination to resist him."
+And, not satisfied with attempting to show as clearly as he seemed to
+know how, his own inability under the laws to stamp out Treason, he
+proceeded to consider what he thought Congress also could not do under
+the Constitution. Said he: "The question fairly stated, is: Has the
+Constitution delegated to Congress the power to coerce into submission a
+State which is attempting to withdraw, or has actually withdrawn, from
+the Confederacy? If answered in the affirmative, it must be on the
+principle that the power has been conferred upon Congress to declare and
+make War against a State. After much serious reflection, I have arrived
+at the conclusion that no such power has been delegated to Congress or
+to any other department of the Federal Government." And further:
+"Congress possesses many means of preserving it (the Union) by
+conciliation; but the sword was not placed in their hands to preserve it
+by force."
+
+Thus, in President Buchanan's judgment, while, in another part of his
+Message, he had declared that no State had any right, Constitutional or
+otherwise, to Secede from that Union, which was designed for all time
+--yet, if any State concluded thus wrongfully to Secede, there existed no
+power in the Union, by the exercise of force, to preserve itself from
+instant dissolution! How imbecile the reasoning, how impotent the
+conclusion, compared with that of President Jackson, thirty years
+before, in his Proclamation against Nullification and Secession, wherein
+that sturdy patriot declared to the South Carolinians that "compared
+to Disunion, all other evils are light, because that brings with it an
+accumulation of all;" that "Disunion by armed force, is Treason;" and
+that he was determined "to execute the Laws," and "to preserve the
+Union!"
+
+President Buchanan's extraordinary Message--or so much of it as related
+to the perilous condition of the Union--was referred, in the House of
+Representatives, to a Select Committee of Thirty-three, comprising one
+member from each State, in which there was a very large preponderance of
+such as favored Conciliation without dishonor. But the debates in both
+Houses, in which the most violent language was indulged by the Southern
+Fire-eaters, as well as other events, soon proved that there was a
+settled purpose on the part of the Slave-Power and its adherents to
+resist and spit upon all attempts at placation.
+
+In the Senate also (December 5), a Select Committee of Thirteen was
+appointed, to consider the impending dangers to the Union, comprising
+Senators Powell of Kentucky, Hunter of Virginia, Crittenden of Kentucky,
+Seward of New York, Toombs of Georgia, Douglas of Illinois, Collamer of
+Vermont, Davis of Mississippi, Wade of Ohio, Bigler of Pennsylvania,
+Rice of Minnesota, Doolittle of Wisconsin, and Grimes of Iowa. Their
+labors were alike without practical result, owing to the irreconcilable
+attitude of the Southrons, who would accept nothing less than a total
+repudiation by the Republicans of the very principles upon which the
+recent Presidential contest had by them been fought and won. Nor would
+they even accept such a repudiation unless carried by vote of the
+majority of the Republicans. The dose that they insisted upon the
+Republican Party swallowing must not only be as noxious as possible, but
+must absolutely be mixed by that Party itself, and in addition, that
+Party must also go down on its knees, and beg the privilege of so mixing
+and swallowing the dose! That was the impossible attitude into which,
+by their bullying and threats, the Slave Power hoped to force the
+Republican Party--either that or "War."
+
+Project after project in both Houses of Congress looking to Conciliation
+was introduced, referred, reported, discussed, and voted on or not, as
+the case might be, in vain. And in the meantime, in New York, in
+Philadelphia, and elsewhere in the North, the timidity of Capital showed
+itself in great Conciliation meetings, where speeches were applauded and
+resolutions adopted of the most abject character, in behalf of "Peace,
+at any price," regardless of the sacrifice of honor and principles and
+even decency. In fact the Commercial North, with supplicating hands and
+beseeching face, sank on its knees in a vain attempt to propitiate its
+furious creditor, the South, by asking it not only to pull its nose, but
+to spit in its face, both of which it humbly and even anxiously offered
+for the purpose!*
+
+ [Thus, in Philadelphia, December 13, 1860, at a great meeting held
+ at the call of the Mayor, in Independence Square, Mayor Henry led
+ off the speaking--which was nearly all in the same line-by saying:
+ "I tell you that if in any portion of our Confederacy, sentiments
+ have been entertained and cherished which are inimical to the civil
+ rights and social institutions of any other portion, those
+ sentiments should be relinquished." Another speaker, Judge George
+ W. Woodward, sneeringly asked: "Whence came these excessive
+ sensibilities that cannot bear a few slaves in a remote Territory
+ until the white people establish a Constitution?" Another, Mr.
+ Charles E. Lex (a Republican), speaking of the Southern People,
+ said: "What, then, can we say to them? what more than we have
+ expressed in the resolutions we have offered? If they are really
+ aggrieved by any laws upon our Statute-books opposed to their
+ rights--if upon examination any such are found to be in conflict
+ with the Constitution of these United States--nay, further, if they
+ but serve to irritate our brethren of the South, whether
+ Constitutional or not, I, for one, have no objection that they
+ should instantly be repealed." Another said, "Let us repeal our
+ obnoxious Personal Liberty bills * * *; let us receive our brother
+ of the South, if he will come among us for a little time, attended
+ by his servant, and permit him thus to come." And the resolutions
+ adopted were even still more abject in tone than the speeches.]
+
+But the South at present was too busy in perfecting its long-cherished
+plans for the disruption of the Union, to more than grimly smile at this
+evidence of what it chose to consider "a divided sentiment" in the
+North. While it weakened the North, it strengthened the South, and
+instead of mollifying the Conspirators against the Union, it inspired
+them with fresh energy in their fell purpose to destroy it.
+
+The tone of the Republican press, too, while more dignified, was
+thoroughly conciliatory. The Albany Evening Journal,--[November 30,
+1860]--the organ of Governor Seward, recognizing that the South, blinded
+by passion, was in dead earnest, but also recognizing the existence of
+"a Union sentiment there, worth cherishing," suggested "a Convention of
+the People, consisting of delegates appointed by the States, in which it
+would not be found unprofitable for the North and South, bringing their
+respective griefs, claims, and proposed reforms, to a common
+arbitrament, to meet, discuss, and determine upon a future"--before a
+final appeal to arms. So, too, Horace Greeley, in the New York
+Tribune,--[November 9, 1860.]--after weakly conceding, on his own part,
+the right of peaceable Secession, said: "But while we thus uphold the
+practical liberty, if not the abstract right, of Secession, we must
+insist that the step be taken, if it ever shall be, with the
+deliberation and gravity befitting so momentous an issue. Let ample
+time be given for reflection; let the subject be fully canvassed before
+the People; and let a popular vote be taken in every case, before
+Secession is decreed." Other leading papers of the Northern press, took
+similar ground for free discussion and conciliatory action.
+
+In the Senate, as well as the House of Representatives--as also was
+shown by the appointment, heretofore mentioned, of Select Committees to
+consider the gravity of the situation, and suggest a remedy--the same
+spirit of Conciliation and Concession, and desire for free and frank
+discussion, was apparent among most of the Northern and Border-State
+members of those Bodies. But these were only met by sneers and threats
+on the part of the Fire-eating Secession members of the South. In the
+Senate, Senator Clingman of North Carolina, sneeringly said: "They want
+to get up a free debate, as the Senator (Mr. Seward) from New York
+expressed it, in one of his speeches. But a Senator from Texas told me
+the other day that a great many of these free debaters were hanging from
+the trees of that country;" and Senator Iverson, of Georgia, said:
+"Gentlemen speak of Concession, of the repeal of the Personal Liberty
+bills. Repeal them all to-morrow, and you cannot stop this revolution."
+After declaring his belief that "Before the 4th of March, five States
+will have declared their independence" and that "three other States will
+follow as soon as the action of the people can be had;" he proceeded to
+allude to the refusal of Governor Houston of Texas to call together the
+Texas Legislature for action in accord with the Secession sentiment, and
+declared that "if he will not yield to that public sentiment, some Texan
+Brutus will arise to rid his country of this hoary-headed incubus that
+stands between the people and their sovereign will!" Then, sneering at
+the presumed cowardice of the North, he continued: "Men talk about their
+eighteen millions (of Northern population); but we hear a few days
+afterwards of these same men being switched in the face, and they
+tremble like sheep-stealing dogs! There will be no War. The North,
+governed by such far-seeing Statesmen as the Senator (Mr. Seward) from
+New York, will see the futility of this. In less than twelve months, a
+Southern Confederacy will be formed; and it will be the most successful
+Government on Earth. The Southern States, thus banded together, will be
+able to resist any force in the World. We do not expect War; but we
+will be prepared for it--and we are not a feeble race of Mexicans
+either."
+
+On the other hand, there were Republicans in that Body who sturdily met
+the bluster of the Southern Fire-eaters with frank and courageous words
+expressing their full convictions on the situation and their belief that
+Concessions could not be made and that Compromises were mere waste
+paper. Thus, Senator Ben Wade of Ohio, among the bravest and manliest
+of them all, in a speech in the Senate, December 17, the very day on
+which the South Carolina Secession Convention was to assemble, said to
+the Fire-eaters: "I tell you frankly that we did lay down the principle
+in our platform, that we would prohibit, if we had the power, Slavery
+from invading another inch of the Free Soil of this Government. I stand
+to that principle to-day. I have argued it to half a million of people,
+and they stand by it; they have commissioned me to stand by it; and, so
+help me God, I will! * * * On the other hand, our platform repudiates
+the idea that we have any right, or harbor any ultimate intention to
+invade or interfere with your institutions in your own States. * * *
+It is not, by your own confessions, that Mr. Lincoln is expected to
+commit any overt act by which you may be injured. You will not even
+wait for any, you say; but, by anticipating that the Government may do
+you an injury, you will put an end to it--which means, simply and
+squarely, that you intend to rule or ruin this Government. * * * As to
+Compromises, I supposed that we had agreed that the Day of Compromises
+was at an end. The most solemn we have made have been violated, and are
+no more. * * * We beat you on the plainest and most palpable issue
+ever presented to the American people, and one which every man
+understood; and now, when we come to the Capital, we tell you that our
+candidates must and shall be inaugurated--must and shall administer this
+Government precisely as the Constitution prescribes. * * * I tell you
+that, with that verdict of the people in my pocket, and standing on the
+platform on which these candidates were elected, I would suffer anything
+before I would Compromise in any way."
+
+In the House of Representatives, on December 10, 1860, a number of
+propositions looking to a peaceful settlement of the threatened danger,
+were offered and referred to the Select Committee of Thirty-three. On
+the following Monday, December 17, by 154 yeas to 14 nays, the House
+adopted a resolution, offered by Mr. Adrian of New Jersey, in these
+words:
+
+"Resolved, That we deprecate the spirit of disobedience to the
+Constitution, wherever manifested; and that we earnestly recommend the
+repeal of all Statutes by the State Legislatures in conflict with, and
+in violation of, that sacred instrument, and the laws of Congress passed
+in pursuance thereof."
+
+On the same day, the House adopted, by 135 yeas to no nays, a resolution
+offered by Mr. Lovejoy of Illinois, in these words:
+
+"Whereas, The Constitution of the United States is the Supreme law of
+the Land, and ready and faithful obedience to it a duty of all good and
+law-abiding citizens; Therefore:
+
+"Resolved, That we deprecate the spirit of disobedience to the
+Constitution, wherever manifested; and that we earnestly recommend the
+repeal of all Nullification laws; and that it is the duty of the
+President of the United States to protect and defend the property of the
+United States."
+
+ [This resolution, before adoption, was modified by declaring it to
+ be the duty of all citizens, whether "good and law abiding" or not,
+ to yield obedience to the Constitution, as will be seen by
+ referring to the proceedings in the Globe of that date, where the
+ following appears:
+
+ "Mr. LOGAN. I hope there will be no objection on this side of the
+ House to the introduction of the [Lovejoy] resolution. I can see
+ no difference myself, between this resolution and the one
+ [Adrian's] just passed, except in regard to verbiage. I can find
+ but one objection to the resolution, and that is in the use of the
+ words declaring that all' law abiding' citizens should obey the
+ Constitution. I think that all men should do so.
+
+ "Mr. LOVEJOY. I accept the amendment suggested by my Colleague.
+
+ "Mr. LOGAN. It certainly should include members of Congress; but
+ if it is allowed to remain all 'good and law abiding' citizens, I
+ do not think it will include them. [Laughter.]
+
+ "The resolution was modified by the omission of those words."]
+
+It also adopted, by 115 yeas to 44 nays, a resolution offered by Mr.
+Morris of Illinois, as follows:
+
+"Resolved by the House of Representatives: That we properly estimate the
+immense value of our National Union to our collective and individual
+happiness; that we cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment
+to it; that we will speak of it as the palladium of our political safety
+and prosperity; that we will watch its preservation with jealous
+anxiety; that we will discountenance whatever may suggest even a
+suspicion that it can, in any event, be abandoned, and indignantly frown
+upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our
+Country from the rest, or enfeeble the sacred ties which now link
+together the various parts; that we regard it as a main pillar in the
+edifice of our real independence, the support of tranquillity at home,
+our peace abroad, our safety, our prosperity, and that very liberty
+which we so highly prize; that we have seen nothing in the past, nor do
+we see anything in the present, either in the election of Abraham
+Lincoln to the Presidency of the United States, or from any other
+existing cause, to justify its dissolution; that we regard its
+perpetuity as of more value than the temporary triumph of any Party or
+any man; that whatever evils or abuses exist under it ought to be
+corrected within the Union, in a peaceful and Constitutional way; that
+we believe it has sufficient power to redress every wrong and enforce
+every right growing out of its organization, or pertaining to its proper
+functions; and that it is a patriotic duty to stand by it as our hope in
+Peace and our defense in War."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER VII.
+
+ SECESSION ARMING.
+
+While Congress was encouraging devotion to the Union, and its Committees
+striving for some mode by which the impending perils might be averted
+without a wholesale surrender of all just principles, the South Carolina
+Convention met (December 17, 1860) at Columbia, and after listening to
+inflammatory addresses by commissioners from the States of Alabama and
+Mississippi, urging immediate and unconditional Secession, unanimously
+and with "tremendous cheering" adopted a resolution: "That it is the
+opinion of the Convention that the State of South Carolina should
+forthwith Secede from the Federal Union, known as the United States of
+America,"--and then adjourned to meet at Charleston, South Carolina.
+
+The next day, and following days, it met there, at "Secession Hall,"
+listening to stimulating addresses, while a committee of seven worked
+upon the Ordinance of Secession. Among the statements made by orators,
+were several clear admissions that the rebellious Conspiracy had existed
+for very many years, and that Mr. Lincoln's election was simply the
+long-sought-for pretext for Rebellion. Mr. Parker said: "It is no
+spasmodic effort that has come suddenly upon us; it has been gradually
+culminating for a long period of thirty years. At last it has come to
+that point where we may say, the matter is entirely right." Mr. Inglis
+said: "Most of us have had this matter under consideration for the last
+twenty years; and I presume that we have by this time arrived at a
+decision upon the subject." Mr. Keitt said: "I have been engaged in
+this movement ever since I entered political life; * * * we have
+carried the body of this Union to its last resting place, and now we
+will drop the flag over its grave." Mr. Barnwell Rhett said: "The
+Secession of South Carolina is not an event of a day. It is not
+anything produced by Mr. Lincoln's election, or by the non-execution of
+the Fugitive Slave Law. It has been a matter which has been gathering
+head for thirty years." Mr. Gregg said: "If we undertake to set forth
+all the causes, do we not dishonor the memory of all the statesmen of
+South Carolina, now departed, who commenced forty years ago a war
+against the tariff and against internal improvement, saying nothing of
+the United States Bank, and other measures which may now be regarded as
+obsolete."
+
+On the 20th of December, 1860--the fourth day of the sittings--the
+Ordinance of Secession was reported by the Committee, and was at once
+unanimously passed, as also was a resolution that "the passage of the
+Ordinance be proclaimed by the firing of artillery and ringing of the
+bells of the city, and such other demonstrations as the people may deem
+appropriate on the passage of the great Act of Deliverance and Liberty;"
+after which the Convention jubilantly adjourned to meet, and ratify,
+that evening. At the evening session of this memorable Convention, the
+Governor and Legislature attending, the famous Ordinance was read as
+engrossed, signed by all the delegates, and, after announcement by the
+President that "the State of South Carolina is now and henceforth a Free
+and Independent Commonwealth;" amid tremendous cheering, the Convention
+adjourned. This, the first Ordinance of Secession passed by any of the
+Revolting States, was in these words:
+
+"An Ordinance to dissolve the Union between the State of South Carolina
+and other States united with her, under the compact entitled the
+'Constitution of the United States of America.'
+
+"We the people of the State of South Carolina in Convention assembled,
+do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, that the
+Ordinance adopted by us in Convention on the 23rd day of May, in the
+year of our Lord 1788, whereby the Constitution of the United States of
+America was ratified, and also all Acts and parts of Acts of the General
+Assembly of this State ratifying the amendments of the said
+Constitution, are hereby repealed; and that the Union now subsisting
+between South Carolina and other States, under the name of the United
+States of America, is hereby dissolved."
+
+Thus, and in these words, was joyously adopted and ratified, that solemn
+Act of Separation which was doomed to draw in its fateful train so many
+other Southern States, in the end only to be blotted out with the blood
+of hundreds of thousands of their own brave sons, and their equally
+courageous Northern brothers.
+
+State after State followed South Carolina in the mad course of Secession
+from the Union. Mississippi passed a Secession Ordinance, January 9,
+1861. Florida followed, January 10th; Alabama, January 11th; Georgia,
+January 18th; Louisiana, January 26th; and Texas, February 1st;
+Arkansas, North Carolina, and Virginia held back until a later period;
+while Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Maryland, and Delaware, abstained
+altogether from taking the fatal step, despite all attempts to bring
+them to it.
+
+In the meantime, however, South Carolina had put on all the dignity of
+a Sovereign and Independent State. Her Governor had a "cabinet"
+comprising Secretaries of State, War, Treasury, the Interior, and a
+Postmaster General. She had appointed Commissioners, to proceed to the
+other Slave-holding States, through whom a Southern Congress was
+proposed, to meet at Montgomery, Alabama; and had appointed seven
+delegates to meet the delegates from such other States in that proposed
+Southern Congress. On the 21st of December, 1860, three Commissioners
+(Messrs. Barnwell, Adams, and Orr) were also appointed to proceed to
+Washington, and treat for the cession by the United States to South
+Carolina, of all Federal property within the limits of the latter. On
+the 24th, Governor Pickens issued a Proclamation announcing the adoption
+of the Ordinance of Secession, declaring "that the State of South
+Carolina is, as she has a right to be, a separate sovereign, free and
+independent State, and as such, has a right to levy war, conclude peace,
+negotiate treaties, leagues or covenants, and to do all acts whatsoever
+that rightfully appertain to a free and independent State;" the which
+proclamation was announced as "Done in the eighty-fifth year of the
+Sovereignty and Independence of South Carolina." On the same day (the
+Senators from that State in the United States Senate having long since,
+as we have seen, withdrawn from that body) the Representatives of South
+Carolina in the United States House of Representatives withdrew.
+
+Serious dissensions in the Cabinet of President Buchanan, were now
+rapidly disintegrating the "official family" of the President. Lewis
+Cass, the Secretary of State, disgusted with the President's cowardice
+and weakness, and declining to be held responsible for Mr. Buchanan's
+promise not to reinforce the garrisons of the National Forts, under
+Major Anderson, in Charleston harbor, retired from the Cabinet December
+12th--Howell Cobb having already, "because his duty to Georgia required
+it," resigned the Secretaryship of the Treasury, and left it bankrupt
+and the credit of the Nation almost utterly destroyed.
+
+On the 26th of December, Major Anderson evacuated Fort Moultrie,
+removing all his troops and munitions of war to Fort Sumter--whereupon a
+cry went up from Charleston that this was in violation of the
+President's promise to take no step looking to hostilities, provided the
+Secessionists committed no overt act of Rebellion, up to the close of
+his fast expiring Administration. On the 29th, John B. Floyd, Secretary
+of War, having failed to secure the consent of the Administration to an
+entire withdrawal of the Federal garrison from the harbor of Charleston,
+also resigned, and the next day--he having in the meantime escaped in
+safety to Virginia--was indicted by the Grand Jury at Washington, for
+malfeasance and conspiracy to defraud the Government in the theft of
+$870,000 of Indian Trust Bonds from the Interior Department, and the
+substitution therefor of Floyd's acceptances of worthless
+army-transportation drafts on the Treasury Department.
+
+Jacob Thompson, Secretary of the Interior, also resigned, January 8th,
+1861, on the pretext that "additional troops, he had heard, have been
+ordered to Charleston" in the "Star of the West."--[McPherson's History
+of the Rebellion, p. 28.]
+
+Several changes were thus necessitated in Mr. Buchanan's cabinet, by
+these and other resignations, so that by the 18th of January, 1861,
+Jeremiah S. Black was Secretary of State; General John A. Dix, Secretary
+of the Treasury; Joseph Holt, Secretary of War; Edwin M. Stanton,
+Attorney General; and Horatio King, Postmaster General. But before
+leaving the Cabinet, the conspiring Southern members of it, and their
+friends, had managed to hamstring the National Government, by scattering
+the Navy in other quarters of the World; by sending the few troops of
+the United States to remote points; by robbing the arsenals in the
+Northern States of arms and munitions of war, so as to abundantly supply
+the Southern States at the critical moment; by bankrupting the Treasury
+and shattering the public credit of the Nation; and by other means no
+less nefarious. Thus swindled, betrayed, and ruined, by its degenerate
+and perfidious sons, the imbecile Administration stood with dejected
+mien and folded hands helplessly awaiting the coming catastrophe.
+
+On December 28th, 1860, the three Commissioners of South Carolina having
+reached Washington, addressed to the President a communication, in
+which--after reciting their powers and duties, under the Ordinance of
+Secession, and stating that they had hoped to have been ready to proceed
+to negotiate amicably and without "hostile collision," but that "the
+events--[The removal, to Fort Sumter, of Major Anderson's command, and
+what followed.]--of the last twenty-four hours render such an assurance
+impossible"--they declared that the troops must be withdrawn from
+Charleston harbor, as "they are a standing menace which render
+negotiation impossible," threatening speedily to bring the questions
+involved, to "a bloody issue."
+
+To this communication Mr. Buchanan replied at considerable length,
+December 30th, in an apologetic, self-defensive strain, declaring that
+the removal by Major Anderson of the Federal troops under his command,
+from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter was done "upon his own responsibility,
+and without authority," and that he (the President) "had intended to
+command him to return to his former position," but that events had so
+rapidly transpired as to preclude the giving of any such command;
+
+ [The seizure by the Secessionists, under the Palmetto Flag, of
+ Castle Pinckney and Fort Moultrie; the simultaneous raising of that
+ flag over the Federal Custom House and Post Office at Charleston;
+ the resignation of the Federal Collector, Naval Officer and
+ Surveyor of that Port--all of which occurred December 27th; and the
+ seizure "by force of arms," December 30th, of the United States
+ Arsenal at that point.]
+
+and concluding, with a very slight stiffening of backbone, by saying:
+"After this information, I have only to add that, whilst it is my duty
+to defend Fort Sumter as a portion of the public property of the United
+States against hostile attacks, from whatever quarter they may come, by
+such means as I may possess for this purpose, I do not perceive how such
+a defense can be construed into a menace against the city of
+Charleston." To this reply of the President, the Commissioners made
+rejoinder on the 1st of January, 1861; but the President "declined to
+receive" the communication.
+
+From this time on, until the end of President Buchanan's term of office,
+and the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln as President, March 4th, 1861,
+events crowded each other so hurriedly, that the flames of Rebellion in
+the South were continually fanned, while the public mind in the North
+was staggered and bewildered, by them.
+
+On January 2nd, prior to the Secession of Georgia, Forts Pulaski and
+Jackson, commanding Savannah, and the Federal Arsenal at Augusta,
+Georgia, with two 12 pound howitzers, two cannon, 22,000 muskets and
+rifles, and ammunition in quantity, were seized by Rebel militia. About
+the same date, although North Carolina had not seceded, her Governor
+(Ellis) seized the Federal Arsenal at Fayetteville, Fort Macon, and
+other fortifications in that State, "to preserve them" from mob-seizure.
+
+January 4th, anticipating Secession, Alabama State troops seized Fort
+Morgan, with 5,000 shot and shell, and Mount Vernon Arsenal at Mobile,
+with 2,000 stand of arms, 150, 000 pounds of powder, some pieces of
+cannon, and a large quantity of other munitions of war. The United
+States Revenue cutter, "Lewis Cass," was also surrendered to Alabama.
+
+On the 5th, the Federal steamer "Star of the West," with reinforcements
+and supplies for Fort Sumter, left New York in the night--and Secretary
+Jacob Thompson notified the South Carolina Rebels of the fact.
+
+On the 9th, the "Star of the West" appeared off Charleston bar, and
+while steaming toward Fort Sumter, was fired upon by Rebel batteries at
+Fort Moultrie and Morris Island, and struck by a shot, whereupon she
+returned to New York without accomplishing her mission. That day the
+State of Mississippi seceded from the Union.
+
+On the 10th, the Federal storeship "Texas," with Federal guns and
+stores, was seized by Texans. On the same day Florida seceded.
+
+On the 11th, Forts Jackson and St. Philip, commanding the mouth of the
+Mississippi River, and Fort Pike, dominating Lake Pontchartrain, were
+seized by Louisiana troops; also the Federal Arsenal at Baton Rouge,
+with 50,000 small arms, 4 howitzers, 20 heavy pieces of ordnance, 2
+batteries, 300 barrels of powder, and other stores. The State of
+Alabama also seceded the same day.
+
+On the 12th--Fort Marion, the coast surveying schooner "Dana," the
+Arsenal at St. Augustine, and that on the Chattahoochee, with 500,000
+musket cartridges, 300,000 rifle cartridges and 50,000 pounds of powder,
+having previously been seized--Forts Barrancas and McRae, and the Navy
+Yard at Pensacola, were taken by Rebel troops of Florida, Alabama and
+Mississippi. On the same day, Colonel Hayne, of South Carolina, arrived
+at Washington as Agent or Commissioner to the National Government from
+Governor Pickens of that State.
+
+On the 14th, the South Carolina Legislature resolved "that any attempt
+by the Federal Government to reinforce Fort Sumter will be regarded as
+an act of open hostility, and a Declaration of War."
+
+On the 16th, Colonel Hayne, of South Carolina, developed his mission,
+which was to demand of the President the surrender of Fort Sumter to the
+South Carolina authorities--a demand that had already been made upon,
+and refused by, Major Anderson.
+
+The correspondence concerning this demand, between Colonel Hayne and ten
+Southern United States Senators;--[Senators Wigfall, Hemphill, Yulee,
+Mallory, Jeff. Davis, C. C. Clay, Fitzgerald, Iverson, Slidell, and
+Benjamin.]--the reply of the President, by Secretary Holt, to those
+Senators; Governor Pickens's review of the same; and the final demand;
+consumed the balance of the month of January; and ended, February 6th,
+in a further reply, through the Secretary of War, from the President,
+asserting the title of the United States to that Fort, and declining the
+demand, as "he has no Constitutional power to cede or surrender it."
+Secretary Holt's letter concluded by saying: "If, with all the
+multiplied proofs which exist of the President's anxiety for Peace, and
+of the earnestness with which he has pursued it, the authorities of that
+State shall assault Fort Sumter, and peril the lives of the handful of
+brave and loyal men shut up within its walls, and thus plunge our Common
+Country into the horrors of Civil War, then upon them and those they
+represent, must rest the responsibility."
+
+But to return from this momentary diversion: On the 18th of January,
+Georgia seceded; and on the 20th, the Federal Fort at Ship Island,
+Mississippi, and the United States Hospital on the Mississippi River
+were seized by Mississippi troops.
+
+On the 26th, Louisiana seceded. On the 28th, Louisiana troops seized
+all the quartermaster's and commissary stores held by Federal officials;
+and the United States Revenue cutter "McClelland" surrendered to the
+Rebels.
+
+On February 1st, the Louisiana Rebels seized the National Mint and
+Custom House at New Orleans, with $599,303 in gold and silver. On the
+same day the State of Texas seceded.
+
+On February 8th, the National Arsenal at Little Rock, Arkansas, with
+9,000 small arms, 40 cannon, and quantities of ammunition, was seized;
+and the same day the Governor of Georgia ordered the National Collector
+of the Port of Savannah to retain all collections and make no further
+payments to the United States Government.*
+
+
+ [It was during this eventful month that, certain United States
+ troops having assembled at the National Capital, and the House of
+ Representatives having asked the reason therefor, reply was made by
+ the Secretary of War as follows:
+
+ "WAR DEPARTMENT, February 18, 1861.
+ [Congressional Globe, August 8, 1861, pp. 457,458]
+ "SIR: On the 11th February, the House of Representatives adopted a
+ resolution requesting the President, if not incompatible with the
+ public interests, to communicate 'the reasons that had induced him
+ to assemble so large a number of troops in this city, and why they
+ are kept here; and whether he has any information of a Conspiracy
+ upon the part of any portion of the citizens of this Country to
+ seize upon the Capital and prevent the Inauguration of the
+ President elect.'
+
+ "This resolution having been submitted to this Department for
+ consideration and report, I have the honor to state, that the body
+ of troops temporarily transferred to this city is not as large as
+ is assumed by the resolution, though it is a well-appointed corps
+ and admirably adapted for the preservation of the public peace.
+ The reasons which led to their being assembled here will now be
+ briefly stated.
+
+ "I shall make no comment upon the origin of the Revolution which,
+ for the last three months, has been in progress in several of the
+ Southern States, nor shall I enumerate the causes which have
+ hastened its advancement or exasperated its temper. The scope of
+ the questions submitted by the House will be sufficiently met by
+ dealing with the facts as they exist, irrespective of the cause
+ from which they have proceeded. That Revolution has been
+ distinguished by a boldness and completeness of success rarely
+ equaled in the history of Civil Commotions. Its overthrow of the
+ Federal authority has not only been sudden and wide-spread, but has
+ been marked by excesses which have alarmed all and been sources of
+ profound humiliation to a large portion of the American People.
+ Its history is a history of surprises and treacheries and ruthless
+ spoliations. The Forts of the United States have been captured and
+ garrisoned, and hostile flags unfurled upon their ramparts. Its
+ arsenals have been seized, and the vast amount of public arms they
+ contained appropriated to the use of the captors; while more than
+ half a million dollars, found in the Mint at New Orleans, has been
+ unscrupulously applied to replenish the coffers of Louisiana.
+ Officers in command of revenue cutters of the United States have
+ been prevailed on to violate their trusts and surrender the
+ property in their charge; and instead of being branded for their
+ crimes, they, and the vessels they betrayed, have been cordially
+ received into the service of the Seceded States. These movements
+ were attended by yet more discouraging indications of immorality.
+ It was generally believed that this Revolution was guided and urged
+ on by men occupying the highest positions in the public service,
+ and who, with the responsibilities of an oath to support the
+ Constitution still resting upon their consciences, did not hesitate
+ secretly to plan and openly to labor for, the dismemberment of the
+ Republic whose honors they enjoyed and upon whose Treasury they
+ were living. As examples of evil are always more potent than those
+ of good, this spectacle of demoralization on the part of States and
+ statesmen could not fail to produce the most deplorable
+ consequences. The discontented and the disloyal everywhere took
+ courage. In other States, adjacent to and supposed to sympathize
+ in sense of political wrong with those referred to, Revolutionary
+ schemes were set on foot, and Forts and arms of the United States
+ seized. The unchecked prevalence of the Revolution, and the
+ intoxication which its triumphs inspired, naturally suggested
+ wilder and yet more desperate enterprises than the conquest of
+ ungarrisoned Forts, or the plunder of an unguarded Mint. At what
+ time the armed occupation of Washington City became a part of the
+ Revolutionary Programme, is not certainly known. More than six
+ weeks ago, the impression had already extensively obtained that a
+ Conspiracy for the accomplishment of this guilty purpose was in
+ process of formation, if not fully matured. The earnest endeavors
+ made by men known to be devoted to the Revolution, to hurry
+ Virginia and Maryland out of the Union, were regarded as
+ preparatory steps for the subjugation of Washington. This plan was
+ in entire harmony with the aim and spirit of those seeking the
+ subversion of the Government, since no more fatal blow at its
+ existence could be struck than the permanent and hostile possession
+ of the seat of its power. It was in harmony, too, with the avowed
+ designs of the Revolutionists, which looked to the formation of a
+ Confederacy of all the Slave States, and necessarily to the
+ Conquest of the Capital within their limits. It seemed not very
+ indistinctly prefigured in a Proclamation made upon the floor of
+ the Senate, without qualification, if not exultingly, that the
+ Union was already dissolved--a Proclamation which, however
+ intended, was certainly calculated to invite, on the part of men of
+ desperate fortunes or of Revolutionary States, a raid upon the
+ Capital. In view of the violence and turbulent disorders already
+ exhibited in the South, the public mind could not reject such a
+ scheme as at all improbable. That a belief in its existence was
+ entertained by multitudes, there can be no doubt, and this belief I
+ fully shared. My conviction rested not only on the facts already
+ alluded to, but upon information, some of which was of a most
+ conclusive character, that reached the Government from many parts
+ of the Country, not merely expressing the prevalence of the opinion
+ that such an organization had been formed, but also often
+ furnishing the plausible grounds on which the opinion was based.
+ Superadded to these proofs, were the oft-repeated declarations of
+ men in high political positions here, and who were known to have
+ intimate affiliations with the Revolution--if indeed they did not
+ hold its reins in their hands--to the effect that Mr. Lincoln would
+ not, or should not be inaugurated at Washington. Such
+ declarations, from such men, could not be treated as empty bluster.
+ They were the solemn utterances of those who well understood the
+ import of their words, and who, in the exultation of the temporary
+ victories gained over their Country's flag in the South, felt
+ assured that events would soon give them the power to verify their
+ predictions. Simultaneously with these prophetic warnings, a
+ Southern journal of large circulation and influence, and which is
+ published near the city of Washington, advocated its seizure as a
+ possible political necessity.
+
+ "The nature and power of the testimony thus accumulated may be best
+ estimated by the effect produced upon the popular mind.
+ Apprehensions for the safety of the Capital were communicated from
+ points near and remote, by men unquestionably reliable and loyal.
+ The resident population became disquieted, and the repose of many
+ families in the city was known to be disturbed by painful
+ anxieties. Members of Congress, too-men of calm and comprehensive
+ views, and of undoubted fidelity to their Country--frankly
+ expressed their solicitude to the President and to this Department,
+ and formally insisted that the defenses of the Capital should be
+ strengthened. With such warnings, it could not be forgotten that,
+ had the late Secretary of War heeded the anonymous letter which he
+ received, the tragedy at Harper's Ferry would have been avoided;
+ nor could I fail to remember that, had the early admonitions which
+ reached here in regard to the designs of lawless men upon the Forts
+ of Charleston Harbor been acted on by sending forward adequate
+ reinforcements before the Revolution began, the disastrous
+ political complications that ensued might not have occurred.
+
+ "Impressed by these circumstances and considerations, I earnestly
+ besought you to allow the concentration, at this city, of a
+ sufficient military force to preserve the public peace from all the
+ dangers that seemed to threaten it. An open manifestation, on the
+ part of the Administration, of a determination, as well as of the
+ ability, to maintain the laws, would, I was convinced, prove the
+ surest, as also the most pacific, means of baffling and dissolving
+ any Conspiracy that might have been organized. It was believed too
+ that the highest and most solemn responsibility resting upon a
+ President withdrawing from the Government, was to secure to his
+ successor a peaceful Inauguration. So deeply, in my judgment, did
+ this duty concern the whole Country and the fair fame of our
+ Institutions, that, to guarantee its faithful discharge, I was
+ persuaded no preparation could be too determined or too complete.
+ The presence of the troops alluded to in the resolution is the
+ result of the conclusion arrived at by yourself and Cabinet, on the
+ proposition submitted to you by this Department. Already this
+ display of life and loyalty on the part of your Administration, has
+ produced the happiest effects. Public confidence has been
+ restored, and the feverish apprehension which it was so mortifying
+ to contemplate has been banished. Whatever may have been the
+ machinations of deluded, lawless men, the execution of their
+ purpose has been suspended, if not altogether abandoned in view of
+ preparations which announce more impressively than words that this
+ Administration is alike able and resolved to transfer in peace, to
+ the President elect, the authority that, under the Constitution,
+ belongs to him. To those, if such there be, who desire the
+ destruction of the Republic, the presence of these troops is
+ necessarily offensive; but those who sincerely love our
+ Institutions cannot fail to rejoice that, by this timely precaution
+ they have possibly escaped the deep dishonor which they must have
+ suffered had the Capital, like the Forts and Arsenals of the South,
+ fallen into the hands of the Revolutionists, who have found this
+ great Government weak only because, in the exhaustless beneficence
+ of its spirit, it has refused to strike, even in its own defense,
+ lest it should wound the aggressor.
+
+ "I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
+
+ "J. HOLT.
+ "Secretary of War,
+
+ "THE PRESIDENT."]
+
+
+On February 20th, Forts Chadbourne and Belknap were seized by the Texan
+Rebels; and on the 22nd, the Federal General Twiggs basely surrendered
+to them all the fortifications under his control, his little Army, and
+all the Government stores in his possession--comprising $55,000 in
+specie, 35,000 stand of arms, 26 pieces of mounted artillery, 44
+dismounted guns, and ammunition, horses, wagons, forage, etc., valued at
+nearly $2,000,000.
+
+On the 2nd of March, the Texan Rebels seized the United States Revenue
+cutter "Dodge" at Galveston; and on the 6th, Fort Brown was surrendered
+to them.
+
+Thus, with surrender after surrender, and seizure after
+seizure, of its revenue vessels and fortifications and troops and arms
+and munitions of war in the Southern States--with Fort Sumter invested
+and at the mercy of any attack, and Fortress Monroe alone of all the
+National strongholds yet safe--with State after State seceding--what
+wonder that, while these events gave all encouragement to the Southern
+Rebels, the Patriots of the North stood aghast at the appalling
+spectacle of a crumbling and dissolving Union!
+
+During this period of National peril, the debates in both branches of
+Congress upon propositions for adjustment of the unfortunate differences
+between the Southern Seceders and the Union, as has been already hinted,
+contributed still further to agitate the public mind. Speech after
+speech by the ablest and most brilliant Americans in public life, for or
+against such propositions, and discussing the rightfulness or
+wrongfulness of Secession, were made in Congress day after day, and, by
+means of the telegraph and the press, alternately swayed the Northern
+heart with feelings of hope, chagrin, elation or despair.
+
+The Great Debate was opened in the Senate on almost the very first day
+of its session (December 4th, 1860), by Mr. Clingman, of North Carolina,
+who, referring to South Carolina, declared that "Instead of being
+precipitate, she and the whole South have been wonderfully patient." A
+portion of that speech is interesting even at this time, as showing how
+certain phases of the Tariff and Internal Improvement questions entered
+into the consideration of some of the Southern Secession leaders. Said
+he, "I know there are intimations that suffering will fall upon us of
+the South, if we secede. My people are not terrified by any such
+considerations. * * * They have no fears of the future if driven to
+rely on themselves. The Southern States have more territory than all
+the Colonies had when they Seceded from Great Britain, and a better
+territory. Taking its position, climate, and fertility into
+consideration, there is not upon Earth a body of territory superior to
+it. * * * The Southern States have, too, at this day, four times the
+population the Colonies had when they Seceded from Great Britain. Their
+exports to the North and to Foreign Countries were, last year, more than
+$300,000,000; and a duty of ten per cent. upon the same amount of
+imports would give $30,000,000 of revenue--twice as much as General
+Jackson's administration spent in its first year. Everybody can see,
+too, how the bringing in of $300,000,000 of imports into Southern ports
+would enliven business in our seaboard towns. I have seen with some
+satisfaction, also, Mr. President, that the war made upon us has
+benefitted certain branches of industry in my State. There are
+manufacturing establishments in North Carolina, the proprietors of which
+tell me that they are making fifty per cent. annually on their whole
+capital, and yet cannot supply one tenth of the demand for their
+production. The result of only ten per cent. duties in excluding
+products from abroad, would give life and impetus to mechanical and
+manufacturing industry, throughout the entire South. Our people
+understand these things, and they are not afraid of results, if forced
+to declare Independence. Indeed I do not see why Northern Republicans
+should wish to continue a connection with us upon any terms. * * *
+They want High Tariff likewise. They may put on five hundred per cent.
+if they choose, upon their own imports, and nobody on our side will
+complain. They may spend all the money they raise on railroads, or
+opening harbors, or anything on earth they desire, without interference
+from us; and it does seem to me that if they are sincere in their views
+they ought to welcome a separation."
+
+From the very commencement of this long three-months debate, it was the
+policy of the Southern leaders to make it appear that the Southern
+States were in an attitude of injured innocence and defensiveness
+against Northern aggression. Hence, it was that, as early as December
+5th, on the floor of the Senate, through Mr. Brown, of Mississippi, they
+declared: "All we ask is to be allowed to depart in Peace. Submit we
+will not; and if, because we will not submit to your domination, you
+choose to make War upon us, let God defend the Right!"
+
+At the same time it was esteemed necessary to try and frighten the North
+into acquiescence with this demand to be "let alone." Hence such
+utterances as those of Clingman and Iverson, to which reference has
+already been made, and the especially defiant close of the latter's
+speech, when--replying to the temperate but firm Union utterances of Mr.
+Hale--the Georgia Senator said: "Sir, I do not believe there will be any
+War; but if War is to come, let it come; we will meet the Senator from
+New Hampshire and all the myrmidons of Abolitionism and Black
+Republicanism everywhere upon our own soil; and, in the language of a
+distinguished member from Ohio in relation to the Mexican War, we will
+'welcome you with bloody hands to hospitable graves.'"
+
+On the other hand, in order to encourage the revolting States to the
+speedy commission of overt acts of Rebellion and violence, that would
+precipitate War without a peradventure, utterances fell from Southern
+lips, in the National Senate Chamber, like those of Mr. Wigfall, when he
+said, during this first day of the debate: "Frederick the Great, on one
+occasion, when he had trumped up an old title to some of the adjacent
+territory, quietly put himself in possession and then offered to treat.
+Were I a South Carolinian, as I am a Texan, and I knew that my State was
+going out of the Union, and that this Government would attempt to use
+force, I would, at the first moment that that fact became manifest,
+seize upon the Forts and the arms and the munitions of war, and raise
+the cry 'To your tents, O Israel, and to the God of battles be this
+issue!"
+
+And, as we have already seen, the Rebels of the South were not slow in
+following the baleful advice to the letter. But it was not many days
+after this utterance when the Conspirators against the Union evidently
+began to fear that the ground for Rebellion, upon which they had planted
+themselves, would be taken from under their feet by the impulse of
+Compromise and Concession which stirred so strongly the fraternal spirit
+of the North. That peaceful impulse must be checked and exasperated by
+sneers and impossible demands. Hence, on December 12th we find one of
+the most active and favorite mouthpieces of Treason, Mr. Wigfall,
+putting forth such demands, in his most offensive manner.
+
+Said he: "If the two Senators from New York (Seward and King), the
+Senator from Ohio (Wade), the two Senators from Illinois (Douglas and
+Trumbull), the Senator from New Hampshire (Hale), the Senator from
+Maine, and others who are regarded as representative men, who have
+denied that by the Constitution of the United States, Slaves are
+recognized as Property; who have urged and advocated those acts which we
+regard as aggressive on the part of the People--if they will rise here,
+and say in their places, that they desire to propose amendments to the
+Constitution, and beg that we will vote for them; that they will, in
+good faith, go to their respective constituencies and urge the
+ratification; that they believe, if these Gulf States will suspend their
+action, that those amendments will be ratified and carried out in good
+faith; that they will cease preaching this 'irrepressible conflict'; and
+if, in those amendments, it is declared that Slaves are Property, that
+they shall be delivered up upon demand; and that they will assure us
+that Abolition societies shall be abolished; that Abolition speeches
+shall no longer be made; that we shall have peace and quiet; that we
+shall not be called cut-throats and pirates and murderers; that our
+women shall not be slandered--these things being said in good faith, the
+Senators begging that we will stay our hand until an honest effort can
+be made, I believe that there is a prospect of giving them a fair
+consideration!"
+
+Small wonder is it, that this labored and ridiculous piece of
+impertinence was received with ironical laughter on the Republican side
+of the Senate Chamber. And it was in reference to these threats, and
+these preposterous demands--including the suppression of the right of
+Free Discussion and Liberty of the Press--that, in the same chamber
+(January 7, 1861) the gallant and eloquent Baker said:
+
+"Your Fathers had fought for that right, and more than that, they had
+declared that the violation of that right was one of the great causes
+which impelled them to the Separation. * * * Sir, the Liberty of the
+Press is the highest safeguard to all Free Government. Ours could not
+exist without it. It is with us, nay, with all men, like a great
+exulting and abounding river, It is fed by the dews of Heaven, which
+distil their sweetest drops to form it. It gushes from the rill, as it
+breaks from the deep caverns of the Earth. It is fed by a thousand
+affluents, that dash from the mountaintop to separate again into a
+thousand bounteous and irrigating rills around. On its broad bosom it
+bears a thousand barks. There, Genius spreads its purpling sail.
+There, Poetry dips its silver oar. There, Art, Invention, Discovery,
+Science, Morality, Religion, may safely and securely float. It wanders
+through every land. It is a genial, cordial source of thought and
+inspiration, wherever it touches, whatever it surrounds. Sir, upon its
+borders, there grows every flower of Grace and every fruit of Truth. I
+am not here to deny that that Stream sometimes becomes a dangerous
+Torrent, and destroys towns and cities upon its bank; but I am here to
+say that without it, Civilization, Humanity, Government, all that makes
+Society itself, would disappear, and the World would return to its
+ancient Barbarism.
+
+"Sir, if that were to be possible, or so thought for a moment, the fine
+conception of the great Poet would be realized. If that were to be
+possible, though but for a moment, Civilization itself would roll the
+wheels of its car backward for two thousand years. Sir, if that were
+so, it would be true that:
+
+ 'As one by one in dread Medea's train,
+ Star after Star fades off th' ethereal plain,
+ Thus at her fell approach and secret might,
+ Art after art goes out, and all is night.
+ Philosophy, that leaned on Heaven before,
+ Sinks to her second cause, and is no more.
+ Religion, blushing, veils her sacred fires,
+ And, unawares, Morality expires.'
+
+"Sir, we will not risk these consequences, even for Slavery; we will not
+risk these consequences even for Union; we will not risk these
+consequences to avoid that Civil War with which you threaten us; that
+War which, you announce so deadly, and which you declare to be
+inevitable. * * * I will never yield to the idea that the great
+Government of this Country shall protect Slavery in any Territory now
+ours, or hereafter to be acquired. It is, in my opinion, a great
+principle of Free Government, not, to be surrendered.
+
+"It is in my judgment, the object of the great battle which we have
+fought, and which we have won. It is, in my poor opinion, the point
+upon which there is concord and agreement between the great masses of
+the North, who may agree in no other political opinion whatever. Be he
+Republican, or Democrat, or Douglas man, or Lincoln man; be he from the
+North, or the West, from Oregon, or from Maine, in my judgment
+nine-tenths of the entire population of the North and West are devoted,
+in the very depths of their hearts, to the great Constitutional idea
+that Freedom is the rule, that Slavery is the exception, that it ought
+not to be extended by virtue of the powers of the Government of the
+United States; and, come weal, come woe, it never shall be.
+
+"But, sir, I add one other thing. When you talk to me about Compromise
+or Concession, I am not sure that I always understand you. Do you mean
+that I am to give up my convictions of right? Armies cannot compel that
+in the breast of a Free People. Do you mean that I am to concede the
+benefits of the political struggle through which we have passed,
+considered politically, only? You are too just and too generous to ask
+that. Do you mean that we are to deny the great principle upon which
+our political action has been based? You know we cannot. But if you
+mean by Compromise and Concession to ask us to see whether we have not
+been hasty, angry, passionate, excited, and in many respects violated
+your feelings, your character, your right of property, we will look;
+and, as I said yesterday, if we have, we will undo it. Allow me to say
+again, if there be any lawyer or any Court that will advise us that our
+laws are unconstitutional, we will repeal them.
+
+"Now as to territory. I will not yield one inch to Secession; but there
+are things that I will yield, and there are things to which I will
+yield. It is somewhere told that when Harold of England received a
+messenger from a brother with whom he was at variance, to inquire on
+what terms reconciliation and peace could be effected between brothers,
+he replied in a gallant and generous spirit in a few words, 'the terms
+I offer are the affection of a brother; and the Earldom of
+Northumberland.' And, said the Envoy, as he marched up the Hall amid
+the warriors that graced the state of the King, 'if Tosti, thy brother,
+agree to this, what terms will you allow to his ally and friend,
+Hadrada, the giant.' 'We will allow,' said Harold, 'to Hadrada, the
+giant, seven feet of English ground, and if he be, as they say, a giant,
+some few inches more!' and, as he spake, the Hall rang with acclamation.
+
+"Sir, in that spirit I speak. I follow, at a humble distance, the ideas
+and the words of Clay, illustrious, to be venerated, and honored, and
+remembered, forever. * * * He said--I say: that I will yield no inch,
+no word, to the threat of Secession, unconstitutional, revolutionary,
+dangerous, unwise, at variance with the heart and the hope of all
+mankind save themselves. To that I yield nothing; but if States loyal
+to the Constitution, if people magnanimous and just, desiring a return
+of fraternal feeling, shall come to us and ask for Peace, for permanent,
+enduring peace and affection, and say, 'What will you grant? I say to
+them, 'Ask all that a gentleman ought to propose, and I will yield all
+that a gentleman ought to offer.' Nay, more: if you are galled because
+we claim the right to prohibit Slavery in territory now Free, or in any
+Territory which acknowledges our jurisdiction, we will evade--I speak
+but for myself--I will aid in evading that question; I will agree to
+make it all States, and let the People decide at once. I will agree to
+place them in that condition where the prohibition of Slavery will never
+be necessary to justify ourselves to our consciences or to our
+constituents. I will agree to anything which is not to force upon me
+the necessity of protecting Slavery in the name of Freedom. To that I
+never can and never will yield."
+
+The speeches of Seward, of Douglas, of Crittenden, of Andrew Johnson, of
+Baker, and others, in behalf of the Union, and those of Benjamin, Davis,
+Wigfall, Lane, and others, in behalf of Secession, did much toward
+fixing the responsibility for the approaching bloody conflict where it
+belonged. The speeches of Andrew Johnson of Tennessee--who, if he at a
+subsequent period of the Nation's history, proved himself not the
+worthiest son of the Republic, at this critical time, at all events, did
+grand service in the National Senate--especially had great and good
+effect on the public mind in the Northern and Border States. They were,
+therefore, gall and wormwood to the Secession leaders, who hoped to drag
+the Border States into the great Southern Confederacy of States already
+in process of formation.
+
+Their irritation was shown in threats of personal violence to Mr.
+Johnson, as when Wigfall--replying February 7th, 1861, to the latter's
+speech, said, "Now if the Senator wishes to denounce Secession and
+Nullification eo nomine, let him go back and denounce Jefferson; let him
+denounce Jackson, if he dare, and go back and look that Tennessee
+Democracy in the face, and see whether they will content themselves with
+riddling his effigy!"
+
+It would seem also, from another part of Wigfall's reply, that the
+speeches of Union Senators had been so effective that a necessity was
+felt on the part of the Southern Conspirators to still further attempt
+to justify Secession by shifting the blame to Northern shoulders, for,
+while referring to the Presidential canvass of 1860--and the attitude of
+the Southern Secession leaders during that exciting period--he said:
+"We (Breckinridge-Democrats) gave notice, both North and South, that if
+Abraham Lincoln was elected, this Union was dissolved. I never made a
+speech during the canvass without asserting that fact. * * * Then, I
+say, that our purpose was not to dissolve the Union; but the dire
+necessity has been put upon us. The question is, whether we shall live
+longer in a Union in which a Party, hostile to us in every respect, has
+the power in Congress, in the Executive department, and in the Electoral
+Colleges--a Party who will have the power even in the Judiciary. We
+think it is not safe. We say that each State has the clear indisputable
+right to withdraw if she sees fit; and six of the States have already
+withdrawn, and one other State is upon the eve of withdrawing, if she
+has not already done so. How far this will spread no man can tell!"
+
+As tending to show the peculiar mixture of brag, cajolery, and threats,
+involved in the attitude of the South, as expressed by the same favorite
+Southern mouthpiece, toward the Border-States on the one hand, and the
+Middle and New England States on the other, a further extract from this
+(February 7th) speech of the Texan Senator may be of interest. Said he:
+
+"With exports to the amount of hundreds of millions of dollars, our
+imports must be the same. With a lighter Tariff than any people ever
+undertook to live under, we could have larger revenue. We would be able
+to stand Direct Taxation to a greater extent than any people ever could
+before, since the creation of the World. We feel perfectly competent to
+meet all issues that may be presented, either by hostility from abroad
+or treason at home. So far as the Border-States are concerned, it is a
+matter that concerns them alone. Should they confederate with us,
+beyond all doubt New England machinery will be worked with the water
+power of Tennessee, of Kentucky, of Virginia and of Maryland; the Tariff
+laws that now give New England the monopoly in the thirty-three States,
+will give to these Border States a monopoly in the Slave-holding States.
+Should the non-Slave-holding States choose to side against us in
+organizing their Governments, and cling to their New England brethren,
+the only result will be, that the meat, the horses, the hemp, and the
+grain, which we now buy in Pennsylvania, in Ohio, in Indiana and
+Illinois, will be purchased in Kentucky and in Western Virginia and in
+Missouri. Should Pennsylvania stand out, the only result will be, that
+the iron which is now dug in Pennsylvania, will be dug in the mountains
+of Tennessee and of Virginia and of Kentucky and of North Carolina.
+These things we know.
+
+"We feel no anxiety at all, so far as money or men are concerned. We
+desire War with nobody; we intend to make no War; but we intend to live
+under just such a Government as we see fit. Six States have left this
+Union, and others are going to leave it simply because they choose to do
+it; that is all. We do not ask your consent; we do not wish it. We
+have revoked our ratification of the Treaty commonly known as the
+Constitution of the United States; a treaty for common defense and
+general welfare; and we shall be perfectly willing to enter into another
+Treaty with you, of peace and amity. Reject the olive branch and offer
+us the sword, and we accept it; we have not the slightest objection.
+Upon that subject we feel as the great William Lowndes felt upon another
+important subject, the Presidency, which he said was neither to be
+sought nor declined. When you invade our soil, look to your own
+borders. You say that you have too many people, too many towns, too
+dense a population, for us to invade you. I say to you Senators, that
+there is nothing that ever stops the march of an invading force, except
+a desert. The more populous a country, the more easy it is to subsist
+an army."
+
+After declaring that--"Not only are our non-Slaveholders loyal, but even
+our Negroes are. We have no apprehensions whatever of insurrection--not
+the slightest. We can arm our negroes, and leave them at home, when we
+are temporarily absent"--Mr. Wigfall proceeded to say: "We may as well
+talk plainly about this matter. This is probably the last time I shall
+have an opportunity of addressing you. There is another thing that an
+invading army cannot do. It cannot burn up plantations. You can pull
+down fences, but the Negroes will put them up the next morning. The
+worst fuel that ever a man undertook to make fire with, is dirt; it will
+not burn. Now I have told you what an invading army cannot do. Suppose
+I reverse the picture and tell you what it can do. An invading army in
+an enemy's country, where there is a dense population, can subsist
+itself at a very little cost; it does not always pay for what it gets.
+An invading army can burn down towns; an invading army can burn down
+manufactories; and it can starve operatives. It can do all these
+things. But an Invading army, and an army to defend a Country, both
+require a military chest. You may bankrupt every man south of North
+Carolina, so that his credit is reduced to such a point that he could
+not discount a note for thirty dollars, at thirty days; but the next
+autumn those Cotton States will have just as much money and as much
+credit as they had before. They pick money off the cotton plant. Every
+time that a Negro touches a cotton-pod with his hand, he pulls a piece
+of silver out of it, and he drops it into the basket in which it is
+carried to the gin-house. It is carried to the packing screw. A bale
+of cotton rolls out-in other words, five ten-dollar pieces roll out
+--covered with canvas. We shall never again make less than five million
+bales of cotton. * * * We can produce five million bales of cotton,
+every bale worth fifty dollars, which is the lowest market price it has
+been for years past. We shall import a bale of something else, for
+every bale of cotton that we export, and that bale will be worth fifty
+dollars. We shall find no difficulty under a War-Tariff in raising an
+abundance of money. We have been at Peace for a very long time, We are
+very prosperous. Our planters use their cotton, not to buy the
+necessaries of life, but for the superfluities, which they can do
+without. The States themselves have a mine of wealth in the loyalty and
+the wealth of their citizens. Georgia, Mississippi, any one of those
+States can issue its six per cent. bonds tomorrow, and receive cotton in
+payment to the extent almost of the entire crop. They can first borrow
+from their own citizens; they can tax them to an almost unlimited
+extent; and they can raise revenue from a Tariff to an almost unlimited
+extent.
+
+"How will it be with New England? where will their revenue come from?
+From your Custom-houses? what do you export? You have been telling us
+here for the last quarter of a century, that you cannot manufacture,
+even for the home market, under the Tariffs which we have given you.
+When this Tariff ceases to operate in your favor, and you have to pay
+for coming into our markets, what will you export? When your machinery
+ceases to move, and your operatives are turned out, will you tax your
+broken capitalist or your starving operative? When the navigation laws
+cease to operate, what will become of your shipping interest? You are
+going to blockade our ports, you say. That is a very innocent game; and
+you suppose we shall sit quietly down and submit to a blockade. I speak
+not of foreign interference, for we look not for it. We are just as
+competent to take Queen Victoria and Louis Napoleon under our
+protection, as they are to take us; and they are a great deal more
+interested to-day in receiving cotton from our ports than we are in
+shipping it. You may lock up every bale of cotton within the limits of
+the eight Cotton States, and not allow us to export one for three years,
+and we shall not feel it further than our military resources are
+concerned. Exhaust the supply of cotton in Europe for one week, and all
+Europe is in revolution.
+
+"These are facts. You will blockade us! Do you suppose we shall do
+nothing, even upon the sea? How many letters of marque and reprisal
+would it take to put the whole of your ships up at your wharves to rot?
+Will any merchant at Havre, or Liverpool, or any other portion of the
+habitable globe, ship a cargo upon a New England, or New York, or
+Philadelphia clipper, or other ship, when he knows that the seas are
+swarming with letters of marque and reprisal? Why the mere apprehension
+of such a thing will cut you out of the Carrying Trade of the civilized
+World. * * * I speak not of the absurdity of the position that you can
+blockade our ports, admitting at the same time that we are in the Union.
+Blockade is a remedy, as all writers on International law say, against a
+Foreign Power with whom you are at War. You cannot use a blockade
+against your own people. An embargo even, you cannot use. That is a
+remedy against a Foreign Nation with whom you expect to be at War. You
+must treat us as in the Union, or out of it. We have gone out. We are
+willing to live at peace with you; but, as sure as fate, whenever any
+flag comes into one of our ports, that has thirty-three stars upon it,
+that flag will be fired at. Displaying a flag with stars which we have
+plucked from that bright galaxy, is an insult to the State within whose
+waters that flag is displayed. You cannot enforce the laws without
+Coercion, and you cannot Coerce without War.
+
+"These matters, then, can be settled. How? By withdrawing your troops;
+admitting our right to Self-government clearly, unqualifiedly. Do this,
+and there is no difficulty about it. You say that you will not do it.
+Very well; we have no objection--none whatever. That is Coercion. When
+you have attempted it, you will find that you have made War. These,
+Senators, are facts. I come here to plead for Peace; but I have seen so
+much and felt so much, that I am becoming at last, to tell the plain
+truth of the matter, rather indifferent as to which way the thing turns.
+If you want War, you can have it. If you want Peace, you can get it;
+but I plead not for Peace."
+
+Meanwhile the Seceding States of the South were strengthening their
+attitude by Confederation. On February 4, 1861, the Convention of
+Seceding States, called by the South Carolina Convention at the time of
+her Secession, met, in pursuance of that call, at Montgomery, Alabama,
+and on the 9th adopted a Provisional Constitution and organized a
+Provisional Government by the election of Jefferson Davis of
+Mississippi, as President, and Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia, as
+Vice-President; to serve until a Presidential election could be held by
+the people of the Confederacy.
+
+ [At a later day, March 11, 1861, a permanent Constitution for the
+ "Confederate States" was adopted, and, in the Fall of the same
+ year, Messrs. Davis and Stephens were elected by popular vote, for
+ the term of six years ensuing, as President and Vice-President,
+ respectively, of the Confederacy.]
+
+Mr. Davis almost at once left Jackson, Mississippi, for Montgomery,
+where he arrived and delivered his Inaugural, February 17, having
+received on his road thither a succession of ovations from the
+enthusiastic Rebels, to which he had responded with no less than
+twenty-five speeches, very similar in tone to those made in the United
+States Senate by Mr. Wigfall and others of that ilk--breathing at once
+defiance and hopefulness, while admitting the difficulties in the way
+of the new Confederacy.
+
+"It may be," said he, at Jackson, "that we will be confronted by War;
+that the attempt will be made to blockade our ports, to starve us out;
+but they (the Union men of the North) know little of the Southern heart,
+of Southern endurance. No amount of privation could force us to remain
+in a Union on unequal terms. England and France would not allow our
+great staple to be dammed up within our present limits; the starving
+thousands in their midst would not allow it. We have nothing to
+apprehend from Blockade. But if they attempt invasion by land, we must
+take the War out of our territory. If War must come, it must be upon
+Northern, and not upon Southern soil. In the meantime, if they were
+prepared to grant us Peace, to recognize our equality, all is well."
+
+And, in his speech at Stevenson, Alabama, said he "Your Border States
+will gladly come into the Southern Confederacy within sixty days, as we
+will be their only friends. England will recognize us, and a glorious
+future is before us. The grass will grow in the Northern cities, where
+the pavements have been worn off by the tread of Commerce. We will
+carry War where it is easy to advance--where food for the sword and
+torch await our Armies in the densely populated cities; and though they
+may come and spoil our crops, we can raise them as before; while they
+cannot rear the cities which took years of industry and millions of
+money to build."
+
+Very different in tone to these, were the kindly and sensible utterances
+of Mr. Lincoln on his journey from Springfield to Washington, about the
+same time, for Inauguration as President of the United States. Leaving
+Springfield, Illinois, February 11th, he had pathetically said:
+
+"My friends: No one, not in my position, can realize the sadness I feel
+at this parting. To this people I owe all that I am. Here I have lived
+more than a quarter of a century. Here my children were born, and here
+one of them lies buried. I know not how soon I shall see you again. I
+go to assume a task more difficult than that which has devolved upon any
+other man since the days of Washington. He never would have succeeded
+except for the aid of Divine Providence, upon which he at all times
+relied. I feel that I cannot succeed without the same Divine blessing
+which sustained him; and on the same Almighty Being I place my reliance
+for support. And I hope you, my friends, will all pray that I may
+receive that Divine assistance, without which I cannot succeed, but with
+which success is certain. Again I bid you an affectionate farewell."
+
+At Indianapolis, that evening, the eve of his birthday anniversary,
+after thanking the assembled thousands for their "magnificent welcome,"
+and defining the words "Coercion" and "Invasion"--at that time so
+loosely used--he continued: "But if the United States should merely hold
+and retake her own Forts and other property, and collect the duties on
+foreign importation, or even withhold the mails from places where they
+were habitually violated, would any or all of these things be 'Invasion'
+or 'Coercion'? Do our professed lovers of the Union, who spitefully
+resolve that they will resist Coercion and Invasion, understand that
+such things as these on the part of the United States would be
+'Coercion' or 'Invasion' of a State? If so, their idea of means to
+preserve the object of their great affection would seem to be
+exceedingly thin and airy."
+
+At Columbus, Ohio, he spoke in a like calm, conservative, reasoning way
+--with the evident purpose of throwing oil on the troubled waters--when
+he said: "I have not maintained silence from any want of real anxiety.
+It is a good thing that there is no more than anxiety; for there is
+nothing going wrong. It is a consoling circumstance that, when we look
+out, there is nothing that really hurts anybody. We entertain different
+views upon political questions; but nobody is suffering anything. This
+is a consoling circumstance; and from it we may conclude that all we
+want is time, patience, and a reliance on that God who has never
+forsaken this People."
+
+So, too, at Pittsburg, Pa., February 15th, he said, of "our friends," as
+he termed them, the Secessionists: "Take even their own views of the
+questions involved, and there is nothing to justify the course they are
+pursuing. I repeat, then, there is no crisis, except such an one as may
+be gotten up at any time by turbulent men, aided by designing
+politicians. My advice to them, under the circumstances, is to keep
+cool. If the great American People only keep their temper both sides of
+the line, the trouble will come to an end, and the question which now
+distracts the Country be settled, just as surely as all other
+difficulties, of a like character, which have been originated in this
+Government, have been adjusted. Let the people on both sides keep their
+self-possession, and, just as other clouds have cleared away in due
+time, so will this great Nation continue to prosper as heretofore."
+
+And toward the end of that journey, on the 22nd of February
+--Washington's Birthday--in the Independence Hall at Philadelphia, after
+eloquently affirming his belief that "the great principle or idea that
+kept this Confederacy so long together was * * * that sentiment in the
+Declaration of Independence which gave Liberty not alone to the People
+of this Country, but" he hoped "to the World, for all future time * * *
+which gave promise that, in due time, the weight would be lifted from
+the shoulders of all men"--he added, in the same firm, yet temperate and
+reassuring vein: "Now, my friends, can this Country be saved on that
+basis? If it can, I will consider myself one of the happiest men in the
+world, if I can help to save it. If it cannot be saved on that basis,
+it will be truly awful. But, if this Country cannot be saved without
+giving up that principle, I was about to say I would rather be
+assassinated on this spot than surrender it. Now in my view of the
+present aspect of affairs, there need be no bloodshed or War. There is
+no necessity for it. I am not in favor of such a course; and I may say,
+in advance, that there will be no bloodshed, unless it be forced upon
+the Government, and then it will be compelled to act in self-defense. *
+* * I have said nothing but what I am willing to live by, and, if it be
+the pleasure of Almighty God, to die by."
+
+Thus, as he progressed on that memorable journey from his home in
+Illinois, through Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Columbus, Pittsburgh,
+Cleveland, Erie, Buffalo, Albany, New York, Trenton, Newark,
+Philadelphia, and Harrisburg-amid the prayers and blessings and
+acclamations of an enthusiastic and patriotic people--he uttered words
+of wise conciliation and firm moderation such as beseemed the high
+functions and tremendous responsibilities to which the voice of that
+liberty--and-union-loving people had called him, and this too, with a
+full knowledge, when he made the Philadelphia speech, that the enemies
+of the Republic had already planned to assassinate him before he could
+reach Washington.
+
+The prudence of his immediate friends, fortunately defeated the
+murderous purpose--and by the simple device of taking the regular night
+express from Philadelphia instead of a special train next day--to
+Washington, he reached the National Capital without molestation early on
+the morning of the 23rd of February.
+
+That morning, after Mr. Lincoln's arrival, in company with Mr. Lovejoy,
+the writer visited him at Willard's Hotel. During the interview both
+urged him to "Go right along, protect the property of the Country, and
+put down the Rebellion, no matter at what cost in men and money." He
+listened with grave attention, and said little, but very clearly
+indicated his approval of all the sentiments thus expressed--and then,
+with the same firm and manly and cheerful faith in the outcome, he
+added: "As the Country has placed me at the helm of the Ship, I'll try
+to steer her through."
+
+The spirit in which he proposed to accomplish this superhuman task, was
+shown when he told the Southern people through the Civic authorities of
+Washington on the 27th of February--When the latter called upon him
+--that he had no desire or intention to interfere with any of their
+Constitutional rights--that they should have all their rights under the
+Constitution, "not grudgingly, but fully and fairly." And what was the
+response of the South to this generous and conciliatory message?
+Personal sneers--imputations of Northern cowardice--boasts of Southern
+prowess--scornful rejection of all compromise--and an insolent challenge
+to the bloody issue of arms!
+
+Said Mr. Wigfall, in the United States Senate, on March 2d, alluding to
+Mr. Lincoln, "I do not think that a man who disguises himself in a
+soldier's cloak and a Scotch cap (a more thorough disguise could not be
+assumed by such a man) and makes his entry between day and day, into the
+Capital of the Country that he is to govern--I hardly think that he is
+going to look War sternly in the face.
+
+ [Had Mr. Wigfall been able at this time to look four years into the
+ future and behold the downfall of the Southern Rebellion, the
+ flight of its Chieftains, and the capture of Jefferson Davis while
+ endeavoring to escape, with his body enclosed in a wrapper and a
+ woman's shawl over his head, as stated by Lieutenant-Colonel Stuart
+ of Jefferson Davis's Staff, p. 756, vol. ii., Greeley's American
+ Conflict--he would hardly have retailed this slander.]
+
+"I look for nothing else than that the Commissioners from the
+Confederated States will be received here and recognized by Abraham
+Lincoln. I will now predict that this Republican Party that is going to
+enforce the Laws, preserve the Union, and collect Revenue, will never
+attempt anything so silly; and that instead of taking Forts, the troops
+will be withdrawn from those which we now have. See if this does not
+turn out to be so, in less than a week or ten days."
+
+In the same insulting diatribe, he said: "It is very easy for men to
+bluster who know there is going to be no danger. Four or five million
+people living in a territory that extends from North Carolina down to
+the Rio Grande, who have exports to above three hundred million dollars,
+whose ports cannot be blockaded, but who can issue letters of marque and
+reprisal, and sweep your commerce from the seas, and who will do it, are
+not going to be trifled with by that sensible Yankee nation. Mark my
+words. I did think, at one time, there was going to be War; I do not
+think so now. * * * The Star of the West swaggered into Charleston
+harbor, received a blow planted full in the face, and staggered out.
+Your flag has been insulted; redress it if you dare! You have submitted
+to it for two months, and you will submit to it for ever. * * * We
+have dissolved the Union; mend it if you can; cement it with blood; try
+the experiment! we do not desire War; we wish to avoid it. * * * This
+we say; and if you choose to settle this question by the Sword, we feel,
+we know, that we have the Right. We interfere with you in no way. We
+ask simply that you will not interfere with us. * * * You tell us you
+will keep us in the Union. Try the experiment!"
+
+And then, with brutal frankness, he continued: "Now, whether what are
+called The Crittenden Resolutions will produce satisfaction in some of
+these Border States, or not, I am unaware; but I feel perfectly sure
+they would not be entertained upon the Gulf. As to the Resolutions
+which the Peace Congress has offered us, we might as well make a clean
+breast of it. If those Resolutions were adopted, and ratified by three
+fourths of the States of this Union, and no other cause ever existed, I
+make the assertion that the seven States now out of the Union, would go
+out upon that."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER VIII.
+
+ THE REJECTED OLIVE BRANCH.
+
+While instructive, it will also not be devoid of interest, to pause
+here, and examine the nature of the Crittenden Resolutions, and also the
+Resolutions of the Peace Congress, which, we have seen, were spurned by
+the Secession leaders, through their chief mouthpiece in the United
+States Senate.
+
+The Crittenden Compromise Resolutions * were in these words:
+
+"A Joint Resolution proposing certain Amendments to the Constitution of
+the United States:
+
+"Whereas, serious and alarming dissensions have arisen between the
+Northern and the Southern States, concerning the Rights and security of
+the Rights of the Slaveholding States, and especially their Rights in
+the common territory of the United States; and whereas, it is eminently
+desirable and proper that these dissensions, which now threaten the very
+existence of this Union, should be permanently quieted and settled by
+Constitutional provisions which shall do equal justice to all Sections,
+and thereby restore to the People that peace and good-will which ought
+to prevail between all the citizens of the United States; Therefore:
+
+"Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
+States of America, in Congress assembled, (two thirds of both Houses
+concurring), the following articles be, and are hereby proposed and
+submitted as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, which
+shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of said
+Constitution, when ratified by Conventions of three-fourths of the
+several States:
+
+"Article I. In all the territory of the United States now held, or
+hereafter to be acquired, situate north of latitude 36 30', Slavery or
+involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, is prohibited,
+while such territory shall remain under Territorial government. In all
+the territory south of said line of latitude, Slavery of the African
+race is hereby recognized as existing, and shall not be interfered with
+by Congress, but shall be protected as Property by all the departments
+of the Territorial government during its continuance. And when any
+Territory, north or south of said line, within such boundaries as
+Congress may prescribe, shall contain the population requisite for a
+member of Congress, according to the then Federal ratio of
+representation of the People of the United States, it shall, if its own
+form of government be republican, be admitted into the Union, on an
+equal footing with the original States; with or without Slavery, as the
+Constitution of such new State may provide.
+
+"Article II. Congress shall have no power to abolish Slavery in places
+under its exclusive jurisdiction, and situate within the limits of
+States that permit the holding of Slaves.
+
+"Article III. Congress shall have no power to abolish Slavery within
+the District of Columbia; so long as it exists in the adjoining States
+of Virginia and Maryland, or either, nor without the consent of the
+inhabitants, nor without just compensation first made to such owners of
+Slaves as do not consent to such abolishment. Nor shall Congress, at
+any time, prohibit officers of the Federal government, or members of
+Congress whose duties require them to be in said District, from bringing
+with them their Slaves, and holding them as such during the time their
+duties may require them to remain there, and afterward taking them from
+the District.
+
+"Article IV. Congress shall have no power to prohibit or hinder the
+Transportation of Slaves from one State to another, or to a Territory in
+which Slaves are, by law, permitted to be held, whether that
+transportation be by land, navigable rivers, or by the sea.
+
+"Article V. That in addition to the provisions of the third paragraph
+of the second section of the fourth article of the Constitution of the
+United States, Congress shall have power to provide by law, and it shall
+be its duty to provide, that the United States shall pay to the owner
+who shall apply for it, the full value of his Fugitive Slaves in all
+cases where the Marshal, or other officer whose duty it was to arrest
+said Fugitive, was prevented from so doing by violence or intimidation,
+or where, after arrest, said Fugitive was rescued by force, and the
+owner thereby prevented and obstructed in the pursuit of his remedy for
+the recovery of his Fugitive Slave under the said clause of the
+Constitution and the laws made in pursuance thereof.
+
+ ["No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws
+ thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any Law or
+ Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but
+ shall be delivered up on claim of the Party to whom such Service or
+ Labour may be due."--Art. IV., Sec. 2, P 3, U. S. Constitution.]
+
+"And in all such cases, when the United States shall pay for such
+Fugitive, they shall have the Right, in their own name, to sue the
+county in which said violence, intimidation, or rescue, was committed,
+and recover from it, with interest and damages, the amount paid by them
+for said Fugitive Slave. And the said county, after it has paid said
+amount to the United States, may, for its indemnity, sue and recover
+from the wrong-doers or rescuers by whom the owner was prevented from
+the recovery of his Fugitive Slave, in like manner as the owner himself
+might have sued and recovered.
+
+"Article VI. No future amendment of the Constitution shall affect the
+five preceding articles; nor the third paragraph of the second section
+of the first article of the Constitution, nor the third paragraph of
+the second section of the fourth article of said Constitution; and no
+amendment shall be made to the Constitution which shall authorize or
+give to Congress any power to abolish or interfere with Slavery in any
+of the States by whose laws it is or may be, allowed or permitted.
+
+ ["Representatives and Direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the
+ several States which may be included within this Union, according
+ to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to
+ the whole Number of Free Persons, including those bound to Service
+ for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not Taxed, three-fifths
+ of all Other Persons," etc.--Art. 1., Sec. 2, P 3, U. S.
+ Constitution.]
+
+"And whereas, also, besides those causes of dissension embraced in the
+foregoing amendments proposed to the Constitution of the United States,
+there are others which come within the jurisdiction of Congress, and may
+be remedied by its legislative power; And whereas it is the desire of
+Congress, as far as its power will extend, to remove all just cause for
+the popular discontent and agitation which now disturb the peace of the
+Country and threaten the stability of its Institutions; Therefore:
+
+"1. Resolved by the Senate and house of Representatives in Congress
+assembled, that the laws now in force for the recovery of Fugitive
+Slaves are in strict pursuance of the plain and mandatory provisions of
+the Constitution, and have been sanctioned as valid and Constitutional
+by the judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States; that the
+Slaveholding States are entitled to the faithful observance and
+execution of those laws; and that they ought not to be repealed, or so
+modified or changed as to impair their efficiency; and that laws ought
+to be made for the punishment of those who attempt, by rescue of the
+Slave, or other illegal means, to hinder or defeat the due execution of
+said laws.
+
+"2. That all State laws which conflict with the Fugitive Slave Acts of
+Congress, or any other Constitutional Acts of Congress, or which, in
+their operation, impede, hinder, or delay, the free course and due
+execution of any of said Acts, are null and void by the plain provisions
+of the Constitution of the United States; yet those State laws, void as
+they are, have given color to practices, and led to consequences, which
+have obstructed the due administration and execution of Acts of
+Congress, and especially the Acts for the delivery of Fugitive Slaves;
+and have thereby contributed much to the discord and commotion now
+prevailing. Congress, therefore, in the present perilous juncture, does
+not deem it improper, respectfully and earnestly, to recommend the
+repeal of those laws to the several States which have enacted them, or
+such legislative corrections or explanations of them as may prevent
+their being used or perverted to such mischievous purposes.
+
+"3. That the Act of the 18th of September, 1850, commonly called the
+Fugitive Slave Law, ought to be so amended as to make the fee of the
+Commissioner, mentioned in the eighth section of the Act, equal in
+amount in the cases decided by him, whether his decision be in favor of,
+or against the claimant. And, to avoid misconstruction, the last clause
+of the fifth section of said Act, which authorizes the person holding a
+warrant for the arrest or detention of a Fugitive Slave to summon to his
+aid the posse comitatus, and which declares it to be the duty of all
+good citizens to assist him in its execution, ought to be so amended as
+to expressly limit the authority and duty to cases in which there shall
+be resistance, or danger of resistance or rescue.
+
+"4. That the laws for the suppression of the African Slave Trade, and
+especially those prohibiting the importation of Slaves into the United
+States, ought to be more effectual, and ought to be thoroughly executed;
+and all further enactments necessary to those ends ought to be promptly
+made."
+
+
+The Peace Conference, or "Congress," it may here be mentioned, was
+called, by action of the Legislature of Virginia, to meet at Washington,
+February 4, 1861. The invitation was extended to all of such "States of
+this Confederacy * * * whether Slaveholding or Non-Slaveholding, as are
+willing to unite with Virginia in an earnest effort to adjust the
+present unhappy controversies in the spirit in which the Constitution
+was originally formed, and consistently with its principles, so as to
+afford to the people of the Slaveholding States adequate guarantees for
+the security of their rights"--such States to be represented by
+Commissioners "to consider, and, if practicable, agree upon some
+suitable adjustment."
+
+The Conference, or "Congress," duly convened, at that place and time,
+and organized by electing ex-President John Tyler, of Virginia, its
+President. This Peace Congress--which comprised 133 Commissioners,
+representing the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts,
+Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware,
+Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio,
+Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Kansas--remained in session until
+February 27, 1861--and then submitted the result of its labors to
+Congress, with the request that Congress "will submit it to Conventions
+in the States, as Article Thirteen of the Amendments to the Constitution
+of the United States, in the following shape:
+
+"Section 1. In all the present territory of the United States, north of
+the parallel of 36 30' of north latitude, Involuntary Servitude, except
+in punishment of crime, is prohibited. In all the present territory
+south of that line, the status of Persons held to Involuntary Service or
+Labor, as it now exists, shall not be changed; nor shall any law be
+passed by Congress or the Territorial Legislature to hinder or prevent
+the taking of such Persons from any of the States of this Union to said
+Territory, nor to impair the Rights arising from said relation; but the
+same shall be subject to judicial cognizance in the Federal Courts,
+according to the course of the common law. When any Territory north or
+south of said line, within such boundary as Congress may prescribe,
+shall contain a population equal to that required for a member of
+Congress, it shall, if its form of government be republican, be admitted
+into the Union on an equal footing with the original States, with or
+without Involuntary Servitude, as the Constitution of such State may
+provide.
+
+"Section 2. No territory shall be acquired by the United States, except
+by discovery and for naval and commercial stations, depots, and transit
+routes, without the concurrence of a majority of all the Senators from
+States which allow Involuntary Servitude, and a majority of all the
+Senators from States which prohibit that relation; nor shall Territory
+be acquired by treaty, unless the votes of a majority of the Senators
+from each class of States hereinbefore mentioned be cast as a part of
+the two-thirds majority necessary to the ratification of such treaty.
+
+"Section 3. Neither the Constitution, nor any amendment thereof, shall
+be construed to give Congress power to regulate, abolish, or control,
+within any State, the relation established or recognized by the laws
+thereof touching Persons held to Labor or Involuntary Service therein,
+nor to interfere with or abolish Involuntary Service in the District of
+Columbia without the consent of Maryland, and without the consent of the
+owners, or making the owners who do not consent just compensation; nor
+the power to interfere with or prohibit Representatives and others from
+bringing with them to the District of Columbia, retaining, and taking
+away, Persons so held to Labor or Service; nor the power to interfere
+with or abolish Involuntary Service in places under the exclusive
+jurisdiction of the United States within those States and Territories
+where the same is established or recognized; nor the power to prohibit
+the removal or transportation of Persons held to Labor or Involuntary
+Service in any State or Territory of the United States to any other
+State or Territory thereof where it is established or recognized by law
+or usage; and the right during transportation, by sea or river, of
+touching at ports, shores, and landings, and of landing in case of
+distress, shall exist; but not the right of transit in or through any
+State or Territory, or of sale or traffic, against the laws thereof.
+Nor shall Congress have power to authorize any higher rate of taxation
+on Persons held to Labor or Service than on land. The bringing into the
+District of Columbia of Persons held to Labor or Service, for sale, or
+placing them in depots to be afterwards transferred to other places for
+sale as merchandize, is prohibited.
+
+"Section 4. The third paragraph of the second section of the fourth
+article of the Constitution shall not be construed to prevent any of the
+States, by appropriate legislation, and through the action of their
+judicial and ministerial officers, from enforcing the delivery of
+Fugitives from Labor to the person to whom such Service or Labor is due.
+
+"Section 5. The Foreign Slave Trade is hereby forever prohibited; and
+it shall be the duty of Congress to pass laws to prevent the importation
+of Slaves, Coolies, or Persons held to Service or Labor, into the United
+States and the Territories from places beyond the limits thereof.
+
+"Section 6. The first, third, and fifth sections, together with this
+section of these amendments, and the third paragraph of the second
+section of the first article of the Constitution, and the third
+paragraph of the second section of the fourth article thereof, shall not
+be amended or abolished without the consent of all the States.
+
+"Section 7. Congress shall provide by law that the United States shall
+pay to the owner the full value of the Fugitive from Labor, in all cases
+where the Marshal, or other officer, whose duty it was to arrest such
+Fugitive, was prevented from so doing by violence or intimidation from
+mobs or riotous assemblages, or when, after arrest, such Fugitive was
+rescued by like violence or intimidation, and the owner thereby deprived
+of the same; and the acceptance of such payment shall preclude the owner
+from further claim to such Fugitive. Congress shall provide by law for
+securing to the citizens of each State the privileges and immunities of
+citizens in the several States."
+
+
+To spurn such propositions as these--with all the concessions to the
+Slave Power therein contained--was equivalent to spurning any and all
+propositions that could possibly be made; and by doing this, the
+Seceding States placed themselves--as they perhaps desired--in an
+utterly irreconcilable attitude, and hence, to a certain extent, which
+had not entered into their calculations, weakened their "Cause" in the
+eyes of many of their friends in the North, in the Border States, and in
+the World. They had become Implacables. Practically considered, this
+was their great mistake. The Crittenden Compromise Resolutions covered
+and yielded to the Slaveholders of the South all and even more than they
+had ever dared seriously to ask or hope for, and had they been open to
+Conciliation, they could have undoubtedly carried that measure through
+both Houses of Congress and three-fourths of the States.
+
+ ["Its advocates, with good reason, claimed a large majority of the
+ People in its favor, and clamored for its submission to a direct
+ popular vote. Had such a submission been accorded, it is very
+ likely that the greater number of those who voted at all would have
+ voted to ratify it. * * * The 'Conservatives,' so called, were
+ still able to establish this Crittenden Compromise by their own
+ proper strength, had they been disposed so to do. The President
+ was theirs; the Senate strongly theirs; in the House, they had a
+ small majority, as was evidenced in their defeat of John Sherman
+ for Speaker. Had they now come forward and said, with authority:
+ 'Enable us to pass the Crittenden Compromise, and all shall be
+ peace and harmony,' they would have succeeded without difficulty.
+ It was only through the withdrawal of pro-slavery members that the
+ Republicans had achieved an unexpected majority in either House.
+ Had those members chosen to return to the seats still awaiting
+ them, and to support Mr. Crittenden's proposition, they could have
+ carried it without difficulty."--Vol. 360, Greeley's Am. Conflict.]
+
+But no, they wilfully withdrew their Congressional membership, State by
+State, as each Seceded, and refused all terms save those which involved
+an absolute surrender to them on all points, including the impossible
+claim of the "Right of Secession."
+
+Let us now briefly trace the history of the Compromise measures in the
+two Houses of Congress.
+
+The Crittenden-Compromise Joint-Resolution had been introduced in the
+Senate at the opening of its session and referred to a Select Committee
+of Thirteen, and subsequently, January 16th, 1861, having been reported
+back, came up in that body for action. On that day it was amended by
+inserting the words "now held or hereafter to be acquired" after the
+words "In all the territory of the United States," in the first line of
+Article I., so that it would read as given above. This amendment--by
+which not only in all territory then belonging to the United States, but
+also by implication in all that might thereafter be acquired, Slavery
+South of 36 30' was to be recognized--was agreed to by 29 yeas to 21
+nays, as follows:
+
+YEAS.--Messrs. Baker, Bayard, Benjamin, Bigler, Bragg, Bright,
+Clingman, Crittenden, Douglas, Fitch, Green, Gwin, Hemphill, Hunter,
+Iverson, Johnson of Tennessee, Kennedy, Lane, Mason, Nicholson, Pearce,
+Polk, Powell, Pugh, Rice, Saulsbury, Sebastian, Slidell and Wigfall--29.
+
+NAYS.--Messrs. Anthony, Bingham, Cameron, Chandler, Clark, Collamer,
+Dixon, Doolittle, Durkee, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Hale, Harlan,
+King, Latham, Seward, Simmons, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Wade and
+Wilson--24.
+
+The question now recurred upon an amendment, in the nature of a
+substitute, offered by Mr. Clark, to strike out the preamble of the
+Crittenden proposition and all of the resolutions after the word
+"resolved," and insert:
+
+"That the provisions of the Constitution are ample for the preservation
+of the Union, and the protection of all the material interests of the
+Country; that it needs to be obeyed rather than amended; and that an
+extrication from our present dangers is to be looked for in strenuous
+efforts to preserve the peace, protect the public property, and enforce
+the laws, rather than in new Guarantees for particular interests,
+Compromises for particular difficulties, or Concessions to unreasonable
+demands.
+
+"Resolved, That all attempts to dissolve the present Union, or overthrow
+or abandon the present Constitution, with the hope or expectation of
+constructing a new one, are dangerous, illusory, and destructive; that
+in the opinion of the Senate of the United States no such Reconstruction
+is practicable; and, therefore, to the maintenance of the existing Union
+and Constitution should be directed all the energies of all the
+departments of the Government, and the efforts of all good citizens."
+
+
+Before reaching a vote on this amendment, Mr. Anthony, (January 16th)
+made a most conciliatory speech, pointing out such practical objections
+to the Crittenden proposition as occurred to his mind, and then,
+continuing, said: "I believe, Mr. President, that if the danger which
+menaces us is to be avoided at all, it must be by Legislation; which is
+more ready, more certain, and more likely to be satisfactory, than
+Constitutional Amendment. The main difficulty is the Territorial
+question. The demand of the Senators on the other side of the Chamber,
+and of those whom they represent, is that the territory south of the
+line of the Missouri Compromise shall be open to their peculiar
+Property. All this territory, except the Indian Reservation, is within
+the limits of New Mexico; which, for a part of its northern boundary,
+runs up two degrees above that line. This is now a Slave Territory;
+made so by Territorial Legislation; and Slavery exists there, recognized
+and protected. Now, I am willing, as soon as Kansas can be admitted, to
+vote for the admission of New Mexico as a State, with such Constitution
+as the People may adopt. This disposes of all the territory that is
+adapted to Slave Labor or that is claimed by the South. It ought to
+settle the whole question. Surely if we can dispose of all the
+territory that we have, we ought not to quarrel over that which we have
+not, and which we have no very honest way of acquiring. Let us settle
+the difficulties that threaten us now, and not anticipate those which
+may never come. Let the public mind have time to cool * * *. In
+offering to settle this question by the admission of New Mexico, we of
+the North who assent to it propose a great Sacrifice, and offer a large
+Concession.
+
+"* * * But we make the offer in a spirit of Compromise and good
+feeling, which we hope will be reciprocated. * * * I appeal to
+Senators on the other side, when we thus offer to bridge over full
+seven-eighths of the frightful chasm that separates us, will you not
+build the other eighth? When, with outstretched arms, we approach you
+so near that, by reaching out your hands you can clasp ours in the
+fraternal grasp from which they should never be separated, will you,
+with folded arms and closed eyes, stand upon extreme demands which you
+know we cannot accept, and for which, if we did, we could not carry our
+constituents? * * * Together our Fathers achieved the Independence of
+their Country; together they laid the foundations of its greatness and
+its glory; together they constructed this beautiful system under which
+it is our privilege to live, which it is our duty to preserve and to
+transmit. Together we enjoy that privilege; together we must perform
+that duty. I will not believe that, in the madness of popular folly and
+delusion, the most benignant Government that ever blessed humanity is to
+be broken up. I will not believe that this great Power which is
+marching with giant steps toward the first place among the Nations of
+the Earth, is to be turned 'backward on its mighty track.' There are no
+grievances, fancied or real, that cannot be redressed within the Union
+and under the Constitution. There are no differences between us that
+may not be settled if we will take them up in the spirit of those to
+whose places we have succeeded, and the fruits of whose labors we have
+inherited."
+
+And to this more than fair proposition to the Southerners--to this
+touching appeal in behalf of Peace--what was the response? Not a word!
+It seemed but to harden their hearts.
+
+ [Immediately after Mr. Anthony's appeal to the Southern Senators, a
+ motion was made by Mr. Collamer to postpone the Crittenden
+ Resolutions and take up the Kansas Admission Bill. Here was the
+ chance at once offered to them to respond to that appeal--to make a
+ first step, as it were. They would not make it. The motion was
+ defeated by 25 yeas to 30 nays--Messrs. Benjamin and Slidell of
+ Louisiana, Hemphill and Wigfall of Texas, Iverson of Georgia, and
+ Johnson of Arkansas, voting "nay." The question at once recurred
+ on the amendment of Mr. Clark--being a substitute for the
+ Crittenden Resolutions, declaring in effect all Compromise
+ unnecessary. To let that substitute be adopted, was to insure the
+ failure of the Crittenden proposition. Yet these same six Southern
+ Senators though present, refused to vote, and permitted the
+ substitute to be adopted by 25 yeas to 23 nays. The vote of Mr.
+ Douglas, who had been "called out for an instant into the
+ ante-room, and deprived of the opportunity of voting "--as he
+ afterwards stated when vainly asking unanimous consent to have his
+ vote recorded among the nays-would have made it 25 yeas to 24 nays,
+ had he been present and voting, while the votes of the six Southern
+ Senators aforesaid, had they voted, would have defeated the
+ substitute by 25 yeas to 30 nays. Then upon a direct vote on the
+ Crittenden Compromise there would not only have been the 30 in its
+ favor, but the vote of at least one Republican (Baker) in addition,
+ to carry it, and, although that would not have given the necessary
+ two-thirds, yet it would have been a majority handsome enough to
+ have ultimately turned the scales, in both Houses, for a peaceful
+ adjustment of the trouble, and have avoided all the sad
+ consequences which so speedily befell the Nation. But this would
+ not have suited the Treasonable purposes of the Conspirators. Ten
+ days before this they had probably arranged the Programme in this,
+ as well as other matters. Very certain it is that no time was lost
+ by them and their friends in making the best use for their Cause of
+ this vote, in the doubtful States of Missouri and North Carolina
+ especially. In the St. Louis journals a Washington dispatch,
+ purporting (untruly however) to come from Senators Polk and Green,
+ was published to this effect.
+
+ "The Crittenden Resolutions were lost by a vote of 25 to 23. A
+ motion of Mr. Cameron to reconsider was lost; and thus ends all
+ hope of reconciliation. Civil War is now considered inevitable,
+ and late accounts declare that Fort Sumter will be attacked without
+ delay. The Missouri delegation recommend immediate Secession."
+
+ This is but a sample of other similar dispatches sent elsewhere.
+ And the following dispatch, signed by Mr. Crittenden, and published
+ in the Raleigh, N. C., Register, to quiet the excitement raised by
+ the telegrams of the Conspirators, serves also to indicate that the
+ friends of Compromise were not disheartened by their defeat:
+
+ "WASHINGTON, Jan. 17th, 9 P. M.
+
+ "In reply the vote against my resolutions will be reconsidered.
+ Their failure was the result of the refusal of six Southern
+ Senators to vote. There is yet good hope of success.
+
+ "JOHN J. CRITTENDEN."
+
+
+ There is instruction also to be drawn from the speeches of Senators
+ Saulsbury, and Johnson of Tennessee, made fully a year afterward
+ (Jan. 29-31, 1862) in the Senate, touching the defeat of the
+ Crittenden Compromise by the Clark substitute at this time.
+ Speaking of the second session of the Thirty-sixth Congress, Mr.
+ Saulsbury said:
+
+ "At that session, while vainly striving with others for the
+ adoption of those measures, I remarked in my place in the Senate
+ that--
+
+ "'If any Gibbon should hereafter write the Decline and Fall of the
+ American Republic, he would date its fall from the rejection by the
+ Senate of the propositions submitted by the Senator from Kentucky.'
+
+ "I believed so then, and I believe so now. I never shall forget,
+ Mr. President, how my heart bounded for joy when I thought I saw a
+ ray of hope for their adoption in the fact that a Republican
+ Senator now on this floor came to me and requested that I should
+ inquire of Mr. Toombs, who was on the eve of his departure for
+ Georgia to take a seat in the Convention of that State which was to
+ determine the momentous question whether she should continue a
+ member of the Union or withdraw from it, whether, if the Crittenden
+ propositions were adopted, Georgia would remain in the Union.
+
+ "Said Mr. Toombs:
+
+ "'Tell him frankly for me that if those resolutions are adopted by
+ the vote of any respectable number of Republican Senators,
+ evidencing their good faith to advocate their ratification by their
+ people, Georgia will not Secede. This is the position I assumed
+ before the people of Georgia. I told them that if the party in
+ power gave evidence of an intention to preserve our rights in the
+ Union, we were bound to wait until their people could act.'
+
+ "I communicated the answer. The Substitute of the Senator from New
+ Hampshire [Mr. Clark] was subsequently adopted, and from that day
+ to this the darkness and the tempest and the storm have thickened,
+ until thousands like myself, as good and as true Union men as you,
+ Sir, though you may question our motives, have not only despaired
+ but are without hope in the future."
+
+ To this speech, Mr. Johnson of Tennessee subsequently replied as
+ follows in the United States Senate (Jan. 31, 1862)
+
+ "Sir, it has been said by the distinguished Senator from Delaware
+ [Mr. Saulsbury] that the questions of controversy might all have
+ been settled by Compromise. He dealt rather extensively in the
+ Party aspect of the case, and seemingly desired to throw the onus
+ of the present condition of affairs entirely on one side. He told
+ us that, if so and so had been done, these questions could have
+ been settled, and that now there would have been no War. He
+ referred particularly to the resolution offered during the last
+ Congress by the Senator from New Hampshire [Mr. Clark], and upon
+ the vote on that he based his argument. * * * The Senator told us
+ that the adoption of the Clark amendment to the Crittenden
+ Resolutions defeated the settlement of the questions of
+ controversy; and that, but for that vote, all could have been peace
+ and prosperity now. We were told that the Clark amendment defeated
+ the Crittenden Compromise, and prevented a settlement of the
+ controversy. On this point I will read a portion of the speech of
+ my worthy and talented friend from California [Mr. Latham]; and
+ when I speak of him thus, I do it in no unmeaning sense I intend
+ that he, not I, shall answer the Senator from Delaware. * * * As
+ I have said, the Senator from Delaware told us that the Clark
+ amendment was the turning point in the whole matter; that from it
+ had flowed Rebellion, Revolution, War, the shooting and
+ imprisonment of people in different States--perhaps he meant to
+ include my own. This was the Pandora's box that has been opened,
+ out of which all the evils that now afflict the Land have flown. *
+ * * My worthy friend from California [Mr. Latham], during the last
+ session of Congress, made one of the best speeches he ever made. *
+ * * In the course of that speech, upon this very point he made use
+ of these remarks:
+
+ "'Mr. President, being last winter a careful eye-witness of all
+ that occurred, I soon became satisfied that it was a deliberate,
+ wilful design, on the part of some representatives of Southern
+ States, to seize upon the election of Mr. Lincoln merely as an
+ excuse to precipitate this revolution upon the Country. One
+ evidence, to my mind, is the fact that South Carolina never sent
+ her Senators here.'
+
+ "Then they certainly were not influenced by the Clark amendment.
+
+ "'An additional evidence is, that when gentlemen on this floor, by
+ their votes, could have controlled legislation, they refused to
+ cast them for fear that the very Propositions submitted to this
+ body might have an influence in changing the opinions of their
+ constituencies. Why, Sir, when the resolutions submitted by the
+ Senator from New Hampshire [Mr. Clark], were offered as an
+ amendment to the Crittenden Propositions, for the manifest purpose
+ of embarrassing the latter, and the vote taken on the 16th of
+ January, 1861, I ask, what did we see? There were fifty-five
+ Senators at that time upon this floor, in person. The Globe of the
+ second Session, Thirty-Sixth Congress, Part I., page 409, shows
+ that upon the call of the yeas and nays immediately preceding the
+ vote on the substituting of Mr. Clark's amendment, there were
+ fifty-five votes cast. I will read the vote from the Globe:
+
+ "'YEAS--Messrs. Anthony, Baker, Bingham, Cameron, Chandler, Clark,
+ Collamer, Dixon, Doolittle, Durkee, Fessenden, Foot, Foster,
+ Grimes, Hale, Harlan, King, Seward, Simmons, Sumner, Ten Eyck,
+ Trumbull, Wade, Wilkinson, and Wilson--25.
+
+ "NAYS--Messrs. Bayard, Benjamin, Bigler, Bragg, Bright, Clingman,
+ Crittenden, Douglas, Fitch, Green, Gwin, Hemphill, Hunter, Iverson,
+ Johnson of Arkansas, Johnson of Tennessee, Kennedy, Lane, Latham,
+ Mason, Nicholson, Pearce, Polk, Powell, Pugh, Rice, Saulsbury,
+ Sebastian, Slidell and Wigfall--30.
+
+ "The vote being taken immediately after, on the Clark Proposition,
+ was as follows:
+
+ "YEAS--Messrs. Anthony, Baker, Bingham, Cameron, Chandler, Clark,
+ Collamer, Dixon, Doolittle, Durkee, Fessenden, Foot, Foster,
+ Grimes, Hale, Harlan, King, Seward, Simmons, Sumner, Ten Eyck,
+ Trumbull, Wade, Wilkinson and Wilson--25.
+
+ "NAYS-Messrs. Bayard, Bigler, Bragg, Bright, Clingman, Crittenden,
+ Fitch, Green, Gwin, Hunter, Johnson of Tennessee, Kennefly, Lane,
+ Latham, Mason, Nicholson, Pearce, Polk, Powell, Pugh, Rice,
+ Saulsbury and Sebastian-23.
+
+ "'Six senators retained their seats and refused to vote, thus
+ themselves allowing the Clark Proposition to supplant the
+ Crittenden Resolution by a vote of twenty-five to twenty-three.
+ Mr. Benjamin of Louisiana, Mr. Hemphill and Mr. Wigfall of Texas,
+ Mr. Iverson of Georgia, Mr. Johnson of Arkansas, and Mr. Slidell of
+ Louisiana, were in their seats, but refused to cast their votes.'
+
+ "I sat right behind Mr. Benjamin, and I am not sure that my worthy
+ friend was not close by, when he refused to vote, and I said to
+ him, 'Mr. Benjamin, why do you not vote? Why not save this
+ Proposition, and see if we cannot bring the Country to it?' He
+ gave me rather an abrupt answer, and said he would control his own
+ action without consulting me or anybody else. Said I: 'Vote, and
+ show yourself an honest man.' As soon as the vote was taken, he
+ and others telegraphed South, 'We cannot get any Compromise.' Here
+ were six Southern men refusing to vote, when the amendment would
+ have been rejected by four majority if they had voted. Who, then,
+ has brought these evils on the Country? Was it Mr. Clark? He was
+ acting out his own policy; but with the help we had from the other
+ side of the chamber, if all those on this side had been true to the
+ Constitution and faithful to their constituents, and had acted with
+ fidelity to the Country, the amendment of the Senator from New
+ Hampshire could have been voted down, the defeat of which the
+ Senator from Delaware says would have saved the Country. Whose
+ fault was it? Who is responsible for it? * * * Who did it?
+ SOUTHERN TRAITORS, as was said in the speech of the Senator from
+ California. They did it. They wanted no Compromise. They
+ accomplished their object by withholding their votes; and hence the
+ Country has been involved in the present difficulty. Let me read
+ another extract from this speech of the Senator from California
+
+ "'I recollect full well the joy that pervaded the faces of some of
+ those gentlemen at the result, and the sorrow manifested by the
+ venerable Senator from Kentucky [Mr. Crittenden]. The record shows
+ that Mr. Pugh, from Ohio, despairing of any Compromise between the
+ extremes of ultra Republicanism and Disunionists, working
+ manifestly for the same end, moved, immediately after the vote was
+ announced, to lay the whole subject on the table. If you will turn
+ to page 443, same volume, you will find, when, at a late period,
+ Mr. Cameron, from Pennsylvania, moved to reconsider the vote,
+ appeals having been made to sustain those who were struggling to
+ preserve the Peace of the Country, that the vote was reconsidered;
+ and when, at last, the Crittenden Propositions were submitted on
+ the 2d day of March, these Southern States having 'nearly all
+ Seceded, they were then lost but by one vote. Here is the vote:
+
+ "YEAS-Messrs. Bayard, Bigler, Bright, Crittenden, Douglas, Gwin,
+ Hunter, Johnson of Tennessee, Kennedy, Lane, Latham, Mason,
+ Nicholson, Polk, Pugh, Rice, Sebastian, Thomson and Wigfall--19.
+
+ "'NAYS-Messrs. Anthony, Bingham, Chandler, Clark, Dixon,
+ Doolittle, Durkee, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Harlan, King,
+ Morrill, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Wade, Wilkinson and Wilson--20.
+
+ "'If these Seceding Southern senators had remained, there would
+ have passed, by a large vote (as it did without them), an
+ amendment, by a two-third vote, forbidding Congress ever
+ interfering with Slavery in the States. The Crittenden Proposition
+ would have been indorsed by a majority vote, the subject finally
+ going before the People, who have never yet, after consideration,
+ refused Justice, for any length of time, to any portion of the
+ Country.
+
+ "'I believe more, Mr. President, that these gentlemen were acting
+ in pursuance of a settled and fixed plan to break up and destroy
+ this Government.'
+
+ "When we had it in our power to vote down the amendment of the
+ Senator from New Hampshire, and adopt the Crittenden Resolutions,
+ certain Southern Senators prevented it; and yet, even at a late day
+ of the session, after they had Seceded, the Crittenden Proposition
+ was only lost by one vote. If Rebellion and bloodshed and murder
+ have followed, to whose skirts does the responsibility attach?
+
+ "What else was done at the very same session? The House of
+ Representatives passed, and sent to this body, a Proposition to
+ amend the Constitution of the United States, so as to prohibit
+ Congress from ever hereafter interfering with the Institution of
+ Slavery in the States, making that restriction a part of the
+ Organic law of the Land. That Constitutional Amendment came here
+ after the Senators from seven States had Seceded; and yet it was
+ passed by a two-third vote in the Senate. Have you ever heard of
+ any one of the States which had then Seceded, or which has since
+ Seceded, taking up that Amendment to the Constitution, and saying
+ they would ratify it, and make it a part of that instrument? No.
+ Does not the whole history of this Rebellion tell you that it was
+ Revolution that the Leaders wanted, that they started for, that
+ they intended to have? The facts to which I have referred show how
+ the Crittenden Proposition might have been carried; and when the
+ Senators from the Slave States were reduced to one-fourth of the
+ members of this body, the two Houses passed a Proposition to Amend
+ the Constitution, so as to guarantee to the States perfect security
+ in regard to the Institution of Slavery in all future time, and
+ prohibiting Congress from legislating on the subject.
+
+ "But what more was done? After Southern Senators had treacherously
+ abandoned the Constitution and deserted their posts here, Congress
+ passed Bills for the Organization of three new Territories: Dakota,
+ Nevada, and Colorado; and in the sixth section of each of those
+ Bills, after conferring, affirmatively, power on the Territorial
+ Legislature, it went on to exclude certain powers by using a
+ negative form of expression; and it provided, among other things,
+ that the Legislature should have no power to legislate so as to
+ impair the right to private property; that it should lay no tax
+ discriminating against one description of Property in favor of
+ another; leaving the power on all these questions, not in the
+ Territorial Legislature, but in the People when they should come to
+ form a State Constitution.
+
+ "Now, I ask, taking the Amendment to the Constitution, and taking
+ the three Territorial Bills, embracing every square inch of
+ territory in the possession of the United States, how much of the
+ Slavery question was left? What better Compromise could have been
+ made? Still we are told that matters might have been Compromised,
+ and that if we had agreed to Compromise, bloody Rebellion would not
+ now be abroad in the Land. Sir, Southern Senators are responsible
+ for it. They stood here with power to accomplish the result, and
+ yet treacherously, and, I may say, tauntingly they left this
+ chamber, and announced that they had dissolved their connection
+ with the Government. Then, when we were left in the hands of those
+ whom we had been taught to believe would encroach upon our Rights,
+ they gave us, in the Constitutional Amendment and in the three
+ Territorial Bills, all that had ever been asked; and yet gentlemen
+ talked Compromise!
+
+ "Why was not this taken and accepted? No; it was not Compromise
+ that the Leaders wanted; they wanted Power; they wanted to Destroy
+ this Government, so that they might have place and emolument for
+ themselves. They had lost confidence in the intelligence and
+ virtue and integrity of the People, and their capacity to govern
+ themselves; and they intended to separate and form a government,
+ the chief corner-stone of which should be Slavery, disfranchising
+ the great mass of the People, of which we have seen constant
+ evidence, and merging the Powers of Government in the hands of the
+ Few. I know what I say. I know their feelings and their
+ sentiments. I served in the Senate here with them. I know they
+ were a Close Corporation, that had no more confidence in or respect
+ for the People than has the Dey of Algiers. I fought that Close
+ Corporation here. I knew that they were no friends of the People.
+ I knew that Slidell and Mason and Benjamin and Iverson and Toombs
+ were the enemies of Free Government, and I know so now. I
+ commenced the war upon them before a State Seceded; and I intend to
+ keep on fighting this great battle before the Country, for the
+ perpetuity of Free Government. They seek to overthrow it, and to
+ establish a Despotism in its place. That is the great battle which
+ is upon our hands. * * * Now, the Senator from Delaware tells us
+ that if that (Crittenden) Compromise had been made, all these
+ consequences would have been avoided. It is a mere pretense; it is
+ false. Their object was to overturn the Government. If they could
+ not get the Control of this Government, they were willing to divide
+ the Country and govern part of it."]
+
+
+The Clark substitute was then agreed to, by 25 (Republican) yeas to 23
+Democratic and Conservative (Bell-Everett) nays--6 Pro-Slavery Senators
+not voting, although present; and then, without division, the Crittenden
+Resolutions were tabled--Mr. Cameron, however, entering a motion to
+reconsider. Subsequently the action of the Senate, both on the
+Resolutions and Substitute, was reconsidered, and March 2d the matter
+came up again, as will hereafter appear.
+
+Two days prior to this action in the Senate, Mr. Corwin, Chairman of the
+Select Committee of Thirty-three, reported to the House (January 14th),
+from a majority of that Committee, the following Joint Resolution:
+
+"Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
+States of America in Congress assembled, That all attempts on the parts
+of the Legislatures of any of the States to obstruct or hinder the
+recovery and surrender of Fugitives from Service or Labor, are in
+derogation of the Constitution of the United States, inconsistent with
+the comity and good neighborhood that should prevail among the several
+States, and dangerous to the Peace of the Union.
+
+"Resolved, That the several States be respectfully requested to cause
+their Statutes to be revised, with a view to ascertain if any of them
+are in conflict with or tend to embarrass or hinder the execution of the
+Laws of the United States, made in pursuance of the second section of
+the Fourth Article of the Constitution of the United States for the
+delivery up of Persons held to Labor by the laws of any State and
+escaping therefrom; and the Senate and House of Representatives
+earnestly request that all enactments having such tendency be forthwith
+repealed, as required by a just sense of Constitutional obligations, and
+by a due regard for the Peace of the Republic; and the President of the
+United States is requested to communicate these resolutions to the
+Governors of the several States, with a request that they will lay the
+same before the Legislatures thereof respectively.
+
+"Resolved, That we recognize Slavery as now existing in fifteen of the
+United States by the usages and laws of those States; and we recognize
+no authority, legally or otherwise, outside of a State where it so
+exists, to interfere with Slaves or Slavery in such States, in disregard
+of the Rights of their owners or the Peace of society.
+
+"Resolved, That we recognize the justice and propriety of a faithful
+execution of the Constitution, and laws made in pursuance thereof, on
+the subject of Fugitive Slaves, or Fugitives from Service or Labor, and
+discountenance all mobs or hindrances to the execution of such laws, and
+that citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and
+immunities of citizens in the several States.
+
+"Resolved, That we recognize no such conflicting elements in its
+composition, or sufficient cause from any source, for a dissolution of
+this Government; that we were not sent here to destroy, but to sustain
+and harmonize the Institutions of the Country, and to see that equal
+justice is done to all parts of the same; and finally, to perpetuate its
+existence on terms of equality and justice to all the States.
+
+"Resolved, That a faithful observance, on the part of all the States, of
+all their Constitutional obligations to each other and to the Federal
+Government, is essential to the Peace of the Country.
+
+"Resolved, That it is the duty of the Federal Government to enforce the
+Federal Laws, protect the Federal property, and preserve the Union of
+these States.
+
+"Resolved, That each State be requested to revise its Statutes, and, if
+necessary, so to amend the same as to secure, without Legislation by
+Congress, to citizens of other States traveling therein, the same
+protection as citizens of such States enjoy; and also to protect the
+citizens of other States traveling or sojourning therein against popular
+violence or illegal summary punishment, without trial in due form of
+law, for imputed crimes.
+
+"Resolved, That each State be also respectfully requested to enact such
+laws as will prevent and punish any attempt whatever in such State to
+recognize or set on foot the lawless invasion of any other State or
+Territory.
+
+"Resolved, That the President be requested to transmit copies of the
+foregoing resolutions to the Governors of the several States, with a
+request that they be communicated to their respective Legislatures."
+
+
+This Joint Resolution, with amendments proposed to the same, came up in
+the House for action, on the 27th of February, 1861--the same day upon
+which the Peace Congress or Conference concluded its labors at
+Washington.
+
+The Proposition of Mr. Burch, of California, was the first acted upon.
+It was to amend the Select Committee's resolutions, as above given, by
+adding to them another resolution at the end thereof, as follows:
+
+"Resolved, etc., That it be, and is hereby, recommended to the several
+States of the Union that they, through their respective Legislatures,
+request the Congress of the United States to call a Convention of all
+the States, in accordance with Article Fifth of the Constitution, for
+the purpose of amending said Constitution in such manner and with regard
+to such subjects as will more adequately respond to the wants, and
+afford more sufficient Guarantees to the diversified and growing
+Interests of the Government and of the People composing the same."
+
+This (Burch) amendment, however, was defeated by 14 yeas to 109 nays.
+
+A Proposition of Mr. Kellogg, of Illinois, came up next for action. It
+was a motion to strike out all after the first word "That" in the
+Crittenden Proposition--which had been offered by Mr. Clemens as a
+substitute for the Committee Resolutions--and insert the following:
+
+"The following articles be, and are hereby, proposed and submitted as
+Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be
+valid, to all intents and purposes as part of said Constitution, when
+ratified by Conventions of three-fourths of the several States.
+
+"Article XIII. That in all the territory now held by the United States
+situate north of latitude 36 30' Involuntary Servitude, except in the
+punishment for crime, is prohibited while such territory shall remain
+under a Territorial government; that in all the territory now held south
+of said line, neither Congress nor any Territorial Legislature shall
+hinder or prevent the emigration to said territory of Persons; held to
+Service from any State of this Union, when that relation exists by
+virtue of any law or usage of such State, while it shall remain in a
+Territorial condition; and when any Territory north or south of said
+line, within such boundaries as Congress may prescribe, shall contain
+the population requisite for a member of Congress, according to the then
+Federal ratio of representation of the People of the United States, it
+may, if its form of government be Republican, be admitted into the Union
+on an equal footing with the original States, with or without the
+relation of Persons held to Service and Labor, as the Constitution of
+such new State may provide.
+
+"Article XIV. That nothing in the Constitution of the United States, or
+any amendment thereto, shall be so construed as to authorize any
+Department of the Government to in any manner interfere with the
+relation of Persons held to Service in any State where that relation
+exists, nor in any manner to establish or sustain that relation in any
+State where it is prohibited by the Laws or Constitution of such State.
+And that this Article shall not be altered or amended without the
+consent of every State in the Union.
+
+"Article XV. The third paragraph of the second section of the Fourth
+Article of the Constitution shall be taken and construed to authorize
+and empower Congress to pass laws necessary to secure the return of
+Persons held to Service or Labor under the laws of any State, who may
+have escaped therefrom, to the party to whom such Service or Labor may
+be due.
+
+"Article XVI. The migration or importation of Persons held to Service
+or Involuntary Servitude, into any State, Territory, or place within the
+United States, from any place or country beyond the limits of the United
+States or Territories thereof, is forever prohibited.
+
+"Article XVII. No territory beyond the present limits of the United
+States and the Territories thereof, shall be annexed to or be acquired
+by the United States, unless by treaty, which treaty shall be ratified
+by a vote of two-thirds of the Senate."
+
+The Kellogg Proposition was defeated by 33 yeas to 158
+nays.
+
+The Clemens Substitute was next voted on. This embraced the whole of
+the Crittenden Compromise Proposition, as amended in the Senate by
+inserting the provision as to all territory "hereafter acquired," with
+the addition of another proposed Article of Amendment to the
+Constitution, as follows:
+
+"Article VII. Section I. The elective franchise and the Right to hold
+office, whether Federal, State, Territorial, or Municipal, shall not be
+exercised by Persons who are, in whole or in part, of the African Race.
+
+"Section II. The United States shall have power to acquire from time to
+time districts of country in Africa and South America, for the
+colonization, at expense of the Federal Treasury, of such Free Negroes
+and Mulattoes as the several States may wish to have removed from their
+limits, and from the District of Columbia, and such other places as may
+be under the jurisdiction of Congress."
+
+The Clemens Substitute (or Crittenden Measure, with the addition of said
+proposed Article VII.), was defeated by 80 yeas to 113 nays, and then
+the Joint Resolution of the Select Committee as heretofore given--after
+a vain attempt to table it--was passed by 136 yeas to 53 nays.
+
+Immediately after this action, a Joint Resolution to amend the
+Constitution of the United States, which had also been previously
+reported by the Select Committee of Thirty-three, came before the House,
+as follows:
+
+"Be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
+States of America in Congress assembled, (two-thirds of both Houses
+concurring), That the following Article be proposed to the Legislatures
+of the several States as an Amendment to the Constitution of the United
+States, which, when ratified by three-fourths of said Legislatures,
+shall be valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part of the said
+Constitution, namely:
+
+"Article XII. No amendment of this Constitution having for its object
+any interference within the States with the relation between their
+citizens and those described in Section II. of the First Article of the
+Constitution as 'all other persons,' shall originate with any State that
+does not recognize that relation within its own limits, or shall be
+valid without the assent of every one of the States composing the
+Union."
+
+Mr. Corwin submitted an Amendment striking out all the words after
+"namely;" and inserting the following:
+
+"Article XII. No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will
+authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within
+any State, with the Domestic Institutions thereof, including that of
+Persons held to Labor or Service by the laws of said State."
+
+Amid scenes of great disorder, the Corwin Amendment was adopted by 120
+yeas to 61 nays, and then the Joint Resolution as amended, was defeated
+(two-thirds not voting in the affirmative) by 123 yeas to 71 nays. On
+the following day (February 28th), amid still greater confusion and
+disorder, which the Speaker, despite frequent efforts, was unable to
+quell, that vote was reconsidered, and the Joint Resolution passed by
+133 yeas to 65 nays--a result which, when announced was received with
+"loud and prolonged applause, both on the floor, and in the galleries."
+
+On the 2d of March, the House Joint Resolution just given, proposing an
+Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting Congress from touching
+Slavery within any State where it exists, came up in the Senate for
+action.
+
+Mr. Pugh moved to substitute for it the Crittenden Proposition.
+
+Mr. Doolittle moved to amend the proposed substitute (the Crittenden
+Proposition), by the insertion of the following, as an additional
+Article:
+
+"Under this Constitution, as originally adopted, and as it now exists,
+no State has power to withdraw from the jurisdiction of the United
+States; but this Constitution, and all laws passed in pursuance of its
+delegated powers, are the Supreme Law of the Land, anything contained in
+any Constitution, Ordinance, or Act of any State, to the contrary
+notwithstanding."
+
+Mr. Doolittle's amendment was lost by 18 yeas to 28 nays.
+
+Mr. Pugh's substitute (the Crittenden Proposition), was lost by 14 yeas
+to 25 nays.
+
+Mr. Bingham moved to amend the House Joint Resolution, by striking out
+all after the word "resolved," and inserting the words of the Clark
+Proposition as heretofore given, but the amendment was rejected by 13
+yeas to 25 nays.
+
+Mr. Grimes moved to strike out all after the word "whereas" in the
+preamble of the House Joint Resolution, and insert the following:
+
+"The Legislatures of the States of Kentucky, New Jersey, and Illinois
+have applied to Congress to call a Convention for proposing Amendments
+to the Constitution of the United States: Therefore,
+
+"Be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
+States of America in Congress assembled, That the Legislatures of the
+other States be invited to take the subject of such a Convention into
+consideration, and to express their will on that subject to Congress, in
+pursuance of the Fifth Article of the Constitution."
+
+This amendment was also rejected, by 14 yeas to 25 nays.
+
+Mr. Johnson, of Arkansas, offered, as an amendment to the House Joint
+Resolution, the propositions submitted by the Peace Congress or
+Conference, but the amendment was disagreed to by 3 yeas to 34 nays.
+
+The House Joint Resolution was then adopted by 24 yeas to 12 nays.
+
+Subsequently the Crittenden Proposition came up again as a separate
+order, with the Clark substitute to it (once carried, but reconsidered),
+pending. The Clark substitute was then rejected by 14 yeas to 22 nays.
+
+Mr. Crittenden then offered the Propositions of the Peace
+Congress, as a substitute for his own-and they were rejected by 7 yeas
+to 28 nays.
+
+The Crittenden Proposition itself was then rejected, by
+19 yeas to 20 nays.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER IX.
+
+ SLAVERY'S SETTING, AND FREEDOM'S DAWN.
+
+On that long last night of the 36th Congress--and of the Democratic
+Administration--to the proceedings of which reference was made in the
+preceding Chapter, several notable speeches were made, but there was
+substantially nothing done, in the line of Compromise. The only thing
+that had been accomplished was the passage, as we have seen, by
+two-thirds majority in both Houses, of the Joint Resolution proposing a
+Constitutional Amendment prohibiting Congress from meddling with Slavery
+in Slave States. There was no Concession nor Compromise in this,
+because Republicans, as well as Democrats, had always held that Congress
+had no such power. It is true that the Pro-slavery men had charged the
+Republicans with ultimate designs, through Congress, upon Slavery in the
+Slave States; and Mr. Crittenden pleaded for its passage as exhibiting a
+spirit, on their part, of reconciliation; that was all.
+
+In his speech that night--that memorable and anxious night preceding the
+Inauguration of President Lincoln--the venerable Mr. Crittenden,
+speaking before the Resolution was agreed to, well sketched the
+situation when he said in the Senate: "It is an admitted fact that our
+Union, to some extent, has already been dismembered; and that further
+dismemberment is impending and threatened. It is a fact that the
+Country is in danger. This is admitted on all hands. It is our duty,
+if we can, to provide a remedy for this. We are, under the Constitution
+and by the election of the People, the great guardians, as well as the
+administrators of this Government. To our wisdom they have trusted this
+great chart. Remedies have been proposed; resolutions have been
+offered, proposing for adoption measures which it was thought would
+satisfy the Country, and preserve as much of the Union as remained to us
+at least, if they were not enough at once to recall the Seceding States
+to the Union. We have passed none of these measures. The differences
+of opinion among Senators have been such that we have not been able to
+concur in any of the measures which have been proposed, even by bare
+majorities, much less by that two-thirds majority which is necessary to
+carry into effect some of the pacific measures which have been proposed.
+We are about to adjourn. We have done nothing. Even the Senate of the
+United States, beholding this great ruin around them, beholding
+Dismemberment and Revolution going on, and Civil War threatened as the
+result, have been able to do nothing; we have absolutely done nothing.
+Sir, is not this a remarkable spectacle? * * * How does it happen that
+not even a bare majority here, when the Country trusted to our hands is
+going to ruin, have been competent to devise any measure of public
+safety? How does it happen that we have not had unanimity enough to
+agree on any measure of that kind? Can we account for it to ourselves,
+gentlemen? We see the danger; we acknowledge our duty, and yet, with
+all this before us, we are acknowledging before the world that we can do
+nothing; acknowledging before the world, or appearing to all the world,
+as men who do nothing! Sir, this will make a strange record in the
+history of Governments and in the history of the world. Some are for
+Coercion; yet no army has been raised, no navy has been equipped. Some
+are for pacification; yet they have been able to do nothing; the dissent
+of their colleagues prevents them; and here we are in the midst of a
+falling Country, in the midst of a falling State, presenting to the eyes
+of the World the saddest spectacle it has ever seen. Cato is
+represented by Addison as a worthy spectacle, 'a great man falling with
+a falling State,' but he fell struggling. We fall with the ignominy on
+our heads of doing nothing, like the man who stands by and sees his
+house in flames, and says to himself, 'perhaps the fire will stop before
+it consumes all.'"
+
+One of the strong pleas made in the Senate that night, was by Mr.
+Douglas, when he said: "The great issue with the South has been that
+they would not submit to the Wilmot proviso. The Republican Party
+affirmed the doctrine that Congress must and could prohibit Slavery in
+the Territories. The issue for ten years was between Non-intervention
+on the part of Congress, and prohibition by Congress. Up to two years
+ago, neither the Senator (Mason) from Virginia, nor any other Southern
+Senator, desired affirmative legislation to protect Slavery. Even up to
+this day, not one of them has proposed affirmative legislation to
+protect it. Whenever the question has come up, they have decided that
+affirmative legislation to protect it was unnecessary; and hence, all
+that the South required on the Territorial question was 'hands off;
+Slavery shall not be prohibited by Act of Congress.' Now, what do we
+find? This very session, in view of the perils which surround the
+Country, the Republican Party, in both Houses of Congress, by a
+unanimous vote, have backed down from their platform and abandoned the
+doctrine of Congressional prohibition. This very week three Territorial
+Bills have been passed through both Houses of Congress without the
+Wilmot proviso, and no man proposed to enact it; not even one man on the
+other side of the Chamber would rise and propose the Wilmot proviso."
+
+"In organizing three Territories," continued he, "two of them South of
+the very line where they imposed the Wilmot proviso twelve years ago, no
+one on the other side of the Chamber proposed it. They have abandoned
+the doctrine of the President-elect upon that point. He said, and it is
+on record, that he had voted for the Wilmot proviso forty-two times, and
+would do it forty-two times more if he ever had a chance. Not one of
+his followers this year voted for it once. The Senator from New York
+(Mr. Seward) the embodiment of the Party, sat quietly and did not
+propose it. What more? Last year we were told that the Slave Code of
+New Mexico was to be repealed. I denounced the attempted interference.
+The House of Representatives passed the Bill, but the Bill remains on
+your table; no one Republican member has proposed to take it up and pass
+it. Practically, therefore, the Chicago platform is abandoned; the
+Philadelphia platform is abandoned; the whole doctrine for which the
+Republican Party contended, as to the Territories, is abandoned,
+surrendered, given up. Non-intervention is substituted in its place.
+Then, when we find that, on the Territorial question, the Republican
+Party, by a unanimous vote, have surrendered to the South all they ask,
+the Territorial question ought to be considered pretty well settled.
+The only question left was that of the States; and after having
+abandoned their aggressive policy as to the Territories, a portion of
+them are willing to unite with us, and deprive themselves of the power
+to do it in the States."
+
+"I submit," said he, "that these two great facts--these startling,
+tremendous facts--that they have abandoned their aggressive policy in
+the Territories, and are willing to give guarantees in the States, ought
+to be accepted as an evidence of a salutary change in Public Opinion at
+the North. All I would ask now of the Republican Party is, that they
+would insert in the Constitution the same principle that they have
+carried out practically in the Territorial Bills for Colorado, Dakota,
+and Nevada, by depriving Congress of the power hereafter to do what
+there cannot be a man of them found willing to do this year; but we
+cannot ask them to back down too much. I think they have done quite as
+much within one year, within three months after they have elected a
+President, as could be expected."
+
+That Douglas and his followers were also patriotically willing to
+sacrifice a favorite theory in the face of a National peril, was brought
+out, at the same time, by Mr. Baker, when he said to Mr. Douglas: "I
+desire to suggest (and being a little of a Popular Sovereignty man, it
+comes gracefully from me) that others of us have backed down too, from
+the idea that Congress has not the power to prohibit Slavery in the
+Territories; and we are proposing some of us in the Crittenden
+proposition, and some in the Amendment now before the Senate--to
+prohibit Slavery by the Constitution itself, in the Territories;"--and
+by Mr. Douglas, when he replied: "I think as circumstances change, the
+action of public men ought to change in a corresponding degree. * * * I
+am willing to depart from my cherished theory, by an Amendment to the
+Constitution by which we shall settle this question on the principles
+prescribed in the Resolutions of the Senator from Kentucky."
+
+ In the House, Mr. Logan, had, on the 5th of February, 1861, said:
+
+ "Men, Sir, North and South, who love themselves far better than
+ their Country, have brought us to this unhappy condition. * * *
+ Let me say to gentlemen, that I will go as far as any man in the
+ performance of a Constitutional duty to put down Rebellion, to
+ suppress Insurrection, and to enforce the laws; but when we
+ undertake the performance of these duties, let us act in such a
+ manner as will be best calculated to preserve and not destroy the
+ Government, and keep ourselves within the bounds of the
+ Constitution. * * * Sir, I have always denied, and do yet deny,
+ the Right of Secession. There is no warrant for it in the
+ Constitution. It is wrong, it is unlawful, unconstitutional, and
+ should be called by the right name, Revolution. No good, Sir, can
+ result from it, but much mischief may. It is no remedy for any
+ grievance.
+
+ "I hold that all grievances can be much easier redressed inside the
+ Union than out of it. * * * If a collision must ensue between
+ this Government and any of our own people, let it come when every
+ other means of settlement has been tried and exhausted; and not
+ then, except when the Government shall be compelled to repel
+ assaults for the protection of its property, flag, and the honor of
+ the Country. * * *
+
+ "I have been taught to believe that the preservation of this
+ glorious Union, with its broad flag waving over us, as the shield
+ for our protection on land and on sea, is paramount to all the
+ Parties and platforms that ever have existed, or ever can exist. I
+ would, to-day, if I had the power, sink my own Party, and every
+ other one, with all their platforms, into the vortex of ruin,
+ without heaving a sigh or shedding a tear, to save the Union, or
+ even stop the Revolution where it is."
+
+ After enumerating the various propositions for adjustment, then
+ pending in the House, to wit: that of Senator Crittenden; that of
+ Senator Douglas; that of the Committee of Thirty-three; that of the
+ Border States; and those of Representatives McClernand, Kellogg,
+ and Morris, of Illinois, Mr. Logan took occasion to declare that
+ "in a crisis like this" he was "willing to give his support to any
+ of them," but his preference was for that of Mr. Morris.
+
+ Said he: "He (Morris) proposes that neither Congress nor a
+ Territorial Legislature shall interfere with Slavery in the
+ Territories at all; but leaves the people, when they come to form
+ their State Constitution, to determine the question for themselves.
+ I think this is the best proposition, because it is a fair
+ concession on all sides. The Republicans give up their
+ Congressional intervention; those who are styled 'Squatter
+ Sovereigns' give up their Territorial legislative policy; and the
+ Southern (Slave) protectionists give up their protection-
+ intervention policy; thus every Party yields something. With this
+ proposition as an Article in the Constitution, it would satisfy
+ every conservative man in this Union, both North and South, I do
+ seriously and honestly believe.
+
+ "Having indicated my preference of these propositions, and my
+ reasons for that preference, I have said all I desire to say on the
+ point, except to repeat again, that I will willingly vote for any
+ of them, or make any other sacrifice necessary to save the Union.
+ It makes no kind of difference to me what the sacrifice; if it will
+ save my Country, I am ready to make it." * * *
+
+ "There are some in this Hall," said he, "that are almost ready to
+ strike the Party fetters from their limbs, and assist in measures
+ of Peace. Halt not; take the step; be independent and free at
+ once! Let us overcome Party passion and error; allow virtue and
+ good sense in this fateful hour to be triumphant; let us invoke
+ Deity to interpose and prepare the way for our Country's escape
+ from the perils by which we are now surrounded; and in view of our
+ present greatness and future prospects, our magnificent and growing
+ cities, our many institutions of learning, our once happy and
+ prosperous People, our fruitful fields and golden forests, our
+ enjoyment of all civil and religious blessings--let Parties die
+ that these be preserved. Such noble acts of patriotism and
+ concession, on your part, would cause posterity to render them
+ illustrious, and pause to contemplate the magnitude of the events
+ with which they were connected. * * * In the name of the patriotic
+ sires who breasted the storms and vicissitudes of the Revolution;
+ by all the kindred ties of this Country; in the name of the many
+ battles fought for your Freedom; in behalf of the young and the
+ old; in behalf of the Arts and Sciences, Civilization, Peace,
+ Order, Christianity, and Humanity, I appeal to you to strike from
+ your limbs the chains that bind them! Come forth from that
+ loathsome prison, Party Caucus; and in this hour--the most gloomy
+ and disheartening to the lovers of Free Institutions that has ever
+ existed during our Country's history--arouse the drooping spirits
+ of our countrymen, by putting forth your good strong arms to assist
+ in steadying the rocking pillars of the mightiest Republic that has
+ ever had an existence."
+
+ "Mr. Speaker," continued he, "a word or two more, and I am done.
+ Revolution stalks over the Land. States have rebelled against the
+ constituted authorities of the Union, and now stand, sword in hand,
+ prepared to vindicate their new nationality. Others are preparing
+ to take a similar position. Rapidly transpiring events are
+ crowding on us with fearful velocity. Soon, circumstances may
+ force us into an unnatural strife, in which the hand of brother
+ shall be uplifted against brother, and father against son. My God,
+ what a spectacle! If all the evils and calamities that have ever
+ happened since the World began, could be gathered in one great
+ Catastrophe, its horrors could not eclipse, in their frightful
+ proportions, the Drama that impends over us. Whether this black
+ cloud that drapes in mourning the whole political heavens, shall
+ break forth in all the frightful intensity of War, and make
+ Christendom weep at the terrible atrocities that will be enacted
+ --or, whether it will disappear, and the sky resume its wonted
+ serenity, and the whole Earth be irradiated by the genial sunshine
+ of Peace once more--are the alternatives which this Congress, in my
+ judgment, has the power to select between."
+
+In this same broad spirit, Mr. Seward, in his great speech of January
+12th, had said: "Republicanism is subordinate to Union, as everything
+else is and ought to be--Republicanism, Democracy, every other political
+name and thing; all are subordinate-and they ought to disappear in the
+presence of the great question of Union." In another part of it, he had
+even more emphatically said: "I therefore * * * avow my adherence to the
+Union in its integrity and with all its parts, with my friends, with my
+Party, with my State, with my Country, or without either, as they may
+determine, in every event, whether of Peace or War, with every
+consequence of honor or dishonor, of life or death. Although I lament
+the occasion, I hail with cheerfulness the duty of lifting up my voice
+among distracted debates, for my whole Country and its inestimable
+Union." And as showing still more clearly the kindly and conciliatory
+attitude of the great Republican leader, when speaking of those others
+who seemed to be about to invoke revolutionary action to oppose--and
+overthrow the Government--he said: "In such a case I can afford to meet
+prejudice with Conciliation, exaction with Concession which surrenders
+no principle, and violence with the right hand of Peace."
+
+In the House of Representatives, too, the voice of patriotism was often
+heard through the loud clamor and disorder of that most disorderly and
+Treason-uttering session--was heard from the lips of statesmen, who rose
+high above Party, in their devotion to the Union. The calm,
+dispassionate recital by Henry Winter Davis (of Maryland), of the
+successive steps by which the Southern leaders had themselves created
+that very "North" of whose antagonism they complained, was one of the
+best of these, in some respects. He was one of the great Select
+Committee of Thirty-three, and it was (February 5th) after the
+Resolutions, heretofore quoted, had been reported by it, that he
+condensed the history of the situation into a nutshell, as follows:
+
+"We are at the end of the insane revel of partisan license which, for
+thirty years, has, in the United States, worn the mask of Government.
+We are about to close the masquerade by the dance of death. The Nations
+of the World look anxiously to see if the People, ere they tread that
+measure, will come to themselves.
+
+ * * * * * * * * * * * * *
+
+"Southern politicians have created a North. Let us trace the process
+and draw the moral.
+
+"The laws of 1850 calmed and closed the Slavery agitation; and President
+Pierce, elected by the almost unanimous voice of the States, did not
+mention Slavery in his first two Messages. In 1854, the repeal of the
+Missouri Compromise, at the instance of the South, reopened the
+agitation.
+
+"Northern men, deserted by Southern Whigs, were left to unite for
+self-defense.
+
+"The invasion of Kansas, in 1855 and 1856, from Missouri; the making a
+Legislature and laws for that Territory, by the invaders; still further
+united the Northern people. The election of 1856 measured its extent.
+
+"The election of Mr. Buchanan and his opening policy in Kansas, soothed
+the irritation, and was rapidly demoralizing the new Party, when the
+Pro-Slavery Party in Kansas perpetrated, and the President and the South
+accepted, the Lecompton fraud, and again united the North more
+resolutely in resistance to that invasion of the rights of
+self-government.
+
+"The South for the first time failed to dictate terms; and the People
+vindicated by their votes the refusal of the Constitution.
+
+"Ere this result was attained, the opinions of certain Judges of the
+Supreme Court scattered doubts over the law of Slavery in the
+Territories; the South, while repudiating other decisions, instantly
+made these opinions the criterion of faithfulness to the Constitution;
+while the North was agitated by this new sanction of the extremest
+pretensions of their opponents.
+
+"The South did not rest satisfied with their Judicial triumph.
+
+"Immediately the claim was pressed for protection by Congress to
+Slavery, declared by the Supreme Court, they said, to exist in all the
+Territories.
+
+"This completed the union of the Free States in one great defensive
+league; and the result was registered in November. That result is now
+itself become the starting point of new agitation--the demand of new
+rights and new guarantees. The claim to access to the Territories was
+followed by the claim to Congressional protection, and that is now
+followed by the hitherto unheard of claim to a Constitutional Amendment
+establishing Slavery, not merely in territory now held, but in all
+hereafter held from the line of 36 30' to Cape Horn, while the debate
+foreshadows in the distance the claim of the right of transit and the
+placing of property in Slaves in all respects on the footing of other
+property--the topics of future agitation. How long the prohibition of
+the importation of Slaves will be exempted from the doctrine of
+equality, it needs no prophet to tell.
+
+"In the face of this recital, let the imputation of autocratic and
+tyrannical aspirations cease to be cast on the people of the Free
+States; let the Southern people dismiss their fears, return to their
+friendly confidence in their fellow-citizens of the North, and accept,
+as pledges of returning Peace, the salutary amendments of the law and
+the Constitution offered as the first fruits of Reconciliation."
+
+But calmness, kindness, and courtesy were alike thrown away in both
+Houses upon the implacable Southern leaders. As the last day of that
+memorable session, which closed in the failure of all peaceful measures
+to restore the Union, slowly dawned--with but a few hours lacking of the
+time when Mr. Lincoln would be inaugurated President of the United
+States--Mr. Wigfall thought proper, in the United States Senate, to
+sneer at him as "an ex-rail-splitter, an ex-grocery keeper, an
+ex-flatboat captain, and an ex-Abolition lecturer"--and proceeded
+to scold and rant at the North with furious volubility.
+
+"Then, briefly," said he, "a Party has come into power that represents
+the antagonism to my own Section of the Country. It represents two
+million men who hate us, and who, by their votes for such a man as they
+have elected, have committed an overt act of hostility. That they have
+done."
+
+"You have won the Presidency," said he, to the Republicans, "and you are
+now in the situation of the man who had won the elephant at a raffle.
+You do not know what to do with the beast now that you have it; and
+one-half of you to-day would give your right arms if you had been
+defeated. But you succeeded, and you have to deal with facts. Our
+objection to living in this Union, and therefore the difficulty of
+reconstructing it, is not your Personal Liberty bills, not the
+Territorial question, but that you utterly and wholly misapprehend
+the Form of Government."
+
+"You deny," continued he, "the Sovereignty of the States; you deny the
+right of self-government in the People; you insist upon Negro Equality;
+your people interfere impertinently with our Institutions and attempt to
+subvert them; you publish newspapers; you deliver lectures; you print
+pamphlets, and you send them among us, first, to excite our Slaves to
+insurrection against their masters, and next, to array one class of
+citizens against the other; and I say to you, that we cannot live in
+peace, either in the Union or out of it, until you have abolished your
+Abolition societies; not, as I have been misquoted, abolish or destroy
+your school-houses; but until you have ceased in your schoolhouses
+teaching your children to hate us; until you have ceased to convert your
+pulpits into hustings; until you content yourselves with preaching
+Christ, and Him crucified, and not delivering political harangues on the
+Sabbath; until you have ceased inciting your own citizens to make raids
+and commit robberies; until you have done these things we cannot live in
+the same Union with you. Until you do these things, we cannot live out
+of the Union at Peace."
+
+Such were the words--the spiteful, bitter words--with which this chosen
+spokesman of the South saluted the cold and cloudy dawn of that day
+which was to see the sceptre depart from the hands of the Slave Power
+forever.
+
+A few hours later, under the shadow of the main Pastern Portico of the
+Capitol at Washington--with the retiring President and Cabinet, the
+Supreme Court Justices, the Foreign Diplomatic Corps, and hundreds of
+Senators, Representatives and other distinguished persons filling the
+great platform on either side and behind them--Abraham Lincoln stood
+bareheaded before full thirty thousand people, upon whose uplifted faces
+the unveiled glory of the mild Spring sun now shone--stood reverently
+before that far greater and mightier Presence termed by himself, "My
+rightful masters, the American People"--and pleaded in a manly, earnest,
+and affectionate strain with "such as were dissatisfied," to listen to
+the "better angels" of their nature.
+
+Temperate, reasonable, kindly, persuasive--it seems strange that Mr.
+Lincoln's Inaugural Address did not disarm at least the personal
+resentment of the South toward him, and sufficiently strengthen the
+Union-loving people there, against the red-hot Secessionists, to put the
+"brakes" down on Rebellion. Said he:
+
+"Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States,
+that by the accession of a Republican Administration, their Property and
+their Peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never
+been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample
+evidence to the contrary has all the while existed, and been open to
+their inspection. It is found in nearly all the published speeches of
+him who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches,
+when I declare that 'I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to
+interfere with the Institution of Slavery in the States where it
+exists.' I believe I have no lawful right to do so; and I have no
+inclination to do so. Those who nominated and elected me, did so with
+the full knowledge that I had made this, and many similar declarations,
+and had never recanted them. * * *
+
+"I now reiterate these sentiments; and in doing so, I only press upon
+the public attention the most conclusive evidence of which the case is
+susceptible, that the Property, Peace, and Security of no Section are to
+be in any wise endangered by the now incoming Administration. I add,
+too, that all the protection which, consistently with the Constitution
+and the laws, can be given, will be cheerfully given to all the States,
+when lawfully demanded, for whatever cause--as cheerfully to one Section
+as to another.
+
+"I take the official oath to-day with no mental reservations, and with
+no purpose to construe the Constitution or laws by any hypercritical
+rules. * * *
+
+"A disruption of the Federal Union, heretofore only menaced, is now
+formidably attempted. I hold that, in contemplation of Universal Law,
+and of the Constitution, the Union of these States is perpetual.
+Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all
+National Governments. It is safe to assert that no Government proper
+ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination.
+Continue to execute all the express provisions of our National
+Constitution, and the Union will endure forever--it being impossible to
+destroy it, except by some action not provided for in the instrument
+itself.
+
+"Again, if the United States be not a Government proper, but an
+Association of States in the nature of a contract merely, can it, as a
+contract, be peaceably unmade by less than all the parties who made it?
+One party to a contract may violate it--break it, so to speak; but does
+it not require all, to lawfully rescind it?
+
+"Descending from these general principles, we find the proposition that,
+in legal contemplation, the Union is perpetual, confirmed by the history
+of the Union itself. The Union is much older than the Constitution. It
+was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was
+matured and continued in the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It
+was further matured, and the faith of all the then thirteen States
+expressly plighted and engaged that it should be perpetual, by the
+Articles of Confederation, in 1778; and, finally, in 1787, one of the
+declared objects, for ordaining and establishing the Constitution, was
+'to form a more perfect Union.' But, if destruction of the Union by
+one, or by a part only, of the States, be lawfully possible, the Union
+is less perfect than before, the Constitution having lost the vital
+element of perpetuity.
+
+"It follows, from these views, that no State, upon its own mere motion,
+can lawfully get out of the Union; that Resolves and Ordinances to that
+effect, are legally void; and that acts of violence within any State or
+States against the authority of the United States, are insurrectionary
+or revolutionary, according to circumstances.
+
+"I therefore consider that, in view of the Constitution and the laws,
+the Union is unbroken, and, to the extent of my ability, I shall take
+care, as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the
+laws of the Union shall be faithfully executed in all the States. * * *
+
+"I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as the declared
+purpose of the Union, that it will Constitutionally defend and maintain
+itself.
+
+"In doing this, there need be no bloodshed or violence, and there shall
+be none, unless it is forced upon the National Authority.
+
+"The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the
+property and places belonging to the Government, and to collect the
+duties and imposts; but, beyond what may be necessary for these objects,
+there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the People
+anywhere.
+
+"The mails, unless repelled, will continue to be furnished in all parts
+of the Union.
+
+ * * * * * * *
+
+"Is there such perfect identity of interests among the States to compose
+a new Union, as to produce harmony only, and prevent renewed Secession?
+Plainly, the central idea of Secession is the essence of anarchy. A
+majority, held in restraint by Constitutional checks and limitations and
+always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and
+sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a Free People. Whoever
+rejects it, does, of necessity, fly to anarchy, or to despotism.
+Unanimity is impossible; the rule of a minority, as a permanent
+arrangement, is wholly inadmissible; so that, rejecting the majority
+principle, anarchy or despotism in some form is all that is left.
+
+ * * * * * * *
+
+"Physically speaking, we cannot separate. We cannot remove our
+respective Sections from each other, nor build an impassable wall
+between them. A husband and wife may be divorced, and go out of the
+presence and beyond the reach of each other; but the different parts of
+our Country cannot do this. They cannot but remain face to face; and
+intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue between them. Is
+it possible, then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or more
+satisfactory after separation than before? Can aliens make treaties,
+easier than friends can make laws? Can treaties be more faithfully
+enforced between aliens, than laws can among friends? Suppose you go to
+War, you cannot fight always; and when, after much loss on both sides,
+and no gain on either you cease fighting, the identical old questions,
+as to terms of intercourse, are again upon you.
+
+"This Country, with its Institutions, belongs to the People who inhabit
+it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can
+exercise their Constitutional right of amending it, or their
+Revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it. I cannot be ignorant
+of the fact that many worthy and patriotic citizens are desirous of
+having the National Constitution amended. While I make no
+recommendations of Amendments, I fully recognize the rightful authority
+of the People over the whole subject, to be exercised in either of the
+modes prescribed in the instrument itself; and I should, under existing
+circumstances, favor, rather than oppose, a fair opportunity being
+afforded the People to act upon it. * * *
+
+"The Chief Magistrate derives all his authority from the People, and
+they have conferred none upon him to fix terms for the separation of the
+States. The People themselves can do this also, if they choose; but the
+Executive, as such, has nothing to do with it. His duty is to
+administer the present Government, as it came to his hands, and to
+transmit it, unimpaired by him, to his successor.
+
+ * * * * * * *
+
+" * * * While the People retain their virtue and vigilance, no
+Administration, by any extreme of weakness or folly, can very seriously
+injure the Government in the short space of four years.
+
+"My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon this whole
+subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. If there be an
+object to hurry any of you, in hot haste, to a step which you would
+never take deliberately, that object will be frustrated by taking time;
+but no good object can be frustrated by it. Such of you as are now
+dissatisfied, still have the old Constitution unimpaired, and, on the
+sensitive point, the laws of your own framing under it; while the new
+Administration will have no immediate power, if it would, to change
+either. If it were admitted that you who are dissatisfied, hold the
+right side in the dispute, there still is no single good reason for
+precipitate action. Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm
+reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored Land, are still
+competent to adjust, in the best way, all our present difficulty.
+
+"In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is
+the momentous issue of Civil War. The Government will not assault you.
+You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You
+have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the Government, while I
+shall have the most solemn one to 'preserve, protect, and defend it'.
+
+"I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be
+enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds
+of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every
+battle-field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone,
+all over this broad Land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when
+again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our
+nature."
+
+Strange, indeed, must have been the thoughts that crowded through the
+brain and oppressed the heart of Abraham Lincoln that night--his first
+at the White House!
+
+The city of Washington swarmed with Rebels and Rebel sympathizers, and
+all the departments of Government were honey-combed with Treason and
+shadowed with treachery and espionage. Every step proposed or
+contemplated by the Government would be known to the so-called
+Government of the Confederate States almost as soon as thought of. All
+means, to thwart and delay the carrying out of the Government's
+purposes, that the excuses of routine and red-tape admitted of, would be
+used by the Traitors within the camp, to aid the Traitors without.
+
+No one knew all this, better than Mr. Lincoln. With no Army, no Navy,
+not even a Revenue cutter left--with forts and arsenals, ammunition and
+arms in possession of the Rebels, with no money in the National
+Treasury, and the National credit blasted--the position must, even to
+his hopeful nature, have seemed at this time desperate. To be sure,
+despite threats, neither few nor secret, which had been made, that he
+should not live to be inaugurated, he had passed the first critical
+point--had taken the inaugural oath--and was now duly installed in the
+White House. That was something, of course, to be profoundly thankful
+for. But the matter regarded by him of larger moment--the safety of the
+Union--how about that?
+
+How that great, and just, and kindly brain, in the dim shadows of that
+awful first night at the White House, must have searched up and down and
+along the labyrinths of history and "corridors of time," everywhere in
+the Past, for any analogy or excuse for the madness of this Secession
+movement--and searched in vain!
+
+With his grand and abounding faith in God, how Abraham Lincoln must have
+stormed the very gates of Heaven that night with prayer that he might be
+the means of securing Peace and Union to his beloved but distracted
+Country! How his great heart must have been racked with the
+alternations of hope and foreboding--of trustfulness and doubt!
+Anxiously he must have looked for the light of the morrow, that he might
+gather from the Press, the manner in which his Inaugural had been
+received. Not that he feared the North--but the South; how would the
+wayward, wilful, passionate South, receive his proffered olive-branch?
+
+Surely, surely,--thus ran his thoughts--when the brave, and gallant, and
+generous people of that Section came to read his message of Peace and
+Good-will, they must see the suicidal folly of their course! Surely
+their hearts must be touched and the mists of prejudice dissolved, so
+that reason would resume her sway, and Reconciliation follow! A little
+more time for reflection would yet make all things right. The young men
+of the South, fired by the Southern leaders' false appeals, must soon
+return to reason. The prairie fire is terrible while it sweeps along,
+but it soon burns out. When the young men face the emblem of their
+Nation's glory--the flag of the land of their birth--then will come the
+reaction and their false leaders will be hurled from place and power,
+and all will again be right. Yea, when it comes to firing on the old,
+old flag, they will not, cannot, do it! Between the Compromise within
+their reach, and such Sacrilege as this, they cannot waver long.
+
+So, doubtless, all the long night, whether waking or sleeping, the mind
+of this true-hearted son of the West, throbbed with the mighty weight of
+the problem entrusted to him for solution, and the vast responsibilities
+which he had just assumed toward his fellow-men, his Nation, and his
+God.
+
+And when, at last, the long lean frame was thrown upon the couch, and
+"tired Nature's sweet restorer" held him briefly in her arms, the smile
+of hopefulness on the wan cheek told that, despite all the terrible
+difficulties of the situation, the sleeper was sustained by a strong and
+cheerful belief in the Providence of God, the Patriotism of the People,
+and the efficacy of his Inaugural Peace-offering to the South. But alas,
+and alas, for the fallibility of human judgment and human hopes!
+Instead of a message of Peace, the South chose to regard it as a message
+of Menace;* and it was not received in a much better spirit by some of
+the Northern papers, which could see no good in it--"no Union spirit in
+it"--but declared that it breathed the spirit of Sectionalism and
+mischief, and "is the knell and requiem of the Union, and the death of
+hope."
+
+ ["Mr. Lincoln fondly regarded his Inaugural as a resistless
+ proffering of the olive branch to the South; the Conspirators
+ everywhere interpreted it as a challenge to War."--Greeley's Am.
+ Conflict, vol. i., p. 428.]
+
+
+Bitter indeed must have been President Lincoln's disappointment and
+sorrow at the reception of his Inaugural. With the heartiest
+forgiveness, in the noblest spirit of paternal kindness, he had
+generously held out his arms, as far as they could reach, to clasp to
+his heart--to the great heart of the Union--the rash children of the
+South, if they would but let him. It was more with sorrow, than in
+anger, that he looked upon their contemptuous repulsion of his advances;
+and his soul still reproachfully yearned toward these his Southern
+brethren, as did that of a higher than he toward His misguided brethren,
+when He cried: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets,
+and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have
+gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens
+under her wings, and ye would not!"
+
+On the day following his Inauguration, President Lincoln sent to the
+United States Senate the names of those whom he had chosen to constitute
+his Cabinet, as follows: William H. Seward, of New York, Secretary of
+State; Salmon P. Chase, of Ohio, Secretary of the Treasury; Simon
+Cameron, of Pennsylvania, Secretary of War; Gideon Welles, of
+Connecticut, Secretary of the Navy; Caleb B. Smith, of Indiana,
+Secretary of the Interior; Edward Bates, of Missouri, Attorney General;
+and Montgomery Blair, of Maryland, Postmaster General.
+
+On the other hand, the President of the rebellious Confederacy,
+Jefferson Davis, had partly constituted his Cabinet already, as follows:
+Robert Toombs, of Georgia, Secretary of State; Charles G. Memminger, of
+South Carolina, Secretary of the Treasury; Leroy Pope Walker, of
+Alabama, Secretary of War; to whom he afterwards added: Stephen R.
+Mallory, of Florida, Secretary of the Navy; and John H. Reagan, of
+Texas, Postmaster-General.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER X.
+
+ THE WAR-DRUM "ON TO WASHINGTON"
+
+Scarcely one week had elapsed after the Administration of Mr. Lincoln
+began, when (March 11th) certain "Commissioners of the Southern
+Confederacy" (John Forsyth, of Alabama, and Martin J. Crawford, of
+Georgia), appeared at Washington and served a written request upon
+the State Department to appoint an early day when they might present to
+the President of the United States their credentials "from the
+Government of the Confederate States of America" to the Government of
+the United States, and open "the objects of the mission with which they
+are charged."
+
+Secretary Seward, with the President's sanction, declined official
+intercourse with Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford, in a "Memorandum" (March
+15th) reciting their request, etc., in which, after referring to
+President Lincoln's Inaugural Address--forwarded to them with the
+"Memorandum" he says: "A simple reference will be sufficient to satisfy
+those gentlemen that the Secretary of State, guided by the principles
+therein announced, is prevented altogether from admitting or assuming
+that the States referred to by them have, in law or in fact, withdrawn
+from the Federal Union, or that they could do so in the manner described
+by Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford, or in any other manner than with the
+consent and concert of the People of the United States, to be given
+through a National Convention, to be assembled in conformity with the
+provisions of the Constitution of the United States. Of course, the
+Secretary of State cannot act upon the assumption, or in any way admit,
+that the so-called Confederate States constitute a Foreign Power, with
+whom diplomatic relations ought to be established."
+
+On the 9th of April, Messrs. Forsyth, Crawford and Roman--as
+"Commissioners of the Southern Confederacy"--addressed to Secretary
+Seward a reply to the "Memorandum" aforesaid, in which the following
+passage occurs:
+
+"The undersigned, like the Secretary of State, have no purpose to
+'invite or engage in discussion' of the subject on which their two
+Governments are so irreconcilably at variance. It is this variance that
+has broken up the old Union, the disintegration of which has only begun.
+
+"It is proper, however, to advise you that it were well to dismiss the
+hopes you seem to entertain that, by any of the modes indicated, the
+people of the Confederate States will ever be brought to submit to the
+authority of the Government of the United States. You are dealing with
+delusions, too, when you seek to separate our people from our
+Government, and to characterize the deliberate, Sovereign act of that
+people as a 'perversion of a temporary and partisan excitement.' If you
+cherish these dreams, you will be awakened from them, and find them as
+unreal and unsubstantial as others in which you have recently indulged.
+
+"The undersigned would omit the performance of an obvious duty were they
+to fail to make known to the Government of the United States that the
+people of the Confederate States have declared their independence with a
+full knowledge of all the responsibilities of that act, and with as firm
+a determination to maintain it by all the means with which nature has
+endowed them as that which sustained their fathers when they threw off
+the authority of the British Crown.
+
+"The undersigned clearly understand that you have declined to appoint a
+day to enable them to lay the objects of the mission with which they are
+charged, before the President of the United States, because so to do
+would be to recognize the independence and separate nationality of the
+Confederate States. This is the vein of thought that pervades the
+memorandum before us.
+
+"The truth of history requires that it should distinctly appear upon the
+record, that the undersigned did not ask the Government of the United
+States to recognize the independence of the Confederate States. They
+only asked audience to adjust, in a spirit of amity and peace, the new
+relations springing from a manifest and accomplished revolution in the
+Government of the late Federal Union.
+
+"Your refusal to entertain these overtures for a peaceful solution, the
+active naval and military preparation of this Government, and a formal
+notice to the Commanding General of the Confederate forces in the harbor
+of Charleston that the President intends to provision Fort Sumter by
+forcible means, if necessary, are viewed by the undersigned, and can
+only be received by the World, as a Declaration of War against the
+Confederate States; for the President of the United States knows that
+Fort Sumter cannot be provisioned without the effusion of blood.
+
+"The undersigned, in behalf of their Government and people, accept the
+gage of battle thus thrown down to them, and, appealing to God and the
+judgment of mankind for the righteousness of their Cause, the people of
+the Confederate States will defend their liberties to the last, against
+this flagrant and open attempt at their subjugation to Sectional power."
+
+
+Let us now, for a moment, glance at the condition of Fort Sumter, and of
+the Government with regard to it:
+
+On the 5th of March, the day after President Lincoln had taken his oath
+of office, there was placed in his hands a letter of Major Anderson,
+commanding at Fort Sumter, in which that officer, under date of the 28th
+of February, expressed the opinion that "reinforcements could not be
+thrown into that fort within the time for his relief rendered necessary
+by the limited supply of provisions, and with a view of holding
+possession of the same, with a force of less than twenty thousand good
+and well-disciplined men."
+
+ [President Lincoln's first Message, July 4, 1861.]
+
+Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott concurred in that opinion, and as the
+provisions in the Fort would be exhausted before any such force could be
+raised and brought to the ground, evacuation and safe withdrawal of the
+Federal garrison from the Fort became a Military necessity, and was so
+regarded by the Administration.
+
+"It was believed, however"--in the language of Mr. Lincoln himself, in
+his first Message to Congress--"that to so abandon that position, under
+the circumstances, would be utterly ruinous: that the necessity under
+which it was to be done would not be fully understood; that by many it
+would be construed as a part of a voluntary policy; that at home it
+would discourage the friends of the Union, embolden its adversaries, and
+go far to insure to the latter a recognition abroad; that in fact it
+would be our National destruction consummated. This could not be
+allowed. Starvation was not yet upon the garrison; and ere it would be
+reached, Fort Pickens might be reinforced. This last would be a clear
+indication of policy, and would better enable the country to accept the
+evacuation of Fort Sumter as a Military necessity."
+
+Owing to misconception or otherwise, an order to reinforce Fort Pickens
+was not carried out, and an expedition to relieve Fort Sumter was then
+ordered to be dispatched. On the 8th of April President Lincoln, by
+messenger, notified Governor Pickens of South Carolina, "that he might
+expect an attempt would be made to provision the fort; and that if the
+attempt should not be resisted there would be no effort to throw in men,
+arms, or ammunition, without further notice, or in case of an attack
+upon the fort."
+
+A crisis was evidently approaching, and public feeling all over the
+Country was wrought up to the highest degree of tension and stood
+tip-toe with intense expectancy. The test of the doctrine of Secession
+was about to be made there, in the harbor of Charleston, upon which the
+eyes of Patriot and Rebel were alike feverishly bent.
+
+There, in Charleston harbor, grimly erect, stood the octagon-shaped Fort
+Sumter, mid-way of the harbor entrance, the Stars and Stripes proudly
+waving from its lofty central flagstaff, its guns bristling on every
+side through the casemates and embrasures, as if with a knowledge of
+their defensive power.
+
+About equidistant from Fort Sumter on either side of the
+harbor-entrance, were the Rebel works at Fort Moultrie and Battery Bee
+on Sullivan's Island, on the one side, and Cummings Point Battery, on
+Morris Island, on the other-besides a number of other batteries facing
+seaward along the sea-coast line of Morris Island. Further in, on the
+same side of the harbor, and but little further off from Fort Sumter,
+stood Fort Johnson on James Island, while Castle Pinckney and a Floating
+Battery were between the beleagured Fort and the city of Charleston.
+
+Thus, the Federal Fort was threatened with the concentrated fire of
+these well-manned Rebel fortifications on all sides, and in its then
+condition was plainly doomed; for, while the swarming Rebels, unmolested
+by Fort Sumter, had been permitted to surround that Fort with frowning
+batteries, whose guns outnumbered those of the Fort, as ten to one, and
+whose caliber was also superior, its own condition was anything but that
+of readiness for the inevitable coming encounter.
+
+That the officers' quarters, barracks, and other frame-work wooden
+buildings should have been permitted to remain as a standing invitation
+to conflagration from bombardment, can only be accounted for on the
+supposition that the gallant officer in command, himself a Southerner,
+would not believe it possible that the thousands of armed Americans by
+whom he was threatened and encircled, could fire upon the flag of their
+own native Country. He and his garrison of seventy men, were soon to
+learn the bitter truth, amid a tempest of bursting shot and shell, the
+furnace-heat of crackling walls, and suffocating volumes of dense smoke
+produced by an uncontrollable conflagration.
+
+The Rebel leaders at Washington had prevented an attack in January upon
+the forts in the harbor of Charleston, and at Pensacola.--[McPherson's
+History of the Rebellion, p. 112.]--In consequence of which failure to
+proceed to the last extremity at once, the energies of the Rebellion had
+perceptibly diminished.
+
+Said the Mobile Mercury: "The country is sinking into a fatal apathy,
+and the spirit and even the patriotism of the people is oozing out,
+under this do-nothing policy. If something is not done pretty soon,
+decisive, either evacuation or expulsion, the whole country will become
+so disgusted with the sham of Southern independence that the first
+chance the people get at a popular election they will turn the whole
+movement topsy-turvy so bad that it never on Earth can be righted
+again."
+
+After the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, however, the Rebel authorities at
+Montgomery lost no time, but strained every nerve to precipitate War.
+They felt that there was danger to the cause of Secession in delay; that
+there were wavering States outside the Confederacy, like Virginia, that
+might be dragged into the Confederacy by prompt and bloody work; and
+wavering States within, like Alabama, that must be kept in by similar
+means. Their emissaries were busy everywhere in the South, early in
+April, preaching an instant crusade against the old flag--inciting the
+people to demand instant hostilities against Fort Sumter--and to cross a
+Rubicon of blood, over which there could be no return.
+
+Many of the Rebel leaders seemed to be haunted by the fear (no doubt
+well founded) that unless blood was shed--unless an impassable barrier,
+crimsoned with human gore, was raised between the new Confederacy and
+the old Union--there would surely be an ever-present danger of that
+Confederacy falling to pieces. Hence they were now active in working
+the people up to the required point of frenzy.
+
+As a specimen of their speeches, may be quoted that of Roger A. Pryor,
+of Virginia, who, at Charleston, April 10, 1861, replying to a serenade,
+said:--[Charleston Mercury's report.]
+
+'Gentlemen, I thank you, especially that you have at last annihilated
+this accursed Union [Applause] reeking with corruption, and insolent
+with excess of tyranny. Thank God, it is at last blasted and riven by
+the lightning wrath of an outraged and indignant people. [Loud
+applause.] Not only is it gone, but gone forever. [Cries of, 'You're
+right,' and applause.] In the expressive language of Scripture, it is
+water spilt upon the ground, which cannot be gathered up. [Applause.]
+Like Lucifer, son of the morning, it has fallen, never to rise again.
+[Continued applause.]
+
+"For my part, gentlemen," he continued, as soon as he could be heard,
+"if Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin to-morrow were to abdicate their
+offices and were to give me a blank sheet of paper to write the
+condition of re-annexation to the defunct Union, I would scornfully
+spurn the overture. * * * I invoke you, and I make it in some sort a
+personal appeal--personal so far as it tends to our assistance in
+Virginia--I do invoke you, in your demonstrations of popular opinion, in
+your exhibitions of official intent, to give no countenance to this idea
+of reconstruction. [Many voices, emphatically, 'never,' and applause.]
+
+"In Virginia," resumed he, "they all say, if reduced to the dread
+dilemma of this memorable alternative, they will espouse the cause of
+the South as against the interest of the Northern Confederacy, but they
+whisper of reconstruction, and they say Virginia must abide in the
+Union, with the idea of reconstructing the Union which you have
+annihilated. I pray you, gentlemen, rob them of that idea. Proclaim to
+the World that upon no condition, and under no circumstances, will South
+Carolina ever again enter into political association with the
+Abolitionists of New England. [Cries of 'never,' and applause.]
+
+"Do not distrust Virginia," he continued; "as sure as tomorrow's sun
+will rise upon us, just so sure will Virginia be a member of this
+Southern Confederation. [Applause.] And I will tell you, gentlemen,
+what will put her in the Southern Confederacy in less than an hour by
+Shrewsbury clock--STRIKE A BLOW! [Tremendous applause.] The very
+moment that blood is shed, old Virginia will make common cause with her
+sisters of the South. [Applause.] It is impossible she should do
+otherwise."
+
+The question of the necessity of "Striking a Blow"--of the immediate
+"shedding of blood"--was not only discussed before the Southern people
+for the purpose of inflaming their rebellious zeal, but was also the
+subject of excited agitation in the Confederate Cabinet at this time.
+
+In a speech made by ex-United States Senator Clemens of Alabama, at
+Huntsville, Alabama, at the close of the Rebellion, he told the
+Alabamians how their State, which, as we have seen, was becoming
+decidedly shaky in its allegiance to the "Sham of Southern
+Independence," was kept in the Confederacy.
+
+Said he: "In 1861, shortly after the Confederate Government was put in
+operation, I was in the city of Montgomery. One day (April 11, 1861) I
+stepped into the office of the Secretary of War, General Walker, and
+found there, engaged in a very excited discussion, Mr. Jefferson Davis
+(the President), Mr. Memminger (Secretary of the Treasury), Mr. Benjamin
+(Attorney-General), Mr. Gilchrist, a member of our Legislature from
+Loundes county, and a number of other prominent gentlemen. They were
+discussing the propriety of immediately opening fire on Fort Sumter, to
+which General Walker, the Secretary of War, appeared to be opposed. Mr.
+Gilchrist said to him, 'Sir, unless you sprinkle blood in the face of
+the people of Alabama, they will be back in the old Union in less than
+ten days!' THE NEXT DAY GENERAL BEAUREGARD OPENED HIS BATTERIES ON
+SUMTER, AND ALABAMA WAS SAVED TO THE CONFEDERACY."
+
+On the 8th of April, G. T. Beauregard, "Brigadier General Commanding"
+the "Provisional Army C. S. A." at Charleston, S. C., notified the
+Confederate Secretary of War (Walker) at Montgomery, Ala., that "An
+authorized messenger from President Lincoln has just informed Gov.
+Pickens and myself that provisions will be sent to Fort Sumter
+peaceably, or otherwise by force."
+
+On the 10th, Confederate Secretary Walker telegraphed to Beauregard: "If
+you have no doubt of the authorized character of the agent who
+communicated to, you the intention of the Washington Government to
+supply Fort Sumter by force, you will at once demand its evacuation,
+and, if this is refused, proceed, in such manner as you may determine,
+to reduce it." To this Beauregard at once replied: "The demand will be
+made to-morrow at 12 o'clock." Thereupon the Confederate Secretary
+telegraphed again: "Unless there are special reasons connected with your
+own condition, it is considered proper that you should make the demand
+at an earlier hour." And Beauregard answered: "The reasons are special
+for 12 o'clock."
+
+On the 11th General Beauregard notified Secretary Walker: "The demand
+was sent at 2 P. M., and until 6 was allowed for the answer." The
+Secretary desiring to have the reply of Major Anderson, General
+Beauregard telegraphed: "Major Anderson replies: 'I have the honor to
+acknowledge the receipt of your communication demanding the evacuation
+of this Fort, and to say in reply thereto that it is a demand with which
+I regret that my sense of honor and of my obligation to my Government
+prevent my compliance.' He adds, verbally, 'I will await the first
+shot, and, if you do not batter us to pieces, we will be starved out in
+a few days.'"
+
+To this, the Confederate Secretary at once responded with: "Do not
+desire needlessly to bombard Fort Sumter. If Major Anderson will state
+the time at which, as indicated by himself, he will evacuate, and agree
+that, in the mean time, he will not use his guns against us unless ours
+should be employed against Fort Sumter, you are authorized thus to avoid
+the effusion of blood. If this or its equivalent be refused, reduce the
+Fort, as your judgment decides to be the most practicable."
+
+At 11 o'clock that night (April 11) General Beauregard sent to Major
+Anderson, by the hands of his aides-de-camp, Messrs. Chesnut and Lee, a
+further communication, in which, after alluding to the Major's verbal
+observation, the General said: "If you will state the time at which you
+will evacuate Fort Sumter, and agree that in the mean time you will not
+use your guns against us unless ours shall be employed against Fort
+Sumter, we shall abstain from opening fire upon you. Col. Chesnut and
+Capt. Lee are authorized by me to enter into such an agreement with you.
+You are therefore requested to communicate to them an open answer."
+
+To this, Major Robert Anderson, at 2.30 A.M. of the 12th, replied "that,
+cordially uniting with you in the desire to avoid the useless effusion
+of blood, I will, if provided with the necessary means of
+transportation, evacuate Fort Sumter by noon on the 15th inst., should I
+not receive prior to that time, controlling instructions from my
+Government, or additional supplies, and that I will not in the mean time
+open my fire upon your forces unless compelled to do so by some hostile
+act against this Fort or the flag of my Government, by the forces under
+your command, or by some portion of them, or by the perpetration of some
+act showing a hostile intention on your part against this Fort or the
+flag it bears." Thereupon General Beauregard telegraphed Secretary
+Walker: "He would not consent. I write to-day."
+
+At 3.20 A.M., Major Anderson received from Messrs. Chesnut and Lee a
+notification to this effect: "By authority of Brigadier General
+Beauregard, commanding the Provisional Forces of the Confederate States,
+we have the honor to notify you that he will open the fire of his
+batteries on Fort Sumter in one hour from this time." And a later
+dispatch from General Beauregard to Secretary Walker, April 12,
+laconically stated: "WE OPENED FIRE AT 4.30."
+
+At last the hour and the minute had come, for which the Slave Power of
+the South had for thirty years so impatiently longed. At last the
+moment had come, when all the long-treasured vengeance of the South
+--outgrown from questions of Tariff, of Slavery, and of Secession--was to
+be poured out in blood and battle; when the panoplied powers and forces
+of rebellious confederated States, standing face to face with the
+resolute patriotism of an outraged Union, would belch forth flame and
+fury and hurtling missiles upon the Federal Fort and the old flag
+floating o'er it.
+
+And whose the sacrilegious hand that dared be first raised against his
+Country and his Country's flag? Stevens's mortar battery at Sullivan's
+Island is ready to open, when a lean, long-haired old man, with eyes
+blazing in their deep fanatical sockets, totters hastily forward and
+ravenously seizing in his bony hands a lanyard, pulls the string, and,
+with a flash and roar, away speeds the shrieking shell on its mission of
+destruction; and, while shell after shell, and shot after shot, from
+battery after battery, screams a savage accompaniment to the boom and
+flash and bellow of the guns, that lean old man works his clutched
+fingers in an ecstasy of fiendish pleasure, and chuckles: "Aye, I told
+them at Columbia that night, that the defense of the South is only to be
+secured through the lead of South Carolina; and, old as I am, I had come
+here to join them in that lead--and I have done it."
+
+ [Edmund Ruffin, see p. 100. This theory of the necessity of South
+ Carolina leading, had long been held, as in the following, first
+ published in the New York Tribune, July 3, 1862, which, among other
+ letters, was found in the house of William H. Trescot, on
+ Barnwell's Island, South Carolina, when re-occupied by United
+ States troops:
+
+ "VIRGINIA CONVENTION, May 3, 1851
+
+ "My DEAR, SIR:--You misunderstood my last letter, if you supposed
+ that I intended to visit South Carolina this Spring. I am
+ exceedingly obliged to you for your kind invitations, and it would
+ afford me the highest pleasure to interchange in person, sentiments
+ with a friend whose manner of thinking so closely agrees with my
+ own. But my engagements here closely confine me to this city, and
+ deny me such a gratification.
+
+ "I would be especially glad to be in Charleston next week, and
+ witness the proceedings of your Convention of Delegates from the
+ Southern Rights Associations. The condition of things in your
+ State deeply interests me. Her wise foresight and manly
+ independence have placed her, as the head of the South, to whom
+ alone true-hearted men can look with any hope or pleasure.
+
+ "Momentous are the consequences which depend upon your action.
+ Which party will prevail? The immediate Secessionists, or those
+ who are opposed to separate State action at this time? For my part
+ I forbear to form a wish. Were I a Carolinian, it would be very
+ different; but when I consider the serious effects the decision may
+ have on your future weal or woe, I feel that a citizen of a State
+ which has acted as Virginia, has no right to interfere, even by a
+ wish.
+
+ "If the General Government allows you peaceably and freely to
+ Secede, neither Virginia, nor any other Southern State, would, in
+ my opinion, follow you at present. But what would be the effect
+ upon South Carolina? Some of our best friends have supposed that
+ it would cut off Charleston from the great Western trade, which she
+ is now striking for, and would retard very greatly the progress of
+ your State. I confess that I think differently. I believe
+ thoroughly in our own theories, and that, even if Charleston did
+ not grow quite as fast in her trade with other States, yet the
+ relief from Federal taxation would vastly stimulate your
+ prosperity. If so, the prestige of the Union would be destroyed,
+ and you would be the nucleus for a Southern Confederation at no
+ distant day.
+
+ "But I do not doubt, from all I have been able toe to learn that the
+ Federal Government would use force, beginning with the form most
+ embarrassing to you, and least calculated to excite sympathy. I
+ mean a naval blockade. In that event, could you stand the reaction
+ feeling which the suffering commerce of Charleston would probably
+ manifest? Would you not lose that in which your strength consists,
+ the union of your people? I do not mean to imply an opinion, I
+ only ask the question.
+
+ "If you could force this blockade, and bring the Government to
+ direct force, the feeling in Virginia would be very great. I trust
+ in God it would bring her to your aid. But it would be wrong in me
+ to deceive you by speaking certainly. I cannot express the deep
+ mortification I have felt at her course this Winter. But I do not
+ believe that the course of the Legislature is a fair expression of
+ popular feeling. In the East, at least, the great majority
+ believes in the right of Secession, and feels the deepest sympathy
+ with Carolina in her opposition to measures which they regard as
+ she does. But the West--Western Virginia--there is the rub! Only
+ 60,000 slaves to 494,000 whites! When I consider this fact, and
+ the kind of argument which has been heard in this body, I cannot
+ but regard with the greatest fear the question whether Virginia
+ would assist Carolina in such an issue.
+
+ "I must acknowledge, my dear sir, that I look to the future with
+ almost as much apprehension as hope. You well object to the term
+ Democrat. Democracy, in its original philosophical sense, is
+ indeed incompatible with Slavery and the whole system of Southern
+ society. Yet, if you look back, what change will you find made in
+ any of your State Constitutions, or in our legislation--that is, in
+ its general course--for the last fifty years, which was not in the
+ direction of this Democracy? Do not its principles and theories
+ become daily more fixed in our practice? (I had almost said in the
+ opinions of our people, did I not remember with pleasure the great
+ improvement of opinion in regard to the abstract question of
+ Slavery). And if such is the case, what are we to hope in the
+ future? I do not hesitate to say that if the question is raised
+ between Carolina and the Federal Government, and the latter
+ prevails, the last hope of republican government, and, I fear, of
+ Southern civilization, is gone. Russia will then be a better
+ government than ours.
+
+ "I fear that the confusion and interruptions amid which I write
+ have made this rather a rambling letter. Do you visit the North in
+ the Summer? I would be very happy to welcome you to the Old
+ Dominion.
+
+ "I am much obliged to you for the offer to send me Hammond's Eulogy
+ on Calhoun, but I am indebted to the author for a copy.
+
+ "With esteem and friendship, yours truly,
+
+ "M. R. H. GARNETT.
+
+ "WM. H. TRESCOT, ESQ."]
+
+
+Next morning's New York herald, in its Charleston dispatch of April 12,
+announced to the World that "The first shot [fired at Fort Sumter] from
+Stevens's battery was fired by the venerable Edmund Ruffin, of
+Virginia," and added, "That ball will do more for the cause of
+Secession, in Virginia, than volumes of stump speeches."
+
+"Soon," says Greeley in his History, "the thunder of fifty heavy
+breaching cannon, in one grand volley, followed by the crashing and
+crumbling of brick, stone, and mortar around and above them, apprized
+the little garrison that their stay must necessarily be short."
+
+Says an eye-witness of the bombardment: "Shells burst with the greatest
+rapidity in every portion of the work, hurling the loose brick and stone
+in all directions, breaking the windows and setting fire to whatever
+woodwork they burst against. * * * The firing from the batteries on
+Cumming's Point was scattered over the whole of the gorge or rear of the
+Fort, till it looked like a sieve. The explosion of shells, and the
+quantity of deadly missiles that were hurled in every direction and at
+every instant of time, made it almost certain death to go out of the
+lower tier of casemates, and also made the working of the barbette or
+upper (uncovered) guns, which contained all our heaviest metal, and by
+which alone we could throw shells, quite impossible.
+
+"During the first day there was hardly an instant of time that there was
+a cessation of the whizzing of balls, which were sometimes coming half a
+dozen at once. There was not a portion of the work which was not taken
+in reverse from mortars. * * * During Friday, the officers' barracks
+were three times set on fire by the shells and three times put out under
+the most galling and destructive cannonade.
+
+"For the fourth time, the barracks were set on fire early on Saturday
+morning, and attempts were made to extinguish the flames; but it was
+soon discovered that red-hot shot were being thrown into the Fort with
+fearful rapidity, and it became evident that it would be impossible to
+put out the conflagration. The whole garrison was then set to work, or
+as many as could be spared, to remove the powder from the magazines,
+which was desperate work, rolling barrels of powder through the fire. *
+* * After the barracks were well on fire, the batteries directed upon
+Fort Sumter increased their cannonading to a rapidity greater than had
+been attained before."
+
+"About this time, the shells and ammunition in the upper
+service-magazines exploded, scattering the tower and upper portions of
+the building in every direction. The crash of the beams, the roar of
+the flames, and the shower of fragments of the Fort, with the blackness
+of the smoke, made the scene indescribably terrific and grand. This
+continued for several hours. * * * "
+
+"There was not a portion of the Fort where a breath of air could be got
+for hours, except through a wet cloth. The fire spread to the men's
+quarters on the right hand and on the left, and endangered the powder
+which had been taken out of the magazines. The men went through the
+fire, and covered the barrels with wet cloths, but the danger of the
+Fort's blowing up became so imminent that they were obliged to heave the
+barrels out of the embrasures."
+
+Major Anderson's official report tells the whole story briefly and well,
+in these words:
+
+ "STEAMSHIP BALTIC, OFF SANDY HOOK
+
+ "April 18, 1861, 10.30 A.M., VIA NEW YORK.
+
+"Having defended Fort Sumter for thirty-four hours, until the quarters
+were entirely burnt, the main gates destroyed by fire, the gorge walls
+seriously injured, the magazine surrounded by flames, and its door
+closed from the effects of heat; four barrels and three cartridges of
+powder only being available, and no provisions remaining but pork, I
+accepted terms of evacuation offered by General Beauregard--being the
+same offered by him on the 11th inst., prior to the commencement of
+hostilities--and marched out of the Fort on Sunday afternoon, the 14th
+instant, with colors flying and drums beating, bringing away company and
+private property, and saluting my flag with fifty guns.
+
+ "ROBERT ANDERSON,
+ "Major 1st Artillery, Commanding.
+
+"HON. SIMON CAMERON,
+"Secretary of War, Washington."
+
+
+During all this thirty-four hours of bombardment, the South rejoiced
+with exceeding great joy that the time had come for the vindication of
+its peculiar ideas of State and other rights, even though it be with
+flames and the sword. At Charleston, the people were crazy with
+exultation and wine-feasting and drinking being the order of the day and
+night. But for the surrender, Fort Sumter would have been stormed that
+Sunday night. As it was, Sunday was turned into a day of general
+jubilation, and while the people cheered and filled the streets, all the
+Churches of Charleston celebrated, with more or less devotional fervor
+and ceremony, the bloodless victory.
+
+At Montgomery, the Chiefs of the Confederate Government were serenaded.
+"Salvos of artillery were fired, and the whole population seemed to be
+in an ecstasy of triumph."--[McPherson's History of the Rebellion, p.
+114]
+
+The Confederate Secretary of War, flushed with the success, predicted
+that the Confederate flag "will, before the first of May, float over the
+dome of the old Capitol at Washington" and "will eventually float over
+Faneuil Hall, in Boston."
+
+From Maryland to Mexico, the protests of Union men of the South were
+unheard in the fierce clamor of "On to Washington!"
+
+The Richmond Examiner said: "There never was half the unanimity among
+the people before, nor a tithe of the zeal upon any subject, that is now
+manifested to take Washington. From the mountain tops and valleys to
+the shores of the sea, there is one wild shout of fierce resolve to
+capture Washington City at all and every human hazard."
+
+So also, the Mobile Advertiser enthusiastically exclaimed:
+
+"We are prepared to fight, and the enemy is not. Now is the time for
+action, while he is yet unprepared. Let the fife sound 'Gray Jackets
+over the Border,' and let a hundred thousand men, with such arms as they
+can snatch, get over the border as quickly as they can. Let a division
+enter every Northern border State, destroy railroad connection to
+prevent concentration of the enemy, and the desperate strait of these
+States, the body of Lincoln's country, will compel him to a peace--or
+compel his successor, should Virginia not suffer him to escape from his
+doomed capital."
+
+It was on Friday morning, the 12th of April, as we have seen, that the
+first Rebel shot was fired at Fort Sumter. It was on Saturday afternoon
+and evening that the terms of surrender were agreed to, and on Sunday
+afternoon that the Federal flag was saluted and hauled down, and the
+surrender completed. On Monday morning, being the 15th of April, in all
+the great Northern Journals of the day appeared the following:
+
+"PROCLAMATION.
+
+"WHEREAS, the laws of the United States have been for some time past,
+and now are, opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed, in the
+States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi,
+Louisiana, and Texas, by Combinations too powerful to be suppressed by
+the ordinary course of Judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in
+the Marshals by law; now, therefore I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the
+United States, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution
+and the laws, have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth,
+the Militia of the several States of the Union to the aggregate number
+of 75,000, in order to suppress said Combinations, and to cause the laws
+to be duly executed.
+
+"The details for this object will be immediately communicated to the
+State authorities through the War Department. I appeal to all loyal
+citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the
+honor, the integrity, and existence of our National Union, and the
+perpetuity of popular government, and to redress wrongs already long
+enough endured. I deem it proper to say that the first service assigned
+to the forces hereby called forth, will probably be to repossess the
+forts, places, and property which have been seized from the Union; and
+in every event the utmost care will be observed, consistently with the
+objects aforesaid, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of, or
+interference with, property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens of
+any part of the Country; and I hereby command the persons composing the
+Combinations aforesaid, to disperse and retire peaceably to their
+respective abodes, within twenty days from this date.
+
+"Deeming that the present condition of public affairs presents an
+extraordinary occasion, I do hereby, in virtue of the power in me vested
+by the Constitution, convene both Houses of Congress. The Senators and
+Representatives are, therefore, summoned to assemble at their respective
+chambers at twelve o'clock, noon, on Thursday, the 4th day of July next,
+then and there to consider and determine such measures as, in their
+wisdom, the public safety and interest may seem to demand.
+
+"In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of
+the United States to be affixed.
+
+"Done at the city of Washington, this fifteenth day of April, in the
+year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and of the
+independence of the United States the eighty-fifth.
+
+"By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
+
+"WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State."
+
+
+While in the North the official responses to this Call for troops were
+prompt and patriotic, in the Border and Slave States, not yet in
+Rebellion, they were anything but encouraging.
+
+The reply of Governor Burton, of Delaware, was by the issue of a
+proclamation "recommending the formation of volunteer companies for the
+protection of the lives and property of the people of Delaware against
+violence of any sort to which they may be exposed; the companies not
+being subject to be ordered by the Executive into the United States
+service--the law not vesting him with such authority--but having the
+option of offering their services to the General Government for the
+defense of its capital and the support of the Constitution and laws of
+the Country."
+
+Governor Hicks, of Maryland, in like manner, issued a proclamation for
+Maryland's quota of the troops, but stated that her four regiments would
+be detailed to serve within the limits of Maryland--or, for the defense
+of the National Capital.
+
+Governor Letcher, of Virginia, replied: "The militia of Virginia will
+not be furnished to the powers at Washington for any such use or purpose
+as they have in view. Your object is to subjugate the Southern States,
+and a requisition made upon me for such an object--an object, in my
+judgment, not within the purview of the Constitution or the Act of 1795
+--will not be complied with. You have chosen to inaugurate Civil War,
+and having done so, we will meet it in a spirit as determined as the
+Administration has exhibited toward the South."
+
+Governor Ellis, of North Carolina, replied to Secretary Cameron: "Your
+dispatch is received, and, if genuine--which its extraordinary character
+leads me to doubt--I have to say in reply that I regard the levy of
+troops made by the Administration, for the purpose of subjugating the
+States of the South, as in violation of the Constitution and a
+usurpation of power. I can be no party to this wicked violation of the
+laws of the country, and to this War upon the liberties of a free
+people. You can get no troops from North Carolina. I will reply more
+in detail when your Call is received by mail."
+
+Governor Magoffin, of Kentucky, replied: "Your dispatch is received. In
+answer I say emphatically, Kentucky will furnish no troops for the
+wicked purpose of subduing her sister Southern States."
+
+Governor Harris, of Tennessee, replied: "Tennessee will not furnish a
+single man for Coercion, but fifty thousand, if necessary, for the
+Defense of our rights or those of our Southern brethren."
+
+Governor Jackson, of Missouri, replied: "Your requisition is illegal,
+unconstitutional, revolutionary, inhuman, diabolical and cannot be
+complied with."
+
+Governor Rector, of Arkansas, replied: "None will be furnished. The
+demand is only adding insult to injury."
+
+Discouraging and even insulting as were most of these replies, the
+responses of the Governors of the Free States were, on the other hand,
+full of the ring of true martial Patriotism evoked by the fall of Sumter
+and the President's first call for troops. Twenty millions of Northern
+hearts were stirred by that Call, as they had never before been stirred.
+Party and faction became for the moment, a thing of the past.
+
+The Governors of the Free States made instant proclamation for
+volunteers, and the People responded not by thousands but by hundreds of
+thousands. New York, the Empire State, by her Governor and her
+Legislature placed all her tremendous resources at the service of the
+Union; and the great State of Pennsylvania, through Governor Curtin, did
+the same. Nor were the other States at all behind.
+
+The Loyal North felt that Law, Order, Liberty, the existence of the
+Nation itself was in peril, and must be both saved and vindicated. Over
+half a million of men--from the prairies of the West and the hills and
+cities of the East--from farms and counting houses, from factories and
+mines and workshops--sprang to arms at the Call, and begged to be
+enrolled. The merchants and capitalists throughout the North proffered
+to the Government their wealth and influence and best services. The
+press and the people responded as only the press and people of a Free
+land can respond--with all their heart and soul. "Fort Sumter," said
+one of the journals, "is lost, but Freedom is saved. Henceforth, the
+Loyal States are a unit in uncompromising hostility to Treason, wherever
+plotted, however justified. Fort Sumter is temporarily lost, but the
+Country is saved. Live the Republic!"
+
+This, in a nutshell, was the feeling everywhere expressed, whether by
+the great crowds that marched through the streets of Northern cities
+with drums beating and banners flying--cheering wildly for the Union,
+singing Union songs, and compelling those of doubtful loyalty to throw
+out to the breeze from their homes the glorified Stars and Stripes--by
+the great majority of newspapers--by the pulpit, by the rostrum, by the
+bench, by all of whatever profession or calling in Northern life. For
+the moment, the voice of the Rebel-sympathizer was hushed in the land,
+or so tremendously overborne that it seemed as if there was an absolute
+unanimity of love for the Union.
+
+Of course, in Border-States, bound to the South by ties of lineage and
+intermarriage and politics and business association, the feeling could
+not be the same as elsewhere. There, they were, so to speak, drawn both
+ways at once, by the beckoning hands of kindred on the one side, and
+Country on the other! Thus they long waited and hesitated, praying that
+something might yet happen to save the Union of their fathers, and
+prevent the shedding of brothers' blood, by brothers-hoping against
+hope-waited, in the belief that a position of armed neutrality might be
+permitted to them; and grieved, when they found this could not be.
+
+Each side to the great Conflict-at-arms naturally enough believed itself
+right, and that the other side was the first aggressor; but the judgment
+of Mankind has placed the blame where it properly belonged--on the
+shoulders of the Rebels. The calm, clear statement of President
+Lincoln, in his July Message to Congress, touching the assault and its
+preceding history--together with his conclusions--states the whole
+matter in such authentic and convincing manner that it may be said to
+have settled the point beyond further controversy. After stating that
+it "was resolved to notify the Governor of South Carolina that he might
+expect an attempt would be made to provision the Fort; and that if the
+attempt should not be resisted there would be no effort to throw in men,
+arms, or ammunition, without further notice, or in case of an attack on
+the Fort," Mr. Lincoln continues: "This notice was accordingly given;
+whereupon the Fort was attacked and bombarded to its fall, without even
+awaiting the arrival of the provisioning expedition."
+
+The President then proceeds: "It is thus seen that the assault upon and
+reduction of Fort Sumter was, in no sense, a matter of self-defense on
+the part of the assailants. They well knew that the garrison in the
+Fort could, by no possibility, commit aggression upon them. They knew
+--they were expressly notified--that the giving of bread to the few brave
+and hungry men of the garrison was all which would on that occasion be
+attempted, unless themselves, by resisting so much, should provoke more.
+They knew that this Government desired to keep the garrison in the Fort
+--not to assail them--but merely to maintain visible possession, and
+thus to preserve the Union from actual and immediate dissolution
+--trusting, as hereinbefore stated, to time, discussion, and the
+ballot-box for final adjustment; and they assailed and reduced the Fort
+for precisely the reverse object--to drive out the visible authority of
+the Federal Union, and thus force it to immediate dissolution.
+
+"That this was their object, the Executive well understood; and, having
+said to them, in the Inaugural Address, 'you can have no conflict
+without being yourselves the aggressors,' he took pains not only to keep
+this declaration good, but also to keep the case so free from the power
+of ingenious sophistry as that the World should not be able to
+misunderstand it.
+
+"By the affair at Fort Sumter, with its surrounding circumstances, that
+point was reached. Then and thereby the assailants of the Government
+began the Conflict of arms, without a gun in sight or in expectancy to
+return their fire, save only the few in the Fort sent to that harbor
+years before for their own protection, and still ready to give that
+protection in whatever was lawful. In this act, discarding all else,
+they have forced upon the Country, the distinct issue: 'Immediate
+dissolution or blood.'
+
+"And this issue embraces more than the fate of these United States. It
+presents to the whole family of Man the question whether a
+Constitutional Republic or Democracy--a government of the People by the
+same People--can or cannot maintain its territorial integrity against
+its own domestic foes. It presents the question whether discontented
+individuals, too few in numbers to control administration according to
+organic law in any case, can always, upon the pretences made in this
+case, or on any other pretences, or arbitrarily without any pretence,
+break up their Government, and thus practically put an end to free
+government upon the earth. It forces us to ask: 'Is there in all
+republics, this inherent and fatal weakness?' 'Must a Government of
+necessity be too strong for the liberties of its own people, or too weak
+to maintain its own existence?'
+
+"So viewing the issue, no choice was left but to call out the War power
+of the Government; and so to resist force, employed for its destruction,
+by force, for its preservation."
+
+The Call for Troops was made, as we have seen, on the 15th day of April.
+On the evening of the following day several companies of a Pennsylvania
+Regiment reported for duty in Washington. On the 18th, more
+Pennsylvania Volunteers, including a company of Artillery, arrived
+there.
+
+On the 19th of April, the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment--whose progress
+through New York city had been triumphal-was suddenly and unexpectedly
+assailed, in its passage through Baltimore, to the defense of the
+National Capital, by a howling mob of Maryland Secessionists--worked up
+to a pitch of States-rights frenzy by Confederate emissaries and
+influential Baltimore Secession-sympathizers, by news of the sudden
+evacuation of the Federal Arsenal at Harper's Ferry, and other exciting
+tidings--and had to fight its way through, leaving three soldiers of
+that regiment dead, and a number wounded, behind it.
+
+ [At a meeting of the "National Volunteer Association," at Monument
+ Square, Baltimore, the previous evening, says Greeley's History of
+ the American Conflict, page 462, "None of the speakers directly
+ advocated attacks on the Northern troops about to pass through the
+ city; but each was open in his hostility to 'Coercion,' and
+ ardently exhorted his hearers to organize, arm and drill, for the
+ Conflict now inevitable. Carr (Wilson C. N. Carr) said: 'I do not
+ care how many Federal troops are sent to Washington; they will soon
+ find themselves surrounded by such an army from Virginia and
+ Maryland, that escape to their homes will be impossible; and when
+ the 75,000 who are intended to invade the South shall have polluted
+ that soil with their touch, the South will exterminate and sweep
+ them from the Earth.' (Frantic cheering and yelling). The meeting
+ broke up with stentorian cheers for 'the South' and for 'President
+ Davis."']
+
+Ten companies of Philadelphia troops, reaching Baltimore at the same
+time, unarmed, were also violently assailed by the crazy mob, and, after
+a two hours' fight, reached the cars and returned to Philadelphia.
+
+Washington City--already, by the Secession of Virginia, cut off from the
+South--was thus practically cut off from the North as well; and to
+isolate it more completely, the telegraph wires were cut down and the
+railroad bridges burned. A mere handful of regulars, the few volunteers
+that had got through before the outbreak in Baltimore, and a small
+number of Union residents and Government department clerks--these, under
+General Winfield Scott, constituted the paltry force that, for ten days
+after the Call for troops, held the National Capital.
+
+Informed, as the Rebels must have been, by their swarming spies, of the
+weakness of the Federal metropolis, it seems absolutely marvelous that
+instant advantage was not taken of it.
+
+The Richmond Examiner, of April 23d, said: "The capture of Washington
+City is perfectly within the power of Virginia and Maryland, if Virginia
+will only make the effort with her constituted authorities; nor is there
+a single moment to lose. * * * The fanatical yell for the immediate
+subjugation of the whole South is going up hourly from the united voices
+of all the North; and, for the purpose of making their work sure, they
+have determined to hold Washington City as the point whence to carry on
+their brutal warfare. Our people can take it--they will take it--and
+Scott, the arch-traitor, and Lincoln, the Beast, combined, cannot
+prevent it. The just indignation of an outraged and deeply injured
+people will teach the Illinois Ape to repeat his race and retrace his
+journey across the borders of the Free Negro States still more rapidly
+than he came. * * * Great cleansing and purification are needed and
+will be given to that festering sink of iniquity, that wallow of Lincoln
+and Scott--the desecrated city of Washington; and many indeed will be
+the carcasses of dogs and caitiff that will blacken the air upon the
+gallows before the great work is accomplished. So let it be!"
+
+But despite all this fanfaronade of brutal bluster, and various
+movements that looked somewhat threatening, and this complete isolation
+for more than a week from the rest of the World, the city of Washington
+was not seized by the Rebels, after all.
+
+This nervous condition of affairs, however, existed until the 25th--and
+to General Benjamin F. Butler is due the chief credit of putting an end
+to it. It seems he had reached the Susquehanna river at Perryville,
+with his Eighth Massachusetts Regiment on the 20th--the day after the
+Sixth Massachusetts had been mobbed at Baltimore--and, finding his
+further progress to Washington via Baltimore, barred by the destruction
+of the bridge across the Susquehanna, etc., he at once seized a large
+ferry steamer, embarked his men on her, steamed down the river and
+Chesapeake Bay to Annapolis, the capital of Maryland, took possession of
+the frigate Constitution, the Naval Academy, and the city itself,
+gathered supplies, and being reinforced by the arrival by water of the
+famous New York Seventh, and other regiments, repaired the branch
+railroad to Annapolis Junction (on the main line of railroad between
+Baltimore and Washington), and transferred his column from thence, by
+cars, on the 25th, to the National Capital--soon thereafter also taking
+military possession of Baltimore, which gave no further trouble to the
+Union Cause. In the meantime, however, other untoward events to that
+Cause had happened.
+
+Two days after the Call for troops, the Virginia Convention (April 17th)
+secretly voted to Secede from the Union. An expedition of Virginia
+troops was almost at once started to capture the Federal Arsenal at
+Harper's Ferry, which, as has already been intimated, was evacuated
+hastily on the night of the 18th, by the handful of Union regulars
+garrisoning it, after a futile effort to destroy the public property and
+stores it held. Another expedition was started to seize the Federal
+Navy Yard at Norfolk--a rich prize, containing as it did, between 2,000
+and 3,000 pieces of heavy ordnance (300 of them Dahlgrens), three old
+line-of-battle ships and a number of frigates, including the Cumberland
+and the fine forty-gun steam frigate Merrimac, together with thousands
+of kegs of powder and immense stores of other munitions of war, and
+supplies--that had cost in all some $10,000,000. Without an enemy in
+sight, however, this fine Navy Yard was shamefully evacuated, after
+partly scuttling and setting fire to the vessels--the Cumberland alone
+being towed away--and spiking the guns, and doing other not very
+material damage.
+
+So also, in North Carolina, Rebel influence was equally active. On the
+20th of April Governor Ellis seized the Federal Branch Mint at,
+Charlotte, and on the 22d the Federal Arsenal at Fayetteville. A few
+days thereafter his Legislature authorized him to tender to Virginia
+--which had already joined the Confederacy--or to the Government of the
+Confederate States itself, the volunteer forces of North Carolina. And,
+although at the end of January the people of that State had decided at
+the polls that no Secession Convention be held, yet the subservient
+Legislature did not hesitate, on demand, to call one together which met
+in May and ordained such Secession.
+
+Thus, by the end of May, 1861, the Confederacy had grown to comprise
+nine instead of seven States, and the Confederate troops were
+concentrating on Richmond--whither the Rebel Government was soon to
+remove, from Montgomery.
+
+By this time also not only had the ranks of the regular Union Army been
+filled and largely added to, but 42,000 additional volunteers had been
+called out by President Lincoln; and the blockade of the Southern ports
+(including those of Virginia and North Carolina) that had been
+proclaimed by him, was, despite all obstacles, now becoming effectual
+and respected.
+
+Washington City and its suburbs, by the influx of Union volunteers, had
+during this month become a vast armed camp; the Potomac river had been
+crossed and the Virginia hills (including Arlington heights) which
+overlooked the Federal Capital, had been occupied and fortified by Union
+troops; the young and gallant Colonel Ellsworth had been killed by a
+Virginia Rebel while pulling down a Rebel flag in Alexandria; and
+General Benjamin F. Butler, in command at Fortress Monroe, had by an
+inspiration, solved one of the knottiest points confronting our armies,
+by declaring of three Negroes who had fled from their master so as to
+escape working on Rebel fortifications, that they should not be returned
+to that master--under the Fugitive Slave Law, as demanded by a Rebel
+officer with a flag of truce--but were confiscated "property," and would
+be retained, as "contraband of war."
+
+It was about this time, too, that the New Orleans Picayune fell into
+line with other unscrupulous Rebel sheets, by gravely declaring that:
+"All the Massachusetts troops now in Washington are Negroes, with the
+exception of two or three drummer boys. General Butler, in command, is
+a native of Liberia. Our readers may recollect old Ben, the barber, who
+kept a shop in Poydras street, and emigrated to Liberia with a small
+competence. General Butler is his son." Little did the writer of that
+paragraph dream how soon New Orleans would crouch at the very feet of
+that same General!
+
+And now, while the armed hosts on either side are assembling in hostile
+array, or resting on their arms, preliminary to the approaching fray of
+battle, let us glance at the alleged causes underlying this great
+Rebellion against the Union.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XI.
+
+ THE CAUSES OF SECESSION.
+
+In preceding Chapters of this work, it has been briefly shown, that from
+the very hour in which the Republic of the United States was born, there
+have not been wanting, among its own citizens, those who hated it, and
+when they could not rule, were always ready to do what they could, by
+Conspiracy, Sedition, Mutiny, Nullification, Secession, or otherwise, to
+weaken and destroy it. This fact, and the processes by which the
+Conspirators worked, is very well stated, in his documentary "History of
+the Rebellion," by Edward McPherson, when he says: "In the Slaveholding
+States, a considerable body of men have always been disaffected to the
+Union. They resisted the adoption of the National Constitution, then
+sought to refine away the rights and powers of the General Government,
+and by artful expedients, in a series of years, using the excitements
+growing out of passing questions, finally perverted the sentiments of
+large masses of men, and prepared them for Revolution."
+
+Before giving further incontestable proofs establishing this fact, and
+before endeavoring to sift out the true cause or causes of Secession,
+let us first examine such evidences as are submitted by him in support
+of his proposition.
+
+The first piece of testimony, is an extract from an unpublished journal
+of U. S. Senator Maclay of Pennsylvania, from March 4, 1789, to March 3,
+1791--the period of the First Congress under the Federal Constitution.
+It runs thus:
+
+"1789, June 9.--In relation to the Tariff Bill, the affair of confining
+the East India Trade to the citizens of America had been negatived, and
+a committee had been appointed to report on this business. The report
+came in with very high duties, amounting to a prohibition. But a new
+phenomenon had made its appearance in the House (meaning the Senate)
+since Friday.
+
+"Pierce Butler, from South Carolina, had taken his seat, and flamed like
+a meteor. He arraigned the whole Impost law, and then charged
+(indirectly) the whole Congress with a design of oppressing South
+Carolina. He cried out for encouraging the Danes and Swedes, and
+foreigners of every kind, to come and take away our produce. In fact he
+was for a Navigation Act reversed.
+
+"June 11.--Attended at the hall as usual.
+
+"Mr. Ralph Izard and Mr. Butler opposed the whole of the drawbacks in
+every shape whatever.
+
+"Mr. (William) Grayson, of Virginia, warm on this subject, said we were
+not ripe for such a thing. We were a new Nation, and had no business
+for any such regulations--a Nation /sui generis/.
+
+"Mr. (Richard Henry) Lee (of Virginia) said drawbacks were right, but
+would be so much abused, he could not think of admitting them.
+
+"Mr. (Oliver) Ellsworth (of Connecticut) said New England rum would be
+exported, instead of West India, to obtain the drawback.
+
+"I thought it best to say a few words in reply to each. We were a new
+Nation, it was true, but we were not a new People. We were composed of
+individuals of like manners, habits, and customs with the European
+Nations. What, therefore, had been found useful among them, came well
+recommended by experience to us. Drawbacks stand as an example in this
+point of view to us. If the thing was right in itself, there could be
+no just argument drawn against the use of a thing from the abuse of it.
+It would be the duty of Government to guard against abuses, by prudent
+appointments and watchful attention to officers. That as to changing
+the kind of rum, I thought the collection Bill would provide for this,
+by limiting the exportation to the original casks and packages. I said
+a great deal more, but really did not feel much interest either way.
+But the debates were very lengthy.
+
+"Butler flamed away, and THREATENED A DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION, with
+regard to his State, as sure as God was in the firmament. He scattered
+his remarks over the whole Impost bill, calling it partial, oppressive,
+etc., and solely calculated to oppress South Carolina, and yet ever and
+anon declaring how clear of local views and how candid and dispassionate
+he was. He degenerates into mere declamation. His State would live
+free, or die glorious."
+
+The next piece of evidence is General Jackson's letter to Rev. A. J.
+Crawford, as follows:
+
+["Private."]
+
+"WASHINGTON, May 1, 1833.
+
+"MY DEAR SIR: * * * I have had a laborious task here, but Nullification
+is dead; and its actors and courtiers will only be remembered by the
+People to be execrated for their wicked designs to sever and destroy the
+only good Government on the globe, and that prosperity and happiness we
+enjoy over every other portion of the World. Haman's gallows ought to
+be the fate of all such ambitious men who would involve their Country in
+Civil War, and all the evils in its train, that they might reign and
+ride on its whirlwinds and direct the storm. The Free People of these
+United States have spoken, and consigned these wicked demagogues to
+their proper doom. Take care of your Nullifiers; you have them among
+you; let them meet with the indignant frowns of every man who loves his
+Country. The Tariff, it is now known, was a mere pretext--its burden
+was on your coarse woolens. By the law of July, 1832, coarse woolen was
+reduced to five per cent., for the benefit of the South. Mr. Clay's
+Bill takes it up and classes it with woolens at fifty per cent., reduces
+it gradually down to twenty per cent., and there it is to remain, and
+Mr. Calhoun and all the Nullifiers agree to the principle. The cash
+duties and home valuation will be equal to fifteen per cent. more, and
+after the year 1842, you pay on coarse woolens thirty-five per cent. If
+this is not Protection, I cannot understand; therefore the Tariff was
+only the pretext, and Disunion and a Southern Confederacy the real
+object. The next pretext will be the Negro or Slavery question.
+
+"My health is not good, but is improving a little. Present me kindly to
+your lady and family, and believe me to be your friend. I will always
+be happy to hear from you.
+ "ANDREW JACKSON."
+
+
+Another evidence is given in the following extract from Benton's "Thirty
+Years in the Senate," vol. ii., as follows:
+
+"The regular inauguration of this Slavery agitation dates from the year
+1835; but it had commenced two years before, and in this way:
+Nullification and Disunion had commenced in 1830, upon complaint against
+Protective Tariff. That, being put down in 1833 under President
+Jackson's proclamation and energetic measures, was immediately
+substituted by the Slavery agitation. Mr. Calhoun, when he went home
+from Congress in the spring of that year, told his friends that 'the
+South could never be united against the North on the Tariff question
+--that the sugar interest of Louisiana would keep her out--and that the
+basis of Southern Union must be shifted to the Slave question.' Then
+all the papers in his interest, and especially the one at Washington,
+published by Mr. Duff Green, dropped Tariff agitation, and commenced
+upon Slavery, and in two years had the agitation ripe for inauguration,
+on the Slavery question. And in tracing this agitation to its present
+stage, and to comprehend its rationale, it is not to be forgotten that
+it is a mere continuation of old Tariff Disunion, and preferred because
+more available."
+
+Again, from p. 490 of his private correspondence, Mr. Clay's words to an
+Alabamian, in 1844, are thus given:
+
+"From the developments now being made in South Carolina, it is perfectly
+manifest that a Party exists in that State seeking a Dissolution of the
+Union, and for that purpose employ the pretext of the rejection of Mr.
+Tyler's abominable treaty. South Carolina, being surrounded by Slave
+States, would, in the event of a Dissolution of the Union, suffer only
+comparative evils; but it is otherwise with Kentucky. She has the
+boundary of the Ohio extending four hundred miles on three Free States.
+What would our condition be in the event of the greatest calamity that
+could befall this Nation?"
+
+Allusion is also made to a letter written by Representative Nathan
+Appleton, of Boston, December 15, 1860, in which that gentleman said
+that when he was in Congress--in 1832-33--he had "made up his mind that
+Messrs. Calhoun, Hayne, McDuffie, etc., were desirous of a separation of
+the Slave States into a separate Confederacy, as more favorable to the
+security of Slave Property."
+
+After mentioning that "About 1835, some South Carolinians attempted a
+Disunion demonstration," our authority says: It is thus described by
+ex-Governor Francis Thomas of Maryland, in his speech in Baltimore,
+October 29, 1861:
+
+"Full twenty years ago, when occupying my seat in the House of
+Representatives, I was surprised one morning, after the assembling of
+the House, to observe that all the members from the Slaveholding States
+were absent. Whilst reflecting on this strange occurrence, I was asked
+why I was not in attendance on the Southern Caucus assembled in the room
+of the Committee on Claims. I replied that I had received no
+invitation.
+
+"I then proposed to go to the Committee-room to see what was being done.
+When I entered, I found that little cock-sparrow, Governor Pickens, of
+South Carolina, addressing the meeting, and strutting about like a
+rooster around a barn-yard coop, discussing the following resolution:
+
+"' Resolved, That no member of Congress, representing a Southern
+constituency, shall again take his seat until a resolution is passed
+satisfactory to the South on the subject of Slavery.'
+
+"I listened to his language, and when he had finished, I obtained the
+floor, asking to be permitted to take part in the discussion. I
+determined at once to kill the Treasonable plot hatched by John C.
+Calhoun, the Catiline of America, by asking questions. I said to Mr.
+Pickens, 'What next do you propose we shall do? are we to tell the
+People that Republicanism is a failure? If you are for that, I am not.
+I came here to sustain and uphold American institutions; to defend the
+rights of the North as well as the South; to secure harmony and good
+fellowship between all Sections of our common Country.' They dared not
+answer these questions. The Southern temper had not then been gotten
+up. As my questions were not answered, I moved an adjournment of the
+Caucus /sine die/. Mr. Craig, of Virginia, seconded the motion, and the
+company was broken up. We returned to the House, and Mr. Ingersoll, of
+Pennsylvania, a glorious patriot then as now, introduced a resolution
+which temporarily calmed the excitement."
+
+The remarks upon this statement, made November 4, 1861, by the National
+Intelligencer, were as follows:
+
+"However busy Mr. Pickens may have been in the Caucus after it met, the
+most active man in getting it up and pressing the Southern members to go
+into it, was Mr. R. B. Rhett, also a member from South Carolina. The
+occasion, or alleged cause of this withdrawal from the House into secret
+deliberation was an anti-Slavery speech of Mr. Slade, of Vermont, which
+Mr. Rhett violently denounced, and proposed to the Southern members to
+leave the House and go into Conclave in one of the Committee-rooms,
+which they generally did, if not all of them. We are able to state,
+however, what may not have been known to Governor Thomas, that at least
+three besides himself, of those who did attend it, went there with a
+purpose very different from an intention to consent to any Treasonable
+measure. These three men were Henry A. Wise, Balie Peyton, and William
+Cost Johnson. Neither of them opened his lips in the Caucus; they went
+to observe; and we can assure Governor Thomas, that if Mr. Pickens or
+Mr. Calhoun, (whom he names) or any one else had presented a distinct
+proposition looking to Disunion, or Revolt, or Secession, he would have
+witnessed a scene not soon to be forgotten. The three whom we have
+mentioned were as brave as they were determined. Fortunately, perhaps,
+the man whom they went particularly to watch, remained silent and
+passive."
+
+Let us, however, pursue the inquiry a little further. On the 14th of
+November, 1860, Alexander H. Stephens addressed the Legislature of
+Georgia, and in a portion of that address--replying to a speech made
+before the same Body the previous evening by Mr. Toombs, in which the
+latter had "recounted the evils of this Government"--said:
+
+"The first [of these evils] was the Fishing Bounties, paid mostly to the
+sailors of New England. Our friend stated that forty-eight years of our
+Government was under the administration of Southern Presidents. Well,
+these Fishing Bounties began under the rule of a Southern President, I
+believe. No one of them, during the whole forty-eight years, ever set
+his Administration against the principle or policy of them. * * *
+
+"The next evil which my friend complained of, was the Tariff. Well, let
+us look at that for a moment. About the time I commenced noticing
+public matters, this question was agitating the Country almost as
+fearfully as the Slave question now is. In 1832, when I was in college,
+South Carolina was ready to Nullify or Secede from the Union on this
+account. And what have we seen? The Tariff no longer distracts the
+public counsels. Reason has triumphed! The present Tariff was voted
+for by Massachusetts and South Carolina. The lion and the lamb lay down
+together--every man in the Senate and House from Massachusetts and South
+Carolina, I think, voted for it, as did my honorable friend himself.
+And if it be true, to use the figure of speech of my honorable friend,
+that every man in the North that works in iron, and brass and wood, has
+his muscle strengthened by the protection of the Government, that
+stimulant was given by his vote and I believe (that of) every other
+Southern man.
+
+"Mr. TOOMBS--The Tariff lessened the duties.
+
+"Mr. STEPHENS--Yes, and Massachusetts with unanimity voted with the
+South to lessen them, and they were made just as low as Southern men
+asked them to be, and that is the rate they are now at. If reason and
+argument, with experience, produced such changes in the sentiments of
+Massachusetts from 1832 to 1857, on the subject of the Tariff, may not
+like changes be effected there by the same means--reason and argument,
+and appeals to patriotism on the present vexed question? And who can
+say that by 1875 or 1890, Massachusetts may not vote with South Carolina
+and Georgia upon all those questions that now distract the Country and
+threaten its peace and existence.
+
+"Another matter of grievance alluded to by my honorable friend was the
+Navigation Laws. This policy was also commenced under the
+Administration of one of these Southern Presidents who ruled so well,
+and has been continued through all of them since. * * * One of the
+objects (of these) was to build up a commercial American marine by
+giving American bottoms the exclusive Carrying Trade between our own
+ports. This is a great arm of national power. This object was
+accomplished. We have now an amount of shipping, not only coastwise,
+but to foreign countries, which puts us in the front rank of the Nations
+of the World. England can no longer be styled the Mistress of the Seas.
+What American is not proud of the result? Whether those laws should be
+continued is another question. But one thing is certain; no President,
+Northern or Southern, has ever yet recommended their repeal. * * *
+
+"These then were the true main grievances or grounds of complaint
+against the general system of our Government and its workings--I mean
+the administration of the Federal Government. As to the acts of the
+federal States I shall speak presently: but these three were the main
+ones used against the common head. Now, suppose it be admitted that all
+of these are evils in the system; do they overbalance and outweigh the
+advantages and great good which this same Government affords in a
+thousand innumerable ways that cannot be estimated? Have we not at the
+South, as well as the North, grown great, prosperous, and happy under
+its operations? Has any part of the World ever shown such rapid
+progress in the development of wealth, and all the material resources of
+national power and greatness, as the Southern States have under the
+General Government, notwithstanding all its defects?
+
+"Mr. TOOMBS--In spite of it.
+
+"Mr. STEPHENS--My honorable friend says we have, in spite of the General
+Government; that without it, I suppose he thinks, we might have done as
+well, or perhaps better, than we have done in spite of it. * * *
+Whether we of the South would have been better off without the
+Government, is, to say the least, problematical. On the one side we can
+only put the fact, against speculation and conjecture on the other. * *
+* The influence of the Government on us is like that of the atmosphere
+around us. Its benefits are so silent and unseen that they are seldom
+thought of or appreciated.
+
+"We seldom think of the single element of oxygen in the air we breathe,
+and yet let this simple, unseen and unfelt agent be withdrawn, this
+life-giving element be taken away from this all-pervading fluid around
+us, and what instant and appalling changes would take place in all
+organic creation.
+
+"It may be that we are all that we are 'in spite of the General
+Government,' but it may be that without it we should have been far
+different from what we are now. It is true that there is no equal part
+of the Earth with natural resources superior perhaps to ours. That
+portion of this Country known as the Southern States, stretching from
+the Chesapeake to the Rio Grande, is fully equal to the picture drawn by
+the honorable and eloquent Senator last night, in all natural
+capacities. But how many ages and centuries passed before these
+capacities were developed to reach this advanced age of civilization.
+There these same hills, rich in ore, same rivers, same valleys and
+plains, are as they have been since they came from the hand of the
+Creator; uneducated and uncivilized man roamed over them for how long no
+history informs us.
+
+"It was only under our institutions that they could be developed. Their
+development is the result of the enterprise of our people, under
+operations of the Government and institutions under which we have lived.
+Even our people, without these, never would have done it. The
+organization of society has much to do with the development of the
+natural resources of any Country or any Land. The institutions of a
+People, political and moral, are the matrix in which the germ of their
+organic structure quickens into life--takes root, and develops in form,
+nature, and character. Our institutions constitute the basis, the
+matrix, from which spring all our characteristics of development and
+greatness. Look at Greece. There is the same fertile soil, the same
+blue sky, the same inlets and harbors, the same AEgean, the same
+Olympus; there is the same land where Homer sung, where Pericles spoke;
+it is in nature the same old Greece--but it is living Greece no more.
+
+"Descendants of the same people inhabit the country; yet what is the
+reason of this vast difference? In the midst of present degradation we
+see the glorious fragments of ancient works of art-temples, with
+ornaments and inscriptions that excite wonder and admiration--the
+remains of a once high order of civilization, which have outlived the
+language they spoke--upon them all, Ichabod is written--their glory has
+departed. Why is this so? I answer, their institutions have been
+destroyed. These were but the fruits of their forms of government, the
+matrix from which their great development sprang; and when once the
+institutions of a People have been destroyed, there is no earthly power
+that can bring back the Promethean spark to kindle them here again, any
+more than in that ancient land of eloquence, poetry and song.
+
+"The same may be said of Italy. Where is Rome, once the mistress of the
+World? There are the same seven hills now, the same soil, the same
+natural resources; the nature is the same, but what a ruin of human
+greatness meets the eye of the traveler throughout the length and
+breadth of that most down-trodden land! why have not the People of that
+Heaven-favored clime, the spirit that animated their fathers? Why this
+sad difference?
+
+"It is the destruction of their institutions that has caused it; and, my
+countrymen, if we shall in an evil hour rashly pull down and destroy
+those institutions which the patriotic hand of our fathers labored so
+long and so hard to build up, and which have done so much for us and the
+World, who can venture the prediction that similar results will not
+ensue? Let us avoid it if we can. I trust the spirit is among us that
+will enable us to do it. Let us not rashly try the experiment, for, if
+it fails, as it did in Greece and Italy, and in the South American
+Republics, and in every other place wherever liberty is once destroyed,
+it may never be restored to us again.
+
+"There are defects in our government, errors in administration, and
+short-comings of many kinds; but in spite of these defects and errors,
+Georgia has grown to be a great State. Let us pause here a moment.
+
+"When I look around and see our prosperity in everything, agriculture,
+commerce, art, science, and every department of education, physical and
+mental, as well as moral advancement--and our colleges--I think, in the
+face of such an exhibition, if we can, without the loss of power, or any
+essential right or interest, remain in the Union, it is our duty to
+ourselves and to posterity--let us not too readily yield to this
+temptation--to do so. Our first parents, the great progenitors of the
+human race, were not without a like temptation, when in the Garden of
+Eden. They were led to believe that their condition would be bettered
+--that their eyes would be opened--and that they would become as gods.
+They in an evil hour yielded--instead of becoming gods they only saw
+their own nakedness.
+
+"I look upon this Country, with our institutions, as the Eden of the
+World, the Paradise of the Universe. It may be that out of it we may
+become greater and more prosperous, but I am candid and sincere in
+telling you that I fear if we rashly evince passion, and without
+sufficient cause shall take that step, that instead of becoming greater
+or more peaceful, prosperous, and happy--instead of becoming gods, we
+will become demons, and at no distant day commence cutting one another's
+throats. This is my apprehension.
+
+"Let us, therefore, whatever we do, meet those difficulties, great as
+they are, like wise and sensible men, and consider them in the light of
+all the consequences which may attend our action. Let us see first
+clearly where the path of duty leads, and then we may not fear to tread
+therein."
+
+
+Said Senator Wigfall, of Texas, March 4, 1861, in the United States
+Senate, only a few hours before Mr. Lincoln's Inauguration:
+
+"I desire to pour oil on the waters, to produce harmony, peace and quiet
+here. It is early in the morning, and I hope I shall not say anything
+that may be construed as offensive. I rise merely that we may have an
+understanding of this question.
+
+"It is not Slavery in the Territories, it is not expansion, which is the
+difficulty. If the resolution which the Senator from Wisconsin
+introduced here, denying the right of Secession, had been adopted by
+two-thirds of each branch of this department of the Government, and had
+been ratified by three-fourths of the States, I have no hesitation in
+saying that, so far as the State in which I live and to which I owe my
+allegiance is concerned, if she had no other cause for a disruption of
+the Union taking place, she would undoubtedly have gone out.
+
+ [To insert as an additional article of amendment to the
+ Constitution, the following: "Under this Constitution, as
+ originally adopted, and as it now exists, no State has power to
+ withdraw from the jurisdiction of the United States: but this
+ Constitution, and all laws passed in pursuance of its delegated
+ powers, are the Supreme Law of the Land, anything contained in any
+ constitution, ordinance, or act of any State, to the contrary
+ notwithstanding."]
+
+"The moment you deny the right of self-government to the free White men
+of the South, they will leave the Government. They believe in the
+Declaration of Independence. They believe that:
+
+"'Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from
+the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government
+becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the People to
+alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new Government, laying its
+foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as
+to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.'
+
+"That principle of the Declaration of Independence is the one upon which
+the free White men of the South predicated their devotion to the present
+Constitution of the United States; and it was the denial of that, as
+much as anything else, that has created the dissatisfaction in that
+Section of the Country.
+
+"There is no instrument of writing that has ever been written that has
+been more misapprehended and misunderstood and misrepresented than this
+same unfortunate Declaration of Independence, and no set of gentlemen
+have ever been so slandered as the fathers who drew and signed that
+Declaration.
+
+"If there was a thing on earth that they did not intend to assert, it
+was that a Negro was a White man. As I said here, a short time ago, one
+of the greatest charges they made against the British Government was,
+that old King George was attempting to establish the fact practically
+that all men were created Free and Equal. They charged him in the
+Declaration of Independence with inciting their Slaves to insurrection.
+That is one of the grounds upon which they threw off their allegiance to
+the British Parliament.
+
+"Another great misapprehension is, that the men who drafted that
+Declaration of Independence had any peculiar fancy for one form of
+government rather than another. They were not fighting to establish a
+Democracy in this country; they were not fighting to establish a
+Republican form of government in this Country. Nothing was further from
+their intention.
+
+"Alexander Hamilton, after he had fought for seven years, declared that
+the British form of government was the best that the ingenuity of man
+had ever devised; and when John Adams said to him, 'without its
+corruptions;' 'Why,' said he, 'its corruptions are its greatest
+excellence; without the corruptions, it would be nothing.'
+
+"In the Declaration of Independence, they speak of George III., after
+this fashion. They say:
+
+"'A prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define
+a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free People.'
+
+"Now, I ask any plain common-sense man what was the meaning of that?
+Was it that they were opposed to a Monarchical form of government? Was
+it that they believed a Monarchical form of government was incompatible
+with civil liberty? No, sir; they entertained no such absurd idea.
+None of them entertained it; but they say that George III, was a prince
+whose character was 'marked by every act which may define a tyrant' and
+that therefore he was 'unfit to be the ruler of a free People.' Had his
+character not been so marked by every quality which would define a
+tyrant, he might have been the fit ruler of a free People; ergo, a
+monarchical form of Government was not incompatible with civil liberty.
+
+"That was clearly the opinion of those men. I do not advocate it now;
+for I have said frequently that we are wiser than our fathers, and our
+children will be wiser than we are. One hundred years hence, men will
+understand their own affairs much better than we do. We understand our
+affairs better than those who preceded us one hundred years. But what I
+assert is, that the men of the Revolution did not believe that a
+Monarchical form of Government was incompatible with civil liberty.
+
+"What I assert is, that when they spoke of 'all men being created
+equal,' they were speaking of the White men who then had unsheathed
+their swords--for what purpose? To establish the right of
+self-government in themselves; and when they had achieved that, they
+established, not Democracies, but Republican forms of Government in
+the thirteen sovereign, separate and independent Colonies. Yet the
+Declaration of Independence is constantly quoted to prove Negro
+equality. It proves no such thing; it was intended to prove no such
+thing.
+
+"The 'glittering generalities' which a distinguished former Senator from
+Massachusetts (Mr. Choate) spoke of, as contained in the Declaration of
+Independence, one of them at least, about all men being created equal
+--was not original with Mr. Jefferson. I recollect seeing a pamphlet
+called the Principles of the Whigs and Jacobites, published about the
+year 1745, when the last of the Stuarts, called 'the Pretender,' was
+striking a blow that was fatal to himself, but a blow for his crown, in
+which pamphlet the very phraseology is used, word for word and letter
+for letter. I have not got it here to-night. I sent the other day to
+the Library to try and find it, but could not find it; it was burnt, I
+believe, with the pamphlets that were burnt some time ago.
+
+"That Mr. Jefferson copied it or plagiarized it, is not true, I suppose,
+any more than the charge that the distinguished Senator from New York
+plagiarized from the Federalist in preparing his celebrated compromising
+speech which was made here a short time ago. It was the cant phrase of
+the day in 1745, which was only about thirty years previous to the
+Declaration of Independence. This particular pamphlet, which I have
+read, was published; others were published at the same time. That sort
+of phraseology was used.
+
+"There was a war of classes in England; there were men who were
+contending for legitimacy; who were contending for the right of the
+Crown being inherent and depending on the will of God, 'the divine right
+of Kings,' for maintaining an hereditary landed-aristocracy; there was
+another Party who were contending against this doctrine of legitimacy,
+and the right of primogeniture. These were called the Whigs; they
+established this general phraseology in denouncing the divine right and
+the doctrine of legitimacy, and it became the common phraseology of the
+Country; so that in the obscure county of Mecklenburg, in North
+Carolina, a declaration containing the same assertions was found as in
+this celebrated Declaration of Independence, written by the immortal
+Jefferson.
+
+"Which of us, I ask, is there upon this floor who has not read and
+re-read whatever was written within the last twenty-five or thirty years
+by the distinguished men of this country? But enough of that.
+
+"As I said before, there ought not have been, and there did not
+necessarily result from our form of Government, any irrepressible
+conflict between the Slaveholding and the non-Slaveholding States.
+Nothing of the sort was necessary.
+
+"Strike out a single clause in the Constitution of the United States,
+that which secures to each State a Republican form of Government, and
+there is no reason why, under precisely such a Constitution as we have,
+States that are Monarchical and States that are Republican, could not
+live in peace and quiet. They confederate together for common defense
+and general welfare, each State regulating its domestic concerns in its
+own way; those which preferred a Republican form of Government
+maintaining it, and those which preferred a Monarchical form of
+Government maintaining it.
+
+"But how long could small States, with different forms of Government,
+live together, confederated for common defense and general welfare, if
+the people of one Section were to come to the conclusion that their
+institutions were better than those of the other, and thereupon
+straightway set about subverting the institutions of the other?"
+
+
+In the reply of the Rebel "Commissioners of the Southern Confederacy"
+to Mr. Seward, April 9, 1861, they speak of our Government as being
+"persistently wedded to those fatal theories of construction of the
+Federal Constitution always rejected by the statesmen of the South, and
+adhered to by those of the Administration school, until they have
+produced their natural and often-predicted result of the destruction of
+the Union, under which we might have continued to live happily and
+gloriously together, had the spirit of the ancestry who framed the
+common Constitution animated the hearts of all their sons."
+
+In the "Address of the people of South Carolina, assembled in
+Convention, to the people of the Slaveholding States of the United
+States," by which the attempt was made to justify the passage of the
+South Carolina Secession Ordinance of 1860, it is declared that:
+
+"Discontent and contention have moved in the bosom of the Confederacy,
+for the last thirty-five years. During this time South Carolina has
+twice called her people together in solemn Convention, to take into
+consideration, the aggressions and unconstitutional wrongs, perpetrated
+by the people of the North on the people of the South. These wrongs
+were submitted to by the people of the South, under the hope and
+expectation that they would be final. But such hope and expectation
+have proved to be vain. Instead of producing forbearance, our
+acquiescence has only instigated to new forms of aggressions and
+outrage; and South Carolina, having again assembled her people in
+Convention, has this day dissolved her connection with the States
+constituting the United States.
+
+"The one great evil from which all other evils have flowed, is the
+overthrow of the Constitution of the United States. The Government of
+the United States, is no longer the Government of Confederated
+Republics, but of a consolidated Democracy. It is no longer a free
+Government, but a Despotism. It is, in fact, such a Government as Great
+Britain attempted to set over our Fathers; and which was resisted and
+defeated by a seven years struggle for Independence.
+
+"The Revolution of 1776, turned upon one great principle,
+self-government,--and self-taxation, the criterion of self-government.
+
+"The Southern States now stand exactly in the same position towards the
+Northern States, that the Colonies did towards Great Britain. The
+Northern States, having the majority in Congress, claim the same power
+of omnipotence in legislation as the British Parliament. 'The General
+Welfare' is the only limit to the legislation of either; and the
+majority in Congress, as in the British Parliament, are the sole judges
+of the expediency of the legislation this 'General Welfare' requires.
+Thus the Government of the United States has become a consolidated
+Government; and the people of the Southern States are compelled to meet
+the very despotism their fathers threw off in the Revolution of 1776.
+
+"The consolidation of the Government of Great Britain over the Colonies,
+was attempted to be carried out by the taxes. The British Parliament
+undertook to tax the Colonies to promote British interests. Our fathers
+resisted this pretension. They claimed the right of self-taxation
+through their Colonial Legislatures. They were not represented in the
+British Parliament, and, therefore, could not rightly be taxed by its
+legislation. The British Government, however, offered them a
+representation in Parliament; but it was not sufficient to enable them
+to protect themselves from the majority, and they refused the offer.
+Between taxation without any representation, and taxation without a
+representation adequate to protection, there was no difference. In
+neither case would the Colonies tax themselves. Hence, they refused to
+pay the taxes laid by the British Parliament.
+
+"And so with the Southern States, towards the Northern States, in the
+vital matter of taxation. They are in a minority in Congress. Their
+representation in Congress is useless to protect them against unjust
+taxation; and they are taxed by the people of the North for their
+benefit, exactly as the people of Great Britain taxed our ancestors in
+the British Parliament for their benefit. For the last forty years, the
+taxes laid by the Congress of the United States have been laid with a
+view of subserving the interests of the North. The people of the South
+have been taxed by duties on imports, not for revenue, but for an object
+inconsistent with revenue--to promote, by prohibitions, Northern
+interests in the productions of their mines and manufactures.
+
+"There is another evil, in the condition of the Southern towards the
+Northern States, which our ancestors refused to bear towards Great
+Britain. Our ancestors not only taxed themselves, but all the taxes
+collected from them were expended amongst them. Had they submitted to
+the pretensions of the British Government, the taxes collected from
+them, would have been expended in other parts of the British Empire.
+They were fully aware of the effect of such a policy in impoverishing
+the people from whom taxes are collected, and in enriching those who
+receive the benefit of their expenditure.
+
+"To prevent the evils of such a policy, was one of the motives which
+drove them on to Revolution, yet this British policy has been fully
+realized towards the Southern States, by the Northern States. The
+people of the Southern States are not only taxed for the benefit of the
+Northern States, but after the taxes are collected, three fourths of
+them are expended at the North. This cause, with others, connected with
+the operation of the General Government, has made the cities of the
+South provincial. Their growth is paralyzed; they are mere suburbs of
+Northern cities. The agricultural productions of the South are the
+basis of the foreign commerce of the United States; yet Southern cities
+do not carry it on. Our foreign trade is almost annihilated. * * *
+
+"No man can for a moment believe, that our ancestors intended to
+establish over their posterity, exactly the same sort of Government they
+had overthrown. * * * Yet by gradual and steady encroachments on the
+part of the people of the North, and acquiescence on the part of the
+South, the limitations in the Constitution have been swept away; and the
+Government of the United States has become consolidated, with a claim of
+limitless powers in its operations. * * *
+
+"A majority in Congress, according to their interested and perverted
+views, is omnipotent. * * * Numbers with them, is the great element of
+free Government. A majority is infallible and omnipotent. 'The right
+divine to rule in Kings,' is only transferred to their majority. The
+very object of all Constitutions, in free popular Government, is to
+restrain the majority. Constitutions, therefore, according to their
+theory, must be most unrighteous inventions, restricting liberty. None
+ought to exist; but the body politic ought simply to have a political
+organization, to bring out and enforce the will of the majority. This
+theory is a remorseless despotism. In resisting it, as applicable to
+ourselves, we are vindicating the great cause of free Government, more
+important, perhaps, to the World, than the existence of all the United
+States."
+
+
+In his Special Message to the Confederate Congress at Montgomery, April
+29, 1861, Mr. Jefferson Davis said:
+
+"From a period as early as 1798, there had existed in all the States a
+Party, almost uninterruptedly in the majority, based upon the creed that
+each State was, in the last resort, the sole judge, as well of its
+wrongs as of the mode and measure of redress. * * * The Democratic
+Party of the United States repeated, in its successful canvas of 1836,
+the declaration, made in numerous previous political contests, that it
+would faithfully abide by and uphold the principles laid down in the
+Kentucky and Virginia Legislatures of [1798 and] 1799, and that it
+adopts those principles as constituting one of the main foundations of
+its political creed."
+
+In a letter addressed by the Rebel Commissioners in London (Yancey, Rost
+and Mann), August 14, 1861, to Lord John Russell, Secretary of Foreign
+Affairs, it appears that they said: "It was from no fear that the Slaves
+would be liberated, that Secession took place. The very Party in power
+has proposed to guarantee Slavery forever in the States, if the South
+would but remain in the Union." On the 4th of May preceding, Lord John
+had received these Commissioners at his house; and in a letter of
+May 11, 1861, wrote, from the Foreign Office, to Lord Lyons, the British
+Minister at Washington, a letter, in which, alluding to his informal
+communication with them, he said: "One of these gentlemen, speaking for
+the others, dilated on the causes which had induced the Southern States
+to Secede from the Northern. The principal of these causes, he said,
+was not Slavery, but the very high price which, for the sake of
+Protecting the Northern manufacturers, the South were obliged to pay for
+the manufactured goods which they required. One of the first acts of
+the Southern Congress was to reduce these duties, and to prove their
+sincerity he gave as an instance that Louisiana had given up altogether
+that Protection on her sugar which she enjoyed by the legislation of the
+United States. As a proof of the riches of the South. He stated that
+of $350,000,000 of exports of produce to foreign countries $270,000,000
+were furnished by the Southern States." * * * They pointed to the new
+Tariff of the United States as a proof that British manufactures would
+be nearly excluded from the North, and freely admitted in the South.
+
+
+This may be as good a place as any other to say a few words touching
+another alleged "cause" of Secession. During the exciting period just
+prior to the breaking out of the great War of the Rebellion, the
+Slave-holding and Secession-nursing States of the South, made a terrible
+hubbub over the Personal Liberty Bills of the Northern States. And when
+Secession came, many people of the North supposed these Bills to be the
+prime, if not the only real cause of it. Not so. They constituted, as
+we now know, only a part of the mere pretext. But, none the less, they
+constituted a portion of the history of that eventful time, and cannot
+be altogether ignored.
+
+In order then, that the reader may quickly grasp, not only the general
+nature, but also the most important details of the Personal Liberty
+Bills (in force, in 1860, in many of the Free States) so frequently
+alluded to in the Debates of Congress, in speeches on the stump, and in
+the fulminations of Seceding States and their authorized agents,
+commissioners, and representatives, it may be well now, briefly to refer
+to them, and to state that no such laws existed in California, Illinois,
+Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, New York, Ohio and Oregon.
+
+Those of Maine provided that no officer of the State should in any way
+assist in the arrest or detention of a Fugitive Slave, and made it the
+duty of county attorneys to defend the Fugitive Slave against the claim
+of his master. A Bill to repeal these laws passed the Maine Senate, but
+failed in the House.
+
+That of Massachusetts provided for commissioners in each county to
+defend alleged Fugitives from Service or Labor; for payment by the
+Commonwealth of all expenses of defense; prohibited the issue or service
+of process by State officers for arrest of alleged Fugitives, or the use
+of any prisons in the State for their detention, or that of any person
+aiding their escape; prohibited the kidnapping or removal of alleged
+Fugitive Slaves by any person; prohibited all officers within the State,
+down to Town officers, from arresting, imprisoning, detaining or
+returning to Service "any Person for the reason that he is claimed or
+adjudged to be a Fugitive from Service or Labor"--all such prohibitions
+being enforced by heavy fines and imprisonment. The Act of March 25,
+1861, materially modified and softened the above provisions.
+
+New Hampshire's law, provided that all Slaves entering the State with
+consent of the master shall be Free, and made the attempt to hold any
+person as a Slave within the State a felony.
+
+Vermont's, prescribed that no process under the Fugitive Slave Law
+should be recognized by any of her Courts, officers, or citizens; nor
+any aid given in arresting or removing from the State any Person claimed
+as a Fugitive Slave; provided counsel for alleged Fugitives; for the
+issue of habeas corpus and trial by jury of issues of fact between the
+parties; ordained Freedom to all within the State who may have been held
+as Slaves before coming into it, and prescribed heavy penalties for any
+attempt to return any such to Slavery. A bill to repeal these laws,
+proposed November, 1860, in the Vermont House of Representatives, was
+beaten by two to one.
+
+Connecticut's, provided that there must be two witnesses to prove that a
+Person is a Slave; that depositions are not evidence; that false
+testifying in Fugitive Slave cases shall be punishable by fine of $5,000
+and five years in State prison.
+
+In New Jersey, the only laws touching the subject, permitted persons
+temporarily sojourning in the State to bring and hold their Slaves, and
+made it the duty of all State officers to aid in the recovery of
+Fugitives from Service.
+
+In Pennsylvania, barring an old dead-letter Statute, they simply
+prohibited any interference by any of the Courts, Aldermen, or Justices
+of the Peace, of the Commonwealth, with the functions of the
+Commissioner appointed under the United States Statute in Fugitive Slave
+cases.
+
+In Michigan, the law required States' attorneys to defend Fugitive
+Slaves; prescribed the privileges of habeas corpus and jury trial for
+all such arrested; prohibited the use of prisons of the State for their
+detention; required evidence of two credible witnesses as to identity;
+and provided heavy penalties of fine and imprisonment for the seizure of
+any Free Person, with intent to have such Person held in Slavery. A
+Bill to repeal the Michigan law was defeated in the House by about two
+to one.
+
+Wisconsin's Personal Liberty law was similar to that of Michigan, but
+with this addition, that no judgment recovered against any person in
+that State for violating the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 should be
+enforced by sale or execution of any real or personal property in that
+State.
+
+That of Rhode Island, forbade the carrying away of any Person by force
+out of the State; forbade the official aiding in the arrest or detention
+of a Fugitive Slave; and denied her jails to the United States for any
+such detention.
+
+Apropos of this subject, and before leaving it, it may be well to quote
+remarks of Mr. Simons of Rhode Island, in the United States Senate.
+Said he: "Complaint has been made of Personal Liberty Bills. Now, the
+Massachusetts Personal Liberty Bill was passed by a Democratic House, a
+Democratic Senate, and signed by a Democratic Governor, a man who was
+afterwards nominated by Mr. Polk for the very best office in New
+England, and was unanimously confirmed by a Democratic United States
+Senate. Further than this, the very first time the attention of the
+Massachusetts Legislature was called to the propriety of a repeal of
+this law was by a Republican Governor. Now, on the other hand, South
+Carolina had repealed a law imprisoning British colored sailors, but
+retained the one imprisoning those coming from States inhabited by her
+own brethren!"
+
+These Personal Liberty Bills were undoubtedly largely responsible for
+some of the irritation on the Slavery question preceding open
+hostilities between the Sections. But President Lincoln sounded the
+real depths of the Rebellion when he declared it to be a War upon the
+rights of the People. In his First Annual Message, December 3, 1861, he
+said:
+
+"It continues to develop that the insurrection is largely, if not
+exclusively, a War upon the first principle of popular government--the
+rights of the People. Conclusive evidence of this is found in the most
+grave and maturely considered public documents, as well as in the
+general tone of the insurgents. In those documents we find the
+abridgment of the existing right of suffrage, and the denial to the
+People of all right to participate in the selection of public officers,
+except the legislative, boldly advocated, with labored arguments to
+prove that large control of the People in government is the source of
+all political evil. Monarchy itself is sometimes hinted at as a
+possible refuge from the power of the People.
+
+"In my present position, I could scarcely be justified were I to omit
+raising a warning voice against this approach of returning despotism.
+
+"It is not needed, nor fitting here, that a general argument should be
+made in favor of popular institutions; but there is one point, with its
+connections, not so hackneyed as most others, to which I ask brief
+attention. It is the effort to place Capital on an equal footing with,
+if not above Labor, in the structure of the Government.
+
+"It is assumed that Labor is available only in connection with Capital;
+that nobody labors unless somebody else, owning Capital, somehow by the
+use of it induces him to labor. This assumed, it is next considered
+whether it is best that Capital shall hire laborers, and thus induce
+them to work by their own consent, or buy them, and drive them to it
+without their consent. Having proceeded so far, it is naturally
+concluded that all laborers are either hired laborers, or what we call
+Slaves. And further, it is assumed that whoever is once a hired laborer
+is fixed in that condition for life.
+
+"Now, there is no such relation between Capital and Labor as assumed;
+nor is there any such thing as a free man being fixed for life, in the
+condition of a hired laborer. Both these assumptions are false, and all
+inferences from them are groundless.
+
+"Labor is prior to, and independent of Capital. Capital is only the
+fruit of Labor, and could never have existed if Labor had not first
+existed. Labor is the superior of Capital, and deserves much the higher
+consideration. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of
+protection as any other rights. Nor is it denied that there is, and
+probably always will be, a relation between Labor and Capital, producing
+mutual benefits. The error is in assuming that the whole Labor of the
+community exists within that relation.
+
+"A few men own Capital, and that few, avoid labor themselves, and with
+their Capital hire or buy another few to labor for them. A large
+majority belong to neither class--neither work for others, nor have
+others working for them.
+
+"In most of the Southern States, a majority of the whole people of all
+colors are neither Slaves nor masters; while in the Northern, a large
+majority are neither hirers nor hired. Men with their families--wives,
+sons, and daughters--work for themselves, on their farms, in their
+houses, and in their shops, taking the whole product to themselves, and
+asking no favors of Capital on the one hand, nor of hired laborers or
+Slaves on the other.
+
+"It is not forgotten that a considerable number of persons mingle their
+own Labor with Capital--that is they labor with their own hands, and
+also buy or hire others to labor for them; but this is only a mixed, and
+not a distinct class. No principle stated is disturbed by the existence
+of this mixed class.
+
+"Again, as has already been said, there is not, of necessity, any such
+thing as the free hired-laborer being fixed to that condition for life.
+Many independent men everywhere in these States, a few years back in
+their lives, were hired laborers.
+
+"The prudent, penniless beginner in the World, labors for wages awhile,
+saves a surplus with which to buy tools or land for himself, then labors
+on his own account another while, and at length hires another new
+beginner to help him. This is the just and generous and prosperous
+system, which opens the way to all, gives hope to all, and consequent
+energy and progress, and improvement of condition to all.
+
+"No men living are more worthy to be trusted than those who toil up from
+poverty--none less inclined to take or touch aught which they have not
+honestly earned. Let them beware of surrendering a political power
+which they already possess, and which, if surrendered, will surely be
+used to close the door of advancement against such as they, and to fix
+new disabilities and burdens upon them, till all of Liberty shall be
+lost. * * * The struggle of to-day is not altogether for to-day-it is
+a vast future also. * * * "
+
+
+So too, Andrew Johnson, in his speech before the Senate, January 31,
+1862, spake well and truly when he said that "there has been a
+deliberate design for years to change the nature and character and
+genius of this Government." And he added: "Do we not know that these
+schemers have been deliberately at work, and that there is a Party in
+the South, with some associates in the North, and even in the West, that
+have become tired of Free Government, in which they have lost
+confidence."
+
+Said he: "They raise an outcry against 'Coercion,' that they may
+paralyze the Government, cripple the exercise of the great powers with
+which it was invested, finally to change its form and subject us to a
+Southern despotism. Do we not know it to be so? Why disguise this
+great truth? Do we not know that they have been anxious for a change of
+Government for years? Since this Rebellion commenced it has manifested
+itself in many quarters.
+
+"How long is it since the organ of the Government at Richmond, the
+Richmond Whig, declared that rather than live under the Government of
+the United States, they preferred to take the Constitutional Queen of
+Great Britain as their protector; that they would make an alliance with
+Great Britain for the purpose of preventing the enforcement of the Laws
+of the United States. Do we not know this?"
+
+
+Stephen A. Douglas also, in his great Union speech at Chicago, May 1,
+1861--only a few days before his lamented death-said:
+
+"The election of Mr. Lincoln is a mere pretext. The present Secession
+movement is the result of an enormous Conspiracy formed more than a year
+since formed by leaders in the Southern Confederacy more than twelve
+months ago. They use the Slavery question as a means to aid the
+accomplishment of their ends. They desired the election of a Northern
+candidate by a Sectional vote, in order to show that the two Sections
+cannot live together.
+
+"When the history of the two years from the Lecompton question down to
+the Presidential election shall be written, it will be shown that the
+scheme was deliberately made to break up this Union.
+
+"They desired a Northern Republican to be elected by a purely Northern
+vote, and then assign this fact as a reason why the Sections cannot live
+together. If the Disunion candidate--(Breckinridge) in the late
+Presidential contest had carried the united South, their scheme was, the
+Northern candidate successful, to seize the Capital last Spring, and by
+a united South and divided North, hold it.
+
+"Their scheme was defeated, in the defeat of the Disunion candidates in
+several of the Southern States.
+
+"But this is no time for a detail of causes. The Conspiracy is now
+known; Armies have been raised. War is levied to accomplish it. There
+are only two sides to the question.
+
+"Every man must be for the United States, or against it. There can be
+no Neutrals in this War; only Patriots or Traitors! [Cheer after
+Cheer]."
+
+
+In a speech made in the United States Senate, January 31, 1862, Senator
+McDougall of California--conceded to be intellectually the peer of any
+man in that Body--said:
+
+"We are at War. How long have we been at War? We have been engaged in
+a war of opinion, according to my historical recollection, since 1838.
+There has been a Systematic organized war against the Institutions
+established by our fathers, since 1832. This is known of all men who
+have read carefully the history of our Country. If I had the leisure,
+or had consulted the authorities, I would give it year by year, and date
+by date, from that time until the present, how men adversary to our
+Republican Institutions have been organizing War against us, because
+they did not approve of our Republican Institutions.
+
+"Before the Mexican War, it is well known that General Quitman, then
+Governor of Mississippi, was organizing to produce the same condition of
+things (and he hoped a better condition of things, for he hoped a
+successful Secession), to produce this same revolution that is now
+disturbing our whole Land. The War with Mexico, fighting for a Southern
+proposition, for which I fought myself, made the Nation a unit until
+1849; and then again they undertook an Organization to produce
+Revolution. These things are history. This statement is true, and
+cannot be denied among intelligent men anywhere, and cannot be denied in
+this Senate.
+
+"The great men who sat in Council in this Hall, the great men of the
+Nation, men whose equals are not, and I fear will not be for many years,
+uniting their judgments, settled the controversy in 1850. They did not
+settle it for the Conspirators of the South, for they were not parties
+to the compact. Clay and Webster, and the great men who united with
+them, had no relation with the extremes of either extreme faction. The
+Compromise was made, and immediately after it had been effected, again
+commenced the work of organization. I had the honor to come from my
+State on the Pacific into the other branch of the Federal Congress, and
+there I learned as early as 1853, that the work of Treason was as
+industriously pursued as it is being pursued to-day. I saw it; I felt
+it; I knew it. I went home to the shores of the Pacific instructed
+somewhat on this subject.
+
+"Years passed by. I engaged in my duties as a simple professional man,
+not connected with public affairs. The question of the last
+Presidential election arose before the Country--one of those great
+questions that are not appreciated, I regret from my heart, by the
+American Nation, when we elect a President, a man who has more power for
+his time than any enthroned Monarch in Europe. We organize a Government
+and place him in front as the head and the Chief of the Government.
+That question came before the American People.
+
+"At that time I was advised of this state of feeling--and I will state
+it in as exact form of words as I can state it, that it may be
+understood by Senators: Mr. Douglas is a man acceptable to the South.
+Mr. Douglas is a man to whom no one has just cause of exception
+throughout the South. Mr. Douglas is more acceptable to Mississippi and
+Louisiana than Mr. Breckinridge. Mr. Breckinridge is not acceptable to
+the South; or at least, if he is so, he is not in the same degree with
+Mr. Douglas. Mr. Douglas is the accepted man of a great National Party,
+and if he is brought into the field he will be triumphantly elected.
+THAT MUST NOT BE DONE, because THE ORGANIZATION FOR SECESSION IS
+MATURED. EVERYTHING IS PREPARED, and the election of Mr. Douglas would
+only postpone it for four years; and Now when we are PREPARED to carry
+out these things WE MUST INDULGE IN STRATAGEM, and the nomination of Mr.
+Breckinridge is a mere strategic movement to divide the great
+conservative Party of the Nation into two, so as to elect a Republican
+candidate AND CONSOLIDATE THE SOUTH BY THE CRY OF 'ABOLITIONIST!'
+
+"That is a mere simple statement of the truth, and it cannot be
+contradicted. Now, in that scheme all the men of counsel of that Party
+were engaged. * * * I, on the far shores of the Pacific understood
+those things as long ago as a year last September (1860). I was advised
+about this policy and well informed of it. * * *
+
+"I was at war, in California, in January (1861) last; in the maintenance
+of the opinions that I am now maintaining, I had to go armed to protect
+myself from violence. The country, whenever there was controversy, was
+agitated to its deepest foundations. That is known, perhaps, not to
+gentlemen who live up in Maine or Massachusetts, or where you are
+foreign to all this agitation; but known to all people where disturbance
+might have been effective in consequences. I felt it, and had to carry
+my life in my hand by the month, as did my friends surrounding me.
+
+"I say that all through last winter (that of 1860-61) War had been
+inaugurated in all those parts of the Country where disturbed elements
+could have efficient result. In January (1861), a year ago, I stood in
+the hall of the House of Representatives of my State, and there was War
+then, and angry faces and hostile men were gathered; and we knew then
+well that the Southern States had determined to withdraw themselves from
+the Federal Union.
+
+"I happened to be one of those men who said, 'they shall not do it;' and
+it appears to me that the whole argument is between that class of men
+and the class of men who said they would let them do it. * * * When
+this doctrine was started here of disintegrating the Cotton States from
+the rest of the Confederacy, I opposed it at once. I saw immediately
+that War was to be invoked. * * *
+
+"I will not say these things were understood by gentlemen of the
+Republican Party * * * but I, having been accepted and received as a
+Democrat of the old school from the olden time, and HAVING FAST SOUTHERN
+SYMPATHIES, I DID KNOW ALL ABOUT THEM. * * * I KNOW THAT SECESSION WAS A
+THING DETERMINED UPON. * * * I was advised of and understood the whole
+programme, KNEW HOW IT WAS TO BE DONE IN ITS DETAILS; and I being
+advised, made war against it. * * *
+
+"War had been, in fact, inaugurated. What is War? Was it the firing on
+our flag at Sumter? Was that the first adversary passage? To say so,
+is trifling with men's judgments and information. No, sir; when they
+organized a Government, and set us at defiance, they commenced War; and
+the various steps they took afterwards, by organizing their troops, and
+forming their armies, and advancing upon Sumter; all these were merely
+acts of War; but War was inaugurated whenever they undertook to say they
+would maintain themselves as a separate and independent government; and,
+after that time, every man who gave his assistance to them was a
+Traitor, according to the highest Law."
+
+The following letter, written by one of the most active of the Southern
+conspirators in 1858, during the great Douglas and Lincoln Debate of
+that year, to which extended reference has already been made, is of
+interest in this connection, not only as corroborative evidence of the
+fact that the Rebellion of the Cotton States had been determined on long
+before Mr. Lincoln was elected President, but as showing also that the
+machinery for "firing the Southern heart" and for making a "solid South"
+was being perfected even then. The subsequent split in the Democratic
+Party, and nomination of Breckinridge by the Southern wing of it, was
+managed by this same Yancey, simply as parts of the deliberate programme
+of Secession and Rebellion long before determined on by the Cotton Lords
+of the Cotton States.
+
+
+ "MONTGOMERY, June 15, 1858.
+
+"DEAR SIR:--Your kind favor of the 13th is received.
+
+"I hardly agree with you that a general movement can be made that will
+clean out the Augean Stable. If the Democracy were overthrown it would
+result in giving place to a greedier and hungrier swarm of flies.
+
+"The remedy of the South is not in such a process. It is in a diligent
+organization of her true men for prompt resistance to the next
+aggression. It must come in the nature of things. No National Party
+can save us. No Sectional Party can ever do it. But if we could do as
+our fathers did--organize 'Committees of Safety' all over the Cotton
+States (and it is only in them that we can hope for any effective
+movement), we shall fire the Southern heart, instruct the Southern mind,
+give courage to each other, and at the proper moment, by one organized,
+concerted action, we can precipitate the Cotton States into a
+revolution.
+
+"The idea has been shadowed forth in the South by Mr. Ruffin; has been
+taken up and recommended in the Advertiser under the name of 'League of
+United Southerners,' who, keeping up their old relations on all other
+questions, will hold the Southern issues paramount, and influence
+parties, legislatures and statesmen. I have no time to enlarge, but to
+suggest merely.
+
+"In haste, yours, etc.
+ "W. L. YANCEY.
+
+"To JAMES S. SLAUGHTER."
+
+
+At Jackson, Mississippi, in the fall of the same year (1858) just after
+the great Debate between Douglas and Lincoln had closed, Jefferson Davis
+had already raised the standard of Revolution, Secession and Disunion,
+during the course of a speech, in which he said: "If an Abolitionist be
+chosen President of the United States, you will have presented to you
+the question of whether you will permit the Government to pass into the
+hands of your avowed and implacable enemies? Without pausing for an
+answer, I will state my own position to be, that such a result would be
+a species of revolution by which the purposes of the Government would be
+destroyed, and the observance of its mere forms entitled to no respect.
+In that event, in such a manner as should be most expedient, I should
+deem it your duty to provide for your safety, outside of the Union with
+those who have already shown the will, and would have acquired the power
+to deprive you of your birthright, and to reduce you to worse than the
+Colonial dependence of your fathers."
+
+The "birthright" thus referred to was of course, the alleged right to
+have Slaves; but what was this "worse than Colonial dependence" to
+which, in addition to the peril supposed to threaten the Southern
+"birthright," the Cotton States of Mississippi were reduced?
+"Dependence" upon whom, and with regard to what? Plainly upon the
+North; and with regard, not to Slavery alone--for Jefferson Davis held,
+down to the very close of the War, that the South fought "not for
+Slavery"--but as to Tariff Legislation also. There was the rub! These
+Cotton Lords believed, or pretended to believe, that the High Tariff
+Legislation, advocated and insisted upon both by the Whigs and
+Republicans for the Protection of the American Manufacturer and working
+man, built up and made prosperous the North, and elevated Northern
+laborers; at the expense of the South, and especially themselves, the
+Cotton Lords aforesaid.
+
+We have already seen from the utterances of leading men in the South
+Carolina, Secession Convention, "that"--as Governor Hicks, himself a
+Southern man, said in his address to the people of Maryland, after
+the War broke out "neither the election of Mr. Lincoln, nor the
+non-execution of the Fugitive Slave Law, nor both combined, constitute
+their grievances. They declare that THE REAL CAUSE of their discontent
+DATES AS FAR BACK AS 1833."
+
+And what was the chief cause or pretext for discontent at that time?
+Nothing less than the Tariff. They wanted Free Trade, as well as
+Slavery. The balance of the Union wanted Protection, as well as
+Freedom.
+
+The subsequent War, then, was not a War waged for Slavery alone, but for
+Independence with a view to Free Trade, as set forth in the "Confederate
+Constitution," as soon as that Independence could be achieved. And the
+War on our part, while for the integrity of the Union in all its parts
+--for the life of the Nation itself, and for the freedom of man, should
+also have brought the triumph of the American idea of a Protective
+Tariff, whose chief object is the building up of American manufactures
+and the Protection of the Free working-man, in the essential matters of
+education, food, clothing, rents, wages, and work.
+
+It is mentioned in McPherson's History of the Rebellion, p. 392, that in
+a letter making public his reasons for going to Washington and taking
+his seat in Congress, Mr. James L. Pugh, a Representative from Alabama,
+November 24, 1860, said: "The sole object of my visit is to promote the
+cause of Secession."
+
+From the manner in which they acted after reaching Washington, it is not
+unreasonable to suppose that most of those persons representing, in both
+branches of Congress, the Southern States which afterwards seceded, came
+to the National Capital with a similar object in view--taking their
+salaries and mileages for services supposed to be performed for the
+benefit of the very Government they were conspiring to injure, and
+swearing anew the sacred oath to support and defend the very
+Constitution which they were moving heaven and earth to undermine and
+destroy!
+
+ [As a part of the history of those times, the following letter is
+ not without interest:
+
+ "OXFORD, December 24, 1860.
+
+ "MY DEAR SIR:--I regretted having to leave Washington without
+ having with you a full conference as to the great events whose
+ shadows are upon us. The result of the election here is what the
+ most sanguine among us expected; that is, its general result is so.
+ It is as yet somewhat difficult to determine the distinctive
+ complexion of the convention to meet on the 7th of January. The
+ friends of Southern Independence, of firm and bona fide resistance,
+ won an overwhelming victory; but I doubt whether there is any
+ precise plan.
+
+ "No doubt a large majority of the Convention will be for separate
+ Secession. But unless intervening events work important changes of
+ sentiment, not all of those elected as resistance men will be for
+ immediate and separate Secession. Our friends in Pontotoc, Tippah,
+ De Soto and Pauola took grounds which fell far short of that idea,
+ though their resolutions were very firm in regard to Disunion and
+ an ultimate result.
+
+ "In the meantime the Disunion sentiment among the people is growing
+ every day more intense.
+
+ "Upon the whole, you have great cause for gratification in the
+ action of your State.
+
+ "The submissionists are routed, horse, foot, and dragoons, and any
+ concession by the North will fail to restore that sacred attachment
+ to the Union which was once so deeply radicated in the hearts of
+ our people. What they want now, is wise and sober leading. I
+ think that there might be more of dignity and prudent foresight in
+ the action of our State than have marked the proceedings of South
+ Carolina. I have often rejoiced that we have you to rest upon and
+ confide in. I do not know what we could do without you. That God
+ may preserve you to us, and that your mind may retain all its vigor
+ to carry us through these perilous times, is my most fervent
+ aspiration.
+
+ "I am as ever, and forever, your supporter, ally and friend.
+
+ "L. Q. C. LAMAR.
+
+ "COL. JEFF. DAVIS, Washington, D. C."]
+
+
+This was but a part of the deliberate, cold-blooded plan mapped out in
+detail, early in the session succeeding the election of Mr. Lincoln, in
+a secret Caucus of the Chief Plotters of the Treason. It was a secret
+conference, but the programme resolved on, soon leaked out.
+
+The following, which appeared in the Washington National Intelligencer
+on Friday, January 11, 1861, tells the story of this stage of the Great
+Conspiracy pretty clearly:
+
+"The subjoined communication, disclosing the designs of those who have
+undertaken to lead the movement now threatening a permanent dissolution
+of the Union, comes to us from a distinguished citizen of the South
+[understood to be Honorable Lemuel D. Evans, Representative from Texas
+in the 34th Congress, from March 4, 1855, to March 3, 1857] who formerly
+represented his State with great distinction in the popular branch of
+Congress.
+
+"Temporarily sojourning in this city he has become authentically
+informed of the facts recited in the subjoined letter, which he
+communicates to us under a sense of duty, and for the accuracy of which
+he makes himself responsible.
+
+"Nothing but assurances coming from such an intelligent, reliable source
+could induce us to accept the authenticity of these startling
+statements, which so deeply concern not only the welfare but the honor
+of the Southern people.
+
+"To them we submit, without present comment, the programme to which they
+are expected to yield their implicit adhesion, without any scruples of
+conscience as without any regard for their own safety.
+
+ "'WASHINGTON, January 9, 1861.
+
+"'I charge that on last Saturday night (January 5th), a Caucus was held
+in this city by the Southern Secession Senators from Florida, Georgia,
+Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas. It was then and
+there resolved in effect to assume to themselves the political power of
+the South, and, to control all political and military operations for the
+present, they telegraphed to complete the plan of seizing forts,
+arsenals, and custom-houses, and advised the Conventions now in session,
+and soon to assemble, to pass Ordinances for immediate Secession; but,
+in order to thwart any operations of the Government here, the
+Conventions of the Seceding States are to retain their representations
+in the Senate and the House.
+
+"'They also advised, ordered, or directed the assembling of a Convention
+of delegates from the Seceding States at Montgomery on the 13th of
+February. This can of course only be done by the revolutionary
+Conventions usurping the powers of the people, and sending delegates
+over whom they will lose all control in the establishment of a
+Provisional Government, which is the plan of the dictators.
+
+"'This Caucus also resolved to take the most effectual means to dragoon
+the Legislatures of Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, and
+Virginia into following the Seceding States. Maryland is also to be
+influenced by such appeals to popular passion as have led to the
+revolutionary steps which promise a conflict with the State and Federal
+Governments in Texas.
+
+"'They have possessed themselves of all the avenues of information in
+the South--the telegraph, the press, and the general control of the
+postmasters. They also confidently rely upon defections in the army and
+navy.
+
+"'The spectacle here presented is startling to contemplate. Senators
+entrusted with the representative sovereignty of the States, and sworn
+to support the Constitution of the United States, while yet acting as
+the privy councillors of the President, and anxiously looked to by their
+constituents to effect some practical plan of adjustment, deliberately
+conceive a Conspiracy for the overthrow of the Government through the
+military organizations, the dangerous secret order, the 'Knights of the
+Golden Circle,' 'Committees of Safety,' Southern leagues, and other
+agencies at their command; they have instituted as thorough a military
+and civil despotism as ever cursed a maddened Country.
+
+"'It is not difficult to foresee the form of government which a
+Convention thus hurriedly thrown together at Montgomery will irrevocably
+fasten upon a deluded and unsuspecting people. It must essentially be
+'a Monarchy founded upon military principles,' or it cannot endure.
+Those who usurp power never fail to forge strong chains.
+
+"'It may be too late to sound the alarm. Nothing may be able to arrest
+the action of revolutionary tribunals whose decrees are principally in
+'secret sessions.' But I call upon the people to pause and reflect
+before they are forced to surrender every principle of liberty, or to
+fight those who are becoming their masters rather than their servants.
+ "'EATON"
+
+"As confirming the intelligence furnished by our informant we may cite
+the following extract from the Washington correspondence of yesterday's
+Baltimore Sun:
+
+"'The leaders of the Southern movement are consulting as to the best
+mode of consolidating their interests into a Confederacy under a
+Provisional Government. The plan is to make Senator Hunter, of
+Virginia, Provisional President, and Jefferson Davis Commander-in-Chief
+of the army of defense. Mr. Hunter possesses in a more eminent degree
+the philosophical characteristics of Jefferson than any other statesman
+now living. Colonel Davis is a graduate of West Point, was
+distinguished for gallantry at Buena Vista, and served as Secretary of
+War under President Pierce, and is not second to General Scott in
+military science or courage.'
+
+"As further confirmatory of the above, the following telegraphic
+dispatch in the Charleston Mercury of January 7, 1861, is given:
+
+"'[From our Own Correspondent.]
+
+"'WASHINGTON, January 6.--The Senators from those of the Southern States
+which have called Conventions of their people, met in caucus last night,
+and adopted the following resolutions:
+
+"'Resolved, That we recommend to our respective States immediate
+Secession.
+
+"'Resolved, That we recommend the holding of a General Convention of the
+said States, to be holden in the city of Montgomery, Alabama, at some
+period not later than the 15th day of February, 1861.'
+
+"These resolutions were telegraphed this evening to the Conventions of
+Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. A third resolution is also known to
+have been adopted, but it is of a confidential character, not to be
+divulged at present. There was a good deal of discussion in the caucus
+on the question of whether the Seceding States ought to continue their
+delegations in Congress till the 4th of March, to prevent unfriendly
+legislation, or whether the Representatives of the Seceding States
+should all resign together, and leave a clear field for the opposition
+to pass such bills, looking to Coercion, as they may see fit. It is
+believed that the opinion that they should remain prevailed."
+
+Furthermore, upon the capture of Fernandina, Florida, in 1862, the
+following letter was found and published. Senator Yulee, the writer,
+was present and participated as one of the Florida Senators, in the
+traitorous "Consultation" therein referred to--and hence its especial
+value:
+
+
+"WASHINGTON, January 7, 1861.
+
+"My DEAR SIR:--On the other side is a copy of resolutions adopted at a
+consultation of the Senators from the Seceding States--in which Georgia,
+Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi, and Florida were
+present.
+
+"The idea of the meeting was that the States should go out at once, and
+provide for the early organization of a Confederate Government, not
+later than 15th February. This time is allowed to enable Louisiana and
+Texas to participate. It seemed to be the opinion that if we left here,
+force, loan, and volunteer Bills might be passed, which would put Mr.
+Lincoln in immediate condition for hostilities; whereas, by remaining in
+our places until the 4th of March, it is thought we can keep the hands
+of Mr. Buchanan tied, and disable the Republicans from effecting any
+legislation which will strengthen the hands of the incoming
+Administration.
+
+"The resolutions will be sent by the delegation to the President of the
+Convention. I have not been able to find Mr. Mallory (his Senatorial
+colleague) this morning. Hawkins (Representative from Florida) is in
+Connecticut. I have therefore thought it best to send you this copy of
+the resolutions.
+
+ "In haste, yours truly
+ "D. L. YULEE.
+
+"JOSEPH FINEGAN, Esq.,
+"'Sovereignty Convention,' Tallahassee, Fla."
+
+
+
+The resolutions "on the other side" of this letter, to which he refers,
+are as follows:
+
+"Resolved, 1--That in our opinion each of the Southern States should, as
+soon as may be, Secede from the Union.
+
+"Resolved, 2--That provision should be made for a Convention to organize
+a Confederacy of the Seceding States, the Convention to meet not later
+than the 15th of February, at the city of Montgomery, in the State of
+Alabama.
+
+"Resolved, That in view of the hostile legislation that is threatened
+against the Seceding States, and which may be consummated before the 4th
+of March, we ask instructions whether the delegations are to remain in
+Congress until that date for the purpose of defeating such legislation.
+
+"Resolved, That a committee be and are hereby appointed, consisting of
+Messrs. Davis, Slidell, and Mallory, to carry out the objects of this
+meeting."
+
+
+In giving this letter to the World--from its correspondent accompanying
+the expedition--the New York Times of March 15, 1862, made these
+forcible and clear-headed comments:
+
+"The telegraphic columns of the Times of January 7, 1861, contained the
+following Washington dispatch: 'The Southern Senators last night
+(January 5th) held a conference, and telegraphed to the Conventions of
+their respective States to advise immediate Secession.' Now, the
+present letter is a report by Mr. Yulee, who was present at this
+'consultation' as he calls it, of the resolutions adopted on this
+occasion, transmitted to the said Finegan, who by the way, was a member
+of the 'Sovereign Convention' of Florida, then sitting in the town of
+Tallahassee.
+
+"It will thus be seen that this remarkable letter, which breathes
+throughout the spirit of the Conspirator, in reality lets us into one of
+the most important of the numerous Secret Conclaves which the Plotters
+of Treason then held in the Capital. It was then, as it appears, that
+they determined to strike the blow and precipitate their States into
+Secession. But at the same time they resolved that it would be
+imprudent for them openly to withdraw, as in that case Congress might
+pass 'force, loan, and volunteer bills,' which would put Mr. Lincoln in
+immediate condition for hostilities. No, no! that would not do. (So
+much patriotic virtue they half suspected, half feared, was left in the
+Country.) On the contrary, 'by remaining in our places until the 4th of
+March it is thought we can keep the hands of Mr. Buchanan tied, and
+disable the Republicans from effecting any legislation which will
+strengthen the hands of the incoming Administration.' Ah what a tragic
+back-ground, full of things unutterable, is there!
+
+"It appears, however, that events were faster than they, and instead of
+being able to retain their seats up to the 4th of March, they were able
+to remain but a very few weeks. Mr. Davis withdrew on the 21st of
+January, just a fortnight after this 'consultation.' But for the rest,
+mark how faithfully the programme here drawn up by this knot of Traitors
+in secret session was realized. Each of the named States represented by
+this Cabal did, 'as soon as may be, Secede from the Union'--the
+Mississippi Convention passing its Ordinance on the heels of the receipt
+of these resolutions, on the 9th of January; Florida and Alabama on the
+11th; Louisiana on the 26th, and Texas on the 1st of February; while the
+'organization of the Confederate Government' took place at the very time
+appointed, Davis being inaugurated on the 18th of February.
+
+"And here is another Plot of the Traitors brought to light. These very
+men, on withdrawing from the Senate, urged that they were doing so in
+obedience to the command of their respective States. As Mr. Davis put
+it, in his parting speech, 'the Ordinance of Secession having passed the
+Convention of his State, he felt obliged to obey the summons, and retire
+from all official connection with the Federal Government.' This letter
+of Mr. Yulee's clearly reveals that they had themselves pushed their
+State Conventions to the adoption of the very measure which they had the
+hardihood to put forward as an imperious 'summons' which they could not
+disobey. It is thus that Treason did its Work."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XII.
+
+ COPPERHEADISM VS. UNION DEMOCRACY.
+
+When we remember that it was on the night of the 5th of January, 1861,
+that the Rebel Conspirators in the United States Senate met and plotted
+their confederated Treason, as shown in the Yulee letter, given in the
+preceding Chapter of this work, and that on the very next day, January
+6, 1861, Fernando Wood, then Mayor of the great city of New York, sent
+in to the Common Council of that metropolis, his recommendation that New
+York city should Secede from its own State, as well as the United
+States, and become "a Free City," which, said he, "may shed the only
+light and hope of a future reconstruction of our once blessed
+Confederacy," it is impossible to resist the conviction that this
+extraordinary movement of his, was inspired and prompted, if not
+absolutely directed, by the secret Rebel Conclave at Washington. It
+bears within itself internal evidences of such prompting.
+
+Thus, when Mayor Wood states the case in the following words, he seems
+to be almost quoting word for word an instruction received by him from
+these Rebel leaders--in connection with their plausible argument,
+upholding it. Says he:
+
+"Much, no doubt, can be said in favor of the justice and policy of a
+separation. It may be said that Secession or revolution in any of the
+United States would be subversive of all Federal authority, and, so far
+as the central Government is concerned, the resolving of the community
+into its original elements--that, if part of the States form new
+combinations and, Governments, other States may do the same. Then it
+may be said, why should not New York city, instead of supporting by her
+contributions in revenue two-thirds of the expenses of the United
+States, become also equally independent? As a Free City, with but
+nominal duty on imports, her local Government could be supported without
+taxation upon her people. Thus we could live free from taxes, and have
+cheap goods nearly duty free. In this she would have the whole and
+united support of the Southern States, as well as all the other States
+to whose interests and rights under the Constitution she has always been
+true."
+
+That is the persuasive casuistry peculiar to the minds of the Southern
+Secession leaders. It is naturally followed by a touch of that
+self-confident bluster, also at that time peculiar to Southern lips
+--as follows:
+
+"It is well for individuals or communities to look every danger square
+in the face, and to meet it calmly and bravely. As dreadful as the
+severing of the bonds that have hitherto united the States has been in
+contemplation, it is now apparently a stern and inevitable fact. We
+have now to meet it, with all the consequences, whatever they may be.
+If the Confederacy is broken up the Government is dissolved, and it
+behooves every distinct community, as well as every individual, to take
+care of themselves.
+
+"When Disunion has become a fixed and certain fact, why may not New York
+disrupt the bands which bind her to a venal and corrupt master--to a
+people and a Party that have plundered her revenues, attempted to ruin
+her commerce, taken away the power of self-government, and destroyed the
+Confederacy of which she was the proud Empire City? * * *"
+
+After thus restating, as it were, the views and "arguments" of the Rebel
+Junta, as we may presume them to have been pressed on him, he becomes
+suddenly startled at the Conclave's idea of meeting "all the
+consequences, whatever they may be," and, turning completely around,
+with blanching pen, concludes:
+
+"But I am not prepared to recommend the violence implied in these views.
+In stating this argument in favor of freedom, 'peaceably if we can,
+forcibly if we must,' let me not be misunderstood. The redress can be
+found only in appeals to the magnanimity of the people of the whole
+State." * * *
+
+If "these views" were his own, and not those of the Rebel Conclave, he
+would either have been "prepared to recommend the violence implied in
+them," or else he would have suppressed them altogether. But his
+utterance is that of one who has certain views for the first time placed
+before him, and shrinks from the consequences of their advocacy--shrinks
+from "the violence implied" in them--although for some reason he dares
+not refuse to place those views before the people.
+
+And, in carrying out his promise to do so--"In stating this argument,"
+presumably of the Rebel Conclave, "in favor of freedom, 'peaceably if we
+can, forcibly if we must'"--the language used is an admission that the
+argument is not his own. Were it his own, would he not have said in
+"making" it, instead of in "stating" it? Furthermore, had he been
+"making" it of his own accord, he would hardly have involved himself in
+such singular contradictions and explanations as are here apparent. He
+was plainly "stating" the Rebel Conclave's argument, not making one
+himself. He was obeying orders, under the protest of his fears. And
+those fears forced his trembling pen to write the saving-clause which
+"qualifies" the Conclave's second-hand bluster preceding it.
+
+That the Rebels hoped for Northern assistance in case of Secession, is
+very clear from many speeches made prior to and soon after the election
+of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency--and from other sources of information.
+Thus we find in a speech made by Representative L. M. Keitt, of South
+Carolina, in Charleston, November, 1860, the following language,
+reported by the Mercury:
+
+"But we have been threatened. Mr. Amos Kendall wrote a letter, in which
+he said to Colonel Orr, that if the State went out, three hundred
+thousand volunteers were ready to march against her. I know little
+about Kendall--and the less the better. He was under General Jackson;
+but for him the Federal treasury seemed to have a magnetic attraction.
+
+"Jackson was a pure man, but he had too many around him who made
+fortunes far transcending their salaries. [Applause.] And this Amos
+Kendall had the same good fortune under Van Buren. He (Kendall)
+threatened us on the one side, and John Hickman on the other. John
+Hickman said, defiantly, that if we went out of the Union, eighteen
+millions of Northern men would bring us back.
+
+"Let me tell you, there are a million of Democrats in the North who,
+when the Black Republicans attempt to march upon the South, will be
+found a wall of fire in the front. [Cries of 'that's so,' and
+applause.]"
+
+Harper's Weekly of May 28, 1864, commenting on certain letters of M. F.
+Maury and others, then just come to light, said:
+
+"How far Maury and his fellow-conspirators were justified in their hopes
+of seducing New Jersey into the Rebellion, may be gathered from the
+correspondence that took place, in the spring of 1861, between
+Ex-Governor Price, of New Jersey, who was one of the representatives from
+that State in the Peace Congress, and L. W. Burnet, Esq., of Newark.
+
+"Mr. Price, in answering the question what ought New Jersey to do, says:
+'I believe the Southern confederation permanent. The proceeding has
+been taken with forethought and deliberation--it is no hurried impulse,
+but an irrevocable act, based upon the sacred, as was supposed, equality
+of the States; and in my opinion every Slave State will in a short
+period of time be found united in one Confederacy. * * * Before that
+event happens, we cannot act, however much we may suffer in our material
+interests. It is in that contingency, then, that I answer the second
+part of your question:--What position for New Jersey will best accord
+with her interests, honor, and the patriotic instincts of her people? I
+say emphatically she would go with the South from every wise,
+prudential, and patriotic reason.'
+
+"Ex-Governor Price proceeds to say that he is confident the States of
+Pennsylvania and New York will 'choose also to cast their lot with the
+South, and after them, the Western and Northwestern States.'"
+
+The following resolution,* was adopted with others, by a meeting of
+Democrats held January 16, 1861, at National Hall, Philadelphia, and has
+been supposed to disclose "a plan, of which ex-Governor Price was likely
+aware:"
+
+"Twelfth--That in the deliberate judgment of the Democracy of
+Philadelphia, and, so far as we know it, of Pennsylvania, the
+dissolution of the Union by the separation of the whole South, a result
+we shall most sincerely lament, may release this Commonwealth to a large
+extent from the bonds which now connect her with the Confederacy, except
+so far as for temporary convenience she chooses to submit to them, and
+would authorize and require her citizens, through a Convention, to be
+assembled for that purpose, to determine with whom her lot should be
+cast, whether with the North and the East, whose fanaticism has
+precipitated this misery upon us, or with our brethren of the South,
+whose wrongs we feel as our own; or whether Pennsylvania should stand by
+herself, as a distinct community, ready when occasion offers, to bind
+together the broken Union, and resume her place of loyalty and
+devotion."
+
+Senator Lane of Oregon, replying to Senator Johnson of Tennessee,
+December 19, 1860, in the United States Senate, and speaking of and for
+the Northern Democracy, said:
+
+"They will not march with him under his bloody banner, or Mr. Lincoln's,
+to invade the soil of the gallant State of South Carolina, when she may
+withdraw from a Confederacy that has refused her that equality to which
+she is entitled, as a member of the Union, under the Constitution. On
+the contrary, when he or any other gentleman raises that banner and
+attempts to subjugate that gallant people, instead of marching with him,
+we will meet him there, ready to repel him and his forces. He shall not
+bring with him the Northern Democracy to strike down a people contending
+for rights that have been refused them in a Union that ought to
+recognize the equality of every member of the Confederacy. * * * I now
+serve notice that, when War is made upon that gallant South for
+withdrawing from a Union which refuses them their rights, the Northern
+Democracy will not join in the crusade. THE REPUBLICAN PARTY WILL HAVE
+WAR ENOUGH AT HOME. THE DEMOCRACY OF THE NORTH NEED NOT CROSS THE
+BORDER TO FIND AN ENEMY."
+
+The following letter from Ex-President Pierce is in the same misleading
+strain:
+
+"CLARENDON HOTEL, January 6, 1860.--[This letter was captured, at Jeff.
+Davis's house in Mississippi, by the Union troops.]
+
+"MY DEAR FRIEND:--I wrote you an unsatisfactory note a day or two since.
+I have just had a pleasant interview with Mr. Shepley, whose courage and
+fidelity are equal to his learning and talents. He says he would rather
+fight the battle with you as the standard-bearer in 1860, than under the
+auspices of any other leader. The feeling and judgment of Mr. S. in
+this relation is, I am confident, rapidly gaining ground in New England.
+Our people are looking for 'the coming man,' one who is raised by all
+the elements of his character above the atmosphere ordinarily breathed
+by politicians, a man really fitted for this exigency by his ability,
+courage, broad statesmanship, and patriotism. Colonel Seymour (Thomas
+H.) arrived here this morning, and expressed his views in this relation
+in almost the identical language used by Mr. Shepley.
+
+"It is true that, in the present state of things at Washington and
+throughout the country, no man can predict what changes two or three
+months may bring forth. Let me suggest that, in the running debates in
+Congress, full justice seems to me not to have been done to the
+Democracy of the North. I do not believe that our friends at the South
+have any just idea of the state of feeling, hurrying at this moment to
+the pitch of intense exasperation, between those who respect their
+political obligations and those who have apparently no impelling power
+but that which fanatical passion on the subject of Domestic Slavery
+imparts.
+
+"Without discussing the question of right, of abstract power to Secede,
+I have never believed that actual disruption of the Union can occur
+without blood; and if, through the madness of Northern Abolitionism,
+that dire calamity must come, THE FIGHTING WILL NOT BE ALONG MASON'S AND
+DIXON'S LINE MERELY. IT [WILL] BE WITHIN OUR OWN BORDERS, IN OUR OWN
+STREETS, BETWEEN THE TWO CLASSES OF CITIZENS TO WHOM I HAVE REFERRED.
+Those who defy law and scout Constitutional obligations will, if we ever
+reach the arbitrament of arms, FIND OCCUPATION ENOUGH AT HOME.
+
+"Nothing but the state of Mrs. Pierce's health would induce me to leave
+the Country now, although it is quite likely that my presence at home
+would be of little service.
+
+"I have tried to impress upon our people, especially in New Hampshire
+and Connecticut, where the only elections are to take place during the
+coming spring, that while our Union meetings are all in the right
+direction, and well enough for the present, they will not be worth the
+paper upon which their resolutions are written unless we can overthrow
+political Abolitionism at the polls and repeal the Unconstitutional and
+obnoxious laws which, in the cause of 'personal liberty,' have been
+placed upon our statute-books. I shall look with deep interest, and not
+without hope, for a decided change in this relation.
+
+ "Ever and truly your friend,
+ "FRANKLIN PIERCE.
+
+"Hon. JEFF. DAVIS,
+"Washington, D. C."
+
+
+But let us turn from contemplating the encouragements to Southern
+Treason and Rebellion, held out by Northern Democratic Copperheads, to
+the more pleasing spectacle of Loyalty and Patriotism exhibited by the
+Douglas wing of Democracy.
+
+Immediately after Sumter, and while the President was formulating his
+Message, calling for 75,000 volunteers, Douglas called upon him at the
+White House, regretted that Mr. Lincoln did not propose to call for
+thrice as many; and on the 18th of April, having again visited the White
+House, wrote, and gave the following dispatch to the Associated Press,
+for circulation throughout the Country:
+
+"April 18, 1861, Senator Douglas called on the President, and had an
+interesting conversation on the present condition of the Country. The
+substance of it was, on the part of Mr. Douglas, that while he was
+unalterably opposed to the administration in all its political issues,
+he was prepared to fully sustain the President in the exercise of all
+his Constitutional functions, to preserve the Union, maintain the
+Government, and defend the Federal Capital. A firm policy and prompt
+action was necessary. The Capital was in danger and must be defended at
+all hazards, and at any expense of men and money. He spoke of the
+present and future without any reference to the past."
+
+It is stated of this meeting and its immediate results: "The President
+was deeply gratified by the interview. To the West, Douglas
+telegraphed, 'I am for my Country and against all its assailants.' The
+fire of his patriotism spread to the masses of the North, and Democrat
+and Republican rallied to the support of the flag. In Illinois the
+Democratic and Republican presses vied with each other in the utterance
+of patriotic sentiments. * * * Large and numerously attended Mass
+meetings met, as it were with one accord, irrespective of parties, and
+the people of all shades of political opinions buried their party
+hatchets. Glowing and eloquent orators exhorted the people to ignore
+political differences in the present crisis, join in the common cause,
+and rally to the flag of the Union and the Constitution. It was a noble
+truce. From the many resolutions of that great outpouring of patriotic
+sentiment, which ignored all previous party ties, we subjoin the
+following:
+
+"'Resolved, that it is the duty of all patriotic citizens of Illinois,
+without distinction of party or sect, to sustain the Government through
+the peril which now threatens the existence of the Union; and of our
+Legislature to grant such aid of men and money as the exigency of the
+hour and the patriotism of our people shall demand.'
+
+"Governor Yates promptly issued his proclamation, dated the 15th of
+April, convening the Legislature for the 23rd inst. in Extraordinary
+Session.
+
+ * * * * * * *
+
+"On the evening of the 25th of April, Mr. Douglas, who had arrived at
+the Capital the day before, addressed the General Assembly and a densely
+packed audience, in the Hall of Representatives, in that masterly
+effort, which must live and be enshrined in the hearts of his countrymen
+so long as our Government shall endure. Douglas had ever delighted in
+the mental conflicts of Party strife; but now, when his Country was
+assailed by the red hand of Treason, he was instantly divested of his
+Party armor and stood forth panoplied only in the pure garb of a true
+Patriot.
+
+"He taught his auditory--he taught his Country, for his speeches were
+telegraphed all over it--the duty of patriotism at that perilous hour of
+the Nation's Life. He implored both Democrats and Republicans to lay
+aside their Party creeds and Platforms; to dispense with Party
+Organizations and Party Appeals; to forget that they were ever divided
+until they had first rescued the Government from its assailants. His
+arguments were clear, convincing, and unanswerable; his appeals for the
+Salvation of his Country, irresistible. It was the last speech, but
+one, he ever made."
+
+Among other pithy and patriotic points made by him in that great speech
+--[July 9, 1861.]--were these: "So long as there was a hope of a
+peaceful solution, I prayed and implored for Compromise. I have spared
+no effort for a peaceful solution of these troubles; I have failed, and
+there is but one thing to do--to rally under the flag." "The South has
+no cause of complaint." "Shall we obey the laws or adopt the Mexican
+system of War, on every election." "Forget Party--all remember only
+your Country." "The shortest road to Peace is the most tremendous
+preparation for War." "It is with a sad heart and with a grief I have
+never before experienced, that I have to contemplate this fearful
+Struggle. * * * But it is our duty to protect the Government and the
+flag from every assailant, be he who he may."
+
+In Chicago, Douglas repeated his patriotic appeal for the preservation
+of the Union, and tersely declared that "There can be no Neutrals in
+this War--only Patriots and Traitors." In that city he was taken with a
+mortal illness, and expired at the Tremont House, June 3, 1861--just one
+month prior to the meeting of the called Session of Congress.
+
+The wonderful influence wielded by Douglas throughout the North, was
+well described afterward by his colleague, Judge Trumbull, in the
+Senate, when he said: "His course had much to do in producing that
+unanimity in support of the Government which is now seen throughout the
+Loyal States. The sublime spectacle of twenty million people rising as
+one man in vindication of Constitutional Liberty and Free Government,
+when assailed by misguided Rebels and plotting Traitors, is, to a
+considerable extent due to his efforts. His magnanimous and patriotic
+course in this trying hour of his Country's destiny was the crowning act
+of his life."
+
+And Senator McDougall of California--his life-long friend--in describing
+the shock of the first intelligence that reached him, of his friend's
+sudden death, with words of even greater power, continued: "But, as,
+powerless for the moment to resist the tide of emotions, I bowed my head
+in silent grief, it came to me that the Senator had lived to witness the
+opening of the present unholy War upon our Government; that, witnessing
+it, from the Capital of his State, as his highest and best position, he
+had sent forth a War-cry worthy of that Douglass, who, as ancient
+legends tell, with the welcome of the knightly Andalusian King, was
+told,
+
+ '"Take thou the leading of the van,
+ And charge the Moors amain;
+ There is not such a lance as thine
+ In all the hosts of Spain.'
+
+"Those trumpet notes, with a continuous swell, are sounding still
+throughout all the borders of our Land. I heard them upon the mountains
+and in the valleys of the far State whence I come. They have
+communicated faith and strength to millions. * * * I ceased to grieve
+for Douglas. The last voice of the dead Douglas I felt to be stronger
+than the voice of multitudes of living men."
+
+And here it may not be considered out of place for a brief reference to
+the writer's own position at this time; especially as it has been much
+misapprehended and misstated. One of the fairest of these statements*
+runs thus:
+
+ [Lusk's History of the Politics of Illinois from 1856 to 1884, p.
+ 175.]
+
+"It is said that Logan did not approve the great speech made by Senator
+Douglas, at Springfield, in April, 1861, wherein he took the bold ground
+that in the contest which was then clearly imminent to him, between the
+North and the South, that there could be but two parties, Patriots and
+Traitors. But granting that there was a difference between Douglas and
+Logan at that time, it did not relate to their adhesion to the Cause of
+their Country Logan had fought for the Union upon the plains of Mexico,
+and again stood ready to give his life, if need be, for his Country,
+even amid the cowardly slanders that were then following his pathway.
+
+"The difference between Douglas and Logan was this: Mr. Douglas was
+fresh from an extended campaign in the dissatisfied Sections of the
+Southern States, and he was fully apprised of their intention to attempt
+the overthrow of the Union, and was therefore in favor of the most
+stupendous preparations for War.
+
+"Mr. Logan, on the other hand, believed in exhausting all peaceable
+means before a resort to Arms, and in this he was like President
+Lincoln; but when he saw there was no alternative but to fight, he was
+ready and willing for armed resistance, and, resigning his seat in
+Congress, entered the Army, as Colonel of the Thirty-first Illinois
+Infantry, and remained in the field in active service until Peace was
+declared."
+
+This statement is, in the main, both fair and correct.
+
+It is no more correct, however, in intimating that "Logan did not
+approve the great speech made by Senator Douglas, at Springfield, in
+April, 1861, wherein he took the bold ground that in the contest which
+was then clearly imminent to him, between the North and the South, that
+there could be but two parties, Patriots and Traitors," than others have
+been in intimating that he was disloyal to the Union, prior to the
+breaking out of hostilities--a charge which was laid out flat in the
+Senate Chamber, April 19, 1881.
+
+ [In Dawson's Life of Logan, pp. 348-353, this matter is thus
+ alluded to:
+
+ "In an early part of this work the base charge that Logan was not
+ loyal before the War has been briefly touched on. It may be well
+ here to touch on it more fully. As was then remarked, the only man
+ that ever dared insinuate to Logan's face that he was a Secession
+ sympathizer before the War, was Senator Ben Hill of Georgia, in the
+ United States Senate Chamber, March 30, 1881; and Logan instantly
+ retorted: 'Any man who insinuates that I sympathized with it at
+ that time insinuates what is false,' and Senator Hill at once
+ retracted the insinuation."
+
+ "Subsequently, April 19, 1881, Senator Logan, in a speech,
+ fortified with indisputable record and documentary evidence,
+ forever set at rest the atrocious calumny. From that record it
+ appears that on the 17th December, 1860, while still a Douglas
+ Democrat, immediately after Lincoln's election, and long before his
+ inauguration, and before even the first gun of the war was fired,
+ Mr. Logan, then a Representative in the House, voted affirmatively
+ on a resolution, offered by Morris of Illinois, which declared an
+ 'immovable attachment' to 'our National Union,' and 'that it is our
+ patriotic duty to stand by it as our hope in peace and our defense
+ in war;' that on the 7th January, 1861, Mr. Adrian having offered
+ the following 'Resolved, That we fully approve of the bold and
+ patriotic act of Major Anderson in withdrawing from Fort Moultrie
+ to Fort Sumter, and of the determination of the President to
+ maintain that fearless officer in his present position; and that we
+ will support the President in all constitutional measures to
+ enforce the laws and preserve the Union'--Mr. Logan, in casting his
+ vote, said: 'As the resolution receives my unqualified approval, I
+ vote Aye;' and that further on the 5th of February, 1861, before
+ the inauguration of President Lincoln, in a speech made by Logan in
+ the House in favor of the Crittenden Compromise measures, he used
+ the following language touching Secession:
+
+ "'Sir, I have always denied, and do yet deny, the right of
+ Secession. There is no warrant for it in the Constitution. It is
+ wrong, it is unlawful, unconstitutional, and should be called by
+ the right name--revolution. No good, sir, can result from it, but
+ much mischief may. It is no remedy for any grievances. I hold
+ that all grievances can be much easier redressed inside the Union
+ than out of it.'
+
+ "In that same speech he also * * * said:
+
+ "'I have been taught that the preservation of this glorious Union,
+ with its broad flag waving over us as the shield for our protection
+ on land and on sea, is paramount to all the parties and platforms
+ that ever have existed or ever can exist. I would, to day, if I
+ had the power, sink my own party and every other one, with all
+ their platforms, into the vortex of ruin, without heaving a sigh or
+ shedding a tear, to save the Union, or even stop the revolution
+ where it is.'
+
+ "In this most complete speech of vindication--which Senator Logan
+ said he put upon record, 'First, that my children, after me, may
+ not have these slanders thrown in their faces without the power of
+ dispelling or refuting them; and second, that they may endure in
+ this Senate Chamber, so that it may be a notice to Senators of all
+ parties and all creeds that hereafter, while I am here in the
+ Senate, no insinuation of that kind will be submitted to by me,'
+ --the proofs of the falsity of the charge were piled mountain-high,
+ and among them the following voluntary statements from two
+ Democratic Senators, who were with him before the War, in the House
+ of Representatives:
+
+ "'United States Senate Chamber,
+ WASHINGTON, April 14, 1881.
+
+ "'DEAR SIR: In a discussion in the Senate a few weeks since you
+ referred to the fact that a Southern Senator, who had served with
+ you in Congress before the War, could testify that during your term
+ of service there you gave no encouragement to the Secession of the
+ Southern States, adding, however, that you did not ask such
+ testimony. I was not sure at the time that your reference was to
+ me, as Senator Pugh of Alabama, was also a member of that Congress.
+
+ "'Since then, having learned that your reference was to me, I
+ propose on the floor of the Senate, should suitable occasion offer,
+ to state what I know of your position and views at the time
+ referred to. But, as I may be absent from the Senate for some
+ time, I deem it best to give you this written statement, with full
+ authority to use it in any way that seems proper to you.
+
+ "'When you first came to Congress in ----, you were a very ardent
+ and impetuous Democrat. In the division which took place between
+ Mr. Douglas and his friends, on the one hand, and the Southern
+ Democrats, on the other, you were a warm and uncompromising
+ supporter of Mr. Douglas; and in the course of that convention you
+ became somewhat estranged from your party associates in the South.
+ In our frequent discussions upon the subjects of difference, I
+ never heard a word of sympathy from your lips with Secession in
+ either theory or practice. On the contrary, you were vehement in
+ your opposition to it.'
+
+ "'I remember well a conversation I had with you just before leaving
+ Washington to become a candidate for the Secession convention. You
+ expressed the deep regret you felt at my proposed action, and
+ deplored the contemplated movement in terms as strong as any I
+ heard from any Republican.'
+ Yours truly,
+ "'L. Q. C. LAMAR
+
+ "'Hon. JOHN A. LOGAN.
+ "United States Senate, Washington, D. C.'
+
+
+ "Senate Chamber, April 14, 1881.
+
+ "'Having read the above statement of Senator Lamar, I fully concur
+ with him in my recollection of your expressions and action in
+ opposition to Secession.
+ Truly yours, J. L. PUGH.'
+
+ "At the conclusion of Senator Logan's speech of refutation, Senator
+ Brown of Georgia (Democrat) said:
+
+ "'Our newspapers may have misrepresented his position. I am now
+ satisfied they did. I have heard the Senator's statement with
+ great interest, and I take pleasure in saying--for I had some idea
+ before that there was some shadow of truth in this report--that I
+ think his vindication' is full, complete, and conclusive.'
+
+ "'I recollect very well during the war, when I was Governor of my
+ State and the Federal army was invading it, to have had a large
+ force of militia aiding the Confederate army, and that Gen. Logan
+ was considered by us as one of the ablest, most gallant, and
+ skillful leaders of the Federal army. We had occasion to feel his
+ power, and we learned to respect him.'
+
+ "Senator Beck, of Kentucky (Democrat), referring to the fact that
+ he was kept out of the House at one time, and a great many
+ suggestions had been made to him as to General Logan, continued:
+
+ "'As I said the other day, I never proposed to go into such things,
+ and never have done so; but at that time General Frank Blair was
+ here, and I submitted many of the papers I received to him,--I
+ never thought of using any of them,--and I remember the remark that
+ he made to me: Beck, John Logan was one of the hardest fighters of
+ the war; and when many men who were seeking to whistle him down the
+ wind because of his politics when the war began, were snugly fixed
+ in safe places, he was taking his life in his hand wherever the
+ danger was greatest--and I tore up every paper I got, and burnt it
+ in the fire before his eyes.'
+
+ "Senator Dawes of Massachusetts (Republican), also took occasion to
+ say:
+
+ "Mr. President, I do not know that anything which can be said on
+ this side would be of any consequence to the Senator from Illinois
+ in this matter. But I came into the House of Representatives at
+ the same session that the Senator did.
+
+ "'He was at that time one of the most intense of Democrats, and I
+ was there with him when the Rebellion first took root and
+ manifested itself in open and flagrant war; and I wish to say as a
+ Republican of that day, when the Senator from Illinois was a
+ Democrat, that at the earliest possible moment when the Republican
+ Party was in anxiety as to the position of the Northern Democracy
+ on the question of forcible assault on the Union, nothing did they
+ hail with more delight than the early stand which the Senator from
+ Illinois, from the Democratic side of the House, took upon the
+ question of resistance to the Government of the United States.
+
+ "I feel that it is right that I should state that he was among the
+ first, if not the very first, of the Northern Democrats who came
+ out openly and declared, whatever may have been their opinion about
+ the doctrines of the Republican Party, that when it came to a
+ question of forcible resistance, they should be counted on the side
+ of the Government, and in co-operation with the Republican Party in
+ the attempt to maintain its authority.'
+
+ "'I am very glad, whether it be of any service or not, to bear this
+ testimony to the early stand the Senator from Illinois took while
+ he was still a Democrat, and the large influence he exerted upon
+ the Northern Democracy, which kept it from being involved in the
+ condition and in the work of the Southern Democracy at that
+ time.'"]
+
+So far from this being the case, the fact is--and it is here mentioned
+in part to bring out the interesting point that, had he lived, Douglas
+would have been no idle spectator of the great War that was about to be
+waged--that when Douglas visited Springfield, Illinois, to make that
+great speech in the latter part of April, 1861, the writer went there
+also, to see and talk over with him the grave situation of affairs, not
+only in the Nation generally, but particularly in Illinois. And on that
+occasion Mr. Douglas said to him, substantially: "The time has now
+arrived when a man must be either for or against his Country. Indeed so
+strongly do I feel this, and that further dalliance with this question
+is useless, that I shall myself take steps to join the Array, and fight
+for the maintenance of the Union."
+
+To this the writer replied that he was "equally well convinced that each
+and every man must take his stand," and that he also "purposed at an
+early day to raise a Regiment and draw the sword in that Union's
+defense."
+
+This was after Sumter, and only seventy days before Congress was to meet
+in Called Session. When that session met, Douglas had, weeks before,
+gone down to the grave amid the tears of a distracted Nation, with the
+solemn injunction upon his dying lips: "Obey the Laws and Defend the
+Constitution"--and the writer had returned to Washington, to take his
+seat in Congress, with that determination still alive in his heart.
+
+In fact there had been all along, substantial accord between Mr. Douglas
+and the writer. There really was no "difference between Douglas and
+Logan" as to "preparations for War," or in "exhausting all Peaceable
+means before a resort to Arms," and both were in full accord with
+President Lincoln on these points.
+
+Let us see if this is not of record: Take the writer's speech in the
+House of Representatives, February 5, 1861, and it will be seen that he
+said: "I will go as far as any man in the performance of a
+Constitutional duty to put down Rebellion, to suppress Insurrection, and
+to enforce the Laws." Again, he said, "If all the evils and calamities
+that have ever happened since the World began, could be gathered in one
+Great Catastrophe, its horrors could not eclipse, in their frightful
+proportions, the Drama that impends over us."
+
+From these extracts it is plain enough that even at this very early day
+the writer fully understood the "frightful proportions" of the impending
+struggle, and would "go as far as"--not only Mr. Douglas, but--"any man,
+to put down Rebellion"--which necessarily involved War, and
+"preparations for War." But none the less, but rather the more, because
+of the horrors which he foresaw must be inseparable from so terrible a
+War, was he anxious by timely mutual Concessions--"by any sacrifice," as
+he termed it--if possible, to avert it.
+
+He was ready to sink Party, self, and to accept any of the Propositions
+to that end--Mr. Douglas's among them.
+
+ [See his speech of February 5, 1861, Congressional Globe]
+
+In this attitude also he was in accord with Mr. Douglas, who, as well as
+the writer, was ready to make any sacrifice, of Party or self; to
+"exhaust every effort at peaceful adjustment," before resorting to War.
+The fact is they were much of the time in consultation, and always in
+substantial accord.
+
+In a speech made in the Senate, March 15, 1861, Mr. Douglas had reduced
+the situation to the following three alternative points:
+
+"1. THE RESTORATION AND PRESERVATION OF THE UNION by such Amendments to
+the Constitution as will insure the domestic tranquillity, safety, and
+equality of all the States, and thus restore peace, unity, and
+fraternity, to the whole Country.
+
+"2. A PEACEFUL DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION by recognizing the Independence
+of such States as refuse to remain in the Union without such
+Constitutional Amendments, and the establishment of a liberal system of
+commercial and social intercourse with them by treaties of commerce and
+amity.
+
+"3. WAR, with a view to the subjugation and military occupation of those
+States which have Seceded or may Secede from the Union."
+
+As a thorough Union man, he could never have agreed to a "Peaceful
+Dissolution of the Union." On the other hand he was equally averse to
+War, because he held that "War is Disunion. War is final, eternal
+Separation." Hence, all his energies and talents were given to carrying
+out his first-stated line of policy, and to persuading the Seceders to
+accept what in that line was offered to them by the dominant party.
+
+His speech in the Senate, March 25, 1861, was a remarkable effort in
+that respect. Mr. Breckinridge had previously spoken, and had declared
+that: "Whatever settlement may be made of other questions, this must be
+settled upon terms that will give them [the Southern States] either a
+right, in common with others, to emigrate into all the territory, or
+will secure to them their rights on a principle of equitable division."
+
+Mr. Douglas replied: "Now, under the laws as they stand, in every
+Territory of the United States, without any exception, a Southern man
+can go with his Slave-property on equal terms with all other property.
+* * * Every man, either from the North or South, may go into the
+Territories with his property on terms of exact equality, subject to the
+local law; and Slave-property stands on an equal footing with all other
+kinds of property in the Territories of the United States. It now
+stands on an equal footing in all the Territories for the first time.
+
+"I have shown you that, up to 1859, little more than a year ago, it was
+prohibited in part of the Territories. It is not prohibited anywhere
+now. For the first time, under Republican rule, the Southern States
+have secured that equality of rights in the Territories for their
+Slave-property which they have been demanding so long."
+
+He held that the doctrine of Congressional prohibition in all the
+Territories, as incorporated in the Wilmot proviso, had now been
+repudiated by the Republicans of both Houses of Congress, who had "all
+come over to Non-intervention and Popular Sovereignty;" that the "Wilmot
+proviso is given up; that Congressional prohibition is given up; that
+the aggressive policy is repudiated; and hereafter the Southern man and
+the Northern man may move into the Territories with their Property on
+terms of entire equality, without excepting Slaves or any other kind of
+property."
+
+Continuing, he said: "What more do the Southern States want? What more
+can any man demand? Non-intervention is all you asked. Will it be said
+the South required in addition to this, laws of Congress to protect
+Slavery in the Territories? That cannot be said; for only last May, the
+Senate, by a nearly unanimous vote--a unanimous vote of the Southern
+men, with one or two exceptions--declared that affirmative legislation
+was not needed at this time. * * * What cause is there for further
+alarm in the Southern States, so far as the Territories are concerned?
+* * *
+
+"I repeat, the South has got all they ever claimed in all the
+Territories. * * * Then, sir, according to law, the Slaveholding
+States have got equality in the Territories. How is it in fact. * * *
+Now, I propose to show that they have got the actual equitable
+partition, giving them more than they were disposed to demand.
+
+"The Senator from Kentucky, * * * Mr. Crittenden, introduced a
+proposition for an equitable partition. That proposition was, that
+north of 36 30' Slavery should be prohibited, and South of it should be
+protected, by Territorial law. * * * What is now the case? It is true
+the Crittenden proposition has not yet become part of the Constitution;
+but it is also true that an equitable partition has been made by the
+vote of the people themselves, establishing, maintaining, and protecting
+Slavery in every inch of territory South of the thirty-seventh parallel,
+giving the South half a degree more than the Crittenden Proposition.
+
+"There stands your Slave-code in New Mexico protecting Slavery up to the
+thirty-seventh degree as effectually as laws can be made to protect it.
+There it stands the Law of the Land. Therefore the South has all below
+the thirty-seventh parallel, while Congress has not prohibited Slavery
+even North of it.
+
+ * * * * * *
+
+"What more, then, is demanded? Simply that a Constitutional Amendment
+shall be adopted, affirming--what? Precisely what every Republican in
+both Houses of Congress has voted for within a month. Just do, by
+Constitutional Amendment, what you have voted in the Senate and House of
+Representatives, that is all. You are not even required to do that, but
+merely to vote for a proposition submitting the question to the People
+of the States whether they will make a Constitutional Amendment
+affirming the equitable partition of the Territories which the People
+have already made. * * *
+
+"You may ask, why does the South want us to do it by Constitutional
+Amendment, when we have just done it voluntarily by Law? The President
+of the United States, in his Inaugural, has told you the reason. He has
+informed you that all of these troubles grow out of the absence of a
+Constitutional provision defining the power of Congress over the subject
+of Slavery. * * * He thinks that the trouble has arisen from the
+absence of such a Constitutional Provision, and suggests a National
+Convention to enable the People to supply the defect, leaving the People
+to say what it is, instead of dictating to them what it shall be."
+
+It may here be remarked that while Mr. Douglas held that "So far as the
+doctrine of Popular Sovereignty and Nonintervention is concerned, the
+Colorado Bill, the Nevada Bill, and the Dakota Bill, are identically the
+same with the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, and in its precise language"--these
+former Bills having been passed at the last Session of the 36th
+Congress--the Republicans, on the contrary, held that neither in these
+nor other measures had they abandoned any distinctive Republican
+principle; while Breckinridge declared that they had passed those
+Territorial Bills, without the Wilmot proviso, because they felt
+perfectly secure in those Territories, with all the Federal patronage in
+Republican hands.
+
+However that may be, we have here, brought out in strong contrast, the
+conciliatory feeling which inspired such Union men as Douglas, and the
+strong and persistent efforts they made in behalf of Concession and
+Peace up to a period only a few weeks before the bombardment of Sumter;
+and the almost total revulsion in their sentiments after that event, as
+to the only proper means to preserve the Union. For it was only then
+that the truth, as it fell from Douglas's lips at Springfield, was fully
+recognized, to wit: that there was no half-way ground betwixt Patriotism
+and Treason; that War was an existing fact; and that Patriots must arm
+to defend and preserve the Union against the armed Traitors assailing
+it.
+
+At last, July 4, 1861, the Congress met, and proceeded at once with
+commendable alacrity and patriotism, to the consideration and enactment
+of measures sufficient to meet the extraordinary exigency, whether as
+regards the raising and equipment of the vast bodies of Union volunteers
+needed to put down Rebellion, or in the raising of those enormous
+amounts of money which the Government was now, or might thereafter be,
+called upon to spend like water in preserving the Union.
+
+It was at this memorable Session, of little over one month, that the
+chief of the great "War Measures" as they were termed, were enacted.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XIII.
+
+ THE STORM OF BATTLE
+
+We have seen how Fort Sumter fell; how the patriotic North responded to
+President Lincoln's Call, for 75,000 three-months volunteers, with such
+enthusiasm that, had there been a sufficiency of arms and accoutrements,
+he might have had, within three months of that Call, an Army of 500,000
+men in the field; how he had called for 42,000 three-years volunteers
+early in May, besides swelling what little there was of a regular Army
+by ten full regiments; and how a strict blockade of the entire Southern
+Coast-line had not only been declared, but was now enforced and
+respected.
+
+General Butler, promoted Major-General for his Military successes at
+Annapolis and Baltimore, was now in command of Fortress Monroe and
+vicinity, with some 12,000 volunteers under him, confronted, on the
+Peninsula, by a nearly equal number of Rebel troops, under Generals
+Huger and Magruder--General Banks, with less than 10,000 Union troops,
+occupying Baltimore, and its vicinage.
+
+General Patterson, with some 20,000 Union troops--mostly Pennsylvania
+militia--was at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, with about an equal number
+of the Enemy, under General Joseph E. Johnston, at Harper's Ferry, on
+the Potomac, watching him.
+
+Some 50,000 Union troops were in camp, in and about Washington, on the
+Virginia side, under the immediate command of Generals McDowell and
+Mansfield--Lieutenant General Scott, at Washington, being in
+Chief-command of the Union Armies--and, confronting these Union forces,
+in Virginia, near the National Capital, were some 30,000 Rebel troops
+under the command of General Beauregard, whose success in securing the
+evacuation of Fort Sumter by its little garrison of half-starved Union
+soldiers, had magnified him, in the eyes of the rebellious South, into
+the proportions of a Military genius of the first order.
+
+There had been no fighting, nor movements, worthy of special note, until
+June 7th, when General Patterson advanced from Chambersburg,
+Pennsylvania, to Hagerstown, Maryland. General Johnston at once
+evacuated Harper's Ferry, and retreated upon Winchester, Virginia.
+
+General McClellan, in command of the Department of the Ohio, had,
+however, crossed the Ohio river, and by the 4th of July, being at
+Grafton, West Virginia, with his small Army of Union troops, to which a
+greatly inferior Rebel force was opposed, commenced that successful
+advance against it, which led, after Bull Run, to his being placed at
+the head of all the Armies of the United States.
+
+Subsequently Patterson crossed the Potomac, and after trifling away over
+one month's time, at last, on the 15th of July, got within nine miles of
+Winchester and Johnston's Army. Barring a spiritless reconnaissance,
+Patterson--who was a fervent Breckinridge-Democrat in politics, and
+whose Military judgment, as we shall see, was greatly influenced, if not
+entirely controlled, by his Chief of staff, Fitz John Porter--never got
+any nearer to the Enemy!
+
+Instead of attacking the Rebel force, under Johnston, or at least
+keeping it "employed," as he was ordered to do by General Scott; instead
+of getting nearer, and attempting to get between Winchester and the
+Shenandoah River, as was suggested to him by his second in command,
+General Sanford; and instead of permitting Sanford to go ahead, as that
+General desired to, with his own 8,000 men, and do it himself; General
+Patterson ordered him off to Charlestown--twelve miles to the Union left
+and rear,--and then took the balance of his Army, with himself, to the
+same place!
+
+In other words, while he had the most positive and definite orders, from
+General Scott, if not to attack and whip Johnston, to at least keep him
+busy and prevent that Rebel General from forming a junction, via the
+Manassas Gap railroad or otherwise, with Beauregard, Patterson
+deliberately moved his Army further away from Winchester and gave to the
+Enemy the very chance of escaping and forming that junction which was
+essential to Rebel success in the vicinity of Manassas.
+
+But for this disobedience of orders, Bull Run would doubtless have been
+a great victory to the Union Arms, instead of a reverse, and the War,
+which afterward lasted four years, might have been over in as many
+months.
+
+It is foreign to the design of this work, to present in it detailed
+descriptions of the battles waged during the great War of the Rebellion
+--it being the present intention of the writer, at some later day, to
+prepare and publish another work devoted to such stirring Military
+scenes. Yet, as it might seem strange and unaccountable for him to pass
+by, at this time, without any description or comment, the first pitched
+battle of the Rebellion, he is constrained to pause and view that
+memorable contest. And first, it may be well to say a word of the
+general topography of the country about the battle-field.
+
+The Alleghany Mountains, or that part of them with which we have now to
+do, stretch in three almost equidistant parallel ridges, from North-East
+to South-West, through the heart of Old Virginia. An occasional pass,
+or "Gap," through these ridges, affords communication, by good roads,
+between the enclosed parallel valleys and the Eastern part of that
+State.
+
+The Western of these Alleghany ridges bears the name of "Alleghany
+Mountains" proper; the Eastern is called the "Blue Ridge;" while the
+Middle Ridge, at its Northern end--which rests upon the Potomac, where
+that river sweeps through three parallel ridges almost at right angles
+to their own line of direction--is called the "Great North Mountain."
+
+The valley, between the Middle Ridge and the Blue Ridge, is known as the
+Shenandoah Valley, taking its name from the Shenandoah River, which, for
+more than one hundred miles, flows along the Western foot of the Blue
+Ridge, toward the North-East, until it empties into the Potomac, at
+Harper's Ferry.
+
+The Orange and Alexandria railroad runs from Alexandria,--on the
+opposite bank of the Potomac from Washington, and a few miles below
+the Capital,--in a general Southeasterly direction, to Culpepper
+Court-House; thence Southerly to Gordonsville, where it joins the
+Virginia Central--the Western branch of which runs thence through
+Charlotteville, Staunton, and Covington, across the ridges and valleys
+of the Alleghanies, while its Eastern branch, taking a general
+South-easterly direction, crosses the Richmond and Fredricksburg
+railroad at Hanover Junction, some twenty miles North of Richmond,
+and thence sweeps Southerly to the Rebel capital.
+
+It is along this Easterly branch of the Virginia Central that Rebel
+re-enforcements will be hurried to Beauregard, from Richmond to
+Gordonsville, and thence, by the Orange and Alexandria railroad, to
+Manassas Junction.
+
+Some twenty-five miles from Alexandria, a short railroad-feeder--which
+runs from Strasburg, in the Shenandoah Valley, through the Blue Ridge,
+at Manassas Gap, in an East-South-easterly direction--strikes the
+Alexandria and Orange railroad. The point of contact is Manassas
+Junction; and it is along this Manassas-Gap feeder that Johnston, with
+his Army at Winchester--some twenty miles North-North-East of Strasburg
+--expects, in case of attack by Patterson, to be re-enforced by
+Beauregard; or, in case the latter is assailed, to go to his assistance,
+after shaking off Patterson.
+
+This little link of railroad, known as the Manassas Gap railroad, is
+therefore an important factor in the game of War, now commencing in
+earnest; and it had, as we shall see, very much to do, not only with the
+advance of McDowell's Union Army upon Bull Run, but also with the result
+of the first pitched battle thereabout fought.
+
+From Alexandria, some twelve miles to the Westward, runs a fine turnpike
+road to Fairfax Court-House; thence, continuing Westward, but gradually
+and slightly dipping award the South, it passes through Germantown,
+Centreville, and Groveton, to Warrenton.
+
+This "Warrenton Pike"--as it is termed--also plays a somewhat
+conspicuous part, before, during, and after the Battle of Bull Run. For
+most of its length, from Fairfax Court-House to Warrenton, the Warrenton
+Pike pursues a course almost parallel with the Orange and Alexandria
+railroad aforesaid, while the stream of Bull Run, pursuing a
+South-easterly course, has a general direction almost parallel with
+that of the Manassas Gap railroad.
+
+We shall find that it is the diamond-shaped parallelogram, formed by the
+obtuse angle junction of the two railroads on the South, and the
+similarly obtuse-angled crossing of the stream of Bull Run by the
+Warrenton Pike on the North, that is destined to become the historic
+battle-field of the first "Bull Run," or "Manassas;" and it is in the
+Northern obtuse-angle of this parallelogram that the main fighting is
+done, upon a spot not much more than one mile square, three sides of the
+same being bounded respectively by the Bull Run stream, the Warrenton
+Pike, which crosses it on a stone bridge, and the Sudley Springs road,
+which crosses the Pike, at right-angles to it, near a stone house.
+
+On the 3rd of June, 1861, General McDowell, in command of the Department
+of North-Eastern Virginia, with head-quarters at Arlington, near
+Washington, receives from Colonel Townsend, Assistant Adjutant-General
+with Lieutenant-General Scott--who is in Chief command of all the Union
+Forces, with Headquarters at Washington--a brief but pregnant
+communication, the body of which runs thus: "General Scott desires you
+to submit an estimate of the number and composition of a column to be
+pushed toward Manassas Junction, and perhaps the Gap, say in four or
+five days, to favor Patterson's attack on Harper's Ferry. The rumor is
+that Arlington Heights will be attacked to-night."
+
+In response to this request, General McDowell submits, on the day
+following, an estimate that "the actual entire force at the head of the
+column should, for the purpose of carrying the position at Manassas and
+of occupying both the road to Culpepper, and the one to the Gap, be as
+much as 12,000 Infantry, two batteries of regular Artillery, and from
+six to eight companies of Cavalry, with an available reserve, ready to
+move forward from Alexandria by rail, of 5,000 Infantry and one heavy
+field battery, rifled if possible; these numbers to be increased or
+diminished as events may indicate." This force of raw troops he
+proposes to organize into field brigades under the command of "active
+and experienced colonels" of the regular Army. And while giving this
+estimate as to the number of troops necessary, he suggestively adds that
+"in proportion to the numbers used will be the lives saved; and as we
+have such numbers pressing to be allowed to serve, might it not be well
+to overwhelm and conquer as much by the show of force as by the use of
+it?"
+
+Subsequently McDowell presents to General Scott, and Mr. Lincoln's
+Cabinet, a project of advance and attack, which is duly approved and
+ordered to be put in execution. In that project or plan of operations,
+submitted by verbal request of General Scott, near the end of June,--the
+success of which is made contingent upon Patterson's holding Johnston
+engaged at Winchester in the Shenandoah Valley, and also upon Butler's
+holding the Rebel force near Fortress Monroe from coming to Beauregard's
+aid at Manassas Junction,--McDowell estimates Beauregard's strength at
+25,000, with a possible increase, bringing it up to 35,000 men. The
+objective point in McDowell's plan, is Manassas Junction, and he
+proposes "to move against Manassas with a force of 30,000 of all arms,
+organized into three columns, with a reserve of 10,000."
+
+McDowell is fully aware that the Enemy has "batteries in position at
+several places in his front, and defensive works on Bull Run, and
+Manassas Junction." These batteries he proposes to turn. He believes
+Bull Run to be "fordable at almost anyplace,"--an error which ultimately
+renders his plan abortive,--and his proposition is, after uniting his
+columns on the Eastern side of Bull Run, "to attack the main position by
+turning it, if possible, so as to cut off communications by rail with
+the South, or threaten to do so sufficiently to force the Enemy to leave
+his intrenchments to guard them."
+
+In other words, assuming the Enemy driven back, by minor flanking
+movements, or otherwise, upon his intrenched position at Bull Run, or
+Manassas, the plan is to turn his right, destroy the Orange and
+Alexandria railroad leading South, and the bridge at Bristol, so as to
+cut off his supplies. This done, the Enemy--if nothing worse ensues for
+him--will be in a "bad box."
+
+McDowell, however, has no idea that the Enemy will stand still to let
+this thing be done. On the contrary, he is well satisfied that
+Beauregard will accept battle on some chosen ground between Manassas
+Junction and Washington.
+
+On the afternoon of Tuesday, the 16th of July, the advance of McDowell's
+Army commences. That Army is organized into five divisions--four of
+which accompany McDowell, while a fifth is left to protect the defensive
+works of Washington, on the South bank of the Potomac. This latter, the
+Fourth Division, commanded by Brigadier-General Theodore Runyon,
+comprises eight unbrigaded New Jersey regiments of (three months, and
+three years) volunteers--none of which take part in the ensuing
+conflicts-at-arms.
+
+The moving column consists of the First Division, commanded by
+Brigadier-General Daniel Tyler, comprising four brigades, respectively
+under Brigadier-General R. C. Schenck, and Colonels E. D. Keyes, W. T.
+Sherman, and I. B. Richardson; the Second Division, commanded by Colonel
+David Hunter, comprising two brigades, under Colonels Andrew Porter and
+A. E. Burnside respectively; the Third Division, commanded by Colonel S.
+P. Heintzelman, comprising three brigades, under Colonels W. B.
+Franklin, O. B. Wilcox, and O. O. Howard, respectively; and the Fifth
+Division, commanded by Colonel Dixon S. Miles, comprising two brigades,
+under Colonels Lewis Blenker, and Thomas A. Davies, respectively.
+
+Tyler's Division leads the advance, moving along the Leesburg road to
+Vienna, on our right, with orders to cross sharply to its left, upon
+Fairfax Court House, the following (Wednesday) morning. Miles's
+Division follows the turnpike road to Annandale, and then moves, by the
+Braddock road,--along which Braddock, a century before, had marched his
+doomed army to disaster,--upon Fairfax Court House, then known to be
+held by Bonham's Rebel Brigade of South Carolinians. Hunter follows
+Miles, to Annandale, and thence advances direct upon Fairfax, by the
+turnpike road--McDowell's idea being to bag Bonham's Brigade, if
+possible, by a simultaneous attack on the front and both flanks. But
+the advance is too slow, and the Enemy's outposts, both there and
+elsewhere, have ample opportunity of falling safely back upon their main
+position, behind the stream of Bull Run.
+
+ [McDowell in his testimony before the "Committee on the Conduct of
+ the War," said: "At Fairfax Court House was the South Carolina
+ Brigade. And I do not suppose anything would have had a greater
+ cheering effect upon the troops, and perhaps upon the Country, than
+ the capture of that brigade. And if General Tyler could have got
+ down there any time in the forenoon instead of in the afternoon,
+ the capture of that brigade was beyond question. It was about
+ 5,000 or 6,000 men, and Tyler had 12,000, at the same time that we
+ were pressing on in front. He did not get down there until in the
+ afternoon; none of us got forward in time."]
+
+This slowness is due to various causes. There is a pretty general
+dread, for example, among our troops, of threatened ambuscades, and
+hence the advance is more cautious than it otherwise would be. It is
+thought the part of wisdom, as it were, to "feel the way." The
+marching, moreover, is new to our troops. General Scott had checked
+McDowell when the latter undertook to handle eight regiments together,
+near Washington, by intimating that he was "trying to make a show."
+Thus the very essential knowledge of how to manoeuvre troops in large
+bodies, has been withheld from our Union generals, while the volunteer
+regiments have either rusted in camp from inaction, or have been denied
+the opportunity of acquiring that endurance and hardiness and discipline
+which frequent movement of troops confers. Hence, all unused to the
+discipline of the march, every moment some one falls out of line to
+"pick blackberries, or to get water." Says McDowell, in afterward
+reporting this march: "They would not keep in the ranks, order as much
+as you pleased. When they came where water was fresh, they would pour
+the old water out of their canteens and fill them with fresh water; they
+were not used to denying themselves much."
+
+Meantime, Heintzelman's Division is also advancing, by cross-roads, more
+to the left and South of the railroad line,--in accordance with
+McDowell's plan, which comprehends not only the bagging of Bonham, but
+an immediate subsequent demonstration, by Tyler, upon Centreville and
+beyond, while Heintzelman, supported by Hunter and Miles, shall swoop
+across Bull Run, at Wolf Run Shoals, some distance below Union Mills,
+turn the Enemy's right, and cut off his Southern line of railroad
+communications. Thus, by the evening of Wednesday, the 17th,
+Heintzelman is at Sangster's Station, while Tyler, Miles, and Hunter,
+are at Fairfax.
+
+It is a rather rough experience that now befalls the Grand Army of the
+Union. All unused, as we have seen, to the fatigues and other hardships
+of the march, the raw levies, of which it almost wholly consists, which
+started bright and fresh, strong and hopeful, full of the buoyant ardor
+of enthusiastic patriotism, on that hot July afternoon, only some thirty
+hours back, are now dust-begrimed, footsore, broken down, exhausted by
+the scorching sun, hungry, and without food,--for they have wasted the
+rations with which they started, and the supply-trains have not yet
+arrived. Thus, hungry and physically prostrated, "utterly played out,"
+as many of them confess, and demoralized also by straggling and loss of
+organization, they bivouac that night in the woods, and dream uneasy
+dreams beneath the comfortless stars.
+
+A mile beyond Fairfax Court House, on the Warrenton Turnpike, is
+Germantown. It is here that Tyler's Division has rested, on the night
+of the 17th. At 7 o'clock on the morning of Thursday, the 18th, in
+obedience to written orders from McDowell, it presses forward, on that
+"Pike," to Centreville, five miles nearer to the Enemy's position behind
+Bull Run--Richardson's Brigade in advance--and, at 9 o'clock, occupies
+it. Here McDowell has intended Tyler to remain, in accordance with the
+plan, which he has imparted to him in conversation, and in obedience to
+the written instructions to: "Observe well the roads to Bull Run and to
+Warrenton. Do not bring on an engagement, but keep up the impression
+that we are moving on Manassas,"--this advance, by way of Centreville,
+being intended solely as a "demonstration" to mask the real movement,
+which, as we have seen, is to be made by the other divisions across Wolf
+Run Shoals, a point on Bull Run, some five or six miles below Union
+Mills, and some seven miles below Blackburn's Ford.
+
+Upon the arrival of Richardson's Brigade, Thursday morning, at
+Centreville, it is found that, under cover of the darkness of the
+previous night, the Enemy has retreated, in two bodies, upon Bull Run,
+the one along the Warrenton Pike, the other (the largest) down the
+ridge-road from Centreville to Blackburn's Ford. Richardson's Brigade
+at once turns down the latter road and halts about a mile beyond
+Centreville, at a point convenient to some springs of water. Tyler soon
+afterward rides up, and, taking from that brigade two companies of light
+Infantry and a squadron of Cavalry, proceeds, with Colonel Richardson,
+to reconnoitre the Enemy, finding him in a strong position on the
+opposite bank of Bull Run, at Blackburn's Ford.
+
+While this is going on, McDowell has ridden in a Southerly direction
+down to Heintzelman's Division, at Sangster's Station, "to make
+arrangements to turn the Enemy's right, and intercept his communications
+with the South," but has found, owing to the narrowness and crookedness
+of the roads, and the great distance that must be traversed in making
+the necessary detour, that his contemplated movement is too risky to be
+ventured. Hence he at once abandons his original plan of turning the
+Enemy's right, and determines on "going around his left, where the
+country is more open, and the roads broad and good."
+
+McDowell now orders a concentration, for that night, of the four
+divisions, with two days cooked rations in their haversacks, upon and
+about Centreville,--the movement to commence as soon as they shall
+receive expected commissariat supplies. But, later on the 18th,
+--learning that his advance, under Tyler, has, against orders, become
+engaged with the Enemy--he directs the concentration to be made at once.
+
+Let us examine, for a moment, how this premature engagement comes about.
+We left Tyler, accompanied by Richardson, with a squadron of Cavalry and
+a battalion of light Infantry making a reconnaissance, on Thursday
+morning the 18th, toward Blackburn's Ford. They approach within a mile
+of the ford, when they discover a Rebel battery on the farther bank of
+Bull Run--so placed as to enfilade the road descending from their own
+position of observation down to the ford,--strong Rebel infantry pickets
+and skirmishing parties being in front.
+
+Tyler at once orders up his two rifled guns, Ayres' Battery, and
+Richardson's entire Brigade--and later, Sherman's Brigade as a reserve.
+As soon as they come up,--about noon-he orders the rifled guns into
+battery on the crest of the hill, about one mile from, and looking down
+upon, the Rebel battery aforesaid, and opens upon the Enemy; giving him
+a dozen shells,--one of them making it lively for a body of Rebel
+Cavalry which appears between the ford and Manassas.
+
+The Rebel battery responds with half a dozen shots, and then ceases.
+Tyler now orders Richardson to advance his brigade and throw out
+skirmishers to scour the thick woods which cover the Bull Run
+bottom-land. Richardson at once rapidly deploys the battalion of light
+Infantry as skirmishers in advance of his brigade, pushes them forward
+to the edge of the woods, drives in the skirmishers of the Enemy in fine
+style, and supports their further advance into the woods, with the 1st
+Massachusetts Regiment.
+
+Meanwhile Tyler, discovering a favorable opening in the woods, "low down
+on the bottom of the stream," for a couple of howitzers in battery,
+sends Captain Ayres of the 5th U. S. Artillery, and a detached section
+(two 12-pound howitzers) of his battery, with orders to post it himself
+on that spot, and sends Brackett's squadron of the 2d Cavalry to his
+support.
+
+No sooner does Ayres open fire on the Enemy, than he awakens a Rebel
+hornet's-nest. Volley after volley of musketry shows that the Bull Run
+bottom fairly swarms with Rebel troops, while another Rebel battery,
+more to the Rebel right, opens, with that already mentioned, a
+concentrated cross-fire upon him.
+
+And now Richardson orders up the 12th New York, Colonel Walrath, to the
+left of our battery. Forming it into line-of-battle, Richardson orders
+it to charge through the woods upon the Enemy. Gallantly the regiment
+moves forward, after the skirmishers, into the woods, but, being met by
+a very heavy fire of musketry and artillery along the whole line of the
+Enemy's position, is, for the most part, thrown back in confusion--a
+mere fragment* remaining in line, and retreating,--while the howitzers,
+and Cavalry also, are withdrawn.
+
+Meantime, however, Richardson has ordered up, and placed in
+line-of-battle, on the right of our battery, the 1st Massachusetts, the
+2d Michigan (his own), and the 3d Michigan. The skirmishers in the
+woods still bravely hold their ground, undercover, and these three
+regiments are plucky, and anxious to assault the Enemy. Richardson
+proposes to lead them in a charge upon the Enemy's position, and drive
+him out of it; but Tyler declines to give permission, on the ground that
+this being "merely a reconnaissance," the object of which--ascertaining
+the strength and position of the Enemy--having been attained, a further
+attack is unnecessary. He therefore orders Richardson to "fall back in
+good order to our batteries on the hill,"--which he does.
+
+Upon reaching these batteries, Richardson forms his 2d Michigan, in
+"close column by division," on their right, and the 1st Massachusetts
+and 3d Michigan, in "line of battle," on their left--the 12th New York
+re-forming, under cover of the woods at the rear, later on. Then, with
+our skirmishers thrown into the woods in front, their scattering fire,
+and the musketry responses of the Rebels, are drowned in the volume of
+sound produced by the deafening contest which ensues between our
+Artillery, and that of the Enemy from his batteries behind Bull Run.
+
+This artillery-duel continues about one hour; and then seems to cease by
+mutual consent, about dusk--after 415 shots have been fired on the Union
+side, and have been responded to by an equal number from the Rebel
+batteries, "gun for gun"--the total loss in the engagement, on the Union
+side, being 83, to a total loss among the Enemy, of Thursday night,
+Richardson retires his brigade upon Centreville, in order to secure
+rations and water for his hungry and thirsty troops,--as no water has
+yet been found in the vicinity of the Union batteries aforesaid. On the
+morrow, however, when his brigade re-occupies that position, water is
+found in abundance, by digging for it.
+
+This premature attack, at Blackburn's Ford, by Tyler, against orders,
+having failed, throws a wet blanket upon the martial spirit of
+McDowell's Army. In like degree is the morale of the Rebel Army
+increased.
+
+It is true that Longstreet, in command of the Rebel troops at
+Blackburn's Ford, has not had things all his own way; that some of his
+artillery had to be "withdrawn;" that, as he acknowledges in his report,
+his brigade of three Virginia regiments (the 1st, 11th, and 17th) had
+"with some difficulty repelled" the Union assault upon his position;
+that he had to call upon General Early for re-enforcements; that Early
+re-enforced him with two Infantry regiments (the 7th Louisiana and 7th
+Virginia) at first; that one of these (the 7th Virginia) was "thrown
+into confusion;" that Early then brought up his own regiment (the 24th
+Virginia) under Lieutenant Colonel Hairston, and the entire seven guns
+of the "Washington Artillery;" and that but for the active "personal
+exertions" of Longstreet, in "encouraging the men under his command,"
+and the great numerical superiority of the Rebels, there might have been
+no Union "repulse" at all. Yet still the attack has failed, and that
+failure, while it dispirits the Patriot Army, inspires the Rebel Army
+with renewed courage.
+
+Under these circumstances, Friday, the 19th of July, is devoted to
+reconnaissances by the Engineer officers of the Union Army; to the
+cooking of the supplies, which have at last arrived; and to resting the
+weary and road-worn soldiers of the Union.
+
+Let us take advantage of this halt in the advance of McDowell's "Grand
+Army of the United States"--as it was termed--to view the Rebel position
+at, and about Manassas, and to note certain other matters having an
+important and even determining bearing upon the issue of the impending
+shock-at-arms.
+
+Beauregard has received early information of McDowell's advance from
+Arlington, and of his plans.
+
+ [This he admits, in his report, when he says; "Opportunely informed
+ of the determination of the Enemy to advance on Manassas, my
+ advanced brigades, on the night of the 16th of July, were made
+ aware, from these headquarters, of the impending movement,"]
+
+On Tuesday the 16th, he notifies his advanced brigades. On Wednesday,
+he sends a dispatch from Manassas, to Jefferson Davis, at Richmond,
+announcing that the Union troops have assailed his outposts in heavy
+force; that he has fallen back before them, on the line of Bull Run; and
+that he intends to make a stand at Mitchell's Ford (close to Blackburn's
+Ford) on that stream,--adding: if his (McDowell's) force is
+overwhelming, "I shall retire to the Rappahannock railroad bridge,
+saving my command for defense there, and future operations. Please
+inform Johnston of this, via Staunton, and also Holmes. Send forward
+any re-enforcements at the earliest possible instant, and by every
+possible means."
+
+In the meantime, however, Beauregard loses no time in advantageously
+posting his troops. On the morning of the 18th of July, when the Union
+advance enters Centreville, he has withdrawn all his advanced brigades
+within the Rebel lines of Bull Run, resting them on the South side of
+that stream, from Union Mills Ford, near the Orange and Alexandria
+railroad bridge, up to the stone bridge over which the Warrenton Pike
+crosses the Run,--a distance of some six to eight miles.
+
+Between the Rebel left, at Stone Bridge, and the Rebel right, at Union
+Mills Ford, are several fords across Bull Run--the general course of the
+stream being from the North-West to South-East, to its confluence with
+the Occoquan River, some twelve miles from the Potomac River.
+
+Mitchell's Ford, the Rebel center, is about three miles to the
+South-West of, and about the same distance North-East from, Manassas
+Junction. But it may be well, right here, to locate all these fordable
+crossings of the rocky, precipitous, and well-wooded Bull Run stream,
+between the Stone Bridge and Union Mills Ford. Thus, half a mile below
+the Stone Bridge is Lewis's Ford; half a mile below that, Ball's Ford;
+half a mile below that, Island Ford; one and one-half miles below that,
+Mitchell's Ford--one mile below that.
+
+Blackburn's Ford; three-quarters of a mile farther down, McLean's Ford;
+and nearly two miles lower down the stream, Union Mills Ford.
+
+By Thursday morning, the 18th of July, Beauregard has advantageously
+posted the seven brigades into which he has organized his forces, at
+these various positions along his extended front, as follows:
+
+At the Stone Bridge, Brigadier-General N. G. Evans's Seventh Brigade, of
+one regiment and one battalion of Infantry, two companies of Cavalry,
+and a battery of four six-pounders.
+
+At Lewis's, Balls, and Island Fords--Colonel P. St. George Cocke's
+Fifth Brigade, of three regiments of Infantry, one battery of Artillery,
+and one company of Cavalry.
+
+At Mitchell's Ford, Brigadier-General M. L. Bonham's First Brigade, of
+four Infantry regiments, two batteries, and six companies of Cavalry.
+
+At Blackburn's Ford, Brigadier-General J. Longstreet's Fourth Brigade,
+of four Infantry regiments, with two 6-pounders.
+
+At McLean's Ford, Brigadier-General D. R. Jones's Third Brigade of three
+Infantry regiments, one Cavalry company, and two 6-pounders.
+
+At Union Mills Ford, Brigadier-General R. S. Ewell's Second Brigade, of
+three Infantry regiments, three Cavalry companies, and four 12-powder
+howitzers--Colonel Jubal A. Early's Sixth Brigade, of three Infantry
+regiments and three rifled pieces of Walton's Battery, being posted in
+the rear of, and as a support to, Ewell's Brigade.
+
+ [Johnston also found, on the 20th, the Reserve Brigade of Brig.
+ Gen. T. H. Holmes--comprising two regiments of Infantry, Walker's
+ Battery of Artillery, and Scott's Cavalry-with Early's Brigade, "in
+ reserve, in rear of the right."]
+
+The disposition and strength of Beauregard's forces at these various
+points along his line of defense on Bull Run stream, plainly shows his
+expectation of an attack on his right; but he is evidently suspicious
+that it may come upon his centre; for, as far back as July 8th, he had
+issued special orders to the effect that:
+
+"Should the Enemy march to the attack of Mitchell's Ford, via
+Centreville, the following movements will be made with celerity:
+
+"I. The Fourth Brigade will march from Blackburn's Ford to attack him on
+the flank and centre.
+
+"II. The Third Brigade will be thrown to the attack of his centre and
+rear toward Centreville.
+
+"III. The Second and Sixth Brigades united will also push forward and
+attack him in the rear by way of Centreville, protecting their own right
+flanks and rear from the direction of Fairfax Station and Court House.
+
+"IV. In the event of the defeat of the Enemy, the troops at Mitchell's
+Ford and Stone Bridge, especially the Cavalry and Artillery, will join
+in the pursuit, which will be conducted with vigor but unceasing
+prudence, and continued until he shall have been driven beyond the
+Potomac."
+
+And it is not without interest to note Beauregard's subsequent
+indorsement on the back of these Special Orders, that: "The plan of
+attack prescribed within would have been executed, with modifications
+affecting First and Fifth Brigades, to meet the attack upon Blackburn's
+Ford, but for the expected coming of General Johnston's command, which
+was known to be en route to join me on [Thursday] the 18th of July."
+
+The knowledge thus possessed on Thursday, the 18th, by Beauregard, that
+Johnston's Army is on its way to join him, is of infinite advantage to
+the former. On the other hand, the complete ignorance, at this time, of
+McDowell on this point,--and the further fact that he has been lulled
+into a feeling of security on the subject, by General Scott's emphatic
+assurance to him that "if Johnston joins Beauregard, he shall have
+Patterson on his heels"--is a great disadvantage to the Union general.
+
+Were McDowell now aware of the real Military situation, he would
+unquestionably make an immediate attack, with the object of crushing
+Beauregard before Johnston can effect a junction with him. It would
+then be a mere matter of detail for the armies of McDowell, McClellan,
+and Patterson, to bag Johnston, and bring the armed Rebellion to an
+inglorious and speedy end. But Providence--through the plottings of
+individuals within our own lines--wills it otherwise.
+
+Long before this, Patterson has been informed by General Winfield Scott
+of the proposed movement by McDowell upon Manassas,--and of its date.
+
+On Saturday, July 13th, General Scott telegraphed to Patterson: "I
+telegraphed to you yesterday, if not strong enough to beat the Enemy
+early next week, make demonstrations so as to detain him in the Valley
+of Winchester; but if he retreats in force toward Manassas, and it be
+too hazardous to follow him, then consider the route via Keys Ferry,
+Leesburg, etc."
+
+On Wednesday, the 17th, Scott telegraphs to Patterson: "I have nothing
+official from you since Sunday (14th), but am glad to learn, through
+Philadelphia papers, that you have advanced. Do not let the Enemy amuse
+and delay you with a small force in front whilst he re-enforces the
+Junction with his main body. McDowell's first day's work has driven the
+Enemy beyond Fairfax Court House. The Junction will probably be carried
+by to-morrow."
+
+On Thursday, the 18th, Patterson replies that to attack "the greatly
+superior force at Winchester when the three months volunteers' time was
+about up, and they were threatening to leave him--would be "most
+hazardous" and then he asks: "Shall I attack?"
+
+Scott answers the same day: "I have certainly been expecting you to beat
+the Enemy. If not, to hear that you had felt him strongly, or, at
+least, had occupied him by threats and demonstrations. You have been at
+least his equal, and, I suppose, superior in numbers. Has he not stolen
+a march and sent re-enforcements toward Manassas Junction? A week is
+enough to win victories," etc.
+
+Patterson retorts, on the same day: "The Enemy has stolen no march upon
+me. I have kept him actively employed, and by threats, and
+reconnaissances in force, caused him to be re-enforced. I have
+accomplished in this respect more than the General-in-Chief asked, or
+could well be expected, in face of an Enemy far superior in numbers,
+with no line of communication to protect."
+
+In another dispatch, to Assistant Adjutant-General Townsend (with
+General Scott), he says, that same afternoon of Thursday, the 18th: "I
+have succeeded, in accordance with the wishes of the General-in-Chief,
+in keeping General Johnston's Force at Winchester. A reconnaissance in
+force, on Tuesday, caused him to be largely re-enforced from Strasburg."
+
+Again, on Friday, the 19th, he informs Colonel Townsend that: "The
+Enemy, from last information, are still at Winchester, and being
+re-enforced every night."
+
+It is not until Saturday, the 20th of July, that he telegraphs to
+Townsend: "With a portion of his force, Johnston left Winchester, by the
+road to Millwood, on the afternoon of the 18th." And he adds the
+ridiculous statement: "His whole force was about 35,200."
+
+Thus, despite all the anxious care of General Scott, to have Johnston's
+Army detained in the Shenandoah Valley, it has escaped Patterson so
+successfully, and entirely, that the latter does not even suspect its
+disappearance until the day before the pitched Battle of Bull Run is
+fought! Its main body has actually reached Manassas twenty-four hours
+before Patterson is aware that it has left Winchester!
+
+And how is it, that Johnston gets away from Patterson so neatly? And
+when does he do it?
+
+ [The extraordinary conduct of General Patterson at this critical
+ period, when everything seemed to depend upon his exertions, was
+ afterward the subject of inquiry by the Joint-Committee on the
+ Conduct of the War. The testimony taken by that Committee makes it
+ clear, to any unprejudiced mind, that while Patterson himself may
+ have been loyal to the Union, he was weak enough to be swayed from
+ the path of duty by some of the faithless and unpatriotic officers
+ with whom he had partly surrounded himself--and especially by Fitz
+ John Porter, his Chief-of-staff. Let us examine the sworn
+ testimony of two or three witnesses on this point.
+
+ General CHARLES W. SANFORD, who was second in command under
+ Patterson, and in command of Patterson's Left Wing, testified [see
+ pages 54-66, Report on Conduct of the War, Vol. 3, Part 2,] that he
+ was at a Council of War held at the White House, June 29th, when
+ the propriety of an attack on the Rebel lines at Manassas was
+ discussed; that he objected to any such movement until Patterson
+ was in such a position as to prevent the junction between General
+ Johnston's Army and the troops at Manassas; that on the 6th of
+ July, he was sent by General Scott, with four picked New York
+ regiments, to Patterson, and (waiving his own seniority rank)
+ reported to that General, at Williamsport; that Patterson gave him
+ command of a division of 8,000 men (and two batteries) out of a
+ total in his Army of 22,000; that he "delivered orders from General
+ Scott to General Patterson, and urged a forward movement as soon as
+ possible;" that there was "Some delay at Martinsburg,
+ notwithstanding the urgency of our matter," but they "left there on
+ [Monday] the 15th of July, and went in the direction of
+ Winchester,"--down to Bunker Hill,--Patterson with two divisions
+ going down the turnpike, and Sanford taking his division a little
+ in advance and more easterly on the side roads so as to be in a
+ position to flank Johnston's right; that on that afternoon (Monday,
+ July 15) General Patterson rode up to where Sanford was locating
+ his camp.
+
+ Continuing his testimony, General Sanford said: "I was then within
+ about nine miles of Johnston's fortified camp at Winchester.
+ Patterson was complimenting me upon the manner in which my
+ regiments were located, and inquiring about my pickets, which I had
+ informed him I had sent down about three miles to a stream below.
+ I had driven out the Enemy's skirmishers ahead of us. They had
+ some cavalry there. In answer to his compliments about the
+ comfortable location I had made, I said: 'Very comfortable,
+ General, when shall we move on?' * * * He hesitated a moment or
+ two, and then said: 'I don't know yet when we shall move. And if I
+ did I would not tell my own father.' I thought that was rather a
+ queer speech to make to me under the circumstances. But I smiled
+ and said: 'General, I am only anxious that we shall get forward,
+ that the Enemy shall not escape us.' He replied: 'There is no
+ danger of that. I will have a reconnaissance to-morrow, and we
+ will arrange about moving at a very early period.' He then took
+ his leave.
+
+ "The next day [Tuesday, July 16th], there was a reconnaissance on
+ the Winchester turnpike, about four or five miles below the
+ General's camp. He sent forward a section of artillery and some
+ cavalry, and they found a post-and-log fence across the Winchester
+ turnpike, and some of the Enemy's cavalry on the other side of it.
+ They gave them a round of grape. The cavalry scattered off, and
+ the reconnaissance returned. That was the only reconnaissance I
+ heard of while we were there. My own pickets went further than
+ that. But it was understood, the next afternoon, that we were to
+ march forward at daylight. I sent down Col. Morell, with 40 men,
+ to open a road down to Opequan Creek, within five miles of the camp
+ at Winchester, on the side-roads I was upon, which would enable me,
+ in the course of three hours, to get between Johnston and the
+ Shenandoah River, and effectually bar his way to Manassas. I had
+ my ammunition all distributed, and ordered my men to have 24 hours'
+ rations in their haversacks, independent of their breakfast. We
+ were to march at 4 o'clock the next morning. I had this road to
+ the Opequan completed that night. I had then with me, in addition
+ to my eight regiments amounting to about 8,000 men and a few
+ cavalry, Doubleday's heavy United States battery of 20 and 30
+ pounders, and a very good Rhode Island battery. And I was willing
+ to take the risk, whether Gen. Patterson followed me up or not, of
+ placing myself between Johnston and the Shenandoah River, rather
+ than let Johnston escape. And, at 4 o'clock [July 17th] I should
+ have moved over that road for that purpose, if I had had no further
+ orders. But, a little after 12 o'clock at night [July 16th-17th,]
+ I received a long order of three pages from Gen. Patterson,
+ instructing me to move on to Charlestown, which is nearly at right
+ angles to the road I was going to move on, and twenty-two miles
+ from Winchester. This was after I had given my orders for the
+ other movement."
+
+ * * * * * * * * * *
+
+ 'Question [by the Chairman].--And that left Johnston free?
+ "Answer--Yes, Sir; left him free to make his escape, which he did.
+ * * *"
+
+ 'Question.--In what direction would Johnston have had to move to
+ get by you?
+ "Answer--Right out to the Shenandoah River, which he forded. He
+ found out from his cavalry, who were watching us, that we were
+ actually leaving, and he started at 1 o'clock that same day, with
+ 8,000 men, forded the Shenandoah where it was so deep that he
+ ordered his men to put their cartridge-boxes on their bayonets, got
+ out on the Leesburg road, and went down to Manassas."
+
+ "Question [by the Chairman].--Did he [Patterson] assign any reason
+ for that movement?
+ "Answer.--I was, of course, very indignant about it, and so were
+ all my officers and men; so much so that when, subsequently, at
+ Harper's Ferry, Patterson came by my camp, there was a universal
+ groan--against all discipline, of course, and we suppressed it as
+ soon as possible. The excuse given by Gen. Patterson was this:
+ that he had received intelligence that he could rely upon, that
+ Gen. Johnston had been re-enforced by 20,000 men from Manassas,
+ and was going to make an attack upon him; and in the order which I
+ received that night--a long order of three pages--I was ordered to
+ occupy all the communicating roads, turning off a regiment here,
+ and two or three regiments there, and a battery at another place,
+ to occupy all the roads from Winchester to the neighborhood of
+ Charlestown, and all the cross-roads, and hold them all that day,
+ until Gen. Patterson's whole army went by me to Charlestown; and I
+ sat seven hours in the saddle near a place called Smithfield, while
+ Patterson, with his whole army, went by me on their way to
+ Charlestown, he being apprehensive, as he said, of an attack from
+ Johnston's forces."
+
+ "Question [by Mr. Odell].--You covered his movement?
+ "Answer--Yes, Sir. Now the statement that he made, which came to
+ me through Colonel Abercrombie, who was Patterson's brother-in-law,
+ and commanded one division in that army, was, that Johnston had
+ been re-enforced; and Gen. Fitz-John Porter reported the same thing
+ to my officers. Gen. Porter was then the chief of Patterson's
+ staff, and was a very excellent officer, and an accomplished
+ soldier. They all had got this story, which was without the
+ slightest shadow of foundation; for there had not a single man
+ arrived at the camp since we had got full information that their
+ force consisted of 20,000 men, of whom 1,800 were sick with the
+ measles. The story was, however, that they had ascertained, by
+ reliable information, of this re-enforcement. Where they got their
+ information, I do not know. None such reached me; and I picked up
+ deserters and other persons to get all the information I could; and
+ we since have learned, as a matter of certainty, that Johnston's
+ forces never did exceed 20,000 men there. But the excuse Patterson
+ gave was, that Johnson had been re-enforced by 20,000 men from
+ Manassas, and was going to attack him. That was the reason he gave
+ then for this movement. But in this paper he has lately published,
+ he hints at another reason--another excuse--which was that it was
+ by order of Gen. Scott. Now, I know that the peremptory order of
+ Gen. Scott to Gen. Patterson, repeated over and over again, was
+ this--I was present on several occasions when telegraphic
+ communications went from Gen. Scott to Gen. Patterson: Gen. Scott's
+ orders to Gen. Patterson were that, if he were strong enough, he
+ was to attack and beat Johnston. But if not, then he was to place
+ himself in such a position as to keep Johnston employed, and
+ prevent him from making a junction with Beauregard at Manassas.
+ That was the repeated direction of Gen. Scott to Gen. Patterson;
+ and it was because of Patterson's hesitancy, and his hanging back,
+ and keeping so far beyond the reach of Johnston's camp, that I was
+ ordered to go up there and re-enforce him, and assist him in any
+ operations necessary to effect that object. The excuse of Gen.
+ Patterson now is, that he had orders from Gen. Scott to move to
+ Charlestown. Now, that is not so. But this state of things
+ existed: Before the movement was made from Martinsburg, General
+ Patterson suggested to General Scott that Charlestown would be a
+ better base of operations than Martinsburg and suggested that he
+ had better move on Charlestown, and thence make his approaches to
+ Winchester; that it would be better to do that than to move
+ directly to Winchester from Martinsburg; and General Scott wrote
+ back to say that, if he found that movement a better one, he was at
+ liberty to make it. But Gen. Patterson had already commenced his
+ movement on Winchester direct from Martinsburg, and had got as far
+ as Bunker Hill; so that the movement which he had formerly
+ suggested, to Charlestown, was suppressed by his own act. But that
+ is the pretence now given in his published speech for making the
+ movement from Bunker Hill to Charlestown, which was a retreat,
+ instead of the advance which the movement to Charlestown he first
+ proposed to Gen. Scott was intended to be."
+
+ * * * * * * * * * * * *
+
+ "Question [by the Chairman].--Was not that change of direction and
+ movement to Charlestown a total abandonment of the object which you
+ were pursuing?
+ "Answer.--Entirely an abandonment of the main principles of the
+ orders he was acting under."
+
+ "Question.--And of course an abandonment of the purpose for which
+ you were there?
+ "Answer.--Yes, Sir.
+
+ "Question [by Mr. Odell].-Was it not your understanding in leaving
+ here, and was it not the understanding also of Gen. Scott, that
+ your purpose in going there was to check Johnston with direct
+ reference to the movement here?
+ "Answer--Undoubtedly. It was in consequence of the suggestion made
+ by me at the Council at the President's house. * * * And upon the
+ suggestion of General Scott they wanted me to go up there and
+ assist Patterson in this movement against Johnston, so as to carry
+ out the point I had suggested of first checkmating Johnston before
+ the movement against Manassas was made here."
+
+ * * * * * * * * *
+
+ Question [by the Chairman].--Would there have been any difficulty
+ in preventing Johnston from going to Manassas?
+ "Answer.--None whatever."
+
+ * * * * * * * * *
+
+ "Question [by the Chairman.]--I have heard it suggested that he
+ (Patterson) undertook to excuse this movement on the ground that
+ the time of many of his troops had expired, and they refused to
+ accompany him.
+ "Answer.--That to my knowledge, is untrue. The time of none of
+ them had expired when this movement was made. All the troops that
+ were there were in the highest condition for the service. These
+ three-months' men, it may be well to state to you who are not
+ Military men, were superior to any other volunteer troops that we
+ had, in point of discipline. They were the disciplined troops of
+ the Country. The three-months' men were generally the organized
+ troops of the different States--New York, Pennsylvania, etc. We
+ had, for instance, from Patterson's own city, Philadelphia, one of
+ the finest regiments in the service, which was turned over to me,
+ at their own request; and the most of my regiments were disciplined
+ and organized troops. They were all in fine condition, anxious,
+ zealous, and earnest for a fight. They thought they were going to
+ attack Johnston's camp at Winchester. Although I had suggested to
+ Gen. Patterson that there was no necessity for that, the camp being
+ admirably fortified with many of their heavy guns from Norfolk, I
+ proposed to him to place ourselves between Johnston and the
+ Shenandoah, which would have compelled him to fight us there, or to
+ remain in his camp, either of which would have effected General
+ Scott's object. If I had got into a fight, it was very easy, over
+ this road I had just been opening, for Patterson to have
+ re-enforced me and to have come up to the fight in time. The
+ proposition was to place ourselves between Johnston's fortified
+ camp and the Shenandoah, where his fortified camp would have been
+ of no use to him."
+
+ "Question.--Even if you had received a check there, it would have
+ prevented his junction with the forces at Manassas?
+ "Answer.--Yes, Sir; I would have risked a battle with my own
+ division rather than Johnston should have escaped. If he had
+ attacked me, I could have taken a position where I could have held
+ it, while Patterson could have fallen upon him and repulsed him."
+
+ "Question [by Mr. Odell].--Had you any such understanding with
+ Patterson?
+ "Answer.--I told him I would move down on this side-road in
+ advance, leaving Gen. Patterson to sustain me if I got into a
+ fight. So, on the other hand, if he should attack Patterson, I was
+ near enough to fall upon Johnston's flank and to support Patterson.
+ By using this communication of mine to pass Opequan Creek--where, I
+ had informed Patterson, I had already pushed forward my pickets,
+ [200 men in the day and 400 more at night,] to prevent the Enemy
+ from burning the bridge--it would have enabled me to get between
+ Johnston and the Shenandoah River. On the morning [Wednesday, July
+ 17th] of our march to Charlestown, Stuart's cavalry, which figured
+ so vigorously at Bull Run, was upon my flank all day. They were
+ apparently about 800 strong. I saw them constantly on my flank for
+ a number of miles. I could distinguish them, with my glass, with
+ great ease. Finally, they came within about a mile of the line of
+ march I was pursuing and I sent a battery around to head them off,
+ and the 12th Regiment across the fields in double-quick time to
+ take them in the rear. I thought I had got them hemmed in. But
+ they broke down the fences, and went across the country to
+ Winchester, and I saw nothing more of them. They were then about
+ eight miles from Winchester, and must have got there in the course
+ of a couple of hours. That day [Wednesday, the 17th] at 10
+ o'clock--as was ascertained from those who saw him crossing the
+ Shenandoah--Johnston started from Winchester with 8,000 men, forded
+ the Shenandoah, and got to Manassas on Friday night; and his second
+ in command started the next day with all the rest of the available
+ troops--something like 9,000 men; leaving only the sick, and a few
+ to guard them, in the camp at Winchester--and they arrived at the
+ battle-field in the midst of the fight, got out of the cars, rushed
+ on the battle-field, and turned the scale. I have no doubt that,
+ if we had intercepted Johnston, as we ought to have done, the
+ battle of Bull Run would have been a victory for us instead of a
+ defeat. Johnston was undoubtedly the ablest general they had in
+ their army."
+
+ Colonel CRAIG BIDDLE, testified that he was General Patterson's
+ aide-de-camp at the time. In answer to a question by the Chairman,
+ he continued:
+
+ "Answer.--I was present, of course, at all the discussions. The
+ discussion at Martinsburg was as to whether or not General
+ Patterson should go on to Winchester. General Patterson was very
+ full of that himself. He was determined to go to Winchester; but
+ the opinions of all the regular officers who were with him, were
+ against it. The opinions of all the men in whose judgment I had
+ any confidence, were against it. They seemed to have the notion
+ that General Patterson had got his Irish blood up by the fight we
+ had had at Falling Waters, and was bound to go ahead. He decided
+ upon going ahead, against the remonstrances of General [Fitz John]
+ Porter, who advised against it. He told me he considered he had
+ done his duty, and said no more. The movement was delayed in
+ consequence of General Stone's command not being able to move right
+ away. It was then evident that there was so much opposition to it
+ that the General was induced to call a council of the general
+ officers in his command, at which I was present. They were
+ unanimously opposed to the advance. That was at Martinsburg."
+
+ * * * * * * * * *
+
+ "Question.--While at Bunker Hill, the night before you left there,
+ were any orders issued to march in the evening?
+ "Answer.--I think there were such orders."
+
+ "Question.--Did not General Patterson issue orders at Bunker Hill,
+ the night before you marched to Charlestown, for an attack on the
+ Enemy?
+ "Answer.-I think such orders were written. I do not think they
+ were issued. I think General Patterson was again persuaded not to
+ make an advance."
+
+ Colonel R. BUTLER PRICE, Senior aide to Patterson, testified as
+ follows:
+
+ * * * * * * * * *
+
+ "Question [by Mr. Gooch].--Was it not the intention to move from
+ Bunker Hill to Winchester?
+ "Answer.--Yes, Sir. At one time General Patterson had given an
+ order to move from Bunker Hill to Winchester. He was very
+ unwilling to leave Johnston even at Winchester without attacking
+ him; and on the afternoon before we left Bunker Hill he decided to
+ attack him, notwithstanding his strong force."
+
+ "Question.--Behind his intrenchments?
+ "Answer.--Yes, Sir; it went so far that his order was written by
+ his adjutant, General [Fitz John] Porter. It was very much against
+ the wishes of General [Fitz John] Porter; and he asked General
+ Patterson if he would send for Colonel Abercrombie and Colonel
+ Thomas and consult them on the movement. General Patterson
+ replied: No, Sir; for I know they will attempt to dissuade me from
+ it, and I have made up my mind to fight Johnston under all
+ circumstances. That was the day before we left Bunker Hill. Then
+ Colonel [Fitz John] Porter asked to have Colonel Abercrombie and
+ Colonel Thomas sent for and consulted as to the best manner to
+ carry out his wishes. He consented, and they came, and after half
+ an hour they dissuaded him from it."
+
+ "Question.--At that time General Patterson felt it was so important
+ to attack Johnston that he had determined to do it?
+ "Answer.--Yes, Sir; the order was not published, but it was
+ written."
+
+ "Question.--You understood General Patterson to be influenced to
+ make that attempt because he felt there was a necessity for
+ detaining Johnston?
+ "Answer.--Yes, Sir; to detain him as long as he possibly could."
+
+ "Question.--That order was not countermanded until late on Tuesday,
+ the 16th, was it?
+ "Answer.--That order never was published. It was written; but, at
+ the earnest solicitation of Colonel [Fitz John] Porter, it was
+ withheld until he could have a consultation with Colonel
+ Abercrombie and Colonel Thomas."]
+
+It is about 1 o'clock on the morning of Thursday, July 18th,--that same
+day which witnesses the preliminary Battle of Blackburn's Ford--that
+Johnston, being at Winchester, and knowing of Patterson's peculiarly
+inoffensive and timid movement to his own left and rear, on Charlestown,
+receives from the Rebel Government at Richmond, a telegraphic dispatch,
+of July 17th, in these words: "General Beauregard is attacked. To
+strike the Enemy a decisive blow, a junction of all your effective force
+will be needed. If practicable, make the movement. * * * In all the
+arrangements exercise your discretion."
+
+Johnston loses no time in deciding that it is his duty to prevent, if
+possible, disaster to Beauregard's Army; that to do this he must effect
+a junction with him; and that this necessitates either an immediate
+fight with, and defeat of, Patterson,--which may occasion a fatal
+delay--or else, that Union general must be eluded. Johnston determines
+on the latter course.
+
+Leaving his sick, with some militia to make a pretense of defending the
+town in case of attack, Johnston secretly and rapidly marches his Army,
+of 9,000 effective men, Southeasterly from Winchester, at noon of
+Thursday, the 18th; across by a short cut, wading the Shenandoah River,
+and then on through Asby's Gap, in the Blue Ridge, that same night;
+still on, in the same direction, to a station on the Manassas Gap
+railroad, known as Piedmont, which is reached by the next (Friday)
+morning,--the erratic movements of Stuart's Cavalry entirely concealing
+the manoeuvre from the knowledge of Patterson.
+
+From Piedmont, the Artillery and Cavalry proceed to march the remaining
+twenty-five miles, or so, to Manassas Junction, by the roads. The 7th
+and 8th Georgia Regiments of Bartow's Brigade, with Jackson's Brigade,
+--comprising the 2d, 4th, 5th, 27th and 33d Virginia Regiments--are
+embarked on the cars, and hurriedly sent in advance, by rail, to
+Manassas, reaching there on that same (Friday) afternoon and evening.
+These are followed by General Johnston, with Bee's Brigade--comprising
+the 4th Alabama, 2d Mississippi, and a battalion of the 11th
+Mississippi--which arrive at Manassas about noon of Saturday, the 20th
+of July, the balance of Johnston's Infantry being billed for arrival
+that same day, or night.
+
+Upon Johnston's own arrival at Manassas, Saturday noon,--the very day
+that Patterson ascertains that "the bird has flown,"--after assuming
+command, by virtue of seniority, he proceeds to examine Beauregard's
+position. This he finds "too extensive, and the ground too densely
+wooded and intricate," to be learned quickly, and hence he is impelled
+to rely largely upon Beauregard for information touching the strength
+and positions of both the Rebel and Union Armies.
+
+Beauregard has now 21,833 men, and 29 pieces of artillery of his own
+"Army of the Potomac." Johnston's and Holmes's junction with him has
+raised the Rebel total to 32,000 effectives, and 55 guns. McDowell, on
+the other hand, who started with 30,000 effectives, finds himself on the
+19th--owing to the departure of one of his regiments and a battery of
+Artillery, because of the expiration of their term of enlistment,--with
+but "28,000 men at the utmost."--[Comte de Paris.]
+
+On the evening of Saturday, the 20th of July, Johnston and Beauregard
+hold an important consultation. The former feels certain that
+Patterson, with his more than 20,000 effectives, will now lose no time
+in essaying a junction with McDowell's Army, and that such junction will
+probably be effected by July 22nd. Hence he perceives the necessity of
+attacking McDowell, and if possible, with the combined Rebel Forces,
+whipping him before Patterson can come up to his assistance.
+
+At this consultation it is agreed by the two Rebel generals to assume
+the offensive, at once. Beauregard proposes a plan of battle--which is
+an immediate general advance of the Rebel centre and left,
+concentrating, from all the fords of Bull Run, upon Centreville, while
+the Rebel right advances toward Sangster's cross-roads, ready to fall
+either on Centreville, or upon Fairfax Court House, in its rear,
+according to circumstances.
+
+The plan proposed, is accepted at once by Johnston. The necessary order
+is drawn up by Beauregard that night; and at half past four o'clock on
+Sunday morning, July 21st, Johnston signs the written order. Nothing
+now remains, apparently, but the delivery of the order to the Rebel
+brigade commanders, a hurried preparation for the forward movement, and
+then the grand attack upon McDowell, at Centreville.
+
+Already, no doubt, the fevered brain of Beauregard pictures, in his
+vivid imagination, the invincible thunders of his Artillery, the
+impetuous advance of his Infantry, the glorious onset of his Cavalry,
+the flight and rout of the Union forces, his triumphal entry into
+Washington--Lincoln and Scott and the Congress crouching at his feet
+--and the victorious South and conquered North acclaiming him Dictator!
+The plan is Beauregard's own, and Beauregard is to have command. Hence
+all the glory of capturing the National Capital, must be Beauregard's.
+Why not? But "man proposes, and God disposes." The advance and attack,
+are, in that shape, never to be made.
+
+McDowell, in the meantime, all unconscious of what has transpired in the
+Shenandoah Valley, and between there and Manassas; never dreaming for an
+instant that Patterson has failed to keep Johnson there--even if he has
+not attacked and defeated him; utterly unsuspicious that his own
+lessened Union Army has now to deal with the Forces of Johnston and
+Beauregard combined--with a superior instead of an inferior force; is
+executing a plan of battle which he has decided upon, and announced to
+his general officers, on that same Saturday evening, at his Headquarters
+in Centreville.
+
+Instead of attempting to turn the Enemy's right, and cut off his
+communications with Richmond and the South, McDowell has now determined
+to attack the Enemy's left, cut his communication, via the Manassas Gap
+railroad, with Johnston's Army,--still supposed by him to be in the
+Valley of the Shenandoah--and, taking him in the left flank and rear,
+roll him upon Manassas, in disorder and defeat--with whatever might
+follow.
+
+That is the plan--in its general features. In executing it, Blenker's
+Brigade of Miles's Division is to remain at Centreville as a reserve,
+throwing up intrenchments about its Heights, upon which to fall back, in
+case of necessity; Davies's Brigade of the same Division, with
+Richardson's Brigade of Tyler's Division--as the Left Wing--are to
+demonstrate at Blackburn's Ford, toward the Enemy's right; Tyler's other
+three brigades, under Keyes, Schenck, and Sherman, are to feign an
+attack on the Enemy's left, posted behind the strongly-defended Stone
+Bridge over which the Warrenton turnpike, running Westward, on its way
+from Centreville to Warrenton, crosses Bull Run stream; while the strong
+divisions under Hunter and Heintzelman--forming McDowell's Right Wing
+--are to follow Tyler's Division Westward down the turnpike to a point
+within one mile and a half of the Stone Bridge, thence, by cross-road,
+diverge several miles to the North, then sweep around gradually to the
+West, and then Southwardly over Bull Run at Sudley Springs Ford,
+swooping down the Sudley road upon the Enemy's left flank and rear, near
+Stone Bridge, rolling it back toward his center, while Tyler's remaining
+three brigades cross the bridge and join in the assault. That is the
+whole plan in a nutshell.
+
+It has been McDowell's intention to push forward, from Centreville along
+the Warrenton Pike a few miles, on the evening of this Military
+conference; but he makes his first mistake, in allowing himself to be
+dissuaded from that, by those, who, in his own words, "have the greatest
+distance to go," and who prefer "starting early in the morning and
+making but one move."
+
+The attacking divisions now have orders to march at 2:30 A. M., in order
+"to avoid the heat," which is excessive. Tyler's three immediate
+brigades--or some of them--are slow in starting Westward, along the
+Warrenton Pike, to the Stone Bridge; and this leads to a two or three
+hours delay of the divisions of Hunter and Heintzelman, before they can
+follow that Pike beyond Centreville, and commence the secret detour to
+their right, along the cross-road leading to Sudley Springs.
+
+At 6:30 A.M., Tyler's Artillery gets into position, to cannonade the
+Enemy's batteries, on the West Bank of Bull Run, commanding the Stone
+Bridge, and opens fire. Half an hour before this, (at 6 A.M.), the
+Rebel artillerists, posted on a hill South of the Pike, and 600 yards
+West of the bridge, have caught sight of Tyler's Union blue-jackets.
+Those of the Rebel gunners whose eyes are directed to the North-East,
+soon see, nearly a mile away, up the gradual slope, a puff of blue
+smoke. Immediately the bang of a solitary rifle cannon is heard, and
+the scream of a rifled shot as it passes over their heads. At
+intervals, until past 9 A.M., that piece and others in the same
+position, keep hammering away at the Rebel left, under Evans, at Stone
+Bridge.
+
+The Rebel response to this cannonade, is very feeble. McDowell observes
+this. He suspects there has been a weakening of the Enemy's force at
+the bridge, in order to strengthen his right for some purpose. And what
+can that purpose be, but to throw his augmented right upon our left, at
+Blackburn's Ford, and so, along the ridge-road, upon Centreville? Thus
+McDowell guesses, and guesses well. To be in readiness to protect his
+own left and rear, by reenforcing Miles's Division, at Centreville and
+along the ridge to Blackburn's Ford, he temporarily holds back Howard's
+Brigade of Heintzelman's Division at the point where the cross-road to
+Sudley Springs Ford-along which Hunter's Division, followed by the
+Brigades of Franklin and Wilcox, of Heintzelman's Division, have already
+gone-intersects the Warrenton Pike.
+
+It is 9 o'clock. Beauregard, as yet unaware of McDowell's new plan,
+sends an order to Ewell, on his right, to hold himself ready "to take
+the offensive, at a moment's notice,"--and directing that Ewell be
+supported in his advance, toward Sangster's cross-roads and the rear of
+Centreville, by Holmes's Brigade. In accordance with that order, Ewell,
+who is "at Union Mills and its neighborhood," gets his brigade ready,
+and Holmes moves up to his support. After waiting two hours, Ewell
+receives another order, for both Ewell and Holmes "to resume their
+places." Something must have occurred since 9 o'clock, to defeat
+Beauregard's plan of attack on Centreville--with all its glorious
+consequences! What can it be? We shall see.
+
+While Tyler's Artillery has been cannonading the Rebel left, under
+Evans, at Stone Bridge,--fully impressed with the prevailing Union
+belief that the bridge is not only protected by strong masked batteries,
+heavy supports of Infantry, and by abatis as well as other defenses, but
+is also mined and ready to be blown up at the approach of our troops,
+when in reality the bridge is not mined, and the Rebel force in men and
+guns at that point has been greatly weakened in anticipation of
+Beauregard's projected advance upon Centreville,--the Union column,
+under Hunter and Heintzelman, is advancing from Centreville, in the
+scorching heat and suffocating dust of this tropical July morning,
+slowly, but surely, along the Warrenton Pike and the cross-road to
+Sudley Springs Ford--a distance of some eight miles of weary and
+toilsome marching for raw troops in such a temperature--in this order:
+Burnside's Brigade, followed by Andrew Porter's Brigade,--both of
+Hunter's Division; then Franklin's Brigade, followed by Willcox's
+Brigade,--both of Heintzelman's Division.
+
+It is half past 9 o'clock; before Burnside's Brigade has crossed the
+Bull Run stream, at Sudley's Ford, and the head of Andrew Porter's
+Brigade commences to ford it. The troops are somewhat slow in crossing.
+They are warm, tired, thirsty, and as to dust,--their hair and eyes and
+nostrils and mouths are full of it, while most of the uniforms, once
+blue, have become a dirty gray. The sky is clear. The sun already is
+fiercely hot. The men stop to drink and fill their canteens. It is
+well they do.
+
+McDowell, who has been waiting two or three hours at the turn, impatient
+at the delay, has ridden over to the front of the Flanking column, and
+now reaches Sudley's Ford. He feels that much valuable time is already
+lost. His plan has, in a measure, been frustrated by delay. He had
+calculated on crossing Bull Run, at Sudley's Ford, and getting to the
+rear of the Enemy's position, at Stone Bridge, before a sufficient Rebel
+force could be assembled to contest the Union advance. He sends back an
+aide with orders to the regimental commanders in the rear, to "break
+from column, and hurry forward separately, as fast as possible."
+Another aide he sends, with orders to Howard to bring his brigade
+across-fields. To Tyler he also sends orders to "press forward his
+attack, as large bodies of the Enemy are passing in front of him to
+attack the division (Hunter's) which has passed over."
+
+It may here be explained, that the Sudley road, running about six miles
+South-Southeasterly from Sudley Springs Ford to Manassas Junction, is
+crossed at right angles, about two miles South of the Springs, by the
+Warrenton Pike, at a point about one mile and a half West of the Stone
+Bridge. For nearly a mile South of Sudley Ford, the Sudley road passes
+through thick woods on the left, and alternate patches of wooded and
+cleared lands on the right. The country farther South, opens into
+rolling fields, occasionally cut by transverse gullies, and patched with
+woods. This is what Burnside's Brigade beholds, as it marches
+Southward, along the Sudley road, this eventful morning.
+
+Thus far, the cannonade of Tyler's batteries, and the weak return-fire
+of the Rebel Artillery, at Stone Bridge, over two miles South-East of
+Sudley Ford, is about the only music by which the Union march has kept
+time.
+
+But now, as Burnside's foremost regiment emerges from the woods, at half
+past 10 o'clock, the Artillery of the Enemy opens upon it.
+
+Let us see how this happens. Evans's Brigade, defending the Stone
+Bridge, and constituting the Enemy's extreme left, comprises, as has
+already been mentioned, Sloan's 4th South Carolina Regiment, Wheat's
+Louisiana battalion, Terry's squadron of Virginia Cavalry, and
+Davidson's section of Latham's Battery of six-pounders.
+
+Earlier in the morning Evans has supposed, from the cannonade of Tyler's
+batteries among the pines on the hills obliquely opposite the Enemy's
+left, as well as from the sound of the cannonade of the Union batteries
+away down the stream on the Enemy's right, near Blackburn's Ford, that
+McDowell is about to make an attack upon the whole front of the Rebel
+line of defense along Bull Run-by way of the Stone Bridge, and the
+various fords below it, which cross that stream. But by 10 o'clock,
+that Rebel general begins to feel doubtful, suspicious, and uneasy.
+Despite the booming of Tyler's guns, he has caught in the distance the
+rumbling sounds of Hunter's Artillery wheels.
+
+Evans finds himself pondering the meaning of those long lines of dust,
+away to his left; and then, like a flash, it bursts upon him, that all
+this Military hubbub in his front, and far away to his right, is but a
+feint; that the real danger is somehow connected with that mysterious
+far-away rumble, and those lines of yellow dust; that the main attack is
+to be on the unprepared left and rear of the Rebel position!
+
+No sooner has the Rebel brigade-commander thus divined the Union plan of
+attack, than he prepares, with the limited force at his command, to
+thwart it. Burnside and he are about equidistant, by this time, from
+the intersection of the Sudley road, running South, with the Warrenton
+Pike, running West. Much depends upon which of them shall be the first
+to reach it,--and the instinctive, intuitive knowledge of this, spurs
+Evans to his utmost energy. He leaves four of his fifteen companies,
+and Rogers's section of the Loudoun Artillery,--which has come up from
+Cocke's Brigade, at the ford below--to defend the approaches to the
+Stone Bridge, from the East side of Bull Run,--and, with the other
+eleven companies, and Latham's half-battery, he hurries Westward, along
+the Warrenton Pike, toward the Sudley road-crossing, to resist the
+impending Union attack.
+
+It is now 10:30 o'clock, and, as he hurries along, with anxious eyes,
+scanning the woods at the North, he suddenly catches the glitter of
+Burnside's bayonets coming down through them, East of the Sudley road,
+in "column of regiments" toward Young's Branch--a small stream turning,
+in a Northern and Southern loop, respectively above and below the
+Warrenton Pike, much as the S of a prostrate dollar-mark twines above
+and below its horizontal line, the vicinity of which is destined to be
+hotly-contested ground ere night-fall.
+
+ [Says Captain D. P. Woodbury, U. S. corps of engineers, and
+ who, with Captain Wright, guided the divisions of Hunter and
+ Heintzelman in making the detour to the upper part of Bull Run: "At
+ Sudley's Mills we lingered about an hour to give the men and horses
+ water and a little rest before going into action, our advance guard
+ in the mean time going ahead about three quarters of a mile.
+ Resuming our march, we emerged from the woods about one mile South
+ of the ford, and came upon a beautiful open valley about one and a
+ quarter miles square, bounded on the right or West by a wooded
+ ridge, on the Fast by the rough spurs or bluffs of Bull Run, on the
+ North by an open plain and ridge, on which our troops began to
+ form, and on the South by another ridge, on which the Enemy was
+ strongly posted, with woods behind their backs. The Enemy was also
+ in possession of the bluffs of Bull Run on our left."]
+
+Sending word to Headquarters, Evans pushes forward and gaining Buck
+Ridge, to the North of the Northern loop of Young's Branch, forms his
+line-of-battle upon that elevation--which somewhat compensates him for
+the inferiority of his numbers--nearly at right angles to the Bull Run
+line; rapidly puts his Artillery in position; the Rebel guns open on
+Burnside's advance--their hoarse roar soon supplemented by the rattle of
+Rebel musketry, and the answering roar and rattle of the Union onset;
+and the Battle of Bull Run has commenced!
+
+It is after 10:30 A.M., and Beauregard and Johnston are upon an eminence
+in the rear of the centre of the Enemy's Bull Run line. They have been
+there since 8 o'clock. An hour ago, or more, their Signal Officer has
+reported a large body of Union troops crossing the Bull Run Valley, some
+two or three miles above the Stone Bridge; upon the strength of which,
+Johnston has ordered Bee's Brigade from near Cocke's position, with
+Hampton's Legion and Stonewall Jackson's Brigade from near Bonham's
+left, to move to the Rebel left, at Stone Bridge; and these troops are
+now hastening thither, guided by the sound of the guns.
+
+The artillery-firing is also heard by Johnston and Beauregard, but
+intervening wooded slopes prevent them from determining precisely whence
+it comes. Beauregard, with a badly-organized staff, is chaffing over
+the delay that has occurred in carrying out his own plan of battle. He
+is waiting to hear of the progress of the attack which he has ordered
+upon the Union Army,--supposed by him to be at Centreville,--and
+especially as to the advance of his right toward Sangster's Station. In
+the meantime also,--from early morning,--the Rebel commanders have heard
+heavy firing in the direction of Blackburn's Ford, toward their right,
+where the Artillery attached to the brigades of Davies and Richardson,
+constituting McDowell's Left Wing, is demonstrating in a lively manner,
+in accordance with McDowell's plan.
+
+It is 11 o'clock. Beauregard has become satisfied that his orders for
+the Rebel advance and attack on Centreville, have failed or miscarried.
+His plan is abandoned, and the orders countermanded. At the same time
+the growing volume of artillery-detonations upon the left of the Bull
+Run line of defense--together with the clouds of dust which indicate the
+route of march of Hunter's and Heintzelman's Divisions from near
+Centreville to the point of conflict, satisfies both Johnston and
+Beauregard, that a serious attack is imperilling the Rebel left.
+
+Beauregard at once proposes to Johnston "a modification of the abandoned
+plan," viz.: "to attack with the" Rebel "right, while the left stands on
+the defensive." But rapidly transpiring events conspire to make even
+the modified plan impracticable.
+
+Johnston, convinced by the still growing volume of battle-sounds on the
+Rebel left, that the main attack of McDowell is being made there, urges
+Beauregard to strengthen the left, as much as possible; and, after that
+general has sent orders to this end,--to Holmes and Early to come up
+with their Brigades from Union Mills Ford, moving "with all speed to the
+sound of the firing," and to Bonham to promptly send up, from Mitchell's
+Ford, a battery and two of his regiments--both he and Beauregard put
+spurs to their horses, and gallop at full speed toward the firing, four
+miles away on their left,--stopping on the way only long enough for
+Johnston to order his Chief-of-artillery, Colonel Pendleton, to "follow,
+with his own, and Alburtis's Batteries."
+
+Meanwhile let us return and witness the progress of the battle, on the
+Rebel left,--where we were looking on, at 10:30 o'clock. Evans had then
+just posted his eleven companies of Infantry on Buck Ridge, with one of
+his two guns on his left, near the Sudley road, and the other not far
+from the Robinson House, upon the Northern spur of the elevated plateau
+just South of Young's Branch, and nearly midway between the Sudley road
+and Stone Bridge.
+
+The battle, as we have seen, has opened. As Burnside's Brigade appears
+on the slope, to the North of Buck Ridge (or Hill), it is received by a
+rapid, well-sustained, and uncomfortable, but not very destructive fire,
+from Evans's Artillery, and, as the Union regiments press forward, in
+column, full of impulsive ardor, the Enemy welcomes the head of the
+column with a hot musketry-fire also, delivered from the crest of the
+elevation behind which the Rebel Infantry lie flat upon the ground.
+
+This defense by Evan's demi-Brigade still continues, although half an
+hour, or more, has elapsed. Burnside has not yet been able to dislodge
+the Enemy from the position. Emboldened to temerity by this fact, Major
+Wheat's Louisiana battalion advances through the woods in front, upon
+Burnside, but is hurled back by a galling fire, which throws it into
+disorder and flight.
+
+At this moment, however, the brigades of Bee and Bartow--comprising the
+7th and 8th Georgia, 2nd Mississippi, 4th Alabama, 6th North Carolina,
+and two companies of the 11th Mississippi, with Imboden's Battery of
+four pieces--recently arrived with Johnston from Winchester, come up,
+form on the right of Sloan's 4th South Carolina Regiment, while Wheat
+rallies his remnant on Sloan's left, now resting on the Sudley road, and
+the whole new Rebel line opens a hot fire upon Burnside's Brigade.
+
+Hunter, for the purpose of better directing the Union attack, is at this
+moment rapidly riding to the left of the Union line,--which is advancing
+Southwardly, at right angles to Bull Run stream and the old line of
+Rebel defense thereon. He is struck by the fragment of a shell, and
+carried to the rear.
+
+Colonel John S. Slocum's, 2nd Rhode Island, Regiment, with Reynold's
+Rhode Island Battery (six 13-pounders), having been sent to the front of
+Burnside's left, and being closely pressed by the Enemy, Burnside's own
+regiment the 1st Rhode Island, is gallantly led by Major Balch to the
+support of the 2nd, and together they handsomely repulse the Rebel
+onset. Burnside now sends forward Martin's 71st New York, with its two
+howitzers, and Marston's 2nd New Hampshire,--his whole Brigade, of four
+regiments and a light artillery battery, being engaged with the heavy
+masked battery (Imboden's and two other pieces), and nearly seven full
+regiments of the Enemy.
+
+The regiments of Burnside's Brigade are getting considerably cut up.
+Colonels Slocum and Marston, and Major Balch, are wounded. There is
+some confusion in the ranks, and the Rhode Island Battery is in danger
+of capture, when General Andrew Porter--whose own brigade has just
+reached the field and is deploying to the right of Burnside's--succeeds
+Hunter in command of the division, and rides over to his left. Burnside
+asks him for Sykes's battalion of regulars, which is accordingly
+detached from the extreme right of Andrew Porter's Division, rapidly
+forms on the left, in support of the Rhode Island Battery, and opens a
+hot and effective fire which, in connection with the renewed fire of
+Burnside's rallied regiments, and the opening artillery practice of
+Griffin's Battery--that has just come up at a gallop and gone into a
+good position upon an eminence to the right of Porter's Division, and to
+the right of the Sudley road looking South--fairly staggers the Enemy.
+
+And now the brigades of Sherman and Keyes, having been ordered across
+Bull Run by General Tyler, are seen advancing from Poplar Ford, at the
+rear of our left,--Sherman's Brigade, headed by Corcoran's 69th New York
+Regiment, coming up on Burnside's left, while Keves's Brigade is
+following, to the left again of, Sherman.
+
+ [Sherman, in his Official Report, after mentioning the receipt by
+ him of Tyler's order to "cross over with the whole brigade to the
+ assistance of Colonel Hunter"--which he did, so far as the Infantry
+ was concerned, but left his battery under Ayres behind, on account
+ of the impassability of the bluff on the Western bank of Bull Run
+ --says: "Early in the day, when reconnoitering the ground, I had seen
+ a horseman descend from a bluff in our front, cross the stream, and
+ show himself in the open field, and, inferring we could cross over
+ at the same point, I sent forward a company as skirmishers, and
+ followed with the whole brigade, the New York Sixty-ninth leading."
+
+ This is evidently the ford at the elbow of Bull Run, to the right
+ of Sherman's front, which is laid down on the Army-maps as "Poplar
+ Ford," and which McDowell's engineers had previously discovered and
+ mapped; and to which Major Barnard of the U. S. Engineer Corps
+ alludes when, in his Official Report, he says: "Midway between the
+ Stone Bridge and Sudley Spring our maps indicated another ford,
+ which was said to be good."
+
+ The Comte de Paris, at page 241, vol. I. of his admirable "History
+ of the Civil War in America," and perhaps other Military
+ historians, having assumed and stated--upon the strength of this
+ passage in Sherman's Report--that "the Military instinct" of that
+ successful soldier had "discovered" this ford; and the impression
+ being thus conveyed, however undesignedly, to their readers, that
+ McDowell's Engineer corps, after spending two or three days in
+ reconnaissances, had failed to find the ford which Sherman had in a
+ few minutes "discovered" by "Military instinct;" it is surely due
+ to the truth of Military history, that the Engineers be fairly
+ credited with the discovery and mapping of that ford, the existence
+ of which should also have been known to McDowell's brigade
+ commanders.
+
+ If, on the other hand, the Report of the Rebel Captain Arthur L.
+ Rogers, of the Loudoun Artillery, to General Philip St. George
+ Cocke, be correct, it would seem that Sherman attempted to cross
+ Bull Run lower down than Poplar Ford, which is "about one mile
+ above the Stone Bridge," but was driven back by the fire of
+ Rogers's guns to cross at that particular ford; for Rogers, in that
+ Report, says that about 11 o'clock A. M., the first section of the
+ Loudoun Artillery, under his command, "proceeded to the crest of
+ the hill on the West Side of Bull Run, commanding Stone Bridge. *
+ * * Here." continues he, "I posted my section of Artillery, and
+ opened a brisk fire upon a column of the Enemy's Infantry, supposed
+ to be two regiments, advancing towards me, and supported by his
+ battery of rifled cannon on the hills opposite. These poured into
+ my section a steady fire of shot and shell. After giving them some
+ fifty rounds, I succeeded in heading his column, and turned it up
+ Bull Run to a ford about one mile above Stone Bridge, where, with
+ the regiments which followed, they crossed, and proceeded to join
+ the rest of the Enemy's forces in front of the main body of our
+ Army."]
+
+Before this developing, expanding, and advancing attack of the Union
+forces, the Rebel General Bee, who--since his coming up to support
+Evans, with his own and Bartow's Brigades, to which had since been added
+Hampton's Legion,--has been in command of this new Rebel line of defense
+upon the left of the Bull Run line, concludes that that attack is
+getting too strong for him, and orders his forces to retreat to the
+Southward, and re-form on a second line, parallel to their present line,
+and behind the rising ground at their rear. They do so, somewhat faster
+than he desires. The whole line of the Rebel centre gives way, followed
+by the wings, as far as the victorious Union troops can see.
+
+We must be blind if we cannot perceive that thus far, the outlook, from
+the Union point of view,--despite numberless mistakes of detail, and
+some, perhaps, more general in their character--is very good. The "Boys
+in Blue" are irresistibly advancing, driving the "Rebel Gray" back and
+back, without let or hindrance, over the Buck Hill ridge, over Young's
+Branch, back to, and even over, the Warrenton Pike. Time, to be sure,
+is flying--valuable time; but the Enemy also is retiring.--There is some
+slight confusion in parts of our own ranks; but there is much more in
+his. At present, we have decidedly the best of it. McDowell's plan has
+been, thus far, successful. Will that success continue? We shall see.
+
+Heintzelman's Division is coming, up from the rear, to the Union right
+--Franklin's Brigade, made up of the 5th and 11th Massachusetts, and 1st
+Minnesota, with Ricketts's splendid battery of six 10-pounder Parrotts,
+forming on the right of Andrew Porter's Brigade and Division; while
+Willcox's demi-Brigade, with its 11th ("Fire Zouaves") and 38th New
+York--having left Arnold's Battery of four pieces, with the 1st Michigan
+as its support, posted on a hill commanding Sudley's Ford--comes in, on
+the right of Franklin, thus forming the extreme right of the advancing
+Union line of attack.
+
+As our re-enforcing brigades come up, on our right, and on our left, the
+Enemy falls back, more and more discouraged and dismayed. It seems to
+him, as it does to us, "as though nothing can stop us." Jackson,
+however, is now hurrying up to the relief of the flying and disordered
+remnants of Bee's, Bartow's, and Evans's Brigades; and these
+subsequently rally, with Hampton's Legion, upon Jackson's strong brigade
+of fresh troops, so that, on a third new line, to which they have been
+driven back, they soon have--6,500 Infantry, 13 pieces of Artillery, and
+Stuart's cavalry-posted in a belt of pines which fringes the Southern
+skirt of the Henry House plateau--in a line-of-battle which, with its
+left resting upon the Sudley road, three-quarters of a mile South of its
+intersection with the Warrenton Pike, is the irregular hypothenuse of a
+right-angled triangle, formed by itself and those two intersecting
+roads, to the South-East of such intersection. It is within this
+right-angled triangular space that the battle, now proceeding, bids
+fair to rage most fiercely.
+
+Johnston and Beauregard, riding up from their rear, reach this new
+(third) line to which the Rebel troops have been driven, about noon.
+They find the brigades of Bee, Bartow, and Evans, falling back in great
+disorder, and taking shelter in a wooded ravine, South of the Robinson
+House and of the Warrenton Pike. Hampton's Legion, which has just been
+driven backward over the Pike, with great loss, still holds the Robinson
+House. Jackson, however, has reached the front of this line of defense,
+with his brigade of the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 27th, and 33rd Virginia Infantry,
+and Pendleton's Battery--all of which have been well rested, since their
+arrival, with other brigades of Johnston's Army of the Shenandoah, from
+Winchester, a day or two back.
+
+As Jackson comes up, on the left of "the ravine and woods occupied by
+the mingled remnants of Bee's, Bartow's and Evans's commands," he posts
+Imboden's, Stanard's, and Pendleton's Batteries in line, "below the brim
+of the Henry House plateau," perhaps one-eighth of a mile to the
+East-Southeastward of the Henry House, at his centre; Preston's 4th
+Virginia, and Echol's 27th Virginia, at the rear of the battery-line;
+Harper's 5th Virginia, with Radford's Cavalry, at its right; and, on its
+left, Allen's 2nd Virginia; with Cumming's 33rd Virginia to the left of
+that again, and Stuart's Cavalry covering the Rebel left flank.
+
+It is about this time that the chief Rebel generals find their position
+so desperate, as to necessitate extraordinary measures, and personal
+exposure, on their part. Now it is, that Jackson earns the famous
+sobriquet which sticks to him until he dies.
+
+
+ [Bee approaches Jackson--so goes the story, according to Swinton;
+ he points to the disordered remnants of his own brigade mingled
+ with those of the brigades of Bartow and Evans huddled together in
+ the woods, and exclaims: "General, they are beating us back!"
+ "Sir," responds Jackson, drawing himself up, severely, "We'll give
+ them the bayonet!" And Bee, rushing back among his confused troops,
+ rallies them with the cry: "There is Jackson, standing like a Stone
+ wall! Let us determine to die here, and we will conquer."]
+
+Now it is, that Johnston and Beauregard, accompanied by their staffs,
+ride backward and forward among the Rebel ranks, rallying and
+encouraging them. Now it is, that, Bee and Bartow and Hampton being
+wounded, and the Lieutenant-Colonel of the Hampton Legion killed,
+Beauregard leads a gallant charge of that legion in person. And now it
+is, that Johnston himself, finding all the field-officers of the 4th
+Alabama disabled, "impressively and gallantly charges to the front" with
+the colors of that regiment at his side!
+
+These conspicuous examples of bravery, inspire the Rebel troops with
+fresh courage, at this admittedly "critical" moment.
+
+Johnston now assigns to Beauregard the chief "command of the left" of
+the Bull Run line,--that is to say, the chief command of the Enemy's new
+line of defense, which, as we have seen, is on the left of, and at right
+angles to, the old Bull Run line--while he himself, riding back to the
+Lewis House, resumes "the command of the whole field."
+
+On his way to his rear, Johnston orders Cocke to send reenforcements to
+Beauregard. He also dispatches orders to hurry up to that Rebel
+general's support, the brigades of Holmes and Early from near the Union
+Mills Ford, and that of Bonham from Mitchell's Ford,--Ewell with his
+brigade, being also directed to "follow with all speed" from Union
+Mills Ford-making a total of over 10,000 fresh troops.
+
+From the "commanding elevation" of the Lewis House, Johnston can observe
+the position of the Union forces beyond Bull Run, at Blackburn's Ford
+and Stone Bridge; the coming of his own re-enforcing brigades from far
+down the valley, toward Manassas; and the manoeuvres of our advancing
+columns under McDowell.
+
+As the battle proceeds, the Enemy's strength on the third new line of
+defense increases, until he has 22 guns, 260 Cavalry, and 12 regiments
+of Infantry, now engaged. It is interesting to observe also, that, of
+these, 16 of the guns, 9 of the regiments, and all of the Cavalry
+(Stuart's), belong to Johnston's Army of the Shenandoah, while only 6
+guns and 3 Infantry regiments thus engaged, belong to Beauregard's Army
+of the Potomac. Thus the burden of the battle has been, and is being,
+borne by Johnston's, and not Beauregard's troops--in the proportion of
+about three of the former, to one of the latter,--which, for over two
+hours, maintain their position despite many successive assaults we make
+upon them.
+
+It is after 2 o'clock P.M., when Howard's Brigade, of Heintzelman's
+Division, reaches the battle-field, almost broken down with exhaustion.
+By order of Heintzelman it has moved at double-quick for a mile of the
+way, until, under the broiling heat, it can do so no longer. The last
+two miles of the weary tramp, while the head of the brigade has moved at
+quick time, the rear, having lost distances, moves, much of the time, at
+a double-quick. As a consequence, many of Howard's men drop out, and
+absolutely faint from exhaustion.
+
+As Howard's Brigade approaches the field, besides the ambulances and
+litters, conveying to the rear the wounded and dying, crowds of
+retreating stragglers meet and tell it to hurry along; that the Enemy
+has been driven back a mile; but, as it marches along, its regiments do
+not feel particularly encouraged by the disorganization so prevalent;
+and the fact that as they come into action, the thunders of the Rebel
+Artillery do not seem to meet an adequately voluminous response--from
+the Union side, seems to them, a portent of evil. Weary and fagged out,
+they are permitted to rest, for a while, under cover.
+
+Up to this time, our line, increased, as it has been, by the brigades of
+Sherman and Keyes, on the left of Burnside, and of Franklin and Wilcox,
+on the right of Porter, has continued to advance victoriously. Our
+troops are, to be sure, considerably scattered, having been "moved from
+point to point" a good deal. On our left, the Enemy has been driven
+back nearly a mile, and Keyes's Brigade is pushing down Bull Run, under
+shelter of the bluffs, trying to turn the right of the Enemy's new line,
+and give Schenck's Brigade a better chance for crossing the Stone
+Bridge, still commanded by some of the Rebel guns.
+
+Having "nothing to do" there, "several of the Union regiments" are
+coming over, from our left toward our right, with a view of overlapping,
+and turning, the Enemy's left.
+
+It is about half past 2 o'clock. The batteries of Griffin and Ricketts
+have already been advanced as far as the eminence, upon our right, upon
+which stands the Dogan House. Supported by Lyons's gallant 14th New
+York Chasseurs, Griffin's and Ricketts's Batteries are still pouring a
+terribly destructive fire into the batteries and columns of the Enemy,
+now behind the brow of the Henry House hill, wherever exposed, while
+Palmer's seven companies of Union Cavalry are feeling the Enemy's left
+flank, which McDowell proposes to turn. The flags of eight Union
+regiments, though "borne somewhat wearily" now point toward the hilly
+Henry House plateau, beyond which "disordered masses of Rebels" have
+been seen "hastily retiring."
+
+There is a lull in the battle. The terrible heat is exhausting to the
+combatants on both sides. Griffin and Ricketts have wrought such havoc
+with their guns, that "nothing remains to be fired at." Victory seems
+most surely to be ours.
+
+Away down at his headquarters at the Lewis House, the Rebel General
+Johnston stands watching the progress of the battle, as it goes against
+him. Nervously he glances, every now and then, over his left shoulder,
+as if expecting something. An officer is galloping toward him, from
+Manassas. He comes from the office of Beauregard's Adjutant-General, at
+that point. He rides up and salutes. "General," says he, breathlessly,
+"a United States Army has reached the line of the Manassas Gap railroad,
+and is now but three or four miles from our left flank!"
+
+Johnston clenches his teeth nervously. Thick beads of perspiration
+start from his forehead. He believes it is Patterson's Army that has
+followed "upon his heels" from before Winchester, faster than has been
+anticipated; and, as he thinks of Kirby Smith, who should long since
+have arrived with Elzey's Brigade--all, of his own "Army of the
+Shenandoah," that has not yet followed him to Manassas,--the exclamation
+involuntarily bursts from his lips: "Oh, for four regiments!"
+
+ [Says a correspondent and eye-witness of the battle, writing to the
+ Richmond Dispatch, from the battle-field, July 23d: "Between two
+ and three o'clock large numbers of men were leaving the field, some
+ of them wounded, others exhausted by the long struggle, who gave us
+ gloomy reports; but, as the firing on both sides continued
+ steadily, we felt sure that our brave Southerners had not been
+ conquered by the overwhelming hordes of the North. It is, however,
+ due to truth to say that the result at this hour hung trembling in
+ the balance. We had lost numbers of our most distinguished
+ officers. Gens. Barlow and Bee had been stricken down; Lieut; Col.
+ Johnson of the Hampton Legion had been killed; Col. Hampton had
+ been wounded. But there was at hand a fearless general whose
+ reputation was staked on this battle: Gen. Beauregard promptly
+ offered to lead the Hampton Legion into action, which he executed
+ in a style unsurpassed and unsurpassable. Gen. Beauregard rode up
+ and down our lines, between the Enemy and his own men, regardless
+ of the heavy fire, cheering and encouraging our troops. About this
+ time, a shell struck his horse, taking its head off, and killing
+ the horses of his aides, Messrs. Ferguson and Hayward. * * * Gen.
+ Johnston also threw himself into the thickest of the fight, seizing
+ the colors of a Georgia (Alabama) regiment, and rallying then to
+ the charge. * * * Your correspondent heard Gen. Johnston exclaim
+ to Gen. Cocke, just at the critical moment, 'Oh, for four
+ regiments!' His wish was answered; for in the distance our
+ re-enforcements appeared. The tide of battle was turned in our favor
+ by the arrival of Gen. Kirby Smith, from Winchester, with 4,000 men
+ of Gen. Johnston's Division. Gen. Smith heard, while on the
+ Manassas Railroad cars, the roar of battle. He stopped the train,
+ and hurried his troops across the fields to the point just where he
+ was most needed. They were at first supposed to be the Enemy,
+ their arrival at that point of the field being entirely unexpected.
+ The Enemy fell back, and a panic seized them. Cheer after cheer
+ from our men went up, and we knew the battle had been won."
+
+ Another Rebel correspondent who, as an officer of the Kentucky
+ battalion of General Johnston's Division of the Rebel Army,
+ participated in the battle, wrote to the Louisville Courier from
+ Manassas, July 22, an account of it, in which, after mentioning
+ that the Rebel Army had been forced back for two miles, he
+ continues; "The fortunes of the day were evidently against us.
+ Some of our best officers had been slain, and the flower of our
+ Army lay strewn upon the field, ghastly in death or gaping with
+ wounds. At noon, the cannonading is described as terrific. It was
+ an incessant roar for more than two hours, the havoc and
+ devastation at this time being fear ful. McDowell * * * had nearly
+ outflanked us, and they were just in the act of possessing
+ themselves of the Railway to Richmond. Then all would have been
+ lost. But most opportunely--I may say Providentially--at this
+ juncture, Gen. Johnston, [Kirby Smith it should be] with the
+ remnant of Johnston's Division--our Army, as we fondly call it, for
+ we have been friends and brothers in camp and field for three
+ months--reappeared, and made one other desperate struggle to obtain
+ the vantage-ground. Elzey's Brigade of Marylanders and Virginians
+ led the charge; and right manfully did they execute the work,"]
+
+"The prayer of the wicked availeth not," 'tis said; yet never was the
+prayer of the righteous more quickly answered than is that of the Rebel
+General-in-chief! Johnston himself, alluding to this exigent moment,
+afterward remarks, in his report: "The expected reenforcements appeared
+soon after." Instead of Patterson's Union Army, it is Kirby Smith,
+coming up, with Elzey's Brigade, from Winchester!
+
+Satisfied of the safe arrival of Kirby Smith, and ordering him up, with
+Elzey's Brigade, Johnston directs Kershaw's 2nd and Cash's 8th South
+Carolina Regiments, which have just come up, with Kemper's Battery, from
+Bonham's Brigade, to strengthen the Rebel left, against the attempt
+which we are still making to reach around it, about the Sudley road, to
+take it in reverse. Fisher's 6th North Carolina Regiment arriving about
+the same time, is also hurried along to help Beauregard.
+
+But during the victorious lull, heretofore alluded to, something is
+happening on our side, that is of very serious moment. Let us see what
+it is:
+
+The batteries of Griffin and Ricketts, at the Dogan House, having
+nothing to fire at, as we have seen, are resting, pleased with the
+consciousness of their brilliant and victorious service against the
+Rebel batteries and Infantry columns, when they are ordered by McDowell
+--who, with his staff, is upon elevated ground to the rear of our
+right,--to advance 1,000 yards further to the front, "upon a hill near
+the Henry House."
+
+Ricketts considers this a perilous job--but proceeds to execute the
+order as to his own battery. A small ravine is in his front. With
+Ricketts gallantly leading, the battery dashes across the ravine at full
+gallop, breaking one wheel as it goes, which is at once replaced. A
+fence lies across the way. The cannoniers demolish it. The battery
+ascends the hill near the Henry House, which is full of the Enemy's
+sharpshooters.
+
+ [For this, and what immediately follows, see the testimony of
+ Ricketts and others, before the Committee on the Conduct of the
+ War.]
+
+Soon as Ricketts gets his guns in battery, his men and horses begin to
+fall, under the fire of these sharpshooters. He turns his guns upon the
+Henry House,--and "literally riddles it." Amid the moans of the
+wounded, the death scream of a woman is heard! The Enemy had permitted
+her to remain in her doomed house!
+
+But the execution is not all on one side, by any means. Ricketts is in
+a very hot place--the hottest, he afterward declares, that he has ever
+seen in his life--and he has seen fighting before this.
+
+The Enemy is behind the woods, at the front and right of Ricketts's
+Battery. This, with the added advantage of the natural slope of the
+ground, enables him to deliver upon the brave Union artillerists a
+concentrated fire, which is terribly destructive, and disables so many
+of Rickett's horses that he cannot move, if he would. Rickett's own
+guns, however, are so admirably served, that a smooth-bore battery of
+the Enemy, which has been stubbornly opposing him, is driven back,
+despite its heavy supports.
+
+And Griffin's Battery now comes rapidly up into position on the left of,
+and in line with, Ricketts. For Griffin also has been ordered from the
+Dogan House hill, to this new, and dangerously exposed, position.
+
+But when Major Barry, General McDowell's Chief of Artillery, brings him
+the order, Griffin hesitates--for he has no Infantry support.
+
+"The Fire Zouaves--[The 11th New York]--will support you," says Barry,
+"They are just ready to follow you at the double-quick!"
+
+"Then why not let them go and get in position on the hill," says
+Griffin; "then, let Ricketts's and my batteries come into battery
+behind; and then, let them (the Zouaves) fall back?"
+
+Griffin advises, also, as a better position for his own battery, a hill
+500 yards in the rear of the Henry House hill. But advice is thrown
+away. His artillery-chief is inflexible.
+
+"I tell you," says Griffin again, "the Fire Zouaves won't support us."
+
+"They will," replies Barry. "At any rate it is General McDowell's order
+to go there!"
+
+That settles the business. "I will go," responds Griffin; "but mark my
+words, they will not support us!"
+
+Griffin's Battery, indeed, starts first, but, owing to the mistake of
+one of his officers, it has to be countermarched, so that Ricketts's is
+thrown to the front, and, as we have seen, first reaches the crest of
+the Henry House hill.
+
+Griffin, as he comes up with his guns, goes into battery on the left of
+Ricketts, and at once opens briskly on the Enemy. One of Griffin's guns
+has a ball lodged in the bore, which cannot be got in or out. His other
+five guns, with the six guns of Ricketts, make eleven pieces, which are
+now side by side-all of them driving away at the Enemy's (Stonewall
+Jackson's) strong batteries, not more than 300 yards away.
+
+They have been at it half an hour perhaps, when Griffin moves two of his
+pieces to the right of Ricketts, and commences firing with them. He has
+hardly been there five minutes, when a Rebel regiment coming out of the
+woods at Griffin's right front, gets over a rail fence, its Colonel
+steps out between his regiment (now standing up to the knees in rank
+grass) and the battery, and commences a speech to his men!
+
+Griffin orders one of his officers to load with canister, and let
+drive at them. The guns are loaded, and ready to fire, when up gallops
+Barry, exclaiming: "Captain, don't fire there; those are your
+battery-supports!"
+
+At this supreme moment, Reynolds's gorgeous looking Marines are sitting
+down in close column, on the ground, to the left of the Union batteries.
+The showy 11th New York "Fire Zouaves" are a little to the rear of the
+right of the guns. The gallant 14th New York Chasseurs, in their
+dust-covered red uniforms, who had followed Griffin's Battery, at some
+distance, have, only a little while since, pushed finely up, from the
+ravine at the rear of our batteries, into the woods, to the right of
+Griffin and Ricketts, at a double-quick. To the left of the batteries,
+close to the battalion of Marines, Heintzelman bestrides his horse, near
+some of his own Division.
+
+To Major Barry's startling declaration, Captain Griffin excitedly
+shouts: "They are Confederates! Sure as the world, they are
+Confederates!"
+
+But Barry thinks he knows better, and hastily responds: "I know they are
+your battery-support."
+
+Griffin spurs toward his pieces, countermands his previous order,
+and firing is resumed in the old direction.
+
+Andrew Porter, has just ridden up to Heintzelman's side, and now catches
+sight of the Rebel regiment. "What troops are those?" he asks of
+General Hientzelman, pointing in their direction.
+
+While Heintzelman is replying, and just as Averell drops his reins and
+levels his field-glass at them, "down come their pieces-rifles and
+muskets,--and probably," as Averell afterward said, "there never was
+such a destructive fire for a few minutes. It seemed as though every
+man and horse of that battery just laid right down, and died right off!"
+
+It is a dreadful mistake that has been made. And there seems to have
+been no excuse for it either. The deliberateness of the Rebel colonel
+has given Barry abundant time to have discovered his error. For Griffin
+subsequently declared, under oath, that, "After the officer who had been
+talking to the regiment had got through, he faced them to the left,
+marched them about fifty yards to the woods, then faced them to the
+right again, marched them about forty yards toward us, then opened fire
+upon us--and that was the last of us!"
+
+It is a terrible blunder. For, up to this moment, the battle is
+undeniably ours. And, while the Rebel colonel has been haranguing his
+brave men, there has been plenty of time to have "passed the word" along
+the line of our batteries, and poured canister into the Rebel regiment
+from the whole line of eleven guns, at point-blank range, which must
+inevitably have cut it all to pieces. The fate of the day hung balanced
+right there and then--with all the chances in favor of McDowell. But
+those chances are now reversed. Such are the fickle changes in the
+fortunes of battle!
+
+Instead of our batteries cutting to pieces the Rebel Infantry regiment,
+the Rebel Infantry regiment has mowed down the gallant artillerists of
+our batteries. Hardly a man of them escapes. Death and destruction
+reap a wondrous and instant harvest. Wounded, dying, or dead, lie the
+brave cannoniers at their guns, officers and men alike hors du combat,
+while wounded horses gallop wildly back, with bounding caissons, down
+the gentle declivity, carrying disorder, and further danger, in their
+mad flight.
+
+The supporting Fire Zouaves and Marines, on the right and left of our
+line of guns, stand, with staring eyes and dumb open-mouths, at the
+sudden turn of affairs. They are absolutely paralyzed with
+astonishment. They do not run at first. They stand, quaking and
+panic-stricken. They are urged to advance upon the Rebel regiment
+--"to give them a volley, and then try the bayonet." In vain! They
+fire perhaps 100 scattering shots; and receive in return, as they break
+and run down the hill to the rear, volley after volley, of deadly lead,
+from the Rebel muskets.
+
+But, as this Rebel regiment (Cummings's 33rd Virginia) advances to seize
+the crippled and defenceless guns, it is checked, and driven back, by
+the 1st Michigan Regiment of Willcox's Brigade, which has pushed forward
+in the woods at our extreme right.
+
+Meanwhile, having been ordered by McDowell to support Ricketts's
+Battery, Howard has formed his four tired regiments into two lines
+--Berry's 4th Maine, and Whitney's 2nd Vermont, on the right and left of
+the first; and Dunnell's 5th, and his own 3rd Maine, under Staples, in
+the second line. Howard himself leads his first line up the elevated
+plateau of the Henry House. Reaching the crest, the line delivers its
+fire, volley after volley, despite the concentrated hail of the Enemy's
+Artillery and muskets. As the second line advances, a Rebel
+cannon-ball, and an unfortunate charge of our own Cavalry, scatters most
+of the 5th Maine. The 2nd Vermont, which has advanced 200 yards beyond
+the crest, rapidly firing, while the Enemy retires, is now, in turn,
+forced back by the Enemy's hot fire, and is replaced by the 3rd Maine,
+while the remnant of the 5th moves up to the extreme right of Howard's
+now single line. But the Rebel fire grows hotter and hotter, and owing
+to this, and a misunderstood order, Howard's line begins to dissolve,
+and then retires in confusion,--Howard and others vainly striving to
+rally his own utterly exhausted men.
+
+Sherman's Brigade, too, has come over from our left, and now advances
+upon the deadly plateau, where lie the disabled Union batteries--the
+prizes, in full sight of both Armies, for which each seems now to be so
+desperately striving.
+
+Quinby's 13th New York Rifles, in column of companies, leads the
+brigade, followed by Lieutenant-Colonel Peck's 2d Wisconsin, Cameron's
+79th New York (Highlanders), and Corcoran's 69th New York (Irish), "in
+line of battle." Down the slope, across the ravine, and up, on the
+other side, steadily presses Quinby, till he reaches the crest. He
+opens fire. An advancing Rebel regiment retires, as he pushes up to
+where the Union batteries and cannoniers lie wounded and dying--the
+other three regiments following in line-of-battle until near the crest,
+when the fire of the Enemy's rifles and musketry, added to his heavy
+cannonading, grows so severe that the brigade is forced back to shelter
+in a roadway leading up the plateau.
+
+Peck's 2nd Wisconsin, now emerges from this sheltered roadway, and
+steadily mounts the elevation, in the face of the Enemy's severe fire
+--returning it, with spirit, as it advances. But the Rebel fire becomes
+too galling. The gray-clad Wisconsin boys return to the sheltered road
+again, while the cry goes up from Sherman's ranks: "Our own men are
+firing at them!" Rallying at the road, the 2nd Wisconsin again returns,
+with desperate courage, to the crest of the hill, delivers its fire, and
+then, unable to withstand the dreadful carnage, falls back once more, in
+disorder.
+
+At this, the 79th (Highland) Regiment springs forward, to mount the brow
+of the fatal hill, swept as it is, with this storm of shot and shell and
+musket-balls. Up, through the lowering smoke, lit with the Enemy's
+incessant discharges in the woods beyond, the brave Highlanders jauntily
+march, and, with Cameron and their colors at their head, charge
+impetuously across the bloody hill-crest, and still farther, to the
+front. But it is not in human nature to continue that advance in the
+teeth of the withering fire from Jackson's batteries, strengthened, as
+they are, by Pelham's and Kemper's. The gallant fellows fall back,
+rally again, advance once more, retire again, and at last,--the heroic
+Cameron being mortally wounded,--fall back, in confusion, under the
+cover of the hill.
+
+And now, while Quinby's Regiment, on another ridge, more to the left, is
+also again engaging the Enemy, the 69th New York, led by the fearless
+Corcoran, dashes forward, up the Henry House hill, over the forbidding
+brow, and beyond. As the brave Irishmen reach the abandoned batteries,
+the hoarse roar of cannon, the sharp rattle of musketry-volleys, the
+scream of shot and shell, and the whistling of bullets, is at once
+deafening and appalling, while the air seems filled with the iron and
+leaden sleet which sweeps across the scorched and blasted plateau of the
+Henry House. Nobly the Irish Regiment holds its ground for a time; but,
+at last, it too falls back, before the hurtling tempest.
+
+The fortunes of the day are plainly turning against us. Time is also
+against us--as it has been all along--while it is with the Enemy. It is
+past 3 o'clock.
+
+Since we last looked at Beauregard's third new defensive line, there
+have been material accessions to it. The remains of the brigades of
+Bee, Evans, and Bartow, have been reformed on the right of Jackson's
+Brigade--Bee on his immediate right, Evans to the right of Bee, and
+Bartow to the right of Evans, with a battery which has been engaging
+Schenck's Brigade on the other side of Bull Run near the Stone Bridge;
+while Cocke's Brigade watches Bull Run to the rear of Bartow. On the
+left of Jackson's. Brigade, is now to be seen a part of Bonham's
+Brigade (Kershaw's 2nd South Carolina, and Cash's 8th South Carolina)
+with Kemper's Battery on its left. Kirby Smith has reached the front,
+from Manassas, and--in advancing from his position on the left of
+Bonham's demi-Brigade, just West of the Sudley road, with Elzey's
+Brigade, in a counter-attack upon our right-is wounded, and carried to
+the rear, leaving his command to Elzey. Stuart's Cavalry are in the
+woods, still farther to the Enemy's left, supporting Beckham's Battery.
+Early's Brigade is also coming up, from Union Mills Ford, not far to the
+rear of the Enemy's left, with the design of coming into line between
+Elzey's Brigade and Beckham's Battery, and out-flanking and attacking
+our right. But let us bring our eyes back to the bloody contest, still
+going on, for the possession of the batteries of Griffin and Ricketts.
+
+Arnold's Battery has raced up on our right, and is delivering shot,
+shell, spherical case, and canister, with effect, although exposed to a
+severe and accurate fire from the Enemy. Wilcox, with what is left of
+the 1st Michigan, after once retaking the batteries on the plateau, from
+the 7th Georgia, has got around the Enemy's left flank and is actually
+engaged with the Enemy's rear, while that Enemy's front is engaged with
+Franklin and Sherman! But Hobart Ward's 38th New York, which Wilcox has
+ordered up to support the 1st Michigan, on our extreme right, in this
+flanking movement, has been misdirected, and is now attacking the
+Enemy's centre, instead of his left; and Preston's 28th Virginia--which,
+with Withers's 18th Virginia, has come up to the Rebel left, from
+Cocke's Brigade, on the Enemy's right--finding the 1st Michigan broken,
+in the woods, attacks it, and wounds and captures Wilcox. Withers's
+Regiment has, with a yell--the old "Rebel yell," now rising everywhere
+from Rebel throats, and so often heard afterward,--charged the 14th New
+York Chasseurs, in the woods; and the Chasseurs, though retiring, have
+fired upon it with such precision as to throw some of their assailants
+into disorder.
+
+ [Says General Keyes, who had kept on down the Run, "on the extreme
+ left of our advance--having separated from Sherman on his right:--I
+ thought the day was won about 2 o'clock; but about half past 3
+ o'clock a sudden change in the firing took place, which, to my ear,
+ was very ominous. I knew that the moment the shout went up from
+ the other side, there appeared to be an instantaneous change in the
+ whole sound of the battle. * * * That, as far as I can learn, was
+ the shout that went up from the Enemy's line when they found out
+ for certain that it was Johnston [Kirby Smith] and not Patterson,
+ that had come."]
+
+Meanwhile McDowell is making one more effort to retrieve the misfortunes
+of the day. Lawrence's 5th, and Clark's 11th Massachusetts, with
+Gorman's 1st Minnesota,--all belonging to Franklin's Brigade--together
+with Corcoran's 69th New York, of Sherman's Brigade, have been brought
+into line-of-battle, by the united efforts of Franklin, Averell, and
+other officers, at our centre, and with the remnants of two or three
+other regiments, are moving against the Enemy's centre, to support the
+attack of the Chasseurs-rallied and led forward again by Heintzelman
+upon the Rebel left, and that of the 38th New York upon the Rebel left
+centre,--in another effort to recapture the abandoned batteries.
+
+Charge after charge, is made by our gallant regiments, and
+counter-charge after counter-charge, is made by the fresh troops of the
+Enemy. For almost half an hour, has the contest over the batteries
+rolled backward and forward. Three several times have the batteries
+been taken, and re-taken,--much of the determined and desperate struggle
+going on, over the prostrate and bleeding bodies of the brave Union
+artillerists,--but without avail. Regiment after regiment, has been
+thrown back, by the deadly fusillade of the Enemy's musketry from the
+skirt of woods at his front and left, and the canister, case, and
+bursting shells, of his rapidly-served Artillery.
+
+It is now near upon 4 o'clock. Our last effort to recapture the
+batteries has failed. The Union line of advance has been seriously
+checked. Some of our own guns in those batteries are turned on us. The
+Enemy's Infantry make a rush over the blood-soaked brow of the fatal
+plateau, pouring into our men a deadly fire, as they advance,--while
+over to our right and rear, at the same moment, are seen the fresh
+regiments of Early's Brigade coming out of the woods--deploying rapidly
+in several lines--with Stuart's handful of Rebel Cavalry, while
+Beckham's guns, in the same quarter, open an oblique enfilading reverse
+fire upon us, in a lively manner.
+
+At once the minds of the fagged-out Union troops become filled with the
+dispiriting idea that the exhausting fight which they have made all day
+long, has been simply with Beauregard's Army of the Potomac, and that
+these fresh Rebel troops, on the Union right and rear, are the vanguard
+of Johnston's Army of the Shenandoah! After all the hard marching and
+fighting they have done during the last thirteen hours,--with empty
+stomachs, and parched lips, under a scorching sun that still, as it
+descends in the West, glowers down upon them, through the murky air,
+like a great, red, glaring eye,--the very thought is terrible!
+
+Without fear, yet equally without hope, the Union troops crumble to
+groups, and then to individuals. The attempt of McDowell to turn the
+left of the Enemy's Bull Run line, has failed.
+
+McDowell and his officers heroically but vainly strive, at great
+personal risk to themselves, to stem the tide of confusion, and
+disorder. Sykes's battalion of regulars, which has been at our left,
+now steadily moves obliquely across the field of battle toward our
+right, to a hill in the midground, which it occupies, and, with the aid
+of Arnold's Battery and Palmer's Cavalry, holds, while the exhausted and
+disorganized troops of the Union Army doggedly and slowly retire toward
+Sudley Ford, their rear covered by an irregular square of Infantry,
+which, mainly by the exertions of Colonel Corcoran, has been formed to
+resist a threatened charge of Stuart's Cavalry.
+
+ [At the rate of "not more than two, or two and a half, miles an
+ hour," and not "helter-skelter," as some narrators state.]
+
+It is not fear, that has got the better of our Union troops. It is
+physical exhaustion for one thing; it is thirst for another. Men must
+drink,--even if they have foolishly thrown away their canteens,--and
+many have retired to get water. It is the moral effect also--the
+terrible disappointment--of seeing what they suppose are Johnston's
+fresh troops from the Shenandoah Valley, without Patterson "on their
+heels," suddenly appear on their flank and rear. It is not fear; though
+some of them are panic-stricken, and, as they catch sight of Stuart's
+mounted men,--no black horse or uniform among them,--raise the cry of
+"The Black Horse Cavalry!--The Black Horse Cavalry!"
+
+The Union attack has been repulsed, it is true; but the Union soldiers,
+though disorganized, discouraged, and disappointed, are not dismayed.
+Their officers not yet having learned how to fight, and themselves
+lacking the cohesion of discipline, the men have lost their regimental
+organizations, and owing to the causes mentioned, slowly retire across
+Sudley Ford of Bull Run, in a condition of disintegration, their retreat
+being bravely covered by the 27th and 69th New York, (which have rallied
+and formed there), Sykes's Infantry battalion, Arnold's Battery, and
+Palmer's Cavalry.
+
+ [In his report to Major Barnard, Capt. D. P. Woodbury, of the
+ corps of Engineers, says: "It is not for me to give a history of
+ the battle. The Enemy was driven on our left, from cover to cover,
+ a mile and a half. Our position for renewing the action the next
+ morning was excellent; whence, then, our failure? It will not be
+ out of place, I hope, for me to give my own opinion of the cause of
+ this failure. An old soldier feels safe in the ranks, unsafe out
+ of the ranks, and the greater the danger the more pertinaciously he
+ clings to his place. The volunteer of three months never attains
+ this instinct of discipline. Under danger, and even under mere
+ excitement, he flies away from his ranks, and looks for safety in
+ dispersion. At four o'clock in the afternoon of the 21st, there
+ were more than twelve thousand volunteers on the battle-field of
+ Bull Run, who had entirely lost their regimental organizations.
+ They could no longer be handled as troops, for the officers and men
+ were not together. Men and officers mingled together
+ promiscuously; and it is worthy of remark that this disorganization
+ did not result from defeat or fear, for up to four o'clock we had
+ been uniformly successful. The instinct of discipline, which keeps
+ every man in his place, had not been acquired. We cannot suppose
+ that the troops of the Enemy had attained a higher degree of
+ discipline than our own, but they acted on the defensive, and were
+ not equally exposed to disorganization."]
+
+While the divisions of Hunter and Heintzelman, which came down in the
+morning across Sudley Ford, are now, with one brigade (Sherman's) of
+Tyler's Division, retiring again, in this disordered condition, by that
+ford; two other brigades of Tyler's Division, viz., that of Schenck
+--which, at 4 o'clock, was just in the act of advancing upon, and across,
+the Stone Bridge, to join in the Union attack, and of Keyes, which was,
+at the same time, just succeeding in its effort to turn the right flank
+of the Enemy's third new line,--are withdrawing from the field, across
+Bull Run stream, by the Warrenton Pike, and other roads leading them
+directly toward Centreville. The brigades of both Keyes and Schenck are
+retiring in good order; that of Keyes, at "an ordinary pace," following
+close after McDowell, who, with his staff, has ridden across the
+battlefield and Bull Run; while part of that of Schenck, united with the
+2nd Maine (of Keyes' Brigade) and Ayres's Battery, "promptly and
+effectively" repulses a charge of the Enemy's Cavalry, and covers the
+rear of Tyler's Division. Both of these brigades reach Centreville,
+hungry and weary, but otherwise, for the most part, in good shape.
+
+But during this grand all-day attack, by two of McDowell's divisions,
+directly aided by part of a third, upon the left of the Enemy's original
+Bull Run line of defense--which attack, while it has failed in its
+purpose, has also utterly upset and defeated the Enemy's purpose to
+carry out Beauregard's plan of attacking Centreville that same morning
+--what has the Left Wing of McDowell's Army been doing? Let us go back
+to Sunday morning, and ascertain:
+
+All the Army of McDowell, save his Left Wing--which, comprising the two
+brigades (Blenker's and Davies's) of Miles's Division, and Richardson's
+Brigade of Tyler's Division that fought the preliminary battle of
+Blackburn's Ford, is now under the command of Miles,--moved away from
+Centreville, down the Warrenton Pike, as we have seen, very early in the
+morning.
+
+Blenker remains with his brigade as a reserve, on the heights a little
+East of Centreville, to throw up intrenchments; which, however, he does
+not do, for lack of trenching implements. Richardson and Davies are to
+make a feint, at Blackburn's Ford, so as to draw the Enemy's troops
+there, while the heavy blow of McDowell's Right Wing and Centre falls
+upon the left flank and rear of the Enemy's Bull Run line.
+
+Richardson's Brigade is already down the ridge, in his old position at
+Blackburn's Ford, when Davies with his brigade reaches it, from
+Centreville, and, by virtue of seniority, takes command of the two
+brigades. Leaving Richardson's Brigade and Greene's Battery exactly on
+the battle-ground of the 18th July, Davies posts two regiments (the 18th
+and 32nd New York) of his own brigade, with Hunt's Battery, on the brow
+of a hill, in an open wheat field, some eighty yards to the
+South-Eastward of Richardson, distant some 1,500 yards from Longstreet's
+batteries on the Western side of Bull Run,--and commences a rapid fire,
+upon the Enemy's position at Blackburn's Ford, from both of the Union
+batteries.
+
+At 10 o'clock, there is a lull in this Union fire. The Artillery
+ammunition is running short. The demonstration, however, seems, thus
+far, to be successful--judging by the movement of Rebel troops toward
+Blackburn's Ford. The lull continues until 11 o'clock. At that time
+Miles arrives at his front, in a towering rage.
+
+On his way down the ridge, that morning, early, Davies had made a
+discovery. While passing a roadway, his guide had casually remarked:
+"There is a road that leads around to the Enemy's camp, direct." "Ah!"
+--said Davies--"and can they get through that road?" "Oh, yes," replied
+the guide. Davies had at once halted, and, after posting his 16th and
+31st New York Regiments, with two guns of Hunt's Battery, near this
+road, at its junction with the ridge road running up to Centreville and
+Black burn's Ford, had proceeded, with the rest of his regiments and
+guns, to the position where Miles finds him.
+
+But Miles has discovered what Davies has done, in this matter of the
+flanking roadway; and--without knowing, or apparently caring to know,
+the reason underlying the posting of the two regiments and two guns in
+its vicinity,--flies into "a terrible passion" because of it; in "no
+very measured language," gives Davies "a severe dressing down;" and
+orders him to bring both regiments and guns down to the front. Davies
+complies, and says nothing. Miles also orders him to continue the
+firing from his batteries, without regard to the quantity of ammunition.
+This order, also, Davies obeys--and the firing proceeds, for two solid
+hours, until another order comes, about 1 o'clock P.M., to stop firing.
+
+The fact is, that Miles is not at all himself--but is suffering under
+such a strain of mental excitement, he afterward claims, that he is not
+responsible.
+
+Miles, however, returns to Centreville about noon; and no sooner is he
+gone, than Davies at once sends back pioneers to obstruct that road
+which would bring the Enemy around his left flank and rear, to
+Centreville. These, work so industriously, that they cut down a quarter
+of a mile of trees, and block the road up completely. Davies also posts
+a few pickets there, in case of accidents. It is well he does so. It
+is not long before the Enemy makes an attempt to get around to his rear,
+by that road; but, finding it both obstructed and picketed, retires
+again. Davies does not see the Rebels making that attempt, but catches
+sight of them on their return, and gives them a severe shelling for
+their pains.
+
+Davies keeps up his firing, more or less-according to the condition of
+the Enemy and of his own ammunition--until 4 o'clock, when the firing
+occasioned by the Union flanking movement, six miles to his right,
+ceases. Then there reaches him a note from Richardson, so badly
+penciled that he can only make out the one word "beaten,"--but cannot,
+for the life of him, make out, whether the beaten one is our Right Wing,
+or the Enemy!
+
+Of what followed, he tells the story himself,--under oath, before the
+Committee on the Conduct of the War--so graphically, that the temptation
+to give it, in his own words, is irresistible. "I saw unmistakable
+evidence," said he, "that we were going to be attacked on our Left Wing.
+I got all ready for the attack, but did not change my front.
+
+"About 5 o'clock, I think, the Rebels made their appearance back upon
+this very road up which they had gone before; but instead of keeping up
+the road, they turned past a farm-house, went through the farm-yard, and
+came down and formed right in front of me, in a hollow, out of my sight.
+Well, I let them all come down there, keeping a watch upon their
+movements. I told the Artillery not to fire any shot at them until they
+saw the rear column go down, so as to get them all down in the little
+hollow or basin, there. There was a little basin there, probably a
+quarter of a mile every way. I should think that, maybe, 3,000 men
+filed down, before I changed front.
+
+"We lay there, with two regiments back, and the Artillery in front,
+facing Bull Run. As soon as about 3,000 of the Enemy got down in this
+basin, I changed the front of the Artillery around to the left, in face
+of the Enemy, and put a company of Infantry between each of the pieces
+of Artillery, and then deployed the balance of the regiments right and
+left, and made my line-of-battle.
+
+"I gave directions to the Infantry not to fire a shot, under any
+circumstances, until they got the word of command from me. I
+furthermore said I would shoot the first man that fired a shot before I
+gave the command to do so.
+
+"I gave them orders all to lie down on their faces. They, (the Rebels)
+were just over the brow of the hill, so that, if they came up in front
+of us, they could not hit a man.
+
+"As soon as I saw the rear column, I told * * * Lieutenant Benjamin to
+fire. * * * He fired the first shot when the rear column presented
+itself. It just went over their heads, and hit a horse and rider in
+their rear. As soon as the first shot was fired, I gave the order for
+the whole six pieces of Artillery to open with grape and canister. The
+effect was terrible. They were all there, right before us, about 450
+yards off, and had not suspected that we were going to fire at all,
+though they did not know what the reason was. Hunt's Battery (belonging
+to Richardson--who had by mistake got Greene's) performed so well, that,
+in thirty minutes, we dispersed every one of them!
+
+"I do not know how many were killed, but we so crippled their entire
+force that they never came after us an inch. A man, who saw the effect
+of the firing, in the valley, said it was just like firing into a wheat
+field; the column gave way at once, before the grape and canister; they
+were just within available distance. I knew very well that if they but
+got into that basin, the first fire would cut them all to pieces; and it
+did. We continued to fire for thirty minutes, when there was nothing
+more to fire at, and no more shots were returned."
+
+At a later hour--while remaining victorious at their well defended
+position, with the Enemy at their front, dispersed and silenced,--these
+two brigades of the Left Wing, receive orders to fall back on
+Centreville, and encamp. With the brigade of Richardson, and Greene's
+Battery in advance, Davies's own brigade and Hunt's Battery following,
+they fall back on the heights of Centreville "without the least
+confusion and in perfect order"--reaching them at 7 P.M.
+
+Meantime Miles has been relieved from command, and McDowell has ordered
+Blenker's Brigade to take position a mile or more in advance of
+Centreville, toward Bull Run, on both sides of the Warrenton Pike, to
+protect the retreat, now being made, in "a few collected bodies," but
+mainly in great disorder--owing partly to the baggage-wagons choking the
+road, along which both venturesome civilians and fagged-out troops are
+retreating upon Centreville. This confused retreat passes through
+Blenker's lines until 9 o'clock P.M.--and then, all is secure.
+
+At midnight, McDowell has decided to make no stand at Centreville, but
+to retire upon the defensive works at Washington. The order to retreat,
+is given, and, with the rear well guarded by Richardson's and Blenker's
+Brigades, is carried out, the van of the retreat, with no Enemy
+pursuing, degenerating finally into a "mob," which carries more or less
+panic into Washington itself, as well as terrible disappointment and
+chagrin to all the Loyal States of the Union.
+
+Knowing what we now do, concerning the Battle of Bull Run, it is
+somewhat surprising, at this day, to read the dispatches sent by
+McDowell to General Scott's headquarters at Washington, immediately
+after it. They are in these words:
+
+ "CENTREVILLE, July 21, 1861--5:45 P.M.
+
+"We passed Bull Run, engaged the Enemy, who, it seems, had just been
+re-enforced by General Johnston. We drove them for several hours, and
+finally routed them."
+
+ ["No one who did not share in the sad experience will be able to
+ realize the consternation which the news of this discomfiture
+ --grossly exaggerated--diffused over the loyal portion of our
+ Country. Only the tidings which had reached Washington up to four
+ o'clock--all presaging certain and decisive victory--were permitted
+ to go North by telegraph that day and evening; so that, on Monday
+ morning, when the crowd of fugitives from our grand Army was
+ pouring into Washington, a heedless, harmless, worthless mob, the
+ Loyal States were exulting over accounts of a decisive triumph.
+ But a few hours brought different advices; and these were as much
+ worse than the truth as the former had been better: our Army had
+ been utterly destroyed-cut to pieces, with a loss of twenty-five to
+ thirty thousand men, besides all its artillery and munitions, and
+ Washington lay at the mercy of the Enemy, who were soon to advance
+ to the capture and sack of our great commercial cities. Never
+ before had so black a day as that black Monday lowered upon the
+ loyal hearts of the North; and the leaden, weeping skies reflected
+ and heightened, while they seemed to sympathize with, the general
+ gloom. It would have been easy, with ordinary effort and care, to
+ have gathered and remanded to their camps or forts around
+ Alexandria or Arlington, all the wretched stragglers to whom fear
+ had lent wings, and who, throwing away their arms and equipments,
+ and abandoning all semblance of Military order or discipline, had
+ rushed to the Capital to hide therein their shame, behind a cloud
+ of exaggerations and falsehoods. The still effective batteries,
+ the solid battalions, that were then wending their way slowly back
+ to their old encampments along the South bank of the Potomac,
+ depressed but unshaken, dauntless and utterly unassailed, were
+ unseen and unheard from; while the panic-stricken racers filled and
+ distended the general ear with their tales of impregnable
+ intrenchments and masked batteries, of regiments slaughtered,
+ brigades utterly cut to pieces, etc., making out their miserable
+ selves to be about all that was left of the Army. That these men
+ were allowed thus to straggle into Washington, instead of being
+ peremptorily stopped at the bridges and sent back to the
+ encampments of their several regiments, is only to be accounted for
+ on the hypothesis that the reason of our Military magnates had been
+ temporarily dethroned, so as to divest them of all moral
+ responsibility," Greeley's Am. Conflict, pp. 552-53., vol. I.]
+
+"They rallied and repulsed us, but only to give us again the victory,
+which seemed complete. But our men, exhausted with fatigue and thirst,
+and confused by firing into each other, were attacked by the Enemy's
+reserves, and driven from the position we had gained, overlooking
+Manassas. After this, the men could not be rallied, but slowly left the
+field. In the meantime the Enemy outflanked Richardson at Blackburn's
+Ford, and we have now to hold Centreville till our men can get behind
+it. Miles's Division is holding the town. It is reported that Colonel
+Cameron is killed, Hunter and Heintzelman wounded, neither dangerously.
+ "IRWIN MCDOWELL,
+ "Brigadier-General, Commanding.
+
+"Lieutenant-Colonel TOWNSEND."
+
+
+ "FAIRFAX COURT HOUSE, July 21, 1861.
+
+"The men having thrown away their haversacks in the battle, and left
+them behind, they are without food; have eaten nothing since breakfast.
+We are without artillery ammunition. The larger part of the men are a
+confused mob, entirely demoralized. It was the opinion of all the
+commanders that no stand could be made this side of the Potomac. We
+will, however, make the attempt at Fairfax Court House. From a prisoner
+we learn that 20,000 from Johnston joined last night, and they march on
+us to-night.
+ "IRWIN MCDOWELL.
+
+"Colonel TOWNSEND"
+
+
+ "FAIRFAX COURT HOUSE, [July] 22, 1861.
+
+"Many of the volunteers did not wait for authority to proceed to the
+Potomac, but left on their own decision. They are now pouring through
+this place in a state of utter disorganization. They could not be
+prepared for action by to-morrow morning even were they willing. I
+learn from prisoners that we are to be pressed here to-night and
+tomorrow morning, as the Enemy's force is very large, and they are
+elated. I think we heard cannon on our rear-guard. I think now, as all
+of my commanders thought at Centreville, there is no alternative but to
+fall back to the Potomac, and I shall proceed to do so with as much
+regularity as possible.
+ "IRWIN MCDOWELL.
+
+"Colonel TOWNSEND."
+
+
+ "ARLINGTON, July 22, 1861.
+
+"I avail myself of the re-establishing of telegraph to report my
+arrival. When I left the forks of the Little River turnpike and
+Columbia turnpike, where I had been for a couple of hours turning
+stragglers and parties of regiments upon this place and Alexandria, I
+received intelligence that the rear-guard, under Colonel Richardson, had
+left Fairfax Court House, and was getting along well. Had not been
+attacked. I am now trying to get matters a little organized over here.
+ "IRWIN MCDOWELL.
+ "Brigadier-General.
+"E. D. TOWNSEND."
+
+
+McDowell had unquestionably been repulsed, in his main attack, with his
+Right Wing, and much of his Army was badly demoralized; but, on the
+other hand, it may be well to repeat that the Enemy's plan of attack
+that same morning had been frustrated, and most of his forces so badly
+shattered and demoralized that he dared not follow up the advantage
+which, more by our own blunders than by his prowess, he had gained.
+
+If the Union forces--or at least the Right Wing of them--were whipped,
+the Enemy also was whipped. Jackson himself confesses that while he
+had, at the last moment, broken our centre, our forces had turned both
+of his flanks. The Enemy was, in fact, so badly used up, that he not
+only dared not pursue us to Washington--as he would have down had he
+been able--but he was absolutely afraid McDowell would resume the
+attack, on the right of the original Bull Run line, that very night!
+For, in a letter to General Beauregard; dated Richmond, Virginia, August
+4, 1861, Jefferson Davis,--who was on the ground at Bull Run, July
+21st,--alluding to the Battle of Bull Run, and Beauregard's excuses for
+not pursuing the Union troops, says:
+
+"I think you are unjust to yourself in putting your failure to pursue
+the Enemy to Washington, to the account of short supplies of subsistence
+and transportation. Under the circumstances of our Army, and in the
+absence of the knowledge since acquired--if, indeed, the statements be
+true--it would have been extremely hazardous to have done more than was
+performed. You will not fail to remember that, so far from knowing that
+the Enemy was routed, a large part of our forces was moved by you, in
+the night of the 21st, to repel a supposed attack upon our right, and
+the next day's operations did not fully reveal what has since been
+reported of the Enemy's panic."
+
+And Jefferson Davis's statement is corroborated by the Report of Colonel
+Withers, of the 18th Virginia, who, after starting with other regiments,
+in an attempt to cut off the Union retreat, was recalled to the Stone
+Bridge,--and who says: "Before reaching the point we designed to occupy
+(near the Stone Bridge) we were met by another order to march
+immediately to Manassas Junction, as an attack was apprehended that
+night. Although it was now after sunset, and my men had had no food all
+day, when the command to march to Manassas was given, they cheerfully
+took the route to that place."
+
+Colonel Davies, who, as we have seen, commanded McDowell's stubborn Left
+Wing, was after all, not far wrong, when, in his testimony before the
+Committee on the Conduct of the War, he declared, touching the story of
+the Bull Run Battle: "It ought to have read that we were victorious with
+the 13,000 troops of the Left Wing, and defeated in the 18,000 of the
+Right Wing. That is all that Bull Run amounts to."
+
+In point of fact, the Battle of Bull Run--the first pitched battle of
+the War--was a drawn battle.
+
+War was now fully inaugurated--Civil War--a stupendous War between two
+great Sections of one common Country; those of our People, on the one
+side, fighting for the dissolution of the Union--and incidentally for
+Free Trade, and for Slavery; those on the other side, fighting for the
+preservation of the Union--and incidentally for Protection to our Free
+Industries, and for the Freedom of the Slave.
+
+As soon as the Republican Party controlled both Houses of Congress it
+provided Protection to our Free Industries, and to the Free Labor
+engaged in them, by the Morill Tariff Act of 1860--the foundation Act of
+all subsequent enactments on the subject. In subsequent pages of this
+work we shall see how the Freedom of the Slave was also accomplished by
+the same great Party.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XIV.
+
+ THE COLORED CONTRABAND.
+
+When the first gun was fired at Fort Sumter, its sullen echoes sounded
+the funeral knell of Slavery. Years before, it had been foretold, and
+now it was to happen. Years before, it had been declared, by competent
+authority, that among the implications of the Constitution was that of
+the power of the General Government to Emancipate the Slaves, as a War
+measure. Hence, in thus commencing the War of the Rebellion, the South
+marched with open eyes upon this, as among other of the legitimate and
+logical results of such a War.
+
+Patrick Henry, in opposing the ratification by Virginia of the Federal
+Constitution, had declared to the Slaveholders of that State that "Among
+ten thousand implied powers" which Congress may assume, "they may, if we
+be engaged in War, liberate every one of your Slaves, if they please, *
+* * Have they not power to provide for the General Defense and Welfare?
+May they not think that these call for the abolition of Slavery? May
+they not pronounce all Slaves Free? and will they not be warranted by
+that power? * * * They have the power, in clear, unequivocal terms,
+and will clearly and certainly exercise it."
+
+So, too, in his great speech of May 25, 1836, in the House of
+Representatives, John Quincy Adams had declared that in "the last great
+conflict which must be fought between Slavery and Emancipation,"
+Congress "must and will interfere" with Slavery, "and they will not only
+possess the Constitutional power so to interfere, but they will be bound
+in duty to do it, by the express provisions of the Constitution itself."
+And he followed this declaration with the equally emphatic words: "From
+the instant that your Slave-holding States become the theatre of War
+--civil, servile, or foreign--from that instant, the War powers of
+Congress extend to interference with the Institution of Slavery in every
+Way by which it can be interfered with."
+
+The position thus announced by these expounders of the Constitution--the
+one from Virginia, the other from Massachusetts--was not to be shaken
+even by the unanimous adoption, February 11, 1861, by the House of
+Representatives on roll call, of the resolution of Mr. Sherman, of Ohio,
+in these words:
+
+"Resolved, That neither the Congress of the United States nor the people
+or governments of the non-Slaveholding States have the Constitutional
+right to legislate upon or interfere with Slavery in any of the
+Slaveholding States in the Union."
+
+Ex-President J. Q. Adams's cogent exposition of the Constitution,
+twenty-five years before, in that same House, demonstrating not only
+that Congress had the right but the Constitutional power to so
+interfere--and his further demonstration April 15, 1842, of his
+statement that under the laws of War, "when a Country is invaded, and
+two hostile armies are set in martial array, the Commanders of both
+Armies have power to Emancipate all the Slaves in the invaded
+territory"--as not to be overcome by a mere vote of one House, however
+unanimous. For the time being, however, it contributed, with other
+circumstances, to confuse the public mind and conscience. Indeed as
+early as May of 1861, the attitude of our Government and its troops
+toward Negro Slaves owned or used by Rebels in rebellious States, began
+to perturb the public, bother the Administration, and worry the Military
+officers.
+
+For instance, in Major-General McClellan's proclamation to the Union men
+of West Virginia, issued May 26, 1861, he said:
+
+"The General Government cannot close its ears to the demand you have
+made for assistance. I have ordered troops to cross the river. They
+come as your friends and brothers--as enemies only to armed Rebels, who
+are preying upon you; your homes, your families, and your property are
+safe under our protection. All your rights shall be religiously
+respected, notwithstanding all that has been said by the Traitors to
+induce you to believe our advent among you will be signalized by an
+interference with your Slaves. Understand one thing clearly: not only
+will we abstain from all such interference, but we will, on the
+contrary, with an iron hand crush any attempt at insurrection on their
+part."
+
+On the other hand, the very next day, May 27, 1861, Major-General
+Butler, in command of the "Department of A Virginia," wrote to
+Lieutenant-General Scott as follows:
+
+"Since I wrote my last dispatch the question in regard to Slave property
+is becoming one of very serious magnitude. The inhabitants of Virginia
+are using their Negroes in the batteries, and are preparing to send the
+women and children South. The escapes from them are very numerous, and
+a squad has come in this morning to my pickets bringing their women and
+children. Of course these cannot be dealt with upon the theory on which
+I designed to treat the services of able-bodied men and women who might
+come within my lines, and of which I gave you a detailed account in my
+last dispatch. I am in the utmost doubt what to do with this species of
+Property.
+
+"Up to this time I have had come within my lines men and women with
+their children, entire families, each family belonging to the same
+owner. I have, therefore, determined to employ, as I can do very
+profitably, the able-bodied persons in the party, issuing proper food
+for the support of all, and charging against their services the expense
+of care and sustenance of the non-laborers, keeping a strict and
+accurate account as well of the services as of the expenditure, having
+the worth of the services, and the cost of the expenditure, determined
+by a Board of Survey, to be hereafter detailed. I know of no other
+manner in which to dispose of this subject and the questions connected
+therewith.
+
+"As a matter of Property to the Insurgents, it will be of very great
+moment, the number that I now have amounting, as I am informed, to what,
+in good times, would be of the value of sixty thousand dollars. Twelve
+of these Negroes, I am informed, have escaped from the batteries on
+Sewall's Point, which, this morning, fired upon my expedition as it
+passed by out of range. As a means of offense, therefore, in the
+Enemy's hands, these Negroes, when able-bodied, are of the last
+importance. Without them the batteries could not have been erected, at
+least for many weeks.
+
+"As a Military question it would seem to be a measure of necessity to
+deprive their masters of their services. How can this be done? As a
+political question and a question of humanity, can I receive the
+services of a father and mother, and not take the children? Of the
+humanitarian aspect I have no doubt. Of the political one I have no
+right to judge. I therefore submit all this to your better judgment,
+and as the questions have a political aspect, I have ventured, and I
+trust I am not wrong in so doing, to duplicate the parts of my dispatch
+relating to this subject, and forward them to the Secretary of War."
+
+In reply to the duplicate copy of this letter received by him, Secretary
+Cameron thus answered:
+
+ "WASHINGTON, May 30, 1861.
+
+"SIR: Your action in respect to the Negroes who came within your lines
+from the service of the Rebels is approved. The Department is sensible
+of the embarrassments which must surround officers conducting Military
+operations in a State by the laws of which Slavery is sanctioned.
+
+"The Government cannot recognize the rejection by any State of the
+Federal obligations, nor can it refuse the performance of the Federal
+obligations resting upon itself. Among these Federal obligations,
+however, none can be more important than that of suppressing and
+dispersing armed combinations formed for the purpose of overthrowing its
+whole Constitutional authority.
+
+"While, therefore, you will permit no interference by the persons under
+your command, with the relations of Persons held to Service under the
+laws of any State, you will, on the other hand, so long as any State,
+within which your Military operations are conducted, is under the
+control of such armed combinations, refrain from surrendering to alleged
+masters any Person who may come within your lines.
+
+"You will employ such Persons in the services to which they may be best
+adapted, keeping an account of the labor by them performed, of the value
+of it, and the expenses of their maintenance. The question of their
+final disposition will be reserved for future determination.
+
+ "SIMON CAMERON,
+ "Secretary of War.
+
+"To Major General BUTLER."
+
+
+Great tenderness, however, was exhibited by many of the Union Generals
+for the doomed Institution. On June 3, 1861, from Chambersburg, Pa., a
+proclamation signed "By order of Major General Patterson, F. J. Porter,
+Asst. Adj. General," was issued from "Headquarters Department of
+Pennsylvania," "To the United States troops of this Department," in
+which they are admonished "that, in the coming campaign in Virginia,
+while it is your duty to punish Sedition, you must protect the Loyal,
+and, should the occasion offer, at once suppress Servile Insurrection."
+
+
+"General Orders No. 33," issued from "Headquarters Department of
+Washington," July 17, 1861, "By command of Brigadier General Mansfield,
+Theo. Talbot, Assistant Adjutant General," were to this effect:
+"Fugitive Slaves will under no pretext whatever, be permitted to reside,
+or be in any way harbored, in the quarters or camps of the troops
+serving in this Department. Neither will such Slaves be allowed to
+accompany troops on the march. Commanders of troops will be held
+responsible for a strict observance of this order." And early in August
+a Military order was issued at Washington "that no Negroes, without
+sufficient evidence of their being Free or of their right to travel, are
+permitted to leave the city upon the cars."
+
+But Bull Run did much to settle the Military as well as public mind in
+proper grooves on this subject.
+
+Besides employing Negro Slaves to aid Rebellion, by the digging of
+ditches, the throwing up of intrenchments, and the erection of
+batteries, their Rebel masters placed in their hands arms with which to
+shoot down Union soldiers at the Battle of Bull Run, which, as we have
+seen, occurred on Sunday, July 21, 1861--and resulted in a check to the
+Union Cause.
+
+The terror and confusion and excitement already referred to, that
+prevailed in Washington all that night and the next day, as the
+panic-stricken crowd of soldiers and civilians poured over the Long
+Bridge, footsore with running, faint with weariness, weak with hunger,
+and parched with thirst and the dust of the rout, can hardly be
+described.
+
+But, however panicky the general condition of the inhabitants of the
+National Capital, the Congress bravely maintained its equanimity.
+
+In the Senate, on the day following the disaster, a bill touching the
+Confiscation of Property used for insurrectionary purposes being up for
+consideration, the following amendment was offered to it:
+
+"And be it further enacted, That whenever any person claiming to be
+entitled to the Service or Labor of any other Person under the laws of
+any State, shall employ such Person in aiding or promoting any
+Insurrection, or in resisting the Laws of the United States, or shall
+permit him to be so employed, he shall forfeit all right to such Service
+or Labor, and the Person whose Labor or Service is thus claimed shall be
+thenceforth discharged therefrom, any law to the contrary
+notwithstanding."
+
+This amendment, emancipating Slaves employed by their masters to aid
+Rebellion, was adopted by 33 yeas to 6 nays.
+
+As showing the feeling expressed right upon the very heels of what
+seemed to be a great disaster, and when rumor, at any rate, placed the
+victorious Enemy at the very gates of the Capital City, a few lines from
+the debate may be interesting.
+
+Mr. Trumbull said: "I am glad the yeas and nays have been called to let
+us see who is willing to vote that the Traitorous owner of a Negro shall
+employ him to shoot down the Union men of the Country, and yet insist
+upon restoring him to the Traitor that owns him. I understand that
+Negroes were in the fight which has recently occurred. I take it that
+Negroes who are used to destroy the Union, and to shoot down the Union
+men by the consent of Traitorous masters, ought not to be restored to
+them. If the Senator from Kentucky is in favor of restoring them, let
+him vote against the amendment."
+
+Senator Wilson, of Massachusetts, said: "I shall vote with more heart
+than I vote for ordinary measures, for this proposition. I hope the
+Senate and the House of Representatives will sustain it, and that this
+Government will carry it out with an inflexibility that knows no change.
+The idea that men who are in arms destroying their Country shall be
+permitted to use others for that purpose, and that we shall stand by and
+issue orders to our Commanders, that we should disgrace our Cause and
+our Country, by returning such men to their Traitorous masters, ought
+not longer to be entertained. The time has come for that to cease; and,
+by the blessing of God, so far as I am concerned, I mean it shall cease.
+
+"If there is anybody in this Chamber that chooses to take the other
+path, let him do it; let him know what our purpose is. Our purpose is
+to save this Government and save this Country, and to put down Treason;
+and if Traitors use bondsmen to destroy this Country, my doctrine is
+that the Government shall at once convert these bondsmen into men that
+cannot be used to destroy our Country. I have no apologies to make for
+this position, I take it proudly.
+
+"I think the time has come when this Government, and the men who are in
+arms under the Government, should cease to return to Traitors their
+Fugitive Slaves, whom they are using to erect batteries to murder brave
+men who are fighting under the flag of their Country. The time has come
+when we should deal with the men who are organizing Negro companies, and
+teaching them to shoot down loyal men for the only offence of upholding
+the flag of their Country.
+
+"I hope further, Sir, that there is a public sentiment in this Country
+that will blast men who will rise, in the Senate or out it, to make
+apologies for Treason, or to defend or to maintain the doctrine that
+this Government is bound to protect Traitors in converting their Slaves
+into tools for the destruction of the Republic."
+
+Senator McDougall, of California, said: "I regard this as a Confiscation
+for Treason, and I am for the proposition."
+
+Mr. Ten Eyck, said: "No longer ago than Saturday last I voted in the
+Judiciary Committee against this amendment, for two reasons: First, I
+did not believe that persons in Rebellion against this Government would
+make use of such means as the employment of Persons held to Labor or
+Service, in their Armies; secondly, because I did not know what was to
+become of these poor wretches if they were discharged. God knows we do
+not want them in our Section of the Union. But, Sir, having learned and
+believing that these persons have been employed with arms in their hands
+to shed the blood of the Union-loving men of this Country, I shall now
+vote in favor of that amendment with less regard to what may become of
+these people than I had on Saturday. I will merely instance that there
+is a precedent for this. If I recollect history aright, General
+Jackson, in the Seminole War, declared that every Slave who was taken in
+arms against the United States should be set Free."
+
+So, too, in the House of Representatives, the retrograde of a badly
+demoralized Army, its routed fragments still coming in with alarming
+stories of a pursuing Enemy almost at the gates of the city, had no
+terrors for our legislators; and there was something of Roman dignity,
+patriotism, and courage, in the adoption, on that painfully memorable
+Blue Monday, (the first--[Offered by Mr. Crittenden, of Kentucky]--with
+only two dissenting votes, on a yea and nay vote; and, the second
+--[Offered by Mr. Vandever, of Iowa.]--with entire unanimity) of the
+following Resolutions:
+
+"Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United
+States, That the present deplorable Civil War has been forced upon the
+Country by the Disunionists of the Southern States, now in arms against
+the Constitutional Government, and in arms around the Capital; that in
+this National emergency, Congress, banishing all feelings of mere
+passion or resentment, will recollect only its duty to the whole
+Country; that this War is not waged on their part in any spirit of
+oppression, or for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, or purpose of
+overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established Institutions
+of those States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the
+Constitution, and to preserve the Union with all the dignity, equality,
+and rights of the several States unimpaired; and that as soon as these
+objects are accomplished, the War ought to cease."
+
+"Resolved, That the maintenance of the Constitution, the preservation of
+the Union, and the enforcement of the Laws, are sacred trusts which must
+be executed; that no disaster shall discourage us from the most ample
+performance of this high duty; and that we pledge to the Country and the
+World, the employment of every resource, National and individual, for
+the suppression, overthrow, and punishment of Rebels in arms."
+
+The first of these Resolutions was intended to calm the fears of the
+Border States--excited by Rebel emissaries; the second, to restore
+confidence and courage to the patriot hearts of Union-men, everywhere.
+Both were effectual.
+
+And here it will hardly be amiss to glance, for an instant, toward the
+Senate Chamber; and especially at one characteristic incident. It was
+the afternoon of August the 1st, 1861,--scarce ten days since the check
+to the Union arms at Bull Run; and Breckinridge, of Kentucky, not yet
+expelled from the United States Senate, was making in that Body his
+great speech against the "Insurrection and Sedition Bill," and upon "the
+sanctity of the Constitution."
+
+Baker, of Oregon,--who, as Sumner afterward said: "with a zeal that
+never tired, after recruiting men drawn by the attraction of his name,
+in New York and Philadelphia and elsewhere, held his Brigade in camp,
+near the Capitol, so that he passed easily from one to the other, and
+thus alternated the duties of a Senator and a General," having reached
+the Capitol, direct from his Brigade-camp, entered the Senate Chamber,
+in his uniform, while Breckinridge was speaking.
+
+When the Kentucky Senator "with Treason in his heart, if not on his
+lips," resumed his seat, the gray-haired soldier-Senator at once rose to
+reply. "He began,"--said Charles Sumner, in alluding to the incident
+--"simply and calmly; but as he proceeded, his fervid soul broke forth in
+words of surpassing power. As on a former occasion he had presented the
+well-ripened fruits of study, so now he spoke with the spontaneous
+utterance of his own mature and exuberant eloquence--meeting the
+polished Traitor at every point with weapons keener and brighter than
+his own."
+
+After demolishing Breckinridge's position touching the alleged
+Unconstitutionality of the measure, and characterizing his other
+utterances as "reproof, malediction, and prediction combined," the
+Patriot from the Far-West turned with rising voice and flashing eye upon
+the gloomy Kentuckian:
+
+"I would ask him," said he, "what would you have us do now--a
+Confederate Army within twenty miles of us, advancing, or threatening to
+advance, to overwhelm your Government; to shake the pillars of the
+Union, to bring it around your head, if you stay here, in ruins? Are we
+to stop and talk about an uprising sentiment in the North against the
+War? Are we to predict evil, and retire from what we predict? Is it
+not the manly part to go on as we have begun, to raise money, and levy
+Armies, to organize them, to prepare to advance; when we do advance, to
+regulate that advance by all the laws and regulations that civilization
+and humanity will allow in time of battle? Can we do anything more? To
+talk to us about stopping, is idle; we will never stop. Will the
+Senator yield to Rebellion? Will he shrink from armed Insurrection?
+Will his State justify it? Will its better public opinion allow it?
+Shall we send a flag of Truce? What would he have? Or would he conduct
+this War so feebly, that the whole World would smile at us in derision?"
+
+And then cried the orator-his voice rising to a higher key, penetrating,
+yet musical as the blast from a silver trumpet: "What would he have?
+These speeches of his, sown broadcast over the Land, what clear distinct
+meaning have they? Are they not intended for disorganization in our
+very midst? Are they not intended to dull our weapons? Are they not
+intended to destroy our zeal? Are they not intended to animate our
+enemies? Sir, are they not words of brilliant, polished Treason, even
+in the very Capitol of the Nation?
+
+"What would have been thought, if, in another Capitol, in another
+Republic, in a yet more martial age, a Senator as grave, not more
+eloquent or dignified than the Senator from Kentucky, yet with the Roman
+purple flowing over his shoulder, had risen in his place, surrounded by
+all the illustrations of Roman glory, and declared that the cause of
+advancing Hannibal was just, and that Carthage ought to be dealt with in
+terms of peace? What would have been thought if, after the battle of
+Cannae, a Senator there had risen in his place and denounced every levy
+of the Roman People, every expenditure of its treasure, and every appeal
+to the old recollections and the old glories?"
+
+The speaker paused. The sudden and intent silence was broken by another
+voice: "He would have been hurled from the Tarpeian rock."
+
+"Sir," continued the soldier-orator, "a Senator, himself learned far
+more than myself in such lore, [Mr. Fessenden,] tells me, in a voice
+that I am glad is audible, that he would have been hurled from the
+Tarpeian Rock! It is a grand commentary upon the American Constitution
+that we permit these words [Senator Breckinridge's] to be uttered.
+
+"I ask the Senator to recollect, too, what, save to send aid and comfort
+to the Enemy, do these predictions of his amount to? Every word thus
+uttered falls as a note of inspiration upon every Confederate ear.
+Every sound thus uttered is a word, (and, falling from his lips, a
+mighty word) of kindling and triumph to a Foe that determines to
+advance.
+
+"For me, I have no such word as a Senator, to utter. For me"--and here
+his eyes flashed again while his martial voice rang like a clarion-call
+to battle--"amid temporary defeat, disaster, disgrace, it seems that my
+duty calls me to utter another word, and that word is, bold, sudden,
+forward, determined, WAR, according to the laws of War, by Armies, by
+Military Commanders clothed with full power, advancing with all the past
+glories of the Republic urging them on to conquest!
+
+ * * * * * *
+
+"I tell the Senator," continued the inspired Patriot, "that his
+predictions, sometimes for the South, sometimes for the Middle States,
+sometimes for the North-East, and then wandering away in airy visions
+out to the Far Pacific, about the dread of our people, as for loss of
+blood and treasure, provoking them to Disloyalty, are false in
+sentiment, false in fact, and false in Loyalty. The Senator from
+Kentucky is mistaken in them all.
+
+"Five hundred million dollars! What then? Great Britain gave more than
+two thousand million in the great Battle for Constitutional Liberty
+which she led at one time almost single-handed against the World. Five
+hundred thousand men! What then? We have them; they are ours; they are
+the children of the Country; they belong to the whole Country; they are
+our sons; our kinsmen; and there are many of us who will give them all
+up before we will abate one word of our just demand, or will retreat one
+inch from the line which divides right from wrong.
+
+"Sir, it is not a question of men or of money in that sense. All the
+money, all the men, are, in our judgment, well bestowed in such a cause.
+When we give them, we know their value. Knowing their value well, we
+give them with the more pride and the, more joy. Sir, how can we
+retreat? Sir, how can we make Peace? Who shall treat? What
+Commissioners? Who would go? Upon what terms? Where is to be your
+boundary line? Where the end of the principles we shall have to give
+up? What will become of Constitutional Government? What will become of
+public Liberty? What of past glories? What of future hopes?
+
+"Shall we sink into the insignificance of the grave--a degraded,
+defeated, emasculated People, frightened by the results of one battle,
+and scared at the visions raised by the imagination of the Senator from
+Kentucky on this floor? No, Sir! a thousand times, no, Sir! We will
+rally--if, indeed, our words be necessary--we will rally the People, the
+Loyal People, of the whole Country. They will pour forth their
+treasure, their money, their men, without stint, without measure. The
+most peaceable man in this body may stamp his foot upon this Senate
+Chamber floor, as of old a warrior and a Senator did, and from that
+single tramp there will spring forth armed Legions.
+
+"Shall one battle determine the fate of empire, or a dozen?--the loss of
+one thousand men, or twenty thousand? or one hundred million or five
+hundred million dollars? In a year's Peace--in ten years, at most, of
+peaceful progress--we can restore them all. There will be some graves
+reeking with blood, watered by the tears of affection. There will be
+some privation; there will be some loss of luxury; there will be
+somewhat more need for labor to procure the necessaries of life. When
+that is said, all is said. If we have the Country, the whole Country,
+the Union, the Constitution, Free Government--with these there will
+return all the blessings of well-ordered civilization; the path of the
+Country will be a career of greatness and of glory such as, in the olden
+time, our Fathers saw in the dim visions of years yet to come, and such
+as would have been ours now, to-day, if it had not been for the Treason
+for which the Senator too often seeks to apologize."
+
+This remarkable speech was the last utterance of that glorious and
+courageous soul, in the National Senate. Within three months, his
+lifeless body, riddled by Rebel rifle balls, was borne away from the
+fatal field of Ball's Bluff--away, amid the lamentations of a Nation
+--away, across land and ocean--to lie beside his brave friend Broderick,
+on that Lone Mountain whose solemn front looks out upon the calm
+Pacific.
+
+He had not lived in vain. In his great speech at the American Theatre
+in San Francisco, after his election by Oregon (1860) to represent her
+in the United States Senate, he had aroused the people to a sense of
+shame, that, as he said: "Here, in a land of written Constitutional
+Liberty it is reserved for us to teach the World that, under the
+American Stars and Stripes, Slavery marches in solemn procession; that,
+under the American flag, Slavery is protected to the utmost verge of
+acquired territory; that under the American banner, the name of Freedom
+is to be faintly heard, the songs of Freedom faintly sung; that, while
+Garibaldi, Victor Emanuel, every great and good man in the World,
+strives, struggles, fights, prays, suffers and dies, sometimes on the
+scaffold, sometimes in the dungeon, often on the field of battle,
+rendered immortal by his blood and his valor; that, while this triumphal
+procession marches on through the arches of Freedom--we, in this land,
+of all the World, shrink back trembling when Freedom is but mentioned!"
+
+And never was a shamed people more suddenly lifted up from that shame
+into a grand frenzy of patriotic devotion than were his auditors, when,
+with the inspiration of his matchless genius, he continued:
+
+"As for me, I dare not, will not, be false to Freedom. Where the feet
+of my youth were planted, there, by Freedom, my feet shall ever stand.
+I will walk beneath her banner. I will glory in her strength. I have
+watched her in history struck down on an hundred chosen fields of
+battle. I have seen her friends fly from her; her foes gather around
+her. I have seen her bound to the stake; I have seen them give her
+ashes to the winds. But when they turned to exult, I have seen her
+again meet them face to face, resplendent in complete steel, brandishing
+in her strong right hand a flaming sword, red with Insufferable light!
+I take courage. The People gather around her. The genius of America
+will, at last, lead her sons to Freedom."
+
+Never were grander utterances delivered by man in all the ages; never
+was there exhibited a more sublime faith; never a truer spirit of
+prophecy; never a more heroic spirit.
+
+He was then on his way to Washington; on his way to perform the last
+acts in the drama of his own career--on his way to death. He knew the
+time had come, of which, ten years before, he had prophetically spoken
+in the House of Representatives, when he said: "I have only to say that,
+if the time should come when Disunion rules the hour, and discord is to
+reign supreme, I shall again be ready to give the best blood in my veins
+to my Country's Cause. I shall be prepared to meet all antagonists with
+lance in rest, to do battle in every land, in defense of the
+Constitution of the Country which I have sworn to support, to the last
+extremity, against Disunionists, and all its Enemies, whether of the
+South or North; to meet them everywhere, at all times, with speech or
+hand, with word or blow, until thought and being shall be no longer
+mine." And right nobly did he fulfil in all respects his promise; so
+that at the end--as was afterward well said of him by Mr. Colfax--he had
+mounted so high, that, "doubly crowned, as statesman, and as warrior--
+
+ 'From the top of Fame's ladder he stepped to the Sky!'"
+
+ [This orator and hero was a naturalized Englishman, and commanded
+ an American regiment in the Mexican War.]
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XV.
+
+ FREEDOM'S EARLY DAWN.
+
+On the day following Baker's great reply to Breckinridge, another
+notable speech was made, in the House of Representatives--notable,
+especially, in that it foreshadowed Emancipation, and, coming so soon
+after Bull Run, seemed to accentuate a new departure in political
+thought as an outgrowth of that Military reverse. It was upon the
+Confiscation Act, and it was Thaddeus Stevens who made it. Said he:
+
+"If we are justified in taking property from the Enemy in War, when you
+have rescued an oppressed People from the oppression of that Enemy, by
+what principle of the Law of Nations, by what principle of philanthropy,
+can you return them to the bondage from which you have delivered them,
+and again rivet the chains you have once broken? It is a disgrace to
+the Party which advocates it. It is against the principle of the Law of
+Nations. It is against every principle of philanthropy. I for one,
+shall never shrink from saying when these Slaves are once conquered by
+us, 'Go and be Free.' God forbid that I should ever agree that they
+should be returned again to their masters! I do not say that this War
+is made for that purpose. Ask those who made the War, what is its
+object. Do not ask us. * * * Our object is to subdue the Rebels.
+
+"But," continued he, "it is said that if we hold out this thing, they
+will never submit--that we cannot conquer them--that they will suffer
+themselves to be slaughtered, and their whole country to be laid waste.
+Sir, War is a grievous thing at best, and Civil War more than any other;
+but if they hold this language, and the means which they have suggested
+must be resorted to; if their whole country must be laid waste, and made
+a desert, in order to save this Union from destruction, so let it be. I
+would rather, Sir, reduce them to a condition where their whole country
+is to be re-peopled by a band of freemen than to see them perpetrate the
+destruction of this People through our agency. I do not say that it is
+time to resort to such means, and I do not know when the time will come;
+but I never fear to express my sentiments. It is not a question with me
+of policy, but a question of principle.
+
+"If this War is continued long, and is bloody, I do not believe that the
+free people of the North will stand by and see their sons and brothers
+and neighbors slaughtered by thousands and tens of thousands by Rebels,
+with arms in their hands, and forbear to call upon their enemies to be
+our friends, and to help us in subduing them; I for one, if it continues
+long, and has the consequences mentioned, shall be ready to go for it,
+let it horrify the gentleman from New York (Mr. Diven) or anybody else.
+That is my doctrine, and that will be the doctrine of the whole free
+people of the North before two years roll round, if this War continues.
+
+"As to the end of the War, until the Rebels are subdued, no man in the
+North thinks of it. If the Government are equal to the People, and I
+believe they are, there will be no bargaining, there will be no
+negotiation, there will be no truces with the Rebels, except to bury the
+dead, until every man shall have laid down his arms, disbanded his
+organization, submitted himself to the Government, and sued for mercy.
+And, Sir, if those who have the control of the Government are not fit
+for this task and have not the nerve and mind for it, the People will
+take care that there are others who are--although, Sir, I have not a bit
+of fear of the present Administration, or of the present Executive.
+
+"I have spoken more freely, perhaps, than gentlemen within my hearing
+might think politic, but I have spoken just what I felt. I have spoken
+what I believe will be the result; and I warn Southern gentlemen, that
+if this War is to continue, there will be a time when my friend from New
+York (Mr. Diven) will see it declared by this free Nation, that every
+bondman in the South--belonging to a Rebel, recollect; I confine it to
+them--shall be called upon to aid us in War against their masters, and
+to restore this Union."
+
+The following letter of instruction from Secretary Cameron, touching the
+Fugitive Slave question, dated seven days after Thaddeus Stevens'
+speech, had also an interesting bearing on the subject:
+
+ "WASHINGTON, August 8, 1861.
+
+"GENERAL: The important question of the proper disposition to be made of
+Fugitives from Service in States in Insurrection against the Federal
+Government, to which you have again directed my attention in your letter
+of July 30, has received my most attentive consideration.
+
+"It is the desire of the President that all existing rights, in all the
+States, be fully respected and maintained. The War now prosecuted on
+the part of the Federal Government is a War for the Union, and for the
+preservation of all Constitutional rights of States, and the citizens of
+the States, in the Union. Hence, no question can arise as to Fugitives
+from Service within the States and Territories in which the authority of
+the Union is fully acknowledged. The ordinary forms of Judicial
+proceeding, which must be respected by Military and Civil authorities
+alike, will suffice for the enforcement of all legal claims.
+
+"But in States wholly or partially under Insurrectionary control, where
+the Laws of the United States are so far opposed and resisted that they
+cannot be effectually enforced, it is obvious that rights dependent on
+the execution of those laws must, temporarily, fail; and it is equally
+obvious that rights dependent on the laws of the States within which
+Military operations are conducted must be necessarily subordinated to
+the Military exigences created by the Insurrection, if not wholly
+forfeited by the Treasonable conduct of parties claiming them. To this
+general rule, rights to Services can form no exception.
+
+"The Act of Congress, approved August 6, 1861, declares that if Persons
+held to Service shall be employed in hostility to the United States, the
+right to their services shall be forfeited, and such Persons shall be
+discharged therefrom. It follows, of necessity, that no claim can be
+recognized by the Military authorities of the Union to the services of
+such Persons when fugitives.
+
+"A more difficult question is presented in respect to Persons escaping
+from the Service of Loyal masters. It is quite apparent that the laws
+of the State, under which only the services of such fugitives can be
+claimed, must needs be wholly, or almost wholly, suspended, as to
+remedies, by the Insurrection and the Military measures necessitated by
+it. And it is equally apparent that the substitution of Military for
+Judicial measures for the enforcement of such claims must be attended by
+great inconveniences, embarrassments, and injuries.
+
+"Under these circumstances it seems quite clear that the substantial
+rights of Loyal masters will be best protected by receiving such
+fugitives, as well as fugitives from Disloyal masters, into the service
+of the United States, and employing them under such organizations and in
+such occupations as circumstances may suggest or require.
+
+"Of course a record should be kept showing the name and description of
+the fugitives, the name and the character, as Loyal or Disloyal, of the
+master, and such facts as may be necessary to a correct understanding of
+the circumstances of each case after tranquillity shall have been
+restored. Upon the return of Peace, Congress will, doubtless, properly
+provide for all the persons thus received into the service of the Union,
+and for just compensation to Loyal masters. In this way only, it would
+seem, can the duty and safety of the Government and the just rights of
+all be fully reconciled and harmonized.
+
+"You will therefore consider yourself as instructed to govern your
+future action, in respect to Fugitives from Service, by the principles
+here stated, and will report from time to time, and at least twice in
+each month, your action in the premises to this Department.
+
+"You will, however, neither authorize, nor permit any interference, by
+the troops under your command, with the servants of peaceful citizens in
+house or field; nor will you, in any way, encourage such servants to
+leave the lawful Service of their masters; nor will you, except in cases
+where the Public Safety may seem to require, prevent the voluntary
+return of any Fugitive, to the Service from which he may have escaped."
+
+"I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
+
+ "SIMON CAMERON,
+ "Secretary of War.
+
+"Major-General B. F. BUTLER,
+"Commanding Department of Virginia,
+"Fortress Monroe."
+
+
+Whether or not inspired by the prophetic speech of Thaddeus Stevens,
+aforesaid, the month of August was hardly out before its prophecy seemed
+in a fair way of immediate fulfilment. Major-General John Charles
+Fremont at that time commanded the Eastern Department--comprising the
+States of Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, and Kentucky-and he startled the
+Country by issuing the following Emancipation proclamation:
+
+
+ "HEADQUARTERS OF THE WESTERN DEPARTMENT.
+
+ "St. Louis, August 30, 1861.
+
+"Circumstances, in my judgment, of sufficient urgency, render it
+necessary that the commanding general of this Department should assume
+the administrative powers of the State. Its disorganized condition, the
+helplessness of the civil authority, the total insecurity of life, and
+the devastation of property by bands of murderers and marauders, who
+infest nearly every county of the State, and avail themselves of the
+public misfortunes and the vicinity of a hostile force to gratify
+private and neighborhood vengeance, and who find an enemy wherever they
+find plunder, finally demand the severest measures to repress the daily
+increasing crimes and outrages which are driving off the inhabitants and
+ruining the State.
+
+"In this condition, the public safety and the success of our arms
+require unity of purpose, without let or hinderance, to the prompt
+administration of affairs.
+
+"In order, therefore, to suppress disorder, to maintain as far as now
+practicable the public peace, and to give security and protection to the
+persons and property of loyal citizens, I do hereby extend and declare
+established Martial Law throughout the State of Missouri.
+
+"The lines of the Army of Occupation in this State are for the present
+declared to extend from Leavenworth by way of the posts of Jefferson
+City, Rolla, and Ironton, to Cape Girardeau, on the Mississippi river.
+
+"All persons who shall betaken with arms in their hands within these
+lines shall be tried by Court-Martial, and if found guilty will be shot.
+
+"The property, real and personal, of all persons, in the State of
+Missouri, who shall take up arms against the United States, or who shall
+be directly proven to have taken an active part with their Enemies in
+the field, is declared to be confiscated to the public use, and their
+Slaves, if any they have, are hereby declared Free men.
+
+"All persons who shall be proven to have destroyed, after the
+publication of this order, railroad tracks, bridges, or telegraphs,
+shall suffer the extreme penalty of the law.
+
+"All persons engaged in Treasonable correspondence, in giving or
+procuring aid to the Enemies of the United States, in fomenting tumults,
+in disturbing the public tranquillity by creating and circulating false
+reports or incendiary documents, are in their own interests warned that
+they are exposing themselves to sudden and severe punishment.
+
+"All persons who have been led away from their allegiance, are required
+to return to their homes forthwith; any such absence, without sufficient
+cause, will be held to be presumptive evidence against them.
+
+"The object of this declaration is to place in the hands of the Military
+authorities the power to give instantaneous effect to existing laws, and
+to supply such deficiencies as the conditions of War demand. But this
+is not intended to suspend the ordinary Tribunals of the Country, where
+the Law will be administered by the Civil officers in the usual manner,
+and with their customary authority, while the same can be peaceably
+exercised.
+
+"The commanding general will labor vigilantly for the public Welfare,
+and in his efforts for their safety hopes to obtain not only the
+acquiescence, but the active support of the Loyal People of the Country.
+
+ "J. C. FREMONT,
+ "Major-General Commanding."
+
+
+Fremont's Proclamation of Confiscation and Emancipation, was hailed with
+joy by some Patriots in the North, but was by others looked upon as rash
+and premature and inexpedient; while it bitterly stirred the anger of
+the Rebels everywhere.
+
+The Rebel Jeff. Thompson, then in command of the Rebel forces about St.
+Louis, at once issued the following savage proclamation of retaliation:
+
+
+ "HEADQUARTERS FIRST MILITARY DISTRICT, M. S. G.
+
+ 'St. Louis, August 31, 1861.
+
+"To all whom it may concern:
+
+"Whereas Major-General John C. Fremont, commanding the minions of
+Abraham Lincoln in the State of Missouri, has seen fit to declare
+Martial Law throughout the whole State, and has threatened to shoot any
+citizen-soldier found in arms within certain limits; also, to Confiscate
+the property and Free the Negroes belonging to the members of the
+Missouri State Guard:
+
+"Therefore, know ye, that I, M. Jeff. Thompson, Brigadier-General of
+the First Military District of Missouri, having not only the Military
+authority of Brigadier-General, but certain police powers granted by
+Acting-Governor Thomas C. Reynolds, and confirmed afterward by Governor
+Jackson, do most solemnly promise that for every member of the Missouri
+State Guard, or soldier of our allies, the Armies of the Confederate
+States, who shall be put to death in pursuance of the said order of
+General Fremont, I will hang, draw, and quarter a minion of said Abraham
+Lincoln.
+
+"While I am anxious that this unfortunate War shall be conducted, if
+possible, upon the most liberal principles of civilized warfare--and
+every order that I have issued has been with that object--yet, if this
+rule is to be adopted (and it must first be done by our Enemies) I
+intend to exceed General Fremont in his excesses, and will make all
+tories that come within my reach rue the day that a different policy was
+adopted by their leaders.
+
+"Already mills, barns, warehouses, and other private property have been
+wastefully and wantonly destroyed by the Enemy in this district, while
+we have taken nothing except articles strictly contraband or absolutely
+necessary. Should these things be repeated, I will retaliate ten-fold,
+so help me God!"
+
+ "M. JEFF. THOMPSON,
+ "Brigadier-General Commanding."
+
+
+
+"President Lincoln, greatly embarrassed by the precipitate action of his
+subordinate, lost no time in suggesting to General Fremont certain
+modifications of his Emancipation proclamation-as follows:
+
+"[PRIVATE.]
+ "WASHINGTON, D. C., September 2, 1861.
+
+"MY DEAR SIR: Two points in your proclamation of August 30th give me
+some anxiety:
+
+"First. Should you shoot a man according to the proclamation, the
+Confederates would very certainly shoot our best man in their hands, in
+retaliation; and so, man for man, indefinitely. It is, therefore, my
+order that you allow no man to be shot under the proclamation without
+first having my approbation or consent.
+
+"Second. I think there is great danger that the closing paragraph, in
+relation to the Confiscation of Property, and the liberating Slaves of
+Traitorous owners, will alarm our Southern Union friends, and turn them
+against us; perhaps ruin our rather fair prospect for Kentucky.
+
+"Allow me, therefore, to ask that you will, as of your own motion,
+modify that paragraph so as to conform to the first and fourth sections
+of the Act of Congress entitled, 'An Act to Confiscate Property used for
+Insurrectionary purposes,' approved August 6, 1861, a copy of which Act
+I herewith send you.
+
+"This letter is written in a spirit of caution, and not of censure.
+
+"I send it by a special messenger, in that it may certainly and speedily
+reach you.
+ "Yours very truly,
+ "A. LINCOLN.
+
+"Major-General FREMONT."
+
+
+General Fremont replied to President Lincoln's suggestions, as follows:
+
+ "HEADQUARTERS WESTERN DEPARTMENT,
+ "St. Louis, September 8, 1861.
+
+"MY DEAR SIR: Your letter of the second, by special
+messenger, I know to have been written before you had received my
+letter, and before my telegraphic dispatches and the rapid developments
+of critical conditions here had informed you of affairs in this quarter.
+I had not written to you fully and frequently, first, because in the
+incessant change of affairs I would be exposed to give you contradictory
+accounts; and secondly, because the amount of the subjects to be laid
+before you would demand too much of your time.
+
+"Trusting to have your confidence, I have been leaving it to events
+themselves to show you whether or not I was shaping affairs here
+according to your ideas. The shortest communication between Washington
+and St. Louis generally involves two days, and the employment of two
+days, in time of War, goes largely toward success or disaster. I
+therefore went along according to my own judgment, leaving the result of
+my movement to justify me with you.
+
+"And so in regard to my proclamation of the thirtieth. Between the
+Rebel Armies, the Provisional Government, and the home Traitors, I felt
+the position bad, and saw danger. In the night I decided upon the
+proclamation and the form of it--I wrote it the next morning and printed
+it the same day. I did it without consultation or advice with any one,
+acting solely with my best judgment to serve the Country and yourself,
+and perfectly willing to receive the amount of censure which should be
+thought due, if I had made a false movement.
+
+"This is as much a movement in the War, as a battle, and, in going into
+these, I shall have to act according to my judgment of the ground before
+me, as I did on this occasion. If upon reflection, your better judgment
+still decides that I am wrong in the article respecting the Liberation
+of Slaves, I have to ask that you will openly direct me to make the
+correction. The implied censure will be received as a soldier always
+should the reprimand of his chief.
+
+"If I were to retract of my own accord, it would imply that I myself
+thought it wrong, and that I had acted without the reflection which the
+gravity of the point demanded. But I did not. I acted with full
+deliberation, and upon the certain conviction that it was a measure
+right and necessary, and I think so still.
+
+"In regard to the other point of the proclamation to which you refer, I
+desire to say that I do not think the Enemy can either misconstrue or
+urge anything against it, or undertake to make unusual retaliation. The
+shooting of men who shall rise in arms against an Army in the Military
+occupation of a Country, is merely a necessary measure of defense, and
+entirely according to the usages of civilized warfare. The article does
+not at all refer to prisoners of war, and certainly our Enemies have no
+grounds for requiring that we should waive in their benefit any of the
+ordinary advantages which the usages of War allow to us.
+
+"As promptitude is itself an advantage in War, I have also to ask that
+you will permit me to carry out upon the spot the provisions of the
+proclamation in this respect.
+
+"Looking at affairs from this point of view, I am satisfied that strong
+and vigorous measures have now become necessary to the success of our
+Arms; and hoping that my views may have the honor to meet your approval,
+
+ "I am, with respect and regard, very truly yours,
+ "J. C. FREMONT.
+
+"THE PRESIDENT."
+
+
+President Lincoln subsequently rejoined, ordering a modification of the
+proclamation. His letter ran thus:
+
+"WASHINGTON, September 11, 1861.
+
+"SIR: Yours of the 8th, in answer to mine of the 2d instant, is just
+received. Assuming that you, upon the ground, could better judge of the
+necessities of your position than I could at this distance, on seeing
+your Proclamation of August 30th, I perceived no general objection to
+it.
+
+"The particular clause, however, in relation to the Confiscation of
+Property and the Liberation of Slaves, appeared to me to be
+objectionable in its non-conformity to the Act of Congress, passed the
+6th of last August, upon the same subjects; and hence I wrote you
+expressing my wish that that clause should be modified accordingly.
+
+"Your answer, just received, expresses the preference, on your part,
+that I should make an open order for the modification, which I very
+cheerfully do.
+
+"It is therefore Ordered, that the said clause of said proclamation be
+so modified, held, and construed as to conform to, and not to transcend,
+the provisions on the same subject contained in the Act of Congress
+entitled, 'An Act to Confiscate Property used for Insurrectionary
+Purposes,' approved August 6, 1861, and that said Act be published at
+length with this Order.
+
+ "Your obedient servant,
+ "A. LINCOLN.
+
+"Major-General JOHN C. FREMONT."
+
+
+In consequence, however, of the agitation on the subject, the extreme
+delicacy with which it was thought advisable in the earliest stages of
+the Rebellion to treat it, and the confusion of ideas among Military men
+with regard to it, the War Department issued the following General
+Instructions on the occasion of the departure of the Port Royal
+Expedition, commanded by General T. W. Sherman:
+
+
+ "WAR DEPARTMENT, October 14, 1861.
+
+"SIR: In conducting Military Operations within States declared by the
+Proclamation of the President to be in a State of Insurrection, you will
+govern yourself, so far as Persons held to Service under the laws of
+such States are concerned, by the principles of the letters addressed by
+me to Major-General Butler on the 30th of May and the 8th of August,
+copies of which are herewith furnished to you.
+
+"As special directions, adapted to special circumstances, cannot be
+given, much must be referred to your own discretion as Commanding
+General of the Expedition. You will, however, in general avail yourself
+of the services of any Persons, whether Fugitives from Labor or not, who
+may offer them to the National Government; you will employ such Persons
+in such services as they may be fitted for, either as ordinary
+employees, or, if special circumstances seem to require it, in any other
+capacity with such organization, in squads, companies, or otherwise, as
+you deem most beneficial to the service. This, however, not to mean a
+general arming of them for Military service.
+
+"You will assure all Loyal masters that Congress will provide just
+compensation to them for the loss of the services of the Persons so
+employed.
+
+"It is believed that the course thus indicated will best secure the
+substantial rights of Loyal masters, and the benefits to the United
+States of the services of all disposed to support the Government, while
+it avoids all interference with the social systems or local Institutions
+of every State, beyond that which Insurrection makes unavoidable and
+which a restoration of peaceful relations to the Union, under the
+Constitution, will immediately remove.
+ "Respectfully,
+ "SIMON CAMERON,
+ "Secretary of War.
+
+"Brigadier-General T. W. SHERMAN,
+"Commanding Expedition to the Southern Coast."
+
+
+Brigadier-General Thomas W. Sherman, acting upon his own interpretation
+of these instructions, issued a proclamation to the people of South
+Carolina, upon occupying the Forts at Port Royal, in which he said:
+
+"In obedience to the orders of the President of these United States of
+America, I have landed on your shores with a small force of National
+troops. The dictates of a duty which, under these circumstances, I owe
+to a great sovereign State, and to a proud and hospitable people, among
+whom I have passed some of the pleasantest days of my life, prompt me to
+proclaim that we have come amongst you with no feelings of personal
+animosity, no desire to harm your citizens, destroy your property, or
+interfere with any of your lawful rights or your social or local
+Institutions, beyond what the causes herein alluded to may render
+unavoidable."
+
+Major-General Wool, at Fortress Monroe, where he had succeeded General
+Butler, likewise issued a Special Order on the subject of Contrabands,
+as follows:
+
+
+"HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA,
+"FORT MONROE, October 14, 1861.
+"[Special Orders No. 72.]
+
+"All Colored Persons called Contrabands, employed as servants by
+officers and others residing within Fort Monroe, or outside of the Fort
+at Camp Hamilton and Camp Butler, will be furnished with their
+subsistence and at least eight dollars per month for males, and four
+dollars per month for females, by the officers or others thus employing
+them.
+
+"So much of the above-named sums, as may be necessary to furnish
+clothing, to be decided by the Chief Quartermaster of the Department,
+will be applied to that purpose, and the remainder will be paid into his
+hands to create a fund for the support of those Contrabands who are
+unable to work for their own support.
+
+"All able-bodied Colored Persons who are under the protection of the
+troops of this Department, and who are not employed as servants, will be
+immediately put to work in either the Engineer's or Quartermaster's
+Department.
+
+"By command of Major-General Wool:
+
+"[Signed] WILLIAM D. WHIPPLE,
+"Assistant Adjutant General."
+
+
+He subsequently also issued the following General Order:
+
+"HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA,
+"FORT MONROE, November 1, 1861.
+"[General Orders No. 34.]
+
+"The following pay and allowances will constitute the valuation of the
+Labor of the Contrabands at work in the Engineer, Ordnance,
+Quartermaster, Commissary, and Medical Departments at this Post, to be
+paid as hereinafter mentioned;
+
+"Class 1st.--Negro man over eighteen years of age, and able-bodied, ten
+dollars per month, one ration and the necessary amount of clothing.
+
+"Class 2d.--Negro boys from 12 to 18 years of age, and sickly and infirm
+Negro men, five dollars per month, one ration, and the necessary amount
+of clothing.
+
+"The Quartermaster will furnish all the clothing. The Department
+employing these men will furnish the subsistence specified above, and as
+an incentive to good behavior (to be withheld at the direction of the
+chiefs of the departments respectively), each individual of the first
+class will receive $2 per month, and each individual of the second class
+$1 per month, for their own use. The remainder of the money valuation
+of their Labor, will be turned over to the Quartermaster, who will
+deduct from it the cost of the clothing issued to them; the balance will
+constitute a fund to be expended by the Quartermaster under the
+direction of the Commanding officer of the Department of Virginia for
+the support of the women and children and those that are unable to work.
+
+"For any unusual amount of Labor performed, they may receive extra pay,
+varying in amount from fifty cents to one dollar, this to be paid by the
+departments employing them, to the men themselves, and to be for their
+own use.
+
+"Should any man be prevented from working, on account of sickness, for
+six consecutive days, or ten days in any one month, one-half of the
+money value will be paid. For being prevented from laboring for a
+longer period than ten days in any one month all pay and allowances
+cease.
+
+"By command of Major-General Wool:
+
+"[Signed] "WILLIAM D. WHIPPLE,
+"Assistant Adjutant General."
+
+
+On November 13, 1861, Major-General Dix, in a proclamation addressed to
+the people of Accomac and Northampton Counties, Va., ordered the
+repulsion of Fugitive Slaves seeking to enter the Union lines, in these
+words:
+
+"The Military Forces of the United States are about to enter your
+Counties as a part of the Union. They will go among you as friends, and
+with the earnest hope that they may not, by your own acts, be forced to
+become your enemies. They will invade no rights of person or property.
+On the contrary, your Laws, your Institutions, your Usages, will be
+scrupulously respected. There need be no fear that the quietude of any
+fireside will be disturbed, unless the disturbance is caused by
+yourselves.
+
+"Special directions have been given not to interfere with the condition
+of any Person held to domestic service; and, in order that there may be
+no ground for mistake or pretext for misrepresent action, Commanders of
+Regiments and Corps have been instructed not to permit any such Persons
+to come within their lines."
+
+On the 20th of November, 1861, Major General Halleck issued the
+following Genera., Order--which went even further, in that it expelled,
+as well as repelled Fugitive Slaves from our lines:
+
+
+"HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF MISSOURI,
+"St. Louis, November 20, 1861.
+"[General Orders No. 3.]
+
+"I. It has been represented that important information respecting the
+number and condition of our Forces, is conveyed to the Enemy by means of
+Fugitive Slaves who are admitted within our lines. In order to remedy
+this evil, it is directed that no such Persons be hereafter permitted to
+enter the lines of any camp, or of any forces on the march; and that any
+now within such lines be immediately excluded therefrom."
+
+This Order was subsequently explained in a letter, of December 8, 1861,
+from General Halleck to Hon. F. P. Blair, in which he said:
+
+" * * * Order No. 3 was in my mind, clearly a Military necessity.
+Unauthorized persons, black or white, Free or Slaves, must be kept out
+of our camps, unless we are willing to publish to the Enemy everything
+we do or intend to do. It was a Military and not a political order. I
+am ready to carry out any lawful instructions in regard to Fugitive
+Slaves which my superiors may give me, and to enforce any law which
+Congress may pass. But I cannot make law, and will not violate it. You
+know my private opinion on the policy of Confiscating the Slave Property
+of Rebels in Arms. If Congress shall pass it, you may be certain that I
+shall enforce it. Perhaps my policy as to the treatment of Rebels and
+their property is as well set out in Order No. 13, issued the day
+(December 4, 1861), your letter was written, as I could now describe
+it."
+
+It may be well also to add here, as belonging to this period of
+doubtfulness touching the status of escaped Slaves, the following
+communication sent by Secretary Seward to General McClellan, touching
+"Contrabands" in the District of Columbia:
+
+
+"DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
+"WASHINGTON, December 4, 1861.
+
+"To Major-General GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN, Washington:
+
+"GENERAL: I am directed by the President to call your attention to the
+following subject:
+
+"Persons claimed to be held to Service or Labor under the laws of the
+State of Virginia, and actually employed in hostile service against the
+Government of the United States, frequently escape from the lines of the
+Enemy's Forces and are received within the lines of the Army of the
+Potomac.
+
+"This Department understands that such Persons afterward coming into the
+city of Washington are liable to be arrested by the city police, upon
+the presumption, arising from color, that they are Fugitives from
+Service or Labor.
+
+"By the 4th section of the Act of Congress approved August 6, 1861,
+entitled, 'An Act to Confiscate Property used for Insurrectionary
+purposes,' such hostile employment is made a full and sufficient answer
+to any further claim to Service or Labor. Persons thus employed and
+escaping are received into the Military protection of the United States,
+and their arrest as Fugitives from Service or Labor should be
+immediately followed by the Military arrest of the parties making the
+seizure.
+
+"Copies of this communication will be sent to the Mayor of the city of
+Washington and to the Marshal of the District of Columbia, that any
+collision between the Civil and Military authorities may be avoided.
+
+"I am, General, your very obedient,
+
+ "WILLIAM H. SEWARD."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XVI.
+
+ "COMPENSATED GRADUAL EMANCIPATION."
+
+Thus far the reader's eye has been able to review in their successive
+order some of the many difficulties and perplexities which beset the
+pathway of President Lincoln as he felt his way in the dark, as it were,
+toward Emancipation. It must seem pretty evident now, however, that his
+chief concern was for the preservation of the Union, even though all
+other things--Emancipation with them--had to be temporarily sacrificed.
+
+Something definite, however, had been already gained. Congress had
+asserted its right under the War powers of the Constitution, to release
+from all claim to Service or Labor those Slaves whose Service or Labor
+had been used in hostility to the Union. And while some of the Union
+Generals obstructed the execution of the Act enforcing that right, by
+repelling and even as we have seen, expelling, from the Union lines all
+Fugitive Slaves--whether such as had or had not been used in hostility
+to us--yet still the cause of Freedom to all, was slowly and silently
+perhaps, yet surely and irresistibly, marching on until the time when,
+becoming a chief factor in the determination of the question of "whether
+we should have a Country at all," it should triumph coincidently with
+the preservation of the Republic.
+
+But now a new phase of the Slave question arose--a question not
+involving what to do with Fugitive Slaves of any sort, whether engaged
+or not engaged in performing services hostile to the Union cause, but
+what to do with Slaves whom their panic-stricken owners had, for the
+time being, abandoned in the presence of our Armies.
+
+This question was well discussed in the original draft of the report of
+the Secretary of War, December 1, 1861 in which Secretary Cameron said:
+
+"It has become a grave question for determination what shall be done
+with the Slaves abandoned by their owners on the advance of our troops
+into Southern territory, as in the Beaufort district of South Carolina.
+The whole White population therein is six thousand, while the number of
+Negroes exceeds thirty-two thousand. The panic which drove their
+masters in wild confusion from their homes, leaves them in undisputed
+possession of the soil. Shall they, armed by their masters, be placed
+in the field to fight against us, or shall their labor be continually
+employed in reproducing the means for supporting the Armies of
+Rebellion?
+
+"The War into which this Government has been forced by rebellious
+Traitors is carried on for the purpose of repossessing the property
+violently and treacherously seized upon by the Enemies of the
+Government, and to re-establish the authority and Laws of the United
+States in the places where it is opposed or overthrown by armed
+Insurrection and Rebellion. Its purpose is to recover and defend what
+is justly its own.
+
+"War, even between Independent Nations, is made to subdue the Enemy, and
+all that belongs to that Enemy, by occupying the hostile country, and
+exercising dominion over all the men and things within its territory.
+This being true in respect to Independent Nations at war with each
+other, it follows that Rebels who are laboring by force of arms to
+overthrow a Government, justly bring upon themselves all the
+consequences of War, and provoke the destruction merited by the worst of
+crimes. That Government would be false to National trust, and would
+justly excite the ridicule of the civilized World, that would abstain
+from the use of any efficient means to preserve its own existence, or to
+overcome a rebellious and traitorous Enemy, by sparing or protecting the
+property of those who are waging War against it.
+
+"The principal wealth and power of the Rebel States is a peculiar
+species of Property, consisting of the service or labor of African
+Slaves, or the descendants of Africans. This Property has been
+variously estimated at the value of from seven hundred million to one
+thousand million dollars.
+
+"Why should this Property be exempt from the hazards and consequences of
+a rebellious War?
+
+"It was the boast of the leader of the Rebellion, while he yet had a
+seat in the Senate of the United States, that the Southern States would
+be comparatively safe and free from the burdens of War, if it should be
+brought on by the contemplated Rebellion, and that boast was accompanied
+by the savage threat that 'Northern towns and cities would become the
+victims of rapine and Military spoil,' and that 'Northern men should
+smell Southern gunpowder and feel Southern steel.'
+
+"No one doubts the disposition of the Rebels to carry that threat into
+execution. The wealth of Northern towns and cities, the produce of
+Northern farms, Northern workshops and manufactories would certainly be
+seized, destroyed, or appropriated as Military spoil. No property in
+the North would be spared from the hands of the Rebels, and their rapine
+would be defended under the laws of War. While the Loyal States thus
+have all their property and possessions at stake, are the insurgent
+Rebels to carry on warfare against the Government in peace and security
+to their own property?
+
+"Reason and justice and self-preservation forbid that such should be;
+the policy of this Government, but demand, on the contrary, that, being
+forced by Traitors and Rebels to the extremity of war, all the rights
+and powers of war should be exercised to bring it to a speedy end.
+
+"Those who war against the Government justly forfeit all rights of
+property, privilege, or security, derived from the Constitution and
+Laws, against which they are in armed Rebellion; and as the labor and
+service of their Slaves constitute the chief Property of the Rebels,
+such Property should share the common fate of War to which they have
+devoted the property of Loyal citizens.
+
+"While it is plain that the Slave Property of the South is justly
+subjected to all the consequences of this Rebellious War, and that the
+Government would be untrue to its trust in not employing all the rights
+and powers of War to bring it to a speedy close, the details of the plan
+for doing so, like all other Military measures, must, in a great degree,
+be left to be determined by particular exigencies. The disposition of
+other property belonging to the Rebels that becomes subject to our arms
+is governed by the circumstances of the case.
+
+"The Government has no power to hold Slaves, none to restrain a Slave of
+his Liberty, or to exact his service. It has a right, however, to use
+the voluntary service of Slaves liberated by War from their Rebel
+masters, like any other property of the Rebels, in whatever mode may be
+most efficient for the defense of the Government, the prosecution of the
+War, and the suppression of Rebellion. It is clearly a right of the
+Government to arm Slaves when it may become necessary, as it is to take
+gunpowder from the Enemy; whether it is expedient to do so, is purely a
+Military question. The right is unquestionable by the laws of War. The
+expediency must be determined by circumstances, keeping in view the
+great object of overcoming the Rebels, reestablishing the Laws, and
+restoring Peace to the Nation.
+
+"It is vain and idle for the Government to carry on this War, or hope to
+maintain its existence against rebellious force, without employing all
+the rights and powers of War. As has been said, the right to deprive
+the Rebels of their Property in Slaves and Slave Labor is as clear and
+absolute as the right to take forage from the field, or cotton from the
+warehouse, or powder and arms from the magazine. To leave the Enemy in
+the possession of such property as forage and cotton and military
+stores, and the means of constantly reproducing them, would be madness.
+It is, therefore, equal madness to leave them in peaceful and secure
+possession of Slave Property, more valuable and efficient to them for
+war than forage, cotton, military stores. Such policy would be National
+suicide.
+
+"What to do with that species of Property is a question that time and
+circumstances will solve, and need not be anticipated further than to
+repeat that they cannot be held by the Government as Slaves. It would
+be useless to keep them as prisoners of War; and self-preservation, the
+highest duty of a Government, or of individuals, demands that they
+should be disposed of or employed in the most effective manner that will
+tend most speedily to suppress the Insurrection and restore the
+authority of the Government. If it shall be found that the men who have
+been held by the Rebels as Slaves, are capable of bearing arms and
+performing efficient Military service, it is the right, and may become
+the duty, of this Government to arm and equip them, and employ their
+services against the Rebels, under proper Military regulations,
+discipline, and command.
+
+"But in whatever manner they may be used by the Government, it is plain
+that, once liberated by the rebellious act of their masters they should
+never again be restored to bondage. By the master's Treason and
+Rebellion he forfeits all right to the labor and service of his Slave;
+and the Slave of the rebellious master, by his service to the
+Government, becomes justly entitled to Freedom and protection.
+
+"The disposition to be made of the Slaves of Rebels, after the close of
+the War, can be safely left to the wisdom and patriotism of Congress.
+The Representatives of the People will unquestionably secure to the
+Loyal Slaveholders every right to which they are entitled under the
+Constitution of the Country."
+
+This original draft of the report was modified, at the instance of
+President Lincoln, to the following--and thus appeared in Secretary
+Cameron's report of that date, as printed:
+
+"It is already a grave question what shall be done with those Slaves who
+were abandoned by their owners on the advance of our troops into
+Southern territory, as at Beaufort district, in South Carolina. The
+number left within our control at that point is very considerable, and
+similar cases will probably occur. What should be done with them? Can
+we afford to send them forward to their masters, to be by them armed
+against us, or used in producing supplies to sustain the Rebellion?
+
+"Their labor may be useful to us; withheld from the Enemy it lessens his
+Military resources, and withholding them has no tendency to induce the
+horrors of Insurrection, even in the Rebel communities. They constitute
+a Military resource, and, being such, that they should not be turned
+over to the Enemy is too plain to discuss. Why deprive him of supplies
+by a blockade, and voluntarily give him men to produce them?
+
+"The disposition to be made of the Slaves of Rebels, after the close of
+the War, can be safely left to the wisdom and patriotism of Congress.
+The Representatives of the People will unquestionably secure to the
+Loyal Slaveholders every right to which they are entitled under the
+Constitution of the Country.
+
+SIMON CAMERON.
+"Secretary of War."
+
+
+The language of this modification is given to show that the President,
+at the close of the year 1861, had already reached a further step
+forward toward Emancipation--and the sound reasoning upon which he made
+that advance. He was satisfying his own mind and conscience as he
+proceeded, and thus, while justifying himself to himself, was also
+simultaneously carrying conviction to the minds and consciences of the
+People, whose servant and agent he was.
+
+That these abandoned Slaves would "constitute a Military resource" and
+"should not be turned over to the Enemy" and that "their labor may be
+useful to us" were propositions which could not be gainsaid. But to
+quiet uncalled-for apprehensions, and to encourage Southern loyalty, he
+added, in substance, that at the close of this War--waged solely for the
+preservation of the Union--Congress would decide the doubtful status of
+the Slaves of Rebels, while the rights of Union Slave-holders would be
+secured.
+
+The Contraband-Slave question, however, continued to agitate the public
+mind for many months--owing to the various ways in which it was treated
+by the various Military commanders, to whose discretion its treatment,
+in their several commands, was left--a discretion which almost
+invariably leaned toward the political bias of the commander. Thus, in
+a proclamation, dated St. Louis, February 23, 1862, Halleck, commanding
+the Department of Missouri, said:
+
+"Soldiers! let no excess on your part tarnish the glory of our arms!
+
+"The order heretofore issued in this department, in regard to pillaging
+and marauding, the destruction of private property, and the stealing or
+concealment of Slaves, must be strictly enforced. It does not belong to
+the Military to decide upon the relation of Master and Slave. Such
+questions must be settled by the civil Courts. No Fugitive Slaves will
+therefore be admitted within our lines or camps, except when especially
+ordered by the General Commanding. * * * "
+
+And Buell, commanding the Department of the Ohio, in response to a
+communication on the subject from the Chairman of the Military Committee
+of the Kentucky Legislature, wrote, March 6, 1862:
+
+"It has come to my knowledge that Slaves sometimes make their way
+improperly into our lines, and in some instances they may be enticed
+there, but I think the number has been magnified by report. Several
+applications have been made to me by persons whose servants have been
+found in our camps, and in every instance that I know of the master has
+recovered his servant and taken him away."
+
+Thus, while some of our Commanders, like Dix and Halleck, repelled or
+even expelled the Fugitive Slave from their lines; and others, like
+Buell and Hooker, facilitated the search for, and restoration to his
+master, of the black Fugitive found within our lines; on the other hand,
+Fremont, as we have seen, and Doubleday and Hunter, as we shall yet see,
+took totally different ground on this question.
+
+President Lincoln, however, harassed as he was by the extremists on both
+sides of the Slavery question, still maintained that calm statesman-like
+middle-course from which the best results were likely to flow. But he
+now thought the time had come to broach the question of a compensated,
+gradual Emancipation.
+
+Accordingly, on March 6, 1862, he sent to Congress the following
+message:
+
+"Fellow citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:
+
+"I recommend the adoption of a joint Resolution by your honorable
+bodies, which shall be substantially as follows:
+
+"Resolved, That the United States ought to co-operate with any State
+which may adopt gradual abolishment of Slavery, giving to such State
+pecuniary aid, to be used by such State in its discretion, to compensate
+for the inconveniences, public and private, produced by such change of
+system.
+
+"If the proposition contained in the Resolution does not meet the
+approval of Congress and the Country, there is the end; but if it does
+command such approval, I deem it of importance that the States and
+people immediately interested should be at once distinctly notified of
+the fact, so that they may begin to consider whether to accept or reject
+it, The Federal Government would find its highest interest in such a
+measure, as one of the most efficient means of self preservation.
+
+"The leaders of the existing Insurrection entertain the hope that this
+Government will ultimately be forced to acknowledge the Independence of
+some part of the disaffected region, and that all the Slave States North
+of such part will then say, 'the Union for which we have struggled being
+already gone, we now choose to go with the Southern Section.'
+
+"To deprive them of this hope, substantially ends the Rebellion; and the
+initiation of Emancipation completely deprives them of it, as to all the
+States initiating it. The point is not that all the States tolerating
+Slavery would very soon, if at all, initiate Emancipation; but that,
+while the offer is equally made to all, the more Northern shall, by such
+initiation, make it certain to the more Southern that in no event will
+the former ever join the latter in their proposed Confederacy. I say,
+'initiation,' because in my judgment, gradual, and not sudden
+Emancipation, is better for all.
+
+"In the mere financial or pecuniary view, any member of Congress, with
+the census tables and Treasury reports before him, can readily see for
+himself how very soon the current expenditures of this War would
+purchase, at fair valuation, all the Slaves in any named State.
+
+"Such a proposition on the part of the General Government sets up no
+claim of a right by Federal authority to interfere with Slavery within
+State limits, referring, as it does, the absolute control of the subject
+in each case to the State and its people immediately interested. It is
+proposed as a matter of perfectly free choice with them.
+
+"In the Annual Message last December, I thought fit to say, 'the Union
+must be preserved; and hence all indispensable means must be employed.'
+I said this, not hastily, but deliberately. War has been made, and
+continues to be an indispensable means to this end. A practical
+reacknowledgment of the National authority would render the War
+unnecessary, and it would at once cease. If, however, resistance
+continues, the War must also continue; and it is impossible to foresee
+all the incidents which may attend, and all the ruin which may follow
+it. Such as may seem indispensable, or may obviously promise great
+efficiency toward ending the struggle, must and will come.
+
+"The proposition now made, though an offer only, I hope it may be
+esteemed no offense to ask whether the pecuniary consideration tendered
+would not be of more value to the States and private persons concerned,
+than are the Institution, and Property in it, in the present aspect of
+affairs?
+
+"While it is true that the adoption of the proposed resolution would be
+merely initiatory, and not within itself a practical measure, it is
+recommended in the hope that it would soon lead to important practical
+results. In full view of my great responsibility to my God and to my
+Country, I earnestly beg the attention of Congress and the People to the
+subject.
+
+"March 6, 1862."
+
+
+In compliance with the above suggestion from the President, a Joint
+Resolution, in the precise words suggested, was introduced into the
+House, March 10, by Roscoe Conkling, and on the following day was
+adopted in the House by 97 yeas to 36 nays.
+
+Of the 36 members of the House who voted against this Resolution, were
+34 Democrats, and among them were Messrs. Crisfield of Maryland, and
+Messrs. Crittenden, Mallory, and Menzies of Kentucky. These gentleman
+afterward made public a report, drawn by themselves, of an interesting
+interview they had held with President Lincoln on this important
+subject, in the words following:
+
+
+"MEMORANDUM OF AN INTERVIEW BETWEEN THE PRESIDENT AND SOME BORDER
+SLAVE-STATE REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 10, 1862.
+
+"'DEAR SIR:--I called, at the request of the President, to ask you to
+come to the White House to-morrow morning, at nine o'clock, and bring
+such of your colleagues as are in town.'"
+
+
+"'WASHINGTON, March 10, 1862.
+
+"Yesterday on my return from church I found Mr. Postmaster General Blair
+in my room, writing the above note, which he immediately suspended, and
+verbally communicated the President's invitation; and stated that the
+President's purpose was to have some conversation with the delegations
+of Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware, in explanation
+of his Message of the 6th inst.
+
+"This morning these delegations, or such of them as were in town,
+assembled at the White House at the appointed time, and after some
+little delay were admitted to an audience.
+
+"After the usual salutations and we were seated, the President said, in
+substance, that he had invited us to meet him to have some conversation
+with us in explanation of his Message of the 6th; that since he had sent
+it in, several of the gentlemen then present had visited him, but had
+avoided any allusion to the Message, and he therefore inferred that the
+import of the Message had been misunderstood, and was regarded as
+inimical to the interests we represented; and he had resolved he would
+talk with us, and disabuse our minds of that erroneous opinion.
+
+"The President then disclaimed any intent to injure the interests or
+wound the sensibilities of the Slave States. On the contrary, his
+purpose was to protect the one and respect the other; that we were
+engaged in a terrible, wasting, and tedious War; immense Armies were in
+the field, and must continue in the field as long as the War lasts; that
+these Armies must, of necessity, be brought into contact with Slaves in
+the States we represented and in other States as they advanced; that
+Slaves would come to the camps, and continual irritation was kept up;
+that he was constantly annoyed by conflicting and antagonistic
+complaints; on the one side, a certain class complained if the Slave was
+not protected by the Army; persons were frequently found who,
+participating in these views, acted in a way unfriendly to the
+Slaveholder; on the other hand, Slaveholders complained that their
+rights were interfered with, their Slaves induced to abscond, and
+protected within the lines, these complaints were numerous, loud, and
+deep; were a serious annoyance to him and embarrassing to the progress
+of the War; that it kept alive a spirit hostile to the Government in the
+States we represented; strengthened the hopes of the Confederates that
+at some day the Border States would unite with them, and thus tend to
+prolong the War; and he was of opinion, if this Resolution should be
+adopted by Congress and accepted by our States, these causes of
+irritation and these hopes would be removed, and more would be
+accomplished towards shortening the War than could be hoped from the
+greatest victory achieved by Union Armies; that he made this proposition
+in good faith, and desired it to be accepted, if at all, voluntarily,
+and in the same patriotic spirit in which it was made; that Emancipation
+was a subject exclusively under the control of the States, and must be
+adopted or rejected by each for itself; that he did not claim nor had
+this Government any right to coerce them for that purpose; that such was
+no part of his purpose in making this proposition, and he wished it to
+be clearly understood; that he did not expect us there to be prepared to
+give him an answer, but he hoped we would take the subject into serious
+consideration; confer with one another, and then take such course as we
+felt our duty and the interests of our constituents required of us.
+
+"Mr. Noell, of Missouri, said that in his State, Slavery was not
+considered a permanent Institution; that natural causes were there in
+operation which would, at no distant day, extinguish it, and he did not
+think that this proposition was necessary for that; and, besides that,
+he and his friends felt solicitous as to the Message on account of the
+different constructions which the Resolution and Message had received.
+The New York Tribune was for it, and understood it to mean that we must
+accept gradual Emancipation according to the plan suggested, or get
+something worse.
+
+"The President replied, he must not be expected to quarrel with the New
+York Tribune before the right time; he hoped never to have to do it; he
+would not anticipate events. In respect to Emancipation in Missouri, he
+said that what had been observed by Mr. Noell was probably true, but the
+operation of these natural causes had not prevented the irritating
+conduct to which he had referred, or destroyed the hopes of the
+Confederates that Missouri would at some time range herself alongside of
+them, which, in his judgment, the passage of this Resolution by
+Congress, and its acceptance by Missouri, would accomplish.
+
+"Mr. Crisfield, of Maryland, asked what would be the effect of the
+refusal of the State to accept this proposal, and desired to know if the
+President looked to any policy beyond the acceptance or rejection of
+this scheme.
+
+"The President replied that he had no designs beyond the action of the
+States on this particular subject. He should lament their refusal to
+accept it, but he had no designs beyond their refusal of it.
+
+"Mr. Menzies, of Kentucky, inquired if the President thought there was
+any power, except in the States themselves, to carry out his scheme of
+Emancipation?
+
+"The President replied, he thought there could not be. He then went off
+into a course of remark not qualifying the foregoing declaration, nor
+material to be repeated to a just understanding of his meaning.
+
+"Mr. Crisfield said he did not think the people of Maryland looked upon
+Slavery as a permanent Institution; and he did not know that they would
+be very reluctant to give it up if provision was made to meet the loss,
+and they could be rid of the race; but they did not like to be coerced
+into Emancipation, either by the direct action of the Government or by
+indirection, as through the Emancipation of Slaves in this District, or
+the Confiscation of Southern Property as now threatened; and he thought
+before they would consent to consider this proposition they would
+require to be informed on these points.
+
+"The President replied that 'unless he was expelled by the act of God or
+the Confederate Armies, he should occupy that house for three years, and
+as long as he remained there, Maryland had nothing to fear, either for
+her Institutions or her interests, on the points referred to.'
+
+"Mr. Crisfield immediately added: 'Mr. President, what you now say could
+be heard by the people of Maryland, they would consider your proposition
+with a much better feeling than I fear without it they will be inclined
+to do.'
+
+"The President: 'That (meaning a publication of what he said), will not
+do; it would force me into a quarrel before the proper time;' and again
+intimating, as he had before done, that a quarrel with the 'Greeley
+faction' was impending, he said, 'he did not wish to encounter it before
+the proper time, nor at all if it could be avoided.'
+
+"Governor Wickliffe, of Kentucky, then asked him respecting the
+Constitutionality of his scheme.
+
+"The President replied: 'As you may suppose, I have considered that; and
+the proposition now submitted does not encounter any Constitutional
+difficulty. It proposes simply to co-operate with any State by giving
+such State pecuniary aid;' and he thought that the Resolution, as
+proposed by him, would be considered rather as the expression of a
+sentiment than as involving any Constitutional question.
+
+"Mr. Hall, of Missouri, thought that if this proposition was adopted at
+all, it should be by the votes of the Free States, and come as a
+proposition from them to the Slave States, affording them an inducement
+to put aside this subject of discord; that it ought not to be expected
+that members representing Slaveholding Constituencies should declare at
+once, and in advance of any proposition to them, for the Emancipation of
+Slaves.
+
+"The President said he saw and felt the force of the objection; it was a
+fearful responsibility, and every gentleman must do as he thought best;
+that he did not know how this scheme was received by the Members from
+the Free States; some of them had spoken to him and received it kindly;
+but for the most part they were as reserved and chary as we had been,
+and he could not tell how they would vote.
+
+"And, in reply to some expression of Mr. Hall as to his own opinion
+regarding Slavery, he said he did not pretend to disguise his
+Anti-Slavery feeling; that he thought it was wrong and should continue
+to think so; but that was not the question we had to deal with now.
+Slavery existed, and that, too, as well by the act of the North, as of
+the South; and in any scheme to get rid of it, the North, as well as the
+South, was morally bound to do its full and equal share. He thought the
+Institution, wrong, and ought never to have existed; but yet he
+recognized the rights of Property which had grown out of it, and would
+respect those rights as fully as similar rights in any other property;
+that Property can exist, and does legally exist. He thought such a law,
+wrong, but the rights of Property resulting must be respected; he would
+get rid of the odious law, not by violating the right, but by
+encouraging the proposition, and offering inducements to give it up."
+
+"Here the interview, so far as this subject is concerned, terminated by
+Mr. Crittenden's assuring the President that whatever might be our final
+action, we all thought him solely moved by a high patriotism and sincere
+devotion to the happiness and glory of his Country; and with that
+conviction we should consider respectfully the important suggestions he
+had made.
+
+"After some conversation on the current war news we retired, and I
+immediately proceeded to my room and wrote out this paper.
+ "J. W. CRISFIELD."
+
+"We were present at the interview described in the foregoing paper of
+Mr. Crisfield, and we certify that the substance of what passed on the
+occasion is in this paper, faithfully and fully given.
+
+"J. W. MENZIES,
+"J. J. CRITTENDEN,
+"R. MALLORY.
+"March 10, 1862."
+
+
+Upon the passage of the Joint-Resolution in the House only four
+Democrats (Messrs. Cobb, Haight, Lehman, and Sheffield) voted in the
+affirmative, and but two Republicans (Francis Thomas, and Leary) in the
+negative. On the 2nd of April, it passed the Senate by a vote of 32
+yeas--all Republicans save Messrs. Davis and Thomson--to 10 nays, all
+Democrats.
+
+Meantime the question of the treatment of the "Contraband" in our
+Military camps, continued to grow in importance.
+
+On March 26, 1862, General Hooker issued the following order touching
+certain Fugitive Slaves and their alleged owners:
+
+"HEADQUARTERS, HOOKER'S DIVISION, CAMP BAKER,
+"LOWER POTOMAC, March 26, 1862.
+
+"To BRIGADE AND REGIMENTAL COMMANDERS OF THIS DIVISION:
+
+"Messrs. Nally, Gray, Dummington, Dent, Adams, Speake, Price, Posey,
+and Cobey, citizens of Maryland, have Negroes supposed to be with some
+of the regiments of this Division; the Brigadier General commanding
+directs that they be permitted to visit all the camps of his command, in
+search of their Property, and if found, that they be allowed to take
+possession of the same, without any interference whatever. Should any
+obstacle be thrown in their way by any officer or soldier in the
+Division, they will be at once reported by the regimental commanders to
+these headquarters.
+
+"By command of Brigadier General Hooker;
+
+"JOSEPH DICKINSON,
+"Assistant Adjutant General."
+
+
+On the following day, by direction of General Sickles, the following
+significant report was made touching the above order:
+
+"HEADQUARTERS, SECOND REGIMENT, EXCELSIOR BRIGADE.
+"CAMP HALL, March 27, 1862.
+
+"LIEUTENANT:--In compliance with verbal directions from Brigadier
+General D. E. Sickles, to report as to the occurrence at this camp on
+the afternoon of the 26th instant, I beg leave to submit the following:
+
+"At about 3:30 o'clock P. M., March 26, 1862, admission within our lines
+was demanded by a party of horsemen (civilians), numbering, perhaps,
+fifteen. They presented the lieutenant commanding the guard, with an
+order of entrance from Brigadier General Joseph Hooker, Commanding
+Division (copy appended), the order stating that nine men should be
+admitted.
+
+"I ordered that the balance of the party should remain without the
+lines; which was done. Upon the appearance of the others, there was
+visible dissatisfaction and considerable murmuring among the soldiers,
+to so great an extent that I almost feared for the safety of the
+Slaveholders. At this time General Sickles opportunely arrived, and
+instructed me to order them outside the camp, which I did, amidst the
+loud cheers of our soldiers.
+
+"It is proper to add, that before entering our lines, and within about
+seventy-five or one hundred yards of our camp, one of their number
+discharged two pistol shots at a Negro, who was running past them, with
+an evident intention of taking his life. This justly enraged our men.
+
+ "All of which is respectfully submitted.
+
+ "Your obedient servant,
+ "JOHN TOLEN.
+ "Major Commanding Second Regiment, E. B.
+
+"To Lieutenant J. L. PALMER, Jr.,
+"A. D. C. and A. A. A. General."
+
+
+On April 6, the following important dispatch, in the nature of an order,
+was issued by General Doubleday to one of his subordinate officers:
+
+"HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DEFENSES,
+"NORTH OF THE POTOMAC,
+"WASHINGTON, April 6, 1862.
+
+"SIR:--I am directed by General Doubleday to say, in answer to your
+letter of the 2d instant, that all Negroes coming into the lines of any
+of the camps or forts under his command, are to be treated as persons,
+and not as chattels.
+
+"Under no circumstances has the Commander of a fort or camp the power of
+surrendering persons claimed as Fugitive Slaves, as it cannot be done
+without determining their character.
+
+"The Additional Article of War recently passed by Congress positively
+prohibits this.
+
+"The question has been asked, whether it would not be better to exclude
+Negroes altogether from the lines. The General is of the opinion that
+they bring much valuable information, which cannot be obtained from any
+other source. They are acquainted with all the roads, paths, fords, and
+other natural features of the country, and they make excellent guides.
+They also know and frequently have exposed the haunts of Secession spies
+and Traitors and the existence of Rebel organizations. They will not,
+therefore, be excluded.
+
+"The General also directs me to say that civil process cannot be served
+directly in the camps or forts of his command, without full authority be
+obtained from the Commanding Officer for that purpose.
+
+"I am very respectfully, your obedient servant,
+
+"E. P. HALSTED,
+"Assistant Adjutant General.
+
+"Lieut. Col. JOHN D. SHANE,
+"Commanding 76th Reg. N. Y. Vols."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XVII.
+
+ BORDER-STATE OPPOSITION.
+
+On April 3, 1862, the United States Senate passed a Bill to liberate all
+Persons of African descent held to Service or Labor within the District
+of Columbia, and prohibiting Slavery or involuntary servitude in the
+District except as a punishment for crime--an appropriation being made
+to pay to loyal owners an appraised value of the liberated Slaves not to
+exceed $300 for each Slave. The vote on its passage in the Senate was
+29 yeas to 14 nays--all the yeas being Republican, and all but two of
+the nays Democratic.
+
+April 11th, the Bill passed the House by 92 yeas to 39 nays--all the
+yeas save 5 being Republican, and all the nays, save three, being
+Democratic.
+
+April 7, 1862, the House adopted a resolution, by 67 yeas to 52 nays
+--all the yeas, save one, Republican, and all the nays, save 12,
+Democratic--for the appointment of a Select Committee of nine, to
+consider and report whether any plan could be proposed and recommended
+for the gradual Emancipation of all the African Slaves, and the
+extinction of Slavery in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky,
+Tennessee, and Missouri, by the people or local authorities thereof, and
+how far and in what way the Government of the United States could and
+ought equitably to aid in facilitating either of those objects.
+
+On the 16th President Lincoln sent the following Message to Congress:
+
+"Fellow citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:
+
+"The Act entitled 'An Act for the release of certain Persons held to
+Service or Labor in the District of Columbia,' has this day been
+approved and signed.
+
+"I have never doubted the Constitutional authority of Congress to
+abolish Slavery in this District; and I have ever desired to see the
+National Capital freed from the Institution in some satisfactory way.
+Hence there has never been in my mind any question upon the subject
+except the one of expediency, arising in view of all the circumstances.
+
+"If there be matters within and about this Act which might have taken a
+course or shape more satisfactory to my judgment, I do not attempt to
+specify them. I am gratified that the two principles of compensation
+and colonization are both recognized and practically applied in the Act.
+
+"In the matter of compensation, it is provided that claims may be
+presented within ninety days from the passage of the Act, 'but not
+thereafter;' and there is no saving for minors, femmes covert, insane,
+or absent persons. I presume this is an omission by mere oversight, and
+I recommend that it be supplied by an amendatory or Supplemental Act.
+
+"ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
+"April 16, 1862."
+
+
+Subsequently, in order to meet the President's views, such an amendatory
+or Supplemental Act was passed and approved.
+
+But now, Major General Hunter having taken upon himself to issue an
+Emancipation proclamation, May 9, 1862, the President, May 19, 1862,
+issued a proclamation rescinding it as follows:
+
+"Whereas there appears in the public prints what purports to be a
+proclamation of Major General Hunter, in the words and figures
+following, to wit:
+
+"'HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH,
+'HILTON HEAD, S. C., May 9, 1862.
+'[General Orders No. 11.]
+
+'The three States of Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina, comprising
+the Military Department of the South, having deliberately declared
+themselves no longer under the protection of the United States of
+America, and having taken up arms against the said United States, it
+becomes a Military necessity to declare them under Martial Law. This
+was accordingly done on the 25th day of April, 1862. Slavery and
+Martial Law, in a Free Country, are altogether incompatible; the Persons
+in these three States--Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina-heretofore
+held as Slaves, are therefore declared forever Free.
+
+'DAVID HUNTER,
+'Major-General Commanding.
+
+'Official:
+ED. W. SMITH,
+'Acting Assistant Adjutant General.'
+
+
+"And whereas the same is producing some excitement and misunderstanding,
+
+"Therefore, I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, proclaim
+and declare, that the Government of the United States had no knowledge,
+information, or belief, of an intention on the part of General Hunter to
+issue such a proclamation; nor has it yet any authentic information that
+the document is genuine. And further, that neither General Hunter, nor
+any other Commander, or person, has been authorized by the Government of
+the United States to make proclamations declaring the Slaves of any
+State Free; and that the supposed proclamation, now in question, whether
+genuine or false, is altogether void, so far as respects such
+declaration.
+
+"I further make known that whether it be competent for me, as
+Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, to declare the Slaves of any
+State or States free, and whether, at any time, in any case, it shall
+have become a necessity indispensable to the maintenance of the
+Government, to exercise such supposed power, are questions which, under
+my responsibility, I reserve to myself, and which I cannot feel
+justified in leaving to the decision of Commanders in the field. These
+are totally different questions from those of police regulations in
+armies and camps.
+
+"On the sixth day of March last, by a Special Message, I recommended to
+Congress the adoption of a Joint Resolution to be substantially as
+follows:
+
+"' Resolved, That the United States ought to co-operate with any State
+which may adopt a gradual abolishment of Slavery, giving to such State
+pecuniary aid, to be used by such State, in its discretion, to
+compensate for the inconveniences, public and private, produced by such
+change of system.'
+
+"The Resolution, in the language above quoted, was adopted by large
+majorities in both branches of Congress, and now stands an authentic,
+definite, and solemn proposal of the Nation to the States and people
+most immediately interested in the subject-matter. To the people of
+those States I now earnestly appeal--I do not argue--I beseech you to
+make the argument for yourselves--you cannot, if you would, be blind to
+the signs of the times--I beg of you a calm and enlarged consideration
+of them, ranging, if it may be, far above personal and partisan
+politics. This proposal makes common cause for a common object, casting
+no reproaches upon any. It acts not the Pharisee. The changes it
+contemplates would come gently as the dews of Heaven, not rending or
+wrecking anything. Will you not embrace it? So much good has not been
+done, by one effort, in all past time, as, in the providence of God, it
+is now your high privilege to do. May the vast future not have to
+lament that you have neglected it.
+
+"In witness thereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
+the United States to be affixed.
+
+"Done at the city of Washington this nineteenth day of May, in the year
+of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the
+Independence of the United States the eighty-sixth.
+
+"By the President. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
+
+"WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State."
+
+
+On June 5th, 1862, General T. Williams issued the following Order:
+
+"HEADQUARTERS SECOND BRIGADE,
+"BATON ROUGE, June 5, 1862.
+"[General Orders No. 46.]
+
+"In consequence of the demoralizing and disorganizing tendencies to the
+troops, of harboring runaway Negroes, it is hereby ordered that the
+respective Commanders of the camps and garrisons of the several
+regiments, Second Brigade, turn all such Fugitives in their camps or
+garrisons out beyond the limits of their respective guards and
+sentinels.
+
+"By order of Brigadier-General T. Williams:
+
+"WICKHAM HOFFMAN,
+"Assistant-Adjutant General."
+
+
+Lieutenant-Colonel D. R. Anthony, of the Seventh Kansas Volunteers,
+commanding a Brigade, issued the following order, at a date subsequent
+to the Battle of Pittsburg Landing and the evacuation of Corinth:
+
+"HEADQUARTERS MITCHELL'S BRIGADE,
+"ADVANCE COLUMN, FIRST BRIGADE, FIRST DIVISION,
+"GENERAL ARMY OF THE MISSISSIPPI,
+"CAMP ETHERIDGE, TENNESSEE, June 18, 1862.
+"[General Orders No. 26.]
+
+"1. The impudence--and impertinence of the open and armed Rebels,
+Traitors, Secessionists, and Southern-Rightsmen of this section of the
+State of Tennessee, in arrogantly demanding the right to search our camp
+for Fugitive Slaves, has become a nuisance, and will no longer be
+tolerated. "Officers will see that this class of men, who visit our
+camp for this purpose, are excluded from our lines.
+
+"2. Should any such persons be found within our lines, they will be
+arrested and sent to headquarters.
+
+"3. Any officer or soldier of this command who shall arrest and deliver
+to his master a Fugitive Slave, shall be summarily and severely
+punished, according to the laws relative to such crimes.
+
+"4. The strong Union sentiment in this Section is most gratifying, and
+all officers and soldiers, in their intercourse with the loyal, and
+those favorably disposed, are requested to act in their usual kind and
+courteous manner and protect them to the fullest extent.
+
+"By order of D. R. Anthony, Lieutenant-Colonel Seventh Kansas
+Volunteers, commanding:
+
+"W. W. H. LAWRENCE,
+"Captain and Assistant-Adjutant General."
+
+
+Lieutenant-Colonel Anthony was subsequently placed under arrest for
+issuing the above order.
+
+It was about this time, also, that General McClellan addressed to
+President Lincoln a letter on "forcible Abolition of Slavery," and "a
+Civil and Military policy"--in these terms:
+
+"HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,
+"CAMP NEAR HARRISON'S LANDING, VA., July 7, 1862.
+
+"MR. PRESIDENT:--You have been fully informed that the Rebel Army is in
+the front, with the purpose of overwhelming us by attacking our
+positions or reducing us by blocking our river communications. I cannot
+but regard our condition as critical, and I earnestly desire, in view of
+possible contingencies, to lay before your Excellency, for your private
+consideration, my general views concerning the existing state of the
+Rebellion, although they do not strictly relate to the situation of this
+Army, or strictly come within the scope of my official duties. These
+views amount to convictions, and are deeply impressed upon my mind and
+heart.
+
+"Our cause must never be abandoned; it is the cause of Free institutions
+and Self-government. The Constitution and the Union must be preserved,
+whatever may be the cost in time, treasure, and blood.
+
+"If Secession is successful, other dissolutions are clearly to be seen
+in the future. Let neither Military disaster, political faction, nor
+Foreign War shake your settled purpose to enforce the equal operation of
+the Laws of the United States upon the people of every State.
+
+"The time has come when the Government must determine upon a Civil and
+Military policy, covering the whole ground of our National trouble.
+
+"The responsibility of determining, declaring, and supporting such Civil
+and Military policy, and of directing the whole course of National
+affairs in regard to the Rebellion, must now be assumed and exercised by
+you, or our Cause will be lost. The Constitution gives you power, even
+for the present terrible exigency.
+
+"This Rebellion has assumed the character of a War; as such it should be
+regarded, and it should be conducted upon the highest principles known
+to Christian civilization. It should not be a War looking to the
+subjugation of the people of any State, in any event. It should not be
+at all a war upon population, but against armed forces and political
+organizations. Neither Confiscation of property, political executions
+of persons, territorial organizations of States, or forcible Abolition
+of Slavery, should be contemplated for a moment.
+
+"In prosecuting the War, all private property and unarmed persons should
+be strictly protected, subject only to the necessity of Military
+operations; all private property taken for Military use should be paid
+or receipted for; pillage and waste should be treated as high crimes;
+all unnecessary trespass sternly prohibited and offensive demeanor by
+the military towards citizens promptly rebuked.
+
+"Military arrests should not be tolerated, except in places where active
+hostilities exist; and oaths, not required by enactments,
+Constitutionally made, should be neither demanded nor received.
+
+"Military Government should be confined to the preservation of public
+order and the protection of political right. Military power should not
+be allowed to interfere with the relations of Servitude, either by
+supporting or impairing the authority of the master, except for
+repressing disorder, as in other cases. Slaves, contraband under the
+Act of Congress, seeking Military protection, should receive it.
+
+"The right of the Government to appropriate permanently to its own
+service claims to Slave-labor should be asserted, and the right of the
+owner to compensation therefor should be recognized.
+
+"This principle might be extended, upon grounds of Military necessity
+and security, to all the Slaves of a particular State, thus working
+manumission in such State; and in Missouri, perhaps in Western Virginia
+also, and possibly even in Maryland, the expediency of such a measure is
+only a question of time.
+
+"A system of policy thus Constitutional, and pervaded by the influences
+of Christianity and Freedom, would receive the support of almost all
+truly Loyal men, would deeply impress the Rebel masses and all foreign
+nations, and it might be humbly hoped that it would commend itself to
+the favor of the Almighty.
+
+"Unless the principles governing the future conduct of our Struggle
+shall be made known and approved, the effort to obtain requisite forces
+will be almost hopeless. A declaration of radical views, especially
+upon Slavery, will rapidly disintegrate our present Armies.
+
+"The policy of the Government must be supported by concentrations of
+Military power. The National Forces should not be dispersed in
+expeditions, posts of occupation, and numerous armies, but should be
+mainly collected into masses, and brought to bear upon the Armies of the
+Confederate States. Those Armies thoroughly defeated, the political
+structure which they support would soon cease to exist,
+
+"In carrying out any system of policy which you may form, you will
+require a Commander-in-chief of the Army, one who possesses your
+confidence, understands your views, and who is competent to execute your
+orders, by directing the Military Forces of the Nation to the
+accomplishment of the objects by you proposed. I do not ask that place
+for myself, I am willing to serve you in such position as you may assign
+me, and I will do so as faithfully as ever subordinate served superior.
+
+"I may be on the brink of Eternity; and as I hope forgiveness from my
+Maker, I have written this letter with sincerity towards you and from
+love for my Country.
+
+"Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
+
+"GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN,
+"Major-General Commanding.
+
+"His Excellency A. LINCOLN, President."
+
+
+July 12, 1862, Senators and Representatives of the Border Slave-holding
+States, having been specially invited to the White House for the
+purpose, were addressed by President Lincoln, as follows:
+
+"GENTLEMEN:--After the adjournment of Congress, now near, I shall have
+no opportunity of seeing you for several months. Believing that you of
+the Border States hold more power for good than any other equal number
+of members, I feel it a duty which I cannot justifiably waive, to make
+this appeal to you.
+
+"I intend no reproach or complaint when I assure you that, in my
+opinion, if you all had voted for the Resolution in the Gradual
+Emancipation Message of last March, the War would now be substantially
+ended. And the plan therein proposed is yet one of the most potent and
+swift means of ending it. Let the States which are in Rebellion see
+definitely and certainly that in no event will the States you represent
+ever join their proposed Confederacy, and they cannot much longer
+maintain the contest.
+
+"But you cannot divest them of their hope to ultimately have you with
+them so long as you show a determination to perpetuate the Institution
+within your own States. Beat them at elections, as you have
+overwhelmingly done, and nothing daunted, they still claim you as their
+own. You and I know what the lever of their power is. Break that lever
+before their faces, and they can shake you no more forever.
+
+"Most of you have treated me with kindness and consideration, and I
+trust you will not now think I improperly touch what is exclusively your
+own, when, for the sake of the whole Country, I ask, 'Can you, for your
+States, do better than to take the course I urge?' Discarding punctilio
+and maxims adapted to more manageable times, and looking only to the
+unprecedentedly stern facts of our case, can you do better in any
+possible event?
+
+"You prefer that the Constitutional relations of the States to the
+Nation shall be practically restored without disturbance of the
+Institution; and, if this were done, my whole duty, in this respect,
+under the Constitution and my oath of office, would be performed. But
+it is not done, and we are trying to accomplish it by War.
+
+"The incidents of the War cannot be avoided. If the War continues long,
+as it must, if the object be not sooner attained, the Institution in
+your States will be extinguished by mere friction and abrasion--by the
+mere incidents of the War. It will be gone, and you will have nothing
+valuable in lieu of it. Much of its value is gone already.
+
+"How much better for you and for your people to take the step which at
+once shortens the War and secures substantial compensation for that
+which is sure to be wholly lost in any other event! How much better to
+thus save the money which else we sink forever in the War! How: much
+better to do it while we can, lest the War ere long render us
+pecuniarily unable to do it! How much better for you, as seller, and
+the Nation, as buyer, to sell out and buy out that without which the War
+could never have been, than to sink both the thing to be sold and the
+price of it in cutting one another's throats!
+
+"I do not speak of Emancipation at once, but of a decision at once to
+Emancipate gradually. Room in South America for colonization can be
+obtained cheaply and in abundance, and when numbers shall be large
+enough to be company and encouragement for one another, the freed people
+will not be so reluctant to go.
+
+"I am pressed with a difficulty not yet mentioned; one which threatens
+division among those who, united, are none too strong. An instance of
+it is known to you. General Hunter is an honest man. He was, and I
+hope still is, my friend. I value him none the less for his agreeing
+with me in the general wish that all men everywhere could be freed. He
+proclaimed all men Free within certain States, and I repudiated the
+proclamation. He expected more good and less harm from the measure than
+I could believe would follow.
+
+"Yet, in repudiating it, I gave dissatisfaction, if not offense, to many
+whose support the Country cannot afford to lose. And this is not the
+end of it. The pressure in this direction is still upon me, and is
+increasing. By conceding what I now ask, you can relieve me, and, much
+more, can relieve the Country in this important point.
+
+"Upon these considerations I have again begged your attention to the
+Message of March last. Before leaving the Capitol, consider and discuss
+it among yourselves. You are Patriots and Statesmen, and as such I pray
+you consider this proposition; and, at the least, commend it to the
+consideration of your States and people. As you would perpetuate
+popular Government for the best people in the World, I beseech you that
+you do in nowise omit this.
+
+"Our common Country is in great peril, demanding the loftiest views and
+boldest action to bring a speedy relief. Once relieved, its form of
+Government is saved to the World, its beloved history and cherished
+memories are vindicated, and its happy future fully assured and rendered
+inconceivable grand. To you, more than to any others, the privilege is
+given to assure that happiness and swell that grandeur, and to link your
+own names therewith forever."
+
+The gentlemen representing in Congress the Border-States, to whom this
+address was made, subsequently met and discussed its subject matter, and
+made written reply in the shape of majority and minority replies, as
+follows:
+
+THE MAJORITY REPLY:
+
+"WASHINGTON, July 14, 1862.
+
+"TO THE PRESIDENT:
+
+"The undersigned, Representatives of Kentucky, Virginia, Missouri, and
+Maryland, in the two Houses of Congress, have listened to your address
+with the profound sensibility naturally inspired by the high source from
+which it emanates, the earnestness which marked its delivery, and the
+overwhelming importance of the subject of which it treats. We have
+given it a most respectful consideration, and now lay before you our
+response. We regret that want of time has not permitted us to make it
+more perfect.
+
+"We have not been wanting, Mr. President, in respect to you, and in
+devotion to the Constitution and the Union. We have not been
+indifferent to the great difficulties surrounding you, compared with
+which all former National troubles have been but as the summer cloud;
+and we have freely given you our sympathy and support. Repudiating the
+dangerous heresies of the Secessionists, we believed, with you, that the
+War on their part is aggressive and wicked, and the objects for which it
+was to be prosecuted on ours, defined by your Message at the opening of
+the present Congress, to be such as all good men should approve.
+
+"We have not hesitated to vote all supplies necessary to carry it on
+vigorously. We have voted all the men and money you have asked for, and
+even more; we have imposed onerous taxes on our people, and they are
+paying them with cheerfulness and alacrity; we have encouraged
+enlistments, and sent to the field many of our best men; and some of our
+number have offered their persons to the enemy as pledges of their
+sincerity and devotion to the Country.
+
+"We have done all this under the most discouraging circumstances, and in
+the face of measures most distasteful to us and injurious to the
+interests we represent, and in the hearing of doctrines avowed by those
+who claim to be your friends, must be abhorrent to us and our
+constituents.
+
+"But, for all this, we have never faltered, nor shall we as long as we
+have a Constitution to defend and a Government which protects us. And
+we are ready for renewed efforts, and even greater sacrifices, yea, any
+sacrifice, when we are satisfied it is required to preserve our
+admirable form of Government and the priceless blessings of
+Constitutional Liberty.
+
+"A few of our number voted for the Resolution recommended by your
+Message of the 6th of March last, the greater portion of us did not, and
+we will briefly state the prominent reasons which influenced our action.
+
+"In the first place, it proposed a radical change of our social system,
+and was hurried through both Houses with undue haste, without reasonable
+time for consideration and debate, and with no time at all for
+consultation with our constituents, whose interests it deeply involved.
+It seemed like an interference by this Government with a question which
+peculiarly and exclusively belonged to our respective States, on which
+they had not sought advice or solicited aid.
+
+"Many of us doubted the Constitutional power of this Government to make
+appropriations of money for the object designated, and all of us thought
+our finances were in no condition to bear the immense outlay which its
+adoption and faithful execution would impose upon the National Treasury.
+If we pause but a moment to think of the debt its acceptance would have
+entailed, we are appalled by its magnitude. The proposition was
+addressed to all the States, and embraced the whole number of Slaves.
+
+"According to the census of 1860 there were then nearly four million
+Slaves in the Country; from natural increase they exceed that number
+now. At even the low average of $300, the price fixed by the
+Emancipation Act for the Slaves of this District, and greatly below
+their real worth, their value runs up to the enormous sum of
+$1,200,000,000; and if to that we add the cost of deportation and
+colonization, at $100 each, which is but a fraction more than is
+actually paid--by the Maryland Colonization Society, we have
+$400,000,000 more.
+
+"We were not willing to impose a tax on our people sufficient to pay the
+interest on that sum, in addition to the vast and daily increasing debt
+already fixed upon them by exigencies of the War, and if we had been
+willing, the Country could not bear it. Stated in this form the
+proposition is nothing less than the deportation from the Country of
+$1,600,000,000 worth of producing labor, and the substitution, in its
+place, of an interest-bearing debt of the same amount.
+
+"But, if we are told that it was expected that only the States we
+represent would accept the proposition, we respectfully submit that even
+then it involves a sum too great for the financial ability of this
+Government at this time. According to the census of 1860:
+
+ Slaves
+ Kentucky had ........... 225,490
+ Maryland ............... 87,188
+ Virginia ............... 490,887
+ Delaware ............... 1,798
+ Missouri ............... 114,965
+ Tennessee .............. 275,784
+
+ Making in the whole .. 1,196,112
+
+ At the same rate of valuation these would
+ amount to ......... $358,933,500
+
+ Add for deportation and colonization $100
+ each ............... 118,244,533
+
+ And we have the
+ enormous sum of ... $478,038,133
+
+
+"We did not feel that we should be justified in voting for a measure
+which, if carried out, would add this vast amount to our public debt at
+a moment when the Treasury was reeling under the enormous expenditure of
+the War.
+
+"Again, it seemed to us that this Resolution was but the annunciation of
+a sentiment which could not or was not likely to be reduced to an actual
+tangible proposition. No movement was then made to provide and
+appropriate the funds required to carry it into effect; and we were not
+encouraged to believe that funds would be provided. And our belief has
+been fully justified by subsequent events.
+
+"Not to mention other circumstances, it is quite sufficient for our
+purpose to bring to your notice the fact that, while this resolution was
+under consideration in the Senate, our colleague, the Senator from
+Kentucky, moved an amendment appropriating $500,000 to the object
+therein designated, and it was voted down with great unanimity.
+
+"What confidence, then, could we reasonably feel that if we committed
+ourselves to the policy it proposed, our constituents would reap the
+fruits of the promise held out; and on what ground could we, as fair
+men, approach them and challenge their support?
+
+"The right to hold Slaves, is a right appertaining to all the States of
+this Union. They have the right to cherish or abolish the Institution,
+as their tastes or their interests may prompt, and no one is authorized
+to question the right or limit the enjoyment. And no one has more
+clearly affirmed that right than you have. Your Inaugural Address does
+you great honor in this respect, and inspired the Country with
+confidence in your fairness and respect for the Law. Our States are in
+the enjoyment of that right.
+
+"We do not feel called on to defend the Institution or to affirm it is
+one which ought to be cherished; perhaps, if we were to make the
+attempt, we might find that we differ even among ourselves. It is
+enough for our purpose to know that it is a right; and, so knowing, we
+did not see why we should now be expected to yield it.
+
+"We had contributed our full share to relieve the Country at this
+terrible crisis; we had done as much as had been required of others in
+like circumstances; and we did not see why sacrifices should be expected
+of us from which others, no more loyal, were exempt. Nor could we see
+what good the Nation would derive from it.
+
+"Such a sacrifice submitted to by us would not have strengthened the arm
+of this Government or weakened that of the Enemy. It was not necessary
+as a pledge of our Loyalty, for that had been manifested beyond a
+reasonable doubt, in every form, and at every place possible. There was
+not the remotest probability that the States we represent would join in
+the Rebellion, nor is there now, or of their electing to go with the
+Southern Section in the event of a recognition of the Independence of
+any part of the disaffected region.
+
+"Our States are fixed unalterably in their resolution to adhere to and
+support the Union. They see no safety for themselves, and no hope for
+Constitutional Liberty, but by its preservation. They will, under no
+circumstances, consent to its dissolution; and we do them no more than
+justice when we assure you that, while the War is conducted to prevent
+that deplorable catastrophe, they will sustain it as long as they can
+muster a man, or command a dollar.
+
+"Nor will they ever consent, in any event, to unite with the Southern
+Confederacy. The bitter fruits of the peculiar doctrines of that region
+will forever prevent them from placing their security and happiness in
+the custody of an association which has incorporated in its Organic Law
+the seeds of its own destruction.
+
+"We cannot admit, Mr. President, that if we had voted for the Resolution
+in the Emancipation Message of March last, the War would now be
+substantially ended. We are unable to see how our action in this
+particular has given, or could give, encouragement to the Rebellion.
+The Resolution has passed; and if there be virtue in it, it will be
+quite as efficacious as if we had voted for it.
+
+"We have no power to bind our States in this respect by our votes here;
+and, whether we had voted the one way or the other, they are in the same
+condition of freedom to accept or reject its provisions.
+
+"No, Sir, the War has not been prolonged or hindered by our action on
+this or any other measure. We must look for other causes for that
+lamented fact. We think there is not much difficulty, not much
+uncertainty, in pointing out others far more probable and potent in
+their agencies to that end.
+
+"The Rebellion derives its strength from the Union of all classes in the
+Insurgent States; and while that Union lasts the War will never end
+until they are utterly exhausted. We know that, at the inception of
+these troubles, Southern society was divided, and that a large portion,
+perhaps a majority, were opposed to Secession. Now the great mass of
+Southern people are united.
+
+"To discover why they are so, we must glance at Southern society, and
+notice the classes into which it has been divided, and which still
+distinguish it. They are in arms, but not for the same objects; they
+are moved to a common end, but by different and even inconsistent
+reasons.
+
+"The leaders, which comprehend what was previously known as the State
+Rights Party, and is much the lesser class, seek to break down National
+Independence and set up State domination. With them it is a War against
+Nationality.
+
+"The other class is fighting, as it supposes, to maintain and preserve
+its rights of Property and domestic safety, which it has been made to
+believe are assailed by this Government. This latter class are not
+Disunionists per se; they are so only because they have been made to
+believe that this Administration is inimical to their rights, and is
+making War on their domestic Institutions. As long as these two classes
+act together they will never assent to a Peace.
+
+"The policy, then, to be pursued, is obvious. The former class will
+never be reconciled, but the latter may be. Remove their apprehensions;
+satisfy them that no harm is intended to them and their Institutions;
+that this Government is not making War on their rights of Property, but
+is simply defending its legitimate authority, and they will gladly
+return to their allegiance as soon as the pressure of Military dominion
+imposed by the Confederate authority is removed from them.
+
+"Twelve months ago, both Houses of Congress, adopting the spirit of your
+Message, then but recently sent in, declared with singular unanimity the
+objects of the War, and the Country instantly bounded to your side to
+assist you in carrying it on. If the spirit of that Resolution had been
+adhered to, we are confident that we should before now have seen the end
+of this deplorable conflict. But what have we seen?
+
+"In both Houses of Congress we have heard doctrines subversive of the
+principles of the Constitution, and seen measure after measure, founded
+in substance on those doctrines, proposed and carried through, which can
+have no other effect than to distract and divide loyal men, and
+exasperate and drive still further from us and their duty the people of
+the rebellious States.
+
+"Military officers, following these bad examples, have stepped beyond
+the just limits of their authority in the same direction, until in
+several instances you have felt the necessity of interfering to arrest
+them. And even the passage of the Resolution to which you refer has
+been ostentatiously proclaimed as the triumph of a principle which the
+people of the Southern States regard as ruinous to them. The effect of
+these measures was foretold, and may now be seen in the indurated state
+of Southern feeling.
+
+"To these causes, Mr. President, and not to our omission to vote for the
+Resolution recommended by you, we solemnly believe we are to attribute
+the terrible earnestness of those in arms against the Government, and
+the continuance of the War. Nor do we (permit us to say, Mr. President,
+with all respect to you) agree that the Institution of Slavery is 'the
+lever of their power,' but we are of the opinion that 'the lever of
+their power' is the apprehension that the powers of a common Government,
+created for common and equal protection to the interests of all, will be
+wielded against the Institutions of the Southern States.
+
+"There is one other idea in your address we feel called on to notice.
+After stating the fact of your repudiation of General Hunter's
+Proclamation, you add:
+
+"'Yet, in repudiating it, I gave dissatisfaction, if not offense, to
+many whose support the Country cannot afford to lose. And this is not
+the end of it. The pressure in this direction is still upon me and is
+increasing. By conceding what I now ask, you can relieve me, and, much
+more, can relieve the Country, in this important point,'
+
+"We have anxiously looked into this passage to discover its true import,
+but we are yet in painful uncertainty. How can we, by conceding what
+you now ask, relieve you and the Country from the increasing pressure to
+which you refer? We will not allow ourselves to think that the
+proposition is, that we consent to give up Slavery, to the end that the
+Hunter proclamation may be let loose on the Southern people, for it is
+too well known that we would not be parties to any such measure, and we
+have too much respect for you to imagine you would propose it.
+
+"Can it mean that by sacrificing our interest in Slavery we appease the
+spirit that controls that pressure, cause it to be withdrawn, and rid
+the Country of the pestilent agitation of the Slavery question? We are
+forbidden so to think, for that spirit would not be satisfied with the
+liberation of 100,000 Slaves, and cease its agitation while 3,000,000
+remain in bondage. Can it mean that by abandoning Slavery in our States
+we are removing the pressure from you and the Country, by preparing for
+a separation on the line of the Cotton States?
+
+"We are forbidden so to think, because it is known that we are, and we
+believe that you are, unalterably opposed to any division at all. We
+would prefer to think that you desire this concession as a pledge of our
+support, and thus enable you to withstand a pressure which weighs
+heavily on you and the Country.
+
+"Mr. President, no such sacrifice is necessary to secure our support.
+Confine yourself to your Constitutional authority; confine your
+subordinates within the same limits; conduct this War solely for the
+purpose of restoring the Constitution to its legitimate authority;
+concede to each State and its loyal citizens their just rights, and we
+are wedded to you by indissoluble ties. Do this, Mr. President, and you
+touch the American heart, and invigorate it with new hope. You will, as
+we solemnly believe, in due time restore Peace to your Country, lift it
+from despondency to a future of glory, and preserve to your countrymen,
+their posterity, and man, the inestimable treasure of a Constitutional
+Government.
+
+"Mr. President, we have stated with frankness and candor the reasons on
+which we forbore to vote for the Resolution you have mentioned; but you
+have again presented this proposition, and appealed to us with an
+earnestness and eloquence which have not failed to impress us, to
+'consider it, and at the least to commend it to the consideration of our
+States and people.'
+
+"Thus appealed to by the Chief Magistrate of our beloved Country, in the
+hour of its greatest peril, we cannot wholly decline. We are willing to
+trust every question relating to their interest and happiness to the
+consideration and ultimate judgment of our own people.
+
+"While differing from you as to the necessity of Emancipating the Slaves
+of our States as a means of putting down the Rebellion, and while
+protesting against the propriety of any extra-territorial interference
+to induce the people of our States to adopt any particular line of
+policy on a subject which peculiarly and exclusively belongs to them,
+yet, when you and our brethren of the Loyal States sincerely believe
+that the retention of Slavery by us is an obstacle to Peace and National
+harmony, and are willing to contribute pecuniary aid to compensate our
+States and people for the inconveniences produced by such a change of
+system, we are not unwilling that our people shall consider the
+propriety of putting it aside.
+
+"But we have already said that we regard this Resolution as the
+utterance of a sentiment, and we had no confidence that it would assume
+the shape of a tangible practical proposition, which would yield the
+fruits of the sacrifice it required. Our people are influenced by the
+same want of confidence, and will not consider the proposition in its
+present impalpable form. The interest they are asked to give up is, to
+them, of immense importance, and they ought not to be expected even to
+entertain the proposal until they are assured that when they accept it
+their just expectations will not be frustrated.
+
+"We regard your plan as a proposition from the Nation to the States to
+exercise an admitted Constitutional right in a particular manner, and
+yield up a valuable interest. Before they ought to consider the
+proposition, it should be presented in such a tangible, practical,
+efficient shape, as to command their confidence that its fruits are
+contingent only upon their acceptance. We cannot trust anything to the
+contingencies of future legislation.
+
+"If Congress, by proper and necessary legislation, shall provide
+sufficient funds and place them at your disposal to be applied by you to
+the payment of any of our States, or the citizens thereof, who shall
+adopt the Abolishment of Slavery, either gradual or immediate, as they
+may determine, and the expense of deportation and colonization of the
+liberated Slaves, then will our States and people take this proposition
+into careful consideration, for such decision as in their judgment is
+demanded by their interest, their honor, and their duty to the whole
+Country. We have the honor to be, with great respect,
+
+"C. A. WICKLIFFE, Ch'man,
+CHAS. B. CALVERT,
+GARRETT DAVIS,
+C. L. L. LEARY,
+R. WILSON,
+EDWIN H. WEBSTER,
+J. J. CRITTENDEN,
+R. MALLORY,
+JOHN S. CARLILE,
+AARON HARDING,
+J. W. CRISFIELD,
+JAMES S. ROLLINS,
+J. S. JACKSON,
+J. W. MENZIES,
+H. GRIDER,
+THOMAS L. PRICE,
+JOHN S. PHELPS,
+G. W. DUNLAP,
+FRANCIS THOMAS,
+WILLIAM A. HALL."
+
+
+THE MINORITY REPLY.
+
+"WASHINGTON, July 15, 1863.
+
+"MR. PRESIDENT:--The undersigned, members of Congress from the Border
+States, in response to your address of Saturday last, beg leave to say
+that they attended a meeting, on the same day the address was delivered,
+for the purpose of considering the same. The meeting appointed a
+Committee to report a response to your address. That report was made on
+yesterday, and the action of the majority indicated clearly that the
+response, or one in substance the same, would be adopted and presented
+to you.
+
+"Inasmuch as we cannot, consistently with our own sense of duty to the
+Country, under the existing perils which surround us, concur in that
+response, we feel it to be due to you and to ourselves to make to you a
+brief and candid answer over our own signatures.
+
+"We believe that the whole power of the Government, upheld and sustained
+by all the influences and means of all loyal men in all Sections, and of
+all Parties, is essentially necessary to put down the Rebellion and
+preserve the Union and the Constitution. We understand your appeal to
+us to have been made for the purpose of securing this result.
+
+"A very large portion of the People in the Northern States believe that
+Slavery is the 'lever-power of the Rebellion.' It matters not whether
+this belief be well-founded or not. The belief does exist, and we have
+to deal with things as they are, and not as we would have them be.
+
+"In consequence of the existence of this belief, we understand that an
+immense pressure is brought to bear for the purpose of striking down
+this Institution through the exercise of Military authority. The
+Government cannot maintain this great struggle if the support and
+influence of the men who entertain these opinions be withdrawn. Neither
+can the Government hope for early success if the support of that element
+called "Conservative" be withdrawn.
+
+"Such being the condition of things, the President appeals to the
+Border-State men to step forward and prove their patriotism by making
+the first sacrifice. No doubt, like appeals have been made to extreme
+men in the North to meet us half-way, in order that the whole moral,
+political, pecuniary, and physical force of the Nation may be firmly and
+earnestly united in one grand effort to save the Union and the
+Constitution.
+
+"Believing that such were the motives that prompted your Address, and
+such the results to which it looked, we cannot reconcile it to our sense
+of duty, in this trying hour, to respond in a spirit of fault-finding or
+querulousness over the things that are past.
+
+"We are not disposed to seek for the cause of present misfortunes in the
+errors and wrongs of others who now propose to unite with us in a common
+purpose.
+
+"But, on the other hand, we meet your address in the spirit in which it
+was made, and, as loyal Americans, declare to you and to the World that
+there is no sacrifice that we are not ready to make to save the
+Government and institutions of our fathers. That we, few of us though
+there may be, will permit no man, from the North or from the South, to
+go further than we in the accomplishment of the great work before us.
+That, in order to carry out these views, we will, so far as may be in
+our power, ask the people of the Border States calmly, deliberately, and
+fairly to consider your recommendations.
+
+"We are the more emboldened to assume this position from the fact, now
+become history, that the leaders of the Southern Rebellion have offered
+to abolish Slavery among them as a condition to foreign intervention in
+favor of their Independence as a Nation.
+
+"If they can give up Slavery to destroy the Union, we can surely ask our
+people to consider the question of Emancipation to save the Union.
+
+"With great respect, your obedient servants,
+
+"JOHN W. NOELL,
+"SAMUEL L. CASEY,
+"GEORGE P. FISHER,
+"A. J. CLEMENTS,
+"WILLIAM G. BROWN,
+"JACOB B. BLAIR,
+"W. T. WILLEY."
+
+
+ [The following separate replies, subsequently made, by
+ Representative Maynard of Tennessee, and Senator Henderson of
+ Missouri, are necessarily given to complete this part of the Border
+ State record.]
+
+ MR. MAYNARD'S REPLY.
+
+"HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, July 16, 1862.
+
+"SIR:--The magnitude and gravity of the proposition submitted by you to
+Representatives from the Slave States would naturally occasion
+diversity, if not contrariety, of opinion. You will not, therefore, be
+surprised that I have not been able to concur in view with the majority
+of them.
+
+"This is attributable, possibly, to the fact that my State is not a
+Border State, properly so called, and that my immediate constituents are
+not yet disenthralled from the hostile arms of the Rebellion. This fact
+is a physical obstacle in the way of my now submitting to their
+consideration this, or any other proposition looking to political
+action, especially such as, in this case, would require a change in the
+Organic Law of the State.
+
+"But do not infer that I am insensible to your appeal. I am not; you
+are surrounded with difficulties far greater than have embarrassed any
+of your predecessors. You need the support of every American citizen,
+and you ought to have it--active, zealous and honest. The union of all
+Union men to aid you in preserving the Union, is the duty of the time.
+Differences as to policy and methods must be subordinated to the common
+purpose.
+
+"In looking for the cause of this Rebellion, it is natural that each
+Section and each Party should ascribe as little blame as possible to
+itself, and as much as possible to its opponent Section and Party.
+Possibly you and I might not agree on a comparison of our views. That
+there should be differences of opinion as to the best mode of conducting
+our Military operations, and the best men to lead our Armies, is equally
+natural. Contests on such questions weaken ourselves and strengthen our
+enemies. They are unprofitable, and possibly unpatriotic. Somebody
+must yield, or we waste our strength in a contemptible struggle among
+ourselves.
+
+"You appeal to the loyal men of the Slave States to sacrifice something
+of feeling and a great deal of interest. The sacrifices they have
+already made and the sufferings they have endured give the best
+assurance that the appeal will not have been made in vain. He who is
+not ready to yield all his material interests, and to forego his most
+cherished sentiments and opinions for the preservation of his Country,
+although he may have periled his life on the battle-field in her
+defense, is but half a Patriot. Among the loyal people that I
+represent, there are no half-patriots.
+
+"Already the Rebellion has cost us much, even to our undoing; we are
+content, if need be, to give up the rest, to suppress it. We have stood
+by you from the beginning of this struggle, and we mean to stand by you,
+God willing, till the end of it.
+
+"I did not vote for the Resolution to which you allude, solely for the
+reason that I was absent at the Capital of my own State. It is right.
+
+"Should any of the Slave States think proper to terminate that
+Institution, as several of them, I understand, or at least some of their
+citizens propose, justice and a generous comity require that the Country
+should interpose to aid in lessening the burden, public and private,
+occasioned by so radical a change in its social and industrial
+relations.
+
+"I will not now speculate upon the effect, at home or abroad, of the
+adoption of your policy, nor inquire what action of the Rebel leaders
+has rendered something of the kind important. Your whole administration
+gives the highest assurance that you are moved, not so much from a
+desire to see all men everywhere made free, as from a higher desire to
+preserve free institutions for the benefit of men already free; not to
+make Slaves, Freemen, but to prevent Freemen from being made Slaves; not
+to destroy an Institution, which a portion of us only consider bad, but
+to save institutions which we all alike consider good. I am satisfied
+you would not ask from any of your fellow-citizens a sacrifice not, in
+your judgment, imperatively required by the safety of the Country.
+
+"This is the spirit of your appeal, and I respond to it in the same
+spirit.
+
+"I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
+
+ "HORACE MAYNARD.
+
+"To the PRESIDENT."
+
+
+
+ SENATOR HENDERSON'S REPLY.
+
+"WASHINGTON CITY, July 21, 1862.
+
+"MR. PRESIDENT:--The pressure of business in the Senate during the last
+few days of the session prevented my attendance at the meeting of the
+Border-State members, called to consider your proposition in reference
+to gradual emancipation in our States.
+
+"It is for this reason only, and not because I fail to appreciate their
+importance or properly respect your suggestions, that my name does not
+appear to any of the several papers submitted in response. I may also
+add that it was my intention, when the subject came up practically for
+consideration in the Senate, to express fully my views in regard to it.
+This of course would have rendered any other response unnecessary. But
+the want of time to consider the matter deprived me of that opportunity,
+and, lest now my silence be misconstrued, I deem it proper to say to you
+that I am by no means indifferent to the great questions so earnestly,
+and as I believe so honestly, urged by you upon our consideration.
+
+"The Border States, so far, are the chief sufferers by this War, and the
+true Union men of those States have made the greatest sacrifices for the
+preservation of the Government. This fact does not proceed from
+mismanagement on the part of the Union authorities, or a want of regard
+for our people, but it is the necessary result of the War that is upon
+us.
+
+"Our States are the battle-fields. Our people, divided among
+themselves, maddened by the struggle, and blinded by the smoke of
+battle, invited upon our soil contending armies--the one to destroy the
+Government, the other to maintain it. The consequence to us is plain.
+The shock of the contest upturns Society and desolates the Land. We
+have made sacrifices, but at last they were only the sacrifices demanded
+by duty, and unless we are willing to make others, indeed any that the
+good of the Country, involved in the overthrow of Treason, may expect at
+our hands, our title to patriotism is not complete.
+
+"When you submitted your proposition to Congress, in March last, 'that
+the United States ought to co-operate with any State which may adopt a
+gradual abolishment of Slavery, giving to such State pecuniary aid, to
+be used by such State in its discretion, to compensate for the
+inconveniences, public and private, produced by such change of system,'
+I gave it a most cheerful support, and I am satisfied it would have
+received the approbation of a large majority of the Border States
+delegations in both Branches of Congress, if, in the first place, they
+had believed the War, with its continued evils--the most prominent of
+which, in a material point of view, is its injurious effect on the
+Institution of Slavery in our States--could possibly have been
+protracted for another twelve months; and if, in the second place, they
+had felt assured that the party having the majority in Congress would,
+like yourself, be equally prompt in practical action as in the
+expression of a sentiment.
+
+"While scarcely any one doubted your own sincerity in the premises, and
+your earnest wish speedily to terminate the War, you can readily
+conceive the grounds for difference of opinion where conclusions could
+only be based on conjecture.
+
+"Believing, as I did, that the War was not so near its termination as
+some supposed, and feeling disposed to accord to others the same
+sincerity of purpose that I should claim for myself under similar
+circumstances, I voted for the proposition. I will suppose that others
+were actuated by no sinister motives.
+
+"In doing so, Mr. President, I desire to be distinctly understood by you
+and by my constituents. I did not suppose at the time that I was
+personally making any sacrifice by supporting the Resolution, nor that
+the people of my State were called upon to make any sacrifices, either
+in considering or accepting the proposition, if they saw fit.
+
+"I agreed with you in the remarks contained in the Message accompanying
+the Resolution, that 'the Union must be preserved, and hence all
+indispensable means must be employed. * * * War has been and continues
+to be an indispensable means to this end. A practical reacknowledgment
+of the National authority would render the War unnecessary, and it would
+at once cease. If, however, resistance continues, the War must also
+continue; and it is impossible to foresee all the incidents which may
+attend and all the ruin which may follow it.'
+
+"It is truly 'impossible' to foresee all the evils resulting from a War
+so stupendous as the present. I shall be much rejoiced if something
+more dreadful than the sale of Freedom to a few Slaves in the Border
+States shall not result from it.
+
+"If it closes with the Government of our Fathers secure, and
+Constitutional Liberty in all its purity guaranteed to the White man,
+the result will be better than that having a place in the fears of many
+good men at present, and much better than the past history of such
+revolutions can justify us in expecting.
+
+"In this period of the Nation's distress, I know of no human institution
+too sacred for discussion; no material interest belonging to the citizen
+that he should not willingly place upon the altar of his Country, if
+demanded by the public good.
+
+"The man who cannot now sacrifice Party and put aside selfish
+considerations is more than half disloyal. Such a man does not deserve
+the blessings of good government. Pride of opinion, based upon
+Sectional jealousies, should not be permitted to control the decision of
+any political question. These remarks are general, but apply with
+peculiar force to the People of the Border States at present.
+
+"Let us look at our condition. A desolating War is upon us. We cannot
+escape it if we would. If the Union Armies were to-day withdrawn from
+the Border States without first crushing the Rebellion in the South, no
+rational man can doubt for a moment that the adherents of the Union
+Cause in those States would soon be driven in exile from their homes by
+the exultant Rebels, who have so long hoped to return and take vengeance
+upon us.
+
+"The People of the Border States understand very well the unfriendly and
+selfish spirit exercised toward them by the leaders of this Cotton-State
+Rebellion, beginning some time previous to its outbreak. They will not
+fail to remember their insolent refusal to counsel with us, and their
+haughty assumption of responsibility upon themselves for their misguided
+action.
+
+"Our people will not soon forget that, while declaiming against
+Coercion, they closed their doors against the exportation of Slaves from
+the Border States into the South, with the avowed purpose of forcing us
+into Rebellion through fears of losing that species of Property. They
+knew very well the effect to be produced on Slavery by a Civil War,
+especially in those States into which hostile Armies might penetrate,
+and upon the soil of which the great contests for the success of
+Republican Government were to be decided.
+
+"They wanted some intermediate ground for the conflict of arms-territory
+where the population would be divided. They knew, also, that by keeping
+Slavery in the Border States the mere 'friction and abrasion' to which
+you so appropriately allude, would keep up a constant irritation,
+resulting necessarily from the frequent losses to which the owners would
+be subjected.
+
+"They also calculated largely, and not without reason, upon the
+repugnance of Non-Slaveholders in those States to a Free Negro
+population. In the meantime they intended persistently to charge the
+overthrow of Slavery to be the object of the Government, and hostility
+to this Institution the origin of the War. By this means the
+unavoidable incidents of the strife might easily he charged as the
+settled purposes of the Government.
+
+"Again, it was well understood, by these men, that exemplary conduct on
+the part of every officer and soldier employed by the Government could
+not in the nature of things be expected, and the hope was entertained,
+upon the most reasonable grounds, that every commission of wrong and
+every omission of duty would produce a new cause for excitement and a
+new incentive to Rebellion.
+
+"By these means the War was to be kept in the Border States, regardless
+of our interests, until an exhausted Treasury should render it necessary
+to send the tax-gatherer among our people, to take the little that might
+be left them from the devastations of War.
+
+"They then expected a clamor for Peace by us, resulting in the
+interference of France and England, whose operatives in the meantime
+would be driven to want, and whose aristocracy have ever been ready to
+welcome a dissolution of the American Union.
+
+"This cunningly-devised plan for securing a Gulf-Confederacy, commanding
+the mouths of the great Western rivers, the Gulf of Mexico, and the
+Southern Atlantic ocean, with their own territory unscathed by the
+horrors of war, and surrounded by the Border States, half of whose
+population would be left in sympathy with them, for many years to come,
+owing to the irritations to which I have alluded, has, so far, succeeded
+too well.
+
+"In Missouri they have already caused us to lose a third or more of the
+Slaves owned at the time of the last census. In addition to this, I can
+make no estimate of the vast amount of property of every character that
+has been destroyed by Military operations in the State. The loss from
+general depreciation of values, and the utter prostration of every
+business-interest of our people, is wholly beyond calculation.
+
+"The experience of Missouri is but the experience of other Sections of
+the Country similarly situated. The question is therefore forced upon
+us, 'How long is this War to continue; and, if continued, as it has
+been, on our soil, aided by the Treason and folly of our own citizens,
+acting in concert with the Confederates, how long can Slavery, or, if
+you please, any other property-interest, survive in our States?'
+
+"As things now are, the people of the Border-States yet divided, we
+cannot expect an immediate termination of the struggle, except upon
+condition of Southern Independence, losing thereby control of the lower
+Mississippi. For this, we in Missouri are not prepared, nor are we
+prepared to become one of the Confederate States, should the terrible
+calamity of Dissolution occur.
+
+"This, I presume, the Union men of Missouri would resist to the death.
+And whether they should do so or not, I will not suppose for an instant,
+that the Government of the United States would, upon any condition,
+submit to the loss of territory so essential to its future commercial
+greatness as is the State of Missouri.
+
+"But should all other reasons fail to prevent such a misfortune to our
+people of Missouri, there is one that cannot fail. The Confederates
+never wanted us, and would not have us. I assume, therefore, that the
+War will not cease, but will be continued until the Rebellion shall be
+overcome. It cannot and will not cease, so far as the people of
+Missouri are concerned, except upon condition of our remaining in the
+Union, and the whole West will demand the entire control of the
+Mississippi river to the Gulf.
+
+"Our interest is therefore bound up with the interests of those States
+maintaining the Union, and especially with the great States of the West
+that must be consulted in regard to the terms of any Peace that may be
+suggested, even by the Nations of Europe, should they at any time
+unfortunately depart from their former pacific policy and determine to
+intervene in our affairs.
+
+"The War, then, will have to be continued until the Union shall be
+practically restored. In this alone consists the future safety of the
+Border-States themselves. A separation of the Union is ruinous to them.
+The preservation of the Union can only be secured by a continuation of
+the War. The consequences of that continuation may be judged of by the
+experience of the last twelve months. The people of my State are as
+competent to pass judgment in the premises as I am. I have every
+confidence in their intelligence, their honesty, and their patriotism.
+
+"In your own language, the proposition you make 'sets up no claim of a
+right by Federal authority to interfere with Slavery within State
+limits,' referring, as it does, the absolute control of the subject in
+each case to the State and its people immediately interested. It is
+proposed as a matter of perfectly free choice with them.
+
+"In this view of the subject I can frankly say to you that, personally,
+I never could appreciate the objections so frequently urged against the
+proposition. If I understood you properly, it was your opinion, not
+that Slavery should be removed in order to secure our loyalty to the
+Government, for every personal act of your administration precludes such
+an inference, but you believe that the peculiar species of Property was
+in imminent danger from the War in which we were engaged, and that
+common justice demanded remuneration for the loss of it.
+
+"You then believe, and again express the opinion, that the peculiar
+nature of the contest is such that its loss is almost inevitable, and
+lest any pretext for a charge of injustice against the Government be
+given to its enemies, you propose to extend to the people of those
+States standing by the Union, the choice of payment for their Slaves or
+the responsibility of loss, should it occur, without complaint against
+the Government.
+
+"Placing the matter in this light, (a mere remuneration for losses
+rendered inevitable by the casualties of War), the objection of a
+Constitutional character may be rendered much less formidable in the
+minds of Northern Representatives whose constituents will have to share
+in the payment of the money; and, so far as the Border States are
+concerned, this objection should be most sparingly urged, for it being a
+matter entirely of their 'own free choice,' in case of a desire to
+accept, no serious argument will likely be urged against the receipt of
+the money, or a fund for Colonization.
+
+"But, aside from the power derived from the operations of war, there may
+be found numerous precedents in the legislation of the past, such as
+grants of land and money to the several States for specified objects
+deemed worthy by the Federal Congress. And in addition to this may be
+cited a deliberate opinion of Mr. Webster upon this very subject, in one
+of the ablest arguments of his life.
+
+"I allude to this question of power merely in vindication of the
+position assumed by me in my vote for the Resolution of March last.
+
+"In your last communication to us, you beg of us 'to commend this
+subject to the consideration of our States and people.' While I
+entirely differ with you in the opinion expressed, that had the members
+from the Border States approved of your Resolution of March last 'the
+War would now be substantially ended,' and while I do not regard the
+suggestion 'as one of the most potent and swift means of ending' the
+War, I am yet free to say that I have the most unbounded confidence in
+your sincerity of purpose in calling our attention to the dangers
+surrounding us.
+
+"I am satisfied that you appreciate the troubles of the Border States,
+and that your suggestions are intended for our good. I feel the force
+of your urgent appeal, and the logic of surrounding circumstances brings
+conviction even to an unwilling believer.
+
+"Having said that, in my judgment, you attached too much importance to
+this measure as a means for suppressing the Rebellion, it is due to you
+that I shall explain.
+
+"Whatever may be the status of the Border States in this respect, the
+War cannot be ended until the power of the Government is made manifest
+in the seceded States. They appealed to the sword; give them the sword.
+They asked for War; let them see its evils on their own soil.
+
+"They have erected a Government, and they force obedience to its
+behests. This structure must be destroyed; this image, before which an
+unwilling People have been compelled to bow, must be broken. The
+authority of the Federal Government must be felt in the heart of the
+rebellious district. To do this, let armies be marched upon them at
+once, and let them feel what they have inflicted on us in the Border.
+Do not fear our States; we will stand by the Government in this work.
+
+"I ought not to disguise from you or the people of my State, that
+personally I have fixed and unalterable opinions on the subject of your
+communication. Those opinions I shall communicate to the people in that
+spirit of frankness that should characterize the intercourse of the
+Representative with his constituents.
+
+"If I were to-day the owner of the lands and Slaves of Missouri, your
+proposition, so far as that State is concerned, would be immediately
+accepted. Not a day would be lost. Aside from public considerations,
+which you suppose to be involved in the proposition, and which no
+Patriot, I agree, should disregard at present, my own personal interest
+would prompt favorable and immediate action.
+
+"But having said this, it is proper that I say something more. The
+Representative is the servant and not the master of the People. He has
+no authority to bind them to any course of action, or even to indicate
+what they will, or will not, do when the subject is exclusively theirs
+and not his.
+
+"I shall take occasion, I hope honestly, to give my views of existing
+troubles and impending dangers, and shall leave the rest to them,
+disposed, as I am, rather to trust their judgment upon the case stated
+than my own, and at the same time most cheerfully to acquiesce in their
+decision.
+
+"For you, personally, Mr. President, I think I can pledge the kindest
+considerations of the people of Missouri, and I shall not hesitate to
+express the belief that your recommendation will be considered by them
+in the same spirit of kindness manifested by you in its presentation to
+us, and that their decision will be such as is demanded 'by their
+interests, their honor, and their duty to the whole Country.'
+
+"I am very respectfully, your obedient servant,
+
+ "J. B. HENDERSON.
+
+"To his Excellency,
+"A. LINCOLN, PRESIDENT."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+ FREEDOM PROCLAIMED TO ALL.
+
+
+While mentally revolving the question of Emancipation--now, evidently
+"coming to a head,"--no inconsiderable portion of Mr. Lincoln's thoughts
+centered upon, and his perplexities grew out of, his assumption that the
+"physical difference" between the Black and White--the African and
+Caucasian races, precluded the idea of their living together in the one
+land as Free men and equals.
+
+In his speeches during the great Lincoln-Douglas debate we have seen
+this idea frequently advanced, and so, in his later public utterances as
+President.
+
+As in his appeal to the Congressional delegations from the Border-States
+on the 12th of July, 1862, he had held out to them the hope that "the
+Freed people will not be so reluctant to go" to his projected colony in
+South America, when their "numbers shall be large enough to be company
+and encouragement for one another," so, at a later date--on the 14th of
+August following--he appealed to the Colored Free men themselves to help
+him found a proposed Negro colony in New Granada, and thus aid in the
+solution of this part of the knotty problem, by the disenthrallment of
+the new race from its unhappy environments here.
+
+The substance of the President's interesting address, at the White
+House, to the delegation of Colored men, for whom he had sent, was thus
+reported at the time:
+
+"Having all been seated, the President, after a few preliminary
+observations, informed them that a sum of money had been appropriated by
+Congress, and placed at his disposition, for the purpose of aiding the
+colonization in some country of the people, or a portion of them, of
+African descent, thereby making it his duty, as it had for a long time
+been his inclination, to favor that cause; and why, he asked, should the
+people of your race be colonized, and where?
+
+"Why should they leave this Country? This is perhaps the first question
+for proper consideration. You and we are different races. We have
+between us a broader difference than exists between almost any other two
+races. Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss; but this
+physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think.
+Your race suffers very greatly, many of them by living among us, while
+ours suffers from your presence. In a word we suffer on each side. If
+this is admitted, it affords a reason, at least, why we should be
+separated. You here are Freemen, I suppose?
+
+"A VOICE--Yes, Sir.
+
+"THE PRESIDENT--Perhaps you have long been free, or all your lives.
+Your race are suffering, in my judgment, the greatest wrong inflicted on
+any people. But even when you cease to be Slaves, you are yet far
+removed from being placed on an equality with the White race. You are
+cut off from many of the advantages which the other race enjoys. The
+aspiration of men is to enjoy equality with the best when free; but on
+this broad continent not a single man of your race is made the equal of
+a single man of ours. Go where you are treated the best, and the ban is
+still upon you. I do not propose to discuss this, but to present it as
+a fact, with which we have to deal. I cannot alter it if I would. It
+is a fact about which we all think and feel alike, I and you. We look
+to our condition.
+
+"Owing to the existence of the two races on this continent, I need not
+recount to you the effects upon White men, growing out of the
+institution of Slavery. I believe in its general evil effects on the
+White race. See our present condition--the Country engaged in War! our
+white men cutting one another's throats--none knowing how far it will
+extend--and then consider what we know to be the truth. But for your
+race among us there could not be War, although many men engaged on
+either side do not care for you one way or the other. Nevertheless, I
+repeat, without the institution of Slavery, and the Colored race as a
+basis, the War could not have an existence. It is better for us both,
+therefore, to be separated.
+
+"I know that there are Free men among you who, even if they could better
+their condition, are not as much inclined to go out of the Country as
+those who, being Slaves, could obtain their Freedom on this condition.
+I suppose one of the principal difficulties in the way of colonization
+is that the free colored man cannot see that his comfort would be
+advanced by it. You may believe that you can live in Washington, or
+elsewhere in the United States, the remainder of your life; perhaps more
+so than you can in any foreign country, and hence you may come to the
+conclusion that you have nothing to do with the idea of going to a
+foreign country.
+
+"This is, (I speak in no unkind sense) an extremely selfish view of the
+case. But you ought to do something to help those who are not so
+fortunate as yourselves. There is an unwillingness on the part of our
+People, harsh as it may be, for you free Colored people to remain with
+us. Now if you could give a start to the White people you would open a
+wide door for many to be made free. If we deal with those who are not
+free at the beginning, and whose intellects are clouded by Slavery, we
+have very poor material to start with.
+
+"If intelligent Colored men, such as are before me, could move in this
+matter, much might be accomplished. It is exceedingly important that we
+have men at the beginning capable of thinking as White men, and not
+those who have been systematically oppressed. There is much to
+encourage you.
+
+"For the sake of your race you should sacrifice something of your
+present comfort for the purpose of being as grand in that respect as the
+White people. It is a cheering thought throughout life, that something
+can be done to ameliorate the condition of those who have been subject
+to the hard usages of the World. It is difficult to make a man
+miserable while he feels he is worthy of himself and claims kindred to
+the great God who made him.
+
+"In the American Revolutionary War, sacrifices were made by men engaged
+in it, but they were cheered by the future. General Washington himself
+endured greater physical hardships than if he had remained a British
+subject, yet he was a happy man, because he was engaged in benefiting
+his race, in doing something for the children of his neighbors, having
+none of his own.
+
+"The Colony of Liberia has been in existence a long time. In a certain
+sense it is a success. The old President of Liberia, Roberts, has just
+been with me the first time I ever saw him. He says they have, within
+the bounds of that Colony, between three and four hundred thousand
+people, or more than in some of our old States, such as Rhode Island, or
+Delaware, or in some of our newer States, and less than in some of our
+larger ones. They are not all American colonists or their descendants.
+Something less than 12,000 have been sent thither from this Country.
+Many of the original settlers have died, yet, like people elsewhere,
+their offspring outnumber those deceased.
+
+"The question is, if the Colored people are persuaded to go anywhere,
+why not there? One reason for unwillingness to do so is that some of
+you would rather remain within reach of the country of your nativity. I
+do not know how much attachment you may have toward our race. It does
+not strike me that you have the greatest reason to love them. But still
+you are attached to them at all events.
+
+"The place I am thinking about having for a colony, is in Central
+America. It is nearer to us than Liberia--not much more than one-fourth
+as far as Liberia, and within seven days' run by steamers. Unlike
+Liberia, it is a great line of travel--it is a highway. The country is
+a very excellent one for any people, and with great natural resources
+and advantages, and especially because of the similarity of climate with
+your native soil, thus being suited to your physical condition.
+
+"The particular place I have in view, is to be a great highway from the
+Atlantic or Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean, and this particular
+place has all the advantages for a colony. On both sides there are
+harbors among the finest in the World. Again, there is evidence of very
+rich coal mines. A certain amount of coal is valuable in any country.
+Why I attach so much importance to coal is, it will afford an
+opportunity to the inhabitants for immediate employment till they get
+ready to settle permanently in their homes.
+
+"If you take colonists where there is no good landing, there is a bad
+show; and so, where there is nothing to cultivate, and of which to make
+a farm. But if something is started so that you can get your daily
+bread as soon as you reach there, it is a great advantage. Coal land is
+the best thing I know of, with which to commence an enterprise.
+
+"To return--you have been talked to upon this subject, and told that a
+speculation is intended by gentlemen who have an interest in the
+country, including the coal mines. We have been mistaken all our
+lives if we do not know Whites, as well as Blacks, look to their
+self-interest. Unless among those deficient of intellect, everybody you
+trade with makes something. You meet with these things here and
+everywhere. If such persons have what will be an advantage to them, the
+question is, whether it cannot be made of advantage to you?
+
+"You are intelligent, and know that success does not as much depend on
+external help, as on self-reliance. Much, therefore, depends upon
+yourselves. As to the coal mines, I think I see the means available for
+your self-reliance. I shall, if I get a sufficient number of you
+engaged, have provision made that you shall not be wronged. If you will
+engage in the enterprise, I will spend some of the money intrusted to
+me. I am not sure you will succeed. The Government may lose the money,
+but we cannot succeed unless we try; but we think, with care, we can
+succeed.
+
+"The political affairs in Central America are not in quite as
+satisfactory condition as I wish. There are contending factions in that
+quarter; but it is true, all the factions are agreed alike on the
+subject of colonization, and want it; and are more generous than we are
+here. To your Colored race they have no objection. Besides, I would
+endeavor to have you made equals, and have the best assurance that you
+should be the equals of the best.
+
+"The practical thing I want to ascertain is, whether I can get a number
+of able-bodied men, with their wives and children, who are willing to
+go, when I present evidence of encouragement and protection. Could I
+get a hundred tolerably intelligent men, with their wives and children,
+and able to 'cut their own fodder' so to speak? Can I have fifty? If I
+could find twenty-five able-bodied men, with a mixture of women and
+children--good things in the family relation, I think I could make a
+successful commencement.
+
+"I want you to let me know whether this can be done or not. This is the
+practical part of my wish to see you. These are subjects of very great
+importance--worthy of a month's study, of a speech delivered in an hour.
+I ask you, then, to consider seriously, not as pertaining to yourselves
+merely, nor for your race, and ours, for the present time, but as one of
+the things, if successfully managed, for the good of mankind--not
+confined to the present generation, but as:
+
+ "From age to age descends the lay
+ To millions yet to be,
+ Till far its echoes roll away
+ Into eternity."'
+
+President Lincoln's well-meant colored colonization project, however,
+fell through, owing partly to opposition to it in Central America, and
+partly to the very natural and deeply-rooted disinclination of the
+Colored free men to leave the land of their birth.
+
+Meanwhile, limited Military Emancipation of Slaves was announced and
+regulated, on the 22d July, 1862, by the following Executive
+Instructions, which were issued from the War Department by order of the
+President--the issue of which was assigned by Jefferson Davis as one
+reason for his Order of August 1, 1862, directing "that the commissioned
+officers of Pope's and Steinwehr's commands be not entitled, when
+captured, to be treated as soldiers and entitled to the benefit of the
+cartel of exchange:"
+
+
+"WAR DEPARTMENT,
+"WASHINGTON, D.C., July 22, 1862.
+
+"First. Ordered that Military Commanders within the States of Virginia,
+North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana,
+Texas, and Arkansas, in an orderly manner seize and use any property,
+real or personal, which may be necessary or convenient for their several
+commands, for supplies, or for other Military purposes; and that while
+property may be destroyed for proper Military objects, none shall be
+destroyed in wantonness or malice.
+
+"Second. That Military and Naval Commanders shall employ as laborers,
+within and from said States, so many Persons of African descent as can
+be advantageously used for Military or Naval purposes, giving them
+reasonable wages for their labor.
+
+"Third. That, as to both property, and Persons of African descent,
+accounts shall be kept sufficiently accurate and in detail to show
+quantities and amounts, and from whom both property and such Persons
+shall have come, as a basis upon which compensation can be made in
+proper cases; and the several departments of this Government shall
+attend to and perform their appropriate parts towards the execution of
+these orders.
+
+"By Order of the President:
+
+ "EDWIN M. STANTON,
+ "Secretary of War."
+
+
+On the 9th of August, 1862, Major General McClellan promulgated the
+Executive Order of July 22, 1862, from his Headquarters at Harrison's
+Landing, Va., with certain directions of his own, among which were the
+following:
+
+"Inhabitants, especially women and children, remaining peaceably at
+their homes, must not be molested; and wherever commanding officers find
+families peculiarly exposed in their persons or property to marauding
+from this Army, they will, as heretofore, so far as they can do with
+safety and without detriment to the service, post guards for their
+protection.
+
+"In protecting private property, no reference is intended to Persons
+held to service or labor by reason of African Descent. Such Persons
+will be regarded by this Army, as they heretofore have been, as
+occupying simply a peculiar legal status under State laws, which
+condition the Military authorities of the United States are not required
+to regard at all in districts where Military operations are made
+necessary by the rebellious action of the State governments.
+
+"Persons subject to suspicion of hostile purposes, residing or being
+near our Forces, will be, as heretofore, subject to arrest and
+detention, until the cause or necessity is removed. All such arrested
+parties will be sent, as usual, to the Provost-Marshal General, with a
+statement of the facts in each case.
+
+"The General Commanding takes this occasion to remind the officers and
+soldiers of this Army that we are engaged in supporting the Constitution
+and the Laws of the United States and suppressing Rebellion against
+their authority; that we are not engaged in a War of rapine, revenge, or
+subjugation; that this is not a contest against populations, but against
+armed forces and political organizations; that it is a struggle carried
+on with the United States, and should be conducted by us upon the
+highest principles known to Christian civilization.
+
+"Since this Army commenced active operations, Persons of African
+descent, including those held to service or labor under State laws, have
+always been received, protected, and employed as laborers at wages.
+Hereafter it shall be the duty of the Provost-Marshal General to cause
+lists to be made of all persons of African descent employed in this Army
+as laborers for Military purposes--such lists being made sufficiently
+accurate and in detail to show from whom such persons shall have come.
+
+"Persons so subject and so employed have always understood that after
+being received into the Military service of the United States, in any
+capacity, they could never be reclaimed by their former holders. Except
+upon such understanding on their part, the order of the President, as to
+this class of Persons, would be inoperative. The General Commanding
+therefore feels authorized to declare to all such employees, that they
+will receive permanent Military protection against any compulsory return
+to a condition of servitude."
+
+Public opinion was now rapidly advancing, under the pressure of Military
+necessity, and the energetic efforts of the immediate Emancipationists,
+to a belief that Emancipation by Presidential Proclamation would be wise
+and efficacious as an instrumentality toward subduing the Rebellion;
+that it must come, sooner or later--and the sooner, the better.
+
+Indeed, great fault was found, by some of these, with what they
+characterized as President Lincoln's "obstinate slowness" to come up to
+their advanced ideas on the subject. He was even accused of failing to
+execute existing laws touching confiscation of Slaves of Rebels coming
+within the lines of the Union Armies. On the 19th of August, 1862, a
+letter was addressed to him by Horace Greeley which concluded thus:
+
+"On the face of this wide Earth, Mr. President, there is not one
+disinterested, determined, intelligent champion of the Union Cause who
+does not feel that all attempts to put down the Rebellion, and at the
+same time uphold its inciting cause, are preposterous and futile--that
+the Rebellion, if crushed out to-morrow, would be renewed within a year
+if Slavery were left in full vigor--that Army officers, who remain to
+this day devoted to Slavery, can at best be but half-way loyal to the
+Union--and that every hour of deference to Slavery is an hour of added
+and deepened peril to the Union.
+
+"I appeal to the testimony of your embassadors in Europe. It is freely
+at your service, not mine. Ask them to tell you candidly whether
+the seeming subserviency of your policy to the Slaveholding,
+Slavery-upholding interest, is not the perplexity, the despair,
+of Statesmen of all parties; and be admonished by the general answer.
+
+"I close, as I began, with the statement that what an immense majority
+of the loyal millions of your countrymen require of you, is a frank,
+declared, unqualified, ungrudging execution of the Laws of the Land,
+more especially of the Confiscation Act. That Act gives Freedom to the
+Slaves of Rebels coming within our lines, or whom those lines may at any
+time inclose. We ask you to render it due obedience by publicly
+requiring all your subordinates to recognize and obey it.
+
+"The Rebels are everywhere using the late Anti-Negro riots in the North
+--as they have long used your officers' treatment of Negroes in the
+South--to convince the Slaves that they have nothing to hope from a
+Union success--that we mean in that case to sell them into a bitter
+Bondage to defray the cost of the War.
+
+"Let them impress this as a truth on the great mass of their ignorant
+and credulous Bondmen, and the Union will never be restored--never. We
+can not conquer ten millions of people united in solid phalanx against
+us, powerfully aided by Northern sympathizers and European allies.
+
+"We must have scouts, guides, spies, cooks, teamsters, diggers, and
+choppers, from the Blacks of the South--whether we allow them to fight
+for us or not--or we shall be baffled and repelled.
+
+"As one of the Millions who would gladly have avoided this struggle, at
+any sacrifice but that of principle and honor, but who now feel that the
+triumph of the Union is indispensable not only to the existence of our
+Country, but to the well-being of mankind, I entreat you to render a
+hearty and unequivocal obedience to the Law of the Land.
+ "Yours,
+ "HORACE GREELEY."
+
+
+To this letter, President Lincoln at once made the following memorable
+reply:
+
+ "EXECUTIVE MANSION,
+ "WASHINGTON, Friday, August 22, 1862.
+
+"HON. HORACE GREELEY
+
+"DEAR SIR:--I have just read yours of the 19th inst. addressed to myself
+through the New York Tribune.
+
+"If there be in it any statements or assumptions of fact which I may
+know to be erroneous, I do not now and here controvert them.
+
+"If there be any inferences which I may believe to be falsely drawn, I
+do not now and here argue against them.
+
+"If there be perceptible in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, I
+waive it in deference to an old friend whose heart I have always
+supposed to be right.
+
+"As to the policy I 'seem to be pursuing,' as you say, I have not meant
+to leave any one in doubt. I would save the Union. I would save it in
+the shortest way under the Constitution.
+
+"The sooner the National authority can be restored, the nearer the Union
+will be--the Union as it was.
+
+"If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the
+same time save Slavery, I do not agree with them.
+
+"If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the
+same time destroy Slavery, I do not agree, with them.
+
+"My paramount object is to save the Union and not either to save or
+destroy Slavery.
+
+"If I could save the Union without freeing any Slave, I would do it--and
+if I could save it by freeing all the Slaves, I would do it--and if I
+could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do
+that.
+
+"What I do about Slavery and the Colored race, I do because I believe it
+helps to save the Union, and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not
+believe it would help to save the Union.
+
+"I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the
+cause, and shall do more whenever I believe doing more will help the
+cause.
+
+"I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors, and I shall
+adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views.
+
+"I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty,
+and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all
+men everywhere could be free.
+ "Yours,
+ "A. LINCOLN."
+
+
+On the 13th of September, 1862, a deputation from all the religious
+denominations of Chicago presented to President Lincoln a memorial for
+the immediate issue of a Proclamation of Emancipation, to which, and the
+Chairman's remarks, he thus replied:
+
+"The subject presented in the Memorial is one upon which I have thought
+much for weeks past, and I may even say, for months. I am approached
+with the most opposite opinions, and advice, and that by religious men,
+who are equally certain that they represent the Divine will. I am sure
+that either the one or the other class is mistaken in that belief, and
+perhaps, in some respects, both. I hope it will not be irreverent for
+me to say that if it is probable that God would reveal His will to
+others, on a point so connected with my duty, it might be supposed He
+would reveal it directly to me; for, unless I am more deceived in myself
+than I often am, it is my earnest desire to know the will of Providence
+in this matter. And if I can learn what it is, I will do it!
+
+"These are not, however, the days of miracles, and I suppose it will be
+granted that I am not to expect a direct Revelation; I must study the
+plain physical aspects of the case, ascertain what is possible, and
+learn what appears to be wise and right!
+
+"The subject is difficult, and good men do not agree. For instance, the
+other day, four gentlemen, of standing and intelligence, from New York,
+called, as a delegation, on business connected with the War; but, before
+leaving, two of them earnestly besought me to proclaim general
+Emancipation, upon which the other two at once attacked them.
+
+"You know also that the last Session of Congress had a decided majority
+of Anti-Slavery men, yet they could not unite on this policy. And the
+same is true of the religious people; why the Rebel soldiers are praying
+with a great deal more earnestness, I fear, than our own troops, and
+expecting God to favor their side; for one of our soldiers, who had been
+taken prisoner, told Senator Wilson, a few days since, that he met
+nothing so discouraging as the evident sincerity of those he was among
+in their prayers. But we will talk over the merits of the case.
+
+"What good would a Proclamation of Emancipation from me do, especially
+as we are now situated? I do not want to issue a document that the
+whole World will see must necessarily be inoperative, like the Pope's
+Bull against the Comet! Would my word free the Slaves, when I cannot
+even enforce the Constitution in the Rebel States? Is there a single
+Court or Magistrate, or individual that would be influenced by it there?
+And what reason is there to think it would have any greater effect upon
+the Slaves than the late law of Congress, which I approved and which
+offers protection and Freedom to the Slaves of Rebel masters who came
+within our lines? Yet I cannot learn that that law has caused a single
+Slave to come over to us.
+
+"And suppose they could be induced by a Proclamation of Freedom from me
+to throw themselves upon us, what should we do with them? How can we
+feed and care for such a multitude? General Butler wrote me a few days
+since that he was issuing more rations to the Slaves who have rushed to
+him, than to all the White troops under his command. They eat, and that
+is all; though it is true General Butler is feeding the Whites also, by
+the thousand; for it nearly amounts to a famine there.
+
+"If, now, the pressure of the War should call off our forces from New
+Orleans to defend some other point, what is to prevent the masters from
+reducing the Blacks to Slavery again; for I am told that whenever the
+Rebels take any Black prisoners, Free or Slave, they immediately auction
+them off! They did so with those they took from a boat that was aground
+in the Tennessee river a few days ago.
+
+"And then I am very ungenerously attacked for it! For instance, when,
+after the late battles at and near Bull Run, an expedition went out from
+Washington, under a flag of truce, to bury the dead and bring in the
+wounded, and the Rebels seized the Blacks who went along to help, and
+sent them into Slavery, Horace Greeley said in his paper that the
+Government would probably do nothing about it. What could I do?
+
+"Now, then, tell me, if you please, what possible result of good would
+follow the issuing of such a Proclamation as you desire? Understand, I
+raise no objections against it on legal or Constitutional grounds, for,
+as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, in time of War, I suppose I
+have a right to take any measure which may best subdue the Enemy, nor do
+I urge objections of a moral nature, in view of possible consequences of
+insurrection and massacre at the South. I view this matter as a
+practical War measure, to be decided on according to the advantages or
+disadvantages it may offer to the suppression of the Rebellion.
+
+ * * * * * * * * *
+
+"I admit that Slavery is at the root of the Rebellion, or, at least, its
+sine qua non. The ambition of politicians may have instigated them to
+act, but they would have been impotent without Slavery as their
+instrument. I will also concede that Emancipation would help us in
+Europe, and convince them that we are incited by something more than
+ambition. I grant, further, that it would help somewhat at the North,
+though not so much, I fear, as you and those you represent imagine.
+
+"Still, some additional strength would be added in that way to the War,
+and then, unquestionably, it would weaken the Rebels by drawing off
+their laborers, which is of great importance; but I am not so sure we
+could do much with the Blacks. If we were to arm them, I fear that in
+a few weeks the arms would be in the hands of the Rebels; and, indeed,
+thus far, we have not had arms enough to equip our White troops.
+
+"I will mention another thing, though it meet only your scorn and
+contempt. There are 50,000 bayonets in the Union Army from the Border
+Slave States. It would be a serious matter if, in consequence of a
+Proclamation such as you desire, they should go over to the Rebels. I
+do not think they all would--not so many, indeed, as a year ago, or as
+six months ago--not so many to-day, as yesterday. Every day increases
+their Union feeling. They are also getting their pride enlisted, and
+want to beat the Rebels.
+
+"Let me say one thing more: I think you should admit that we already
+have an important principle to rally and unite the People, in the fact
+that Constitutional Government is at stake. This is a fundamental idea
+going down about as deep as anything!
+
+ * * * * * * * * *
+
+"Do not misunderstand me because I have mentioned these objections.
+They indicate the difficulties that have thus far prevented my action in
+some such way as you desire.
+
+"I have not decided against a Proclamation of Liberty to the Slaves, but
+hold the matter under advisement. And I can assure you that the subject
+is on my mind, by day and night, more than any other. Whatever shall
+appear to be God's will I will do.
+
+"I trust that in the freedom with which I have canvassed your views I
+have not in any respect injured your feelings."
+
+
+On the 22d day of September, 1862, not only the Nation, but the whole
+World, was electrified by the publication--close upon the heels of the
+Union victory of Antietam--of the Proclamation of Emancipation--weighted
+with consequences so wide and far-reaching that even at this late day
+they cannot all be discerned. It was in these words:
+
+
+
+"I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States of America, and
+Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy thereof, do hereby proclaim and
+declare that hereafter, as heretofore, the War will be prosecuted for
+the object of practically restoring the Constitutional relation between
+the United States and each of the States and the people thereof, in
+which States that relation is or may be suspended or disturbed.
+
+"That it is my purpose, upon the next meeting of Congress, to again
+recommend the adoption of a practical measure tendering pecuniary aid to
+the free acceptance or rejection of all Slave States, so called, the
+people whereof may not then be in Rebellion against the United States,
+and which States may then have voluntarily adopted, or thereafter may
+voluntarily adopt, immediate or gradual abolishment of Slavery within
+their respective limits; and that the effort to colonize Persons of
+African descent with their consent upon this continent or elsewhere,
+with the previously obtained consent of the Governments existing there,
+will be continued.
+
+"That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand
+eight hundred and sixty-three, all Persons held as Slaves within any
+State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in
+Rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and
+forever Free; and the Executive Government of the United States,
+including the Military and Naval authority thereof, will recognize and
+maintain the Freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to
+repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for
+their actual Freedom.
+
+"That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by
+Proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which
+the people thereof respectively, shall then be in Rebellion against the
+United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall
+on that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United
+States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the
+qualified voters of such States shall have participated, shall, in the
+absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive
+evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not in Rebellion
+against the United States.
+
+"That attention is hereby called to an Act of Congress entitled 'An Act
+to make an additional Article of War,' approved March 31, 1862, and
+which Act is in the words and figures following:
+
+"'Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
+States of America in Congress assembled, That hereafter the following
+shall be promulgated as an additional Article of War, for the government
+of the Army of the United States, and shall be obeyed and observed as
+such.
+
+"ARTICLE--All officers or persons in the Military or Naval service of
+the United States are prohibited from employing any of the forces under
+their respective commands for the purpose of returning Fugitives from
+service or labor who may have escaped from any persons to whom such
+service or labor is claimed to be due, and any officer who shall be
+found guilty by a court-martial of violating this article shall be
+dismissed from the service.
+
+"'SECTION 2.--And be it further enacted, That this Act shall take effect
+from and after its passage.'
+
+"Also to the ninth and tenth sections of an Act entitled 'An Act to
+suppress Insurrection, to punish Treason and Rebellion, to seize and
+confiscate property of Rebels, and for other purposes,' approved July
+17, 1862, and which sections are in the words and figures following:
+
+"'SEC. 9.--And be it further enacted, That all Slaves of persons who
+shall hereafter be engaged in Rebellion against the Government of the
+United States or who shall in any way give aid or comfort thereto,
+escaping from such persons and taking refuge within the lines of the
+Army; and all Slaves captured from such persons or deserted by them, and
+coming under the control of the Government of the United States; and all
+Slaves of such persons found on [or] being within any place occupied by
+Rebel forces and afterward occupied by the forces of the United States,
+shall be deemed captives of war, and shall be forever Free of their
+servitude, and not again held as Slaves.
+
+"'SEC. 10.--And be it further enacted, That no Slave escaping into any
+State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, from any other State,
+shall be delivered up, or in any way impeded or hindered of his liberty,
+except for crime, or some offense against the laws, unless the person
+claiming said Fugitive shall first make oath that the person to whom the
+labor or service of such Fugitive is alleged to be due is his lawful
+owner, and has not borne arms against the United States in the present
+Rebellion, nor in any way given aid and comfort thereto; and no person
+engaged in the Military or Naval service of the United States shall,
+under any pretense whatever, assume to decide on the validity of the
+claim of any person to the service or labor of any other person, or
+surrender up any such Person to the claimant, on pain of being dismissed
+from the service."
+
+"And I do hereby enjoin upon and order all persons engaged in the
+Military and Naval service of the United States to observe, obey, and
+enforce, within their respective spheres of service, the Act and
+sections above recited.
+
+"And the Executive will in due time recommend that all
+citizens of the United States who shall have remained loyal thereto
+throughout the Rebellion shall (upon the restoration of the
+Constitutional relation between the United States and their respective
+States and people, if that relation shall have been suspended or
+disturbed) be compensated for all losses by acts of the United States,
+including the loss of Slaves.
+
+"In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of
+the United States to be affixed.
+
+"Done at the city of Washington this twenty-second day of September, in
+the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and of
+the Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.
+
+"By the President:
+"ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
+
+"WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State."
+
+
+This Proclamation, promising Freedom to an Enslaved race, was hailed
+with acclamations everywhere save in the rebellious Southern-Slave
+States, and in the Border-Slave States.
+
+At a meeting of Governors of Loyal States, held at Altoona,
+Pennsylvania, to take measures for the more active support of the
+Government, an Address was adopted, on the very day that the
+Proclamation was promulgated, which well expressed the general feeling
+prevailing throughout the Northern States, at this time. It was in
+these patriotic words:
+
+"After nearly one year and a half spent in contest with an armed and
+gigantic Rebellion against the National Government of the United States,
+the duty and purpose of the Loyal States and people continue, and must
+always remain as they were at its origin--namely to restore and
+perpetuate the authority of this Government and the life of the Nation.
+No matter what consequences are involved in our fidelity, this work of
+restoring the Republic, preserving the institutions of democratic
+Liberty, and justifying the hopes and toils of our Fathers, shall not
+fail to be performed.
+
+"And we pledge, without hesitation, to the President of the United
+States, the most loyal and cordial support, hereto as heretofore, in
+the exercise of the functions of his great office. We recognize in him
+the chief Executive magistrate of the Nation, the Commander-in-Chief of
+the Army and Navy of the United States, their responsible and
+constitutional head, whose rightful authority and power, as well as the
+Constitutional powers of Congress, must be rigorously and religiously
+guarded and preserved, as the condition on which alone our form of
+Government and the constitutional rights and liberties of the People
+themselves can be saved from the wreck of anarchy or from the gulf
+'despotism.
+
+"In submission to the laws which may have been or which may be duly
+enacted, and to the lawful orders of the President, cooperating always
+in our own spheres with the National Government, we mean to continue in
+the most rigorous exercise of all our lawful and proper powers,
+contending against Treason, Rebellion, and the public Enemies, and,
+whether in public life or in private station, supporting the arms of the
+Union, until its Cause shall conquer, until final victory shall perch
+upon its standard, or the Rebel foe will yield a dutiful, rightful, and
+unconditional submission. And, impressed with the conviction that an
+Army of reserve ought, until the War shall end, to be constantly kept on
+foot, to be raised, armed, equipped, and trained at home, and ready for
+emergencies, we respectfully ask the President to call such a force of
+volunteers for one year's service, of not less than one hundred thousand
+in the aggregate, the quota of each State to be raised after it shall
+have led its quota of the requisitions already made, both for volunteers
+and militia. We believe that this would be a Leasure of Military
+prudence, while it would greatly promote the Military education of the
+People.
+
+"We hail with heartfelt gratitude and encouraged hope the Proclamation
+of the President, issued on the 22nd instant, declaring Emancipated from
+their bondage all Persons held to Service or Labor as Slaves in the
+Rebel States, whose Rebellion shall last until the first day of January
+next ensuing.
+
+"The right of any person to retain authority to compel any portion of
+the subjects of the National Government to rebel against it, or to
+maintain its Enemies, implies in those who are allowed possession of
+such authority the right to rebel themselves; and therefore, the right
+to establish Martial Law or Military Government in a State or Territory
+in Rebellion implies the right and the duty of the Government to
+liberate the minds of all men living therein by appropriate
+Proclamations and assurances of protection, in order that all who are
+capable, intellectually and morally, of loyalty and obedience, may not
+be forced into Treason as the unwilling tools of rebellious Traitors.
+
+"To have continued indefinitely the most efficient cause, support, and
+stay of the Rebellion, would have been, in our judgment, unjust to the
+Loyal people whose treasure and lives are made a willing sacrifice on
+the altar of patriotism--would have discriminated against the wife who
+is compelled to surrender her husband, against the parent who is to
+surrender his child, to the hardships of the camp and the perils of
+battle, in favor of Rebel masters permitted to retain their Slaves. It
+would have been a final decision alike against humanity, justice, the
+rights and dignity of the Government, and against sound and wise
+National policy.
+
+"The decision of the President to strike at the root of the Rebellion
+will lend new vigor to efforts, and new life and hope to the hearts of
+the People. Cordially tendering to the President our respectful
+assurances of personal and official confidence, we trust and believe
+that the policy now inaugurated will be crowned with success, will give
+speedy and triumphant victories over our enemies, and secure to this
+Nation and this People the blessing and favor of Almighty God.
+
+"We believe that the blood of the heroes who have already fallen, and
+those who may yet give their lives to their Country, will not have been
+shed in vain.
+
+"The splendid valor of our soldiers, their patient endurance, their
+manly patriotism, and their devotion to duty, demand from us and from
+all their countrymen the homage of the sincerest gratitude and the
+pledge of our constant reinforcement and support. A just regard for
+these brave men, whom we have contributed to place in the field, and for
+the importance of the duties which may lawfully pertain to us hereafter,
+has called us into friendly conference.
+
+"And now, presenting to our National Chief Magistrate this conclusion of
+our deliberations, we devote ourselves to our Country's service, and we
+will surround the President with our constant support, trusting that the
+fidelity and zeal of the Loyal States and People will always assure him
+that he will be constantly maintained in pursuing, with the utmost
+vigor, this War for the preservation of the National life and hope of
+humanity.
+
+"A. G. CURTIN,
+"JOHN A. ANDREW,
+"RICHARD YATES,
+"ISRAEL WASHBURNE, Jr.,
+"EDWARD SOLOMON,
+"SAMUEL J. KIRKWOOD,
+"O. P. MORTON,--By D. G. ROSE, his Representative,
+"WM. SPRAGUE,
+"F. H. PEIRPOINT,
+"DAVID TOD,
+"N. S. BERRY,
+"AUSTIN BLAIR."
+
+
+Some two months after the issue of his great Proclamation of Liberty,
+President Lincoln (in his Second Annual Message to Congress, December 1,
+1862), took occasion again to refer to compensated Emancipation, and,
+indeed, to the entire matter of Slavery and Freedom, in most instructive
+and convincing manner, as follows:
+
+"On the 22d day of September last, a Proclamation was issued by the
+Executive, a copy of which is herewith submitted.
+
+"In accordance with the purpose in the second paragraph of that paper, I
+now respectfully recall your attention to what may be called
+'compensated Emancipation.'
+
+"A Nation may be said to consist of its territory, its people, and its
+laws. The territory is the only part which is of certain durability.
+'One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh, but the
+Earth abideth forever.' It is of the first importance to duly consider
+and estimate this ever-enduring part.
+
+"That portion of the Earth's surface which is owned and inhabited by the
+People of the United States, is well adapted to be the home of one
+National family; and it is not well adapted for two, or more. Its vast
+extent, and its variety of climate and productions, are of advantage, in
+this age, for one People, whatever they might have been in former ages.
+Steam, telegraphs, and intelligence, have brought these to be an
+advantageous combination for one united People.
+
+"In the Inaugural Address I briefly pointed out the total inadequacy of
+Disunion, as a remedy for the differences between the people of the two
+Sections. I did so in language which I cannot improve, and which,
+therefore, I beg to repeat:
+
+"'One Section of our Country believes Slavery is right, and ought to be
+extended, while the other believes it is wrong, and ought not to be
+extended. This is the only substantial dispute. The Fugitive Slave
+clause of the Constitution, and the law for the suppression of the
+foreign Slave Trade, are each as well enforced, perhaps, as any law can
+ever be in a community where the moral sense of the People imperfectly
+supports the law itself.
+
+"The great body of the People abide by the dry legal obligation in both
+cases, and a few break over in each. This, I think, cannot be perfectly
+cured; and it would be worse in both cases after the separation of the
+Sections, than before. The foreign Slave Trade, now imperfectly
+suppressed, would be ultimately revived without restriction in one
+Section; while Fugitive Slaves, now only partially surrendered, would
+not be surrendered at all by the other.
+
+"Physically speaking, we cannot separate. We cannot remove our
+respective Sections from each other, nor build an impassable wall
+between them. A husband and wife may be divorced, and each go out of
+the presence and beyond the reach of the other; but the different parts
+of our Country cannot do this. They cannot but remain face to face; and
+intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue between them.
+
+"'Is it possible, then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or
+more satisfactory after separation than before? Can aliens make
+treaties easier than friends can make laws? Can treaties be more
+faithfully enforced between aliens than laws can among friends? suppose
+you go to War, you cannot fight always; and when, after much loss on
+both sides, and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the identical old
+questions as to terms of intercourse are again upon you.'
+
+"There is no line, straight or crooked, suitable for a National boundary
+upon which to divide. Trace through, from East to West, upon the line
+between the Free and Slave Country, and we shall find a little more than
+one third of its length are rivers, easy to be crossed, and populated,
+or soon to be populated, thickly upon both sides; while nearly all its
+remaining length are merely surveyors' lines, over which people may walk
+back and forth without any consciousness of their presence.
+
+"No part of this line can be made any more difficult to pass, by writing
+it down on paper or parchment as a National boundary. The fact of
+separation, if it comes, gives up, on the part of the seceding Section,
+the Fugitive Slave clause, along with all other Constitutional
+obligations upon the Section seceded from, while I should expect no
+treaty stipulations would ever be made to take its place.
+
+"But there is another difficulty. The great interior region, bounded
+East by the Alleghanies, North by the British dominions, West by the
+Rocky Mountains, and South by the line along which the culture of corn
+and cotton meets, and which includes part of Virginia, part of
+Tennessee, all of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin,
+Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, and the Territories of
+Dakota, Nebraska, and part of Colorado, already has above ten million
+people, and will have fifty millions within fifty years, if not
+prevented by any political folly or mistake.
+
+"It contains more than one-third of the country owned by the United
+States-certainly more than one million square miles. Once half as
+populous as Massachusetts already is, it would have more than
+seventy-five million people. A glance at the map shows that,
+territorially speaking, it is the great body of the Republic. The other
+parts are but marginal borders to it, the magnificent region sloping
+West, from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, being the deepest and
+also the richest in undeveloped resources. In the production of
+provisions, grains, grasses, and all which proceed from them, this great
+interior region is naturally one of the most important in the World.
+
+"Ascertain from the statistics the small proportion of the region which
+has, as yet, been brought into cultivation, and also the large and
+rapidly increasing amount of its products, and we shall be overwhelmed
+with the magnitude of the prospect presented. And yet this region has
+no sea coast, touches no ocean anywhere. As part of one Nation, its
+people now find, and may forever find, their way to Europe by New York,
+to South America and Africa by New Orleans, and to Asia by San
+Francisco.
+
+"But separate our common Country into two nations, as designed by the
+present Rebellion, and every man of this great interior region is
+thereby cut off from some one or more of these outlets, not, perhaps, by
+a physical barrier, but by embarrassing and onerous trade regulations.
+
+"And this is true, wherever a dividing or boundary line may be fixed.
+Place it between the now Free and Slave country, or place it South of
+Kentucky, or North of Ohio, and still the truth remains, that none South
+of it can trade to any port or place North of it, and none North of it
+can trade to any port or place South of it except upon terms dictated by
+a Government foreign to them.
+
+"These outlets, East, West, and South, are indispensable to the
+well-being of the people inhabiting, and to inhabit, this vast interior
+region. Which of the three may be the best, is no proper question.
+All, are better than either; and all, of right belong to that People,
+and to their successors forever. True to themselves, they will not ask
+where a line of separation shall be, but will vow rather that there
+shall be no such line.
+
+"Nor are the marginal regions less interested in these communications to
+and through them, to the great outside World. They too, and each of
+them, must have access to this Egypt of the West without paying toll at
+the crossing of any National boundary.
+
+"Our National strife springs not from our permanent part; not from the
+Land we inhabit; not from our National homestead. There is no possible
+severing of this, but would multiply, and not mitigate, evils among us.
+In all its adaptations and aptitudes it demands Union, and abhors
+separation. In fact it would, ere long, force reunion, however much of
+blood and treasure the separation might have cost.
+
+"Our strife pertains to ourselves--to the passing generations of men;
+and it can, without convulsion, be hushed forever--with the passing of
+one generation.
+
+"In this view I recommend the adoption of the following Resolution and
+Articles Amendatory of the Constitution of the United States.
+
+"'Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
+States of America, in Congress assembled, (two-thirds of both Houses
+concurring). That the following Articles be proposed to the
+Legislatures (or Conventions) of the several States, as Amendments to
+the Constitution of the United States, all or any of which Articles when
+ratified by three-fourths of the said Legislatures (or Conventions) to
+be valid as part or parts of the said Constitution, namely:
+
+"'ARTICLE--Every State wherein Slavery now exists, which shall abolish
+the same therein, at any time, or times, before the first day of
+January, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred, shall
+receive compensation from the United States, as follows, to wit;
+
+"'The President of the United States shall deliver to every such State,
+bonds of the United States, bearing interest at the rate of per cent.
+per annum, to an amount equal to the aggregate sum of for each Slave
+shown to have been therein by the eighth census of the United States,
+said bonds to be delivered to such States by installments, or in one
+parcel, at the completion of the abolishment, accordingly as the same
+shall have been gradual, or at one time, within such State; and interest
+shall begin to run upon any such bond only from the proper time of its
+delivery as aforesaid. Any State having received bonds as aforesaid,
+and afterward reintroducing or tolerating Slavery therein, shall refund
+to the United States the bonds so received, or the value thereof, and
+all interest paid thereon.
+
+"'ARTICLE--All Slaves who shall have enjoyed actual freedom by the
+chances of the War at any time before the end of the Rebellion, shall be
+forever Free; but all owners of such, who shall not have been disloyal,
+shall be compensated for them, at the same rates as is provided for
+States adopting abolishment of Slavery, but in such way that no Slave
+shall be twice accounted for.
+
+"'ARTICLE--Congress may appropriate money, and otherwise provide for
+colonizing Free Colored Persons, with their own consent, at any place or
+places within the United States.'
+
+
+"I beg indulgence to discuss these proposed Articles at some length.
+Without Slavery the Rebellion could never have existed; without Slavery
+it could not continue.
+
+"Among the friends of the Union there is great diversity of sentiment
+and of policy in regard to Slavery, and the African race among us. Some
+would perpetuate Slavery; some would abolish it suddenly, without
+compensation; some would abolish it gradually, and with compensation;
+some would remove the Freed people from us; and some would retain them
+with us; and there are yet other minor diversities. Because of these
+diversities, we waste much strength in struggles among ourselves.
+
+"By mutual Concession we should harmonize and act together. This would
+be Compromise; but it would be Compromise among the friends, and not
+with the enemies of the Union. These Articles are intended to embody a
+plan of such mutual concessions. If the plan shall be adopted, it is
+assumed that Emancipation will follow, at least, in several of the
+States.
+
+"As to the first Article, the main points are: first, the Emancipation;
+secondly, the length of time for consummating it--thirty-seven years;
+and, thirdly, the compensation.
+
+"The Emancipation will be unsatisfactory to the advocates of perpetual
+Slavery; but the length of time should greatly mitigate their
+dissatisfaction. The time spares both races from the evils of sudden
+derangement--in fact from the necessity of any derangement--while most
+of those whose habitual course of thought will be disturbed by the
+measure will have passed away before its consummation. They will never
+see it.
+
+"Another class will hail the prospect of Emancipation, but will
+deprecate the length of time. They will feel that it gives too little
+to the now living Slaves. But it really gives them much. It saves them
+from the vagrant destitution which must largely attend immediate
+Emancipation in localities where their numbers are very great; and it
+gives the inspiring assurance that their posterity shall be Free
+forever.
+
+"The plan leaves to each State, choosing to act under it, to abolish
+Slavery now, or at the end of the century, or at any intermediate time,
+or by degrees, extending over the whole or any part of the period; and
+it obliges no two States to proceed alike. It also provides for
+compensation,--and generally, the mode of making it. This, it would
+seem, must further mitigate the dissatisfaction of those who favor
+perpetual Slavery, and especially of those who are to receive the
+compensation. Doubtless some of those who are to pay, and not to
+receive, will object. Yet the measure is both just and economical.
+
+"In a certain sense, the liberation of Slaves is the destruction of
+Property--Property acquired by descent, or by purchase, the same as any
+other property. It is no less true for having been often said, that the
+people of the South are not more responsible for the original
+introduction of this Property than are the people of the North; and when
+it is remembered how unhesitatingly we all use cotton and sugar, and
+share the profits of dealing in them, it may not be quite safe to say
+that the South has been more responsible than the North for its
+continuance.
+
+"If, then, for a common object, this Property is to be sacrificed, is it
+not just that it be done at a common charge?
+
+"And if, with less money, or money more easily paid, we can preserve the
+benefits of the Union by this means than we can by the War alone, is it
+not also economical to do it? Let us consider it then. Let us
+ascertain the sum we have expended in the War since compensated
+Emancipation was proposed last March, and consider whether, if that
+measure had been promptly accepted, by even some of the Slave States,
+the same sum would not have done more to close the War than has been
+otherwise done. If so, the measure would save money, and, in that view,
+would be a prudent and economical measure.
+
+"Certainly it is not so easy to pay something as it is to pay nothing;
+but it is easier to pay a large sum than it is to pay a larger one. And
+it is easier to pay any sum when we are able, than it is to pay it
+before we are able. The War requires large sums, and requires them at
+once.
+
+"The aggregate sum necessary for compensated Emancipation of course
+would be large. But it would require no ready cash, nor the bonds,
+even, any faster than the Emancipation progresses. This might not, and
+probably would not, close before the end of the thirty-seven years. At
+that time we shall probably have a hundred million people to share the
+burden, instead of thirty-one millions, as now. And not only so, but
+the increase of our population may be expected to continue, for a long
+time after that period, as rapidly as before; because our territory will
+not have become full.
+
+"I do not state this inconsiderately. At the same ratio of increase
+which we have maintained, on an average, from our first National census
+in 1790, until that of 1860, we should, in 1900, have a population of
+103,208,415. And why may we not continue that ratio far beyond that
+period?
+
+"Our abundant room--our broad National homestead--is our ample resource.
+Were our territory as limited as are the British Isles, very certainly
+our population could not expand as stated. Instead of receiving the
+foreign born, as now, we should be compelled to send part of the
+Native-born away.
+
+"But such is not our condition. We have two million nine hundred and
+sixty-three thousand square miles. Europe has three million and eight
+hundred thousand, with a population averaging seventy-three and
+one-third persons to the square mile. Why may not our Country at some
+time, average as many? Is it less fertile? Has it more waste surface
+by mountains, rivers, lakes, deserts, or other causes? Is it inferior
+to Europe in any natural advantage?
+
+"If, then, we are at some time to be as populous as Europe, how soon?
+As to when this may be, we can judge by the past and the present; as to
+when it will be, if ever, depends much on whether we maintain the Union.
+
+"Several of our States are already above the average of Europe
+--seventy-three and a third to the square mile. Massachusetts has 157;
+Rhode Island, 133; Connecticut, 99; New York and New Jersey, each, 80.
+Also two other great States, Pennsylvania and Ohio, are not far below,
+the former having 63, and the latter 59. The States already above the
+European average, except New York, have increased in as rapid a ratio,
+since passing that point, as ever before; while no one of them is equal
+to some other parts of our Country in natural capacity for sustaining a
+dense population.
+
+"Taking the Nation in the aggregate, and we find its population and
+ratio of increase, for the several decennial periods, to be as follows:
+
+YEAR. POPULATION. RATIO OF INCREASE
+
+1790 3,929,827
+
+1800 5,305,937 35.02 Per Cent.
+
+1810 7,239,814 36.45
+
+1820 9,638,131 33.13
+
+1830 12,866,020 33.49
+
+1840 17,069,453 32.67
+
+1850 23,191,876 35.87
+
+1860 31,443,790 35.58
+
+"This shows an average Decennial Increase of 34.69 per cent. in
+population through the seventy years from our first to our last census
+yet taken. It is seen that the ratio of increase, at no one of these
+seven periods, is either two per cent. below or two per cent. above the
+average; thus showing how inflexible, and, consequently, how reliable,
+the law of Increase, in our case, is.
+
+"Assuming that it will continue, gives the following results:
+
+YEAR. POPULATION.
+
+1870 42,323,041
+
+1880 56,967,216
+
+1890 76,677,872
+
+1900 103,208,415
+
+1910 138,918,526
+
+1920 186,984,335
+
+1930 251,680,914
+
+"These figures show that our Country may be as populous as Europe now is
+at some point between 1920 and 1930--say about 1925--our territory, at
+seventy-three and a third persons to the square mile, being of capacity
+to contain 217,186,000.
+
+"And we will reach this, too, if we do not ourselves relinquish the
+chance by the folly and evils of Disunion or by long and exhausting War
+springing from the only great element of National discord among us.
+While it cannot be foreseen exactly how much one huge example of
+Secession, breeding lesser ones indefinitely, would retard population,
+civilization and prosperity, no one can doubt that the extent of it
+would be very great and injurious.
+
+"The proposed Emancipation would shorten the War, perpetuate Peace,
+insure this increase of population, and proportionately the wealth of
+the Country. With these, we should pay all the Emancipation would cost,
+together with our other debt, easier than we should pay our other debt
+without it.
+
+"If we had allowed our old National debt to run at six per cent. per
+annum, simple interest, from the end of our Revolutionary Struggle until
+to-day, without paying anything on either principal or interest, each
+man of us would owe less upon that debt now than each man owed upon it
+then; and this because our increase of men through the whole period has
+been greater than six per cent.; has run faster than the interest upon
+the debt. Thus, time alone, relieves a debtor Nation, so long as its
+population increases faster than unpaid interest accumulates on its
+debt.
+
+"This fact would be no excuse for delaying payment of what is justly
+due, but it shows the great importance of time in this connection--the
+great advantage of a policy by which we shall not have to pay until we
+number a hundred millions, what, by a different policy, we would have to
+pay now, when we number but thirty-one millions. In a word, it shows
+that a dollar will be much harder to pay for the War, than will be a
+dollar for Emancipation on the proposed plan. And then the latter will
+cost no blood, no precious life. It will be a saving of both.
+
+"As to the Second Article, I think it would be impracticable to return
+to Bondage the class of Persons therein contemplated. Some of them,
+doubtless, in the property sense, belong to loyal owners and hence
+provision is made in this Article for compensating such.
+
+"The Third Article relates to the future of the Freed people. It does
+not oblige, but merely authorizes, Congress to aid in colonizing such as
+may consent. This ought not to be regarded as objectionable on the one
+hand or on the other, insomuch as it comes to nothing, unless by the
+mutual consent of the people to be deported, and the American voters,
+through their Representatives in Congress.
+
+"I cannot make it better known than it already is, that I strongly favor
+colonization. And yet I wish to say there is an objection urged against
+free Colored persons remaining in the Country which is largely
+imaginary, if not sometimes malicious.
+
+"It is insisted that their presence would injure and displace White
+labor and White laborers. If there ever could be a proper time for mere
+catch arguments, that time surely is not now. In times like the present
+men should utter nothing for which they would not willingly be
+responsible through Time and in Eternity.
+
+"Is it true, then, that Colored people can displace any more White labor
+by being Free, than by remaining Slaves? If they stay in their old
+places, they jostle no White laborers; if they leave their old places,
+they leave them open to White laborers. Logically, there is neither
+more nor less of it.
+
+"Emancipation, even without deportation, would probably enhance the
+wages of White labor, and, very surely would not reduce them. Thus, the
+customary amount of labor would still have to be performed; the freed
+people would surely not do more than their old proportion of it and,
+very probably, for a time would do less, leaving an increased part to
+White laborers, bringing their labor into greater demand, and
+consequently enhancing the wages of it.
+
+"With deportation, even to a limited extent, enhanced wages to White
+labor is mathematically certain. Labor is like any other commodity in
+the market-increase the demand for it and you increase the price of it.
+Reduce the supply of Black labor by colonizing the Black laborer out of
+the Country, and by precisely so much you increase the demand for and
+wages of White labor.
+
+"But it is dreaded that the freed people will swarm forth and cover the
+whole Land! Are they not already in the Land? Will liberation make
+them any more numerous? Equally distributed among the Whites of the
+whole Country, there would be but one Colored, in seven Whites. Could
+the one, in any way, greatly disturb the seven?
+
+"There are many communities now, having more than one free Colored
+person to seven Whites; and this, without any apparent consciousness of
+evil from it. The District of Columbia, and the States of Maryland and
+Delaware, are all in this condition. The District has more than one
+free Colored to six Whites; and yet, in its frequent petitions to
+Congress I believe it has never presented the presence of free Colored
+persons as one of its grievances.
+
+"But why should Emancipation South, send the freed people North? people
+of any color, seldom run, unless there be something to run from.
+Heretofore, Colored people, to some extent, have fled North from
+bondage, and now, perhaps, from both bondage and destitution. But if
+gradual Emancipation and deportation be adopted, they will have neither
+to flee from.
+
+"Their old masters will give them wages at least until new laborers can
+be procured; and the freed men, in turn, will gladly give their labor
+for the wages, till new homes can be found for them, in congenial
+climes, and with people of their own blood and race.
+
+"This proposition can be trusted on the mutual interests involved. And,
+in any event, cannot the North decide for itself, whether to receive
+them?
+
+"Again, as practice proves more than theory, in any case, has there been
+any irruption of Colored people Northward because of the abolishment of
+Slavery in this District last Spring? What I have said of the
+proportion of free Colored persons to the Whites in the District is from
+the census of 1860, having no reference to persons called Contrabands,
+nor to those made free by the Act of Congress abolishing Slavery here.
+
+"The plan consisting of these Articles is recommended, not but that a
+restoration of the National authority would be accepted without its
+adoption.
+
+"Nor will the War, nor proceedings under the Proclamation of September
+22, 1862, be stayed because of the recommendation of this plan. Its
+timely adoption, I doubt not, would bring restoration, and thereby stay
+both.
+
+"And, notwithstanding this plan, the recommendation that Congress
+provides by law for compensating any State which may adopt Emancipation
+before this plan shall have been acted upon, is hereby earnestly
+renewed. Such would be only an advance part of the plan, and the same
+arguments apply to both.
+
+"This plan is recommended as a means, not in exclusion of, but
+additional to, all others, for restoring and preserving the National
+authority throughout the Union. The subject is presented exclusively in
+its economical aspect.
+
+"The plan would, I am confident, secure Peace more speedily, and
+maintain it more permanently, than can be done by force alone; while all
+it would cost, considering amounts, and manner of payment, and times of
+payment, would be easier paid than will be the additional cost of the
+War, if we rely solely upon force. It is much, very much, that it would
+cost no blood at all.
+
+"The plan is proposed as permanent Constitutional Law. It cannot become
+such without the concurrence of, first, two-thirds of Congress, and
+afterward, three-fourths of the Slave States. The requisite
+three-fourths of the States will necessarily include seven of the Slave
+States. Their concurrence, if obtained, will give assurance of their
+severally adopting Emancipation at no very distant day upon the new
+Constitutional terms. This assurance would end the struggle now and
+save the Union forever.
+
+"I do not forget the gravity which should characterize a paper addressed
+to the Congress of the Nation by the Chief Magistrate of the Nation.
+Nor do I forget that some of you are my seniors, nor that many of you
+have more experience than I in the conduct of public affairs. Yet I
+trust that in view of the great responsibility resting upon me, you will
+perceive no want of respect to yourselves in any undue earnestness I may
+seem to display.
+
+"Is it doubted, then, that the plan I propose, if adopted, would shorten
+the War, and thus lessen its expenditure of money and of blood? Is it
+doubted that it would restore the National authority and National
+prosperity, and perpetuate both indefinitely? Is it doubted that we
+here--Congress and Executive--can secure its adoption; will not the good
+people respond to a united and earnest appeal from us? Can we, can
+they, by any other means so certainly or so speedily assure these vital
+objects; we can succeed only by concert.
+
+"It is not, 'Can any of us imagine better?' but,'Can we all do better?'
+Object whatsoever is possible, still the question recurs, 'Can we do
+better? The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy
+present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise
+with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act
+anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our
+Country.
+
+"Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We, of this Congress and
+this Administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No
+personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of
+us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor
+or dishonor, to the latest generation.
+
+"We say we are for the Union. The World will not forget that we say
+this. We know how to save the Union.
+
+"The World knows we do know how to save it. We even we here--hold the
+power, and bear the responsibility.
+
+"In giving Freedom to the Slave, we assure Freedom to the Free-Honorable
+alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or
+meanly lose, the last, best hope of Earth. Other means may succeed;
+this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just--a way
+which, if followed, the World would forever applaud, and God must
+forever bless.
+
+ "ABRAHAM LINCOLN."
+
+
+The popular Branch of Congress responded with heartiness to what Mr.
+Lincoln had done. On December 11, 1862, resolutions were offered by Mr.
+Yeaman in the House of Representatives, as follows:
+
+"Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate Concurring), That
+the Proclamation of the President of the United States, of date the 22d
+of September, 1862, is not warranted by the Constitution.
+
+"Resolved, That the policy of Emancipation as indicated in that
+Proclamation, is not calculated to hasten the restoration of Peace, was
+not well chosen as a War measure, and is an assumption of power
+dangerous to the rights of citizens and to the perpetuity of a Free
+People."
+
+These resolutions were laid on the table by 95 yeas to 47 nays--the yeas
+all Republicans, save three, and the nays all Democrats save five.
+
+On December 15, 1862, Mr. S. C. Fessenden, of Maine, offered resolutions
+to the House, in these words:
+
+"Resolved, That the Proclamation of the President of the United States,
+of the date of 22d September, 1862, is warranted by the Constitution.
+
+"Resolved, That the policy of Emancipation, as indicated in that
+Proclamation, is well adapted to hasten the restoration of Peace, was
+well chosen as a War measure, and is an exercise of power with proper
+regard for the rights of the States, and the perpetuity of Free
+Government."
+
+These resolutions were adopted by 78 yeas to 52 nays--the yeas all
+Republicans, save two, and the nays all Democrats, save seven.
+
+The Proclamation of September 22d, 1862, was very generally endorsed and
+upheld by the People at large; and, in accordance with its promise, it
+was followed at the appointed time, January 1st, 1863, by the
+supplemental Proclamation specifically Emancipating the Slaves in the
+rebellious parts of the United States--in the following terms:
+
+"WHEREAS, On the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord
+one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a Proclamation was issued by
+the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the
+following, to wit:
+
+"'That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand
+eight hundred and sixty-three, all Persons held as Slaves within any
+State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be
+in Rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward,
+and forever Free; and the Executive Government of the United States,
+including the Military and Naval Authority thereof, will recognize and
+maintain the Freedom of such Persons, and will do no act or acts to
+repress such Persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for
+their actual Freedom.
+
+"'That the Executive will, on the First day of January aforesaid, by
+Proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which
+the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in Rebellion against the
+United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall
+on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United
+States, by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the
+qualified voters of such States shall have participated, shall, in the
+absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive
+evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in
+Rebellion against the United States.'
+
+"Now, therefore, I ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, by
+virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and
+Navy of the United States, in time of actual armed Rebellion against the
+authority and Government of the United States, and as a fit and
+necessary War measure for suppressing said Rebellion, do, on this First
+day of January, in the Year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
+sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly
+proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days from the day first
+above mentioned, Order and designate as the States and parts of States
+wherein the people thereof, respectively, are this day in Rebellion
+against the United States, the following, to wit:
+
+"Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes of St. Bernard,
+Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension,
+Assumption, Terre Bonne, Lafouche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans,
+including the City of New Orleans,) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida,
+Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the
+forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties
+of Berkeley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann,
+and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which
+excepted parts are for the present left precisely as if this
+Proclamation were not issued.
+
+"And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do Order
+and declare that all Persons held as Slaves within said designated
+States and parts of States are, and henceforward shall be, Free; and
+that the Executive Government of the United States, including the
+Military and Naval authorities thereof; will recognize and maintain the
+Freedom of said Persons.
+
+"And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be Free, to abstain
+from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence; and I recommend to
+them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for
+reasonable wages.
+
+"And I further declare and make known that such Persons, of suitable
+condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States
+to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man
+vessels of all sorts in said service.
+
+"And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice,
+warranted by the Constitution upon Military necessity, I invoke the
+considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God.
+
+"In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of
+the United States to be affixed.
+
+"Done at the City of Washington, this First day of January, in the year
+of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the
+Independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh.
+
+"By the President:
+"ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
+
+"WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XIX.
+
+ HISTORICAL REVIEW.
+
+
+Let us now refresh recollection by glancing backward over the history of
+our Country, and we shall see, as recorded in these pages, that, from
+the first, there existed in this Nation a class of individuals greedily
+ambitious of power and determined to secure and maintain control of this
+Government; that they left unturned no stone which would contribute to
+the fostering and to the extension of African Slavery; that, hand in
+hand with African Slavery--and as a natural corollary to it--they
+advocated Free Trade as a means of degrading Free White labor to the
+level of Black Slave labor, and thus increasing their own power; that
+from the first, ever taking advantage of the general necessities of the
+Union, they arrogantly demanded and received from a brow-beaten People,
+concession after concession, and compromise after compromise; that every
+possible pretext and occasion was seized by them to increase,
+consolidate, and secure their power, and to extend the territorial
+limits over which their peculiar Pro-Slavery and Pro-Free-Trade
+doctrines prevailed; and that their nature was so exacting, and their
+greed so rapacious, that it was impossible ever to satisfy them.
+
+Nor were they burdened with over-much of that high sense of honor--a
+quality of which they often vaunted themselves--which impelled others to
+stand by their agreements. It seemed as though they considered the most
+sacred promises and covenants of no account, and made only to be
+trampled upon, when in the way of their Moloch.
+
+We remember the bitter Slavery agitation in Congress over the admission
+of the State of Missouri, and how it eventuated in the Missouri
+Compromise. That compromise, we have seen, they afterward trod upon,
+and broke, with as little compunction as they would have stepped upon
+and crushed a toad.
+
+They felt their own growing power, and gloried in their strength and
+arrogance; and Northern timidity became a scoff and by-word in their
+mouths.
+
+The fact is, that from its very conception, as well as birth, they hated
+and opposed the Union, because they disliked a Republican and preferred
+a Monarchical form of Government. Their very inability to prevent the
+consummation of that Union, imbittered them. Hence their determination
+to seize every possible occasion and pretext afterward to destroy it,
+believing, as they doubtless did, that upon the crumbled and mouldering
+ruins of a dissevered Union and ruptured Republic, Monarchical ideas
+might the more easily take root and grow. But experience had already
+taught them that it would be long before their real object could even be
+covertly hinted at, and that in the meantime it must be kept out of
+sight by the agitation of other political issues. The formulation and
+promulgation therefore, by Jefferson, in the Kentucky Resolutions of
+1798, and by Madison, in the Virginia Resolutions of 1799, of the
+doctrine of States Rights already referred to, was a perfect "God-send"
+to these men. For it not only enabled them to keep from public view and
+knowledge their ultimate aim and purpose, but constituted the whip which
+they thenceforth everlastingly flourished and cracked over the shrinking
+heads of other and more patriotic people--the whip with which, through
+the litter of their broken promises, they ruthlessly rode into, and, for
+so long a period of years held on to, supreme power and place in the
+Land.
+
+Including within the scope of States Rights, the threats of
+Nullification, Disunion and Secession--ideas abhorrent to the Patriot's
+mind--small wonder is it that, in those days, every fresh demand made by
+these political autocrats was tremblingly acceded to, until patience and
+concession almost utterly exhausted themselves.
+
+Originally disturbing only South Carolina and Georgia to any extent,
+these ambitious men, who believed in anything rather than a Republic,
+and who were determined to destroy the Union, gradually spread the
+spirit of jealousy and discontent into other States of the South; their
+immediate object being to bring the Southern States into the closest
+possible relations the one with the other; to inspire them all with
+common sympathies and purposes; to compact and solidify them, so that in
+all coming movements against the other States of the Union, they might
+move with proportionately increased power, and force, and effect,
+because of such unity of aim and strength.
+
+This spirit of Southern discontent, and jealousy of the Northern States,
+was, as we have seen, artfully fanned by the Conspirators, in heated
+discussions over the Tariff Acts of 1824, and 1828, and 1832, until, by
+the latter date, the people of the Cotton-States were almost frantic,
+and ready to fight over their imaginary grievances. Then it was that
+the Conspirators thought the time had come, for which they had so long
+and so earnestly prayed and worked, when the cotton Sampson should wind
+his strong arms around the pillars of the Constitution and pull down the
+great Temple of our Union--that they might rear upon its site another
+and a stronger edifice, dedicated not to Freedom, but to Free-Trade and
+to other false gods.
+
+South Carolina was to lead off, and the other Cotton States would
+follow. South Carolina did lead off--but the other Cotton-States did
+not follow.
+
+It has been shown in these pages how South Carolina declared the Tariff
+Acts aforesaid, null and void, armed herself to resist force, and
+declared that any attempt of the general Government to enforce those
+Acts would cause her to withdraw from the Union. But Jackson as we know
+throttled the treason with so firm a grip that Nullification and
+Secession and Disunion were at once paralyzed.
+
+The concessions to the domineering South, in Clay's Compromise Tariff of
+1833, let the Conspirators down easily, so to speak; and they pretended
+to be satisfied. But they were satisfied only as are the thirsty sands
+of Africa with the passing shower.
+
+The Conspirators had, however, after all, made substantial gains. They
+had established a precedent for an attempt to secede. That was
+something. They had demonstrated that a single Southern State could
+stand up, armed and threatening, strutting, blustering, and bullying,
+and at least make faces at the general Government without suffering any
+very dreadful consequences. That was still more.
+
+They had also ascertained that, by adopting such a course, a single
+Southern State could force concessions from the fears of the rest of the
+United States. That was worth knowing, because the time might come,
+when it might be desirable not only for one but for all the Southern
+States to secede upon some other pretext, and when it would be awkward,
+and would interfere with the Disunion programme, to have the other
+States either offer or make concessions.
+
+They had also learned the valuable lesson that the single issue of
+Free-Trade was not sufficiently strong of itself to unite all the
+Southern States in a determination to secede, and thus dissolve the
+Union. They saw they must agitate some other issue to unify the South
+more thoroughly and justify Disunion. On looking over the whole field
+they concluded that the Slavery question would best answer their
+purpose, and they adopted it.
+
+It was doubtless a full knowledge of the fact that they had adopted it,
+that led Jackson to make the declaration, heretofore in these pages
+given, which has been termed "prophetic." At any rate, thenceforth the
+programme of the Conspirators was to agitate the Slavery question in all
+ways possible, so as to increase, extend and solidify the influence and
+strength of the Slave power; strain the bonds uniting them with the Free
+States; and weaken the Free States by dividing them upon the question.
+At the same time the Free-Trade question was to be pressed forward to a
+triumphal issue, so that the South might be enriched and strengthened,
+and the North impoverished and weakened, by the result.
+
+That was their programme, in the rough, and it was relentlessly adhered
+to. Free-Trade and Slavery by turns, if not together, from that time
+onward, were ever at the front, agitating our People both North and
+South, and not only consolidating the Southern States on those lines, as
+the Conspirators designed, but also serving ultimately to consolidate,
+to some extent--in a manner quite unlooked for by the Conspirators
+--Northern sentiment, on the opposite lines of Protection and Freedom.
+
+The Compromise Tariff Act of 1833--which Clay was weak enough to
+concede, and even stout old Jackson to permit to become law without his
+signature--gave to the Conspirators great joy for years afterward, as
+they witnessed the distress and disaster brought by it to Northern homes
+and incomes--not distress and disaster alone, but absolute and
+apparently irreparable ruin.
+
+The reaction occasioned by this widespread ruin having brought the Whigs
+into power, led to the enactment of the Protective-Tariff of 1842 and
+--to the chagrin of the Conspirators--industrial prosperity and plenty to
+the Free North again ensued.
+
+Even as Cain hated his brother Abel because his sacrifices were
+acceptable in the sight of God, while his own were not, so the Southern
+Conspirators, and other Slave-owners also, had, by this time, come to
+hate the Northern free-thinking, free-acting, freedom-loving mechanic
+and laboring man, because the very fact and existence of his Godgiven
+Freedom and higher-resulting civilization was a powerful and perpetual
+protest against the--abounding iniquities and degradations of Slavery as
+practiced by themselves.
+
+Hence, by trickery, by cajoling the People With his, and their own,
+assurances that he was in favor of Protection--they secured the election
+in 1844 of a Free-Trade President, the consequent repeal of the
+Protective-Tariff of 1842--which had repaired the dreadful mischief
+wrought by the Compromise Act of 1833--and the enactment of the infamous
+Free-Trade Tariff of 1846, which blasted the manufacturing and farming
+and trade industries of the Country again, as with fire.
+
+The discovery of the great gold fields of California, and the enormous
+amount of the precious metal poured by her for many succeeding years
+into the lap of the Nation, alone averted what otherwise would
+inevitably have been total ruin. As it was, in 1860, the National
+credit had sunk to a lower point than ever before in all its history.
+It was confessedly bankrupt, and ruin stalked abroad throughout the
+United States.
+
+But while, with rapid pen, the carrying out of that part of the Southern
+Conspirators' Disunion programme which related to Free-Trade, is thus
+brought again to mind, the other part of that programme, which related
+to Slavery, must not be neglected or overlooked. On this question they
+had determined, as we have seen, to agitate without ceasing--having in
+view, primarily, as already hinted, the extension of Slave territory and
+the resulting increase of Slave power in the Land; and, ulteriorly, the
+solidifying of that power, and Disunion of the Republic, with a view to
+its conversion into an Oligarchy, if not a Monarchy.
+
+The bitterness of the struggle over the admission of Missouri as a Slave
+State in 1820, under the Missouri Compromise, was to be revived by the
+Conspirators, at the earliest possible moment.
+
+Accordingly in 1836--only three years after the failure of Nullification
+in South Carolina, the Territory, of Arkansas was forced in as a Slave
+State, and simultaneously the Slave-owning henchmen of the Conspirators,
+previously settled there for the purpose, proclaimed the secession from
+Mexico, and independence, of Texas. This was quickly followed, in 1844,
+by Calhoun's hastily negotiated treaty of annexation with Texas; its
+miscarriage in the Senate; and the Act of March 2, 1845--with its sham
+compromise--consenting to the admission of Texas to the Union of States.
+
+Then came the War with Mexico; the attempt by means of the Wilmot
+proviso to check the growing territorial-greed and rapacity of the
+Slave-power; and the acquisition by the United States, of California and
+New Mexico, under the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, which brought
+Peace.
+
+Then occurred the agitation over the organization of Territorial
+governments for Oregon, California, and New Mexico, and the strong
+effort to extend to the Pacific Ocean the Missouri-Compromise line of
+36 30', and to extend to all future Territorial organizations the
+principles of that compromise.
+
+Then came the struggle in 1850, over the admission of California as a
+State, and New Mexico and Utah to Territorial organization--ending in
+the passage of Clay's Compromise measures of 1850.
+
+Yet still the Southern Conspirators--whose forces, both in Congress and
+out, were now well-disciplined, compacted, solidified, experienced, and
+bigotedly enthusiastic and overbearing--were not satisfied. It was not
+their intention to be satisfied with anything less than the destruction
+of the Union and of our Republican form of Government. The trouble was
+only beginning, and, so far, almost everything had progressed to their
+liking. The work must proceed.
+
+In 1852-3 they commenced the Kansas-Nebraska agitation; and, what with
+their incessant political and colonizing movements in those Territories;
+the frequent and dreadful atrocities committed by their tools, the
+Border-ruffians; the incessant turmoil created by cruelties to their
+Fugitive-slaves; their persistent efforts to change the Supreme Court to
+their notions; these-with the decision and opinion of the Supreme Court
+in the Dred Scott case--together worked the Slavery question up to a
+dangerous degree of heat, by the year 1858.
+
+And, by 1860--when the people of the Free States, grown sick unto death
+of the rule of the Slave-power in the General Government, arose in their
+political might, and shook off this "Old Man of the Sea," electing,
+beyond cavil and by the Constitutional mode, to the Presidential office,
+a man who thoroughly represented in himself their conscience, on the one
+hand, which instinctively revolted against human Slavery as a wrong
+committed against the laws of God, and their sense of justice and equity
+on the other, which would not lightly overlook, or interfere with vested
+rights under the Constitution and the laws of man--the Conspirators had
+reached the point at which they had been aiming ever since that failure
+in 1832 of their first attempt at Disunion, in South Carolina.
+
+They had now succeeded in irritating both the Free and the Slave-holding
+Sections of our Country against each other, to an almost unbearable
+point; had solidified the Southern States on the Slavery and Free-Trade
+questions; and at last--the machinations of these same Conspirators
+having resulted in a split in the Democratic Party, and the election of
+the Republican candidate to the Presidency, as the embodiment of the
+preponderating National belief in Freedom and equality to all before the
+Law, with Protection to both Labor and Capital--they also had the
+pretext for which they had both been praying and scheming and preparing
+all those long, long years--they, and some of their fathers before them.
+
+It cannot be too often repeated that to secure a Monarchy, or at least
+an Oligarchy, over which the leading Conspirators should rule for life
+--whether that Monarchy or that Oligarchy should comprise the States of
+the South by themselves, or all the States on a new basis of Union--was
+the great ultimate aim of the Conspirators; and this could be secured
+only by first disrupting the then existing Republican Union of
+Republican States.
+
+The doctrine of the right of Secession had now long been taught, and had
+become a part of the Southern Slave-holders' Democratic creed, as fully
+as had the desirability of Slavery and Free-Trade--and even many of the
+Northern Democrats, and some Republicans as well, were not much inclined
+to dispute, although they cared not to canvass, the point.
+
+The programme of action was therefore much the same as had been laid
+down in the first attempt in 1832:--first South Carolina would secede
+and declare her independence; then the other Slave States in quick
+succession would do likewise; then a new Constitution for a solid
+Southern Union; then, if necessary, a brief War to cement it--which
+would end, of course, in the independence of the South at least, but
+more probably in the utter subjugation and humiliation of the Free
+States.
+
+When the time should come, during or after this War--as come, in their
+belief, it would--for a change in the form of Government, then they
+could seize the first favorable occasion and change it. At present,
+however, the cry must be for "independence." That accomplished, the
+rest would be easy. And until that independence was accomplished, no
+terms of any sort, no settlement of any kind, were either to be proposed
+or accepted by them.
+
+These were their dreams, their ambitions, their plans; and the tenacious
+courage with which they stuck to them "through thick and thin," through
+victory and disaster, were worthy of a better cause.
+
+While, therefore, the pretexts for Secession were "Slavery" and
+"Free-Trade"--both of which were alleged to be jeopardized in the
+election and inauguration of Abraham Lincoln--yet, no sooner had
+hostilities commenced between the seceding States and the Union, than
+they declared to the World that their fight was not for Slavery, but for
+Independence.
+
+They dared not acknowledge to the World that they fought for Slavery,
+lest the sympathies of the World should be against them. But it was
+well understood by the Southern masses, as well as the other people of
+the Union, that both Slavery and Free-Trade were involved in the fight
+--as much as independence, and the consequent downfall of the Union.
+
+President Lincoln, however, had made up his mind to do all he properly
+could to placate the South. None knew better than he, the history of
+this Secession movement, as herein described. None knew better than he,
+the fell purpose and spirit of the Conspirators. Yet still, his kindly
+heart refused to believe that the madness of the Southern leaders was so
+frenzied, and their hatred of Free men, Free labor, and Free
+institutions, so implacable, that they would wilfully refuse to listen
+to reason and ever insist on absolutely inadmissible terms of
+reconciliation.
+
+From the very beginning of his Administration, he did all that was
+possible to mollify their resentment and calm their real or pretended
+fears. Nor was this from any dread or doubt as to what the outcome of
+an armed Conflict would be; for, in his speech at Cincinnati, in the
+Autumn of 1859, he had said, while addressing himself to Kentuckians and
+other Southern men: "Why, gentlemen, I think you are as gallant and as
+brave men as live; that you can fight as bravely in a good cause, man
+for man, as any other people living; that you have shown yourselves
+capable of this upon various occasions; but man for man, you are not
+better than we are, and there are not so many of you as there are of us.
+You will never make much of a hand at whipping us. If we were fewer in
+numbers than you, I think that you could whip us; if we were equal it
+would likely be a drawn battle; but being inferior in numbers, you will
+make nothing by attempting to master us."
+
+And early in 1860, in his famous New York Cooper Institute speech he had
+said "Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let
+us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it." He plainly
+believed to the end, that "right makes might;" and he believed in the
+power of numbers--as also did Napoleon, if we may judge from his famous
+declaration that "The God of battles is always on the side of the
+heaviest battalions." Yet, so believing, President Lincoln exerted
+himself in all possible ways to mollify the South. His assurances,
+however, were far from satisfying the Conspirators. They never had been
+satisfied with anything in the shape of concession. They never would
+be. They had been dissatisfied with and had broken all the compacts and
+compromises, and had spit upon all the concessions, of the past; and
+nothing would now satisfy them, short of the impossible.
+
+They were not satisfied now with Lincoln's promise that the Government
+would not assail them--organized as, by this time, they were into a
+so-called Southern "Confederacy" of States--and they proceeded accordingly
+to assail that Government which would not assail them. They opened fire
+on Fort Sumter.
+
+This was done, as has duly appeared, in the hope that the shedding of
+blood would not only draw the States of the Southern Confederacy more
+closely together in their common cause, and prevent the return of any of
+them to their old allegiance, but also to so influence the wavering
+allegiance to the Union, of the Border States, as to strengthen that
+Confederacy and equivalently weaken that Union, by their Secession.
+
+Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas, of the Border States
+that were wavering, were thus gathered into the Confederate fold, by
+this policy of blood-spilling--carried bodily thither, by a desperate
+and frenzied minority, against the wishes of a patriotic majority.
+
+Virginia, especially, was a great accession to the Rebel cause. She
+brought to it the prestige of her great name. To secure the active
+cooperation of "staid old Virginia," "the Mother of Statesmen," in the
+struggle, was, in the estimation of the Rebels, an assurance of victory
+to their cause. And the Secession of Virginia for a time had a
+depressing influence upon the friends of the Union everywhere.
+
+The refusal of West Virginia to go with the rest of the State into
+Rebellion, was, to be sure, some consolation; and the checkmating of the
+Conspirators' designs to secure to the Confederacy the States of
+Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri, helped the confidence of Union men. In
+fact, as long as the National Capital was secure, it was felt that the
+Union was still safe.
+
+But while the Confederacy, by the firing upon Fort Sumter, and thus
+assailing that Government which Lincoln had promised would not assail
+the Rebels, had gained much in securing the aid of the States mentioned,
+yet the Union Cause, by that very act, had gained more. For the echoes
+of the Rebel guns of Fort Moultrie were the signal for such an uprising
+of the Patriots of the North and West and Middle States, as, for the
+moment, struck awe to the hearts of Traitors and inspired with courage
+and hopefulness the hearts of Union men throughout the Land.
+
+Moreover it put the Rebels in their proper attitude, in the eyes of the
+World--as the first aggressors--and thus deprived them, to a certain
+extent, of that moral support from the outside which flows from
+sympathy.
+
+Those echoes were the signal, not only of that call to arms which led to
+such an uprising, but for the simultaneous calling together of the
+Thirty-seventh Congress of the United States in Extra Session--the
+Congress whose measures ultimately enabled President Lincoln and the
+Union Armies to subdue the Rebellion and save the Union--the Congress
+whose wise and patriotic deliberations resulted in the raising of those
+gigantic Armies and Navies, and in supplying the unlimited means,
+through the Tariff and National Bank Systems and otherwise, by which
+those tremendous Forces could be both created and effectively operated
+--the Congress which cooperated with President Lincoln and those Forces in
+preparing the way for the destruction of the very corner-stone of the
+Confederacy, Slavery itself.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XX.
+
+ LINCOLN'S TROUBLES AND TEMPTATIONS.
+
+The Rebels themselves, as has already been noted, by the employment of
+their Slaves in the construction of earthworks and other fortifications,
+and even in battle, at Bull Run and elsewhere, against the Union Forces,
+brought the Thirty-seventh Congress, as well as the Military Commanders,
+and the President, to an early consideration of the Slavery question.
+But it was none the less a question to be treated with the utmost
+delicacy.
+
+The Union men, as well as the Secession-sympathizers, of Kentucky and
+Tennessee and Missouri and Maryland, largely believed in Slavery, or at
+least were averse to any interference with it. These, would not see
+that the right to destroy that unholy Institution could pertain to any
+authority, or be justified by any exigency; much less that, as held by
+some authorities, its existence ceased at the moment when its hands, or
+those of the State in which it had existed, were used to assail the
+General Government.
+
+They looked with especial suspicion and distrust upon the guarded
+utterances of the President upon all questions touching the future of
+the Colored Race.
+
+ [At Faneuil Hall, Edward Everett is reported to have said, in
+ October of 1864:
+
+ "It is very doubtful whether any act of the Government of the
+ United States was necessary to liberate the Slaves in a State which
+ is in Rebellion. There is much reason for the opinion that, by the
+ simple act of levying War against the United States, the relation
+ of Slavery was terminated; certainly, so far as concerns the duty
+ of the United States to recognize it, or to refrain from
+ interfering with it.
+
+ "Not being founded on the Law of Nature, and resting solely on
+ positive Local Law--and that, not of the United States--as soon as
+ it becomes either the motive or pretext of an unjust War against
+ the Union--an efficient instrument in the hands of the Rebels for
+ carrying on the War--source of Military strength to the Rebellion,
+ and of danger to the Government at home and abroad, with the
+ additional certainty that, in any event but its abandonment, it
+ will continue, in all future time to work these mischiefs, who can
+ suppose it is the duty of the United States to continue to
+ recognize it.
+
+ "To maintain this would be a contradiction in terms. It would be
+ two recognize a right in a Rebel master to employ his Slave in acts
+ of Rebellion and Treason, and the duty of the Slave to aid and abet
+ his master in the commission of the greatest crime known to the
+ Law. No such absurdity can be admitted; and any citizen of the
+ United States, from thee President down, who should, by any overt
+ act, recognize the duty of a Slave to obey a Rebel master in a
+ hostile operation, would himself be giving aid and comfort to the
+ Enemy."]
+
+They believed that when Fremont issued the General Order-heretofore
+given in full--in which that General declared that "The property, real
+and personal, of all persons, in the State of Missouri, who shall take
+up arms against the United States, or who shall be directly proven to
+have taken an active part with their enemies in the field, is declared
+to be confiscated to the public use, and their Slaves, if any they have,
+are hereby declared Free men," it must have been with the concurrence,
+if not at the suggestion, of the President; and, when the President
+subsequently, September 11,1861, made an open Order directing that this
+clause of Fremont's General Order, or proclamation, should be "so
+modified, held, and construed, as to conform to, and not to transcend,
+the provisions on the same subject contained in the Act of Congress
+entitled 'An Act to Confiscate Property used for Insurrectionary
+Purposes,' approved August 6, 1861," they still were not satisfied.
+
+ [The sections of the above Act, bearing upon the matter, are the
+ first and fourth, which are in these words:
+
+ "That if, during the present or any future insurrection against the
+ Government of the United States, after the President of the United
+ States shall have declared, by proclamation, that the laws of the
+ United States are opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed, by
+ combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course
+ of judicial proceedings, or by the power vested in the marshals by
+ law, any person or persons, his, her, or their agent, attorney, or
+ employee, shall purchase or acquire, sell or give, any property of
+ whatsoever kind or description, with intent to use or employ the
+ same, or suffer the same to be used or employed, in aiding,
+ abetting, or promoting such insurrection or resistance to the laws,
+ or any persons engaged therein; or if any person or persons, being
+ the owner or owners of any such property, shall knowingly use or
+ employ, or consent to the use or employment of the same as
+ aforesaid, all such property is hereby declared to be lawful
+ subject of prize and capture wherever found; and it shall be the
+ duty of the President of the United States to cause the same to be
+ seized, confiscated and condemned."
+
+ * * * * * * * *
+
+ "SEC. 4. That whenever hereafter, during the present insurrection
+ against the Government of the United States, any person claimed to
+ be held to Labor or Service under the law of any State shall be
+ required or permitted by the person to whom such Labor or Service
+ is claimed to be due, or by the lawful agent of such person, to
+ take up arms against the United States; or shall be required or
+ permitted by the person to whom such Labor or Service is claimed to
+ be due, or his lawful agent, to work or to be employed in or upon
+ any fort, navy-yard, dock, armory, ship, entrenchment, or in any
+ Military or Naval service whatsoever, against the Government and
+ lawful authority of the United States, then, and in every such
+ case, the person to whom such Labor or Service is claimed to be
+ due, shall forfeit his claim to such Labor, any law of the State or
+ of the United States to the contrary notwithstanding. And whenever
+ thereafter the person claiming such Labor or Service shall seek to
+ enforce his claim, it shall be a full and sufficient answer to such
+ claim that the person whose Service or Labor is claimed had been
+ employed in hostile service against the Government of the United
+ States, contrary to the provisions of this act."
+
+It seemed as impossible to satisfy these Border-State men as it had been
+to satisfy the Rebels themselves.
+
+The Act of Congress, to which President Lincoln referred
+in his Order modifying Fremont's proclamation, had itself been opposed
+by them, under the lead of their most influential Representative and
+spokesman, Mr. Crittenden, of Kentucky, in its passage through that
+Body. It did not satisfy them.
+
+Neither had they been satisfied, when, within one year and four days
+after "Slavery opened its batteries of Treason, upon Fort Sumter," that
+National curse and shame was banished from the Nation's Capital by
+Congressional enactment.
+
+They were not satisfied even with Mr. Lincoln's conservative suggestions
+embodied in the Supplemental Act.
+
+Nor were they satisfied with the General Instructions, of October 14,
+1861, from the War Department to its Generals, touching the employment
+of Fugitive Slaves within the Union Lines, and the assurance of just
+compensation to loyal masters, therein contained, although all avoidable
+interference with the Institution was therein reprobated.
+
+Nothing satisfied them. It was indeed one of the most curious of the
+many phenomena of the War of the Rebellion, that when--as at the end of
+1861--it had become evident, as Secretary Cameron held, that it "would
+be National suicide" to leave the Rebels in "peaceful and secure
+possession of Slave Property, more valuable and efficient to them for
+War, than forage, cotton, and Military stores," and that the Slaves
+coming within our lines could not "be held by the Government as Slaves,"
+and should not be held as prisoners of War--still the loyal people of
+these Border-States, could not bring themselves to save that Union,
+which they professed to love, by legislation on this tender subject.
+
+On the contrary, they opposed all legislation looking to any
+interference with such Slave property. Nothing that was proposed by Mr.
+Lincoln, or any other, on this subject, could satisfy them.
+
+Congress enacted a law, approved March 13, 1862, embracing an additional
+Article of War, which prohibited all officers "from employing any of the
+forces under their respective Commands for the purpose of returning
+Fugitives from Service or Labor who may have escaped from
+any persons to whom such Service or Labor is claimed to be due," and
+prescribed that "Any officer who shall be found guilty by Court-Martial
+of violating this Article shall be dismissed from the Service." In both
+Houses, the loyal Border-State Representatives spoke and voted against
+its passage.
+
+One week previously (March 6, 1862), President Lincoln, in an admirable
+Message, hitherto herein given at length, found himself driven to broach
+to Congress the subject of Emancipation. He had, in his First Annual
+Message (December, 1861), declared that "the Union must be preserved;
+and hence all indispensable means must be employed;" but now, as a part
+of the War Policy, he proposed to Congress the adoption of a Joint
+Resolution declaring "That the United States ought to cooperate with any
+State which may adopt gradual abolishment of Slavery, giving to such
+State, pecuniary aid, to be used by such State in its discretion, to
+compensate for the inconveniences, public and private, produced by such
+change of System."
+
+It was high time, he thought, that the idea of a gradual, compensated
+Emancipation, should begin to occupy the minds of those interested, "so
+that," to use his own words, "they may begin to consider whether to
+accept or reject it," should Congress approve the suggestion.
+
+Congress did approve, and adopt, the Joint-Resolution, as we know
+--despite the opposition from the loyal element of the Border States--an
+opposition made in the teeth of their concession that Mr. Lincoln, in
+recommending its adoption, was "solely moved by a high patriotism and
+sincere devotion to the glory of his Country."
+
+But, consistently with their usual course, they went to the House of
+Representatives, fresh from the Presidential presence, and, with their
+ears still ringing with the common-sense utterances of the President,
+half of them voted against the Resolution, while the other half
+refrained from voting at all. And their opposition to this wise and
+moderate proposition was mainly based upon the idea that it carried with
+it a threat--a covert threat.
+
+It certainly was a warning, taking it in connection with the balance of
+the Message, but a very wise and timely one.
+
+These loyal Border-State men, however, could not see its wisdom, and at
+a full meeting held upon the subject decided to oppose it, as they
+afterward did. Its conciliatory spirit they could not comprehend; the
+kindly, temperate warning, they would not heed. The most moderate of
+them all,--[Mr. Crittenden of Kentucky.]--in the most moderate of his
+utterances, could not bring himself to the belief that this Resolution
+was "a measure exactly suited to the times."
+
+ [And such was the fatuity existing among the Slave-holders of the
+ Border States, that not one of those Slave States had wisdom enough
+ to take the liberal offer thus made by the General Government, of
+ compensation. They afterward found their Slaves freed without
+ compensation.]
+
+So, also, one month later, (April 11, 1862), when the Senate Bill
+proposing Emancipation in the District of Columbia, was before the
+House, the same spokesman and leader of the loyal Border-State men
+opposed it strenuously as not being suited to the times. For, he
+persuasively protested: "I do not say that you have not the power; but
+would not that power be, at such a time as this, most unwisely and
+indiscreetly exercised. That is the point. Of all the times when an
+attempt was ever made to carry this measure, is not this the most
+inauspicious? Is it not a time when the measure is most likely to
+produce danger and mischief to the Country at large? So it seems to
+me."
+
+It was not now, nor would it ever be, the time, to pass this, or any
+other measure, touching the Institution of Slavery, likely to benefit
+that Union to which these men professed such love and loyalty.
+
+Their opposition, however, to the march of events, was of little avail
+--even when backed, as was almost invariably the case, by the other
+Democratic votes from the Free States. The opposition was obstructive,
+but not effectual. For this reason it was perhaps the more irritating
+to the Republicans, who were anxious to put Slavery where their great
+leader, Mr. Lincoln, had long before said it should be placed--"in
+course of ultimate extinction."
+
+This very irritation, however, only served to press such Anti-Slavery
+Measures more rapidly forward. By the 19th of June, 1862, a Bill "to
+secure Freedom to all persons within the Territories of the United
+States"--after a more strenuous fight against it than ever, on the part
+of Loyal and Copperhead Democrats, both from the Border and Free
+States,--had passed Congress, and been approved by President Lincoln.
+It provided, in just so many words, "That, from and after the passage of
+this Act, there shall be neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude in
+any of the Territories of the United States now existing, or which may
+at any time hereafter be formed or acquired by the United States,
+otherwise than in punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been
+duly convicted."
+
+Here, then, at last, was the great end and aim, with which Mr. Lincoln
+and the Republican Party started out, accomplished. To repeat his
+phrase, Slavery was certainly now in course of ultimate extinction.
+
+But since that doctrine had been first enunciated by Mr. Lincoln, events
+had changed the aspect of things. War had broken out, and the Slaves of
+those engaged in armed Rebellion against the authority of the United
+States Government, had been actually employed, as we have seen, on Rebel
+works and fortifications whose guns were trailed upon the Armies of the
+Union.
+
+And now, the question of Slavery had ceased to be simply whether it
+should be put in course of ultimate extinction, but whether, as a War
+Measure--as a means of weakening the Enemy and strengthening the Union
+--the time had not already come to extinguish it, so far, at least, as the
+Slaves of those participating in the Rebellion, were concerned.
+
+Congress, as has been heretofore noted, had already long and heatedly
+debated various propositions referring to Slavery and African
+Colonization, and had enacted such of them as, in its wisdom, were
+considered necessary; and was now entering a further stormy period of
+contention upon various other projects touching the Abolition of the
+Fugitive Slave Laws, the Confiscation of Rebel Property, and the
+Emancipation of Slaves--all of which, of course, had been, and would be,
+vehemently assailed by the loyal Border-States men and their Free-State
+Democratic allies.
+
+This contention proceeded largely upon the lines of construction of that
+clause in the Constitution of the United States and its Amendments,
+which provides that no person shall be deprived of Life, Liberty, or
+Property, without due process of Law, etc. The one side holding that,
+since the beginning of our Government, Slaves had been, under this
+clause, Unconstitutionally deprived of their Liberty; the other side
+holding that Slaves being "property," it would be Unconstitutional under
+the same clause, to deprive the Slave-owner of his Slave property.
+
+Mr. Crittenden, the leader of the loyal Border-States men in Congress,
+was at this time especially eloquent on this latter view of the
+Constitution. In his speech of April 23, 1862, in the House of
+Representatives, he even undertook to defend American Slavery under the
+shield of English Liberty!
+
+Said he: "It is necessary for the prosperity of any Government, for
+peace and harmony, that every man who acquires property shall feel that
+he shall be protected in the enjoyment of it, and in his right to hold
+it. It elevates the man; it gives him a feeling of dignity. It is the
+great old English doctrine of Liberty. Said Lord Mansfield, the rain
+may beat against the cabin of an Englishman, the snow may penetrate it,
+but the King dare not enter it without the consent of its owner. That
+is the true English spirit. It is the source of England's power."
+
+And again: "The idea of property is deeply seated in our minds. By the
+English Law and by the American Law you have the right to take the life
+of any man who attempts, by violence, to take your property from you.
+So far does the Spirit of these Laws go. Let us not break down this
+idea of property. It is the animating spirit of the Country. Indeed it
+is the Spirit of Liberty and Freedom."
+
+There was at this time, a growing belief in the minds of these loyal
+Border-States men, that this question of Slavery-abolition was reaching
+a crisis. They saw "the handwriting on the wall," but left no stone
+unturned to prevent, or at least to avert for a time, the coming
+catastrophe. They egged Congress, in the language of the distinguished
+Kentuckian, to "Let these unnecessary measures alone, for the present;"
+and, as to the President, they now, not only volunteered in his defense,
+against the attacks of others, but strove also to capture him by their
+arch flatteries.
+
+"Sir,"--said Mr. Crittenden, in one of his most eloquent bursts, in the
+House of Representatives,--"it is not my duty, perhaps, to defend the
+President of the United States. * * * I voted against Mr. Lincoln, and
+opposed him honestly and sincerely; but Mr. Lincoln has won me to his
+side. There is a niche in the Temple of Fame, a niche near to
+Washington, which should be occupied by the statue of him who shall,
+save this Country. Mr. Lincoln has a mighty destiny. It is for him, if
+he will, to step into that niche. It is for him to be but President of
+the People of the United States, and there will his statue be. But, if
+he choose to be, in these times, a mere sectarian and a party man, that
+niche will be reserved for some future and better Patriot. It is in his
+power to occupy a place next Washington,--the Founder, and the
+Preserver, side by side. Sir, Mr. Lincoln is no coward. His not doing
+what the Constitution forbade him to do, is no proof of his cowardice."
+
+On the other hand, Owen Lovejoy, the fiery Abolitionist, the very next
+day after the above remarks of Mr. Crittenden were delivered in the
+House, made a great speech in reply, taking the position that "either
+Slavery, or the Republic, must perish; and the question for us to decide
+is, which shall it be?"
+
+He declared to the House: "You cannot put down the rebellion and restore
+the Union, without destroying Slavery." He quoted the sublime language
+of Curran touching the Spirit of the British Law, which consecrates the
+soil of Britain to the genius of Universal Emancipation,
+
+ [In these words:
+
+ "I speak in the Spirit of the British law, which makes Liberty
+ commensurate with, and inseparable from, the British soil; which
+ proclaims even to the stranger and the sojourner the moment he sets
+ his foot upon British earth, that the ground on which he treads is
+ holy, and consecrated by the genius Of UNIVERSAL EMANCIPATION.
+
+ "No matter in what language his doom may have been pronounced; no
+ matter what complexion incompatible with Freedom, an Indian or an
+ African sun may have burnt upon him; no matter in what disastrous
+ battle his Liberty may have been cloven down; no matter with what
+ solemnities he may have been devoted upon the altar of Slavery; the
+ first moment he touches the sacred soil of Britain, the altar and
+ the god sink together in the dust; his Soul walks abroad in her own
+ majesty; his Body swells beyond the measure of his chains, that
+ burst from around him, and he stands redeemed, regenerated, and
+ disenthralled by the irresistible genius of UNIVERSAL
+ EMANCIPATION."]
+
+And Cowper's verse, wherein the poet says:
+
+ "Slaves cannot breathe in England; if their lungs
+ Receive our air, that moment they are Free,"
+
+--and, after expressing his solicitude to have this true of America, as
+it already was true of the District of Columbia, he proceeded to say:
+
+"The gentleman from Kentucky says he has a niche for Abraham Lincoln.
+Where is it? He pointed upward! But, Sir, should the President follow
+the counsels of that gentleman, and become the defender and perpetuator
+of human Slavery, he should point downward to some dungeon in the Temple
+of Moloch, who feeds on human blood and is surrounded with fires, where
+are forged manacles and chains for human limbs--in the crypts and
+recesses of whose Temple, woman is scourged, and man tortured, and
+outside whose walls are lying dogs, gorged with human flesh, as Byron
+describes them stretched around Stamboul. That is a suitable place for
+the statue of one who would defend and perpetuate human Slavery."
+
+And then--after saying that "the friends of American Slavery need not
+beslime the President with their praise. He is an Anti-Slavery man. He
+hates human Bondage "--the orator added these glowing words:
+
+"I, too, have a niche for Abraham Lincoln; but it is in Freedom's Holy
+Fane, and not in the blood-besmeared Temple of human Bondage; not
+surrounded by Slaves, fetters and chains, but with the symbols of
+Freedom; not dark with Bondage, but radiant with the light of Liberty.
+In that niche he shall stand proudly, nobly, gloriously, with shattered
+fetters and broken chains and slave-whips beneath his feet. If Abraham
+Lincoln pursues the path, evidently pointed out for him in the
+providence of God, as I believe he will, then he will occupy the proud
+position I have indicated. That is a fame worth living for; ay, more,
+that is a fame worth dying for, though that death led through the blood
+of Gethsemane and the agony of the Accursed Tree. That is a fame which
+has glory and honor and immortality and Eternal Life. Let Abraham
+Lincoln make himself, as I trust he will, the Emancipator, the
+Liberator, as he has the opportunity of doing, and his name shall not
+only be enrolled in this Earthly Temple, but it will be traced on the
+living stones of that Temple which rears itself amid the Thrones and
+Hierarchies of Heaven, whose top-stone is to be brought in with shouting
+of 'Grace, grace unto it!'"
+
+We have seen how the loyal Border-State men, through their chosen
+Representative--finding that their steady and unfaltering opposition to
+all Mr. Lincoln's propositions, while quite ineffectual, did not serve
+by any means to increase his respect for their peculiar kind of loyalty
+--offered him posthumous honors and worship if he would but do as they
+desired. Had they possessed the power, no doubt they would have taken
+him up into an exceeding high mountain and have offered to him all the
+Kingdoms of the Earth to do their bidding. But their temptations were
+of no avail.
+
+President Lincoln's duty, and inclination alike--no less than the
+earnest importunities of the Abolitionists--carried him in the opposite
+direction; but carried him no farther than he thought it safe, and wise,
+to go. For, in whatever he might do on this burning question of
+Emancipation, he was determined to secure that adequate support from the
+People without which even Presidential Proclamations are waste paper.
+
+But now, May 9, 1862, was suddenly issued by General Hunter, commanding
+the "Department of the South," comprising Georgia, Florida and South
+Carolina, his celebrated Order announcing Martial Law, in those States,
+as a Military Necessity, and--as "Slavery and Martial Law in a Free
+Country are altogether incompatible"--declaring all Slaves therein,
+"forever Free."
+
+This second edition, as it were, of Fremont's performance, at once threw
+the loyal Border-State men into a terrible ferment. Again, they, and
+their Copperhead and other Democratic friends of the North, meanly
+professed belief that this was but a part of Mr. Lincoln's programme,
+and that his apparent backwardness was the cloak to hide his
+Anti-Slavery aggressiveness and insincerity.
+
+How hurtful the insinuations, and even direct charges, of the day, made
+by these men against President Lincoln, must have been to his honest,
+sincere, and sensitive nature, can scarcely be conceived by those who
+did not know him; while, on the other hand, the reckless impatience of
+some of his friends for "immediate and universal Emancipation," and
+their complaints at his slow progress toward that goal of their hopes,
+must have been equally trying.
+
+True to himself, however, and to the wise conservative course which he
+had marked out, and, thus far, followed, President Lincoln hastened to
+disavow Hunter's action in the premises, by a Proclamation, heretofore
+given, declaring that no person had been authorized by the United States
+Government to declare the Slaves of any State, Free; that Hunter's
+action in this respect was void; that, as Commander-in-chief he reserved
+solely to himself, the questions, first, as to whether he had the power
+to declare the Slaves of any State or States, Free, and, second, whether
+the time and necessity for the exercise of such supposed power had
+arrived. And then, as we may remember, he proceeded to cite the
+adoption, by overwhelming majorities in Congress, of the Joint
+Resolution offering pecuniary aid from the National Government to "any
+State which may adopt a gradual abolishment of Slavery;" and to make a
+most earnest appeal, for support, to the Border-States and to their
+people, as being "the most interested in the subject matter."
+
+In his Special Message to Congress,--[Of March 6, 1862.]--recommending
+the passage of that Joint Resolution, he had plainly and emphatically
+declared himself against sudden Emancipation of Slaves. He had therein
+distinctly said: "In my judgment, gradual, and not immediate,
+Emancipation, is better for all." And now, in this second appeal of his
+to the Border-States men, to patriotically close with the proposal
+embraced in that. Resolution, he said: "The changes it contemplates
+would come gently as the dews of Heaven, not rending or wrecking
+anything. Will you not embrace it? So much good has not been done, by
+one effort, in all past time, as, in the providence of God, it is now
+your high privilege to do! May the vast future not have to lament that
+you have neglected it!"
+
+ [The following letter, from Sumner, shows the impatience of some of
+ the President's friends, the confidence he inspired in others
+ nearer in his counsels, and how entirely, at this time, his mind
+ was absorbed in his project for gradual and compensated
+ Emancipation.]
+
+ "SENATE CHAMBER, June 5, 1862.
+
+ "MY DEAR SIR.--Your criticism of the President is hasty. I am
+ confident that, if you knew him as I do, you would not make it. Of
+ course the President cannot be held responsible for the
+ misfeasances of subordinates, unless adopted or at least tolerated
+ by him. And I am sure that nothing unjust or ungenerous will be
+ tolerated, much less adopted, by him.
+
+ "I am happy to let you know that he has no sympathy with Stanly in
+ his absurd wickedness, closing the schools, nor again in his other
+ act of turning our camp into a hunting ground for Slaves. He
+ repudiates both--positively. The latter point has occupied much of
+ his thought; and the newspapers have not gone too far in recording
+ his repeated declarations, which I have often heard from his own
+ lips, that Slaves finding their way into the National lines are
+ never to be Re-enslaved--This is his conviction, expressed without
+ reserve.
+
+ "Could you have seen the President--as it was my privilege often
+ --while he was considering the great questions on which he has
+ already acted--the invitation to Emancipation in the States,
+ Emancipation in the District of Columbia, and the acknowledgment of
+ the Independence of Hayti and Liberia--even your zeal would have
+ been satisfied, for you would have felt the sincerity of his
+ purpose to do what he could to carry forward the principles of the
+ Declaration of Independence.
+
+ "His whole soul was occupied, especially by the first proposition,
+ which was peculiarly his own. In familiar intercourse with him, I
+ remember nothing more touching than the earnestness and
+ completeness with which he embraced this idea. To his mind, it was
+ just and beneficent, while it promised the sure end of Slavery. Of
+ course, to me, who had already proposed a bridge of gold for the
+ retreating fiend, it was most welcome. Proceeding from the
+ President, it must take its place among the great events of
+ history.
+
+ "If you are disposed to be impatient at any seeming
+ shortcomings, think, I pray you, of what has been done in a brief
+ period, and from the past discern the sure promise of the future.
+ Knowing something of my convictions and of the ardor with which I
+ maintain them, you may, perhaps, derive some assurance from my
+ confidence; I may say to you, therefore, stand by the
+ Administration. If need be, help it by word and act, but stand by
+ it and have faith in it.
+
+ "I wish that you really knew the President, and had heard the
+ artless expression of his convictions on those questions which
+ concern you so deeply. You might, perhaps, wish that he were less
+ cautious, but you would be grateful that he is so true to all that
+ you have at heart. Believe me, therefore, you are wrong, and I
+ regret it the more because of my desire to see all our friends
+ stand firmly together.
+
+ "If I write strongly it is because I feel strongly; for my constant
+ and intimate intercourse with the President, beginning with the 4th
+ of March, not only binds me peculiarly to his Administration, but
+ gives me a personal as well as a political interest in seeing that
+ justice is done him.
+
+ "Believe me, my dear Sir, with much regard, ever faithfully yours,
+ "CHARLES SUMNER."
+
+But stones are not more deaf to entreaty than were the ears of the loyal
+Border-State men and their allies to President Lincoln's renewed appeal.
+"Ephraim" was "wedded to his idols."
+
+McClellan too--immediately after his retreat from the Chickahominy to
+the James River--seized the opportunity afforded by the disasters to our
+arms, for which he was responsible, to write to President Lincoln a
+letter (dated July 7, 1862) in which he admonished him that owing to the
+"critical" condition of the Army of the Potomac, and the danger of its
+being "overwhelmed" by the Enemy in front, the President must now
+substantially assume and exercise the powers of a Dictator, or all would
+be lost; that "neither Confiscation of property * * * nor forcible
+Abolition of Slavery, should be contemplated for a moment;" and that "A
+declaration of Radical views, especially upon Slavery, will rapidly
+disintegrate our present Armies."
+
+Harried, and worried, on all sides,--threatened even by the Commander of
+the Army of the Potomac,--it is not surprising, in view of the
+apparently irreconcilable attitude of the loyal Border-State men to
+gradual and compensated Emancipation, that the tension of President
+Lincoln's mind began to feel a measure of relief in contemplating
+Military Emancipation in the teeth of all such threats.
+
+He had long since made up his mind that the existence of Slavery was not
+compatible with the preservation of the Union. The only question now
+was, how to get rid of it? If the worst should come to the worst
+--despite McClellan's threat--he would have to risk everything on the turn
+of the die--would have to "play his last card;" and that "last card" was
+Military Emancipation. Yet still he disliked to play it. The time and
+necessity for it had not yet arrived--although he thought he saw them
+coming.
+
+ [In the course of an article in the New York Tribune, August, 1885,
+ Hon. George S. Boutwell tells of an interview in "July or early
+ in August" of 1862, with President Lincoln, at which the latter
+ read two letters: one from a Louisiana man "who claimed to be a
+ Union man," but sought to impress the President with "the dangers
+ and evils of Emancipation;" the other, Mr. Lincoln's reply to him,
+ in which, says Mr. B., "he used this expression: 'you must not
+ expect me to give up this Government without playing my last card.'
+ Emancipation was his last card."]
+
+Things were certainly, at this time, sufficiently unpromising to chill
+the sturdiest Patriot's heart. It is true, we had scored some important
+victories in the West; but in the East, our arms seemed fated to
+disaster after disaster. Belmont, Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, and
+Pittsburg Landing, were names whose mention made the blood of Patriots
+to surge in their veins; and Corinth, too, had fallen. But in the East,
+McClellan's profitless campaign against Richmond, and especially his
+disastrous "change of base" by a "masterly" seven days' retreat,
+involving as many bloody battles, had greatly dispirited all Union men,
+and encouraged the Rebels and Rebel-sympathizers to renewed hopes and
+efforts.
+
+And, as reverses came to the Union Arms, so seemed to grow
+proportionately the efforts, on all sides, to force forward, or to stave
+off, as the case might be, the great question of the liberation and
+arming of the Slaves, as a War Measure, under the War powers of the
+Constitution. It was about this time (July 12, 1862) that President
+Lincoln determined to make a third, and last, attempt to avert the
+necessity for thus emancipating and arming the Slaves. He invited all
+the Senators and Representatives in Congress from the Border-States, to
+an interview at the White House, and made to them the appeal, heretofore
+in these pages given at length.
+
+It was an earnest, eloquent, wise, kindly, patriotic, fatherly appeal in
+behalf of his old proposition, for a gradual, compensated Emancipation,
+by the Slave States, aided by the resources of the National Government.
+
+At the very time of making it, he probably had, in his drawer, the rough
+draft of the Proclamation which was soon to give Liberty to all the
+Colored millions of the Land.
+
+ [McPherson gives a letter, written from Washington, by Owen Lovejoy
+ (Feb. 22, 1864), to Wm. Lloyd Garrison, in which the following
+ passage occurs:
+
+ "Recurring to the President, there are a great many reports
+ concerning him which seem to be reliable and authentic, which,
+ after all, are not so. It was currently reported among the
+ Anti-Slavery men of Illinois that the Emancipation Proclamation was
+ extorted from him by the outward pressure, and particularly by the
+ Delegation from the Christian Convention that met at Chicago.
+
+ "Now, the fact is this, as I had it from his own lips: He had
+ written the Proclamation in the Summer, as early as June, I think
+ --but will not be certain as to the precise time--and called his
+ Cabinet together, and informed them he had written it and meant to
+ make it, but wanted to read it to them for any criticism or remarks
+ as to its features or details.
+
+ "After having done so, Mr. Seward suggested whether it would not be
+ well for him to withhold its publication until after we had gained
+ some substantial advantage in the Field, as at that time we had met
+ with many reverses, and it might be considered a cry of despair.
+ He told me he thought the suggestion a wise one, and so held on to
+ the Proclamation until after the Battle of Antietam."]
+
+Be that as it may, however, sufficient evidences exist, to prove that he
+must have been fully aware, at the time of making that appeal to the
+supposed patriotism of these Border-State men, how much, how very much,
+depended on the manner of their reception of it.
+
+To him, that meeting was a very solemn and portentous one. He had
+studied the question long and deeply--not from the standpoint of his own
+mere individual feelings and judgment, but from that of fair
+Constitutional construction, as interpreted by the light of Natural or
+General Law and right reason. What he sought to impress upon them was,
+that an immediate decision by the Border-States to adopt, and in due
+time carry out, with the financial help of the General Government, a
+policy of gradual Emancipation, would simultaneously solve the two
+intimately-blended problems of Slavery-destruction and
+Union-preservation, in the best possible manner for the pockets and
+feelings of the Border-State Slave-holder, and for the other interests
+of both Border-State Slave-holder and Slave.
+
+His great anxiety was to "perpetuate," as well as to save, to the People
+of the World, the imperiled form of Popular Government, and assure to it
+a happy and a grand future.
+
+He begged these Congressmen from the Border-States, to help him carry
+out this, his beneficent plan, in the way that was best for all, and
+thus at the same time utterly deprive the Rebel Confederacy of that
+hope, which still possessed them, of ultimately gathering these States
+into their rebellious fold. And he very plainly, at the same time,
+confessed that he desired this relief from the Abolition pressure upon
+him, which had been growing more intense ever since he had repudiated
+the Hunter proclamation.
+
+But the President's earnest appeal to these loyal Representatives in
+Congress from the Border-States, was, as we have seen, in vain. It
+might as well have been made to actual Rebels, for all the good it did.
+For, a few days afterward, they sent to him a reply signed by more than
+two-thirds of those present, hitherto given at length in these pages, in
+which-after loftily sneering at the proposition as "an interference by
+this Government with a question which peculiarly and exclusively
+belonged to" their "respective States, on which they had not sought
+advice or solicited aid," throwing doubts upon the Constitutional power
+of the General Government to give the financial aid, and undertaking by
+statistics to prove that it would absolutely bankrupt the Government to
+give such aid,--they insultingly declared, in substance, that they could
+not "trust anything to the contingencies of future legislation," and
+that Congress must "provide sufficient funds" and place those funds in
+the President's hands for the purpose, before the Border-States and
+their people would condescend even to "take this proposition into
+careful consideration, for such decision as in their judgment is
+demanded by their interest, their honor, and their duty to the whole
+Country."
+
+Very different in tone, to be sure, was the minority reply, which, after
+stating that "the leaders of the Southern Rebellion have offered to
+abolish Slavery among them as a condition to Foreign Intervention in
+favor of their Independence as a Nation," concluded with the terse and
+loyal deduction: "If they can give up Slavery to destroy the Union, we
+can surely ask our people to consider the question of Emancipation to
+save the Union."
+
+But those who signed this latter reply were few, among the many.
+Practically, the Border-State men were a unit against Mr. Lincoln's
+proposition, and against its fair consideration by their people. He
+asked for meat, and they gave him a stone.
+
+Only a few days before this interview, President Lincoln--alarmed by the
+report of McClellan, that the magnificent Army of the Potomac under his
+command, which, only three months before, had boasted 161,000 men, had
+dwindled down to not more than "50,000 men left with their colors"--had
+been to the front, at Harrison's Landing, on the James river, and,
+although he had not found things quite so disheartening as he had been
+led to believe, yet they were bad enough, for only 86,000 men were found
+by him on duty, while 75,000 were unaccounted for--of which number
+34,4172 were afterward reported as "absent by authority."
+
+This condition of affairs, in connection with the fact that McClellan
+was always calling for more troops, undoubtedly had its influence in
+bringing Mr. Lincoln's mind to the conviction, hitherto mentioned, of
+the fast-approaching Military necessity for Freeing and Arming the
+Slaves.
+
+It was to ward this off, if possible, that he had met and appealed to
+the Border-State Representatives. They had answered him with sneers and
+insults; and nothing was left him but the extreme course of almost
+immediate Emancipation.
+
+Long and anxiously he had thought over the matter, but the time for
+action was at hand.
+
+And now, it cannot be better told, than in President Lincoln's own
+words, as given to the portrait-painter Carpenter, and recorded in the
+latter's, "Six months in the White House," what followed:
+
+"It had got to be," said he, "midsummer, 1862. Things had gone on from
+bad to worse, until I felt that we had reached the end of our rope on
+the plan of operations we had been pursuing; that we had about played
+our last card, and must change our tactics, or lose the game!
+
+"I now determined upon the adoption of the Emancipation Policy; and,
+without consultation with, or the knowledge of, the Cabinet, I prepared
+the original draft of the Proclamation, and, after much anxious thought,
+called a Cabinet meeting upon the subject. This was the last of July,
+or the first part of the month of August, 1862." (The exact date he did
+not remember.)
+
+"This Cabinet meeting took place, I think, upon a Saturday. All were
+present, excepting Mr. Blair, the Postmaster-General, who was absent at
+the opening of the discussion, but came in subsequently. I said to the
+Cabinet, that I had resolved upon this step, and had not called them
+together to ask their advice, but to lay the subject-matter of a
+Proclamation before them; suggestions as to which would be in order,
+after they had heard it read.
+
+"Mr. Lovejoy was in error" when he stated "that it excited no comment,
+excepting on the part of Secretary Seward. Various suggestions were
+offered. Secretary Chase wished the language stronger, in reference to
+the arming of the Blacks. Mr. Blair, after he came in, deprecated the
+policy, on the ground that it would cost the Administration the fall
+elections.
+
+"Nothing, however, was offered, that I had not already
+fully anticipated and settled in my own mind, until Secretary Seward
+spoke. He said in substance: 'Mr. President, I approve of the
+Proclamation, but I question the expediency of its issue at this
+juncture. The depression of the public mind, consequent upon our
+repeated reverses, is so great that I fear the effect of so important a
+step. It may be viewed as the last Measure of an exhausted Government,
+a cry for help, the Government stretching forth its hands to Ethiopia,
+instead of Ethiopia stretching forth her hands to the Government.'
+
+"His idea," said the President "was that it would be considered our last
+shriek, on the retreat." (This was his precise expression.) "' Now,'
+continued Mr. Seward, 'while I approve the Measure, I suggest, Sir, that
+you postpone its issue, until you can give it to the Country supported
+by Military success, instead of issuing it, as would be the case now,
+upon the greatest disasters of the War!'"
+
+Mr. Lincoln continued: "The wisdom of the view of the Secretary of
+State, struck me with very great force. It was an aspect of the case
+that, in all my thought upon the subject, I had entirely overlooked.
+The result was that I put the draft of the Proclamation aside, as you do
+your sketch for a picture, waiting for a victory."
+
+It may not be amiss to interrupt the President's narration to Mr.
+Carpenter, at this point, with a few words touching "the Military
+Situation."
+
+After McClellan's inexplicable retreat from before the Rebel Capital
+--when, having gained a great victory at Malvern Hills, Richmond would
+undoubtedly have been ours, had he but followed it up, instead of
+ordering his victorious troops to retreat like "a whipped Army"--[See
+General Hooker's testimony before the Committee on the Conduct of the
+War.]--his recommendation, in the extraordinary letter (of July 7th) to
+the President, for the creation of the office of General-in-Chief, was
+adopted, and Halleck, then at Corinth, was ordered East, to fill it.
+
+Pope had previously been called from the West, to take
+command of the troops covering Washington, comprising some 40,000 men,
+known as the Army of Virginia; and, finding cordial cooperation with
+McClellan impossible, had made a similar suggestion.
+
+Soon after Halleck's arrival, that General ordered the transfer of the
+Army of the Potomac, from Harrison's Landing to Acquia creek--on the
+Potomac--with a view to a new advance upon Richmond, from the
+Rappahannock river.
+
+While this was being slowly accomplished, Lee, relieved from fears for
+Richmond, decided to advance upon Washington, and speedily commenced the
+movement.
+
+On the 8th of August, 1862, Stonewall Jackson, leading the Rebel
+advance, had crossed the Rapidan; on the 9th the bloody Battle of Cedar
+Mountain had been fought with part of Pope's Army; and on the 11th,
+Jackson had retreated across the Rapidan again.
+
+Subsequently, Pope having retired across the Rappahannock, Lee's Forces,
+by flanking Pope's Army, again resumed their Northern advance. August
+28th and 29th witnessed the bloody Battles of Groveton and Gainesville,
+Virginia; the 30th saw the defeat of Pope, by Lee, at the second great
+Battle of Bull Run, and the falling back of Pope's Army toward
+Washington; and the succeeding Battle of Chantilly took place September
+1, 1862.
+
+It is not necessary at this time to even touch upon the causes and
+agencies which brought such misfortune to the Union Arms, under Pope.
+It is sufficient to say here, that the disaster of the second Bull Run
+was a dreadful blow to the Union Cause, and correspondingly elated the
+Rebels.
+
+Jefferson Davis, in transmitting to the Rebel Congress at Richmond,
+Lee's victorious announcements, said, in his message: "From these
+dispatches it will be seen that God has again extended His shield over
+our patriotic Army, and has blessed the cause of the Confederacy with a
+second signal victory, on the field already memorable by the gallant
+achievement of our troops."
+
+Flushed with victory, but wisely avoiding the fortifications of the
+National Capital, Lee's Forces now swept past Washington; crossed the
+Potomac, near Point of Rocks, at its rear; and menaced both the National
+Capital and Baltimore.
+
+Yielding to the apparent necessity of the moment, the President again
+placed. McClellan in command of the Armies about Washington, to wit:
+the Army of the Potomac; Burnside's troops that had come up from North
+Carolina; what remained of Pope's Army of Virginia; and the large
+reinforcements from fresh levies, constantly and rapidly pouring in.
+
+ [This was probably about the time of the occurrence of an amusing
+ incident, touching Lincoln, McClellan, and the fortifications
+ around Washington, afterward told by General J. G. Barnard, then
+ Chief of Engineers on the staff of General George B. McClellan.
+ --See New York Tribune, October 21, 1885. It seems that the
+ fortifications having been completed, McClellan invited Mr. Lincoln
+ and his Cabinet to inspect them. "On the day appointed," said
+ Barnard, "the Inspection commenced at Arlington, to the Southwest
+ of Washington, and in front of the Enemy. We followed the line of
+ the works southerly, and recrossed the Potomac to the easterly side
+ of the river, and continued along the line easterly of Washington
+ and into the heaviest of all the fortifications on the northerly
+ side of Washington. When we reached this point the President asked
+ General McClellan to explain the necessity of so strong a
+ fortification between Washington and the North.
+
+ "General McClellan replied: 'Why, Mr. President, according to
+ Military Science it is our duty to guard against every possible or
+ supposable contingency that may arise. For example, if under any
+ circumstances, however fortuitous, the Enemy, by any chance or
+ freak, should, in a last resort, get in behind Washington, in his
+ efforts to capture the city, why, there the fort is to defend it.'
+
+ "'Yes, that's so General,' said the President; 'the precaution is
+ doubtless a wise one, and I'm glad to get so clear an explanation,
+ for it reminds me of an interesting question once discussed for
+ several weeks in our Lyceum, or Moot Court, at Springfield, Ill.,
+ soon after I began reading law.'
+
+ "'Ah!' says General McClellan. 'What question was that, Mr.
+ President?'
+
+ "'The question,' Mr. Lincoln replied, 'was, "Why does man have
+ breasts?"' and he added that after many evenings' debate, the
+ question was submitted to the presiding Judge, who wisely decided
+ 'That if under any circumstances, however fortuitous, or by any
+ chance or freak, no matter of what nature or by what cause, a man
+ should have a baby, there would be the breasts to nurse it.'"]
+
+Yet, it was not until the 17th of September that the Battle of Antietam
+was fought, and Lee defeated--and then only to be allowed to slip back,
+across the Potomac, on the 18th--McClellan leisurely following him,
+across that river, on the 2nd of November!
+
+ [Arnold, in his "Life of Abraham Lincoln," says that President
+ Lincoln said of him: "With all his failings as a soldier, McClellan
+ is a pleasant and scholarly gentleman. He is an admirable
+ Engineer, but" he added, "he seems to have a special talent for a
+ stationary Engine."]
+
+On the 5th, McClellan was relieved,--Burnside taking the command,--and
+Union men breathed more freely again.
+
+But to return to the subject of Emancipation. President Lincoln's own
+words have already been given--in conversation with Carpenter--down to
+the reading of the Proclamation to his Cabinet, and Seward's suggestion
+to "wait for a victory" before issuing it, and how, adopting that
+advice, he laid the Proclamation aside, waiting for a victory.
+
+"From time to time," said Mr. Lincoln, continuing his narration, "I
+added or changed a line, touching it up here and there, anxiously
+waiting the progress of events. Well, the next news we had was of
+Pope's disaster at Bull Run. Things looked darker than ever. Finally,
+came the week of the Battle of Antietam. I determined to wait no
+longer.
+
+"The news came, I think, on Wednesday, that the advantage was on our
+side. I was then staying at the Soldiers' Home (three miles out of
+Washington.) Here I finished writing the second draft of the
+preliminary Proclamation; came up on Saturday; called the Cabinet
+together to hear it; and it was published the following Monday."
+
+It is not uninteresting to note, in this connection, upon the same
+authority, that at the final meeting of the Cabinet prior to this issue
+of the Proclamation, when the third paragraph was read, and the words of
+the draft "will recognize the Freedom of such Persons," were reached,
+Mr. Seward suggested the insertion of the words "and maintain" after the
+word "recognize;" and upon his insistence, the President said, "the
+words finally went in."
+
+At last, then, had gone forth the Fiat--telegraphed and read throughout
+the Land, on that memorable 22d of September, 1862--which, with the
+supplemental Proclamation of January 1, 1863, was to bring joy and
+Freedom to the millions of Black Bondsmen of the South.
+
+Just one month before its issue, in answer to Horace Greeley's Open
+letter berating him for "the seeming subserviency" of his "policy to the
+Slave-holding, Slave up-holding interest," etc., President Lincoln had
+written his famous "Union letter" in which he had conservatively said:
+"My paramount object is to save the Union, and not either to save or
+destroy Slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any Slave, I
+would do it--and if I could save it by freeing all the Slaves, I would
+do it--and if I could save it by freeing some, and leaving others alone,
+I would also do that."
+
+No one outside of his Cabinet dreamed, at the time he made that answer,
+that the Proclamation of Emancipation was already written, and simply
+awaited a turn in the tide of battle for its issue!
+
+Still less could it have been supposed, when, on the 13th of September
+--only two days before Stonewall Jackson had invested, attacked, and
+captured Harper's Ferry with nearly 12,000 prisoners, 73 cannon, and
+13,000 small arms, besides other spoils of War--Mr. Lincoln received the
+deputation from the religious bodies of Chicago, bearing a Memorial for
+the immediate issue of such a Proclamation.
+
+The very language of his reply,--where he said to them: "It is my
+earnest desire to know the will of Providence in this matter. And if I
+can learn what it is, I will do it! These are not, however, the days of
+miracles, and I suppose it will be granted that I am not to expect a
+direct revelation. I must study the plain physical aspects of the case,
+ascertain what is possible, and learn what appears to be wise and
+right"--when taken in connection with the very strong argument with
+which he followed it up, against the policy of Emancipation advocated in
+the Memorial, and his intimation that a Proclamation of Emancipation
+issued by him "must necessarily be inoperative, like the Pope's Bull
+against the Comet!"--would almost seem to have been adopted with the
+very object of veiling his real purpose from the public eye, and leaving
+the public mind in doubt. At all events, it had that effect.
+
+Arnold, in his "Life of Lincoln," says of this time, when General Lee
+was marching Northward toward Pennsylvania, that "now, the President,
+with that tinge of superstition which ran through his character, 'made,'
+as he said, 'a solemn vow to God, that, if Lee was driven back, he would
+issue the Proclamation;'" and, in the light of that statement, the
+concluding words of Mr. Lincoln's reply to the deputation aforesaid:--"I
+can assure you that the subject is on my mind, by day and night, more
+than any other. Whatever shall appear to be God's will, I will do,"
+--have a new meaning.
+
+The Emancipation Proclamation, when issued, was a great surprise, but
+was none the less generally well-received by the Union Armies, and
+throughout the Loyal States of the Union, while, in some of them, its
+reception was most enthusiastic.
+
+It happened, too, as we have seen, that the Convention of the Governors
+of the Loyal States met at Altoona, Penn., on the very day of its
+promulgation, and in an address to the President adopted by these loyal
+Governors, they publicly hailed it "with heartfelt gratitude and
+encouraged hope," and declared that "the decision of the President to
+strike at the root of the Rebellion will lend new vigor to efforts, and
+new life and hope to the hearts, of the People."
+
+On the other hand, the loyal Border-States men were dreadfully exercised
+on the subject; and those of them in the House of Representatives
+emphasized their disapproval by their votes, when, on the 11th and 15th
+of the following December, Resolutions, respectively denouncing, and
+endorsing, "the policy of Emancipation, as indicated in that
+Proclamation," of September 22, 1862, were offered and voted on.
+
+In spite of the loyal Border-States men's bitter opposition, however,
+the Resolution endorsing that policy as a War Measure, and declaring the
+Proclamation to be "an exercise of power with proper regard for the
+rights of the States and the perpetuity of Free Government," as we have
+seen, passed the House.
+
+Of course the Rebels themselves, against whom it was aimed, gnashed
+their teeth in impotent rage over the Proclamation. But they lost no
+time in declaring that it was only a proof of what they had always
+announced: that the War was not for the preservation of the American
+Union, but for the destruction of African Slavery, and the spoilation of
+the Southern States.
+
+Through their friends and emissaries, in the Border and other Loyal
+States of the Union,--the "Knights of the Golden Circle,"--
+
+ [The "Knights of the Golden Circle" was the most extensive of these
+ Rebel organizations. It was "an auxiliary force to the Rebel
+ Army." Its members took an obligation of the most binding
+ character, the violation of which was punishable by death, which
+ obligation, in the language of another, "pledged them to use every
+ possible means in their power to aid the Rebels to gain their
+ Independence; to aid and assist Rebel prisoners to escape; to vote
+ for no one for Office who was not opposed to the further
+ prosecution of the War; to encourage desertions from the Union
+ Army; to protect the Rebels in all things necessary to carry out
+ their designs, even to the burning and destroying of towns and
+ cities, if necessary to produce the desired result; to give such
+ information as they had, at all times, of the movements of our
+ Armies, and of the return of soldiers to their homes; and to try
+ and prevent their going back to their regiments at the front."
+
+ In other words the duty of the Organization and of its members, was
+ to hamper, oppose, and prevent all things possible that were being
+ done at any time for the Union Cause, and to encourage, forward,
+ and help all things possible in behalf of the Rebel Cause.
+
+ It was to be a flanking force of the Enemy--a reverse fire--a fire
+ in the rear of the Union Army, by Northern men; a powerful
+ cooperating force--all the more powerful because secret--operating
+ safely because secretly and in silence--and breeding discontent,
+ envy, hatred, and other ill feelings wherever possible, in and out
+ of Army circles, from the highest to the lowest, at all possible
+ times, and on all possible occasions.]
+
+--the "Order of American Knights" or "Sons of Liberty," and other
+Copperhead organizations, tainted with more or less of Treason--they
+stirred up all the old dregs of Pro-Slavery feeling that could possibly
+he reached; but while the venomous acts and utterances of such
+organizations, and the increased and vindictive energy of the armed
+Rebels themselves, had a tendency to disquiet the public mind with
+apprehensions as to the result of the Proclamation, and whether, indeed,
+Mr. Lincoln himself would be able to resist the pressure, and stand up
+to his promise of that Supplemental Proclamation which would give
+definiteness and practical effect to the preliminary one, the masses of
+the people of the Loyal States had faith in him.
+
+There was also another element, in chains, at the South, which at this
+time must have been trembling with that mysterious hope of coming
+Emancipation for their Race, conveyed so well in Whittier's lines,
+commencing: "We pray de Lord; he gib us signs, dat some day we be Free"
+--a hope which had long animated them, as of something almost too good
+for them to live to enjoy, but which, as the War progressed, appeared to
+grow nearer and nearer, until now they seemed to see the promised Land,
+flowing with milk and honey, its beautiful hills and vales smiling under
+the quickening beams of Freedom's glorious sun. But ah! should they
+enter there?--or must they turn away again into the old wilderness of
+their Slavery, and this blessed Liberty, almost within their grasp,
+mockingly elude them?
+
+They had not long to wait for an answer. The 1st of January, 1863,
+arrived, and with it--as a precious New Year's Gift--came the
+Supplemental Proclamation, bearing the sacred boon of Liberty to the
+Emancipated millions.
+
+At last, at last, no American need blush to stand up and proclaim his
+land indeed, and in truth, "the Land of Freedom."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXI.
+
+ THE ARMED-NEGRO.
+
+Little over five months had passed, since the occurrence of the great
+event in the history of the American Nation mentioned in the preceding
+Chapter, before the Freed Negro, now bearing arms in defense of the
+Union and of his own Freedom, demonstrated at the first attack on Port
+Hudson the wisdom of emancipating and arming the Slave, as a War
+measure. He seemed thoroughly to appreciate and enter into the spirit
+of the words; "who would be Free, himself must strike the blow."
+
+At the attack (of May 27th, 1863), on Port Hudson, where it held the
+right, the "Black Brigade" covered itself with glory.
+
+ At Baton Rouge, before starting for Port Hudson, the color-guard of
+ the First Louisiana Regiment--of the Black Brigade--received the
+ Regimental flags from their white colonel, (Col. Stafford,) then
+ under arrest, in a speech which ended with the injunction:
+ "Color-guard, protect, defend, die for, but do not surrender these
+ flags;" to which Sergeant Planciancois replied: "Colonel, I will
+ bring these colors to you in honor, or report to God the reason
+ why!" He fell, mortally wounded, in one of the many desperate
+ charges at Port Hudson, with his face to the Enemy, and the colors
+ in his hand.
+
+Banks, in his Report, speaking of the Colored regiments, said: "Their
+conduct was heroic. No troops could be more determined or more daring.
+They made, during the day, three charges upon the batteries of the
+Enemy, suffering very heavy losses, and holding their positions at
+nightfall with the other troops on the right of our line. The highest
+commendation is bestowed upon them by all the officers in command on the
+right."
+
+The New York Times' correspondent said:--"The deeds of heroism performed
+by these Colored men were such as the proudest White men might emulate.
+Their colors are torn to pieces by shot, and literally bespattered by
+blood and brains. The color-sergeant of the 1st Louisiana, on being
+mortally wounded (the top of his head taken off by a sixpounder), hugged
+the colors to his breast, when a struggle ensued between the two
+color-corporals on each side of him, as to who should have the honor of
+bearing the sacred standard, and during this generous contention one was
+seriously wounded."
+
+So again, on Sunday the 6th of June following, at Milliken's Bend, where
+an African brigade, with 160 men of the 23rd Iowa, although surprised in
+camp by a largely superior force of the Enemy, repulsed him gallantly
+--of which action General Grant, in his official Report, said: "In this
+battle, most of the troops engaged were Africans, who had but little
+experience in the use of fire-arms. Their conduct is said, however, to
+have been most gallant."
+
+So, also, in the bloody assault of July 18th, on Fort Wagner, which was
+led by the 54th Massachusetts (Colored) Regiment with intrepidity, and
+where they planted, and for some time maintained, their Country's flag
+on the parapet, until they "melted away before the Enemy's fire, their
+bodies falling down the slope and into the ditch."
+
+And from that time on, through the War--at Wilson's Wharf, in the many
+bloody charges at Petersburg, at Deep Bottom, at Chapin's Farm, Fair
+Oaks, and numerous other battle-fields, in Virginia and elsewhere, right
+down to Appomattox--the African soldier fought courageously, fully
+vindicating the War-wisdom of Abraham Lincoln in emancipating and arming
+the Race.
+
+The promulgation of this New Year's Proclamation of Freedom
+unquestionably had a wonderful effect in various ways, upon the outcome
+of the War.
+
+It cleared away the cobwebs which the arguments of the loyal
+Border-State men, and of the Northern Copperheads and other Disunion
+and Pro-Slavery allies of the Rebels were forever weaving for the
+discouragement, perplexity and ensnarement, of the thoroughly loyal
+out-and-out Union men of the Land. It largely increased our strength in
+fighting material. It brought to us the moral support of the World,
+with the active sympathy of philanthropy's various forces. And besides,
+it correspondingly weakened the Rebels. Every man thus freed from his
+Bondage, and mustered into the Union Armies, was not only a gain of one
+man on the Union side, but a loss of one man to the Enemy. It is not,
+therefore, surprising that the Disunion Conspirators--whether at the
+South or at the North--were furious.
+
+The Chief Conspirator, Jefferson Davis, had already, (December 23,
+1862,) issued a proclamation of outlawry against General B. F. Butler,
+for arming certain Slaves that had become Free upon entering his lines
+--the two last clauses of which provided: "That all Negro Slaves captured
+in arms, be at once delivered over to the Executive authorities of the
+respective States to which they belong, to be dealt with according to
+the laws of said States," and "That the like orders be executed in all
+cases with respect to all commissioned Officers of the United States,
+when found serving in company with said Slaves in insurrection against
+the authorities of the different States of this Confederacy."
+
+He now called the attention of the Rebel Congress to President Lincoln's
+two Proclamations of Emancipation, early in January of 1863; and that
+Body responded by adopting, on the 1st of May of that year, a
+Resolution, the character of which was so cold-bloodedly atrocious, that
+modern Civilization might well wonder and Christianity shudder at its
+purport.
+
+ [It was in these words:
+
+ "Resolved, by the Congress of the Confederate States of America, In
+ response to the Message of the President, transmitted to Congress
+ at the commencement of the present session, That, in the opinion of
+ Congress, the commissioned officers of the Enemy ought not to be
+ delivered to the authorities of the respective States, as suggested
+ in the said Message, but all captives taken by the Confederate
+ forces ought to be dealt with and disposed of by the Confederate
+ Government.
+
+ "SEC. 2.--That, in the judgment of Congress, the proclamations of
+ the President of the United States, dated respectively September
+ 22, 1862, and January 1, 1863, and the other measures of the
+ Government of the United States and of its authorities, commanders,
+ and forces, designed or tending to emancipate slaves in the
+ Confederate States, or to abduct such slaves, or to incite them to
+ insurrection, or to employ negroes in war against the Confederate
+ States, or to overthrow the institution of African Slavery, and
+ bring on a servile war in these States, would, if successful,
+ produce atrocious consequences, and they are inconsistent with the
+ spirit of those usages which, in modern warfare, prevail among
+ civilized nations; they may, therefore, be properly and lawfully
+ repressed by retaliation.
+
+ "SEC. 3.--That in every case wherein, during the present war, any
+ violation of the laws or usages of war among civilized nations
+ shall be, or has been, done and perpetrated by those acting under
+ authority of the Government of the United States, on persons or
+ property of citizens of the Confederate States, or of those under
+ the protection or in the land or naval service of the Confederate
+ States, or of any State of the Confederacy, the President of the
+ Confederate States is hereby authorized to cause full and ample
+ retaliation to be made for every such violation, in such manner and
+ to such extent as he may think proper.
+
+ "SEC. 4.--That every white person, being a commissioned officer, or
+ acting as such, who, during the present war, shall command negroes
+ or mulattoes in arms against the Confederate States, or who shall
+ arm, train, organize, or prepare negroes or mulattoes for military
+ service against the Confederate States, or who shall voluntarily
+ aid negroes or mulattoes in any military enterprise, attack, or
+ conflict in such service, shall be deemed as inciting servile
+ insurrection, and shall, if captured, be put to death, or be
+ otherwise punished at the discretion of the Court.
+
+ "SEC. 5.--Every person, being a commissioned officer, or acting as
+ such in the service of the Enemy, who shall, during the present
+ war, excite, attempt to excite, or cause to be excited, a servile
+ insurrection, or who shall incite, or cause to be incited, a slave
+ to rebel, shall, if captured, be put to death, or be otherwise
+ punished at the discretion of the court.
+
+ "SEC. 6.--Every person charged with an offense punishable under the
+ preceding resolutions shall, during the present war, be tried
+ before the military court attached to the army or corps by the
+ troops of which he shall have been captured, or by such other
+ military court as the President may direct, and in such manner and
+ under such regulations as the President shall prescribe; and, after
+ conviction, the President may commute the punishment in such manner
+ and on such terms as he may deem proper.
+
+ "SEC. 7.--All negroes and mulattoes who shall be engaged in war, or
+ be taken in arms against the Confederate States, or shall give aid
+ or comfort to the enemies of the Confederate States, shall, when
+ captured in the Confederate States, be delivered to the authorities
+ of the State or States in which they shall be captured, to be dealt
+ with according to the present or future laws of such State or
+ States."]
+
+But atrocious as were the provisions of the Resolution, or Act
+aforesaid, in that they threatened death or Slavery to every Black man
+taken with Union arms in his hand, and death to every White commissioned
+officer commanding Black soldiers, yet the manner in which they were
+executed was still more barbarous.
+
+At last it became necessary to adopt some measure by which captured
+Colored Union soldiers might be protected equally with captured White
+Union soldiers from the frequent Rebel violations of the Laws of War in
+the cases of the former.
+
+President Lincoln, therefore, issued an Executive Order prescribing
+retaliatory measures.
+
+ [In the following words:
+
+ "EXECUTIVE MANSION,
+
+ "WASHINGTON, July 30, 1863.
+
+ "It is the duty of every Government to give protection to its
+ citizens, of whatever class, color, or condition, and especially to
+ those who are duly organized as soldiers in the public service.
+ The Law of Nations, and the usages and customs of War, as carried
+ on by civilized Powers, permit no distinction as to color in the
+ treatment of prisoners of War, as public enemies.
+
+ "To sell or Enslave any captured person, on account of his Color,
+ and for no offense against the Laws of War, is a relapse into
+ barbarism, and a crime against the civilization of the age.
+
+ "The Government of the United States will give the same protection
+ to all its soldiers, and if the Enemy shall sell or Enslave any one
+ because of his color, the offense shall be punished by Retaliation
+ upon the Enemy's prisoners in our possession.
+
+ "It is therefore Ordered, that, for every soldier of the United
+ States killed in violation of the Laws of War, a Rebel soldier
+ shall be executed; and for every one Enslaved by the Enemy or sold
+ into Slavery, a Rebel soldier shall be placed at hard work on the
+ public works, and continued at such labor until the other shall be
+ released and receive the treatment due to a prisoner of War.
+
+ "By order of the Secretary of War. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. E. D.
+ TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant-General."]
+
+It was hoped that the mere announcement of the decision of our
+Government to retaliate, would put an instant stop to the barbarous
+conduct of the Rebels toward the captured Colored Union troops, but the
+hope was vain. The atrocities continued, and their climax was capped by
+the cold-blooded massacres perpetrated by Forrest's 5,000 Cavalry, after
+capturing Fort Pillow, a short distance above Memphis, on the
+Mississippi river.
+
+The garrison of that Fort comprised less than 600 Union soldiers, about
+one-half of whom were White, and the balance Black. These brave fellows
+gallantly defended the Fort against eight times their number, from
+before sunrise until the afternoon, when--having failed to win by fair
+means, under the Laws of War,--the Enemy treacherously crept up the
+ravines on either side of the Fort, under cover of flags of truce, and
+then, with a sudden rush, carried it, butchering both Blacks and Whites
+--who had thrown away their arms, and were striving to escape--until
+night temporarily put an end to the sanguinary tragedy.
+
+On the following morning the massacre was completed by the butchery and
+torture of wounded remnants of these brave Union defenders--some being
+buried alive, and others nailed to boards, and burned to death.
+
+ [For full account of these hideous atrocities, see testimony of
+ survivors before the Committee on Conduct and Expenditures of the
+ War. (H. R. Report, No. 65, 1st S. 38th Cong.)]
+
+And all this murderous malignity, for what?--Simply, and only, because
+one-half of the Patriot victims had Black skins, while the other half
+had dared to fight by the side of the Blacks!
+
+In the after-days of the War, the cry with which our Union Black
+regiments went into battle:--"Remember Fort Pillow!"--inspired them to
+deeds of valor, and struck with terror the hearts of the Enemy. On many
+a bloody field, Fort Pillow was avenged.
+
+It is a common error to suppose that the first arming of the Black man
+was on the Union side. The first Black volunteer company was a Rebel
+one, raised early in May, 1861, in the city of Memphis, Tenn.; and at
+Charleston, S. C., Lynchburg, Va., and Norfolk, Va., large bodies of
+Free Negroes volunteered, and were engaged, earlier than that, to do
+work on the Rebel batteries.
+
+On June 28th of the same year, the Rebel Legislature of Tennessee passed
+an Act not only authorizing the Governor "to receive into the Military
+service of the State all male Free persons of Color between the ages of
+fifteen and fifty, or such number as may be necessary, who may be sound
+in mind and body, and capable of actual service," but also prescribing
+"That in the event a sufficient number of Free persons of Color to meet
+the wants of the State shall not tender their services, the Governor is
+empowered, through the Sheriffs of the different counties, to press such
+persons until the requisite number is obtained."
+
+At a review of Rebel troops, at New Orleans, November 23, 1861, "One
+regiment comprised 1,400 Free Colored men." Vast numbers of both Free
+Negroes and Slaves were employed to construct Rebel fortifications
+throughout the War, in all the Rebel States. And on the 17th of
+February, 1864, the Rebel Congress passed an Act which provides in its
+first section "That all male Free Negroes * * * resident in the
+Confederate States, between the ages of eighteen and fifty years, shall
+be held liable to perform such duties with the Army, or in connection
+with the Military defenses of the Country, in the way of work upon the
+fortifications, or in Government works for the production or preparation
+of materials of War, or in Military hospitals, as the Secretary of War
+or the Commanding General of the Trans-Mississippi Department may, from
+time to time, prescribe:" while the third section provides that when the
+Secretary of War shall "be unable to procure the service of Slaves in
+any Military Department, then he is authorized to impress the services
+of as many male Slaves, not to exceed twenty thousand, as may be
+required, from time to time, to discharge the duties indicated in the
+first section of the Act."
+
+And this Act of, the Rebel Congress was passed only forty days before
+the fiendish massacre of the Union Whites and Blacks who together, at
+Fort Pillow, were performing for the Union, "such duties with the Army,"
+and "in connection with the Military defenses of the Country," as had
+been prescribed for them by their Commanding General!
+
+Under any circumstances--and especially under this state of facts
+--nothing could excuse or palliate that shocking and disgraceful and
+barbarous crime against humanity; and the human mind is incapable of
+understanding how such savagery can be accounted for, except upon the
+theory that "He that nameth Rebellion nameth not a singular, or one only
+sin, as is theft, robbery, murder, and such like; but he nameth the
+whole puddle and sink of all sins against God and man; against his
+country, his countrymen, his children, his kinsfolk, his friends, and
+against all men universally; all sins against God and all men heaped
+together, nameth he that nameth Rebellion."
+
+The inconsistency of the Rebels, in getting insanely and murderously
+furious over the arming of Negroes for the defense of the imperiled
+Union and the newly gained liberties of the Black Race, when they had
+themselves already armed some of them and made them fight to uphold the
+Slave-holders' Rebellion and the continued Enslavement of their race, is
+already plain enough.
+
+ [The writer is indebted to the courtesy of a prominent South
+ Carolinian, for calling his attention to the "Singular coincidence,
+ that a South Carolinian should have proposed in 1778, what was
+ executed in 1863-64--the arming of Negroes for achieving their
+ Freedom"--as shown in the following very curious and interesting
+ letters written by the brave and gifted Colonel John Laurens, of
+ Washington's staff, to his distinguished father:
+
+ HEAD QUARTERS, 14th Jan., 1778.
+
+ I barely hinted to you, my dearest father, my desire to augment the
+ Continental forces from an untried source. I wish I had any
+ foundation to ask for an extraordinary addition to those favours
+ which I have already received from you. I would solicit you to
+ cede me a number of your able bodied men slaves, instead of leaving
+ me a fortune.
+
+ I would bring about a two-fold good; first I would advance those
+ who are unjustly deprived of the rights of mankind to a state which
+ would be a proper gradation between abject slavery and perfect
+ liberty, and besides I would reinforce the defenders of liberty
+ with a number of gallant soldiers. Men, who have the habit of
+ subordination almost indelibly impressed on them, would have one
+ very essential qualification of soldiers. I am persuaded that if I
+ could obtain authority for the purpose, I would have a corps of
+ such men trained, uniformly clad, equip'd and ready in every
+ respect to act at the opening of the next campaign. The ridicule
+ that may be thrown on the color, I despise, because I am sure of
+ rendering essential service to my country.
+
+ I am tired of the languor with which so sacred a war as this is
+ carried on. My circumstances prevent me from writing so long a
+ letter as I expected and wish'd to have done on a subject which I
+ have much at heart. I entreat you to give a favorable answer to
+ Your most affectionate
+ JOHN LAURENS.
+
+ The Honble Henry Laurens Esq.
+ President of Congress.
+
+
+ HEAD QUARTERS, 2nd Feb., 1778.
+
+ My Dear Father:
+
+ The more I reflect upon the difficulties and delays which are
+ likely to attend the completing our Continental regiments, the more
+ anxiously is my mind bent upon the scheme, which I lately
+ communicated to you. The obstacles to the execution of it had
+ presented themselves to me, but by no means appeared
+ insurmountable. I was aware of having that monstrous popular
+ prejudice, open-mouthed against me, of undertaking to transform
+ beings almost irrational, into well disciplined soldiers, of being
+ obliged to combat the arguments, and perhaps the intrigues, of
+ interested persons. But zeal for the public service, and an ardent
+ desire to assert the rights of humanity, determined me to engage in
+ this arduous business, with the sanction of your consent. My own
+ perseverance, aided by the countenance of a few virtuous men, will,
+ I hope, enable me to accomplish it.
+
+ You seem to think, my dear father, that men reconciled by long
+ habit to the miseries of their condition, would prefer their
+ ignominious bonds to the untasted sweets of liberty, especially
+ when offer'd upon the terms which I propose.
+
+ I confess, indeed, that the minds of this unhappy species must be
+ debased by a servitude, from which they can hope for no relief but
+ death, and that every motive to action but fear, must be nearly
+ extinguished in them. But do you think they are so perfectly
+ moulded to their state as to be insensible that a better exists?
+ Will the galling comparison between themselves and their masters
+ leave them unenlightened in this respect? Can their self love be
+ so totally annihilated as not frequently to induce ardent wishes
+ for a change?
+
+ You will accuse me, perhaps, my dearest friend, of consulting my
+ own feelings too much; but I am tempted to believe that this
+ trampled people have so much human left in them, as to be capable
+ of aspiring to the rights of men by noble exertions, if some friend
+ to mankind would point the road, and give them a prospect of
+ success. If I am mistaken in this, I would avail myself, even of
+ their weakness, and, conquering one fear by another, produce equal
+ good to the public. You will ask in this view, how do you consult
+ the benefit of the slaves? I answer, that like other men, they are
+ creatures of habit. Their cowardly ideas will be gradually
+ effaced, and they will be modified anew. Their being rescued from
+ a state of perpetual humiliation, and being advanced as it were, in
+ the scale of being, will compensate the dangers incident to their
+ new state.
+
+ The hope that will spring in each man's mind, respecting his own
+ escape, will prevent his being miserable. Those who fall in battle
+ will not lose much; those who survive will obtain their reward.
+ Habits of subordination, patience under fatigues, sufferings and
+ privations of every kind, are soldierly qualifications, which these
+ men possess in an eminent degree.
+
+ Upon the whole, my dearest friend and father, I hope that my plan
+ for serving my country and the oppressed negro race will not appear
+ to you the chimera of a young mind, deceived by a false appearance
+ of moral beauty, but a laudable sacrifice of private interest, to
+ justice and the public good.
+
+ You say, that my resources would be small, on account of the
+ proportion of women and children. I do not know whether I am
+ right, for I speak from impulse, and have not reasoned upon the
+ matter. I say, altho' my plan is at once to give freedom to the
+ negroes, and gain soldiers to the states; in case of concurrence, I
+ should sacrifice the former interest, and therefore we change the
+ women and children for able-bodied men. The more of these I could
+ obtain, the better; but forty might be a good foundation to begin
+ upon.
+
+ It is a pity that some such plan as I propose could not be more
+ extensively executed by public authority. A well-chosen body of
+ 5,000 black men, properly officer'd, to act as light troops, in
+ addition to our present establishment, might give us decisive
+ success in the next campaign.
+
+ I have long deplored the wretched state of these men, and
+ considered in their history, the bloody wars excited in Africa, to
+ furnish America with slaves--the groans of despairing multitudes,
+ toiling for the luxuries of merciless tyrants.
+
+ I have had the pleasure of conversing with you, sometimes, upon the
+ means of restoring them to their rights. When can it be better
+ done, than when their enfranchisement may be made conducive to the
+ public good, and be modified, as not to overpower their weak minds?
+
+ You ask, what is the general's opinion, upon this subject? He is
+ convinced, that the numerous tribes of blacks in the southern parts
+ of the continent, offer a resource to us that should not be
+ neglected. With respect to my particular plan, he only objects to
+ it, with the arguments of pity for a man who would be less rich
+ than he might be.
+
+ I am obliged, my dearest friend and father, to take my leave for
+ the present; you will excuse whatever exceptionable may have
+ escaped in the course of my letter, and accept the assurance of
+ filial love, and respect of
+ Your
+ JOHN LAURENS]
+
+If, however, it be objected that the arming of Negroes by the Rebels was
+exceptional and local, and, that otherwise, the Rebels always used their
+volunteer or impressed Negro forces in work upon fortifications and
+other unarmed Military Works, and never proposed using them in the clash
+of arms, as armed soldiers against armed White men, the contrary is
+easily proven.
+
+In a message to the Rebel Congress, November 7, 1864, Jefferson Davis
+himself, while dissenting at that time from the policy, advanced by
+many, of "a general levy and arming of the Slaves, for the duty of
+soldiers," none the less declared that "should the alternative ever be
+presented of subjugation, or of the employment of the Slave as a
+soldier, there seems no reason to doubt what should then be our
+decision."
+
+In the meantime, however, he recommended the employment of forty
+thousand Slaves as pioneer and engineer laborers, on the ground that
+"even this limited number, by their preparatory training in intermediate
+duties Would form a more valuable reserve force in case of urgency, than
+threefold their number suddenly called from field labor; while a fresh
+levy could, to a certain extent, supply their places in the special
+service" of pioneer and engineer work; and he undertook to justify the
+inconsistency between his present recommendation, and his past attitude,
+by declaring that "A broad, moral distinction exists between the use of
+Slaves as soldiers in defense of their homes, and the incitement of the
+same persons to insurrection against their masters, for," said he, "the
+one is justifiable, if necessary; the other is iniquitous and unworthy
+of a civilized people."
+
+So also, while a Bill for the arming of Slaves was pending before the
+Rebel Congress early in 1865, General Robert E. Lee wrote, February
+18th, from the Headquarters of the Rebel Armies, to Hon. E. Barksdale,
+of the Rebel House of Representatives, a communication, in which, after
+acknowledging the receipt of a letter from him of February 12th, "with
+reference to the employment of Negroes as soldiers," he said: "I think
+the Measure not only expedient but necessary * * * in my opinion, the
+Negroes, under proper circumstances, will make efficient soldiers. * *
+* I think those who are employed, should be freed. It would be neither
+just nor wise, in my opinion, to require them to remain as Slaves"
+--thus, not only approving the employment of Black Slaves as soldiers, to
+fight White Union men, but justifying their Emancipation as a reward for
+Military service. And, a few days afterward, that Rebel Congress passed
+a Bill authorizing Jefferson Davis to take into the Rebel Army as many
+Negro Slaves "as he may deem expedient, for and during the War, to
+perform Military service in whatever capacity he may direct," and at the
+same time authorizing General Lee to organize them as other "troops" are
+organized.
+
+ [This Negro soldier Bill, according to McPherson's Appendix, p.
+ 611-612, passed both Houses, and was in these words:
+
+ A Bill to increase the Military Forces of the Confederate States.
+
+ "The Congress of the Confederate States of America do Enact, That
+ in order to provide additional forces to repel invasion, maintain
+ the rightful possession of the Confederate States, secure their
+ Independence and preserve their Institutions, the President be and
+ he is hereby authorized to ask for and accept from the owners of
+ Slaves the services of such number of able-bodied Negro men as he
+ may deem expedient for and during the War, to perform Military
+ service in whatever capacity he may direct.
+
+ "SEC. 2.--That the General-in-Chief be authorized to organize the
+ said Slaves into companies, battalions, regiments, and brigades,
+ under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of War may
+ prescribe, and to be commanded by such officers as the President
+ may appoint.
+
+ "SEC. 3.--That, while employed in the Service, the said troops
+ shall receive the same rations, clothing, and compensation as are
+ allowed to other troops in the same branch of the Service.
+
+ "SEC. 4.--That if, under the previous sections of this Act, the
+ President shall not be able to raise a sufficient number of troops
+ to prosecute the War successfully and maintain the Sovereignty of
+ the States, and the Independence of the Confederate States, then he
+ is hereby authorized to call on each State, whenever he thinks it
+ expedient, for her quota of 300,000 troops, in addition to those
+ subject to Military service, under existing laws, or so many
+ thereof as the President may deem necessary, to be raised from such
+ classes of the population, irrespective of color, in each State, as
+ the proper authorities thereof may determine: Provided, that not
+ more than 25 per cent. of the male Slaves, between the ages of 18
+ and 45, in any State, shall be called for under the provisions of
+ this Act.
+
+ "SEC. 5.--That nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize
+ a change in the relation of said Slaves."]
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXII.
+
+ FREEDOM'S SUN STILL RISING.
+
+After President Lincoln had issued his Proclamation of Emancipation, the
+friends of Freedom clearly perceived--and none of them more clearly than
+himself that until the incorporation of that great Act into the
+Constitution of the United States itself, there could be no real
+assurance of safety to the liberties of the emancipated; that unless
+this were done there would be left, even after the suppression of the
+Rebellion, a living spark of dissension which might at any time again be
+fanned into the flames of Civil War.
+
+Hence, at all proper times, Mr. Lincoln favored and even
+urged Congressional action upon the subject. It was not, however, until
+the following year that definite action may be said to have commenced in
+Congress toward that end; and, as Congress was slow, he found it
+necessary to say in his third Annual Message: "while I remain in my
+present position I shall not attempt to retract or modify the
+Emancipation Proclamation; nor shall I return to Slavery any person who
+is Free by the terms of that Proclamation, or by any of the Acts of
+Congress."
+
+Meantime, however, occurred the series of glorious
+Union victories in the West, ending with the surrender to Grant's
+triumphant Forces on the 4th of July, 1863, of Vicksburg--"the Gibraltar
+of the West"--with its Garrison, Army, and enormous quantities of arms
+and munitions of war; thus closing a brilliant and successful Campaign
+with a blow which literally "broke the back" of the Rebellion; while,
+almost simultaneously, July 1-3, the Union Forces of the East, under
+Meade, gained the great victory of Gettysburg, and, driving the hosts of
+Lee from Pennsylvania, put a second and final end to Rebel invasion of
+Northern soil; gaining it, on ground dedicated by President Lincoln,
+before that year had closed--as a place of sepulture for the
+Patriot-soldiers who there had fallen in a brief, touching and immortal
+Address, which every American child should learn by heart, and every
+American adult ponder deeply, as embodying the very essence of true
+Republicanism.
+
+ [President Lincoln's Address, when the National Cemetery at
+ Gettysburg, Pa., was dedicated Nov. 19, 1863, was in these
+ memorable words:
+
+ "Fourscore and seven years ago, our Fathers brought forth upon this
+ continent a new Nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the
+ proposition that all men are created equal.
+
+ "Now we are engaged in a great Civil War, testing whether that
+ Nation, or any Nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long
+ endure.
+
+ "We are met on a great battlefield of that War. We have come here
+ to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for
+ those who here gave their lives that that Nation might live.
+
+ "It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
+
+ "But in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate,
+ we can not hallow, this ground. The brave men, living and dead,
+ who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our power to add
+ or detract.
+
+ "The World will little note, nor long remember, what we say here;
+ but it can never forget what they did here.
+
+ "It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the
+ unfinished work which they who fought here have, thus far, so nobly
+ advanced.
+
+ "It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task
+ remaining before us; that from these honored dead we take increased
+ devotion to that Cause for which they gave the last full measure of
+ devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not
+ have died in vain; that this Nation, under God, shall have a new
+ birth of Freedom; and that Government of the People, by the People,
+ and for the People, shall not perish front the Earth."]
+
+That season of victory for the Union arms, coming, as it did, upon a
+season of depression and doubtfulness, was doubly grateful to the loyal
+heart of the Nation. Daylight seemed to be breaking at last.
+Gettysburg had hurled back the Southern invader from our soil; and
+Vicksburg, with the immediately resulting surrender of Port Hudson, had
+opened the Mississippi river from Cairo to the Gulf, and split the
+Confederacy in twain.
+
+But it happened just about this time that, the enrollment of the whole
+Militia of the United States (under the Act of March, 1863), having been
+completed, and a Draft for 300,000 men ordered to be made and executed,
+if by a subsequent time the quotas of the various States should not be
+filled by volunteering, certain malcontents and Copperheads, inspired by
+agents and other friends of the Southern Conspirators, started and
+fomented, in the city of New York, a spirit of unreasoning opposition
+both to voluntary enlistment, and conscription under the Draft, that
+finally culminated, July 13th, in a terrible Riot, lasting several days,
+during which that great metropolis was in the hands, and completely at
+the mercy, of a brutal mob of Secession sympathizers, who made day and
+night hideous with their drunken bellowings, terrorized everybody even
+suspected of love for the Union, plundered and burned dwellings,
+including a Colored Orphan Asylum, and added to the crime of arson, that
+of murdering the mob-chased, terror-stricken Negroes, by hanging them to
+the lamp-posts.
+
+These Riots constituted a part of that "Fire in the Rear" with which the
+Rebels and their Northern Democratic sympathizers had so frequently
+menaced the Armies of the Union.
+
+Alluding to them, the N. Y. Tribune on July 15th, while its office was
+invested and threatened with attack and demolition, bravely said: "They
+are, in purpose and in essence, a Diversion in favor of Jefferson Davis
+and Lee. Listen to the yells of the mob and the harangues of its
+favorite orators, and you will find them surcharged with 'Nigger,'
+'Abolition,' 'Black Republican,' denunciation of prominent Republicans,
+The Tribune, etc. etc.--all very wide of the Draft and the exemption.
+Had the Abolitionists, instead of the Slaveholders, revolted, and
+undertaken to upset the Government and dissolve the Union, nine-tenths
+of these rioters would have eagerly volunteered to put them down. It is
+the fear, stimulated by the recent and glorious triumphs of the Union
+Arms, that Slavery and the Rebellion must suffer, which is at the bottom
+of all this arson, devastation, robbery, and murder."
+
+The Democratic Governor, Seymour, by promising to "have this Draft
+suspended and stopped," did something toward quieting the Riots, but it
+was not until the Army of the Potomac, now following Lee's retreat, was
+weakened by the sending of several regiments to New York that the
+Draft-rioting spirit, in that city, and to a less extent in other
+cities, was thoroughly cowed.
+
+ [In reply to Gov. Seymour's appeal for delay in the execution of
+ the Draft Law, in order to test its Constitutionality, Mr. Lincoln,
+ on the 7th of August, said he could not consent to lose the time
+ that would be involved in obtaining a decision from the U. S.
+ Supreme Court on that point, and proceeded: "We are contending with
+ an Enemy who, as I understand, drives every able-bodied man he can
+ reach into his ranks, very much as a butcher drives bullocks into a
+ slaughter-pen. No time is wasted, no argument is used.
+
+ "This system produces an Army which will soon turn upon our now
+ victorious soldiers already in the field, if they shall not be
+ sustained by recruits as they should be.
+
+ It produces an Army with a rapidity not to be matched on our side,
+ if we first waste time to re-experiment with the Volunteer system,
+ already deemed by Congress, and palpably, in fact, so far exhausted
+ as to be inadequate; and then more time to obtain a Court decision
+ as to whether a law is Constitutional which requires a part of
+ those not now in the Service to go to those who are already in it,
+ and still more time to determine with absolute certainty that we
+ get those who are to go, in the precisely legal proportion to those
+ who are not to go.
+
+ "My purpose is to be in my action Just and Constitutional, and yet
+ Practical, in performing the important duty with which I am
+ charged, of maintaining the Unity and the Free principles of our
+ common Country."]
+
+Worried and weakened by this Democratic opposition to the Draft, and the
+threatened consequent delays and dangers to the success of the Union
+Cause, and depressed moreover by the defeat of the National forces under
+Rosecrans at Chickamauga; yet, the favorable determination of the Fall
+elections on the side of Union and Freedom, and the immense majorities
+upholding those issues, together with Grant's great victory (November,
+1863) of Chattanooga--where the three days of fighting in the
+Chattanooga Valley and up among the clouds of Lookout Mountain and
+Mission Ridge, not only effaced the memory of Rosecrans's previous
+disaster, but brought fresh and imperishable laurels to the Union Arms
+--stiffened the President's backbone, and that of Union men everywhere.
+
+Not that Mr. Lincoln had shown any signs of weakness or wavering, or any
+loss of hope in the ultimate result of this War for the preservation of
+the Union--which now also involved Freedom to all beneath its banner.
+On the contrary, a letter of his written late in August shows
+conclusively enough that he even then began to see clearly the coming
+final triumph--not perhaps as "speedy," as he would like, in its coming,
+but none the less sure to come in God's "own good time," and furthermore
+not appearing "to be so distant as it did" before Gettysburg, and
+especially Vicksburg, was won; for, said he: "The signs look better.
+The Father of Waters again goes unvexed to the Sea".
+
+ [This admirable letter, reviewing "the situation" and his policy,
+ was in these words
+
+ EXECUTIVE MANSION,
+ WASHINGTON, August 26. 1863.
+
+ HON. JAMES C. CONKLING
+
+ MY DEAR SIR; Your letter inviting me to attend a Mass Meeting of
+ unconditional Union men to be held at the Capital of Illinois, on
+ the 3rd day of September, has been received. It would be very
+ agreeable for me thus to meet my old friends at my own home; but I
+ cannot just now be absent from here so long a time as a visit there
+ would require.
+
+ The meeting is to be of all those who maintain unconditional
+ devotion to the Union; and I am sure that my old political friends
+ will thank me for tendering, as I do, the Nation's gratitude to
+ those other noble men whom no partisan malice or partisan hope can
+ make false to the Nation's life.
+
+ There are those who are dissatisfied with me. To such I would say:
+ you desire Peace, and you blame me that we do not have it. But how
+ can we attain it? There are but three conceivable ways: First, to
+ suppress the Rebellion by force of Arms. This I am trying to do.
+ Are you for it? If you are, so far we are agreed. If you are not
+ for it, a second way is to give up the Union. I am against this.
+ Are you for it? If you are, you should say so plainly. If you are
+ not for Force, nor yet for Dissolution, there only remains some
+ imaginable Compromise.
+
+ I do not believe that any Compromise embracing the maintenance of
+ the Union is now possible. All that I learn leads to a directly
+ opposite belief. The strength of the Rebellion is its Military,
+ its Army. That Army dominates all the Country, and all the people,
+ within its range. Any offer of terms made by any man or men within
+ that range, in opposition to that Army, is simply nothing for the
+ present: because such man or men have no power whatever to enforce
+ their side of a Compromise, if one were made with them.
+
+ To illustrate: Suppose refugees from the South, and Peace men of
+ the North, get together in Convention, and frame and proclaim a
+ Compromise embracing a restoration of the Union. In what way can
+ that Compromise be used to keep Lee's Army out of Pennsylvania?
+ Meade's Army can keep Lee's Army out of Pennsylvania, and, I think,
+ can ultimately drive it out of existence. But no paper Compromise
+ to which the controllers of Lee's Army are not agreed, can at all
+ affect that Army. In an effort at such Compromise we would waste
+ time, which the Enemy would improve to our disadvantage; and that
+ would be all.
+
+ A Compromise, to be effective, must be made either with those who
+ control the Rebel Army, or with the people, first liberated from
+ the domination of that Army, by the success of our own Army. Now,
+ allow me to assure you that no word or intimation from that Rebel
+ Army, or from any of the men controlling it, in relation to any
+ Peace Compromise, has ever come to my knowledge or belief. All
+ charges and insinuations to the contrary are deceptive and
+ groundless. And I promise you that if any such proposition shall
+ hereafter come, it shall not be rejected and kept a secret from
+ you. I freely acknowledge myself to be the servant of the People,
+ according to the bond of service, the United States Constitution;
+ and that, as such, I am responsible to them.
+
+ But, to be plain. You are dissatisfied with me about the Negro.
+ Quite likely there is a difference of opinion between you and
+ myself upon that subject. I certainly wish that all men could be
+ Free, while you, I suppose, do not. Yet I have neither adopted nor
+ proposed any measure which is not consistent with even your view,
+ provided that you are for the Union. I suggested compensated
+ Emancipation; to which you replied you wished not to be taxed to
+ buy Negroes. But I had not asked you to be taxed to buy Negroes,
+ except in such a way as to save you from greater taxation to save
+ the Union, exclusively by other means.
+
+ You dislike the Emancipation Proclamation, and perhaps would have
+ it retracted. You say it is Unconstitutional. I think
+ differently. I think the Constitution invests the
+ Commander-in-Chief with the Law of War in Time of War. The most
+ that can be said, if so much, is, that Slaves are property. Is
+ there, has there ever been, any question that, by the Law of War,
+ property, both of enemies and friends, may be taken when needed?
+ And is it not needed whenever it helps us and hurts the Enemy?
+ Armies, the World over, destroy enemies' property when they cannot
+ use it; and even destroy their own to keep it from the Enemy.
+ Civilized belligerents do all in their power to help themselves or
+ hurt the Enemy, except a few things regarded as barbarous or cruel.
+ Among the exceptions are the massacre of vanquished foes and
+ non-combatants, male and female.
+
+ But the Proclamation, as law, either is valid or is not valid. If
+ it is not valid, it needs no retraction. If it is valid it cannot
+ be retracted, any more than the dead can be brought to life. Some
+ of you profess to think its retraction would operate favorably for
+ the Union. Why better after the retraction than before the issue?
+ There was more than a year and a half of trial to suppress the
+ Rebellion before the Proclamation was issued, the last one hundred
+ days of which passed under an explicit notice that it was coming,
+ unless averted by those in revolt returning to their allegiance.
+ The War has certainly progressed as favorably for us since the
+ issue of the Proclamation as before.
+
+ I know as fully as one can know the opinions of others that some of
+ the Commanders of our Armies in the field, who have given us our
+ most important victories, believe the Emancipation policy and the
+ use of Colored troops constitute the heaviest blows yet dealt to
+ the Rebellion, and that at least one of those important successes
+ could not have been achieved when it was, but for the aid of Black
+ soldiers.
+
+ Among the Commanders who hold these views are some who have never
+ had an affinity with what is called "Abolitionism," or with
+ "Republican party politics," but who hold them purely as Military
+ opinions. I submit their opinions as entitled to some weight
+ against the objections often urged that Emancipation and arming the
+ Blacks are unwise as Military measures, and were not adopted as
+ such, in good faith.
+
+ You say that you will not fight to Free Negroes. Some of them seem
+ willing to fight for you; but no matter. Fight you, then,
+ exclusively to save the Union. I issued the Proclamation on
+ purpose to aid you in saving the Union. Whenever you shall have
+ conquered all resistance to the Union, if I shall urge you to
+ continue fighting, it will be an apt time then for you to declare
+ you will not fight to Free Negroes. I thought that in your
+ struggle for the Union, to whatever extent the Negroes should cease
+ helping the Enemy, to that extent it weakened the Enemy in his
+ resistance to you. Do you think differently? I thought whatever
+ Negroes can be got to do as soldiers, leaves just so much less for
+ White soldiers to do in saving the Union. Does it appear otherwise
+ to you? But Negroes, like other people, act upon motives. Why
+ should they do anything for us if we will do nothing for them? If
+ they stake their lives for us they must be prompted by the
+ strongest motives, even the promise of Freedom. And the promise,
+ being made, must be kept.
+
+ The signs look better. The Father of Waters again goes unvexed to
+ the Sea. Thanks to the great Northwest for it; nor yet wholly to
+ them. Three hundred miles up, they met New England, Empire,
+ Keystone, and Jersey, hewing their way right and left. The Sunny
+ South, too, in more colors than one, also lent a helping hand. On
+ the spot, their part of the history was jotted down in Black and
+ White. The job was a great National one, and let none be slighted
+ who bore an honorable part in it. And while those who have cleared
+ the Great River may well be proud, even that is not all. It is
+ hard to say that anything has been more bravely and well done than
+ at Antietam, Murfreesboro, Gettysburg, and on many fields of less
+ note. Nor must Uncle Sam's web-feet be forgotten. At all the
+ watery margins they have been present, not only on the deep Sea,
+ the broad Bay, and the rapid River, but also up the narrow, muddy
+ Bayou, and wherever the ground was a little damp they had been, and
+ made their tracks. Thanks to all. For the Great Republic--for the
+ principle it lives by, and keeps alive--for Man's vast future
+ --thanks to all.
+
+ Peace does not appear so distant as it did. I hope it will come
+ soon, and come to stay; and so come as to be worth the keeping in
+ all future time. It will then have been proved that among Freemen
+ there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet,
+ and that they who take such appeal are sure to lose their case and
+ pay the cost. And there will be some Black men who can remember
+ that, with silent tongue, and clinched teeth, and steady eye, and
+ well poised bayonet, they have helped mankind on to this great
+ consummation, while I fear there will be some White ones unable to
+ forget that with malignant heart and deceitful speech they have
+ striven to hinder it.
+
+ Still, let us not be over sanguine of a speedy, final triumph. Let
+ us be quite sober. Let us diligently apply the means, never
+ doubting that a just God, in his own good time, will give us the
+ rightful result.
+
+ Yours very truly,
+ A. LINCOLN.]
+
+
+But Chattanooga, and the grand majorities in all the Fall
+State-elections, save that of New Jersey,--and especially the manner
+in which loyal Ohio sat down upon the chief Copperhead-Democrat and
+Treason-breeder of the North, Vallandigham--came most auspiciously to
+strengthen the President's hands.
+
+ [The head of the Knights of the Golden Circle, and the Democratic
+ candidate for Governor of Ohio]
+
+And now he saw, more clearly still, the approach of that time when the
+solemn promise and declaration of Emancipation might be recorded upon
+the sacred roll of the Constitution, and thus be made safe for all time.
+
+In his Annual Message of December, 1863, therefore, President Lincoln,
+after adverting to the fact that "a year ago the War had already lasted
+nearly twenty months," without much ground for hopefulness, proceeded to
+say:
+
+"The preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, issued in September, was
+running its assigned period to the beginning of the New Year. A month
+later the final Proclamation came, including the announcement that
+Colored men of suitable condition would be received into the War
+service. The policy of Emancipation, and of employing Black soldiers,
+gave to the future a new aspect, about which hope, and fear, and doubt,
+contended in uncertain conflict.
+
+"According to our political system, as a matter of Civil Administration,
+the General Government had no lawful power to effect Emancipation in any
+State, and for a long time it had been hoped that the Rebellion could be
+suppressed without resorting to it as a Military measure. It was all
+the while deemed possible that the necessity for it might come, and that
+if it should, the crisis of the contest would then be presented. It
+came, and, as was anticipated, it was followed by dark and doubtful
+days.
+
+"Eleven months having now passed, we are permitted to take another view
+* * * Of those who were Slaves at the beginning of the Rebellion, full
+one hundred thousand are now in the United States Military service,
+about one half of which number actually bear arms in the ranks; thus
+giving the double advantage of taking so much labor from the Insurgent
+cause, and supplying the places which otherwise must be filled with so
+many White men. So far as tested, it is difficult to say they are not
+as good soldiers as any.
+
+"No servile insurrection, or tendency to violence or cruelty, has marked
+the measures of Emancipation and arming the Blacks. These measures have
+been much discussed in Foreign Countries, and contemporary with such
+discussion the tone of public sentiment there is much improved. At
+home, the same measures have been fully discussed, supported,
+criticised, and denounced, and the annual elections following are highly
+encouraging to those whose official duty it is to bear the Country
+through this great trial. Thus we have the new reckoning. The crisis
+which threatened to divide the friends of the Union is past."
+
+After alluding to his Proclamation of Amnesty, issued simultaneously
+with this Message, to all repentant Rebels who would take an oath
+therein prescribed, and contending that such an oath should be (as he
+had drawn it) to uphold not alone the Constitution and the Union, but
+the Laws and Proclamations touching Slavery as well, President Lincoln
+continued:
+
+"In my judgment they have aided and will further aid, the Cause for
+which they were intended. To now abandon them, would be not only to
+relinquish a lever of power, but would also be a cruel and an astounding
+breach of faith." And, toward the close of the Message, he added:
+
+"The movements by State action, for Emancipation, in several of the
+States not included in the Emancipation Proclamation, are matters of
+profound gratulation. And while I do not repeat in detail what I have
+heretofore so earnestly urged upon the subject, my general views remain
+unchanged; and I trust that Congress will omit no fair opportunity of
+AIDING THESE IMPORTANT STEPS TO A GREAT CONSUMMATION."
+
+Mr. Lincoln's patient but persistent solicitude, his earnest and
+unintermitted efforts--exercised publicly through his Messages and
+speeches, and privately upon Members of Congress who called upon, or
+whose presence was requested by him at the White House--in behalf of
+incorporating Emancipation in the Constitution, were now to give
+promise, at least, of bearing good fruit.
+
+Measures looking to this end were submitted in both Houses of Congress
+soon after its meeting, and were referred to the respective Judiciary
+Committees of the same, and on the 10th of February, 1864, Mr. Trumbull
+reported to the Senate, from the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which he
+was Chairman, a substitute Joint Resolution providing for the submission
+to the States of an Amendment to the United States Constitution in the
+following words:
+
+"ART. XIII., SEC. I. Neither Slavery nor Involuntary Servitude, except
+as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly
+convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to
+their jurisdiction.
+
+"SEC. II. Congress shall have power to enforce this Article by
+appropriate legislation."
+
+This proposed Amendment came up for consideration in the Senate, on the
+28th of March, and a notable debate ensued.
+
+On the same day, in the House of Representatives, Thaddeus Stevens--with
+the object perhaps of ascertaining the strength, in that Body, of the
+friends of out-and-out Emancipation--offered a Resolution proposing to
+the States the following Amendments to the United States Constitution:
+
+"ART. I. Slavery and Involuntary Servitude, except for the punishment
+of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, is forever
+prohibited in the United States and all its Territories.
+
+"ART. II. So much of Article four, Section two, as refers to the
+delivery up of Persons held to Service or Labor, escaping into another
+State, is annulled."
+
+The test was made upon a motion to table the Resolution, which motion
+was defeated by 38 yeas to 69 nays, and showed the necessity for
+converting three members from the Opposition. Subsequently, at the
+instance of Mr. Stevens himself, the second Article of the Resolution
+was struck out by 72 yeas to 26 nays.
+
+The proceedings in both Houses of Congress upon these propositions to
+engraft upon the National Constitution a provision guaranteeing Freedom
+to all men upon our soil, were now interrupted by the death of one who
+would almost have been willing to die twice over, if, by doing so, he
+could have hastened their adoption.
+
+Owen Lovejoy, the life-long apostle of Abolitionism, the fervid
+gospeller of Emancipation, was dead; and it seemed almost the irony of
+Fate that, at such a time, when Emancipation most needed all its friends
+to make it secure, its doughtiest champion should fall.
+
+But perhaps the eloquent tributes paid to his memory, in the Halls of
+Congress, helped the Cause no less. They at least brought back to the
+public mind the old and abhorrent tyrannies of the Southern Slave power;
+how it had sought not not only to destroy freedom of Action, but freedom
+of Speech, and hesitated not to destroy human Life with these; reminded
+the Loyal People of the Union of much that was hateful, from which they
+had escaped; and strengthened the purpose of Patriots to fix in the
+chief corner-stone of the Constitution, imperishable muniments of human
+Liberty.
+
+Lovejoy's brother had been murdered at Alton, Illinois, while
+vindicating freedom of Speech and of the Press; and the blood of that
+martyr truly became "the seed of the Church." Arnold--recalling a
+speech of Owen Lovejoy's at Chicago, and a passage in it, descriptive of
+the martyrdom,--said to the House, on this sad occasion: "I remember
+that, after describing the scene of that death, in words--which stirred
+every heart, he said he went a pilgrim to his brother's grave, and,
+kneeling upon the sod beneath which sleeps that brother, he swore, by
+the everlasting God, eternal hostility to African Slavery." And,
+continued Arnold, "Well and nobly has he kept that oath."
+
+Washburne, too, reminded the House of the memorable episode in that very
+Hall when, (April 5, 1860), the adherents of Slavery crowding around
+Lovejoy with fierce imprecations and threats, seeking then and there to
+prevent Free Speech, "he displayed that undaunted courage and matchless
+bearing which extorted the admiration of even his most deadly foes."
+"His"--continued the same speaker--"was the eloquence of Mirabeau, which
+in the Tiers Etat and in the National Assembly made to totter the throne
+of France; it was the eloquence of Danton, who made all France to
+tremble from his tempestuous utterances in the National Convention.
+Like those apostles of the French Revolution, his eloquence could stir
+from the lowest depths all the passions of Man; but unlike them, he was
+as good and as pure as he was eloquent and brave, a noble minded
+Christian man, a lover of the whole human Race, and of universal Liberty
+regulated by Law."
+
+Grinnell, in his turn, told also with real pathos, of his having
+recently seen Lovejoy in the chamber of sickness. "When," said
+Grinnell, "I expressed fears for his recovery, I saw the tears course
+down his manly cheek, as he said 'Ah! God's will be done, but I have
+been laboring, voting, and praying for twenty years that I might see the
+great day of Freedom which is so near and which I hope God will let me
+live to rejoice in. I want a vote on my Bill for the destruction of
+Slavery, root and branch.'"
+
+
+ [Sumner, afterward speaking of Lovejoy and this Measure, said: "On
+ the 14th of December, 1863, he introduced a Bill, whose title
+ discloses its character: 'A Bill to give effect to the Declaration
+ of Independence, and also to certain Provisions of the Constitution
+ of the United States.' It proceeds to recite that All Men were
+ Created Equal, and were Endowed by the Creator with the Inalienable
+ Right to Life, Liberty and the Fruits of honest Toil; that the
+ Government of the United States was Instituted to Secure those
+ Rights; that the Constitution declares that No Person shall be
+ Deprived of Liberty without due Process of Law, and also provides
+ --article five, clause two--that this Constitution, and the Laws of
+ the United States made in pursuance thereof, shall be the Supreme
+ Law of the Land, and the Judges in each State shall be bound
+ thereby, anything in the Constitution and Laws of any State to the
+ contrary notwithstanding; that it is now demonstrated by the
+ Rebellion that Slavery is absolutely incompatible with the Union,
+ Peace, and General Welfare for which Congress is to Provide; and it
+ therefore Enacts that All Persons heretofore held in Slavery in any
+ of the States or Territories of the United States are declared
+ Freedmen, and are Forever Released from Slavery or Involuntary
+ Servitude except as Punishment for Crime on due conviction. On the
+ same day he introduced another Bill to Protect Freedmen and to
+ Punish any one for Enslaving them. These were among his last
+ Public acts,"--Cong. Globe, 1st S., 38th C., Pt. 2, p. 1334]
+
+And staunch old Thaddeus Stevens said: "The change to him, is great
+gain. The only regret we can feel is that he did not live to see the
+salvation of his Country; to see Peace and Union restored, and universal
+Emancipation given to his native land. But such are the ways of
+Providence. Moses was not permitted to enter the Promised Land with
+those he had led out of Bondage; he beheld it from afar off, and slept
+with his fathers." "The deceased," he impressively added, "needs no
+perishable monuments of brass or marble to perpetuate his name. So long
+as the English language shall be spoken or deciphered, so long as
+Liberty shall have a worshipper, his name will be known!"
+
+What influence the death of Owen Lovejoy may have had on the subsequent
+proceedings touching Emancipation interrupted as we have seen by his
+demise--cannot be known; but among all the eloquent tributes to his
+memory called forth by the mournful incident, perhaps none, could he
+have heard it, would have better pleased him than those two opening
+sentences of Charles Summer's oration in the Senate--where he said of
+Owen Lovejoy: "Could his wishes prevail, he would prefer much that
+Senators should continue in their seats and help to enact into Law some
+one of the several Measures now pending to secure the obliteration of
+Slavery. Such an Act would be more acceptable to him than any personal
+tribute,--" unless it might be these other words, which followed from
+the same lips: "How his enfranchised Soul would be elevated even in
+those Abodes to which he has been removed, to know that his voice was
+still heard on Earth encouraging, exhorting, insisting that there should
+be no hesitation anywhere in striking at Slavery; that this unpardonable
+wrong, from which alone the Rebellion draws its wicked life, must be
+blasted by Presidential proclamation, blasted by Act of Congress,
+blasted by Constitutional prohibition, blasted in every possible way, by
+every available agency, and at every occurring opportunity, so that no
+trace of the outrage may continue in the institutions of the Land, and
+especially that its accursed foot-prints may no longer defile the
+National Statute-book. Sir, it will be in vain that you pass
+Resolutions in tribute to him, if you neglect that Cause for which he
+lived, and do not hearken to his voice!"
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+ "THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT" IN THE SENATE.
+
+During the great debate, which now opened in the Senate, upon the
+Judiciary Committee's substitute resolution for the Amendment of the
+Constitution, so as forever to prohibit Slavery within the United
+States, and to empower Congress to pass such laws as would make that
+prohibition effective--participated in by Messrs. Trumbull, Wilson,
+Saulsbury, Davis, Harlan, Powell, Sherman, Clark, Hale, Hendricks,
+Henderson, Sumner, McDougall and others--the whole history of Slavery
+was enquired into and laid bare.
+
+Trumbull insisted that Slavery was at the bottom of all the internal
+troubles with which the Nation had from its birth been afflicted, down
+to this wicked Rebellion, with all the resulting "distress, desolation,
+and death;" and that by 1860, it had grown to such power and arrogance
+that "its advocates demanded the control of the Nation in
+its interests, failing in which, they attempted its overthrow." He
+reviewed, at some length, what had been done by our Government with
+regard to Slavery, since the breaking out of hostilities against us in
+that mad attempt against the National life; how, "in the earlier stages
+of the War, there was an indisposition on the part of the Executive
+Authority to interfere with Slavery at all;" how, for a long time,
+Slaves, escaping to our lines, were driven back to their Rebel masters;
+how the Act of Congress of July, 1861, which gave Freedom to all Slaves
+allowed by their Rebel masters to assist in the erection of Rebel works
+and fortifications, had "not been executed," and, said Mr. Trumbull, "so
+far as I am advised, not a single Slave has been set at liberty under
+it;" how, "it was more than a year after its enactment before any
+considerable number of Persons of African descent were organized and
+armed" under the subsequent law of December, 1861, which not only gave
+Freedom to all Slaves entering our Military lines, or who, belonging to
+Rebel masters, were deserted by them, or were found in regions once
+occupied by Rebel forces and later by those of the Union, but also
+empowered the President to organize and arm them to aid in the
+suppression of the Rebellion; how, it was not until this law had been
+enacted that Union officers ceased to expel Slaves coming within our
+lines--and then only when dismissal from the public service was made the
+penalty for such expulsion; how, by his Proclamations of Emancipation,
+of September, 1862, and January, 1863, the President undertook to
+supplement Congressional action--which had, theretofore, been confined
+to freeing the Slaves of Rebels, and of such of these only as had come
+within the lines of our Military power-by also declaring, Free, the
+Slaves "who were in regions of country from which the authority of the
+United States was expelled;" and how, the "force and effect" of these
+Proclamations were variously understood by the enemies and friends of
+those measures--it being insisted on the one side that Emancipation as a
+War-stroke was within the Constitutional War-power of the President as
+Commander-in-Chief, and that, by virtue of those Proclamations, "all
+Slaves within the localities designated become ipso facto Free," and on
+the other, that the Proclamations were "issued without competent
+authority," and had not effected and could not effect, "the Emancipation
+of a single Slave," nor indeed could at any time, without additional
+legislation, go farther than to liberate Slaves coming within the Union
+Army lines.
+
+After demonstrating that "any and all these laws and Proclamations,
+giving to each the largest effect claimed by its friends, are
+ineffectual to the destruction of Slavery," and protesting that some
+more effectual method of getting rid of that Institution must be
+adopted, he declared, as his judgment, that "the only effectual way of
+ridding the Country of Slavery, so that it cannot be resuscitated, is by
+an Amendment of the Constitution forever prohibiting it within the
+jurisdiction of the United States."
+
+He then canvassed the chances of adoption of such an Amendment by an
+affirmative vote of two thirds in each House of Congress, and of its
+subsequent ratification by three-fourths of the States of the Union, and
+declared that "it is reasonable to suppose that if this proposed
+Amendment passes Congress, it will, within a year, receive the
+ratification of the requisite number of States to make it a part of the
+Constitution." His prediction proved correct--but only after a
+protracted struggle.
+
+Henry Wilson also made a strong speech, but on different grounds. He
+held that the Emancipation Proclamations formed, together, a "complete,
+absolute, and final decree of Emancipation in Rebel States," and, being
+"born of Military necessity" and "proclaimed by the Commander-in-Chief
+of the Army and Navy, is the settled and irrepealable Law of the
+Republic, to be observed, obeyed, and enforced, by Army and Navy, and is
+the irreversible voice of the Nation."
+
+He also reviewed what had been done since the outbreak of the Rebellion,
+by Congress and the President, by Laws and Proclamations; and, while
+standing by the Emancipation Proclamations, declared that "the crowning
+Act, in this series of Acts, for the restriction and extinction of
+Slavery in America, is this proposed Amendment to the Constitution
+prohibiting the existence of Slavery in the Republic of the United
+States."
+
+The Emancipation Proclamation, according to his view, only needed
+enforcement, to give "Peace and Order, Freedom and Unity, to a now
+distracted Country;" but the "crowning act" of incorporating this
+Amendment into the Constitution would do even more than all this, in
+that it would "obliterate the last lingering vestiges of the Slave
+System; its chattelizing, degrading, and bloody codes; its malignant,
+barbarizing spirit; all it was, and is; everything connected with it or
+pertaining to it, from the face of the Nation it has scarred with moral
+desolation, from the bosom of the Country it has reddened with the blood
+and strewn with the graves of patriotism."
+
+While the debate proceeded, President Lincoln watched it with careful
+interest. Other matters, however, had, since the Battle of Chattanooga,
+largely engrossed his attention.
+
+The right man had at last been found--it was believed--to control as
+well as to lead our Armies. That man was Ulysses S. Grant. The grade
+of Lieutenant General of the Army of the United States--in desuetude
+since the days of Washington, except by brevet, in the case of Winfield
+Scott,--having been especially revived by Congress for and filled by the
+appointment and confirmation of Grant, March 2, 1864, that great soldier
+immediately came on to Washington, received his commission at the hands
+of President Lincoln, in the cabinet chamber of the White House, on the
+9th, paid a flying visit to the Army of the Potomac, on the 10th, and at
+once returned to Nashville to plan future movements.
+
+On the 12th, a General Order of the War Department (No. 98) was issued,
+relieving Major-General Halleck, "at his own request," from duty as
+"General-in-Chief" of the Army, and assigning Lieutenant-General U. S.
+Grant to "the command of the Armies of the United States," "the
+Headquarters of the Army" to be in Washington, and also with
+Lieutenant-General Grant in the Field, Halleck being assigned to "duty,
+in Washington, as Chief-of-staff of the Army, under the direction of the
+Secretary of War and the Lieutenant-General commanding."
+
+By the same order, Sherman was assigned to the command of the "Military
+Division of the Mississippi," composed of the Departments of the Ohio,
+the Cumberland, the Tennessee, and the Arkansas; and McPherson to that
+of the Department and Army of the Tennessee.
+
+On the 23rd of March, Grant was back again at Washington, and at once
+proceeded to Culpepper Court-house, Virginia, where his Headquarters in
+the field were, for a time, to be.
+
+Here he completed his plans, and reorganized his Forces, for the coming
+conflicts, in the South-west and South-east, which were to result in a
+full triumph to the Union Arms, and Peace to a preserved Union.
+
+It is evident, from the utterances of Mr. Lincoln when Vicksburg fell,
+that he had then become pretty well satisfied that Grant was "the coming
+man," to whom it would be safe to confide the management and chief
+leadership of our Armies. Chattanooga merely confirmed that belief--as
+indeed it did that of Union men generally. But the concurrent judgment
+of Congress and the President had now, as we have seen, placed Grant in
+that chief command; and the consequent relief to Mr. Lincoln, in thus
+having the heavy responsibility of Army-control, long unwillingly
+exercised by him, taken from his own shoulders and placed upon those of
+the one great soldier in whom he had learned to have implicit faith,--a
+faith earned by steady and unvaryingly successful achievements in the
+Field--must have been most grateful.
+
+Other responsibilities would still press heavily enough upon the
+President's time and attention. Questions touching the Military and
+Civil government of regions of the Enemy's country, conquered by the
+Union arms; of the rehabilitation or reconstruction of the Rebel States;
+of a thousand and one other matters, of greater or lesser perplexity,
+growing out of these and other questions; besides the ever pressing and
+gigantic problems involved in the raising of enormous levies of troops,
+and prodigious sums of money, needed in securing, moving, and supplying
+them, and defraying the extraordinary expenses growing out of the
+necessary blockade of thousands of miles of Southern Coast, and other
+Naval movements; not to speak of those expenditures belonging to the
+more ordinary business transactions of the Government.
+
+But chief of all things claiming his especial solicitude, as we have
+seen, was this question of Emancipation by Constitutional enactment, the
+debate upon which was now proceeding in the Senate. That solicitude was
+necessarily increased by the bitter opposition to it of Northern
+Copperheads, and by the attitude of the Border-State men, upon whose
+final action, the triumph or defeat of this great measure must
+ultimately depend.
+
+Many of the latter, were, as has already been shown in these pages,
+loyal men; but the loyalty of some of these to their Country, was still
+so questionably and so thoroughly tainted with their worshipful devotion
+to Slavery--although they must have been blind indeed not to have
+discovered, long ere this, that it was a "slowly-dying cause"--that they
+were ever on the alert to delay, hamper, and defeat, any action, whether
+Executive or Legislative, and however necessary for the preservation of
+the Union and the overthrow of its mortal enemies, which, never so
+lightly, impinged upon their "sacred Institution."
+
+This fact was well set forth, in this very debate, by a Senator from New
+England--[Wilson of Massachusetts]--when, after adjuring the
+anti-Slavery men of the age, not to forget the long list of Slavery's
+crimes, he eloquently proceeded:
+
+"Let them remember, too, that hundreds of thousands of our countrymen in
+Loyal States--since Slavery raised the banners of Insurrection, and sent
+death, wounds, sickness, and sorrow, into the homes of the People--have
+resisted, and still continue to resist, any measure for the defense of
+the Nation, if that measure tended to impair the vital and animating
+powers of Slavery. They resisted the Act making Free the Slaves used by
+Rebels for Military purposes; the Confiscation of Rebel property and the
+Freedom of the Slaves of Rebel masters; the Abolition of Slavery in the
+Capital of the Nation, and the consecration of the Territories to Free
+Labor and Free laboring men; the Proclamation of Emancipation; the
+enlistment of Colored men to fight the battles of the Country; the
+Freedom of the Black soldier, who is fighting, bleeding, dying for the
+Country; and the Freedom of his wife and children. And now, when War
+has for nearly three years menaced the life of the Nation, bathed the
+Land in blood, and filled two hundred thousand graves with our slain
+sons, these men of the Loyal States still cling to the falling fortunes
+of the relentless and unappeasable Enemy of their Country and its
+democratic institutions; they mourn, and will not be comforted, over the
+expiring System, in the Border Slave-States; and, in tones of
+indignation or of anguish, they utter lamentations over the Proclamation
+of Emancipation, and the policy that is bringing Rebel States back again
+radiant with Freedom."
+
+Among these "loyal" Democratic opponents of Emancipation, in any shape,
+or any where, were not wanting men--whether from Loyal Northern or
+Border States--who still openly avowed that Slavery was right; that
+Rebellion, to preserve its continuance, was justifiable; and that there
+was no Constitutional method of uprooting it.
+
+Saulsbury of Delaware, was representative and spokesman of this class,
+and he took occasion during this very debate--[In the Senate, March 31,
+1864.]--to defend Slavery as a Divine Institution, which had the
+sanction both of the Mosaic and Christian Dispensations!
+
+ [Said he: "Slavery had existed under some form or other from the
+ first period of recorded history. It dates back even beyond the
+ period of Abraham, the Father of the Faithful, in whose seed all
+ the Nations of the Earth were to be blessed. We find that,
+ immediately after the Flood, the Almighty, for purposes inscrutable
+ to us, condemned a whole race to Servitude: 'Vayomer Orur Knoan
+ Efet Afoatim Yeahio Le-echot:' 'And he said, Cursed be Canaan;
+ Slave of Slaves he shall be to his brethren.' It continued among
+ all people until the advent of the Christian era. It was
+ recognized in that New Dispensation, which was to supersede the
+ Old. It has the sanction of God's own Apostle; for when Paul sent
+ back Onesimus to Philemon, whom did he send? A Freeman? No, Sir.
+ He sent his (doulos,) a Slave, born as such, not even his
+ andrapodon, who was such by captivity in War. Among all people,
+ and in all ages, has this Institution, if such it is to be called,
+ existed, and had the countenance of wise and good men, and even of
+ the Christian Church itself, until these modern times, up at least
+ to the Nineteenth Century. It exists in this Country, and has
+ existed from the beginning."
+
+ Mr. Harlan's reply to the position of Mr. Saulsbury that Slavery is
+ right, is a Divine Institution, etc., was very able and
+ interesting. He piled up authority after authority, English as
+ well as American, to show that there is no support of Slavery--and
+ especially of the title to services of the adult offspring of a
+ Slave--at Common Law; and, after also proving, by the mouth of a
+ favorite son of Virginia, that it has no legal existence by virtue
+ of any Municipal or Statutory Law, he declared that the only
+ remaining Law that can be cited for its support is the Levitical
+ Code"--as follows:
+
+ "'Both thy Bondmen, and thy Bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall
+ be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy
+ Bondmen and Bondmaids.
+
+ "'Moreover, of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among
+ you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you,
+ which they begat in your land; and they shall be your possession.
+
+ "'And ye shall take them as an Inheritance for your children after
+ you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your Bondmen
+ forever."'
+
+ "I remark," said he, "in this connection, that the Levitical Code,
+ or the Hebrew Law, contains a provision for the Naturalization of
+ Foreigners, whether captives of War, or voluntary emigrants. By
+ compliance with the requirements of this law they became citizens,
+ entitled to all the rights and privileges and immunities of native
+ Hebrews. The Hebrew Slave Code, applicable to Enslaved Hebrews, is
+ in these words:
+
+ "'And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold
+ unto thee, and serve thee six years, then in the seventh year thou
+ shalt let him go Free from thee.'
+
+ "Here I request the attention of those who claim compensation for
+ Emancipated Slaves to the text:
+
+ "'And when thou sendest him out Free from thee, thou shalt not let
+ him go away empty:
+
+ "'Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy floor'--
+
+ "Which means granaries--
+
+ "'and out of thy wine-press: of that wherewith the Lord thy God
+ hath blessed thee, thou shalt give unto him.'
+
+ "'It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou sendest him away Free
+ from thee, for he hath been worth a double-hired servant to thee,
+ in serving thee six years.'
+
+ "These Hebrew Statutes provide that the heathen might be purchased
+ and held as Slaves, and their posterity after them; that under
+ their Naturalization Laws all strangers and sojourners, Bond and
+ Free, have the privilege of acquiring the rights of citizenship;
+ that all Hebrews, natives or naturalized, might assert and maintain
+ their right to Freedom.
+
+ "At the end of six years a Hebrew Slave thus demanding his Liberty,
+ was not to be sent away empty; the owner, so far from claiming
+ compensation from his neighbors or from the Public Treasury for
+ setting him Free, was bound to divide with the Freedman, of his own
+ possessions: to give him of his flocks, of his herds, of his
+ granary, and of his winepress, of everything with which the Lord
+ Almighty had blessed the master during the years of his Servitude;
+ and then the owner was admonished that he was not to regard it as a
+ hardship to be required to Liberate the Slave, and to divide with
+ him of his substance.
+
+ "The Almighty places the Liberated Slave's claim to a division of
+ his former master's property on the eternal principles of Justice,
+ the duty to render an equivalent for an equivalent. The Slave
+ having served six years must be paid for his Service, must be paid
+ liberally because he had been worth even more than a hired servant
+ during the period of his enslavement.
+
+ "If, then," continued Mr. Harlan, "the justice of this claim cannot
+ be found either in Reason, Natural Justice, or the principles of
+ the Common Law, or in any positive Municipal or Statute regulation
+ of any State, or in the Hebrew Code written by the Finger of God
+ protruded from the flame of fire on the summit of Sinai, I ask
+ whence the origin of the title to the services of the adult
+ offspring of the Slave mother? or is it not manifest that there is
+ no just title? Is it not a mere usurpation without any known mode
+ of justification, under any existing Code of Laws, human or
+ Divine?"]
+
+He also undertook to justify Secession on the singular ground that "we
+are sprung from a Race of Secessionists," the proof of which he held to
+be in the fact that, while the preamble to, as well as the body of the
+Convention of Ratification of, the old Articles of Confederation between
+the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and
+Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
+Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and
+Georgia, declared that Confederation to be a "Perpetual Union," yet,
+within nine years thereafter, all the other States Seceded from New
+York, Virginia, North Carolina, and Rhode Island by ratifying the new
+Constitution for "a more perfect Union."
+
+He also endeavored to maintain the extraordinary proposition that "if
+the Senate of the United States were to adopt this Joint-resolution, and
+were to submit it to all the States of this Union, and if three-fourths
+of the States should ratify the Amendment, it would not be binding on
+any State whose interest was affected by it, if that State protested
+against it!" And beyond all this, he re-echoed the old, old cry of the
+Border-state men, that "the time is unpropitious for such a measure as
+this."
+
+Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland, however, by his great speech, of April
+5th, in the Senate, did much to clear the tangle in the minds of some
+faltering Union statesmen on this important subject.
+
+He reviewed the question of human Slavery from the time when the
+Constitutional Convention was held; showed that at that period, as well
+as at the time of the Declaration of our Independence "there was but one
+sentiment upon the subject among enlightened Southern statesmen"--and
+that was, that Slavery "is a great affliction to any Country where it
+prevails;" and declared that "a prosperous and permanent Peace can never
+be secured if the Institution is permitted to survive."
+
+He then traversed the various methods by which statesmen were seeking to
+prevent that survival of Slavery, addressing himself by turns to the
+arguments of those who, with John Sherman, "seemed," said he, "to
+consider it as within the power of Congress by virtue of its Legislative
+authority;" to those of the "many well-judging men, with the President
+at their head, who," to again use his own words, "seem to suppose that
+it is within the reach of the Executive;" and lastly, to those "who
+express the opinion that it is not within the scope of either Executive
+or Legislative authority, or of Constitutional Amendment;" and after
+demolishing the arguments of those who held the two former of these
+positions, he proceeded to rebut the assumption that Slavery could not
+be abolished at all because it was not originally abolished by the
+Constitution.
+
+Continuing, he said: "Remember, now, the question is, can that
+Institution, which deals with Humanity as Property, which claims to
+shackle the mind, the soul, and the body, which brings to the level of
+the brute a portion of the race of Man, cease to be within the reach of
+the political power of the People of the United States, not because it
+was not at one time within their power, but because at that time they
+did not exert the power?
+
+"What says the Preamble to the Constitution? How pregnant with a
+conclusive answer is the Preamble, to the proposition that Slavery
+cannot be abolished! What does that Preamble state to have been the
+chief objects that the great and wise and good men had at heart, in
+recommending the Constitution, with that Preamble, to the adoption of
+the American People? That Justice might be established; that
+Tranquillity might be preserved; that the common Defense and general
+Welfare might be maintained; and, last and chief of all, that Liberty
+might be secured.
+
+"Is there no Justice in putting an end to human Slavery? Is there no
+danger to the Tranquillity of the Country in its existence? May it not
+interfere with the common Defense and general Welfare? And, above all,
+is it consistent with any notion, which the mind of man can conceive, of
+human Liberty?"
+
+He held that the very Amendatory clause of the Constitution under which
+it was proposed to make this Amendment, was probably inserted there from
+a conviction of that coming time "when Justice would call so loudly for
+the extinction of the Institution that her call could not be disobeyed,"
+and, when "the Peace and Tranquillity of the Land would demand, in
+thunder tones," its destruction, "as inconsistent with such Peace and
+Tranquillity."
+
+To the atrocious pretence that "there was a right to make a Slave of any
+human being"--which he said would have shocked every one of the framers
+of the Constitution had they heard it; and, what he termed, the nauseous
+declaration that "Slavery of the Black race is of Divine origin," and
+was intended to be perpetual; he said:
+
+"The Saviour of Mankind did not put an end to it by physical power, or
+by the declaration of any existing illegality, in word. His mission
+upon Earth was not to propagate His doctrines by force. He came to
+save, not to conquer. His purpose was not to march armed legions
+throughout the habitable Globe, securing the allegiance of those for
+whose safety He was striving. He warred by other influences. He aimed
+at the heart, principally. He inculcated his doctrines, more ennobling
+than any that the World, enlightened as it was before His advent upon
+Earth, had been able to discover. He taught to Man the obligation of
+brotherhood. He announced that the true duty of Man was to do to others
+as he would have others do to him--to all men, the World over; and
+unless some convert to the modern doctrine that Slavery itself finds not
+only a guarantee for its existence, but for its legal existence, in the
+Scripture, excepts from the operation of the influences which His
+morality brought to bear on the mind of the Christian world, the Black
+man, and shows that it was not intended to apply to Black men, then it
+is not true, it cannot be true, that He designed His doctrine not to be
+equally applicable to the Black and to the White, to the Race of Man as
+he then existed, or as he might exist in all after-time."
+
+To the assumption that the African Slaves were too utterly deficient and
+degraded, mentally and morally, to appreciate the blessings of Freedom,
+he opposed the eloquent fact that "wherever the flag of the United
+States, the symbol of human Liberty, now goes; under it, from their
+hereditary bondage, are to be found men and women and children
+assembling and craving its protection 'fleeing from' the iron of
+oppression that had pierced their souls, to the protection of that flag
+where they are 'gladdened by the light of Liberty.'"
+
+"It is idle to deny," said he--"we feel it in our own persons--how, with
+reference to that sentiment, all men are brethren. Look to the
+illustrations which the times now afford, how, in the illustration of
+that sentiment, do we differ from the Black man? He is willing to incur
+every personal danger which promises to result in throwing down his
+shackles, and making him tread the Earth, which God has created for all,
+as a man, and not as a Slave."
+
+Said he: "It is an instinct of the Soul. Tyranny may oppress it for
+ages and centuries; the pall of despotism may hang over it; but the
+sentiment is ever there; it kindles into a flame in the very furnace of
+affliction, and it avails itself of the first opportunity that offers,
+promising the least chance of escape, and wades through blood and
+slaughter to achieve it, and, whether it succeeds or fails,
+demonstrates, vindicates in the very effort, the inextinguishable right
+to Liberty."
+
+He thought that mischiefs might result from this measure, owing to the
+uneducated condition of the Slave, but they would be but temporary. At
+all events to "suffer those Africans," said he, "whom we are calling
+around our standard, and asking to aid us in restoring the Constitution
+and the power of the Government to its rightful authority, to be reduced
+to bondage again," would be "a disgrace to the Nation." The
+"Institution" must be terminated.
+
+"Terminate it," continued he, "and the wit of man will, as I think, be
+unable to devise any other topic upon which we can be involved in a
+fratricidal strife. God and nature, judging by the history of the past,
+intend us to be one. Our unity is written in the mountains and the
+rivers, in which we all have an interest. The very differences of
+climate render each important to the other, and alike important.
+
+"That mighty horde which, from time to time, have gone from the
+Atlantic, imbued with all the principles of human Freedom which animated
+their fathers in running the perils of the mighty Deep and seeking
+Liberty here, are now there; and as they have said, they will continue
+to say, until time shall be no more: 'We mean that the Government in
+future shall be, as it has been in the past--Once an exemplar of human
+Freedom, for the light and example of the World; illustrating in the
+blessings and the happiness it confers, the truth of the principles
+incorporated into the Declaration of Independence, that Life and Liberty
+are Man's inalienable right."
+
+Fortunately the Democratic opposition, in the Senate, to
+this measure, was too small in numbers to beat the proposed Amendment,
+but by offering amendments to it, its enemies succeeded in delaying its
+adoption.
+
+However, on the 5th of April, an amendment, offered by Garrett Davis,
+was acted upon. It was to strike out all after the preamble of the
+XIIIth Article of Amendment to the Constitution, proposed by the
+Judiciary Committee, and insert the words:
+
+"No Negro, or Person whose mother or grandmother is or was a Negro,
+shall be a citizen of the United States and be eligible to any Civil or
+Military office, or to any place of trust or profit under the United
+States."
+
+Mr. Davis's amendment was rejected by a vote of 5 yeas to 32 nays; when
+he immediately moved to amend, by adding precisely the same words at the
+end of Section 1 of the proposed Article. It was again rejected. He
+then moved to amend by adding to the said Section these words:
+
+"But no Slave shall be entitled to his or her Freedom under this
+Amendment if resident at the time it takes effect in any State, the laws
+of which forbid Free Negroes to reside therein, until removed from such
+State by the Government of the United States."
+
+This also was rejected. Whereupon Mr. Powell moved to add, at the end
+of the first Section, the words:
+
+"No Slave shall be Emancipated by this Article unless the owner thereof
+shall be first paid the value of the Slave or Slaves so Emancipated."
+
+This likewise was rejected, on a yea and nay vote, by 2 yeas (Davis and
+Powell) to 34 nays; when Mr. Davis moved another amendment, viz.: to add
+at the end of Section 2 of the proposed Article, the following:
+
+"And when this Amendment of the Constitution shall have taken effect by
+Freeing the Slaves, Congress shall provide for the distribution and
+settlement of all the population of African descent in the United States
+among the several States and Territories thereof, in proportion to the
+White population of each State and Territory to the aggregate population
+of those of African descent."
+
+This met a like fate; whereupon the Senate adjourned, but, on the
+following day, the matter came up again for consideration:
+
+Hale, of New Hampshire, jubilantly declared that "this is a day that I
+and many others have long wished for, long hoped for, long striven for.
+* * * A day when the Nation is to commence its real life; or, if it is
+not the day, it is the dawning of the day; the day is near at hand * * *
+when the American People are to wake up to the meaning of the sublime
+truths which their fathers uttered years ago, and which have slumbered,
+dead-letters, upon the pages of our Constitution, of our Declaration of
+Independence, and of our history."
+
+McDougall, of California, on the other hand,--utterly regardless of the
+grandly patriotic resolutions of the Legislature of his State, which had
+just been presented to the Senate by his colleague--lugubriously
+declared:
+
+"In my judgment, it may well be said of us:
+
+ 'Let the Heavens be hung in black
+ And let the Earth put mourning on,'
+
+for in the history of no Free People, since the time the Persians came
+down upon Athens, have I known as melancholy a period as this day and
+year of Our Lord in our history; and if we can, by the blessing of God
+and by His favor, rise above it, it will be by His special providence,
+and by no act of ours."
+
+The obstructive tactics were now resumed, Mr. Powell leading off by a
+motion to amend, by adding to the Judiciary Committee's proposed
+Thirteenth Article of the Constitution, the following:
+
+"ART. 14.--The President and Vice-President shall hold their Offices for
+the term of four--[Which he subsequently modified to: 'six years']
+--years. The person who has filled the Office of President shall not be
+reeligible."
+
+This amendment was rejected by 12 yeas to 32 nays; whereupon Mr. Powell
+moved to add to the Committee's Proposition another new Article, as
+follows:
+
+"ART. 14.--The principal Officer in each of the Executive Departments,
+and all persons connected with the Diplomatic Service, may be removed
+from office at the pleasure of the President. All other officers of the
+Executive Departments may be removed at any time by the President or
+other appointing power when their services are unnecessary, or for
+dishonesty, incapacity, inefficiency, misconduct, or neglect of duty,
+and when so removed, the removal shall be reported to the Senate,
+together with the reasons therefor."
+
+This amendment also being rejected, Mr. Powell offered another, which
+was to add a separate Article as follows:
+
+"ART. 14.--Every law, or Resolution having the force of law, shall
+relate to but one subject, and that shall be expressed in its title."
+
+This also being rejected--the negative vote being, as in other cases,
+without reference to the merits of the proposition--and Mr. Powell
+having now apparently exhausted his obstructive amendatory talents, Mr.
+Davis came to the aid of his Kentucky colleague by moving an amendment,
+to come in as an additional Article, being a new plan of Presidential
+election designed to do away with the quadrennial Presidential campaign
+before the People by giving to each State the right to nominate one
+candidate, and leaving it to a Convention of both Houses of Congress
+--and, in case of disagreement, to the Supreme Court of the United States
+--to elect a President and a Vice-President.
+
+The rejection of this proposition apparently exhausted the stock of
+possible amendments possessed by the Democratic opposition, and the
+Joint Resolution, precisely as it came from the Judiciary Committee,
+having been agreed to by that body, "as in Committee of the Whole," was
+now, April 6th, reported to the Senate for its concurrence.
+
+On the following day, Mr. Hendricks uttered a lengthy jeremiad on the
+War, and its lamentable results; intimated that along the Mississippi,
+the Negroes, freed by the advance of our invading Armies and Navies,
+instead of being happy and industrious, were without protection or
+provision and almost without clothing, while at least 200,000 of them
+had prematurely perished, and that such was the fate reserved for the
+4,000,000 Negroes if liberated; and declared he would not vote for the
+Resolution, "because," said he, "the times are not auspicious."
+
+Very different indeed was the attitude of Mr. Henderson, of Missouri,
+Border-State man though he was. In the course of a speech, of much
+power, which he opened with an allusion to the 115,000 Slaves owned in
+his State in 1860--as showing how deeply interested Missouri "must be in
+the pending proposition"--the Senator announced that: "Our great
+interest, as lovers of the Union, is in the preservation and
+perpetuation of the Union." He declared himself a Slaveholder, yet none
+the less desired the adoption of this Thirteenth Article of Amendment,
+for, said he: "We cannot save the Institution if we would. We ought not
+if we could. * * * If it were a blessing, I, for one, would be
+defending it to the last. It is a curse, and not a blessing. Therefore
+let it go. * * * Let the iniquity be cast away!"
+
+It was about this time that a remarkable letter written by Mr. Lincoln
+to a Kentuckian, on the subject of Emancipation, appeared in print. It
+is interesting as being not alone the President's own statement of his
+views, from the beginning, as to Slavery, and how he came to be "driven"
+to issue the Proclamation of Emancipation, and as showing how the Union
+Cause had gained by its issue, but also in disclosing, indirectly, how
+incessantly the subject was revolved in his own mind, and urged by him
+upon the minds of others. The publication of the letter, moreover, was
+not without its effect on the ultimate action of the Congress and the
+States in adopting the Thirteenth Amendment. It ran thus:
+
+
+
+ "EXECUTIVE MANSION.
+ "WASHINGTON, April 4, 1864.
+
+"A. G. HODGES, Esq., Frankfort, Ky.
+
+"MY DEAR SIR: You ask me to put in writing the substance of--what I
+verbally said the other day, in your presence, to Governor Bramlette and
+Senator Dixon. It was about as follows:
+
+"I am naturally anti-Slavery. If Slavery is not wrong, nothing is
+wrong. I cannot remember when I did not so think and feel, and yet I
+have never understood that the 'Presidency conferred upon me an
+unrestricted right to act officially upon this judgment and feeling.
+
+"It was in the oath I took, that I would to the best of my ability
+preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. I
+could not take the Office without taking the oath. Nor was it my view
+that I might take an oath to get power, and break the oath in using the
+power.
+
+"I understood, too, that in ordinary and Civil Administration this oath
+even forbade me to practically indulge my primary abstract judgment on
+the moral question of Slavery. I had publicly declared this many times,
+and in many ways.
+
+"And I aver that, to this day, I have done no Official act in mere
+deference to my abstract judgment and feeling on Slavery.
+
+"I did understand, however, that my oath to preserve the Constitution to
+the best of my ability, imposed upon me the duty of preserving by every
+indispensable means, that Government--that Nation, of which that
+Constitution was the Organic Law.
+
+"Was it possible to lose the Nation and yet preserve the Constitution?
+
+"By General Law, life and limb must be protected; yet often a limb must
+be amputated to save a life; but a life is never wisely given to save a
+limb. I felt that measures, otherwise Unconstitutional, might become
+lawful, by becoming Indispensable to the Constitution through the
+preservation of the Nation.
+
+"Right or wrong, I assumed this ground, and now avow it. I could not
+feel that, to the best of my ability, I have even tried to preserve the
+Constitution, if, to save Slavery, or any minor matter, I should permit
+the wreck of Government, Country, and Constitution, altogether.
+
+"When, early in the War, General Fremont attempted Military
+Emancipation, I forbade it, because I did not then think it an
+Indispensable Necessity.
+
+"When, a little later, General Cameron, then Secretary of War, suggested
+the Arming of the Blacks, I objected, because I did not yet think it an
+Indispensable Necessity.
+
+"When, still later, General Hunter attempted Military Emancipation, I
+again forbade it, because I did not yet think the Indispensable
+Necessity had come.
+
+"When in March, and May, and July, 1862, I made earnest and successive
+appeals to the Border-States to favor compensated Emancipation, I
+believed the Indispensable Necessity for Military Emancipation and
+arming the Blacks would come, unless averted by that measure.
+
+"They declined the proposition, and I was, in my best judgment, driven
+to the alternative of either surrendering the Union, and with it, the
+Constitution, or of laying strong hand upon the Colored element. I
+chose the latter. In choosing it, I hoped for greater gain than loss,
+but of this I was not entirely confident.
+
+"More than a year of trial now shows no loss by it in our Foreign
+Relations, none in our home popular sentiment, none in our white
+Military force, no loss by it anyhow, or anywhere. On the contrary, it
+shows a gain of quite a hundred and thirty thousand soldiers, seamen,
+and laborers.
+
+"These are palpable facts, about which, as facts, there can be no
+cavilling. We have the men; and we could not have had them without the
+measure.
+
+"And now let any Union man who complains of this measure, test himself
+by writing down in one line, that he is for subduing the Rebellion by
+force of arms; and in the next, that he is for taking one hundred and
+thirty thousand men from the Union side, and placing them where they
+would be best for the measure he condemns. If he cannot face his case
+so stated, it is only because he cannot face the truth.
+
+"I add a word which was not in the verbal conversation. In telling this
+tale, I attempt no compliment to my own sagacity. I claim not to have
+controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me.
+Now at the end of three years' struggle, the Nation's condition is not
+what either Party, or any man, devised or expected. God alone can claim
+it.
+
+"Whither it is tending seems plain. If God now wills the removal of a
+great wrong, and wills also that we of the North, as well as you of the
+South, shall pay fairly for our complicity in that wrong, impartial
+history will find therein new causes to attest and revere the Justice
+and goodness of God.
+ "Yours truly,
+ "A. LINCOLN."
+
+
+The 8th of April (1864) turned out to be the decisive field-day in the
+Senate. Sumner endeavored to close the debate on that day in a speech
+remarkable no less for its power and eloquence of statement, its
+strength of Constitutional exposition, and its abounding evidences of
+extensive historical research and varied learning, than for its
+patriotic fervor and devotion to human Freedom.
+
+Toward the end of that great speech, however, he somewhat weakened its
+force by suggesting a change in the phraseology of the proposed
+Thirteenth Amendment, so that, instead of almost precisely following the
+language of the Jeffersonian Ordinance of 1787, as recommended by the
+Judiciary Committee of the Senate, it should read thus:
+
+"All Persons are Equal before the Law, so that no person can hold
+another as a Slave; and the Congress may make all laws necessary and
+proper to carry this Article into effect everywhere within the United
+States and the jurisdiction thereof."
+
+Mr. Sumner's idea in antagonizing the Judiciary Committee's proposition
+with this, was to introduce into our Organic Act, distinctive words
+asserting the "Equality before the Law" of all persons, as expressed in
+the Constitutional Charters of Belgium, Italy and Greece, as well as in
+the various Constitutions of France--beginning with that of September,
+1791, which declared (Art. 1) that "Men are born and continue Free and
+Equal in Rights;" continuing in that of June, 1793, which declares that
+"All Men are Equal by Nature and before the Law:" in that of June, 1814,
+which declares that "Frenchmen are Equal before the Law, whatever may be
+otherwise their title and ranks;" and in the Constitutional Charter of
+August, 1830 in similar terms to the last.
+
+"But," said he, "while desirous of seeing the great rule of Freedom
+which we are about to ordain, embodied in a text which shall be like the
+precious casket to the more precious treasure, yet * * * I am consoled
+by the thought that the most homely text containing such a rule will be
+more beautiful far than any words of poetry or eloquence, and that it
+will endure to be read with gratitude when the rising dome of this
+Capitol, with the Statue of Liberty which surmounts it, has crumbled to
+dust."
+
+Mr. Sumner's great speech, however, by no means ended the debate. It
+brought Mr. Powell to his feet with a long and elaborate contention
+against the general proposition, in the course of which he took occasion
+to sneer at Sumner's "most remarkable effort," as one of his "long
+illogical rhapsodies on Slavery, like:
+
+ '--a Tale
+ Told by an Idiot, full of sound and fury,
+ Signifying nothing.'"
+
+He professed that he wanted "the Union to be restored with the
+Constitution as it is;" that he verily believed the passage of this
+Amendment would be "the most effective Disunion measure that could be
+passed by Congress"--and, said he, "As a lover of the Union I oppose
+it."
+
+ [This phrase slightly altered, in words, but not in meaning, to
+ "The Union as it was, and the Constitution as it is," afterward
+ became the Shibboleth under which the Democratic Party in the
+ Presidential Campaign of 1864, marched to defeat.]
+
+He endeavored to impute the blame for the War, to the northern
+Abolitionists, for, said he: "Had there been no Abolitionists, North,
+there never would have been a Fire-eater, South,"--apparently ignoring
+the palpable fact that had there been no Slavery in the South, there
+could have been no "Abolitionists, North."
+
+He heatedly denounced the "fanatical gentlemen" who desired the passage
+of this measure; declared they intended by its passage "to destroy the
+Institution of Slavery or to destroy the Union," and exclaimed: "Pass
+this Amendment and you make an impassable chasm, as if you were to put a
+lake of burning fire, between the adhering States and those who are out.
+You will then have to make it a War of conquest and extermination before
+you can ever bring them back under the flag of the Government. There is
+no doubt about that proposition."
+
+Mr. Sumner, at this point, withdrew his proposed amendment, at the
+suggestion of Mr. Howard, who expressed a preference "to dismiss all
+reference to French Constitutions and French Codes, and go back to the
+good old Anglo-Saxon language employed by our Fathers, in the Ordinance
+of 1787, (in) an expression adjudicated upon repeatedly, which is
+perfectly well understood both by the public and by Judicial Tribunals
+--a phrase, which is peculiarly near and dear to the people of the
+Northwestern Territory, from whose soil Slavery was excluded by it."
+
+ [The following is the language of "the Ordinance of 1787" thus
+ referred to:
+
+ "ART. 6.--There shall be neither Slavery nor Involuntary Servitude
+ in the said Territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes,
+ whereof the party shall have been duly convicted: * * *."]
+
+Mr. Davis thereupon made another opposition speech and, at its
+conclusion, Mr. Saulsbury offered, as a substitute, an Article,
+comprising no less than twenty sections--that, he said, "embodied in
+them some things" which "did not meet his personal approbation," but he
+had consented to offer them to the Senate as "a Compromise"--as "a Peace
+offering."
+
+The Saulsbury substitute being voted down, the debate closed with a
+speech by Mr. McDougall--an eloquent protest from his standpoint, in
+which, after endorsing the wild statement of Mr. Hendricks that 250,000
+of the people of African descent had been prematurely destroyed on the
+Mississippi, he continued.
+
+"This policy will ingulf them. It is as simple a truth as has ever been
+taught by any history. The Slaves of ancient time were not the Slaves
+of a different Race. The Romans compelled the Gaul and the Celt,
+brought them to their own Country, and some of them became great poets,
+and some eloquent orators, and some accomplished wits, and they became
+citizens of the Republic of Greece, and of the Republic of Rome, and of
+the Empire.
+
+"This is not the condition of these persons with whom we are now
+associated, and about whose affairs we undertake to establish
+administration. They can never commingle with us. It may not be within
+the reading of some learned Senators, and yet it belongs to demonstrated
+Science, that the African race and the European are different; and I
+here now say it as a fact established by science, that the eighth
+generation of the Mixed race formed by the union of the African and
+European, cannot continue their species. Quadroons have few children;
+with Octoroons reproduction is impossible.
+
+"It establishes as a law of nature that the African has no proper
+relation to the European, Caucasian, blood. I would have them kindly
+treated. * * * Against all such policy and all such conduct I shall
+protest as a man, in the name of humanity, and of law, and of truth, and
+of religion."
+
+The amendment made, as in Committee of the Whole, having been concurred
+in, etc., the Joint Resolution, as originally reported by the Judiciary
+Committee, was at last passed, (April 8th)--by a vote of 38 yeas to 6
+nays--Messrs. Hendricks and McDougall having the unenviable distinction
+of being the only two Senators, (mis-)representing Free States, who
+voted against this definitive Charter of American Liberty.
+
+ [The full Senate vote, on passing the Thirteenth Amendment, was:
+
+ YEAS-Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Chandler, Clark, Collamer, Conness,
+ Cowan, Dixon, Doolittle, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Hale,
+ Harding, Harlan, Harris, Henderson, Howard, Howe, Johnson, Lane of
+ Indiana, Lane of Kansas, Morgan, Morrill, Nesmith, Pomeroy, Ramsey,
+ Sherman, Sprague, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Van Winkle, Wade,
+ Wilkinson, Willey, and Wilson--38.
+
+ NAYs--Messrs. Davis, Hendricks, McDougall, Powell, Riddle, and
+ Saulsbury.]
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+ TREASON IN THE NORTHERN CAMPS.
+
+The immortal Charter of Freedom had, as we have seen, with comparative
+ease, after a ten days' debate, by the power of numbers, run the
+gauntlet of the Senate; but now it was to be subjected to the much more
+trying and doubtful ordeal of the House. What would be its fate there?
+This was a question which gave to Mr. Lincoln, and the other friends of
+Liberty and Union, great concern.
+
+It is true that various votes had recently been taken in that body, upon
+propositions which had an indirect bearing upon the subject of
+Emancipation, as, for instance, that of the 1st of February, 1864, when,
+by a vote of 80 yeas to 46 nays, it had adopted a Resolution declaring
+"That a more vigorous policy to enlist, at an early day, and in larger
+numbers, in our Army, persons of African descent, would meet the
+approbation of the House;" and that vote, although indirect, being so
+very nearly a two-thirds vote, was most encouraging. But, on the other
+hand, a subsequent Resolution, squarely testing the sense of the House
+upon the subject, had been carried by much less than a two-thirds vote.
+
+This latter Resolution, offered by Mr. Arnold, after conference with Mr.
+Lincoln, with the very purpose of making a test, was in these direct
+terms:
+
+"Resolved, That the Constitution shall be so amended as to Abolish
+Slavery in the United States wherever it now exists, and to prohibit its
+existence in every part thereof forever."
+
+The vote, adopting it, was but 78 yeas to 62 nays. * This vote,
+therefore, upon the Arnold Resolution, being nowhere near the two-thirds
+affirmative vote necessary to secure the passage through the House of
+the Senate Joint Resolution on this subject amendatory of the
+Constitution, was most discouraging.
+
+It was definite enough, however, to show the necessity of a change from
+the negative to the affirmative side of at least fifteen votes. While
+therefore the outlook was discouraging it was far from hopeless. The
+debate in the Senate had already had its effect upon the public mind.
+That, and the utterances of Mr. Lincoln--and further discussion in the
+House, it was thought, might produce such a pressure from the loyal
+constituencies both in the Free and Border Slave-States as to compel
+success.
+
+But from the very beginning of the year 1864, as if instinctively aware
+that their Rebel friends were approaching the crisis of their fate, and
+needed now all the help that their allies of the North could give them,
+the Anti-War Democrats, in Congress, and out, had been stirring
+themselves with unusual activity.
+
+In both Houses of Congress, upon all possible occasions, they
+had been striving, as they still strove, with the venom of their
+widely-circulated speeches, to poison the loyal Northern and
+Border-State mind, in the hope that the renomination of Mr. Lincoln
+might be defeated, the chance for Democratic success at the coming
+Presidential election be thereby increased, and, if nothing else came
+of it, the Union Cause be weakened and the Rebel Cause correspondingly
+strengthened.
+
+At the same time, evidently under secret instructions from their
+friends, the Conspirators in arms, they endeavored to create
+heart-burnings and jealousies and ill-feeling between the Eastern
+(especially the New England) States and the Western States, and
+unceasingly attacked the Protective-Tariff, Internal Revenue, the
+Greenback, the Draft, and every other measure or thing upon which the
+life of the Union depended.
+
+Most of these Northern-Democratic agitators, "Stealing the livery of
+Heaven to serve the Devil in," endeavored to conceal their treacherous
+designs under a veneer of gushing lip-loyalty, but that disguise was
+"too thin" to deceive either their contemporaries or those who come
+after them. Some of their language too, as well as their blustering
+manner, strangely brought back to recollection the old days of Slavery
+when the plantation-whip was cracked in the House, and the air was blue
+with execration of New England.
+
+Said Voorhees, of Indiana, (January 11, 1864) when the House was
+considering a Bill "to increase the Internal Revenue and for other
+purposes:"
+
+"I want to know whether the West has any friends upon the floor of this
+House? We pay every dollar that is to be levied by this Tax Bill. * *
+* The Manufacturing Interest pays not a dollar into the public Treasury
+that stays there. And yet airs of patriotism are put on here by men
+representing that interest. I visited New England last Summer, * * *
+when I heard the swelling hum of her Manufactories, and saw those who
+only a short time ago worked but a few hands, now working their
+thousands, and rolling up their countless wealth, I felt that it was an
+unhealthy prosperity. To my mind it presented a wealth wrung from the
+labor, the sinews, the bone and muscle of the men who till the soil,
+taxed to an illegitimate extent to foster and support that great System
+of local wealth. * * * I do not intend to stand idly by and see one
+portion of the Country robbed and oppressed for the benefit of another."
+
+And the same day, replying to Mr. Morrill of Vermont, he exclaimed: "Let
+him show me that the plethoric, bloated Manufacturers of New England are
+paying anything to support the Government, and I will recognize it."
+
+Washburne, of Illinois got back at this part of Mr. Voorhees's speech
+rather neatly, by defending the North-west as being "not only willing to
+stand taxation" which had been "already imposed, but * * * any
+additional taxation which," said he, "may be necessary to crush out this
+Rebellion, and to hang the Rebels in the South, and the Rebel
+sympathizers in the North." And, he pointedly added: "Complaint has
+been made against New England. I know that kind of talk. I have heard
+too often that kind of slang about New England. I heard it here for ten
+years, when your Barksdales, and your Keitts's, and your other Traitors,
+now in arms against the Government, filled these Halls with their
+pestilential assaults not only upon New England, but on the Free North
+generally."
+
+Kelley of Pennsylvania, however, more fitly characterized the speech of
+Voorhees, when he termed it "a pretty, indeed a somewhat striking,
+paraphrase of the argument of Mr. Lamar, the Rebel Agent,--[in 1886,
+Secretary of the Interior]--to his confreres in Treason, as we find it
+in the recently published correspondence: 'Drive gold coin out of the
+Country, and induce undue Importation of Foreign products so as to
+strike down the Financial System. You can have no further hope for
+Foreign recognition. It is evident the weight of arms is against us;
+and it is clear that we can only succeed by striking down the Financial
+System of the Country.' It was an admirable paraphrase of the
+Instructions of Mr. Lamar to the Rebel Agents in the North."
+
+The impression was at this time abroad, and there were not wanting
+elements of proof, that certain members of Congress were trusted
+Lieutenants of the Arch-copperhead and Outlaw, Vallandigham. Certain it
+is, that many of these leaders, six months before, attended and
+addressed the great gathering from various parts of the Country, of
+nearly one hundred thousand Vallandigham-Anti-War Peace-Democrats, at
+Springfield, Illinois--the very home of Abraham Lincoln--which adopted,
+during a lull, when they were not yelling themselves hoarse for
+Vallandigham, a resolution declaring against "the further offensive
+prosecution of the War" as being subversive of the Constitution and
+Government, and proposing a National Peace Convention, and, as a
+consequence, Peace, "the Union as it was," and, substantially such
+Constitutional guarantees as the Rebels might choose to demand! And
+this too, at a time (June 13, 1863), when Grant, after many recent
+glorious victories, had been laying siege to Vicksburg, and its Rebel
+Army of 37,000 men, for nearly a month, with every reason to hope for
+its speedy fall.
+
+No wonder that under such circumstances, the news of such a gathering of
+the Northern Democratic sympathizers with Treason, and of their adoption
+of such treasonable Resolutions, should encourage the Rebels in the same
+degree that Union men were disheartened! No wonder that Lee, elated by
+this and other evidences of Northern sympathy with Rebellion, at once
+determined to commence a second grand invasion of the North, and on the
+very next day (June 14th,) moved Northward with all his Rebel hosts to
+be welcomed, he fondly hoped, by his Northern friends of Maryland and
+elsewhere! As we have seen, it took the bloody Battle of Gettysburg to
+undeceive him as to the character of that welcome.
+
+Further than this, Mr. Cox had stumped Ohio, in the succeeding election,
+in a desperate effort to make the banished Traitor, Vallandigham--the
+Chief Northern commander of the "Knights of the Golden Circle"
+(otherwise known as the "Order of the Sons of Liberty," and "O. A. K."
+or "Order of American Knights")--Governor of that great State.
+
+ [The Rebel General Sterling Price being the chief Southern
+ commander of this many-named treasonable organization, which in the
+ North alone numbered over 500,000 men.
+
+ August, 1864.--See Report of Judge Advocate Holt on certain "Secret
+ Associations," in Appendix,]
+
+And it only lacked a few months of the time when quantities of copies of
+the treasonable Ritual of the "Order of American Knights"--as well as
+correspondence touching the purchase of thousands of Garibaldi rifles
+for transportation to the West--were found in the offices of leading
+Democrats then in Congress.
+
+When, therefore, it is said, and repeated, that there were not wanting
+elements of proof, outside of Congressional utterances and actions, that
+leading Democrats in Congress were trusted Lieutenants of the Supreme
+Commander of over half a million of Northern Rebel-sympathizers bound
+together, and to secrecy, by oaths, which were declared to be paramount
+to all other oaths, the violation of which subjected the offender to a
+shameful death somewhat like that, of being "hung, drawn, and
+quartered," which was inflicted in the middle ages for the crime of
+Treason to the Crown--it will be seen that the statement is supported by
+circumstantial, if not by positive and direct, evidence.
+
+Whether the Coxes, the Garret Davises, the Saulsburys, the Fernando
+Woods, the Alexander Longs, the Allens, the Holmans, and many other
+prominent Congressmen of that sort,--were merely in close communion with
+these banded "Knights," or were actual members of their secret
+organizations, may be an open question. But it is very certain that if
+they all were not oath-bound members, they generally pursued the precise
+methods of those who were; and that, as a rule, while they often loudly
+proclaimed loyalty and love for the Union, they were always ready to act
+as if their loyalty and love were for the so-called Confederacy.
+
+Indeed, it was one of these other "loyal" Democrats, who even preceded
+Voorhees, in raising the Sectional cry of: The West, against New
+England. It was on this same Internal Revenue Bill, that Holman of
+Indiana had, the day before Voorhees's attack, said:
+
+"If the Manufacture of the Northwest is to be taxed so heavily, a
+corresponding rate of increase must be imposed on the Manufactures of
+New England and Pennsylvania, or, will gentlemen tax us without limit
+for the benefit of their own Section? * * * I protest against what I
+believe is intended to be a discrimination against one Section of the
+Country, by increasing the tax three-fold, without a corresponding
+increase upon the burdens of other Sections."
+
+But these dreadfully "loyal" Democrats--who did the bidding of
+traitorous masters in their Treason to the Union, and thus, while
+posturing as "Patriots," "fired upon the rear" of our hard-pressed
+Armies--were super-sensitive on this point. And, when they could get
+hold of a quiet sort of a man, inclined to peaceful methods of
+discussion, how they would, terrier-like, pounce upon him, and extract
+from him, if they could, some sort of negative satisfaction!
+
+Thus, for instance, on the 22nd of January, when one of these quiet men
+--Morris of New York--was in the midst of an inoffensive speech, Mr. Cox
+"bristled up," and blusteringly asked whether he meant to say that he
+(Cox) had "ever been the apologist or the defender of a Traitor?"
+
+And Morris not having said so, mildly replied that he did "not so
+charge"--all of which little bit of by-play hugely pleased the touchy
+Mr. Cox, and his clansmen.
+
+But on the day following, their smiles vanished under the words of
+Spalding or Ohio, who, after referring to the crocodile-tears shed by
+Democratic Congressmen over the Confiscation Resolution--on the pretense
+that it would hunt down "innocent women and children" of the Rebels,
+when they had never a word of sympathy for the widows and children of
+the two hundred thousand dead soldiers of the Union-continued:
+
+"They can see our poor soldiers return, minus an arm, minus a leg, as
+they pass through these lobbies, but their only care is to protect the
+property of Rebels. And we are asked by one of my colleagues, (Mr. Cox)
+does the gentleman from New York intend to call us Traitors? My friend,
+Mr. Morris, modestly answered no! If he had asked that question of me,
+he knows what my answer would have been! I have seen Rebel officers at
+Johnson's Island, and I have taken them by the hand because they have
+fought us fairly in the field and did not seek to break down the
+Government while living under its protection. Yes, Sir, that gentleman
+knows that I would have said to him that I have more respect for an open
+and avowed Traitor in the field, than for a sympathizer in this Hall.
+Four months have scarcely gone by since that gentleman and his political
+friends were advocating the election of a man for the Gubernatorial
+office in my State, who was an open and avowed advocate of Secession--AN
+OUTLAW AT THAT!"
+
+And old Thaddeus Stevens--the clear-sighted and courageous "Old
+Commoner"--followed up Spalding, and struck very close to the root and
+animus of the Democratic opposition, when he exclaimed:
+
+"All this struggle by calm and dignified and moderate 'Patriots;' all
+this clamor against 'Radicals;' all this cry of 'the Union as it Was,
+and the Constitution as it Is;' is but a persistent effort to
+reestablish Slavery, and to rivet anew and forever the chains of Bondage
+on the limbs of Immortal beings. May the God of Justice thwart their
+designs and paralyze their wicked efforts!"
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXV.
+
+ "THE FIRE IN THE REAR."
+
+The treacherous purposes of professedly-loyal Copperheads being seen
+through, and promptly and emphatically denounced to the Country by Union
+statesmen, the Copperheads aforesaid concluded that the profuse
+circulation of their own Treason-breeding speeches--through the medium
+of the treasonable organizations before referred to, permeating the
+Northern States,--would more than counteract all that Union men could
+say or do. Besides, the fiat had gone forth, from their Rebel masters
+at Richmond, to Agitate the North.
+
+Hence, day after day, Democrat after Democrat, in the one House or the
+other, continued to air his disloyal opinions, and to utter more or less
+virulent denunciations of the Government which guarded and protected
+him.
+
+Thus, Brooks, of New York, on the 25th of January (1864), sneeringly
+exclaimed: "Why, what absurdity it is to talk at this Capitol of
+prosecuting the War by the liberation of Slaves, when from the dome of
+this building there can be heard at this hour the booming of cannon in
+the distance!"
+
+Thus, also, on the day following, Fernando Wood--the same man who,
+while Mayor of New York at the outbreak of the Rebellion, had, under
+Rebel-guidance, proposed the Secession from the Union, and the
+Independence, of that great Metropolis,--declared to the House that: "No
+Government has pursued a foe with such unrelenting, vindictive malignity
+as we are now pursuing those who came into the Union with us, whose
+blood has been freely shed on every battle-field of the Country until
+now, with our own; who fought by our side in the American Revolution,
+and in the War of 1812 with Great Britain; who bore our banners bravest
+and highest in our victorious march from Vera Cruz to the City of
+Mexico, and who but yesterday sat in these Halls contributing toward the
+maintenance of our glorious institutions."
+
+Then he went on, in the spirit of prophecy, to declare that: "No purely
+agricultural people, fighting for the protection of their own Domestic
+Institutions upon their own soil, have ever yet been conquered. I say
+further, that no revolted people have ever been subdued after they have
+been able to maintain an Independent government for three years." And
+then, warming up to an imperative mood, he made this explicit
+announcement: "We are at War. * * * Whether it be a Civil War,
+Rebellion, Revolution, or Foreign War, it matters little. IT MUST
+CEASE; and I want this Administration to tell the American People WHEN
+it will cease!" Again, only two days afterward, he took occasion to
+characterize a Bill, amendatory of the enrollment Act, as "this
+infamous, Unconstitutional conscription Act!"
+
+C. A. White, of Ohio, was another of the malcontents who undertook, with
+others of the same Copperhead faith, to "maintain, that," as he
+expressed it, "the War in which we are at present engaged is wrong in
+itself; that the policy adopted by the Party in power for its
+prosecution is wrong; that the Union cannot be restored, or, if
+restored, maintained, by the exercise of the coercive power of the
+Government, by War; that the War is opposed to the restoration of the
+Union, destructive of the rights of the States and the liberties of the
+People. It ought, therefore, to be brought to a speedy and immediate
+close."
+
+It was about this time also that, emboldened by immunity from punishment
+for these utterances in the interest of armed Rebels, Edgerton of
+Indiana, was put forward to offer resolutions "for Peace, upon the basis
+of a restoration of the Federal Union under the Constitution as it is,"
+etc.
+
+Thereafter, in both Senate and House, such speeches by
+Rebel-sympathizers, the aiders and abettors of Treason, grew more
+frequent and more virulent than ever. As was well said to the House,
+by one of the Union members from Ohio (Mr. Eckley):
+
+"A stranger, if he listened to the debates here, would think himself in
+the Confederate Congress. I do not believe that if these Halls were
+occupied to-day by Davis, Toombs, Wigfall, Rhett, and Pryor, they could
+add anything to the violence of assault, the falsity of accusation, or
+the malignity of attack, with which the Government has been assailed,
+and the able, patriotic, and devoted men who are charged with its
+Administration have been maligned, in both ends of the Capitol. The
+closing scenes of the Thirty-Sixth Congress, the treasonable
+declarations there made, contain nothing that we cannot hear, in the
+freedom of debate, without going to Richmond or to the camps of Treason,
+where most of the actors in those scenes are now in arms against us."
+
+With such a condition of things in Congress, it is not surprising that
+the Richmond Enquirer announced that the North was "distracted,
+exhausted, and impoverished," and would, "through the agency of a strong
+conservative element in the Free States," soon treat with the Rebels "on
+acceptable terms."
+
+Things indeed had reached such a pass, in the House of Representatives
+especially, that it was felt they could not much longer go on in this
+manner; that an example must be made of some one or other of these
+Copperheads. But the very knowledge of the existence of such a feeling
+of just and patriotic irritation against the continued free utterance of
+such sentiments in the Halls of Congress, seemed only to make some of
+them still more defiant. And, when the 8th of April dawned, it was
+known among all the Democrats in Congress, that Alexander Long proposed
+that day to make a speech which would "go a bow-shot beyond them all" in
+uttered Treason. He would speak right out, what the other Conspirators
+thought and meant, but dared not utter, before the World.
+
+A crowded floor, and packed galleries, were on hand to listen to the
+written, deliberate Treason, as it fell from his lips in the House. His
+speech began with an arraignment of the Government for treachery,
+incompetence, failure, tyranny, and all sorts of barbarous actions and
+harsh intentions, toward the Rebels--which led him to the indignant
+exclamation:
+
+"Will they throw down their arms and submit to the terms? Who shall
+believe that the free, proud American blood, which courses with as quick
+pulsation through their veins as our own, will not be spilled to the
+last drop in resistance?"
+
+Warming up, he proceeded to say: "Can the Union be restored by War? I
+answer most unhesitatingly and deliberately, No, never; 'War is final,
+eternal separation.'"
+
+He claimed that the War was "wrong;" that it was waged "in violation of
+the Constitution," and would "if continued, result speedily in the
+destruction of the Government and the loss of Civil Liberty, and ought
+therefore, to immediately cease."
+
+He held also "that the Confederate States are out of the Union,
+occupying the position of an Independent Power de facto; have been
+acknowledged as a belligerent both by Foreign Nations and our own
+Government; maintained their Declaration of Independence, for three
+years, by force of arms; and the War has cut asunder all the obligations
+that bound them under the Constitution."
+
+"Much better," said he, "would it have been for us in the beginning,
+much better would it be for us now, to consent to a division of our
+magnificent Empire, and cultivate amicable relations with our estranged
+brethren, than to seek to hold them to us by the power of the sword. *
+* * I am reluctantly and despondingly forced to the conclusion that the
+Union is lost, never to be restored. * * * I see neither North nor
+South, any sentiment on which it is possible to build a Union. * * * in
+attempting to preserve our Jurisdiction over the Southern States we have
+lost our Constitutional Form of Government over the Northern. * * * The
+very idea upon which this War is founded, coercion of States, leads to
+despotism. * * * I now believe that there are but two alternatives, and
+they are either an acknowledgment of the Independence of the South as an
+independent Nation, or their complete subjugation and extermination as a
+People; and of these alternatives I prefer the former."
+
+As Long took his seat, amid the congratulations of his Democratic
+friends, Garfield arose, and, to compliments upon the former's peculiar
+candor and honesty, added denunciation for his Treason. After drawing
+an effective parallel between Lord Fairfax and Robert E. Lee, both of
+whom had cast their lots unwillingly with the enemies of this Land, when
+the Wars of the Revolution and of the Rebellion respectively opened,
+Garfield proceeded:
+
+"But now, when hundreds of thousands of brave souls have gone up to God
+under the shadow of the Flag, and when thousands more, maimed and
+shattered in the Contest, are sadly awaiting the deliverance of death;
+now, when three years of terrific warfare have raged over us, when our
+Armies have pushed the Rebellion back over mountains and rivers and
+crowded it back into narrow limits, until a wall of fire girds it; now,
+when the uplifted hand of a majestic People is about to let fall the
+lightning of its conquering power upon the Rebellion; now, in the quiet
+of this Hall, hatched in the lowest depths of a similar dark Treason,
+there rises a Benedict Arnold and proposes to surrender us all up, body
+and spirit, the Nation and the Flag, its genius and its honor, now and
+forever, to the accursed Traitors to our Country. And that proposition
+comes--God forgive and pity my beloved State!--it comes from a citizen
+of the honored and loyal Commonwealth of Ohio! I implore you, brethren
+in this House, not to believe that many such births ever gave pangs to
+my mother-State such as she suffered when that Traitor was born!"
+
+As he uttered these sturdy words, the House and galleries were agitated
+with that peculiar rustling movement and low murmuring sound known as a
+"sensation," while the Republican side with difficulty restrained the
+applause they felt like giving, until he sadly proceeded:
+
+"I beg you not to believe that on the soil of that State another such
+growth has ever deformed the face of Nature and darkened the light of
+God's day."
+
+The hush that followed was broken by the suggestive whisper:
+"Vallandigham!"
+
+"But, ah," continued the Speaker--as his voice grew sadder still--"I am
+reminded that there are other such. My zeal and love for Ohio have
+carried me too far. I retract. I remember that only a few days since,
+a political Convention met at the Capital of my State, and almost
+decided, to select from just such material, a representative for the
+Democratic Party in the coming contest; and today, what claims to be a
+majority of the Democracy of that State say that they have been cheated
+or they would have made that choice!"
+
+ [This refers to Horatio Seymour, the Democratic Governor of New
+ York.]
+
+After referring to the "insidious work" of the "Knights of the Golden
+Circle" in seeking "to corrupt the Army and destroy its efficiency;" the
+"riots and murders which," said he, "their agents are committing
+throughout the Loyal North, under the lead and guidance of the Party
+whose Representatives sit yonder across the aisle;" he continued: "and
+now, just as the time is coming on when we are to select a President for
+the next four years, one rises among them and fires the Beacon, throws
+up the blue-light--which will be seen, and rejoiced over, at the Rebel
+Capital in Richmond--as the signal that the Traitors in our camp are
+organized and ready for their hellish work! I believe the utterance of
+to-day is the uplifted banner of revolt. I ask you to mark the signal
+that blazes here, and see if there will not soon appear the answering
+signals of Traitors all over the Land. * * * If these men do mean to
+light the torch of War in all our homes; if they have resolved to begin
+the fearful work which will redden our streets, and this Capitol, with
+blood, the American People should know it at once, and prepare to meet
+it."
+
+At the close of Mr. Garfield's patriotic and eloquent remarks, Mr. Long
+again got the floor, declared that what he had said, he believed to be
+right, and he would "stand by it," though he had to "stand solitary and
+alone," and "even if it were necessary to brave bayonets, and prisons,
+and all the tyranny which may be imposed by the whole power and force of
+the Administration."
+
+Said he: "I have deliberately uttered my sentiments in that speech, and
+I will not retract one syllable of it." And, to "rub it in" a little
+stronger, he exclaimed, as he took his seat, just before adjournment:
+"Give me Liberty, even if confined to an Island of Greece, or a Canton
+of Switzerland, rather than an Empire and a Despotism as we have here
+to-day!"
+
+This treasonable speech naturally created much excitement throughout the
+Country.
+
+On the following day (Saturday, April 9, 1864), immediately after
+prayer, the reading of the Journal being dispensed with, the Speaker of
+the House (Colfax) came down from the Speaker's Chair, and, from the
+floor, offered a Preamble and Resolution, which ended thus:
+
+"Resolved, That Alexander Long, a Representative from the second
+district of Ohio, having, on the 8th day of April, 1864, declared
+himself in favor of recognizing the Independence and Nationality of the
+so-called Confederacy now in arms against the Union, and thereby 'given
+aid, Countenance and encouragement to persons engaged in armed hostility
+to the United States,' is hereby expelled."
+
+The debate which ensued consumed nearly a week, and every member of
+prominence, on both the Republican and Democratic sides, took part in
+it--the Democrats almost invariably being careful to protest their own
+loyalty, and yet attempting to justify the braver and more candid
+utterances of the accused member.
+
+Mr. Cox led off, April 9th, in the defense, by counterattack. He quoted
+remarks made to the House (March 18, 1864) by Mr. Julian, of Indiana, to
+the effect that "Our Country, united and Free, must be saved, at
+whatever hazard or cost; and nothing, not even the Constitution, must be
+allowed to hold back the uplifted arm of the Government in blasting the
+power of the Rebels forever;"--and upon this, adopting the language of
+another--[Judge Thomas, of Massachusetts.]--Mr. Cox declared that "to
+make this a War, with the sword in one hand to defend the Constitution,
+and a hammer in the other to break it to pieces, is no less treasonable
+than Secession itself; and that, outside the pale of the Constitution,
+the whole struggle is revolutionary."
+
+He thought, for such words as he had just quoted, Julian ought to have
+been expelled, if those of Long justified expulsion!
+
+Finally, being pressed by Julian to define his own position, as between
+the Life of the Nation, and the Infraction of the United States
+Constitution, Mr. Cox said: "I will say this, that UNDER NO
+CIRCUMSTANCES CONCEIVABLE BY THE HUMAN MIND WOULD I EVER VIOLATE THAT
+CONSTITUTION FOR ANY PURPOSE!"
+
+This sentiment was loudly applauded, and received with cries of "THAT IS
+IT!" "THAT'S IT!" by the Democratic side of the House, apparently in
+utter contempt for the express and emphatic declaration of Jefferson
+that: "A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the
+highest duties of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws
+of Necessity, of Self-preservation, of SAVING OUR COUNTRY WHEN IN
+DANGER, are of higher obligation. To LOSE OUR COUNTRY by a scrupulous
+adherence to written law WOULD BE TO LOSE THE LAW ITSELF, with Life,
+Liberty, Property, and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus
+absolutely SACRIFICING THE END TO THE MEANS."
+
+ [In a letter to J. B. Colvin, Sept. 20, 1810, quoted at the time
+ for their information, and which may be found at page 542 of vol.
+ v., of Jefferson's Works.]
+
+Indeed these extreme sticklers for the letter of the Constitution, who
+would have sacrificed Country, kindred, friends, honesty, truth, and all
+ambitions on Earth and hopes for Heaven, rather than violate it--for
+that is what Mr. Cox's announcement and the Democratic endorsement of it
+meant, if they meant anything--were of the same stripe as those
+querulous Ancients, for the benefit of whom the Apostle wrote: "For THE
+LETTER KILLETH, but the Spirit giveth life."
+
+And now, inspired apparently by the reckless utterances
+of Long, if not by the more cautious diatribe of Cox, Harris of
+Maryland, determining if possible to outdo them all, not only declared
+that he was willing to go with his friend Long wherever the House chose
+to send him, but added: "I am a peace man, a radical peace man; and I am
+for Peace by the recognition of the South, for the recognition of the
+Southern Confederacy; and I am for acquiescence in the doctrine of
+Secession." And, said he, in the midst of the laughter which followed
+the sensation his treasonable words occasioned, "Laugh as you may, you
+have got to come to it!" And then, with that singular obfuscation of
+ideas engendered, in the heads of their followers, by the astute
+Rebel-sympathizing leaders, he went on:
+
+"I am for Peace, and I am for Union too. I am as good a Union man as
+any of you. [Laughter.] I am a better Union man than any of you!
+[Great Laughter.] * * * I look upon War as Disunion."
+
+After declaring that, if the principle of the expulsion Resolution was
+to be carried out, his "friend," Mr. Long, "would be a martyr in a
+glorious cause"--he proceeded to announce his own candidacy for
+expulsion, in the following terms:
+
+"Mr. Speaker, in the early part of this Secession movement, there was a
+Resolution offered, pledging men and money to carry on the War. My
+principles were then, and are now, against the War. I stood, solitary
+and alone, in voting against that Resolution, and whenever a similar
+proposition is brought here it will meet with my opposition. Not one
+dollar, nor one man, I swear, by the Eternal, will I vote for this
+infernal, this stupendous folly, more stupendous than ever disgraced any
+civilized People on the face of God's Earth. If that be Treason, make
+the most of it!
+
+"The South asked you to let them go in peace. But no, you said you
+would bring them into subjugation. That is not done yet, and God
+Almighty grant that it never may be. I hope that you will never
+subjugate the South. If she is to be ever again in the Union, I hope it
+will be with her own consent; and I hope that that consent will be
+obtained by some other mode than by the sword. 'If this be Treason,
+make the most of it!'"
+
+An extraordinary scene at once occurred--Mr. Tracy desiring "to know
+whether, in these Halls, the gentleman from Maryland invoked Almighty
+God that the American Arms should not prevail?" "Whether such language
+is not Treason?" and "whether it is in order to talk Treason in this
+Hall?"--his patriotic queries being almost drowned in the incessant
+cries of "Order!" "Order!" and great disorder, and confusion, on the
+Democratic side of the House.
+
+Finally the treasonable language was taken down by the Clerk, and, while
+a Resolution for the expulsion of Mr. Harris was being written out, Mr.
+Fernando Wood--coming, as he said, from a bed of "severe sickness,"
+quoted the language used by Mr. Long, to wit:
+
+"I now believe there are but two alternatives, and they are either the
+acknowledgment of the Independence of the South as an independent
+Nation, or their complete subjugation and extermination as a People; and
+of these alternatives I prefer the former"--and declared that "if he is
+to be expelled for the utterance of that sentiment, you may include me
+in it, because I concur fully in that sentiment."
+
+ [He afterwards (April 11,) said he did not agree with Mr. Long's
+ opinions.]
+
+Every effort was unavailingly made by the Democrats, under the lead of
+Messrs. Cox--[In 1886 American Minister at Constantinople.]--and
+Pendleton,--[In 1886 American Minister at Berlin.]--to prevent action
+upon the new Resolution of expulsion, which was in these words:
+
+"Whereas, Hon. Benjamin G. Harris, a member of the House of
+Representatives of the United States from the State of Maryland, has on
+this day used the following language, to wit: 'The South asked you to
+let them go in peace. But no; you said you would bring them into
+subjection. That is not done yet, and God Almighty grant that it never
+may be. I hope that you will never subjugate the South.' And whereas,
+such language is treasonable, and is a gross disrespect of this House:
+Therefore, 'Be it Resolved, That the said Benjamin G. Harris be expelled
+from this House.'"
+
+Upon reaching a vote, however, the Resolution was lost, there being only
+81 yeas, to 58 (Democratic) nays--two-thirds not having voted
+affirmatively. Subsequently, despite Democratic efforts to obstruct, a
+Resolution, declaring Harris to be "an unworthy Member" of the House,
+and "severely" censuring him, was adopted.
+
+The debate upon the Long-expulsion Resolution now proceeded, and its
+mover, in view of the hopelessness of securing a two-thirds affirmative
+vote, having accepted an amendment comprising other two Resolutions and
+a Preamble, the question upon adopting these was submitted on the 14th
+of April. They were in the words following:
+
+"Whereas, ALEXANDER LONG, a Representative from the second district of
+Ohio, by his open declarations in the National Capitol, and publications
+in the City of New York, has shown himself to be in favor of a
+recognition of the so-called Confederacy now trying to establish itself
+upon the ruins of our Country, thereby giving aid and comfort to the
+Enemy in that destructive purpose--aid to avowed Traitors, in creating
+an illegal Government within our borders, comfort to them by assurances
+of their success and affirmations of the justice of their Cause; and
+whereas, such conduct is at the same time evidence of disloyalty, and
+inconsistent with his oath of office, and his duty as a Member of this
+Body: Therefore,
+
+"Resolved, That the said Alexander Long, a Representative from the
+second district of Ohio, be, and he is hereby declared to be an unworthy
+Member of the House of Representatives.
+
+"Resolved, That the Speaker shall read these Resolutions to the said
+Alexander Long during the session of the House."
+
+The first of these Resolutions was adopted, by 80 yeas to 69 nays; the
+second was tabled, by 71 yeas to 69 nays; and the Preamble was agreed
+to, by 78 yeas to 63 nays.
+
+And, among the 63 Democrats, who were not only unwilling to declare
+Alexander Long "an unworthy Member," or to have the Speaker read such a
+declaration to him in a session of the House, but also refused by their
+votes even to intimate that his conduct evidenced disloyalty, or gave
+aid and comfort to the Enemy, were the names of such democrats as Cox,
+Eldridge, Holman, Kernan, Morrisson, Pendleton, Samuel J. Randall,
+Voorhees, and Fernando Wood.
+
+Hence Mr. Long not only escaped expulsion for his treasonable
+utterances, but did not even receive the "severe censure" which, in
+addition to being declared (like himself) "an unworthy Member," had been
+voted to Mr. Harris for recklessly rushing into the breach to help him!
+
+ [The Northern Democracy comprised two well-recognized classes: The
+ Anti-War (or Peace) Democrats, commonly called "Copperheads," who
+ sympathized with the Rebellion, and opposed the War for the Union;
+ and the War (or Union) Democrats, who favored a vigorous
+ prosecution of the War for the preservation of the Union.]
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+ "THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT" DEFEATED IN THE HOUSE.
+
+The debate in the House of Representatives, upon the Thirteenth
+Amendment to the Constitution--interrupted by the treasonable episode
+referred to in the last Chapter--was subsequently resumed.
+
+Meanwhile, however, Fort Pillow had been stormed, and its garrison of
+Whites and Blacks, massacred.
+
+And now commenced the beginning of the end-so far as the Military aspect
+of the Rebellion was concerned. Early in May, Sherman's Atlanta
+Campaign commenced, and, simultaneously, General Grant began his
+movement toward Richmond. In quick succession came the news of the
+bloody battles of the Wilderness, and those around Spottsylvania, Va.;
+at Buzzard Roost Gap, Snake Creek Gap, and Dalton, Ga.; Drury's Bluff,
+Va.; Resaca, Ga.; the battles of the North Anna, Va.; those around
+Dallas, and New Hope church, Ga; the crossing of Grant's forces to the
+South side of the James and the assault on Petersburg. While the Union
+Armies were thus valiantly attacking and beating those of the Rebels, on
+many a sanguinary field the loyal men of the North, both in and out of
+Congress, pressed for favorable action upon the Thirteenth Amendment.
+"Friends of the wounded in Fredericksburg from the Battle of the
+Wilderness"--exclaimed Horace Greeley in the New York Tribune, of May
+31st,--"friends and relatives of the soldiers of Grant's Army beyond the
+Wilderness, let us all join hands and swear upon our Country's altar
+that we will never cease this War until African Slavery in the United
+States is dead forever, and forever buried!"
+
+Peace Democrats, however, were deaf to all such entreaties. On the very
+same day, Mr. Holman, in the House, objected even to the second reading
+of the Joint Resolution Amendatory of the Constitution, and there were
+so many "Peace Democrats" to back him, that the vote was: 55 yeas to 76
+nays, on the question "shall the Joint Resolution be rejected!"
+
+The old cry, that had been repeated by Hendricks and others, in the
+Senate and House, time and again, was still used--threadbare though it
+was--"this is not the right time for it!" On this very day, for
+instance, Mr. Herrick said: "I ask if this is the proper time for our
+People to consider so grave a measure as the Amendment of the
+Constitution in so vital a point? * * * this is no fitting time for
+such work."
+
+Very different was the attitude of Kellogg, of New York, and well did he
+show up the depths to which the Democracy--the Peace Democracy--had now
+fallen. "We are told," said he, "of a War Democracy, and such there
+are--their name is legion--good men and true; they are found in the
+Union ranks bearing arms in support of the Government and the
+Administration that wields it. At the ballot-box, whether at home or in
+the camp, they are Union men, and vote as they fight, and hold little in
+common with the political leaders of the Democratic Party in or out of
+this Hall--the Seymours, the Woods, the Vallandighams, the Woodwards,
+and their indorsers, who hold and control the Democratic Party here, and
+taint it with Treason, till it is a stench in the nostrils of all
+patriotic men."
+
+After referring to the fact that the leaders of the Rebellion had from
+the start relied confidently upon assistance from the Northern
+Democracy, he proceeded:
+
+"The Peace Democracy, and mere Party-hacks in the North, are fulfilling
+their masters' expectations industriously, unceasingly, and as far as in
+them lies. Not even the shouts for victory, in these Halls, can divert
+their Southern allies here. A sullen gloom at the defeat and
+discomfiture of their Southern brethren settles down on their disastrous
+countenances, from which no ray of joy can be reflected. * * * They
+even vote solid against a law to punish guerrillas.
+
+"Sir," continued he, "in my judgment, many of those who withhold from
+their Country the support they would otherwise give, find allegiance to
+Party too strong for their patriotism. * * * Rejecting the example and
+counsels of Stanton and Dickinson and Butler and Douglas and Dix and
+Holt and Andrew Johnson and Logan and Rosecrans and Grant and a host of
+others, all Democrats of the straightest sect, to forget all other ties,
+and cleave only to their Country for their Country's sake, and rejecting
+the overtures and example of the Republican Party to drop and forget
+their Party name, that all might unite and band together for their
+Country's salvation as Union men, they turn a deaf ear and cold
+shoulder, and sullenly pass by on the other side, thanking God they are
+not as other men are, and lend, if at all, a calculating, qualified, and
+conditional and halting support, under protest, to their Country's
+cause; thus justifying the only hope of the Rebellion to-day, that Party
+spirit at the North will distract its counsels, divide and discourage
+and palsy its efforts, and ultimately make way for the Traitor and the
+parricide to do their worst."
+
+Besides the set speeches made against the proposed
+Constitutional amendment in the House, Peace-Democrats of the Senate
+continued to keep up a running fire at it in that Chamber, on every
+possible occasion. Garrett Davis was especially garrulous on the
+subject, and also launched the thunders of his wrath at the President
+quite frequently and even vindictively. For instance, speaking in the
+Senate--[May 31,1864,]--of the right of Property in Slaves; said he:
+
+"This new-born heresy 'Military Necessity,' as President Lincoln claims,
+and exercises it, is the sum of all political and Military villainies
+* * * and it is no less absurd than it is villainous. * * * The man
+has never spoken or lived who can prove by any provision of the
+Constitution, or by any principle, or by any argument to be deduced
+logically and fairly from it, that he has any such power as this vast,
+gigantic, all-conquering and all-crushing power of Military Necessity
+which he has the audacity to claim.
+
+"This modern Emperor, this Tiberius, a sort of a Tiberius, and his
+Sejanus, a sort of a Sejanus, the head of the War Department, are
+organizing daily their Military Courts to try civilians. * * *
+
+"Sir, I want one labor of love before I die. I want the President of
+the United States, I want his Secretary of War, I want some of his high
+officers in Military command to bring a civilian to a Military
+execution, and me to have the proud privilege of prosecuting them for
+murder. * * * I want the law and its just retribution to be visited
+upon these great delinquents.
+
+"I would sooner, if I had the power, bring about such an atonement as
+that, than I would even put down the Rebellion. It would be a greater
+victory in favor of Freedom and Constitutional Liberty, a thousand-fold,
+of all the People of America besides, than the subjugation of the Rebel
+States could possibly be."
+
+But there seemed to be no end to the' attacks upon the Administration,
+made, in both Houses, by these peculiar Peace-Democrats. Union blood
+might flow in torrents on the fields of the rebellious South, atrocities
+innumerable might be committed by the Rebels, cold-blooded massacres of
+Blacks and Whites, as at Fort Pillow, might occur without rebuke from
+them; but let the Administration even dare to sneeze, and--woe to the
+Administration.
+
+It was not the Thirteenth Amendment only, that they assailed, but
+everything else which the Administration thought might help it in its
+effort to put down the Rebellion. Nor was it so much their malignant
+activity in opposition to any one measure intended to strengthen the
+hands of the Union, but to all such measures; and superadded to this was
+the incessant bringing forward, in both Houses of Congress, by these
+restless Rebel-sympathizers, of Peace-Resolutions, the mere presentation
+of which would be, and were, construed by the Rebel authorities at
+Richmond, as evidences of a weakening.
+
+Even some of the best of the Peace-Democrats, like S. S. Cox, for
+instance, not only assailed the Tariff--under which the Union Republican
+Party sought to protect and build up American Industry, as well as to
+raise as much revenue as possible to help meet the enormous current
+expenditures of the Government--but also denounced our great paper-money
+system, which alone enabled us to secure means to meet all deficiencies
+in the revenues otherwise obtained, and thus to ultimately conquer the
+hosts of Rebellion.
+
+He declared (June 2, 1864) that "The People are the victims of the
+joint-robbery of a system of bounties under the guise of duties, and of
+an inconvertible and depreciated paper currency under the guise of
+money," and added: "No man is now so wise and gifted that he can save
+this Nation from bankruptcy. * * * No borrowing system can save us.
+The scheme of making greenbacks a legal tender, which enabled the debtor
+to cheat his creditor, thereby playing the old game of kingcraft, to
+debase the currency in order to aid the designs of despotism, may float
+us for a while amidst the fluctuations and bubbles of the day; but as no
+one possesses the power to repeal the Law of the Almighty, which decrees
+(and as our Constitution has established) that gold and silver shall be
+the standard of value in the World, so they will ever thus remain,
+notwithstanding the legislation of Congress."
+
+Not satisfied with this sort of "fire in the rear," it was attempted by
+means of Democratic Free-Trade and antipaper-currency sophistries, to
+arouse jealousies, heart-burnings and resentful feelings in the breasts
+of those living in different parts of the Union--to implant bitter
+Sectional antagonisms and implacable resentments between the Eastern
+States, on the one hand, and the Western States, on the other--and thus,
+by dividing, to weaken the Loyal Union States.
+
+That this was the cold-blooded purpose of all who pursued this course,
+would no doubt be warmly denied by some of them; but the fact remains no
+less clear, that the effect of that course, whether so intended or not,
+was to give aid and comfort to the Enemy at that critical time when the
+Nation most needed all the men, money, and moral as well as material
+support, it was possible to get, to put an end to the bloody Rebellion,
+now--under the continuous poundings of Grant's Army upon that of Lee in
+Virginia, and the advance of Sherman's Army upon that of Johnston in
+Georgia--tottering to its overthrow. Thus this same speaker (S. S. Cox),
+in his untimely speech, undertook to divide the Union-loving States
+"into two great classes: the Protected States and the Unprotected
+States;" and--having declared that "The Manufacturing States, mainly the
+New England States and Pennsylvania, are the Protected States," and "The
+Agricultural States," mainly the eleven Western States, which he named,
+"are the Unprotected States"--proceeded to intemperately and violently
+arraign New England, and especially Massachusetts, in the same way that
+had years before been adopted by the old Conspirators of the South when
+they sought--alas, too successfully!--to inflame the minds of Southern
+citizens to a condition of unreasoning frenzy which made attempted
+Nullification and subsequent armed Rebellion and Secession possible.
+
+Well might the thoroughly loyal Grinnell, of Iowa--after exposing what
+he termed the "sophistry of figures" by which Mr. Cox had seen fit "to
+misrepresent and traduce" the Western States-exclaim: "Sir, I have no
+words which I can use to execrate sufficiently such language, in
+arraying the Sections in opposition during a time of War; as if we were
+not one People, descended from one stock, having one interest, and bound
+up in one destiny!"
+
+The damage that might have been done to the Union Cause by such
+malignant Democratic attacks upon the National unity and strength, may
+be imagined when we reflect that at this very time the annual expenses
+of our Government were over $600,000,000, and growing still larger; and
+that $1.90 in legal tender notes of the United States was worth but
+$1.00 in gold, with a downward tendency. Said stern old Thaddeus
+Stevens, alluding on this occasion, to Statesmanship of the peculiar
+stamp of the Coxes and Fernando Woods: "He who in this time will pursue
+such a course of argument for the mere sake of party, can never hope to
+be ranked among Statesmen; nay, Sir, he will not even rise to the
+dignity of a respectable Demagogue!"
+
+Within a week after this, (June 9, 1864), we find in the Senate also,
+similarly insidious attacks upon the strength of the Government, made by
+certain Northern Democrats, who never tired of undermining Loyalty, and
+creating and spreading discontent among the People. The Bill then up,
+for consideration, was one "to prohibit the discharge of persons from
+liability to Military duty, by reason of the payment of money."
+
+In the terribly bloody Campaign that had now been entered upon by Grant
+--in the West, under Sherman, and in the East, under his own personal
+eye--it was essential to send to the front, every man possible. Hence
+the necessity for a Bill of this sort, which moreover provided, in order
+as far as possible to popularize conscription, that all calls for drafts
+theretofore made under the Enrolling Act of March 3, 1863, should be for
+not over one year's service, etc.
+
+This furnished the occasion for Mr. Hendricks, among other Peace
+Democrats, to make opposing speeches. He, it seems, had all along been
+opposed to drafting Union soldiers; and because, during the previous
+Winter, the Senate had been unwilling to abolish the clause permitting a
+drafted man to pay a commutation of $300 (with which money a substitute
+could be procured) instead of himself going, at a time when men were not
+quite so badly needed as now, therefore Mr. Hendricks pretended to think
+it very strange and unjustifiable that now, when everything depended on
+getting every possible man in the field, the Senate should think of
+"abandoning that which it thought right last Winter!"
+
+He opposed drafting; but if drafting must be resorted to, then he
+thought that what he termed "the Horror of the Draft" should be felt by
+as many of the Union people as possible!--or, in his own words: "the
+Horror of the Draft ought to be divided among the People." As if this
+were not sufficient to conjure dreadful imaginings, he added: "if one
+set of men are drafted this year to serve twelve months, and they have
+to go because the power of the Government makes them go, whether they
+can go well or not, then at the end of the year their neighbors should
+be subjected to the same Horror, and let this dreadful demand upon the
+service, upon the blood, and upon the life of the People be distributed
+upon all."
+
+And, in order apparently to still further intensify public feeling
+against all drafting, and sow the seeds of dissatisfaction in the hearts
+of those drafted at this critical time, when the fate of the Union and
+of Republican Government palpably depended upon conscription, he added:
+"It is not so right to say to twenty men in a neighborhood: 'You shall
+go; you shall leave your families whether you can or not; you shall go
+without the privilege of commutation whether you leave starving wives
+and children behind you or not,' and then say to every other man of the
+neighborhood: 'Because we have taken these twenty men for three years,
+you shall remain with your wives and children safely and comfortably at
+home for these three years.' I like this feature of the amendment,
+because it distributes the Horror of the Draft more equally and justly
+over the whole People."
+
+Not satisfied with rolling the "Horror of the Draft" so often and
+trippingly over his tongue, he also essayed the role of Prophet in the
+interest of the tottering god of Slavery. "The People," said he,
+"expect great results from this Campaign; and when another year comes
+rolling around, and it is found that this War is not closed, and that
+there is no reasonable probability of its early close, my colleague
+(Lane) and other Senators who agree with him will find that the People
+will say that this effusion of blood must stop; that THERE MUST BE SOME
+ADJUSTMENT. I PROPHESY THIS."
+
+And, as a further declaration likely to give aid and comfort to the
+Rebel leaders, he said: "I do not believe many men are going to be
+obtained by a draft; I do not believe a very good Army will be got by a
+draft; I do not believe an Army will be put in the field, by a draft,
+that will whip General Lee."
+
+But while all such statements were, no doubt, intended to help the foes
+of the Union, and dishearten or dismay its friends, the really loyal
+People, understanding their fell object, paid little heed to them. The
+predictions of these Prophets of evil fell flat upon the ears of lovers
+of their Country. Conspirators, however much they might masquerade in
+the raiment of Loyalty, could not wholly conceal the ear-marks of
+Treason. The hand might be the hand of Esau, but the voice was the
+voice of Jacob.
+
+On the 8th of June--after a month of terrific and bloody fighting
+between the immediate forces of Grant and Lee--a dispatch from Sherman,
+just received at Washington, was read to the House of Representatives,
+which said: "The Enemy is not in our immediate front, but his signals
+are seen at Lost Mountain, and Kenesaw." So, at the same time, at the
+National Capital, while the friends of the Union there, were not
+immediately confronted with an armed Enemy, yet the signals of his
+Allies could be seen, and their fire upon our rear could be heard, daily
+and almost hourly, both in the Senate and the House of Representatives.
+
+The fight in the House, upon the Thirteenth Amendment, now seemed
+indeed, to be reaching a climax. During the whole of June 14th, until
+midnight, speech after speech on the subject, followed each other in
+rapid succession. Among the opposition speeches, perhaps those of
+Fernando Wood and Holman were most notable for extravagant and
+unreasoning denunciation of the Administration and Party in power--whose
+every effort was put forth, and strained at this very time to the
+utmost, to save the Union.
+
+Holman, for instance, declared that, "Of all the measures of this
+disastrous Administration, each in its turn producing new calamities,
+this attempt to tamper with the Constitution threatens the most
+permanent injury." He enumerated the chief measures of the
+Administration during its three and a half years of power-among them the
+Emancipation Proclamation, the arming of the Blacks, and what he
+sneeringly termed "their pet system of finance" which was to "sustain
+the public credit for infinite years," but which "even now," said he,
+"totters to its fall!" And then, having succeeded in convincing himself
+of Republican failure, he exultingly exclaimed: "But why enumerate?
+What measure of this Administration has failed to be fatal! Every step
+in your progress has been a mistake. I use the mildest terms of
+censure!"
+
+Fernando Wood, in his turn also, "mildly" remarked upon Republican
+policy as "the bloody and brutal policy of the Administration Party."
+He considered this "the crisis of the fate of the Union;" declared that
+Slavery was "the best possible condition to insure the happiness of the
+Negro race"--a position which, on the following day, he "reaffirmed"
+--and characterized those members of the Democratic Party who saw Treason
+in the ways and methods and expressions of Peace Democrats of his own
+stamp, as a "pack of political jackals known as War Democrats."
+
+On the 15th of June, Farnsworth made a reply to Ross--who had claimed to
+be friendly to the Union soldier--in which the former handled the
+Democratic Party without gloves. "What," said he, referring to Mr.
+Ross, "has been the course of that gentleman and his Party on this floor
+in regard to voting supplies to the Army? What has been their course in
+regard to raising money to pay the Army? His vote will be found
+recorded in almost every instance against the Appropriation Bills,
+against ways and means for raising money to pay the Army. It is only a
+week ago last Monday, that a Bill was introduced here to punish
+guerrillas * * * and how did my colleague vote? Against the Bill.* * *
+On the subject of arming Slaves, of putting Negroes into the Army, how
+has my colleague and his Party voted? Universally against it. They
+would strip from the backs of these Black soldiers, now in the service
+of the Country, their uniforms, and would send them back to Slavery with
+chains and manacles. And yet they are the friends of the soldier!"* * *
+"On the vote to repeal the Fugitive Slave Law, how did that (Democratic)
+side of the House vote? Does not the Fugitive Slave Law affect the
+Black soldier in the Army who was a Slave? That side of the House are
+in favor of continuing the Fugitive Slave Law, and of disbanding Colored
+troops. How did that side of the House vote on the question of arming
+Slaves and paying them as soldiers? They voted against it. They are in
+favor of disbanding the Colored regiments, and, armed with the Fugitive
+Slave Law, sending them back to their masters!"
+
+He took occasion also to meet various Democratic arguments against the
+Resolution,--among them, one, hinging on the alleged right of Property
+in Slaves. This was a favorite idea with the Border-State men
+especially, that Slaves were Property--mere chattels as it were,--and,
+only the day before, a Northern man, Coffroth of Pennsylvania, had said:
+
+"Sir, we should pause before proceeding any further in this
+Unconstitutional and censurable legislation. The mere abolition of
+Slavery is not my cause of complaint. I care not whether Slavery is
+retained or abolished by the people of the States in which it exists
+--the only rightful authority. The question to me is, has Congress a
+right to take from the people of the South their Property; or, in other
+words, having no pecuniary interest therein, are we justified in freeing
+the Slave-property of others? Can we Abolish Slavery in the Loyal State
+of Kentucky against her will? If this Resolution should pass, and be
+ratified by three-fourths of the States--States already Free--and
+Kentucky refuses to ratify it, upon what principle of right or law would
+we be justified in taking this Slave-property of the people of Kentucky?
+Would it be less than stealing?"
+
+And Farnsworth met this idea--which had also been advanced by Messrs.
+Ross, Fernando Wood, and Pruyn--by saying: "What constitutes property?
+I know it is said by some gentlemen on the other side, that what the
+statute makes property, is property. I deny it. What 'vested right'
+has any man or State in Property in Man? We of the North hold property,
+not by virtue of statute law, not by virtue of enactments. Our property
+consists in lands, in chattels, in things. Our property was made
+property by Jehovah when He gave Man dominion over it. But nowhere did
+He give dominion of Man over Man. Our title extends back to the
+foundation of the World. That constitutes property. There is where we
+get our title. There is where we get our 'vested rights' to property."
+
+Touching the ethics of Slavery, Mr. Arnold's speech on the same occasion
+was also able, and in parts eloquent, as where he said: 'Slavery is
+to-day an open enemy striking at the heart of the Republic. It is the
+soul and body, the spirit and motive of the Rebellion. It is Slavery
+which marshals yonder Rebel hosts, which confront the patriot Armies
+of Grant and Sherman. It is the savage spirit of this barbarous
+Institution which starves the Union prisoners at Richmond, which
+assassinates them at Fort Pillow, which murders the wounded on the field
+of battle, and which fills up the catalogue of wrong and outrage which
+mark the conduct of the Rebels during all this War.
+
+"In view of all the long catalogue of wrongs which Slavery has inflicted
+upon the Country, I demand to-day, of the Congress of the United States,
+the death of African Slavery. We can have no permanent Peace, while
+Slavery lives. It now reels and staggers toward its last death-struggle.
+Let us strike the monster this last decisive blow."
+
+And, after appealing to both Border-State men, and Democrats of the Free
+States, not to stay the passage of this Resolution which "will strike
+the Rebellion at the heart," he continued: "Gentlemen may flatter
+themselves with a restoration of the Slave-power in this Country. 'The
+Union as it was!' It is a dream, never again to be realized. The
+America of the past, has gone forever. A new Nation is to be born from
+the agony through which the People are now passing. This new Nation is
+to be wholly Free. Liberty, Equality before the Law, is to be the great
+Corner-stone."
+
+So, too, Mr. Ingersoll eloquently said--among many other good things:
+--"It is well to eradicate an evil. That Slavery is an evil, no sane,
+honest man will deny. It has been the great curse of this Country from
+its infancy to the present hour, And now that the States in Rebellion
+have given the Loyal States the opportunity to take off that curse, to
+wipe away the foul stain, I say let it be done. We owe it to ourselves;
+we owe it to posterity; we owe it to the Slaves themselves to
+exterminate Slavery forever by the adoption of the proposed Amendment to
+the Constitution. * * * I believe Slavery is the mother of this
+Rebellion, that this Rebellion can be attributed to no other cause but
+Slavery; from that it derived its life, and gathers its strength to-day.
+Destroy the mother, and the child dies. Destroy the cause, and the
+effect will disappear.
+
+"Slavery has ever been the enemy of liberal principles. It has ever
+been the friend of ignorance, prejudice, and all the unlawful, savage,
+and detestable passions which proceed therefrom. It has ever been
+domineering, arrogant, exacting, and overbearing. It has claimed to be
+a polished aristocrat, when in reality it has only been a coarse,
+swaggering, and brutal boor. It has ever claimed to be a gentleman,
+when in reality it has ever been a villain. I think it is high time to
+clip its overgrown pretensions, strip it of its mask, and expose it, in
+all its hideous deformity, to the detestation of all honest and
+patriotic men."
+
+After Mr. Samuel J. Randall had, at a somewhat later hour, pathetically
+and poetically invoked the House, in its collective unity, as a
+"Woodman," to "spare that tree" of the Constitution, and to "touch not a
+single bough," because, among other reasons, "in youth it sheltered"
+him; and furthermore, because "the time" was "most inopportune;" and,
+after Mr. Rollins, of Missouri, had made a speech, which he afterward
+suppressed; Mr. Pendleton closed the debate in an able effort, from his
+point of view, in which he objected to the passage of the Joint
+Resolution because "the time is not auspicious;" because, said he, "it
+is impossible that the Amendment proposed, should be ratified without a
+fraudulent use of the power to admit new States, or a fraudulent use of
+the Military power of the Federal Government in the Seceded States,"
+--and, said he, "if you should attempt to amend the Constitution by such
+means, what binding obligation would it have?"
+
+He objected, also, because "the States cannot, under the pretense of
+amending the Constitution, subvert the structure, spirit, and theory of
+this Government." "But," said he, "if this Amendment were within the
+Constitutional power of amendment; if this were a proper time to
+consider it; if three-fourths of the States were willing to ratify it;
+and if it did not require the fraudulent use of power, either in this
+House or in the Executive Department, to secure its adoption, I would
+still resist the passage of this Resolution. It is another step toward
+consolidation, and consolidation is Despotism; confederation is
+Liberty."
+
+It was about 4 o'clock in the afternoon of June 15th, that the House
+came to a vote, on the passage of the Joint Resolution. At first the
+strain of anxiety on both sides was great, but, as the roll proceeded,
+it soon became evident that the Resolution was doomed to defeat. And so
+it transpired. The vote stood 93 yeas, to 65 nays--Mr. Ashley having
+changed his vote, from the affirmative to the negative, for the purpose
+of submitting, at the proper time, a motion to reconsider.
+
+That same evening, Mr. Ashley made the motion to reconsider the vote by
+which the proposed Constitutional Amendment was rejected; and the motion
+was duly entered in the Journal, despite the persistent efforts of
+Messrs. Cox, Holman, and others, to prevent it.
+
+On the 28th of June, just prior to the Congressional Recess, Mr. Ashley
+announced that he had been disappointed in the hope of securing enough
+votes from the Democratic side of the House to carry the Amendment.
+"Those," said he, "who ought to have been the champions of this great
+proposition are unfortunately its strongest opponents. They have
+permitted the golden opportunity to pass. The record is made up, and we
+must go to the Country on this issue thus presented." And then he gave
+notice that he would call the matter up, at the earliest possible moment
+after the opening of the December Session of Congress.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+ SLAVERY DOOMED AT THE POLLS.
+
+The record was indeed made up, and the issue thus made, between Slavery
+and Freedom, would be the chief one before the People. Already the
+Republican National Convention, which met at Baltimore, June 7, 1864,
+had not only with "enthusiastic unanimity," renominated Mr. Lincoln for
+the Presidency, but amid "tremendous applause," the delegates rising and
+waving their hats--had adopted a platform which declared, in behalf of
+that great Party: "That, as Slavery was the cause, and now constitutes
+the strength, of this Rebellion, and as it must be, always and
+everywhere, hostile to the principles of Republican government, Justice
+and the National safety demand its utter and complete extirpation from
+the soil of the Republic; and that while we uphold and maintain the Acts
+and Proclamations by which the Government, in its own defense, has aimed
+a death-blow at this gigantic evil, we are in favor, furthermore, of
+such an Amendment to the Constitution, to be made by the People in
+conformity with its provisions, as shall terminate and forever prohibit
+the existence of Slavery within the limits or the jurisdiction of the
+United States."
+
+So, too, with vociferous plaudits, had they received and adopted another
+Resolution, wherein they declared "That we approve and applaud the
+practical wisdom, the unselfish patriotism and the unswerving fidelity
+to the Constitution and the principles of American Liberty, with which
+Abraham Lincoln has discharged, under circumstances of unparalleled
+difficulty, the great duties and responsibilities of the Presidential
+Office; that we approve and endorse, as demanded by the emergency, and
+essential to the preservation of the Nation, and as within the
+provisions of the Constitution; the Measures and Acts which he has
+adopted to defend the Nation against its open and secret foes; that we
+approve, especially, the Proclamation of Emancipation, and the
+employment, as Union soldiers, of men heretofore held in Slavery; and
+that we have full confidence in his determination to carry these and all
+other Constitutional Measures essential to the salvation of the Country,
+into full and complete effect."
+
+Thus heartily, thoroughly and unreservedly, endorsed in all the great
+acts of his Administration--and even more emphatically, if possible, in
+his Emancipation policy--by the unanimous vote of his Party, Mr.
+Lincoln, although necessarily "chagrined and disappointed" by the
+House-vote which had defeated the Thirteenth Amendment, might well feel
+undismayed. He always had implicit faith in the People; he felt sure
+that they would sustain him; and this done, why could not the votes of a
+dozen, out of the seventy Congressional Representatives opposing that
+Amendment, be changed? Even failing in this, it must be but a question
+of time. He thought he could afford to bide that time.
+
+On the 29th of August, the Democratic National Convention met at
+Chicago. Horatio Seymour was its permanent President; that same
+Governor of New York whom the 4th of July, 1863, almost at the moment
+when Vicksburg and Gettysburg had brought great encouragement to the
+Union cause, and when public necessity demanded the enforcement of the
+Draft in order to drive the Rebel invader from Northern soil and bring
+the Rebellion speedily to an end--had threateningly said to the
+Republicans, in the course of a public speech, during the Draft-riots at
+New York City: "Remember this, that the bloody, and treasonable, and
+revolutionary doctrine of public necessity can be proclaimed by a mob as
+well as by a Government. * * * When men accept despotism, they may have
+a choice as to who the despot shall be!"
+
+In his speech to this Democratic-Copperhead National Convention,
+therefore, it is not surprising that he should, at this time, declare
+that "this Administration cannot now save this Union, if it would."
+That the body which elected such a presiding officer,--after the bloody
+series of glorious Union victories about Atlanta, Ga., then fast leading
+up to the fall of that great Rebel stronghold, (which event actually
+occurred long before most of these Democratic delegates, on their
+return, could even reach their homes)--should adopt a Resolution
+declaring that the War was a "failure," was not surprising either.
+
+That Resolution--"the material resolution of the Chicago platform," as
+Vallandigham afterward characters it, was written and "carried through
+both the Subcommittee and the General Committee" by that Arch-Copperhead
+and Conspirator himself.--[See his letter of October 22, 1864, to the
+editor of the New York News,]
+
+It was in these words: "Resolved, That this Convention does explicitly
+declare as the sense of the American People, that after four years of
+failure to restore the Union by the experiment of War, during which,
+under the pretense of a military necessity, or War-power higher than the
+Constitution, the Constitution itself has been disregarded in every
+part, and public Liberty and private right alike trodden down and the
+material prosperity of the Country essentially impaired--Justice,
+Humanity, Liberty, and the public welfare demand that immediate efforts
+be made for a cessation of hostilities, with a view to an ultimate
+Convention of the States, or other peaceable means, to the end that at
+the earliest practicable moment Peace may be restored on the basis of
+the Federal Union of the States."
+
+With a Copperhead platform, this Democratic Convention thought it
+politic to have a Union candidate for the Presidency. Hence, the
+nomination of General McClellan; but to propitiate the out-and-out
+Vallandigham Peace men, Mr. Pendleton was nominated to the second place
+on the ticket.
+
+This combination was almost as great a blunder as was the platform--than
+which nothing could have been worse. Farragut's Naval victory at
+Mobile, and Sherman's capture of Atlanta, followed so closely upon the
+adjournment of the Convention as to make its platform and candidates the
+laughing stock of the Nation; and all the efforts of Democratic orators,
+and of McClellan himself, in his letter of acceptance, could not prevent
+the rise of that great tidal-wave of Unionism which was soon to engulf
+the hosts of Copperhead-Democracy.
+
+The Thanksgiving-services in the churches, and the thundering salutes of
+100 guns from every Military and Naval post in the United States, which
+--during the week succeeding that Convention's sitting--betokened the
+Nation's especial joy and gratitude to the victorious Union Forces of
+Sherman and Farragut for their fortuitously-timed demonstration that the
+"experiment of War" for the restoration of the Union was anything but a
+"Failure" all helped to add to the proportions of that rapidly-swelling
+volume of loyal public feeling.
+
+The withdrawal from the canvass, of General Fremont, nominated for the
+Presidency by the "radical men of the Nation," at Cleveland, also
+contributed to it. In his letter of withdrawal, September 17th, he
+said:
+
+"The Presidential contest has, in effect, been entered upon in such a
+way that the union of the Republican Party has become a paramount
+necessity. The policy of the Democratic Party signifies either
+separation, or reestablishment with Slavery. The Chicago platform is
+simply separation. General McClellan's letter of acceptance is
+reestablishment, with Slavery. The Republican candidate is, on the
+contrary, pledged to the reestablishment of the Union without Slavery;
+and, however hesitating his policy may be, the pressure of his Party
+will, we may hope, force him to it. Between these issues, I think no
+man of the Liberal Party can remain in doubt."
+
+And now, following the fall of Atlanta before Sherman's Forces, Grant
+had stormed "Fort Hell," in front of Petersburg; Sheridan had routed the
+Rebels, under Early, at Winchester, and had again defeated Early at
+Fisher's Hill; Lee had been repulsed in his attack on Grant's works at
+Petersburg; and Allatoona had been made famous, by Corse and his 2,000
+Union men gallantly repulsing the 5,000 men of Hood's Rebel Army, who
+had completely surrounded and attacked them in front, flank, and rear.
+
+All these Military successes for the Union Cause helped the Union
+political campaign considerably, and, when supplemented by the
+remarkable results of the October elections in Pennsylvania, Indiana,
+and Maryland, made the election of Lincoln and Johnson a foregone
+conclusion.
+
+The sudden death of Chief-Justice Taney, too, happening, by a strange
+coincidence, simultaneously with the triumph of the Union Party of
+Maryland in carrying the new Constitution of that State, which
+prohibited Slavery within her borders, seemed to have a significance*
+not without its effect upon the public mind, now fast settling down to
+the belief that Slavery everywhere upon the soil of the United States
+must die.
+
+ [Greeley well said of it: "His death, at this moment, seemed to
+ mark the transition from the Era of Slavery to that of Universal
+ Freedom."]
+
+Then came, October 19th, the Battle of Cedar Creek, Va. where the Rebel
+General Early, during Sheridan's absence, surprised and defeated the
+latter's forces, until Sheridan, riding down from Winchester, turned
+defeat into victory for the Union Arms, and chased the armed Rebels out
+of the Shenandoah Valley forever; and the fights of October 27th and
+28th, to the left of Grant's position, at Petersburg, by which the
+railroad communications of Lee's Army at Richmond were broken up.
+
+At last, November 8, 1864, dawned the eventful day of election. By
+midnight of that date it was generally believed, all over the Union,
+that Lincoln and Johnson were overwhelmingly elected, and that the Life
+as well as Freedom of the Nation had thus been saved by the People.
+
+Late that very night, President Lincoln was serenaded by a Pennsylvania
+political club, and, in responding to the compliment, modestly said:
+
+"I earnestly believe that the consequences of this day's work (if it be
+as you assure, and as now seems probable) will be to the lasting
+advantage, if not to the very salvation, of the Country. I cannot at
+this hour say what has been the result of the election. But whatever it
+may be, I have no desire to modify this opinion, that all who have
+labored to-day in behalf of the Union organization have wrought for the
+best interests of their Country and the World, not only for the present
+but for all future ages.
+
+"I am thankful to God," continued he, "for this approval of the People;
+but, while deeply gratified for this mark of their confidence in me, if
+I know my heart, my gratitude is free from any taint of personal
+triumph. I do not impugn the motives of any one opposed to me. It is
+no pleasure to me to triumph over any one; but I give thanks to the
+Almighty for this evidence of the People's resolution to stand by Free
+Government and the rights of Humanity."
+
+On the 10th of November, in response to another serenade given at the
+White House, in the presence of an immense and jubilantly enthusiastic
+gathering of Union men, by the Republican clubs of the District of
+Columbia, Mr. Lincoln said:
+
+"It has long been a grave question whether any Government, not too
+strong for the Liberties of its People, can be strong enough to maintain
+its existence in great emergencies. On this point the present
+Rebellion has brought our Republic to a severe test, and a
+Presidential election, occurring in regular course during the Rebellion,
+has added not a little to the strain. * * * But the election, along
+with its incidental and undesired strife, has done good, too. It has
+demonstrated that a People's Government can sustain a National election
+in the midst of a great Civil War, until now it has not been known to
+the World that this was a possibility. It shows, also, how sound and
+how strong we still are.
+
+"But," said he, "the Rebellion continues; and now that the election is
+over, may not all having a common interest reunite in a common effort to
+save our common Country?
+
+"For my own part," continued he--as the cheering, elicited by this
+forcible appeal, ceased--"I have striven, and shall strive, to avoid
+placing any obstacle in the way. So long as I have been here I have not
+willingly planted a thorn in any man's bosom. While I am deeply
+sensible to the high compliment of a reelection, and duly grateful, as I
+trust, to Almighty God for having directed my countrymen to a right
+conclusion, as I think, for their own good, it adds nothing to my
+satisfaction that any other man may be disappointed or pained by the
+result."
+
+And, as the renewed cheering evoked by this kindly, Christian utterance
+died away again, he impressively added: "May I ask those who have not
+differed with me, to join with me in this same spirit, towards those who
+have?"
+
+So, too, on the 17th of November, in his response to the complimentary
+address of a delegation of Union men from Maryland.
+
+ [W. H. Purnell, Esq., in behalf of the Committee, delivered an
+ address, in which he said they rejoiced that the People, by such an
+ overwhelming and unprecedented majority, had again reelected Mr.
+ Lincoln to the Presidency and endorsed his course--elevating him to
+ the proudest and most honorable position on Earth. They felt under
+ deep obligation to him because he had appreciated their condition
+ as a Slave-State. It was not too much to say that by the exercise
+ of rare discretion on his part, Maryland to-day occupies her
+ position in favor of Freedom. Slavery has been abolished therefrom
+ by the Sovereign Decree of the People. With deep and lasting
+ gratitude they desired that his Administration, as it had been
+ approved in the past, might also be successful in the future, and
+ result in the Restoration of the Union, with Freedom as its
+ immutable basis. They trusted that, on retiring from his high and
+ honorable position, the universal verdict might be that he deserved
+ well of mankind, and that favoring Heaven might 'Crown his days
+ with loving kindness and tender mercies.']
+
+The same kindly anxiety to soften and dispel the feeling of
+bitterness that had been engendered in the malignant bosoms of the
+Copperhead-Democracy by their defeat, was apparent when he said with
+emphasis and feeling:
+
+"I have said before, and now repeat, that I indulge in no feeling of
+triumph over any man who has thought or acted differently from myself.
+I have no such feeling toward any living man;" and again, after
+complimenting Maryland for doing "more than double her share" in the
+elections, in that she had not only carried the Republican ticket, but
+also the Free Constitution, he added: "Those who have differed with us
+and opposed us will yet see that the result of the Presidential election
+is better for their own good than if they had been successful."
+
+The victory of the Union-Republican Party at this election was an
+amazing one, and in the words of General Grant's dispatch of
+congratulation to the President, the fact of its "having passed off
+quietly" was, in itself, "a victory worth more to the Country than a
+battle won,"--for the Copperheads had left no stone unturned in their
+efforts to create the utmost possible rancor, in the minds of their
+partisans, against the Administration and its Party.
+
+Of twenty-five States voting, Lincoln and Johnson had carried the
+electoral votes of twenty-two of them, viz.: Maine, New Hampshire,
+Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New York,
+Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Michigan,
+Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, California, Oregon, Kansas, West Virginia,
+and Nevada; while McClellan and Pendleton had carried the twenty-one
+electoral votes of the remaining three, viz.: New Jersey, Delaware, and
+Kentucky--the popular vote reaching the enormous number of 2,216,067 for
+Lincoln, to 1,808,725 for McClellan--making Lincoln's popular majority
+407,342, and his electoral majority 191!
+
+But if the figures upon the Presidential candidacy were so gratifying
+and surprising to all who held the cause of Union above all others, no
+less gratifying and surprising were those of the Congressional
+elections, which indicated an entire revulsion of popular feeling on the
+subject of the Administration's policy. For, while in the current
+Congress (the 38th), there were only 106 Republican-Union to 77
+Democratic Representatives, in that for which the elections had just
+been held, (the 39th), there would be 143 Republican-Union to 41
+Democratic Representatives.
+
+It was at once seen, therefore, that, should the existing House of
+Representatives fail to adopt the Thirteenth Amendment to the
+Constitution, there would be much more than the requisite two-thirds
+majority for such a Measure in both Houses of the succeeding Congress;
+and moreover that in the event of its failure at the coming Session, it
+was more than probable that President Lincoln would consider himself
+justified in calling an Extra Session of the Thirty-ninth Congress for
+the especial purpose of taking such action. So far then, as the
+prospects of the Thirteenth Amendment were concerned, they looked
+decidedly more encouraging.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+ FREEDOM AT LAST ASSURED.
+
+As to the Military situation, a few words are, at this time, necessary:
+Hood had now marched Northward, with some 50,000 men, toward Nashville,
+Tenn., while Sherman, leaving Thomas and some 35,000 men behind, to
+thwart him, had abandoned his base, and was marching Southward from
+Atlanta, through Georgia, toward the Sea.
+
+On the 30th of November, 1864, General Schofield, in command of the 4th
+and 23rd Corps of Thomas's Army, decided to make a stand against Hood's
+Army, at Franklin, in the angle of the Harpeth river, in order to give
+time for the Union supply-trains to cross the river. Here, with less
+than 20,000 Union troops, behind some hastily constructed works, he had
+received the impetuous and overwhelming assault of the Enemy--at first
+so successful as to threaten a bloody and disastrous rout to the Union
+troops--and, by a brilliant counter-charge, and subsequent obstinate
+defensive-fighting, had repulsed the Rebel forces, with nearly three
+times the Union losses, and withdrew the next day in safety to the
+defenses of Nashville.
+
+A few days later, Hood, with his diminished Rebel Army, sat down before
+the lines of Thomas's somewhat augmented Army, which stretched from bank
+to bank of the bight of the Cumberland river upon which Nashville is
+situated.
+
+And now a season of intense cold set in, lasting a week or ten days.
+During this period of apparent inaction on both sides--which aroused
+public apprehension in the North, and greatly disturbed General Grant--I
+was ordered to City Point, by the General-in-Chief, with a view to his
+detailing me to Thomas's Command, at Nashville.
+
+On the way, I called on President Lincoln, at the White House. I found
+him not very well, and with his feet considerably swollen. He was
+sitting on a chair, with his feet resting on a table, while a barber was
+shaving him. Shaking him by the hand, and asking after his health, he
+answered, with a humorous twinkle of the eye, that he would illustrate
+his condition by telling me a story. Said he: "Two of my neighbors, on
+a certain occasion, swapped horses. One of these horses was large, but
+quite thin. A few days after, on inquiry being made of the man who had
+the big boney horse, how the animal was getting along?--whether
+improving or not?--the owner said he was doing finely; that he had
+fattened almost up to the knees already!"
+
+Afterward--when, the process of shaving had been completed, we passed to
+another room--our conversation naturally turned upon the War; and his
+ideas upon all subjects connected with it were as clear as those of any
+other person with whom I ever talked. He had an absolute conviction as
+to the ultimate outcome of the War--the final triumph of the Union Arms;
+and I well remember, with what an air of complete relief and perfect
+satisfaction he said to me, referring to Grant--"We have now at the head
+of the Armies, a man in whom all the People can have confidence."
+
+But to return to Military operations: On December 10th? Sherman reached
+the sea-board and commenced the siege of Savannah, Georgia; on the 13th,
+Fort McAllister was stormed and Sherman's communications opened with the
+Sea; on the 15th and 16th, the great Battle of Nashville was fought,
+between the Armies of Thomas and Hood, and a glorious victory gained by
+the Union Arms--Hood's Rebel forces being routed, pursued for days, and
+practically dispersed; and, before the year ended, Savannah surrendered,
+and was presented to the Nation, as "a Christmas gift," by Sherman.
+
+And now the last Session of the Thirty-eighth Congress having commenced,
+the Thirteenth Amendment might at any time come up again in the House.
+In his fourth and last Annual Message, just sent in to that Body,
+President Lincoln had said:
+
+"At the last Session of Congress a proposed Amendment of the
+Constitution abolishing Slavery throughout the United States, passed the
+Senate, but failed for lack of the requisite two-thirds vote in the
+House of Representatives. Although the present is the same Congress,
+and nearly the same members, and without questioning the wisdom or
+patriotism of those who stood in opposition, I venture to recommend the
+reconsideration and passage of the measure at the present Session. Of
+course the abstract question is not changed; but an intervening election
+shows, almost certainly, that the next Congress will pass the measure if
+this does not. Hence there is only a question of time as to when the
+proposed Amendment will go to, the States for their action. And as it
+is to so go, at all, events, may we not agree that the sooner the
+better? It is not claimed that the election has imposed a duty on
+members to change their views or their votes, any farther than, as an
+additional element to be considered, their judgment may be affected by
+it. It is the voice of the People now, for the first time, heard upon
+the question. In a great National crisis like ours, unanimity of action
+among those seeking a common end is very desirable--almost
+indispensable. And yet no approach to such unanimity is attainable
+unless some deference shall be paid to the will of the majority simply
+because it is the will of the majority. In this case the common end is
+the maintenance of the Union; and, among the means to secure that end,
+such will, through the election, is most clearly declared in favor of
+such Constitutional Amendment."
+
+After affirming that, on the subject of the preservation of the Union,
+the recent elections had shown the existence of "no diversity among the
+People;" that "we have more men now than we had when the War began;"
+that "we are gaining strength" in all ways; and that, after the
+evidences given by Jefferson Davis of his unchangeable opposition to
+accept anything short of severance from the Union, "no attempt at
+negotiation with the Insurgent leader could result in any good," he
+appealed to the other Insurgents to come back to the fold--the door of
+amnesty and pardon, being still "open to all." But, he continued:
+
+"In presenting the abandonment of armed resistance to the National
+Authority, on the part of the Insurgents, as the only indispensable
+condition to ending the War, on the part of the Government, I retract
+nothing heretofore said as to Slavery. I repeat the declaration made a
+year ago, that 'while I remain in my present position I shall not
+attempt to retract or modify the Emancipation Proclamation, nor shall I
+return to Slavery any Person who is Free by the terms of that
+Proclamation, or by any of the Acts of Congress.' If the People should,
+by whatever mode or means, make it an Executive duty to Reenslave such
+Persons, another, and not I, must be their instrument to perform it. In
+stating a single condition of Peace I mean simply to say that the War
+will cease on the part of the Government, whenever it shall have ceased
+on the part of those who began it."
+
+On the 22d of December, 1864, in accordance with the terms of a
+Concurrent Resolution that had passed both Houses, Congress adjourned
+until January 5, 1865. During the Congressional Recess, however, Mr.
+Lincoln, anxious for the fate of the Thirteenth Amendment, exerted
+himself, as it afterward appeared, to some purpose, in its behalf, by
+inviting private conferences with him, at the White House, of such of
+the Border-State and other War-Democratic Representatives as had before
+voted against the measure, but whose general character gave him ground
+for hoping that they might not be altogether deaf to the voice of reason
+and patriotism.
+
+ [Among those for whom he sent was Mr. Rollins, of
+ Missouri, who afterward gave the following interesting account of
+ the interview:
+
+ "The President had several times in my presence expressed his deep
+ anxiety in favor of the passage of this great measure. He and
+ others had repeatedly counted votes in order to ascertain, as far
+ as they could, the strength of the measure upon a second trial in
+ the House. He was doubtful about its passage, and some ten days or
+ two weeks before it came up for consideration in the House, I
+ received a note from him, written in pencil on a card, while
+ sitting at my desk in the House, stating that he wished to see me,
+ and asking that I call on him at the White House. I responded that
+ I would be there the next morning at nine o'clock.
+
+ "I was prompt in calling upon him and found him alone in his
+ office. He received me in the most cordial manner, and said in his
+ usual familiar way: 'Rollins, I have been wanting to talk to you
+ for some time about the Thirteenth Amendment proposed to the
+ Constitution of the United States, which will have to be voted on
+ now, before a great while.'
+
+ "I said: 'Well, I am here, and ready to talk upon that subject.
+
+ "He said: 'You and I were old Whigs, both of us followers of that
+ great statesman, Henry Clay, and I tell you I never had an opinion
+ upon the subject of Slavery in my life that I did not get from him.
+ I am very anxious that the War should be brought to a close at the
+ earliest possible date, and I don't believe this can be
+ accomplished as long as those fellows down South can rely upon
+ the Border-States to help them; but if the Members from the
+ Border-States would unite, at least enough of them to pass the
+ Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, they would soon see that
+ they could not expect much help from that quarter, and be willing
+ to give up their opposition and quit their War upon the Government;
+ that is my chief hope and main reliance to bring the War to a
+ speedy close, and I have sent for you as an old Whig friend to come
+ and see me, that I might make an appeal to you to vote for this
+ Amendment. It is going to be very close; a few votes one way or
+ the other will decide it.'
+
+ "To this, I responded: 'Mr. President, so far as I am concerned,
+ you need not have sent for me to ascertain my views on this
+ subject, for although I represent perhaps the strongest
+ Slave-district in Missouri, and have the misfortune to be one of the
+ largest Slave-owners in the country where I reside, I had already
+ determined to vote for the Amendment.
+
+ "He arose from his chair, and grasping me by the hand, gave it a
+ hearty shake, and said: 'I am most delighted to hear that.'
+
+ "He asked me how many more of the Missouri delegates in the House
+ would vote for it.
+
+ "I said I could not tell; the Republicans of course would; General
+ Loan, Mr. Blow, Mr. Boyd, and Colonel McClurg.
+
+ "He said, 'Won't General Price vote for it? He is a good Union
+ man.' I said I could not answer.
+
+ "'Well, what about General King?'
+
+ "I told him I did not know.
+
+ "He then asked about Judges Hall and Norton.
+
+ "I said they would both vote against it, I thought.
+
+ "'Well,' he said, 'are you on good terms with Price and King?'
+
+ "I responded in the affirmative, and that I was on easy terms with
+ the entire delegation.
+
+ "He then asked me if I would not talk with those who might be
+ persuaded to vote for the amendment, and report to him as soon as I
+ could find out what the prospect was.'
+
+ "I answered that I would do so with pleasure, and remarked at the
+ same time, that when I was a young man, in 1848, I was the Whig
+ competitor of King for Governor of Missouri, and, as he beat me
+ very badly, I thought now he should pay me back by voting as I
+ desired him on this important question.
+
+ "I promised the President I would talk to this gentleman upon the
+ subject.
+
+ "He said: 'I would like you to talk to all the Border-State men
+ whom you can approach properly, and tell them of my anxiety to have
+ the measure pass; and let me know the prospect of the Border-State
+ vote,' which I promised to do.
+
+ "He again said: 'The passage of this Amendment will clinch the
+ whole subject; it will bring the War, I have no doubt, rapidly to a
+ close.'"--Arnold's Life of Lincoln, pp. 358-359,]
+
+On the 5th of January, 1865, the Christmas Recess having expired,
+Congress re-assembled. The motion to reconsider the vote-by which the
+Joint Resolution, to amend the Constitution by the abolition of Slavery,
+had been defeated--was not called up, on that day, as its friends had
+not all returned; but the time was mainly consumed in able speeches, by
+Mr. Creswell of Maryland, and Stevens of Pennsylvania, in which the
+former declared that "whether we would or not, we must establish Freedom
+if we would exterminate Treason. Events have left us no choice. The
+People have learned their duty and have instructed us accordingly." And
+Mr. Thaddeus Stevens solemnly said: "We are about to ascertain the
+National will, by another vote to amend the Constitution. If gentlemen
+opposite will yield to the voice of God and Humanity, and vote for it, I
+verily believe the sword of the Destroying Angel will be stayed, and
+this People be reunited. If we still harden our hearts, and blood must
+still flow, may the ghosts of the slaughtered victims sit heavily upon
+the souls of those who cause it!"
+
+On the 6th of January, Mr. Ashley called up his motion to reconsider the
+vote defeating the Thirteenth Amendment, and opened the debate with a
+lengthy and able speech in favor of that measure, in concluding which he
+said:
+
+"The genius of history, with iron pen, is waiting to record our verdict
+where it will remain forever for all the coming generations of men to
+approve or condemn. God grant that this verdict may be one over which
+the friends of Liberty, impartial and universal, in this Country and
+Europe, and in every Land beneath the sun, may rejoice; a verdict which
+shall declare that America is Free; a verdict which shall add another
+day of jubilee, and the brightest of all, to our National calendar."
+
+The debate was participated in by nearly all the prominent men, on both
+sides of the House--the speeches of Messrs. Cox, Brooks, Voorhees,
+Mallory, Holman, Woods and Pendleton being the most notable, in
+opposition to, and those of Scofield, Rollins, Garfield and Stevens,
+in favor of, the Amendment. That of Scofield probably stirred up "the
+adversary" more thoroughly than any other; that of Rollins was more
+calculated to conciliate and capture the votes of hesitating, or
+Border-State men; that of Garfield was perhaps the most scholarly and
+eloquent; while that of Stevens was remarkable for its sledge-hammer
+pungency and characteristic brevity.
+
+Mr. Pendleton, toward the end of his speech, had said of Mr. Stevens:
+"Let him be careful, lest when the passions of these times be passed
+away, and the historian shall go back to discover where was the original
+infraction of the Constitution, he may find that sin lies at the door of
+others than the people now in arms." And it was this that brought the
+sterling old Patriot again to his feet, in vindication of the acts of
+his liberty-inspired life, and in defense of the power to amend the
+Constitution, which had been assailed.
+
+The personal antithesis with which he concluded his remarks was in
+itself most dramatically effective, Said he:
+
+"So far as the appeals of the learned gentleman (Mr. Pendleton) are
+concerned, in his pathetic winding up, I will be willing to take my
+chance, when we all moulder in the dust. He may have his epitaph
+written, if it be truly written, 'Here rests the ablest and most
+pertinacious defender of Slavery, and opponent of Liberty;' and I will
+be satisfied if my epitaph shall be written thus: 'Here lies one who
+never rose to any eminence, and who only courted the low ambition to
+have it said that he had striven to ameliorate the condition of the
+poor, the lowly, the downtrodden, of every race, and language, and
+color."
+
+As he said these words, the crowded floors and galleries broke out into
+involuntary applause for the grand "Old Commoner"--who only awaited its
+cessation, to caustically add: "I shall be content, with such a eulogy
+on his lofty tomb and such an inscription on my humble grave, to trust
+our memories to the judgment of after ages."
+
+The debate, frequently interrupted by Appropriation Bills, and other
+important and importunate measures, lasted until the 31st of January,
+when Mr. Ashley called the previous question on his motion to
+reconsider.
+
+Mr. Stiles at once moved to table the motion to reconsider. Mr.
+Stiles's motion was lost by 57 yeas to 111 nays. This was in the nature
+of a test-vote, and the result, when announced, was listened to, with
+breathless attention, by the crowded House and galleries. It was too
+close for either side to be satisfied; but it showed a gain to the
+friends of the Amendment; that was something. How the final vote would
+be, none could tell. Meanwhile it was known, from the announcements on
+the floor, that Rogers was absent through his own illness and Voorhees
+through illness in his family.
+
+The previous question being seconded and the main question ordered, the
+yeas and nays were called on the motion to reconsider--and the intense
+silence succeeding the monotonous calling of the names was broken by the
+voice of the Speaker declaring the motion to reconsider, carried, by 112
+yeas to 57 nays.
+
+This vote created a slight sensation. There was a gain of one,
+(English), at any rate, from among those not voting on the previous
+motion. Now, if there should be but the change of a single vote, from
+the nays to the yeas, the Amendment would be carried!
+
+The most intensely anxious solicitude was on nearly every face, as Mr.
+Mallory, at this critical moment, made the point of order that "a vote
+to reconsider the vote by which the subject now before the House was
+disposed of, in June last, requires two-thirds of this Body," and
+emphatically added: "that two-thirds vote has not been obtained."
+
+A sigh of relief swept across the galleries, as the Speaker overruled
+the point of order. Other attempted interruptions being resolutely met
+and defeated by Mr. Ashley, in charge of the Resolution, the "previous
+question" was demanded, seconded, and the main question ordered--which
+was on the passage of the Resolution.
+
+And now, amid the hush of a breathless and intent anxiety--so absolute
+that the scratch of the recording pencil could be heard--the Clerk
+commenced to call the roll!
+
+So consuming was the solicitude, on all sides, for the fate of this
+portentous measure, that fully one-half the Representatives kept tally
+at their desks as the vote proceeded, while the heads of the gathered
+thousands of both sexes, in the galleries, craned forward, as though
+fearing to lose the startlingly clear responses, while the roll-call
+progressed.
+
+When it reached the name of English--Governor English, a Connecticut
+Democrat, who had not voted on the first motion, to table the motion to
+reconsider, but had voted "yea" on the motion to reconsider,--and he
+responded with a clear-cut "aye" on the passage of the Resolution--it
+looked as though light were coming at last, and applause involuntarily
+broke forth from the Republican side of the floor, spreading instantly
+to the galleries, despite the efforts of the Speaker to preserve order.
+
+So, when Ganson of New York, and other Democrats, voted "aye," the
+applause was renewed again and again, and still louder again, when, with
+smiling face--which corroborated the thrilling, fast-spreading, whisper,
+that "the Amendment is safe!"--Speaker Colfax directed the Clerk to call
+his name, as a member of the House, and, in response to that call, voted
+"aye!"
+
+Then came dead silence, as the Clerk passed the result to the Speaker
+--during which a pin might have been heard to drop,--broken at last by the
+Speaker's ringing voice: "The Constitutional majority of two-thirds
+having voted in the affirmative, the Joint Resolution is passed."
+
+ [The enrolled Resolution received the approval and signature of the
+ President, Feb. 1, 1865,]
+
+The words had scarcely left the Speaker's lips, when House and galleries
+sprang to their feet, clapping their hands, stamping their feet, waving
+hats and handkerchiefs, and cheering so loudly and so long that it
+seemed as if this great outburst of enthusiasm--indulged in, in defiance
+of all parliamentary rules--would never cease!
+
+In his efforts to control it, Speaker Colfax hammered the desk until he
+nearly broke his mallet. Finally, by 4 o'clock, P.M., after several
+minutes of useless effort--during which the pounding of the mallet was
+utterly lost in the noisy enthusiasm and excitement, in which both the
+Freedom-loving men and women of the Land, there present, participated
+--the Speaker at last succeeded in securing a lull.
+
+Advantage was instantly taken of it, by the successor of the dead Owen
+Lovejoy, Mr. Ingersoll of Illinois, his young face flushing with the
+glow of patriotism, as he cried: "Mr. Speaker! In honor of this
+Immortal and Sublime Event I move that the House do now adjourn." The
+Speaker declared the motion carried, amid renewed demonstrations of
+enthusiasm.
+
+During all these uncontrollable ebullitions of popular feeling in behalf
+of personal Liberty and National Freedom and strength, the Democratic
+members of the House had sat, many of them moving uneasily in their
+seats, with chagrin painted in deep lines upon their faces, while others
+were bolt upright, as if riveted to their chairs, looking straight
+before them at the Speaker, in a vain attempt, belied by the pallid
+anger of their set countenances, to appear unconscious of the storm of
+popular feeling breaking around them, which they now doggedly perceived
+might be but a forecast of the joyful enthusiasm which on that day, and
+on the morrow, would spread from one end of the Land to the other.
+
+Harris, of Maryland, made a sort of "Last Ditch" protest against
+adjournment, by demanding the "yeas and nays" on the motion to adjourn.
+The motion was, however, carried, by 121 yeas to 24 nays; and, as the
+members left their places in the Hall--many of them to hurry with their
+hearty congratulations to President Lincoln at the White House--the
+triumph, in the Halls of our National Congress, of Freedom and Justice
+and Civilization, over Slavery and Tyranny and Barbarism, was already
+being saluted by the booming of one hundred guns on Capitol Hill.
+
+How large a share was Mr. Lincoln's, in that triumph, these pages have
+already sufficiently indicated. Sweet indeed must have been the joy
+that thrilled his whole being, when, sitting in the White House, he
+heard the bellowing artillery attest the success of his labors in behalf
+of Emancipation. Proud indeed must he have felt when, the following
+night, in response to the loud and jubilant cries of "Lincoln!"
+"Lincoln!" "Abe Lincoln!" "Uncle Abe!" and other affectionate calls,
+from a great concourse of people who, with music, had assembled outside
+the White House to give him a grand serenade and popular ovation, he
+appeared at an open window, bowed to the tumult of their acclamations,
+and declared that "The great Job is ended!"--adding, among other things,
+that the occasion was one fit for congratulation, and, said he, "I
+cannot but congratulate all present--myself, the Country, and the whole
+World--upon this great moral victory. * * * This ends the Job!"
+
+Substantially the job was ended. There was little doubt, after such a
+send off, by the President and by Congress, in view of the character of
+the State Legislatures, as well as the temper of the People, that the
+requisite number of States would be secured to ratify the Thirteenth
+Amendment. Already, on the 1st of February, that is to say, on the very
+day of this popular demonstration at the Executive Mansion, the
+President's own State, Illinois, had ratified it--and this circumstance
+added to the satisfaction and happiness which beamed from, and almost
+made beautiful, his homely face.
+
+Other States quickly followed; Maryland, on February 1st and 3rd; Rhode
+Island and Michigan, on February 2nd; New York, February 2nd and 3rd;
+West Virginia, February 3rd; Maine and Kansas, February 7th;
+Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, February 8th; Virginia, February 9th;
+Ohio and Missouri, February 10th; Nevada and Indiana, February 16th;
+Louisiana, February 17th; Minnesota, February 8th and 23rd; Wisconsin,
+March 1st; Vermont, March 9th; Tennessee, April 5th and 7th; Arkansas,
+April 20th; Connecticut, May 5th; New Hampshire, July 1st; South
+Carolina, November 13th; Alabama, December 2nd; North Carolina, December
+4th; Georgia, December 9th; Oregon, December 11th; California, December
+20th; and Florida, December 28th;--all in 1865; with New Jersey, closely
+following, on January 23rd; and Iowa, January 24th;--in 1866.
+
+Long ere this last date, however, the Secretary of State (Mr. Seward)
+had been able to, and did, announce (November 18, 1865) the ratification
+of the Amendment by the requisite number of States, and certified that
+the same had "become, to all intents and purposes, valid as a part of
+the Constitution of the United States."
+
+Not until then, was "the job" absolutely ended; but, as has been already
+mentioned, it was, at the time Mr. Lincoln spoke, as good as ended. It
+was a foregone conclusion, that the great end for which he, and so many
+other great and good men of the Republic had for so many years been
+earnestly striving, would be an accomplished fact. They had not failed;
+they had stood firm; the victory which he had predicted six years before
+had come!
+
+ [He had said in his Springfield speech, of 1858: "We
+ shall not fail; if we stand firm we shall not fail; wise counsels
+ may accelerate, or mistakes delay, but sooner or later the Victory
+ is sure to come."]
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+ LINCOLN'S SECOND INAUGURATION.
+
+While the death of Slavery in America was decreed, as we have seen; yet,
+the sanguine anticipations of Mr. Lincoln, and other friends of Freedom,
+that such a decree, imperishably grafted into the Constitution, must at
+once end the Rebellion, and bring Peace with a restored Union, were not
+realized. The War went on. Grant was still holding Lee, at Petersburg,
+near Richmond, while Sherman's victorious Army was about entering upon a
+campaign from Savannah, up through the Carolinas.
+
+During the previous Summer, efforts had been made, by Horace Greeley,
+and certain parties supposed to represent the Rebel authorities, to lay
+the ground-work for an early Peace and adjustment of the differences
+between the Government of the United States and the Rebels, but they
+miscarried. They led, however, to the publication of the following
+important conciliatory Presidential announcement:
+
+ "EXECUTIVE MANSION,
+ "WASHINGTON, July 18, 1864.
+
+"To whom it may concern:
+
+"Any proposition which embraces the restoration of Peace, the integrity
+of the whole Union, and the abandonment of Slavery, and which comes by
+and with an authority that can control the Armies now at War against the
+United States, will be received and considered by the Executive
+Government of the United States, and will be met by liberal terms on
+substantial and collateral points; and the bearer or bearers thereof
+shall have safe conduct both ways.
+
+"(Signed) ABRAHAM LINCOLN."
+
+
+About the same time, other efforts were being made, with a similar
+object in view, but which came to naught. The visit of Messrs. Jacques
+and Gilmore to the Rebel Capital on an informal Peace-errand was, at
+least, valuable in this, that it secured from the head and front of the
+armed Conspiracy, Jefferson Davis himself, the following definite
+statement:
+
+"I desire Peace as much as you do; I deplore bloodshed as much as you
+do; but I feel that not one drop of the blood shed in this War is on my
+hands. I can look up to my God and say this. I tried all in my power
+to avert this War. I saw it coming, and for twelve years I worked night
+and day to prevent it; but I could not. The North was mad and blind; it
+would not let us govern ourselves; and so the War came: and now it must
+go on till the last man of this generation falls in his tracks, and his
+children seize his musket and fight our battle, unless you acknowledge
+our right to self-government. We are not fighting for Slavery. We are
+fighting for INDEPENDENCE; and that, or EXTERMINATION, we WILL have."
+
+ [The Nation, July 2, 1885, contained the following
+ remarks, which may be pertinently quoted in support of this
+ authoritative statement that the South was "not fighting for
+ Slavery," but for Independence--that is to say: for Power, and what
+ would flow from it.]
+
+ ["The Charleston News and Courier a fortnight ago remarked that
+ 'not more than one Southern soldier in ten or fifteen was a
+ Slaveholder, or had any interest in Slave Property.' The
+ Laurensville Herald disputed the statement, and declared that 'the
+ Southern Army was really an Army of Slaveholders and the sons of
+ Slaveholders.' The Charleston paper stands by its original
+ position, and cites figures which are conclusive. The Military
+ population of the eleven States which seceded, according to the
+ census of 1860, was 1,064,193. The entire number of Slaveholders
+ in the Country at the same time was 383,637, but of these 77,335
+ lived in the Border States, so that the number in the Seceding
+ States was only 306,302. Most of the small Slaveholders, however,
+ were not Slave-owners, but Slave hirers, and Mr. De Bow, the
+ statistician who supervised the census of 1850, estimated that but
+ little over half the holders were actually owners. The proportion
+ of owners diminished between 1850 and 1860, and the News and
+ Courier thinks that there were not more than 150,000 Slave-owners
+ in the Confederate States when the War broke out. This would be
+ one owner to every seven White males between eighteen and
+ forty-five; but as many of the owners were women, and many of the
+ men were relieved from Military service, the Charleston paper is
+ confirmed in its original opinion that there were ten men in the
+ Southern Army who were not Slave-owners for every soldier who had
+ Slaves of his own."]
+
+And when these self-constituted Peace-delegates had fulfilled the duty
+which their zeal had impelled them to perform, and were taking their
+leave of the Rebel chieftain, Jefferson Davis added:
+
+"Say to Mr. Lincoln, from me, that I shall at any time be pleased to
+receive proposals for PEACE on the basis of our INDEPENDENCE. It will
+be useless to approach me with any other."
+
+Thus the lines had been definitely and distinctly drawn, on both sides.
+The issue of Slavery became admittedly, as between the Government and
+the Rebels, a dead one. The great cardinal issue was now clearly seen
+and authoritatively admitted to be, "the integrity of the whole Union"
+on the one side, and on the other, "Independence of a part of it."
+These precise declarations did great good to the Union Cause in the
+North, and not only helped the triumphant re-election of Mr. Lincoln,
+but also contributed to weaken the position of the Northern advocates of
+Slavery, and to bring about, as we have seen, the extinction of that
+inherited National curse, by Constitutional Amendment.
+
+During January, of 1865, Francis P. Blair having been permitted to pass
+both the Union and Rebel Army lines, showed to Mr. Lincoln a letter,
+written to the former, by Jefferson Davis--and which the latter had
+authorized him to read to the President--stating that he had always
+been, and was still, ready to send or to receive Commissioners "to enter
+into a Conference, with a view to secure Peace to the two Countries."
+On the 18th of that month, purposing to having it shown to Jefferson
+Davis, Mr. Lincoln wrote to Mr. Blair a letter in which, after referring
+to Mr. Davis, he said: "You may say to him that I have constantly been,
+am now, and shall continue, ready to receive any agent whom he, or any
+other influential person now resisting the National Authority, may
+informally send to me, with the view of securing Peace to the People of
+our common Country." On the 21st of January, Mr. Blair was again in
+Richmond; and Mr. Davis had read and retained Mr. Lincoln's letter to
+Blair, who specifically drew the Rebel chieftain's attention to the fact
+that "the part about 'our common Country' related to the part of Mr.
+Davis's letter about 'the two Countries,' to which Mr. Davis replied
+that he so understood it." Yet subsequently, he sent Messrs. Alexander
+H. Stephens, R. M. T. Hunter, and John A. Campbell as Commissioners,
+with instructions, (January 28, 1865,) which, after setting forth the
+language of Mr. Lincoln's letter, proceeded strangely enough to say: "In
+conformity with the letter of Mr. Lincoln, of which the foregoing is a
+copy, you are to proceed to Washington city for informal Conference with
+him upon the issues involved in the existing War, and for the purpose of
+securing Peace to the two Countries!" The Commissioners themselves
+stated in writing that "The substantial object to be obtained by the
+informal Conference is, to ascertain upon what terms the existing War
+can be terminated honorably. * * * Our earnest desire is, that a just
+and honorable Peace may be agreed upon, and we are prepared to receive
+or to submit propositions which may, possibly, lead to the attainment of
+that end." In consequence of this peculiarly "mixed" overture, the
+President sent Secretary Seward to Fortress Monroe, to informally confer
+with the parties, specifically instructing him to "make known to them
+that three things are indispensable, to wit:
+
+"1. The restoration of the National Authority throughout all the
+States.
+
+"2. No receding, by the Executive of the United States, on the Slavery
+question, from the position assumed thereon in the late Annual Message
+to Congress, and in preceding documents.
+
+"3. No cessation of hostilities short of an end of the War and the
+disbanding of all forces hostile to the Government."
+
+Mr. Lincoln also instructed the Secretary to "inform them that all
+propositions of theirs, not inconsistent with the above, will be
+considered and passed upon in a spirit of sincere liberality;" to "hear
+all they may choose to say, and report it" to him, and not to "assume to
+definitely consummate anything." Subsequently, the President, in
+consequence of a dispatch from General Grant to Secretary Stanton,
+decided to go himself to Fortress Monroe.
+
+ Following is the dispatch:
+
+ [In Cipher]
+
+ OFFICE UNITED STATES MILITARY TELEGRAPH. WAR DEPARTMENT.
+
+ "The following telegram received at Washington, 4.35 A.M., February
+ 2, 1865. From City Point, Va., February 1, 10.30 P.M., 1865
+
+ "Now that the interview between Major Eckert, under his written
+ instructions, and Mr. Stephens and party has ended, I will state
+ confidentially, but not officially, to become a matter of record,
+ that I am convinced, upon conversation with Messrs. Stephens and
+ Hunter, that their intentions are good and their desire sincere to
+ restore Peace and Union. I have not felt myself at liberty to
+ express, even, views of my own, or to account for my reticency.
+ This has placed me in an awkward position, which I could have
+ avoided by not seeing them in the first instance. I fear now their
+ going back without any expression from any one in authority will
+ have a bad influence. At the same time I recognize the
+ difficulties in the way of receiving these informal Commissioners
+ at this time, and do not know what to recommend. I am sorry,
+ however, that Mr. Lincoln cannot have an interview with the two
+ named in this dispatch, if not all three now within our lines.
+ Their letter to me was all that the President's instructions
+ contemplated to secure their safe conduct, if they had used the
+ same language to Major Eckert.
+
+ "U. S. GRANT,
+ "Lieutenant General.
+
+ "Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON,
+ "Secretary of War."
+
+ Mr. Stephens is stated by a Georgia paper to have repeated the
+ following characteristic anecdote of what occurred during the
+ interview. "The three Southern gentlemen met Mr. Lincoln and Mr.
+ Seward, and after some preliminary remarks, the subject of Peace
+ was opened. Mr. Stephens, well aware that one who asks much may
+ get more than he who confesses to humble wishes at the outset,
+ urged the claims of his Section with that skill and address for
+ which the Northern papers have given him credit. Mr. Lincoln,
+ holding the vantage ground of conscious power, was, however,
+ perfectly frank, and submitted his views almost in the form of an
+ argument. * * * Davis had, on this occasion, as on that of Mr.
+ Stephens's visit to Washington, made it a condition that no
+ Conference should be had unless his rank as Commander or President
+ should first be recognized. Mr. Lincoln declared that the only
+ ground on which he could rest the justice of War--either with his
+ own people, or with foreign powers--was that it was not a War for
+ conquest, for that the States had never been separated from the
+ Union. Consequently, he could not recognize another Government
+ inside of the one of which he alone was President; nor admit the
+ separate Independence of States that were yet a part of the Union.
+ 'That' said he 'would be doing what you have so long asked Europe
+ to do in vain, and be resigning the only thing the Armies of the
+ Union have been fighting for.' Mr. Hunter made a long reply to
+ this, insisting that the recognition of Davis's power to make a
+ Treaty was the first and indispensable step to Peace, and referred
+ to the correspondence between King Charles I., and his Parliament,
+ as a trustworthy precedent of a Constitutional ruler treating with
+ Rebels. Mr. Lincoln's face then wore that indescribable expression
+ which generally preceded his hardest hits, and he remarked: 'Upon
+ questions of history I must refer you to Mr. Seward, for he is
+ posted in such things, and I don't pretend to be bright. My only
+ distinct recollection of the matter is that Charles lost his head,'
+ That settled Mr. Hunter for a while." Arnold's Lincoln, p. 400.
+
+On the night of February 2nd, Mr. Lincoln reached Hampton Roads, and
+joined Secretary Seward on board a steamer anchored off the shore. The
+next morning, from another steamer, similarly anchored, Messrs.
+Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell were brought aboard the President's
+steamer and a Conference with the President and Secretary of several
+hours' duration was the result. Mr. Lincoln's own statement of what
+transpired was in these words:
+
+"No question of preliminaries to the meeting was then and there made or
+mentioned. No other person was present; no papers were exchanged or
+produced; and it was, in advance, agreed that the conversation was to be
+informal and verbal merely. On our part, the whole substance of the
+instructions to the Secretary of State, hereinbefore recited, was stated
+and insisted upon, and nothing was said inconsistent therewith; while,
+by the other party, it was not said that in any event or on any
+condition, they ever would consent to Re-union; and yet they equally
+omitted to declare that they never would so consent. They seemed to
+desire a postponement of that question, and the adoption of some other
+course first, which, as some of them seemed to argue, might or might not
+lead to Reunion; but which course, we thought, would amount to an
+indefinite postponement. The Conference ended without result."
+
+In his communication to the Rebel Congress at Richmond, February 6.
+1865, Jefferson Davis, after mentioning his appointment of Messrs.
+Stephens, Hunter and Campbell, for the purpose stated, proceeded to say:
+
+"I herewith transmit, for the information of Congress, the report of the
+eminent citizens above named, showing that the Enemy refused to enter
+into negotiations with the Confederate States, or any one of them
+separately, or to give to our people any other terms or guarantees than
+those which the conqueror may grant, or to permit us to have Peace on
+any other basis than our unconditional submission to their rule, coupled
+with the acceptance of their recent legislation on the subject of the
+relations between the White and Black population of each State."
+
+On the 5th and 9th of February, public meetings were held at Richmond,
+in connection with these Peace negotiations. At the first, Jefferson
+Davis made a speech in which the Richmond Dispatch reported him as
+emphatically asserting that no conditions of Peace "save the
+Independence of the Confederacy could ever receive his sanction. He
+doubted not that victory would yet crown our labors, * * * and sooner
+than we should ever be united again he would be willing to yield up
+everything he had on Earth, and if it were possible would sacrifice a
+thousand lives before he would succumb." Thereupon the meeting of
+Rebels passed resolutions "spurning" Mr. Lincoln's terms "with the
+indignation due to so gross an insult;" declared that the circumstances
+connected with his offer could only "add to the outrage and stamp it as
+a designed and premeditated indignity" offered to them; and invoking
+"the aid of Almighty God" to carry out their "resolve to maintain" their
+"Liberties and Independence"--to which, said they, "we mutually pledge
+our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." So too, at the second
+of these meetings, presided over by R. M. T. Hunter, and addressed by
+the Rebel Secretary Judah P. Benjamin, resolutions were adopted amid
+"wild and long continued cheering," one of which stated that they would
+"never lay down" their "arms until" their "Independence" had "been won,"
+while another declared a full confidence in the sufficiency of their
+resources to "conduct the War successfully and to that issue," and
+invoked "the People, in the name of the holiest of all causes, to spare
+neither their blood nor their treasure in its maintenance and support."
+
+As during these Peace negotiations, General Grant, by express direction
+of President Lincoln, had not changed, hindered, nor delayed, any of his
+"Military movements or plans," so, now that the negotiations had failed,
+those Military movements were pressed more strenuously than ever.
+
+ [The main object of this Conference on the part of the Rebels was
+ to secure an immediate truce, or breathing spell, during which they
+ could get themselves in better condition for continuing the War.
+ Indeed a portion of Mr. Seward's letter of Feb. 7, 1865, to Mr.
+ Adams, our Minister at the Court of St. James, giving him an
+ account of the Conference with the party of Insurgent
+ Commissioners, would not alone indicate this, but also that it was
+ proposed by that "Insurgent party," that both sides, during the
+ time they would thus cease to fight one another, might profitably
+ combine their forces to drive the French invaders out of Mexico and
+ annex that valuable country. At least, the following passage in
+ that letter will bear that construction:
+
+ "What the Insurgent party seemed chiefly to favor was a
+ postponement of the question of separation, upon which the War is
+ waged, and a mutual direction of efforts of the Government, as well
+ as those of the Insurgents, to some extrinsic policy or scheme for
+ a season, during which passions might be expected to subside, and
+ the Armies be reduced, and trade and intercourse between the People
+ of both Sections resumed. It was suggested by them that through
+ such postponements we might now have immediate Peace, with some not
+ very certain prospect of an ultimate satisfactory adjustment of
+ political relations between this Government, and the States,
+ Section, or People, now engaged in conflict with it."
+
+ For the whole of this letter see McPherson's History of the
+ Rebellion, p. 570.]
+
+Fort Fisher, North Carolina, had already been captured by a combined
+Military and Naval attack of the Union forces under General Terry and
+Admiral Porter; and Sherman's Army was now victoriously advancing from
+Savannah, Georgia, Northwardly through South Carolina. On the 17th of
+February, Columbia, the capital of the latter State, surrendered, and,
+the day following, Charleston was evacuated, and its defenses, including
+historic Fort Sumter, were once more under that glorious old flag of the
+Union which four years before had been driven away, by shot and shell
+and flame, amid the frantic exultations of the temporarily successful
+armed Conspirators of South Carolina. On the 22nd of February, General
+Schofield, who had been sent by Grant with his 23rd Corps, by water, to
+form a junction with Terry's troops about Fort Fisher, and capture
+Wilmington, North Carolina, had also accomplished his purpose
+successfully.
+
+The Rebel Cause now began to look pretty desperate, even to Rebel eyes.
+
+ [Hundreds of Rebels were now deserting from Lee's Armies about
+ Richmond, every night, owing partly to despondency. "These
+ desertions," wrote Lee, on the 24th February, "have a very bad
+ effect upon the troops who remain, and give rise to painful
+ apprehensions." Another cause was the lack of food and clothing.
+ Says Badeau (Military History of Ulysses S. Grant, vol. iii., p.
+ 399): "On the 8th of January, Lee wrote to the Rebel Government
+ that the entire Right Wing of his Army had been in line for three
+ days and nights, in the most inclement weather of the season.
+ 'Under these circumstances,' he said, 'heightened by assaults and
+ fire of the Enemy, some of the men had been without meat for three
+ days, and all were suffering from reduced rations and scant
+ clothing. Colonel Cole, chief commissary, reports that he has not
+ a pound of meat at his disposal. If some change is not made, and
+ the commissary department reorganized, I apprehend dire results.
+ The physical strength of the men, if their courage survives, must
+ fail under this treatment. Our Cavalry has to be dispersed for
+ want of forage. Fitz Lee's and Lomax's Divisions are scattered
+ because supplies cannot be transported where their services are
+ required. I had to bring Fitz Lee's Division sixty miles Sunday
+ night, to get them in position. Taking these facts in connection
+ with the paucity of our numbers, you must not be surprised if
+ calamity befalls us.'" Badeau's (Grant, vol. iii., p. 401,)]
+
+Toward the end of February, the Rebel General Longstreet having
+requested an interview with General Ord "to arrange for the exchange of
+citizen prisoners, and prisoners of war, improperly captured," General
+Grant authorized General Ord to hold such interview t and "to arrange
+definitely for such as were confined in his department, arrangements for
+all others to be submitted for approval." In the course of that
+interview "a general conversation ensued on the subject of the War,"
+when it would seem that Longstreet suggested the idea of a composition
+of the questions at issue, and Peace between the United States and the
+Rebels, by means of a Military Convention. It is quite probable that
+this idea originated with Jefferson Davis, as a /dernier resort/; for
+Longstreet appears to have communicated directly with Davis concerning
+his interview or "interviews" with Ord. On the 28th of February, 1865
+the Rebel Chief wrote to Lee, as follows:
+
+ "RICHMOND, VA., February 28.
+
+"Gen. R. E. LEE, Commanding, etc.,
+
+"GENERAL: You will learn by the letter of General Longstreet the result
+of his second interview with General Ord. The points as to whether
+yourself or General Grant should invite the other to a Conference is not
+worth discussing. If you think the statements of General Ord render it
+probably useful that the Conference suggested should be had, you will
+proceed as you may prefer, and are clothed with all the supplemental
+authority you may need in the consideration of any proposition for a
+Military Convention, or the appointment of a Commissioner to enter into
+such an arrangement as will cause at least temporary suspension of
+hostilities.
+ "Very truly yours
+ "JEFFERSON DAVIS."
+
+
+Thereupon General Lee wrote, and sent to General Grant, the following
+communication:
+
+ "HEADQUARTERS C. S. ARMIES, March 2, 1865.
+"Lieut. Gen. U. S. GRANT,
+"Commanding United States Armies:
+
+"GENERAL: Lieut.-Gen. Longstreet has informed me that, in a recent
+conversation between himself and Maj.-Gen. Ord, as to the possibility of
+arriving at a satisfactory adjustment of the present unhappy
+difficulties by means of a Military Convention, General Ord stated that
+if I desired to have an interview with you on the subject, you would not
+decline, provided I had authority to act. Sincerely desirous to leave
+nothing untried which may put an end to the calamities of War, I propose
+to meet you at such convenient time and place as you may designate, with
+the hope that, upon an interchange of views, it may be found practicable
+to submit the subjects of controversy between the belligerents to a
+Convention of the kind mentioned.
+
+"In such event, I am authorized to do whatever the result of the
+proposed interview may render necessary or advisable. Should you accede
+to this proposition, I would suggest that, if agreeable to you, we meet
+at the place selected by Generals Ord and Longstreet, for the interview,
+at 11 A.M., on Monday next.
+
+ "Very respectfully your obedient servant,
+ "R. E. LEE, General."
+
+
+Upon receipt of this letter, General Grant sent a telegraphic dispatch
+to Secretary Stanton, informing him of Lee's proposition. It reached
+the Secretary of War just before midnight of March 3rd. He, and the
+other members of the Cabinet were with the President, in the latter's
+room at the Capitol, whither they had gone on this, the last, night of
+the last Session of the Thirty-Eighth Congress, the Cabinet to advise,
+and the President to act, upon bills submitted to him for approval. The
+Secretary, after reading the dispatch, handed it to Mr. Lincoln. The
+latter read and thought over it briefly, and then himself wrote the
+following reply:
+
+"WASHINGTON, March, 3, 1865, 12 P.M.
+
+"LIEUTENANT GENERAL GRANT: The President directs me to say to you that
+he wishes you to have no Conference with General Lee, unless it be for
+the capitulation of General Lee's Army, or on some other minor and
+purely Military matter. He instructs me to say to you that you are not
+to decide, discuss, or confer upon any political question. Such
+questions the President holds in his own hands, and will submit them to
+no Military Conferences or Conventions. Meanwhile you are to press to
+the utmost your Military advantages.
+ "EDWIN M. STANTON,
+ "Secretary of War."
+
+
+General Grant received this dispatch, on the day following, and at once
+wrote and sent to General Lee a communication in which, after referring
+to the subject of the exchange of prisoners, he said: "In regard to
+meeting you on the 6th inst., I would state that--I have no authority to
+accede to your proposition for a Conference on the subject proposed.
+Such authority is vested in the President of the United States alone.
+General Ord could only have meant that I would not refuse an interview
+on any subject on which I have a right to act; which, of course, would
+be such as are purely of a Military character, and on the subject of
+exchange, which has been entrusted to me."
+
+Thus perished the last reasonable hope entertained by the Rebel
+Chieftains to ward off the inevitable and mortal blow that was about to
+smite their Cause.
+
+The 4th of March, 1865, had come. The Thirty-Eighth Congress was no
+more. Mr. Lincoln was about to be inaugurated, for a second term, as
+President of the United States. The previous night had been vexed with
+a stormy snow-fall. The morning had also been stormy and rainy. By
+mid-day, however, as if to mark the event auspiciously, the skies
+cleared and the sun shone gloriously upon the thousands and tens of
+thousands who had come to Washington, to witness the second Inauguration
+of him whom the people had now, long since, learned to affectionately
+term "Father Abraham"--of him who had become the veritable Father of his
+People. As the President left the White House, to join the grand
+procession to the Capitol, a brilliant meteor shot athwart the heavens,
+above his head. At the time, the superstitious thought it an Omen of
+triumph--of coming Peace--but in the sad after-days when armed Rebellion
+had ceased and Peace had come, it was remembered, with a shudder, as a
+portent of ill. When, at last, Mr. Lincoln stood, with bared head, upon
+the platform at the eastern portico of the Capitol, where four years
+before, he had made his vows before the People, under such very
+different circumstances and surroundings, the contrast between that time
+and this--and all the terrible and eventful history of the interim
+--could not fail to present itself to every mind of all those congregated,
+whether upon the platform among the gorgeously costumed foreign
+diplomats, the full-uniformed Military and Naval officers of the United
+States, and the more soberly-clad statesmen and Civic and Judicial
+functionaries of the Land, or in the vast and indiscriminate mass of the
+enthusiastic people in front and on both sides of it. As Chief Justice
+Chase administered the oath, and Abraham Lincoln, in view of all the
+people, reverently bowed his head and kissed the open Bible, at a
+passage in Isaiah (27th and 28th verses of the 5th Chapter) which it was
+thought "admonished him to be on his guard, and not to relax at all, in
+his efforts," the people, whose first cheers of welcome had been stayed
+by the President's uplifted hand, broke forth in a tumult of cheering,
+until again hushed by the clear, strong, even voice of the President, as
+he delivered that second Inaugural Address, whose touching tenderness,
+religious resignation, and Christian charity, were clad in these
+imperishable words:
+
+"FELLOW COUNTRYMEN: At this second appearing to take the Oath of the
+Presidential office, there is less occasion for an extended address than
+there was at the first. Then, a statement, somewhat in detail, of a
+course to be pursued, seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration
+of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly
+called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still
+absorbs the attention and engrosses the energy of the Nation, little
+that is new could be presented. The progress of our Arms, upon which
+all else depends, is as well known to the public as to myself; and it
+is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high
+hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.
+
+"On the occasion corresponding to this, four years ago, all thoughts
+were anxiously directed to an impending Civil War. All dreaded it--all
+sought to avert it. While the Inaugural Address was being delivered
+from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without War,
+Insurgent agents were in the city, seeking to destroy it without War
+--seeking to dissolve the Union, and divide the effects, by negotiation.
+Both parties deprecated War; but one of them would make War rather than
+let the Nation survive; and the other would accept War rather than let
+it perish--and the War came.
+
+"One-eighth of the whole population were colored Slaves, not distributed
+generally over the Union, but localized in the Southern part of it.
+These Slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew
+that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the War. To strengthen,
+perpetuate and extend this interest was the object for which the
+Insurgents would rend the Union, even by War; while the Government
+claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement
+of it. Neither Party expected for the War the magnitude or the duration
+which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of
+the conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself
+should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less
+fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible, and pray to the
+same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem
+strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in
+wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces; but let us
+judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be
+answered--that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His
+own purposes. 'Woe unto the World because of offences! for it must
+needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence
+cometh.' If we shall suppose that American Slavery is one of those
+offences which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which,
+having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and
+that He gives to both North and South this terrible War, as the woe due
+to those by Whom the offence came, shall we discern therein any
+departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living
+God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope--fervently do we pray
+--that this mighty scourge of War may speedily pass away. Yet, if God
+wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondman's two
+hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until
+every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn
+with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must
+be said, 'The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'
+
+"With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the
+right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the
+work we are in; to bind up the Nation's wounds, to care for him who
+shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan--to do
+all which may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting Peace among
+ourselves, and with all Nations."
+
+With utterances so just and fair, so firm and hopeful, so penitent and
+humble, so benignant and charitable, so mournfully tender and sweetly
+solemn, so full of the fervor of true piety and the very pathos of
+patriotism, small wonder is it that among those numberless thousands
+who, on this memorable occasion, gazed upon the tall, gaunt form of
+Abraham Lincoln, and heard his clear, sad voice, were some who almost
+imagined they saw the form and heard the voice of one of the great
+prophets and leaders of Israel; while others were more reminded of one
+of the Holy Apostles of the later Dispensation who preached the glorious
+Gospel "On Earth, Peace, good will toward Men," and received in the end
+the crown of Christian martyrdom. But not one soul of those present
+--unless his own felt such presentiment--dreamed for a moment that, all
+too soon, the light of those brave and kindly eyes was fated to go out
+in darkness, that sad voice to be hushed forever, that form to lie
+bleeding and dead, a martyred sacrifice indeed, upon the altar of his
+Country!
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXX.
+
+ COLLAPSE OF THE ARMED CONSPIRACY.
+
+Meantime, Sherman's Armies were pressing along upward, toward Raleigh,
+from Columbia, marching through swamps and over quicksands and across
+swollen streams--cold, wet, hungry, tired--often up to their armpits in
+water, yet keeping their powder dry, and silencing opposing batteries or
+driving the Enemy, who doggedly retired before them, through the
+drenching rains which poured down unceasingly for days, and even weeks,
+at a time. On the 16th of March, 1865, a part of Sherman's Forces met
+the Enemy, under General Joe Johnston, at Averysboro, N. C., and forced
+him to retire. On the 19th and 20th of March, occurred the series of
+engagements, about Mill Creek and the Bentonville and Smithfield
+cross-roads, which culminated in the attack upon the Enemy, of the 21st
+of March, and his evacuation, that night, of his entire line of works,
+and retreat upon Smithfield. This was known as the Battle of
+Bentonville, and was the last battle fought between the rival Forces
+under Sherman and Johnston. The Armies of Sherman, now swollen by
+having formed a junction with the troops under Schofield and Terry,
+which had come from Newbern and Wilmington, went into camp at Goldsboro,
+North Carolina, to await the rebuilding of the railroads from those two
+points on the coast, and the arrival of badly needed clothing,
+provision, and other supplies, after which the march would be resumed to
+Burksville, Virginia. By the 25th of March, the railroad from Newbern
+was in running order, and General Sherman, leaving General Schofield in
+command of his eighty thousand troops, went to Newbern and Morehead
+City, and thence by steamer to City Point, for a personal interview with
+General Grant. On the same day, Lee made a desperate but useless
+assault, with twenty thousand (of his seventy thousand) men upon Fort
+Stedman--a portion of Grant's works in front of Petersburg. On the
+27th, President Lincoln reached City Point, on the James River, in the
+steamer "Ocean Queen." Sherman reached City Point the same day, and,
+after meeting the General-in-Chief, Grant took him on board the "Ocean
+Queen" to see the President. Together they explained to Mr. Lincoln the
+Military situation, during the "hour or more" they were with him. Of
+this interview with Mr. Lincoln, General Sherman afterwards wrote:
+"General Grant and I explained to him that my next move from Goldsboro
+would bring my Army, increased to eighty thousand men by Schofield's and
+Terry's reinforcements, in close communication with General Grant's
+Army, then investing Lee in Richmond, and that unless Lee could effect
+his escape, and make junction with Johnston in North Carolina, he would
+soon be shut up in Richmond with no possibility of supplies, and would
+have to surrender. Mr. Lincoln was extremely interested in this view of
+the case, and when we explained that Lee's only chance was to escape,
+join Johnston, and, being then between me in North Carolina, and Grant
+in Virginia, could choose which to fight. Mr. Lincoln seemed unusually
+impressed with this; but General Grant explained that, at the very
+moment of our conversation, General Sheridan was passing his Cavalry
+across James River, from the North to the South; that he would, with
+this Cavalry, so extend his left below Petersburg as to meet the South
+Shore Road; and that if Lee should 'let go' his fortified lines, he
+(Grant) would follow him so close that he could not possibly fall on me
+alone in North Carolina. I, in like manner, expressed the fullest
+confidence that my Army in North Carolina was willing to cope with Lee
+and Johnston combined, till Grant could come up. But we both agreed
+that one more bloody battle was likely to occur before the close of the
+War. Mr. Lincoln * * * more than once exclaimed: 'Must more blood be
+shed? Cannot this last bloody battle be avoided?' We explained that we
+had to presume that General Lee was a real general; that he must see
+that Johnston alone was no barrier to my progress; and that if my Army
+of eighty thousand veterans should reach Burksville, he was lost in
+Richmond; and that we were forced to believe he would not await that
+inevitable conclusion, but make one more desperate effort."
+
+President Lincoln's intense anxiety caused him to remain at City Point,
+from this time forth, almost until the end--receiving from General
+Grant, when absent, at the immediate front, frequent dispatches, which,
+as fast as received and read, he transmitted to the Secretary of War,
+at Washington. Grant had already given general instructions to
+Major-Generals Meade, Ord, and Sheridan, for the closing movements of his
+immediate Forces, against Lee and his lines of supply and possible
+retreat. He saw that the time had come for which he had so long waited,
+and he now felt "like ending the matter." On the morning of the 29th of
+March--preliminary dispositions having been executed--the movements
+began. That night, Grant wrote to Sheridan, who was at Dinwiddie Court
+House, with his ten thousand Cavalry: "Our line is now unbroken from the
+Appomattox to Dinwiddie. * * * I feel now like ending the matter, if
+it is possible to do so, before going back. * * * In the morning, push
+around the Enemy, if you can, and get on his right rear. * * * We will
+all act together as one Army, until it is seen what can be done with the
+Enemy." The rain fell all that night in torrents. The face of the
+country, where forests, swamps, and quicksands alternated in presenting
+apparently insuperable obstacles to immediate advance, was very
+discouraging next morning, but Sheridan's heart was gladdened by orders
+to seize Five Forks.
+
+On the 31st, the Battle of Dinwiddie Court House occurred--the Enemy
+attacking Sheridan and Warren with a largely superior force. During the
+night, Sheridan was reinforced with the Fifth Corps, and other troops.
+On April 1st, Sheridan fought, and won, the glorious Battle of Five
+Forks, against this detached Rebel force, and, besides capturing 6,000
+prisoners and six pieces of artillery, dispersed the rest to the North
+and West, away from the balance of Lee's Army. That night, after Grant
+received the news of this victory, he went into his tent, wrote a
+dispatch, sent it by an orderly, and returning to the fire outside his
+tent, calmly said: "I have ordered an immediate assault along the
+lines." This was afterward modified to an attack at three points, on
+the Petersburg works, at 4 o'clock in the morning--a terrific
+bombardment, however, to be kept up all night. Grant also sent more
+reinforcements to Sheridan. On the morning of April 2nd, the assault
+was made, and the Enemy's works were gallantly carried, while Sheridan
+was coming up to the West of Petersburg.
+
+The Rebel Chieftain Lee, when his works were stormed and carried, is
+said to have exclaimed: "It has happened as I thought; the lines have
+been stretched until they broke." At 10.30 A. M. he telegraphed to
+Jefferson Davis: "My lines are broken in three places. Richmond must be
+evacuated this evening." This dispatch of Parke, Ord on Wright's left,
+Humphreys on Ord's left and Warren on Humphrey's left-Sheridan being to
+the rear and left of Warren, reached Davis, while at church. All
+present felt, as he retired, that the end of the Rebellion had come. At
+10.40 A. M. Lee reported further: "I see no prospect of doing more than
+holding our position here till night. I am not certain that I can do
+that. If I can, I shall withdraw tonight, North of the Appomattox, and
+if possible, it will be better to withdraw the whole line to-night from
+James river. * * * Our only chance of concentrating our Forces is to
+do so near Danville railroad, which I shall endeavor to do at once.
+I advise that all preparations be made for leaving Richmond to-night.
+I will advise you later, according to circumstances. "At 7 o'clock P. M.
+Lee again communicated to the Rebel Secretary of War this information:
+"It is absolutely necessary that we should abandon our position
+to-night, or run the risk of being cut off in the morning. I have given
+all the orders to officers on both sides of the river, and have taken
+every precaution that I can to make the movement successful. It will be
+a difficult operation, but I hope not impracticable. Please give all
+orders that you find necessary, in and about Richmond. The troops will
+all be directed to Amelia Court House." This was the last dispatch sent
+by Lee to the Rebel Government.
+
+On the 3rd of April, Petersburg and Richmond were evacuated, and again
+under the Union flag, while Grant's immediate Forces were pressing
+forward to cut off the retreat of Lee, upon Amelia Court House and
+Danville, in an effort to form a junction with Johnston. On the 6th,
+the important Battle of Sailor's Creek, Va., was fought and won by
+Sheridan. On the evening of the 7th, at the Farmville hotel, where Lee
+had slept the night before, Grant, after sending dispatches to Sheridan
+at Prospect Station, Ord at Prince Edward's Court House, and Mead at
+Rice Station, wrote the following letter to Lee:
+
+ "FARMVILLE, April 7th, 1865.
+
+"GENERAL: The results of the last week must convince you of the
+hopelessness of further resistance, on the part of the Army of Northern
+Virginia, in this struggle. I feel that it is so, and regard it as my
+duty to shift from myself the responsibility of any further effusion of
+blood, by asking of you the surrender of that portion of the Confederate
+States' army known as the Army of Northern Virginia.
+
+"U. S. GRANT,
+"Lieutenant-General."
+
+
+Lee, however, in replying to this demand, and in subsequent
+correspondence, seemed to be unable to see "the hopelessness of further
+resistance." He thought "the emergency had not yet come." Hence, Grant
+decided to so press and harass him, as to bring the emergency along
+quickly. Accordingly, by the night of the 8th of April, Sheridan with
+his Cavalry had completely headed Lee off, at Appomattox Court House.
+By morning, Ord's forces had reached Sheridan, and were in line behind
+him. Two Corps of the Army of the Potomac, under Meade, were also, by
+this time, close on the Enemy's rear. And now the harassed Enemy,
+conscious that his rear was threatened, and seeing only Cavalry in his
+front, through which to fight his way, advanced to the attack. The
+dismounted Cavalry of Sheridan contested the advance, in order to give
+Ord and Griffin as much time as possible to form, then, mounting and
+moving rapidly aside, they suddenly uncovered, to the charging Rebels,
+Ord's impenetrable barrier of Infantry, advancing upon them at a
+double-quick! At the same time that this appalling sight staggered
+them, and rolled them back in despair, they became aware that Sheridan's
+impetuous Cavalry, now mounted, were hovering on their left flank,
+evidently about to charge!
+
+Lee at once concluded that the emergency "had now come," and sent, both
+to Sheridan and Meade, a flag of truce, asking that hostilities cease,
+pending negotiations for a surrender--having also requested of Grant an
+audience with a view to such surrender. That afternoon the two great
+rival Military Chieftains met by appointment in the plain little
+farm-house of one McLean--Lee dressed in his best full-dress uniform and
+sword, Grant in a uniform soiled and dusty, and without any sword--and,
+after a few preliminary words, as to the terms proposed by Grant, the
+latter sat down to the table, and wrote the following:
+
+ "APPOMATTOX COURT HOUSE,
+ "VIRGINIA, April 9, 1865.
+
+"GENERAL: In accordance with the substance of my letter to you of the
+8th instant, I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of Northern
+Virginia on the following terms, to wit: Rolls of all the officers and
+men to be made in duplicate, one copy to be given to an officer to be
+designated by me, the other to be retained by such officer or officers
+as you may designate. The officers to give their individual paroles not
+to take up arms against the Government of the United States, until
+properly exchanged; and each company or regimental commander to sign a
+like parole for the men of their commands. The arms, artillery, and
+public property to be parked and stacked, and turned over to the
+officers appointed by me to receive them. This will not embrace the
+side-arms of the officers nor their private horses or baggage. This
+done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to his home, not to
+be disturbed by United States authority so long as they observe their
+paroles and the laws in force where they may reside.
+
+ "U. S. GRANT,
+ "Lieutenant-General.
+
+"General R. E. LEE."
+
+After some further conversation, in which Grant intimated that his
+officers receiving paroles would be instructed to "allow the Cavalry and
+Artillery men to retain their horses, and take them home to work their
+little farms"--a kindness which Lee said, would "have the best possible
+effect," the latter wrote his surrender in the following words:
+
+ "HEAD-QUARTERS, ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA,
+ April 9, 1865.
+
+"GENERAL: I received your letter of this date containing the terms of
+the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, as proposed by you. As
+they are substantially the same as those expressed in your letter of the
+8th instant, they are accepted. I will proceed to designate the proper
+officers to carry the stipulations into effect.
+ "R. E. LEE, General.
+
+"Lieutenant-General U. S. GRANT."
+
+
+Before parting, Lee told Grant that his men were starving; and Grant at
+once ordered 25,000 rations to be issued to the surrendered Rebels--and
+then the Rebel Chieftain, shaking hands with the Victor, rode away to
+his conquered legions. It was 4.30 P.M. when Grant, on his way to his
+own headquarters, now with Sheridan's command, dismounted from his
+horse, and sitting on a stone by the roadside, wrote the following
+dispatch:
+
+ "Hon. E. M. STANTON,
+ Secretary of War, Washington.
+
+"General Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia this afternoon on
+terms proposed by myself. The accompanying additional correspondence
+will show the conditions fully.
+ "U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant General."
+
+
+Meanwhile on the 5th of April, Grant, who had kept Sherman, as well as
+Sheridan, advised of his main movements, had also ordered the former to
+press Johnston's Army as he was pressing Lee, so as, between them, they
+might "push on, and finish the job." In accordance with this order,
+Sherman's Forces advanced toward Smithfield, and, Johnston having
+rapidly retreated before them, entered Raleigh, North Carolina, on the
+13th. The 14th of April, brought the news of the surrender of Lee to
+Grant, and the same day a correspondence was opened between Sherman and
+Johnston, looking to the surrender of the latter's Army--terms for which
+were actually agreed upon, subject, however, to approval of Sherman's
+superiors. Those terms, however, being considered unsatisfactory, were
+promptly disapproved, and similar terms to those allowed to Lee's Army,
+were substituted, and agreed to, the actual surrender taking place April
+26th, near Durham, North Carolina. On the 21st, Macon, Georgia, with
+12,000 Rebel Militia, and sixty guns, was surrendered to Wilson's
+Cavalry-command, by General Howell Cobb. On the 4th of May, General
+Richard Taylor surrendered all the armed Rebel troops, East of the
+Mississippi river; and on the 26th of May, General Kirby Smith
+surrendered all of them, West of that river.
+
+On that day, organized, armed Rebellion against the United States
+ceased, and became a thing of the past. It had been conquered, stamped
+out, and extinguished, while its civic head, Jefferson Davis, captured
+May 11th, at Irwinsville, Georgia, while attempting to escape, was, with
+other leading Rebels, a prisoner in a Union fort. Four years of armed
+Rebellion had been enough for them. They were absolutely sick of it.
+And the magnanimity of the terms given them by Grant, completed their
+subjugation. "The wisdom of his course," says Badeau, "was proved by
+the haste which the Rebels made to yield everything they had fought for.
+They were ready not only to give up their arms, but literally to implore
+forgiveness of the Government. They acquiesced in the abolition of
+Slavery. They abandoned the heresy of Secession, and waited to learn
+what else their conquerors would dictate. They dreamed not of political
+power. They only asked to be let live quietly under the flag they had
+outraged, and attempt in some degree to rebuild their shattered
+fortunes. The greatest General of the Rebellion asked for pardon."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+ ASSASSINATION!
+
+But while some of the great Military events alluded to in the preceding
+Chapter, had been transpiring at the theatre of War, something else had
+happened at the National Capital, so momentous, so atrocious, so
+execrable, that it was with difficulty the victorious soldiers of the
+Union, when they first heard the news, could be restrained from turning
+upon the then remaining armed Rebels, and annihilating them in their
+righteous fury.
+
+Let us go back, for a moment, to President Lincoln, whom we left on
+board the Ocean Queen, at City Point, toward the end of March and the
+beginning of April, receiving dispatches from Grant, who was
+victoriously engaged at the front. On the very day that Richmond fell
+--April 4th--President Lincoln, with his little son "Tad," Admiral Porter,
+and others, visited the burning city, and held a reception in the
+parlors of the Mansion which had now, for so many years, been occupied
+by the Chief Conspirator, Jefferson Davis, and which had been
+precipitately abandoned when the flight of that Arch-Rebel and his
+"Cabinet" commenced. On the 6th, the President, accompanied by his
+wife, Vice-President Johnson, and others from Washington, again visited
+Richmond, and received distinguished Virginians, to whom he addressed
+words of wisdom and patriotism.
+
+ ["On this occasion," says Arnold, "he was called upon by several
+ prominent citizens of Virginia, anxious to learn what the policy of
+ the Government towards them would be. Without committing himself
+ to specific details, he satisfied them that his policy would be
+ magnanimous, forgiving, and generous. He told these Virginians
+ they must learn loyalty and devotion to the Nation. They need not
+ love Virginia less, but they must love the Republic more."]
+
+On the 9th of April, he returned to Washington, and the same day--his
+last Sunday on Earth--came the grand and glorious news of Lee's
+surrender.
+
+On the Wednesday evening following, he made a lengthy speech, at the
+White House, to the great crowd that had assembled about it, to
+congratulate him, and the Nation, upon the downfall of Rebellion. His
+first thought in that speech, was of gratitude to God. His second, to
+put himself in the background, and to give all the credit of Union
+Military success, to those who, under God, had achieved it. Said he:
+"We meet this evening, not in sorrow, but in gladness of heart. The
+evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond, and the surrender of the
+principal Insurgent Army, give hope of a righteous and speedy Peace,
+whose joyous expression cannot be restrained. In the midst of this,
+however, He from whom all blessings flow, must not be forgotten. A Call
+for a National Thanksgiving is being prepared, and will be duly
+promulgated. Nor must those whose harder part gives us the cause of
+rejoicing, be overlooked. Their honors must not be parcelled out with
+others. I myself was near the front, and had the high pleasure of
+transmitting much of the good news to you; but no part of the honor, for
+plan or execution, is mine. To General Grant, his skilful officers and
+brave men, all belongs."
+
+This speech was almost entirely devoted to the subject of reconstruction
+of the States lately in Rebellion, and to an argument in favor of the
+Reconstruction policy, under which a new and loyal government had been
+formed for the State of Louisiana. "Some twelve thousand voters in the
+heretofore Slave State of Louisiana," said he, "have sworn allegiance to
+the Union, assumed to be the rightful political power of the State, held
+elections, organized a State government, adopted a Free State
+Constitution, giving the benefit of public schools equally to Black and
+White, and empowering the Legislature to confer the elective franchise
+upon the colored man. Their Legislature has already voted to ratify the
+Constitutional Amendment recently passed by Congress, abolishing Slavery
+throughout the Nation. These twelve thousand persons are thus fully
+committed to the Union, and to perpetual Freedom in the State; committed
+to the very things, and nearly all the things, the Nation wants; and
+they ask the Nation's recognition and its assistance to make good that
+committal. Now, if we reject and spurn them, we do our utmost to
+disorganize and disperse them. We, in effect, say to the White men,
+'You are worthless, or worse; we will neither help you, nor be helped by
+you.' To the Blacks we say, 'This cup of Liberty which these, your old
+masters, hold to your lips, we will dash from you and leave you to the
+chances of gathering the spilled and scattered contents in some vague
+and undefined when, where, and how.' If this course, discouraging and
+paralyzing both White and Black, has any tendency to bring Louisiana
+into proper practical relations with the Union, I have, so far, been
+unable to perceive it. If, on the contrary, we recognize and sustain
+the new government of Louisiana, the converse of all this is made true."
+
+While, however, Mr. Lincoln thus upheld and defended this Louisiana plan
+of reconstruction, yet he conceded that in applying it to other States,
+with their varying conditions, "no exclusive and inflexible plan can
+safely be prescribed as to details and collaterals." The entire speech
+shows the greatest solicitude to make no mistake necessitating backward
+steps, and consequent delay in reconstructing the Rebel States into
+Loyal ones; and especially anxious was he, in this, his last public
+utterance, touching the outcome of his great life-work, Emancipation.
+"If," said he, "we reject Louisiana, we also reject one vote in favor of
+the proposed Amendment to the National Constitution. To meet this
+proposition it has been argued that no more than three-fourths of those
+States which have not attempted Secession are necessary to validly
+ratify the Amendment. I do not commit myself against this further than
+to say that such a ratification would be questionable, and sure to be
+persistently questioned; whilst a ratification by three-fourths of all
+the States would be unquestioned and unquestionable."
+
+On Thursday, by the President's direction, a War Department Order was
+drawn up and issued, putting an end to drafting and recruiting, and the
+purchase of Military supplies, and removing all restrictions which
+Military necessity had imposed upon the trade and commerce and
+intercourse of any one part of the Union with the other. On Friday, the
+14th of April, there was a meeting of the Cabinet at noon, to receive a
+report from General Grant, in person--he having just arrived from the
+scene of Lee's surrender. Later, the President rode out with Mrs.
+Lincoln, and talked of the hard time they had had since coming to
+Washington; "but," continued he, "the War is over, and, with God's
+blessing, we may hope for four years of Peace and happiness, and then we
+will go back to Illinois, and pass the rest of our lives in quiet." At
+Ford's Theatre, that evening, was played "The American Cousin," and it
+had been announced that both the President and General Grant would be
+present. Grant, however, was prevented from attending. President
+Lincoln attended with reluctance--possibly because of a presentiment
+which he had that day had, that "something serious is going to happen,"
+of which he made mention at the Cabinet meeting aforesaid.
+
+It was about 9 o-clock P.M., that the President, with Mrs. Lincoln,
+Major Rathbone, and Miss Harris, entered the Theatre, and, after
+acknowledging with a bow the patriotic acclamations with which the
+audience saluted him, entered the door of the private box, reserved for
+his party, which was draped with the folds of the American flag. At
+half past 10 o'clock, while all were absorbed in the play, a pistol-shot
+was heard, and a man, brandishing a bloody dagger, was seen to leap to
+the stage from the President's box, crying "Sic Semper Tyrannis!" His
+spurred boot, catching in the bunting, tripped him, so that he half fell
+and injured one leg, but instantly recovered himself, and, shouting "The
+South is avenged!" rushed across the stage, and disappeared. It was an
+actor, John Wilkes Booth by name, who--inspired with all the mad,
+unreasoning, malignant hatred of everything representing Freedom and
+Union, which was purposely instilled into the minds and hearts of their
+followers and sympathizers by the Rebel leaders and their chief
+accomplices in the North--had basely skulked into the box, behind Mr.
+Lincoln, mortally wounded him with a pistol-bullet, and escaped--after
+stabbing Major Rathbone for vainly striving to arrest the vile
+assassin's flight.
+
+Thus this great and good Ruler of our reunited People was foully
+stricken down in the very moment of his triumph; when the Union troops
+were everywhere victorious; when Lee had surrendered the chief Army of
+the downfallen Confederacy; when Johnston was on the point of
+surrendering the only remaining Rebel force which could be termed an
+Army; on the self-same day too, which saw the identical flag of the
+Union, that four years before had been sadly hauled down from the
+flagstaff of Fort Sumter, triumphantly raised again over that historic
+fort; when, the War being at an end, everything in the future looked
+hopeful; at the very time when his merciful and kindly mind was
+doubtless far away from the mimic scenes upon which he looked, revolving
+beneficent plans for reconstructing and rebuilding the waste and
+desolate places in the South which War had made; at this time, of all
+times, when his clear and just perceptions and firm patriotism were most
+needed,
+
+ [For his last public words, two nights before, had been: "In the
+ present 'situation,' as the phrase goes, it may be my duty to make
+ some new announcement to the people of the South. I am
+ CONSIDERING, and shall not fail to act when satisfied that action
+ will be proper."]
+
+alike by conquerors and conquered, to guide and aid the Nation in the
+difficult task of reconstruction, and of the new departure, looming up
+before it, with newer and broader and better political issues upon which
+all Patriot might safely divide, while all the old issues of
+States-rights, Secession, Free-Trade, and Slavery, and all the mental
+and moral leprosy growing out of them, should lie buried far out of
+sight as dead-and-gone relics of the cruel and devastating War which
+they alone had brought on! Abraham Lincoln never spoke again. The
+early beams of the tomorrow's sun touched, but failed to warm, the
+lifeless remain of the great War-President and Liberator, as they were
+borne, in mournful silence, back to the White House, mute and ghastly
+witness of the sheer desperation of those who, although armed Rebellion,
+in the open field, by the fair and legitimate modes of Military warfare,
+had ceased, were determined still to keep up that cowardly "fire in the
+rear" which had been promised to the Rebel leaders by their Northern
+henchmen and sympathizers.
+
+The assassination of President Lincoln was but a part of the plot of
+Booth and his murderous Rebel-sympathizing fellow conspirators. It was
+their purpose also to kill Grant, and Seward, and other prominent
+members of the Cabinet, simultaneously, in the wild hope that anarchy
+might follow, and Treason find its opportunity. In this they almost
+miraculously failed, although Seward was badly wounded by one of the
+assassins.
+
+That the Rebel authorities were cognizant of, and encouraged, this
+dastardly plot, cannot be distinctly proven. But, while they naturally
+would be likely, especially in the face of the storm of public
+exasperation which it raised throughout the Union, to disavow all
+knowledge of, or complicity in, the vengeful murder of President
+Lincoln, and to destroy all evidences possible of any such guilty
+knowledge or complicity, yet there will ever be a strong suspicion that
+they were not innocent. From the time when it was first known that Mr.
+Lincoln had been elected President, the air was full of threats that he
+should not live to be inaugurated.
+
+That the assassination, consummated in April, 1865, would
+have taken place in February of 1861, had it not been for the timely
+efforts of Lieutenant-General Scott, Brigadier-General Stone, Hon.
+William H. Seward, Frederick W. Seward, Esq., and David S. Bookstaver of
+the Metropolitan Police of New York--is abundantly shown by
+Superintendent John A. Kennedy, in a letter of August 13, 1866, to be
+found in vol. ii., of Lossing's "Civil War in America," pages 147-149,
+containing also an extract from a letter of General Stone, in which the
+latter--after mentioning that General Scott and himself considered it
+"almost a certainty that Mr. Lincoln could not pass Baltimore alive by
+the train on the day fixed"--proceeds to say: "I recommended that Mr.
+Lincoln should be officially warned; and suggested that it would be
+altogether best that he should take the train of that evening from
+Philadelphia, and so reach Washington early the next day." * * *
+General Scott, after asking me how the details could be arranged in so
+short a time, and receiving my suggestion that Mr. Lincoln should be
+advised quietly to take the evening train, and that it would do him no
+harm to have the telegraph wires cut for a few hours, he directed me to
+seek Mr. W. H. Seward, to whom he wrote a few lines, which he handed to
+me. It was already ten o'clock, and when I reached Mr. Seward's house
+he had left; I followed him to the Capitol, but did not succeed in
+finding him until after 12 M. I handed him the General's note; he
+listened attentively to what I said, and asked me to write down my
+information and suggestions, and then, taking the paper I had written,
+he hastily left. The note I wrote was what Mr. Frederick Seward carried
+to Mr. Lincoln in Philadelphia. Mr. Lincoln has stated that it was this
+note which induced him to change his journey as he did. The stories of
+disguise are all nonsense; Mr. Lincoln merely took the sleeping-car in
+the night train.
+
+Equally certain also, is it, that the Rebel authorities were utterly
+indifferent to the means that might be availed of to secure success to
+Rebellion. Riots and arson, were among the mildest methods proposed to
+be used in the Northern cities, to make the War for the Union a
+"failure"--as their Northern Democratic allies termed it--while,
+among other more devilish projects, was that of introducing cholera
+and yellow fever into the North, by importing infected rags! Another
+much-talked-of scheme throughout the War, was that of kidnapping
+President Lincoln, and other high officials of the Union Government.
+There is also evidence, that the Rebel chiefs not only received, but
+considered, the plans of desperadoes and cut-throats looking to the
+success of the Rebellion by means of assassination. Thus, in a footnote
+to page 448, vol. ii., of his "Civil War in America," Lossing does not
+hesitate to characterize Jefferson Davis as "the crafty and malignant
+Chief Conspirator, who seems to have been ready at all times to
+entertain propositions to assassinate, by the hand of secret murder, the
+officers of the Government at Washington;" and, after fortifying that
+statement by a reference to page 523 of the first volume of his work,
+proceeds to say: "About the time (July, 1862) we are now considering, a
+Georgian, named Burnham, wrote to Jefferson Davis, proposing to organize
+a corps of five hundred assassins, to be distributed over the North, and
+sworn to murder President Lincoln, members of his Cabinet, and leading
+Republican Senators, and other supporters of the Government. This
+proposition was made in writing, and was regularly filed in the
+'Confederate War Department,' indorsed 'Respectfully referred to the
+Secretary of War, by order of the President,' and signed 'J. C Ives.'
+Other communications of similar tenor, 'respectfully referred' by
+Jefferson Davis, were placed on file in that 'War Department.'" All the
+denials, therefore, of the Rebel chieftains, as to their complicity in
+the various attempts to assassinate Abraham Lincoln, ending with his
+dastardly murder in April, 1865, will not clear their skirts of the
+odium of that unparalleled infamy. It will cling to them, living or
+dead, until that great Day of Judgment when the exact truth shall be
+made known, and "their sin shall find them out."
+
+ [The New York Tribune, August 16, 1885, under the heading "A NARROW
+ ESCAPE OF LINCOLN," quotes an interesting "Omaha Letter, to the St.
+ Paul Pioneer Press," as follows:
+
+ "That more than one attempt was made to assassinate Abraham Lincoln
+ is a fact known to John W. Nichols, ex-president of the Omaha Fire
+ Department. Mr. Nichols was one of the body-guard of President
+ Lincoln from the Summer of 1862 until 1865. The following
+ narrative, related to your correspondent by Mr. Nichols, is
+ strictly true, and the incident is not generally known:
+
+ 'One night about the middle of August, 1864, I was doing sentinel
+ duty at the large gate through which entrance was had to the
+ grounds of the Soldiers' Home. The grounds are situated about a
+ quarter of a mile off the Bladensburg road, and are reached by
+ devious driveways. About 11 o'clock I heard a rifle shot in the
+ direction of the city, and shortly afterwards I heard approaching
+ hoof-beats. In two or three minutes a horse came dashing-up, and I
+ recognized the belated President. The horse was very spirited, and
+ belonged to Mr. Lamon, marshal of the District of Columbia. This
+ horse was Mr. Lincoln's favorite, and when he was in the White
+ House stables he always chose him. As horse and rider approached
+ the gate, I noticed that the President was bareheaded. After
+ assisting him in checking his steed, the President said to me: 'He
+ came pretty near getting away with me, didn't he? He got the bit
+ in his teeth before I could draw the rein.' I then asked him where
+ his hat was, and he replied that somebody had fired a gun off down
+ at the foot of the hill, and that his horse had become scared and
+ jerked his hat off. I led the animal to the Executive Cottage, and
+ the President dismounted and entered. Thinking the affair rather
+ strange, a corporal and myself started in the direction of the
+ place from where the sound of the rifle report had proceeded, to
+ investigate the occurrence. When we reached the spot where the
+ driveway intersects with the main road we found the President's
+ hat--a plain silk hat-and upon examining it we discovered a bullet
+ hole through the crown. The shot had been fired upwards, and it
+ was evident that the person who fired the shot had secreted himself
+ close to the roadside. We listened and searched the locality
+ thoroughly, but to no avail. The next day I gave Mr. Lincoln his
+ hat and called his attention to the bullet hole. He rather
+ unconcernedly remarked that it was put there by some foolish
+ gunner, and was not intended for him. He said, however, that he
+ wanted the matter kept quiet, and admonished us to say nothing
+ about it. We all felt confident that it was an attempt to kill
+ him, and a well-nigh successful one, too. The affair was kept
+ quiet, in accordance with his request. After that, the President
+ never rode alone.'"]
+
+That this dark and wicked and bloody Rebellion, waged by the upholders
+and advocates of Slavery, Free Trade, and Secession, had descended so
+low as to culminate in murder--deliberate, cold-blooded, cowardly
+murder--at a time when the Southern Conspirators would apparently be the
+least benefitted by it, was regarded at first as evidencing their mad
+fatuity; and the public mind was dreadfully incensed.
+
+The successor of the murdered President-Andrew Johnson-lost little time
+in offering (May the 2d) rewards, ranging from $25,000 to $100,000, for
+the arrest of Jefferson Davis, Jacob Thompson,
+
+ [The same individual at whose death, in 1885, the Secretary of the
+ Interior, ordered the National flag of the Union--which he had
+ swindled, betrayed, fought, spit upon, and conspired against--to be
+ lowered at halfmast over the Interior Departmental Building, at
+ Washington, D. C.]
+
+Clement C. Clay, Beverly Tucker, George N. Sanders, and W. C. Cleary,
+in a Proclamation which directly charged that they, "and other Rebels
+and Traitors against the Government of the United States, harbored in
+Canada," had "incited, concerted, and procured" the perpetration of the
+appalling crime.
+
+On the 10th of May, one of them, Jacob Thompson, from his place of
+security, in Canada, published a letter claiming to be innocent;
+characterized himself as "a persecuted man;" arrayed certain suspicious
+facts in support of an intimation that Johnson himself was the only one
+man in the Republic who would be benefited by President Lincoln's death;
+and, as he was found "asleep" at the "unusual hour" of nine o'clock
+P.M., of the 14th of April, and had made haste to take the oath of
+office as President of the United States as soon as the breath had left
+the body of his predecessor, insinuated that he (Johnson) might with
+more reason be suspected of "complicity" in "the foul work" than the
+"Rebels and Traitors" charged with it, in his Proclamation; so charged,
+for the very purpose--Thompson insinuated--of shielding himself from
+discovery, and conviction!
+
+But while, for a moment, perhaps, there flitted across the public mind a
+half suspicion of the possibility of what this Rebel intimated as true,
+yet another moment saw it dissipated. For the People remembered that
+between "Andrew Johnson," one of the "poor white trash" of Tennessee,
+and the "aristocratic Slave-owners" of the South, who headed the
+Rebellion, there could be neither sympathy nor cooperation--nothing, but
+hatred; and that this same Andrew Johnson, who, by power of an
+indomitable will, self-education, and natural ability, had, despite the
+efforts of that "aristocracy," forced himself upward, step by step, from
+the tailor's bench, to the successful honors of alderman and Mayor, and
+then still upward through both branches of his State Legislature, into
+the House of Representatives and the Senate of the United States--and,
+in the latter Body, had so gallantly met, and worsted in debate, the
+chosen representatives of that class upon whose treasonable heads he
+poured forth in invective, the gathered hatred of a life-time--would
+probably be the very last man whom these same "aristocratic"
+Conspirators, "Rebels, and Traitors," would prefer as arbiter of their
+fate.
+
+The popular feeling responded heartily, at this time, to the
+denunciations which, in his righteous indignation, he had, in the
+Senate, and since, heaped upon Rebellion, and especially his declaration
+that "Treason must be made odious!"--utterances now substantially
+reiterated by him more vehemently than ever, and multiplied in posters
+and transparencies and newspapers all over the Land. Thus the public
+mind rapidly grew to believe it impossible that the Rebel leaders could
+gain, by the substitution, in the Executive chair, of this harsh,
+determined, despotic nature, for the mild, kindly, merciful,
+even-tempered, Abraham Lincoln. With Andrew Johnson for President, the
+People felt that justice would fall upon the heads of the guilty, and
+that the Country was safe. And so it happened that, while the mere
+instruments of the assassination conspiracy were hurried to an
+ignominious death, in the lull that followed, Jefferson Davis and others
+of the Rebel chiefs, who had been captured and imprisoned, were allowed
+to go "Scott-free, without even the semblance of a trial for their
+Treason!"
+
+It is not the purpose of this work to deal with the history of the
+Reconstruction or rehabilitation of the Rebel States; to look too
+closely into the devious ways and subtle methods through and by which
+the Rebel leaders succeeded in flattering the vanity, and worming
+themselves into the confidence and control, of Andrew Johnson--by
+pretending to believe that his occupation of the Presidential Office had
+now, at last, brought him to their "aristocratic" altitude, and to a
+hearty recognition by them of his "social equality;" or to follow,
+either in or out of Congress, the great political conflict, between
+their unsuspecting Presidential dupe and the Congress, which led to the
+impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson, for high crimes and
+misdemeanors in office, his narrow escape from conviction and
+deposition, and to much consequent excitement and turmoil among the
+People, which, but for wise counsels and prudent forethought of the
+Republican leaders, in both Civil and Military life, might have
+eventuated in the outbreak of serious civil commotions. Suffice it to
+say, that in due time; long after the Thirteenth Amendment to the United
+States Constitution had been ratified by three-fourths of all the
+States; after Johnson had vexed the White House, with his noisy
+presence, for the nearly four years succeeding the death of the great
+and good Lincoln; and after the People, with almost unexampled
+unanimity, had called their great Military hero, Grant, to the helm of
+State; the difficult and perplexing problems involved in the
+Reconstruction of the Union were, at last, successfully solved by the
+Republican Party, and every State that had been in armed Rebellion
+against that Union, was not only back again, with a Loyal State
+Constitution, but was represented in both branches of Congress, and in
+other Departments of the National Government.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+ TURNING BACK THE HANDS!
+
+
+And now, the War having ended in the defeat, conquest, and capture, of
+those who, inspired by the false teachings of Southern leaders, had
+arrayed themselves in arms beneath the standard of Rebellion, and fought
+for Sectional Independence against National Union, for Slavery against
+Freedom, and for Free Trade against a benignant Tariff protective alike
+to manufacturer, mechanic, and laborer, it might naturally be supposed
+that, with the collapse of this Rebellion, all the issues which made up
+"the Cause"--the "Lost Cause," as those leaders well termed it--would be
+lost with it, and disappear from political sight; that we would never
+again hear of a Section of the Nation, and last of all the Southern
+Section, organized, banded together, solidified in the line of its own
+Sectional ideas as against the National ideas prevailing elsewhere
+through the Union; that Free Trade, conscious of the ruin and desolation
+which it had often wrought, and of the awful sacrifices, in blood and
+treasure, that had been made in its behalf by the conquered South, would
+slink from sight and hide its famine-breeding front forever; and that
+Slavery, in all its various disguises, was banished, never more to
+obtrude its hateful form upon our Liberty-loving Land. That was indeed
+the supposition and belief which everywhere pervaded the Nation, when
+Rebellion was conquered by the legions of the Union--and which
+especially pervaded the South. Never were Rebels more thoroughly
+exhausted and sick of Rebellion and of everything that led to it, than
+these. As Badeau said, they made haste "to yield everything they had
+fought for," and "dreamed not of political power." They had been
+brought to their knees, suing for forgiveness, and thankful that their
+forfeit lives were spared.
+
+For awhile, with chastened spirit, the reconstructed South seemed to
+reconcile itself in good faith to the legitimate results of the War, and
+all went well. But Time and Peace soon obliterate the lessons and the
+memories of War. And it was not very long after the Rebellion had
+ceased, and the old issues upon which it was fought had disappeared from
+the arena of National politics, when its old leaders and their
+successors began slowly, carefully, and systematically, to relay the
+tumbled-down, ruined foundations and walls of the Lost Cause--a work in
+which, unfortunately, they were too well aided by the mistaken clemency
+and magnanimity of the Republican Party, in hastily removing the
+political disabilities of those leaders.
+
+Before proceeding farther, it is necessary to remark here, that, after
+the suppression of the Rebellion and adoption of the Thirteenth
+Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which prohibits
+Slavery and Involuntary Servitude within the United States, it soon
+became apparent that it was necessary to the protection of the Freedmen,
+in the civil and political rights and privileges which it was considered
+desirable to secure to them, as well as to the creation and fostering of
+a wholesome loyal sentiment in, and real reconstruction of, the States
+then lately insurgent, and for certain other reasons, that other
+safeguards, in the shape of further Amendments to the Constitution,
+should be adopted.
+
+Accordingly the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments were, on the 16th of
+June, 1866, and 27th of February, 1869, respectively, proposed by
+Congress to the Legislatures of the several States, and were declared
+duly ratified, and a part of the Constitution, respectively on the 28th
+of July, 1868, and March 30, 1870. Those Amendments were in these
+words:
+
+
+ "ARTICLE XIV.
+
+"SECTION 1.--All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and
+subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States
+and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce
+any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of
+the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life,
+liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person
+within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
+
+"SECTION 2.--Representatives shall be apportioned among the several
+States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number
+of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the
+right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President
+and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress,
+the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the
+Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such
+State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States,
+or in any way abridged, except for participation in Rebellion, or other
+crime, the basis of Representation therein shall be reduced in the
+proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the
+whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
+
+"SECTION 3.--No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress,
+or Elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or
+military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having
+previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of
+the United States, or as a member of any State Legislature, or as an
+executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution
+of the United States, shall have engaged in Insurrection or Rebellion
+against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But
+Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such
+disability.
+
+"SECTION 4.--The validity of the public debt of the United States,
+authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and
+bounties for services in suppressing Insurrection or Rebellion, shall
+not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall
+assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of Insurrection or
+Rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or
+Emancipation of any Slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims
+shall be held illegal and void.
+
+"SECTION 5.--The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate
+legislation, the provisions of this article."
+
+
+ "ARTICLE XV.
+
+"SECTION 1.--The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall
+not be denied or abridged by, the United States or by any State on
+account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
+
+"SECTION 2.--The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
+appropriate legislation."
+
+
+It would seem, then, from the provisions of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth,
+and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution, and the Congressional
+legislation subsequently enacted for the purpose of enforcing them, that
+not only the absolute personal Freedom of every man, woman, and child in
+the United States was thus irrevocably decreed; that United States
+citizenship was clearly defined; that the life, liberty, property,
+privileges and immunities of all were secured by throwing around them
+the "equal protection of the laws;" that the right of the United States
+citizen to vote, was placed beyond denial or abridgment, on "account of
+race, color, or previous condition of servitude;" but, to make this more
+certain, the basis of Congressional Representative-apportionment was
+changed from its former mixed relation, comprehending both persons and
+"property," so-called, to one of personal numbers--the Black man now
+counting quite as much as the White man, instead of only three-fifths as
+much; and it was decreed, that, except for crime, any denial to United
+States citizens, whether Black or White, of the right to vote at any
+election of Presidential electors, Congressional Representatives, State
+Governors, Judges, or Legislative members, "shall" work a reduction,
+proportioned to the extent of such denial, in the Congressional
+Representation of the State, or States, guilty of it. As a further
+safeguard, in the process of reconstruction, none of the insurgent
+States were rehabilitated in the Union except upon acceptance of those
+three Amendments as an integral part of the United States Constitution,
+to be binding upon it; and it was this Constitution as it is, and not
+the Constitution as it was, that all the Representatives, in both Houses
+of Congress, from those insurgent States--as well as all their State
+officers--swore to obey as the supreme law of the Land, when taking
+their respective oaths of office.
+
+Biding their time, and pretending to act in good faith, as the
+years rolled by, the distrust and suspicion with which the old
+Rebel-conspirators had naturally been regarded, gradually lessened in
+the public mind. With a glad heart, the Congress, year after year,
+removed the political disabilities from class after class of those who
+had incurred them, until at last all, so desiring, had been reinstated
+in the full privileges of citizenship, save the very few unrepentant
+instigators and leaders of the Rebellion, who, in the depths of that
+oblivion to which they seemingly had been consigned, continued to nurse
+the bitterness of their downfall into an implacable hatred of that
+Republic which had paralyzed the bloody hands of Rebellion, and
+shattered all their ambitious dreams of Oligarchic rule, if not of
+Empire.
+
+But, while the chieftains of the great Conspiracy--and of the armed
+Rebellion itself--remained at their homes unpunished, through the
+clemency of the American People; the active and malignant minds of some
+of them were plotting a future triumph for the "Lost Cause," in the
+overthrow, in consecutive detail, of the Loyal governments of the
+Southern States, by any and all means which might be by them considered
+most desirable, judicious, expedient, and effectual; the solidifying of
+these Southern States into a new Confederation, or league, in fact--with
+an unwritten but well understood Constitution of its own--to be known
+under the apparently harmless title of the "Solid South," whose mission
+it would be to build up, and strengthen, and populate, and enrich itself
+within the Union, for a time, greater or less, according to
+circumstances, and in the meanwhile to work up, with untiring devotion
+and energy, not only to this practical autonomy and Sectional
+Independence within the Union, but also to a practical re-enslavement of
+the Blacks, and to the vigorous reassertion and triumph, by the aid of
+British gold, of those pernicious doctrines of Free-Trade which, while
+beneficial to the Cotton-lords of the South, would again check and drag
+down the robust expansion of manufactures and commerce in all other
+parts of the Land, and destroy the glorious prosperity of farmers,
+mechanics, and laborers, while at the same time crippling Capital, in
+the North and West.
+
+In order to accomplish these results--after whatever of suspicion and
+distrust that might have still remained in Northern minds had been
+removed by the public declaration in 1874, by one of the ablest and most
+persuasively eloquent of Southern statesmen, that "The South--prostrate,
+exhausted, drained of her life-blood as well as of her material
+resources, yet still honorable and true--accepts the bitter award of the
+bloody arbitrament without reservation, resolutely determined to abide
+the result with chivalrous fidelity"--these old Rebel leaders commenced
+in good earnest to carry out their well organized programme, which they
+had already experimentally tested, to their own satisfaction, in certain
+localities.
+
+The plan was this: By the use of shot-guns and rifles, and cavalcades of
+armed white Democrats, in red shirts, riding around the country at dead
+of night, whipping prominent Republican Whites and Negroes to death, or
+shooting or hanging them if thought advisable, such terror would fall
+upon the colored Republican voters that they would keep away from the
+polls, and consequently the white Democrats, undeterred by such
+influences, and on the contrary, eager to take advantage of them, would
+poll not only a full vote, but a majority vote, on all questions,
+whether involving the mere election of Democratic officials, or
+otherwise; and where intimidation of this, or any other kind, should
+fail, then a resort to be had to whatever devices might be found
+necessary to make a fraudulent count and return, and thus secure
+Democratic triumph; and furthermore, when evidences of these
+intimidations and frauds should be presented to those people of the
+Union who believe in every citizen of this free Republic having one free
+vote, and that vote fairly counted, then to laugh the complainants out
+of Court with the cry that such stories are not true; are "campaign
+lies" devised solely for political effect; and are merely the product of
+Republican "outrage mills," ground out, to order.
+
+This plan was first thoroughly tried in Mississippi, and has hence been
+called the "Mississippi plan." So magically effectual was it, that,
+with variations adapted to locality and circumstances, this "Mississippi
+plan" soon enveloped the entire South in its mesh-work of fraud,
+barbarity, and blood. The massacres, and other outrages, while
+methodical, were remittent, wave-like, sometimes in one Southern State,
+sometimes another, and occurring only in years of hot political
+conflict, until one after another of those States had, by these crimes,
+been again brought under the absolute control of the old Rebel leaders.
+By 1876, they had almost succeeded in their entire programme. They had
+captured all, save three, of the Southern States, and strained every
+nerve and every resource of unprincipled ingenuity, of bribery and
+perjury, after the Presidential election of that year had taken place,
+in the effort to defeat the will of the People and "count in," the
+Presidential candidate of the Democratic Party.
+
+ [The shameful history of the "Tilden barrel" and the "Cipher
+ Dispatches" is too fresh in the public mind to be entirely
+ forgotten,]
+
+Failing in this effort, the very failure became a grievance. On the
+principle of a fleeing thief diverting pursuit by shouting "Stop thief,"
+the cry of "fraud" was raised by the Democratic leaders, North and
+South, against the Republican Party, and was iterated and reiterated so
+long and loudly, that soon they actually began, themselves, to believe,
+that President Hayes had been "counted in," by improper methods! At all
+events, under cover of the hue and cry thus raised, the Southern leaders
+hurried up their work of Southern solidification, by multiplied outrages
+on the "Mississippi plan," so that, by 1880, they were ready to dictate,
+and did dictate, the Democratic Presidential nominations.
+
+ [Senator Wallace, of Pennsylvania, telegraphed from Cincinnati his
+ congratulations to General Hancock, and added: "General Buell tells
+ me that Murat Halsted says Hancock's nomination by the Confederate
+ Brigadiers sets the old Rebel yell to the music of the Union." In
+ the Convention which nominated Hancock, Wade Hampton made a speech,
+ saying; "On behalf of the 'Solid South,' that South which once was
+ arrayed against the great soldier of Pennsylvania, I stand here to
+ pledge you its solid vote. [cheers] * * * There is no name which
+ is held in higher respect among the people of the South, than that
+ of the man you have given to us as our standard-bearer." And
+ afterward, in a speech at Staunton, Virginia, the same Southern
+ leader, in referring to the action of the Democratic Convention at
+ Cincinnati, said: "There was but one feeling among the Southern
+ delegates. That feeling was expressed when we said to our Northern
+ Democratic brethren 'Give us an available man.' They gave us that
+ man."]
+
+While these old Rebel leaders of the South had insisted upon, and had
+succeeded in, nominating a man whose record as a Union soldier would
+make him popular in the North and West, and while their knowledge of his
+availability for Southern purposes would help them in their work of
+absolutely solidifying the South, they took very good care also to press
+forward their pet Free-Trade issue--that principle so dear to the hearts
+of the Rebel Cotton-lords that, as has already been hinted, they
+incorporated it into their Constitution of Confederation in these words:
+
+"SEC. 8.--Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties,
+imposts and excises for revenue necessary to pay the debts, provide for
+the common defense, and carry on the Government of the Confederate
+States; but no bounty shall be granted from the Treasury, nor shall any
+duty or tax on importation from Foreign Nations be laid to promote or
+foster any branch of industry."
+
+It may also be remarked that, under the inspiration of those Southern
+leaders who afterward rebelled, it had been laid down as Democratic
+doctrine, in the National Democratic platform of 1856--and "reaffirmed"
+as such, in 1860--that "The time has come for the People of the United
+States to declare themselves in favor of * * * progressive Free-Trade.
+* * * That justice and sound policy forbid the Federal Government to
+foster one branch of industry to the detriment of another." But, by
+1864, the Republican Protective-Tariff of 1860, had so abundantly
+demonstrated, to all our people engaged in industrial occupations, the
+beneficence of the great principle of home industrial Protection, that
+Tariff-agitation actually ceased, and the National Democratic platform
+of that year had nothing to say in behalf of Free-Trade!
+
+After the close of the War, however, at the very first National
+Democratic Convention, in 1868, at which there were delegations from the
+lately rebellious States, the question was at once brought to the front,
+and, under the inspiration of the old Rebel leaders aforesaid, the
+Democratic platform again raised the banner of Free-Trade by declaring
+for a Tariff for revenue. But the mass of the People, at that time
+still freshly remembered the terrible commercial disasters and
+industrial depressions which had befallen the Land, through the
+practical operation of that baleful Democratic Free-Trade doctrine,
+before the Rebellion broke out, and sharply contrasted the misery and
+poverty and despair of those dark days of ruin and desolation, with the
+comfort and prosperity and hopefulness which had since come to them
+through the Republican Protective-Tariff Accordingly, the Republican
+Presidential candidate, representing the great principle of Protection
+to American Industries, was elected over the Democratic Free-Trade
+candidate, by 214 to 71 electoral votes-or nearly three to one!
+
+Taught, by this lesson, that the People were not yet sufficiently
+prepared for a successful appeal in behalf of anything like Free-Trade,
+the next National Democratic Convention, (that of 1872), under the same
+Southern inspiration, more cautiously declared, in its platform, that
+"Recognizing that there are in our midst, honest but irreconcilable
+differences of opinion, with regard to the respective systems of
+Protection and Free-Trade, we remit the discussion of the subject to the
+People in their Congressional districts, and to the decision of the
+Congress thereon, wholly free from Executive interference or dictation."
+The People, however, rebuked the moral cowardice thus exhibited by the
+Democracy--in avoiding a direct issue on the doctrine which Democracy
+itself had galvanized at least into simulated life,--by giving 286
+electoral votes to the Republican candidate, to 63 for the Democratic,
+--or in the proportion of nearly five to one.
+
+Warned, by this overwhelming defeat, not to flinch from, or avoid, or
+try to convert the great National question of Tariff, into a merely
+local one, the National Democratic platform of 1876, at the instigation
+of the old Rebel leaders of the now fast solidifying South, came out
+flat-footedly again with the "demand that all Custom-house taxation
+shall be only for revenue." This time, the electoral vote stood almost
+evenly divided, viz.: for the Republican candidate, 185; for the
+Democratic candidate, 184;--a result so extremely close, as to lead to
+the attempted perpetration of great frauds against the successful
+candidate; the necessary settlement of the questions growing out of
+them, by an Electoral commission--created by Congress at the instance of
+the Democratic Party; great irritation, among the defeated Democracy,
+over the just findings of that august Tribunal; and to the birth of the
+alleged Democratic "grievance," aforesaid.
+
+The closeness of this vote--their almost triumph, in 1876,--encouraged
+the Solid South to press upon the National Democratic Convention of
+1880, the expediency of adopting a Free-Trade "plank" similar to that
+with which, in 1876, they had so nearly succeeded. Hence the Democratic
+platform of 1880, also declared decidedly for "A Tariff for revenue
+only."
+
+The old Rebel leaders, at last in full control of the entire Democratic
+Party, had now got things pretty much as they wanted them. They had
+created that close corporation within the Union--that /imperium in
+imperio/ that oligarchically--governed league of States (within the
+Republic of the United States) which they termed the "Solid South," and
+which would vote as a unit, on all questions, as they directed; they had
+dictated the nomination, by the Democratic Party, of a Presidential
+candidate who would not dare to act counter to their wishes; and their
+pet doctrine of Free-Trade was held up, to the whole Democratic front,
+under the attractive disguise of a Tariff for revenue only.
+
+ [As Ex-Senator Toombs, of Georgia, wrote: "The old boys of the
+ South will see that 'Hancock' does the fair thing by them. In
+ other words, he will run the machine to suit them, or they will run
+ the thing themselves. They are not going to be played with any
+ longer."]
+
+In other words, they had already secured a "Solid South," an "available"
+candidate, and an "expedient" Free-Trade platform. All that remained
+for them, at this stage, to do, was to elect the candidate, and enact
+their Free-Trade doctrine into legislation. This was their current
+work, so to speak--to be first attended to--but not all their work; for
+one of the most brilliant and candid of their coadjutors had said, only
+a few months before: "We do not intend to stop until we have stricken
+the last vestige of your War measures from the Statute-book."
+
+Unfortunately, however, for their plans, an attempt made by them, under
+the lead of Mr. Morrison of Illinois, in 1876, to meddle with the
+Republican Protective-Tariff, had caused considerable public alarm, and
+had been credited with having much to do with a succeeding monetary
+panic, and industrial depression. Another and more determined effort,
+made by them in 1878, under the lead of their old Copperhead ally,
+Fernando Wood, to cut down the wise Protective duties imposed by the
+Tariff Act, about 15 per cent.,--together with the cold-blooded
+Free-Trade declaration of Mr. Wood, touching his ruinous Bill, that "Its
+reductions are trifling as compared with what they should be. * * * If
+I had the power to commence de novo, I should reduce the duties 50 per
+cent., instead of less than 15 per cent., upon an average
+as now proposed,"--an effort which was narrowly, and with great
+difficulty, defeated by the Republicans, aided by a mere handful of
+others,--had also occasioned great excitement throughout the Country,
+the suspension and failure of thousands of business firms, the
+destruction of confidence in the stability and profitableness of
+American industries, and great consequent suffering, and enforced
+idleness, to the working men and working women of the Land.
+
+The sad recollection of these facts--made more poignant by the airy
+declaration of the Democratic Presidential candidate, that the great
+National question of the Tariff is a mere "local issue,"--was largely
+instrumental, in connection with the insolent aggressiveness of the
+Southern leaders, in Congress, in occasioning their defeat in the
+Presidential contest of 1880, the Republican candidate receiving 214
+electoral votes, while the Democratic candidate received but 155
+electoral votes.
+
+In 1882, the House of Representatives was under Republican control, and,
+despite determined Democratic resistance, created a Tariff-commission,
+whose duty it was "to take into consideration, and to thoroughly
+investigate, all the various questions relating to the agricultural,
+commercial, mercantile, manufacturing, mining, and (other) industrial
+interests of the United States, so far as the same may be necessary to
+the establishment of a judicious Tariff, or a revision of the existing
+Tariff, upon a scale of justice to all interests."
+
+That same year, in the face of most protracted and persistent opposition
+by the great bulk of Democratic members, both of the Senate and House of
+Representatives, and an effort to substitute for it the utterly ruinous
+Democratic Free-Trade Tariff of 1846, the Bill recommended by this
+Republican Tariff-commission, was enacted; and, in 1883, a modified
+Tariff-measure, comprehending a large annual reduction of import duties,
+while also carefully preserving the great Republican American principle
+of Protection, was placed by the Republicans on the Statute-book,
+despite the renewed and bitter opposition of the Democrats, who, as
+usual, fought it desperately in both branches of Congress. But
+Republican efforts failed in 1884, in the interest of the wool-growers
+of the country, to restore the Protective-duties on wool, which had been
+sacrificed, in 1883, to an exigency created by Democratic opposition to
+them.
+
+Another Democratic effort, in the direction of Free-Trade, known as "the
+Morrison Tariff-Bill of 1884," was made in the latter year, which,
+besides increasing the free-list, by adding to it salt, coal, timber,
+and wood unmanufactured, as well as many manufactures thereof, decreased
+the import duties "horizontally" on everything else to the extent of
+twenty per cent. The Republicans, aided by a few Democrats, killed this
+undigested and indigestible Democratic Bill, by striking out its
+enacting clause.
+
+By this time, however, by dint of the incessant special-pleading in
+behalf of the obnoxious and un-American doctrine of Free-Trade,--or the
+nearest possible approach to it, consistent with the absolutely
+essential collection of revenues for the mere support of the Government
+--indulged in (by some of the professors) in our colleges of learning;
+through a portion of the press; upon the stump; and in Congress;
+together with the liberal use of British gold in the wide distribution
+of printed British arguments in its favor,--this pernicious but favorite
+idea of the Solid South had taken such firm root in the minds of the
+greater part of the Democratic Party in the North and West, as well as
+the South, that a declaration in the National Democratic platform in its
+favor was now looked for, as a matter of course. The "little leaven" of
+this monstrous un-American heresy seemed likely to leaven "the whole
+mass" of the Democracy.
+
+But, as in spite of the tremendous advantage given to that Party by the
+united vote of the Solid South, the Presidential contest of 1884 was
+likely to be so close that, to give Democracy any chance to win, the few
+Democrats opposed to Free-Trade must be quieted, the utterances of the
+Democratic National Platform of that year, on the subject, were so
+wonderfully pieced, and ludicrously intermixed, that they could be
+construed to mean "all things to all men."
+
+At last, after an exciting campaign, the Presidential election of 1884
+was held, and for the first time since 1856, the old Free-Trade
+Democracy of the South could rejoice over the triumph of their
+Presidential candidate.
+
+Great was the joy of the Solid South! At last, its numberless crimes
+against personal Freedom, and political Liberty, would reap a generous
+harvest. At last, participation in Rebellion would no more be regarded
+as a blot upon the political escutcheon. At last, commensurate rewards
+for all the long years of disconsolate waiting, and of hard work in
+night ridings, and house-burnings, and "nigger"-whippings, and
+"nigger"-shootings, and "nigger"-hangings, and ballot-box stuffings, and
+all the other dreadful doings to which these old leaders were impelled
+by a sense of Solid-Southern patriotism, and pride of race, and lust for
+power, would come, and come in profusion.
+
+Grand places in the Cabinet, and foreign Missions, for the old Rebels of
+distinction, now Chiefs of the "Solid-Southern" Conspiracy, and for
+those other able Northern Democrats who had helped them, during or since
+the Rebellion; fat consulates abroad, for others of less degree;
+post-offices, without stint, for the lesser lights; all this, and more,
+must now come. The long-hidden light of a glorious day was about to
+break. The "restoration of the Government to the principles and
+practices of the earlier period," predicted by the unreconstructed
+"Rebel chieftains" those "same principles for which they fought for four
+years" the principles of Southern Independence, Slavery, Free Trade and
+Oligarchic rule--were now plainly in sight, and within reach!
+
+The triumph of the Free-Trade Democracy, if continued to another
+Presidential election, would make Free-Trade a certainty. The old forms
+of Slavery, to be sure, were dead beyond reanimation--perhaps; but, in
+their place, were other forms of Slavery, which attracted less attention
+and reprobation from the World at large, and yet were quite as effectual
+for all Southern purposes. The system of Peonage and contracted
+convict-labor, growing out of the codes of Black laws, were
+all-sufficient to keep the bulk of the Negro race in practical subjection
+and bondage. The solidifying of the South had already made the South
+not only practically independent within the Union, but the overshadowing
+power, potential enough to make, and unmake, the rulers and policies of
+the Democratic Party, and of that Union.
+
+This, indeed, was a grand outcome for the tireless efforts of the once
+defeated Conspirators! And as to Oligarchal rule--the rule of the few
+(and those the Southern chiefs) over the many,--was not that already
+accomplished? For these old Rebel leaders and oligarchs who had secured
+the supreme rule over the Solid South, had also, through their ability
+to wield the power of that Solid South within the Union, actually
+secured the power of practically governing the entire Union!
+
+That Union, then, which we have been wont to look upon as the grandest,
+noblest, freest, greatest Republic upon Earth,--is it really such, in
+all respects, at the present? Does the Free Republic of the United
+States exist, in fact, to-day?
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+ WHAT NEXT?
+
+And what next? Aye, what next? Do the patriotic, innocent-minded
+lovers of a Republican form of Government imagine, for an instant, that
+all danger to its continued existence and well-being has ceased to
+threaten?--that all the crises perilous to that beneficent popular
+governmental form have vanished?--that the climacteric came, and went,
+with the breaking out, and suppression, of the Rebellion?--and that
+there is nothing alarming in the outlook? Quite likely. The public
+mind has not yet been aroused to a sense of the actual revolution
+against Republican form of government that has already taken place in
+many of the Southern States, much less as to the likelihood of things to
+come. The people of any one of the Western, or Northern States,--take
+New York, for example,--feel prosperous and happy under the beneficent
+workings of the Republican Protective-Tariff system. Business, of all
+sorts, recovering from the numerous attacks made upon that prime bulwark
+of our American industries, if only let alone, will fairly hum, and look
+bright, so far as "the Almighty dollar" is concerned. They know they
+have their primaries and conventions, in their wards and counties
+throughout their State, and their State Conventions, and their
+elections. They know that the voice of the majority of their own
+people, uttered through the sacred ballot-box, is practically the Vox
+Dei--and that all bow to it. They know also, that this State government
+of theirs, with all its ramifications--whether as to its Executive, its
+Legislative, its Judicial, and other officials, either elective or
+appointed--is a Republican form of government, in the American sense--in
+the sense contemplated by the Fathers, when they incorporated into the
+revered Constitution of our Country the vital words: "The United States
+shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of
+government." But they do not realize the vastly different condition of
+things in many States of the Solid South, nor how it affects themselves.
+
+And what is this "republican" form of government, thus pledged? It is
+true that there are not wanting respectable authorities whose
+definitions of the words "republic," and "republican," are strongly
+inharmonious with their true meaning, as correctly understood by the
+great bulk of Americans. Thus, Brande asserts that "A republic may be
+either a democracy or an aristocracy!"--and proceeds to say: "In the
+former, the supreme power is vested in the whole body of the people, or
+in representatives elected by the people; in the latter, it is vested in
+a nobility, or a privileged class of comparatively a small number of
+persons." John Adams also wrote: "The customary meanings of the words
+republic and commonwealth have been infinite. They have been applied to
+every Government under heaven; that of Turkey and that of Spain, as well
+as that of Athens and of Rome, of Geneva and San Marino." But the true
+meaning of the word "republican" as applied to a "form of government,"
+and as commonly and almost invariably understood by those who, above all
+others in the wide World, should best understand and appreciate its
+blessings--to wit: the American People has none of the looseness and
+indefiniteness which these authorities throw about it.
+
+The prevailing and correct American idea is that "Republican" means: of,
+or pertaining to, a Republic; that "Republic" means a thing, affair, or
+matter, closely related to, and touching the "public;" and that the
+"public" are the "people"--not a small proportion of them, but "the
+people at large," the whole community, the Nation, the commonalty, the
+generality. Hence, "a Republican form of government" is, in their
+opinion, plainly that form which is most closely identified with, and
+representative of, the generality or majority of the people; or, in the
+language of Dr. J. E. Worcester, it is "That form of government or of a
+State, in which the supreme power is vested in the people, or in
+representatives elected by the people."
+
+It is obvious that there can be no such thing as "a republic," which is,
+at the same time, "an aristocracy;" for the moment that which was "a
+republic" becomes "an aristocracy," that moment it ceases to be "a
+republic." So also can there be no such thing as "a republic" which is
+"an oligarchy," for, as "a republic" is a government of the many, or, as
+President Lincoln well termed it, "a government of the people, by the
+people, for the people"--so it must cease to be "a republic," when the
+supreme power is in the hands of the oligarchic few.
+
+There can be but two kinds of republics proper--one a democratic
+republic, which is impossible for a great and populous Nation like ours,
+but which may have answered for some of the small republics of ancient
+Greece; the other, a representative republic, such as is boasted by the
+United States. And this is the kind palpably meant by the Fathers,
+when, for the very purpose of nipping in the bud any anti-republican
+Conspiracy likely to germinate from Slavery, they inserted in the Great
+Charter of American Liberties the solemn and irrevocable mandate: "The
+United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican
+Form of Government." That they meant this majority rule--this
+government by the many, instead of the few--this rule of the People, as
+against any possible minority rule, by, or through, oligarchs or
+aristocrats, is susceptible of proof in other ways.
+
+It is a safe guide, in attempting to correctly expound the Constitution
+of the United States, to be careful that the construction insisted on,
+is compatible and harmonious with the spirit of that great instrument;
+so that--as was said by an eloquent and distinguished Massachusetts
+statesman of twenty years ago, in discussing this very point--"the
+guarantee of a Republican form of government must have a meaning
+congenial with the purposes of the Constitution." Those purposes, of
+course, are expressed in its preamble, or in the body of the instrument,
+or in both. The preamble itself, in this case, is sufficient to show
+them. It commences with the significant words: "We THE PEOPLE of the
+United States"--words, instinct with the very consciousness of the
+possession of that supreme power by the People or public, which made
+this not only a Nation, but a Republic; and, after stating the purposes
+or objects sought by the People in thus instituting this Republic,
+proceeds to use that supreme political power vested in them, by
+ordaining and establishing "this CONSTITUTION for the United States of
+America." And, from the very first article, down to the last, of that
+"Constitution," or "structure," or "frame," or "form" of government,
+already self-evidently and self-consciously and avowedly Republican,
+that form is fashioned into a distinctively representative Republican
+government.
+
+The purposes themselves, as declared in the preamble, for which the
+People of the United States thus spake this representative Republic into
+being, are also full of light. Those purposes were "to form a more
+perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquillity, provide
+for the common defense, promote the General Welfare, and secure the
+Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity."
+
+How is it possible, for instance, that "the Blessings
+of Liberty" are to be secured to "ourselves and our Posterity," if
+citizens of the United States, despite the XVth Amendment of that
+Constitution, find-through the machinations of political organizations
+--their right to vote, both abridged and denied, in many of the States,
+"on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude?" How,
+if, in such States, "the right of the people to be secure in their
+persons, houses, and effects, against unreasonable searches and
+seizures," is habitually violated, despite the IVth Amendment of that
+Constitution? How, if, in such States, persons are notoriously and
+frequently "deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process
+of law," in violation of the Vth Amendment of that Constitution? Yet
+such is the state of affairs generally prevalent in many States of the
+Solid South.
+
+These provisions in the Constitution were, with others, placed there for
+the very purpose of securing "the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and
+our Posterity," of promoting the "General Welfare," of establishing
+"Justice," of insuring "domestic Tranquillity" and making "a more
+perfect Union"--and the violation of those provisions, or any one of
+them, in any part of our Land, by any part of our People, in any one of
+the States, is not only subversive of the Constitution, and
+revolutionary, but constitutes a demand, in itself, upon the National
+Government, to obey that imperative mandate of the Constitution (Sec. 4,
+article IV.) comprehended in the words: "The United States SHALL
+guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government."
+
+ [The meaning of these words is correctly given in an opinion of
+ Justice Bronson of New York (4 Hill's Reports, 146) in these words:
+
+ "The meaning of the section then seems to be, that no member of the
+ State shall be disfranchised or deprived of any of his rights or
+ privileges unless the matter shall be adjudged against him upon
+ trial had according to the course of common law. The words 'due
+ process of law' cannot mean less than a prosecution or suit
+ instituted and conducted according to the prescribed forms and
+ solemnities for ascertaining guilt or determining the title to
+ property."]
+
+It is well that the truth should be spoken out, and known of all men.
+The blame for this condition of things belongs partly to the Republican
+Party. The question is sometimes asked: "If these outrages against
+citizenship, against the purity of the ballot, against humanity, against
+both the letter and spirit of the Constitution of our Republic, are
+perpetrated, why is it that the Republican Party--so long in power
+during their alleged perpetration--did not put a stop to them?" The
+answer is: that while there are remedial measures, and measures of
+prevention, fully warranted by the Constitution--while there are
+Constitutional ways and means for the suppression of such outrages--yet,
+out of exceeding tenderness of heart, which prompted the hope and belief
+that the folly of continuing them must ere long come home to the
+Southern mind and conscience, the Republican Party has been loath to put
+them in force. The--best remedy of all, and the best manner of
+administering it, lies with the people themselves, of those States where
+these outrages are perpetrated. Let them stop it. The People of the
+United States may be long-suffering, and slow to wrath; but they will
+not permit such things to continue forever.
+
+When the Rebellion was quelled, the evil spirit which brought it about
+should have been utterly crushed out, and none of the questions involved
+in it should have been permitted to be raised again. But the Republican
+Party acted from its heart, instead of its head. It was merciful,
+forgiving, and magnanimous. In the magnificent sweep of its generosity
+to the erring son, it perhaps failed to insure the exact justice to the
+other sons which was their right. For, as has already been shown in
+these pages, Free-Trade, imbedded in the Rebel Constitution, as well as
+Slavery, entered into and became a part, and an essential part, of the
+Rebellion against the Union--to triumph with Slavery, if the Rebellion
+succeeded--to fall with Slavery, if the Rebellion failed. And, while
+Slavery and Free-Trade, were two leading ideas inspiring the Southern
+Conspirators and leaders in their Rebellion; Freedom to Man, and
+Protection to Labor, were the nobler ideas inspiring those who fought
+for the Union.
+
+The Morrill-Tariff of 1860, with modifications to it subsequently made
+by its Republican friends, secured to the Nation, through the triumph of
+the Union arms, great and manifold blessings and abundant prosperity
+flowing from the American Protective policy; while the Emancipation
+proclamations, together with the Constitutional amendments, and
+Congressional legislation, through the same triumph, and the acceptance
+of the legitimate results of the War, gave Freedom to all within the
+Nation's bound aries. This, at least, was the logical outcome of the
+failure of the Rebellion. Such was the general understanding, on all
+sides, at the conclusion of the War. Yet the Republican Party, in
+failing to stigmatize the heresy of Free Trade--which had so large an
+agency in bringing about the equally heretical doctrines of State
+Sovereignty and the right of Secession, and Rebellion itself,--as an
+issue or question settled by the War, as a part and parcel of the
+Rebellion, was guilty of a grave fault of omission, some of the
+ill-effects of which have already been felt, while others are yet to
+come. For, quickly after the War of the Rebellion closed,--as has been
+already mentioned--the defeated Rebel leaders, casting in their lot with
+their Democratic friends and allies, openly and without special rebuke,
+prevailed upon the National Democracy to adopt the Rebel Free-Trade
+Shibboleth of "a Tariff for revenue;" and that same Democracy, obtaining
+power and place, through violence and fraud and falsehood at the
+so-called "elections" in the Solid Southern States, now threatens the
+Country once more with iniquitous Free-Trade legislation, and all its
+attendant train of commercial disasters and general industrial ruin.
+
+Were Abraham Lincoln able bodily to revisit the United States to-day,
+how his keen gray eyes would open in amazement, to find that many
+legitimate fruits of our Union victories had been filched from us; that
+--save the honorable few, who, accepting the legitimate results of the
+War, were still honestly striving for the success of principles
+harmonizing with such results, and inuring to the general welfare--they
+who strove with all their might to wreck the Government,--were now,
+--through the fraudulent and forcible restriction of voters in their right
+to vote--at the helm of State; that these, who sought to ruin the
+Nation, had thus wrongfully usurped its rule; that Free-Trade--after
+"running-a-muck" of panic and disaster, from the birth of the Republic,
+to the outbreak of the Rebellion, with whose failure it should naturally
+have expired--was now reanimated, and stood, defiantly threatening all
+the great industries of our Land; that all his own painstaking efforts,
+and those of the band of devoted Patriots who stood by him to free the
+Southern Slaves, had mainly resulted in hiding from sight the repulsive
+chains of enforced servitude, under the outward garb of Freedom; that
+the old Black codes had simply been replaced by enactments adapted to
+the new conditions; that the old system of African Slavery had merely
+been succeeded by the heartless and galling system of African Peonage;
+that the sacrifices made by him--including that of his martyrdom--had,
+to a certain extent, been made in vain; that all the sacrifices, the
+sorrows, the sufferings, of this Nation, made in blood, in tears, and in
+vast expenditures of time and treasure, had, in some degree, and in a
+certain sense, been useless; that the Union, to be sure, was saved--but
+saved to be measurably perverted from its grand purpose; that the power
+which animated Rebellion and which was supposed to have expired in the
+"last ditch" with the "Lost Cause" had, by political legerdemain and
+jugglery and violence, been regained; that the time had actually come
+for Patriots to take back seats, while unrepentant Rebels came to the
+front; that the Republic still lived, but only by sufferance, with the
+hands of Southern oligarchs about its palpitating throat--a Republic,
+not such as he expected, where all men are equal before the law, and
+protected in their rights, but where the rights of a certain class are
+persistently trampled under foot; that the people of the Northern,
+Middle, and Western States, observing nothing beyond their own vicinage,
+so to speak, and finding that each of their own States is still
+Republican in its form of government, persistently, and perversely, shut
+their eyes to the election terrorism practiced in the Solid South by,
+which the 16 solid, Southern States were, and are, solidified by these
+conspiring oligarchs into one compact, and powerful, political mass,
+ever ready to be hurled, in and out of Congress, against the best
+interests of the Nation--16 States, not all "Republican" in form, but
+many of them Despotisms, in substance,--16 States, misnamed
+"Democratic," many of them ruled not by a majority, but by an
+Oligarch-ridden minority--16 States, leagued, banded, bound solidly
+together, as one great controlling Oligarchy, to hold, in its merciless
+and selfish hands, the balance of power within this Republican Union;
+and that these confederated Southern States are now actually able to
+dictate to all the other States of the Union, the particular man, or
+men, to whose rule the Nation must submit, and the particular policy, or
+policies, which the Nation must adopt and follow:
+
+"What next?"--you ask--"What next?" Alas, it is not difficult to
+predict! Power, lawlessly gained, is always mercilessly used. Power,
+usurped, is never tamely surrendered. The old French proverb, that
+"revolutions never go backward," is as true to-day, as when it was
+written. Already we see the signs of great preparations throughout the
+Solid South. Already we hear the shout of partisan hosts marshalled
+behind the leaders of the disarmed Rebellion, in order that the same old
+political organization which brought distress upon this Land shall again
+control the Government. Already the spirit of the former aggressiveness
+is defiantly bestirring itself. The old chieftains intend to take no
+more chances. They feel that their Great Conspiracy is now assured of
+success, inside the Union. They hesitate not to declare that the power
+once held by them, and temporarily lost, is regained. Like the Old Man
+of the Sea, they are now on top, and they:
+
+ MEAN TO KEEP THERE--IF THEY CAN.
+
+
+
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL ADDENDUM: As few readers 150 years later know of John Logan
+it seemed appropriate to the eBook editor to append this short biography
+taken from the Encyclopedia Britanica of 1911:
+
+
+LOGAN, JOHN ALEXANDER (1826-1886),
+American soldier and political leader, was born in what is now
+Murphysborough, Jackson county, Illinois, on the 9th of February 1826.
+He had no schooling until he was fourteen; he then studied for three
+years in Shiloh College, served in the Mexican War as a lieutenant of
+volunteers, studied law in the office of an uncle, graduated from the
+Law Department of Louisville University in 1851, and practised law with
+success. He entered politics as a Douglas Democrat, was elected county
+clerk in 1849, served in the State House of Representatives in 1853-1854
+and in 1857, and for a time, during the interval, was prosecuting
+attorney of the Third Judicial District of Illinois. In 1858 and 1860
+he was elected as a Democrat to the National House of Representatives.
+Though unattached and unenlisted, he fought at Bull Run, and then
+returned to Washington, resigned his seat, and entered the Union army as
+colonel of the 31st Illinois Volunteers, which he organized. He was
+regarded as one of the ablest officers who entered the army from civil
+life. In Grant's campaigns terminating in the capture of Vicksburg,
+which city Logan's division was the first to enter and of which he was
+military governor, he rose to the rank of major-general of volunteers;
+in November 1863 he succeeded Sherman in command of the XV. Army Corps;
+and after the death of McPherson he was in command of the Army of the
+Tennessee at the battle of Atlanta. When the war closed, Logan resumed
+his political career as a Republican, and was a member of the National
+House of Representatives from 1867 to 1871, and of the United States
+Senate from 1871 until 1877 and again from 1879 until his death, which
+took place at Washington, D.C., on the 26th of December 1886. In 1868
+he was one of the managers in the impeachment of President Johnson. His
+war record and his great personal following, especially in the Grand
+Army of the Republic, contributed to his nomination for Vice-President
+in 1884 on the ticket with James G. Blaine, but he was not elected.
+His impetuous oratory was popular on the platform. He was
+commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic from 1868 to 1871,
+and in this position successfully urged the observance of Memorial or
+Decoration Day, an idea which probably originated with him. He was the
+author of "The Great Conspiracy: Its Origin and History" (1886), an
+account of the Civil War, and of "The Volunteer Soldier of America"
+(1887). There is a fine statue of him by St. Gaudens in Chicago.
+
+The best biography is that by George F. Dawson, The Life and Services
+of Gen. John A. Logan, as Soldier and Statesman (Chicago and New York,
+1887).
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Conspiracy, Complete
+by John Alexander Logan
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook The Great Conspiracy, Complete, by Logan
+[A History of The Civil War in the United States of America]
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
+copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
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+**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
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+*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers*****
+
+
+Title: The Great Conspiracy, Complete
+
+Author: John Alexander Logan
+
+Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7140]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on March 14, 2003]
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+Edition: 10
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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT CONSPIRACY, COMPLETE ***
+
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+This eBook was produced by David Widger, widger@cecomet.net
+
+
+
+
+
+ THE GREAT CONSPIRACY
+
+ Its Origin and History
+
+ BY
+
+ JOHN LOGAN
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+In the preparation of this work it has been the writer's aim to present
+in it, with historical accuracy, authentic facts; to be fair and
+impartial in grouping them; and to be true and just in the conclusions
+necessarily drawn from them. While thus striving to be accurate, fair,
+and just, he has not thought it his duty to mince words, nor to refrain
+from "calling things by their right names;" neither has he sought to
+curry favor, in any quarter, by fulsome adulation on the one side, nor
+undue denunciation on the other, either of the living, or of the dead.
+But, while tracing the history of the Great Conspiracy, from its obscure
+birth in the brooding brains of a few ambitious men of the earliest days
+of our Republic, through the subsequent years of its devolution, down to
+the evil days of Nullification, and to the bitter and bloody period of
+armed Rebellion, or contemplating it in its still more recent and,
+perhaps, more sinister development, of to-day, he has conscientiously
+dealt with it, throughout, in the clear and penetrating light of the
+voluminous records so readily accessible at the seat of our National
+Government. So far as was practicable, he has endeavored to allow the
+chief characters in that Conspiracy-as well as the Union leaders, who,
+whether in Executive, Legislative, or Military service, devoted their
+best abilities and energies to its suppression--to speak for themselves,
+and thus while securing their own proper places in history, by a process
+of self-adjustment as it were, themselves to write down that history in
+their own language. If then there be found within these covers aught
+which may seem harsh to those directly or indirectly, nearly or
+remotely, connected with that Conspiracy, he may not unfairly exclaim:
+"Thou canst not say I did it." If he knows his own heart, the writer
+can truly declare, with his hand upon it, that it bears neither hatred,
+malice, nor uncharitableness, to those who, misled by the cunning
+secrecy of the Conspirators, and without an inkling or even a suspicion
+of their fell purposes, went manfully into the field, with a courage
+worthy of a better cause, and for four years of bloody conflict,
+believing that their cause was just, fought the armies of the Union, in
+a mad effort to destroy the best government yet devised by man upon this
+planet. And, perhaps, none can better understand than he, how hard, how
+very hard, it must be for men of strong nature and intense feeling,
+after taking a mistaken stand, and especially after carrying their
+conviction to the cannon's mouth, to acknowledge their error before the
+world. Hence, while he has endeavored truly to depict--or to let those
+who made history at the time help him to depict--the enormity of the
+offence of the armed Rebellion and of the heresies and plottings of
+certain Southern leaders precipitating it, yet not one word will be
+found, herein, condemnatory of those who, with manly candor, soldierly
+courage, and true patriotism, acknowledged that error when the ultimate
+arbitrament of the sword had decided against them. On the contrary, to
+all such as accept, in good faith, the results of the war of the
+Rebellion, the writer heartily holds out the hand of forgiveness for the
+past, and good fellowship for the future.
+
+WASHINGTON, D. C.
+
+April 15, 1886.
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+[For detailed Table of Contents see below]
+
+
+
+CHAPTER.
+
+I. A Preliminary Retrospect,
+
+II. Protection, and Free Trade,
+
+III. Growth of the Slavery Question,
+
+IV. Popular Sovereignty,
+
+V. Presidential Contest of 1860,
+
+VI. The Great Conspiracy Maturing,
+
+VII. "Secession" Arming,
+
+VIII. The Rejected Olive Branch,
+
+IX. Slavery's Setting Sun,
+
+X. The War Drum--"On to Washington,"
+
+XI. Causes of Secession
+
+XII. Copperheadism vs. Union-Democracy,
+
+XIII. The Storm of Battle,
+
+XIV. The Colored Contraband,
+
+XV. Freedom's Early Dawn,
+
+XVI. Compensated, Gradual, Emancipation,
+
+XVII. Border-State Opposition,
+
+XVIII. Freedom Proclaimed to All,
+
+XIX. Historical Review,
+
+XX. Lincoln's Troubles and Temptations,
+
+XXI. The Armed Negro
+
+XXII. Freedom's Sun still Rising,
+
+XXIII. Thirteenth Amendment Passes the Senate
+
+XXIV. Treason in the Northern Camp,
+
+XXV. The "Fire in the Rear,"
+
+XXVI. Thirteenth Amendment Defeated in House,
+
+XXVII. Slavery Doomed at the Polls,
+
+XXVIII. Freedom at last Assured,
+
+XXIX. Lincoln's Second Inauguration,
+
+XXX. Collapse of Armed Conspiracy,
+
+XXXI. Assassination!
+
+XXXII. Turning Back the Hands,
+
+XXXIII. What Next?
+
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER I.
+ A PRELIMINARY RETROSPECT.
+
+AFRICAN SLAVERY IN AMERICA IN 1620--CONTROVERSY BETWEEN THE COLONIES AND
+ENGLAND IN 1699--GEORGIAN ABHORRENCE OF SLAVERY IN 1775--JEFFERSON AND
+THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE--SLAVERY A SOURCE OF WEAKNESS IN THE
+REVOLUTIONARY WAR--THE SESSION BY VIRGINIA OF THE GREAT NORTH-WEST--THE
+ORDINANCE OF 1784 AND ITS FAILURE--THE ORDINANCE OF 1787 AND ITS
+ADOPTION--THE GERM OF SLAVERY AGITATION PLANTED--THE QUESTION IN THE
+CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION--SUBTERFUGES OF THE OLD CONSTITUTION--THE
+BULLDOZING OF THE FATHERS--THE FIRST FEDERAL CONGRESS, 1789--CONDITIONS
+OF TERRITORIAL CESSIONS FROM NORTH CAROLINA AND GEORGIA, 1789-1802--THE
+"COLONY OF LOUISIANA" (MISSISSIPPI VALLEY) PURCHASE OF 1803--THE TREATY
+--CONDITIONS TOUCHING SLAVERY--THE COTTON INDUSTRY REVOLUTIONIZED--RAPID
+POPULATING OF THE GREAT VALLEY, BY SLAVEHOLDERS AND SLAVES--JEFFERSON'S
+APPARENT INCONSISTENCY EXPLAINED--THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE--
+MULTIPLICATION OF SLAVES--LOUISIANA ADMITTED, 1812, AS A STATE--THE
+TERRITORY OF MISSOURI--THE MISSOURI STRUGGLE (1818-1820) IN A NUTSHELL--
+THE "MISSOURI COMPROMISE"
+
+
+ CHAPTER II.
+ PROTECTION AND FREE TRADE.
+
+CHIEF CAUSE OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION--OUR INDEPENDENCE, INDUSTRIAL AS
+WELL AS POLITICAL--FAILURE OF THE CONFEDERATION DUE TO LACK OF
+INDUSTRIAL PROTECTION--MADISON'S TARIFF ACT OF 1789--HAMILTON'S TARIFF
+OF 1790--SOUTHERN STATESMEN AND SOUTHERN VOTES FOR EARLY TARIFFS--
+WASHINGTON AND JEFFERSON ON "PROTECTION "--EMBARGO OF 1807-8--WAR OF
+1812-15--CONSEQUENT INCREASE OF AMERICAN MANUFACTURES--BROUGHAM'S PLAN--
+RUIN THREATENED BY GLUT OF BRITISH GOODS--TARIFF ACT OF 1816--CALHOUN'S
+DEFENSE OF "PROTECTION"--NEW ENGLAND AGAINST THAT ACT--THE SOUTH SECURES
+ITS PASSAGE--THE PROTECTIVE TARIFF ACTS OF 1824 AND 1828--SUBSEQUENT
+PROSPERITY IN FREE STATES--THE BLIGHT OF SLAVERY--BIRTH OF THE FREE
+TRADE HERESY IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1797--SIMULTANEOUS BIRTH OF THE
+HERESY OF STATE RIGHTS--KENTUCKY RESOLUTIONS OF 1798--VIRGINIA
+RESOLUTIONS OF 1799--JEFFERSON'S REAL PURPOSE IN FORMULATING THEM--
+ACTIVITY OF THE FEW SOUTHERN FREE TRADERS--PLAUSIBLE ARGUMENTS AGAINST
+"PROTECTION"--INGENIOUS METHODS OF "FIRING THE SOUTHERN HEART"--SOUTHERN
+DISCONTENT WITH TARIFF OF 1824--INFLAMMATORY UTTERANCES--ARMED
+RESISTANCE URGED TO TARIFF OF 1828--WALTERBOROUGH ANTI-PROTECTIVE TARIFF
+ADDRESS--FREE TRADE AND NULLIFICATION ADVOCACY APPEARS IN CONGRESS--THE
+HAYNE-WEBSTER DEBATE--MODIFIED PROTECTIVE TARIFF OF 1832--SOUTH
+CAROLINA'S NULLIFICATION ORDINANCE--HAYNE ELECTED GOVERNOR OF SOUTH
+CAROLINA--HERESY OF "PARAMOUNT ALLEGIANCE TO THE STATE"--SOUTH CAROLINA
+ARMS HERSELF--PRESIDENT JACKSON STAMPS OUT SOUTHERN TREASON--CLAY'S
+COMPROMISE TARIFF OF 1833--CHIEF JUSTICE MARSHALL'S SOLEMN WARNING--
+JACKSON'S FORECAST
+
+
+ CHAPTER III.
+ GROWTH OF THE SLAVERY QUESTION.
+
+"EMANCIPATION" IN NORTHERN AND MIDDLE STATES--VIRGINIA'S UNSUCCESSFUL
+EFFORT--CESSION OF THE FLORIDAS, 1819--BALANCE OF POWER--ADMISSION OF
+ARKANSAS,1836--SOUTHERN SLAVE HOLDERS' COLONIZATION OF TEXAS--TEXAN
+INDEPENDENCE, 1837--CALHOUN'S SECOND AND GREAT CONSPIRACY--DETERMINATION
+BEFORE 1839 TO SECEDE--PROTECTIVE TARIFF FEATURES AGAIN THE PRETEXT--
+CALHOUN, IN 1841, ASKING THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT FOR AID--NORTHERN
+OPPOSITION TO ACQUISITION OF TEXAS--RATIONALE OF THE LOUISIANA AND
+FLORIDA ACQUISITIONS--PROPOSED EXTENSION OF SLAVERY LIMITS--WEBSTER
+WARNS THE SOUTH--DISASTERS FOLLOWING COMPROMISE TARIFF OF 1833--
+INDUSTRIAL RUIN OF 1840--ELECTION AND DEATH OF HARRISON--PROTECTIVE
+TARIFF OF 1842--POLK'S CAMPAIGN OF 1844--CLAY'S BLUNDER AND POLK'S
+CRIME--SOUTHERN TREACHERY--THE NORTH HOODWINKED--POLK ELECTED BY
+ABOLITION VOTE--SLAVE-HOLDING TEXAS UNDER A SHAM "COMPROMISE"--WAR WITH
+MEXICO--FREE-TRADE TARIFF OF 1846--WILMOT PROVISO--TREATY OF GUADALUPE--
+HIDALGO--SLAVERY CONTEST IN CONGRESS STILL GROWING --COMPROMISE OF 1850
+--A LULL--FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW--NEBRASKA BILL OF 1852-3--KANSAS-NEBRASKA
+BILL, 1853-4, REPORTED--PARLIAMENTARY "JUGGLERY"--THE TRIUMPH OF
+SLAVERY, IN CONGRESS--BLEEDING KANSAS--TOPEKA CONSTITUTION, 1855--KANSAS
+LEGISLATURE DISPERSED, 1856, BY UNITED STATES TROOPS--LECOMPTON
+CONSTITUTION OF 1857--FRAUDULENT TRIUMPH OF SLAVERY CONSTITUTION--ITS
+SUBSEQUENT DEFEAT--ELECTION OF BUCHANAN, 1856--KANSAS ADMITTED--MISERY
+AND RUIN CAUSED BY FREE-TRADE TARIFF OF 1846--FILLMORE AND BUCHANAN
+TESTIFY
+
+
+ CHAPTER IV.
+ "POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY."
+
+DOUGLAS'S THEORY OF POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY--ILLINOIS LEGISLATIVE
+ENDORSEMENT OF IT, 1851--DOUGLAS'S POSITION ON KANSAS--NEBRASKA BILL,
+1854--DRED SCOTT DECISION--SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, REPUBLICAN CONVENTION
+OF 1858--LINCOLN'S REMARKABLE SPEECH TO THE CONVENTION--PIERCE AND
+BUCHANAN, TANEY AND DOUGLAS, CHARGED WITH PRO-SLAVERY CONSPIRACY--
+DOUGLAS'S GREAT SPEECH (JULY 9TH, 1858) AT CHICAGO, IN REPLY--LINCOLN'S
+POWERFUL REJOINDER, AT CHICAGO, (JULY 10TH)--THE ADMIXTURE OF RACES--THE
+VOTING "UP OR DOWN" OF SLAVERY--THE "ARGUMENTS OF KINGS"--TRUTHS OF THE
+DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE--DOUGLAS'S BLOOMINGTON SPEECH (JULY 16TH),
+OF VINDICATION AND ATTACK--HISTORY OF THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA STRUGGLE--THE
+UNHOLY ALLIANCE--THE TWO POINTS AT ISSUE--THE "WHITE MAN'S" COUNTRY--
+DOUGLAS'S PLEDGES TO WEBSTER AND CLAY--DOUGLAS'S SPRINGFIELD SPEECH,
+JULY 17TH--THE IRRECONCILABLE PRINCIPLES AT ISSUE BETWEEN LINCOLN AND
+HIMSELF--LINCOLN'S GREAT SPEECH, AT SPRINGFIELD, THE SAME EVENING--
+DOUGLAS'S TRIUMPHANT MARCHES AND ENTRIES--THE "OFFICES SEEN IN HIS
+ROUND, JOLLY, FRUITFUL FACE"--LINCOLN'S LEAN-FACED FIGHT, FOR PRINCIPLE
+ALONE--DOUGLAS'S VARIOUS SPEECHES REVIEWED--THE REAL QUESTION BETWEEN
+REPUBLICANS AND DOUGLAS MEN AND THE BUCHANAN MEN--JACKSON'S VETO OF THE
+NATIONAL BANK CHARTER--DEMOCRATIC REVOLT AGAINST THE SUPREME COURT
+DECISION--VINDICATION OF CLAY--"NEGRO EQUALITY"--MR. LINCOLN'S CHARGE,
+OF "CONSPIRACY AND DECEPTION" TO "NATIONALIZE SLAVERY," RENEWED--GREAT
+JOINT DEBATE OF 1858, BETWEEN LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS, ARRANGED
+
+
+ CHAPTER V.
+ THE PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST OF 1860--
+ THE CRISIS APPROACHING.
+
+
+HOW THE GREAT JOINT DEBATE OF 1858 RESULTED--THE "LITTLE GIANT" CAPTURES
+THE SENATORSHIP--THE "BIG GIANT" CAPTURES THE PEOPLE--THE RISING
+DEMOCRATIC STAR OF 1860--DOUGLAS'S GRAND TRIUMPHAL "PROGRESS" THROUGH
+THE LAND--A POPULAR DEMOCRATIC IDOL--FRESH AGGRESSIONS OF THE SLAVE
+POWER--NEW MEXICO'S SLAVE CODE OF 1859--HELPER'S "IMPENDING CRISIS"--
+JOHN BROWN AND HARPER'S FERRY--THE MEETING OF CONGRESS, DECEMBER, 1859--
+FORTY-FOUR BALLOTS FOR SPEAKER--DANGEROUSLY HEATED CONGRESSIONAL DEBATES
+ON SLAVERY--THE DEMOCRATIC SPLIT--JEFFERSON DAVIS'S ARROGANT DOUBLE-
+EDGED PRO-SLAVERY' RESOLUTIONS--DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION,
+CHARLESTON, S. C., 1860--DECLARATIONS OF THE MAJORITY AND MINORITY
+REPORTS AND BUTLER'S RECOMMENDATION, WITH VOTES THEREON--ADOPTION OF THE
+MINORITY (DOUGLAS) PLATFORM--SOUTHERN DELEGATES PROTEST AND "BOLT "--THE
+BOLTING CONVENTION ADJOURNS TILL JUNE AT RICHMOND--THE REGULAR
+CONVENTION BALLOTS AND ADJOURNS TO BALTIMORE--THE BALTIMORE CONVENTION--
+"THE AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADER A TRUE MISSIONARY"--MORE BOLTING--DOUGLAS'S
+NOMINATION FOR THE PRESIDENCY--THE BOLTING CONVENTION NOMINATES
+BRECKINRIDGE--THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION AND PLATFORM--NOMINATIONS OF
+LINCOLN, AND BELL--COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE FOUR RIVAL PARTY
+PLATFORMS--THE OCTOBER ELECTIONS--THE SOUTH PREPARING GLEEFULLY FOR
+SECESSION--GOVERNOR GIST'S TREASONABLE MESSAGE TO S. C. LEGISLATURE,
+NOV. 5--OTHER SIMILAR UTTERANCES
+
+
+ CHAPTER VI.
+ THE GREAT CONSPIRACY MATURING.
+
+LINCOLN'S ELECTION ASSURED--SOUTHERN EXULTATION--NORTHERN GLOOM--"FIRING
+THE SOUTHERN HEART"--RESIGNATIONS OF FEDERAL OFFICERS AND SENATORS OF
+SOUTH CAROLINA--GOVERNOR BROWN, OF GEORGIA, DEFIES "FEDERAL COERCION"--
+ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS'S ARGUMENT AGAINST SECESSION--SOUTH CAROLINA
+CALLS AN "UNCONDITIONAL SECESSION CONVENTION"--THE CALL SETS THE SOUTH
+ABLAZE--PROCLAMATIONS OF THE GOVERNORS OF THE SOUTHERN STATES, FAVORING
+REVOLT--LOYAL ADDRESS OF GOVERNOR MAGOFFIN OF KENTUCKY--THE CLAMOR OF
+REVOLT SILENCES APPEALS FOR UNION--PRESIDENT BUCHANAN'S PITIFUL
+WEAKNESS--CONSPIRATORS IN HIS CABINET--IMBECILITY OF HIS LAST ANNUAL
+MESSAGE TO CONGRESS, DEC., 1860--ATTORNEY-GENERAL JEREMIAH BLACK'S
+OPINION AGAINST COERCION--CONTRAST AFFORDED BY GENERAL JACKSON'S LOYAL
+LOGIC--ENSUING DEBATES IN CONGRESS--SETTLED PURPOSE OF THE CONSPIRATORS
+TO RESIST PLACATION--FUTILE LABORS OF UNION MEN IN CONGRESS FOR A
+PEACEFUL SOLUTION--ABSURD DEMANDS OF THE IMPLACABLES--THE COMMERCIAL
+NORTH ON ITS KNEES TO THE SOUTH--CONCILIATION ABJECTLY BEGGED FOR--
+BRUTAL SNEERS AT THE NORTH, AND THREATS OF CLINGMAN, IVERSON, AND OTHER
+SOUTHERN FIREEATERS, IN THE U. S. SENATE--THEIR BLUSTER MET BY STURDY
+REPUBLICANS--BEN WADE GALLANTLY STANDS BY THE "VERDICT OF THE PEOPLE"--
+PEACEFUL-SETTLEMENT PROPOSITIONS IN THE HOUSE--ADRIAN'S RESOLUTION, AND
+VOTE--LOVEJOY'S COUNTER-RESOLUTION, AND VOTE--ADOPTION OF MORRIS'S UNION
+RESOLUTION IN HOUSE
+
+
+ CHAPTER VII.
+ SECESSION ARMING.
+
+THE SOUTH CAROLINA SECESSION CONVENTION MEETS--SPEECHES AT "SECESSION
+HALL" OF PARKER, KEITT, INGLIS, BARNWELL, RHETT, AND GREGG, THE FIRST
+ORDINANCE OF SECESSION--ITS JUBILANT ADOPTION AND RATIFICATION--
+SECESSION STAMPEDE--A SOUTHERN CONGRESS PROPOSED--PICKENS'S PROCLAMATION
+OF SOVEREIGN INDEPENDENCE--SOUTH CAROLINA CONGRESSMEN WITHDRAW--
+DISSENSIONS IN BUCHANAN'S CABINET--COBB FLOYD, AND THOMPSON,
+DEMAND WITHDRAWAL OF FEDERAL TROOPS--BUCHANAN'S REPLY--
+SEIZURE OF FORTS, ETC.--THE "STAR OF THE WEST" FIRED ON--THE MAD
+RUSH OF REBELLIOUS EVENTS--SOUTH CAROLINA DEMANDS THE SURRENDER OF FORT
+SUMTER AND THE DEMAND REFUSED--SECRETARY HOLT'S LETTER TO CONSPIRING
+SENATORS AND REBEL AGENT--TROOP'S AT THE NATIONAL CAPITAL--HOLT'S
+REASONS THEREFOR--THE REVOLUTIONARY PROGRAMME--"ARMED OCCUPATION OF
+WASHINGTON CITY"--LINCOLN'S INAUGURATION TO BE PREVENTED--THE CRUMBLING
+AND DISSOLVING UNION--THE NORTH STANDS AGHAST--GREAT DEBATE IN CONGRESS,
+1860-1861--CLINGMAN ON THE SOUTHERN TARIFF-GRIEVANCE--DEFIANCE OF BROWN
+OF MISSISSIPPI--IVERSON'S BLOODY THREAT--WIGFALL'S UNSCRUPULOUS ADVICE--
+HIS INSULTING DEMANDS--BAKER'S GLORIOUSLY ELOQUENT RESPONSE--ANDY JOHNSON
+THREATENED WITH BULLETS--THE NORTH BULLIED--INSOLENT, IMPOSSIBLE TERMS OF
+PEACE--LINCOLN'S SPEECHES EN ROUTE FOR WASHINGTON--SAVE ARRIVAL--"I'LL
+TRY TO STEER HER THROUGH!"--THE SOUTH TAUNTS HIM--WIGFALL'S CHALLENGE
+TO THE BLOODY ISSUE OF ARMS!
+
+
+ CHAPTER VIII.
+ THE REJECTED OLIVE BRANCH.
+
+THE VARIOUS COMPROMISES OFFERED BY THE NORTH--"THE CRITTENDEN
+COMPROMISE"--THE PEACE CONFERENCE--COMPROMISE PROPOSITIONS OF THE
+SOUTHERN CONSPIRATORS--IRRECONCILABLE ATTITUDE OF THE PLOTTERS--HISTORY
+OF THE COMPROMISE MEASURES IN CONGRESS--CLARK'S SUBSTITUTE TO CRITTENDEN
+RESOLUTIONS IN THE SENATE--ANTHONY'S MORE THAN EQUITABLE PROPOSITIONS--
+HIS AFFECTING APPEAL TO STONY HEARTS--THE CONSPIRACY DEVELOPING--SIX
+SOUTHERN SENATORS REFUSE TO VOTE AGAINST THE CLARK SUBSTITUTE--ITS
+CONSEQUENT ADOPTION, AND DEFEAT OF THE CRITTENDEN RESOLUTIONS--LYING
+TELEGRAMS FROM CONSPIRING SENATORS TO FURTHER INFLAME REBELLION--
+SAULSBURY'S AFTERSTATEMENT (1862) AS TO CAUSES OF FAILURE OF
+CRITTENDEN'S COMPROMISE--LATHAM'S GRAPHIC PROOF OF THE CONSPIRATORS'
+"DELIBERATE, WILFUL DESIGN" TO KILL COMPROMISE--ANDREW JOHNSON'S
+EVIDENCE AS TO THEIR ULTIMATE OBJECT "PLACE AND EMOLUMENT FOR
+THEMSELVES"--"THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT IN THE HANDS OF THE FEW"--THE
+CORWIN COMPROMISE RESOLUTION IN THE HOUSE--THE BURCH AMENDMENT--
+KELLOGG'S PROPOSITION--THE CLEMENS SUBSTITUTE--PASSAGE BY THE HOUSE OF
+CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PROHIBITING CONGRESSIONAL INTERFERENCE WITH
+SLAVERY WHERE IT EXISTS--ITS ADOPTION BY THE SENATE--THE CLARK
+SUBSTITUTE RECONSIDERED AND DEFEATED--PROPOSITIONS OF THE PEACE CONGRESS
+LOST--REJECTION OF THE CRITTENDEN COMPROMISE
+
+
+ CHAPTER IX.
+ SLAVERY'S SETTING AND FREEDOM'S DAWN.
+
+THE LAST NIGHT OF THE 36TH CONGRESS--MR. CRITTENDEN'S PATRIOTIC APPEAL--
+"THE SADDEST SPECTACLE EVER SEEN"--IMPOTENCY OF THE BETRAYED AND FALLING
+STATE--DOUGLAS'S POWERFUL PLEA--PATRIOTISM OF HIMSELF AND SUPPORTERS--
+LOGAN SUMMARIZES THE COMPROMISES, AND APPEALS TO PATRIOTISM ABOVE PARTY
+--STATESMANLIKE BREADTH OF DOUGLAS, BAKER AND SEWARD--HENRY WINTER DAVIS
+ELOQUENTLY CONDENSES "THE SITUATION" IN A NUTSHELL--"THE FIRST FRUITS OF
+RECONCILIATION" OFFERED BY THE NORTH, SCORNED BY THE CONSPIRATORS--
+WIGFALL AGAIN SPEAKS AS THE MOUTHPIECE OF THE SOUTH--HE RAVES VIOLENTLY
+AT THE NORTH--THE SOUTH REJECTS PEACE "EITHER IN THE UNION, OR OUT OF
+IT"--THE DAWN OF FREEDOM APPEARS (MARCH 4TH, 1861)--INAUGURATION OF
+PRESIDENT LINCOLN--LINCOLN'S FIRST INAUGURAL--GRANDEUR AND PATHOS OF HIS
+PATRIOTIC UTTERANCES--HIS FIRST SLEEPLESS AND PRAYERFUL NIGHT AT THE
+WHITE HOUSE--THE MORROW, AND ITS BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT--THE MESSAGE OF
+"PEACE AND GOOD WILL" REGARDED AS A "CHALLENGE TO WAR"--PRESIDENT
+LINCOLN'S CABINET
+
+
+ CHAPTER X.
+ THE WAR-DRUM--"ON TO WASHINGTON!"
+
+REBEL COMMISSIONERS AT WASHINGTON ON A "MISSION"--SEWARD "SITS DOWN" ON
+THEM--HE REFUSES TO RECOGNIZE "CONFEDERATE STATES"--THE REBEL
+COMMISSIONERS "ACCEPT THE GAGE OF BATTLE THUS THROWN DOWN TO THEM"--
+ATTEMPT TO PROVISION FORT SUMTER--THE REBELS NOTIFIED--THE FORT AND ITS
+SURROUNDINGS--THE FIRST GUN OF SLAVERY FIRED--TERRIFIC BOMBARDMENT OF
+THE FORT--THE GARRISON, STARVED AND BURNED OUT, EVACUATES, WITH ALL THE
+HONORS OF WAR--THE SOUTH CRAZY WITH EXULTATION--TE DEUMS SUNG, SALUTES
+FIRED, AND THE REBEL GOVERNMENT SERENADED--"ON TO WASHINGTON!" THE
+REBEL CRY--"GRAY JACKETS OVER THE BORDER"--PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S FIRST
+PROCLAMATION AND CALL FOR TROOPS--INSULTING RESPONSES OF GOVERNORS
+BURTON, HICKS, LETCHER, ELLIS, MAGOFFIN, HARRIS, JACKSON AND RECTOR--
+LOYAL RESPONSES FROM GOVERNORS OF THE FREE STATES--MAGICAL EFFECT OF THE
+CALL UPON THE LOYAL NORTH--FEELING IN THE BORDER-STATES--PRESIDENT
+LINCOLN'S CLEAR SUMMARY OF THE SITUATION AND ITS PHILOSOPHY--HIS PLAIN
+DUTY--THE WAR POWER--THE NATIONAL CAPITAL CUT OFF--EVACUATION OF
+HARPER'S FERRY--LOYAL TROOPS TO THE RESCUE--FIGHTING THEIR WAY THROUGH
+BALTIMORE--REBEL THREATS--"SCOTT THE ARCH--TRAITOR, AND LINCOLN THE
+BEAST"--BUTLER RELIEVES WASHINGTON--THE SECESSION OF VIRGINIA AND NORTH
+CAROLINA--SHAMEFUL EVACUATION OF NORFOLK NAVY YARD--SEIZURE OF MINTS AND
+ARSENALS--UNION AND REBEL FORCES CONCENTRATING--THE NATIONAL CAPITAL
+FORTIFIED--BLOCKADE OF SOUTHERN PORTS--DEATH OF ELLSWORTH--BUTLER
+CONFISCATES NEGRO PROPERTY AS "CONTRABAND OF WAR"--A REBEL YARN
+
+
+ CHAPTER XI.
+ THE CAUSES OF SECESSION.
+
+ABOUNDING EVIDENCES OF CONSPIRACY--MACLAY'S UNPUBLI1SHED DIARY 1787-
+1791--PIERCE BUTLER'S FIERCE DENUNCIATION OF THE TARIFF--SOUTH CAROLINA
+WILL "LIVE FREE OR DIE GLORIOUS"--JACKSON'S LETTER TO CRAWFORD, ON
+TARIFF AND SLAVERY--BENTON'S TESTIMONY--HENRY CLAY'S EVIDENCE--NATHAN
+APPLETON'S--A TREASONABLE CAUCUS OF SOUTHERN CONGRESSMEN--ALEXANDER H.
+STEPHEN'S EVIDENCE ON THE CAUSES OF SECESSION--WIGFALL'S ADMISSIONS--THE
+ONE "REGRETTED" CLAUSE IN THE CONSTITUTION PRECLUDING MONARCHIAL STATES
+--ADMISSIONS OF REBEL COMMISSIONERS TO WASHINGTON--ADMISSIONS IN ADDRESS
+OF SOUTH CAROLINA TO THE SLAVE-HOLDERS--JEFFERSON DAVIS'S STATEMENT IN
+SPECIAL MESSAGE OF APRIL 29, 1861--DECLARATIONS OF REBEL COMMISSIONERS,
+TO LORD JOHN RUSSELL--HIGH TARIFF AND "NOT SLAVERY" THE PRINCIPAL CAUSE
+--PERSONAL LIBERTY BILLS--PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S DECLARATION OF THE
+UNDERLYING CAUSE OF REBELLION--A WAR UPON LABOR AND THE RIGHTS OF THE
+PEOPLE--ANDREW JOHNSON ON THE "DELIBERATE DESIGN" FOR A "CHANGE OF
+GOVERNMENT"--"TIRED OF FREE GOVERNMENT"--DOUGLAS ON THE "ENORMOUS
+CONSPIRACY"--THE REBEL PLOT TO SEIZE THE CAPITOL, AND HOLD IT--
+MCDOUGALL'S GRAPHIC EXPOSURE OF THE TREASONABLE CONSPIRACY--YANCEY'S
+FAMOUS "SLAUGHTER" LETTER--JEFFERSON DAVIS'S STANDARD OF REVOLT, RAISED
+IN 1858--LAMAR'S LETTER TO JEFF. DAVIS (186O)--CAUCUS OF TREASON, AT
+WASHINGTON--EVANS'S DISCLOSURES OF THE CAUCUS PROGRAMME OF SECESSION--
+CORROBORATING TESTIMONY--YULEE'S CAPTURED LETTER--CAUCUS RESOLUTIONS IN
+FULL
+
+
+ CHAPTER XII.
+ COPPERHEADISM VS. UNION DEMOCRACY.
+
+NORTHERN COMPLICITY WITH TREASON--MAYOR FERNANDO WOOD RECOMMENDS
+SECESSION OF NEW YORK CITY--THE REBEL JUNTA AT WASHINGTON INSPIRES HIM--
+HE OBEYS ORDERS, BUT SHAKES AT THE KNEES--KEITT BRAGS OF THE "MILLIONS
+OF DEMOCRATS IN THE NORTH," FURNISHING A "WALL OF FIRE" AGAINST
+COERCION--ATTEMPTED REBEL--SEDUCTION OF NEW JERSEY--THE PRICE-BURNETT
+CORRESPONDENCE--SECESSION RESOLUTIONS OF THE PHILADELPHIA DEMOCRACY AT
+NATIONAL HALL--LANE OF OREGON "SERVES NOTICE" OF "WAR ENOUGH AT HOME"
+FOR REPUBLICANS--"NORTHERN DEMOCRATS NEED NOT CROSS THE BORDER TO FIND
+AN ENEMY"--EX-PRESIDENT PIERCE'S CAPTURED TREASONABLE LETTER TO JEFF.
+DAVIS--THE "FIGHTING" TO BE "WITHIN OUR OWN BORDERS, IN OUR OWN
+STREETS"--ATTITUDE OF DOUGLAS, AND THE DOUGLAS DEMOCRACY, AFTER SUMTER--
+DOUGLAS CALLS ON MR. LINCOLN AT THE WHITE HOUSE--HE PATRIOTICALLY
+SUSTAINS THE UNION--HE RALLIES THE WHOLE NORTH TO STAND BY THE FLAG--
+THERE CAN BE "NO NEUTRALS IN THIS WAR; ONLY PATRIOTS AND TRAITORS"--
+LAMENTED DEATH OF "THE LITTLE GIANT"--TRIBUTES OF TRUMBULL AND MCDOUGALL
+TO HIS MEMORY--LOGAN'S ATTITUDE AT THIS TIME, AND HIS RELATIONS TO
+DOUGLAS--THEIR LAST PRIVATE INTERVIEW--DOUGLAS'S INTENTION TO "JOIN THE
+ARMY AND FIGHT"--HIS LAST EFFORTS IN CONGRESS--"CONCILIATION," BEFORE
+SUMTER--"NO HALF-WAY GROUND" AFTER IT
+
+
+ CHAPTER XIII.
+ THE STORM OF BATTLE.
+
+THE MILITARY SITUATION--THE GREAT UPRISING--POSITIONS AND NUMBERS OF THE
+UNION AND REBEL ARMIES--JOHNSTON EVACUATES HARPER'S FERRY, AND RETREATS
+UPON WINCHESTER--PATTERSON'S EXTRAORDINARY CONDUCT--HE DISOBEYS GENERAL
+SCOTT'S ORDERS TO "ATTACK AND WHIP THE ENEMY"--JOHNSTON CONSEQUENTLY
+FREE TO REINFORCE BEAUREGARD AT MANASSAS--FITZ JOHN PORTER'S
+ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THE DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES--MCDOWELL'S ADVANCE UPON
+BEAUREGARD--PRELIMINARY BATTLE AT BLACKBURN'S FORD--JUNCTION OF JOHNSTON
+WITH BEAUREGARD--REBEL PLANS OF ADVANCE AND ATTACK--CHANGE IN MCDOWELL'S
+PLANS--GREAT PITCHED-BATTLE OF BULL RUN, OR MANASSAS, INCLUDING THE
+SECOND BATTLE AT BLACKBURN'S FORD--VICTORY, AT FIRST, WITH MCDOWELL--
+THE CHECK--THE LEISURELY RETREAT--THE PANIC AT, AND NEAR, THE NATIONAL
+CAPITAL--THE WAR FULLY INAUGURATED
+
+
+ CHAPTER XIV.
+ THE COLORED CONTRABAND.
+
+THE KNELL OF SLAVERY--THE "IMPLIED POWERS" OF CONGRESS IN THE
+CONSTITUTION--PATRICK HENRY'S PREDICTION--JOHN QUINCY ADAMS'S PROPHECY--
+JOHN SHERMAN'S NON-INTERFERENCE--WITH-SLAVERY RESOLUTIONS--JOHN Q. ADAMS
+ON EMANCIPATION--POWERS OF CONGRESS AND MILITARY COMMANDERS--GENERAL
+MCCLELLAN'S WEST VIRGINIA PROCLAMATION OF NONINTERFERENCE WITH SLAVES--
+GENERAL BUTLER'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH GENERAL SCOTT AND SECRETARY
+CAMERON--CAMERON'S REPLY--MILITARY TENDERNESS FOR THE DOOMED
+INSTITUTION--CONGRESS, AFTER BULL RUN--CONFISCATION, AND EMANCIPATION,
+OF SLAVES USED TO AID REBELLION--RINGING WORDS OF TRUMBULL, WILSON,
+MCDOUGALL, AND TEN EYCK, IN THE SENATE--ROMAN COURAGE OF THE HOUSE--
+CRITTENDEN'S STATEMENTS--WAR RESOLUTIONS--BRECKINRIDGE'S TREASONABLE
+SPEECH UPON "THE SANCTITY" OF THE CONSTITUTION--BAKER'S GLORIOUS REPLY--
+HIS MATCHLESS APOSTROPHE TO FREEDOM--HIS SELF-SACRIFICING DEVOTION AND
+HEROIC DEATH AT BALL'S BLUFF
+
+
+ CHAPTER XV.
+ FREEDOM'S EARLY DAWN.
+
+THADDEUS STEVENS'S STARTLING UTTERANCES--CAPTURED SLAVES MUST BE FREE
+FOREVER--"NO TRUCES WITH THE REBELS"--HIS PROPHECY AS TO ARMING SLAVES
+TO FIGHT REBELLION--SECRETARY CAMERON'S LETTER TOUCHING FUGITIVES FROM
+SERVICE--GENERAL FREMONT'S PROCLAMATION OF CONFISCATION AND
+EMANCIPATION--ITS EFFECT NORTH AND SOUTH--JEFF. THOMPSON'S SAVAGE
+PROCLAMATION OF RETALIATION--PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S EMBARRASSMENT--HE
+PRIVATELY SUGGESTS TO FREMONT CERTAIN MODIFICATIONS--FREMONT DEFENDS HIS
+COURSE--"STRONG AND VIGOROUS MEASURES NECESSARY TO SUCCESS"--THE
+PRESIDENT PUBLICLY ORDERS THE MODIFICATION OF FREMONT'S PROCLAMATION--
+THE MILITARY MIND GREATLY CONFUSED--GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS ISSUED BY THE
+WAR DEPARTMENT--GENERAL T. W. SHERMAN'S PORT ROYAL PROCLAMATION--GENERAL
+WOOL'S SPECIAL AND GENERAL ORDERS AS TO EMPLOYMENT OF "CONTRABANDS"--
+GENERAL DIX'S PROCLAMATION FOR REPULSION OF FUGITIVE SLAVES FROM HIS
+LINES--HALLECK ORDERS EXPULSION AS WELL AS REPULSION--HIS LETTER OF
+EXPLANATION TO FRANK P. BLAIR--SEWARD'S LETTER TO MCCLELLAN ON
+"CONTRABANDS" IN THE DISTRICT
+OF COLUMBIA
+
+
+ CHAPTER XVI.
+ "COMPENSATED GRADUAL EMANCIPATION."
+
+PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S ATTITUDE--SACRIFICES OF PATRIOTISM--ASSERTION BY
+CONGRESS OF ITS EMANCIPATING WAR-POWERS--THE CAUSE OF FREEDOM SLOWLY
+"MARCHING ON"--ABANDONED SLAVES OF BEAUFORT, S. C.--SECRETARY CAMERON
+FAVORS ARMING THEM--THE PRESIDENT'S CAUTIOUS ADVANCES--HE MODIFIES
+CAMERON'S REPORT TO CONGRESS ON THE SUBJECT--THE MILITARY MIND, ALL "AT
+SEA"--COMMANDERS GUIDED BY POLITICAL BIAS--HALLECK'S ST. LOUIS
+PROCLAMATION, 1862--BUELL'S LETTER--CONTRARY ACTION OF DIX AND HALLECK,
+BUELL AND HOOKER, FREMONT AND DOUBLEDAY--LINCOLN'S MIDDLE COURSE--HE
+PROPOSES TO CONGRESS, COMPENSATED GRADUAL EMANCIPATION--INTERVIEW
+BETWEEN MR. LINCOLN AND THE BORDER-STATE REPRESENTATIVES--INTERESTING
+REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT--MR. LINCOLN BETWEEN TWO FIRES--VIEWS, ON
+COMPENSATED EMANCIPATION, OF MESSRS. NOELL, CRISFIELD, MENZIES,
+WICKLIFFE, AND HALL--ROSCOE CONKLING'S JOINT RESOLUTION, ADOPTED BY BOTH
+HOUSES--HOOKER'S "CAMP BAKER" ORDER--MARYLAND FUGITIVE--SLAVE HUNTERS
+PERMITTED TO SEARCH THE CAMP--UNION SOLDIERS ENRAGED--SICKLES ORDERS THE
+SLAVE HUNTERS OFF--DOUBLEDAY'S DISPATCH AS TO "ALL NEGROES" ENTERING HIS
+LINES--TO BE "TREATED AS PERSONS, NOT AS CHATTELS"
+
+
+ CHAPTER XVII.
+ BORDER--STATE OPPOSITION.
+
+APPOINTMENT OF A SELECT COMMITTEE, IN HOUSE, ON GRADUAL EMANCIPATION--
+DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA EMANCIPATION ACT--THE PRESIDENT'S SPECIAL MESSAGE
+OF APPROVAL--GEN. HUNTER'S EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION--PRESIDENT LINCOLN
+PROMPTLY RESCINDS IT BY PROCLAMATION--HIS SOLEMN AND IMPASSIONED APPEAL
+TO PEOPLE OF THE BORDER-STATES--HE BEGS THEIR CONSIDERATION OF GRADUAL
+COMPENSATED EMANCIPATION--GEN. WILLIAMS'S ORDER EXPELLING RUNAWAY
+NEGROES FROM CAMP, AT BATON ROUGE--LIEUT.-COL. ANTHONY'S ORDER EXCLUDING
+FUGITIVE-SLAVE HUNTERS FROM "CAMP ETHERIDGE"--GEN. MCCLELLAN'S FAMOUS
+"HARRISON'S LANDING LETTER" TO THE PRESIDENT--"FORCIBLE ABOLITION OF
+SLAVERY" AND "A CIVIL AND MILITARY POLICY"--SLAVEHOLDING BORDER-STATE
+SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES AT THE WHITE HOUSE--PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S
+ADDRESS TO THEM, JULY, 1862--GRADUAL EMANCIPATION THE THEME--
+COMPENSATION AND COLONIZATION TO ACCOMPANY IT--THE ABOLITION PRESSURE
+UPON THE PRESIDENT INCREASING--HE BEGS THE BORDER STATESMEN TO RELIEVE
+HIM AND THE COUNTRY IN ITS PERIL--THEIR VARIOUS RESPONSES
+
+
+ CHAPTER XVIII.
+ FREEDOM PROCLAIMED TO ALL.
+
+PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S PERSONAL APPEAL TO COLORED FREEMEN--HE BEGS THEM TO
+HELP IN THE COLONIZATION OF THEIR RACE--PROPOSED AFRICAN COLONY IN
+CENTRAL AMERICA--EXECUTIVE ORDER OF JULY 2, 1862--EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES
+FOR MILITARY PURPOSES OF THE UNION--JEFF. DAVIS RETALIATES--MCCLELLAN
+PROMULGATES THE EXECUTIVE ORDER WITH ADDENDA OF HIS OWN--HORACE
+GREELEY'S LETTER TO PRESIDENT LINCOLN--THE LATTER ACCUSED OF
+"SUBSERVIENCY" TO THE SLAVE HOLDERS--AN "UNGRUDGING EXECUTION OF THE
+CONFISCATION ACT" DEMANDED--MR. LINCOLN'S FAMOUS REPLY--HIS "PARAMOUNT
+OBJECT, TO SAVE THE UNION, AND NOT EITHER TO SAVE OR DESTROY SLAVERY"--
+VISIT TO THE WHITE HOUSE OF A RELIGIOUS DEPUTATION FROM CHICAGO--
+MEMORIAL ASKING FOR IMMEDIATE EMANCIPATION, BY PROCLAMATION--THE
+PRESIDENT'S REPLY TO THE DEPUTATION--"THE POPE'S BULL AGAINST THE
+COMET"--VARIOUS OBJECTIONS STATED TENTATIVELY--"A PROCLAMATION OF
+LIBERTY TO THE SLAVES" IS "UNDER ADVISEMENT"--THE PROCLAMATION OF
+EMANCIPATION ISSUED--ITS POPULAR RECEPTION--MEETING OF LOYAL GOVERNORS
+AT ALTOONA--THEIR STIRRING ADDRESS--HOMAGE TO OUR SOLDIERS--PLEDGED
+SUPPORT FOR VIGOROUS PROSECUTION OF THE WAR TO TRIUMPHANT END--PRESIDENT
+LINCOLN'S HISTORICAL RESUME AND DEFENSE OF EMANCIPATION--HE SUGGESTS TO
+CONGRESS, PAYMENT FOR SLAVES AT ONCE EMANCIPATED BY BORDER STATES--
+ACTION OF THE HOUSE, ON RESOLUTIONS SEVERALLY REPREHENDING AND ENDORSING
+THE PROCLAMATION--SUPPLEMENTAL EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION OF JAN. 1, 1863
+
+
+ CHAPTER XIX.
+ HISTORICAL REVIEW.
+
+COURSE OF SOUTHERN OLIGARCHS THROUGHOUT--THEIR EVERLASTING GREED AND
+RAPACITY--BROKEN COVENANTS AND AGGRESSIVE METHODS--THEIR UNIFORM GAINS
+UNTIL 1861--UPS AND DOWNS OF THE TARIFF--FREE TRADE, SLAVERY, STATES-
+RIGHTS, SECESSION, ALL PARTS OF ONE CONSPIRACY--"INDEPENDENCE" THE FIRST
+OBJECT OF THE WAR--DREAMS, AMBITIONS, AND PLANS OF THE CONSPIRATORS--
+LINCOLN'S FAITH IN NORTHERN NUMBERS AND ENDURANCE--"RIGHT MAKES MIGHT"--
+THE SOUTH SOLIDLY-CEMENTED BY BLOOD--THE 37TH CONGRESS--ITS WAR
+MEASURES--PAVING THE WAY TO DOWNFALL OF SLAVERY AND REBELLION
+
+
+ CHAPTER XX.
+ LINCOLN'S TROUBLES AND TEMPTATIONS.
+
+INTERFERENCE WITH SLAVERY FORCED BY THE WAR--EDWARD EVERETT'S OPINION--
+BORDER-STATES DISTRUST OF LINCOLN--IMPOSSIBILITY OF SATISFYING THEIR
+REPRESENTATIVES--THEIR JEALOUS SUSPICIONS AND CONGRESSIONAL ACTION--
+PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE OF KINDLY WARNING--STORMY CONTENTION IN CONGRESS--
+CRITTENDEN'S ARGUMENT ON "PROPERTY" IN MAN--BORDER--STATES "BID" FOR
+MR. LINCOLN--THE "NICHE IN THE TEMPLE OF FAME" OFFERED HIM--LOVEJOY'S
+ELOQUENT COUNTERBLAST--SUMNER (JUNE, 1862,) ON LINCOLN AND EMANCIPATION
+--THE PRESIDENT HARRIED AND WORRIED--SNUBBED BY BORDER STATESMEN--
+MCCLELLAN'S THREAT--ARMY-MISMANAGEMENT--ARMING THE BLACKS--HOW THE
+EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION WAS WRITTEN--CABINET SUGGESTIONS--MILITARY
+SITUATION--REBEL ADVANCE NORTHWARD--LINCOLN, AND THE BREAST-WORKS--
+WASHINGTON AND BALTIMORE MENACED--ANTIETAM, AND THE FIAT OF FREEDOM--
+BORDER-STATE DENUNCIATION--KNIGHTS OF THE GOLDEN CIRCLE, ETC.
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXI.
+ THE ARMED--NEGRO.
+
+"WHO WOULD BE FREE, HIMSELF MUST STRIKE THE BLOW!"--THE COLORED TROOPS
+AT PORT HUDSON--THEIR HEROISM--STIRRING INCIDENTS--AT MILLIKEN'S BEND--
+AT FORT WAGNER--AT PETERSBURG AND ABOUT RICHMOND--THE REBEL CONSPIRATORS
+FURIOUS--OUTLAWRY OF GENERAL BUTLER, ETC.--JEFFERSON DAVIS'S MESSAGE TO
+THE REBEL CONGRESS--ATROCIOUS, COLD-BLOODED RESOLUTIONS OF THAT BODY--
+DEATH OR SLAVERY TO THE ARMED FREEMAN--PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S RETALIATORY
+ORDER--THE BLOODY BUTCHERY AT FORT PILLOW--SAVAGE MALIGNITY OF THE REBELS--
+A COMMON ERROR, CORRECTED--ARMING OF NEGROES COMMENCED BY THE REBELS--
+SIMILAR SCHEME OF A REVOLUTIONARY HERO, IN 1778--REBEL CONGRESSIONAL ACT,
+CONSCRIPTING NEGROES--JEFFERSON DAVIS'S POSITION--GENERAL LEE'S LETTER
+TO BARKSDALE ON THE SUBJECT
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXII.
+ FREEDOM'S SUN STILL RISING.
+
+DEFINITE CONGRESSIONAL ACTION, ON EMANCIPATION, GERMINATING--GLORIOUS
+NEWS FROM THE WEST AND EAST--FALL OF VICKSBURG--GETTYSBURG--LINCOLN'S
+GETTYSBURG ORATION--THE DRAFT--THE REBEL "FIRE IN THE REAR"--DRAFT RIOTS
+IN NEW YORK--LINCOLN'S LETTER, AUGUST, 1863, ON THE SITUATION--
+CHATTANOOGA--THE CHEERING FALL-ELECTIONS--VALLANDIGHAM'S DEFEAT--
+EMANCIPATION AS A "POLITICAL" MEASURE--"THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT" REPORTED
+IN THE SENATE--THADDEUS STEVENS'S RESOLUTIONS, AND TEST VOTE IN THE
+HOUSE--LOVEJOY'S DEATH--ELOQUENT TRIBUTES OF ARNOLD, WASHBURNE,
+GRINNELL, THADDEUS STEVENS, AND SUMNER
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXIII.
+ "THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT" IN THE SENATE.
+
+GREAT DEBATE IN THE U. S. SENATE, ON EMANCIPATION--THE WHOLE VILLANOUS
+HISTORY OF SLAVERY, LAID BARE--SPEECHES OF TRUMBULL, HENRY WILSON,
+HARLAN, SHERMAN, CLARK, HALL, HENDERSON, SUMNER, REVERDY JOHNSON,
+MCDOUGALL, SAULSBURY, GARRETT DAVIS, POWELL, AND HENDRICKS--BRILLIANT
+ARRAIGNMENT AND DEFENSE OF "THE INSTITUTION"--U. S. GRANT, NOW "GENERAL
+IN CHIEF"--HIS PLANS PERFECTED, HE GOES TO THE VIRGINIA FRONT--MR.
+LINCOLN'S SOLICITUDE FOR THE THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT--BORDER--STATE
+OBSTRUCTIVE MOTIONS, AMENDMENTS, AND SUBSTITUTES, ALL VOTED DOWN--MR.
+LINCOLN'S LETTER TO HODGES, OF KENTUCKY, REVIEWING EMANCIPATION AS A WAR
+MEASURE--THE DECISIVE FIELD-DAY (APRIL 8, 1864)--THE DEBATE ABLY CLOSED
+--THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PASSED BY THE SENATE
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXIV.
+ TREASON IN THE NORTHERN CAMPS.
+
+EMANCIPATION TEST--VOTES IN THE HOUSE--ARNOLD'S RESOLUTION--BLUE
+PROSPECTS FOR THE THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT--LINCOLN'S ANXIETY--CONGRESSIONAL
+COPPERHEADS--THINLY-DISGUISED TREASON--SPEECHES OF VOORHEES, WASHBURNE,
+AND KELLEY--SPRINGFIELD COPPERHEAD PEACE-CONVENTION--"THE UNION AS IT
+WAS"--PEACE ON ANY TERMS--VALLANDIGHAM'S LIEUTENANTS--ATTITUDE OF COX,
+DAVIS, SAULSBURY, WOOD, LONG, ALLEN, HOLMAN, AND OTHERS--NORTHERN
+ENCOURAGEMENT TO REBELS--CONSEQUENT SECOND INVASION, OF THE NORTH, BY
+LEE--500,000 TREASONABLE NORTHERN "SONS OF LIBERTY"--RITUAL AND OATHS OF
+THE "K. G. C." AND "O. A. K."--COPPERHEAD EFFORTS TO SPLIT THE NORTH
+AND WEST, ON TARIFF-ISSUES--SPALDING AND THAD. STEVENS DENOUNCE
+TREASON-BREEDING COPPERHEADS
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXV.
+ THE "FIRE IN THE REAR."
+
+THE REBEL MANDATE--"AGITATE THE NORTH!"--OBEDIENT COPPERHEADS--THEIR
+DENUNCIATIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT--BROOKS, FERNANDO WOOD, AND WHITE, ON
+THE "FOLLY" OF THE WAR FOR THE UNION--EDGERTON'S PEACE RESOLUTIONS--
+ECKLEY, ON COPPERHEAD MALIGNITY--ALEXANDER LONG GOES "A BOW-SHOT BEYOND
+THEM ALL"--HE PROPOSES THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF SOUTHERN INDEPENDENCE--
+GARFIELD ELOQUENTLY DENOUNCES LONG'S TREASON--LONG DEFIANTLY REITERATES
+IT--SPEAKER COLFAX OFFERS A RESOLUTION TO EXPEL LONG--COX AND JULIAN'S
+VERBAL DUEL--HARRIS'S TREASONABLE BID FOR EXPULSION--EXTRAORDINARY SCENE
+IN THE HOUSE--FERNANDO WOOD'S BID--HE SUBSEQUENTLY "WEAKENS"--EXCITING
+DEBATE--LONG AND HARRIS VOTED "UNWORTHY MEMBERS" OF THE HOUSE
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXVI.
+ "THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT" DEFEATED IN THE HOUSE.
+
+GLANCE AT THE MILITARY SITUATION--"BEGINNING OF THE END"--THE
+CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT--HOLMAN "OBJECTS" TO "SECOND READING"--KELLOGG
+SCORES THE COPPERHEAD-DEMOCRACY--CONTINUOUS "FIRE IN THE REAR" IN BOTH
+HOUSES--THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT ATTACKED--THE ADMINISTRATION ATTACKED--
+THE TARIFF ATTACKED--SPEECHES OF GARRETT DAVIS, AND COX--PEACE-
+RESOLUTIONS OF LAZEAR AND DAVIS--GRINNELL AND STEVENS, SCORE COX AND
+WOOD--HENDRICKS ON THE DRAFT--"ON" TO RICHMOND AND ATLANTA--VIOLENT
+DIATRIBES OF WOOD, AND HOLMAN--FARNSWORTH'S REPLY TO ROSS, PRUYN, AND
+OTHERS--ARNOLD, ON THE ETHICS OF SLAVERY--INGERSOLL'S ELOQUENT BURST--
+RANDALL, ROLLINS, AND PENDLETON, CLOSING THE DEBATE--THE THIRTEENTH
+AMENDMENT DEFEATED--ASHLEY'S MOTION TO RECONSIDER--CONGRESS ADJOURNS
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXVII.
+ SLAVERY DOOMED AT THE POLLS.
+
+THE ISSUE BETWEEN FREEDOM AND SLAVERY--MR. LINCOLN'S RENOMINATION--
+ENDORSED, AT ALL POINTS, BY HIS PARTY--HIS FAITH IN THE PEOPLE--HORATIO
+SEYMOUR'S COPPERHEAD DECLARATIONS--THE NATIONAL DEMOCRACY DECLARE THE
+WAR "A FAILURE"--THEIR COPPERHEAD PLATFORM, AND UNION CANDIDATE--
+MCCLELLAN THEIR NOMINEE--VICTORIES AT ATLANTA AND MOBILE--FREMONT'S
+THIRD PARTY--SUCCESSES OF GRANT AND SHERIDAN--DEATH OF CHIEF-JUSTICE
+TANEY--MARYLAND BECOMES "FREE"--MORE UNION VICTORIES--REPUBLICAN "TIDAL-
+WAVE" SUCCESS--LINCOLN RE-ELECTED--HIS SERENADE-SPEECHES--AMAZING
+CONGRESSIONAL-RETURNS--THE DEATH OF SLAVERY INSURED--IT BECOMES SIMPLY A
+
+MATTER OF TIME
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXVIII.
+ FREEDOM AT LAST ASSURED.
+
+THE WINTER OF 1864--THE MILITARY SITUATION--THE "MARCH TO THE SEA"--
+THOMAS AND HOOD--LOGAN'S INTERVIEW WITH THE PRESIDENT--VICTORIES OF
+NASHVILLE AND SAVANNAH--MR. LINCOLN'S MESSAGE TO CONGRESS, ON THIRTEENTH
+AMENDMENT--CONGRESSIONAL RECESS--PRESIDENT LINCOLN STILL WORKING WITH,
+THE BORDER-STATE REPRESENTATIVES--ROLLINS'S INTERVIEW WITH HIM--THE
+THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT UP, IN THE HOUSE, AGAIN--VIGOROUS AND ELOQUENT
+DEBATE--SPEECHES OF COX, BROOKS, VOORHEES, MALLORY, HOLMAN, WOOD, AND
+PENDLETON, AGAINST THE AMENDMENT--SPEECHES OF CRESWELL, SCOFIELD,
+ROLLINS, GARFIELD, AND STEVENS, FOR IT--RECONSIDERATION OF ADVERSE VOTE
+--THE AMENDMENT ADOPTED--EXCITING SCENE IN THE HOUSE--THE GRAND SALUTE TO
+LIBERTY--SERENADE TO MR. LINCOLN--"THIS ENDS THE JOB"
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXIX.
+ LINCOLN'S SECOND INAUGURATION.
+
+REBELLION ON ITS "LAST LEGS"--PEACE COMMISSIONS AND PROPOSITIONS--
+EFFORTS OF GREELEY, JACQUES, GILMORE, AND BLAIR--LINCOLN'S ADVANCES--
+JEFFERSON DAVIS'S DEFIANT MESSAGE TO HIM--THE PRESIDENT AND THE REBEL
+COMMISSIONERS AT HAMPTON ROADS--VARIOUS ACCOUNTS, OF THE SECRET
+CONFERENCE, BY PARTICIPANTS THE PROPOSITIONS ON BOTH SIDES--FAILURE--THE
+MILITARY OUTLOOK--THE REBEL CAUSE DESPERATE--REBEL DESERTIONS--
+"MILITARY" PEACE-CONVENTION PROPOSED BY REBELS--DECLINED--CORRESPONDENCE
+BETWEEN GRANT AND LEE, ETC.--THE SECOND INAUGURATION OF PRESIDENT
+LINCOLN--A STRANGE OMEN--HIS IMMORTAL SECOND-INAUGURAL
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXX.
+ COLLAPSE OF THE ARMED CONSPIRACY.
+
+PROGRESS OF THE WAR--CAMPAIGN OF THE CAROLINAS, 1865--MEETING, AT CITY
+POINT, OF LINCOLN, GRANT, AND SHERMAN--SHERMAN'S ACCOUNT OF WHAT PASSED
+--GRANT NOW FEELS "LIKE ENDING THE MATTER"--THE BATTLES OF DINWIDDIE
+COURT HOUSE AND FIVE FORKS--UNION ASSAULT ON THE PETERSBURG WORKS--UNION
+VICTORY EVERYWHERE--PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND EVACUATED--LEE'S RETREAT CUT
+OFF BATTLE OF SAILOR'S CREEK--GRANT ASKS LEE TO SURRENDER--LEE DELAYS--
+SHERIDAN CATCHES HIM, AND HIS ARMY, IN A TRAP--THE REBELS SURRENDER, AT
+APPOMATTOX--GRANT'S GENEROUS AND MAGNANIMOUS TERMS--THE STARVING REBELS
+FED WITH UNION RATIONS--SURRENDER OF JOHNSTON'S ARMY--OTHER REBEL FORCES
+SURRENDER--THE REBELLION STAMPED OUT--CAPTURE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS--THE
+REBELS "YIELD EVERYTHING THEY HAD FOUGHT FOR"--THEY CRAVE PARDON AND
+OBLIVION FOR THEIR OFFENCES
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXXI.
+ ASSASSINATION!
+
+PRESIDENT LINCOLN AT RICHMOND--HIS RECEPTIONS AT JEFFERSON DAVIS'S
+MANSION--RETURN TO WASHINGTON--THE NEWS OF LEE'S SURRENDER--LINCOLN'S
+LAST PUBLIC SPEECH--HIS THEME, "RECONSTRUCTION"--GRANT ARRIVES AT THE
+NATIONAL CAPITAL--PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S LAST CABINET MEETING--HIS FOND
+HOPES OF THE FUTURE--AN UNHEEDED PRESENTIMENT--AT FORD'S THEATRE--THE
+LAST ACCLAMATION OF THE PEOPLE--THE PISTOL SHOT THAT HORRIFIED THE
+WORLD--SCULKING, RED HANDED TREASON--THE ASSASSINATION PLOT-COMPLICITY
+OF THE REBEL AUTHORITIES, BELIEVED BY THE BEST INFORMED MEN--TESTIMONY
+AS TO THREE ATTEMPTS TO KILL LINCOLN--THE CHIEF REBEL-CONSPIRATORS
+"RECEIVE PROPOSITIONS TO ASSASSINATE"--A NATION'S WRATH--ANDREW
+JOHNSON'S VEHEMENT ASSEVERATIONS--"TREASON MUST BE MADE ODIOUS"--
+RECONSTRUCTION
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXXII.
+ TURNING BACK THE HANDS
+
+"RECONSTRUCTION" OF THE SOUTH--MEMORIES OF THE WAR, DYING OUT--THE
+FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH AMENDMENTS--THE SOUTHERN STATES REHABILITATED
+BY ACCEPTANCE OF AMENDMENTS, ETC.--REMOVAL OF REBEL DISABILITIES--
+CLEMENCY OF THE CONQUERORS--THE OLD CONSPIRATORS HATCH A NEW CONSPIRACY
+--THE "LOST CAUSE" TO BE REGAINED--THE MISSISSIPPI SHOT-GUN PLAN--FRAUD,
+BARBARITY, AND MURDERS, EFFECT THE PURPOSE--THE "SOUTH" CEMENTED "SOLID"
+BY BLOOD--PEONAGE REPLACES SLAVERY--THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1876--
+THE TILDEN "BARREL," AND "CIPHER DISPATCHES"--THE "FRAUD" CRY--THE OLD
+LEADERS DICTATE THE DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE OF 1880--THEIR FREE-
+TRADE ISSUE TO THE FRONT AGAIN--SUCCESSIVE DEMOCRATIC EFFORTS TO FORCE
+FREE-TRADE THROUGH THE HOUSE, SINCE REBELLION--EFFECT OF SUCH EFFORTS--
+REPUBLICAN MODIFICATIONS OF THEIR OWN PROTECTIVE TARIFF--THE "SOLID
+SOUTH" SUCCEEDS, AT LAST, IN "ELECTING" ITS CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT--IS
+THIS STILL A REPUBLIC, OR IS IT AN OLIGARCHY?
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXXIII.
+ WHAT NEXT?
+
+THE PRESENT OUTLOOK--COMMERCIAL PROSPECTS, BRIGHT--WHAT THE PEOPLE OF
+THE NORTHERN AND WESTERN STATES SEE--WHAT IS A "REPUBLICAN FORM OF
+GOVERNMENT?"--WHAT DID THE FATHERS MEAN BY IT--THE REASON FOR THE
+GUARANTEE IN THE NATIONAL CONSTITUTION--PURPOSES OF "THE PEOPLE" IN
+CREATING THIS REPUBLIC--THE "SOLID-SOUTHERN" OLIGARCHS DEFEAT THOSE
+PURPOSES--THE REPUBLICAN PARTY NOT BLAMELESS FOR THE PRESENT CONDITION
+OF THINGS--THE OLD REBEL-CHIEFTAINS AND COPPERHEADS, IN CONTROL--THEY
+GRASP ALMOST EVERYTHING THAT WAS LOST BY THE REBELLION--THEIR GROWING
+AGGRESSIVENESS--THE FUTURE--"WATCHMAN, WHAT OF THE NIGHT?"
+
+
+
+PORTRAITS.
+
+MAPS.
+
+SEAT OF WAR IN VIRGINIA.
+
+FIRST BULL RUN BATTLE-FIELD.
+
+FIRST BULL RUN BATTLE-FIELD, SHOWING POSITION OF ARMIES.
+
+
+EDWARD D. BAKER,
+BENJ. F. BUTLER,
+J. C. BRECKINRIDGE,
+JOHN C. CALHOUN,
+HENRY CLAY,
+J. J. CRITTENDEN,
+HENRY WINTER DAVIS,
+JEFFERSON DAVIS,
+SIMON CAMERON,
+STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS,
+JOHN C. FREMONT,
+H. W. HALLECK,
+ISAAC W. HAYNE,
+PATRICK HENRY,
+DAVID HUNTER,
+THOMAS JEFFERSON,
+ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
+GEO. B. MCCLELLAN,
+THAD. STEVENS,
+WM. H. SEWARD,
+LYMAN TRUMBULL,
+BENJ. F. WADE,
+DANIEL WEBSTER,
+LOUIS T. WIGFALL.
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER I.
+
+ A PRELIMINARY RETROSPECT.
+
+
+To properly understand the condition of things preceding the great war
+of the Rebellion, and the causes underlying that condition and the war
+itself, we must glance backward through the history of the Country to,
+and even beyond, that memorable 30th of November, 1782, when the
+Independence of the United States of America was at last conceded by
+Great Britain. At that time the population of the United States was
+about 2,500,000 free whites and some 500,000 black slaves. We had
+gained our Independence of the Mother Country, but she had left fastened
+upon us the curse of Slavery. Indeed African Slavery had already in
+1620 been implanted on the soil of Virginia before Plymouth Rock was
+pressed by the feet of the Pilgrim Fathers, and had spread, prior to the
+Revolution, with greater or less rapidity, according to the surrounding
+adaptations of soil, production and climate, to every one of the
+thirteen Colonies.
+
+But while it had thus spread more or less throughout all the original
+Colonies, and was, as it were, recognized and acquiesced in by all, as
+an existing and established institution, yet there were many, both in
+the South and North, who looked upon it as an evil--an inherited evil--
+and were anxious to prevent the increase of that evil. Hence it was
+that even as far back as 1699, a controversy sprang up between the
+Colonies and the Home Government, upon the African Slavery question--a
+controversy continuing with more or less vehemence down to the
+Declaration of Independence itself.
+
+It was this conviction that it was not alone an evil but a dangerous
+evil, that induced Jefferson to embody in his original draft of that
+Declaration a clause strongly condemnatory of the African Slave Trade--a
+clause afterward omitted from it solely, he tells us, "in complaisance
+to South Carolina and Georgia, who had never* attempted to restrain the
+importation of slaves, and who, on the contrary, still wished to
+continue it," as well as in deference to the sensitiveness of Northern
+people, who, though having few slaves themselves, "had been pretty
+considerable carriers of them to others" a clause of the great
+indictment of King George III., which, since it was not omitted for any
+other reason than that just given, shows pretty conclusively that where
+the fathers in that Declaration affirmed that "all men are created
+equal," they included in the term "men," black as well as white, bond as
+well as free; for the clause ran thus: "Determined to keep open a market
+where MEN should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative for
+suppressing every Legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this
+execrable commerce. And that this assemblage of horrors might want no
+fact of distinguished dye, he is now exciting those very people to rise
+in arms among us, and purchase that liberty of which he has deprived
+them, by murdering the people on whom he also obtruded them; thus paying
+of former crimes committed against the LIBERTIES of our people with
+crimes which he urges them to commit against the LIVES of another."
+
+ [Prior to 1752, when Georgia surrendered her charter and became a
+ Royal Colony, the holding of slaves within its limits was expressly
+ prohibited by law; and the Darien (Ga.) resolutions of 1775
+ declared not only a "disapprobation and abhorrence of the unnatural
+ practice of Slavery in America" as "a practice founded in injustice
+ and cruelty, and highly dangerous to our Liberties (as well as
+ lives) but a determination to use our utmost efforts for the
+ manumission of our slaves in this colony upon the most safe and
+ equitable footing for the masters and themselves."]
+
+
+During the war of the Revolution following the Declaration of
+Independence, the half a million of slaves, nearly all of them in the
+Southern States, were found to be not only a source of weakness, but,
+through the incitements of British emissaries, a standing menace of
+peril to the Slaveholders. Thus it was that the South was overrun by
+hostile British armies, while in the North-comparatively free of this
+element of weakness--disaster after disaster met them. At last,
+however, in 1782, came the recognition of our Independence, and peace,
+followed by the evacuation of New York at the close of 1783.
+
+The lessons of the war, touching Slavery, had not been lost upon our
+statesmen. Early in 1784 Virginia ceded to the United States her claims
+of jurisdiction and otherwise over the vast territory north-west of the
+Ohio; and upon its acceptance, Jefferson, as chairman of a Select
+Committee appointed at his instance to consider a plan of government
+therefor, reported to the ninth Continental Congress an Ordinance to
+govern the territory ceded already, or to be ceded, by individual States
+to the United States, extending from the 31st to the 47th degree of
+north latitude, which provided as "fundamental conditions between the
+thirteen original States and those newly described" as embryo States
+thereafter--to be carved out of such territory ceded or to be ceded to
+the United States, not only that "they shall forever remain a part of
+the United States of America," but also that "after the year 1800 of the
+Christian era, there shall be neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude
+in any of the said States"--and that those fundamental conditions were
+"unalterable but by the joint consent of the United States in Congress
+assembled, and of the particular State within which such alteration
+is proposed to be made."
+
+But now a signal misfortune befell. Upon a motion to strike out the
+clause prohibiting Slavery, six States: New Hampshire, Massachusetts,
+Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and Pennsylvania, voted to retain
+the prohibitive clause, while three States, Maryland, Virginia and South
+Carolina, voted not to retain it. The vote of North Carolina was
+equally divided; and while one of the Delegates from New Jersey voted to
+retain it, yet as there was no other delegate present from that State,
+and the Articles of Confederation required the presence of "two or more"
+delegates to cast the vote of a State, the vote of New Jersey was lost;
+and, as the same Articles required an affirmative vote of a majority of
+all the States--and not simply of those present--the retention of the
+clause prohibiting Slavery was also lost. Thus was lost the great
+opportunity of restricting Slavery to the then existing Slave States,
+and of settling the question peaceably for all time. Three years
+afterward a similar Ordinance, since become famous as "the Ordinance of
+'87," for the government of the North-west Territory (from which the
+Free States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin have
+since been carved and admitted to the Union) was adopted in Congress by
+the unanimous vote of all the eight States present. And the sixth
+article of this Ordinance, or "Articles of Compact," which it was
+stipulated should "forever remain unalterable, unless by common
+consent," was in these words:
+
+"Art. 6. There shall be neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude in
+the said Territory, otherwise than in punishment of crimes, whereof the
+party shall have been duly convicted; provided always that any person
+escaping into the same from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in
+any one of the original States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed,
+and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor, or service, as
+aforesaid."
+
+But this Ordinance of '87, adopted almost simultaneously with the
+framing of our present Federal Constitution, was essentially different
+from the Ordinance of three years previous, in this: that while the
+latter included the territory south of the Ohio River as well as that
+north-west of it, this did not; and as a direct consequence of this
+failure to include in it the territory south of that river, the States
+of Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi, which were taken out of it, were
+subsequently admitted to the Union as Slave States, and thus greatly
+augmented their political power. And at a later period it was this
+increased political power that secured the admission of still other
+Slave States--as Florida, Louisiana and Texas--which enabled the Slave
+States to hold the balance of such power as against the original States
+that had become Free, and the new Free States of the North-west.
+
+Hence, while in a measure quieting the great question of Slavery for the
+time being, the Ordinance of '87 in reality laid the ground-work for the
+long series of irritations and agitations touching its restrictions and
+extension, which eventually culminated in the clash of arms that shook
+the Union from its centre to its circumference. Meanwhile, as we have
+seen--while the Ordinance of 1787 was being enacted in the last Congress
+of the old Confederation at New York--the Convention to frame the
+present Constitution was sitting at Philadelphia under the Presidency of
+George Washington himself. The old Confederation had proved itself to
+be "a rope of sand." A new and stronger form of government had become a
+necessity for National existence.
+
+To create it out of the discordant elements whose harmony was essential
+to success, was an herculean task, requiring the utmost forbearance,
+unselfishness, and wisdom. And of all the great questions, dividing the
+framers of that Constitution, perhaps none of them required a higher
+degree of self abnegation and patriotism than those touching human
+Slavery.
+
+The situation was one of extreme delicacy. The necessity for a closer
+and stronger Union of all the States was apparently absolute, yet this
+very necessity seemed to place a whip in the hands of a few States, with
+which to coerce the greater number of States to do their bidding. It
+seemed that the majority must yield to a small minority on even vital
+questions, or lose everything.
+
+Thus it was, that instead of an immediate interdiction of the African
+Slave Trade, Congress was empowered to prohibit it after the lapse of
+twenty years; that instead of the basis of Congressional Representation
+being the total population of each State, and that of direct taxation
+the total property of each State, a middle ground was conceded, which
+regarded the Slaves as both persons and property, and the basis both of
+Representation and of Direct Taxation was fixed as being the total Free
+population "plus three-fifths of all other persons" in each State; and
+that there was inserted in the Constitution a similar clause to that
+which we have seen was almost simultaneously incorporated in the
+Ordinance of '87, touching the reclamation and return to their owners of
+Fugitive Slaves from the Free States into which they may have escaped.
+
+The fact of the matter is, that the Convention that framed our
+Constitution lacked the courage of its convictions, and was "bulldozed"
+by the few extreme Southern Slave-holding States--South Carolina and
+Georgia especially. It actually paltered with those convictions and
+with the truth itself. Its convictions--those at least of a great
+majority of its delegates--were against not only the spread, but the
+very existence of Slavery; yet we have seen what they unwillingly agreed
+to in spite of those convictions; and they were guilty moreover of the
+subterfuge of using the terms "persons" and "service or labor" when they
+really meant "Slaves" and "Slavery." "They did this latter," Mr.
+Madison says, "because they did not choose to admit the right of
+property in man," and yet in fixing the basis of Direct Taxation as well
+as Congressional Representation at the total Free population of each
+State with "three-fifths of all other persons," they did admit the right
+of property in man! As was stated by Mr. Iredell to the North Carolina
+Ratification Convention, when explaining the Fugitive Slave clause:
+"Though the word 'Slave' is not mentioned, this is the meaning of it."
+And he added: "The Northern delegates, owing to their peculiar scruples
+on the subject of Slavery, did not choose the word 'Slave' to be
+mentioned."
+
+In March, 1789, the first Federal Congress met at New York. It at once
+enacted a law in accordance with the terms of the Ordinance of '87--
+adapting it to the changed order of things under the new Federal
+Constitution--prohibiting Slavery in the Territories of the North-west;
+and the succeeding Congress enacted a Fugitive-Slave law.
+
+In the same year (1789) North Carolina ceded her western territory (now
+Tennessee) south of the Ohio, to the United States, providing as one of
+the conditions of that cession, "that no regulation made, or to be made,
+by Congress, shall tend to emancipate Slaves." Georgia, also, in 1802,
+ceded her superfluous territorial domain (south of the Ohio, and now
+known as Alabama and Mississippi), making as a condition of its
+acceptance that the Ordinance of '87 "shall, in all its parts, extend to
+the territory contained in the present act of cession, the article only
+excepted which forbids Slavery."
+
+Thus while the road was open and had been taken advantage of, at the
+earliest moment, by the Federal Congress to prohibit Slavery in all the
+territory north-west of the Ohio River by Congressional enactment,
+Congress considered itself barred by the very conditions of cession from
+inhibiting Slavery in the territory lying south of that river. Hence it
+was that while the spread of Slavery was prevented in the one Section of
+our outlying territories by Congressional legislation, it was stimulated
+in the other Section by the enforced absence of such legislation. As a
+necessary sequence, out of the Territories of the one Section grew more
+Free States and out of the other more Slave States, and this condition
+of things had a tendency to array the Free and the Slave States in
+opposition to each other and to Sectionalize the flames of that Slavery
+agitation which were thus continually fed.
+
+Upon the admission of Ohio to Statehood in 1803, the remainder of the
+North-west territory became the Territory of Indiana. The inhabitants
+of this Territory (now known as the States of Indiana, Illinois,
+Michigan and Wisconsin), consisting largely of settlers from the Slave
+States, but chiefly from Virginia and Kentucky, very persistently (in
+1803, 1806 and 1807) petitioned Congress for permission to employ Slave
+Labor, but--although their petitions were favorably reported in most
+cases by the Committees to which they were referred--without avail,
+Congress evidently being of opinion that a temporary suspension in this
+respect of the sixth article of the Ordinance of '87 was "not
+expedient." These frequent rebuffs by Congress, together with the
+constantly increasing emigration from the Free States, prevented the
+taking of any further steps to implant Slavery on the soil of that
+Territory.
+
+Meanwhile the vast territory included within the Valley of the
+Mississippi and known at that day as the "Colony of Louisiana," was, in
+1803, acquired to the United States by purchase from the French--to whom
+it had but lately been retroceded by Spain. Both under Spanish and
+French rule, Slavery had existed throughout this vast yet sparsely
+populated region. When we acquired it by purchase, it was already
+there, as an established "institution;" and the Treaty of acquisition
+not only provided that it should be "incorporated into the Union of the
+United States, and admitted as soon as possible, according to the
+principles of the Federal Constitution," but that its inhabitants in the
+meantime "should be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of
+their liberty, property, and the religion which they professed"--and,
+as "the right of property in man" had really been admitted in practice,
+if not in theory, by the framers of that Constitution itself--that
+institution was allowed to remain there. Indeed the sparseness of its
+population at the time of purchase and the amazing fertility of its soil
+and adaptability of its climate to Slave Labor, together with the then
+recent invention by Eli Whitney, of Massachusetts, of that wonderful
+improvement in the separation of cotton-fibre from its seed, known as
+the "cotton-gin"--which with the almost simultaneous inventions of
+Hargreaves, and Arkwright's cotton-spinning machines, and Watt's
+application of his steam engine, etc., to them, marvelously increased
+both the cotton supply and demand and completely revolutionized the
+cotton industry--contributed to rapidly and thickly populate the whole
+region with white Slave-holders and black Slaves, and to greatly enrich
+and increase the power of the former.
+
+When Jefferson succeeded in negotiating the cession of that vast and
+rich domain to the United States, it is not to be supposed that either
+the allurements of territorial aggrandizement on the one hand, or the
+impending danger to the continued ascendency of the political party
+which had elevated him to the Presidency, threatening it from all the
+irritations with republican France likely to grow out of such near
+proximity to her Colony, on the other, could have blinded his eyes to
+the fact that its acquisition must inevitably tend to the spread of that
+very evil, the contemplation of which, at a later day, wrung from his
+lips the prophetic words, "I tremble for my Country when I reflect that
+God is just." It is more reasonable to suppose that, as he believed the
+ascendency of the Republican party of that day essential to the
+perpetuity of the Republic itself, and revolted against being driven
+into an armed alliance with Monarchical England against what he termed
+"our natural friend," Republican France, he reached the conclusion that
+the preservation of his Republican principles was of more immediate
+moment than the question of the perpetuation and increase of human
+Slavery. Be that as it may, it none the less remains a curious fact
+that it was to Jefferson, the far-seeing statesman and hater of African
+Slavery and the author of the Ordinance of 1784--which sought to exclude
+Slavery from all the Territories of the United States south of, as well
+as north-west of the Ohio River--that we also owe the acquisition of the
+vast territory of the Mississippi Valley burdened with Slavery in such
+shape that only a War, which nearly wrecked our Republic, could get rid
+of!
+
+Out of that vast and fertile, but Slave-ridden old French Colony of
+"Louisiana" were developed in due time the rich and flourishing Slave
+States of Louisiana, Missouri and Arkansas.
+
+It will have been observed that this acquisition of the Colony of
+Louisiana and the contemporaneous inventions of the cotton-gin, improved
+cotton-spinning machinery, and the application to it of steam power, had
+already completely neutralized the wisdom of the Fathers in securing, as
+they thought, the gradual but certain extinction of Slavery in the
+United States, by that provision in the Constitution which enabled
+Congress, after an interval of twenty years, to prohibit the African
+Slave Trade; and which led the Congress, on March 22, 1794, to pass an
+Act prohibiting it; to supplement it in 1800 with another Act in the
+same direction; and on March 2, 1807, to pass another supplemental Act--
+to take effect January 1, 1808--still more stringent, and covering any
+such illicit traffic, whether to the United States or with other
+countries. Never was the adage that, "The best laid schemes o' mice an'
+men gang aft agley," more painfully apparent. Slaves increased and
+multiplied within the land, and enriched their white owners to such a
+degree that, as the years rolled by, instead of compunctions of
+conscience on the subject of African Slavery in America, the Southern
+leaders ultimately persuaded themselves to the belief that it was not
+only moral, and sanctioned by Divine Law, but that to perpetuate it was
+a philanthropic duty, beneficial to both races! In fact one of them
+declared it to be "the highest type of civilization."
+
+In 1812, the State of Louisiana, organized from the purchased Colony of
+the same name, was admitted to the Union, and the balance of the
+Louisiana purchase was thereafter known as the Territory of Missouri.
+
+In 1818 commenced the heated and protracted struggle in Congress over
+the admission of the State of Missouri--created from the Territory of
+that name--as a Slave State, which finally culminated in 1820 in the
+settlement known thereafter as the "Missouri Compromise."
+
+Briefly stated, that struggle may be said to have consisted in the
+efforts of the House on the one side, to restrict Slavery in the State
+of Missouri, and the efforts of the Senate on the other, to give it free
+rein. The House insisted on a clause in the Act of admission providing,
+"That the introduction of Slavery or involuntary servitude be
+prohibited, except for the punishment of crimes whereof the party has
+been duly convicted; and that all children born within the said State,
+after the admission thereof into the Union, shall be declared Free at
+the age of twenty-five years." The Senate resisted it--and the Bill
+fell. In the meantime, however, a Bill passed both Houses forming the
+Territory of Arkansas out of that portion of the Territory of Missouri
+not included in the proposed State of Missouri, without any such
+restriction upon Slavery. Subsequently, the House having passed a Bill
+to admit the State of Maine to the Union, the Senate amended it by
+tacking on a provision authorizing the people of Missouri to organize a
+State Government, without restriction as to Slavery. The House
+decidedly refused to accede to the Senate proposition, and the result of
+the disagreement was a Committee of Conference between the two Houses,
+and the celebrated "Missouri Compromise," which, in the language of
+another--[Hon. John Holmes of Massachusetts, of said Committee on
+Conference, March 2, 1820.]--, was: "that the Senate should give up its
+combination of Missouri with Maine; that the House should abandon its
+attempt to restrict Slavery in Missouri; and that both Houses should
+concur in passing the Bill to admit Missouri as a State, with" a
+"restriction or proviso, excluding Slavery from all territory north and
+west of the new State"--that "restriction or proviso" being in these
+words: "That in all that territory ceded by France to the United States
+under the name of Louisiana, which lies north of thirty-six degrees,
+thirty minutes north latitude, excepting only such part thereof as is
+included within the limits of the State contemplated by this act,
+Slavery and involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment of
+crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall be and is
+hereby forever prohibited; Provided always, that any person escaping
+into the same, from whom labor and service is lawfully claimed in any
+State or Territory of the United States, such Fugitive may be lawfully
+reclaimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or
+service, as aforesaid." At a subsequent session of Congress, at which
+Missouri asked admission as a State with a Constitution prohibiting her
+Legislature from passing emancipation laws, or such as would prevent the
+immigration of Slaves, while requiring it to enact such as would
+absolutely prevent the immigration of Free Negroes or Mulattoes, a
+further Compromise was agreed to by Congress under the inspiration of
+Mr. Clay, by which it was laid down as a condition precedent to her
+admission as a State--a condition subsequently complied with--that
+Missouri must pledge herself that her Legislature should pass no act "by
+which any of the citizens of either of the States should be excluded
+from the enjoyment of the privileges and immunities to which they are
+entitled under the Constitution of the United States."
+
+This, in a nut-shell, was the memorable Missouri Struggle, and the
+"Compromise" or Compromises which settled and ended it. But during that
+struggle--as during the formation of the Federal Constitution and at
+various times in the interval when exciting questions had arisen--the
+bands of National Union were more than once rudely strained, and this
+time to such a degree as even to shake the faith of some of the firmest
+believers in the perpetuity of that Union. It was during this bitter
+struggle that John Adams wrote to Jefferson: "I am sometimes Cassandra
+enough to dream that another Hamilton, another Burr, may rend this
+mighty fabric in twain, or perhaps into a leash, and a few more choice
+spirits of the same stamp might produce as many Nations in North America
+as there are in Europe."
+
+It is true that we had "sown the wind," but we had not yet "reaped the
+whirlwind."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER II.
+
+ PROTECTION AND FREE TRADE.
+
+We have seen that the first Federal Congress met at New York in March,
+1789. It organized April 6th. None knew better than its members that
+the war of the Americana Revolution chiefly grew out of the efforts of
+Great Britain to cripple and destroy our Colonial industries to the
+benefit of the British trader, and that the Independence conquered, was
+an Industrial as well as Political Independence; and none knew better
+than they, that the failure of the subsequent political Confederation of
+States was due mainly to its failure to encourage and protect the
+budding domestic manufactures of those States. Hence they hastened,
+under the leadership of James Madison, to pass "An Act laying a duty on
+goods, wares and merchandize imported into the United States," with a
+preamble, declaring it to be "necessary" for the "discharge of the debt
+of the United States and the encouragement and protection of
+manufactures." It was approved by President Washington July 4, 1789--a
+date not without its significance--and levied imports both specific and
+ad valorem. It was not only our first Tariff Act, but, next to that
+prescribing the oath used in organizing the Government, the first Act of
+the first Federal Congress; and was passed in pursuance of the
+declaration of President Washington in his first Message, that "The
+safety and interest of the People" required it. Under the inspiration
+of Alexander Hamilton the Tariff of 1790 was enacted at the second
+session of the same Congress, confirming the previous Act and increasing
+some of the protective duties thereby imposed.
+
+An analysis of the vote in the House of Representatives on this Tariff
+Bill discloses the fact that of the 39 votes for it, 21 were from
+Southern States, 13 from the Middle States, and 5 from New England
+States; while of the 13 votes against it, 9 were from New England
+States, 3 from Southern States, and 1 from Middle States. In other
+words, while the Southern States were for the Bill in the proportion of
+21 to 3, and the Middle States by 13 to 1, New England was against it by
+9 to 5; or again, while 10 of the 13 votes against it were from the New
+England and Middle States, 21 (or more than half) of the 39 votes for it
+were from Southern States.
+
+It will thus be seen-singularly enough in view of subsequent events--
+that we not only mainly owe our first steps in Protective Tariff
+legislation to the almost solid Southern vote, but that it was thus
+secured for us despite the opposition of New England. Nor did our
+indebtedness to Southern statesmen and Southern votes for the
+institution of the now fully established American System of Protection
+cease here, as we shall presently see.
+
+That Jefferson, as well as Washington and Madison, agreed with the views
+of Alexander Hamilton on Protection to our domestic manufactures as
+against those of foreign Nations, is evident in his Annual Message of
+December 14, 1806, wherein-discussing an anticipated surplus of Federal
+revenue above the expenditures, and enumerating the purposes of
+education and internal improvement to which he thinks the "whole surplus
+of impost" should during times of peace be applied; by which application
+of such surplus he prognosticates that "new channels of communication
+will be opened between the States; the lines of separation will
+disappear; their interests will be identified, and their Union cemented
+by new and indissoluble ties"--he says: "Shall we suppress the impost
+and give that advantage to foreign over domestic manufactures. On a few
+articles of more general and necessary use, the suppression in due
+season, will doubtless be right; but the great mass of the articles on
+which impost is paid is foreign luxuries, purchased by those only who
+are rich enough to afford themselves the use of them." But his embargo
+and other retaliatory measures, put in force in 1807 and 1808, and the
+War of 1812-15 with Great Britain, which closely followed, furnished
+Protection in another manner, by shutting the door to foreign imports
+and throwing our people upon their own resources, and contributed
+greatly to the encouragement and increase of our home manufactures--
+especially those of wool, cotton, and hemp.
+
+At the close of that War the traders of Great Britain determined, even
+at a temporary loss to themselves, to glut our market with their goods
+and thus break down forever, as they hoped, our infant manufactures.
+Their purpose and object were boldly announced in the House of Commons
+by Mr. Brougham, when he said: "Is it worth while to incur a loss upon
+the first importation, in order by the glut to stifle in the cradle
+those rising manufactures in the United States which the War had forced
+into existence contrary to the natural course of things." Against this
+threatened ruin, our manufacturers all over the United States--the sugar
+planters of Louisiana among them--clamored for Protection, and Congress
+at once responded with the Tariff Act of 1816.
+
+This law greatly extended and increased specific duties on, and
+diminished the application of the ad valorem principle to, foreign
+imports; and it has been well described as "the practical foundation of
+the American policy of encouragement of home manufactures--the practical
+establishment of the great industrial system upon which rests our
+present National wealth, and the power and the prosperity and happiness
+of our whole people." While Henry Clay of Kentucky, William Loundes of
+South Carolina, and Henry St. George Tucker of Virginia supported the
+Bill most effectively, no man labored harder and did more effective
+service in securing its passage than John C. Calhoun of South Carolina.
+The contention on their part was not for a mere "incidental protection"
+--much less a "Tariff for revenue only"--but for "Protection" in its
+broadest sense, and especially the protection of their cotton
+manufactures. Indeed Calhoun's defense of Protection, from the assaults
+of those from New England and elsewhere who assailed it on the narrow
+ground that it was inimical to commerce and navigation, was a notable
+one. He declared that:
+
+"It (the encouragement of manufactures) produced a system strictly
+American, as much so as agriculture, in which it had the decided
+advantage of commerce and navigation. The country will from this derive
+much advantage. Again it is calculated to bind together more closely
+our wide-spread Republic. It will greatly increase our mutual
+dependence and intercourse, and will, as a necessary consequence, excite
+an increased attention to internal improvements--a subject every way so
+intimately connected with the ultimate attainment of national strength
+and the perfection of our political institutions."
+
+He regarded the fact that it would make the parts adhere more closely;
+that it would form a new and most powerful cement far outweighing any
+political objections that might be urged against the system. In his
+opinion "the liberty and the union of the country were inseparably
+united; that as the destruction of the latter would most certainly
+involve the former, so its maintenance will with equal certainty
+preserve it;" and he closed with an impressive warning to the Nation of
+a "new and terrible danger" which threatened it, to wit: "disunion."
+Nobly as he stood up then--during the last term of his service in the
+House of Representatives--for the great principles of, the American
+System of Protection to manufactures, for the perpetuity of the Union,
+and for the increase of "National strength," it seems like the very
+irony of fate that a few years later should find him battling against
+Protection as "unconstitutional," upholding Nullification as a "reserved
+right" of his State, and championing at the risk of his neck that very
+"danger" to the "liberties" and life of his Country against which his
+prophetic words had already given solemn warning.
+
+Strange was it also, in view of the subsequent attitudes of the South
+and New England, that this essentially Protective Tariff Act of 1816
+should have been vigorously protested and voted against by New England,
+while it was ably advocated and voted for by the South--the 25 votes of
+the latter which secured its passage being more than sufficient to have
+secured its defeat had they been so inclined.
+
+The Tariff Acts of 1824 and 1828 followed the great American principle
+of Protection laid down and supported by the South in the Act of 1816,
+while widening, increasing, and strengthening it. Under their
+operation-especially under that of 1828, with its high duties on wool,
+hemp, iron, lead, and other staples--great prosperity smiled upon the
+land, and particularly upon the Free States.
+
+In the cotton-growing belt of the South, however, where the prosperity
+was relatively less, owing to the blight of Slavery, the very contrast
+bred discontent; and, instead of attributing it to the real cause, the
+advocates of Free Trade within that region insisted that the Protective
+Tariff was responsible for the condition of things existing there.
+
+A few restless and discontented spirits in the South had indeed agitated
+the subject of Free Trade as against Protected manufactures as early as
+1797, and, hand in hand with it, the doctrine of States Rights. And
+Jefferson himself, although, as we have already seen, attached to the
+American System of Protection and believing in its Constitutionality,
+unwittingly played into the hands of these Free Traders by drawing up
+the famous Kentucky Resolutions of '98 touching States Rights, which
+were closely followed by the Virginia Resolutions of 1799 in the same
+vein by Madison, also an out-and-out Protectionist. It was mainly in
+condemnation of the Alien and Sedition Laws, then so unpopular
+everywhere, that these resolutions were professedly fulminated, but they
+gave to the agitating Free Traders a States-Rights-Secession-weapon of
+which they quickly availed themselves.
+
+Their drift may be gathered from the first of the Kentucky Resolutions
+of '98, which was in these words: "Resolved, That the several States
+composing the United States of America are not united on the principle
+of unlimited submission to their General Government, but that, by a
+compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United
+States, and of amendments thereto, they constituted a General Government
+for special purposes--delegated to that Government certain definite
+powers, reserving, each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to
+their own self-government; and that whensoever the General Government
+assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of
+no force; that to this compact each State acceded as a State, and as an
+integral party, its co-States forming, as to itself, the other party;
+that the Government created by this compact was not made the exclusive
+or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself; since
+that would have made its discretion, and not the Constitution, the
+measure of its powers; but that, as in all other cases of compact among
+powers having no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge
+for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of
+redress."
+
+The Resolutions, after enumerating the Alien and Sedition and certain
+other laws as in point, conclude by calling upon the other States to
+join Kentucky in her opposition to such Federal usurpations of power as
+thus embodied, and express confidence: "That they will concur with this
+Commonwealth in considering the said Acts as so palpably against the
+Constitution as to amount to an undisguised declaration that that
+compact is not meant to be the measure of the powers of the General
+Government, but that it will proceed in the exercise over these States,
+of all powers whatsoever; that they will view this as seizing the rights
+of the States, and consolidating them in the hands of the General
+Government, with the power assumed to bind the States (not merely as to
+the cases made federal (casus foederis) but) in all cases whatsoever, by
+laws made, not with their consent, but by others against their consent;
+that this would be to surrender the form of government we have chosen,
+and live under one deriving its powers from its own will, and not from
+our authority; and that the co-States, returning to their natural rights
+in cases not made federal, will concur in declaring these Acts void and
+of no force, and will each take measures of its own in providing that
+neither these Acts, nor any others of the General Government, not
+plainly and intentionally authorized by the Constitution, shall be
+exercised within their respective territories."
+
+The doctrine of States Rights as formulated in these Resolutions,
+including the assumed right of a State to nullify laws of the General
+Government, naturally led up, as we shall see, not only to threats of
+disunion, but ultimately to a dreadful sectional War waged in the effort
+to secure it. That Jefferson, when he penned them, foresaw the terrible
+results to flow from these specious and pernicious doctrines, is not to
+be supposed for an instant; but that his conscience troubled him may be
+fairly inferred from the fact that he withheld from the World for twenty
+years afterward the knowledge that he was their author. It is probable
+that in this case, as in others, he was a victim of that casuistry which
+teaches that "the end justifies the means;" that he hoped and believed
+that the assertion of these baleful doctrines would act solely as a
+check upon any tendency to further centralization of power in the
+General Government and insure that strict construction of the
+Constitution.
+
+Though afterward violated by himself at the same time that he for the
+moment threw aside his scruples touching African slavery, when he added
+to our domain the great French Slave Colony of Louisiana--was none the
+less the great aim of his commanding intellect; and that he fortuitously
+believed in the "saving common sense" of his race and country as capable
+of correcting an existing evil when it shall have developed into ill
+effects.
+
+ [Mr. Jefferson takes this very ground, in almost the same words, in
+ his letter, 1803, to Wilson C. Nichols in the Louisiana Colony
+ purchase case, when, after proving by his own strict construction
+ of the Constitution that there was no power in that instrument to
+ make such purchase, and confessing the importance in that very case
+ of setting "an example against broad construction," he concludes:
+ "If, however, our friends shall think differently, certainly I
+ shall acquiesce with satisfaction; confiding that the good sense of
+ the country will correct the evil of construction when it shall
+ produce ill ejects."]
+
+Be that as it may, however, the fact remains that the seeds thus sown by
+the hands of Jefferson on the "sacred soil" of Virginia and Kentucky,
+were dragon's teeth, destined in after years to spring up as legions of
+armed men battling for the subversion of that Constitution and the
+destruction of that Union which he so reverenced, and which he was so
+largely instrumental in founding--and which even came back in his own
+life to plague him and Madison during his embargo, and Madison's war of
+1812-15, in the utterances and attitude of some of the New England
+Federalists.
+
+The few Free Traders of the South--the Giles's and John Taylor's and men
+of that ilk--made up for their paucity in numbers by their unscrupulous
+ingenuity and active zeal. They put forth the idea that the American
+Protective Policy was a policy of fostering combinations by Federal
+laws, the effect of which was to transfer a considerable portion of the
+profits of slave labor from the Slave States to other parts of the Union
+where it was massed in the hands of a few individuals, and thus created
+a moneyed interest which avariciously influenced the General Government
+to the detriment of the entire community of people, who, made restive by
+the exactions of this power working through the Federal Government, were
+as a consequence driven to consider a possible dissolution of the Union,
+and make "estimates of resources and means of defense." As a means also
+of inflaming both the poor whites and Southern slave-holders by arousing
+the apprehensions of the latter concerning the "peculiar institution" of
+Slavery, they craftily declared that "If the maxim advanced by the
+advocates of the protecting duty system will justify Congress in
+assuming, or rather in empowering a few capitalists to assume, the
+direction of manufacturing labor, it also invests that body with a power
+of legislating for the direction of every other species of labor and
+assigning all occupations whatsoever to the care of the intelligence of
+mercenary combinations"--and hence untold misery to labor.
+
+They charged as a further means of firing the Southern heart, that this
+moneyed power, born of Protection, "works upon the passion of the States
+it has been able to delude by computations of their physical strength
+and their naval superiority; and by boasting of an ability to use the
+weakening circumstance of negro slavery to coerce the defrauded and
+discontented States into submission." And they declared as fundamental
+truths upon which they rested that "The Federal is not a National
+Government; it is a league between nations. By this league, a limited
+power only over persons and property was given to the representatives of
+the united nations. This power cannot be further extended, under the
+pretext of national good, because the league does not create a national
+government."
+
+It was the passage of the Tariff of 1824 that gave these crafty Free
+Traders their first great success in spreading their doctrine of Free
+Trade by coupling it with questions of slave labor, States Rights, and
+nullification, as laid down in the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions.
+These arguments created great excitement throughout the South--
+especially in South Carolina and Georgia--which was still further
+increased by the passage of the Tariff of 1828, since declared by
+eminent authority to have been "the highest and most protective ever
+adopted in this country."
+
+ [Mr. Greeley, in his "History of the American Conflict," 1864.]
+
+Prior to the passage of this Tariff Act, excited assemblages met in some
+of the Southern States, and protested against it as an outrage upon
+their rights--arraying the South in seditious and treasonable attitude
+against not only the North but the Union, with threats of Secession. At
+one of these meetings in South Carolina, in 1827, one of their leaders--
+[Dr. Thomas Cooper, President of South Carolina College.]--declared that
+"a drilled and managed majority" in the House of Representatives had
+determined "at all hazards to support the claims of the Northern
+manufacturers, and to offer up the planting interest on the altar of
+monopoly." He denounced the American system of Protection exemplified
+in that Tariff measure as "a system by which the earnings of the South
+are to be transferred to the North--by which the many are to be
+sacrificed to the few--under which powers are usurped that were never
+conceded--by which inequality of rights, inequality of burthens,
+inequality of protection, unequal laws, and unequal taxes are to be
+enacted and rendered permanent--that the planter and the farmer under
+this system are to be considered as inferior beings to the spinner, the
+bleacher, and the dyer--that we of the South hold our plantations under
+this system, as the serfs and operatives of the North, subject to the
+orders and laboring for the benefit of the master-minds of
+Massachusetts, the lords of the spinning jenny and peers of the power-
+loom, who have a right to tax our earnings for their emolument, and to
+burthen our poverty and to swell their riches;" and after characterizing
+Protection as "a system of fraud, robbery and usurpation," he continued
+"I have said that we shall ere long be compelled to calculate the value
+of our Union; and to enquire of what use to us is this most unequal
+alliance, by which the South has always been the loser and the North
+always the gainer. Is it worth our while to continue this union of
+States, where the North demands to be our masters and we are required to
+be their tributaries? who with the most insulting mockery call the yoke
+they put upon our necks the 'American system!' The question, however,
+is fast approaching the alternative of submission or separation."
+
+Only a few days after this inflammatory speech at Columbus, S. C.,
+inciting South Carolinians to resist the pending Protective Tariff even
+to the lengths of Secession, during a grand banquet at Richmond, Va.,
+William B. Giles--another Free Trade leader--proposed, and those present
+drank a toast to the "Tariff Schemer" in which was embodied a
+declaration that "The Southerners will not long pay tribute." Despite
+these turbulent and treasonable mutterings, however, the "Jacksonian
+Congress" passed the Act--a majority of members from the Cotton and New
+England States voting against, while the vote of the Middle and Western
+Free States was almost solidly for, it.
+
+At a meeting held soon after the enactment of the Tariff of 1828, at
+Walterborough Court House, S. C., an address was adopted and issued
+which, after reciting the steps that had been taken by South Carolina
+during the previous year to oppose it, by memorials and otherwise, and
+stating that, despite their "remonstrances and implorations," a Tariff
+Bill had passed, not indeed, such as they apprehended, but "ten-fold
+worse in all its oppressive features," proceeded thus:
+
+"From the rapid step of usurpation, whether we now act or not, the day
+of open opposition to the pretended powers of the Constitution cannot be
+far off, and it is that it may not go down in blood that we now call
+upon you to resist. We feel ourselves standing underneath its mighty
+protection, and declaring forth its free and recorded spirit, when we
+say we must resist. By all the great principles of liberty--by the
+glorious achievements of our fathers in defending them--by their noble
+blood poured forth like water in maintaining them--by their lives in
+suffering, and their death in honor and in glory;--our countrymen! we
+must resist. Not secretly, as timid thieves or skulking smugglers--not
+in companies and associations, like money chafferers or stock jobbers--
+not separately and individually, as if this was ours and not our
+country's cause--but openly, fairly, fearlessly, and unitedly, as
+becomes a free, sovereign and independent people. Does timidity ask
+WHEN? We answer NOW!"
+
+These inflammatory utterances, in South Carolina especially, stirred the
+Southern heart more or less throughout the whole cotton belt; and the
+pernicious principles which they embodied found ardent advocates even in
+the Halls of Congress. In the Senate, Mr. Hayne, of South Carolina, was
+their chief and most vehement spokesman, and in 1830 occurred that
+memorable debate between him and Daniel Webster, which forever put an
+end to all reasonable justification of the doctrine of Nullification,
+and which furnished the ground upon which President Jackson afterward
+stood in denouncing and crushing it out with the strong arm of the
+Government.
+
+In that great debate Mr. Hayne's propositions were that the Constitution
+is a "compact between the States," that "in case of a plain, palpable
+violation of the Constitution by the General Government, a State may
+interpose; and that this interposition is constitutional"--a proposition
+with which Mr. Webster took direct issue, in these words: "I say, the
+right of a State to annul a law of Congress cannot be maintained, but on
+the ground of the inalienable right of man to resist oppression; that is
+to say, upon the ground of revolution. I admit that there is an
+ultimate violent remedy, above the Constitution and in defiance of the
+Constitution, which may be resorted to when a revolution is to be
+justified. But I do not admit that, under the Constitution, and in
+conformity with it, there is any mode in which a State Government, as a
+member of the Union, can interfere and stop the progress of the general
+movement by force of her own laws under any circumstances whatever."
+Mr. Webster insisted that "one of two things is true: either the laws of
+the Union are beyond the discretion and beyond the control of the
+States, or else we have no Constitution of General Government, and are
+thrust back again to the days of the Confederation;" and, in concluding
+his powerful argument, he declared that "even supposing the Constitution
+to be a compact between the States," Mr. Hayne's doctrine was "not
+maintainable, because, first, the General Government is not a party to
+the compact, but a Government established by it, and vested by it with
+the powers of trying and deciding doubtful questions; and secondly,
+because, if the Constitution be regarded as a compact, not one State
+only, but all the States are parties to that compact, and one can have
+no right to fix upon it her own peculiar construction."
+
+While the comparatively miserable condition of the cotton-growing States
+of the South was attributed by most of the Southern Free Traders solely
+to the Protective Tariff of 1828, yet there were some Southerners
+willing to concede--as did Mr. Hayne, in the Senate (1832)--that there
+were "other causes besides the Tariff" underlying that condition, and to
+admit that "Slaves are too improvident, too incapable of that minute,
+constant, delicate attention, and that persevering industry which are
+essential to manufacturing establishments," the existence of which would
+have made those States prosperous. But such admissions were unwilling
+ones, and the Cotton-lords held only with the more tenacity to the view
+that the Tariff was the chief cause of their condition.
+
+The Tariff Act of 1832, essentially modifying that of 1828, was passed
+with a view, in part, to quiet Southern clamor. But the Southern Cotton
+States refused to be mollified. On the contrary, the Free Traders of
+South Carolina proceeded to extreme measures, putting in action that
+which they had before but threatened. On November 19, 1832, the leading
+men of South Carolina met in Convention, and a few days thereafter--
+[November 24,1882]--unanimously passed an Ordinance of Nullification
+which declared the Tariff Acts of 1828 and 1832 "Unauthorized by the
+Constitution," and "null, void, and no law, nor binding on this State,
+its officers, or citizens." The people of the State were forbidden by
+it to pay, after the ensuing February 1st, the import-duties therein
+imposed. Under the provisions of the Ordinance, the State Legislature
+was to pass an act nullifying these Tariff laws, and any appeal to the
+United States Supreme Court against the validity of such nullifying act
+was prohibited. Furthermore, in the event of the Federal Government
+attempting to enforce these Tariff laws, the people of South Carolina
+would thenceforth consider themselves out of the Union, and will
+"forthwith proceed to organize a separate Government, and do all other
+acts and things which sovereign and independent States may of right do."
+
+At the subsequent meeting of the Legislature, Mr. Hayne, who had been a
+member of the Convention, having resigned his seat in the United States
+Senate, was elected Governor of the State. He declared in his message
+that he recognized "No allegiance as paramount to that which the
+citizens of South Carolina owe to the State of their birth or their
+adoption"--that doctrine of "paramount allegiance to the State" which in
+after-years gave so much trouble to the Union and to Union-loving
+Southerners--and declared that he held himself "bound by the highest of
+all obligations to carry into effect, not only the Ordinance of the
+Convention, but every act of the Legislature, and every judgment of our
+own Courts, the enforcement of which may devolve upon the Executive,"
+and "if," continued he, "the sacred soil of Carolina should be polluted
+by the footsteps of an invader, or be stained with the blood of her
+citizens, shed in her defense, I trust in Almighty God * * * even should
+she stand alone in this great struggle for constitutional liberty,
+encompassed by her enemies, that there will not be found, in the wide
+limits of the State, one recreant son who will not fly to the rescue,
+and be ready to lay down his life in her defense." In support of the
+contemplated treason, he even went to the length of calling for an
+enrolling of volunteer forces and of holding them ready for service.
+
+But while South Carolina stood in this treasonable and defiant attitude,
+arming for war against the Union, there happened to be in the
+Presidential chair one of her own sons--General Jackson. Foreseeing
+what was coming, he had, prior to the meeting of the Convention that
+framed the Nullification Ordinance, ordered General Scott to Charleston
+to look after "the safety of the ports of the United States"
+thereabouts, and had sent to the Collector of that port precise
+instructions as to his duty to resist in all ways any and all attempts
+made under such Ordinance to defeat the operation of the Tariff laws
+aforesaid. Having thus quietly prepared the arm of the General
+Government for the exercise of its power, he issued in December a
+Proclamation declaring his unalterable resolution to treat Nullification
+as Treason--and to crush it.
+
+In that famous document President Jackson said of Nullification: "If
+this doctrine had been established at an earlier day, the Union would
+have been dissolved in its infancy. The Excise law in Pennsylvania, the
+Embargo and Non-intercourse law in the Eastern States, the Carriage-tax
+in Virginia, were all deemed unconstitutional, and were more unequal in
+their operation than any of the laws now complained of; but fortunately,
+none of those States discovered that they had the right now claimed by
+South Carolina. * * * The discovery of this important feature in our
+Constitution was reserved for the present day. To the statesmen of
+South Carolina belongs the invention, and upon the citizens of that
+State will unfortunately fall the evils of reducing it to practice. * *
+* I consider, then, the power to annul a law of the United States,
+assumed by one State, incompatible with the existence of the Union,
+contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution, unauthorized
+by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on which it was founded
+and destructive of the great object for which it was formed. * * * To
+say that any State may at pleasure secede from the Union, is to say that
+the United States are not a Nation, because it would be a solecism to
+contend that any part of a Nation might dissolve its connection with the
+other parts, to their injury or ruin, without committing any, offense."
+
+Farther on, in his moving appeal to the South Carolinians, he bids them
+beware of their leaders: "Their object is disunion; be not deceived by
+names. Disunion, by armed force, is Treason." And then, reminding them
+of the deeds of their fathers in the Revolution, he proceeds: "I adjure
+you, as you honor their memory, as you love the cause of freedom to
+which they dedicated their lives, as you prize the peace of your
+country, the lives of its best citizens, and your own fair fame, to
+retrace your steps. Snatch from the archives of your State the
+disorganizing edict of its Convention--bid its members to reassemble and
+promulgate the decided expression of your will to remain in the path
+which alone can conduct you to safety, prosperity, and honor--tell them
+that, compared to disunion, all other evils are light, because that
+brings with it an accumulation of all--declare that you will never take
+the field unless the Star-spangled banner of your country shall float
+over you--that you will not be stigmatized when dead, and dishonored and
+scorned while you live, as the authors of the first attack on the
+Constitution of your country! Its destroyers you cannot be."
+
+After asserting his firm "determination to execute the laws-to preserve
+the Union by all constitutional means"--he concludes with the prayer,
+"May the great Ruler of Nations grant, that the signal blessings with
+which He has favored, ours may not, by the madness of party, or personal
+ambition be disregarded and lost; and may His wise providence bring
+those who have produced this crisis to see the folly before they feel
+the misery, of civil strife; and inspire a returning veneration for that
+Union, which, if we may dare to penetrate His designs, He has chosen as
+the only means of attaining the high destinies to which we may
+reasonably aspire."
+
+The firm attitude of General Jackson, together with the wise
+precautionary measures he had already taken, and the practical unanimity
+with which his declaration to crush out the Treason was hailed in most
+of the Southern as well as the Northern States, almost at once broke the
+back of Nullification.
+
+
+ [In this connection the following letter, written at that time by
+ the great Chief Justice Marshall, to a cousin of his, on the
+ subject of State Sovereignty, is of interest, as showing how
+ clearly his penetrating intellect perceived the dangers to the
+ Union hidden in the plausible doctrine of State Rights:
+
+ RICHMOND, May 7, 1833.
+
+ "MY DEAR SIR:
+
+ "I am much indebted to you for your pamphlet on Federal Relations,
+ which I have read with much satisfaction. No subject, as it seems
+ to me, is more misunderstood or more perverted. You have brought
+ into view numerous important historical facts which, in my
+ judgment, remove the foundation on which the Nullifiers and
+ Seceders have erected that superstructure which overshadows our
+ Union. You have, I think, shown satisfactorily that we never have
+ been perfectly distinct, independent societies, sovereign in the
+ sense in which the Nullifiers use the term. When colonies we
+ certainly were not. We were parts of the British empire, and
+ although not directly connected with each other so far as respected
+ government, we were connected in many respects, and were united to
+ the same stock. The steps we took to effect separation were, as
+ you have fully shown, not only revolutionary in their nature, but
+ they were taken conjointly. Then, as now, we acted in many
+ respects as one people. The representatives of each colony acted
+ for all. Their resolutions proceeded from a common source, and
+ operated on the whole mass. The army was a continental army
+ commanded by a continental general, and supported from a
+ continental treasury. The Declaration of Independence was made by
+ a common government, and was made for all the States.
+
+ "Everything has been mixed. Treaties made by Congress have been
+ considered as binding all the States. Some powers have been
+ exercised by Congress, some by the States separately. The lines
+ were not strictly drawn. The inability of Congress to carry its
+ legitimate powers into execution has gradually annulled those
+ powers practically, but they always existed in theory.
+ Independence was declared `in the name and by the authority of the
+ good people of these colonies.' In fact we have always been united
+ in some respects, separate in others. We have acted as one people
+ for some purposes, as distinct societies for others. I think you
+ have shown this clearly, and in so doing have demonstrated the
+ fallacy of the principle on which either nullification or the right
+ of peaceful, constitutional secession is asserted.
+
+ "The time is arrived when these truths must be more generally
+ spoken, or our Union is at an end. The idea of complete
+ sovereignty of the State converts our government into a league,
+ and, if carried into practice, dissolves the Union.
+
+ "I am, dear sir,
+
+ "Yours affectionately,
+
+ "J. MARSHALL.
+
+ "HUMPHREY MARSHALL, ESQ.,
+
+ "FRANKFORT, KY."]
+
+
+The Nullifiers hailed with pretended satisfaction the report from the
+House Committee on Ways and Means of a Bill making great reductions and
+equalizations of Tariff duties, as a measure complying with their
+demands, and postponed the execution of the Ordinance of Nullification
+until the adjournment of Congress; and almost immediately afterward Mr.
+Clay's Compromise Tariff Act of 1833 "whereby one tenth of the excess
+over twenty per cent. of each and every existing impost was to be taken
+off at the close of that year; another tenth two years thereafter; so
+proceeding until the 30th of June, 1842, when all duties should be
+reduced to a maximum of twenty per cent."--[Says Mr. Greeley, in his
+History aforesaid.]--agreed to by Calhoun and other Nullifiers, was
+passed, became a law without the signature of President Jackson, and
+South Carolina once more became to all appearances a contented, law-
+abiding State of the Union.
+
+But after-events proved conclusively that the enactment of this
+Compromise Tariff was a terrible blunder, if not a crime. Jackson had
+fully intended to hang Calhoun and his nullifying coadjutors if they
+persisted in their Treason. He knew that they had only seized upon the
+Tariff laws as a pretext with which to justify Disunion, and prophesied
+that "the next will be the Slavery or Negro question." Jackson's
+forecast was correct. Free Trade, Slavery and Secession were from that
+time forward sworn allies; and the ruin wrought to our industries by the
+disasters of 1840, plainly traceable to that Compromise Tariff measure
+of 1833, was only to be supplemented by much greater ruin and disasters
+caused by the Free Trade Tariff of 1846--and to be followed by the armed
+Rebellion of the Free Trade and Pro-Slavery States of the South in 1861,
+in a mad attempt to destroy the Union.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER III.
+
+ GROWTH OF THE SLAVERY QUESTION.
+
+
+It will be remembered that during the period of the Missouri Struggle,
+1818-1820, the Territory of Arkansas was formed by an Act of Congress
+out of that part of the Missouri Territory not included in the proposed
+State of Missouri, and that the Act so creating the Territory of
+Arkansas contained no provision restricting Slavery. Early in 1836, the
+people of Arkansas Territory met in Convention and formed a Constitution
+under which, "and by virtue of the treaty of cession by France to the
+United States, of the Province of Louisiana," they asked admission to
+the Union as a State. Among other provisions of that Constitution was a
+section rendering the State Legislature powerless to pass laws for the
+emancipation of slaves without the consent of the owners, or to prevent
+emigrants to that State from bringing with them slaves. On June 15th of
+the same year, Arkansas was, under that Constitution, admitted to the
+Union as a Slave State, with the sole reservation, that nothing in the
+Act of admission should be" construed as an assent by Congress to all or
+any of the propositions contained" in the said Constitution.
+
+Long ere this, all the Northern and Middle States had made provision for
+the emancipation of such slaves as remained within their borders, and
+only a few years previous (in 1829 and 1831-32) Virginia had made strong
+but insufficient efforts toward the same end. The failure to free
+Virginia of Slavery--the effort to accomplish which had been made by
+some of the greatest of her statesmen--only served to rivet the chains
+of human bondage more securely throughout all the Slave States, and from
+that time on, no serious agitation occurred in any one of them, looking
+toward even the most gradual emancipation. On the other hand, the
+advocates of the extension of the Slave-Power by the expansion of Slave-
+territory, were ever on the alert, they considered it of the last
+importance to maintain the balance of power between the Slave States and
+the Free States. Hence, while they had secured in 1819 the cession from
+Spain to the United States of the Slave-holding Floridas, and the
+organization of the Slave Territory of Florida in 1822--which
+subsequently came in as a Slave State under the same Act (1845) that
+admitted the Free State of Iowa--their greedy eyes were now cast upon
+the adjoining rich territories of Mexico.
+
+Efforts had (in 1827-1829) been made to purchase from Mexico the domain
+which was known as Texas. They had failed. But already a part of Texas
+had been settled by adventurous Americans under Mexican grants and
+otherwise; and General Sam Houston, an adherent of the Slave Power,
+having become a leading spirit among them, fomented a revolution. In
+March, 1836, Texas, under his guidance, proclaimed herself a Republic
+independent of Mexico.
+
+The War that ensued between Texas and Mexico ended in the flight of the
+Mexican Army and the capture of Santa Anna at San Jacinto, and a treaty
+recognizing Texan independence. In October, 1836, General Houston was
+inaugurated President of the Republic of Texas. Close upon this
+followed (in August, 1837) a proposition to our Government from the
+Texan envoy for the annexation of Texas to the United States. President
+Van Buren declined the offer. The Northern friends of Freedom were as
+much opposed to this annexation project as the advocates of Slavery were
+anxious for it. Even such conservative Northern Statesmen as Daniel
+Webster strongly opposed the project. In a speech delivered in New York
+[1837], after showing that the chief aim of our Government in the
+acquisition of the Territory of Louisiana was to gain command of the
+mouths of the great rivers to the sea, and that in the acquisition of
+the Floridas our policy was based on similar considerations, Mr. Webster
+declared that "no such necessity, no such policy, requires the
+annexation of Texas," and that we ought "for numerous and powerful
+reasons to be content with our present boundaries. He recognized that
+Slavery already existed under the guarantees of the Constitution and
+those guarantees must be fulfilled; that "Slavery, as it exists in the
+States, is beyond the power of Congress. It is a concern of the States
+themselves," but "when we come to speak of admitting new States, the
+subject assumes an entirely different aspect. Our rights and our duties
+are then both different. The Free States, and all the States, are then
+at liberty to accept or to reject;" and he added, "In my opinion the
+people of the United States will not consent to bring into the Union a
+new, vastly extensive and Slaveholding country, large enough for a half
+a dozen or a dozen States. In my opinion, they ought not to consent to
+it."
+
+Farther on, in the same speech--after alluding to the strong feeling in
+the Northern States against the extension of Slavery, not only as a
+question of politics, but of conscience and religious conviction as
+well-he deems him a rash man indeed "who supposes that a feeling of this
+kind is to be trifled with or despised." Said he: "It will assuredly
+cause itself to be respected. It may be reasoned with; it may be made
+willing--I believe it is entirely willing--to fulfill all existing
+engagements and all existing duties--to uphold and defend the
+Constitution as it is established, with whatever regrets about some
+provisions which it does actually contain. But to coerce it into
+silence, to endeavor to restrain its free expression, to seek to
+compress and confine it, warm as it is, and more heated as such
+endeavors would inevitably render it,--should this be attempted, I know
+nothing, even in the Constitution or in the Union itself, which would
+not be endangered by the explosion which might follow."
+
+In 1840, General Harrison, the Whig candidate, was elected to the
+Presidency, but died within a few weeks after his inauguration in 1841,
+and was succeeded by John Tyler. The latter favored the Slave Power;
+and on April 12th, 1844, John C. Calhoun, his Secretary of State,
+concluded with Texas a treaty of annexation--which was, however,
+rejected by the Senate. Meanwhile the public mind was greatly agitated
+over the annexation and other, questions.
+
+ [In the London Index, a journal established there by Jefferson
+ Davis's agents to support the cause of the rebellious States, a
+ communication appeared during the early part of the war, Dec. 4,
+ 1861, supposed to have been written by Mr. Mason, of Virginia, in
+ which he said: "To tell the Norths, the Butes, the Wedderburns of
+ the present day, that previous to the year 1839 the sovereign
+ States of the South had unalterably resolved on the specific ground
+ of the violation of the Federal Constitution by the tariff of
+ spoliation which the New England States had imposed upon them--to
+ secede from the Union; to tell them that in that year the leader of
+ the South, Calhoun, urged an English gentleman, to whom he had
+ fully explained the position of the South, and the intolerable
+ tyranny which the North inflicted upon it, to be the bearer of
+ credentials from the chief persons of the South, in order to invite
+ the attention of the British Government to the coming event; that
+ on his death-bed (Washington, March 31, 1850), he called around him
+ his political friends--one of whom is now in England--warned them
+ that in no event could the Union survive the Presidential election
+ of 1860, though it might possibly break up before that urged them
+ to be prepared; leaving with his dying words the sacred cause of
+ Southern secession a solemn legacy in their hands--to have told
+ this to the Norths and Dartmouths of the present day, with more and
+ even stronger evidence of the coming events of November, 1860,
+ would have been like speaking to the stones of the street. In
+ November, 1860, they were thoroughly ignorant of all the momentous
+ antecedents of secession--of their nature, their character, their
+ bearing, import, and consequences."
+
+ In the same correspondence the distinguished Rebel emissary
+ substantially let out the fact that Calhoun was indirectly, through
+ himself (Mason), in secret communication with the British
+ Government as far back as 1841, with a view to securing its
+ powerful aid in his aforesaid unalterable resolve to Secede from
+ the Union; and then Mr. Mason pleads--but pleads in vain--for the
+ armed intervention of England at this later day. Said he:
+
+ "In the year 1841 the late Sir William Napier sent in two plans for
+ subduing the Union, to the War Office, in the first of which the
+ South was to be treated as an enemy, in the second as a friend and
+ ally. I was much consulted by him as to the second plan and was
+ referred to by name in it, as he showed by the acknowledgment of
+ this in Lord Fitzroy Somerset's letter of reply. This plan fully
+ provided for the contingency of an invasion of Canada, and its
+ application would, in eighteen or twenty months, have reduced the
+ North to a much more impotent condition than it exhibits at
+ present. At this very moment the most difficult portion of that
+ plan has been perfectly accomplished by the South itself; and the
+ North, in accordance with Sir William Napier's expectations, now
+ lies helpless before England, and at our absolute mercy. Nor is
+ there any doubt of this, and if Lord Palmerston is not aware of it
+ Mr. Seward certainly is. We have nothing remaining to do but to
+ stretch out our arm in the way Sir William Napier proposed, and the
+ Northern power--power as we ignorantly call it--must come to an
+ end. Sir William knew and well estimated the elements of which
+ that quasi power consisted; and he knew how to apply the
+ substantive power of England to dissolve it. In the best interest
+ of humanity, I venture to say that it is the duty of England to
+ apply this power without further delay--its duty to itself, to its
+ starving operatives, to France, to Europe, and to humanity. And in
+ the discharge of this great duty to the world at large there will
+ not even be the dignity of sacrifice or danger."]
+
+Threats and counter-threats of Disunion were made on either hand by the
+opponents and advocates of Slavery-extension through annexation; nor was
+it less agitated on the subject of a Protective Tariff.
+
+The Compromise Tariff of 1833, together with President Jackson's
+upheaval of our financial system, produced, as has already been hinted,
+terrible commercial disasters. "In 1840," says competent authority, "all
+prices had ruinously fallen; production had greatly diminished, and in
+many departments of industry had practically ceased; thousands of
+working men were idle, with no hope of employment, and their families
+suffering from want. Our farmers were without markets, their products
+rotted in their barns, and their lands, teeming with rich harvests, were
+sold by the sheriff for debts and taxes. The Tariff, which robbed our
+industries of Protection failed to supply Government with its necessary
+revenues. The National Treasury in consequence was bankrupt, and the
+credit of the Nation had sunk very low."
+
+Mr. Clay himself stated "the average depression in the value of property
+under that state of things which existed before the Tariff of 1842 came
+to the rescue of the country, at fifty per cent." And hence it was that
+Protection was made the chief issue of the Presidential campaign of
+1840, which eventuated in the election of Harrison and Tyler, and in the
+Tariff Act of August 30, 1842, which revived our trade and industries,
+and brought back to the land a full measure of prosperity. With those
+disasters fresh in the minds of the people, Protection continued to be a
+leading issue in the succeeding Presidential campaign of 1844--but
+coupled with the Texas-annexation issue. In that campaign Henry Clay
+was the candidate of the Whig party and James K. Polk of the Democratic
+party. Polk was an ardent believer in the annexation policy and stood
+upon a platform declaring for the "re-occupation of Oregon and the re-
+annexation of Texas at the earliest practicable moment"--as if the
+prefix "re" legitimatized the claim in either case; Clay, on the other
+hand, held that we had "fairly alienated our title to Texas by solemn
+National compacts, to the fulfilment of which we stand bound by good
+faith and National honor;" that "Annexation and War with Mexico are
+identical," and that he was "not willing to involve this country in a
+foreign War for the object of acquiring Texas."
+
+ [In his letter of April 17, 1844, published in the National
+ Intelligencer.]
+
+As to the Tariff issue also, Clay was the acknowledged champion of the
+American system of Protection, while Polk was opposed to it, and was
+supported by the entire Free-trade sentiment, whether North or South.
+
+As the campaign progressed, it became evident that Clay would be
+elected. Then occurred some of those fatalities which have more than
+once, in the history of Presidential campaigns, overturned the most
+reasonable expectations and defeated the popular will. Mr. Clay
+committed a blunder and Mr. Polk an equivocation--to use the mildest
+possible term. Mr. Clay was induced by Southern friends to write a
+letter--[Published in the North Alabamian, Aug. 16, 1844.]--in which,
+after stating that "far from having any personal objection to the
+annexation of Texas, I should be glad to see it--without dishonor,
+without War, with the common consent of the Union, and upon just and
+fair terms," he added: "I do not think that the subject of Slavery ought
+to affect the question, one way or the other." Mr. Polk, on the other
+hand, wrote a letter in which he declared it to be "the duty of the
+Government to extend, as far as it may be practicable to do so, by its
+revenue laws and all other means within its power, fair and just
+Protection to all the great interests of the whole Union, embracing
+Agriculture, Manufactures, the Mechanic Arts, Commerce and Navigation."
+This was supplemented by a letter (August 8, 1844) from Judge Wilson
+McCandless of Pennsylvania, strongly upholding the Protective principle,
+claiming that Clay in his Compromise Tariff Bill had abandoned it, and
+that Polk and Dallas had "at heart the true interests of Pennsylvania."
+Clay, thus betrayed by the treachery of Southern friends, was greatly
+weakened, while Polk, by his beguiling letter, backed by the false
+interpretation put upon it by powerful friends in the North, made the
+North believe him a better Protectionist than Clay.
+
+Polk was elected, and rewarded the misplaced confidence by making Robert
+J. Walker his Secretary of the Treasury, and, largely through that
+great Free Trader's exertions, secured a repeal by Congress of the
+Protective Tariff of 1842 and the enactment of the ruinous Free Trade
+Tariff of 1846. Had Clay carried New York, his election was secure. As
+it happened, Polk had a plurality in New York of but 5,106 in an immense
+vote, and that slim plurality was given to him by the Abolitionists
+throwing away some 15,000 on Birney. And thus also it curiously
+happened that it was the Abolition vote which secured the election of
+the candidate who favored immediate annexation and the extension of the
+Slave Power!
+
+Emboldened and apparently sustained by the result of the election, the
+Slave Power could not await the inauguration of Mr. Polk, but proceeded
+at once, under whip and spur, to drive the Texas annexation scheme
+through Congress; and two days before the 4th of March, 1845, an Act
+consenting to the admission of the Republic of Texas as a State of the
+Union was approved by President Tyler.
+
+In that Act it was provided that "New States of convenient size, not
+exceeding four in number, in addition to the said State of Texas, and
+having sufficient population, may hereafter, by the consent of said
+State, be formed out of the territory thereof, which shall be entitled
+to admission under the provisions of the Federal Constitution; and such
+States as may be formed out of that portion of said territory lying
+south of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north latitude, commonly
+known as the Missouri Compromise line, shall be admitted into the Union
+with or without Slavery, as the people of each State asking admission
+may desire. And in such State or States as shall be formed out of said
+territory north of said Missouri Compromise line, Slavery or involuntary
+servitude (except for crime) shall be prohibited." As has been lucidly
+stated by another,--[Greeley's History]--"while seeming to curtail and
+circumscribe Slavery north of the above parallel (that of 36 30' north
+latitude), this measure really extended it northward to that parallel,
+which it had not yet approached, under the flag of Texas, within
+hundreds of miles. But the chief end of this sham Compromise was the
+involving of Congress in an indirect indorsement of the claim of Texas
+to the entire left bank of the Rio Grande, from its mouth to its source;
+and this was effected."
+
+Texas quickly consented to the Act of annexation, and in December, 1845,
+a Joint Resolution formally admitting her as a State of the Union,
+reported by Stephen A. Douglas, was duly passed.
+
+In May, 1846, the American forces under General Taylor, which had been
+dispatched to protect Texas from threatened assault, were attacked by
+the Mexican army, which at Palo Alto was badly defeated and at Resaca de
+la Palma driven back across the Rio Grande.
+
+Congress immediately declared that by this invasion a state of War
+existed between Mexico and the United States. Thus commenced the War
+with Mexico--destined to end in the triumph of the American Army, and
+the acquisition of large areas of territory to the United States. In
+anticipation of such triumph, President Polk lost little time in asking
+an appropriation of over two million dollars by Congress to facilitate
+negotiations for peace with, and territorial cession from, Mexico. And
+a Bill making such appropriation was quickly passed by the House of
+Representatives--but with the following significant proviso attached,
+which had been offered by Mr. Wilmot: "Provided. That as an express and
+fundamental condition to the acquisition of any territory from the
+Republic of Mexico by the United States, by virtue of any treaty that
+may be negotiated between them, and to the use by the Executive of the
+moneys herein appropriated, neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude
+shall ever exist in any part of said territory, except for crime,
+whereof the party shall first be duly convicted."
+
+The debate in the Senate upon the Wilmot proviso, which immediately
+ensued, was cut short by the expiration of the Session of Congress--and
+the Bill accordingly failed of passage.
+
+In February, 1848, the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was made between
+Mexico and the United States, and Peace reigned once more. About the
+same time a Bill was passed by the Senate providing Territorial
+Governments for Oregon, California and New Mexico, which provided for
+the reference of all questions touching Slavery in such Territories to
+the United States Supreme Court, for arbitration. The Bill, however,
+failed in the House. The ensuing Presidential campaign resulted in the
+election of General Taylor, the Whig candidate, who was succeeded upon
+his death, July 10, 1850, by Fillmore. Meanwhile, on the Oregon
+Territory Bill, in 1848, a strong effort had been made by Mr. Douglas
+and others to incorporate a provision extending to the Pacific Ocean the
+Missouri Compromise line of 36 30' of north latitude and extending to
+all future organizations of Territories of the United States the
+principles of said Compromise. This provision was adopted by the
+Senate, but the House struck it from the Bill; the Senate receded, and
+Oregon was admitted as a Free Territory. But the conflict in Congress
+between those who would extend and those who would restrict Slavery
+still continued, and indeed gathered vehemence with time. In 1850,
+California was clamoring for admission as a Free State to the Union, and
+New Mexico and Utah sought to be organized under Territorial
+Governments.
+
+In the heated discussions upon questions growing out of bills for these
+purposes, and to rectify the boundaries of Texas, it was no easy matter
+to reach an agreement of any sort. Finally, however, the Compromise of
+1850, offered by Mr. Clay, was practically agreed to and carried out,
+and under it: California was admitted as a Free State; New Mexico and
+Utah were admitted to Territorial organization without a word pro or con
+on the subject of Slavery; the State of Texas was awarded a pecuniary
+compensation for the rectification of her boundaries; the Slave Trade in
+the District of Columbia was abolished; and a more effectual Fugitive
+Slave Act passed.
+
+By both North and South, this Compromise of 1850, and the measures
+growing out of it, were very generally acquiesced in, and for a while it
+seemed as though a permanent settlement of the Slavery question had been
+reached. But in the Fugitive Slave law, thus hastily enacted, lay
+embedded the seed for further differences and excitements, speedily to
+germinate. In its operation it proved not only unnecessarily cruel and
+harsh, in the manner of the return to bondage of escaped slaves, but
+also afforded a shield and support to the kidnapping of Free Negroes
+from Northern States. The frequency of arrests in the Northern States,
+and the accompanying circumstances of cruelty and brutality in the
+execution of the law, soon made it especially odious throughout the
+North, and created an active feeling of commiseration for the unhappy
+victims of the Slave Power, which greatly intensified and increased the
+growing Anti-Slavery sentiment in the Free States.
+
+In 1852-53, an attempt was made in Congress to organize into the
+Territory of Nebraska, the region of country lying west of Iowa and
+Missouri. Owing to the opposition of the South the Bill was defeated.
+In 1853-4 a similar Bill was reported to the Senate by Mr. Douglas, but
+afterward at his own instance recommitted to the Committee on
+Territories, and reported back by him again in such shape as to create,
+instead of one, two Territories, that portion directly west of Missouri
+to be called Kansas, and the balance to be known as Nebraska--one of the
+sections of the Bill enacting:
+
+"That in order to avoid all misconstruction it is hereby declared to be
+the true intent and meaning of this Act, so far as the question of
+Slavery is concerned, to carry into practical operation the following
+propositions and principles, established by the Compromise measures of
+1850, to wit:
+
+"First, That all questions pertaining to Slavery in the Territories, and
+the new States to be formed therefrom, are to be left to the decision of
+the people residing therein through their appropriate representatives.
+
+"Second, That 'all cases involving title to slaves,' and 'questions of
+personal freedom,' are referred to the adjudication of the local
+tribunals with the right of appeal to the Supreme Court of the United
+States.
+
+"Third, That the provisions of the Constitution and laws of the United
+States, in respect to fugitives from service, are to be carried into
+faithful execution in all the `organized Territories,' the same as in
+the States."
+
+The sections authorizing Kansas and Nebraska to elect and send delegates
+to Congress also prescribed:
+
+"That the Constitution, and all laws of the United States which are not
+locally inapplicable, shall have the same force and effect within the
+said Territory, as elsewhere in the United States, except the section of
+the Act preparatory to the admission of Missouri into the Union,
+approved March 6th, 1820, which was superseded by the principles of the
+Legislation of 1850, commonly called the Compromise Measures, and is
+declared inoperative."
+
+And when "explaining this Kansas-Nebraska Bill" Mr. Douglas announced
+that, in reporting it, "The object of the Committee was neither to
+legislate Slavery in or out of the Territories; neither to introduce nor
+exclude it; but to remove whatever obstacle Congress had put there, and
+apply the doctrine of Congressional Non-intervention in accordance with
+the principles of the Compromise Measures of 1850, and allow the people
+to do as they pleased upon this as well as all other matters affecting
+their interests."
+
+A vigorous and able debate ensued. A motion by Mr. Chase to strike out
+the words "which was superseded by the principles of the legislation of
+1850, commonly called the Compromise Measures," was defeated decisively.
+Subsequently Mr. Douglas moved to strike out the same words and insert
+in place of them, these: "which being inconsistent with the principles
+of Non-intervention by Congress with Slavery in the States and
+Territories, as recognized by the legislation of 1850 (commonly called
+the Compromise Measures), is hereby declared inoperative and void; it
+being the true intent and meaning of this Act not to legislate Slavery
+into any Territory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave
+the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic
+institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the
+United States"--and the motion was agreed to by a vote of 35 yeas to 10
+nays. Mr. Chase immediately moved to add to the amendment just adopted
+these words: "Under which, the people of the Territory, through their
+appropriate representatives, may, if they see fit, prohibit the
+existence of Slavery therein;" but this motion was voted down by 36 nays
+to 10 yeas. This developed the rat in the meal-tub. The people were to
+be "perfectly free" to act either way on the subject of Slavery, so long
+as they did not prohibit Slavery! In this shape the Bill passed the
+Senate.
+
+Public sentiment in the North was greatly stirred by this direct attempt
+to repeal the Missouri Compromise. But by the superior parliamentary
+tactics of Southern Representatives in the House, whereby the radical
+friends of Freedom were shut out from the opportunity of amendment, a
+House Bill essentially the same as the Senate Bill was subsequently
+passed by the House, under the previous question, and afterward rapidly
+passed the Senate, and was approved by the President. At once commenced
+that long and terrible struggle between the friends of Free-Soil and the
+friends of Slavery, for the possession of Kansas, which convulsed the
+whole Country for years, and moistened the soil of that Territory with
+streams of blood, shed in numerous "border-ruffian" conflicts.
+
+The Territorial Government of Kansas was organized late in 1854, and an
+"election" for Delegate held, at which the Pro-Slavery candidate
+(Whitfield) was fraudulently elected. On March 30, 1855, a Territorial
+Legislature was similarly chosen by Pro-Slavery voters "colonized" from
+Missouri. That Legislature, upon its meeting, proceeded at once to
+enact most outrageous Pro-Slavery laws, which being vetoed by the Free-
+Soil Governor (Reeder), were passed over the veto, and the Free-Soil
+Governor had to give place to one who favored Slavery in Kansas. But
+the Free-Soil settlers of Kansas, in Mass Convention at Big Springs,
+utterly repudiated the bogus Legislature and all its acts, to which they
+refused submission.
+
+In consequence of these radical differences, two separate elections for
+Delegate in Congress were held by the opposing factions, at one of which
+was elected the Pro-Slavery Whitfield, and at the other the Free-Soiler
+Reeder. Furthermore, under a call issued by the Big Springs Convention,
+a Free-State Constitutional Convention was held in October, 1855, at
+Topeka, which framed a Free-State Constitution, and asked admission
+under it to the Union.
+
+In 1856, the House of Representatives--which, after a protracted
+struggle, had elected N. P. Banks Speaker--passed a Bill, by a bare
+majority, admitting Kansas under her Topeka Constitution; but the Senate
+defeated it. July 4, 1856, by order of President Pierce, the Free-State
+Legislature, chosen under the Topeka Constitution to meet at Topeka, was
+dispersed by United States Troops. Yet, despite all oppositions,
+discouragements, and outrages, the Free-State population of
+Kansas continued to increase from immigration.
+
+In 1857, the Pro-Slavery Legislature elected by the Pro-Slavery voters
+at their own special election--the Free-State voters declining to
+participate--called a Constitutional Convention at Lecompton, which
+formed a Pro-Slavery Constitution. This was submitted to the people in
+such dexterous manner that they could only vote "For the Constitution
+with Slavery" or "For the Constitution without Slavery"--and, as the
+Constitution prescribed that "the rights of property in Slaves now in
+the Territory, shall in no manner be interfered with," to vote "for the
+Constitution Without Slavery" was an absurdity only paralleled by the
+course of the United States Senate in refusing to permit the people of
+Kansas "to prohibit Slavery" while at the same time declaring them
+"perfectly free to act" as they chose in the matter.
+
+The Constitution, with Slavery, was thus adopted by a vote of over
+6,000. But in the meanwhile, at another general election held for the
+purpose, and despite all the frauds perpetrated by the Pro-Slavery men,
+a Free-State Legislature, and Free-State Delegate to Congress had been
+elected; and this Legislature submitted the Lecompton Pro-Slavery
+Constitution to the people, January 4, 1858, so that they could vote:
+"For the Lecompton Constitution with Slavery," "For the Lecompton
+Constitution without Slavery," or "Against the Lecompton Constitution."
+The consequence was that the Lecompton Constitution was defeated by a
+majority of over 10,000 votes--the Missouri Pro-Slavery colonists
+declining to recognize the validity of any further election on the
+subject.
+
+Meanwhile, in part upon the issues growing out of this Kansas conflict,
+the political parties of the Nation had passed through another
+Presidential campaign (1856), in which the Democratic candidate Buchanan
+had been elected over Fremont the "Republican," and Fillmore the
+"American," candidates. Both Houses of Congress being now Democratic,
+Mr. Buchanan recommended them to accept and ratify the Lecompton Pro-
+Slavery Constitution.
+
+In March, 1858, the Senate passed a Bill--against the efforts of Stephen
+A. Douglas--accepting it. In the House, however, a substitute offered
+by Mr. Montgomery (Douglas Democrat) known as the Crittenden-Montgomery
+Compromise, was adopted. The Senate refused to concur, and the report
+of a Committee of Conference--providing for submitting to the Kansas
+people a proposition placing limitations upon certain public land
+advantages stipulated for in the Lecompton Constitution, and in case
+they rejected the proposition that another Constitutional Convention
+should be held--was adopted by both Houses; and the proposition being
+rejected by the people of Kansas, the Pro-Slavery Lecompton Constitution
+fell with it.
+
+In 1859 a Convention, called by the Territorial Legislature for the
+purpose, met at Wyandot, and framed a Free State Constitution which was
+adopted by the people in October of that year, and at the ensuing State
+election in December the State went Republican. In April, 1860, the
+House of Representatives passed a Bill admitting Kansas as a State under
+that Constitution, but the Democratic Senate adjourned without action on
+the Bill; and it was not until early in 1861 that Kansas was at last
+admitted.
+
+In the meantime, the Free Trade Tariff of 1846 had produced the train of
+business and financial disasters that its opponents predicted. Instead
+of prosperity everywhere in the land, there was misery and ruin. Even
+the discovery and working of the rich placer mines of California and the
+consequent flow, in enormous volume, of her golden treasure into the
+Eastern States, could not stay-the wide-spread flood of disaster.
+President Fillmore, who had succeeded General Taylor on the latter's
+death, frequently called the attention of Congress to the evils produced
+by this Free Trade, and to the necessity of protecting our manufactures
+"from ruinous competition from abroad." So also with his successor,
+President Buchanan, who, in his Message of 1857, declared that "In the
+midst of unsurpassed plenty in all the productions and in all the
+elements of national wealth, we find our manufactures suspended, our
+public works retarded, our private enterprises of different kinds
+abandoned, and thousands of useful laborers thrown out of employment and
+reduced to want." Further than this, the financial credit of the Nation
+was at zero. It was financially bankrupt before the close of Buchanan's
+Presidential term.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER IV.
+
+ POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY.
+
+But now occurred the great Presidential struggle of 1860 --which
+involved not alone the principles of Protection, but those of human
+Freedom, and the preservation of the Union itself-between Abraham
+Lincoln of Illinois, the candidate of the Republican party, as against
+Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, the National or Douglas-Democratic
+candidate, John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky, the Administration or
+Breckinridge-Democratic candidate, and John Bell of Tennessee, the
+candidate of the Bell-Union party. The great preliminary struggle which
+largely influenced the determination of the Presidential political
+conflict of 1860, had, however, taken place in the State of Illinois,
+two years previously. To that preliminary political contest of 1858,
+therefore, we will now turn our eyes--and, in order to fully understand
+it, it may be well to glance back over a few years. In 1851 the
+Legislature of Illinois had adopted--[The vote in the House being 65
+yeas to 4 nays.]--the following resolution: "Resolved, That our Liberty
+and Independence are based upon the right of the people to form for
+themselves such a government as they may choose; that this great
+principle, the birthright of freemen, the gift of Heaven, secured to us
+by the blood of our ancestors, ought to be secured to future
+generations, and no limitation ought to be applied to this power in the
+organization of any Territory of the United States, of either
+Territorial Government or State Constitution, provided the government so
+established shall be Republican and in conformity with the Constitution
+of the United States." This resolution was a practical endorsement of
+the course of Stephen A. Douglas in supporting the Compromise measures
+of 1850, which he had defended as being "all founded upon the great
+principle that every people ought to possess the right to form and
+regulate their own domestic institutions in their own way," and that
+"the same principle" should be "extended to all of the Territories of
+the United States."
+
+In accordance with his views and the resolution aforesaid, Mr. Douglas
+in 1854, as we have already seen, incorporated in the Kansas-Nebraska
+Bill a clause declaring it to be "the true intent and meaning of the Act
+not to legislate Slavery into any State or Territory, or to exclude it
+therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and
+regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to
+the Constitution of the United States."
+
+His position, as stated by himself, was, substantially that the
+Lecompton Pro-Slavery Constitution was a fraud upon the people of
+Kansas, in that it did not embody the will of that people; and he denied
+the right of Congress to force a Constitution upon an unwilling people--
+without regard, on his part, to whether that Constitution allowed or
+prohibited Slavery or any other thing, whether good or bad. He held
+that the people themselves were the sole judges of whether it is good or
+bad, and whether desirable or not.
+
+The Supreme Court of the United States had in the meantime made a
+decision in a case afterward known as the "Dred Scott case," which was
+held back until after the Presidential election of 1856 had taken place,
+and added fuel to the political fire already raging. Dred Scott was a
+Negro Slave. His owner voluntarily took him first into a Free State,
+and afterward into a Territory which came within the Congressional
+prohibitive legislation aforesaid. That decision in brief was
+substantially that no Negro Slave imported from Africa, nor his
+descendant, can be a citizen of any State within the meaning of the
+Constitution; that neither the Congress nor any Territorial Legislature
+has under the Constitution of the United States, the power to exclude
+Slavery from any Territory of the United States; and that it is for the
+State Courts of the Slave State, into which the negro has been conveyed
+by his master, and not for the United States Courts, to decide whether
+that Negro, having been held to actual Slavery in a Free State, has, by
+virtue of residence in such State, himself become Free.
+
+Now it was, that the meaning of the words, "subject only to the
+Constitution," as used in the Kansas-Nebraska Act, began to be
+discerned. For if the people of a Territory were to be "perfectly
+free," to deal with Slavery as they chose, "subject only to the
+Constitution" they were by this Judicial interpretation of that
+instrument "perfectly free" to deal with Slavery in any way so long as
+they did not attempt "to exclude" it! The thing was all one-sided. Mr.
+Douglas's attitude in inventing the peculiar phraseology in the Kansas-
+Nebraska Act--which to some seemed as if expressly "made to order" for
+the Dred Scott decision--was criticized with asperity; the popularity,
+however, of his courageous stand against President Buchanan on the
+Lecompton fraud, seemed to make it certain that, his term in the United
+States Senate being about to expire, he would be overwhelmingly re-
+elected to that body.
+
+But at this juncture occurred something, which for a long time held the
+result in doubt, and drew the excited attention of the whole Nation to
+Illinois as the great battle-ground. In 1858 a Republican State
+Convention was held at Springfield, Ill., which nominated Abraham
+Lincoln as the Republican candidate for United States Senator to succeed
+Senator Douglas in the National Legislature. On June 16th--after such
+nomination--Mr. Lincoln made to the Convention a speech--in which, with
+great and incisive power, he assailed Mr. Douglas's position as well as
+that of the whole Democratic Pro-Slavery Party, and announced in compact
+and cogent phrase, from his own point of view, the attitude, upon the
+Slavery question, of the Republican Party.
+
+In that remarkable speech--which at once attracted the attention of the
+Country--Mr. Lincoln said: "We are now far into the fifth year, since a
+policy was initiated with the avowed object, and confident promise, of
+putting an end to Slavery agitation. Under the operation of that
+policy, that agitation has not only not ceased, but has constantly
+augmented. In my opinion it will not cease, until a crisis shall have
+been reached and passed. 'A House divided against itself cannot stand.'
+I believe this Government cannot endure permanently half Slave and half
+Free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved--I do not expect the
+House to fall--but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will
+become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of Slavery
+will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind
+shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate
+extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become
+alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new, North as well as
+South."
+
+ [Governor Seward's announcement of an "irrepressible conflict" was
+ made four months later.]
+
+He then proceeded to lay bare and closely analyze the history of all
+that had been done, during the four years preceding, to produce the
+prevailing condition of things touching human Slavery; describing it as
+resulting from that, "now almost complete legal combination-piece of
+machinery, so to speak--compounded of the Nebraska doctrine and the Dred
+Scott decision." After stating the several points of that decision, and
+that the doctrine of the "Sacred right of self-government" had been
+perverted by the Nebraska "Squatter Sovereignty," argument to mean that,
+"if any one man chose to enslave another, no third man shall be allowed
+to object," he proceeded to show the grounds upon which he charged "pre-
+concert" among the builders of that machinery. Said he: "The people
+were to be left perfectly free, 'subject only to the Constitution.'
+What the Constitution had to do with it, outsiders could not see.
+Plainly enough now, it was an exactly fitted niche for the Dred Scott
+decision to afterward come in and declare the perfect freedom of the
+people to be just no freedom at all. Why was the amendment, expressly
+declaring the right of the people, voted down? Plainly enough now, the
+adoption of it would have spoiled the niche for the Dred Scott decision.
+Why was the Court decision held up? Why even a Senator's individual
+opinion withheld, till after the Presidential election? Plainly enough
+now: the speaking out then would have damaged the 'perfectly free'
+argument upon which the election was to be carried. Why the outgoing
+President's felicitation on the indorsement? Why the delay of a re-
+argument? Why the incoming President's advance exhortation in favor of
+the decision? These things look like the cautious patting and petting
+of a spirited horse, preparatory to mounting him, when it is dreaded
+that he may give the rider a fall. And why the hasty after-indorsement
+of the decision, by the President and others? We cannot absolutely know
+that all these exact adaptations are the result of pre-concert. But
+when we see a lot of framed timbers, different portions of which we know
+have been gotten out at different times and places and by different
+workmen--Stephen, Franklin, Roger, and James--[Douglas, Pierce, Taney
+and Buchanan.]--for instance--and when we see these timbers joined
+together, and see they exactly make the frame of a house or a mill, all
+the tenons and mortices exactly fitting, and all the lengths and
+proportions of the different pieces exactly adapted to their respective
+places, and not a piece too many or too few--not omitting even the
+scaffolding, or, if a single piece be lacking, we see the place in the
+frame exactly fitted and prepared yet to bring such piece in--in such a
+case, we find it impossible not to believe that Stephen and Franklin and
+Roger and James all understood one another from the beginning, and all
+worked upon a common plan or draft drawn up before the first blow was
+struck."
+
+He drew attention also to the fact that by the Nebraska Bill the people
+of a State, as well as a Territory, were to be left "perfectly free,"
+"subject only to the Constitution," and that the object of lugging a
+"State" into this merely Territorial law was to enable the United States
+Supreme Court in some subsequent decision to declare, when the public
+mind had been sufficiently imbued with Judge Douglas's notion of not
+caring "whether Slavery be voted up or voted down," that "the
+Constitution of the United States does not permit a State to exclude
+Slavery from its limits"--which would make Slavery "alike lawful in all
+the States." That, he declared to be Judge Douglas's present mission:--
+"His avowed mission is impressing the 'public heart' to care nothing
+about it." Hence Mr. Lincoln urged Republicans to stand by their cause,
+which must be placed in the hands of its friends, "Whose hands are free,
+whose hearts are in the work--who do care for the result;" for he held
+that "a living dog is better than a dead lion."
+
+On the evening of July 9, 1858, at Chicago, Mr. Douglas (Mr. Lincoln
+being present) spoke to an enthusiastic assemblage, which he fitly
+described as a "vast sea of human faces," and, after stating that he
+regarded "the Lecompton battle as having been fought and the victory
+won, because the arrogant demand for the admission of Kansas under the
+Lecompton Constitution unconditionally, whether her people wanted it or
+not, has been abandoned, and the principle which recognizes the right of
+the people to decide for themselves has been submitted in its place," he
+proceeded to vindicate his position throughout; declared that he opposed
+"the Lecompton monstrosity solely on the ground than it was a violation
+of the fundamental principles of free government; on the ground that it
+was not the act and deed of the people of Kansas; that it did not embody
+their will; that they were averse to it;" and hence he "denied the right
+of Congress to force it upon them, either as a Free State or a Slave
+State."
+
+Said he: "I deny the right of Congress to force a Slaveholding State
+upon an unwilling people. I deny their right to force a Free State upon
+an unwilling people. I deny their right to force a good thing upon a
+people who are unwilling to receive it. The great principle is the
+right of every community to judge and decide for itself, whether a thing
+is right or wrong, whether it would be good or evil for them to adopt
+it; and the right of free action, the right of free thought, the right
+of free judgment upon the question is dearer to every true American than
+any other under a free Government. * * * It is no answer to this
+argument to say that Slavery is an evil, and hence should not be
+tolerated. You must allow the people to decide for themselves whether
+it is good or evil." He then adverted to the arraignment of himself by
+Mr. Lincoln, and took direct issue with that gentleman on his
+proposition that, as to Freedom and Slavery, "the Union will become all
+one thing or all the other;" and maintained on the contrary, that "it is
+neither desirable nor possible that there should be uniformity in the
+local institutions and domestic regulations of the different States of
+this Union."
+
+Upon the further proposition of Mr. Lincoln, which Mr. Douglas described
+as "a crusade against the Supreme Court of the United States on account
+of the Dred Scott decision," and as "an appeal from the decision" of
+that Court "upon this high Constitutional question to a Republican
+caucus sitting in the country," he also took "direct and distinct issue
+with him." To "the reason assigned by Mr. Lincoln for resisting the
+decision of the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case * * * because it
+deprives the Negro of the privileges, immunities and rights of
+citizenship which pertain, according to that decision, only to the White
+man," Mr. Douglas also took exception thus: "I am free to say to you
+that in my opinion this Government of ours is founded on the White
+basis. It was made by the White man for the benefit of the White man,
+to be administered by White men, in such manner as they should
+determine. It is also true that a Negro, an Indian, or any other man of
+inferior race to a White man, should be permitted to enjoy, and humanity
+requires that he should have, all the rights, privileges, and immunities
+which he is capable of exercising consistent with the safety of society.
+* * * But you may ask me what are these rights and these privileges?
+My answer is, that each State must decide for itself the nature and
+extent of these rights. * * * Without indorsing the wisdom of that
+decision, I assert that Virginia has the same power by virtue of her
+sovereignty to protect Slavery within her limits, as Illinois has to
+banish it forever from our own borders. I assert the right of each
+State to decide for itself on all these questions, and I do not
+subscribe to the doctrine of my friend, Mr. Lincoln, that uniformity is
+either desirable or possible. I do not acknowledge that the States must
+all be Free or must all be Slave. I do not acknowledge that the Negro
+must have civil and political rights everywhere or nowhere. * * * I do
+not acknowledge any of these doctrines of uniformity in the local and
+domestic regulations in the different States. * * * Mr. Lincoln goes
+for a warfare upon the Supreme Court of the United States because of
+their judicial decision in the Dred Scott case. I yield obedience to
+the decisions in that Court--to the final determination of the highest
+judicial tribunal known to our Constitution. He objects to the Dred
+Scott decision because it does not put the Negro in the possession of
+the rights of citizenship on an equality with the White man. I am
+opposed to Negro equality. * * * I would extend to the Negro, and the
+Indian, and to all dependent races every right, every privilege, and
+every immunity consistent with the safety and welfare of the White
+races; but equality they never should have, either political or social,
+or in any other respect whatever. * * * My friends, you see that the
+issues are distinctly drawn."
+
+On the following evening (July 10th) at Chicago, Mr. Lincoln addressed
+another enthusiastic assemblage, in reply to Mr. Douglas; and, after
+protesting against a charge that had been made the previous night by the
+latter, of an "unnatural and unholy" alliance between Administration
+Democrats and Republicans to defeat him, as being beyond his own
+knowledge and belief, proceeded: "Popular Sovereignty! Everlasting
+Popular Sovereignty! Let us for a moment inquire into this vast matter
+of Popular Sovereignty. What is Popular Sovereignty? We recollect at
+an early period in the history of this struggle there was another name
+for the same thing--Squatter Sovereignty. It was not exactly Popular
+Sovereignty, but Squatter Sovereignty. What do those terms mean? What
+do those terms mean when used now? And vast credit is taken by our
+friend, the Judge, in regard to his support of it, when he declares the
+last years of his life have been, and all the future years of his life
+shall be, devoted to this matter of Popular Sovereignty. What is it?
+Why it is the Sovereignty of the People! What was Squatter Sovereignty?
+I suppose if it had any significance at all, it was the right of the
+people to govern themselves, to be sovereign in their own affairs while
+they were squatted down in a country not their own--while they had
+squatted on a territory that did not belong to them in the sense that a
+State belongs to the people who inhabit it--when it belonged to the
+Nation--such right to govern themselves was called 'Squatter
+Sovereignty.'
+
+"Now I wish you to mark. What has become of that Squatter Sovereignty?
+What has become of it? Can you get anybody to tell you now that the
+people of a Territory have any authority to govern themselves, in regard
+to this mooted question of Slavery, before they form a State
+Constitution? No such thing at all, although there is a general running
+fire and although there has been a hurrah made in every speech on that
+side, assuming that that policy had given the people of a Territory the
+right to govern themselves upon this question; yet the point is dodged.
+To-day it has been decided--no more than a year ago it was decided by
+the Supreme Court of the United States, and is insisted upon to-day,
+that the people of a Territory have no right to exclude Slavery from a
+Territory, that if any one man chooses to take Slaves into a Territory,
+all the rest of the people have no right to keep them out. This being
+so, and this decision being made one of the points that the Judge
+(Douglas) approved, * * * he says he is in favor of it, and sticks to
+it, and expects to win his battle on that decision, which says there is
+no such thing as Squatter Sovereignty; but that any man may take Slaves
+into a Territory and all the other men in the Territory may be opposed
+to it, and yet by reason of the Constitution they cannot prohibit it;
+when that is so, how much is left of this vast matter of Squatter
+Sovereignty, I should like to know? Again, when we get to the question
+of the right of the people to form a State Constitution as they please,
+to form it with Slavery or without Slavery--if that is anything new, I
+confess I don't know it * * *.
+
+"We do not remember that, in that old Declaration of Independence, it is
+said that 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
+created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
+inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit
+of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted
+among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.'
+There, is the origin of Popular Sovereignty. Who, then, shall come in
+at this day and claim that he invented it? The Lecompton Constitution
+connects itself with this question, for it is in this matter of the
+Lecompton Constitution that our friend, Judge Douglas, claims such vast
+credit. I agree that in opposing the Lecompton Constitution, so far as
+I can perceive, he was right. * * * All the Republicans in the Nation
+opposed it, and they would have opposed it just as much without Judge
+Douglas's aid as with it. They had all taken ground against it long
+before he did. Why, the reason that he urges against that Constitution,
+I urged against him a year before. I have the printed speech in my hand
+now. The argument that he makes, why that Constitution should not be
+adopted, that the people were not fairly represented nor allowed to
+vote, I pointed out in a speech a year ago which I hold in my hand now,
+that no fair chance was to be given to the people. * * * The Lecompton
+Constitution, as the Judge tells us, was defeated. The defeat of it was
+a good thing or it was not. He thinks the defeat of it was a good
+thing, and so do I, and we agree in that. Who defeated it? [A voice--
+'Judge Douglas.'] Yes, he furnished himself, and if you suppose he
+controlled the other Democrats that went with him, he furnished three
+votes, while the Republicans furnished twenty. That is what he did to
+defeat it. In the House of Representatives he and his friends furnished
+some twenty votes, and the Republicans furnished ninety odd. Now, who
+was it that did the work? * * * Ground was taken against it by the
+Republicans long before Douglas did it. The proportion of opposition to
+that measure is about five to one."
+
+Mr. Lincoln then proceeded to take up the issues which Mr. Douglas had
+joined with him the previous evening. He denied that he had said, or
+that it could be fairly inferred from what he had said, in his
+Springfield speech, that he was in favor of making War by the North upon
+the South for the extinction of Slavery, "or, in favor of inviting the
+South to a War upon the North, for the purpose of nationalizing
+Slavery." Said he: "I did not even say that I desired that Slavery
+should be put in course of ultimate extinction. I do say so now,
+however; so there need be no longer any difficulty about that. * * * I
+am tolerably well acquainted with the history of the Country and I know
+that it has endured eighty-two years half Slave and half Free. I
+believe--and that is what I meant to allude to there--I believe it has
+endured, because during all that time, until the introduction of the
+Nebraska Bill, the public mind did rest all the, time in the belief that
+Slavery was in course of ultimate extinction. That was what gave us the
+rest that we had through that period of eighty-two years; at least, so I
+believe.
+
+"I have always hated Slavery, I think, as much as any Abolitionist--I
+have been an Old Line Whig--I have always hated it, but I have always
+been quiet about it until this new era of the introduction of the
+Nebraska Bill began. I always believed that everybody was against it,
+and that it was in course of ultimate extinction. * * * The great mass
+of the Nation have rested in the belief that Slavery was in course of
+ultimate extinction. They had reason so to believe. The adoption of
+the Constitution and its attendant history led the People to believe so,
+and that such was the belief of the framers of the Constitution itself.
+Why did those old men about the time of the adoption of the Constitution
+decree that Slavery should not go into the new territory, where it had
+not already gone? Why declare that within twenty years the African
+Slave Trade, by which Slaves are supplied, might be cut off by Congress?
+Why were all these acts? I might enumerate more of these acts--but
+enough. What were they but a clear indication that the framers of the
+Constitution intended and expected the ultimate extinction of that
+institution?
+
+"And now, when I say, as I said in my speech that Judge Douglas has
+quoted from, when I say that I think the opponents of Slavery will
+resist the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind
+shall rest with the belief that it is in course of ultimate extinction,
+I only mean to say, that they will place it where the founders of this
+Government originally placed it. I have said a hundred times, and I
+have now no inclination to take it back, that I believe there is no
+right, and ought to be no inclination in the people of the Free States,
+to enter into the Slave States, and interfere with the question of
+Slavery at all. I have said that always; Judge Douglas has heard me say
+it--if not quite a hundred times, at least as good as a hundred times;
+and when it is said that I am in favor of interfering with Slavery where
+it exists, I know that it is unwarranted by anything I have ever
+intended, and as I believe, by anything I have ever said. If, by any
+means, I have ever used language which could fairly be so construe (as,
+however, I believe I never have) I now correct it. So much, then, for
+the inference that Judge Douglas draws, that I am in favor of setting
+the Sections at War with one another.
+
+"Now in relation to his inference that I am in favor of a general
+consolidation of all the local institutions of the various States * * *
+I have said, very many times in Judge Douglas's hearing, that no man
+believed more than I in the principle of self-government from beginning
+to end. I have denied that his use of that term applies properly. But
+for the thing itself, I deny that any man has ever gone ahead of me in
+his devotion to the principle, whatever he may have done in efficiency
+in advocating it. I think that I have said it in your hearing--that I
+believe each individual is naturally entitled to do as he pleases with
+himself and the fruit of his labor, so far as it in no wise interferes
+with any other man's rights--that each community, as a State, has a
+right to do exactly as it pleases with all the concerns within that
+State that interfere with the rights of no other State, and that the
+General Government, upon principle, has no right to interfere with
+anything other than that general class of things that does concern the
+whole. I have said that at all times.
+
+"I have said, as illustrations, that I do not believe in the right of
+Illinois to interfere with the cranberry laws of Indiana, the oyster
+laws of Virginia, or the liquor laws of Maine. I have said these things
+over and over again, and I repeat them here as my sentiments. * * *
+What can authorize him to draw any such inference? I suppose there
+might be one thing that at least enabled him to draw such an inference
+that would not be true with me or many others, that is, because he looks
+upon all this matter of Slavery as an exceedingly little thing--this
+matter of keeping one-sixth of the population of the whole Nation in a
+state of oppression and tyranny unequaled in the World.
+
+"He looks upon it as being an exceedingly little thing only equal to the
+cranberry laws of Indiana--as something having no moral question in it--
+as something on a par with the question of whether a man shall pasture
+his land with cattle, or plant it with tobacco--so little and so small a
+thing, that he concludes, if I could desire that anything should be done
+to bring about the ultimate extinction of that little thing, I must be
+in favor of bringing about an amalgamation of all the other little
+things in the Union.
+
+"Now it so happens--and there, I presume, is the foundation of this
+mistake--that the Judge thinks thus; and it so happens that there is a
+vast portion of the American People that do not look upon that matter as
+being this very little thing. They look upon it as a vast moral evil;
+they can prove it as such by the writings of those who gave us the
+blessings of Liberty which we enjoy, and that they so looked upon it,
+and not as an evil merely confining itself to the States where it is
+situated; while we agree that, by the Constitution we assented to, in
+the States where it exists we have no right to interfere with it,
+because it is in the Constitution; and we are by both duty and
+inclination to stick by that Constitution in all its letter and spirit,
+from beginning to end. * * * The Judge can have no issue with me on a
+question of establishing uniformity in the domestic regulations of the
+States. * * *
+
+"Another of the issues he says that is to be made with me, is upon his
+devotion to the Dred Scott decision, and my opposition to it. I have
+expressed heretofore, and I now repeat, my opposition to the Dred Scott
+decision; but I should be allowed to state the nature of that
+opposition. * * * What is fairly implied by the term Judge Douglas has
+used, 'resistance to the decision?' I do not resist it. If I wanted to
+take Dred Scott from his master, I would be interfering with property
+and that terrible difficulty that Judge Douglas speaks of, of
+interfering with property, would arise. But I am doing no such thing as
+that, but all that I am doing is refusing to obey it, as a political
+rule. If I were in Congress, and a vote should come up on a question
+whether Slavery should be prohibited in a new Territory, in spite of the
+Dred Scott decision, I would vote that it should. That is what I would
+do.
+
+"Judge Douglas said last night, that before the decision he might
+advance his opinion, and it might be contrary to the decision when it
+was made; but after it was made, he would abide by it until it was
+reversed. Just so! We let this property abide by the decision, but we
+will try to reverse that decision. We will try to put it where Judge
+Douglas would not object, for he says he will obey it until it is
+reversed. Somebody has to reverse that decision, since it is made, and
+we mean to reverse it, and we mean to do it peaceably.
+
+"What are the uses of decisions of Courts? They have two uses. As
+rules of property they have two uses. First, they decide upon the
+question before the Court. They decide in this case that Dred Scott is
+a Slave. Nobody resists that. Not only that, but they say to everybody
+else, that persons standing just as Dred Scott stands, are as he is.
+That is, they say that when a question comes up upon another person, it
+will be so decided again, unless the Court decides in another way--
+unless the Court overrules its decision.--Well, we mean to do what we
+can to have the Court decide the other way. That is one thing we mean
+to try to do.
+
+"The sacredness that Judge Douglas throws around this decision is a
+degree of sacredness that has never before been thrown around any other
+decision. I have never heard of such a thing. Why, decisions
+apparently contrary to that decision, or that good lawyers thought were
+contrary to that decision, have been made by that very Court before. It
+is the first of its kind; it is an astonisher in legal history. It is a
+new wonder of the world. It is based upon falsehood in the main as to
+the facts--allegations of facts upon which it stands are not facts at
+all in many instances; and no decision made on any question--the first
+instance of a decision made under so many unfavorable circumstances--
+thus placed, has ever been held by the profession as law, and it has
+always needed confirmation before the lawyers regarded it as settled
+law. But Judge Douglas will have it that all hands must take this
+extraordinary decision, made under these extraordinary circumstances,
+and give their vote in Congress in accordance with it, yield to it and
+obey it in every possible sense.
+
+"Circumstances alter cases. Do not gentlemen remember the case of that
+same Supreme Court, some twenty-five or thirty years ago, deciding that
+a National Bank was Constitutional? * * * The Bank charter ran out,
+and a recharter was granted by Congress. That re-charter was laid
+before General Jackson. It was urged upon him, when he denied the
+Constitutionality of the Bank, that the Supreme Court had decided that
+it was Constitutional; and General Jackson then said that the Supreme
+Court had no right to lay down a rule to govern a co-ordinate branch of
+the Government, the members of which had sworn to support the
+Constitution--that each member had sworn to support that Constitution as
+he understood it. I will venture here to say, that I have heard Judge
+Douglas say that he approved of General Jackson for that act. What has
+now become of all his tirade about 'resistance to the Supreme Court?'"
+
+After adverting to Judge Douglas's warfare on "the leaders" of the
+Republican party, and his desire to have "it understood that the mass of
+the Republican party are really his friends," Mr. Lincoln said: "If you
+indorse him, you tell him you do not care whether Slavery be voted up or
+down, and he will close, or try to close, your mouths with his
+declaration repeated by the day, the week, the month, and the year. Is
+that what you mean? * * * Now I could ask the Republican party, after
+all the hard names that Judge Douglas has called them by, all his
+repeated charges of their inclination to marry with and hug negroes--all
+his declarations of Black Republicanism--by the way, we are improving,
+the black has got rubbed off--but with all that, if he be indorsed by
+Republican votes, where do you stand? Plainly, you stand ready saddled,
+bridled, and harnessed, and waiting to be driven over to the Slavery-
+extension camp of the Nation--just ready to be driven over, tied
+together in a lot--to be driven over, every man with a rope around his
+neck, that halter being held by Judge Douglas. That is the question.
+If Republican men have been in earnest in what they have done, I think
+that they has better not do it. * * *
+
+"We were often--more than once at least--in the course of Judge
+Douglas's speech last night, reminded that this Government was made for
+White men--that he believed it was made for White men. Well, that is
+putting it in a shape in which no one wants to deny it; but the Judge
+then goes into his passion for drawing inferences that are not
+warranted. I protest, now and forever, against that counterfeit logic
+which presumes that because I do not want a Negro woman for a Slave I do
+necessarily want her for a wife. My understanding is that I need not
+have her for either; but, as God has made us separate, we can leave one
+another alone, and do one another much good thereby. There are White
+men enough to marry all the White women, and enough Black men to marry
+all the Black women, and in God's name let them be so married. The
+Judge regales us with the terrible enormities that take place by the
+mixture of races; that the inferior race bears the superior down. Why,
+Judge, if we do not let them get together in the Territories, they won't
+mix there.
+
+" * * * Those arguments that are made, that the inferior race are to be
+treated with as much allowance as they are capable of enjoying; that as
+much is to be done for them as their condition will allow--what are
+these arguments? They are the arguments that Kings have made for
+enslaving the People in all ages of the World. You will find that all
+the arguments in favor of king-craft were of this class; they always
+bestrode the necks of the People, not that they wanted to do it, but
+because the People were better off for being ridden! That is their
+argument, and this argument of the Judge is the same old Serpent that
+says: you work, and I eat; you toil, and I will enjoy the fruits of it.
+
+"Turn it whatever way you will--whether it come from the mouth of a
+King, an excuse for enslaving the People of his Country, or from the
+mouth of men of one race as a reason for enslaving the men of another
+race, it is all the same old Serpent; and I hold, if that course of
+argumentation that is made for the purpose of convincing the public mind
+that we should not care about this, should be granted, it does not stop
+with the Negro.
+
+"I should like to know, taking this old Declaration of Independence,
+which declares that all men are equal upon principle, and making
+exceptions to it, where will it stop? If one man says it does not mean
+a Negro, why not say it does not mean some other man? If that
+Declaration is not the truth, let us get the Statute Book, in which we
+find it, and tear it out! Who is so bold as to do it? If it is not
+true, let us tear it out!" [Cries of "No, no."] "Let us stick to it
+then; let us stand firmly by it, then. * * *
+
+" * * * The Saviour, I suppose, did not expect that any human creature
+could be perfect as the Father in Heaven; but He said, 'As your Father
+in Heaven is perfect, be ye also perfect.' He set that up as a
+standard, and he who did most toward reaching that standard, attained
+the highest degree of moral perfection. So I say, in relation to the
+principle that all men are created equal--let it be as nearly reached as
+we can. If we cannot give Freedom to every creature, let us do nothing
+that will impose Slavery upon any other creature. Let us then turn this
+Government back into the channel in which the framers of the
+Constitution originally placed it. Let us stand firmly by each other.
+* * * Let us discard all this quibbling * * * and unite as one People
+throughout this Land, until we shall once more stand up declaring that
+all men are created equal."
+
+At Bloomington, July 16th (Mr. Lincoln being present), Judge Douglas
+made another great speech of vindication and attack. After sketching
+the history of the Kansas-Nebraska struggle, from the introduction by
+himself of the Nebraska Bill in the United States Senate, in 1854, down
+to the passage of the "English" Bill--which prescribed substantially
+that if the people of Kansas would come in as a Slave-holding State,
+they should be admitted with but 35,000 inhabitants; but if they would
+come in as a Free State, they must have 93,420 inhabitants; which unfair
+restriction was opposed by Judge Douglas, but to which after it became
+law he "bowed in deference," because whatever decision the people of
+Kansas might make on the coming third of August would be "final and
+conclusive of the whole question"--he proceeded to compliment the
+Republicans in Congress, for supporting the Crittenden-Montgomery Bill--
+for coming "to the Douglas platform, abandoning their own, believing (in
+the language of the New York Tribune), that under the peculiar
+circumstances they would in that mode best subserve the interests of the
+Country;" and then again attacked Mr. Lincoln for his "unholy and
+unnatural alliance" with the Lecompton-Democrats to defeat him, because
+of which, said he: "You will find he does not say a word against the
+Lecompton Constitution or its supporters. He is as silent as the grave
+upon that subject. Behold Mr. Lincoln courting Lecompton votes, in
+order that he may go to the Senate as the representative of Republican
+principles! You know that the alliance exists. I think you will find
+that it will ooze out before the contest is over." Then with many
+handsome compliments to the personal character of Mr. Lincoln, and
+declaring that the question for decision was "whether his principles are
+more in accordance with the genius of our free institutions, the peace
+and harmony of the Republic" than those advocated by himself, Judge
+Douglas proceeded to discuss what he described as "the two points at
+issue between Mr. Lincoln and myself."
+
+Said he: "Although the Republic has existed from 1789 to this day,
+divided into Free States and Slave States, yet we are told that in the
+future it cannot endure unless they shall become all Free or all Slave.
+* * * He wishes to go to the Senate of the United States in order to
+carry out that line of public policy which will compel all the States in
+the South to become Free. How is he going to do it? Has Congress any
+power over the subject of Slavery in Kentucky or Virginia or any other
+State of this Union? How, then, is Mr. Lincoln going to carry out that
+principle which he says is essential to the existence of this Union, to
+wit: That Slavery must be abolished in all the States of the Union or
+must be established in them all? You convince the South that they must
+either establish Slavery in Illinois and in every other Free State, or
+submit to its abolition in every Southern State and you invite them to
+make a warfare upon the Northern States in order to establish Slavery
+for the sake of perpetuating it at home. Thus, Mr. Lincoln invites, by
+his proposition, a War of Sections, a War between Illinois and Kentucky,
+a War between the Free States and the Slave States, a War between the
+North and South, for the purpose of either exterminating Slavery in
+every Southern State or planting it in every Northern State. He tells
+you that the safety of the Republic, that the existence of this Union,
+depends upon that warfare being carried on until one Section or the
+other shall be entirely subdued. The States must all be Free or Slave,
+for a house divided against itself cannot stand. That is Mr. Lincoln's
+argument upon that question. My friends, is it possible to preserve
+Peace between the North and the South if such a doctrine shall prevail
+in either Section of the Union?
+
+"Will you ever submit to a warfare waged by the Southern States to
+establish Slavery in Illinois? What man in Illinois would not lose the
+last drop of his heart's blood before lie would submit to the
+institution of Slavery being forced upon us by the other States against
+our will? And if that be true of us, what Southern man would not shed
+the last drop of his heart's blood to prevent Illinois, or any other
+Northern State, from interfering to abolish Slavery in his State? Each
+of these States is sovereign under the Constitution; and if we wish to
+preserve our liberties, the reserved rights and sovereignty of each and
+every State must be maintained. * * * The difference between Mr.
+Lincoln and myself upon this point is, that he goes for a combination of
+the Northern States, or the organization of a sectional political party
+in the Free States, to make War on the domestic institutions of the
+Southern States, and to prosecute that War until they all shall be
+subdued, and made to conform to such rules as the North shall dictate to
+them.
+
+"I am aware that Mr. Lincoln, on Saturday night last, made a speech at
+Chicago for the purpose, as he said, of explaining his position on this
+question. * * * His answer to this point which I have been arguing,
+is, that he never did mean, and that I ought to know that he never
+intended to convey the idea, that he wished the people of
+the Free States to enter into the Southern States and interfere with
+Slavery. Well, I never did suppose that he ever dreamed of entering
+into Kentucky, to make War upon her institutions, nor will any
+Abolitionist ever enter into Kentucky to wage such War. Their mode of
+making War is not to enter into those States where Slavery exists, and
+there interfere, and render themselves responsible for the consequences.
+Oh, no! They stand on this side of the Ohio River and shoot across.
+They stand in Bloomington and shake their fists at the people of
+Lexington; they threaten South Carolina from Chicago. And they call
+that bravery! But they are very particular, as Mr. Lincoln says, not to
+enter into those States for the purpose of interfering with the
+institution of Slavery there. I am not only opposed to entering into
+the Slave States, for the purpose of interfering with their
+institutions, but I am opposed to a sectional agitation to control the
+institutions of other States. I am opposed to organizing a sectional
+party, which appeals to Northern pride, and Northern passion and
+prejudice, against Southern institutions, thus stirring up ill feeling
+and hot blood between brethren of the same Republic. I am opposed to
+that whole system of sectional agitation, which can produce nothing but
+strife, but discord, but hostility, and finally disunion. * * *
+
+"I ask Mr. Lincoln how it is that he purposes ultimately to bring about
+this uniformity in each and all the States of the Union? There is but
+one possible mode which I can see, and perhaps Mr. Lincoln intends to
+pursue it; that is, to introduce a proposition into the Senate to change
+the Constitution of the United States in order that all the State
+Legislatures may be abolished, State Sovereignty blotted out, and the
+power conferred upon Congress to make local laws and establish the
+domestic institutions and police regulations uniformly throughout the
+United States.
+
+"Are you prepared for such a change in the institutions of your country?
+Whenever you shall have blotted out the State Sovereignties, abolished
+the State Legislatures, and consolidated all the power in the Federal
+Government, you will have established a Consolidated Empire as
+destructive to the Liberties of the People and the Rights of the Citizen
+as that of Austria, or Russia, or any other despotism that rests upon
+the neck of the People. * * * There is but one possible way in which
+Slavery can be abolished, and that is by leaving a State, according to
+the principle of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, perfectly free to form and
+regulate its institutions in its own way. That was the principle upon
+which this Republic was founded, and it is under the operation of that
+principle that we have been able to preserve the Union thus far under
+its operation. Slavery disappeared from New Hampshire, from Rhode
+Island, from Connecticut, from New York, from New Jersey, from
+Pennsylvania, from six of the twelve original Slave-holding States; and
+this gradual system of emancipation went on quietly, peacefully, and
+steadily, so long as we in the Free States minded our own business, and
+left our neighbors alone.
+
+"But the moment the Abolition Societies were organized throughout the
+North, preaching a violent crusade against Slavery in the Southern
+States, this combination necessarily caused a counter-combination in the
+South, and a sectional line was drawn which was a barrier to any further
+emancipation. Bear in mind that emancipation has not taken place in any
+one State since the Free Soil Party was organized as a political party
+in this country. Emancipation went on gradually, in State after State,
+so long as the Free States were content with managing their own affairs
+and leaving the South perfectly free to do as they pleased; but the
+moment the North said we are powerful enough to control you of the
+South, the moment the North proclaimed itself the determined master of
+the South, that moment the South combined to resist the attack, and thus
+sectional parties were formed and gradual emancipation ceased in all the
+Slave-holding States.
+
+"And yet Mr. Lincoln, in view of these historical facts, proposes to
+keep up this sectional agitation, band all the Northern States together
+in one political Party, elect a President by Northern votes alone, and
+then, of course, make a Cabinet composed of Northern men, and administer
+the Government by Northern men only, denying all the Southern States of
+this Union any participation in the administration of affairs
+whatsoever. I submit to you, my fellow-citizens, whether such a line of
+policy is consistent with the peace and harmony of the Country? Can the
+Union endure under such a system of policy? He has taken his position
+in favor of sectional agitation and sectional warfare. I have taken
+mine in favor of securing peace, harmony, and good-will among all the
+States, by permitting each to mind its own business, and
+discountenancing any attempt at interference on the part of one State
+with the domestic concerns of the others. * * *
+
+"Mr. Lincoln tells you that he is opposed to the decision of the Supreme
+Court in the Dred Scott case. Well, suppose he is; what is he going to
+do about it? * * * Why, he says he is going to appeal to Congress. Let
+us see how he will appeal to Congress. He tells us that on the 8th of
+March, 1820, Congress passed a law called the Missouri Compromise,
+prohibiting Slavery forever in all the territory west of the Mississippi
+and north of the Missouri line of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes;
+that Dred Scott, a slave in Missouri, was taken by his master to Fort
+Snelling, in the present State of Minnesota, situated on the west branch
+of the Mississippi River, and consequently in the Territory where
+Slavery was prohibited by the Act of 1820; and that when Dred Scott
+appealed for his Freedom in consequence of having been taken into that
+Territory, the Supreme Court of the United States decided that Dred
+Scott did not become Free by being taken into that Territory, but that
+having been carried back to Missouri, was yet a Slave.
+
+"Mr. Lincoln is going to appeal from that decision and reverse it. He
+does not intend to reverse it as to Dred Scott. Oh, no! But he will
+reverse it so that it shall not stand as a rule in the future. How will
+he do it? He says that if he is elected to the Senate he will introduce
+and pass a law just like the Missouri Compromise, prohibiting Slavery
+again in all the Territories. Suppose he does re-enact the same law
+which the Court has pronounced unconstitutional, will that make it
+Constitutional? * * * Will it be any more valid? Will he be able to
+convince the Court that the second Act is valid, when the first is
+invalid and void? What good does it do to pass a second Act? Why, it
+will have the effect to arraign the Supreme Court before the People, and
+to bring them into all the political discussions of the Country. Will
+that do any good? * * *
+
+"The functions of Congress are to enact the Statutes, the province of
+the Court is to pronounce upon their validity, and the duty of the
+Executive is to carry the decision into effect when rendered by the
+Court. And yet, notwithstanding the Constitution makes the decision of
+the Court final in regard to the validity of an Act of Congress, Mr.
+Lincoln is going to reverse that decision by passing another Act of
+Congress. When he has become convinced of the Folly of the proposition,
+perhaps he will resort to the same subterfuge that I have found others
+of his Party resort to, which is to agitate and agitate until he can
+change the Supreme Court and put other men in the places of the present
+incumbents."
+
+After ridiculing this proposition at some length, he proceeded:
+
+"Mr. Lincoln is alarmed for fear that, under the Dred Scott decision,
+Slavery will go into all the Territories of the United States. All I
+have to say is that, with or without this decision, Slavery will go just
+where the People want it, and not an inch further. * * * Hence, if the
+People of a Territory want Slavery, they will encourage it by passing
+affirmatory laws, and the necessary police regulations, patrol laws and
+Slave Code; if they do not want it, they will withhold that legislation,
+and, by withholding it, Slavery is as dead as if it was prohibited by a
+Constitutional prohibition, especially if, in addition, their
+legislation is unfriendly, as it would be if they were opposed to it."
+
+Then, taking up what he said was "Mr. Lincoln's main objection to the
+Dred Scott decision," to wit: "that that decision deprives the Negro of
+the benefits of that clause of the Constitution of the United States
+which entitles the citizens of each State to all the privileges and
+immunities of citizens of the several States," and admitting that such
+would be its effect, Mr. Douglas contended at some length that this
+Government was "founded on the White basis" for the benefit of the
+Whites and their posterity. He did "not believe that it was the design
+or intention of the signers of the Declaration of Independence or the
+frames of the Constitution to include Negroes, Indians, or other
+inferior races, with White men as citizens;" nor that the former "had
+any reference to Negroes, when they used the expression that all men
+were created equal," nor to "any other inferior race." He held that,
+"They were speaking only of the White race, and never dreamed that their
+language would be construed to apply to the Negro;" and after ridiculing
+the contrary view, insisted that, "The history of the Country shows that
+neither the signers of the Declaration, nor the Framers of the
+Constitution, ever supposed it possible that their language would be
+used in an attempt to make this Nation a mixed Nation of Indians,
+Negroes, Whites, and Mongrels."
+
+The "Fathers proceeded on the White basis, making the White people the
+governing race, but conceding to the Indian and Negro, and all inferior
+races, all the rights and all the privileges they could enjoy consistent
+with the safety of the society in which they lived. That," said he, "is
+my opinion now. I told you that humanity, philanthropy, justice, and
+sound policy required that we should give the Negro every right, every
+privilege, every immunity consistent with the safety and welfare of the
+State. The question, then, naturally arises, what are those rights and
+privileges, and what is the nature and extent of them? My answer is,
+that that is a question which each State and each Territory must decide
+for itself. * * * I am content with that position. My friend Lincoln
+is not. * * * He thinks that the Almighty made the Negro his equal and
+his brother. For my part I do not consider the Negro any kin to me, nor
+to any other White man; but I would still carry my humanity and my
+philanthropy to the extent of giving him every privilege and every
+immunity that he could enjoy, consistent with our own good."
+
+After again referring to the principles connected with non-interference
+in the domestic institutions of the States and Territories, and to the
+devotion of all his energies to them "since 1850, when," said he, "I
+acted side by side with the immortal Clay and the god-like Webster, in
+that memorable struggle in which Whigs and Democrats united upon a
+common platform of patriotism and the Constitution, throwing aside
+partisan feelings in order to restore peace and harmony to a distracted
+Country"--he alluded to the death-bed of Clay, and the pledges made by
+himself to both Clay and Webster to devote his own life to the
+vindication of the principles of that Compromise of 1850 as a means of
+preserving the Union; and concluded with this appeal: "This Union can
+only be preserved by maintaining the fraternal feeling between the North
+and the South, the East and the West. If that good feeling can be
+preserved, the Union will be as perpetual as the fame of its great
+founders. It can be maintained by preserving the sovereignty of the
+States, the right of each State and each Territory to settle its
+domestic concerns for itself, and the duty of each to refrain from
+interfering with the other in any of its local or domestic institutions.
+Let that be done, and the Union will be perpetual; let that be done, and
+this Republic, which began with thirteen States and which now numbers
+thirty-two, which when it began, only extended from the Atlantic to the
+Mississippi, but now reaches to the Pacific, may yet expand, North and
+South, until it covers the whole Continent, and becomes one vast ocean-
+bound Confederacy. Then, my friends, the path of duty, of honor, of
+patriotism, is plain. There are a few simple principles to be
+preserved. Bear in mind the dividing line between State rights and
+Federal authority; let us maintain the great principles of Popular
+Sovereignty, of State rights and of the Federal Union as the
+Constitution has made it, and this Republic will endure forever."
+
+On the next evening, July 17th, at Springfield, both Douglas and Lincoln
+addressed separate meetings.
+
+After covering much the same ground with regard to the history of the
+Kansas-Nebraska struggle and his own attitude upon it, as he did in his
+previous speech, Mr. Douglas declined to comment upon Mr. Lincoln's
+intimation of a Conspiracy between Douglas, Pierce, Buchanan, and Taney
+for the passage of the Nebraska Bill, the rendition of the Dred Scott
+decision, and the extension of Slavery, but proceeded to dilate on the
+"uniformity" issue between himself and Mr. Lincoln, in much the same
+strain as before, tersely summing up with the statement that "there is a
+distinct issue of principles--principles irreconcilable--between Mr.
+Lincoln and myself. He goes for consolidation and uniformity in our
+Government. I go for maintaining the Confederation of the Sovereign
+States under the Constitution, as our fathers made it, leaving each
+State at liberty to manage its own affairs and own internal
+institutions."
+
+He then ridiculed, at considerable length, Mr. Lincoln's proposed
+methods of securing a reversal by the United States Supreme Court of the
+Dred Scott decision--especially that of an "appeal to the People to
+elect a President who will appoint judges who will reverse the Dred
+Scott decision," which he characterized as "a proposition to make that
+Court the corrupt, unscrupulous tool of a political party," and asked,
+"when we refuse to abide by Judicial decisions, what protection is there
+left for life and property? To whom shall you appeal? To mob law, to
+partisan caucuses, to town meetings, to revolution? Where is the remedy
+when you refuse obedience to the constituted authorities?" In other
+respects the speech was largely a repetition of his Bloomington speech.
+
+Mr. Lincoln in his speech, the same night, at Springfield, opened by
+contrasting the disadvantages under which, by reason of an unfair
+apportionment of State Legislative representation and otherwise, the
+Republicans of Illinois labored in this fight. Among other
+disadvantages--whereby he said the Republicans were forced "to fight
+this battle upon principle and upon principle alone"--were those which
+he said arose "out of the relative positions of the two persons who
+stand before the State as candidates for the Senate."
+
+Said he: "Senator Douglas is of world-wide renown. All the anxious
+politicians of his Party, or who have been of his Party for years past,
+have been looking upon him as certainly, at no distant day, to be the
+President of the United States. They have seen in his round, jolly,
+fruitful face, Post-offices, Land-offices, Marshalships, and Cabinet
+appointments, Chargeships and Foreign Missions, bursting and sprouting
+out in wonderful exuberance, ready to be laid hold of by their greedy
+hands. And as they have been gazing upon this attractive picture so
+long, they cannot, in the little distraction that has taken place in the
+party, bring themselves to give up the charming hope; but with greedier
+anxiety they rush about him, sustain him, and give him marches,
+triumphal entries, and receptions, beyond what even in the days of his
+highest prosperity they could have brought about in his favor. On the
+contrary, nobody has ever expected me to be President. In my poor,
+lean, lank face, nobody has ever seen that any cabbages were sprouting
+out."
+
+Then he described the main points of Senator Douglas's plan of campaign
+as being not very numerous. "The first," he said, "is Popular
+Sovereignty. The second and third are attacks upon my speech made on
+the 16th of June. Out of these three points-drawing within the range of
+Popular Sovereignty the question of the Lecompton Constitution--he makes
+his principal assault. Upon these his successive speeches are
+substantially one and the same." Touching the first point, "Popular
+Sovereignty"--"the great staple" of Mr. Douglas's campaign--Mr. Lincoln
+affirmed that it was "the most arrant Quixotism that was ever enacted
+before a community."
+
+He said that everybody understood that "we have not been in a
+controversy about the right of a People to govern themselves in the
+ordinary matters of domestic concern in the States and Territories;"
+that, "in this controversy, whatever has been said has had reference to
+the question of Negro Slavery;" and "hence," said he, "when hereafter I
+speak of Popular Sovereignty, I wish to be understood as applying what I
+say to the question of Slavery only; not to other minor domestic matters
+of a Territory or a State."
+
+Having cleared away the cobwebs, Mr. Lincoln proceeded:
+
+"Does Judge Douglas, when he says that several of the past years of his
+life have been devoted to the question of 'Popular Sovereignty' * * *
+mean to say that he has been devoting his life to securing the People of
+the Territories the right to exclude Slavery from the Territories? If
+he means so to say, he means to deceive; because he and every one knows
+that the decision of the Supreme Court, which he approves, and makes
+special ground of attack upon me for disapproving, forbids the People of
+a Territory to exclude Slavery.
+
+"This covers the whole ground from the settlement of a Territory till it
+reaches the degree of maturity entitling it to form a State
+Constitution. * * * This being so, the period of time from the first
+settlement of a Territory till it reaches the point of forming a State
+Constitution, is not the thing that the Judge has fought for, or is
+fighting for; but, on the contrary, he has fought for, and is fighting
+for, the thing that annihilates and crushes out that same Popular
+Sovereignty. Well, so much being disposed of, what is left? Why, he is
+contending for the right of the People, when they come to make a State
+Constitution, to make it for themselves, and precisely as best suits
+themselves. I say again, that is Quixotic. I defy contradiction when I
+declare that the Judge can find no one to oppose him on that
+proposition. I repeat, there is nobody opposing that proposition on
+principle. * * * Nobody is opposing, or has opposed, the right of the
+People when they form a State Constitution, to form it for themselves.
+Mr. Buchanan and his friends have not done it; they, too, as well as the
+Republicans and the Anti-Lecompton Democrats, have not done it; but on
+the contrary, they together have insisted on the right of the People to
+form a Constitution for themselves. The difference between the Buchanan
+men, on the one hand, and the Douglas men and the Republicans, on the
+other, has not been on a question of principle, but on a question of
+fact * * * whether the Lecompton Constitution had been fairly formed by
+the People or not. * * * As to the principle, all were agreed.
+
+"Judge Douglas voted with the Republicans upon that matter of fact. He
+and they, by their voices and votes, denied that it was a fair emanation
+of the People. The Administration affirmed that it was. * * * This
+being so, what is Judge Douglas going to spend his life for? Is he
+going to spend his life in maintaining a principle that no body on earth
+opposes? Does he expect to stand up in majestic dignity and go through
+his apotheosis and become a god, in the maintaining of a principle which
+neither man nor mouse in all God's creation is opposing?"
+
+After ridiculing the assumption that Judge Douglas was entitled to all
+the credit for the defeat of the Lecompton Constitution in the House of
+Representatives--when the defeating vote numbered 120, of which 6 were
+Americans, 20 Douglas (or Anti-Lecompton) Democrats, and 94 Republicans
+--and hinting that perhaps he placed "his superior claim to credit, on
+the ground that he performed a good act which was never expected of
+him," or "upon the ground of the parable of the lost sheep," of which it
+had been said, "that there was more rejoicing over the one sheep that
+was lost and had been found, than over the ninety and nine in the fold--
+" he added: "The application is made by the Saviour in this parable,
+thus: 'Verily, I say unto you, there is more rejoicing in Heaven over
+one sinner that repenteth, than over ninety and nine just persons that
+need no repentance.' And now if the Judge claims the benefit of this
+parable, let him repent. Let him not come up here and say: 'I am the
+only just person; and you are the ninety-nine sinners!' Repentance
+before forgiveness is a provision of the Christian system, and on that
+condition alone will the Republicans grant his forgiveness."
+
+After complaining that Judge Douglas misrepresented his attitude as
+indicated in his 16th of June speech at Springfield, in charging that he
+invited "a War of Sections;"--that he proposed that "all the local
+institutions of the different States shall become consolidated and
+uniform," Mr. Lincoln denied that that speech could fairly bear such
+construction.
+
+In that speech he (Mr. L.) had simply expressed an expectation that
+"either the opponents of Slavery will arrest the further spread of it,
+and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is
+in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push it
+forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well
+as new, North as well as South." Since then, at Chicago, he had also
+expressed a "wish to see the spread of Slavery arrested, and to see it
+placed where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the
+course of ultimate extinction"--and, said he: "I said that, because I
+supposed, when the public mind shall rest in that belief, we shall have
+Peace on the Slavery question. I have believed--and now believe--the
+public mind did rest on that belief up to the introduction of the
+Nebraska Bill. Although I have ever been opposed to Slavery, so far I
+rested in the hope and belief that it was in the course of ultimate
+extinction. For that reason, it had been a minor question with me. I
+might have been mistaken; but I had believed, and now believe, that the
+whole public mind, that is, the mind of the great majority, had rested
+in that belief up to the Repeal of the Missouri Compromise. But upon
+that event, I became convinced that either I had been resting in a
+delusion, or the institution was being placed on a new basis--a basis
+for making it Perpetual, National, and Universal. Subsequent events
+have greatly confirmed me in that belief.
+
+"I believe that Bill to be the beginning of a Conspiracy for that
+purpose. So believing, I have since then considered that question a
+paramount one. So believing, I thought the public mind would never rest
+till the power of Congress to restrict the spread of it shall again be
+acknowledged and exercised on the one hand, or, on the other, all
+resistance be entirely crushed out. I have expressed that opinion and I
+entertain it to-night."
+
+Having given some pieces of evidence in proof of the "tendency," he had
+discovered, to the Nationalization of Slavery in these States, Mr.
+Lincoln continued: "And now, as to the Judge's inference, that because I
+wish to see Slavery placed in the course of ultimate extinction--placed
+where our fathers originally placed it--I wish to annihilate the State
+Legislatures--to force cotton to grow upon the tops of the Green
+Mountains--to freeze ice in Florida--to cut lumber on the broad Illinois
+prairies--that I am in favor of all these ridiculous and impossible
+things! It seems to me it is a complete answer to all this, to ask if,
+when Congress did have the fashion of restricting Slavery from Free
+Territory; when Courts did have the fashion of deciding that taking a
+Slave into a Free, Country made him Free--I say it is a sufficient
+answer to ask, if any of this ridiculous nonsense, about consolidation
+and uniformity, did actually follow? Who heard of any such thing,
+because of the Ordinance of '87? because of the Missouri Restriction
+because of the numerous Court decisions of that character?
+
+"Now, as to the Dred Scott decision; for upon that he makes his last
+point at me. He boldly takes ground in favor of that decision. This is
+one-half the onslaught and one-third of the entire plan of the campaign.
+I am opposed to that decision in a certain sense, but not in the sense
+which he puts on it. I say that in so far as it decided in favor of
+Dred Scott's master, and against Dred Scott and his family, I do not
+propose to disturb or resist the decision. I never have proposed to do
+any such thing. I think, that in respect for judicial authority, my
+humble history would not suffer in comparison with that of Judge
+Douglas. He would have the citizen conform his vote to that decision;
+the member of Congress, his; the President, his use of the veto power.
+He would make it a rule of political action for the People and all the
+departments of the Government. I would not. By resisting it as a
+political rule, I disturb no right of property, create no disorder,
+excite no mobs."
+
+After quoting from a letter of Mr. Jefferson (vol. vii., p. 177, of his
+Correspondence,) in which he held that "to consider the judges as the
+ultimate arbiters of all Constitutional questions," is "a very dangerous
+doctrine indeed; and one which would place us under the despotism of an
+Oligarchy," Mr. Lincoln continued: "Let us go a little further. You
+remember we once had a National Bank. Some one owed the Bank a debt; he
+was sued, and sought to avoid payment on the ground that the Bank was
+unconstitutional. The case went to the Supreme Court, and therein it
+was decided that the Bank was Constitutional. The whole Democratic
+party revolted against that decision. General Jackson himself asserted
+that he, as President, would not be bound to hold a National Bank to be
+Constitutional, even though the Court had decided it to be so. He fell
+in, precisely, with the view of Mr. Jefferson, and acted upon it under
+his official oath, in vetoing a charter for a National Bank.
+
+"The declaration that Congress does not possess this Constitutional
+power to charter a Bank, has gone into the Democratic platform, at their
+National Conventions, and was brought forward and reaffirmed in their
+last Convention at Cincinnati. They have contended for that
+declaration, in the very teeth of the Supreme Court, for more than a
+quarter of a century. In fact, they have reduced the decision to an
+absolute nullity. That decision, I repeat, is repudiated in the
+Cincinnati platform; and still, as if to show that effrontery can go no
+further, Judge Douglas vaunts in the very speeches in which he denounces
+me for opposing the Dred Scott decision, that he stands on the
+Cincinnati platform.
+
+"Now, I wish to know what the Judge can charge upon me, with respect to
+decisions of the Supreme Court, which does not lie in all its length,
+breadth, and proportions, at his own door? The plain truth is simply
+this: Judge Douglas is for Supreme Court decisions when he likes, and
+against them when he does not like them. He is for the Dred Scott
+decision because it tends to Nationalize Slavery--because it is a part
+of the original combination for that object. It so happens, singularly
+enough, that I never stood opposed to a decision of the Supreme Court
+till this. On the contrary, I have no recollection that he was ever
+particularly in favor of one till this. He never was in favor of any,
+nor (I) opposed to any, till the present one, which helps to Nationalize
+Slavery. Free men of Sangamon--Free men of Illinois, Free men
+everywhere--judge ye between him and me, upon this issue!
+
+"He says this Dred Scott case is a very small matter at
+most--that it has no practical effect; that at best, or rather I suppose
+at worst, it is but an abstraction. * * * How has the planting of
+Slavery in new countries always been effected? It has now been decided
+that Slavery cannot be kept out of our new Territories by any legal
+means. In what do our new Territories now differ in this respect from
+the old Colonies when Slavery was first planted within them?
+
+"It was planted, as Mr. Clay once declared, and as history proves true,
+by individual men in spite of the wishes of the people; the Mother-
+Government refusing to prohibit it, and withholding from the People of
+the Colonies the authority to prohibit it for themselves. Mr. Clay says
+this was one of the great and just causes of complaint against Great
+Britain by the Colonies, and the best apology we can now make for having
+the institution amongst us. In that precise condition our Nebraska
+politicians have at last succeeded in placing our own new Territories;
+the Government will not prohibit Slavery within them, nor allow the
+People to prohibit it."
+
+Alluding to that part of Mr. Douglas's speech the previous night
+touching the death-bed scene of Mr. Clay, with Mr. Douglas's promise to
+devote the remainder of his life to "Popular Sovereignty"--and to his
+relations with Mr. Webster--Mr. Lincoln said: "It would be amusing, if
+it were not disgusting, to see how quick these Compromise breakers
+administer on the political effects of their dead adversaries. If I
+should be found dead to-morrow morning, nothing but my insignificance
+could prevent a speech being made on my authority, before the end of
+next week. It so happens that in that 'Popular Sovereignty' with which
+Mr. Clay was identified, the Missouri Compromise was expressly reserved;
+and it was a little singular if Mr. Clay cast his mantle upon Judge
+Douglas on purpose to have that Compromise repealed. Again, the Judge
+did not keep faith with Mr. Clay when he first brought in the Nebraska
+Bill. He left the Missouri Compromise unrepealed, and in his report
+accompanying the Bill, he told the World he did it on purpose. The
+manes of Mr. Clay must have been in great agony, till thirty days later,
+when 'Popular Sovereignty' stood forth in all its glory."
+
+Touching Mr. Douglas's allegations of Mr. Lincoln's disposition to make
+Negroes equal with the Whites, socially and politically, the latter
+said: "My declarations upon this subject of Negro Slavery may be
+misrepresented, but cannot be misunderstood. I have said that I do not
+understand the Declaration (of Independence) to mean that all men were
+created equal in all respects. They are not equal in color; but I
+suppose that it does mean to declare that all men are equal in some
+respects; they are equal in their right to 'Life, Liberty, and the
+pursuit of Happiness.' Certainly the Negro is not our equal in color--
+perhaps not in many other respects; still, in the right to put into his
+mouth the bread that his own hands have earned, he is the equal of every
+other man, White or Black. In pointing out that more has been given
+you, you cannot be justified in taking away the little which has been
+given him. All I ask for the Negro is that if you do not like him, let
+him alone. If God gave him but little, that little let him enjoy.
+
+"The framers of the Constitution," continued Mr. Lincoln, "found the
+institution of Slavery amongst their other institutions at the time.
+They found that by an effort to eradicate it, they might lose much of
+what they had already gained. They were obliged to bow to the
+necessity. They gave Congress power to abolish the Slave Trade at the
+end of twenty years. They also prohibited it in the Territories where
+it did not exist. They did what they could, and yielded to the
+necessity for the rest. I also yield to all which follows from that
+necessity. What I would most desire would be the separation of the
+White and Black races."
+
+Mr. Lincoln closed his speech by referring to the "New Departure" of
+the Democracy--to the charge he had made, in his 16th of June speech,
+touching "the existence of a Conspiracy to Perpetuate and Nationalize
+Slavery"--which Mr. Douglas had not contradicted--and, said he, "on his
+own tacit admission I renew that charge. I charge him with having been
+a party to that Conspiracy, and to that deception, for the sole purpose
+of Nationalizing Slavery."
+
+This closed the series of preliminary speeches in the canvass. But they
+only served to whet the moral and intellectual and political appetite of
+the public for more. It was generally conceded that, at last, in the
+person of Mr. Lincoln, the "Little Giant" had met his match.
+
+On July 24, Mr. Lincoln opened a correspondence with Mr. Douglas, which
+eventuated in an agreement between them, July 31st, for joint-
+discussions, to take place at Ottawa, Freeport, Jonesboro, Charleston,
+Galesburgh, Quincy, and Alton, on fixed dates in August, September and
+October--at Ottawa, Mr. Douglas to open and speak one hour, Mr. Lincoln
+to have an hour and a half in reply, and Mr. Douglas to close in a half
+hour's speech; at Freeport, Mr. Lincoln to open and speak for one hour,
+Mr. Douglas to take the next hour and a half in reply, and Mr. Lincoln
+to have the next half hour to close; and so on, alternating at each
+successive place, making twenty-one hours of joint political debate.
+
+To these absorbingly interesting discussions, vast assemblages listened
+with breathless attention; and to the credit of all parties be it said,
+with unparalleled decorum. The People evidently felt that the greatest
+of all political principles--that of Human Liberty--was hanging on the
+issue of this great political contest between intellectual giants, thus
+openly waged before the World--and they accordingly rose to the dignity
+and solemnity of the occasion, vindicating by their very example the
+sacredness with which the Right of Free Speech should be regarded at all
+times and everywhere.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER V.
+
+ THE PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST OF 1860--
+ THE CRISIS APPROACHING.
+
+The immediate outcome of the remarkable joint-debate between the two
+intellectual giants of Illinois was, that while the popular vote stood
+124,698 for Lincoln, to 121,130 for Douglas--showing a victory for
+Lincoln among the People--yet, enough Douglas-Democrats were elected to
+the Legislature, when added to those of his friends in the Illinois
+Senate, who had been elected two years before, and "held over," to give
+him, in all, 54 members of both branches of the Legislature on joint
+ballot, against 46 for Mr. Lincoln. Lincoln had carried the people, but
+Douglas had secured the Senatorial prize for which they had striven--and
+by that Legislative vote was elected to succeed himself in the United
+States Senate. This result was trumpeted throughout the Union as a
+great Douglas victory.
+
+During the canvass of Illinois, Douglas's friends had seen to it that
+nothing on their part should be wanting to secure success. What with
+special car trains, and weighty deputations, and imposing processions,
+and flag raisings, the inspiration of music, the booming of cannon, and
+the eager shouts of an enthusiastic populace, his political journey
+through Illinois had been more like a Royal Progress than anything the
+Country had yet seen; and now that his reelection was accomplished, they
+proposed to make the most of it--to extend, as it were, the sphere of
+his triumph, or vindication, so that it would include not the State
+alone, but the Nation--and thus so accentuate and enhance his
+availability as a candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination
+of 1860, as to make his nomination and election to the Presidency of the
+United States an almost foregone conclusion.
+
+The programme was to raise so great a popular tidal-wave in his
+interest, as would bear him irresistibly upon its crest to the White
+House. Accordingly, as the idol of the Democratic popular heart,
+Douglas, upon his return to the National Capital, was triumphantly
+received by the chief cities of the Mississippi and the Atlantic sea-
+board. Hailed as victor in the great political contest in Illinois-upon
+the extended newspaper reports of which, the absorbed eyes of the entire
+nation, for months, had greedily fed--Douglas was received with much
+ostentation and immense enthusiasm at St. Louis, Memphis, New Orleans,
+New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington. Like the "Triumphs"
+decreed by Rome, in her grandest days, to the greatest of her victorious
+heroes, Douglas's return was a series of magnificent popular ovations,
+
+In a speech made two years before this period, Mr. Lincoln, while
+contrasting his own political career with that of Douglas, and modestly
+describing his own as "a flat failure" had said: "With him it has been
+one of splendid success. His name fills the Nation, and is not unknown
+even in foreign lands. I affect no contempt for the high eminence he
+has reached. So reached, that the oppressed of my species might have
+shared with me in the elevation, I would rather stand on that eminence
+than wear the richest crown that ever pressed a monarch's brow." And
+now the star of Douglas had reached a higher altitude, nearing its
+meridian splendor. He had become the popular idol of the day.
+
+But Douglas's partial victory--if such it was--so far from settling the
+public mind and public conscience, had the contrary effect. It added to
+the ferment which the Pro-Slavery Oligarchists of the South--and
+especially those of South Carolina--were intent upon increasing, until
+so grave and serious a crisis should arrive as would, in their opinion,
+furnish a justifiable pretext in the eyes of the World for the
+contemplated Secession of the Slave States from the Union.
+
+Under the inspiration of the Slave Power, and in the direct line of the
+Dred Scott decision, and of the "victorious" doctrine of Senator
+Douglas, which he held not inconsistent therewith, that the people of
+any Territory of the United States could do as they pleased as to the
+institution of Slavery within their own limits, and if they desired the
+institution, they had the right by local legislation to "protect and
+encourage it," the Legislature of the Territory of New Mexico at once
+(1859) proceeded to enact a law "for the protection of property in
+Slaves," and other measures similar to the prevailing Slave Codes in the
+Southern States.
+
+The aggressive attitude of the South--as thus evidenced anew--naturally
+stirred, to their very core, the Abolition elements of the North; on the
+other hand, the publication of Hinton Rowan Helper's "Impending Crisis,"
+which handled the Slavery question without gloves, and supported its
+views with statistics which startled the Northern mind, together with
+its alleged indorsement by the leading Republicans of the North,
+exasperated the fiery Southrons to an intense degree. Nor was the
+capture, in October, 1859, of Harper's Ferry, Virginia, by John Brown
+and his handful of Northern Abolitionist followers, and his subsequent
+execution in Virginia, calculated to allay the rapidly intensifying
+feeling between the Freedom-loving North and the Slaveholding South.
+When, therefore, the Congress met, in December, 1859, the sectional
+wrath of the Country was reflected in the proceedings of both branches
+of that body, and these again reacted upon the People of both the
+Northern and Southern States, until the fires of Slavery Agitation were
+stirred to a white heat.
+
+The bitterness of feeling in the House at this time, was shown, in part,
+by the fact that not until the 1st of February, 1860, was it able, upon
+a forty-fourth ballot, to organize by the election of a Speaker, and
+that from the day of its meeting on the 5th of December, 1859, up to
+such organization, it was involved in an incessant and stormy wrangle
+upon the Slavery question.
+
+So also in the Democratic Senate, the split in the Democratic Party,
+between the Lecompton and Anti-Lecompton Democracy, was widened, at the
+same time that the Republicans of the North were further irritated, by
+the significantly decisive passage of a series of resolutions proposed
+by Jefferson Davis, which, on the one hand, purposely and deliberately
+knifed Douglas's "Popular Sovereignty" doctrine and read out of the
+Party all who believed in it, by declaring "That neither Congress nor a
+Territorial Legislature, whether by direct legislation, or legislation
+of an indirect and unfriendly character, possesses power to annul or
+impair the Constitutional right of any citizen of the United States to
+take his Slave-property into the common Territories, and there hold and
+enjoy the same while the Territorial condition remains," and, on the
+other, purposely and deliberately slapped in the face the Republicans of
+the North, by declaring-among other things "That in the adoption of the
+Federal Constitution, the States adopting the same, acted severally as
+Free and Independent sovereignties, delegating a portion of their powers
+to be exercised by the Federal Government for the increased security of
+each against dangers, domestic as well as foreign; and that any
+intermeddling by any one or more States or by a combination of their
+citizens, with the domestic institutions of the others, on any pretext
+whatever, political, moral, or religious, with a view to their
+disturbance or subversion, is in violation of the Constitution,
+insulting to the States so interfered with, endangers their domestic
+peace and tranquillity--objects for which the Constitution was formed--
+and, by necessary consequence, tends to weaken and destroy the Union
+itself."
+
+Another of these resolutions declared Negro Slavery to be recognized in
+the Constitution, and that all "open or covert attacks thereon with a
+view to its overthrow," made either by the Non-Slave-holding States or
+their citizens, violated the pledges of the Constitution, "are a
+manifest breach of faith, and a violation of the most solemn
+obligations."
+
+This last was intended as a blow at the Freedom of Speech and of the
+Press in the North; and only served, as was doubtless intended, to still
+more inflame Northern public feeling, while at the same time endeavoring
+to place the arrogant and aggressive Slave Power in an attitude of
+injured innocence. In short, the time of both Houses of Congress was
+almost entirely consumed during the Session of 1859-60 in the heated,
+and sometimes even furious, discussion of the Slavery question; and
+everywhere, North and South, the public mind was not alone deeply
+agitated, but apprehensive that the Union was founded not upon a rock,
+but upon the crater of a volcano, whose long-smouldering energies might
+at any moment burst their confines, and reduce it to ruin and
+desolation.
+
+On the 23rd of April, 1860, the Democratic National Convention met at
+Charleston, South Carolina. It was several days after the permanent
+organization of the Convention before the Committee on Resolutions
+reported to the main body, and not until the 30th of April did it reach
+a vote upon the various reports, which had in the meantime been
+modified. The propositions voted upon were three:
+
+First, The Majority Report of the Committee, which reaffirmed the
+Cincinnati platform of 1856--with certain "explanatory" resolutions
+added, which boldly proclaimed: That the Government of a Territory
+organized by an Act of Congress, is provisional and temporary; and,
+during its existence, all citizens of the United States have an equal
+right to settle with their property in the Territory, without their
+rights, either of person or property, being destroyed or impaired by
+Congressional or Territorial Legislation;" that "it is the duty of the
+Federal Government, in all its departments, to protect, when necessary,
+the rights of persons and property in the Territories, and wherever else
+its Constitutional authority extends;" that "when the settlers in a
+Territory, having an adequate population, form a State Constitution, the
+right of Sovereignty commences, and, being consummated by admission into
+the Union, they stand on an equal footing with the people of other
+States, and the State thus organized ought to be admitted into the
+Federal Union, whether its Constitution prohibits or recognizes the
+institution of Slavery;" and that "the enactments of State Legislatures
+to defeat the faithful execution of the Fugitive Slave Law, are hostile
+in character, subversive of the Constitution, and revolutionary in
+effect." The resolutions also included a declaration in favor of the
+acquisition of Cuba, and other comparatively minor matters.
+
+Second, The Minority Report of the Committee, which, after re-affirming
+the Cincinnati platform, declared that "Inasmuch as differences of
+opinion exist in the Democratic party as to the nature and extent of the
+powers of a Territorial Legislature, and as to the powers and duties of
+Congress, under the Constitution of the United States, over the
+institution of Slavery within the Territories * * * the Democratic Party
+will abide by the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States on
+the questions of Constitutional law."
+
+Third, The recommendation of Benjamin F. Butler, that the platform
+should consist simply of a re-affirmation of the Cincinnati platform,
+and not another word.
+
+The last proposition was first voted on, and lost, by 105 yeas to 198
+nays. The Minority platform was then adopted by 165 yeas to 138 nays.
+
+The aggressive Slave-holders (Majority) platform, and the Butler
+Compromise do-nothing proposition, being both defeated, and the Douglas
+(Minority) platform adopted, the Alabama delegation, under instructions
+from their State Convention to withdraw in case the National Convention
+refused to adopt radical Territorial Pro-Slavery resolutions, at once
+presented a written protest and withdrew from the Convention, and were
+followed, in rapid succession, by; the delegates from Mississippi,
+Louisiana (all but two), South Carolina, Florida, Texas, Arkansas (in
+part), Delaware (mostly), and Georgia (mostly)--the seceding delegates
+afterwards organizing in another Hall, adopting the above Majority
+platform, and after a four days' sitting, adjourning to meet at
+Richmond, Virginia, on the 11th of June.
+
+Meanwhile, the Regular Democratic National Convention had proceeded to
+ballot for President--after adopting the two-thirds rule. Thirty-seven
+ballots having been cast, that for Stephen A. Douglas being, on the
+thirty-seventh, 151, the Convention, on the 3d of May, adjourned to meet
+again at Baltimore, June 18th.
+
+After re-assembling, and settling contested election cases, the
+delegates (in whole or in part) from Virginia, North Carolina,
+Tennessee, California, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland and Massachusetts,
+withdrew from the Convention, the latter upon the ground mainly that
+there had been "a withdrawal, in part, of a majority of the States,"
+while Butler, who had voted steadily for Jefferson Davis throughout all
+the balloting at Charleston, gave as an additional ground personal to
+himself, that "I will not sit in a convention where the African Slave
+Trade--which is piracy by the laws of my Country--is approvingly
+advocated"--referring thereby to a speech, that had been much applauded
+by the Convention at Charleston, made by a Georgia delegate (Gaulden),
+in which that delegate had said: "I would ask my friends of the South to
+come up in a proper spirit; ask our Northern friends to give us all our
+rights, and take off the ruthless restrictions which cut off the supply
+of Slaves from foreign lands. * * * I tell you, fellow Democrats, that
+the African Slave Trader is the true Union man (cheers and laughter). I
+tell you that the Slave Trading of Virginia is more immoral, more
+unchristian in every possible point of view, than that African Slave
+Trade which goes to Africa and brings a heathen and worthless man here,
+makes him a useful man, Christianizes him, and sends him and his
+posterity down the stream of Time, to enjoy the blessings of
+civilization. (Cheers and laughter.) * * * I come from the first
+Congressional District of Georgia. I represent the African Slave Trade
+interest of that Section. (Applause.) I am proud of the position I
+occupy in that respect. I believe that the African Slave Trader is a
+true missionary, and a true Christian. (Applause.) * * * Are you
+prepared to go back to first principles, and take off your
+unconstitutional restrictions, and leave this question to be settled by
+each State? Now, do this, fellow citizens, and you will have Peace in
+the Country. * * * I advocate the repeal of the laws prohibiting the
+African Slave Trade, because I believe it to be the true Union movement.
+* * * I believe that by re-opening this Trade and giving us Negroes to
+populate the Territories, the equilibrium of the two Sections will be
+maintained."
+
+After the withdrawal of the bolting delegates at Baltimore, the
+Convention proceeded to ballot for President, and at the end of the
+second ballot, Mr. Douglas having received "two-thirds of all votes
+given in the Convention" (183) was declared the "regular nominee of the
+Democratic Party, for the office of President of the United States."
+
+An additional resolution was subsequently adopted as a part of the
+platform, declaring that "it is in accordance with the true
+interpretation of the Cincinnati platform, that, during the existence of
+the Territorial Governments, the measure of restriction, whatever it may
+be, imposed by the Federal Constitution on the power of the Territorial
+Legislatures over the subject of the domestic relations, as the same has
+been, or shall hereafter be, finally determined by the Supreme Court of
+the United States, should be respected by all good citizens, and
+enforced with promptness and fidelity by every branch of the General
+Government."
+
+On the 11th of June, pursuant to adjournment, the Democratic Bolters'
+Convention met at Richmond, and, after adjourning to meet at Baltimore,
+finally met there on the 28th of that month--twenty-one States being, in
+whole or in part, represented. This Convention unanimously readopted
+the Southern-wing platform it had previously adopted at Charleston, and,
+upon the first ballot, chose, without dissent, John C. Breckinridge of
+Kentucky, as its candidate for the Presidential office.
+
+In the meantime, however, the National Conventions of other Parties had
+been held, viz.: that of the Republican Party at Chicago, which, with a
+session of three days, May 16-18, had nominated Abraham Lincoln of
+Illinois and Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, for President and Vice-President
+respectively; and that of the "Constitutional Union" (or Native
+American) Party which had severally nominated (May 19) for such
+positions, John Bell of Tennessee, and Edward Everett of Massachusetts.
+
+The material portion of the Republican National platform, adopted with
+entire unanimity by their Convention, was, so far as the Slavery and
+Disunion questions were concerned, comprised in these declarations:
+
+First, That the history of the nation, during the last four years, has
+fully established the propriety and necessity of the organization and
+perpetuation of the Republican Party; and that the causes which called
+it into existence are permanent in their nature, and now, more than ever
+before, demand its peaceful and Constitutional triumph.
+
+Second, That the maintenance of the principle, promulgated in the
+Declaration of Independence, and embodied in the Federal Constitution,
+"that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator
+with certain inalienable rights; that among these are Life, Liberty and
+the pursuit of Happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are
+instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the
+governed," is essential to the preservation of our Republican
+institutions; and that the Federal Constitution, the Rights of the
+States, and the Union of the States must and shall be preserved.
+
+Third, That to the Union of the States, this Nation owes its
+unprecedented increase in population, its surprising development of
+material resources, its rapid augmentation of wealth, its happiness at
+home, and its honor abroad; and we hold in abhorrence all schemes for
+Disunion, come from whatever source they may: And we congratulate the
+Country that no Republican member of Congress has uttered or
+countenanced the threats of Disunion, so often made by Democratic
+members, without rebuke, and with applause, from their political
+associates; and we denounce those threats of Disunion, in case of a
+popular overthrow of their ascendancy, as denying the vital principles
+of a free Government, and as an avowal of contemplated Treason, which it
+is the imperative duty of an indignant People, sternly to rebuke and
+forever silence.
+
+Fourth, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and
+especially the right of each State, to order and control its own
+domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is
+essential to that balance of powers on which the perfection and
+endurance of our political fabric depend; and we denounce the lawless
+invasion, by armed force, of any State or Territory, no matter under
+what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes.
+
+Fifth, That the present Democratic Administration has far exceeded our
+worst apprehensions, in its measureless subserviency to the exactions of
+a Sectional interest, as especially evinced in its desperate exertions
+to force the infamous Lecompton Constitution upon the protesting people
+of Kansas; in construing the personal relation between master and
+servant to involve an unqualified property in persons; in its attempted
+enforcement, everywhere, on land and sea, through the intervention of
+Congress and of the Federal Courts, of the extreme pretensions of a
+purely local interest; and in its general and unvarying abuse of the
+power intrusted to it by a confiding People.
+
+* * * * * * *
+
+Seventh, That the new dogma that the Constitution, of its own force,
+carries Slavery into any or all of the Territories of the United States,
+is a dangerous political heresy, at variance with the explicit
+provisions of that instrument itself, with contemporaneous exposition,
+and with legislation and judicial precedent; is revolutionary in its
+tendency and subversive of the peace and harmony of the Country.
+
+Eighth, That the normal condition of all the territory of the United
+States is that of Freedom; that as our Republican fathers, when they had
+abolished Slavery in all our National Territory, ordained that "No
+person should be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due
+process of law," it becomes our duty, by legislation, whenever such
+legislation is necessary, to maintain this provision of the Constitution
+against all attempts to violate it; and we deny the authority of
+Congress, of a Territorial Legislature, or of any individuals, to give
+legal existence to Slavery in any Territory of the United States.
+
+Ninth, That we brand the recent re-opening of the African Slave-trade
+under the cover of our National flag, aided by perversions of judicial
+power, as a crime against humanity and a burning shame to our Country
+and Age; and we call upon Congress to take prompt and efficient measures
+for the total and final suppression of that execrable traffic.
+
+Tenth, That in the recent vetoes, by their Federal Governors, of the
+acts of the Legislatures of Kansas and Nebraska, prohibiting Slavery in
+those Territories, we find a practical illustration of the boasted
+Democratic principle of Non-Intervention and Popular Sovereignty
+embodied in the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, and a demonstration of the
+deception and fraud involved therein.
+
+Eleventh, That Kansas should, of right, be immediately admitted as a
+State, under the Constitution recently formed and adopted by the House
+of Representatives.
+
+ * * * * * * * * * *
+
+The National platform of the "Constitutional Union" Party, was adopted,
+unanimously, in these words:
+
+"Whereas, experience has demonstrated that platforms adopted by the
+partisan Conventions of the Country have had the effect to mislead and
+deceive the People, and at the same time to widen the political
+divisions of the Country, by the creation and encouragement of
+geographical and Sectional parties; therefore,
+
+"Resolved, That it is both the part of patriotism and of
+duty to recognize no political principle other than the Constitution of
+the Country, the Union of the States, and the Enforcement of the Laws,
+and that, as representatives of the Constitutional Union men of the
+Country, in National Convention assembled, we hereby pledge ourselves to
+maintain, protect, and defend, separately and unitedly, these great
+principles of public liberty and national safety, against all enemies,
+at home and abroad; believing that thereby peace may once more be
+restored to the Country, the rights of the people and of the States re-
+established, and the Government again placed in that condition of
+justice, fraternity, and equality which, under the example and
+Constitution of our fathers, has solemnly bound every citizen of the
+United States to maintain a more perfect Union, establish justice,
+insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote
+the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves
+and our posterity."
+
+Thus, by the last of June, 1860, the four National Parties with their
+platforms and candidates were all in the political field prepared for
+the onset.
+
+Briefly, the attitude of the standard-bearers representing the platform-
+principles of their several Parties, was this:
+
+Lincoln, representing the Republicans, held that Slavery is a wrong, to
+be tolerated in the States where it exists, but which must be excluded
+from the Territories, which are all normally Free and must be kept Free
+by Congressional legislation, if necessary; and that neither Congress,
+nor the Territorial Legislature, nor any individual, has power to give
+to it legal existence in such Territories.
+
+Breckinridge, representing the Pro-Slavery wing of the Democracy, held
+that Slavery is a right, which, when transplanted from the Slave-States
+into the Territories, neither Congressional nor Territorial legislation
+can destroy or impair, but which, on the contrary, must, when necessary,
+be protected everywhere by Congress and all other departments of the
+Government.
+
+Douglas, representing the Anti-Lecompton wing of Democracy, held that
+whether Slavery be right or wrong, the white inhabitants of the
+Territories have the sole right to determine whether it shall or shall
+not exist within their respective limits, subject to the Constitution
+and Supreme Court decisions thereon; and that neither Congress nor any
+State, nor any outside persons, must interfere with that right.
+
+Bell, representing the remaining political elements, held that it was
+all wrong to have any principles at all, except "the Constitution of the
+Country, the Union of the States, and the Enforcement of the Laws"--a
+platform which Horace Greeley well described as "meaning anything in
+general, and nothing in particular."
+
+The canvass that ensued was terribly exciting--Douglas alone, of all the
+Presidential candidates, bravely taking the field, both North and South,
+in person, in the hope that the magnetism of his personal presence and
+powerful intellect might win what, from the start--owing to the adverse
+machinations, in the Northern States, of the Administration or
+Breckinridge-Democratic wing--seemed an almost hopeless fight. In the
+South, the Democracy was almost a unit in opposition to Douglas,
+holding, as they did, that "Douglas Free-Soilism" was "far more
+dangerous to the South than the election of Lincoln; because it seeks to
+create a Free-Soil Party there; while, if Lincoln triumphs, the result
+cannot fail to be a South united in her own defense;" while the old Whig
+element of the South was as unitedly for Bell. In the North, the
+Democracy were split in twain, three-fourths of them upholding Douglas,
+and the balance, powerful beyond their numbers in the possession of
+Federal Offices, bitterly hostile to him, and anxious to beat him, even
+at the expense of securing the election of Lincoln.
+
+Douglas's fight was that the candidacy and platform of Bell were
+meaningless, those of both Lincoln and Breckinridge, Sectional, and that
+he alone bore aloft the standard of the entire Union; while, on the
+other hand, the supporters of Lincoln, his chief antagonist, claimed
+that--as the burden of the song from the lips of Douglas men, Bell men,
+and Breckinridge men alike, was the expression of a "fear that," in the
+language of Mr. Seward, "if the people elected Mr. Lincoln to the
+Presidency, they would wake up and find that they had no Country for him
+to preside over"--"therefore, all three of the parties opposing Mr.
+Lincoln were in the same boat, and hence the only true Union party, was
+the party which made no threats of Disunion, to wit, the Republican
+party."
+
+The October elections of 1860 made it plain that Mr. Lincoln would be
+elected. South Carolina began to "feel good" over the almost certainty
+that the pretext for Secession for which her leaders had been hoping in
+vain for thirty years, was at hand. On the 25th of October, at Augusta,
+South Carolina, the Governor, the Congressional delegation, and other
+leading South Carolinians, met, and decided that in the event of Mr.
+Lincoln's election, that State would secede. Similar meetings, to the
+same end, were also held about the same time, in others of the Southern
+States. On the 5th of November--the day before the Presidential
+election--the Legislature of South Carolina met at the special call of
+Governor Gist, and, having organized, received a Message from the
+Governor, in which, after stating that he had convened that Body in
+order that they might on the morrow "appoint the number of electors of
+President and Vice-President to which this State is entitled," he
+proceeded to suggest "that the Legislature remain in session, and take
+such action as will prepare the State for any emergency that may arise."
+He went on to "earnestly recommend that, in the event of Abraham
+Lincoln's election to the Presidency, a Convention of the people of this
+State be immediately called, to consider and determine for themselves
+the mode and measure of redress," and, he continued: "I am constrained
+to say that the only alternative left, in my judgment, is the Secession
+of South Carolina from the Federal Union. The indications from many of
+the Southern States justify the conclusion that the Secession of South
+Carolina will be immediately followed, if not adopted simultaneously, by
+them, and ultimately by the entire South. The long-desired cooperation
+of the other States having similar institutions, for which so many of
+our citizens have been waiting, seems to be near at hand; and, if we are
+true to ourselves, will soon be realized. The State has, with great
+unanimity declared that she has the right peaceably to Secede, and no
+power on earth can rightfully prevent it."
+
+ [Referring to the Ordinance of Nullification adopted by the people
+ of South Carolina, November 24, 1832, growing out of the Tariff Act
+ of 1832--wherein it was declared that, in the event of the Federal
+ Government uudertaking to enforce the provisions of that Act: "The
+ people of this State will thenceforth hold themselves absolved from
+ all further obligation to maintain or preserve their political
+ connection with the people of the other States, and will forthwith
+ proceed to organize a separate government, and do all other acts
+ and things which Sovereign and independent States may of right
+ do."]
+
+He proceeded to say that "If, in the exercise of arbitrary power, and
+forgetful of the lessons of history, the Government of the United States
+should attempt coercion, it will become our solemn duty to meet force by
+force"--and promised that the decision of the aforesaid Convention
+"representing the Sovereignty of the State, and amenable to no earthly
+tribunal," should be, by him, "carried out to the letter." He
+recommended the thorough reorganization of the Militia; the arming of
+every man in the State between the ages of eighteen and forty-five; and
+the immediate enrollment of ten thousand volunteers officered by
+themselves; and concluded with a confident "appeal to the Disposer of
+all human events," in whose keeping the "Cause" was to be entrusted.
+
+That same evening (November 5), being the eve of the election, at
+Augusta, South Carolina, in response to a serenade, United States
+Senator Chestnut made a speech of like import, in which, after
+predicting the election of Mr. Lincoln, he said: "Would the South submit
+to a Black Republican President, and a Black Republican Congress, which
+will claim the right to construe the Constitution of the Country, and
+administer the Government in their own hands, not by the law of the
+instrument itself, nor by that of the fathers of the Country, nor by the
+practices of those who administered seventy years ago, but by rules
+drawn from their own blind consciences and crazy brains? * * * The
+People now must choose whether they would be governed by enemies, or
+govern themselves."
+
+He declared that the Secession of South Carolina was an "undoubted
+right," a "duty," and their "only safety" and as to himself, he would
+"unfurl the Palmetto flag, fling it to the breeze, and, with the spirit
+of a brave man, live and die as became" his "glorious ancestors, and
+ring the clarion notes of defiance in the ears of an insolent foe!"
+
+So also, in Columbia, South Carolina, Representative Boyce of that
+State, and other prominent politicians, harangued an enthusiastic crowd
+that night--Mr. Boyce declaring: "I think the only policy for us is to
+arm, as soon as we receive authentic intelligence of the election of
+Lincoln. It is for South Carolina, in the quickest manner, and by the
+most direct means, to withdraw from the Union. Then we will not submit,
+whether the other Southern States will act with us or with our enemies.
+They cannot take sides with our enemies; they must take sides with us.
+When an ancient philosopher wished to inaugurate a great revolution, his
+motto was to dare! to dare!"
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER VI.
+
+ THE GREAT CONSPIRACY MATURING.
+
+THE 6th of November, 1860, came and passed; on the 7th, the prevailing
+conviction that Lincoln would be elected had become a certainty, and
+before the close of that day, the fact had been heralded throughout the
+length and breadth of the Republic. The excitement of the People was
+unparalleled. The Republicans of the North rejoiced that at last the
+great wrong of Slavery was to be placed "where the People could rest in
+the belief that it was in the course of ultimate extinction!" The
+Douglas Democracy, naturally chagrined at the defeat of their great
+leader, were filled with gloomy forebodings touching the future of their
+Country; and the Southern Democracy, or at least a large portion of it,
+openly exulted that at last the long-wished-for opportunity for a revolt
+of the Slave Power, and a separation of the Slave from the Free States,
+was at hand. Especially in South Carolina were the "Fire-eating"
+Southrons jubilant over the event.
+
+ ["South Carolina rejoiced over the election of Lincoln, with
+ bonfires and processions." p. 172, Arnold's "Life of Abraham
+ Lincoln."
+
+ "There was great joy in Charleston, and wherever 'Fire Eaters' most
+ did congregate, on the morning of November 7th. Men rushed to
+ shake hands and congratulate each other on the glad tidings of
+ Lincoln's election. * * * Men thronged the streets, talking,
+ laughing, cheering, like mariners long becalmed on a hateful,
+ treacherous sea, whom a sudden breeze had swiftly wafted within
+ sight of their longed-for haven." p. 332, vol. i., Greeley's
+ American Conflict.]
+
+Meanwhile any number of joint resolutions looking to the calling of a
+Secession Convention, were introduced in the South Carolina Legislature,
+sitting at Columbia, having in view Secession contingent upon the
+"cooperation" of the other Slave States, or looking to immediate and
+"unconditional" Secession.
+
+On the evening of November 7th, Edmund Ruffin of Virginia--a Secession
+fanatic who had come from thence in hot haste--in response to a
+serenade, declared to the people of Columbia that: "The defense of the
+South, he verily believed, was only to be secured through the lead of
+South Carolina;" that, "old as he was, he had come here to join them in
+that lead;" and that "every day delayed, was a day lost to the Cause."
+He acknowledged that Virginia was "not as ready as South Carolina;" but
+declared that "The first drop of blood spilled on the soil of South
+Carolina would bring Virginia, and every Southern State, with them." He
+thought "it was perhaps better that Virginia, and all other border
+States, remain quiescent for a time, to serve as a guard against the
+North. * * * By remaining in the Union for a time, she would not only
+prevent coercive legislation in Congress, but any attempt for our
+subjugation."
+
+That same evening came news that, at Charleston, the Grand Jury of the
+United States District Court had refused to make any presentments,
+because of the Presidential vote just cast, which, they said, had "swept
+away the last hope for the permanence, for the stability, of the Federal
+Government of these Sovereign States;" and that United States District
+Judge Magrath had resigned his office, saying to the Grand Jury, as he
+did so: "In the political history of the United States, an event has
+happened of ominous import to fifteen Slave-holding States. The State
+of which we are citizens has been always understood to have deliberately
+fixed its purpose whenever that event should happen. Feeling an
+assurance of what will be the action of the State, I consider it my
+duty, without delay, to prepare to obey its wishes. That preparation is
+made by the resignation of the office I have held."
+
+The news of the resignations of the Federal Collector and District
+Attorney at Charleston, followed, with an intimation that that of the
+Sub-Treasurer would soon be forthcoming. On November 9th, a joint
+resolution calling an unconditional Secession Convention to meet at
+Columbia December 17th, was passed by the Senate, and on the 12th of
+November went through the House; and both of the United States Senators
+from South Carolina had now resigned their seats in the United States
+Senate.
+
+Besides all these and many other incitements to Secession was the fact
+that at Milledgeville, Georgia, Governor Brown had, November 12th,
+addressed a Georgian Military Convention, affirming "the right of
+Secession, and the duty of other Southern States to sustain South
+Carolina in the step she was then taking," and declaring that he "would
+like to see Federal troops dare attempt the coercion of a seceding
+Southern State! For every Georgian who fell in a conflict thus incited,
+the lives of two Federal Soldiers should expiate the outrage on State
+Sovereignty"--and that the Convention aforesaid had most decisively
+given its voice for Secession.
+
+It was about this time, however, that Alexander H. Stephens vainly
+sought to stem the tide of Secession in his own State, in a speech
+(November 14) before the Georgia Legislature, in which he declared that
+Mr. Lincoln "can do nothing unless he is backed by power in Congress.
+The House of Representatives is largely in the majority against him. In
+the Senate he will also be powerless. There will be a majority of four
+against him." He also cogently said: "Many of us have sworn to support
+it (the Constitution). Can we, therefore, for the mere election of a
+man to the Presidency--and that too, in accordance with the prescribed
+forms of the Constitution--make a point of resistance to the Government,
+and, without becoming the breakers of that sacred instrument ourselves,
+withdraw ourselves from it? Would we not be in the wrong?"
+
+But the occasional words of wisdom that fell from the lips of the few
+far-seeing statesmen of the South, were as chaff before the storm of
+Disunion raised by the turbulent Fire-eaters, and were blown far from
+the South, where they might have done some good for the Union cause,
+away up to the North, where they contributed to aid the success of the
+contemplated Treason and Rebellion, by lulling many of the people there,
+into a false sense of security. Unfortunately, also, even the ablest of
+the Southern Union men were so tainted with the heretical doctrine of
+States-Rights, which taught the "paramount allegiance" of the citizen to
+the State, that their otherwise powerful appeals for the preservation of
+the Union were almost invariably handicapped by the added protestation
+that in any event--and however they might deplore the necessity--they
+would, if need be, go with their State, against their own convictions of
+duty to the National Union.
+
+Hence in this same speech we find that Mr. Stephens destroyed the whole
+effect of his weighty and logical appeal against Secession from the
+Union, by adding to it, that, "Should Georgia determine to go out of the
+Union I shall bow to the will of her people. Their cause is my cause,
+and their destiny is my destiny; and I trust this will be the ultimate
+course of all."--and by further advising the calling of a Convention of
+the people to decide the matter; thus, in advance, as it were, binding
+himself hand and foot, despite his previous Union utterances, to do the
+fell bidding of the most rampant Disunionists. And thus, in due time,
+it befell, as we shall see, that this "saving clause" in his "Union
+speech," brought him at the end, not to that posture of patriotic
+heroism to which he aspired when he adjured his Georgian auditors to
+"let us be found to the last moment standing on the deck (of the
+Republic), with the Constitution of the United States waving over our
+heads," but to that of an imprisoned traitor and defeated rebel against
+the very Republic and Constitution which he had sworn to uphold and
+defend!
+
+The action of the South Carolina Legislature in calling an Unconditional
+Secession Convention, acted among the Southern States like a spark in a
+train of gunpowder. Long accustomed to incendiary resolutions of Pro-
+Slavery political platforms, as embodying the creed of Southern men;
+committed by those declarations to the most extreme action when, in
+their judgment, the necessity should arise; and worked up during the
+Presidential campaign by swarming Federal officials inspired by the
+fanatical Secession leaders; the entire South only needed the spark from
+the treasonable torch of South Carolina, to find itself ablaze, almost
+from one end to the other, with the flames of revolt.
+
+Governor after Governor, in State after State, issued proclamation after
+proclamation, calling together their respective Legislatures, to
+consider the situation and whether their respective States should join
+South Carolina in seceding from the Union. Kentucky alone, of them all,
+seemed for a time to keep cool, and look calmly and reasonably through
+the Southern ferment to the horrors beyond. In an address issued by
+Governor Magoffin of that State, to the people, he said:
+
+"To South Carolina and such other States as may wish to secede from the
+Union, I would say: The geography of this Country will not admit of a
+division; the mouth and sources of the Mississippi River cannot be
+separated without the horrors of Civil War. We cannot sustain you in
+this movement merely on account of the election of Mr. Lincoln. Do not
+precipitate by premature action into a revolution or Civil War, the
+consequences of which will be most frightful to all of us. It may yet
+be avoided. There is still hope, faint though it be. Kentucky is a
+Border State, and has suffered more than all of you. * * * She has a
+right to claim that her voice, and the voice of reason, and moderation
+and patriotism shall be heard and heeded by you. If you secede, your
+representatives will go out of Congress and leave us at the mercy of a
+Black Republican Government. Mr. Lincoln will have no check. He can
+appoint his Cabinet, and have it confirmed. The Congress will then be
+Republican, and he will be able to pass such laws as he may suggest.
+The Supreme Court will be powerless to protect us. We implore you to
+stand by us, and by our friends in the Free States; and let us all, the
+bold, the true, and just men in the Free and Slave States, with a united
+front, stand by each other, by our principles, by our rights, our
+equality, our honor, and by the Union under the Constitution. I believe
+this is the only way to save it; and we can do it."
+
+But this "still small voice" of conscience and of reason, heard like a
+whisper from the mouths of Stephens in Georgia, and Magoffin in
+Kentucky, was drowned in the clamor and tumult of impassioned harangues
+and addresses, and the drumming and tramp of the "minute men" of South
+Carolina, and other military organizations, as they excitedly prepared
+throughout the South for the dread conflict at arms which they
+recklessly invited, and savagely welcomed.
+
+We have seen how President Andrew Jackson some thirty years before, had
+stamped out Nullification and Disunion in South Carolina, with an iron
+heel.
+
+But a weak and feeble old man--still suffering from the effects of the
+mysterious National Hotel poisoning--was now in the Executive Chair at
+the White House. Well-meaning, doubtless, and a Union man at heart, his
+enfeebled intellect was unable to see, and hold firm to, the only true
+course. He lacked clearness of perception, decision of character, and
+nerve. He knew Secession was wrong, but allowed himself to be persuaded
+that he had no Constitutional power to prevent it. He had surrounded
+himself in the Cabinet with such unbending adherents and tools of the
+Slave-Power, as Howell Cobb of Georgia, his Secretary of the Treasury,
+John B. Floyd of Virginia, as Secretary of War, Jacob Thompson of
+Mississippi, as Secretary of the Interior, and Isaac Toucy of
+Connecticut, as Secretary of the Navy, before whose malign influence the
+councils of Lewis Cass of Michigan, the Secretary of State, and other
+Union men, in and out of the Cabinet, were quite powerless.
+
+When, therefore, the Congress met (December 3, 1860) and he transmitted
+to it his last Annual Message, it was found that, instead of treating
+Secession from the Jacksonian standpoint, President Buchanan feebly
+wailed over the threatened destruction of the Union, weakly apologized
+for the contemplated Treason, garrulously scolded the North as being to
+blame for it, and, while praying to God to "preserve the Constitution
+and the Union throughout all generations," wrung his nerveless hands in
+despair over his own powerlessness--as he construed the Constitution--to
+prevent Secession! Before writing his pitifully imbecile Message,
+President Buchanan had secured from his Attorney-General (Jeremiah S.
+Black of Pennsylvania) an opinion, in which the latter, after touching
+upon certain cases in which he believed the President would be justified
+in using force to sustain the Federal Laws, supposed the case of a State
+where all the Federal Officers had resigned and where there were neither
+Federal Courts to issue, nor officers to execute judicial process, and
+continued: "In that event, troops would certainly be out of place, and
+their use wholly illegal. If they are sent to aid the Courts and
+Marshals there must be Courts and Marshals to be aided. Without the
+exercise of these functions, which belong exclusively to the civil
+service, the laws cannot be executed in any event, no matter what may be
+the physical strength which the Government has at its command. Under
+such circumstances, to send a military force into any State, with orders
+to act against the people, would be simply making War upon them."
+
+Resting upon that opinion of Attorney-General Black, President Buchanan,
+in his Message, after referring to the solemn oath taken by the
+Executive "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed," and
+stating that there were now no longer any Federal Officers in South
+Carolina, through whose agency he could keep that oath, took up the laws
+of February 28, 1795, and March 3, 1807, as "the only Acts of Congress
+on the Statute-book bearing upon the subject," which "authorize the
+President, after he shall have ascertained that the Marshal, with his
+posse comitatus, is unable to execute civil or criminal process in any
+particular case, to call out the Militia and employ the Army and Navy to
+aid him in performing this service, having first, by Proclamation,
+commanded the insurgents to 'disperse and retire peaceably to their
+respective abodes, within a limited time'"--and thereupon held that
+"This duty cannot, by possibility, be performed in a State where no
+judicial authority exists to issue process, and where there is no
+Marshal to execute it; and where even if there were such an officer, the
+entire population would constitute one solid combination to resist him."
+And, not satisfied with attempting to show as clearly as he seemed to
+know how, his own inability under the laws to stamp out Treason, he
+proceeded to consider what he thought Congress also could not do under
+the Constitution. Said he: "The question fairly stated, is: Has the
+Constitution delegated to Congress the power to coerce into submission a
+State which is attempting to withdraw, or has actually withdrawn, from
+the Confederacy? If answered in the affirmative, it must be on the
+principle that the power has been conferred upon Congress to declare and
+make War against a State. After much serious reflection, I have arrived
+at the conclusion that no such power has been delegated to Congress or
+to any other department of the Federal Government." And further:
+"Congress possesses many means of preserving it (the Union) by
+conciliation; but the sword was not placed in their hands to preserve it
+by force."
+
+Thus, in President Buchanan's judgment, while, in another part of his
+Message, he had declared that no State had any right, Constitutional or
+otherwise, to Secede from that Union, which was designed for all time--
+yet, if any State concluded thus wrongfully to Secede, there existed no
+power in the Union, by the exercise of force, to preserve itself from
+instant dissolution! How imbecile the reasoning, how impotent the
+conclusion, compared with that of President Jackson, thirty years
+before, in his Proclamation against Nullification and Secession, wherein
+that sturdy patriot declared to the South Carolinians. that "compared
+to Disunion, all other evils are light, because that brings with it an
+accumulation of all;" that "Disunion by armed force, is Treason;" and
+that he was determined "to execute the Laws," and "to preserve the
+Union!"
+
+President Buchanan's extraordinary Message--or so much of it as related
+to the perilous condition of the Union--was referred, in the House of
+Representatives, to a Select Committee of Thirty-three, comprising one
+member from each State, in which there was a very large preponderance of
+such as favored Conciliation without dishonor. But the debates in both
+Houses, in which the most violent language was indulged by the Southern
+Fire-eaters, as well as other events, soon proved that there was a
+settled purpose on the part of the Slave-Power and its adherents to
+resist and spit upon all attempts at placation.
+
+In the Senate also (December 5), a Select Committee of Thirteen was
+appointed, to consider the impending dangers to the Union, comprising
+Senators Powell of Kentucky, Hunter of Virginia, Crittenden of Kentucky,
+Seward of New York, Toombs of Georgia, Douglas of Illinois, Collamer of
+Vermont, Davis of Mississippi, Wade of Ohio, Bigler of Pennsylvania,
+Rice of Minnesota, Doolittle of Wisconsin, and Grimes of Iowa. Their
+labors were alike without practical result, owing to the irreconcilable
+attitude of the Southrons, who would accept nothing less than a total
+repudiation by the Republicans of the very principles upon which the
+recent Presidential contest had by them been fought and won. Nor would
+they even accept such a repudiation unless carried by vote of the
+majority of the Republicans. The dose that they insisted upon the
+Republican Party swallowing must not only be as noxious as possible, but
+must absolutely be mixed by that Party itself, and in addition, that
+Party must also go down on its knees, and beg the privilege of so mixing
+and swallowing the dose! That was the impossible attitude into which,
+by their bullying and threats, the Slave Power hoped to force the
+Republican Party--either that or "War."
+
+Project after project in both Houses of Congress looking to Conciliation
+was introduced, referred, reported, discussed, and voted on or not, as
+the case might be, in vain. And in the meantime, in New York, in
+Philadelphia, and elsewhere in the North, the timidity of Capital showed
+itself in great Conciliation meetings, where speeches were applauded and
+resolutions adopted of the most abject character, in behalf of "Peace,
+at any price," regardless of the sacrifice of honor and principles and
+even decency. In fact the Commercial North, with supplicating hands and
+beseeching face, sank on its knees in a vain attempt to propitiate its
+furious creditor, the South, by asking it not only to pull its nose, but
+to spit in its face, both of which it humbly and even anxiously offered
+for the purpose!*
+
+ [Thus, in Philadelphia, December 13, 1860, at a great meeting held
+ at the call of the Mayor, in Independence Square, Mayor Henry led
+ off the speaking--which was nearly all in the same line-by saying:
+ "I tell you that if in any portion of our Confederacy, sentiments
+ have been entertained and cherished which are inimical to the civil
+ rights and social institutions of any other portion, those
+ sentiments should be relinquished." Another speaker, Judge George
+ W. Woodward, sneeringly asked: "Whence came these excessive
+ sensibilities that cannot bear a few slaves in a remote Territory
+ until the white people establish a Constitution?" Another, Mr.
+ Charles E. Lex (a Republican), speaking of the Southern People,
+ said: "What, then, can we say to them? what more than we have
+ expressed in the resolutions we have offered? If they are really
+ aggrieved by any laws upon our Statute-books opposed to their
+ rights--if upon examination any such are found to be in conflict
+ with the Constitution of these United States--nay, further, if they
+ but serve to irritate our brethren of the South, whether
+ Constitutional or not, I, for one, have no objection that they
+ should instantly be repealed." Another said, "Let us repeal our
+ obnoxious Personal Liberty bills * * *; let us receive our brother
+ of the South, if he will come among us for a little time, attended
+ by his servant, and permit him thus to come." And the resolutions
+ adopted were even still more abject in tone than the speeches.]
+
+But the South at present was too busy in perfecting its long-cherished
+plans for the disruption of the Union, to more than grimly smile at this
+evidence of what it chose to consider "a divided sentiment" in the
+North. While it weakened the North, it strengthened the South, and
+instead of mollifying the Conspirators against the Union, it inspired
+them with fresh energy in their fell purpose to destroy it.
+
+The tone of the Republican press, too, while more dignified, was
+thoroughly conciliatory. The Albany Evening Journal,--[November 30,
+1860]--the organ of Governor Seward, recognizing that the South, blinded
+by passion, was in dead earnest, but also recognizing the existence of
+"a Union sentiment there, worth cherishing," suggested "a Convention of
+the People, consisting of delegates appointed by the States, in which it
+would not be found unprofitable for the North and South, bringing their
+respective griefs, claims, and proposed reforms, to a common
+arbitrament, to meet, discuss, and determine upon a future"--before a
+final appeal to arms. So, too, Horace Greeley, in the New York
+Tribune,--[November 9, 1860.]--after weakly conceding, on his own part,
+the right of peaceable Secession, said: "But while we thus uphold the
+practical liberty, if not the abstract right, of Secession, we must
+insist that the step be taken, if it ever shall be, with the
+deliberation and gravity befitting so momentous an issue. Let ample
+time be given for reflection; let the subject be fully canvassed before
+the People; and let a popular vote be taken in every case, before
+Secession is decreed." Other leading papers of the Northern press, took
+similar ground for free discussion and conciliatory action.
+
+In the Senate, as well as the House of Representatives--as also was
+shown by the appointment, heretofore mentioned, of Select Committees to
+consider the gravity of the situation, and suggest a remedy--the same
+spirit of Conciliation and Concession, and desire for free and frank
+discussion, was apparent among most of the Northern and Border-State
+members of those Bodies. But these were only met by sneers and threats
+on the part of the Fire-eating Secession members of the South. In the
+Senate, Senator Clingman of North Carolina, sneeringly said: "They want
+to get up a free debate, as the Senator (Mr. Seward) from New York
+expressed it, in one of his speeches. But a Senator from Texas told me
+the other day that a great many of these free debaters were hanging from
+the trees of that country;" and Senator Iverson, of Georgia, said:
+"Gentlemen speak of Concession, of the repeal of the Personal Liberty
+bills. Repeal them all to-morrow, and you cannot stop this revolution."
+After declaring his belief that "Before the 4th of March, five States
+will have declared their independence" and that "three other States will
+follow as soon as the action of the people can be had;" he proceeded to
+allude to the refusal of Governor Houston of Texas to call together the
+Texas Legislature for action in accord with the Secession sentiment, and
+declared that "if he will not yield to that public sentiment, some Texan
+Brutus will arise to rid his country of this hoary-headed incubus that
+stands between the people and their sovereign will!" Then, sneering at
+the presumed cowardice of the North, he continued: "Men talk about their
+eighteen millions (of Northern population); but we hear a few days
+afterwards of these same men being switched in the face, and they
+tremble like sheep-stealing dogs! There will be no War. The North,
+governed by such far-seeing Statesmen as the Senator (Mr. Seward) from
+New York, will see the futility of this. In less than twelve months, a
+Southern Confederacy will be formed; and it will be the most successful
+Government on Earth. The Southern States, thus banded together, will be
+able to resist any force in the World. We do not expect War; but we
+will be prepared for it--and we are not a feeble race of Mexicans
+either."
+
+On the other hand, there were Republicans in that Body who sturdily met
+the bluster of the Southern Fire-eaters with frank and courageous words
+expressing their full convictions on the situation and their belief that
+Concessions could not be made and that Compromises were mere waste
+paper. Thus, Senator Ben Wade of Ohio, among the bravest and manliest
+of them all, in a speech in the Senate, December 17, the very day on
+which the South Carolina Secession Convention was to assemble, said to
+the Fire-eaters: "I tell you frankly that we did lay down the principle
+in our platform, that we would prohibit, if we had the power, Slavery
+from invading another inch of the Free Soil of this Government. I stand
+to that principle to-day. I have argued it to half a million of people,
+and they stand by it; they have commissioned me to stand by it; and, so
+help me God, I will! * * * On the other hand, our platform repudiates
+the idea that we have any right, or harbor any ultimate intention to
+invade or interfere with your institutions in your own States. * * *
+It is not, by your own confessions, that Mr. Lincoln is expected to
+commit any overt act by which you may be injured. You will not even
+wait for any, you say; but, by anticipating that the Government may do
+you an injury, you will put an end to it--which means, simply and
+squarely, that you intend to rule or ruin this Government. * * * As to
+Compromises, I supposed that we had agreed that the Day of Compromises
+was at an end. The most solemn we have made have been violated, and are
+no more. * * * We beat you on the plainest and most palpable issue
+ever presented to the American people, and one which every man
+understood; and now, when we come to the Capital, we tell you that our
+candidates must and shall be inaugurated--must and shall administer this
+Government precisely as the Constitution prescribes. * * * I tell you
+that, with that verdict of the people in my pocket, and standing on the
+platform on which these candidates were elected, I would suffer anything
+before I would Compromise in any way."
+
+In the House of Representatives, on December 10, 1860, a number of
+propositions looking to a peaceful settlement of the threatened danger,
+were offered and referred to the Select Committee of Thirty-three. On
+the following Monday, December 17, by 154 yeas to 14 nays, the House
+adopted a resolution, offered by Mr. Adrian of New Jersey, in these
+words:
+
+"Resolved, That we deprecate the spirit of disobedience to the
+Constitution, wherever manifested; and that we earnestly recommend the
+repeal of all Statutes by the State Legislatures in conflict with, and
+in violation of, that sacred instrument, and the laws of Congress passed
+in pursuance thereof."
+
+On the same day, the House adopted, by 135 yeas to no nays, a resolution
+offered by Mr. Lovejoy of Illinois, in these words:
+
+"Whereas, The Constitution of the United States is the Supreme law of
+the Land, and ready and faithful obedience to it a duty of all good and
+law-abiding citizens; Therefore:
+
+"Resolved, That we deprecate the spirit of disobedience to the
+Constitution, wherever manifested; and that we earnestly recommend the
+repeal of all Nullification laws; and that it is the duty of the
+President of the United States to protect and defend the property of the
+United States."
+
+ [This resolution, before adoption, was modified by declaring it to
+ be the duty of all citizens, whether "good and law abiding" or not,
+ to yield obedience to the Constitution, as will be seen by
+ referring to the proceedings in the Globe of that date, where the
+ following appears:
+
+ "Mr. LOGAN. I hope there will be no objection on this side of the
+ House to the introduction of the [Lovejoy] resolution. I can see
+ no difference myself, between this resolution and the one
+ [Adrian's] just passed, except in regard to verbiage. I can find
+ but one objection to the resolution, and that is in the use of the
+ words declaring that all' law abiding' citizens should obey the
+ Constitution. I think that all men should do so.
+
+ "Mr. LOVEJOY. I accept the amendment suggested by my Colleague.
+
+ "Mr. LOGAN. It certainly should include members of Congress; but
+ if it is allowed to remain all 'good and law abiding' citizens, I
+ do not think it will include them. [Laughter.]
+
+ "The resolution was modified by the omission of those words."]
+
+It also adopted, by 115 yeas to 44 nays, a resolution offered by Mr.
+Morris of Illinois, as follows:
+
+"Resolved by the House of Representatives: That we properly estimate the
+immense value of our National Union to our collective and individual
+happiness; that we cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment
+to it; that we will speak of it as the palladium of our political safety
+and prosperity; that we will watch its preservation with jealous
+anxiety; that we will discountenance whatever may suggest even a
+suspicion that it can, in any event, be abandoned, and indignantly frown
+upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our
+Country from the rest, or enfeeble the sacred ties which now link
+together the various parts; that we regard it as a main pillar in the
+edifice of our real independence, the support of tranquillity at home,
+our peace abroad, our safety, our prosperity, and that very liberty
+which we so highly prize; that we have seen nothing in the past, nor do
+we see anything in the present, either in the election of Abraham
+Lincoln to the Presidency of the United States, or from any other
+existing cause, to justify its dissolution; that we regard its
+perpetuity as of more value than the temporary triumph of any Party or
+any man; that whatever evils or abuses exist under it ought to be
+corrected within the Union, in a peaceful and Constitutional way; that
+we believe it has sufficient power to redress every wrong and enforce
+every right growing out of its organization, or pertaining to its proper
+functions; and that it is a patriotic duty to stand by it as our hope in
+Peace and our defense in War."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER VII.
+
+ SECESSION ARMING.
+
+While Congress was encouraging devotion to the Union, and its Committees
+striving for some mode by which the impending perils might be averted
+without a wholesale surrender of all just principles, the South Carolina
+Convention met (December 17, 1860) at Columbia, and after listening to
+inflammatory addresses by commissioners from the States of Alabama and
+Mississippi, urging immediate and unconditional Secession, unanimously
+and with "tremendous cheering" adopted a resolution: "That it is the
+opinion of the Convention that the State of South Carolina should
+forthwith Secede from the Federal Union, known as the United States of
+America,"--and then adjourned to meet at Charleston, South Carolina.
+
+The next day, and following days, it met there, at "Secession Hall,"
+listening to stimulating addresses, while a committee of seven worked
+upon the Ordinance of Secession. Among the statements made by orators,
+were several clear admissions that the rebellious Conspiracy had existed
+for very many years, and that Mr. Lincoln's election was simply the
+long-sought-for pretext for Rebellion. Mr. Parker said: "It is no
+spasmodic effort that has come suddenly upon us; it has been gradually
+culminating for a long period of thirty years. At last it has come to
+that point where we may say, the matter is entirely right." Mr. Inglis
+said: "Most of us have had this matter under consideration for the last
+twenty years; and I presume that we have by this time arrived at a
+decision upon the subject." Mr. Keitt said: "I have been engaged in
+this movement ever since I entered political life; * * * we have
+carried the body of this Union to its last resting place, and now we
+will drop the flag over its grave." Mr. Barnwell Rhett said: "The
+Secession of South Carolina is not an event of a day. It is not
+anything produced by Mr. Lincoln's election, or by the non-execution of
+the Fugitive Slave Law. It has been a matter which has been gathering
+head for thirty years." Mr. Gregg said: "If we undertake to set forth
+all the causes, do we not dishonor the memory of all the statesmen of
+South Carolina, now departed, who commenced forty years ago a war
+against the tariff and against internal improvement, saying nothing of
+the United States Bank, and other measures which may now be regarded as
+obsolete."
+
+On the 20th of December, 1860--the fourth day of the sittings--the
+Ordinance of Secession was reported by the Committee, and was at once
+unanimously passed, as also was a resolution that "the passage of the
+Ordinance be proclaimed by the firing of artillery and ringing of the
+bells of the city, and such other demonstrations as the people may deem
+appropriate on the passage of the great Act of Deliverance and Liberty;"
+after which the Convention jubilantly adjourned to meet, and ratify,
+that evening. At the evening session of this memorable Convention, the
+Governor and Legislature attending, the famous Ordinance was read as
+engrossed, signed by all the delegates, and, after announcement by the
+President that "the State of South Carolina is now and henceforth a Free
+and Independent Commonwealth;" amid tremendous cheering, the Convention
+adjourned. This, the first Ordinance of Secession passed by any of the
+Revolting States, was in these words:
+
+"An Ordinance to dissolve the Union between the State of South Carolina
+and other States united with her, under the compact entitled the
+'Constitution of the United States of America.'
+
+"We the people of the State of South Carolina in Convention assembled,
+do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, that the
+Ordinance adopted by us in Convention on the 23rd day of May, in the
+year of our Lord 1788, whereby the Constitution of the United States of
+America was ratified, and also all Acts and parts of Acts of the General
+Assembly of this State ratifying the amendments of the said
+Constitution, are hereby repealed; and that the Union now subsisting
+between South Carolina and other States, under the name of the United
+States of America, is hereby dissolved."
+
+Thus, and in these words, was joyously adopted and ratified, that solemn
+Act of Separation which was doomed to draw in its fateful train so many
+other Southern States, in the end only to be blotted out with the blood
+of hundreds of thousands of their own brave sons, and their equally
+courageous Northern brothers.
+
+State after State followed South Carolina in the mad course of Secession
+from the Union. Mississippi passed a Secession Ordinance, January 9,
+1861. Florida followed, January 10th; Alabama, January 11th; Georgia,
+January 18th; Louisiana, January 26th; and Texas, February 1st;
+Arkansas, North Carolina, and Virginia held back until a later period;
+while Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Maryland, and Delaware, abstained
+altogether from taking the fatal step, despite all attempts to bring
+them to it.
+
+In the meantime, however, South Carolina had put on all the dignity of
+a Sovereign and Independent State. Her Governor had a "cabinet"
+comprising Secretaries of State, War, Treasury, the Interior, and a
+Postmaster General. She had appointed Commissioners, to proceed to the
+other Slave-holding States, through whom a Southern Congress was
+proposed, to meet at Montgomery, Alabama; and had appointed seven
+delegates to meet the delegates from such other States in that proposed
+Southern Congress. On the 21st of December, 1860, three Commissioners
+(Messrs. Barnwell, Adams, and Orr) were also appointed to proceed to
+Washington, and treat for the cession by the United States to South
+Carolina, of all Federal property within the limits of the latter. On
+the 24th, Governor Pickens issued a Proclamation announcing the adoption
+of the Ordinance of Secession, declaring "that the State of South
+Carolina is, as she has a right to be, a separate sovereign, free and
+independent State, and as such, has a right to levy war, conclude peace,
+negotiate treaties, leagues or covenants, and to do all acts whatsoever
+that rightfully appertain to a free and independent State;" the which
+proclamation was announced as "Done in the eighty-fifth year of the
+Sovereignty and Independence of South Carolina." On the same day (the
+Senators from that State in the United States Senate having long since,
+as we have seen, withdrawn from that body) the Representatives of South
+Carolina in the United States House of Representatives withdrew.
+
+Serious dissensions in the Cabinet of President Buchanan, were now
+rapidly disintegrating the "official family" of the President. Lewis
+Cass, the Secretary of State, disgusted with the President's cowardice
+and weakness, and declining to be held responsible for Mr. Buchanan's
+promise not to reinforce the garrisons of the National Forts, under
+Major Anderson, in Charleston harbor, retired from the Cabinet December
+12th--Howell Cobb having already, "because his duty to Georgia required
+it," resigned the Secretaryship of the Treasury, and left it bankrupt
+and the credit of the Nation almost utterly destroyed.
+
+On the 26th of December, Major Anderson evacuated Fort Moultrie,
+removing all his troops and munitions of war to Fort Sumter--whereupon a
+cry went up from Charleston that this was in violation of the
+President's promise to take no step looking to hostilities, provided the
+Secessionists committed no overt act of Rebellion, up to the close of
+his fast expiring Administration. On the 29th, John B. Floyd, Secretary
+of War, having failed to secure the consent of the Administration to an
+entire withdrawal of the Federal garrison from the harbor of Charleston,
+also resigned, and the next day--he having in the meantime escaped in
+safety to Virginia--was indicted by the Grand Jury at Washington, for
+malfeasance and conspiracy to defraud the Government in the theft of
+$870,000 of Indian Trust Bonds from the Interior Department, and the
+substitution therefor of Floyd's acceptances of worthless army-
+transportation drafts on the Treasury Department.
+
+Jacob Thompson, Secretary of the Interior, also resigned, January 8th,
+1861, on the pretext that "additional troops, he had heard, have been
+ordered to Charleston" in the "Star of the West."--[McPherson's History
+of the Rebellion, p. 28.]
+
+Several changes were thus necessitated in Mr. Buchanan's cabinet, by
+these and other resignations, so that by the 18th of January, 1861,
+Jeremiah S. Black was Secretary of State; General John A. Dix, Secretary
+of the Treasury; Joseph Holt, Secretary of War; Edwin M. Stanton,
+Attorney General; and Horatio King, Postmaster General. But before
+leaving the Cabinet, the conspiring Southern members of it, and their
+friends, had managed to hamstring the National Government, by scattering
+the Navy in other quarters of the World; by sending the few troops of
+the United States to remote points; by robbing the arsenals in the
+Northern States of arms and munitions of war, so as to abundantly supply
+the Southern States at the critical moment; by bankrupting the Treasury
+and shattering the public credit of the Nation; and by other means no
+less nefarious. Thus swindled, betrayed, and ruined, by its degenerate
+and perfidious sons, the imbecile Administration stood with dejected
+mien and folded hands helplessly awaiting the coming catastrophe.
+
+On December 28th, 1860, the three Commissioners of South Carolina having
+reached Washington, addressed to the President a communication, in
+which--after reciting their powers and duties, under the Ordinance of
+Secession, and stating that they had hoped to have been ready to proceed
+to negotiate amicably and without "hostile collision," but that "the
+events--[The removal, to Fort Sumter, of Major Anderson's command, and
+what followed.]--of the last twenty-four hours render such an assurance
+impossible"--they declared that the troops must be withdrawn from
+Charleston harbor, as "they are a standing menace which render
+negotiation impossible," threatening speedily to bring the questions
+involved, to "a bloody issue."
+
+To this communication Mr. Buchanan replied at considerable length,
+December 30th, in an apologetic, self-defensive strain, declaring that
+the removal by Major Anderson of the Federal troops under his command,
+from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter was done "upon his own responsibility,
+and without authority," and that he (the President) "had intended to
+command him to return to his former position," but that events had so
+rapidly transpired as to preclude the giving of any such command;
+
+ [The seizure by the Secessionists, under the Palmetto Flag, of
+ Castle Pinckney and Fort Moultrie; the simultaneous raising of that
+ flag over the Federal Custom House and Post Office at Charleston;
+ the resignation of the Federal Collector, Naval Officer and
+ Surveyor of that Port--all of which occurred December 27th; and the
+ seizure "by force of arms," December 30th, of the United States
+ Arsenal at that point.]
+
+and concluding, with a very slight stiffening of backbone, by saying:
+"After this information, I have only to add that, whilst it is my duty
+to defend Fort Sumter as a portion of the public property of the United
+States against hostile attacks, from whatever quarter they may come, by
+such means as I may possess for this purpose, I do not perceive how such
+a defense can be construed into a menace against the city of
+Charleston." To this reply of the President, the Commissioners made
+rejoinder on the 1st of January, 1861; but the President "declined to
+receive" the communication.
+
+From this time on, until the end of President Buchanan's term of office,
+and the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln as President, March 4th, 1861,
+events crowded each other so hurriedly, that the flames of Rebellion in
+the South were continually fanned, while the public mind in the North
+was staggered and bewildered, by them.
+
+On January 2nd, prior to the Secession of Georgia, Forts Pulaski and
+Jackson, commanding Savannah, and the Federal Arsenal at Augusta,
+Georgia, with two 12 pound howitzers, two cannon, 22,000 muskets and
+rifles, and ammunition in quantity, were seized by Rebel militia. About
+the same date, although North Carolina had not seceded, her Governor
+(Ellis) seized the Federal Arsenal at Fayetteville, Fort Macon, and
+other fortifications in that State, "to preserve them" from mob-seizure.
+
+January 4th, anticipating Secession, Alabama State troops seized Fort
+Morgan, with 5,000 shot and shell, and Mount Vernon Arsenal at Mobile,
+with 2,000 stand of arms, 150, 000 pounds of powder, some pieces of
+cannon, and a large quantity of other munitions of war. The United
+States Revenue cutter, "Lewis Cass," was also surrendered to Alabama.
+
+On the 5th, the Federal steamer "Star of the West," with reinforcements
+and supplies for Fort Sumter, left New York in the night--and Secretary
+Jacob Thompson notified the South Carolina Rebels of the fact.
+
+On the 9th, the "Star of the West" appeared off Charleston bar, and
+while steaming toward Fort Sumter, was fired upon by Rebel batteries at
+Fort Moultrie and Morris Island, and struck by a shot, whereupon she
+returned to New York without accomplishing her mission. That day the
+State of Mississippi seceded from the Union.
+
+On the 10th, the Federal storeship "Texas," with Federal guns and
+stores, was seized by Texans. On the same day Florida seceded.
+
+On the 11th, Forts Jackson and St. Philip, commanding the mouth of the
+Mississippi River, and Fort Pike, dominating Lake Pontchartrain, were
+seized by Louisiana troops; also the Federal Arsenal at Baton Rouge,
+with 50,000 small arms, 4 howitzers, 20 heavy pieces of ordnance, 2
+batteries, 300 barrels of powder, and other stores. The State of
+Alabama also seceded the same day.
+
+On the 12th--Fort Marion, the coast surveying schooner "Dana," the
+Arsenal at St. Augustine, and that on the Chattahoochee, with 500,000
+musket cartridges, 300,000 rifle cartridges and 50,000 pounds of powder,
+having previously been seized--Forts Barrancas and McRae, and the Navy
+Yard at Pensacola, were taken by Rebel troops of Florida, Alabama and
+Mississippi. On the same day, Colonel Hayne, of South Carolina, arrived
+at Washington as Agent or Commissioner to the National Government from
+Governor Pickens of that State.
+
+On the 14th, the South Carolina Legislature resolved "that any attempt
+by the Federal Government to reinforce Fort Sumter will be regarded as
+an act of open hostility, and a Declaration of War."
+
+On the 16th, Colonel Hayne, of South Carolina, developed his mission,
+which was to demand of the President the surrender of Fort Sumter to the
+South Carolina authorities--a demand that had already been made upon,
+and refused by, Major Anderson.
+
+The correspondence concerning this demand, between Colonel Hayne and ten
+Southern United States Senators;--[Senators Wigfall, Hemphill, Yulee,
+Mallory, Jeff. Davis, C. C. Clay, Fitzgerald, Iverson, Slidell, and
+Benjamin.]--the reply of the President, by Secretary Holt, to those
+Senators; Governor Pickens's review of the same; and the final demand;
+consumed the balance of the month of January; and ended, February 6th,
+in a further reply, through the Secretary of War, from the President,
+asserting the title of the United States to that Fort, and declining the
+demand, as "he has no Constitutional power to cede or surrender it."
+Secretary Holt's letter concluded by saying: "If, with all the
+multiplied proofs which exist of the President's anxiety for Peace, and
+of the earnestness with which he has pursued it, the authorities of that
+State shall assault Fort Sumter, and peril the lives of the handful of
+brave and loyal men shut up within its walls, and thus plunge our Common
+Country into the horrors of Civil War, then upon them and those they
+represent, must rest the responsibility."
+
+But to return from this momentary diversion: On the 18th of January,
+Georgia seceded; and on the 20th, the Federal Fort at Ship Island,
+Mississippi, and the United States Hospital on the Mississippi River
+were seized by Mississippi troops.
+
+On the 26th, Louisiana seceded. On the 28th, Louisiana troops seized
+all the quartermaster's and commissary stores held by Federal officials;
+and the United States Revenue cutter "McClelland" surrendered to the
+Rebels.
+
+On February 1st, the Louisiana Rebels seized the National Mint and
+Custom House at New Orleans, with $599,303 in gold and silver. On the
+same day the State of Texas seceded.
+
+On February 8th, the National Arsenal at Little Rock, Arkansas, with
+9,000 small arms, 40 cannon, and quantities of ammunition, was seized;
+and the same day the Governor of Georgia ordered the National Collector
+of the Port of Savannah to retain all collections and make no further
+payments to the United States Government.*
+
+
+ [It was during this eventful month that, certain United States
+ troops having assembled at the National Capital, and the House of
+ Representatives having asked the reason therefor, reply was made by
+ the Secretary of War as follows:
+
+ "WAR DEPARTMENT, February 18, 1861.
+ [Congressional Globe, August 8, 1861, pp. 457,458]
+ "SIR: On the 11th February, the House of Representatives adopted a
+ resolution requesting the President, if not incompatible with the
+ public interests, to communicate 'the reasons that had induced him
+ to assemble so large a number of troops in this city, and why they
+ are kept here; and whether he has any information of a Conspiracy
+ upon the part of any portion of the citizens of this Country to
+ seize upon the Capital and prevent the Inauguration of the
+ President elect.'
+
+ "This resolution having been submitted to this Department for
+ consideration and report, I have the honor to state, that the body
+ of troops temporarily transferred to this city is not as large as
+ is assumed by the resolution, though it is a well-appointed corps
+ and admirably adapted for the preservation of the public peace.
+ The reasons which led to their being assembled here will now be
+ briefly stated.
+
+ "I shall make no comment upon the origin of the Revolution which,
+ for the last three months, has been in progress in several of the
+ Southern States, nor shall I enumerate the causes which have
+ hastened its advancement or exasperated its temper. The scope of
+ the questions submitted by the House will be sufficiently met by
+ dealing with the facts as they exist, irrespective of the cause
+ from which they have proceeded. That Revolution has been
+ distinguished by a boldness and completeness of success rarely
+ equaled in the history of Civil Commotions. Its overthrow of the
+ Federal authority has not only been sudden and wide-spread, but has
+ been marked by excesses which have alarmed all and been sources of
+ profound humiliation to a large portion of the American People.
+ Its history is a history of surprises and treacheries and ruthless
+ spoliations. The Forts of the United States have been captured and
+ garrisoned, and hostile flags unfurled upon their ramparts. Its
+ arsenals have been seized, and the vast amount of public arms they
+ contained appropriated to the use of the captors; while more than
+ half a million dollars, found in the Mint at New Orleans, has been
+ unscrupulously applied to replenish the coffers of Louisiana.
+ Officers in command of revenue cutters of the United States have
+ been prevailed on to violate their trusts and surrender the
+ property in their charge; and instead of being branded for their
+ crimes, they, and the vessels they betrayed, have been cordially
+ received into the service of the Seceded States. These movements
+ were attended by yet more discouraging indications of immorality.
+ It was generally believed that this Revolution was guided and urged
+ on by men occupying the highest positions in the public service,
+ and who, with the responsibilities of an oath to support the
+ Constitution still resting upon their consciences, did not hesitate
+ secretly to plan and openly to labor for, the dismemberment of the
+ Republic whose honors they enjoyed and upon whose Treasury they
+ were living. As examples of evil are always more potent than those
+ of good, this spectacle of demoralization on the part of States and
+ statesmen could not fail to produce the most deplorable
+ consequences. The discontented and the disloyal everywhere took
+ courage. In other States, adjacent to and supposed to sympathize
+ in sense of political wrong with those referred to, Revolutionary
+ schemes were set on foot, and Forts and arms of the United States
+ seized. The unchecked prevalence of the Revolution, and the
+ intoxication which its triumphs inspired, naturally suggested
+ wilder and yet more desperate enterprises than the conquest of
+ ungarrisoned Forts, or the plunder of an unguarded Mint. At what
+ time the armed occupation of Washington City became a part of the
+ Revolutionary Programme, is not certainly known. More than six
+ weeks ago, the impression had already extensively obtained that a
+ Conspiracy for the accomplishment of this guilty purpose was in
+ process of formation, if not fully matured. The earnest endeavors
+ made by men known to be devoted to the Revolution, to hurry
+ Virginia and Maryland out of the Union, were regarded as
+ preparatory steps for the subjugation of Washington. This plan was
+ in entire harmony with the aim and spirit of those seeking the
+ subversion of the Government, since no more fatal blow at its
+ existence could be struck than the permanent and hostile possession
+ of the seat of its power. It was in harmony, too, with the avowed
+ designs of the Revolutionists, which looked to the formation of a
+ Confederacy of all the Slave States, and necessarily to the
+ Conquest of the Capital within their limits. It seemed not very
+ indistinctly prefigured in a Proclamation made upon the floor of
+ the Senate, without qualification, if not exultingly, that the
+ Union was already dissolved--a Proclamation which, however
+ intended, was certainly calculated to invite, on the part of men of
+ desperate fortunes or of Revolutionary States, a raid upon the
+ Capital. In view of the violence and turbulent disorders already
+ exhibited in the South, the public mind could not reject such a
+ scheme as at all improbable. That a belief in its existence was
+ entertained by multitudes, there can be no doubt, and this belief I
+ fully shared. My conviction rested not only on the facts already
+ alluded to, but upon information, some of which was of a most
+ conclusive character, that reached the Government from many parts
+ of the Country, not merely expressing the prevalence of the opinion
+ that such an organization had been formed, but also often
+ furnishing the plausible grounds on which the opinion was based.
+ Superadded to these proofs, were the oft-repeated declarations of
+ men in high political positions here, and who were known to have
+ intimate affiliations with the Revolution--if indeed they did not
+ hold its reins in their hands--to the effect that Mr. Lincoln would
+ not, or should not be inaugurated at Washington. Such
+ declarations, from such men, could not be treated as empty bluster.
+ They were the solemn utterances of those who well understood the
+ import of their words, and who, in the exultation of the temporary
+ victories gained over their Country's flag in the South, felt
+ assured that events would soon give them the power to verify their
+ predictions. Simultaneously with these prophetic warnings, a
+ Southern journal of large circulation and influence, and which is
+ published near the city of Washington, advocated its seizure as a
+ possible political necessity.
+
+ "The nature and power of the testimony thus accumulated may be best
+ estimated by the effect produced upon the popular mind.
+ Apprehensions for the safety of the Capital were communicated from
+ points near and remote, by men unquestionably reliable and loyal.
+ The resident population became disquieted, and the repose of many
+ families in the city was known to be disturbed by painful
+ anxieties. Members of Congress, too-men of calm and comprehensive
+ views, and of undoubted fidelity to their Country--frankly
+ expressed their solicitude to the President and to this Department,
+ and formally insisted that the defenses of the Capital should be
+ strengthened. With such warnings, it could not be forgotten that,
+ had the late Secretary of War heeded the anonymous letter which he
+ received, the tragedy at Harper's Ferry would have been avoided;
+ nor could I fail to remember that, had the early admonitions which
+ reached here in regard to the designs of lawless men upon the Forts
+ of Charleston Harbor been acted on by sending forward adequate
+ reinforcements before the Revolution began, the disastrous
+ political complications that ensued might not have occurred.
+
+ "Impressed by these circumstances and considerations, I earnestly
+ besought you to allow the concentration, at this city, of a
+ sufficient military force to preserve the public peace from all the
+ dangers that seemed to threaten it. An open manifestation, on the
+ part of the Administration, of a determination, as well as of the
+ ability, to maintain the laws, would, I was convinced, prove the
+ surest, as also the most pacific, means of baffling and dissolving
+ any Conspiracy that might have been organized. It was believed too
+ that the highest and most solemn responsibility resting upon a
+ President withdrawing from the Government, was to secure to his
+ successor a peaceful Inauguration. So deeply, in my judgment, did
+ this duty concern the whole Country and the fair fame of our
+ Institutions, that, to guarantee its faithful discharge, I was
+ persuaded no preparation could be too determined or too complete.
+ The presence of the troops alluded to in the resolution is the
+ result of the conclusion arrived at by yourself and Cabinet, on the
+ proposition submitted to you by this Department. Already this
+ display of life and loyalty on the part of your Administration, has
+ produced the happiest effects. Public confidence has been
+ restored, and the feverish apprehension which it was so mortifying
+ to contemplate has been banished. Whatever may have been the
+ machinations of deluded, lawless men, the execution of their
+ purpose has been suspended, if not altogether abandoned in view of
+ preparations which announce more impressively than words that this
+ Administration is alike able and resolved to transfer in peace, to
+ the President elect, the authority that, under the Constitution,
+ belongs to him. To those, if such there be, who desire the
+ destruction of the Republic, the presence of these troops is
+ necessarily offensive; but those who sincerely love our
+ Institutions cannot fail to rejoice that, by this timely precaution
+ they have possibly escaped the deep dishonor which they must have
+ suffered had the Capital, like the Forts and Arsenals of the South,
+ fallen into the hands of the Revolutionists, who have found this
+ great Government weak only because, in the exhaustless beneficence
+ of its spirit, it has refused to strike, even in its own defense,
+ lest it should wound the aggressor.
+
+ "I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
+
+ "J. HOLT.
+ "Secretary of War,
+
+ "THE PRESIDENT."]
+
+
+On February 20th, Forts Chadbourne and Belknap were seized by the Texan
+Rebels; and on the 22nd, the Federal General Twiggs basely surrendered
+to them all the fortifications under his control, his little Army, and
+all the Government stores in his possession--comprising $55,000 in
+specie, 35,000 stand of arms, 26 pieces of mounted artillery, 44
+dismounted guns, and ammunition, horses, wagons, forage, etc., valued at
+nearly $2,000,000.
+
+On the 2nd of March, the Texan Rebels seized the United States Revenue
+cutter "Dodge" at Galveston; and on the 6th, Fort Brown was surrendered
+to them.
+
+Thus, with surrender after surrender, and seizure after
+seizure, of its revenue vessels and fortifications and troops and arms
+and munitions of war in the Southern States--with Fort Sumter invested
+and at the mercy of any attack, and Fortress Monroe alone of all the
+National strongholds yet safe--with State after State seceding--what
+wonder that, while these events gave all encouragement to the Southern
+Rebels, the Patriots of the North stood aghast at the appalling
+spectacle of a crumbling and dissolving Union!
+
+During this period of National peril, the debates in both branches of
+Congress upon propositions for adjustment of the unfortunate differences
+between the Southern Seceders and the Union, as has been already hinted,
+contributed still further to agitate the public mind. Speech after
+speech by the ablest and most brilliant Americans in public life, for or
+against such propositions, and discussing the rightfulness or
+wrongfulness of Secession, were made in Congress day after day, and, by
+means of the telegraph and the press, alternately swayed the Northern
+heart with feelings of hope, chagrin, elation or despair.
+
+The Great Debate was opened in the Senate on almost the very first day
+of its session (December 4th, 1860), by Mr. Clingman, of North Carolina,
+who, referring to South Carolina, declared that "Instead of being
+precipitate, she and the whole South have been wonderfully patient." A
+portion of that speech is interesting even at this time, as showing how
+certain phases of the Tariff and Internal Improvement questions entered
+into the consideration of some of the Southern Secession leaders. Said
+he, "I know there are intimations that suffering will fall upon us of
+the South, if we secede. My people are not terrified by any such
+considerations. * * * They have no fears of the future if driven to
+rely on themselves. The Southern States have more territory than all
+the Colonies had when they Seceded from Great Britain, and a better
+territory. Taking its position, climate, and fertility into
+consideration, there is not upon Earth a body of territory superior to
+it. * * * The Southern States have, too, at this day, four times the
+population the Colonies had when they Seceded from Great Britain. Their
+exports to the North and to Foreign Countries were, last year, more than
+$300,000,000; and a duty of ten per cent. upon the same amount of
+imports would give $30,000,000 of revenue--twice as much as General
+Jackson's administration spent in its first year. Everybody can see,
+too, how the bringing in of $300,000,000 of imports into Southern ports
+would enliven business in our seaboard towns. I have seen with some
+satisfaction, also, Mr. President, that the war made upon us has
+benefitted certain branches of industry in my State. There are
+manufacturing establishments in North Carolina, the proprietors of which
+tell me that they are making fifty per cent. annually on their whole
+capital, and yet cannot supply one tenth of the demand for their
+production. The result of only ten per cent. duties in excluding
+products from abroad, would give life and impetus to mechanical and
+manufacturing industry, throughout the entire South. Our people
+understand these things, and they are not afraid of results, if forced
+to declare Independence. Indeed I do not see why Northern Republicans
+should wish to continue a connection with us upon any terms. * * *
+They want High Tariff likewise. They may put on five hundred per cent.
+if they choose, upon their own imports, and nobody on our side will
+complain. They may spend all the money they raise on railroads, or
+opening harbors, or anything on earth they desire, without interference
+from us; and it does seem to me that if they are sincere in their views
+they ought to welcome a separation."
+
+From the very commencement of this long three-months debate, it was the
+policy of the Southern leaders to make it appear that the Southern
+States were in an attitude of injured innocence and defensiveness
+against Northern aggression. Hence, it was that, as early as December
+5th, on the floor of the Senate, through Mr. Brown, of Mississippi, they
+declared: "All we ask is to be allowed to depart in Peace. Submit we
+will not; and if, because we will not submit to your domination, you
+choose to make War upon us, let God defend the Right!"
+
+At the same time it was esteemed necessary to try and frighten the North
+into acquiescence with this demand to be "let alone." Hence such
+utterances as those of Clingman and Iverson, to which reference has
+already been made, and the especially defiant close of the latter's
+speech, when--replying to the temperate but firm Union utterances of Mr.
+Hale--the Georgia Senator said: "Sir, I do not believe there will be any
+War; but if War is to come, let it come; we will meet the Senator from
+New Hampshire and all the myrmidons of Abolitionism and Black
+Republicanism everywhere upon our own soil; and, in the language of a
+distinguished member from Ohio in relation to the Mexican War, we will
+'welcome you with bloody hands to hospitable graves.'"
+
+On the other hand, in order to encourage the revolting States to the
+speedy commission of overt acts of Rebellion and violence, that would
+precipitate War without a peradventure, utterances fell from Southern
+lips, in the National Senate Chamber, like those of Mr. Wigfall, when he
+said, during this first day of the debate: "Frederick the Great, on one
+occasion, when he had trumped up an old title to some of the adjacent
+territory, quietly put himself in possession and then offered to treat.
+Were I a South Carolinian, as I am a Texan, and I knew that my State was
+going out of the Union, and that this Government would attempt to use
+force, I would, at the first moment that that fact became manifest,
+seize upon the Forts and the arms and the munitions of war, and raise
+the cry 'To your tents, O Israel, and to the God of battles be this
+issue!"
+
+And, as we have already seen, the Rebels of the South were not slow in
+following the baleful advice to the letter. But it was not many days
+after this utterance when the Conspirators against the Union evidently
+began to fear that the ground for Rebellion, upon which they had planted
+themselves, would be taken from under their feet by the impulse of
+Compromise and Concession which stirred so strongly the fraternal spirit
+of the North. That peaceful impulse must be checked and exasperated by
+sneers and impossible demands. Hence, on December 12th we find one of
+the most active and favorite mouthpieces of Treason, Mr. Wigfall,
+putting forth such demands, in his most offensive manner.
+
+Said he: "If the two Senators from New York (Seward and King), the
+Senator from Ohio (Wade), the two Senators from Illinois (Douglas and
+Trumbull), the Senator from New Hampshire (Hale), the Senator from
+Maine, and others who are regarded as representative men, who have
+denied that by the Constitution of the United States, Slaves are
+recognized as Property; who have urged and advocated those acts which we
+regard as aggressive on the part of the People--if they will rise here,
+and say in their places, that they desire to propose amendments to the
+Constitution, and beg that we will vote for them; that they will, in
+good faith, go to their respective constituencies and urge the
+ratification; that they believe, if these Gulf States will suspend their
+action, that those amendments will be ratified and carried out in good
+faith; that they will cease preaching this 'irrepressible conflict'; and
+if, in those amendments, it is declared that Slaves are Property, that
+they shall be delivered up upon demand; and that they will assure us
+that Abolition societies shall be abolished; that Abolition speeches
+shall no longer be made; that we shall have peace and quiet; that we
+shall not be called cut-throats and pirates and murderers; that our
+women shall not be slandered--these things being said in good faith, the
+Senators begging that we will stay our hand until an honest effort can
+be made, I believe that there is a prospect of giving them a fair
+consideration!"
+
+Small wonder is it, that this labored and ridiculous piece of
+impertinence was received with ironical laughter on the Republican side
+of the Senate Chamber. And it was in reference to these threats, and
+these preposterous demands--including the suppression of the right of
+Free Discussion and Liberty of the Press--that, in the same chamber
+(January 7, 1861) the gallant and eloquent Baker said:
+
+"Your Fathers had fought for that right, and more than that, they had
+declared that the violation of that right was one of the great causes
+which impelled them to the Separation. * * * Sir, the Liberty of the
+Press is the highest safeguard to all Free Government. Ours could not
+exist without it. It is with us, nay, with all men, like a great
+exulting and abounding river, It is fed by the dews of Heaven, which
+distil their sweetest drops to form it. It gushes from the rill, as it
+breaks from the deep caverns of the Earth. It is fed by a thousand
+affluents, that dash from the mountaintop to separate again into a
+thousand bounteous and irrigating rills around. On its broad bosom it
+bears a thousand barks. There, Genius spreads its purpling sail.
+There, Poetry dips its silver oar. There, Art, Invention, Discovery,
+Science, Morality, Religion, may safely and securely float. It wanders
+through every land. It is a genial, cordial source of thought and
+inspiration, wherever it touches, whatever it surrounds. Sir, upon its
+borders, there grows every flower of Grace and every fruit of Truth. I
+am not here to deny that that Stream sometimes becomes a dangerous
+Torrent, and destroys towns and cities upon its bank; but I am here to
+say that without it, Civilization, Humanity, Government, all that makes
+Society itself, would disappear, and the World would return to its
+ancient Barbarism.
+
+"Sir, if that were to be possible, or so thought for a moment, the fine
+conception of the great Poet would be realized. If that were to be
+possible, though but for a moment, Civilization itself would roll the
+wheels of its car backward for two thousand years. Sir, if that were
+so, it would be true that:
+
+ 'As one by one in dread Medea's train,
+ Star after Star fades off th' ethereal plain,
+ Thus at her fell approach and secret might,
+ Art after art goes out, and all is night.
+ Philosophy, that leaned on Heaven before,
+ Sinks to her second cause, and is no more.
+ Religion, blushing, veils her sacred fires,
+ And, unawares, Morality expires.'
+
+"Sir, we will not risk these consequences, even for Slavery; we will not
+risk these consequences even for Union; we will not risk these
+consequences to avoid that Civil War with which you threaten us; that
+War which, you announce so deadly, and which you declare to be
+inevitable. * * * I will never yield to the idea that the great
+Government of this Country shall protect Slavery in any Territory now
+ours, or hereafter to be acquired. It is, in my opinion, a great
+principle of Free Government, not, to be surrendered.
+
+"It is in my judgment, the object of the great battle which we have
+fought, and which we have won. It is, in my poor opinion, the point
+upon which there is concord and agreement between the great masses of
+the North, who may agree in no other political opinion whatever. Be he
+Republican, or Democrat, or Douglas man, or Lincoln man; be he from the
+North, or the West, from Oregon, or from Maine, in my judgment nine-
+tenths of the entire population of the North and West are devoted, in
+the very depths of their hearts, to the great Constitutional idea that
+Freedom is the rule, that Slavery is the exception, that it ought not to
+be extended by virtue of the powers of the Government of the United
+States; and, come weal, come woe, it never shall be.
+
+"But, sir, I add one other thing. When you talk to me about Compromise
+or Concession, I am not sure that I always understand you. Do you mean
+that I am to give up my convictions of right? Armies cannot compel that
+in the breast of a Free People. Do you mean that I am to concede the
+benefits of the political struggle through which we have passed,
+considered politically, only? You are too just and too generous to ask
+that. Do you mean that we are to deny the great principle upon which
+our political action has been based? You know we cannot. But if you
+mean by Compromise and Concession to ask us to see whether we have not
+been hasty, angry, passionate, excited, and in many respects violated
+your feelings, your character, your right of property, we will look;
+and, as I said yesterday, if we have, we will undo it. Allow me to say
+again, if there be any lawyer or any Court that will advise us that our
+laws are unconstitutional, we will repeal them.
+
+"Now as to territory. I will not yield one inch to Secession; but there
+are things that I will yield, and there are things to which I will
+yield. It is somewhere told that when Harold of England received a
+messenger from a brother with whom he was at variance, to inquire on
+what terms reconciliation and peace could be effected between brothers,
+he replied in a gallant and generous spirit in a few words, 'the, terms
+I offer are the affection of a brother; and the Earldom of
+Northumberland.' And, said the Envoy, as he marched up the Hall amid
+the warriors that graced the state of the King, 'if Tosti, thy brother,
+agree to this, what terms will you allow to his ally and friend,
+Hadrada, the giant.' 'We will allow,' said Harold, 'to Hadrada, the
+giant, seven feet of English ground, and if he be, as they say, a giant,
+some few inches more!' and, as he spake, the Hall rang with acclamation.
+
+"Sir, in that spirit I speak. I follow, at a humble distance, the ideas
+and the words of Clay, illustrious, to be venerated, and honored, and
+remembered, forever. * * * He said--I say: that I will yield no inch,
+no word, to the threat of Secession, unconstitutional, revolutionary,
+dangerous, unwise, at variance with the heart and the hope of all
+mankind save themselves. To that I yield nothing; but if States loyal
+to the Constitution, if people magnanimous and just, desiring a return
+of fraternal feeling, shall come to us and ask for Peace, for permanent,
+enduring peace and affection, and say, 'What will you grant? I say to
+them, 'Ask all that a gentleman ought to propose, and I will yield all
+that a gentleman ought to offer.' Nay, more: if you are galled because
+we claim the right to prohibit Slavery in territory now Free, or in any
+Territory which acknowledges our jurisdiction, we will evade--I speak
+but for myself--I will aid in evading that question; I will agree to
+make it all States, and let the People decide at once. I will agree to
+place them in that condition where the prohibition of Slavery will never
+be necessary to justify ourselves to our consciences or to our
+constituents. I will agree to anything which is not to force upon me
+the necessity of protecting Slavery in the name of Freedom. To that I
+never can and never will yield."
+
+The speeches of Seward, of Douglas, of Crittenden, of Andrew Johnson, of
+Baker, and others, in behalf of the Union, and those of Benjamin, Davis,
+Wigfall, Lane, and others, in behalf of Secession, did much toward
+fixing the responsibility for the approaching bloody conflict where it
+belonged. The speeches of Andrew Johnson of Tennessee--who, if he at a
+subsequent period of the Nation's history, proved himself not the
+worthiest son of the Republic, at this critical time, at all events, did
+grand service in the National Senate--especially had great and good
+effect on the public mind in the Northern and Border States. They were,
+therefore, gall and wormwood to the Secession leaders, who hoped to drag
+the Border States into the great Southern Confederacy of States already
+in process of formation.
+
+Their irritation was shown in threats of personal violence to Mr.
+Johnson, as when Wigfall--replying February 7th, 1861, to the latter's
+speech, said, "Now if the Senator wishes to denounce Secession and
+Nullification eo nomine, let him go back and denounce Jefferson; let him
+denounce Jackson, if he dare, and go back and look that Tennessee
+Democracy in the face, and see whether they will content themselves with
+riddling his effigy!"
+
+It would seem also, from another part of Wigfall's reply, that the
+speeches of Union Senators had been so effective that a necessity was
+felt on the part of the Southern Conspirators to still further attempt
+to justify Secession by shifting the blame to Northern shoulders, for,
+while referring to the Presidential canvass of 1860--and the attitude of
+the Southern Secession leaders during that exciting period--he said:
+"We (Breckinridge-Democrats) gave notice, both North and South, that if
+Abraham Lincoln was elected, this Union was dissolved. I never made a
+speech during the canvass without asserting that fact. * * * Then, I
+say, that our purpose was not to dissolve the Union; but the dire
+necessity has been put upon us. The question is, whether we shall live
+longer in a Union in which a Party, hostile to us in every respect, has
+the power in Congress, in the Executive department, and in the Electoral
+Colleges--a Party who will have the power even in the Judiciary. We
+think it is not safe. We say that each State has the clear indisputable
+right to withdraw if she sees fit; and six of the States have already
+withdrawn, and one other State is upon the eve of withdrawing, if she
+has not already done so. How far this will spread no man can tell!"
+
+As tending to show the peculiar mixture of brag, cajolery, and threats,
+involved in the attitude of the South, as expressed by the same favorite
+Southern mouthpiece, toward the Border-States on the one hand, and the
+Middle and New England States on the other, a further extract from this
+(February 7th) speech of the Texan Senator may be of interest. Said he:
+
+"With exports to the amount of hundreds of millions of dollars, our
+imports must be the same. With a lighter Tariff than any people ever
+undertook to live under, we could have larger revenue. We would be able
+to stand Direct Taxation to a greater extent than any people ever could
+before, since the creation of the World. We feel perfectly competent to
+meet all issues that may be presented, either by hostility from abroad
+or treason at home. So far as the Border-States are concerned, it is a
+matter that concerns them alone. Should they confederate with us,
+beyond all doubt New England machinery will be worked with the water
+power of Tennessee, of Kentucky, of Virginia and of Maryland; the Tariff
+laws that now give New England the monopoly in the thirty-three States,
+will give to these Border States a monopoly in the Slave-holding States.
+Should the non-Slave-holding States choose to side against us in
+organizing their Governments, and cling to their New England brethren,
+the only result will be, that the meat, the horses, the hemp, and the
+grain, which we now buy in Pennsylvania, in Ohio, in Indiana and
+Illinois, will be purchased in Kentucky and in Western Virginia and in
+Missouri. Should Pennsylvania stand out, the only result will be, that
+the iron which is now dug in Pennsylvania, will be dug in the mountains
+of Tennessee and of Virginia and of Kentucky and of North Carolina.
+These things we know.
+
+"We feel no anxiety at all, so far as money or men are concerned. We
+desire War with nobody; we intend to make no War; but we intend to live
+under just such a Government as we see fit. Six States have left this
+Union, and others are going to leave it simply because they choose to do
+it; that is all. We do not ask your consent; we do not wish it. We
+have revoked our ratification of the Treaty commonly known as the
+Constitution of the United States; a treaty for common defense and
+general welfare; and we shall be perfectly willing to enter into another
+Treaty with you, of peace and amity. Reject the olive branch and offer
+us the sword, and we accept it; we have not the slightest objection.
+Upon that subject we feel as the great William Lowndes felt upon another
+important subject, the Presidency, which he said was neither to be
+sought nor declined. When you invade our soil, look to your own
+borders. You say that you have too many people, too many towns, too
+dense a population, for us to invade you. I say to you Senators, that
+there is nothing that ever stops the march of an invading force, except
+a desert. The more populous a country, the more easy it is to subsist
+an army."
+
+After declaring that--"Not only are our non-Slaveholders loyal, but even
+our Negroes are. We have no apprehensions whatever of insurrection--not
+the slightest. We can arm our negroes, and leave them at home, when we
+are temporarily absent"--Mr. Wigfall proceeded to say: "We may as well
+talk plainly about this matter. This is probably the last time I shall
+have an opportunity of addressing you. There is another thing that an
+invading army cannot do. It cannot burn up plantations. You can pull
+down fences, but the Negroes will put them up the next morning. The
+worst fuel that ever a man undertook to make fire with, is dirt; it will
+not burn. Now I have told you what an invading army cannot do. Suppose
+I reverse the picture and tell you what it can do. An invading army in
+an enemy's country, where there is a dense population, can subsist
+itself at a very little cost; it does not always pay for what it gets.
+An invading army can burn down towns; an invading army can burn down
+manufactories; and it can starve operatives. It can do all these
+things. But an Invading army, and an army to defend a Country, both
+require a military chest. You may bankrupt every man south of North
+Carolina, so that his credit is reduced to such a point that he could
+not discount a note for thirty dollars, at thirty days; but the next
+autumn those Cotton States will have just as much money and as much
+credit as they had before. They pick money off the cotton plant. Every
+time that a Negro touches a cotton-pod with his hand, he pulls a piece
+of silver out of it, and he drops it into the basket in which it is
+carried to the gin-house. It is carried to the packing screw. A bale
+of cotton rolls out-in other words, five ten-dollar pieces roll out-
+covered with canvas. We shall never again make less than five million
+bales of cotton. * * * We can produce five million bales of cotton,
+every bale worth fifty dollars, which is the lowest market price it has
+been for years past. We shall import a bale of something else, for
+every bale of cotton that we export, and that bale will be worth fifty
+dollars. We shall find no difficulty under a War-Tariff in raising an
+abundance of money. We have been at Peace for a very long time, We are
+very prosperous. Our planters use their cotton, not to buy the
+necessaries of life, but for the superfluities, which they can do
+without. The States themselves have a mine of wealth in the loyalty and
+the wealth of their citizens. Georgia, Mississippi, any one of those
+States can issue its six per cent. bonds tomorrow, and receive cotton in
+payment to the extent almost of the entire crop. They can first borrow
+from their own citizens; they can tax them to an almost unlimited
+extent; and they can raise revenue from a Tariff to an almost unlimited
+extent.
+
+"How will it be with New England? where will their revenue come from?
+From your Custom-houses? what do you export? You have been telling us
+here for the last quarter of a century, that you cannot manufacture,
+even for the home market, under the Tariffs which we have given you.
+When this Tariff ceases to operate in your favor, and you have to pay
+for coming into our markets, what will you export? When your machinery
+ceases to move, and your operatives are turned out, will you tax your
+broken capitalist or your starving operative? When the navigation laws
+cease to operate, what will become of your shipping interest? You are
+going to blockade our ports, you say. That is a very innocent game; and
+you suppose we shall sit quietly down and submit to a blockade. I speak
+not of foreign interference, for we look not for it. We are just as
+competent to take Queen Victoria and Louis Napoleon under our
+protection, as they are to take us; and they are a great deal more
+interested to-day in receiving cotton from our ports than we are in
+shipping it. You may lock up every bale of cotton within the limits of
+the eight Cotton States, and not allow us to export one for three years,
+and we shall not feel it further than our military resources are
+concerned. Exhaust the supply of cotton in Europe for one week, and all
+Europe is in revolution.
+
+"These are facts. You will blockade us! Do you suppose we shall do
+nothing, even upon the sea? How many letters of marque and reprisal
+would it take to put the whole of your ships up at your wharves to rot?
+Will any merchant at Havre, or Liverpool, or any other portion of the
+habitable globe, ship a cargo upon a New England, or New York, or
+Philadelphia clipper, or other ship, when he knows that the seas are
+swarming with letters of marque and reprisal? Why the mere apprehension
+of such a thing will cut you out of the Carrying Trade of the civilized
+World. * * * I speak not of the absurdity of the position that you can
+blockade our ports, admitting at the same time that we are in the Union.
+Blockade is a remedy, as all writers on International law say, against a
+Foreign Power with whom you are at War. You cannot use a blockade
+against your own people. An embargo even, you cannot use. That is a
+remedy against a Foreign Nation with whom you expect to be at War. You
+must treat us as in the Union, or out of it. We have gone out. We are
+willing to live at peace with you; but, as sure as fate, whenever any
+flag comes into one of our ports, that has thirty-three stars upon it,
+that flag will be fired at. Displaying a flag with stars which we have
+plucked from that bright galaxy, is an insult to the State within whose
+waters that flag is displayed. You cannot enforce the laws without
+Coercion, and you cannot Coerce without War.
+
+"These matters, then, can be settled. How? By withdrawing your troops;
+admitting our right to Self-government clearly, unqualifiedly. Do this,
+and there is no difficulty about it. You say that you will not do it.
+Very well; we have no objection--none whatever. That is Coercion. When
+you have attempted it, you will find that you have made War. These,
+Senators, are facts. I come here to plead for Peace; but I have seen so
+much and felt so much, that I am becoming at last, to tell the plain
+truth of the matter, rather indifferent as to which way the thing turns.
+If you want War, you can have it. If you want Peace, you can get it;
+but I plead not for Peace."
+
+Meanwhile the Seceding States of the South were strengthening their
+attitude by Confederation. On February 4, 1861, the Convention of
+Seceding States, called by the South Carolina Convention at the time of
+her Secession, met, in pursuance of that call, at Montgomery, Alabama,
+and on the 9th adopted a Provisional Constitution and organized a
+Provisional Government by the election of Jefferson Davis of
+Mississippi, as President, and Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia, as
+Vice-President; to serve until a Presidential election could be held by
+the people of the Confederacy.
+
+ [At a later day, March 11, 1861, a permanent Constitution for the
+ "Confederate States" was adopted, and, in the Fall of the same
+ year, Messrs. Davis and Stephens were elected by popular vote, for
+ the term of six years ensuing, as President and Vice-President,
+ respectively, of the Confederacy.]
+
+Mr. Davis almost at once left Jackson, Mississippi, for Montgomery,
+where he arrived and delivered his Inaugural, February 17, having
+received on his road thither a succession of ovations from the
+enthusiastic Rebels, to which he had responded with no less than twenty-
+five speeches, very similar in tone to those made in the United States
+Senate by Mr. Wigfall and others of that ilk-breathing at once defiance
+and hopefulness, while admitting the difficulties in the way of the new
+Confederacy.
+
+"It may be," said he, at Jackson, "that we will be confronted by War;
+that the attempt will be made to blockade our ports, to starve us out;
+but they (the Union men of the North) know little of the Southern heart,
+of Southern endurance. No amount of privation could force us to remain
+in a Union on unequal terms. England and France would not allow our
+great staple to be dammed up within our present limits; the starving
+thousands in their midst would not allow it. We have nothing to
+apprehend from Blockade. But if they attempt invasion by land, we must
+take the War out of our territory. If War must come, it must be upon
+Northern, and not upon Southern soil. In the meantime, if they were
+prepared to grant us Peace, to recognize our equality, all is well."
+
+And, in his speech at Stevenson, Alabama, said he "Your Border States
+will gladly come into the Southern Confederacy within sixty days, as we
+will be their only friends. England will recognize us, and a glorious
+future is before us. The grass will grow in the Northern cities, where
+the pavements have been worn off by the tread of Commerce. We will
+carry War where it is easy to advance--where food for the sword and
+torch await our Armies in the densely populated cities; and though they
+may come and spoil our crops, we can raise them as before; while they
+cannot rear the cities which took years of industry and millions of
+money to build."
+
+Very different in tone to these, were the kindly and sensible utterances
+of Mr. Lincoln on his journey from Springfield to Washington, about the
+same time, for Inauguration as President of the United States. Leaving
+Springfield, Illinois, February 11th, he had pathetically said:
+
+"My friends: No one, not in my position, can realize the sadness I feel
+at this parting. To this people I owe all that I am. Here I have lived
+more than a quarter of a century. Here my children were born, and here
+one of them lies buried. I know not how soon I shall see you again. I
+go to assume a task more difficult than that which has devolved upon any
+other man since the days of Washington. He never would have succeeded
+except for the aid of Divine Providence, upon which he at all times
+relied. I feel that I cannot succeed without the same Divine blessing
+which sustained him; and on the same Almighty Being I place my reliance
+for support. And I hope you, my friends, will all pray that I may
+receive that Divine assistance, without which I cannot succeed, but with
+which success is certain. Again I bid you an affectionate farewell."
+
+At Indianapolis, that evening, the eve of his birthday anniversary,
+after thanking the assembled thousands for their "magnificent welcome,"
+and defining the words "Coercion" and "Invasion"--at that time so
+loosely used--he continued: "But if the United States should merely hold
+and retake her own Forts and other property, and collect the duties on
+foreign importation, or even withhold the mails from places where they
+were habitually violated, would any or all of these things be 'Invasion'
+or 'Coercion'? Do our professed lovers of the Union, who spitefully
+resolve that they will resist Coercion and Invasion, understand that
+such things as these on the part of the United States would be
+'Coercion' or 'Invasion' of a State? If so, their idea of means to
+preserve the object of their great affection would seem to be
+exceedingly thin and airy."
+
+At Columbus, Ohio, he spoke in a like calm, conservative, reasoning way
+--with the evident purpose of throwing oil on the troubled waters--when
+he said: "I have not maintained silence from any want of real anxiety.
+It is a good thing that there is no more than anxiety; for there is
+nothing going wrong. It is a consoling circumstance that, when we look
+out, there is nothing that really hurts anybody. We entertain different
+views upon political questions; but nobody is suffering anything. This
+is a consoling circumstance; and from it we may conclude that all we
+want is time, patience, and a reliance on that God who has never
+forsaken this People."
+
+So, too, at Pittsburg, Pa., February 15th, he said, of "our friends," as
+he termed them, the Secessionists: "Take even their own views of the
+questions involved, and there is nothing to justify the course they are
+pursuing. I repeat, then, there is no crisis, except such an one as may
+be gotten up at any time by turbulent men, aided by designing
+politicians. My advice to them, under the circumstances, is to keep
+cool. If the great American People only keep their temper both sides of
+the line, the trouble will come to an end, and the question which now
+distracts the Country be settled, just as surely as all other
+difficulties, of a like character, which have been originated in this
+Government, have been adjusted. Let the people on both sides keep their
+self-possession, and, just as other clouds have cleared away in due
+time, so will this great Nation continue to prosper as heretofore."
+
+And toward the end of that journey, on the 22nd of February--
+Washington's Birthday--in the Independence Hall at Philadelphia, after
+eloquently affirming his belief that "the great principle or idea that
+kept this Confederacy so long together was * * * that sentiment in the
+Declaration of Independence which gave Liberty not alone to the People
+of this Country, but" he hoped "to the World, for all future time * * *
+which gave promise that, in due time, the weight would be lifted from
+the shoulders of all men"--he added, in the same firm, yet temperate and
+reassuring vein: "Now, my friends, can this Country be saved on that
+basis? If it can, I will consider myself one of the happiest men in the
+world, if I can help to save it. If it cannot be saved on that basis,
+it will be truly awful. But, if this Country cannot be saved without
+giving up that principle, I was about to say I would rather be
+assassinated on this spot than surrender it. Now in my view of the
+present aspect of affairs, there need be no bloodshed or War. There is
+no necessity for it. I am not in favor of such a course; and I may say,
+in advance, that there will be no bloodshed, unless it be forced upon
+the Government, and then it will be compelled to act in self-defense. *
+* * I have said nothing but what I am willing to live by, and, if it be
+the pleasure of Almighty God, to die by."
+
+Thus, as he progressed on that memorable journey from his home in
+Illinois, through Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Columbus, Pittsburgh,
+Cleveland, Erie, Buffalo, Albany, New York, Trenton, Newark,
+Philadelphia, and Harrisburg-amid the prayers and blessings and
+acclamations of an enthusiastic and patriotic people--he uttered words
+of wise conciliation and firm moderation such as beseemed the high
+functions and tremendous responsibilities to which the voice of that
+liberty--and-union-loving people had called him, and this too, with a
+full knowledge, when he made the Philadelphia speech, that the enemies
+of the Republic had already planned to assassinate him before he could
+reach Washington.
+
+The prudence of his immediate friends, fortunately defeated the
+murderous purpose--and by the simple device of taking the regular night
+express from Philadelphia instead of a special train next day--to
+Washington, he reached the National Capital without molestation early on
+the morning of the 23rd of February.
+
+That morning, after Mr. Lincoln's arrival, in company with Mr. Lovejoy,
+the writer visited him at Willard's Hotel. During the interview both
+urged him to "Go right along, protect the property of the Country, and
+put down the Rebellion, no matter at what cost in men and money." He
+listened with grave attention, and said little, but very clearly
+indicated his approval of all the sentiments thus expressed--and then,
+with the same firm and manly and cheerful faith in the outcome, he
+added: "As the Country has placed me at the helm of the Ship, I'll try
+to steer her through."
+
+The spirit in which he proposed to accomplish this superhuman task, was
+shown when he told the Southern people through the Civic authorities of
+Washington on the 27th of February--When the latter called upon him--
+that he had no desire or intention to interfere with any of their
+Constitutional rights--that they should have all their rights under the
+Constitution, "not grudgingly, but fully and fairly." And what was the
+response of the South to this generous and conciliatory message?
+Personal sneers--imputations of Northern cowardice--boasts of Southern
+prowess--scornful rejection of all compromise--and an insolent challenge
+to the bloody issue of arms!
+
+Said Mr. Wigfall, in the United States Senate, on March 2d, alluding to
+Mr. Lincoln, "I do not think that a man who disguises himself in a
+soldier's cloak and a Scotch cap (a more thorough disguise could not be
+assumed by such a man) and makes his entry between day and day, into the
+Capital of the Country that he is to govern--I hardly think that he is
+going to look War sternly in the face.
+
+ [Had Mr. Wigfall been able at this time to look four years into the
+ future and behold the downfall of the Southern Rebellion, the
+ flight of its Chieftains, and the capture of Jefferson Davis while
+ endeavoring to escape, with his body enclosed in a wrapper and a
+ woman's shawl over his head, as stated by Lieutenant-Colonel Stuart
+ of Jefferson Davis's Staff, p. 756, vol. ii., Greeley's American
+ Conflict--he would hardly have retailed this slander.]
+
+"I look for nothing else than that the Commissioners from the
+Confederated States will be received here and recognized by Abraham
+Lincoln. I will now predict that this Republican Party that is going to
+enforce the Laws, preserve the Union, and collect Revenue, will never
+attempt anything so silly; and that instead of taking Forts, the troops
+will be withdrawn from those which we now have. See if this does not
+turn out to be so, in less than a week or ten days."
+
+In the same insulting diatribe, he said: "It is very easy for men to
+bluster who know there is going to be no danger. Four or five million
+people living in a territory that extends from North Carolina down to
+the Rio Grande, who have exports to above three hundred million dollars,
+whose ports cannot be blockaded, but who can issue letters of marque and
+reprisal, and sweep your commerce from the seas, and who will do it, are
+not going to be trifled with by that sensible Yankee nation. Mark my
+words. I did think, at one time, there was going to be War; I do not
+think so now. * * * The Star of the West swaggered into Charleston
+harbor, received a blow planted full in the face, and staggered out.
+Your flag has been insulted; redress it if you dare! You have submitted
+to it for two months, and you will submit to it for ever. * * * We
+have dissolved the Union; mend it if you can; cement it with blood; try
+the experiment! we do not desire War; we wish to avoid it. * * * This
+we say; and if you choose to settle this question by the Sword, we feel,
+we know, that we have the Right. We interfere with you in no way. We
+ask simply that you will not interfere with us. * * * You tell us you
+will keep us in the Union. Try the experiment!"
+
+And then, with brutal frankness, he continued: "Now, whether what are
+called The Crittenden Resolutions will produce satisfaction in some of
+these Border States, or not, I am unaware; but I feel perfectly sure
+they would not be entertained upon the Gulf. As to the Resolutions
+which the Peace Congress has offered us, we might as well make a clean
+breast of it. If those Resolutions were adopted, and ratified by three
+fourths of the States of this Union, and no other cause ever existed, I
+make the assertion that the seven States now out of the Union, would go
+out upon that."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER VIII.
+
+ THE REJECTED OLIVE BRANCH.
+
+While instructive, it will also not be devoid of interest, to pause
+here, and examine the nature of the Crittenden Resolutions, and also the
+Resolutions of the Peace Congress, which, we have seen, were spurned by
+the Secession leaders, through their chief mouthpiece in the United
+States Senate.
+
+The Crittenden Compromise Resolutions * were in these words:
+
+"A Joint Resolution proposing certain Amendments to the Constitution of
+the United States:
+
+"Whereas, serious and alarming dissensions have arisen between the
+Northern and the Southern States, concerning the Rights and security of
+the Rights of the Slaveholding States, and especially their Rights in
+the common territory of the United States; and whereas, it is eminently
+desirable and proper that these dissensions, which now threaten the very
+existence of this Union, should be permanently quieted and settled by
+Constitutional provisions which shall do equal justice to all Sections,
+and thereby restore to the People that peace and good-will which ought
+to prevail between all the citizens of the United States; Therefore:
+
+Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
+States of America, in Congress assembled, (two thirds of both Houses
+concurring), the following articles be, and are hereby proposed and
+submitted as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, which
+shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of said
+Constitution, when ratified by Conventions of three-fourths of the
+several States:
+
+"Article I. In all the territory of the United States now held, or
+hereafter to be acquired, situate north of latitude 36 30', Slavery or
+involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, is prohibited,
+while such territory shall remain under Territorial government. In all
+the territory south of said line of latitude, Slavery of the African
+race is hereby recognized as existing, and shall not be interfered with
+by Congress, but shall be protected as Property by all the departments
+of the Territorial government during its continuance. And when any
+Territory, north or south of said line, within such boundaries as
+Congress may prescribe, shall contain the population requisite for a
+member of Congress, according to the then Federal ratio of
+representation of the People of the United States, it shall, if its own
+form of government be republican, be admitted into the Union, on an
+equal footing with the original States; with or without Slavery, as the
+Constitution of such new State may provide.
+
+"Article II. Congress shall have no power to abolish Slavery in places
+under its exclusive jurisdiction, and situate within the limits of
+States that permit the holding of Slaves.
+
+"Article III. Congress shall have no power to abolish Slavery within
+the District of Columbia; so long as it exists in the adjoining States
+of Virginia and Maryland, or either, nor without the consent of the
+inhabitants, nor without just compensation first made to such owners of
+Slaves as do not consent to such abolishment. Nor shall Congress, at
+any time, prohibit officers of the Federal government, or members of
+Congress whose duties require them to be in said District, from bringing
+with them their Slaves, and holding them as such during the time their
+duties may require them to remain there, and afterward taking them from
+the District.
+
+"Article IV. Congress shall have no power to prohibit or hinder the
+Transportation of Slaves from one State to another, or to a Territory in
+which Slaves are, by law, permitted to be held, whether that
+transportation be by land, navigable rivers, or by the sea.
+
+"Article V. That in addition to the provisions of the third paragraph
+of the second section of the fourth article of the Constitution of the
+United States, Congress shall have power to provide by law, and it shall
+be its duty to provide, that the United States shall pay to the owner
+who shall apply for it, the full value of his Fugitive Slaves in all
+cases where the Marshal, or other officer whose duty it was to arrest
+said Fugitive, was prevented from so doing by violence or intimidation,
+or where, after arrest, said Fugitive was rescued by force, and the
+owner thereby prevented and obstructed in the pursuit of his remedy for
+the recovery of his Fugitive Slave under the said clause of the
+Constitution and the laws made in pursuance thereof.
+
+ ["No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws
+ thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any Law or
+ Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but
+ shall be delivered up on claim of the Party to whom such Service or
+ Labour may be due."--Art. IV., Sec. 2, P 3, U. S. Constitution.]
+
+"And in all such cases, when the United States shall pay for such
+Fugitive, they shall have the Right, in their own name, to sue the
+county in which said violence, intimidation, or rescue, was committed,
+and recover from it, with interest and damages, the amount paid by them
+for said Fugitive Slave. And the said county, after it has paid said
+amount to the United States, may, for its indemnity, sue and recover
+from the wrong-doers or rescuers by whom the owner was prevented from
+the recovery of his Fugitive Slave, in like manner as the owner himself
+might have sued and recovered.
+
+"Article VI. No future amendment of the Constitution shall affect the
+five preceding articles; nor the third paragraph of the second section
+of the first article of the Constitution, nor the third paragraph of
+the second section of the fourth article of said Constitution; and no
+amendment shall be made to the Constitution which shall authorize or
+give to Congress any power to abolish or interfere with Slavery in any
+of the States by whose laws it is or may be, allowed or permitted.
+
+ ["Representatives and Direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the
+ several States which may be included within this Union, according
+ to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to
+ the whole Number of Free Persons, including those bound to Service
+ for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not Taxed, three-fifths
+ of all Other Persons," etc.--Art. 1., Sec. 2, P 3, U. S.
+ Constitution.]
+
+"And whereas, also, besides those causes of dissension embraced in the
+foregoing amendments proposed to the Constitution of the United States,
+there are others which come within the jurisdiction of Congress, and may
+be remedied by its legislative power; And whereas it is the desire of
+Congress, as far as its power will extend, to remove all just cause for
+the popular discontent and agitation which now disturb the peace of the
+Country and threaten the stability of its Institutions; Therefore:
+
+"1. Resolved by the Senate and house of Representatives in Congress
+assembled, that the laws now in force for the recovery of Fugitive
+Slaves are in strict pursuance of the plain and mandatory provisions of
+the Constitution, and have been sanctioned as valid and Constitutional
+by the judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States; that the
+Slaveholding States are entitled to the faithful observance and
+execution of those laws; and that they ought not to be repealed, or so
+modified or changed as to impair their efficiency; and that laws ought
+to be made for the punishment of those who attempt, by rescue of the
+Slave, or other illegal means, to hinder or defeat the due execution of
+said laws.
+
+"2. That all State laws which conflict with the Fugitive Slave Acts of
+Congress, or any other Constitutional Acts of Congress, or which, in
+their operation, impede, hinder, or delay, the free course and due
+execution of any of said Acts, are null and void by the plain provisions
+of the Constitution of the United States; yet those State laws, void as
+they are, have given color to practices, and led to consequences, which
+have obstructed the due administration and execution of Acts of
+Congress, and especially the Acts for the delivery of Fugitive Slaves;
+and have thereby contributed much to the discord and commotion now
+prevailing. Congress, therefore, in the present perilous juncture, does
+not deem it improper, respectfully and earnestly, to recommend the
+repeal of those laws to the several States which have enacted them, or
+such legislative corrections or explanations of them as may prevent
+their being used or perverted to such mischievous purposes.
+
+"3. That the Act of the 18th of September, 1850, commonly called the
+Fugitive Slave Law, ought to be so amended as to make the fee of the
+Commissioner, mentioned in the eighth section of the Act, equal in
+amount in the cases decided by him, whether his decision be in favor of,
+or against the claimant. And, to avoid misconstruction, the last clause
+of the fifth section of said Act, which authorizes the person holding a
+warrant for the arrest or detention of a Fugitive Slave to summon to his
+aid the posse comitatus, and which declares it to be the duty of all
+good citizens to assist him in its execution, ought to be so amended as
+to expressly limit the authority and duty to cases in which there shall
+be resistance, or danger of resistance or rescue.
+
+"4. That the laws for the suppression of the African Slave Trade, and
+especially those prohibiting the importation of Slaves into the United
+States, ought to be more effectual, and ought to be thoroughly executed;
+and all further enactments necessary to those ends ought to be promptly
+made."
+
+
+The Peace Conference, or "Congress," it may here be mentioned, was
+called, by action of the Legislature of Virginia, to meet at Washington,
+February 4, 1861. The invitation was extended to all of such "States of
+this Confederacy * * * whether Slaveholding or Non-Slaveholding, as are
+willing to unite with Virginia in an earnest effort to adjust the
+present unhappy controversies in the spirit in which the Constitution
+was originally formed, and consistently with its principles, so as to
+afford to the people of the Slaveholding States adequate guarantees for
+the security of their rights"--such States to be represented by
+Commissioners "to consider, and, if practicable, agree upon some
+suitable adjustment."
+
+The Conference, or "Congress," duly convened, at that place and time,
+and organized by electing ex-President John Tyler, of Virginia, its
+President. This Peace Congress--which comprised 133 Commissioners,
+representing the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts,
+Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware,
+Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio,
+Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Kansas--remained in session until
+February 27, 1861--and then submitted the result of its labors to
+Congress, with the request that Congress "will submit it to Conventions
+in the States, as Article Thirteen of the Amendments to the Constitution
+of the United States, in the following shape:
+
+"Section 1. In all the present territory of the United States, north of
+the parallel of 36 30' of north latitude, Involuntary Servitude, except
+in punishment of crime, is prohibited. In all the present territory
+south of that line, the status of Persons held to Involuntary Service or
+Labor, as it now exists, shall not be changed; nor shall any law be
+passed by Congress or the Territorial Legislature to hinder or prevent
+the taking of such Persons from any of the States of this Union to said
+Territory, nor to impair the Rights arising from said relation; but the
+same shall be subject to judicial cognizance in the Federal Courts,
+according to the course of the common law. When any Territory north or
+south of said line, within such boundary as Congress may prescribe,
+shall contain a population equal to that required for a member of
+Congress, it shall, if its form of government be republican, be admitted
+into the Union on an equal footing with the original States, with or
+without Involuntary Servitude, as the Constitution of such State may
+provide.
+
+"Section 2. No territory shall be acquired by the United States, except
+by discovery and for naval and commercial stations, depots, and transit
+routes, without the concurrence of a majority of all the Senators from
+States which allow Involuntary Servitude, and a majority of all the
+Senators from States which prohibit that relation; nor shall Territory
+be acquired by treaty, unless the votes of a majority of the Senators
+from each class of States hereinbefore mentioned be cast as a part of
+the two-thirds majority necessary to the ratification of such treaty.
+
+"Section 3. Neither the Constitution, nor any amendment thereof, shall
+be construed to give Congress power to regulate, abolish, or control,
+within any State, the relation established or recognized by the laws
+thereof touching Persons held to Labor or Involuntary Service therein,
+nor to interfere with or abolish Involuntary Service in the District of
+Columbia without the consent of Maryland, and without the consent of the
+owners, or making the owners who do not consent just compensation; nor
+the power to interfere with or prohibit Representatives and others from
+bringing with them to the District of Columbia, retaining, and taking
+away, Persons so held to Labor or Service; nor the power to interfere
+with or abolish Involuntary Service in places under the exclusive
+jurisdiction of the United States within those States and Territories
+where the same is established or recognized; nor the power to prohibit
+the removal or transportation of Persons held to Labor or Involuntary
+Service in any State or Territory of the United States to any other
+State or Territory thereof where it is established or recognized by law
+or usage; and the right during transportation, by sea or river, of
+touching at ports, shores, and landings, and of landing in case of
+distress, shall exist; but not the right of transit in or through any
+State or Territory, or of sale or traffic, against the laws thereof.
+Nor shall Congress have power to authorize any higher rate of taxation
+on Persons held to Labor or Service than on land. The bringing into the
+District of Columbia of Persons held to Labor or Service, for sale, or
+placing them in depots to be afterwards transferred to other places for
+sale as merchandize, is prohibited.
+
+"Section 4. The third paragraph of the second section of the fourth
+article of the Constitution shall not be construed to prevent any of the
+States, by appropriate legislation, and through the action of their
+judicial and ministerial officers, from enforcing the delivery of
+Fugitives from Labor to the person to whom such Service or Labor is due.
+
+"Section 5. The Foreign Slave Trade is hereby forever prohibited; and
+it shall be the duty of Congress to pass laws to prevent the importation
+of Slaves, Coolies, or Persons held to Service or Labor, into the United
+States and the Territories from places beyond the limits thereof.
+
+"Section 6. The first, third, and fifth sections, together with this
+section of these amendments, and the third paragraph of the second
+section of the first article of the Constitution, and the third
+paragraph of the second section of the fourth article thereof, shall not
+be amended or abolished without the consent of all the States.
+
+"Section 7. Congress shall provide by law that the United States shall
+pay to the owner the full value of the Fugitive from Labor, in all cases
+where the Marshal, or other officer, whose duty it was to arrest such
+Fugitive, was prevented from so doing by violence or intimidation from
+mobs or riotous assemblages, or when, after arrest, such Fugitive was
+rescued by like violence or intimidation, and the owner thereby deprived
+of the same; and the acceptance of such payment shall preclude the owner
+from further claim to such Fugitive. Congress shall provide by law for
+securing to the citizens of each State the privileges and immunities of
+citizens in the several States."
+
+
+To spurn such propositions as these--with all the concessions to the
+Slave Power therein contained--was equivalent to spurning any and all
+propositions that could possibly be made; and by doing this, the
+Seceding States placed themselves--as they perhaps desired--in an
+utterly irreconcilable attitude, and hence, to a certain extent, which
+had not entered into their calculations, weakened their "Cause" in the
+eyes of many of their friends in the North, in the Border States, and in
+the World. They had become Implacables. Practically considered, this
+was their great mistake. The Crittenden Compromise Resolutions covered
+and yielded to the Slaveholders of the South all and even more than they
+had ever dared seriously to ask or hope for, and had they been open to
+Conciliation, they could have undoubtedly carried that measure through
+both Houses of Congress and three-fourths of the States.
+
+ ["Its advocates, with good reason, claimed a large majority of the
+ People in its favor, and clamored for its submission to a direct
+ popular vote. Had such a submission been accorded, it is very
+ likely that the greater number of those who voted at all would have
+ voted to ratify it. * * * The 'Conservatives,' so called, were
+ still able to establish this Crittenden Compromise by their own
+ proper strength, had they been disposed so to do. The President
+ was theirs; the Senate strongly theirs; in the House, they had a
+ small majority, as was evidenced in their defeat of John Sherman
+ for Speaker. Had they now come forward and said, with authority:
+ 'Enable us to pass the Crittenden Compromise, and all shall be
+ peace and harmony,' they would have succeeded without difficulty.
+ It was only through the withdrawal of pro-slavery members that the
+ Republicans had achieved an unexpected majority in either House.
+ Had those members chosen to return to the seats still awaiting
+ them, and to support Mr. Crittenden's proposition, they could have
+ carried it without difficulty."--Vol. 360, Greeley's Am. Conflict.]
+
+But no, they wilfully withdrew their Congressional membership, State by
+State, as each Seceded, and refused all terms save those which involved
+an absolute surrender to them on all points, including the impossible
+claim of the "Right of Secession."
+
+Let us now briefly trace the history of the Compromise measures in the
+two Houses of Congress.
+
+The Crittenden-Compromise Joint-Resolution had been introduced in the
+Senate at the opening of its session and referred to a Select Committee
+of Thirteen, and subsequently, January 16th, 1861, having been reported
+back, came up in that body for action. On that day it was amended by
+inserting the words "now held or hereafter to be acquired" after the
+words "In all the territory of the United States," in the first line of
+Article I., so that it would read as given above. This amendment--by
+which not only in all territory then belonging to the United States, but
+also by implication in all that might thereafter be acquired, Slavery
+South of 36 30' was to be recognized--was agreed to by 29 yeas to 21
+nays, as follows:
+
+YEAS.--Messrs. Baker, Bayard, Benjamin, Bigler, Bragg, Bright,
+Clingman, Crittenden, Douglas, Fitch, Green, Gwin, Hemphill, Hunter,
+Iverson, Johnson of Tennessee, Kennedy, Lane, Mason, Nicholson, Pearce,
+Polk, Powell, Pugh, Rice, Saulsbury, Sebastian, Slidell and Wigfall--29.
+
+NAYS.--Messrs. Anthony, Bingham, Cameron, Chandler, Clark, Collamer,
+Dixon, Doolittle, Durkee, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Hale, Harlan,
+King, Latham, Seward, Simmons, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Wade and
+Wilson--24.
+
+The question now recurred upon an amendment, in the nature of a
+substitute, offered by Mr. Clark, to strike out the preamble of the
+Crittenden proposition and all of the resolutions after the word
+"resolved," and insert:
+
+"That the provisions of the Constitution are ample for the preservation
+of the Union, and the protection of all the material interests of the
+Country; that it needs to be obeyed rather than amended; and that an
+extrication from our present dangers is to be looked for in strenuous
+efforts to preserve the peace, protect the public property, and enforce
+the laws, rather than in new Guarantees for particular interests,
+Compromises for particular difficulties, or Concessions to unreasonable
+demands.
+
+"Resolved, That all attempts to dissolve the present Union, or overthrow
+or abandon the present Constitution, with the hope or expectation of
+constructing a new one, are dangerous, illusory, and destructive; that
+in the opinion of the Senate of the United States no such Reconstruction
+is practicable; and, therefore, to the maintenance of the existing Union
+and Constitution should be directed all the energies of all the
+departments of the Government, and the efforts of all good citizens."
+
+
+Before reaching a vote on this amendment, Mr. Anthony, (January 16th)
+made a most conciliatory speech, pointing out such practical objections
+to the Crittenden proposition as occurred to his mind, and then,
+continuing, said: "I believe, Mr. President, that if the danger which
+menaces us is to be avoided at all, it must be by Legislation; which is
+more ready, more certain, and more likely to be satisfactory, than
+Constitutional Amendment. The main difficulty is the Territorial
+question. The demand of the Senators on the other side of the Chamber,
+and of those whom they represent, is that the territory south of the
+line of the Missouri Compromise shall be open to their peculiar
+Property. All this territory, except the Indian Reservation, is within
+the limits of New Mexico; which, for a part of its northern boundary,
+runs up two degrees above that line. This is now a Slave Territory;
+made so by Territorial Legislation; and Slavery exists there, recognized
+and protected. Now, I am willing, as soon as Kansas can be admitted, to
+vote for the admission of New Mexico as a State, with such Constitution
+as the People may adopt. This disposes of all the territory that is
+adapted to Slave Labor or that is claimed by the South. It ought to
+settle the whole question. Surely if we can dispose of all the
+territory that we have, we ought not to quarrel over that which we have
+not, and which we have no very honest way of acquiring. Let us settle
+the difficulties that threaten us now, and not anticipate those which
+may never come. Let the public mind have time to cool * * *. In
+offering to settle this question by the admission of New Mexico, we of
+the North who assent to it propose a great Sacrifice, and offer a large
+Concession.
+
+"* * * But we make the offer in a spirit of Compromise and good
+feeling, which we hope will be reciprocated. * * * I appeal to
+Senators on the other side, when we thus offer to bridge over full
+seven-eighths of the frightful chasm that separates us, will you not
+build the other eighth? When, with outstretched arms, we approach you
+so near that, by reaching out your hands you can clasp ours in the
+fraternal grasp from which they should never be separated, will you,
+with folded arms and closed eyes, stand upon extreme demands which you
+know we cannot accept, and for which, if we did, we could not carry our
+constituents? * * * Together our Fathers achieved the Independence of
+their Country; together they laid the foundations of its greatness and
+its glory; together they constructed this beautiful system under which
+it is our privilege to live, which it is our duty to preserve and to
+transmit. Together we enjoy that privilege; together we must perform
+that duty. I will not believe that, in the madness of popular folly and
+delusion, the most benignant Government that ever blessed humanity is to
+be broken up. I will not believe that this great Power which is
+marching with giant steps toward the first place among the Nations of
+the Earth, is to be turned 'backward on its mighty track.' There are no
+grievances, fancied or real, that cannot be redressed within the Union
+and under the Constitution. There are no differences between us that
+may not be settled if we will take them up in the spirit of those to
+whose places we have succeeded, and the fruits of whose labors we have
+inherited."
+
+And to this more than fair proposition to the Southerners--to this
+touching appeal in behalf of Peace--what was the response? Not a word!
+It seemed but to harden their hearts.
+
+ [Immediately after Mr. Anthony's appeal to the Southern Senators, a
+ motion was made by Mr. Collamer to postpone the Crittenden
+ Resolutions and take up the Kansas Admission Bill. Here was the
+ chance at once offered to them to respond to that appeal--to make a
+ first step, as it were. They would not make it. The motion was
+ defeated by 25 yeas to 30 nays--Messrs. Benjamin and Slidell of
+ Louisiana, Hemphill and Wigfall of Texas, Iverson of Georgia, and
+ Johnson of Arkansas, voting "nay." The question at once recurred
+ on the amendment of Mr. Clark--being a substitute for the
+ Crittenden Resolutions, declaring in effect all Compromise
+ unnecessary. To let that substitute be adopted, was to insure the
+ failure of the Crittenden proposition. Yet these same six Southern
+ Senators though present, refused to vote, and permitted the
+ substitute to be adopted by 25 yeas to 23 nays. The vote of Mr.
+ Douglas, who had been "called out for an instant into the ante-
+ room, and deprived of the opportunity of voting "--as he afterwards
+ stated when vainly asking unanimous consent to have his vote
+ recorded among the nays-would have made it 25 yeas to 24 nays, had
+ he been present and voting, while the votes of the six Southern
+ Senators aforesaid, had they voted, would have defeated the
+ substitute by 25 yeas to 30 nays. Then upon a direct vote on the
+ Crittenden Compromise there would not only have been the 30 in its
+ favor, but the vote of at least one Republican (Baker) in addition,
+ to carry it, and, although that would not have given the necessary
+ two-thirds, yet it would have been a majority handsome enough to
+ have ultimately turned the scales, in both Houses, for a peaceful
+ adjustment of the trouble, and have avoided all the sad
+ consequences which so speedily befell the Nation. But this would
+ not have suited the Treasonable purposes of the Conspirators. Ten
+ days before this they had probably arranged the Programme in this,
+ as well as other matters. Very certain it is that no time was lost
+ by them and their friends in making the best use for their Cause of
+ this vote, in the doubtful States of Missouri and North Carolina
+ especially. In the St. Louis journals a Washington dispatch,
+ purporting (untruly however) to come from Senators Polk and Green,
+ was published to this effect.
+
+ "The Crittenden Resolutions were lost by a vote of 25 to 23. A
+ motion of Mr. Cameron to reconsider was lost; and thus ends all
+ hope of reconciliation. Civil War is now considered inevitable,
+ and late accounts declare that Fort Sumter will be attacked without
+ delay. The Missouri delegation recommend immediate Secession."
+
+ This is but a sample of other similar dispatches sent elsewhere.
+ And the following dispatch, signed by Mr. Crittenden, and published
+ in the Raleigh, N. C., Register, to quiet the excitement raised by
+ the telegrams of the Conspirators, serves also to indicate that the
+ friends of Compromise were not disheartened by their defeat:
+
+ "WASHINGTON, Jan. 17th, 9 P. M.
+
+ "In reply the vote against my resolutions will be reconsidered.
+ Their failure was the result of the refusal of six Southern
+ Senators to vote. There is yet good hope of success.
+
+ "JOHN J. CRITTENDEN."
+
+
+ There is instruction also to be drawn from the speeches of Senators
+ Saulsbury, and Johnson of Tennessee, made fully a year afterward
+ (Jan. 29-31, 1862) in the Senate, touching the defeat of the
+ Crittenden Compromise by the Clark substitute at this time.
+ Speaking of the second session of the Thirty-sixth Congress, Mr.
+ Saulsbury said:
+
+ "At that session, while vainly striving with others for the
+ adoption of those measures, I remarked in my place in the Senate
+ that--
+
+ "'If any Gibbon should hereafter write the Decline and Fall of the
+ American Republic, he would date its fall from the rejection by the
+ Senate of the propositions submitted by the Senator from Kentucky.'
+
+ "I believed so then, and I believe so now. I never shall forget,
+ Mr. President, how my heart bounded for joy when I thought I saw a
+ ray of hope for their adoption in the fact that a Republican
+ Senator now on this floor came to me and requested that I should
+ inquire of Mr. Toombs, who was on the eve of his departure for
+ Georgia to take a seat in the Convention of that State which was to
+ determine the momentous question whether she should continue a
+ member of the Union or withdraw from it, whether, if the Crittenden
+ propositions were adopted, Georgia would remain in the Union.
+
+ "Said Mr. Toombs:
+
+ "'Tell him frankly for me that if those resolutions are adopted by
+ the vote of any respectable number of Republican Senators,
+ evidencing their good faith to advocate their ratification by their
+ people, Georgia will not Secede. This is the position I assumed
+ before the people of Georgia. I told them that if the party in
+ power gave evidence of an intention to preserve our rights in the
+ Union, we were bound to wait until their people could act.'
+
+ "I communicated the answer. The Substitute of the Senator from New
+ Hampshire [Mr. Clark] was subsequently adopted, and from that day
+ to this the darkness and the tempest and the storm have thickened,
+ until thousands like myself, as good and as true Union men as you,
+ Sir, though you may question our motives, have not only despaired
+ but are without hope in the future."
+
+ To this speech, Mr. Johnson of Tennessee subsequently replied as
+ follows in the United States Senate (Jan. 31, 1862)
+
+ "Sir, it has been said by the distinguished Senator from Delaware
+ [Mr. Saulsbury] that the questions of controversy might all have
+ been settled by Compromise. He dealt rather extensively in the
+ Party aspect of the case, and seemingly desired to throw the onus
+ of the present condition of affairs entirely on one side. He told
+ us that, if so and so had been done, these questions could have
+ been settled, and that now there would have been no War. He
+ referred particularly to the resolution offered during the last
+ Congress by the Senator from New Hampshire [Mr. Clark], and upon
+ the vote on that he based his argument. * * * The Senator told us
+ that the adoption of the Clark amendment to the Crittenden
+ Resolutions defeated the settlement of the questions of
+ controversy; and that, but for that vote, all could have been peace
+ and prosperity now. We were told that the Clark amendment defeated
+ the Crittenden Compromise, and prevented a settlement of the
+ controversy. On this point I will read a portion of the speech of
+ my worthy and talented friend from California [Mr. Latham]; and
+ when I speak of him thus, I do it in no unmeaning sense I intend
+ that he, not I, shall answer the Senator from Delaware. * * * As
+ I have said, the Senator from Delaware told us that the Clark
+ amendment was the turning point in the whole matter; that from it
+ had flowed Rebellion, Revolution, War, the shooting and
+ imprisonment of people in different States--perhaps he meant to
+ include my own. This was the Pandora's box that has been opened,
+ out of which all the evils that now afflict the Land have flown. *
+ * * My worthy friend from California [Mr. Latham], during the last
+ session of Congress, made one of the best speeches he ever made. *
+ * * In the course of that speech, upon this very point he made use
+ of these remarks:
+
+ "'Mr. President, being last winter a careful eye-witness of all
+ that occurred, I soon became satisfied that it was a deliberate,
+ wilful design, on the part of some representatives of Southern
+ States, to seize upon the election of Mr. Lincoln merely as an
+ excuse to precipitate this revolution upon the Country. One
+ evidence, to my mind, is the fact that South Carolina never sent
+ her Senators here.'
+
+ "Then they certainly were not influenced by the Clark amendment.
+
+ "'An additional evidence is, that when gentlemen on this floor, by
+ their votes, could have controlled legislation, they refused to
+ cast them for fear that the very Propositions submitted to this
+ body might have an influence in changing the opinions of their
+ constituencies. Why, Sir, when the resolutions submitted by the
+ Senator from New Hampshire [Mr. Clark], were offered as an
+ amendment to the Crittenden Propositions, for the manifest purpose
+ of embarrassing the latter, and the vote taken on the 16th of
+ January, 1861, I ask, what did we see? There were fifty-five
+ Senators at that time upon this floor, in person. The Globe of the
+ second Session, Thirty-Sixth Congress, Part I., page 409, shows
+ that upon the call of the yeas and nays immediately preceding the
+ vote on the substituting of Mr. Clark's amendment, there were
+ fifty-five votes cast. I will read the vote from the Globe:
+
+ "'YEAS--Messrs. Anthony, Baker, Bingham, Cameron, Chandler, Clark,
+ Collamer, Dixon, Doolittle, Durkee, Fessenden, Foot, Foster,
+ Grimes, Hale, Harlan, King, Seward, Simmons, Sumner, Ten Eyck,
+ Trumbull, Wade, Wilkinson, and Wilson--25.
+
+ "NAYS--Messrs. Bayard, Benjamin, Bigler, Bragg, Bright, Clingman,
+ Crittenden, Douglas, Fitch, Green, Gwin, Hemphill, Hunter, Iverson,
+ Johnson of Arkansas, Johnson of Tennessee, Kennedy, Lane, Latham,
+ Mason, Nicholson, Pearce, Polk, Powell, Pugh, Rice, Saulsbury,
+ Sebastian, Slidell and Wigfall--30.
+
+ "The vote being taken immediately after, on the Clark Proposition,
+ was as follows:
+
+ "YEAS--Messrs. Anthony, Baker, Bingham, Cameron, Chandler, Clark,
+ Collamer, Dixon, Doolittle, Durkee, Fessenden, Foot, Foster,
+ Grimes, Hale, Harlan, King, Seward, Simmons, Sumner, Ten Eyck,
+ Trumbull, Wade, Wilkinson and Wilson--25.
+
+ "NAYS-Messrs. Bayard, Bigler, Bragg, Bright, Clingman, Crittenden,
+ Fitch, Green, Gwin, Hunter, Johnson of Tennessee, Kennefly, Lane,
+ Latham, Mason, Nicholson, Pearce, Polk, Powell, Pugh, Rice,
+ Saulsbury and Sebastian-23.
+
+ "'Six senators retained their seats and refused to vote, thus
+ themselves allowing the Clark Proposition to supplant the
+ Crittenden Resolution by a vote of twenty-five to twenty-three.
+ Mr. Benjamin of Louisiana, Mr. Hemphill and Mr. Wigfall of Texas,
+ Mr. Iverson of Georgia, Mr. Johnson of Arkansas, and Mr. Slidell of
+ Louisiana, were in their seats, but refused to cast their votes.'
+
+ "I sat right behind Mr. Benjamin, and I am not sure that my worthy
+ friend was not close by, when he refused to vote, and I said to
+ him, 'Mr. Benjamin, why do you not vote? Why not save this
+ Proposition, and see if we cannot bring the Country to it?' He
+ gave me rather an abrupt answer, and said he would control his own
+ action without consulting me or anybody else. Said I: 'Vote, and
+ show yourself an honest man.' As soon as the vote was taken, he
+ and others telegraphed South, 'We cannot get any Compromise.' Here
+ were six Southern men refusing to vote, when the amendment would
+ have been rejected by four majority if they had voted. Who, then,
+ has brought these evils on the Country? Was it Mr. Clark? He was
+ acting out his own policy; but with the help we had from the other
+ side of the chamber, if all those on this side had been true to the
+ Constitution and faithful to their constituents, and had acted with
+ fidelity to the Country, the amendment of the Senator from New
+ Hampshire could have been voted down, the defeat of which the
+ Senator from Delaware says would have saved the Country. Whose
+ fault was it? Who is responsible for it? * * * Who did it?
+ SOUTHERN TRAITORS, as was said in the speech of the Senator from
+ California. They did it. They wanted no Compromise. They
+ accomplished their object by withholding their votes; and hence the
+ Country has been involved in the present difficulty. Let me read
+ another extract from this speech of the Senator from California
+
+ "'I recollect full well the joy that pervaded the faces of some of
+ those gentlemen at the result, and the sorrow manifested by the
+ venerable Senator from Kentucky [Mr. Crittenden]. The record shows
+ that Mr. Pugh, from Ohio, despairing of any Compromise between the
+ extremes of ultra Republicanism and Disunionists, working
+ manifestly for the same end, moved, immediately after the vote was
+ announced, to lay the whole subject on the table. If you will turn
+ to page 443, same volume, you will find, when, at a late period,
+ Mr. Cameron, from Pennsylvania, moved to reconsider the vote,
+ appeals having been made to sustain those who were struggling to
+ preserve the Peace of the Country, that the vote was reconsidered;
+ and when, at last, the Crittenden Propositions were submitted on
+ the 2d day of March, these Southern States having 'nearly all
+ Seceded, they were then lost but by one vote. Here is the vote:
+
+ "YEAS-Messrs. Bayard, Bigler, Bright, Crittenden, Douglas, Gwin,
+ Hunter, Johnson of Tennessee, Kennedy, Lane, Latham, Mason,
+ Nicholson, Polk, Pugh, Rice, Sebastian, Thomson and Wigfall--19.
+
+ "'NAYS-Messrs. Anthony, Bingham, Chandler, Clark, Dixon,
+ Doolittle, Durkee, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Harlan, King,
+ Morrill, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Wade, Wilkinson and Wilson--
+ 20.
+
+ "'If these Seceding Southern senators had remained, there would
+ have passed, by a large vote (as it did without them), an
+ amendment, by a two-third vote, forbidding Congress ever
+ interfering with Slavery in the States. The Crittenden Proposition
+ would have been indorsed by a majority vote, the subject finally
+ going before the People, who have never yet, after consideration,
+ refused Justice, for any length of time, to any portion of the
+ Country.
+
+ "'I believe more, Mr. President, that these gentlemen were acting
+ in pursuance of a settled and fixed plan to break up and destroy
+ this Government.'
+
+ "When we had it in our power to vote down the amendment of the
+ Senator from New Hampshire, and adopt the Crittenden Resolutions,
+ certain Southern Senators prevented it; and yet, even at a late day
+ of the session, after they had Seceded, the Crittenden Proposition
+ was only lost by one vote. If Rebellion and bloodshed and murder
+ have followed, to whose skirts does the responsibility attach?
+
+ "What else was done at the very same session? The House of
+ Representatives passed, and sent to this body, a Proposition to
+ amend the Constitution of the United States, so as to prohibit
+ Congress from ever hereafter interfering with the Institution of
+ Slavery in the States, making that restriction a part of the
+ Organic law of the Land. That Constitutional Amendment came here
+ after the Senators from seven States had Seceded; and yet it was
+ passed by a two-third vote in the Senate. Have you ever heard of
+ any one of the States which had then Seceded, or which has since
+ Seceded, taking up that Amendment to the Constitution, and saying
+ they would ratify it, and make it a part of that instrument? No.
+ Does not the whole history of this Rebellion tell you that it was
+ Revolution that the Leaders wanted, that they started for, that
+ they intended to have? The facts to which I have referred show how
+ the Crittenden Proposition might have been carried; and when the
+ Senators from the Slave States were reduced to one-fourth of the
+ members of this body, the two Houses passed a Proposition to Amend
+ the Constitution, so as to guarantee to the States perfect security
+ in regard to the Institution of Slavery in all future time, and
+ prohibiting Congress from legislating on the subject.
+
+ "But what more was done? After Southern Senators had treacherously
+ abandoned the Constitution and deserted their posts here, Congress
+ passed Bills for the Organization of three new Territories: Dakota,
+ Nevada, and Colorado; and in the sixth section of each of those
+ Bills, after conferring, affirmatively, power on the Territorial
+ Legislature, it went on to exclude certain powers by using a
+ negative form of expression; and it provided, among other things,
+ that the Legislature should have no power to legislate so as to
+ impair the right to private property; that it should lay no tax
+ discriminating against one description of Property in favor of
+ another; leaving the power on all these questions, not in the
+ Territorial Legislature, but in the People when they should come to
+ form a State Constitution.
+
+ "Now, I ask, taking the Amendment to the Constitution, and taking
+ the three Territorial Bills, embracing every square inch of
+ territory in the possession of the United States, how much of the
+ Slavery question was left? What better Compromise could have been
+ made? Still we are told that matters might have been Compromised,
+ and that if we had agreed to Compromise, bloody Rebellion would not
+ now be abroad in the Land. Sir, Southern Senators are responsible
+ for it. They stood here with power to accomplish the result, and
+ yet treacherously, and, I may say, tauntingly they left this
+ chamber, and announced that they had dissolved their connection
+ with the Government. Then, when we were left in the hands of those
+ whom we had been taught to believe would encroach upon our Rights,
+ they gave us, in the Constitutional Amendment and in the three
+ Territorial Bills, all that had ever been asked; and yet gentlemen
+ talked Compromise!
+
+ "Why was not this taken and accepted? No; it was not Compromise
+ that the Leaders wanted; they wanted Power; they wanted to Destroy
+ this Government, so that they might have place and emolument for
+ themselves. They had lost confidence in the intelligence and
+ virtue and integrity of the People, and their capacity to govern
+ themselves; and they intended to separate and form a government,
+ the chief corner-stone of which should be Slavery, disfranchising
+ the great mass of the People, of which we have seen constant
+ evidence, and merging the Powers of Government in the hands of the
+ Few. I know what I say. I know their feelings and their
+ sentiments. I served in the Senate here with them. I know they
+ were a Close Corporation, that had no more confidence in or respect
+ for the People than has the Dey of Algiers. I fought that Close
+ Corporation here. I knew that they were no friends of the People.
+ I knew that Slidell and Mason and Benjamin and Iverson and Toombs
+ were the enemies of Free Government, and I know so now. I
+ commenced the war upon them before a State Seceded; and I intend to
+ keep on fighting this great battle before the Country, for the
+ perpetuity of Free Government. They seek to overthrow it, and to
+ establish a Despotism in its place. That is the great battle which
+ is upon our hands. * * * Now, the Senator from Delaware tells us
+ that if that (Crittenden) Compromise had been made, all these
+ consequences would have been avoided. It is a mere pretense; it is
+ false. Their object was to overturn the Government. If they could
+ not get the Control of this Government, they were willing to divide
+ the Country and govern part of it."]
+
+
+The Clark substitute was then agreed to, by 25 (Republican) yeas to 23
+Democratic and Conservative (Bell-Everett) nays--6 Pro-Slavery Senators
+not voting, although present; and then, without division, the Crittenden
+Resolutions were tabled--Mr. Cameron, however, entering a motion to
+reconsider. Subsequently the action of the Senate, both on the
+Resolutions and Substitute, was reconsidered, and March 2d the matter
+came up again, as will hereafter appear.
+
+Two days prior to this action in the Senate, Mr. Corwin, Chairman of the
+Select Committee of Thirty-three, reported to the House (January 14th),
+from a majority of that Committee, the following Joint Resolution:
+
+"Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
+States of America in Congress assembled, That all attempts on the parts
+of the Legislatures of any of the States to obstruct or hinder the
+recovery and surrender of Fugitives from Service or Labor, are in
+derogation of the Constitution of the United States, inconsistent with
+the comity and good neighborhood that should prevail among the several
+States, and dangerous to the Peace of the Union.
+
+"Resolved, That the several States be respectfully requested to cause
+their Statutes to be revised, with a view to ascertain if any of them
+are in conflict with or tend to embarrass or hinder the execution of the
+Laws of the United States, made in pursuance of the second section of
+the Fourth Article of the Constitution of the United States for the
+delivery up of Persons held to Labor by the laws of any State and
+escaping therefrom; and the Senate and House of Representatives
+earnestly request that all enactments having such tendency be forthwith
+repealed, as required by a just sense of Constitutional obligations, and
+by a due regard for the Peace of the Republic; and the President of the
+United States is requested to communicate these resolutions to the
+Governors of the several States, with a request that they will lay the
+same before the Legislatures thereof respectively.
+
+"Resolved, That we recognize Slavery as now existing in fifteen of the
+United States by the usages and laws of those States; and we recognize
+no authority, legally or otherwise, outside of a State where it so
+exists, to interfere with Slaves or Slavery in such States, in disregard
+of the Rights of their owners or the Peace of society.
+
+"Resolved, That we recognize the justice and propriety of a faithful
+execution of the Constitution, and laws made in pursuance thereof, on
+the subject of Fugitive Slaves, or Fugitives from Service or Labor, and
+discountenance all mobs or hindrances to the execution of such laws, and
+that citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and
+immunities of citizens in the several States.
+
+"Resolved, That we recognize no such conflicting elements in its
+composition, or sufficient cause from any source, for a dissolution of
+this Government; that we were not sent here to destroy, but to sustain
+and harmonize the Institutions of the Country, and to see that equal
+justice is done to all parts of the same; and finally, to perpetuate its
+existence on terms of equality and justice to all the States.
+
+"Resolved, That a faithful observance, on the part of all the States, of
+all their Constitutional obligations to each other and to the Federal
+Government, is essential to the Peace of the Country.
+
+"Resolved, That it is the duty of the Federal Government to enforce the
+Federal Laws, protect the Federal property, and preserve the Union of
+these States.
+
+"Resolved, That each State be requested to revise its Statutes, and, if
+necessary, so to amend the same as to secure, without Legislation by
+Congress, to citizens of other States traveling therein, the same
+protection as citizens of such States enjoy; and also to protect the
+citizens of other States traveling or sojourning therein against popular
+violence or illegal summary punishment, without trial in due form of
+law, for imputed crimes.
+
+"Resolved, That each State be also respectfully requested to enact such
+laws as will prevent and punish any attempt whatever in such State to
+recognize or set on foot the lawless invasion of any other State or
+Territory.
+
+"Resolved, That the President be requested to transmit copies of the
+foregoing resolutions to the Governors of the several States, with a
+request that they be communicated to their respective Legislatures."
+
+
+This Joint Resolution, with amendments proposed to the same, came up in
+the House for action, on the 27th of February, 1861--the same day upon
+which the Peace Congress or Conference concluded its labors at
+Washington.
+
+The Proposition of Mr. Burch, of California, was the first acted upon.
+It was to amend the Select Committee's resolutions, as above given, by
+adding to them another resolution at the end thereof, as follows:
+
+"Resolved, etc., That it be, and is hereby, recommended to the several
+States of the Union that they, through their respective Legislatures,
+request the Congress of the United States to call a Convention of all
+the States, in accordance with Article Fifth of the Constitution, for
+the purpose of amending said Constitution in such manner and with regard
+to such subjects as will more adequately respond to the wants, and
+afford more sufficient Guarantees to the diversified and growing
+Interests of the Government and of the People composing the same."
+
+This (Burch) amendment, however, was defeated by 14 yeas to 109 nays.
+
+A Proposition of Mr. Kellogg, of Illinois, came up next for action. It
+was a motion to strike out all after the first word "That" in the
+Crittenden Proposition--which had been offered by Mr. Clemens as a
+substitute for the Committee Resolutions--and insert the following:
+
+"The following articles be, and are hereby, proposed and submitted as
+Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be
+valid, to all intents and purposes as part of said Constitution, when
+ratified by Conventions of three-fourths of the several States.
+
+"Article XIII. That in all the territory now held by the United States
+situate north of latitude 36 30' Involuntary Servitude, except in the
+punishment for crime, is prohibited while such territory shall remain
+under a Territorial government; that in all the territory now held south
+of said line, neither Congress nor any Territorial Legislature shall
+hinder or prevent the emigration to said territory of Persons; held to
+Service from any State of this Union, when that relation exists by
+virtue of any law or usage of such State, while it shall remain in a
+Territorial condition; and when any Territory north or south of said
+line, within such boundaries as Congress may prescribe, shall contain
+the population requisite for a member of Congress, according to the then
+Federal ratio of representation of the People of the United States, it
+may, if its form of government be Republican, be admitted into the Union
+on an equal footing with the original States, with or without the
+relation of Persons held to Service and Labor, as the Constitution of
+such new State may provide.
+
+"Article XIV. That nothing in the Constitution of the United States, or
+any amendment thereto, shall be so construed as to authorize any
+Department of the Government to in any manner interfere with the
+relation of Persons held to Service in any State where that relation
+exists, nor in any manner to establish or sustain that relation in any
+State where it is prohibited by the Laws or Constitution of such State.
+And that this Article shall not be altered or amended without the
+consent of every State in the Union.
+
+"Article XV. The third paragraph of the second section of the Fourth
+Article of the Constitution shall be taken and construed to authorize
+and empower Congress to pass laws necessary to secure the return of
+Persons held to Service or Labor under the laws of any State, who may
+have escaped therefrom, to the party to whom such Service or Labor may
+be due.
+
+"Article XVI. The migration or importation of Persons held to Service
+or Involuntary Servitude, into any State, Territory, or place within the
+United States, from any place or country beyond the limits of the United
+States or Territories thereof, is forever prohibited.
+
+"Article XVII. No territory beyond the present limits of the United
+States and the Territories thereof, shall be annexed to or be acquired
+by the United States, unless by treaty, which treaty shall be ratified
+by a vote of two-thirds of the Senate."
+
+The Kellogg Proposition was defeated by 33 yeas to 158
+nays.
+
+The Clemens Substitute was next voted on. This embraced the whole of
+the Crittenden Compromise Proposition, as amended in the Senate by
+inserting the provision as to all territory "hereafter acquired," with
+the addition of another proposed Article of Amendment to the
+Constitution, as follows:
+
+"Article VII. Section I. The elective franchise and the Right to hold
+office, whether Federal, State, Territorial, or Municipal, shall not be
+exercised by Persons who are, in whole or in part, of the African Race.
+
+"Section II. The United States shall have power to acquire from time to
+time districts of country in Africa and South America, for the
+colonization, at expense of the Federal Treasury, of such Free Negroes
+and Mulattoes as the several States may wish to have removed from their
+limits, and from the District of Columbia, and such other places as may
+be under the jurisdiction of Congress."
+
+The Clemens Substitute (or Crittenden Measure, with the addition of said
+proposed Article VII.), was defeated by 80 yeas to 113 nays, and then
+the Joint Resolution of the Select Committee as heretofore given--after
+a vain attempt to table it--was passed by 136 yeas to 53 nays.
+
+Immediately after this action, a Joint Resolution to amend the
+Constitution of the United States, which had also been previously
+reported by the Select Committee of Thirty-three, came before the House,
+as follows:
+
+"Be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
+States of America in Congress assembled, (two-thirds of both Houses
+concurring), That the following Article be proposed to the Legislatures
+of the several States as an Amendment to the Constitution of the United
+States, which, when ratified by three-fourths of said Legislatures,
+shall be valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part of the said
+Constitution, namely:
+
+"Article XII. No amendment of this Constitution having for its object
+any interference within the States with the relation between their
+citizens and those described in Section II. of the First Article of the
+Constitution as 'all other persons,' shall originate with any State that
+does not recognize that relation within its own limits, or shall be
+valid without the assent of every one of the States composing the
+Union."
+
+Mr. Corwin submitted an Amendment striking out all the words after
+"namely;" and inserting the following:
+
+"Article XII. No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will
+authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within
+any State, with the Domestic Institutions thereof, including that of
+Persons held to Labor or Service by the laws of said State."
+
+Amid scenes of great disorder, the Corwin Amendment was adopted by 120
+yeas to 61 nays, and then the Joint Resolution as amended, was defeated
+(two-thirds not voting in the affirmative) by 123 yeas to 71 nays. On
+the following day (February 28th), amid still greater confusion and
+disorder, which the Speaker, despite frequent efforts, was unable to
+quell, that vote was reconsidered, and the Joint Resolution passed by
+133 yeas to 65 nays--a result which, when announced was received with
+"loud and prolonged applause, both on the floor, and in the galleries."
+
+On the 2d of March, the House Joint Resolution just given, proposing an
+Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting Congress from touching
+Slavery within any State where it exists, came up in the Senate for
+action.
+
+Mr. Pugh moved to substitute for it the Crittenden Proposition.
+
+Mr. Doolittle moved to amend the proposed substitute (the Crittenden
+Proposition), by the insertion of the following, as an additional
+Article:
+
+"Under this Constitution, as originally adopted, and as it now exists,
+no State has power to withdraw from the jurisdiction of the United
+States; but this Constitution, and all laws passed in pursuance of its
+delegated powers, are the Supreme Law of the Land, anything contained in
+any Constitution, Ordinance, or Act of any State, to the contrary
+notwithstanding."
+
+Mr. Doolittle's amendment was lost by 18 yeas to 28 nays.
+
+Mr. Pugh's substitute (the Crittenden Proposition), was lost by 14 yeas
+to 25 nays.
+
+Mr. Bingham moved to amend the House Joint Resolution, by striking out
+all after the word "resolved," and inserting the words of the Clark
+Proposition as heretofore given, but the amendment was rejected by 13
+yeas to 25 nays.
+
+Mr. Grimes moved to strike out all after the word "whereas" in the
+preamble of the House Joint Resolution, and insert the following:
+
+"The Legislatures of the States of Kentucky, New Jersey, and Illinois
+have applied to Congress to call a Convention for proposing Amendments
+to the Constitution of the United States: Therefore,
+
+"Be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
+States of America in Congress assembled, That the Legislatures of the
+other States be invited to take the subject of such a Convention into
+consideration, and to express their will on that subject to Congress, in
+pursuance of the Fifth Article of the Constitution."
+
+This amendment was also rejected, by 14 yeas to 25 nays.
+
+Mr. Johnson, of Arkansas, offered, as an amendment to the House Joint
+Resolution, the propositions submitted by the Peace Congress or
+Conference, but the amendment was disagreed to by 3 yeas to 34 nays.
+
+The House Joint Resolution was then adopted by 24 yeas to 12 nays.
+
+Subsequently the Crittenden Proposition came up again as a separate
+order, with the Clark substitute to it (once carried, but reconsidered),
+pending. The Clark substitute was then rejected by 14 yeas to 22 nays.
+
+Mr. Crittenden then offered the Propositions of the Peace
+Congress, as a substitute for his own-and they were rejected by 7 yeas
+to 28 nays.
+
+The Crittenden Proposition itself was then rejected, by
+19 yeas to 20 nays.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER IX.
+
+ SLAVERY'S SETTING, AND FREEDOM'S DAWN.
+
+On that long last night of the 36th Congress--and of the Democratic
+Administration--to the proceedings of which reference was made in the
+preceding Chapter, several notable speeches were made, but there was
+substantially nothing done, in the line of Compromise. The only thing
+that had been accomplished was the passage, as we have seen, by two-
+thirds majority in both Houses, of the Joint Resolution proposing a
+Constitutional Amendment prohibiting Congress from meddling with Slavery
+in Slave States. There was no Concession nor Compromise in this,
+because Republicans, as well as Democrats, had always held that Congress
+had no such power. It is true that the Pro-slavery men had charged the
+Republicans with ultimate designs, through Congress, upon Slavery in the
+Slave States; and Mr. Crittenden pleaded for its passage as exhibiting a
+spirit, on their part, of reconciliation; that was all.
+
+In his speech that night--that memorable and anxious night preceding the
+Inauguration of President Lincoln--the venerable Mr. Crittenden,
+speaking before the Resolution was agreed to, well sketched the
+situation when he said in the Senate: "It is an admitted fact that our
+Union, to some extent, has already been dismembered; and that further
+dismemberment is impending and threatened. It is a fact that the
+Country is in danger. This is admitted on all hands. It is our duty,
+if we can, to provide a remedy for this. We are, under the Constitution
+and by the election of the People, the great guardians, as well as the
+administrators of this Government. To our wisdom they have trusted this
+great chart. Remedies have been proposed; resolutions have been
+offered, proposing for adoption measures which it was thought would
+satisfy the Country, and preserve as much of the Union as remained to us
+at least, if they were not enough at once to recall the Seceding States
+to the Union. We have passed none of these measures. The differences
+of opinion among Senators have been such that we have not been able to
+concur in any of the measures which have been proposed, even by bare
+majorities, much less by that two-thirds majority which is necessary to
+carry into effect some of the pacific measures which have been proposed.
+We are about to adjourn. We have done nothing. Even the Senate of the
+United States, beholding this great ruin around them, beholding
+Dismemberment and Revolution going on, and Civil War threatened as the
+result, have been able to do nothing; we have absolutely done nothing.
+Sir, is not this a remarkable spectacle? * * * How does it happen that
+not even a bare majority here, when the Country trusted to our hands is
+going to ruin, have been competent to devise any measure of public
+safety? How does it happen that we have not had unanimity enough to
+agree on any measure of that kind? Can we account for it to ourselves,
+gentlemen? We see the danger; we acknowledge our duty, and yet, with
+all this before us, we are acknowledging before the world that we can do
+nothing; acknowledging before the world, or appearing to all the world,
+as men who do nothing! Sir, this will make a strange record in the
+history of Governments and in the history of the world. Some are for
+Coercion; yet no army has been raised, no navy has been equipped. Some
+are for pacification; yet they have been able to do nothing; the dissent
+of their colleagues prevents them; and here we are in the midst of a
+falling Country, in the midst of a falling State, presenting to the eyes
+of the World the saddest spectacle it has ever seen. Cato is
+represented by Addison as a worthy spectacle, 'a great man falling with
+a falling State,' but he fell struggling. We fall with the ignominy on
+our heads of doing nothing, like the man who stands by and sees his
+house in flames, and says to himself, 'perhaps the fire will stop before
+it consumes all.'"
+
+One of the strong pleas made in the Senate that night, was by Mr.
+Douglas, when he said: "The great issue with the South has been that
+they would not submit to the Wilmot proviso. The Republican Party
+affirmed the doctrine that Congress must and could prohibit Slavery in
+the Territories. The issue for ten years was between Non-intervention
+on the part of Congress, and prohibition by Congress. Up to two years
+ago, neither the Senator (Mason) from Virginia, nor any other Southern
+Senator, desired affirmative legislation to protect Slavery. Even up to
+this day, not one of them has proposed affirmative legislation to
+protect it. Whenever the question has come up, they have decided that
+affirmative legislation to protect it was unnecessary; and hence, all
+that the South required on the Territorial question was 'hands off;
+Slavery shall not be prohibited by Act of Congress.' Now, what do we
+find? This very session, in view of the perils which surround the
+Country, the Republican Party, in both Houses of Congress, by a
+unanimous vote, have backed down from their platform and abandoned the
+doctrine of Congressional prohibition. This very week three Territorial
+Bills have been passed through both Houses of Congress without the
+Wilmot proviso, and no man proposed to enact it; not even one man on the
+other side of the Chamber would rise and propose the Wilmot proviso."
+
+"In organizing three Territories," continued he, "two of them South of
+the very line where they imposed the Wilmot proviso twelve years ago, no
+one on the other side of the Chamber proposed it. They have abandoned
+the doctrine of the President-elect upon that point. He said, and it is
+on record, that he had voted for the Wilmot proviso forty-two times, and
+would do it forty-two times more if he ever had a chance. Not one of
+his followers this year voted for it once. The Senator from New York
+(Mr. Seward) the embodiment of the Party, sat quietly and did not
+propose it. What more? Last year we were told that the Slave Code of
+New Mexico was to be repealed. I denounced the attempted interference.
+The House of Representatives passed the Bill, but the Bill remains on
+your table; no one Republican member has proposed to take it up and pass
+it. Practically, therefore, the Chicago platform is abandoned; the
+Philadelphia platform is abandoned; the whole doctrine for which the
+Republican Party contended, as to the Territories, is abandoned,
+surrendered, given up. Non-intervention is substituted in its place.
+Then, when we find that, on the Territorial question, the Republican
+Party, by a unanimous vote, have surrendered to the South all they ask,
+the Territorial question ought to be considered pretty well settled.
+The only question left was that of the States; and after having
+abandoned their aggressive policy as to the Territories, a portion of
+them are willing to unite with us, and deprive themselves of the power
+to do it in the States."
+
+"I submit," said he, "that these two great facts--these startling,
+tremendous facts--that they have abandoned their aggressive policy in
+the Territories, and are willing to give guarantees in the States, ought
+to be accepted as an evidence of a salutary change in Public Opinion at
+the North. All I would ask now of the Republican Party is, that they
+would insert in the Constitution the same principle that they have
+carried out practically in the Territorial Bills for Colorado, Dakota,
+and Nevada, by depriving Congress of the power hereafter to do what
+there cannot be a man of them found willing to do this year; but we
+cannot ask them to back down too much. I think they have done quite as
+much within one year, within three months after they have elected a
+President, as could be expected."
+
+That Douglas and his followers were also patriotically willing to
+sacrifice a favorite theory in the face of a National peril, was brought
+out, at the same time, by Mr. Baker, when he said to Mr. Douglas: "I
+desire to suggest (and being a little of a Popular Sovereignty man, it
+comes gracefully from me) that others of us have backed down too, from
+the idea that Congress has not the power to prohibit Slavery in the
+Territories; and we are proposing some of us in the Crittenden
+proposition, and some in the Amendment now before the Senate--to
+prohibit Slavery by the Constitution itself, in the Territories;"--and
+by Mr. Douglas, when he replied: "I think as circumstances change, the
+action of public men ought to change in a corresponding degree. * * * I
+am willing to depart from my cherished theory, by an Amendment to the
+Constitution by which we shall settle this question on the principles
+prescribed in the Resolutions of the Senator from Kentucky."
+
+ In the House, Mr. Logan, had, on the 5th of February, 1861, said:
+
+ "Men, Sir, North and South, who love themselves far better than
+ their Country, have brought us to this unhappy condition. * * *
+ Let me say to gentlemen, that I will go as far as any man in the
+ performance of a Constitutional duty to put down Rebellion, to
+ suppress Insurrection, and to enforce the laws; but when we
+ undertake the performance of these duties, let us act in such a
+ manner as will be best calculated to preserve and not destroy the
+ Government, and keep ourselves within the bounds of the
+ Constitution. * * * Sir, I have always denied, and do yet deny,
+ the Right of Secession. There is no warrant for it in the
+ Constitution. It is wrong, it is unlawful, unconstitutional, and
+ should be called by the right name, Revolution. No good, Sir, can
+ result from it, but much mischief may. It is no remedy for any
+ grievance.
+
+ "I hold that all grievances can be much easier redressed inside the
+ Union than out of it. * * * If a collision must ensue between
+ this Government and any of our own people, let it come when every
+ other means of settlement has been tried and exhausted; and not
+ then, except when the Government shall be compelled to repel
+ assaults for the protection of its property, flag, and the honor of
+ the Country. * * *
+
+ "I have been taught to believe that the preservation of this
+ glorious Union, with its broad flag waving over us, as the shield
+ for our protection on land and on sea, is paramount to all the
+ Parties and platforms that ever have existed, or ever can exist. I
+ would, to-day, if I had the power, sink my own Party, and every
+ other one, with all their platforms, into the vortex of ruin,
+ without heaving a sigh or shedding a tear, to save the Union, or
+ even stop the Revolution where it is."
+
+ After enumerating the various propositions for adjustment, then
+ pending in the House, to wit: that of Senator Crittenden; that of
+ Senator Douglas; that of the Committee of Thirty-three; that of the
+ Border States; and those of Representatives McClernand, Kellogg,
+ and Morris, of Illinois, Mr. Logan took occasion to declare that
+ "in a crisis like this" he was "willing to give his support to any
+ of them," but his preference was for that of Mr. Morris.
+
+ Said he: "He (Morris) proposes that neither Congress nor a
+ Territorial Legislature shall interfere with Slavery in the
+ Territories at all; but leaves the people, when they come to form
+ their State Constitution, to determine the question for themselves.
+ I think this is the best proposition, because it is a fair
+ concession on all sides. The Republicans give up their
+ Congressional intervention; those who are styled 'Squatter
+ Sovereigns' give up their Territorial legislative policy; and the
+ Southern (Slave) protectionists give up their protection-
+ intervention policy; thus every Party yields something. With this
+ proposition as an Article in the Constitution, it would satisfy
+ every conservative man in this Union, both North and South, I do
+ seriously and honestly believe.
+
+ "Having indicated my preference of these propositions, and my
+ reasons for that preference, I have said all I desire to say on the
+ point, except to repeat again, that I will willingly vote for any
+ of them, or make any other sacrifice necessary to save the Union.
+ It makes no kind of difference to me what the sacrifice; if it will
+ save my Country, I am ready to make it." * * *
+
+ "There are some in this Hall," said he, "that are almost ready to
+ strike the Party fetters from their limbs, and assist in measures
+ of Peace. Halt not; take the step; be independent and free at
+ once! Let us overcome Party passion and error; allow virtue and
+ good sense in this fateful hour to be triumphant; let us invoke
+ Deity to interpose and prepare the way for our Country's escape
+ from the perils by which we are now surrounded; and in view of our
+ present greatness and future prospects, our magnificent and growing
+ cities, our many institutions of learning, our once happy and
+ prosperous People, our fruitful fields and golden forests, our
+ enjoyment of all civil and religious blessings--let Parties die
+ that these be preserved. Such noble acts of patriotism and
+ concession, on your part, would cause posterity to render them
+ illustrious, and pause to contemplate the magnitude of the events
+ with which they were connected. * * * In the name of the patriotic
+ sires who breasted the storms and vicissitudes of the Revolution;
+ by all the kindred ties of this Country; in the name of the many
+ battles fought for your Freedom; in behalf of the young and the
+ old; in behalf of the Arts and Sciences, Civilization, Peace,
+ Order, Christianity, and Humanity, I appeal to you to strike from
+ your limbs the chains that bind them! Come forth from that
+ loathsome prison, Party Caucus; and in this hour--the most gloomy
+ and disheartening to the lovers of Free Institutions that has ever
+ existed during our Country's history--arouse the drooping spirits
+ of our countrymen, by putting forth your good strong arms to assist
+ in steadying the rocking pillars of the mightiest Republic that has
+ ever had an existence."
+
+ "Mr. Speaker," continued he, "a word or two more, and I am done.
+ Revolution stalks over the Land. States have rebelled against the
+ constituted authorities of the Union, and now stand, sword in hand,
+ prepared to vindicate their new nationality. Others are preparing
+ to take a similar position. Rapidly transpiring events are
+ crowding on us with fearful velocity. Soon, circumstances may
+ force us into an unnatural strife, in which the hand of brother
+ shall be uplifted against brother, and father against son. My God,
+ what a spectacle! If all the evils and calamities that have ever
+ happened since the World began, could be gathered in one great
+ Catastrophe, its horrors could not eclipse, in their frightful
+ proportions, the Drama that impends over us. Whether this black
+ cloud that drapes in mourning the whole political heavens, shall
+ break forth in all the frightful intensity of War, and make
+ Christendom weep at the terrible atrocities that will be enacted--
+ or, whether it will disappear, and the sky resume its wonted
+ serenity, and the whole Earth be irradiated by the genial sunshine
+ of Peace once more--are the alternatives which this Congress, in my
+ judgment, has the power to select between."
+
+In this same broad spirit, Mr. Seward, in his great speech of January
+12th, had said: "Republicanism is subordinate to Union, as everything
+else is and ought to be--Republicanism, Democracy, every other political
+name and thing; all are subordinate-and they ought to disappear in the
+presence of the great question of Union." In another part of it, he had
+even more emphatically said: "I therefore * * * avow my adherence to the
+Union in its integrity and with all its parts, with my friends, with my
+Party, with my State, with my Country, or without either, as they may
+determine, in every event, whether of Peace or War, with every
+consequence of honor or dishonor, of life or death. Although I lament
+the occasion, I hail with cheerfulness the duty of lifting up my voice
+among distracted debates, for my whole Country and its inestimable
+Union." And as showing still more clearly the kindly and conciliatory
+attitude of the great Republican leader, when speaking of those others
+who seemed to be about to invoke revolutionary action to oppose--and
+overthrow the Government--he said: "In such a case I can afford to meet
+prejudice with Conciliation, exaction with Concession which surrenders
+no principle, and violence with the right hand of Peace."
+
+In the House of Representatives, too, the voice of patriotism was often
+heard through the loud clamor and disorder of that most disorderly and
+Treason-uttering session--was heard from the lips of statesmen, who rose
+high above Party, in their devotion to the Union. The calm,
+dispassionate recital by Henry Winter Davis (of Maryland), of the
+successive steps by which the Southern leaders had themselves created
+that very "North" of whose antagonism they complained, was one of the
+best of these, in some respects. He was one of the great Select
+Committee of Thirty-three, and it was (February 5th) after the
+Resolutions, heretofore quoted, had been reported by it, that he
+condensed the history of the situation into a nutshell, as follows:
+
+"We are at the end of the insane revel of partisan license which, for
+thirty years, has, in the United States, worn the mask of Government.
+We are about to close the masquerade by the dance of death. The Nations
+of the World look anxiously to see if the People, ere they tread that
+measure, will come to themselves.
+
+ * * * * * * * * * * * * *
+
+"Southern politicians have created a North. Let us trace the process
+and draw the moral.
+
+"The laws of 1850 calmed and closed the Slavery agitation; and President
+Pierce, elected by the almost unanimous voice of the States, did not
+mention Slavery in his first two Messages. In 1854, the repeal of the
+Missouri Compromise, at the instance of the South, reopened the
+agitation.
+
+"Northern men, deserted by Southern Whigs, were left to unite for self-
+defense.
+
+"The invasion of Kansas, in 1855 and 1856, from Missouri; the making a
+Legislature and laws for that Territory, by the invaders; still further
+united the Northern people. The election of 1856 measured its extent.
+
+"The election of Mr. Buchanan and his opening policy in Kansas, soothed
+the irritation, and was rapidly demoralizing the new Party, when the
+Pro-Slavery Party in Kansas perpetrated, and the President and the South
+accepted, the Lecompton fraud, and again united the North more
+resolutely in resistance to that invasion of the rights of self-
+government.
+
+"The South for the first time failed to dictate terms; and the People
+vindicated by their votes the refusal of the Constitution.
+
+"Ere this result was attained, the opinions of certain Judges of the
+Supreme Court scattered doubts over the law of Slavery in the
+Territories; the South, while repudiating other decisions, instantly
+made these opinions the criterion of faithfulness to the Constitution;
+while the North was agitated by this new sanction of the extremest
+pretensions of their opponents.
+
+"The South did not rest satisfied with their Judicial triumph.
+
+"Immediately the claim was pressed for protection by Congress to
+Slavery, declared by the Supreme Court, they said, to exist in all the
+Territories.
+
+"This completed the union of the Free States in one great defensive
+league; and the result was registered in November. That result is now
+itself become the starting point of new agitation--the demand of new
+rights and new guarantees. The claim to access to the Territories was
+followed by the claim to Congressional protection, and that is now
+followed by the hitherto unheard of claim to a Constitutional Amendment
+establishing Slavery, not merely in territory now held, but in all
+hereafter held from the line of 36 30' to Cape Horn, while the debate
+foreshadows in the distance the claim of the right of transit and the
+placing of property in Slaves in all respects on the footing of other
+property--the topics of future agitation. How long the prohibition of
+the importation of Slaves will be exempted from the doctrine of
+equality, it needs no prophet to tell.
+
+"In the face of this recital, let the imputation of autocratic and
+tyrannical aspirations cease to be cast on the people of the Free
+States; let the Southern people dismiss their fears, return to their
+friendly confidence in their fellow-citizens of the North, and accept,
+as pledges of returning Peace, the salutary amendments of the law and
+the Constitution offered as the first fruits of Reconciliation."
+
+But calmness, kindness, and courtesy were alike thrown away in both
+Houses upon the implacable Southern leaders. As the last day of that
+memorable session, which closed in the failure of all peaceful measures
+to restore the Union, slowly dawned--with but a few hours lacking of the
+time when Mr. Lincoln would be inaugurated President of the United
+States--Mr. Wigfall thought proper, in the United States Senate, to
+sneer at him as "an ex-rail-splitter, an ex-grocery keeper, an ex-
+flatboat captain, and an ex-Abolition lecturer"--and proceeded to scold
+and rant at the North with furious volubility.
+
+"Then, briefly," said he, "a Party has come into power that represents
+the antagonism to my own Section of the Country. It represents two
+million men who hate us, and who, by their votes for such a man as they
+have elected, have committed an overt act of hostility. That they have
+done."
+
+"You have won the Presidency," said he, to the Republicans, "and you are
+now in the situation of the man who had won the elephant at a raffle.
+You do not know what to do with the beast now that you have it; and one-
+half of you to-day would give your right arms if you had been defeated.
+But you succeeded, and you have to deal with facts. Our objection to
+living in this Union, and therefore the difficulty of reconstructing it,
+is not your Personal Liberty bills, not the Territorial question, but
+that you utterly and wholly misapprehend the Form of Government."
+
+"You deny," continued he, "the Sovereignty of the States; you deny the
+right of self-government in the People; you insist upon Negro Equality;
+your people interfere impertinently with our Institutions and attempt to
+subvert them; you publish newspapers; you deliver lectures; you print
+pamphlets, and you send them among us, first, to excite our Slaves to
+insurrection against their masters, and next, to array one class of
+citizens against the other; and I say to you, that we cannot live in
+peace, either in the Union or out of it, until you have abolished your
+Abolition societies; not, as I have been misquoted, abolish or destroy
+your school-houses; but until you have ceased in your schoolhouses
+teaching your children to hate us; until you have ceased to convert your
+pulpits into hustings; until you content yourselves with preaching
+Christ, and Him crucified, and not delivering political harangues on the
+Sabbath; until you have ceased inciting your own citizens to make raids
+and commit robberies; until you have done these things we cannot live in
+the same Union with you. Until you do these things, we cannot live out
+of the Union at Peace."
+
+Such were the words--the spiteful, bitter words--with which this chosen
+spokesman of the South saluted the cold and cloudy dawn of that day
+which was to see the sceptre depart from the hands of the Slave Power
+forever.
+
+A few hours later, under the shadow of the main Pastern Portico of the
+Capitol at Washington--with the retiring President and Cabinet, the
+Supreme Court Justices, the Foreign Diplomatic Corps, and hundreds of
+Senators, Representatives and other distinguished persons filling the
+great platform on either side and behind them--Abraham Lincoln stood
+bareheaded before full thirty thousand people, upon whose uplifted faces
+the unveiled glory of the mild Spring sun now shone--stood reverently
+before that far greater and mightier Presence termed by himself, "My
+rightful masters, the American People"--and pleaded in a manly, earnest,
+and affectionate strain with "such as were dissatisfied," to listen to
+the "better angels" of their nature.
+
+Temperate, reasonable, kindly, persuasive--it seems strange that Mr.
+Lincoln's Inaugural Address did not disarm at least the personal
+resentment of the South toward him, and sufficiently strengthen the
+Union-loving people there, against the red-hot Secessionists, to put the
+"brakes" down on Rebellion. Said he:
+
+"Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States,
+that by the accession of a Republican Administration, their Property and
+their Peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never
+been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample
+evidence to the contrary has all the while existed, and been open to
+their inspection. It is found in nearly all the published speeches of
+him who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches,
+when I declare that 'I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to
+interfere with the Institution of Slavery in the States where it
+exists.' I believe I have no lawful right to do so; and I have no
+inclination to do so. Those who nominated and elected me, did so with
+the full knowledge that I had made this, and many similar declarations,
+and had never recanted them. * * *
+
+"I now reiterate these sentiments; and in doing so, I only press upon
+the public attention the most conclusive evidence of which the case is
+susceptible, that the Property, Peace, and Security of no Section are to
+be in any wise endangered by the now incoming Administration. I add,
+too, that all the protection which, consistently with the Constitution
+and the laws, can be given, will be cheerfully given to all the States,
+when lawfully demanded, for whatever cause--as cheerfully to one Section
+as to another.
+
+"I take the official oath to-day with no mental reservations, and with
+no purpose to construe the Constitution or laws by any hypercritical
+rules. * * *
+
+"A disruption of the Federal Union, heretofore only menaced, is now
+formidably attempted. I hold that, in contemplation of Universal Law,
+and of the Constitution, the Union of these States is perpetual.
+Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all
+National Governments. It is safe to assert that no Government proper
+ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination.
+Continue to execute all the express provisions of our National
+Constitution, and the Union will endure forever--it being impossible to
+destroy it, except by some action not provided for in the instrument
+itself.
+
+"Again, if the United States be not a Government proper, but an
+Association of States in the nature of a contract merely, can it, as a
+contract, be peaceably unmade by less than all the parties who made it?
+One party to a contract may violate it--break it, so to speak; but does
+it not require all, to lawfully rescind it?
+
+"Descending from these general principles, we find the proposition that,
+in legal contemplation, the Union is perpetual, confirmed by the history
+of the Union itself. The Union is much older than the Constitution. It
+was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was
+matured and continued in the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It
+was further matured, and the faith of all the then thirteen States
+expressly plighted and engaged that it should be perpetual, by the
+Articles of Confederation, in 1778; and, finally, in 1787, one of the
+declared objects, for ordaining and establishing the Constitution, was
+'to form a more perfect Union.' But, if destruction of the Union by
+one, or by a part only, of the States, be lawfully possible, the Union
+is less perfect than before, the Constitution having lost the vital
+element of perpetuity.
+
+"It follows, from these views, that no State, upon its own mere motion,
+can lawfully get out of the Union; that Resolves and Ordinances to that
+effect, are legally void; and that acts of violence within any State or
+States against the authority of the United States, are insurrectionary
+or revolutionary, according to circumstances.
+
+"I therefore consider that, in view of the Constitution and the laws,
+the Union is unbroken, and, to the extent of my ability, I shall take
+care, as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the
+laws of the Union shall be faithfully executed in all the States. * * *
+
+"I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as the declared
+purpose of the Union, that it will Constitutionally defend and maintain
+itself.
+
+"In doing this, there need be no bloodshed or violence, and there shall
+be none, unless it is forced upon the National Authority.
+
+"The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the
+property and places belonging to the Government, and to collect the
+duties and imposts; but, beyond what may be necessary for these objects,
+there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the People
+anywhere.
+
+"The mails, unless repelled, will continue to be furnished in all parts
+of the Union.
+
+ * * * * * * *
+
+"Is there such perfect identity of interests among the States to compose
+a new Union, as to produce harmony only, and prevent renewed Secession?
+Plainly, the central idea of Secession is the essence of anarchy. A
+majority, held in restraint by Constitutional checks and limitations and
+always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and
+sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a Free People. Whoever
+rejects it, does, of necessity, fly to anarchy, or to despotism.
+Unanimity is impossible; the rule of a minority, as a permanent
+arrangement, is wholly inadmissible; so that, rejecting the majority
+principle, anarchy or despotism in some form is all that is left.
+
+ * * * * * * *
+
+"Physically speaking, we cannot separate. We cannot remove our
+respective Sections from each other, nor build an impassable wall
+between them. A husband and wife may be divorced, and go out of the
+presence and beyond the reach of each other; but the different parts of
+our Country cannot do this. They cannot but remain face to face; and
+intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue between them. Is
+it possible, then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or more
+satisfactory after separation than before? Can aliens make treaties,
+easier than friends can make laws? Can treaties be more faithfully
+enforced between aliens, than laws can among friends? Suppose you go to
+War, you cannot fight always; and when, after much loss on both sides,
+and no gain on either you cease fighting, the identical old questions,
+as to terms of intercourse, are again upon you.
+
+"This Country, with its Institutions, belongs to the People who inhabit
+it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can
+exercise their Constitutional right of amending it, or their
+Revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it. I cannot be ignorant
+of the fact that many worthy and patriotic citizens are desirous of
+having the National Constitution amended. While I make no
+recommendations of Amendments, I fully recognize the rightful authority
+of the People over the whole subject, to be exercised in either of the
+modes prescribed in the instrument itself; and I should, under existing
+circumstances, favor, rather than oppose, a fair opportunity being
+afforded the People to act upon it. * * *
+
+"The Chief Magistrate derives all his authority from the People, and
+they have conferred none upon him to fix terms for the separation of the
+States. The People themselves can do this also, if they choose; but the
+Executive, as such, has nothing to do with it. His duty is to
+administer the present Government, as it came to his hands, and to
+transmit it, unimpaired by him, to his successor.
+
+ * * * * * * *
+
+" * * * While the People retain their virtue and vigilance, no
+Administration, by any extreme of weakness or folly, can very seriously
+injure the Government in the short space of four years.
+
+"My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon this whole
+subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. If there be an
+object to hurry any of you, in hot haste, to a step which you would
+never take deliberately, that object will be frustrated by taking time;
+but no good object can be frustrated by it. Such of you as are now
+dissatisfied, still have the old Constitution unimpaired, and, on the
+sensitive point, the laws of your own framing under it; while the new
+Administration will have no immediate power, if it would, to change
+either. If it were admitted that you who are dissatisfied, hold the
+right side in the dispute, there still is no single good reason for
+precipitate action. Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm
+reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored Land, are still
+competent to adjust, in the best way, all our present difficulty.
+
+"In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is
+the momentous issue of Civil War. The Government will not assault you.
+You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You
+have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the Government, while I
+shall have the most solemn one to 'preserve, protect, and defend it'.
+
+"I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be
+enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds
+of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every
+battle-field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone,
+all over this broad Land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when
+again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our
+nature."
+
+Strange, indeed, must have been the thoughts that crowded through the
+brain and oppressed the heart of Abraham Lincoln that night--his first
+at the White House!
+
+The city of Washington swarmed with Rebels and Rebel sympathizers, and
+all the departments of Government were honey-combed with Treason and
+shadowed with treachery and espionage. Every step proposed or
+contemplated by the Government would be known to the so-called
+Government of the Confederate States almost as soon as thought of. All
+means, to thwart and delay the carrying out of the Government's
+purposes, that the excuses of routine and red-tape admitted of, would be
+used by the Traitors within the camp, to aid the Traitors without.
+
+No one knew all this, better than Mr. Lincoln. With no Army, no Navy,
+not even a Revenue cutter left--with forts and arsenals, ammunition and
+arms in possession of the Rebels, with no money in the National
+Treasury, and the National credit blasted--the position must, even to
+his hopeful nature, have seemed at this time desperate. To be sure,
+despite threats, neither few nor secret, which had been made, that he
+should not live to be inaugurated, he had passed the first critical
+point--had taken the inaugural oath--and was now duly installed in the
+White House. That was something, of course, to be profoundly thankful
+for. But the matter regarded by him of larger moment--the safety of the
+Union--how about that?
+
+How that great, and just, and kindly brain, in the dim shadows of that
+awful first night at the White House, must have searched up and down and
+along the labyrinths of history and "corridors of time," everywhere in
+the Past, for any analogy or excuse for the madness of this Secession
+movement--and searched in vain!
+
+With his grand and abounding faith in God, how Abraham Lincoln must have
+stormed the very gates of Heaven that night with prayer that he might be
+the means of securing Peace and Union to his beloved but distracted
+Country! How his great heart must have been racked with the
+alternations of hope and foreboding--of trustfulness and doubt!
+Anxiously he must have looked for the light of the morrow, that he might
+gather from the Press, the manner in which his Inaugural had been
+received. Not that he feared the North--but the South; how would the
+wayward, wilful, passionate South, receive his proffered olive-branch?
+
+Surely, surely,--thus ran his thoughts--when the brave, and gallant, and
+generous people of that Section came to read his message of Peace and
+Good-will, they must see the suicidal folly of their course! Surely
+their hearts must be touched and the mists of prejudice dissolved, so
+that reason would resume her sway, and Reconciliation follow! A little
+more time for reflection would yet make all things right. The young men
+of the South, fired by the Southern leaders' false appeals, must soon
+return to reason. The prairie fire is terrible while it sweeps along,
+but it soon burns out. When the young men face the emblem of their
+Nation's glory--the flag of the land of their birth--then will come the
+reaction and their false leaders will be hurled from place and power,
+and all will again be right. Yea, when it comes to firing on the old,
+old flag, they will not, cannot, do it! Between the Compromise within
+their reach, and such Sacrilege as this, they cannot waver long.
+
+So, doubtless, all the long night, whether waking or sleeping, the mind
+of this true-hearted son of the West, throbbed with the mighty weight of
+the problem entrusted to him for solution, and the vast responsibilities
+which he had just assumed toward his fellow-men, his Nation, and his
+God.
+
+And when, at last, the long lean frame was thrown upon the couch, and
+"tired Nature's sweet restorer" held him briefly in her arms, the smile
+of hopefulness on the wan cheek told that, despite all the terrible
+difficulties of the situation, the sleeper was sustained by a strong and
+cheerful belief in the Providence of God, the Patriotism of the People,
+and the efficacy of his Inaugural Peace-offering to the South. But alas,
+and alas, for the fallibility of human judgment and human hopes!
+Instead of a message of Peace, the South chose to regard it as a message
+of Menace;* and it was not received in a much better spirit by some of
+the Northern papers, which could see no good in it--"no Union spirit in
+it"--but declared that it breathed the spirit of Sectionalism and
+mischief, and "is the knell and requiem of the Union, and the death of
+hope."
+
+ ["Mr. Lincoln fondly regarded his Inaugural as a resistless
+ proffering of the olive branch to the South; the Conspirators
+ everywhere interpreted it as a challenge to War."--Greeley's Am.
+ Conflict, vol. i., p. 428.]
+
+
+Bitter indeed must have been President Lincoln's disappointment and
+sorrow at the reception of his Inaugural. With the heartiest
+forgiveness, in the noblest spirit of paternal kindness, he had
+generously held out his arms, as far as they could reach, to clasp to
+his heart--to the great heart of the Union--the rash children of the
+South, if they would but let him. It was more with sorrow, than in
+anger, that he looked upon their contemptuous repulsion of his advances;
+and his soul still reproachfully yearned toward these his Southern
+brethren, as did that of a higher than he toward His misguided brethren,
+when He cried: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets,
+and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have
+gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens
+under her wings, and ye would not!"
+
+On the day following his Inauguration, President Lincoln sent to the
+United States Senate the names of those whom he had chosen to constitute
+his Cabinet, as follows: William H. Seward, of New York, Secretary of
+State; Salmon P. Chase, of Ohio, Secretary of the Treasury; Simon
+Cameron, of Pennsylvania, Secretary of War; Gideon Welles, of
+Connecticut, Secretary of the Navy; Caleb B. Smith, of Indiana,
+Secretary of the Interior; Edward Bates, of Missouri, Attorney General;
+and Montgomery Blair, of Maryland, Postmaster General.
+
+On the other hand, the President of the rebellious Confederacy,
+Jefferson Davis, had partly constituted his Cabinet already, as follows:
+Robert Toombs, of Georgia, Secretary of State; Charles G. Memminger, of
+South Carolina, Secretary of the Treasury; Leroy Pope Walker, of
+Alabama, Secretary of War; to whom he afterwards added: Stephen R.
+Mallory, of Florida, Secretary of the Navy; and John H. Reagan, of
+Texas, Postmaster-General.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER X.
+
+ THE WAR-DRUM "ON TO WASHINGTON"
+
+Scarcely one week had elapsed after the Administration of Mr. Lincoln
+began, when (March 11th) certain "Commissioners of the Southern
+Confederacy" (John Forsyth, of Alabama, and Martin J. Crawford, of
+Georgia), appeared at Washington and served a written request upon
+the State Department to appoint an early day when they might present to
+the President of the United States their credentials "from the
+Government of the Confederate States of America" to the Government of
+the United States, and open "the objects of the mission with which they
+are charged."
+
+Secretary Seward, with the President's sanction, declined official
+intercourse with Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford, in a "Memorandum" (March
+15th) reciting their request, etc., in which, after referring to
+President Lincoln's Inaugural Address--forwarded to them with the
+"Memorandum" he says: "A simple reference will be sufficient to satisfy
+those gentlemen that the Secretary of State, guided by the principles
+therein announced, is prevented altogether from admitting or assuming
+that the States referred to by them have, in law or in fact, withdrawn
+from the Federal Union, or that they could do so in the manner described
+by Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford, or in any other manner than with the
+consent and concert of the People of the United States, to be given
+through a National Convention, to be assembled in conformity with the
+provisions of the Constitution of the United States. Of course, the
+Secretary of State cannot act upon the assumption, or in any way admit,
+that the so-called Confederate States constitute a Foreign Power, with
+whom diplomatic relations ought to be established."
+
+On the 9th of April, Messrs. Forsyth, Crawford and Roman--as
+"Commissioners of the Southern Confederacy"--addressed to Secretary
+Seward a reply to the "Memorandum" aforesaid, in which the following
+passage occurs:
+
+"The undersigned, like the Secretary of State, have no purpose to
+'invite or engage in discussion' of the subject on which their two
+Governments are so irreconcilably at variance. It is this variance that
+has broken up the old Union, the disintegration of which has only begun.
+
+"It is proper, however, to advise you that it were well to dismiss the
+hopes you seem to entertain that, by any of the modes indicated, the
+people of the Confederate States will ever be brought to submit to the
+authority of the Government of the United States. You are dealing with
+delusions, too, when you seek to separate our people from our
+Government, and to characterize the deliberate, Sovereign act of that
+people as a 'perversion of a temporary and partisan excitement.' If you
+cherish these dreams, you will be awakened from them, and find them as
+unreal and unsubstantial as others in which you have recently indulged.
+
+"The undersigned would omit the performance of an obvious duty were they
+to fail to make known to the Government of the United States that the
+people of the Confederate States have declared their independence with a
+full knowledge of all the responsibilities of that act, and with as firm
+a determination to maintain it by all the means with which nature has
+endowed them as that which sustained their fathers when they threw off
+the authority of the British Crown.
+
+"The undersigned clearly understand that you have declined to appoint a
+day to enable them to lay the objects of the mission with which they are
+charged, before the President of the United States, because so to do
+would be to recognize the independence and separate nationality of the
+Confederate States. This is the vein of thought that pervades the
+memorandum before us.
+
+"The truth of history requires that it should distinctly appear upon the
+record, that the undersigned did not ask the Government of the United
+States to recognize the independence of the Confederate States. They
+only asked audience to adjust, in a spirit of amity and peace, the new
+relations springing from a manifest and accomplished revolution in the
+Government of the late Federal Union.
+
+"Your refusal to entertain these overtures for a peaceful solution, the
+active naval and military preparation of this Government, and a formal
+notice to the Commanding General of the Confederate forces in the harbor
+of Charleston that the President intends to provision Fort Sumter by
+forcible means, if necessary, are viewed by the undersigned, and can
+only be received by the World, as a Declaration of War against the
+Confederate States; for the President of the United States knows that
+Fort Sumter cannot be provisioned without the effusion of blood.
+
+"The undersigned, in behalf of their Government and people, accept the
+gage of battle thus thrown down to them, and, appealing to God and the
+judgment of mankind for the righteousness of their Cause, the people of
+the Confederate States will defend their liberties to the last, against
+this flagrant and open attempt at their subjugation to Sectional power."
+
+
+Let us now, for a moment, glance at the condition of Fort Sumter, and of
+the Government with regard to it:
+
+On the 5th of March, the day after President Lincoln had taken his oath
+of office, there was placed in his hands a letter of Major Anderson,
+commanding at Fort Sumter, in which that officer, under date of the 28th
+of February, expressed the opinion that "reinforcements could not be
+thrown into that fort within the time for his relief rendered necessary
+by the limited supply of provisions, and with a view of holding
+possession of the same, with a force of less than twenty thousand good
+and well-disciplined men."
+
+ [President Lincoln's first Message, July 4, 1861.]
+
+Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott concurred in that opinion, and as the
+provisions in the Fort would be exhausted before any such force could be
+raised and brought to the ground, evacuation and safe withdrawal of the
+Federal garrison from the Fort became a Military necessity, and was so
+regarded by the Administration.
+
+"It was believed, however"--in the language of Mr. Lincoln himself, in
+his first Message to Congress--"that to so abandon that position, under
+the circumstances, would be utterly ruinous: that the necessity under
+which it was to be done would not be fully understood; that by many it
+would be construed as a part of a voluntary policy; that at home it
+would discourage the friends of the Union, embolden its adversaries, and
+go far to insure to the latter a recognition abroad; that in fact it
+would be our National destruction consummated. This could not be
+allowed. Starvation was not yet upon the garrison; and ere it would be
+reached, Fort Pickens might be reinforced. This last would be a clear
+indication of policy, and would better enable the country to accept the
+evacuation of Fort Sumter as a Military necessity."
+
+Owing to misconception or otherwise, an order to reinforce Fort Pickens
+was not carried out, and an expedition to relieve Fort Sumter was then
+ordered to be dispatched. On the 8th of April President Lincoln, by
+messenger, notified Governor Pickens of South Carolina, "that he might
+expect an attempt would be made to provision the fort; and that if the
+attempt should not be resisted there would be no effort to throw in men,
+arms, or ammunition, without further notice, or in case of an attack
+upon the fort."
+
+A crisis was evidently approaching, and public feeling all over the
+Country was wrought up to the highest degree of tension and stood tip-
+toe with intense expectancy. The test of the doctrine of Secession was
+about to be made there, in the harbor of Charleston, upon which the eyes
+of Patriot and Rebel were alike feverishly bent.
+
+There, in Charleston harbor, grimly erect, stood the octagon-shaped Fort
+Sumter, mid-way of the harbor entrance, the Stars and Stripes proudly
+waving from its lofty central flagstaff, its guns bristling on every
+side through the casemates and embrasures, as if with a knowledge of
+their defensive power.
+
+About equidistant from Fort Sumter on either side of the harbor-
+entrance, were the Rebel works at Fort Moultrie and Battery Bee on
+Sullivan's Island, on the one side, and Cummings Point Battery, on
+Morris Island, on the other-besides a number of other batteries facing
+seaward along the sea-coast line of Morris Island. Further in, on the
+same side of the harbor, and but little further off from Fort Sumter,
+stood Fort Johnson on James Island, while Castle Pinckney and a Floating
+Battery were between the beleagured Fort and the city of Charleston.
+
+Thus, the Federal Fort was threatened with the concentrated fire of
+these well-manned Rebel fortifications on all sides, and in its then
+condition was plainly doomed; for, while the swarming Rebels, unmolested
+by Fort Sumter, had been permitted to surround that Fort with frowning
+batteries, whose guns outnumbered those of the Fort, as ten to one, and
+whose caliber was also superior, its own condition was anything but that
+of readiness for the inevitable coming encounter.
+
+That the officers' quarters, barracks, and other frame-work wooden
+buildings should have been permitted to remain as a standing invitation
+to conflagration from bombardment, can only be accounted for on the
+supposition that the gallant officer in command, himself a Southerner,
+would not believe it possible that the thousands of armed Americans by
+whom he was threatened and encircled, could fire upon the flag of their
+own native Country. He and his garrison of seventy men, were soon to
+learn the bitter truth, amid a tempest of bursting shot and shell, the
+furnace-heat of crackling walls, and suffocating volumes of dense smoke
+produced by an uncontrollable conflagration.
+
+The Rebel leaders at Washington had prevented an attack in January upon
+the forts in the harbor of Charleston, and at Pensacola.--[McPherson's
+History of the Rebellion, p. 112.]--In consequence of which failure to
+proceed to the last extremity at once, the energies of the Rebellion had
+perceptibly diminished.
+
+Said the Mobile Mercury: "The country is sinking into a fatal apathy,
+and the spirit and even the patriotism of the people is oozing out,
+under this do-nothing policy. If something is not done pretty soon,
+decisive, either evacuation or expulsion, the whole country will become
+so disgusted with the sham of Southern independence that the first
+chance the people get at a popular election they will turn the whole
+movement topsy-turvy so bad that it never on Earth can be righted
+again."
+
+After the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, however, the Rebel authorities at
+Montgomery lost no time, but strained every nerve to precipitate War.
+They felt that there was danger to the cause of Secession in delay; that
+there were wavering States outside the Confederacy, like Virginia, that
+might be dragged into the Confederacy by prompt and bloody work; and
+wavering States within, like Alabama, that must be kept in by similar
+means. Their emissaries were busy everywhere in the South, early in
+April, preaching an instant crusade against the old flag--inciting the
+people to demand instant hostilities against Fort Sumter--and to cross a
+Rubicon of blood, over which there could be no return.
+
+Many of the Rebel leaders seemed to be haunted by the fear (no doubt
+well founded) that unless blood was shed--unless an impassable barrier,
+crimsoned with human gore, was raised between the new Confederacy and
+the old Union--there would surely be an ever-present danger of that
+Confederacy falling to pieces. Hence they were now active in working
+the people up to the required point of frenzy.
+
+As a specimen of their speeches, may be quoted that of Roger A. Pryor,
+of Virginia, who, at Charleston, April 10, 1861, replying to a serenade,
+said:--[Charleston Mercury's report.]
+
+'Gentlemen, I thank you, especially that you have at last annihilated
+this accursed Union [Applause] reeking with corruption, and insolent
+with excess of tyranny. Thank God, it is at last blasted and riven by
+the lightning wrath of an outraged and indignant people. [Loud
+applause.] Not only is it gone, but gone forever. [Cries of, 'You're
+right,' and applause.] In the expressive language of Scripture, it is
+water spilt upon the ground, which cannot be gathered up. [Applause.]
+Like Lucifer, son of the morning, it has fallen, never to rise again.
+[Continued applause.]
+
+"For my part, gentlemen," he continued, as soon as he could be heard,
+"if Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin to-morrow were to abdicate their
+offices and were to give me a blank sheet of paper to write the
+condition of re-annexation to the defunct Union, I would scornfully
+spurn the overture. * * * I invoke you, and I make it in some sort a
+personal appeal--personal so far as it tends to our assistance in
+Virginia--I do invoke you, in your demonstrations of popular opinion, in
+your exhibitions of official intent, to give no countenance to this idea
+of reconstruction. [Many voices, emphatically, 'never,' and applause.]
+
+"In Virginia," resumed he, "they all say, if reduced to the dread
+dilemma of this memorable alternative, they will espouse the cause of
+the South as against the interest of the Northern Confederacy, but they
+whisper of reconstruction, and they say Virginia must abide in the
+Union, with the idea of reconstructing the Union which you have
+annihilated. I pray you, gentlemen, rob them of that idea. Proclaim to
+the World that upon no condition, and under no circumstances, will South
+Carolina ever again enter into political association with the
+Abolitionists of New England. [Cries of 'never,' and applause.]
+
+"Do not distrust Virginia," he continued; "as sure as tomorrow's sun
+will rise upon us, just so sure will Virginia be a member of this
+Southern Confederation. [Applause.] And I will tell you, gentlemen,
+what will put her in the Southern Confederacy in less than an hour by
+Shrewsbury clock--STRIKE A BLOW! [Tremendous applause.] The very
+moment that blood is shed, old Virginia will make common cause with her
+sisters of the South. [Applause.] It is impossible she should do
+otherwise."
+
+The question of the necessity of "Striking a Blow"--of the immediate
+"shedding of blood"--was not only discussed before the Southern people
+for the purpose of inflaming their rebellious zeal, but was also the
+subject of excited agitation in the Confederate Cabinet at this time.
+
+In a speech made by ex-United States Senator Clemens of Alabama, at
+Huntsville, Alabama, at the close of the Rebellion, he told the
+Alabamians how their State, which, as we have seen, was becoming
+decidedly shaky in its allegiance to the "Sham of Southern
+Independence," was kept in the Confederacy.
+
+Said he: "In 1861, shortly after the Confederate Government was put in
+operation, I was in the city of Montgomery. One day (April 11, 1861) I
+stepped into the office of the Secretary of War, General Walker, and
+found there, engaged in a very excited discussion, Mr. Jefferson Davis
+(the President), Mr. Memminger (Secretary of the Treasury), Mr. Benjamin
+(Attorney-General), Mr. Gilchrist, a member of our Legislature from
+Loundes county, and a number of other prominent gentlemen. They were
+discussing the propriety of immediately opening fire on Fort Sumter, to
+which General Walker, the Secretary of War, appeared to be opposed. Mr.
+Gilchrist said to him, 'Sir, unless you sprinkle blood in the face of
+the people of Alabama, they will be back in the old Union in less than
+ten days!' THE NEXT DAY GENERAL BEAUREGARD OPENED HIS BATTERIES ON
+SUMTER, AND ALABAMA WAS SAVED TO THE CONFEDERACY."
+
+On the 8th of April, G. T. Beauregard, "Brigadier General Commanding"
+the "Provisional Army C. S. A." at Charleston, S. C., notified the
+Confederate Secretary of War (Walker) at Montgomery, Ala., that "An
+authorized messenger from President Lincoln has just informed Gov.
+Pickens and myself that provisions will be sent to Fort Sumter
+peaceably, or otherwise by force."
+
+On the 10th, Confederate Secretary Walker telegraphed to Beauregard: "If
+you have no doubt of the authorized character of the agent who
+communicated to, you the intention of the Washington Government to
+supply Fort Sumter by force, you will at once demand its evacuation,
+and, if this is refused, proceed, in such manner as you may determine,
+to reduce it." To this Beauregard at once replied: "The demand will be
+made to-morrow at 12 o'clock." Thereupon the Confederate Secretary
+telegraphed again: "Unless there are special reasons connected with your
+own condition, it is considered proper that you should make the demand
+at an earlier hour." And Beauregard answered: "The reasons are special
+for 12 o'clock."
+
+On the 11th General Beauregard notified Secretary Walker: "The demand
+was sent at 2 P. M., and until 6 was allowed for the answer." The
+Secretary desiring to have the reply of Major Anderson, General
+Beauregard telegraphed: "Major Anderson replies: 'I have the honor to
+acknowledge the receipt of your communication demanding the evacuation
+of this Fort, and to say in reply thereto that it is a demand with which
+I regret that my sense of honor and of my obligation to my Government
+prevent my compliance.' He adds, verbally, 'I will await the first
+shot, and, if you do not batter us to pieces, we will be starved out in
+a few days.'"
+
+To this, the Confederate Secretary at once responded with: "Do not
+desire needlessly to bombard Fort Sumter. If Major Anderson will state
+the time at which, as indicated by himself, he will evacuate, and agree
+that, in the mean time, he will not use his guns against us unless ours
+should be employed against Fort Sumter, you are authorized thus to avoid
+the effusion of blood. If this or its equivalent be refused, reduce the
+Fort, as your judgment decides to be the most practicable."
+
+At 11 o'clock that night (April 11) General Beauregard sent to Major
+Anderson, by the hands of his aides-de-camp, Messrs. Chesnut and Lee, a
+further communication, in which, after alluding to the Major's verbal
+observation, the General said: "If you will state the time at which you
+will evacuate Fort Sumter, and agree that in the mean time you will not
+use your guns against us unless ours shall be employed against Fort
+Sumter, we shall abstain from opening fire upon you. Col. Chesnut and
+Capt. Lee are authorized by me to enter into such an agreement with you.
+You are therefore requested to communicate to them an open answer."
+
+To this, Major Robert Anderson, at 2.30 A.M. of the 12th, replied "that,
+cordially uniting with you in the desire to avoid the useless effusion
+of blood, I will, if provided with the necessary means of
+transportation, evacuate Fort Sumter by noon on the 15th inst., should I
+not receive prior to that time, controlling instructions from my
+Government, or additional supplies, and that I will not in the mean time
+open my fire upon your forces unless compelled to do so by some hostile
+act against this Fort or the flag of my Government, by the forces under
+your command, or by some portion of them, or by the perpetration of some
+act showing a hostile intention on your part against this Fort or the
+flag it bears." Thereupon General Beauregard telegraphed Secretary
+Walker: "He would not consent. I write to-day."
+
+At 3.20 A.M., Major Anderson received from Messrs. Chesnut and Lee a
+notification to this effect: "By authority of Brigadier General
+Beauregard, commanding the Provisional Forces of the Confederate States,
+we have the honor to notify you that he will open the fire of his
+batteries on Fort Sumter in one hour from this time." And a later
+dispatch from General Beauregard to Secretary Walker, April 12,
+laconically stated: "WE OPENED FIRE AT 4.30."
+
+At last the hour and the minute had come, for which the Slave Power of
+the South had for thirty years so impatiently longed. At last the
+moment had come, when all the long-treasured vengeance of the South--
+outgrown from questions of Tariff, of Slavery, and of Secession--was to
+be poured out in blood and battle; when the panoplied powers and forces
+of rebellious confederated States, standing face to face with the
+resolute patriotism of an outraged Union, would belch forth flame and
+fury and hurtling missiles upon the Federal Fort and the old flag
+floating o'er it.
+
+And whose the sacrilegious hand that dared be first raised against his
+Country and his Country's flag? Stevens's mortar battery at Sullivan's
+Island is ready to open, when a lean, long-haired old man, with eyes
+blazing in their deep fanatical sockets, totters hastily forward and
+ravenously seizing in his bony hands a lanyard, pulls the string, and,
+with a flash and roar, away speeds the shrieking shell on its mission of
+destruction; and, while shell after shell, and shot after shot, from
+battery after battery, screams a savage accompaniment to the boom and
+flash and bellow of the guns, that lean old man works his clutched
+fingers in an ecstasy of fiendish pleasure, and chuckles: "Aye, I told
+them at Columbia that night, that the defense of the South is only to be
+secured through the lead of South Carolina; and, old as I am, I had come
+here to join them in that lead--and I have done it."
+
+ [Edmund Ruffin, see p. 100. This theory of the necessity of South
+ Carolina leading, had long been held, as in the following, first
+ published in the New York Tribune, July 3, 1862, which, among other
+ letters, was found in the house of William H. Trescot, on
+ Barnwell's Island, South Carolina, when re-occupied by United
+ States troops:
+
+ "VIRGINIA CONVENTION, May 3, 1851
+
+ "My DEAR, SIR:--You misunderstood my last letter, if you supposed
+ that I intended to visit South Carolina this Spring. I am
+ exceedingly obliged to you for your kind invitations, and it would
+ afford me the highest pleasure to interchange in person, sentiments
+ with a friend whose manner of thinking so closely agrees with my
+ own. But my engagements here closely confine me to this city, and
+ deny me such a gratification.
+
+ "I would be especially glad to be in Charleston next week, and
+ witness the proceedings of your Convention of Delegates from the
+ Southern Rights Associations. The condition of things in your
+ State deeply interests me. Her wise foresight and manly
+ independence have placed her, as the head of the South, to whom
+ alone true-hearted men can look with any hope or pleasure.
+
+ "Momentous are the consequences which depend upon your action.
+ Which party will prevail? The immediate Secessionists, or those
+ who are opposed to separate State action at this time? For my part
+ I forbear to form a wish. Were I a Carolinian, it would be very
+ different; but when I consider the serious effects the decision may
+ have on your future weal or woe, I feel that a citizen of a State
+ which has acted as Virginia, has no right to interfere, even by a
+ wish.
+
+ "If the General Government allows you peaceably and freely to
+ Secede, neither Virginia, nor any other Southern State, would, in
+ my opinion, follow you at present. But what would be the effect
+ upon South Carolina? Some of our best friends have supposed that
+ it would cut off Charleston from the great Western trade, which she
+ is now striking for, and would retard very greatly the progress of
+ your State. I confess that I think differently. I believe
+ thoroughly in our own theories, and that, even if Charleston did
+ not grow quite as fast in her trade with other States, yet the
+ relief from Federal taxation would vastly stimulate your
+ prosperity. If so, the prestige of the Union would be destroyed,
+ and you would be the nucleus for a Southern Confederation at no
+ distant day.
+
+ "But I do not doubt, from all I have been able toe to learn that the
+ Federal Government would use force, beginning with the form most
+ embarrassing to you, and least calculated to excite sympathy. I
+ mean a naval blockade. In that event, could you stand the reaction
+ feeling which the suffering commerce of Charleston would probably
+ manifest? Would you not lose that in which your strength consists,
+ the union of your people? I do not mean to imply an opinion, I
+ only ask the question.
+
+ "If you could force this blockade, and bring the Government to
+ direct force, the feeling in Virginia would be very great. I trust
+ in God it would bring her to your aid. But it would be wrong in me
+ to deceive you by speaking certainly. I cannot express the deep
+ mortification I have felt at her course this Winter. But I do not
+ believe that the course of the Legislature is a fair expression of
+ popular feeling. In the East, at least, the great majority
+ believes in the right of Secession, and feels the deepest sympathy
+ with Carolina in her opposition to measures which they regard as
+ she does. But the West--Western Virginia--there is the rub! Only
+ 60,000 slaves to 494,000 whites! When I consider this fact, and
+ the kind of argument which has been heard in this body, I cannot
+ but regard with the greatest fear the question whether Virginia
+ would assist Carolina in such an issue.
+
+ "I must acknowledge, my dear sir, that I look to the future with
+ almost as much apprehension as hope. You well object to the term
+ Democrat. Democracy, in its original philosophical sense, is
+ indeed incompatible with Slavery and the whole system of Southern
+ society. Yet, if you look back, what change will you find made in
+ any of your State Constitutions, or in our legislation--that is, in
+ its general course--for the last fifty years, which was not in the
+ direction of this Democracy? Do not its principles and theories
+ become daily more fixed in our practice? (I had almost said in the
+ opinions of our people, did I not remember with pleasure the great
+ improvement of opinion in regard to the abstract question of
+ Slavery). And if such is the case, what are we to hope in the
+ future? I do not hesitate to say that if the question is raised
+ between Carolina and the Federal Government, and the latter
+ prevails, the last hope of republican government, and, I fear, of
+ Southern civilization, is gone. Russia will then be a better
+ government than ours.
+
+ "I fear that the confusion and interruptions amid which I write
+ have made this rather a rambling letter. Do you visit the North in
+ the Summer? I would be very happy to welcome you to the Old
+ Dominion.
+
+ "I am much obliged to you for the offer to send me Hammond's Eulogy
+ on Calhoun, but I am indebted to the author for a copy.
+
+ "With esteem and friendship, yours truly,
+
+ "M. R. H. GARNETT.
+
+ "WM. H. TRESCOT, ESQ."]
+
+
+Next morning's New York herald, in its Charleston dispatch of April 12,
+announced to the World that "The first shot [fired at Fort Sumter] from
+Stevens's battery was fired by the venerable Edmund Ruffin, of
+Virginia," and added, "That ball will do more for the cause of
+Secession, in Virginia, than volumes of stump speeches."
+
+"Soon," says Greeley in his History, "the thunder of fifty heavy
+breaching cannon, in one grand volley, followed by the crashing and
+crumbling of brick, stone, and mortar around and above them, apprized
+the little garrison that their stay must necessarily be short."
+
+Says an eye-witness of the bombardment: "Shells burst with the greatest
+rapidity in every portion of the work, hurling the loose brick and stone
+in all directions, breaking the windows and setting fire to whatever
+woodwork they burst against. * * * The firing from the batteries on
+Cumming's Point was scattered over the whole of the gorge or rear of the
+Fort, till it looked like a sieve. The explosion of shells, and the
+quantity of deadly missiles that were hurled in every direction and at
+every instant of time, made it almost certain death to go out of the
+lower tier of casemates, and also made the working of the barbette or
+upper (uncovered) guns, which contained all our heaviest metal, and by
+which alone we could throw shells, quite impossible.
+
+"During the first day there was hardly an instant of time that there was
+a cessation of the whizzing of balls, which were sometimes coming half a
+dozen at once. There was not a portion of the work which was not taken
+in reverse from mortars. * * * During Friday, the officers' barracks
+were three times set on fire by the shells and three times put out under
+the most galling and destructive cannonade.
+
+"For the fourth time, the barracks were set on fire early on Saturday
+morning, and attempts were made to extinguish the flames; but it was
+soon discovered that red-hot shot were being thrown into the Fort with
+fearful rapidity, and it became evident that it would be impossible to
+put out the conflagration. The whole garrison was then set to work, or
+as many as could be spared, to remove the powder from the magazines,
+which was desperate work, rolling barrels of powder through the fire. *
+* * After the barracks were well on fire, the batteries directed upon
+Fort Sumter increased their cannonading to a rapidity greater than had
+been attained before."
+
+"About this time, the shells and ammunition in the upper service-
+magazines exploded, scattering the tower and upper portions of the
+building in every direction. The crash of the beams, the roar of the
+flames, and the shower of fragments of the Fort, with the blackness of
+the smoke, made the scene indescribably terrific and grand. This
+continued for several hours. * * * "
+
+=== Gutchecked to here
+
+"There was not a portion of the Fort where a breath of air could be got
+for hours, except through a wet cloth. The fire spread to the men's
+quarters on the right hand and on the left, and endangered the powder
+which had been taken out of the magazines. The men went through the
+fire, and covered the barrels with wet cloths, but the danger of the
+Fort's blowing up became so imminent that they were obliged to heave the
+barrels out of the embrasures."
+
+Major Anderson's official report tells the whole story briefly and well,
+in these words:
+
+ "STEAMSHIP BALTIC, OFF SANDY HOOK
+
+ "April 18, 1861, 10.30 A.M., VIA NEW YORK.
+
+"Having defended Fort Sumter for thirty-four hours, until the quarters
+were entirely burnt, the main gates destroyed by fire, the gorge walls
+seriously injured, the magazine surrounded by flames, and its door
+closed from the effects of heat; four barrels and three cartridges of
+powder only being available, and no provisions remaining but pork, I
+accepted terms of evacuation offered by General Beauregard--being the
+same offered by him on the 11th inst., prior to the commencement of
+hostilities--and marched out of the Fort on Sunday afternoon, the 14th
+instant, with colors flying and drums beating, bringing away company and
+private property, and saluting my flag with fifty guns.
+
+ "ROBERT ANDERSON,
+ "Major 1st Artillery, Commanding.
+
+"HON. SIMON CAMERON,
+"Secretary of War, Washington."
+
+
+During all this thirty-four hours of bombardment, the South rejoiced
+with exceeding great joy that the time had come for the vindication of
+its peculiar ideas of State and other rights, even though it be with
+flames and the sword. At Charleston, the people were crazy with
+exultation and wine-feasting and drinking being the order of the day and
+night. But for the surrender, Fort Sumter would have been stormed that
+Sunday night. As it was, Sunday was turned into a day of general
+jubilation, and while the people cheered and filled the streets, all the
+Churches of Charleston celebrated, with more or less devotional fervor
+and ceremony, the bloodless victory.
+
+At Montgomery, the Chiefs of the Confederate Government were serenaded.
+"Salvos of artillery were fired, and the whole population seemed to be
+in an ecstasy of triumph."--[McPherson's History of the Rebellion, p.
+114]
+
+The Confederate Secretary of War, flushed with the success, predicted
+that the Confederate flag "will, before the first of May, float over the
+dome of the old Capitol at Washington" and "will eventually float over
+Faneuil Hall, in Boston."
+
+From Maryland to Mexico, the protests of Union men of the South were
+unheard in the fierce clamor of "On to Washington!"
+
+The Richmond Examiner said: "There never was half the unanimity among
+the people before, nor a tithe of the zeal upon any subject, that is now
+manifested to take Washington. From the mountain tops and valleys to
+the shores of the sea, there is one wild shout of fierce resolve to
+capture Washington City at all and every human hazard."
+
+So also, the Mobile Advertiser enthusiastically exclaimed:
+
+"We are prepared to fight, and the enemy is not. Now is the time for
+action, while he is yet unprepared. Let the fife sound 'Gray Jackets
+over the Border,' and let a hundred thousand men, with such arms as they
+can snatch, get over the border as quickly as they can. Let a division
+enter every Northern border State, destroy railroad connection to
+prevent concentration of the enemy, and the desperate strait of these
+States, the body of Lincoln's country, will compel him to a peace--or
+compel his successor, should Virginia not suffer him to escape from his
+doomed capital."
+
+It was on Friday morning, the 12th of April, as we have seen, that the
+first Rebel shot was fired at Fort Sumter. It was on Saturday afternoon
+and evening that the terms of surrender were agreed to, and on Sunday
+afternoon that the Federal flag was saluted and hauled down, and the
+surrender completed. On Monday morning, being the 15th of April, in all
+the great Northern Journals of the day appeared the following:
+
+"PROCLAMATION.
+
+"WHEREAS, the laws of the United States have been for some time past,
+and now are, opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed, in the
+States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi,
+Louisiana, and Texas, by Combinations too powerful to be suppressed by
+the ordinary course of Judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in
+the Marshals by law; now, therefore I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the
+United States, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution
+and the laws, have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth,
+the Militia of the several States of the Union to the aggregate number
+of 75,000, in order to suppress said Combinations, and to cause the laws
+to be duly executed.
+
+"The details for this object will be immediately communicated to the
+State authorities through the War Department. I appeal to all loyal
+citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the
+honor, the integrity, and existence of our National Union, and the
+perpetuity of popular government, and to redress wrongs already long
+enough endured. I deem it proper to say that the first service assigned
+to the forces hereby called forth, will probably be to repossess the
+forts, places, and property which have been seized from the Union; and
+in every event the utmost care will be observed, consistently with the
+objects aforesaid, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of, or
+interference with, property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens of
+any part of the Country; and I hereby command the persons composing the
+Combinations aforesaid, to disperse and retire peaceably to their
+respective abodes, within twenty days from this date.
+
+"Deeming that the present condition of public affairs presents an
+extraordinary occasion, I do hereby, in virtue of the power in me vested
+by the Constitution, convene both Houses of Congress. The Senators and
+Representatives are, therefore, summoned to assemble at their respective
+chambers at twelve o'clock, noon, on Thursday, the 4th day of July next,
+then and there to consider and determine such measures as, in their
+wisdom, the public safety and interest may seem to demand.
+
+"In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of
+the United States to be affixed.
+
+"Done at the city of Washington, this fifteenth day of April, in the
+year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and of the
+independence of the United States the eighty-fifth.
+
+"By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
+
+"WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State."
+
+
+While in the North the official responses to this Call for troops were
+prompt and patriotic, in the Border and Slave States, not yet in
+Rebellion, they were anything but encouraging.
+
+The reply of Governor Burton, of Delaware, was by the issue of a
+proclamation "recommending the formation of volunteer companies for the
+protection of the lives and property of the people of Delaware against
+violence of any sort to which they may be exposed; the companies not
+being subject to be ordered by the Executive into the United States
+service--the law not vesting him with such authority--but having the
+option of offering their services to the General Government for the
+defense of its capital and the support of the Constitution and laws of
+the Country."
+
+Governor Hicks, of Maryland, in like manner, issued a proclamation for
+Maryland's quota of the troops, but stated that her four regiments would
+be detailed to serve within the limits of Maryland--or, for the defense
+of the National Capital.
+
+Governor Letcher, of Virginia, replied: "The militia of Virginia will
+not be furnished to the powers at Washington for any such use or purpose
+as they have in view. Your object is to subjugate the Southern States,
+and a requisition made upon me for such an object--an object, in my
+judgment, not within the purview of the Constitution or the Act of 1795
+--will not be complied with. You have chosen to inaugurate Civil War,
+and having done so, we will meet it in a spirit as determined as the
+Administration has exhibited toward the South."
+
+Governor Ellis, of North Carolina, replied to Secretary Cameron: "Your
+dispatch is received, and, if genuine--which its extraordinary character
+leads me to doubt--I have to say in reply that I regard the levy of
+troops made by the Administration, for the purpose of subjugating the
+States of the South, as in violation of the Constitution and a
+usurpation of power. I can be no party to this wicked violation of the
+laws of the country, and to this War upon the liberties of a free
+people. You can get no troops from North Carolina. I will reply more
+in detail when your Call is received by mail."
+
+Governor Magoffin, of Kentucky, replied: "Your dispatch is received. In
+answer I say emphatically, Kentucky will furnish no troops for the
+wicked purpose of subduing her sister Southern States."
+
+Governor Harris, of Tennessee, replied: "Tennessee will not furnish a
+single man for Coercion, but fifty thousand, if necessary, for the
+Defense of our rights or those of our Southern brethren."
+
+Governor Jackson, of Missouri, replied: "Your requisition is illegal,
+unconstitutional, revolutionary, inhuman, diabolical and cannot be
+complied with."
+
+Governor Rector, of Arkansas, replied: "None will be furnished. The
+demand is only adding insult to injury."
+
+Discouraging and even insulting as were most of these replies, the
+responses of the Governors of the Free States were, on the other hand,
+full of the ring of true martial Patriotism evoked by the fall of Sumter
+and the President's first call for troops. Twenty millions of Northern
+hearts were stirred by that Call, as they had never before been stirred.
+Party and faction became for the moment, a thing of the past.
+
+The Governors of the Free States made instant proclamation for
+volunteers, and the People responded not by thousands but by hundreds of
+thousands. New York, the Empire State, by her Governor and her
+Legislature placed all her tremendous resources at the service of the
+Union; and the great State of Pennsylvania, through Governor Curtin, did
+the same. Nor were the other States at all behind.
+
+The Loyal North felt that Law, Order, Liberty, the existence of the
+Nation itself was in peril, and must be both saved and vindicated. Over
+half a million of men--from the prairies of the West and the hills and
+cities of the East--from farms and counting houses, from factories and
+mines and workshops--sprang to arms at the Call, and begged to be
+enrolled. The merchants and capitalists throughout the North proffered
+to the Government their wealth and influence and best services. The
+press and the people responded as only the press and people of a Free
+land can respond--with all their heart and soul. "Fort Sumter," said
+one of the journals, "is lost, but Freedom is saved. Henceforth, the
+Loyal States are a unit in uncompromising hostility to Treason, wherever
+plotted, however justified. Fort Sumter is temporarily lost, but the
+Country is saved. Live the Republic!"
+
+This, in a nutshell, was the feeling everywhere expressed, whether by
+the great crowds that marched through the streets of Northern cities
+with drums beating and banners flying--cheering wildly for the Union,
+singing Union songs, and compelling those of doubtful loyalty to throw
+out to the breeze from their homes the glorified Stars and Stripes--by
+the great majority of newspapers--by the pulpit, by the rostrum, by the
+bench, by all of whatever profession or calling in Northern life. For
+the moment, the voice of the Rebel-sympathizer was hushed in the land,
+or so tremendously overborne that it seemed as if there was an absolute
+unanimity of love for the Union.
+
+Of course, in Border-States, bound to the South by ties of lineage and
+intermarriage and politics and business association, the feeling could
+not be the same as elsewhere. There, they were, so to speak, drawn both
+ways at once, by the beckoning hands of kindred on the one side, and
+Country on the other! Thus they long waited and hesitated, praying that
+something might yet happen to save the Union of their fathers, and
+prevent the shedding of brothers' blood, by brothers-hoping against
+hope-waited, in the belief that a position of armed neutrality might be
+permitted to them; and grieved, when they found this could not be.
+
+Each side to the great Conflict-at-arms naturally enough believed itself
+right, and that the other side was the first aggressor; but the judgment
+of Mankind has placed the blame where it properly belonged--on the
+shoulders of the Rebels. The calm, clear statement of President
+Lincoln, in his July Message to Congress, touching the assault and its
+preceding history--together with his conclusions--states the whole
+matter in such authentic and convincing manner that it may be said to
+have settled the point beyond further controversy. After stating that
+it "was resolved to notify the Governor of South Carolina that he might
+expect an attempt would be made to provision the Fort; and that if the
+attempt should not be resisted there would be no effort to throw in men,
+arms, or ammunition, without further notice, or in case of an attack on
+the Fort," Mr. Lincoln continues: "This notice was accordingly given;
+whereupon the Fort was attacked and bombarded to its fall, without even
+awaiting the arrival of the provisioning expedition."
+
+The President then proceeds: "It is thus seen that the assault upon and
+reduction of Fort Sumter was, in no sense, a matter of self-defense on
+the part of the assailants. They well knew that the garrison in the
+Fort could, by no possibility, commit aggression upon them. They knew--
+they were expressly notified--that the giving of bread to the few brave
+and hungry men of the garrison was all which would on that occasion be
+attempted, unless themselves, by resisting so much, should provoke more.
+They knew that this Government desired to keep the garrison in the Fort
+--not to assail them--but merely to maintain visible possession, and
+thus to preserve the Union from actual and immediate dissolution--
+trusting, as hereinbefore stated, to time, discussion, and the ballot-
+box for final adjustment; and they assailed and reduced the Fort for
+precisely the reverse object--to drive out the visible authority of the
+Federal Union, and thus force it to immediate dissolution.
+
+"That this was their object, the Executive well understood; and, having
+said to them, in the Inaugural Address, 'you can have no conflict
+without being yourselves the aggressors,' he took pains not only to keep
+this declaration good, but also to keep the case so free from the power
+of ingenious sophistry as that the World should not be able to
+misunderstand it.
+
+"By the affair at Fort Sumter, with its surrounding circumstances, that
+point was reached. Then and thereby the assailants of the Government
+began the Conflict of arms, without a gun in sight or in expectancy to
+return their fire, save only the few in the Fort sent to that harbor
+years before for their own protection, and still ready to give that
+protection in whatever was lawful. In this act, discarding all else,
+they have forced upon the Country, the distinct issue: 'Immediate
+dissolution or blood.'
+
+"And this issue embraces more than the fate of these United States. It
+presents to the whole family of Man the question whether a
+Constitutional Republic or Democracy--a government of the People by the
+same People--can or cannot maintain its territorial integrity against
+its own domestic foes. It presents the question whether discontented
+individuals, too few in numbers to control administration according to
+organic law in any case, can always, upon the pretences made in this
+case, or on any other pretences, or arbitrarily without any pretence,
+break up their Government, and thus practically put an end to free
+government upon the earth. It forces us to ask: 'Is there in all
+republics, this inherent and fatal weakness?' 'Must a Government of
+necessity be too strong for the liberties of its own people, or too weak
+to maintain its own existence?'
+
+"So viewing the issue, no choice was left but to call out the War power
+of the Government; and so to resist force, employed for its destruction,
+by force, for its preservation."
+
+The Call for Troops was made, as we have seen, on the 15th day of April.
+On the evening of the following day several companies of a Pennsylvania
+Regiment reported for duty in Washington. On the 18th, more
+Pennsylvania Volunteers, including a company of Artillery, arrived
+there.
+
+On the 19th of April, the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment--whose progress
+through New York city had been triumphal-was suddenly and unexpectedly
+assailed, in its passage through Baltimore, to the defense of the
+National Capital, by a howling mob of Maryland Secessionists--worked up
+to a pitch of States-rights frenzy by Confederate emissaries and
+influential Baltimore Secession-sympathizers, by news of the sudden
+evacuation of the Federal Arsenal at Harper's Ferry, and other exciting
+tidings--and had to fight its way through, leaving three soldiers of
+that regiment dead, and a number wounded, behind it.
+
+ [At a meeting of the "National Volunteer Association," at Monument
+ Square, Baltimore, the previous evening, says Greeley's History of
+ the American Conflict, page 462, "None of the speakers directly
+ advocated attacks on the Northern troops about to pass through the
+ city; but each was open in his hostility to 'Coercion,' and
+ ardently exhorted his hearers to organize, arm and drill, for the
+ Conflict now inevitable. Carr (Wilson C. N. Carr) said: 'I do not
+ care how many Federal troops are sent to Washington; they will soon
+ find themselves surrounded by such an army from Virginia and
+ Maryland, that escape to their homes will be impossible; and when
+ the 75,000 who are intended to invade the South shall have polluted
+ that soil with their touch, the South will extermninate and sweep
+ them from the Earth.' (Frantic cheering and yelling). The meeting
+ broke up with stentorian cheers for 'the South' and for 'President
+ Davis."']
+
+Ten companies of Philadelphia troops, reaching Baltimore at the same
+time, unarmed, were also violently assailed by the crazy mob, and, after
+a two hours' fight, reached the cars and returned to Philadelphia.
+
+Washington City--already, by the Secession of Virginia, cut off from the
+South--was thus practically cut off from the North as well; and to
+isolate it more completely, the telegraph wires were cut down and the
+railroad bridges burned. A mere handful of regulars, the few volunteers
+that had got through before the outbreak in Baltimore, and a small
+number of Union residents and Government department clerks--these, under
+General Winfield Scott, constituted the paltry force that, for ten days
+after the Call for troops, held the National Capital.
+
+Informed, as the Rebels must have been, by their swarming spies, of the
+weakness of the Federal metropolis, it seems absolutely marvelous that
+instant advantage was not taken of it.
+
+The Richmond Examiner, of April 23d, said: "The capture of Washington
+City is perfectly within the power of Virginia and Maryland, if Virginia
+will only make the effort with her constituted authorities; nor is there
+a single moment to lose. * * * The fanatical yell for the immediate
+subjugation of the whole South is going up hourly from the united voices
+of all the North; and, for the purpose of making their work sure, they
+have determined to hold Washington City as the point whence to carry on
+their brutal warfare. Our people can take it--they will take it--and
+Scott, the arch-traitor, and Lincoln, the Beast, combined, cannot
+prevent it. The just indignation of an outraged and deeply injured
+people will teach the Illinois Ape to repeat his race and retrace his
+journey across the borders of the Free Negro States still more rapidly
+than he came. * * * Great cleansing and purification are needed and
+will be given to that festering sink of iniquity, that wallow of Lincoln
+and Scott--the desecrated city of Washington; and many indeed will be
+the carcasses of dogs and caitiff that will blacken the air upon the
+gallows before the great work is accomplished. So let it be!"
+
+But despite all this fanfaronade of brutal bluster, and various
+movements that looked somewhat threatening, and this complete isolation
+for more than a week from the rest of the World, the city of Washington
+was not seized by the Rebels, after all.
+
+This nervous condition of affairs, however, existed until the 25th--and
+to General Benjamin F. Butler is due the chief credit of putting an end
+to it. It seems he had reached the Susquehanna river at Perryville,
+with his Eighth Massachusetts Regiment on the 20th--the day after the
+Sixth Massachusetts had been mobbed at Baltimore--and, finding his
+further progress to Washington via Baltimore, barred by the destruction
+of the bridge across the Susquehanna, etc., he at once seized a large
+ferry steamer, embarked his men on her, steamed down the river and
+Chesapeake Bay to Annapolis, the capital of Maryland, took possession of
+the frigate Constitution, the Naval Academy, and the city itself,
+gathered supplies, and being reinforced by the arrival by water of the
+famous New York Seventh, and other regiments, repaired the branch
+railroad to Annapolis Junction (on the main line of railroad between
+Baltimore and Washington), and transferred his column from thence, by
+cars, on the 25th, to the National Capital--soon thereafter also taking
+military possession of Baltimore, which gave no further trouble to the
+Union Cause. In the meantime, however, other untoward events to that
+Cause had happened.
+
+Two days after the Call for troops, the Virginia Convention (April 17th)
+secretly voted to Secede from the Union. An expedition of Virginia
+troops was almost at once started to capture the Federal Arsenal at
+Harper's Ferry, which, as has already been intimated, was evacuated
+hastily on the night of the 18th, by the handful of Union regulars
+garrisoning it, after a futile effort to destroy the public property and
+stores it held. Another expedition was started to seize the Federal
+Navy Yard at Norfolk--a rich prize, containing as it did, between 2,000
+and 3,000 pieces of heavy ordnance (300 of them Dahlgrens), three old
+line-of-battle ships and a number of frigates, including the Cumberland
+and the fine forty-gun steam frigate Merrimac, together with thousands
+of kegs of powder and immense stores of other munitions of war, and
+supplies--that had cost in all some $10,000,000. Without an enemy in
+sight, however, this fine Navy Yard was shamefully evacuated, after
+partly scuttling and setting fire to the vessels--the Cumberland alone
+being towed away--and spiking the guns, and doing other not very
+material damage.
+
+So also, in North Carolina, Rebel influence was equally active. On the
+20th of April Governor Ellis seized the Federal Branch Mint at,
+Charlotte, and on the 22d the Federal Arsenal at Fayetteville. A few
+days thereafter his Legislature authorized him to tender to Virginia--
+which had already joined the Confederacy--or to the Government of the
+Confederate States itself, the volunteer forces of North Carolina. And,
+although at the end of January the people of that State had decided at
+the polls that no Secession Convention be held, yet the subservient
+Legislature did not hesitate, on demand, to call one together which met
+in May and ordained such Secession.
+
+Thus, by the end of May, 1861, the Confederacy had grown to comprise
+nine instead of seven States, and the Confederate troops were
+concentrating on Richmond--whither the Rebel Government was soon to
+remove, from Montgomery.
+
+By this time also not only had the ranks of the regular Union Army been
+filled and largely added to, but 42,000 additional volunteers had been
+called out by President Lincoln; and the blockade of the Southern ports
+(including those of Virginia and North Carolina) that had been
+proclaimed by him, was, despite all obstacles, now becoming effectual
+and respected.
+
+Washington City and its suburbs, by the influx of Union volunteers, had
+during this month become a vast armed camp; the Potomac river had been
+crossed and the Virginia hills (including Arlington heights) which
+overlooked the Federal Capital, had been occupied and fortified by Union
+troops; the young and gallant Colonel Ellsworth had been killed by a
+Virginia Rebel while pulling down a Rebel flag in Alexandria; and
+General Benjamin F. Butler, in command at Fortress Monroe, had by an
+inspiration, solved one of the knottiest points confronting our armies,
+by declaring of three Negroes who had fled from their master so as to
+escape working on Rebel fortifications, that they should not be returned
+to that master--under the Fugitive Slave Law, as demanded by a Rebel
+officer with a flag of truce--but were confiscated "property," and would
+be retained, as "contraband of war."
+
+It was about this time, too, that the New Orleans Picayune fell into
+line with other unscrupulous Rebel sheets, by gravely declaring that:
+"All the Massachusetts troops now in Washington are Negroes, with the
+exception of two or three drummer boys. General Butler, in command, is
+a native of Liberia. Our readers may recollect old Ben, the barber, who
+kept a shop in Poydras street, and emigrated to Liberia with a small
+competence. General Butler is his son." Little did the writer of that
+paragraph dream how soon New Orleans would crouch at the very feet of
+that same General!
+
+And now, while the armed hosts on either side are assembling in hostile
+array, or resting on their arms, preliminary to the approaching fray of
+battle, let us glance at the alleged causes underlying this great
+Rebellion against the Union.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XI.
+
+ THE CAUSES OF SECESSION.
+
+In preceding Chapters of this work, it has been briefly shown, that from
+the very hour in which the Republic of the United States was born, there
+have not been wanting, among its own citizens, those who hated it, and
+when they could not rule, were always ready to do what they could, by
+Conspiracy, Sedition, Mutiny, Nullification, Secession, or otherwise, to
+weaken and destroy it. This fact, and the processes by which the
+Conspirators worked, is very well stated, in his documentary "History of
+the Rebellion," by Edward McPherson, when he says: "In the Slaveholding
+States, a considerable body of men have always been disaffected to the
+Union. They resisted the adoption of the National Constitution, then
+sought to refine away the rights and powers of the General Government,
+and by artful expedients, in a series of years, using the excitements
+growing out of passing questions, finally perverted the sentiments of
+large masses of men, and prepared them for Revolution."
+
+Before giving further incontestable proofs establishing this fact, and
+before endeavoring to sift out the true cause or causes of Secession,
+let us first examine such evidences as are submitted by him in support
+of his proposition.
+
+The first piece of testimony, is an extract from an unpublished journal
+of U. S. Senator Maclay of Pennsylvania, from March 4, 1789, to March 3,
+1791--the period of the First Congress under the Federal Constitution.
+It runs thus:
+
+"1789, June 9.--In relation to the Tariff Bill, the affair of confining
+the East India Trade to the citizens of America had been negatived, and
+a committee had been appointed to report on this business. The report
+came in with very high duties, amounting to a prohibition. But a new
+phenomenon had made its appearance in the House (meaning the Senate)
+since Friday.
+
+"Pierce Butler, from South Carolina, had taken his seat, and flamed like
+a meteor. He arraigned the whole Impost law, and then charged
+(indirectly) the whole Congress with a design of oppressing South
+Carolina. He cried out for encouraging the Danes and Swedes, and
+foreigners of every kind, to come and take away our produce. In fact he
+was for a Navigation Act reversed.
+
+"June 11.--Attended at the hall as usual.
+
+"Mr. Ralph Izard and Mr. Butler opposed the whole of the drawbacks in
+every shape whatever.
+
+"Mr. (William) Grayson, of Virginia, warm on this subject, said we were
+not ripe for such a thing. We were a new Nation, and had no business
+for any such regulations--a Nation /sui generis/.
+
+"Mr. (Richard Henry) Lee (of Virginia) said drawbacks were right, but
+would be so much abused, he could not think of admitting them.
+
+"Mr. (Oliver) Ellsworth (of Connecticut) said New England rum would be
+exported, instead of West India, to obtain the drawback.
+
+"I thought it best to say a few words in reply to each. We were a new
+Nation, it was true, but we were not a new People. We were composed of
+individuals of like manners, habits, and customs with the European
+Nations. What, therefore, had been found useful among them, came well
+recommended by experience to us. Drawbacks stand as an example in this
+point of view to us. If the thing was right in itself, there could be
+no just argument drawn against the use of a thing from the abuse of it.
+It would be the duty of Government to guard against abuses, by prudent
+appointments and watchful attention to officers. That as to changing
+the kind of rum, I thought the collection Bill would provide for this,
+by limiting the exportation to the original casks and packages. I said
+a great deal more, but really did not feel much interest either way.
+But the debates were very lengthy.
+
+"Butler flamed away, and THREATENED A DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION, with
+regard to his State, as sure as God was in the firmament. He scattered
+his remarks over the whole Impost bill, calling it partial, oppressive,
+etc., and solely calculated to oppress South Carolina, and yet ever and
+anon declaring how clear of local views and how candid and dispassionate
+he was. He degenerates into mere declamation. His State would live
+free, or die glorious."
+
+The next piece of evidence is General Jackson's letter to Rev. A. J.
+Crawford, as follows:
+
+["Private."]
+
+"WASHINGTON, May 1, 1833.
+
+"MY DEAR SIR: * * * I have had a laborious task here, but Nullification
+is dead; and its actors and courtiers will only be remembered by the
+People to be execrated for their wicked designs to sever and destroy the
+only good Government on the globe, and that prosperity and happiness we
+enjoy over every other portion of the World. Haman's gallows ought to
+be the fate of all such ambitious men who would involve their Country in
+Civil War, and all the evils in its train, that they might reign and
+ride on its whirlwinds and direct the storm. The Free People of these
+United States have spoken, and consigned these wicked demagogues to
+their proper doom. Take care of your Nullifiers; you have them among
+you; let them meet with the indignant frowns of every man who loves his
+Country. The Tariff, it is now known, was a mere pretext--its burden
+was on your coarse woolens. By the law of July, 1832, coarse woolen was
+reduced to five per cent., for the benefit of the South. Mr. Clay's
+Bill takes it up and classes it with woolens at fifty per cent., reduces
+it gradually down to twenty per cent., and there it is to remain, and
+Mr. Calhoun and all the Nullifiers agree to the principle. The cash
+duties and home valuation will be equal to fifteen per cent. more, and
+after the year 1842, you pay on coarse woolens thirty-five per cent. If
+this is not Protection, I cannot understand; therefore the Tariff was
+only the pretext, and Disunion and a Southern Confederacy the real
+object. The next pretext will be the Negro or Slavery question.
+
+"My health is not good, but is improving a little. Present me kindly to
+your lady and family, and believe me to be your friend. I will always
+be happy to hear from you.
+ "ANDREW JACKSON."
+
+
+Another evidence is given in the following extract from Benton's "Thirty
+Years in the Senate," vol. ii., as follows:
+
+"The regular inauguration of this Slavery agitation dates from the year
+1835; but it had commenced two years before, and in this way:
+Nullification and Disunion had commenced in 1830, upon complaint against
+Protective Tariff. That, being put down in 1833 under President
+Jackson's proclamation and energetic measures, was immediately
+substituted by the Slavery agitation. Mr. Calhoun, when he went home
+from Congress in the spring of that year, told his friends that 'the
+South could never be united against the North on the Tariff question--
+that the sugar interest of Louisiana would keep her out--and that the
+basis of Southern Union must be shifted to the Slave question.' Then
+all the papers in his interest, and especially the one at Washington,
+published by Mr. Duff Green, dropped Tariff agitation, and commenced
+upon Slavery, and in two years had the agitation ripe for inauguration,
+on the Slavery question. And in tracing this agitation to its present
+stage, and to comprehend its rationale, it is not to be forgotten that
+it is a mere continuation of old Tariff Disunion, and preferred because
+more available."
+
+Again, from p. 490 of his private correspondence, Mr. Clay's words to an
+Alabamian, in 1844, are thus given:
+
+"From the developments now being made in South Carolina, it is perfectly
+manifest that a Party exists in that State seeking a Dissolution of the
+Union, and for that purpose employ the pretext of the rejection of Mr.
+Tyler's abominable treaty. South Carolina, being surrounded by Slave
+States, would, in the event of a Dissolution of the Union, suffer only
+comparative evils; but it is otherwise with Kentucky. She has the
+boundary of the Ohio extending four hundred miles on three Free States.
+What would our condition be in the event of the greatest calamity that
+could befall this Nation?"
+
+Allusion is also made to a letter written by Representative Nathan
+Appleton, of Boston, December 15, 1860, in which that gentleman said
+that when he was in Congress--in 1832-33--he had "made up his mind that
+Messrs. Calhoun, Hayne, McDuffie, etc., were desirous of a separation of
+the Slave States into a separate Confederacy, as more favorable to the
+security of Slave Property."
+
+After mentioning that "About 1835, some South Carolinians attempted a
+Disunion demonstration," our authority says: It is thus described by ex-
+Governor Francis Thomas of Maryland, in his speech in Baltimore, October
+29, 1861:
+
+"Full twenty years ago, when occupying my seat in the House of
+Representatives, I was surprised one morning, after the assembling of
+the House, to observe that all the members from the Slaveholding States
+were absent. Whilst reflecting on this strange occurrence, I was asked
+why I was not in attendance on the Southern Caucus assembled in the room
+of the Committee on Claims. I replied that I had received no
+invitation.
+
+"I then proposed to go to the Committee-room to see what was being done.
+When I entered, I found that little cock-sparrow, Governor Pickens, of
+South Carolina, addressing the meeting, and strutting about like a
+rooster around a barn-yard coop, discussing the following resolution:
+
+"' Resolved, That no member of Congress, representing a Southern
+constituency, shall again take his seat until a resolution is passed
+satisfactory to the South on the subject of Slavery.'
+
+"I listened to his language, and when he had finished, I obtained the
+floor, asking to be permitted to take part in the discussion. I
+determined at once to kill the Treasonable plot hatched by John C.
+Calhoun, the Catiline of America, by asking questions. I said to Mr.
+Pickens, 'What next do you propose we shall do? are we to tell the
+People that Republicanism is a failure? If you are for that, I am not.
+I came here to sustain and uphold American institutions; to defend the
+rights of the North as well as the South; to secure harmony and good
+fellowship between all Sections of our common Country.' They dared not
+answer these questions. The Southern temper had not then been gotten
+up. As my questions were not answered, I moved an adjournment of the
+Caucus /sine die/. Mr. Craig, of Virginia, seconded the motion, and the
+company was broken up. We returned to the House, and Mr. Ingersoll, of
+Pennsylvania, a glorious patriot then as now, introduced a resolution
+which temporarily calmed the excitement."
+
+The remarks upon this statement, made November 4, 1861, by the National
+Intelligencer, were as follows:
+
+"However busy Mr. Pickens may have been in the Caucus after it met, the
+most active man in getting it up and pressing the Southern members to go
+into it, was Mr. R. B. Rhett, also a member from South Carolina. The
+occasion, or alleged cause of this withdrawal from the House into secret
+deliberation was an anti-Slavery speech of Mr. Slade, of Vermont, which
+Mr. Rhett violently denounced, and proposed to the Southern members to
+leave the House and go into Conclave in one of the Committee-rooms,
+which they generally did, if not all of them. We are able to state,
+however, what may not have been known to Governor Thomas, that at least
+three besides himself, of those who did attend it, went there with a
+purpose very different from an intention to consent to any Treasonable
+measure. These three men were Henry A. Wise, Balie Peyton, and William
+Cost Johnson. Neither of them opened his lips in the Caucus; they went
+to observe; and we can assure Governor Thomas, that if Mr. Pickens or
+Mr. Calhoun, (whom he names) or any one else had presented a distinct
+proposition looking to Disunion, or Revolt, or Secession, he would have
+witnessed a scene not soon to be forgotten. The three whom we have
+mentioned were as brave as they were determined. Fortunately, perhaps,
+the man whom they went particularly to watch, remained silent and
+passive."
+
+Let us, however, pursue the inquiry a little further. On the 14th of
+November, 1860, Alexander H. Stephens addressed the Legislature of
+Georgia, and in a portion of that address--replying to a speech made
+before the same Body the previous evening by Mr. Toombs, in which the
+latter had "recounted the evils of this Government"--said:
+
+"The first [of these evils] was the Fishing Bounties, paid mostly to the
+sailors of New England. Our friend stated that forty-eight years of our
+Government was under the administration of Southern Presidents. Well,
+these Fishing Bounties began under the rule of a Southern President, I
+believe. No one of them, during the whole forty-eight years, ever set
+his Administration against the principle or policy of them. * * *
+
+"The next evil which my friend complained of, was the Tariff. Well, let
+us look at that for a moment. About the time I commenced noticing
+public matters, this question was agitating the Country almost as
+fearfully as the Slave question now is. In 1832, when I was in college,
+South Carolina was ready to Nullify or Secede from the Union on this
+account. And what have we seen? The Tariff no longer distracts the
+public counsels. Reason has triumphed! The present Tariff was voted
+for by Massachusetts and South Carolina. The lion and the lamb lay down
+together--every man in the Senate and House from Massachusetts and South
+Carolina, I think, voted for it, as did my honorable friend himself.
+And if it be true, to use the figure of speech of my honorable friend,
+that every man in the North that works in iron, and brass and wood, has
+his muscle strengthened by the protection of the Government, that
+stimulant was given by his vote and I believe (that of) every other
+Southern man.
+
+"Mr. TOOMBS--The Tariff lessened the duties.
+
+"Mr. STEPHENS--Yes, and Massachusetts with unanimity voted with the
+South to lessen them, and they were made just as low as Southern men
+asked them to be, and that is the rate they are now at. If reason and
+argument, with experience, produced such changes in the sentiments of
+Massachusetts from 1832 to 1857, on the subject of the Tariff, may not
+like changes be effected there by the same means--reason and argument,
+and appeals to patriotism on the present vexed question? And who can
+say that by 1875 or 1890, Massachusetts may not vote with South Carolina
+and Georgia upon all those questions that now distract the Country and
+threaten its peace and existence.
+
+"Another matter of grievance alluded to by my honorable friend was the
+Navigation Laws. This policy was also commenced under the
+Administration of one of these Southern Presidents who ruled so well,
+and has been continued through all of them since. * * * One of the
+objects (of these) was to build up a commercial American marine by
+giving American bottoms the exclusive Carrying Trade between our own
+ports. This is a great arm of national power. This object was
+accomplished. We have now an amount of shipping, not only coastwise,
+but to foreign countries, which puts us in the front rank of the Nations
+of the World. England can no longer be styled the Mistress of the Seas.
+What American is not proud of the result? Whether those laws should be
+continued is another question. But one thing is certain; no President,
+Northern or Southern, has ever yet recommended their repeal. * * *
+
+"These then were the true main grievances or grounds of complaint
+against the general system of our Government and its workings--I mean
+the administration of the Federal Government. As to the acts of the
+federal States I shall speak presently: but these three were the main
+ones used against the common head. Now, suppose it be admitted that all
+of these are evils in the system; do they overbalance and outweigh the
+advantages and great good which this same Government affords in a
+thousand innumerable ways that cannot be estimated? Have we not at the
+South, as well as the North, grown great, prosperous, and happy under
+its operations? Has any part of the World ever shown such rapid
+progress in the development of wealth, and all the material resources of
+national power and greatness, as the Southern States have under the
+General Government, notwithstanding all its defects?
+
+"Mr. TOOMBS--In spite of it.
+
+"Mr. STEPHENS--My honorable friend says we have, in spite of the General
+Government; that without it, I suppose he thinks, we might have done as
+well, or perhaps better, than we have done in spite of it. * * *
+Whether we of the South would have been better off without the
+Government, is, to say the least, problematical. On the one side we can
+only put the fact, against speculation and conjecture on the other. * *
+* The influence of the Government on us is like that of the atmosphere
+around us. Its benefits are so silent and unseen that they are seldom
+thought of or appreciated.
+
+"We seldom think of the single element of oxygen in the air we breathe,
+and yet let this simple, unseen and unfelt agent be withdrawn, this
+life-giving element be taken away from this all-pervading fluid around
+us, and what instant and appalling changes would take place in all
+organic creation.
+
+"It may be that we are all that we are 'in spite of the General
+Government,' but it may be that without it we should have been far
+different from what we are now. It is true that there is no equal part
+of the Earth with natural resources superior perhaps to ours. That
+portion of this Country known as the Southern States, stretching from
+the Chesapeake to the Rio Grande, is fully equal to the picture drawn by
+the honorable and eloquent Senator last night, in all natural
+capacities. But how many ages and centuries passed before these
+capacities were developed to reach this advanced age of civilization.
+There these same hills, rich in ore, same rivers, same valleys and
+plains, are as they have been since they came from the hand of the
+Creator; uneducated and uncivilized man roamed over them for how long no
+history informs us.
+
+"It was only under our institutions that they could be developed. Their
+development is the result of the enterprise of our people, under
+operations of the Government and institutions under which we have lived.
+Even our people, without these, never would have done it. The
+organization of society has much to do with the development of the
+natural resources of any Country or any Land. The institutions of a
+People, political and moral, are the matrix in which the germ of their
+organic structure quickens into life--takes root, and develops in form,
+nature, and character. Our institutions constitute the basis, the
+matrix, from which spring all our characteristics of development and
+greatness. Look at Greece. There is the same fertile soil, the same
+blue sky, the same inlets and harbors, the same AEgean, the same
+Olympus; there is the same land where Homer sung, where Pericles spoke;
+it is in nature the same old Greece--but it is living Greece no more.
+
+"Descendants of the same people inhabit the country; yet what is the
+reason of this vast difference? In the midst of present degradation we
+see the glorious fragments of ancient works of art-temples, with
+ornaments and inscriptions that excite wonder and admiration--the
+remains of a once high order of civilization, which have outlived the
+language they spoke--upon them all, Ichabod is written--their glory has
+departed. Why is this so? I answer, their institutions have been
+destroyed. These were but the fruits of their forms of government, the
+matrix from which their great development sprang; and when once the
+institutions of a People have been destroyed, there is no earthly power
+that can bring back the Promethean spark to kindle them here again, any
+more than in that ancient land of eloquence, poetry and song.
+
+"The same may be said of Italy. Where is Rome, once the mistress of the
+World? There are the same seven hills now, the same soil, the same
+natural resources; the nature is the same, but what a ruin of human
+greatness meets the eye of the traveler throughout the length and
+breadth of that most down-trodden land! why have not the People of that
+Heaven-favored clime, the spirit that animated their fathers? Why this
+sad difference?
+
+"It is the destruction of their institutions that has caused it; and, my
+countrymen, if we shall in an evil hour rashly pull down and destroy
+those institutions which the patriotic hand of our fathers labored so
+long and so hard to build up, and which have done so much for us and the
+World, who can venture the prediction that similar results will not
+ensue? Let us avoid it if we can. I trust the spirit is among us that
+will enable us to do it. Let us not rashly try the experiment, for, if
+it fails, as it did in Greece and Italy, and in the South American
+Republics, and in every other place wherever liberty is once destroyed,
+it may never be restored to us again.
+
+"There are defects in our government, errors in administration, and
+short-comings of many kinds; but in spite of these defects and errors,
+Georgia has grown to be a great State. Let us pause here a moment.
+
+"When I look around and see our prosperity in everything, agriculture,
+commerce, art, science, and every department of education, physical and
+mental, as well as moral advancement--and our colleges--I think, in the
+face of such an exhibition, if we can, without the loss of power, or any
+essential right or interest, remain in the Union, it is our duty to
+ourselves and to posterity--let us not too readily yield to this
+temptation--to do so. Our first parents, the great progenitors of the
+human race, were not without a like temptation, when in the Garden of
+Eden. They were led to believe that their condition would be bettered--
+that their eyes would be opened--and that they would become as gods.
+They in an evil hour yielded--instead of becoming gods they only saw
+their own nakedness.
+
+"I look upon this Country, with our institutions, as the Eden of the
+World, the Paradise of the Universe. It may be that out of it we may
+become greater and more prosperous, but I am candid and sincere in
+telling you that I fear if we rashly evince passion, and without
+sufficient cause shall take that step, that instead of becoming greater
+or more peaceful, prosperous, and happy--instead of becoming gods, we
+will become demons, and at no distant day commence cutting one another's
+throats. This is my apprehension.
+
+"Let us, therefore, whatever we do, meet those difficulties, great as
+they are, like wise and sensible men, and consider them in the light of
+all the consequences which may attend our action. Let us see first
+clearly where the path of duty leads, and then we may not fear to tread
+therein."
+
+
+Said Senator Wigfall, of Texas, March 4, 1861, in the United States
+Senate, only a few hours before Mr. Lincoln's Inauguration:
+
+"I desire to pour oil on the waters, to produce harmony, peace and quiet
+here. It is early in the morning, and I hope I shall not say anything
+that may be construed as offensive. I rise merely that we may have an
+understanding of this question.
+
+"It is not Slavery in the Territories, it is not expansion, which is the
+difficulty. If the resolution which the Senator from Wisconsin
+introduced here, denying the right of Secession, had been adopted by
+two-thirds of each branch of this department of the Government, and had
+been ratified by three-fourths of the States, I have no hesitation in
+saying that, so far as the State in which I live and to which I owe my
+allegiance is concerned, if she had no other cause for a disruption of
+the Union taking place, she would undoubtedly have gone out.
+
+ [To insert as an additional article of amendment to the
+ Constitution, the following: "Under this Constitution, as
+ originally adopted, and as it now exists, no State has power to
+ withdraw from the jurisdiction of the United States: but this
+ Constitution, and all laws passed in pursuance of its delegated
+ powers, are the Supreme Law of the Land, anything contained in any
+ constitution, ordinance, or act of any State, to the contrary
+ notwithstanding."]
+
+"The moment you deny the right of self-government to the free White men
+of the South, they will leave the Government. They believe in the
+Declaration of Independence. They believe that:
+
+"'Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from
+the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government
+becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the People to
+alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new Government, laying its
+foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as
+to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.'
+
+"That principle of the Declaration of Independence is the one upon which
+the free White men of the South predicated their devotion to the present
+Constitution of the United States; and it was the denial of that, as
+much as anything else, that has created the dissatisfaction in that
+Section of the Country.
+
+"There is no instrument of writing that has ever been written that has
+been more misapprehended and misunderstood and misrepresented than this
+same unfortunate Declaration of Independence, and no set of gentlemen
+have ever been so slandered as the fathers who drew and signed that
+Declaration.
+
+"If there was a thing on earth that they did not intend to assert, it
+was that a Negro was a White man. As I said here, a short time ago, one
+of the greatest charges they made against the British Government was,
+that old King George was attempting to establish the fact practically
+that all men were created Free and Equal. They charged him in the
+Declaration of Independence with inciting their Slaves to insurrection.
+That is one of the grounds upon which they threw off their allegiance to
+the British Parliament.
+
+"Another great misapprehension is, that the men who drafted that
+Declaration of Independence had any peculiar fancy for one form of
+government rather than another. They were not fighting to establish a
+Democracy in this country; they were not fighting to establish a
+Republican form of government in this Country. Nothing was further from
+their intention.
+
+"Alexander Hamilton, after he had fought for seven years, declared that
+the British form of government was the best that the ingenuity of man
+had ever devised; and when John Adams said to him, 'without its
+corruptions;' 'Why,' said he, 'its corruptions are its greatest
+excellence; without the corruptions, it would be nothing.'
+
+"In the Declaration of Independence, they speak of George III., after
+this fashion. They say:
+
+"'A prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define
+a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free People.'
+
+"Now, I ask any plain common-sense man what was the meaning of that?
+Was it that they were opposed to a Monarchical form of government? Was
+it that they believed a Monarchical form of government was incompatible
+with civil liberty? No, sir; they entertained no such absurd idea.
+None of them entertained it; but they say that George III, was a prince
+whose character was 'marked by every act which may define a tyrant' and
+that therefore he was 'unfit to be the ruler of a free People.' Had his
+character not been so marked by every quality which would define a
+tyrant, he might have been the fit ruler of a free People; ergo, a
+monarchical form of Government was not incompatible with civil liberty.
+
+"That was clearly the opinion of those men. I do not advocate it now;
+for I have said frequently that we are wiser than our fathers, and our
+children will be wiser than we are. One hundred years hence, men will
+understand their own affairs much better than we do. We understand our
+affairs better than those who preceded us one hundred years. But what I
+assert is, that the men of the Revolution did not believe that a
+Monarchical form of Government was incompatible with civil liberty.
+
+"What I assert is, that when they spoke of 'all men being created
+equal,' they were speaking of the White men who then had unsheathed
+their swords--for what purpose? To establish the right of self-
+government in themselves; and when they had achieved that, they
+established, not Democracies, but Republican forms of Government in the
+thirteen sovereign, separate and independent Colonies. Yet the
+Declaration of Independence is constantly quoted to prove Negro
+equality. It proves no such thing; it was intended to prove no such
+thing.
+
+"The 'glittering generalities' which a distinguished former Senator from
+Massachusetts (Mr. Choate) spoke of, as contained in the Declaration of
+Independence, one of them at least, about all men being created equal--
+was not original with Mr. Jefferson. I recollect seeing a pamphlet
+called the Principles of the Whigs and Jacobites, published about the
+year 1745, when the last of the Stuarts, called 'the Pretender,' was
+striking a blow that was fatal to himself, but a blow for his crown, in
+which pamphlet the very phraseology is used, word for word and letter
+for letter. I have not got it here to-night. I sent the other day to
+the Library to try and find it, but could not find it; it was burnt, I
+believe, with the pamphlets that were burnt some time ago.
+
+"That Mr. Jefferson copied it or plagiarized it, is not true, I suppose,
+any more than the charge that the distinguished Senator from New York
+plagiarized from the Federalist in preparing his celebrated compromising
+speech which was made here a short time ago. It was the cant phrase of
+the day in 1745, which was only about thirty years previous to the
+Declaration of Independence. This particular pamphlet, which I have
+read, was published; others were published at the same time. That sort
+of phraseology was used.
+
+"There was a war of classes in England; there were men who were
+contending for legitimacy; who were contending for the right of the
+Crown being inherent and depending on the will of God, 'the divine right
+of Kings,' for maintaining an hereditary landed-aristocracy; there was
+another Party who were contending against this doctrine of legitimacy,
+and the right of primogeniture. These were called the Whigs; they
+established this general phraseology in denouncing the divine right and
+the doctrine of legitimacy, and it became the common phraseology of the
+Country; so that in the obscure county of Mecklenburg, in North
+Carolina, a declaration containing the same assertions was found as in
+this celebrated Declaration of Independence, written by the immortal
+Jefferson.
+
+"Which of us, I ask, is there upon this floor who has not read and re-
+read whatever was written within the last twenty-five or thirty years by
+the distinguished men of this country? But enough of that.
+
+"As I said before, there ought not have been, and there did not
+necessarily result from our form of Government, any irrepressible
+conflict between the Slaveholding and the non-Slaveholding States.
+Nothing of the sort was necessary.
+
+"Strike out a single clause in the Constitution of the United States,
+that which secures to each State a Republican form of Government, and
+there is no reason why, under precisely such a Constitution as we have,
+States that are Monarchical and States that are Republican, could not
+live in peace and quiet. They confederate together for common defense
+and general welfare, each State regulating its domestic concerns in its
+own way; those which preferred a Republican form of Government
+maintaining it, and those which preferred a Monarchical form of
+Government maintaining it.
+
+"But how long could small States, with different forms of Government,
+live together, confederated for common defense and general welfare, if
+the people of one Section were to come to the conclusion that their
+institutions were better than those of the other, and thereupon
+straightway set about subverting the institutions of the other?"
+
+
+In the reply of the Rebel "Commissioners of the Southern Confederacy"
+to Mr. Seward, April 9, 1861, they speak of our Government as being
+"persistently wedded to those fatal theories of construction of the
+Federal Constitution always rejected by the statesmen of the South, and
+adhered to by those of the Administration school, until they have
+produced their natural and often-predicted result of the destruction of
+the Union, under which we might have continued to live happily and
+gloriously together, had the spirit of the ancestry who framed the
+common Constitution animated the hearts of all their sons."
+
+In the "Address of the people of South Carolina, assembled in
+Convention, to the people of the Slaveholding States of the United
+States," by which the attempt was made to justify the passage of the
+South Carolina Secession Ordinance of 1860, it is declared that:
+
+"Discontent and contention have moved in the bosom of the Confederacy,
+for the last thirty-five years. During this time South Carolina has
+twice called her people together in solemn Convention, to take into
+consideration, the aggressions and unconstitutional wrongs, perpetrated
+by the people of the North on the people of the South. These wrongs
+were submitted to by the people of the South, under the hope and
+expectation that they would be final. But such hope and expectation
+have proved to be vain. Instead of producing forbearance, our
+acquiescence has only instigated to new forms of aggressions and
+outrage; and South Carolina, having again assembled her people in
+Convention, has this day dissolved her connection with the States
+constituting the United States.
+
+"The one great evil from which all other evils have flowed, is the
+overthrow of the Constitution of the United States. The Government of
+the United States, is no longer the Government of Confederated
+Republics, but of a consolidated Democracy. It is no longer a free
+Government, but a Despotism. It is, in fact, such a Government as Great
+Britain attempted to set over our Fathers; and which was resisted and
+defeated by a seven years struggle for Independence.
+
+"The Revolution of 1776, turned upon one great principle, self-
+government,--and self-taxation, the criterion of self-government.
+
+"The Southern States now stand exactly in the same position towards the
+Northern States, that the Colonies did towards Great Britain. The
+Northern States, having the majority in Congress, claim the same power
+of omnipotence in legislation as the British Parliament. 'The General
+Welfare' is the only limit to the legislation of either; and the
+majority in Congress, as in the British Parliament, are the sole judges
+of the expediency of the legislation this 'General Welfare' requires.
+Thus the Government of the United States has become a consolidated
+Government; and the people of the Southern States are compelled to meet
+the very despotism their fathers threw off in the Revolution of 1776.
+
+"The consolidation of the Government of Great Britain over the Colonies,
+was attempted to be carried out by the taxes. The British Parliament
+undertook to tax the Colonies to promote British interests. Our fathers
+resisted this pretension. They claimed the right of self-taxation
+through their Colonial Legislatures. They were not represented in the
+British Parliament, and, therefore, could not rightly be taxed by its
+legislation. The British Government, however, offered them a
+representation in Parliament; but it was not sufficient to enable them
+to protect themselves from the majority, and they refused the offer.
+Between taxation without any representation, and taxation without a
+representation adequate to protection, there was no difference. In
+neither case would the Colonies tax themselves. Hence, they refused to
+pay the taxes laid by the British Parliament.
+
+"And so with the Southern States, towards the Northern States, in the
+vital matter of taxation. They are in a minority in Congress. Their
+representation in Congress is useless to protect them against unjust
+taxation; and they are taxed by the people of the North for their
+benefit, exactly as the people of Great Britain taxed our ancestors in
+the British Parliament for their benefit. For the last forty years, the
+taxes laid by the Congress of the United States have been laid with a
+view of subserving the interests of the North. The people of the South
+have been taxed by duties on imports, not for revenue, but for an object
+inconsistent with revenue--to promote, by prohibitions, Northern
+interests in the productions of their mines and manufactures.
+
+"There is another evil, in the condition of the Southern towards the
+Northern States, which our ancestors refused to bear towards Great
+Britain. Our ancestors not only taxed themselves, but all the taxes
+collected from them were expended amongst them. Had they submitted to
+the pretensions of the British Government, the taxes collected from
+them, would have been expended in other parts of the British Empire.
+They were fully aware of the effect of such a policy in impoverishing
+the people from whom taxes are collected, and in enriching those who
+receive the benefit of their expenditure.
+
+"To prevent the evils of such a policy, was one of the motives which
+drove them on to Revolution, yet this British policy has been fully
+realized towards the Southern States, by the Northern States. The
+people of the Southern States are not only taxed for the benefit of the
+Northern States, but after the taxes are collected, three fourths of
+them are expended at the North. This cause, with others, connected with
+the operation of the General Government, has made the cities of the
+South provincial. Their growth is paralyzed; they are mere suburbs of
+Northern cities. The agricultural productions of the South are the
+basis of the foreign commerce of the United States; yet Southern cities
+do not carry it on. Our foreign trade is almost annihilated. * * *
+
+"No man can for a moment believe, that our ancestors intended to
+establish over their posterity, exactly the same sort of Government they
+had overthrown. * * * Yet by gradual and steady encroachments on the
+part of the people of the North, and acquiescence on the part of the
+South, the limitations in the Constitution have been swept away; and the
+Government of the United States has become consolidated, with a claim of
+limitless powers in its operations. * * *
+
+"A majority in Congress, according to their interested and perverted
+views, is omnipotent. * * * Numbers with them, is the great element of
+free Government. A majority is infallible and omnipotent. 'The right
+divine to rule in Kings,' is only transferred to their majority. The
+very object of all Constitutions, in free popular Government, is to
+restrain the majority. Constitutions, therefore, according to their
+theory, must be most unrighteous inventions, restricting liberty. None
+ought to exist; but the body politic ought simply to have a political
+organization, to bring out and enforce the will of the majority. This
+theory is a remorseless despotism. In resisting it, as applicable to
+ourselves, we are vindicating the great cause of free Government, more
+important, perhaps, to the World, than the existence of all the United
+States."
+
+
+In his Special Message to the Confederate Congress at Montgomery, April
+29, 1861, Mr. Jefferson Davis said:
+
+"From a period as early as 1798, there had existed in all the States a
+Party, almost uninterruptedly in the majority, based upon the creed that
+each State was, in the last resort, the sole judge, as well of its
+wrongs as of the mode and measure of redress. * * * The Democratic
+Party of the United States repeated, in its successful canvas of 1836,
+the declaration, made in numerous previous political contests, that it
+would faithfully abide by and uphold the principles laid down in the
+Kentucky and Virginia Legislatures of [1798 and] 1799, and that it
+adopts those principles as constituting one of the main foundations of
+its political creed."
+
+In a letter addressed by the Rebel Commissioners in London (Yancey, Rost
+and Mann), August 14, 1861, to Lord John Russell, Secretary of Foreign
+Affairs, it appears that they said: "It was from no fear that the Slaves
+would be liberated, that Secession took place. The very Party in power
+has proposed to guarantee Slavery forever in the States, if the South
+would but remain in the Union." On the 4th of May preceding, Lord John
+had received these Commissioners at his house; and in a letter of May
+11, 1861, wrote, from the Foreign Office, to Lord Lyons, the British
+Minister at Washington, a letter, in which, alluding to his informal
+communication with them, he said: "One of these gentlemen, speaking for
+the others, dilated on the causes which had induced the Southern States
+to Secede from the Northern. The principal of these causes, he said,
+was not Slavery, but the very high price which, for the sake of
+Protecting the Northern manufacturers, the South were obliged to pay for
+the manufactured goods which they required. One of the first acts of
+the Southern Congress was to reduce these duties, and to prove their
+sincerity he gave as an instance that Louisiana had given up altogether
+that Protection on her sugar which she enjoyed by the legislation of the
+United States. As a proof of the riches of the South. He stated that
+of $350,000,000 of exports of produce to foreign countries $270,000,000
+were furnished by the Southern States." * * * They pointed to the new
+Tariff of the United States as a proof that British manufactures would
+be nearly excluded from the North, and freely admitted in the South.
+
+
+This may be as good a place as any other to say a few words touching
+another alleged "cause" of Secession. During the exciting period just
+prior to the breaking out of the great War of the Rebellion, the Slave-
+holding and Secession-nursing States of the South, made a terrible
+hubbub over the Personal Liberty Bills of the Northern States. And when
+Secession came, many people of the North supposed these Bills to be the
+prime, if not the only real cause of it. Not so. They constituted, as
+we now know, only a part of the mere pretext. But, none the less, they
+constituted a portion of the history of that eventful time, and cannot
+be altogether ignored.
+
+In order then, that the reader may quickly grasp, not only the general
+nature, but also the most important details of the Personal Liberty
+Bills (in force, in 1860, in many of the Free States) so frequently
+alluded to in the Debates of Congress, in speeches on the stump, and in
+the fulminations of Seceding States and their authorized agents,
+commissioners, and representatives, it may be well now, briefly to refer
+to them, and to state that no such laws existed in California, Illinois,
+Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, New York, Ohio and Oregon.
+
+Those of Maine provided that no officer of the State should in any way
+assist in the arrest or detention of a Fugitive Slave, and made it the
+duty of county attorneys to defend the Fugitive Slave against the claim
+of his master. A Bill to repeal these laws passed the Maine Senate, but
+failed in the House.
+
+That of Massachusetts provided for commissioners in each county to
+defend alleged Fugitives from Service or Labor; for payment by the
+Commonwealth of all expenses of defense; prohibited the issue or service
+of process by State officers for arrest of alleged Fugitives, or the use
+of any prisons in the State for their detention, or that of any person
+aiding their escape; prohibited the kidnapping or removal of alleged
+Fugitive Slaves by any person; prohibited all officers within the State,
+down to Town officers, from arresting, imprisoning, detaining or
+returning to Service "any Person for the reason that he is claimed or
+adjudged to be a Fugitive from Service or Labor"--all such prohibitions
+being enforced by heavy fines and imprisonment. The Act of March 25,
+1861, materially modified and softened the above provisions.
+
+New Hampshire's law, provided that all Slaves entering the State with
+consent of the master shall be Free, and made the attempt to hold any
+person as a Slave within the State a felony.
+
+Vermont's, prescribed that no process under the Fugitive Slave Law
+should be recognized by any of her Courts, officers, or citizens; nor
+any aid given in arresting or removing from the State any Person claimed
+as a Fugitive Slave; provided counsel for alleged Fugitives; for the
+issue of habeas corpus and trial by jury of issues of fact between the
+parties; ordained Freedom to all within the State who may have been held
+as Slaves before coming into it, and prescribed heavy penalties for any
+attempt to return any such to Slavery. A bill to repeal these laws,
+proposed November, 1860, in the Vermont House of Representatives, was
+beaten by two to one.
+
+Connecticut's, provided that there must be two witnesses to prove that a
+Person is a Slave; that depositions are not evidence; that false
+testifying in Fugitive Slave cases shall be punishable by fine of $5,000
+and five years in State prison.
+
+In New Jersey, the only laws touching the subject, permitted persons
+temporarily sojourning in the State to bring and hold their Slaves, and
+made it the duty of all State officers to aid in the recovery of
+Fugitives from Service.
+
+In Pennsylvania, barring an old dead-letter Statute, they simply
+prohibited any interference by any of the Courts, Aldermen, or Justices
+of the Peace, of the Commonwealth, with the functions of the
+Commissioner appointed under the United States Statute in Fugitive Slave
+cases.
+
+In Michigan, the law required States' attorneys to defend Fugitive
+Slaves; prescribed the privileges of habeas corpus and jury trial for
+all such arrested; prohibited the use of prisons of the State for their
+detention; required evidence of two credible witnesses as to identity;
+and provided heavy penalties of fine and imprisonment for the seizure of
+any Free Person, with intent to have such Person held in Slavery. A
+Bill to repeal the Michigan law was defeated in the House by about two
+to one.
+
+Wisconsin's Personal Liberty law was similar to that of Michigan, but
+with this addition, that no judgment recovered against any person in
+that State for violating the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 should be
+enforced by sale or execution of any real or personal property in that
+State.
+
+That of Rhode Island, forbade the carrying away of any Person by force
+out of the State; forbade the official aiding in the arrest or detention
+of a Fugitive Slave; and denied her jails to the United States for any
+such detention.
+
+Apropos of this subject, and before leaving it, it may be well to quote
+remarks of Mr. Simons of Rhode Island, in the United States Senate.
+Said he: "Complaint has been made of Personal Liberty Bills. Now, the
+Massachusetts Personal Liberty Bill was passed by a Democratic House, a
+Democratic Senate, and signed by a Democratic Governor, a man who was
+afterwards nominated by Mr. Polk for the very best office in New
+England, and was unanimously confirmed by a Democratic United States
+Senate. Further than this, the very first time the attention of the
+Massachusetts Legislature was called to the propriety of a repeal of
+this law was by a Republican Governor. Now, on the other hand, South
+Carolina had repealed a law imprisoning British colored sailors, but
+retained the one imprisoning those coming from States inhabited by her
+own brethren!"
+
+These Personal Liberty Bills were undoubtedly largely responsible for
+some of the irritation on the Slavery question preceding open
+hostilities between the Sections. But President Lincoln sounded the
+real depths of the Rebellion when he declared it to be a War upon the
+rights of the People. In his First Annual Message, December 3, 1861, he
+said:
+
+"It continues to develop that the insurrection is largely, if not
+exclusively, a War upon the first principle of popular government--the
+rights of the People. Conclusive evidence of this is found in the most
+grave and maturely considered public documents, as well as in the
+general tone of the insurgents. In those documents we find the
+abridgment of the existing right of suffrage, and the denial to the
+People of all right to participate in the selection of public officers,
+except the legislative, boldly advocated, with labored arguments to
+prove that large control of the People in government is the source of
+all political evil. Monarchy itself is sometimes hinted at as a
+possible refuge from the power of the People.
+
+"In my present position, I could scarcely be justified were I to omit
+raising a warning voice against this approach of returning despotism.
+
+"It is not needed, nor fitting here, that a general argument should be
+made in favor of popular institutions; but there is one point, with its
+connections, not so hackneyed as most others, to which I ask brief
+attention. It is the effort to place Capital on an equal footing with,
+if not above Labor, in the structure of the Government.
+
+"It is assumed that Labor is available only in connection with Capital;
+that nobody labors unless somebody else, owning Capital, somehow by the
+use of it induces him to labor. This assumed, it is next considered
+whether it is best that Capital shall hire laborers, and thus induce
+them to work by their own consent, or buy them, and drive them to it
+without their consent. Having proceeded so far, it is naturally
+concluded that all laborers are either hired laborers, or what we call
+Slaves. And further, it is assumed that whoever is once a hired laborer
+is fixed in that condition for life.
+
+"Now, there is no such relation between Capital and Labor as assumed;
+nor is there any such thing as a free man being fixed for life, in the
+condition of a hired laborer. Both these assumptions are false, and all
+inferences from them are groundless.
+
+"Labor is prior to, and independent of Capital. Capital is only the
+fruit of Labor, and could never have existed if Labor had not first
+existed. Labor is the superior of Capital, and deserves much the higher
+consideration. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of
+protection as any other rights. Nor is it denied that there is, and
+probably always will be, a relation between Labor and Capital, producing
+mutual benefits. The error is in assuming that the whole Labor of the
+community exists within that relation.
+
+"A few men own Capital, and that few, avoid labor themselves, and with
+their Capital hire or buy another few to labor for them. A large
+majority belong to neither class--neither work for others, nor have
+others working for them.
+
+"In most of the Southern States, a majority of the whole people of all
+colors are neither Slaves nor masters; while in the Northern, a large
+majority are neither hirers nor hired. Men with their families--wives,
+sons, and daughters--work for themselves, on their farms, in their
+houses, and in their shops, taking the whole product to themselves, and
+asking no favors of Capital on the one hand, nor of hired laborers or
+Slaves on the other.
+
+"It is not forgotten that a considerable number of persons mingle their
+own Labor with Capital--that is they labor with their own hands, and
+also buy or hire others to labor for them; but this is only a mixed, and
+not a distinct class. No principle stated is disturbed by the existence
+of this mixed class.
+
+"Again, as has already been said, there is not, of necessity, any such
+thing as the free hired-laborer being fixed to that condition for life.
+Many independent men everywhere in these States, a few years back in
+their lives, were hired laborers.
+
+"The prudent, penniless beginner in the World, labors for wages awhile,
+saves a surplus with which to buy tools or land for himself, then labors
+on his own account another while, and at length hires another new
+beginner to help him. This is the just and generous and prosperous
+system, which opens the way to all, gives hope to all, and consequent
+energy and progress, and improvement of condition to all.
+
+"No men living are more worthy to be trusted than those who toil up from
+poverty--none less inclined to take or touch aught which they have not
+honestly earned. Let them beware of surrendering a political power
+which they already possess, and which, if surrendered, will surely be
+used to close the door of advancement against such as they, and to fix
+new disabilities and burdens upon them, till all of Liberty shall be
+lost. * * * The struggle of to-day is not altogether for to-day-it is
+a vast future also. * * * "
+
+
+So too, Andrew Johnson, in his speech before the Senate, January 31,
+1862, spake well and truly when he said that "there has been a
+deliberate design for years to change the nature and character and
+genius of this Government." And he added: "Do we not know that these
+schemers have been deliberately at work, and that there is a Party in
+the South, with some associates in the North, and even in the West, that
+have become tired of Free Government, in which they have lost
+confidence."
+
+Said he: "They raise an outcry against 'Coercion,' that they may
+paralyze the Government, cripple the exercise of the great powers with
+which it was invested, finally to change its form and subject us to a
+Southern despotism. Do we not know it to be so? Why disguise this
+great truth? Do we not know that they have been anxious for a change of
+Government for years? Since this Rebellion commenced it has manifested
+itself in many quarters.
+
+"How long is it since the organ of the Government at Richmond, the
+Richmond Whig, declared that rather than live under the Government of
+the United States, they preferred to take the Constitutional Queen of
+Great Britain as their protector; that they would make an alliance with
+Great Britain for the purpose of preventing the enforcement of the Laws
+of the United States. Do we not know this?"
+
+
+Stephen A. Douglas also, in his great Union speech at Chicago, May 1,
+1861--only a few days before his lamented death-said:
+
+"The election of Mr. Lincoln is a mere pretext. The present Secession
+movement is the result of an enormous Conspiracy formed more than a year
+since formed by leaders in the Southern Confederacy more than twelve
+months ago. They use the Slavery question as a means to aid the
+accomplishment of their ends. They desired the election of a Northern
+candidate by a Sectional vote, in order to show that the two Sections
+cannot live together.
+
+"When the history of the two years from the Lecompton question down to
+the Presidential election shall be written, it will be shown that the
+scheme was deliberately made to break up this Union.
+
+"They desired a Northern Republican to be elected by a purely Northern
+vote, and then assign this fact as a reason why the Sections cannot live
+together. If the Disunion candidate--(Breckinridge) in the late
+Presidential contest had carried the united South, their scheme was, the
+Northern candidate successful, to seize the Capital last Spring, and by
+a united South and divided North, hold it.
+
+"Their scheme was defeated, in the defeat of the Disunion candidates in
+several of the Southern States.
+
+"But this is no time for a detail of causes. The Conspiracy is now
+known; Armies have been raised. War is levied to accomplish it. There
+are only two sides to the question.
+
+"Every man must be for the United States, or against it. There can be
+no Neutrals in this War; only Patriots or Traitors! [Cheer after
+Cheer]."
+
+
+In a speech made in the United States Senate, January 31, 1862, Senator
+McDougall of California--conceded to be intellectually the peer of any
+man in that Body--said:
+
+"We are at War. How long have we been at War? We have been engaged in
+a war of opinion, according to my historical recollection, since 1838.
+There has been a Systematic organized war against the Institutions
+established by our fathers, since 1832. This is known of all men who
+have read carefully the history of our Country. If I had the leisure,
+or had consulted the authorities, I would give it year by year, and date
+by date, from that time until the present, how men adversary to our
+Republican Institutions have been organizing War against us, because
+they did not approve of our Republican Institutions.
+
+"Before the Mexican War, it is well known that General Quitman, then
+Governor of Mississippi, was organizing to produce the same condition of
+things (and he hoped a better condition of things, for he hoped a
+successful Secession), to produce this same revolution that is now
+disturbing our whole Land. The War with Mexico, fighting for a Southern
+proposition, for which I fought myself, made the Nation a unit until
+1849; and then again they undertook an Organization to produce
+Revolution. These things are history. This statement is true, and
+cannot be denied among intelligent men anywhere, and cannot be denied in
+this Senate.
+
+"The great men who sat in Council in this Hall, the great men of the
+Nation, men whose equals are not, and I fear will not be for many years,
+uniting their judgments, settled the controversy in 1850. They did not
+settle it for the Conspirators of the South, for they were not parties
+to the compact. Clay and Webster, and the great men who united with
+them, had no relation with the extremes of either extreme faction. The
+Compromise was made, and immediately after it had been effected, again
+commenced the work of organization. I had the honor to come from my
+State on the Pacific into the other branch of the Federal Congress, and
+there I learned as early as 1853, that the work of Treason was as
+industriously pursued as it is being pursued to-day. I saw it; I felt
+it; I knew it. I went home to the shores of the Pacific instructed
+somewhat on this subject.
+
+"Years passed by. I engaged in my duties as a simple professional man,
+not connected with public affairs. The question of the last
+Presidential election arose before the Country--one of those great
+questions that are not appreciated, I regret from my heart, by the
+American Nation, when we elect a President, a man who has more power for
+his time than any enthroned Monarch in Europe. We organize a Government
+and place him in front as the head and the Chief of the Government.
+That question came before the American People.
+
+"At that time I was advised of this state of feeling--and I will state
+it in as exact form of words as I can state it, that it may be
+understood by Senators: Mr. Douglas is a man acceptable to the South.
+Mr. Douglas is a man to whom no one has just cause of exception
+throughout the South. Mr. Douglas is more acceptable to Mississippi and
+Louisiana than Mr. Breckinridge. Mr. Breckinridge is not acceptable to
+the South; or at least, if he is so, he is not in the same degree with
+Mr. Douglas. Mr. Douglas is the accepted man of a great National Party,
+and if he is brought into the field he will be triumphantly elected.
+THAT MUST NOT BE DONE, because THE ORGANIZATION FOR SECESSION IS
+MATURED. EVERYTHING IS PREPARED, and the election of Mr. Douglas would
+only postpone it for four years; and Now when we are PREPARED to carry
+out these things WE MUST INDULGE IN STRATAGEM, and the nomination of Mr.
+Breckinridge is a mere strategic movement to divide the great
+conservative Party of the Nation into two, so as to elect a Republican
+candidate AND CONSOLIDATE THE SOUTH BY THE CRY OF 'ABOLITIONIST!'
+
+"That is a mere simple statement of the truth, and it cannot be
+contradicted. Now, in that scheme all the men of counsel of that Party
+were engaged. * * * I, on the far shores of the Pacific understood
+those things as long ago as a year last September (1860). I was advised
+about this policy and well informed of it. * * *
+
+"I was at war, in California, in January (1861) last; in the maintenance
+of the opinions that I am now maintaining, I had to go armed to protect
+myself from violence. The country, whenever there was controversy, was
+agitated to its deepest foundations. That is known, perhaps, not to
+gentlemen who live up in Maine or Massachusetts, or where you are
+foreign to all this agitation; but known to all people where disturbance
+might have been effective in consequences. I felt it, and had to carry
+my life in my hand by the month, as did my friends surrounding me.
+
+"I say that all through last winter (that of 1860-61) War had been
+inaugurated in all those parts of the Country where disturbed elements
+could have efficient result. In January (1861), a year ago, I stood in
+the hall of the House of Representatives of my State, and there was War
+then, and angry faces and hostile men were gathered; and we knew then
+well that the Southern States had determined to withdraw themselves from
+the Federal Union.
+
+"I happened to be one of those men who said, 'they shall not do it;' and
+it appears to me that the whole argument is between that class of men
+and the class of men who said they would let them do it. * * * When
+this doctrine was started here of disintegrating the Cotton States from
+the rest of the Confederacy, I opposed it at once. I saw immediately
+that War was to be invoked. * * *
+
+"I will not say these things were understood by gentlemen of the
+Republican Party * * * but I, having been accepted and received as a
+Democrat of the old school from the olden time, and HAVING FAST SOUTHERN
+SYMPATHIES, I DID KNOW ALL ABOUT THEM. * * * I KNOW THAT SECESSION WAS A
+THING DETERMINED UPON. * * * I was advised of and understood the whole
+programme, KNEW HOW IT WAS TO BE DONE IN ITS DETAILS; and I being
+advised, made war against it. * * *
+
+"War had been, in fact, inaugurated. What is War? Was it the firing on
+our flag at Sumter? Was that the first adversary passage? To say so,
+is trifling with men's judgments and information. No, sir; when they
+organized a Government, and set us at defiance, they commenced War; and
+the various steps they took afterwards, by organizing their troops, and
+forming their armies, and advancing upon Sumter; all these were merely
+acts of War; but War was inaugurated whenever they undertook to say they
+would maintain themselves as a separate and independent government; and,
+after that time, every man who gave his assistance to them was a
+Traitor, according to the highest Law."
+
+The following letter, written by one of the most active of the Southern
+conspirators in 1858, during the great Douglas and Lincoln Debate of
+that year, to which extended reference has already been made, is of
+interest in this connection, not only as corroborative evidence of the
+fact that the Rebellion of the Cotton States had been determined on long
+before Mr. Lincoln was elected President, but as showing also that the
+machinery for "firing the Southern heart" and for making a "solid South"
+was being perfected even then. The subsequent split in the Democratic
+Party, and nomination of Breckinridge by the Southern wing of it, was
+managed by this same Yancey, simply as parts of the deliberate programme
+of Secession and Rebellion long before determined on by the Cotton Lords
+of the Cotton States.
+
+
+ "MONTGOMERY, June 15, 1858.
+
+"DEAR SIR:--Your kind favor of the 13th is received.
+
+"I hardly agree with you that a general movement can be made that will
+clean out the Augean Stable. If the Democracy were overthrown it would
+result in giving place to a greedier and hungrier swarm of flies.
+
+"The remedy of the South is not in such a process. It is in a diligent
+organization of her true men for prompt resistance to the next
+aggression. It must come in the nature of things. No National Party
+can save us. No Sectional Party can ever do it. But if we could do as
+our fathers did--organize 'Committees of Safety' all over the Cotton
+States (and it is only in them that we can hope for any effective
+movement), we shall fire the Southern heart, instruct the Southern mind,
+give courage to each other, and at the proper moment, by one organized,
+concerted action, we can precipitate the Cotton States into a
+revolution.
+
+"The idea has been shadowed forth in the South by Mr. Ruffin; has been
+taken up and recommended in the Advertiser under the name of 'League of
+United Southerners,' who, keeping up their old relations on all other
+questions, will hold the Southern issues paramount, and influence
+parties, legislatures and statesmen. I have no time to enlarge, but to
+suggest merely.
+
+"In haste, yours, etc.
+ "W. L. YANCEY.
+
+"To JAMES S. SLAUGHTER."
+
+
+At Jackson, Mississippi, in the fall of the same year (1858) just after
+the great Debate between Douglas and Lincoln had closed, Jefferson Davis
+had already raised the standard of Revolution, Secession and Disunion,
+during the course of a speech, in which he said: "If an Abolitionist be
+chosen President of the United States, you will have presented to you
+the question of whether you will permit the Government to pass into the
+hands of your avowed and implacable enemies? Without pausing for an
+answer, I will state my own position to be, that such a result would be
+a species of revolution by which the purposes of the Government would be
+destroyed, and the observance of its mere forms entitled to no respect.
+In that event, in such a manner as should be most expedient, I should
+deem it your duty to provide for your safety, outside of the Union with
+those who have already shown the will, and would have acquired the power
+to deprive you of your birthright, and to reduce you to worse than the
+Colonial dependence of your fathers."
+
+The "birthright" thus referred to was of course, the alleged right to
+have Slaves; but what was this "worse than Colonial dependence" to
+which, in addition to the peril supposed to threaten the Southern
+"birthright," the Cotton States of Mississippi were reduced?
+"Dependence" upon whom, and with regard to what? Plainly upon the
+North; and with regard, not to Slavery alone--for Jefferson Davis held,
+down to the very close of the War, that the South fought "not for
+Slavery"--but as to Tariff Legislation also. There was the rub! These
+Cotton Lords believed, or pretended to believe, that the High Tariff
+Legislation, advocated and insisted upon both by the Whigs and
+Republicans for the Protection of the American Manufacturer and working
+man, built up and made prosperous the North, and elevated Northern
+laborers; at the expense of the South, and especially themselves, the
+Cotton Lords aforesaid.
+
+We have already seen from the utterances of leading men in the South
+Carolina, Secession Convention, "that"--as Governor Hicks, himself a
+Southern man, said in his address to the people of Maryland, after the
+War broke out "neither the election of Mr. Lincoln, nor the non-
+execution of the Fugitive Slave Law, nor both combined, constitute their
+grievances. They declare that THE REAL CAUSE of their discontent DATES
+AS FAR BACK AS 1833."
+
+And what was the chief cause or pretext for discontent at that time?
+Nothing less than the Tariff. They wanted Free Trade, as well as
+Slavery. The balance of the Union wanted Protection, as well as
+Freedom.
+
+The subsequent War, then, was not a War waged for Slavery alone, but for
+Independence with a view to Free Trade, as set forth in the "Confederate
+Constitution," as soon as that Independence could be achieved. And the
+War on our part, while for the integrity of the Union in all its parts--
+for the life of the Nation itself, and for the freedom of man, should
+also have brought the triumph of the American idea of a Protective
+Tariff, whose chief object is the building up of American manufactures
+and the Protection of the Free working-man, in the essential matters of
+education, food, clothing, rents, wages, and work.
+
+It is mentioned in McPherson's History of the Rebellion, p. 392, that in
+a letter making public his reasons for going to Washington and taking
+his seat in Congress, Mr. James L. Pugh, a Representative from Alabama,
+November 24, 1860, said: "The sole object of my visit is to promote the
+cause of Secession."
+
+From the manner in which they acted after reaching Washington, it is not
+unreasonable to suppose that most of those persons representing, in both
+branches of Congress, the Southern States which afterwards seceded, came
+to the National Capital with a similar object in view--taking their
+salaries and mileages for services supposed to be performed for the
+benefit of the very Government they were conspiring to injure, and
+swearing anew the sacred oath to support and defend the very
+Constitution which they were moving heaven and earth to undermine and
+destroy!
+
+ [As a part of the history of those times, the following letter is
+ not without interest:
+
+ "OXFORD, December 24, 1860.
+
+ "MY DEAR SIR:--I regretted having to leave Washington without
+ having with you a full conference as to the great events whose
+ shadows are upon us. The result of the election here is what the
+ most sanguine among us expected; that is, its general result is so.
+ It is as yet somewhat difficult to determine the distinctive
+ complexion of the convention to meet on the 7th of January. The
+ friends of Southern Independence, of firm and bona fide resistance,
+ won an overwhelming victory; but I doubt whether there is any
+ precise plan.
+
+ "No doubt a large majority of the Convention will be for separate
+ Secession. But unless intervening events work important changes of
+ sentiment, not all of those elected as resistance men will be for
+ immediate and separate Secession. Our friends in Pontotoc, Tippah,
+ De Soto and Pauola took grounds which fell far short of that idea,
+ though their resolutions were very firm in regard to Disunion and
+ an ultimate result.
+
+ "In the meantime the Disunion sentiment among the people is growing
+ every day more intense.
+
+ "Upon the whole, you have great cause for gratification in the
+ action of your State.
+
+ "The submissionists are routed, horse, foot, and dragoons, and any
+ concession by the North will fail to restore that sacred attachment
+ to the Union which was once so deeply radicated in the hearts of
+ our people. What they want now, is wise and sober leading. I
+ think that there might be more of dignity and prudent foresight in
+ the action of our State than have marked the proceedings of South
+ Carolina. I have often rejoiced that we have you to rest upon and
+ confide in. I do not know what we could do without you. That God
+ may preserve you to us, and that your mind may retain all its vigor
+ to carry us through these perilous times, is my most fervent
+ aspiration.
+
+ "I am as ever, and forever, your supporter, ally and friend.
+
+ "L. Q. C. LAMAR.
+
+ "COL. JEFF. DAVIS, Washington, D. C."]
+
+
+This was but a part of the deliberate, cold-blooded plan mapped out in
+detail, early in the session succeeding the election of Mr. Lincoln, in
+a secret Caucus of the Chief Plotters of the Treason. It was a secret
+conference, but the programme resolved on, soon leaked out.
+
+The following, which appeared in the Washington National Intelligencer
+on Friday, January 11, 1861, tells the story of this stage of the Great
+Conspiracy pretty clearly:
+
+"The subjoined communication, disclosing the designs of those who have
+undertaken to lead the movement now threatening a permanent dissolution
+of the Union, comes to us from a distinguished citizen of the South
+[understood to be Honorable Lemuel D. Evans, Representative from Texas
+in the 34th Congress, from March 4, 1855, to March 3, 1857] who formerly
+represented his State with great distinction in the popular branch of
+Congress.
+
+"Temporarily sojourning in this city he has become authentically
+informed of the facts recited in the subjoined letter, which he
+communicates to us under a sense of duty, and for the accuracy of which
+he makes himself responsible.
+
+"Nothing but assurances coming from such an intelligent, reliable source
+could induce us to accept the authenticity of these startling
+statements, which so deeply concern not only the welfare but the honor
+of the Southern people.
+
+"To them we submit, without present comment, the programme to which they
+are expected to yield their implicit adhesion, without any scruples of
+conscience as without any regard for their own safety.
+
+ "'WASHINGTON, January 9, 1861.
+
+"'I charge that on last Saturday night (January 5th), a Caucus was held
+in this city by the Southern Secession Senators from Florida, Georgia,
+Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas. It was then and
+there resolved in effect to assume to themselves the political power of
+the South, and, to control all political and military operations for the
+present, they telegraphed to complete the plan of seizing forts,
+arsenals, and custom-houses, and advised the Conventions now in session,
+and soon to assemble, to pass Ordinances for immediate Secession; but,
+in order to thwart any operations of the Government here, the
+Conventions of the Seceding States are to retain their representations
+in the Senate and the House.
+
+"'They also advised, ordered, or directed the assembling of a Convention
+of delegates from the Seceding States at Montgomery on the 13th of
+February. This can of course only be done by the revolutionary
+Conventions usurping the powers of the people, and sending delegates
+over whom they will lose all control in the establishment of a
+Provisional Government, which is the plan of the dictators.
+
+"'This Caucus also resolved to take the most effectual means to dragoon
+the Legislatures of Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, and
+Virginia into following the Seceding States. Maryland is also to be
+influenced by such appeals to popular passion as have led to the
+revolutionary steps which promise a conflict with the State and Federal
+Governments in Texas.
+
+"'They have possessed themselves of all the avenues of information in
+the South--the telegraph, the press, and the general control of the
+postmasters. They also confidently rely upon defections in the army and
+navy.
+
+"'The spectacle here presented is startling to contemplate. Senators
+entrusted with the representative sovereignty of the States, and sworn
+to support the Constitution of the United States, while yet acting as
+the privy councillors of the President, and anxiously looked to by their
+constituents to effect some practical plan of adjustment, deliberately
+conceive a Conspiracy for the overthrow of the Government through the
+military organizations, the dangerous secret order, the 'Knights of the
+Golden Circle,' 'Committees of Safety,' Southern leagues, and other
+agencies at their command; they have instituted as thorough a military
+and civil despotism as ever cursed a maddened Country.
+
+"'It is not difficult to foresee the form of government which a
+Convention thus hurriedly thrown together at Montgomery will irrevocably
+fasten upon a deluded and unsuspecting people. It must essentially be
+'a Monarchy founded upon military principles,' or it cannot endure.
+Those who usurp power never fail to forge strong chains.
+
+"'It may be too late to sound the alarm. Nothing may be able to arrest
+the action of revolutionary tribunals whose decrees are principally in
+'secret sessions.' But I call upon the people to pause and reflect
+before they are forced to surrender every principle of liberty, or to
+fight those who are becoming their masters rather than their servants.
+ "' EATON"
+
+"As confirming the intelligence furnished by our informant we may cite
+the following extract from the Washington correspondence of yesterday's
+Baltimore Sun:
+
+"'The leaders of the Southern movement are consulting as to the best
+mode of consolidating their interests into a Confederacy under a
+Provisional Government. The plan is to make Senator Hunter, of
+Virginia, Provisional President, and Jefferson Davis Commander-in-Chief
+of the army of defense. Mr. Hunter possesses in a more eminent degree
+the philosophical characteristics of Jefferson than any other statesman
+now living. Colonel Davis is a graduate of West Point, was
+distinguished for gallantry at Buena Vista, and served as Secretary of
+War under President Pierce, and is not second to General Scott in
+military science or courage.'
+
+"As further confirmatory of the above, the following telegraphic
+dispatch in the Charleston Mercury of January 7, 1861, is given:
+
+"'[From our Own Correspondent.]
+
+"'WASHINGTON, January 6.--The Senators from those of the Southern States
+which have called Conventions of their people, met in caucus last night,
+and adopted the following resolutions:
+
+"'Resolved, That we recommend to our respective States immediate
+Secession.
+
+"'Resolved, That we recommend the holding of a General Convention of the
+said States, to be holden in the city of Montgomery, Alabama, at some
+period not later than the 15th day of February, 1861.'
+
+"These resolutions were telegraphed this evening to the Conventions of
+Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. A third resolution is also known to
+have been adopted, but it is of a confidential character, not to be
+divulged at present. There was a good deal of discussion in the caucus
+on the question of whether the Seceding States ought to continue their
+delegations in Congress till the 4th of March, to prevent unfriendly
+legislation, or whether the Representatives of the Seceding States
+should all resign together, and leave a clear field for the opposition
+to pass such bills, looking to Coercion, as they may see fit. It is
+believed that the opinion that they should remain prevailed."
+
+Furthermore, upon the capture of Fernandina, Florida, in 1862, the
+following letter was found and published. Senator Yulee, the writer,
+was present and participated as one of the Florida Senators, in the
+traitorous "Consultation" therein referred to--and hence its especial
+value:
+
+
+"WASHINGTON, January 7, 1861.
+
+"My DEAR SIR:--On the other side is a copy of resolutions adopted at a
+consultation of the Senators from the Seceding States--in which Georgia,
+Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi, and Florida were
+present.
+
+"The idea of the meeting was that the States should go out at once, and
+provide for the early organization of a Confederate Government, not
+later than 15th February. This time is allowed to enable Louisiana and
+Texas to participate. It seemed to be the opinion that if we left here,
+force, loan, and volunteer Bills might be passed, which would put Mr.
+Lincoln in immediate condition for hostilities; whereas, by remaining in
+our places until the 4th of March, it is thought we can keep the hands
+of Mr. Buchanan tied, and disable the Republicans from effecting any
+legislation which will strengthen the hands of the incoming
+Administration.
+
+"The resolutions will be sent by the delegation to the President of the
+Convention. I have not been able to find Mr. Mallory (his Senatorial
+colleague) this morning. Hawkins (Representative from Florida) is in
+Connecticut. I have therefore thought it best to send you this copy of
+the resolutions.
+
+ "In haste, yours truly
+ "D. L. YULEE.
+
+"JOSEPH FINEGAN, Esq.,
+"'Sovereignty Convention,' Tallahassee, Fla."
+
+
+
+The resolutions "on the other side" of this letter, to which he refers,
+are as follows:
+
+"Resolved, 1--That in our opinion each of the Southern States should, as
+soon as may be, Secede from the Union.
+
+"Resolved, 2--That provision should be made for a Convention to organize
+a Confederacy of the Seceding States, the Convention to meet not later
+than the 15th of February, at the city of Montgomery, in the State of
+Alabama.
+
+"Resolved, That in view of the hostile legislation that is threatened
+against the Seceding States, and which may be consummated before the 4th
+of March, we ask instructions whether the delegations are to remain in
+Congress until that date for the purpose of defeating such legislation.
+
+"Resolved, That a committee be and are hereby appointed, consisting of
+Messrs. Davis, Slidell, and Mallory, to carry out the objects of this
+meeting."
+
+
+In giving this letter to the World--from its correspondent accompanying
+the expedition--the New York Times of March 15, 1862, made these
+forcible and clear-headed comments:
+
+"The telegraphic columns of the Times of January 7, 1861, contained the
+following Washington dispatch: 'The Southern Senators last night
+(January 5th) held a conference, and telegraphed to the Conventions of
+their respective States to advise immediate Secession.' Now, the
+present letter is a report by Mr. Yulee, who was present at this
+'consultation' as he calls it, of the resolutions adopted on this
+occasion, transmitted to the said Finegan, who by the way, was a member
+of the 'Sovereign Convention' of Florida, then sitting in the town of
+Tallahassee.
+
+"It will thus be seen that this remarkable letter, which breathes
+throughout the spirit of the Conspirator, in reality lets us into one of
+the most important of the numerous Secret Conclaves which the Plotters
+of Treason then held in the Capital. It was then, as it appears, that
+they determined to strike the blow and precipitate their States into
+Secession. But at the same time they resolved that it would be
+imprudent for them openly to withdraw, as in that case Congress might
+pass 'force, loan, and volunteer bills,' which would put Mr. Lincoln in
+immediate condition for hostilities. No, no! that would not do. (So
+much patriotic virtue they half suspected, half feared, was left in the
+Country.) On the contrary, 'by remaining in our places until the 4th of
+March it is thought we can keep the hands of Mr. Buchanan tied, and
+disable the Republicans from effecting any legislation which will
+strengthen the hands of the incoming Administration.' Ah what a tragic
+back-ground, full of things unutterable, is there!
+
+"It appears, however, that events were faster than they, and instead of
+being able to retain their seats up to the 4th of March, they were able
+to remain but a very few weeks. Mr. Davis withdrew on the 21st of
+January, just a fortnight after this 'consultation.' But for the rest,
+mark how faithfully the programme here drawn up by this knot of Traitors
+in secret session was realized. Each of the named States represented by
+this Cabal did, 'as soon as may be, Secede from the Union'--the
+Mississippi Convention passing its Ordinance on the heels of the receipt
+of these resolutions, on the 9th of January; Florida and Alabama on the
+11th; Louisiana on the 26th, and Texas on the 1st of February; while the
+'organization of the Confederate Government' took place at the very time
+appointed, Davis being inaugurated on the 18th of February.
+
+"And here is another Plot of the Traitors brought to light. These very
+men, on withdrawing from the Senate, urged that they were doing so in
+obedience to the command of their respective States. As Mr. Davis put
+it, in his parting speech, 'the Ordinance of Secession having passed the
+Convention of his State, he felt obliged to obey the summons, and retire
+from all official connection with the Federal Government.' This letter
+of Mr. Yulee's clearly reveals that they had themselves pushed their
+State Conventions to the adoption of the very measure which they had the
+hardihood to put forward as an imperious 'summons' which they could not
+disobey. It is thus that Treason did its Work."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XII.
+
+ COPPERHEADISM VS. UNION DEMOCRACY.
+
+When we remember that it was on the night of the 5th of January, 1861,
+that the Rebel Conspirators in the United States Senate met and plotted
+their confederated Treason, as shown in the Yulee letter, given in the
+preceding Chapter of this work, and that on the very next day, January
+6, 1861, Fernando Wood, then Mayor of the great city of New York, sent
+in to the Common Council of that metropolis, his recommendation that New
+York city should Secede from its own State, as well as the United
+States, and become "a Free City," which, said he, "may shed the only
+light and hope of a future reconstruction of our once blessed
+Confederacy," it is impossible to resist the conviction that this
+extraordinary movement of his, was inspired and prompted, if not
+absolutely directed, by the secret Rebel Conclave at Washington. It
+bears within itself internal evidences of such prompting.
+
+Thus, when Mayor Wood states the case in the following words, he seems
+to be almost quoting word for word an instruction received by him from
+these Rebel leaders--in connection with their plausible argument,
+upholding it. Says he:
+
+"Much, no doubt, can be said in favor of the justice and policy of a
+separation. It may be said that Secession or revolution in any of the
+United States would be subversive of all Federal authority, and, so far
+as the central Government is concerned, the resolving of the community
+into its original elements--that, if part of the States form new
+combinations and, Governments, other States may do the same. Then it
+may be said, why should not New York city, instead of supporting by her
+contributions in revenue two-thirds of the expenses of the United
+States, become also equally independent? As a Free City, with but
+nominal duty on imports, her local Government could be supported without
+taxation upon her people. Thus we could live free from taxes, and have
+cheap goods nearly duty free. In this she would have the whole and
+united support of the Southern States, as well as all the other States
+to whose interests and rights under the Constitution she has always been
+true."
+
+That is the persuasive casuistry peculiar to the minds of the Southern
+Secession leaders. It is naturally followed by a touch of that self-
+confident bluster, also at that time peculiar to Southern lips-as
+follows:
+
+"It is well for individuals or communities to look every danger square
+in the face, and to meet it calmly and bravely. As dreadful as the
+severing of the bonds that have hitherto united the States has been in
+contemplation, it is now apparently a stern and inevitable fact. We
+have now to meet it, with all the consequences, whatever they may be.
+If the Confederacy is broken up the Government is dissolved, and it
+behooves every distinct community, as well as every individual, to take
+care of themselves.
+
+"When Disunion has become a fixed and certain fact, why may not New York
+disrupt the bands which bind her to a venal and corrupt master--to a
+people and a Party that have plundered her revenues, attempted to ruin
+her commerce, taken away the power of self-government, and destroyed the
+Confederacy of which she was the proud Empire City? * * *"
+
+After thus restating, as it were, the views and "arguments" of the Rebel
+Junta, as we may presume them to have been pressed on him, he becomes
+suddenly startled at the Conclave's idea of meeting "all the
+consequences, whatever they may be," and, turning completely around,
+with blanching pen, concludes:
+
+"But I am not prepared to recommend the violence implied in these views.
+In stating this argument in favor of freedom, 'peaceably if we can,
+forcibly if we must,' let me not be misunderstood. The redress can be
+found only in appeals to the magnanimity of the people of the whole
+State." * * *
+
+If "these views" were his own, and not those of the Rebel Conclave, he
+would either have been "prepared to recommend the violence implied in
+them," or else he would have suppressed them altogether. But his
+utterance is that of one who has certain views for the first time placed
+before him, and shrinks from the consequences of their advocacy--shrinks
+from "the violence implied" in them--although for some reason he dares
+not refuse to place those views before the people.
+
+And, in carrying out his promise to do so--"In stating this argument,"
+presumably of the Rebel Conclave, "in favor of freedom, 'peaceably if we
+can, forcibly if we must'"--the language used is an admission that the
+argument is not his own. Were it his own, would he not have said in
+"making" it, instead of in "stating" it? Furthermore, had he been
+"making" it of his own accord, he would hardly have involved himself in
+such singular contradictions and explanations as are here apparent. He
+was plainly "stating" the Rebel Conclave's argument, not making one
+himself. He was obeying orders, under the protest of his fears. And
+those fears forced his trembling pen to write the saving-clause which
+"qualifies" the Conclave's second-hand bluster preceding it.
+
+That the Rebels hoped for Northern assistance in case of Secession, is
+very clear from many speeches made prior to and soon after the election
+of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency--and from other sources of information.
+Thus we find in a speech made by Representative L. M. Keitt, of South
+Carolina, in Charleston, November, 1860, the following language,
+reported by the Mercury:
+
+"But we have been threatened. Mr. Amos Kendall wrote a letter, in which
+he said to Colonel Orr, that if the State went out, three hundred
+thousand volunteers were ready to march against her. I know little
+about Kendall--and the less the better. He was under General Jackson;
+but for him the Federal treasury seemed to have a magnetic attraction.
+
+"Jackson was a pure man, but he had too many around him who made
+fortunes far transcending their salaries. [Applause.] And this Amos
+Kendall had the same good fortune under Van Buren. He (Kendall)
+threatened us on the one side, and John Hickman on the other. John
+Hickman said, defiantly, that if we went out of the Union, eighteen
+millions of Northern men would bring us back.
+
+"Let me tell you, there are a million of Democrats in the North who,
+when the Black Republicans attempt to march upon the South, will be
+found a wall of fire in the front. [Cries of 'that's so,' and
+applause.]"
+
+Harper's Weekly of May 28, 1864, commenting on certain letters of M. F.
+Maury and others, then just come to light, said:
+
+"How far Maury and his fellow-conspirators were justified in their hopes
+of seducing New Jersey into the Rebellion, may be gathered from the
+correspondence that took place, in the spring of 1861, between Ex-
+Governor Price, of New Jersey, who was one of the representatives from
+that State in the Peace Congress, and L. W. Burnet, Esq., of Newark.
+
+"Mr. Price, in answering the question what ought New Jersey to do, says:
+'I believe the Southern confederation permanent. The proceeding has
+been taken with forethought and deliberation--it is no hurried impulse,
+but an irrevocable act, based upon the sacred, as was supposed, equality
+of the States; and in my opinion every Slave State will in a short
+period of time be found united in one Confederacy. * * * Before that
+event happens, we cannot act, however much we may suffer in our material
+interests. It is in that contingency, then, that I answer the second
+part of your question:--What position for New Jersey will best accord
+with her interests, honor, and the patriotic instincts of her people? I
+say emphatically she would go with the South from every wise,
+prudential, and patriotic reason.'
+
+"Ex-Governor Price proceeds to say that he is confident the States of
+Pennsylvania and New York will 'choose also to cast their lot with the
+South, and after them, the Western and Northwestern States.'"
+
+The following resolution,* was adopted with others, by a meeting of
+Democrats held January 16, 1861, at National Hall, Philadelphia, and has
+been supposed to disclose "a plan, of which ex-Governor Price was likely
+aware:"
+
+"Twelfth--That in the deliberate judgment of the Democracy of
+Philadelphia, and, so far as we know it, of Pennsylvania, the
+dissolution of the Union by the separation of the whole South, a result
+we shall most sincerely lament, may release this Commonwealth to a large
+extent from the bonds which now connect her with the Confederacy, except
+so far as for temporary convenience she chooses to submit to them, and
+would authorize and require her citizens, through a Convention, to be
+assembled for that purpose, to determine with whom her lot should be
+cast, whether with the North and the East, whose fanaticism has
+precipitated this misery upon us, or with our brethren of the South,
+whose wrongs we feel as our own; or whether Pennsylvania should stand by
+herself, as a distinct community, ready when occasion offers, to bind
+together the broken Union, and resume her place of loyalty and
+devotion."
+
+Senator Lane of Oregon, replying to Senator Johnson of Tennessee,
+December 19, 1860, in the United States Senate, and speaking of and for
+the Northern Democracy, said:
+
+"They will not march with him under his bloody banner, or Mr. Lincoln's,
+to invade the soil of the gallant State of South Carolina, when she may
+withdraw from a Confederacy that has refused her that equality to which
+she is entitled, as a member of the Union, under the Constitution. On
+the contrary, when he or any other gentleman raises that banner and
+attempts to subjugate that gallant people, instead of marching with him,
+we will meet him there, ready to repel him and his forces. He shall not
+bring with him the Northern Democracy to strike down a people contending
+for rights that have been refused them in a Union that ought to
+recognize the equality of every member of the Confederacy. * * * I now
+serve notice that, when War is made upon that gallant South for
+withdrawing from a Union which refuses them their rights, the Northern
+Democracy will not join in the crusade. THE REPUBLICAN PARTY WILL HAVE
+WAR ENOUGH AT HOME. THE DEMOCRACY OF THE NORTH NEED NOT CROSS THE
+BORDER TO FIND AN ENEMY."
+
+The following letter from Ex-President Pierce is in the same misleading
+strain:
+
+"CLARENDON HOTEL, January 6, 1860.--[This letter was captured, at Jeff.
+Davis's house in Mississippi, by the Union troops.]
+
+"MY DEAR FRIEND:--I wrote you an unsatisfactory note a day or two since.
+I have just had a pleasant interview with Mr. Shepley, whose courage and
+fidelity are equal to his learning and talents. He says he would rather
+fight the battle with you as the standard-bearer in 1860, than under the
+auspices of any other leader. The feeling and judgment of Mr. S. in
+this relation is, I am confident, rapidly gaining ground in New England.
+Our people are looking for 'the coming man,' one who is raised by all
+the elements of his character above the atmosphere ordinarily breathed
+by politicians, a man really fitted for this exigency by his ability,
+courage, broad statesmanship, and patriotism. Colonel Seymour (Thomas
+H.) arrived here this morning, and expressed his views in this relation
+in almost the identical language used by Mr. Shepley.
+
+"It is true that, in the present state of things at Washington and
+throughout the country, no man can predict what changes two or three
+months may bring forth. Let me suggest that, in the running debates in
+Congress, full justice seems to me not to have been done to the
+Democracy of the North. I do not believe that our friends at the South
+have any just idea of the state of feeling, hurrying at this moment to
+the pitch of intense exasperation, between those who respect their
+political obligations and those who have apparently no impelling power
+but that which fanatical passion on the subject of Domestic Slavery
+imparts.
+
+"Without discussing the question of right, of abstract power to Secede,
+I have never believed that actual disruption of the Union can occur
+without blood; and if, through the madness of Northern Abolitionism,
+that dire calamity must come, THE FIGHTING WILL NOT BE ALONG MASON'S AND
+DIXON'S LINE MERELY. IT [WILL] BE WITHIN OUR OWN BORDERS, IN OUR OWN
+STREETS, BETWEEN THE TWO CLASSES OF CITIZENS TO WHOM I HAVE REFERRED.
+Those who defy law and scout Constitutional obligations will, if we ever
+reach the arbitrament of arms, FIND OCCUPATION ENOUGH AT HOME.
+
+"Nothing but the state of Mrs. Pierce's health would induce me to leave
+the Country now, although it is quite likely that my presence at home
+would be of little service.
+
+"I have tried to impress upon our people, especially in New Hampshire
+and Connecticut, where the only elections are to take place during the
+coming spring, that while our Union meetings are all in the right
+direction, and well enough for the present, they will not be worth the
+paper upon which their resolutions are written unless we can overthrow
+political Abolitionism at the polls and repeal the Unconstitutional and
+obnoxious laws which, in the cause of 'personal liberty,' have been
+placed upon our statute-books. I shall look with deep interest, and not
+without hope, for a decided change in this relation.
+
+ "Ever and truly your friend,
+ "FRANKLIN PIERCE.
+
+"Hon. JEFF. DAVIS,
+"Washington, D. C."
+
+
+But let us turn from contemplating the encouragements to Southern
+Treason and Rebellion, held out by Northern Democratic Copperheads, to
+the more pleasing spectacle of Loyalty and Patriotism exhibited by the
+Douglas wing of Democracy.
+
+Immediately after Sumter, and while the President was formulating his
+Message, calling for 75,000 volunteers, Douglas called upon him at the
+White House, regretted that Mr. Lincoln did not propose to call for
+thrice as many; and on the 18th of April, having again visited the White
+House, wrote, and gave the following dispatch to the Associated Press,
+for circulation throughout the Country:
+
+"April 18, 1861, Senator Douglas called on the President, and had an
+interesting conversation on the present condition of the Country. The
+substance of it was, on the part of Mr. Douglas, that while he was
+unalterably opposed to the administration in all its political issues,
+he was prepared to fully sustain the President in the exercise of all
+his Constitutional functions, to preserve the Union, maintain the
+Government, and defend the Federal Capital. A firm policy and prompt
+action was necessary. The Capital was in danger and must be defended at
+all hazards, and at any expense of men and money. He spoke of the
+present and future without any reference to the past."
+
+It is stated of this meeting and its immediate results: "The President
+was deeply gratified by the interview. To the West, Douglas
+telegraphed, 'I am for my Country and against all its assailants.' The
+fire of his patriotism spread to the masses of the North, and Democrat
+and Republican rallied to the support of the flag. In Illinois the
+Democratic and Republican presses vied with each other in the utterance
+of patriotic sentiments. * * * Large and numerously attended Mass
+meetings met, as it were with one accord, irrespective of parties, and
+the people of all shades of political opinions buried their party
+hatchets. Glowing and eloquent orators exhorted the people to ignore
+political differences in the present crisis, join in the common cause,
+and rally to the flag of the Union and the Constitution. It was a noble
+truce. From the many resolutions of that great outpouring of patriotic
+sentiment, which ignored all previous party ties, we subjoin the
+following:
+
+"'Resolved, that it is the duty of all patriotic citizens of Illinois,
+without distinction of party or sect, to sustain the Government through
+the peril which now threatens the existence of the Union; and of our
+Legislature to grant such aid of men and money as the exigency of the
+hour and the patriotism of our people shall demand.'
+
+"Governor Yates promptly issued his proclamation, dated the 15th of
+April, convening the Legislature for the 23rd inst. in Extraordinary
+Session.
+
+ * * * * * * *
+
+"On the evening of the 25th of April, Mr. Douglas, who had arrived at
+the Capital the day before, addressed the General Assembly and a densely
+packed audience, in the Hall of Representatives, in that masterly
+effort, which must live and be enshrined in the hearts of his countrymen
+so long as our Government shall endure. Douglas had ever delighted in
+the mental conflicts of Party strife; but now, when his Country was
+assailed by the red hand of Treason, he was instantly divested of his
+Party armor and stood forth panoplied only in the pure garb of a true
+Patriot.
+
+"He taught his auditory--he taught his Country, for his speeches were
+telegraphed all over it--the duty of patriotism at that perilous hour of
+the Nation's Life. He implored both Democrats and Republicans to lay
+aside their Party creeds and Platforms; to dispense with Party
+Organizations and Party Appeals; to forget that they were ever divided
+until they had first rescued the Government from its assailants. His
+arguments were clear, convincing, and unanswerable; his appeals for the
+Salvation of his Country, irresistible. It was the last speech, but
+one, he ever made."
+
+Among other pithy and patriotic points made by him in that great speech
+--[July 9, 1861.]--were these: "So long as there was a hope of a
+peaceful solution, I prayed and implored for Compromise. I have spared
+no effort for a peaceful solution of these troubles; I have failed, and
+there is but one thing to do--to rally under the flag." "The South has
+no cause of complaint." "Shall we obey the laws or adopt the Mexican
+system of War, on every election." "Forget Party--all remember only
+your Country." "The shortest road to Peace is the most tremendous
+preparation for War." "It is with a sad heart and with a grief I have
+never before experienced, that I have to contemplate this fearful
+Struggle. * * * But it is our duty to protect the Government and the
+flag from every assailant, be he who he may."
+
+In Chicago, Douglas repeated his patriotic appeal for the preservation
+of the Union, and tersely declared that "There can be no Neutrals in
+this War--only Patriots and Traitors." In that city he was taken with a
+mortal illness, and expired at the Tremont House, June 3, 1861--just one
+month prior to the meeting of the called Session of Congress.
+
+The wonderful influence wielded by Douglas throughout the North, was
+well described afterward by his colleague, Judge Trumbull, in the
+Senate, when he said: "His course had much to do in producing that
+unanimity in support of the Government which is now seen throughout the
+Loyal States. The sublime spectacle of twenty million people rising as
+one man in vindication of Constitutional Liberty and Free Government,
+when assailed by misguided Rebels and plotting Traitors, is, to a
+considerable extent due to his efforts. His magnanimous and patriotic
+course in this trying hour of his Country's destiny was the crowning act
+of his life."
+
+And Senator McDougall of California--his life-long friend--in describing
+the shock of the first intelligence that reached him, of his friend's
+sudden death, with words of even greater power, continued: "But, as,
+powerless for the moment to resist the tide of emotions, I bowed my head
+in silent grief, it came to me that the Senator had lived to witness the
+opening of the present unholy War upon our Government; that, witnessing
+it, from the Capital of his State, as his highest and best position, he
+had sent forth a War-cry worthy of that Douglass, who, as ancient
+legends tell, with the welcome of the knightly Andalusian King, was
+told,
+
+ '"Take thou the leading of the van,
+ And charge the Moors amain;
+ There is not such a lance as thine
+ In all the hosts of Spain.'
+
+"Those trumpet notes, with a continuous swell, are sounding still
+throughout all the borders of our Land. I heard them upon the mountains
+and in the valleys of the far State whence I come. They have
+communicated faith and strength to millions. * * * I ceased to grieve
+for Douglas. The last voice of the dead Douglas I felt to be stronger
+than the voice of multitudes of living men."
+
+And here it may not be considered out of place for a brief reference to
+the writer's own position at this time; especially as it has been much
+misapprehended and misstated. One of the fairest of these statements*
+runs thus:
+
+ [Lusk's History of the Politics of Illinois from 1856 to 1884, p.
+ 175.]
+
+"It is said that Logan did not approve the great speech made by Senator
+Douglas, at Springfield, in April, 1861, wherein he took the bold ground
+that in the contest which was then clearly imminent to him, between the
+North and the South, that there could be but two parties, Patriots and
+Traitors. But granting that there was a difference between Douglas and
+Logan at that time, it did not relate to their adhesion to the Cause of
+their Country Logan had fought for the Union upon the plains of Mexico,
+and again stood ready to give his life, if need be, for his Country,
+even amid the cowardly slanders that were then following his pathway.
+
+"The difference between Douglas and Logan was this: Mr. Douglas was
+fresh from an extended campaign in the dissatisfied Sections of the
+Southern States, and he was fully apprised of their intention to attempt
+the overthrow of the Union, and was therefore in favor of the most
+stupendous preparations for War.
+
+"Mr. Logan, on the other hand, believed in exhausting all peaceable
+means before a resort to Arms, and in this he was like President
+Lincoln; but when he saw there was no alternative but to fight, he was
+ready and willing for armed resistance, and, resigning his seat in
+Congress, entered the Army, as Colonel of the Thirty-first Illinois
+Infantry, and remained in the field in active service until Peace was
+declared."
+
+This statement is, in the main, both fair and correct.
+
+It is no more correct, however, in intimating that "Logan did not
+approve the great speech made by Senator Douglas, at Springfield, in
+April, 1861, wherein he took the bold ground that in the contest which
+was then clearly imminent to him, between the North and the South, that
+there could be but two parties, Patriots and Traitors," than others have
+been in intimating that he was disloyal to the Union, prior to the
+breaking out of hostilities--a charge which was laid out flat in the
+Senate Chamber, April 19, 1881.
+
+ [In Dawson's Life of Logan, pp. 348-353, this matter is thus
+ alluded to:
+
+ "In an early part of this work the base charge that Logan was not
+ loyal before the War has been briefly touched on. It may be well
+ here to touch on it more fully. As was then remarked, the only man
+ that ever dared insinuate to Logan's face that he was a Secession
+ sympathizer before the War, was Senator Ben Hill of Georgia, in the
+ United States Senate Chamber, March 30, 1881; and Logan instantly
+ retorted: 'Any man who insinuates that I sympathized with it at
+ that time insinuates what is false,' and Senator Hill at once
+ retracted the insinuation."
+
+ "Subsequently, April 19, 1881, Senator Logan, in a speech,
+ fortified with indisputable record and documentary evidence,
+ forever set at rest the atrocious calumny. From that record it
+ appears that on the 17th December, 1860, while still a Douglas
+ Democrat, immediately after Lincoln's election, and long before his
+ inauguration, and before even the first gun of the war was fired,
+ Mr. Logan, then a Representative in the House, voted affirmatively
+ on a resolution, offered by Morris of Illinois, which declared an
+ 'immovable attachment' to 'our National Union,' and 'that it is our
+ patriotic duty to stand by it as our hope in peace and our defense
+ in war;' that on the 7th January, 1861, Mr. Adrian having offered
+ the following 'Resolved, That we fully approve of the bold and
+ patriotic act of Major Anderson in withdrawing from Fort Moultrie
+ to Fort Sumter, and of the determination of the President to
+ maintain that fearless officer in his present position; and that we
+ will support the President in all constitutional measures to
+ enforce the laws and preserve the Union'--Mr. Logan, in casting his
+ vote, said: 'As the resolution receives my unqualified approval, I
+ vote Aye;' and that further on the 5th of February, 1861, before
+ the inauguration of President Lincoln, in a speech made by Logan in
+ the House in favor of the Crittenden Compromise measures, he used
+ the following language touching Secession:
+
+ "'Sir, I have always denied, and do yet deny, the right of
+ Secession. There is no warrant for it in the Constitution. It is
+ wrong, it is unlawful, unconstitutional, and should be called by
+ the right name--revolution. No good, sir, can result from it, but
+ much mischief may. It is no remedy for any grievances. I hold
+ that all grievances can be much easier redressed inside the Union
+ than out of it.'
+
+ "In that same speech he also * * * said:
+
+ "'I have been taught that the preservation of this glorious Union,
+ with its broad flag waving over us as the shield for our protection
+ on land and on sea, is paramount to all the parties and platforms
+ that ever have existed or ever can exist. I would, to day, if I
+ had the power, sink my own party and every other one, with all
+ their platforms, into the vortex of ruin, without heaving a sigh or
+ shedding a tear, to save the Union, or even stop the revolution
+ where it is.'
+
+ "In this most complete speech of vindication--which Senator Logan
+ said he put upon record, 'First, that my children, after me, may
+ not have these slanders thrown in their faces without the power of
+ dispelling or refuting them; and second, that they may endure in
+ this Senate Chamber, so that it may be a notice to Senators of all
+ parties and all creeds that hereafter, while I am here in the
+ Senate, no insinuation of that kind will be submitted to by me,'--
+ the proofs of the falsity of the charge were piled mountain-high,
+ and among them the following voluntary statements from two
+ Democratic Senators, who were with him before the War, in the House
+ of Representatives:
+
+ "'United States Senate Chamber,
+ WASHINGTON, April 14, 1881.
+
+ "'DEAR SIR: In a discussion in the Senate a few weeks since you
+ referred to the fact that a Southern Senator, who had served with
+ you in Congress before the War, could testify that during your term
+ of service there you gave no encouragement to the Secession of the
+ Southern States, adding, however, that you did not ask such
+ testimony. I was not sure at the time that your reference was to
+ me, as Senator Pugh of Alabama, was also a member of that Congress.
+
+ "'Since then, having learned that your reference was to me, I
+ propose on the floor of the Senate, should suitable occasion offer,
+ to state what I know of your position and views at the time
+ referred to. But, as I may be absent from the Senate for some
+ time, I deem it best to give you this written statement, with full
+ authority to use it in any way that seems proper to you.
+
+ "'When you first came to Congress in ----, you were a very ardent
+ and impetuous Democrat. In the division which took place between
+ Mr. Douglas and his friends, on the one hand, and the Southern
+ Democrats, on the other, you were a warm and uncompromising
+ supporter of Mr. Douglas; and in the course of that convention you
+ became somewhat estranged from your party associates in the South.
+ In our frequent discussions upon the subjects of difference, I
+ never heard a word of sympathy from your lips with Secession in
+ either theory or practice. On the contrary, you were vehement in
+ your opposition to it.'
+
+ "'I remember well a conversation I had with you just before leaving
+ Washington to become a candidate for the Secession convention. You
+ expressed the deep regret you felt at my proposed action, and
+ deplored the contemplated movement in terms as strong as any I
+ heard from any Republican.'
+ Yours truly,
+ "'L. Q. C. LAMAR
+
+ "'Hon. JOHN A. LOGAN.
+ "United States Senate, Washington, D. C.'
+
+
+ "Senate Chamber, April 14, 1881.
+
+ "'Having read the above statement of Senator Lamar, I fully concur
+ with him in my recollection of your expressions and action in
+ opposition to Secession.
+ Truly yours, J. L. PUGH.'
+
+ "At the conclusion of Senator Logan's speech of refutation, Senator
+ Brown of Georgia (Democrat) said:
+
+ "'Our newspapers may have misrepresented his position. I am now
+ satisfied they did. I have heard the Senator's statement with
+ great interest, and I take pleasure in saying--for I had some idea
+ before that there was some shadow of truth in this report--that I
+ think his vindication' is full, complete, and conclusive.'
+
+ "'I recollect very well during the war, when I was Governor of my
+ State and the Federal army was invading it, to have had a large
+ force of militia aiding the Confederate army, and that Gen. Logan
+ was considered by us as one of the ablest, most gallant, and
+ skillful leaders of the Federal army. We had occasion to feel his
+ power, and we learned to respect him.'
+
+ "Senator Beck, of Kentucky (Democrat), referring to the fact that
+ he was kept out of the House at one time, and a great many
+ suggestions had been made to him as to General Logan, continued:
+
+ "'As I said the other day, I never proposed to go into such things,
+ and never have done so; but at that time General Frank Blair was
+ here, and I submitted many of the papers I received to him,--I
+ never thought of using any of them,--and I remember the remark that
+ he made to me: Beck, John Logan was one of the hardest fighters of
+ the war; and when many men who were seeking to whistle him down the
+ wind because of his politics when the war began, were snugly fixed
+ in safe places, he was taking his life in his hand wherever the
+ danger was greatest--and I tore up every paper I got, and burnt it
+ in the fire before his eyes.'
+
+ "Senator Dawes of Massachusetts (Republican), also took occasion to
+ say:
+
+ "Mr. President, I do not know that anything which can be said on
+ this side would be of any consequence to the Senator from Illinois
+ in this matter. But I came into the House of Representatives at
+ the same session that the Senator did.
+
+ "'He was at that time one of the most intense of Democrats, and I
+ was there with him when the Rebellion first took root and
+ manifested itself in open and flagrant war; and I wish to say as a
+ Republican of that day, when the Senator from Illinois was a
+ Democrat, that at the earliest possible moment when the Republican
+ Party was in anxiety as to the position of the Northern Democracy
+ on the question of forcible assault on the Union, nothing did they
+ hail with more delight than the early stand which the Senator from
+ Illinois, from the Democratic side of the House, took upon the
+ question of resistance to the Government of the United States.
+
+ "I feel that it is right that I should state that he was among the
+ first, if not the very first, of the Northern Democrats who came
+ out openly and declared, whatever may have been their opinion about
+ the doctrines of the Republican Party, that when it came to a
+ question of forcible resistance, they should be counted on the side
+ of the Government, and in co-operation with the Republican Party in
+ the attempt to maintain its authority.'
+
+ "'I am very glad, whether it be of any service or not, to bear this
+ testimony to the early stand the Senator from Illinois took while
+ he was still a Democrat, and the large influence he exerted upon
+ the Northern Democracy, which kept it from being involved in the
+ condition and in the work of the Southern Democracy at that
+ time.'"]
+
+So far from this being the case, the fact is--and it is here mentioned
+in part to bring out the interesting point that, had he lived, Douglas
+would have been no idle spectator of the great War that was about to be
+waged--that when Douglas visited Springfield, Illinois, to make that
+great speech in the latter part of April, 1861, the writer went there
+also, to see and talk over with him the grave situation of affairs, not
+only in the Nation generally, but particularly in Illinois. And on that
+occasion Mr. Douglas said to him, substantially: "The time has now
+arrived when a man must be either for or against his Country. Indeed so
+strongly do I feel this, and that further dalliance with this question
+is useless, that I shall myself take steps to join the Array, and fight
+for the maintenance of the Union."
+
+To this the writer replied that he was "equally well convinced that each
+and every man must take his stand," and that he also "purposed at an
+early day to raise a Regiment and draw the sword in that Union's
+defense."
+
+This was after Sumter, and only seventy days before Congress was to meet
+in Called Session. When that session met, Douglas had, weeks before,
+gone down to the grave amid the tears of a distracted Nation, with the
+solemn injunction upon his dying lips: "Obey the Laws and Defend the
+Constitution"--and the writer had returned to Washington, to take his
+seat in Congress, with that determination still alive in his heart.
+
+In fact there had been all along, substantial accord between Mr. Douglas
+and the writer. There really was no "difference between Douglas and
+Logan" as to "preparations for War," or in "exhausting all Peaceable
+means before a resort to Arms," and both were in full accord with
+President Lincoln on these points.
+
+Let us see if this is not of record: Take the writer's speech in the
+House of Representatives, February 5, 1861, and it will be seen that he
+said: "I will go as far as any man in the performance of a
+Constitutional duty to put down Rebellion, to suppress Insurrection, and
+to enforce the Laws." Again, he said, "If all the evils and calamities
+that have ever happened since the World began, could be gathered in one
+Great Catastrophe, its horrors could not eclipse, in their frightful
+proportions, the Drama that impends over us."
+
+From these extracts it is plain enough that even at this very early day
+the writer fully understood the "frightful proportions" of the impending
+struggle, and would "go as far as"--not only Mr. Douglas, but--"any man,
+to put down Rebellion"--which necessarily involved War, and
+"preparations for War." But none the less, but rather the more, because
+of the horrors which he foresaw must be inseparable from so terrible a
+War, was he anxious by timely mutual Concessions--"by any sacrifice," as
+he termed it--if possible, to avert it.
+
+He was ready to sink Party, self, and to accept any of the Propositions
+to that end--Mr. Douglas's among them.
+
+ [See his speech of February 5, 1861, Congressional Globe]
+
+In this attitude also he was in accord with Mr. Douglas, who, as well as
+the writer, was ready to make any sacrifice, of Party or self; to
+"exhaust every effort at peaceful adjustment," before resorting to War.
+The fact is they were much of the time in consultation, and always in
+substantial accord.
+
+In a speech made in the Senate, March 15, 1861, Mr. Douglas had reduced
+the situation to the following three alternative points:
+
+"1. THE RESTORATION AND PRESERVATION OF THE UNION by such Amendments to
+the Constitution as will insure the domestic tranquillity, safety, and
+equality of all the States, and thus restore peace, unity, and
+fraternity, to the whole Country.
+
+"2. A PEACEFUL DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION by recognizing the Independence
+of such States as refuse to remain in the Union without such
+Constitutional Amendments, and the establishment of a liberal system of
+commercial and social intercourse with them by treaties of commerce and
+amity.
+
+"3. WAR, with a view to the subjugation and military occupation of those
+States which have Seceded or may Secede from the Union."
+
+As a thorough Union man, he could never have agreed to a "Peaceful
+Dissolution of the Union." On the other hand he was equally averse to
+War, because he held that "War is Disunion. War is final, eternal
+Separation." Hence, all his energies and talents were given to carrying
+out his first-stated line of policy, and to persuading the Seceders to
+accept what in that line was offered to them by the dominant party.
+
+His speech in the Senate, March 25, 1861, was a remarkable effort in
+that respect. Mr. Breckinridge had previously spoken, and had declared
+that: "Whatever settlement may be made of other questions, this must be
+settled upon terms that will give them [the Southern States] either a
+right, in common with others, to emigrate into all the territory, or
+will secure to them their rights on a principle of equitable division."
+
+Mr. Douglas replied: "Now, under the laws as they stand, in every
+Territory of the United States, without any exception, a Southern man
+can go with his Slave-property on equal terms with all other property.
+* * * Every man, either from the North or South, may go into the
+Territories with his property on terms of exact equality, subject to the
+local law; and Slave-property stands on an equal footing with all other
+kinds of property in the Territories of the United States. It now
+stands on an equal footing in all the Territories for the first time.
+
+"I have shown you that, up to 1859, little more than a year ago, it was
+prohibited in part of the Territories. It is not prohibited anywhere
+now. For the first time, under Republican rule, the Southern States
+have secured that equality of rights in the Territories for their Slave-
+property which they have been demanding so long."
+
+He held that the doctrine of Congressional prohibition in all the
+Territories, as incorporated in the Wilmot proviso, had now been
+repudiated by the Republicans of both Houses of Congress, who had "all
+come over to Non-intervention and Popular Sovereignty;" that the "Wilmot
+proviso is given up; that Congressional prohibition is given up; that
+the aggressive policy is repudiated; and hereafter the Southern man and
+the Northern man may move into the Territories with their Property on
+terms of entire equality, without excepting Slaves or any other kind of
+property."
+
+Continuing, he said: "What more do the Southern States want? What more
+can any man demand? Non-intervention is all you asked. Will it be said
+the South required in addition to this, laws of Congress to protect
+Slavery in the Territories? That cannot be said; for only last May, the
+Senate, by a nearly unanimous vote--a unanimous vote of the Southern
+men, with one or two exceptions--declared that affirmative legislation
+was not needed at this time. * * * What cause is there for further
+alarm in the Southern States, so far as the Territories are concerned?
+* * *
+
+"I repeat, the South has got all they ever claimed in all the
+Territories. * * * Then, sir, according to law, the Slaveholding
+States have got equality in the Territories. How is it in fact. * * *
+Now, I propose to show that they have got the actual equitable
+partition, giving them more than they were disposed to demand.
+
+"The Senator from Kentucky, * * * Mr. Crittenden, introduced a
+proposition for an equitable partition. That proposition was, that
+north of 36 30' Slavery should be prohibited, and South of it should be
+protected, by Territorial law. * * * What is now the case? It is true
+the Crittenden proposition has not yet become part of the Constitution;
+but it is also true that an equitable partition has been made by the
+vote of the people themselves, establishing, maintaining, and protecting
+Slavery in every inch of territory South of the thirty-seventh parallel,
+giving the South half a degree more than the Crittenden Proposition.
+
+"There stands your Slave-code in New Mexico protecting Slavery up to the
+thirty-seventh degree as effectually as laws can be made to protect it.
+There it stands the Law of the Land. Therefore the South has all below
+the thirty-seventh parallel, while Congress has not prohibited Slavery
+even North of it.
+
+ * * * * * *
+
+"What more, then, is demanded? Simply that a Constitutional Amendment
+shall be adopted, affirming--what? Precisely what every Republican in
+both Houses of Congress has voted for within a month. Just do, by
+Constitutional Amendment, what you have voted in the Senate and House of
+Representatives, that is all. You are not even required to do that, but
+merely to vote for a proposition submitting the question to the People
+of the States whether they will make a Constitutional Amendment
+affirming the equitable partition of the Territories which the People
+have already made. * * *
+
+"You may ask, why does the South want us to do it by Constitutional
+Amendment, when we have just done it voluntarily by Law? The President
+of the United States, in his Inaugural, has told you the reason. He has
+informed you that all of these troubles grow out of the absence of a
+Constitutional provision defining the power of Congress over the subject
+of Slavery. * * * He thinks that the trouble has arisen from the
+absence of such a Constitutional Provision, and suggests a National
+Convention to enable the People to supply the defect, leaving the People
+to say what it is, instead of dictating to them what it shall be."
+
+It may here be remarked that while Mr. Douglas held that "So far as the
+doctrine of Popular Sovereignty and Nonintervention is concerned, the
+Colorado Bill, the Nevada Bill, and the Dakota Bill, are identically the
+same with the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, and in its precise language"--these
+former Bills having been passed at the last Session of the 36th
+Congress--the Republicans, on the contrary, held that neither in these
+nor other measures had they abandoned any distinctive Republican
+principle; while Breckinridge declared that they had passed those
+Territorial Bills, without the Wilmot proviso, because they felt
+perfectly secure in those Territories, with all the Federal patronage in
+Republican hands.
+
+However that may be, we have here, brought out in strong contrast, the
+conciliatory feeling which inspired such Union men as Douglas, and the
+strong and persistent efforts they made in behalf of Concession and
+Peace up to a period only a few weeks before the bombardment of Sumter;
+and the almost total revulsion in their sentiments after that event, as
+to the only proper means to preserve the Union. For it was only then
+that the truth, as it fell from Douglas's lips at Springfield, was fully
+recognized, to wit: that there was no half-way ground betwixt Patriotism
+and Treason; that War was an existing fact; and that Patriots must arm
+to defend and preserve the Union against the armed Traitors assailing
+it.
+
+At last, July 4, 1861, the Congress met, and proceeded at once with
+commendable alacrity and patriotism, to the consideration and enactment
+of measures sufficient to meet the extraordinary exigency, whether as
+regards the raising and equipment of the vast bodies of Union volunteers
+needed to put down Rebellion, or in the raising of those enormous
+amounts of money which the Government was now, or might thereafter be,
+called upon to spend like water in preserving the Union.
+
+It was at this memorable Session, of little over one month, that the
+chief of the great "War Measures" as they were termed, were enacted.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XIII.
+
+ THE STORM OF BATTLE
+
+We have seen how Fort Sumter fell; how the patriotic North responded to
+President Lincoln's Call, for 75,000 three-months volunteers, with such
+enthusiasm that, had there been a sufficiency of arms and accoutrements,
+he might have had, within three months of that Call, an Army of 500,000
+men in the field; how he had called for 42,000 three-years volunteers
+early in May, besides swelling what little there was of a regular Army
+by ten full regiments; and how a strict blockade of the entire Southern
+Coast-line had not only been declared, but was now enforced and
+respected.
+
+General Butler, promoted Major-General for his Military successes at
+Annapolis and Baltimore, was now in command of Fortress Monroe and
+vicinity, with some 12,000 volunteers under him, confronted, on the
+Peninsula, by a nearly equal number of Rebel troops, under Generals
+Huger and Magruder--General Banks, with less than 10,000 Union troops,
+occupying Baltimore, and its vicinage.
+
+General Patterson, with some 20,000 Union troops--mostly Pennsylvania
+militia--was at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, with about an equal number
+of the Enemy, under General Joseph E. Johnston, at Harper's Ferry, on
+the Potomac, watching him.
+
+Some 50,000 Union troops were in camp, in and about Washington, on the
+Virginia side, under the immediate command of Generals McDowell and
+Mansfield--Lieutenant General Scott, at Washington, being in Chief-
+command of the Union Armies--and, confronting these Union forces, in
+Virginia, near the National Capital, were some 30,000 Rebel troops under
+the command of General Beauregard, whose success in securing the
+evacuation of Fort Sumter by its little garrison of half-starved Union
+soldiers, had magnified him, in the eyes of the rebellious South, into
+the proportions of a Military genius of the first order.
+
+There had been no fighting, nor movements, worthy of special note, until
+June 7th, when General Patterson advanced from Chambersburg,
+Pennsylvania, to Hagerstown, Maryland. General Johnston at once
+evacuated Harper's Ferry, and retreated upon Winchester, Virginia.
+
+General McClellan, in command of the Department of the Ohio, had,
+however, crossed the Ohio river, and by the 4th of July, being at
+Grafton, West Virginia, with his small Army of Union troops, to which a
+greatly inferior Rebel force was opposed, commenced that successful
+advance against it, which led, after Bull Run, to his being placed at
+the head of all the Armies of the United States.
+
+Subsequently Patterson crossed the Potomac, and after trifling away over
+one month's time, at last, on the 15th of July, got within nine miles of
+Winchester and Johnston's Army. Barring a spiritless reconnaissance,
+Patterson--who was a fervent Breckinridge-Democrat in politics, and
+whose Military judgment, as we shall see, was greatly influenced, if not
+entirely controlled, by his Chief of staff, Fitz John Porter--never got
+any nearer to the Enemy!
+
+Instead of attacking the Rebel force, under Johnston, or at least
+keeping it "employed," as he was ordered to do by General Scott; instead
+of getting nearer, and attempting to get between Winchester and the
+Shenandoah River, as was suggested to him by his second in command,
+General Sanford; and instead of permitting Sanford to go ahead, as that
+General desired to, with his own 8,000 men, and do it himself; General
+Patterson ordered him off to Charlestown--twelve miles to the Union left
+and rear,--and then took the balance of his Army, with himself, to the
+same place!
+
+In other words, while he had the most positive and definite orders, from
+General Scott, if not to attack and whip Johnston, to at least keep him
+busy and prevent that Rebel General from forming a junction, via the
+Manassas Gap railroad or otherwise, with Beauregard, Patterson
+deliberately moved his Army further away from Winchester and gave to the
+Enemy the very chance of escaping and forming that junction which was
+essential to Rebel success in the vicinity of Manassas.
+
+But for this disobedience of orders, Bull Run would doubtless have been
+a great victory to the Union Arms, instead of a reverse, and the War,
+which afterward lasted four years, might have been over in as many
+months.
+
+It is foreign to the design of this work, to present in it detailed
+descriptions of the battles waged during the great War of the Rebellion
+--it being the present intention of the writer, at some later day, to
+prepare and publish another work devoted to such stirring Military
+scenes. Yet, as it might seem strange and unaccountable for him to pass
+by, at this time, without any description or comment, the first pitched
+battle of the Rebellion, he is constrained to pause and view that
+memorable contest. And first, it may be well to say a word of the
+general topography of the country about the battle-field.
+
+The Alleghany Mountains, or that part of them with which we have now to
+do, stretch in three almost equidistant parallel ridges, from North-East
+to South-West, through the heart of Old Virginia. An occasional pass,
+or "Gap," through these ridges, affords communication, by good roads,
+between the enclosed parallel valleys and the Eastern part of that
+State.
+
+The Western of these Alleghany ridges bears the name of "Alleghany
+Mountains" proper; the Eastern is called the "Blue Ridge;" while the
+Middle Ridge, at its Northern end--which rests upon the Potomac, where
+that river sweeps through three parallel ridges almost at right angles
+to their own line of direction--is called the "Great North Mountain."
+
+The valley, between the Middle Ridge and the Blue Ridge, is known as the
+Shenandoah Valley, taking its name from the Shenandoah River, which, for
+more than one hundred miles, flows along the Western foot of the Blue
+Ridge, toward the North-East, until it empties into the Potomac, at
+Harper's Ferry.
+
+The Orange and Alexandria railroad runs from Alexandria,--on the
+opposite bank of the Potomac from Washington, and a few miles below the
+Capital,--in a general Southeasterly direction, to Culpepper Court-
+House; thence Southerly to Gordonsville, where it joins the Virginia
+Central--the Western branch of which runs thence through Charlotteville,
+Staunton, and Covington, across the ridges and valleys of the
+Alleghanies, while its Eastern branch, taking a general South-easterly
+direction, crosses the Richmond and Fredricksburg railroad at Hanover
+Junction, some twenty miles North of Richmond, and thence sweeps
+Southerly to the Rebel capital.
+
+It is along this Easterly branch of the Virginia Central that Rebel re-
+enforcements will be hurried to Beauregard, from Richmond to
+Gordonsville, and thence, by the Orange and Alexandria railroad, to
+Manassas Junction.
+
+Some twenty-five miles from Alexandria, a short railroad-feeder--which
+runs from Strasburg, in the Shenandoah Valley, through the Blue Ridge,
+at Manassas Gap, in an East-South-easterly direction--strikes the
+Alexandria and Orange railroad. The point of contact is Manassas
+Junction; and it is along this Manassas-Gap feeder that Johnston, with
+his Army at Winchester--some twenty miles North-North-East of Strasburg-
+expects, in case of attack by Patterson, to be re-enforced by
+Beauregard; or, in case the latter is assailed, to go to his assistance,
+after shaking off Patterson.
+
+This little link of railroad, known as the Manassas Gap railroad, is
+therefore an important factor in the game of War, now commencing in
+earnest; and it had, as we shall see, very much to do, not only with the
+advance of McDowell's Union Army upon Bull Run, but also with the result
+of the first pitched battle thereabout fought.
+
+From Alexandria, some twelve miles to the Westward, runs a fine turnpike
+road to Fairfax Court-House; thence, continuing Westward, but gradually
+and slightly dipping award the South, it passes through Germantown,
+Centreville, and Groveton, to Warrenton.
+
+This "Warrenton Pike"--as it is termed--also plays a somewhat
+conspicuous part, before, during, and after the Battle of Bull Run. For
+most of its length, from Fairfax Court-House to Warrenton, the Warrenton
+Pike pursues a course almost parallel with the Orange and Alexandria
+railroad aforesaid, while the stream of Bull Run, pursuing a South-
+easterly course, has a general direction almost parallel with that of
+the Manassas Gap railroad.
+
+We shall find that it is the diamond-shaped parallelogram, formed by the
+obtuse angle junction of the two railroads on the South, and the
+similarly obtuse-angled crossing of the stream of Bull Run by the
+Warrenton Pike on the North, that is destined to become the historic
+battle-field of the first "Bull Run," or "Manassas;" and it is in the
+Northern obtuse-angle of this parallelogram that the main fighting is
+done, upon a spot not much more than one mile square, three sides of the
+same being bounded respectively by the Bull Run stream, the Warrenton
+Pike, which crosses it on a stone bridge, and the Sudley Springs road,
+which crosses the Pike, at right-angles to it, near a stone house.
+
+On the 3rd of June, 1861, General McDowell, in command of the Department
+of North-Eastern Virginia, with head-quarters at Arlington, near
+Washington, receives from Colonel Townsend, Assistant Adjutant-General
+with Lieutenant-General Scott--who is in Chief command of all the Union
+Forces, with Headquarters at Washington--a brief but pregnant
+communication, the body of which runs thus: "General Scott desires you
+to submit an estimate of the number and composition of a column to be
+pushed toward Manassas Junction, and perhaps the Gap, say in four or
+five days, to favor Patterson's attack on Harper's Ferry. The rumor is
+that Arlington Heights will be attacked to-night."
+
+In response to this request, General McDowell submits, on the day
+following, an estimate that "the actual entire force at the head of the
+column should, for the purpose of carrying the position at Manassas and
+of occupying both the road to Culpepper, and the one to the Gap, be as
+much as 12,000 Infantry, two batteries of regular Artillery, and from
+six to eight companies of Cavalry, with an available reserve, ready to
+move forward from Alexandria by rail, of 5,000 Infantry and one heavy
+field battery, rifled if possible; these numbers to be increased or
+diminished as events may indicate." This force of raw troops he
+proposes to organize into field brigades under the command of "active
+and experienced colonels" of the regular Army. And while giving this
+estimate as to the number of troops necessary, he suggestively adds that
+"in proportion to the numbers used will be the lives saved; and as we
+have such numbers pressing to be allowed to serve, might it not be well
+to overwhelm and conquer as much by the show of force as by the use of
+it?"
+
+Subsequently McDowell presents to General Scott, and Mr. Lincoln's
+Cabinet, a project of advance and attack, which is duly approved and
+ordered to be put in execution. In that project or plan of operations,
+submitted by verbal request of General Scott, near the end of June,--the
+success of which is made contingent upon Patterson's holding Johnston
+engaged at Winchester in the Shenandoah Valley, and also upon Butler's
+holding the Rebel force near Fortress Monroe from coming to Beauregard's
+aid at Manassas Junction,--McDowell estimates Beauregard's strength at
+25,000, with a possible increase, bringing it up to 35,000 men. The
+objective point in McDowell's plan, is Manassas Junction, and he
+proposes "to move against Manassas with a force of 30,000 of all arms,
+organized into three columns, with a reserve of 10,000."
+
+McDowell is fully aware that the Enemy has "batteries in position at
+several places in his front, and defensive works on Bull Run, and
+Manassas Junction." These batteries he proposes to turn. He believes
+Bull Run to be "fordable at almost anyplace,"--an error which ultimately
+renders his plan abortive,--and his proposition is, after uniting his
+columns on the Eastern side of Bull Run, "to attack the main position by
+turning it, if possible, so as to cut off communications by rail with
+the South, or threaten to do so sufficiently to force the Enemy to leave
+his intrenchments to guard them."
+
+In other words, assuming the Enemy driven back, by minor flanking
+movements, or otherwise, upon his intrenched position at Bull Run, or
+Manassas, the plan is to turn his right, destroy the Orange and
+Alexandria railroad leading South, and the bridge at Bristol, so as to
+cut off his supplies. This done, the Enemy--if nothing worse ensues for
+him--will be in a "bad box."
+
+McDowell, however, has no idea that the Enemy will stand still to let
+this thing be done. On the contrary, he is well satisfied that
+Beauregard will accept battle on some chosen ground between Manassas
+Junction and Washington.
+
+On the afternoon of Tuesday, the 16th of July, the advance of McDowell's
+Army commences. That Army is organized into five divisions--four of
+which accompany McDowell, while a fifth is left to protect the defensive
+works of Washington, on the South bank of the Potomac. This latter, the
+Fourth Division, commanded by Brigadier-General Theodore Runyon,
+comprises eight unbrigaded New Jersey regiments of (three months, and
+three years) volunteers--none of which take part in the ensuing
+conflicts-at-arms.
+
+The moving column consists of the First Division, commanded by
+Brigadier-General Daniel Tyler, comprising four brigades, respectively
+under Brigadier-General R. C. Schenck, and Colonels E. D. Keyes, W. T.
+Sherman, and I. B. Richardson; the Second Division, commanded by Colonel
+David Hunter, comprising two brigades, under Colonels Andrew Porter and
+A. E. Burnside respectively; the Third Division, commanded by Colonel S.
+P. Heintzelman, comprising three brigades, under Colonels W. B.
+Franklin, O. B. Wilcox, and O. O. Howard, respectively; and the Fifth
+Division, commanded by Colonel Dixon S. Miles, comprising two brigades,
+under Colonels Lewis Blenker, and Thomas A. Davies, respectively.
+
+Tyler's Division leads the advance, moving along the Leesburg road to
+Vienna, on our right, with orders to cross sharply to its left, upon
+Fairfax Court House, the following (Wednesday) morning. Miles's
+Division follows the turnpike road to Annandale, and then moves, by the
+Braddock road,--along which Braddock, a century before, had marched his
+doomed army to disaster,--upon Fairfax Court House, then known to be
+held by Bonham's Rebel Brigade of South Carolinians. Hunter follows
+Miles, to Annandale, and thence advances direct upon Fairfax, by the
+turnpike road--McDowell's idea being to bag Bonham's Brigade, if
+possible, by a simultaneous attack on the front and both flanks. But
+the advance is too slow, and the Enemy's outposts, both there and
+elsewhere, have ample opportunity of falling safely back upon their main
+position, behind the stream of Bull Run.
+
+ [McDowell in his testimony before the "Committee on the Conduct of
+ the War," said: "At Fairfax Court House was the South Carolina
+ Brigade. And I do not suppose anything would have had a greater
+ cheering effect upon the troops, and perhaps upon the Country, than
+ the capture of that brigade. And if General Tyler could have got
+ down there any time in the forenoon instead of in the afternoon,
+ the capture of that brigade was beyond question. It was about
+ 5,000 or 6,000 men, and Tyler had 12,000, at the same time that we
+ were pressing on in front. He did not get down there until in the
+ afternoon; none of us got forward in time."]
+
+This slowness is due to various causes. There is a pretty general
+dread, for example, among our troops, of threatened ambuscades, and
+hence the advance is more cautious than it otherwise would be. It is
+thought the part of wisdom, as it were, to "feel the way." The
+marching, moreover, is new to our troops. General Scott had checked
+McDowell when the latter undertook to handle eight regiments together,
+near Washington, by intimating that he was "trying to make a show."
+Thus the very essential knowledge of how to manoeuvre troops in large
+bodies, has been withheld from our Union generals, while the volunteer
+regiments have either rusted in camp from inaction, or have been denied
+the opportunity of acquiring that endurance and hardiness and discipline
+which frequent movement of troops confers. Hence, all unused to the
+discipline of the march, every moment some one falls out of line to
+"pick blackberries, or to get water." Says McDowell, in afterward
+reporting this march: "They would not keep in the ranks, order as much
+as you pleased. When they came where water was fresh, they would pour
+the old water out of their canteens and fill them with fresh water; they
+were not used to denying themselves much."
+
+Meantime, Heintzelman's Division is also advancing, by cross-roads, more
+to the left and South of the railroad line,--in accordance with
+McDowell's plan, which comprehends not only the bagging of Bonham, but
+an immediate subsequent demonstration, by Tyler, upon Centreville and
+beyond, while Heintzelman, supported by Hunter and Miles, shall swoop
+across Bull Run, at Wolf Run Shoals, some distance below Union Mills,
+turn the Enemy's right, and cut off his Southern line of railroad
+communications. Thus, by the evening of Wednesday, the 17th,
+Heintzelman is at Sangster's Station, while Tyler, Miles, and Hunter,
+are at Fairfax.
+
+It is a rather rough experience that now befalls the Grand Army of the
+Union. All unused, as we have seen, to the fatigues and other hardships
+of the march, the raw levies, of which it almost wholly consists, which
+started bright and fresh, strong and hopeful, full of the buoyant ardor
+of enthusiastic patriotism, on that hot July afternoon, only some thirty
+hours back, are now dust-begrimed, footsore, broken down, exhausted by
+the scorching sun, hungry, and without food,--for they have wasted the
+rations with which they started, and the supply-trains have not yet
+arrived. Thus, hungry and physically prostrated, "utterly played out,"
+as many of them confess, and demoralized also by straggling and loss of
+organization, they bivouac that night in the woods, and dream uneasy
+dreams beneath the comfortless stars.
+
+A mile beyond Fairfax Court House, on the Warrenton Turnpike, is
+Germantown. It is here that Tyler's Division has rested, on the night
+of the 17th. At 7 o'clock on the morning of Thursday, the 18th, in
+obedience to written orders from McDowell, it presses forward, on that
+"Pike," to Centreville, five miles nearer to the Enemy's position behind
+Bull Run--Richardson's Brigade in advance--and, at 9 o'clock, occupies
+it. Here McDowell has intended Tyler to remain, in accordance with the
+plan, which he has imparted to him in conversation, and in obedience to
+the written instructions to: "Observe well the roads to Bull Run and to
+Warrenton. Do not bring on an engagement, but keep up the impression
+that we are moving on Manassas,"--this advance, by way of Centreville,
+being intended solely as a "demonstration" to mask the real movement,
+which, as we have seen, is to be made by the other divisions across Wolf
+Run Shoals, a point on Bull Run, some five or six miles below Union
+Mills, and some seven miles below Blackburn's Ford.
+
+Upon the arrival of Richardson's Brigade, Thursday morning, at
+Centreville, it is found that, under cover of the darkness of the
+previous night, the Enemy has retreated, in two bodies, upon Bull Run,
+the one along the Warrenton Pike, the other (the largest) down the
+ridge-road from Centreville to Blackburn's Ford. Richardson's Brigade
+at once turns down the latter road and halts about a mile beyond
+Centreville, at a point convenient to some springs of water. Tyler soon
+afterward rides up, and, taking from that brigade two companies of light
+Infantry and a squadron of Cavalry, proceeds, with Colonel Richardson,
+to reconnoitre the Enemy, finding him in a strong position on the
+opposite bank of Bull Run, at Blackburn's Ford.
+
+While this is going on, McDowell has ridden in a Southerly direction
+down to Heintzelman's Division, at Sangster's Station, "to make
+arrangements to turn the Enemy's right, and intercept his communications
+with the South," but has found, owing to the narrowness and crookedness
+of the roads, and the great distance that must be traversed in making
+the necessary detour, that his contemplated movement is too risky to be
+ventured. Hence he at once abandons his original plan of turning the
+Enemy's right, and determines on "going around his left, where the
+country is more open, and the roads broad and good."
+
+McDowell now orders a concentration, for that night, of the four
+divisions, with two days cooked rations in their haversacks, upon and
+about Centreville,--the movement to commence as soon as they shall
+receive expected commissariat supplies. But, later on the 18th,--
+learning that his advance, under Tyler, has, against orders, become
+engaged with the Enemy--he directs the concentration to be made at once.
+
+Let us examine, for a moment, how this premature engagement comes about.
+We left Tyler, accompanied by Richardson, with a squadron of Cavalry and
+a battalion of light Infantry making a reconnaissance, on Thursday
+morning the 18th, toward Blackburn's Ford. They approach within a mile
+of the ford, when they discover a Rebel battery on the farther bank of
+Bull Run--so placed as to enfilade the road descending from their own
+position of observation down to the ford,--strong Rebel infantry pickets
+and skirmishing parties being in front.
+
+Tyler at once orders up his two rifled guns, Ayres' Battery, and
+Richardson's entire Brigade--and later, Sherman's Brigade as a reserve.
+As soon as they come up,--about noon-he orders the rifled guns into
+battery on the crest of the hill, about one mile from, and looking down
+upon, the Rebel battery aforesaid, and opens upon the Enemy; giving him
+a dozen shells,--one of them making it lively for a body of Rebel
+Cavalry which appears between the ford and Manassas.
+
+The Rebel battery responds with half a dozen shots, and then ceases.
+Tyler now orders Richardson to advance his brigade and throw out
+skirmishers to scour the thick woods which cover the Bull Run bottom-
+land. Richardson at once rapidly deploys the battalion of light
+Infantry as skirmishers in advance of his brigade, pushes them forward
+to the edge of the woods, drives in the skirmishers of the Enemy in fine
+style, and supports their further advance into the woods, with the 1st
+Massachusetts Regiment.
+
+Meanwhile Tyler, discovering a favorable opening in the woods, "low down
+on the bottom of the stream," for a couple of howitzers in battery,
+sends Captain Ayres of the 5th U. S. Artillery, and a detached section
+(two 12-pound howitzers) of his battery, with orders to post it himself
+on that spot, and sends Brackett's squadron of the 2d Cavalry to his
+support.
+
+No sooner does Ayres open fire on the Enemy, than he awakens a Rebel
+hornet's-nest. Volley after volley of musketry shows that the Bull Run
+bottom fairly swarms with Rebel troops, while another Rebel battery,
+more to the Rebel right, opens, with that already mentioned, a
+concentrated cross-fire upon him.
+
+And now Richardson orders up the 12th New York, Colonel Walrath, to the
+left of our battery. Forming it into line-of-battle, Richardson orders
+it to charge through the woods upon the Enemy. Gallantly the regiment
+moves forward, after the skirmishers, into the woods, but, being met by
+a very heavy fire of musketry and artillery along the whole line of the
+Enemy's position, is, for the most part, thrown back in confusion--a
+mere fragment* remaining in line, and retreating,--while the howitzers,
+and Cavalry also, are withdrawn.
+
+Meantime, however, Richardson has ordered up, and placed in line-of-
+battle, on the right of our battery, the 1st Massachusetts, the 2d
+Michigan (his own), and the 3d Michigan. The skirmishers in the woods
+still bravely hold their ground, undercover, and these three regiments
+are plucky, and anxious to assault the Enemy. Richardson proposes to
+lead them in a charge upon the Enemy's position, and drive him out of
+it; but Tyler declines to give permission, on the ground that this being
+"merely a reconnaissance," the object of which--ascertaining the
+strength and position of the Enemy--having been attained, a further
+attack is unnecessary. He therefore orders Richardson to "fall back in
+good order to our batteries on the hill,"--which he does.
+
+Upon reaching these batteries, Richardson forms his 2d Michigan, in
+"close column by division," on their right, and the 1st Massachusetts
+and 3d Michigan, in "line of battle," on their left--the 12th New York
+re-forming, under cover of the woods at the rear, later on. Then, with
+our skirmishers thrown into the woods in front, their scattering fire,
+and the musketry responses of the Rebels, are drowned in the volume of
+sound produced by the deafening contest which ensues between our
+Artillery, and that of the Enemy from his batteries behind Bull Run.
+
+This artillery-duel continues about one hour; and then seems to cease by
+mutual consent, about dusk--after 415 shots have been fired on the Union
+side, and have been responded to by an equal number from the Rebel
+batteries, "gun for gun"--the total loss in the engagement, on the Union
+side, being 83, to a total loss among the Enemy, of Thursday night,
+Richardson retires his brigade upon Centreville, in order to secure
+rations and water for his hungry and thirsty troops,--as no water has
+yet been found in the vicinity of the Union batteries aforesaid. On the
+morrow, however, when his brigade re-occupies that position, water is
+found in abundance, by digging for it.
+
+This premature attack, at Blackburn's Ford, by Tyler, against orders,
+having failed, throws a wet blanket upon the martial spirit of
+McDowell's Army. In like degree is the morale of the Rebel Army
+increased.
+
+It is true that Longstreet, in command of the Rebel troops at
+Blackburn's Ford, has not had things all his own way; that some of his
+artillery had to be "withdrawn;" that, as he acknowledges in his report,
+his brigade of three Virginia regiments (the 1st, 11th, and 17th) had
+"with some difficulty repelled" the Union assault upon his position;
+that he had to call upon General Early for re-enforcements; that Early
+re-enforced him with two Infantry regiments (the 7th Louisiana and 7th
+Virginia) at first; that one of these (the 7th Virginia) was "thrown
+into confusion;" that Early then brought up his own regiment (the 24th
+Virginia) under Lieutenant Colonel Hairston, and the entire seven guns
+of the "Washington Artillery;" and that but for the active "personal
+exertions" of Longstreet, in "encouraging the men under his command,"
+and the great numerical superiority of the Rebels, there might have been
+no Union "repulse" at all. Yet still the attack has failed, and that
+failure, while it dispirits the Patriot Army, inspires the Rebel Army
+with renewed courage.
+
+Under these circumstances, Friday, the 19th of July, is devoted to
+reconnaissances by the Engineer officers of the Union Army; to the
+cooking of the supplies, which have at last arrived; and to resting the
+weary and road-worn soldiers of the Union.
+
+Let us take advantage of this halt in the advance of McDowell's "Grand
+Army of the United States"--as it was termed--to view the Rebel position
+at, and about Manassas, and to note certain other matters having an
+important and even determining bearing upon the issue of the impending
+shock-at-arms.
+
+Beauregard has received early information of McDowell's advance from
+Arlington, and of his plans.
+
+ [This he admits, in his report, when he says; "Opportunely informed
+ of the determination of the Enemy to advance on Manassas, my
+ advanced brigades, on the night of the 16th of July, were made
+ aware, from these headquarters, of the impending movement,"]
+
+On Tuesday the 16th, he notifies his advanced brigades. On Wednesday,
+he sends a dispatch from Manassas, to Jefferson Davis, at Richmond,
+announcing that the Union troops have assailed his outposts in heavy
+force; that he has fallen back before them, on the line of Bull Run; and
+that he intends to make a stand at Mitchell's Ford (close to Blackburn's
+Ford) on that stream,--adding: if his (McDowell's) force is
+overwhelming, "I shall retire to the Rappahannock railroad bridge,
+saving my command for defense there, and future operations. Please
+inform Johnston of this, via Staunton, and also Holmes. Send forward
+any re-enforcements at the earliest possible instant, and by every
+possible means."
+
+In the meantime, however, Beauregard loses no time in advantageously
+posting his troops. On the morning of the 18th of July, when the Union
+advance enters Centreville, he has withdrawn all his advanced brigades
+within the Rebel lines of Bull Run, resting them on the South side of
+that stream, from Union Mills Ford, near the Orange and Alexandria
+railroad bridge, up to the stone bridge over which the Warrenton Pike
+crosses the Run,--a distance of some six to eight miles.
+
+Between the Rebel left, at Stone Bridge, and the Rebel right, at Union
+Mills Ford, are several fords across Bull Run--the general course of the
+stream being from the North-West to South-East, to its confluence with
+the Occoquan River, some twelve miles from the Potomac River.
+
+Mitchell's Ford, the Rebel center, is about three miles to the South-
+West of, and about the same distance North-East from, Manassas Junction.
+But it may be well, right here, to locate all these fordable crossings
+of the rocky, precipitous, and well-wooded Bull Run stream, between the
+Stone Bridge and Union Mills Ford. Thus, half a mile below the Stone
+Bridge is Lewis's Ford; half a mile below that, Ball's Ford; half a mile
+below that, Island Ford; one and one-half miles below that, Mitchell's
+Ford--one mile below that.
+
+Blackburn's Ford; three-quarters of a mile farther down, McLean's Ford;
+and nearly two miles lower down the stream, Union Mills Ford.
+
+By Thursday morning, the 18th of July, Beauregard has advantageously
+posted the seven brigades into which he has organized his forces, at
+these various positions along his extended front, as follows:
+
+At the Stone Bridge, Brigadier-General N. G. Evans's Seventh Brigade, of
+one regiment and one battalion of Infantry, two companies of Cavalry,
+and a battery of four six-pounders.
+
+At Lewis's, Balls, and Island Fords--Colonel P. St. George Cocke's
+Fifth Brigade, of three regiments of Infantry, one battery of Artillery,
+and one company of Cavalry.
+
+At Mitchell's Ford, Brigadier-General M. L. Bonham's First Brigade, of
+four Infantry regiments, two batteries, and six companies of Cavalry.
+
+At Blackburn's Ford, Brigadier-General J. Longstreet's Fourth Brigade,
+of four Infantry regiments, with two 6-pounders.
+
+At McLean's Ford, Brigadier-General D. R. Jones's Third Brigade of three
+Infantry regiments, one Cavalry company, and two 6-pounders.
+
+At Union Mills Ford, Brigadier-General R. S. Ewell's Second Brigade, of
+three Infantry regiments, three Cavalry companies, and four 12-powder
+howitzers--Colonel Jubal A. Early's Sixth Brigade, of three Infantry
+regiments and three rifled pieces of Walton's Battery, being posted in
+the rear of, and as a support to, Ewell's Brigade.
+
+ [Johnston also found, on the 20th, the Reserve Brigade of Brig.
+ Gen. T. H. Holmes--comprising two regiments of Infantry, Walker's
+ Battery of Artillery, and Scott's Cavalry-with Early's Brigade, "in
+ reserve, in rear of the right."]
+
+The disposition and strength of Beauregard's forces at these various
+points along his line of defense on Bull Run stream, plainly shows his
+expectation of an attack on his right; but he is evidently suspicious
+that it may come upon his centre; for, as far back as July 8th, he had
+issued special orders to the effect that:
+
+"Should the Enemy march to the attack of Mitchell's Ford, via
+Centreville, the following movements will be made with celerity:
+
+"I. The Fourth Brigade will march from Blackburn's Ford to attack him on
+the flank and centre.
+
+"II. The Third Brigade will be thrown to the attack of his centre and
+rear toward Centreville.
+
+"III. The Second and Sixth Brigades united will also push forward and
+attack him in the rear by way of Centreville, protecting their own right
+flanks and rear from the direction of Fairfax Station and Court House.
+
+"IV. In the event of the defeat of the Enemy, the troops at Mitchell's
+Ford and Stone Bridge, especially the Cavalry and Artillery, will join
+in the pursuit, which will be conducted with vigor but unceasing
+prudence, and continued until he shall have been driven beyond the
+Potomac."
+
+And it is not without interest to note Beauregard's subsequent
+indorsement on the back of these Special Orders, that: "The plan of
+attack prescribed within would have been executed, with modifications
+affecting First and Fifth Brigades, to meet the attack upon Blackburn's
+Ford, but for the expected coming of General Johnston's command, which
+was known to be en route to join me on [Thursday] the 18th of July."
+
+The knowledge thus possessed on Thursday, the 18th, by Beauregard, that
+Johnston's Army is on its way to join him, is of infinite advantage to
+the former. On the other hand, the complete ignorance, at this time, of
+McDowell on this point,--and the further fact that he has been lulled
+into a feeling of security on the subject, by General Scott's emphatic
+assurance to him that "if Johnston joins Beauregard, he shall have
+Patterson on his heels"--is a great disadvantage to the Union general.
+
+Were McDowell now aware of the real Military situation, he would
+unquestionably make an immediate attack, with the object of crushing
+Beauregard before Johnston can effect a junction with him. It would
+then be a mere matter of detail for the armies of McDowell, McClellan,
+and Patterson, to bag Johnston, and bring the armed Rebellion to an
+inglorious and speedy end. But Providence--through the plottings of
+individuals within our own lines--wills it otherwise.
+
+Long before this, Patterson has been informed by General Winfield Scott
+of the proposed movement by McDowell upon Manassas,--and of its date.
+
+On Saturday, July 13th, General Scott telegraphed to Patterson: "I
+telegraphed to you yesterday, if not strong enough to beat the Enemy
+early next week, make demonstrations so as to detain him in the Valley
+of Winchester; but if he retreats in force toward Manassas, and it be
+too hazardous to follow him, then consider the route via Keys Ferry,
+Leesburg, etc."
+
+On Wednesday, the 17th, Scott telegraphs to Patterson: "I have nothing
+official from you since Sunday (14th), but am glad to learn, through
+Philadelphia papers, that you have advanced. Do not let the Enemy amuse
+and delay you with a small force in front whilst he re-enforces the
+Junction with his main body. McDowell's first day's work has driven the
+Enemy beyond Fairfax Court House. The Junction will probably be carried
+by to-morrow."
+
+On Thursday, the 18th, Patterson replies that to attack "the greatly
+superior force at Winchester "when the three months volunteers' time was
+about up, and they were threatening to leave him--would be "most
+hazardous" and then he asks: "Shall I attack?"
+
+Scott answers the same day: "I have certainly been expecting you to beat
+the Enemy. If not, to hear that you had felt him strongly, or, at
+least, had occupied him by threats and demonstrations. You have been at
+least his equal, and, I suppose, superior in numbers. Has he not stolen
+a march and sent re-enforcements toward Manassas Junction? A week is
+enough to win victories," etc.
+
+Patterson retorts, on the same day: "The Enemy has stolen no march upon
+me. I have kept him actively employed, and by threats, and
+reconnaissances in force, caused him to be re-enforced. I have
+accomplished in this respect more than the General-in-Chief asked, or
+could well be expected, in face of an Enemy far superior in numbers,
+with no line of communication to protect."
+
+In another dispatch, to Assistant Adjutant-General Townsend (with
+General Scott), he says, that same afternoon of Thursday, the 18th: "I
+have succeeded, in accordance with the wishes of the General-in-Chief,
+in keeping General Johnston's Force at Winchester. A reconnaissance in
+force, on Tuesday, caused him to be largely re-enforced from Strasburg."
+
+Again, on Friday, the 19th, he informs Colonel Townsend that: "The
+Enemy, from last information, are still at Winchester, and being re-
+enforced every night."
+
+It is not until Saturday, the 20th of July, that he telegraphs to
+Townsend: "With a portion of his force, Johnston left Winchester, by the
+road to Millwood, on the afternoon of the 18th." And he adds the
+ridiculous statement: "His whole force was about 35,200."
+
+Thus, despite all the anxious care of General Scott, to have Johnston's
+Army detained in the Shenandoah Valley, it has escaped Patterson so
+successfully, and entirely, that the latter does not even suspect its
+disappearance until the day before the pitched Battle of Bull Run is
+fought! Its main body has actually reached Manassas twenty-four hours
+before Patterson is aware that it has left Winchester!
+
+And how is it, that Johnston gets away from Patterson so neatly? And
+when does he do it?
+
+ [The extraordinary conduct of General Patterson at this critical
+ period, when everything seemed to depend upon his exertions, was
+ afterward the subject of inquiry by the Joint-Committee on the
+ Conduct of the War. The testimony taken by that Committee makes it
+ clear, to any unprejudiced mind, that while Patterson himself may
+ have been loyal to the Union, he was weak enough to be swayed from
+ the path of duty by some of the faithless and unpatriotic officers
+ with whom he had partly surrounded himself--and especially by Fitz
+ John Porter, his Chief-of-staff. Let us examine the sworn
+ testimony of two or three witnesses on this point.
+
+ General CHARLES W. SANFORD, who was second in command under
+ Patterson, and in command of Patterson's Left Wing, testified [see
+ pages 54-66, Report on Conduct of the War, Vol. 3, Part 2,] that he
+ was at a Council of War held at the White House, June 29th, when
+ the propriety of an attack on the Rebel lines at Manassas was
+ discussed; that he objected to any such movement until Patterson
+ was in such a position as to prevent the junction between General
+ Johnston's Army and the troops at Manassas; that on the 6th of
+ July, he was sent by General Scott, with four picked New York
+ regiments, to Patterson, and (waiving his own seniority rank)
+ reported to that General, at Williamsport; that Patterson gave him
+ command of a division of 8,000 men (and two batteries) out of a
+ total in his Army of 22,000; that he "delivered orders from General
+ Scott to General Patterson, and urged a forward movement as soon as
+ possible;" that there was "Some delay at Martinsburg,
+ notwithstanding the urgency of our matter," but they "left there on
+ [Monday] the 15th of July, and went in the direction of
+ Winchester,"--down to Bunker Hill,--Patterson with two divisions
+ going down the turnpike, and Sanford taking his division a little
+ in advance and more easterly on the side roads so as to be in a
+ position to flank Johnston's right; that on that afternoon (Monday,
+ July 15) General Patterson rode up to where Sanford was locating
+ his camp.
+
+ Continuing his testimony, General Sanford said: "I was then within
+ about nine miles of Johnston's fortified camp at Winchester.
+ Patterson was complimenting me upon the manner in which my
+ regiments were located, and inquiring about my pickets, which I had
+ informed him I had sent down about three miles to a stream below.
+ I had driven out the Enemy's skirmishers ahead of us. They had
+ some cavalry there. In answer to his compliments about the
+ comfortable location I had made, I said: 'Very comfortable,
+ General, when shall we move on?' * * * He hesitated a moment or
+ two, and then said: 'I don't know yet when we shall move. And if I
+ did I would not tell my own father.' I thought that was rather a
+ queer speech to make to me under the circumstances. But I smiled
+ and said: 'General, I am only anxious that we shall get forward,
+ that the Enemy shall not escape us.' He replied: 'There is no
+ danger of that. I will have a reconnaissance to-morrow, and we
+ will arrange about moving at a very early period.' He then took
+ his leave.
+
+ "The next day [Tuesday, July 16th], there was a reconnaissance on
+ the Winchester turnpike, about four or five miles below the
+ General's camp. He sent forward a section of artillery and some
+ cavalry, and they found a post-and-log fence across the Winchester
+ turnpike, and some of the Enemy's cavalry on the other side of it.
+ They gave them a round of grape. The cavalry scattered off, and
+ the reconnaissance returned. That was the only reconnaissance I
+ heard of while we were there. My own pickets went further than
+ that. But it was understood, the next afternoon, that we were to
+ march forward at daylight. I sent down Col. Morell, with 40 men,
+ to open a road down to Opequan Creek, within five miles of the camp
+ at Winchester, on the side-roads I was upon, which would enable me,
+ in the course of three hours, to get between Johnston and the
+ Shenandoah River, and effectually bar his way to Manassas. I had
+ my ammunition all distributed, and ordered my men to have 24 hours'
+ rations in their haversacks, independent of their breakfast. We
+ were to march at 4 o'clock the next morning. I had this road to
+ the Opequan completed that night. I had then with me, in addition
+ to my eight regiments amounting to about 8,000 men and a few
+ cavalry, Doubleday's heavy United States battery of 20 and 30
+ pounders, and a very good Rhode Island battery. And I was willing
+ to take the risk, whether Gen. Patterson followed me up or not, of
+ placing myself between Johnston and the Shenandoah River, rather
+ than let Johnston escape. And, at 4 o'clock [July 17th] I should
+ have moved over that road for that purpose, if I had had no further
+ orders. But, a little after 12 o'clock at night [July 16th-17th,]
+ I received a long order of three pages from Gen. Patterson,
+ instructing me to move on to Charlestown, which is nearly at right
+ angles to the road I was going to move on, and twenty-two miles
+ from Winchester. This was after I had given my orders for the
+ other movement."
+
+ * * * * * * * * * *
+
+ 'Question [by the Chairman].--And that left Johnston free?
+ "Answer--Yes, Sir; left him free to make his escape, which he did.
+ * * *"
+
+ 'Question.--In what direction would Johnston have had to move to
+ get by you?
+ "Answer--Right out to the Shenandoah River, which he forded. He
+ found out from his cavalry, who were watching us, that we were
+ actually leaving, and he started at 1 o'clock that same day, with
+ 8,000 men, forded the Shenandoah where it was so deep that he
+ ordered his men to put their cartridge-boxes on their bayonets, got
+ out on the Leesburg road, and went down to Manassas."
+
+ "Question [by the Chairman].--Did he [Patterson] assign any reason
+ for that movement?
+ "Answer.--I was, of course, very indignant about it, and so were
+ all my officers and men; so much so that when, subsequently, at
+ Harper's Ferry, Patterson came by my camp, there was a universal
+ groan--against all discipline, of course, and we suppressed it as
+ soon as possible. The excuse given by Gen. Patterson was this:
+ that he had received intelligence that he could rely upon, that
+ Gen. Johnston had been re-enforced by 20,000 men from Manassas,
+ and was going to make an attack upon him; and in the order which I
+ received that night--a long order of three pages--I was ordered to
+ occupy all the communicating roads, turning off a regiment here,
+ and two or three regiments there, and a battery at another place,
+ to occupy all the roads from Winchester to the neighborhood of
+ Charlestown, and all the cross-roads, and hold them all that day,
+ until Gen. Patterson's whole army went by me to Charlestown; and I
+ sat seven hours in the saddle near a place called Smithfield, while
+ Patterson, with his whole army, went by me on their way to
+ Charlestown, he being apprehensive, as he said, of an attack from
+ Johnston's forces."
+
+ "Question [by Mr. Odell].--You covered his movement?
+ "Answer--Yes, Sir. Now the statement that he made, which came to
+ me through Colonel Abercrombie, who was Patterson's brother-in-law,
+ and commanded one division in that army, was, that Johnston had
+ been re-enforced; and Gen. Fitz-John Porter reported the same thing
+ to my officers. Gen. Porter was then the chief of Patterson's
+ staff, and was a very excellent officer, and an accomplished
+ soldier. They all had got this story, which was without the
+ slightest shadow of foundation; for there had not a single man
+ arrived at the camp since we had got full information that their
+ force consisted of 20,000 men, of whom 1,800 were sick with the
+ measles. The story was, however, that they had ascertained, by
+ reliable information, of this re-enforcement. Where they got their
+ information, I do not know. None such reached me; and I picked up
+ deserters and other persons to get all the information I could; and
+ we since have learned, as a matter of certainty, that Johnston's
+ forces never did exceed 20,000 men there. But the excuse Patterson
+ gave was, that Johnson had been re-enforced by 20,000 men from
+ Manassas, and was going to attack him. That was the reason he gave
+ then for this movement. But in this paper he has lately published,
+ he hints at another reason--another excuse--which was that it was
+ by order of Gen. Scott. Now, I know that the peremptory order of
+ Gen. Scott to Gen. Patterson, repeated over and over again, was
+ this--I was present on several occasions when telegraphic
+ communications went from Gen. Scott to Gen. Patterson: Gen. Scott's
+ orders to Gen. Patterson were that, if he were strong enough, he
+ was to attack and beat Johnston. But if not, then he was to place
+ himself in such a position as to keep Johnston employed, and
+ prevent him from making a junction with Beauregard at Manassas.
+ That was the repeated direction of Gen. Scott to Gen. Patterson;
+ and it was because of Patterson's hesitancy, and his hanging back,
+ and keeping so far beyond the reach of Johnston's camp, that I was
+ ordered to go up there and re-enforce him, and assist him in any
+ operations necessary to effect that object. The excuse of Gen.
+ Patterson now is, that he had orders from Gen. Scott to move to
+ Charlestown. Now, that is not so. But this state of things
+ existed: Before the movement was made from Martinsburg, General
+ Patterson suggested to General Scott that Charlestown would be a
+ better base of operations than Martinsburg and suggested that he
+ had better move on Charlestown, and thence make his approaches to
+ Winchester; that it would be better to do that than to move
+ directly to Winchester from Martinsburg; and General Scott wrote
+ back to say that, if he found that movement a better one, he was at
+ liberty to make it. But Gen. Patterson had already commenced his
+ movement on Winchester direct from Martinsburg, and had got as far
+ as Bunker Hill; so that the movement which he had formerly
+ suggested, to Charlestown, was suppressed by his own act. But that
+ is the pretence now given in his published speech for making the
+ movement from Bunker Hill to Charlestown, which was a retreat,
+ instead of the advance which the movement to Charlestown he first
+ proposed to Gen. Scott was intended to be."
+
+ * * * * * * * * * * * *
+
+ "Question [by the Chairman].--Was not that change of direction and
+ movement to Charlestown a total abandonment of the object which you
+ were pursuing?
+ "Answer.--Entirely an abandonment of the main principles of the
+ orders he was acting under."
+
+ "Question.--And of course an abandonment of the purpose for which
+ you were there?
+ "Answer.--Yes, Sir.
+
+ "Question [by Mr. Odell].-Was it not your understanding in leaving
+ here, and was it not the understanding also of Gen. Scott, that
+ your purpose in going there was to check Johnston with direct
+ reference to the movement here?
+ "Answer--Undoubtedly. It was in consequence of the suggestion made
+ by me at the Council at the President's house. * * * And upon the
+ suggestion of General Scott they wanted me to go up there and
+ assist Patterson in this movement against Johnston, so as to carry
+ out the point I had suggested of first checkmating Johnston before
+ the movement against Manassas was made here."
+
+ * * * * * * * * *
+
+ Question [by the Chairman].--Would there have been any difficulty
+ in preventing Johnston from going to Manassas?
+ "Answer.--None whatever."
+
+ * * * * * * * * *
+
+ "Question [by the Chairman.]--I have heard it suggested that he
+ (Patterson) undertook to excuse this movement on the ground that
+ the time of many of his troops had expired, and they refused to
+ accompany him.
+ "Answer.--That to my knowledge, is untrue. The time of none of
+ them had expired when this movement was made. All the troops that
+ were there were in the highest condition for the service. These
+ three-months' men, it may be well to state to you who are not
+ Military men, were superior to any other volunteer troops that we
+ had, in point of discipline. They were the disciplined troops of
+ the Country. The three-months' men were generally the organized
+ troops of the different States--New York, Pennsylvania, etc. We
+ had, for instance, from Patterson's own city, Philadelphia, one of
+ the finest regiments in the service, which was turned over to me,
+ at their own request; and the most of my regiments were disciplined
+ and organized troops. They were all in fine condition, anxious,
+ zealous, and earnest for a fight. They thought they were going to
+ attack Johnston's camp at Winchester. Although I had suggested to
+ Gen. Patterson that there was no necessity for that, the camp being
+ admirably fortified with many of their heavy guns from Norfolk, I
+ proposed to him to place ourselves between Johnston and the
+ Shenandoah, which would have compelled him to fight us there, or to
+ remain in his camp, either of which would have effected General
+ Scott's object. If I had got into a fight, it was very easy, over
+ this road I had just been opening, for Patterson to have re-
+ enforced me and to have come up to the fight in time. The
+ proposition was to place ourselves between Johnston's fortified
+ camp and the Shenandoah, where his fortified camp would have been
+ of no use to him."
+
+ "Question.--Even if you had received a check there, it would have
+ prevented his junction with the forces at Manassas?
+ "Answer.--Yes, Sir; I would have risked a battle with my own
+ division rather than Johnston should have escaped. If he had
+ attacked me, I could have taken a position where I could have held
+ it, while Patterson could have fallen upon him and repulsed him."
+
+ "Question [by Mr. Odell].--Had you any such understanding with
+ Patterson?
+ "Answer.--I told him I would move down on this side-road in
+ advance, leaving Gen. Patterson to sustain me if I got into a
+ fight. So, on the other hand, if he should attack Patterson, I was
+ near enough to fall upon Johnston's flank and to support Patterson.
+ By using this communication of mine to pass Opequan Creek--where, I
+ had informed Patterson, I had already pushed forward my pickets,
+ [200 men in the day and 400 more at night,] to prevent the Enemy
+ from burning the bridge--it would have enabled me to get between
+ Johnston and the Shenandoah River. On the morning [Wednesday, July
+ 17th] of our march to Charlestown, Stuart's cavalry, which figured
+ so vigorously at Bull Run, was upon my flank all day. They were
+ apparently about 800 strong. I saw them constantly on my flank for
+ a number of miles. I could distinguish them, with my glass, with
+ great ease. Finally, they came within about a mile of the line of
+ march I was pursuing and I sent a battery around to head them off,
+ and the 12th Regiment across the fields in double-quick time to
+ take them in the rear. I thought I had got them hemmed in. But
+ they broke down the fences, and went across the country to
+ Winchester, and I saw nothing more of them. They were then about
+ eight miles from Winchester, and must have got there in the course
+ of a couple of hours. That day [Wednesday, the 17th] at 10
+ o'clock--as was ascertained from those who saw him crossing the
+ Shenandoah--Johnston started from Winchester with 8,000 men, forded
+ the Shenandoah, and got to Manassas on Friday night; and his second
+ in command started the next day with all the rest of the available
+ troops--something like 9,000 men; leaving only the sick, and a few
+ to guard them, in the camp at Winchester--and they arrived at the
+ battle-field in the midst of the fight, got out of the cars, rushed
+ on the battle-field, and turned the scale. I have no doubt that,
+ if we had intercepted Johnston, as we ought to have done, the
+ battle of Bull Run would have been a victory for us instead of a
+ defeat. Johnston was undoubtedly the ablest general they had in
+ their army."
+
+ Colonel CRAIG BIDDLE, testified that he was General Patterson's
+ aide-de-camp at the time. In answer to a question by the Chairman,
+ he continued:
+
+ "Answer.--I was present, of course, at all the discussions. The
+ discussion at Martinsburg was as to whether or not General
+ Patterson should go on to Winchester. General Patterson was very
+ full of that himself. He was determined to go to Winchester; but
+ the opinions of all the regular officers who were with him, were
+ against it. The opinions of all the men in whose judgment I had
+ any confidence, were against it. They seemed to have the notion
+ that General Patterson had got his Irish blood up by the fight we
+ had had at Falling Waters, and was bound to go ahead. He decided
+ upon going ahead, against the remonstrances of General [Fitz John]
+ Porter, who advised against it. He told me he considered he had
+ done his duty, and said no more. The movement was delayed in
+ consequence of General Stone's command not being able to move right
+ away. It was then evident that there was so much opposition to it
+ that the General was induced to call a council of the general
+ officers in his command, at which I was present. They were
+ unanimously opposed to the advance. That was at Martinsburg."
+
+ * * * * * * * * *
+
+ "Question.--While at Bunker Hill, the night before you left there,
+ were any orders issued to march in the evening?
+ "Answer.--I think there were such orders."
+
+ "Question.--Did not General Patterson issue orders at Bunker Hill,
+ the night before you marched to Charlestown, for an attack on the
+ Enemy?
+ "Answer.-I think such orders were written. I do not think they
+ were issued. I think General Patterson was again persuaded not to
+ make an advance."
+
+ Colonel R. BUTLER PRICE, Senior aide to Patterson, testified as
+ follows:
+
+ * * * * * * * * *
+
+ "Question [by Mr. Gooch].--Was it not the intention to move from
+ Bunker Hill to Winchester?
+ "Answer.--Yes, Sir. At one time General Patterson had given an
+ order to move from Bunker Hill to Winchester. He was very
+ unwilling to leave Johnston even at Winchester without attacking
+ him; and on the afternoon before we left Bunker Hill he decided to
+ attack him, notwithstanding his strong force."
+
+ "Question.--Behind his intrenchments?
+ "Answer.--Yes, Sir; it went so far that his order was written by
+ his adjutant, General [Fitz John] Porter. It was very much against
+ the wishes of General [Fitz John] Porter; and he asked General
+ Patterson if he would send for Colonel Abercrombie and Colonel
+ Thomas and consult them on the movement. General Patterson
+ replied: No, Sir; for I know they will attempt to dissuade me from
+ it, and I have made up my mind to fight Johnston under all
+ circumstances. That was the day before we left Bunker Hill. Then
+ Colonel [Fitz John] Porter asked to have Colonel Abercrombie and
+ Colonel Thomas sent for and consulted as to the best manner to
+ carry out his wishes. He consented, and they came, and after half
+ an hour they dissuaded him from it."
+
+ "Question.--At that time General Patterson felt it was so important
+ to attack Johnston that he had determined to do it?
+ "Answer.--Yes, Sir; the order was not published, but it was
+ written."
+
+ "Question.--You understood General Patterson to be influenced to
+ make that attempt because he felt there was a necessity for
+ detaining Johnston?
+ "Answer.--Yes, Sir; to detain him as long as he possibly could."
+
+ "Question.--That order was not countermanded until late on Tuesday,
+ the 16th, was it?
+ "Answer.--That order never was published. It was written; but, at
+ the earnest solicitation of Colonel [Fitz John] Porter, it was
+ withheld until he could have a consultation with Colonel
+ Abercrombie and Colonel Thomas."]
+
+It is about 1 o'clock on the morning of Thursday, July 18th,--that same
+day which witnesses the preliminary Battle of Blackburn's Ford--that
+Johnston, being at Winchester, and knowing of Patterson's peculiarly
+inoffensive and timid movement to his own left and rear, on Charlestown,
+receives from the Rebel Government at Richmond, a telegraphic dispatch,
+of July 17th, in these words: "General Beauregard is attacked. To
+strike the Enemy a decisive blow, a junction of all your effective force
+will be needed. If practicable, make the movement. * * * In all the
+arrangements exercise your discretion."
+
+Johnston loses no time in deciding that it is his duty to prevent, if
+possible, disaster to Beauregard's Army; that to do this he must effect
+a junction with him; and that this necessitates either an immediate
+fight with, and defeat of, Patterson,--which may occasion a fatal
+delay--or else, that Union general must be eluded. Johnston determines
+on the latter course.
+
+Leaving his sick, with some militia to make a pretense of defending the
+town in case of attack, Johnston secretly and rapidly marches his Army,
+of 9,000 effective men, Southeasterly from Winchester, at noon of
+Thursday, the 18th; across by a short cut, wading the Shenandoah River,
+and then on through Asby's Gap, in the Blue Ridge, that same night;
+still on, in the same direction, to a station on the Manassas Gap
+railroad, known as Piedmont, which is reached by the next (Friday)
+morning,--the erratic movements of Stuart's Cavalry entirely concealing
+the manoeuvre from the knowledge of Patterson.
+
+From Piedmont, the Artillery and Cavalry proceed to march the remaining
+twenty-five miles, or so, to Manassas Junction, by the roads. The 7th
+and 8th Georgia Regiments of Bartow's Brigade, with Jackson's Brigade,--
+comprising the 2d, 4th, 5th, 27th and 33d Virginia Regiments--are
+embarked on the cars, and hurriedly sent in advance, by rail, to
+Manassas, reaching there on that same (Friday) afternoon and evening.
+These are followed by General Johnston, with Bee's Brigade--comprising
+the 4th Alabama, 2d Mississippi, and a battalion of the 11th
+Mississippi--which arrive at Manassas about noon of Saturday, the 20th
+of July, the balance of Johnston's Infantry being billed for arrival
+that same day, or night.
+
+Upon Johnston's own arrival at Manassas, Saturday noon,--the very day
+that Patterson ascertains that "the bird has flown,"--after assuming
+command, by virtue of seniority, he proceeds to examine Beauregard's
+position. This he finds "too extensive, and the ground too densely
+wooded and intricate," to be learned quickly, and hence he is impelled
+to rely largely upon Beauregard for information touching the strength
+and positions of both the Rebel and Union Armies.
+
+Beauregard has now 21,833 men, and 29 pieces of artillery of his own
+"Army of the Potomac." Johnston's and Holmes's junction with him has
+raised the Rebel total to 32,000 effectives, and 55 guns. McDowell, on
+the other hand, who started with 30,000 effectives, finds himself on the
+19th--owing to the departure of one of his regiments and a battery of
+Artillery, because of the expiration of their term of enlistment,--with
+but "28,000 men at the utmost."--[Comte de Paris.]
+
+On the evening of Saturday, the 20th of July, Johnston and Beauregard
+hold an important consultation. The former feels certain that
+Patterson, with his more than 20,000 effectives, will now lose no time
+in essaying a junction with McDowell's Army, and that such junction will
+probably be effected by July 22nd. Hence he perceives the necessity of
+attacking McDowell, and if possible, with the combined Rebel Forces,
+whipping him before Patterson can come up to his assistance.
+
+At this consultation it is agreed by the two Rebel generals to assume
+the offensive, at once. Beauregard proposes a plan of battle--which is
+an immediate general advance of the Rebel centre and left,
+concentrating, from all the fords of Bull Run, upon Centreville, while
+the Rebel right advances toward Sangster's cross-roads, ready to fall
+either on Centreville, or upon Fairfax Court House, in its rear,
+according to circumstances.
+
+The plan proposed, is accepted at once by Johnston. The necessary order
+is drawn up by Beauregard that night; and at half past four o'clock on
+Sunday morning, July 21st, Johnston signs the written order. Nothing
+now remains, apparently, but the delivery of the order to the Rebel
+brigade commanders, a hurried preparation for the forward movement, and
+then the grand attack upon McDowell, at Centreville.
+
+Already, no doubt, the fevered brain of Beauregard pictures, in his
+vivid imagination, the invincible thunders of his Artillery, the
+impetuous advance of his Infantry, the glorious onset of his Cavalry,
+the flight and rout of the Union forces, his triumphal entry into
+Washington--Lincoln and Scott and the Congress crouching at his feet--
+and the victorious South and conquered North acclaiming him Dictator!
+The plan is Beauregard's own, and Beauregard is to have command. Hence
+all the glory of capturing the National Capital, must be Beauregard's.
+Why not? But "man proposes, and God disposes." The advance and attack,
+are, in that shape, never to be made.
+
+McDowell, in the meantime, all unconscious of what has transpired in the
+Shenandoah Valley, and between there and Manassas; never dreaming for an
+instant that Patterson has failed to keep Johnson there--even if he has
+not attacked and defeated him; utterly unsuspicious that his own
+lessened Union Army has now to deal with the Forces of Johnston and
+Beauregard combined--with a superior instead of an inferior force; is
+executing a plan of battle which he has decided upon, and announced to
+his general officers, on that same Saturday evening, at his Headquarters
+in Centreville.
+
+Instead of attempting to turn the Enemy's right, and cut off his
+communications with Richmond and the South, McDowell has now determined
+to attack the Enemy's left, cut his communication, via the Manassas Gap
+railroad, with Johnston's Army,--still supposed by him to be in the
+Valley of the Shenandoah--and, taking him in the left flank and rear,
+roll him upon Manassas, in disorder and defeat--with whatever might
+follow.
+
+That is the plan--in its general features. In executing it, Blenker's
+Brigade of Miles's Division is to remain at Centreville as a reserve,
+throwing up intrenchments about its Heights, upon which to fall back, in
+case of necessity; Davies's Brigade of the same Division, with
+Richardson's Brigade of Tyler's Division--as the Left Wing--are to
+demonstrate at Blackburn's Ford, toward the Enemy's right; Tyler's other
+three brigades, under Keyes, Schenck, and Sherman, are to feign an
+attack on the Enemy's left, posted behind the strongly-defended Stone
+Bridge over which the Warrenton turnpike, running Westward, on its way
+from Centreville to Warrenton, crosses Bull Run stream; while the strong
+divisions under Hunter and Heintzelman--forming McDowell's Right Wing--
+are to follow Tyler's Division Westward down the turnpike to a point
+within one mile and a half of the Stone Bridge, thence, by cross-road,
+diverge several miles to the North, then sweep around gradually to the
+West, and then Southwardly over Bull Run at Sudley Springs Ford,
+swooping down the Sudley road upon the Enemy's left flank and rear, near
+Stone Bridge, rolling it back toward his center, while Tyler's remaining
+three brigades cross the bridge and join in the assault. That is the
+whole plan in a nutshell.
+
+It has been McDowell's intention to push forward, from Centreville along
+the Warrenton Pike a few miles, on the evening of this Military
+conference; but he makes his first mistake, in allowing himself to be
+dissuaded from that, by those, who, in his own words, "have the greatest
+distance to go," and who prefer "starting early in the morning and
+making but one move."
+
+The attacking divisions now have orders to march at 2:30 A. M., in order
+"to avoid the heat," which is excessive. Tyler's three immediate
+brigades--or some of them--are slow in starting Westward, along the
+Warrenton Pike, to the Stone Bridge; and this leads to a two or three
+hours delay of the divisions of Hunter and Heintzelman, before they can
+follow that Pike beyond Centreville, and commence the secret detour to
+their right, along the cross-road leading to Sudley Springs.
+
+At 6:30 A.M., Tyler's Artillery gets into position, to cannonade the
+Enemy's batteries, on the West Bank of Bull Run, commanding the Stone
+Bridge, and opens fire. Half an hour before this, (at 6 A.M.), the
+Rebel artillerists, posted on a hill South of the Pike, and 600 yards
+West of the bridge, have caught sight of Tyler's Union blue-jackets.
+Those of the Rebel gunners whose eyes are directed to the North-East,
+soon see, nearly a mile away, up the gradual slope, a puff of blue
+smoke. Immediately the bang of a solitary rifle cannon is heard, and
+the scream of a rifled shot as it passes over their heads. At
+intervals, until past 9 A.M., that piece and others in the same
+position, keep hammering away at the Rebel left, under Evans, at Stone
+Bridge.
+
+The Rebel response to this cannonade, is very feeble. McDowell observes
+this. He suspects there has been a weakening of the Enemy's force at
+the bridge, in order to strengthen his right for some purpose. And what
+can that purpose be, but to throw his augmented right upon our left, at
+Blackburn's Ford, and so, along the ridge-road, upon Centreville? Thus
+McDowell guesses, and guesses well. To be in readiness to protect his
+own left and rear, by reenforcing Miles's Division, at Centreville and
+along the ridge to Blackburn's Ford, he temporarily holds back Howard's
+Brigade of Heintzelman's Division at the point where the cross-road to
+Sudley Springs Ford-along which Hunter's Division, followed by the
+Brigades of Franklin and Wilcox, of Heintzelman's Division, have already
+gone-intersects the Warrenton Pike.
+
+It is 9 o'clock. Beauregard, as yet unaware of McDowell's new plan,
+sends an order to Ewell, on his right, to hold himself ready "to take
+the offensive, at a moment's notice,"--and directing that Ewell be
+supported in his advance, toward Sangster's cross-roads and the rear of
+Centreville, by Holmes's Brigade. In accordance with that order, Ewell,
+who is "at Union Mills and its neighborhood," gets his brigade ready,
+and Holmes moves up to his support. After waiting two hours, Ewell
+receives another order, for both Ewell and Holmes "to resume their
+places." Something must have occurred since 9 o'clock, to defeat
+Beauregard's plan of attack on Centreville--with all its glorious
+consequences! What can it be? We shall see.
+
+While Tyler's Artillery has been cannonading the Rebel left, under
+Evans, at Stone Bridge,--fully impressed with the prevailing Union
+belief that the bridge is not only protected by strong masked batteries,
+heavy supports of Infantry, and by abatis as well as other defenses, but
+is also mined and ready to be blown up at the approach of our troops,
+when in reality the bridge is not mined, and the Rebel force in men and
+guns at that point has been greatly weakened in anticipation of
+Beauregard's projected advance upon Centreville,--the Union column,
+under Hunter and Heintzelman, is advancing from Centreville, in the
+scorching heat and suffocating dust of this tropical July morning,
+slowly, but surely, along the Warrenton Pike and the cross-road to
+Sudley Springs Ford--a distance of some eight miles of weary and
+toilsome marching for raw troops in such a temperature--in this order:
+Burnside's Brigade, followed by Andrew Porter's Brigade,--both of
+Hunter's Division; then Franklin's Brigade, followed by Willcox's
+Brigade,--both of Heintzelman's Division.
+
+It is half past 9 o'clock; before Burnside's Brigade has crossed the
+Bull Run stream, at Sudley's Ford, and the head of Andrew Porter's
+Brigade commences to ford it. The troops are somewhat slow in crossing.
+They are warm, tired, thirsty, and as to dust,--their hair and eyes and
+nostrils and mouths are full of it, while most of the uniforms, once
+blue, have become a dirty gray. The sky is clear. The sun already is
+fiercely hot. The men stop to drink and fill their canteens. It is
+well they do.
+
+McDowell, who has been waiting two or three hours at the turn, impatient
+at the delay, has ridden over to the front of the Flanking column, and
+now reaches Sudley's Ford. He feels that much valuable time is already
+lost. His plan has, in a measure, been frustrated by delay. He had
+calculated on crossing Bull Run, at Sudley's Ford, and getting to the
+rear of the Enemy's position, at Stone Bridge, before a sufficient Rebel
+force could be assembled to contest the Union advance. He sends back an
+aide with orders to the regimental commanders in the rear, to "break
+from column, and hurry forward separately, as fast as possible."
+Another aide he sends, with orders to Howard to bring his brigade
+across-fields. To Tyler he also sends orders to "press forward his
+attack, as large bodies of the Enemy are passing in front of him to
+attack the division (Hunter's) which has passed over."
+
+It may here be explained, that the Sudley road, running about six miles
+South-Southeasterly from Sudley Springs Ford to Manassas Junction, is
+crossed at right angles, about two miles South of the Springs, by the
+Warrenton Pike, at a point about one mile and a half West of the Stone
+Bridge. For nearly a mile South of Sudley Ford, the Sudley road passes
+through thick woods on the left, and alternate patches of wooded and
+cleared lands on the right. The country farther South, opens into
+rolling fields, occasionally cut by transverse gullies, and patched with
+woods. This is what Burnside's Brigade beholds, as it marches
+Southward, along the Sudley road, this eventful morning.
+
+Thus far, the cannonade of Tyler's batteries, and the weak return-fire
+of the Rebel Artillery, at Stone Bridge, over two miles South-East of
+Sudley Ford, is about the only music by which the Union march has kept
+time.
+
+But now, as Burnside's foremost regiment emerges from the woods, at half
+past 10 o'clock, the Artillery of the Enemy opens upon it.
+
+Let us see how this happens. Evans's Brigade, defending the Stone
+Bridge, and constituting the Enemy's extreme left, comprises, as has
+already been mentioned, Sloan's 4th South Carolina Regiment, Wheat's
+Louisiana battalion, Terry's squadron of Virginia Cavalry, and
+Davidson's section of Latham's Battery of six-pounders.
+
+Earlier in the morning Evans has supposed, from the cannonade of Tyler's
+batteries among the pines on the hills obliquely opposite the Enemy's
+left, as well as from the sound of the cannonade of the Union batteries
+away down the stream on the Enemy's right, near Blackburn's Ford, that
+McDowell is about to make an attack upon the whole front of the Rebel
+line of defense along Bull Run-by way of the Stone Bridge, and the
+various fords below it, which cross that stream. But by 10 o'clock,
+that Rebel general begins to feel doubtful, suspicious, and uneasy.
+Despite the booming of Tyler's guns, he has caught in the distance the
+rumbling sounds of Hunter's Artillery wheels.
+
+Evans finds himself pondering the meaning of those long lines of dust,
+away to his left; and then, like a flash, it bursts upon him, that all
+this Military hubbub in his front, and far away to his right, is but a
+feint; that the real danger is somehow connected with that mysterious
+far-away rumble, and those lines of yellow dust; that the main attack is
+to be on the unprepared left and rear of the Rebel position!
+
+No sooner has the Rebel brigade-commander thus divined the Union plan of
+attack, than he prepares, with the limited force at his command, to
+thwart it. Burnside and he are about equidistant, by this time, from
+the intersection of the Sudley road, running South, with the Warrenton
+Pike, running West. Much depends upon which of them shall be the first
+to reach it,--and the instinctive, intuitive knowledge of this, spurs
+Evans to his utmost energy. He leaves four of his fifteen companies,
+and Rogers's section of the Loudoun Artillery,--which has come up from
+Cocke's Brigade, at the ford below--to defend the approaches to the
+Stone Bridge, from the East side of Bull Run,--and, with the other
+eleven companies, and Latham's half-battery, he hurries Westward, along
+the Warrenton Pike, toward the Sudley road-crossing, to resist the
+impending Union attack.
+
+It is now 10:30 o'clock, and, as he hurries along, with anxious eyes,
+scanning the woods at the North, he suddenly catches the glitter of
+Burnside's bayonets coming down through them, East of the Sudley road,
+in "column of regiments" toward Young's Branch--a small stream turning,
+in a Northern and Southern loop, respectively above and below the
+Warrenton Pike, much as the S of a prostrate dollar-mark twines above
+and below its horizontal line, the vicinity of which is destined to be
+hotly-contested ground ere night-fall.
+
+ [Says Captain D. P. Woodbury, U. S. corps of engineers, and
+ who, with Captain Wright, guided the divisions of Hunter and
+ Heintzelman in making the detour to the upper part of Bull Run: "At
+ Sudley's Mills we lingered about an hour to give the men and horses
+ water and a little rest before going into action, our advance guard
+ in the mean time going ahead about three quarters of a mile.
+ Resuming our march, we emerged from the woods about one mile South
+ of the ford, and came upon a beautiful open valley about one and a
+ quarter miles square, bounded on the right or West by a wooded
+ ridge, on the Fast by the rough spurs or bluffs of Bull Run, on the
+ North by an open plain and ridge, on which our troops began to
+ form, and on the South by another ridge, on which the Enemy was
+ strongly posted, with woods behind their backs. The Enemy was also
+ in possession of the bluffs of Bull Run on our left."]
+
+Sending word to Headquarters, Evans pushes forward and gaining Buck
+Ridge, to the North of the Northern loop of Young's Branch, forms his
+line-of-battle upon that elevation--which somewhat compensates him for
+the inferiority of his numbers--nearly at right angles to the Bull Run
+line; rapidly puts his Artillery in position; the Rebel guns open on
+Burnside's advance--their hoarse roar soon supplemented by the rattle of
+Rebel musketry, and the answering roar and rattle of the Union onset;
+and the Battle of Bull Run has commenced!
+
+It is after 10:30 A.M., and Beauregard and Johnston are upon an eminence
+in the rear of the centre of the Enemy's Bull Run line. They have been
+there since 8 o'clock. An hour ago, or more, their Signal Officer has
+reported a large body of Union troops crossing the Bull Run Valley, some
+two or three miles above the Stone Bridge; upon the strength of which,
+Johnston has ordered Bee's Brigade from near Cocke's position, with
+Hampton's Legion and Stonewall Jackson's Brigade from near Bonham's
+left, to move to the Rebel left, at Stone Bridge; and these troops are
+now hastening thither, guided by the sound of the guns.
+
+The artillery-firing is also heard by Johnston and Beauregard, but
+intervening wooded slopes prevent them from determining precisely whence
+it comes. Beauregard, with a badly-organized staff, is chaffing over
+the delay that has occurred in carrying out his own plan of battle. He
+is waiting to hear of the progress of the attack which he has ordered
+upon the Union Army,--supposed by him to be at Centreville,--and
+especially as to the advance of his right toward Sangster's Station. In
+the meantime also,--from early morning,--the Rebel commanders have heard
+heavy firing in the direction of Blackburn's Ford, toward their right,
+where the Artillery attached to the brigades of Davies and Richardson,
+constituting McDowell's Left Wing, is demonstrating in a lively manner,
+in accordance with McDowell's plan.
+
+It is 11 o'clock. Beauregard has become satisfied that his orders for
+the Rebel advance and attack on Centreville, have failed or miscarried.
+His plan is abandoned, and the orders countermanded. At the same time
+the growing volume of artillery-detonations upon the left of the Bull
+Run line of defense--together with the clouds of dust which indicate the
+route of march of Hunter's and Heintzelman's Divisions from near
+Centreville to the point of conflict, satisfies both Johnston and
+Beauregard, that a serious attack is imperilling the Rebel left.
+
+Beauregard at once proposes to Johnston "a modification of the abandoned
+plan," viz.: "to attack with the" Rebel "right, while the left stands on
+the defensive." But rapidly transpiring events conspire to make even
+the modified plan impracticable.
+
+Johnston, convinced by the still growing volume of battlesounds on the
+Rebel left, that the main attack of McDowell is being made there, urges
+Beauregard to strengthen the left, as much as possible; and, after that
+general has sent orders to this end,--to Holmes and Early to come up
+with their Brigades from Union Mills Ford, moving "with all speed to the
+sound of the firing," and to Bonham to promptly send up, from Mitchell's
+Ford, a battery and two of his regiments--both he and Beauregard put
+spurs to their horses, and gallop at full speed toward the firing, four
+miles away on their left,--stopping on the way only long enough for
+Johnston to order his Chief-of-artillery, Colonel Pendleton, to "follow,
+with his own, and Alburtis's Batteries."
+
+Meanwhile let us return and witness the progress of the battle, on the
+Rebel left,--where we were looking on, at 10:30 o'clock. Evans had then
+just posted his eleven companies of Infantry on Buck Ridge, with one of
+his two guns on his left, near the Sudley road, and the other not far
+from the Robinson House, upon the Northern spur of the elevated plateau
+just South of Young's Branch, and nearly midway between the Sudley road
+and Stone Bridge.
+
+The battle, as we have seen, has opened. As Burnside's Brigade appears
+on the slope, to the North of Buck Ridge (or Hill), it is received by a
+rapid, well-sustained, and uncomfortable, but not very destructive fire,
+from Evans's Artillery, and, as the Union regiments press forward, in
+column, full of impulsive ardor, the Enemy welcomes the head of the
+column with a hot musketry-fire also, delivered from the crest of the
+elevation behind which the Rebel Infantry lie flat upon the ground.
+
+This defense by Evan's demi-Brigade still continues, although half an
+hour, or more, has elapsed. Burnside has not yet been able to dislodge
+the Enemy from the position. Emboldened to temerity by this fact, Major
+Wheat's Louisiana battalion advances through the woods in front, upon
+Burnside, but is hurled back by a galling fire, which throws it into
+disorder and flight.
+
+At this moment, however, the brigades of Bee and Bartow--comprising the
+7th and 8th Georgia, 2nd Mississippi, 4th Alabama, 6th North Carolina,
+and two companies of the 11th Mississippi, with Imboden's Battery of
+four pieces--recently arrived with Johnston from Winchester, come up,
+form on the right of Sloan's 4th South Carolina Regiment, while Wheat
+rallies his remnant on Sloan's left, now resting on the Sudley road, and
+the whole new Rebel line opens a hot fire upon Burnside's Brigade.
+
+Hunter, for the purpose of better directing the Union attack, is at this
+moment rapidly riding to the left of the Union line,--which is advancing
+Southwardly, at right angles to Bull Run stream and the old line of
+Rebel defense thereon. He is struck by the fragment of a shell, and
+carried to the rear.
+
+Colonel John S. Slocum's, 2nd Rhode Island, Regiment, with Reynold's
+Rhode Island Battery (six 13-pounders), having been sent to the front of
+Burnside's left, and being closely pressed by the Enemy, Burnside's own
+regiment the 1st Rhode Island, is gallantly led by Major Balch to the
+support of the 2nd, and together they handsomely repulse the Rebel
+onset. Burnside now sends forward Martin's 71st New York, with its two
+howitzers, and Marston's 2nd New Hampshire,--his whole Brigade, of four
+regiments and a light artillery battery, being engaged with the heavy
+masked battery (Imboden's and two other pieces), and nearly seven full
+regiments of the Enemy.
+
+The regiments of Burnside's Brigade are getting considerably cut up.
+Colonels Slocum and Marston, and Major Balch, are wounded. There is
+some confusion in the ranks, and the Rhode Island Battery is in danger
+of capture, when General Andrew Porter--whose own brigade has just
+reached the field and is deploying to the right of Burnside's--succeeds
+Hunter in command of the division, and rides over to his left. Burnside
+asks him for Sykes's battalion of regulars, which is accordingly
+detached from the extreme right of Andrew Porter's Division, rapidly
+forms on the left, in support of the Rhode Island Battery, and opens a
+hot and effective fire which, in connection with the renewed fire of
+Burnside's rallied regiments, and the opening artillery practice of
+Griffin's Battery--that has just come up at a gallop and gone into a
+good position upon an eminence to the right of Porter's Division, and to
+the right of the Sudley road looking South--fairly staggers the Enemy.
+
+And now the brigades of Sherman and Keyes, having been ordered across
+Bull Run by General Tyler, are seen advancing from Poplar Ford, at the
+rear of our left,--Sherman's Brigade, headed by Corcoran's 69th New York
+Regiment, coming up on Burnside's left, while Keves's Brigade is
+following, to the left again of, Sherman.
+
+ [Sherman, in his Official Report, after mentioning the receipt by
+ him of Tyler's order to "cross over with the whole brigade to the
+ assistance of Colonel Hunter"--which he did, so far as the Infantry
+ was concerned, but left his battery under Ayres behind, on account
+ of the impassability of the bluff on the Western bank of Bull Run-
+ says: "Early in the day, when reconnoitering the ground, I had seen
+ a horseman descend from a bluff in our front, cross the stream, and
+ show himself in the open field, and, inferring we could cross over
+ at the same point, I sent forward a company as skirmishers, and
+ followed with the whole brigade, the New York Sixty-ninth leading."
+
+ This is evidently the ford at the elbow of Bull Run, to the right
+ of Sherman's front, which is laid down on the Army-maps as "Poplar
+ Ford," and which McDowell's engineers had previously discovered and
+ mapped; and to which Major Barnard of the U. S. Engineer Corps
+ alludes when, in his Official Report, he says: "Midway between the
+ Stone Bridge and Sudley Spring our maps indicated another ford,
+ which was said to be good."
+
+ The Comte de Paris, at page 241, vol. I. of his admirable "History
+ of the Civil War in America," and perhaps other Military
+ historians, having assumed and stated--upon the strength of this
+ passage in Sherman's Report--that "the Military instinct" of that
+ successful soldier had "discovered" this ford; and the impression
+ being thus conveyed, however undesignedly, to their readers, that
+ McDowell's Engineer corps, after spending two or three days in
+ reconnaissances, had failed to find the ford which Sherman had in a
+ few minutes "discovered" by "Military instinct;" it is surely due
+ to the truth of Military history, that the Engineers be fairly
+ credited with the discovery and mapping of that ford, the existence
+ of which should also have been known to McDowell's brigade
+ commanders.
+
+ If, on the other hand, the Report of the Rebel Captain Arthur L.
+ Rogers, of the Loudoun Artillery, to General Philip St. George
+ Cocke, be correct, it would seem that Sherman attempted to cross
+ Bull Run lower down than Poplar Ford, which is "about one mile
+ above the Stone Bridge," but was driven back by the fire of
+ Rogers's guns to cross at that particular ford; for Rogers, in that
+ Report, says that about 11 o'clock A. M., the first section of the
+ Loudoun Artillery, under his command, "proceeded to the crest of
+ the hill on the West Side of Bull Run, commanding Stone Bridge. *
+ * * Here." continues he, "I posted my section of Artillery, and
+ opened a brisk fire upon a column of the Enemy's Infantry, supposed
+ to be two regiments, advancing towards me, and supported by his
+ battery of rifled cannon on the hills opposite. These poured into
+ my section a steady fire of shot and shell. After giving them some
+ fifty rounds, I succeeded in heading his column, and turned it up
+ Bull Run to a ford about one mile above Stone Bridge, where, with
+ the regiments which followed, they crossed, and proceeded to join
+ the rest of the Enemy's forces in front of the main body of our
+ Army."]
+
+Before this developing, expanding, and advancing attack of the Union
+forces, the Rebel General Bee, who--since his coming up to support
+Evans, with his own and Bartow's Brigades, to which had since been added
+Hampton's Legion,--has been in command of this new Rebel line of defense
+upon the left of the Bull Run line, concludes that that attack is
+getting too strong for him, and orders his forces to retreat to the
+Southward, and re-form on a second line, parallel to their present line,
+and behind the rising ground at their rear. They do so, somewhat faster
+than he desires. The whole line of the Rebel centre gives way, followed
+by the wings, as far as the victorious Union troops can see.
+
+We must be blind if we cannot perceive that thus far, the outlook, from
+the Union point of view,--despite numberless mistakes of detail, and
+some, perhaps, more general in their character--is very good. The "Boys
+in Blue" are irresistibly advancing, driving the "Rebel Gray" back and
+back, without let or hindrance, over the Buck Hill ridge, over Young's
+Branch, back to, and even over, the Warrenton Pike. Time, to be sure,
+is flying--valuable time; but the Enemy also is retiring.--There is some
+slight confusion in parts of our own ranks; but there is much more in
+his. At present, we have decidedly the best of it. McDowell's plan has
+been, thus far, successful. Will that success continue? We shall see.
+
+Heintzelman's Division is coming, up from the rear, to the Union right--
+Franklin's Brigade, made up of the 5th and 11th Massachusetts, and 1st
+Minnesota, with Ricketts's splendid battery of six 10-pounder Parrotts,
+forming on the right of Andrew Porter's Brigade and Division; while
+Willcox's demi-Brigade, with its 11th ("Fire Zouaves") and 38th New
+York--having left Arnold's Battery of four pieces, with the 1st Michigan
+as its support, posted on a hill commanding Sudley's Ford--comes in, on
+the right of Franklin, thus forming the extreme right of the advancing
+Union line of attack.
+
+As our re-enforcing brigades come up, on our right, and on our left, the
+Enemy falls back, more and more discouraged and dismayed. It seems to
+him, as it does to us, "as though nothing can stop us." Jackson,
+however, is now hurrying up to the relief of the flying and disordered
+remnants of Bee's, Bartow's, and Evans's Brigades; and these
+subsequently rally, with Hampton's Legion, upon Jackson's strong brigade
+of fresh troops, so that, on a third new line, to which they have been
+driven back, they soon have--6,500 Infantry, 13 pieces of Artillery, and
+Stuart's cavalry-posted in a belt of pines which fringes the Southern
+skirt of the Henry House plateau--in a line-of-battle which, with its
+left resting upon the Sudley road, three-quarters of a mile South of its
+intersection with the Warrenton Pike, is the irregular hypothenuse of a
+right-angled triangle, formed by itself and those two intersecting
+roads, to the South-East of such intersection. It is within this right-
+angled triangular space that the battle, now proceeding, bids fair to
+rage most fiercely.
+
+Johnston and Beauregard, riding up from their rear, reach this new
+(third) line to which the Rebel troops have been driven, about noon.
+They find the brigades of Bee, Bartow, and Evans, falling back in great
+disorder, and taking shelter in a wooded ravine, South of the Robinson
+House and of the Warrenton Pike. Hampton's Legion, which has just been
+driven backward over the Pike, with great loss, still holds the Robinson
+House. Jackson, however, has reached the front of this line of defense,
+with his brigade of the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 27th, and 33rd Virginia Infantry,
+and Pendleton's Battery--all of which have been well rested, since their
+arrival, with other brigades of Johnston's Army of the Shenandoah, from
+Winchester, a day or two back.
+
+As Jackson comes up, on the left of "the ravine and woods occupied by
+the mingled remnants of Bee's, Bartow's and Evans's commands," he posts
+Imboden's, Stanard's, and Pendleton's Batteries in line, "below the brim
+of the Henry House plateau," perhaps one-eighth of a mile to the East-
+Southeastward of the Henry House, at his centre; Preston's 4th Virginia,
+and Echol's 27th Virginia, at the rear of the battery-line; Harper's 5th
+Virginia, with Radford's Cavalry, at its right; and, on its left,
+Allen's 2nd Virginia; with Cumming's 33rd Virginia to the left of that
+again, and Stuart's Cavalry covering the Rebel left flank.
+
+It is about this time that the chief Rebel generals find their position
+so desperate, as to necessitate extraordinary measures, and personal
+exposure, on their part. Now it is, that Jackson earns the famous
+sobriquet which sticks to him until he dies.
+
+
+ [Bee approaches Jackson--so goes the story, according to Swinton;
+ he points to the disordered remnants of his own brigade mingled
+ with those of the brigades of Bartow and Evans huddled together in
+ the woods, and exclaims: "General, they are beating us back!"
+ "Sir," responds Jackson, drawing himself up, severely, "We'll give
+ them the bayonet!" And Bee, rushing back among his confused troops,
+ rallies them with the cry: "There is Jackson, standing like a Stone
+ wall! Let us determine to die here, and we will conquer."]
+
+Now it is, that Johnston and Beauregard, accompanied by their staffs,
+ride backward and forward among the Rebel ranks, rallying and
+encouraging them. Now it is, that, Bee and Bartow and Hampton being
+wounded, and the Lieutenant-Colonel of the Hampton Legion killed,
+Beauregard leads a gallant charge of that legion in person. And now it
+is, that Johnston himself, finding all the field-officers of the 4th
+Alabama disabled, "impressively and gallantly charges to the front" with
+the colors of that regiment at his side!
+
+These conspicuous examples of bravery, inspire the Rebel troops with
+fresh courage, at this admittedly "critical" moment.
+
+Johnston now assigns to Beauregard the chief "command of the left" of
+the Bull Run line,--that is to say, the chief command of the Enemy's new
+line of defense, which, as we have seen, is on the left of, and at right
+angles to, the old Bull Run line--while he himself, riding back to the
+Lewis House, resumes "the command of the whole field."
+
+On his way to his rear, Johnston orders Cocke to send reenforcements to
+Beauregard. He also dispatches orders to hurry up to that Rebel
+general's support, the brigades of Holmes and Early from near the Union
+Mills Ford, and that of Bonham from Mitchell's Ford,--Ewell with his
+brigade, being also directed to "follow with all speed" from Union
+Mills Ford-making a total of over 10,000 fresh troops.
+
+From the "commanding elevation" of the Lewis House, Johnston can observe
+the position of the Union forces beyond Bull Run, at Blackburn's Ford
+and Stone Bridge; the coming of his own re-enforcing brigades from far
+down the valley, toward Manassas; and the manoeuvres of our advancing
+columns under McDowell.
+
+As the battle proceeds, the Enemy's strength on the third new line of
+defense increases, until he has 22 guns, 260 Cavalry, and 12 regiments
+of Infantry, now engaged. It is interesting to observe also, that, of
+these, 16 of the guns, 9 of the regiments, and all of the Cavalry
+(Stuart's), belong to Johnston's Army of the Shenandoah, while only 6
+guns and 3 Infantry regiments thus engaged, belong to Beauregard's Army
+of the Potomac. Thus the burden of the battle has been, and is being,
+borne by Johnston's, and not Beauregard's troops--in the proportion of
+about three of the former, to one of the latter,--which, for over two
+hours, maintain their position despite many successive assaults we make
+upon them.
+
+It is after 2 o'clock P.M., when Howard's Brigade, of Heintzelman's
+Division, reaches the battle-field, almost broken down with exhaustion.
+By order of Heintzelman it has moved at double-quick for a mile of the
+way, until, under the broiling heat, it can do so no longer. The last
+two miles of the weary tramp, while the head of the brigade has moved at
+quick time, the rear, having lost distances, moves, much of the time, at
+a double-quick. As a consequence, many of Howard's men drop out, and
+absolutely faint from exhaustion.
+
+As Howard's Brigade approaches the field, besides the ambulances and
+litters, conveying to the rear the wounded and dying, crowds of
+retreating stragglers meet and tell it to hurry along; that the Enemy
+has been driven back a mile; but, as it marches along, its regiments do
+not feel particularly encouraged by the disorganization so prevalent;
+and the fact that as they come into action, the thunders of the Rebel
+Artillery do not seem to meet an adequately voluminous response--from
+the Union side, seems to them, a portent of evil. Weary and fagged out,
+they are permitted to rest, for a while, under cover.
+
+Up to this time, our line, increased, as it has been, by the brigades of
+Sherman and Keyes, on the left of Burnside, and of Franklin and Wilcox,
+on the right of Porter, has continued to advance victoriously. Our
+troops are, to be sure, considerably scattered, having been "moved from
+point to point" a good deal. On our left, the Enemy has been driven
+back nearly a mile, and Keyes's Brigade is pushing down Bull Run, under
+shelter of the bluffs, trying to turn the right of the Enemy's new line,
+and give Schenck's Brigade a better chance for crossing the Stone
+Bridge, still commanded by some of the Rebel guns.
+
+Having "nothing to do" there, "several of the Union regiments" are
+coming over, from our left toward our right, with a view of overlapping,
+and turning, the Enemy's left.
+
+It is about half past 2 o'clock. The batteries of Griffin and Ricketts
+have already been advanced as far as the eminence, upon our right, upon
+which stands the Dogan House. Supported by Lyons's gallant 14th New
+York Chasseurs, Griffin's and Ricketts's Batteries are still pouring a
+terribly destructive fire into the batteries and columns of the Enemy,
+now behind the brow of the Henry House hill, wherever exposed, while
+Palmer's seven companies of Union Cavalry are feeling the Enemy's left
+flank, which McDowell proposes to turn. The flags of eight Union
+regiments, though "borne somewhat wearily" now point toward the hilly
+Henry House plateau, beyond which "disordered masses of Rebels" have
+been seen "hastily retiring."
+
+There is a lull in the battle. The terrible heat is exhausting to the
+combatants on both sides. Griffin and Ricketts have wrought such havoc
+with their guns, that "nothing remains to be fired at." Victory seems
+most surely to be ours.
+
+Away down at his headquarters at the Lewis House, the Rebel General
+Johnston stands watching the progress of the battle, as it goes against
+him. Nervously he glances, every now and then, over his left shoulder,
+as if expecting something. An officer is galloping toward him, from
+Manassas. He comes from the office of Beauregard's Adjutant-General, at
+that point. He rides up and salutes. "General," says he, breathlessly,
+"a United States Army has reached the line of the Manassas Gap railroad,
+and is now but three or four miles from our left flank!"
+
+Johnston clenches his teeth nervously. Thick beads of perspiration
+start from his forehead. He believes it is Patterson's Army that has
+followed "upon his heels" from before Winchester, faster than has been
+anticipated; and, as he thinks of Kirby Smith, who should long since
+have arrived with Elzey's Brigade--all, of his own "Army of the
+Shenandoah," that has not yet followed him to Manassas,--the exclamation
+involuntarily bursts from his lips: "Oh, for four regiments!"
+
+ [Says a correspondent and eye-witness of the battle, writing to the
+ Richmond Dispatch, from the battle-field, July 23d: "Between two
+ and three o'clock large numbers of men were leaving the field, some
+ of them wounded, others exhausted by the long struggle, who gave us
+ gloomy reports; but, as the firing on both sides continued
+ steadily, we felt sure that our brave Southerners had not been
+ conquered by the overwhelming hordes of the North. It is, however,
+ due to truth to say that the result at this hour hung trembling in
+ the balance. We had lost numbers of our most distinguished
+ officers. Gens. Barlow and Bee had been stricken down; Lieut; Col.
+ Johnson of the Hampton Legion had been killed; Col. Hampton had
+ been wounded. But there was at hand a fearless general whose
+ reputation was staked on this battle: Gen. Beauregard promptly
+ offered to lead the Hampton Legion into action, which he executed
+ in a style unsurpassed and unsurpassable. Gen. Beauregard rode up
+ and down our lines, between the Enemy and his own men, regardless
+ of the heavy fire, cheering and encouraging our troops. About this
+ time, a shell struck his horse, taking its head off, and killing
+ the horses of his aides, Messrs. Ferguson and Hayward. * * * Gen.
+ Johnston also threw himself into the thickest of the fight, seizing
+ the colors of a Georgia (Alabama) regiment, and rallying then to
+ the charge. * * * Your correspondent heard Gen. Johnston exclaim
+ to Gen. Cocke, just at the critical moment, 'Oh, for four
+ regiments!' His wish was answered; for in the distance our re-
+ enforcements appeared. The tide of battle was turned in our favor
+ by the arrival of Gen. Kirby Smith, from Winchester, with 4,000 men
+ of Gen. Johnston's Division. Gen. Smith heard, while on the
+ Manassas Railroad cars, the roar of battle. He stopped the train,
+ and hurried his troops across the fields to the point just where he
+ was most needed. They were at first supposed to be the Enemy,
+ their arrival at that point of the field being entirely unexpected.
+ The Enemy fell back, and a panic seized them. Cheer after cheer
+ from our men went up, and we knew the battle had been won."
+
+ Another Rebel correspondent who, as an officer of the Kentucky
+ battalion of General Johnston's Division of the Rebel Army,
+ participated in the battle, wrote to the Louisville Courier from
+ Manassas, July 22, an account of it, in which, after mentioning
+ that the Rebel Army had been forced back for two miles, he
+ continues; "The fortunes of the day were evidently against us.
+ Some of our best officers had been slain, and the flower of our
+ Army lay strewn upon the field, ghastly in death or gaping with
+ wounds. At noon, the cannonading is described as terrific. It was
+ an incessant roar for more than two hours, the havoc and
+ devastation at this time being fear ful. McDowell * * * had nearly
+ outflanked us, and they were just in the act of possessing
+ themselves of the Railway to Richmond. Then all would have been
+ lost. But most opportunely--I may say Providentially--at this
+ juncture, Gen. Johnston, [Kirby Smith it should be] with the
+ remnant of Johnston's Division--our Army, as we fondly call it, for
+ we have been friends and brothers in camp and field for three
+ months--reappeared, and made one other desperate struggle to obtain
+ the vantage-ground. Elzey's Brigade of Marylanders and Virginians
+ led the charge; and right manfully did they execute the work,"]
+
+"The prayer of the wicked availeth not," 'tis said; yet never was the
+prayer of the righteous more quickly answered than is that of the Rebel
+General-in-chief! Johnston himself, alluding to this exigent moment,
+afterward remarks, in his report: "The expected reenforcements appeared
+soon after." Instead of Patterson's Union Army, it is Kirby Smith,
+coming up, with Elzey's Brigade, from Winchester!
+
+Satisfied of the safe arrival of Kirby Smith, and ordering him up, with
+Elzey's Brigade, Johnston directs Kershaw's 2nd and Cash's 8th South
+Carolina Regiments, which have just come up, with Kemper's Battery, from
+Bonham's Brigade, to strengthen the Rebel left, against the attempt
+which we are still making to reach around it, about the Sudley road, to
+take it in reverse. Fisher's 6th North Carolina Regiment arriving about
+the same time, is also hurried along to help Beauregard.
+
+But during the victorious lull, heretofore alluded to, something is
+happening on our side, that is of very serious moment. Let us see what
+it is:
+
+The batteries of Griffin and Ricketts, at the Dogan House, having
+nothing to fire at, as we have seen, are resting, pleased with the
+consciousness of their brilliant and victorious service against the
+Rebel batteries and Infantry columns, when they are ordered by McDowell
+--who, with his staff, is upon elevated ground to the rear of our
+right,--to advance 1,000 yards further to the front, "upon a hill near
+the Henry House."
+
+Ricketts considers this a perilous job--but proceeds to execute the
+order as to his own battery. A small ravine is in his front. With
+Ricketts gallantly leading, the battery dashes across the ravine at full
+gallop, breaking one wheel as it goes, which is at once replaced. A
+fence lies across the way. The cannoniers demolish it. The battery
+ascends the hill near the Henry House, which is full of the Enemy's
+sharpshooters.
+
+ [For this, and what immediately follows, see the testimony of
+ Ricketts and others, before the Committee on the Conduct of the
+ War.]
+
+Soon as Ricketts gets his guns in battery, his men and horses begin to
+fall, under the fire of these sharpshooters. He turns his guns upon the
+Henry House,--and "literally riddles it." Amid the moans of the
+wounded, the death scream of a woman is heard! The Enemy had permitted
+her to remain in her doomed house!
+
+But the execution is not all on one side, by any means. Ricketts is in
+a very hot place--the hottest, he afterward declares, that he has ever
+seen in his life--and he has seen fighting before this.
+
+The Enemy is behind the woods, at the front and right of Ricketts's
+Battery. This, with the added advantage of the natural slope of the
+ground, enables him to deliver upon the brave Union artillerists a
+concentrated fire, which is terribly destructive, and disables so many
+of Rickett's horses that he cannot move, if he would. Rickett's own
+guns, however, are so admirably served, that a smooth-bore battery of
+the Enemy, which has been stubbornly opposing him, is driven back,
+despite its heavy supports.
+
+And Griffin's Battery now comes rapidly up into position on the left of,
+and in line with, Ricketts. For Griffin also has been ordered from the
+Dogan House hill, to this new, and dangerously exposed, position.
+
+But when Major Barry, General McDowell's Chief of Artillery, brings him
+the order, Griffin hesitates--for he has no Infantry support.
+
+"The Fire Zouaves--[The 11th New York]--will support you," says Barry,"
+They are just ready to follow you at the double-quick!"
+
+"Then why not let them go and get in position on the hill," says
+Griffin; "then, let Ricketts's and my batteries come into battery
+behind; and then, let them (the Zouaves) fall back?"
+
+Griffin advises, also, as a better position for his own battery, a hill
+500 yards in the rear of the Henry House hill. But advice is thrown
+away. His artillery-chief is inflexible.
+
+"I tell you," says Griffin again, "the Fire Zouaves won't support us."
+
+"They will," replies Barry. "At any rate it is General McDowell's order
+to go there!"
+
+That settles the business. "I will go," responds Griffin; "but mark my
+words, they will not support us!"
+
+Griffin's Battery, indeed, starts first, but, owing to the mistake of
+one of his officers, it has to be countermarched, so that Ricketts's is
+thrown to the front, and, as we have seen, first reaches the crest of
+the Henry House hill.
+
+Griffin, as he comes up with his guns, goes into battery on the left of
+Ricketts, and at once opens briskly on the Enemy. One of Griffin's guns
+has a ball lodged in the bore, which cannot be got in or out. His other
+five guns, with the six guns of Ricketts, make eleven pieces, which are
+now side by side-all of them driving away at the Enemy's (Stonewall
+Jackson's) strong batteries, not more than 300 yards away.
+
+They have been at it half an hour perhaps, when Griffin moves two of his
+pieces to the right of Ricketts, and commences firing with them. He has
+hardly been there five minutes, when a Rebel regiment coming out of the
+woods at Griffin's right front, gets over a rail fence, its Colonel
+steps out between his regiment (now standing up to the knees in rank
+grass) and the battery, and commences a speech to his men!
+
+Griffin orders one of his officers to load with canister, and let drive
+at them. The guns are loaded, and ready to fire, when up gallops Barry,
+exclaiming: "Captain, don't fire there; those are your battery-
+supports!"
+
+At this supreme moment, Reynolds's gorgeous looking Marines are sitting
+down in close column, on the ground, to the left of the Union batteries.
+The showy 11th New York "Fire Zouaves" are a little to the rear of the
+right of the guns. The gallant 14th New York Chasseurs, in their dust-
+covered red uniforms, who had followed Griffin's Battery, at some
+distance, have, only a little while since, pushed finely up, from the
+ravine at the rear of our batteries, into the woods, to the right of
+Griffin and Ricketts, at a double-quick. To the left of the batteries,
+close to the battalion of Marines, Heintzelman bestrides his horse, near
+some of his own Division.
+
+To Major Barry's startling declaration, Captain Griffin excitedly
+shouts: "They are Confederates! Sure as the world, they are
+Confederates!"
+
+But Barry thinks he knows better, and hastily responds: "I know they are
+your battery-support."
+
+Griffin spurs toward his pieces, countermands his previous order, and-
+firing is resumed in the old direction.
+
+Andew Porter, has just ridden up to Heintzelman's side, and now catches
+sight of the Rebel regiment. "What troops are those?" he asks of
+General Hientzelman, pointing in their direction.
+
+While Heintzelman is replying, and just as Averell drops his reins and
+levels his field-glass at them, "down come their pieces-rifles and
+muskets,--and probably," as Averell afterward said, "there never was
+such a destructive fire for a few minutes. It seemed as though every
+man and horse of that battery just laid right down, and died right off!"
+
+It is a dreadful mistake that has been made. And there seems to have
+been no excuse for it either. The deliberateness of the Rebel colonel
+has given Barry abundant time to have discovered his error. For Griffin
+subsequently declared, under oath, that, "After the officer who had been
+talking to the regiment had got through, he faced them to the left,
+marched them about fifty yards to the woods, then faced them to the
+right again, marched them about forty yards toward us, then opened fire
+upon us--and that was the last of us!"
+
+It is a terrible blunder. For, up to this moment, the battle is
+undeniably ours. And, while the Rebel colonel has been haranguing his
+brave men, there has been plenty of time to have "passed the word" along
+the line of our batteries, and poured canister into the Rebel regiment
+from the whole line of eleven guns, at point-blank range, which must
+inevitably have cut it all to pieces. The fate of the day hung balanced
+right there and then--with all the chances in favor of McDowell. But
+those chances are now reversed. Such are the fickle changes in the
+fortunes of battle!
+
+Instead of our batteries cutting to pieces the Rebel Infantry regiment,
+the Rebel Infantry regiment has mowed down the gallant artillerists of
+our batteries. Hardly a man of them escapes. Death and destruction
+reap a wondrous and instant harvest. Wounded, dying, or dead, lie the
+brave cannoniers at their guns, officers and men alike hors du combat,
+while wounded horses gallop wildly back, with bounding caissons, down
+the gentle declivity, carrying disorder, and further danger, in their
+mad flight.
+
+The supporting Fire Zouaves and Marines, on the right and left of our
+line of guns, stand, with staring eyes and dumb open-mouths, at the
+sudden turn of affairs. They are absolutely paralyzed with
+astonishment. They do not run at first. They stand, quaking and panic-
+stricken. They are urged to advance upon the Rebel regiment--"to give
+them a volley, and then try the bayonet." In vain! They fire perhaps
+100 scattering shots; and receive in return, as they break and run down
+the hill to the rear, volley after volley, of deadly lead, from the
+Rebel muskets.
+
+But, as this Rebel regiment (Cummings's 33rd Virginia) advances to seize
+the crippled and defenceless guns, it is checked, and driven back, by
+the 1st Michigan Regiment of Willcox's Brigade, which has pushed forward
+in the woods at our extreme right.
+
+Meanwhile, having been ordered by McDowell to support Ricketts's
+Battery, Howard has formed his four tired regiments into two lines--
+Berry's 4th Maine, and Whitney's 2nd Vermont, on the right and left of
+the first; and Dunnell's 5th, and his own 3rd Maine, under Staples, in
+the second line. Howard himself leads his first line up the elevated
+plateau of the Henry House. Reaching the crest, the line delivers its
+fire, volley after volley, despite the concentrated hail of the Enemy's
+Artillery and muskets. As the second line advances, a Rebel cannon-
+ball, and an unfortunate charge of our own Cavalry, scatters most of the
+5th Maine. The 2nd Vermont, which has advanced 200 yards beyond the
+crest, rapidly firing, while the Enemy retires, is now, in turn, forced
+back by the Enemy's hot fire, and is replaced by the 3rd Maine, while
+the remnant of the 5th moves up to the extreme right of Howard's now
+single line. But the Rebel fire grows hotter and hotter, and owing to
+this, and a misunderstood order, Howard's line begins to dissolve, and
+then retires in confusion,--Howard and others vainly striving to rally
+his own utterly exhausted men.
+
+Sherman's Brigade, too, has come over from our left, and now advances
+upon the deadly plateau, where lie the disabled Union batteries--the
+prizes, in full sight of both Armies, for which each seems now to be so
+desperately striving.
+
+Quinby's 13th New York Rifles, in column of companies, leads the
+brigade, followed by Lieutenant-Colonel Peck's 2d Wisconsin, Cameron's
+79th New York (Highlanders), and Corcoran's 69th New York (Irish), "in
+line of battle." Down the slope, across the ravine, and up, on the
+other side, steadily presses Quinby, till he reaches the crest. He
+opens fire. An advancing Rebel regiment retires, as he pushes up to
+where the Union batteries and cannoniers lie wounded and dying--the
+other three regiments following in line-of-battle until near the crest,
+when the fire of the Enemy's rifles and musketry, added to his heavy
+cannonading, grows so severe that the brigade is forced back to shelter
+in a roadway leading up the plateau.
+
+Peck's 2nd Wisconsin, now emerges from this sheltered roadway, and
+steadily mounts the elevation, in the face of the Enemy's severe fire-
+returning it, with spirit, as it advances. But the Rebel fire becomes
+too galling. The gray-clad Wisconsin boys return to the sheltered road
+again, while the cry goes up from Sherman's ranks: "Our own men are
+firing at them!" Rallying at the road, the 2nd Wisconsin again returns,
+with desperate courage, to the crest of the hill, delivers its fire, and
+then, unable to withstand the dreadful carnage, falls back once more, in
+disorder.
+
+At this, the 79th (Highland) Regiment springs forward, to mount the brow
+of the fatal hill, swept as it is, with this storm of shot and shell and
+musket-balls. Up, through the lowering smoke, lit with the Enemy's
+incessant discharges in the woods beyond, the brave Highlanders jauntily
+march, and, with Cameron and their colors at their head, charge
+impetuously across the bloody hill-crest, and still farther, to the
+front. But it is not in human nature to continue that advance in the
+teeth of the withering fire from Jackson's batteries, strengthened, as
+they are, by Pelham's and Kemper's. The gallant fellows fall back,
+rally again, advance once more, retire again, and at last,--the heroic
+Cameron being mortally wounded,--fall back, in confusion, under the
+cover of the hill.
+
+And now, while Quinby's Regiment, on another ridge, more to the left, is
+also again engaging the Enemy, the 69th New York, led by the fearless
+Corcoran, dashes forward, up the Henry House hill, over the forbidding
+brow, and beyond. As the brave Irishmen reach the abandoned batteries,
+the hoarse roar of cannon, the sharp rattle of musketry-volleys, the
+scream of shot and shell, and the whistling of bullets, is at once
+deafening and appalling, while the air seems filled with the iron and
+leaden sleet which sweeps across the scorched and blasted plateau of the
+Henry House. Nobly the Irish Regiment holds its ground for a time; but,
+at last, it too falls back, before the hurtling tempest.
+
+The fortunes of the day are plainly turning against us. Time is also
+against us--as it has been all along--while it is with the Enemy. It is
+past 3 o'clock.
+
+Since we last looked at Beauregard's third new defensive line, there
+have been material accessions to it. The remains of the brigades of
+Bee, Evans, and Bartow, have been reformed on the right of Jackson's
+Brigade--Bee on his immediate right, Evans to the right of Bee, and
+Bartow to the right of Evans, with a battery which has been engaging
+Schenck's Brigade on the other side of Bull Run near the Stone Bridge;
+while Cocke's Brigade watches Bull Run to the rear of Bartow. On the
+left of Jackson's. Brigade, is now to be seen a part of Bonham's
+Brigade (Kershaw's 2nd South Carolina, and Cash's 8th South Carolina)
+with Kemper's Battery on its left. Kirby Smith has reached the front,
+from Manassas, and--in advancing from his position on the left of
+Bonham's demi-Brigade, just West of the Sudley road, with Elzey's
+Brigade, in a counter-attack upon our right-is wounded, and carried to
+the rear, leaving his command to Elzey. Stuart's Cavalry are in the
+woods, still farther to the Enemy's left, supporting Beckham's Battery.
+Early's Brigade is also coming up, from Union Mills Ford, not far to the
+rear of the Enemy's left, with the design of coming into line between
+Elzey's Brigade and Beckham's Battery, and out-flanking and attacking
+our right. But let us bring our eyes back to the bloody contest, still
+going on, for the possession of the batteries of Griffin and Ricketts.
+
+Arnold's Battery has raced up on our right, and is delivering shot,
+shell, spherical case, and canister, with effect, although exposed to a
+severe and accurate fire from the Enemy. Wilcox, with what is left of
+the 1st Michigan, after once retaking the batteries on the plateau, from
+the 7th Georgia, has got around the Enemy's left flank and is actually
+engaged with the Enemy's rear, while that Enemy's front is engaged with
+Franklin and Sherman! But Hobart Ward's 38th New York, which Wilcox has
+ordered up to support the 1st Michigan, on our extreme right, in this
+flanking movement, has been misdirected, and is now attacking the
+Enemy's centre, instead of his left; and Preston's 28th Virginia--which,
+with Withers's 18th Virginia, has come up to the Rebel left, from
+Cocke's Brigade, on the Enemy's right--finding the 1st Michigan broken,
+in the woods, attacks it, and wounds and captures Wilcox. Withers's
+Regiment has, with a yell--the old "Rebel yell," now rising everywhere
+from Rebel throats, and so often heard afterward,--charged the 14th New
+York Chasseurs, in the woods; and the Chasseurs, though retiring, have
+fired upon it with such precision as to throw some of their assailants
+into disorder.
+
+ [Says General Keyes, who had kept on down the Run, "on the extreme
+ left of our advance--having separated from Sherman on his right:--I
+ thought the day was won about 2 o'clock; but about half past 3
+ o'clock a sudden change in the firing took place, which, to my ear,
+ was very ominous. I knew that the moment the shout went up from
+ the other side, there appeared to be an instantaneous change in the
+ whole sound of the battle. * * * That, as far as I can learn, was
+ the shout that went up from the Enemy's line when they found out
+ for certain that it was Johnston [Kirby Smith] and not Patterson,
+ that had come."]
+
+Meanwhile McDowell is making one more effort to retrieve the misfortunes
+of the day. Lawrence's 5th, and Clark's 11th Massachusetts, with
+Gorman's 1st Minnesota,--all belonging to Franklin's Brigade--together
+with Corcoran's 69th New York, of Sherman's Brigade, have been brought
+into line-of-battle, by the united efforts of Franklin, Averell, and
+other officers, at our centre, and with the remnants of two or three
+other regiments, are moving against the Enemy's centre, to support the
+attack of the Chasseurs-rallied and led forward again by Heintzelman
+upon the Rebel left, and that of the 38th New York upon the Rebel left
+centre,--in another effort to recapture the abandoned batteries.
+
+Charge after charge, is made by our gallant regiments, and counter-
+charge after counter-charge, is made by the fresh troops of the Enemy.
+For almost half an hour, has the contest over the batteries rolled
+backward and forward. Three several times have the batteries been
+taken, and re-taken,--much of the determined and desperate struggle
+going on, over the prostrate and bleeding bodies of the brave Union
+artillerists,--but without avail. Regiment after regiment, has been
+thrown back, by the deadly fusillade of the Enemy's musketry from the
+skirt of woods at his front and left, and the canister, case, and
+bursting shells, of his rapidly-served Artillery.
+
+It is now near upon 4 o'clock. Our last effort to recapture the
+batteries has failed. The Union line of advance has been seriously
+checked. Some of our own guns in those batteries are turned on us. The
+Enemy's Infantry make a rush over the blood-soaked brow of the fatal
+plateau, pouring into our men a deadly fire, as they advance,--while
+over to our right and rear, at the same moment, are seen the fresh
+regiments of Early's Brigade coming out of the woods--deploying rapidly
+in several lines--with Stuart's handful of Rebel Cavalry, while
+Beckham's guns, in the same quarter, open an oblique enfilading reverse
+fire upon us, in a lively manner.
+
+At once the minds of the fagged-out Union troops become filled with the
+dispiriting idea that the exhausting fight which they have made all day
+long, has been simply with Beauregard's Army of the Potomac, and that
+these fresh Rebel troops, on the Union right and rear, are the vanguard
+of Johnston's Army of the Shenandoah! After all the hard marching and
+fighting they have done during the last thirteen hours,--with empty
+stomachs, and parched lips, under a scorching sun that still, as it
+descends in the West, glowers down upon them, through the murky air,
+like a great, red, glaring eye,--the very thought is terrible!
+
+Without fear, yet equally without hope, the Union troops crumble to
+groups, and then to individuals. The attempt of McDowell to turn the
+left of the Enemy's Bull Run line, has failed.
+
+McDowell and his officers heroically but vainly strive, at great
+personal risk to themselves, to stem the tide of confusion, and
+disorder. Sykes's battalion of regulars, which has been at our left,
+now steadily moves obliquely across the field of battle toward our
+right, to a hill in the midground, which it occupies, and, with the aid
+of Arnold's Battery and Palmer's Cavalry, holds, while the exhausted and
+disorganized troops of the Union Army doggedly and slowly retire toward
+Sudley Ford, their rear covered by an irregular square of Infantry,
+which, mainly by the exertions of Colonel Corcoran, has been formed to
+resist a threatened charge of Stuart's Cavalry.
+
+ [At the rate of "not more than two, or two and a half, miles an
+ hour," and not "helter-skelter," as some narrators state.]
+
+It is not fear, that has got the better of our Union troops. It is
+physical exhaustion for one thing; it is thirst for another. Men must
+drink,--even if they have foolishly thrown away their canteens,--and
+many have retired to get water. It is the moral effect also--the
+terrible disappointment--of seeing what they suppose are Johnston's
+fresh troops from the Shenandoah Valley, without Patterson "on their
+heels," suddenly appear on their flank and rear. It is not fear; though
+some of them are panic-stricken, and, as they catch sight of Stuart's
+mounted men,--no black horse or uniform among them,--raise the cry of
+"The Black Horse Cavalry!--The Black Horse Cavalry!"
+
+The Union attack has been repulsed, it is true; but the Union soldiers,
+though disorganized, discouraged, and disappointed, are not dismayed.
+Their officers not yet having learned how to fight, and themselves
+lacking the cohesion of discipline, the men have lost their regimental
+organizations, and owing to the causes mentioned, slowly retire across
+Sudley Ford of Bull Run, in a condition of disintegration, their retreat
+being bravely covered by the 27th and 69th New York, (which have rallied
+and formed there), Sykes's Infantry battalion, Arnold's Battery, and
+Palmer's Cavalry.
+
+ [In his report to Major Barnard, Capt. D. P. Woodbury, of the
+ corps of Engineers, says: "It is not for me to give a history of
+ the battle. The Enemy was driven on our left, from cover to cover,
+ a mile and a half. Our position for renewing the action the next
+ morning was excellent; whence, then, our failure? It will not be
+ out of place, I hope, for me to give my own opinion of the cause of
+ this failure. An old soldier feels safe in the ranks, unsafe out
+ of the ranks, and the greater the danger the more pertinaciously he
+ clings to his place. The volunteer of three months never attains
+ this instinct of discipline. Under danger, and even under mere
+ excitement, he flies away from his ranks, and looks for safety in
+ dispersion. At four o'clock in the afternoon of the 21st, there
+ were more than twelve thousand volunteers on the battle-field of
+ Bull Run, who had entirely lost their regimental organizations.
+ They could no longer be handled as troops, for the officers and men
+ were not together. Men and officers mingled together
+ promiscuously; and it is worthy of remark that this disorganization
+ did not result from defeat or fear, for up to four o'clock we had
+ been uniformly successful. The instinct of discipline, which keeps
+ every man in his place, had not been acquired. We cannot suppose
+ that the troops of the Enemy had attained a higher degree of
+ discipline than our own, but they acted on the defensive, and were
+ not equally exposed to disorganization."]
+
+While the divisions of Hunter and Heintzelman, which came down in the
+morning across Sudley Ford, are now, with one brigade (Sherman's) of
+Tyler's Division, retiring again, in this disordered condition, by that
+ford; two other brigades of Tyler's Division, viz., that of Schenck--
+which, at 4 o'clock, was just in the act of advancing upon, and across,
+the Stone Bridge, to join in the Union attack, and of Keyes, which was,
+at the same time, just succeeding in its effort to turn the right flank
+of the Enemy's third new line,--are withdrawing from the field, across
+Bull Run stream, by the Warrenton Pike, and other roads leading them
+directly toward Centreville. The brigades of both Keyes and Schenck are
+retiring in good order; that of Keyes, at "an ordinary pace," following
+close after McDowell, who, with his staff, has ridden across the
+battlefield and Bull Run; while part of that of Schenck, united with the
+2nd Maine (of Keyes' Brigade) and Ayres's Battery, "promptly and
+effectively" repulses a charge of the Enemy's Cavalry, and covers the
+rear of Tyler's Division. Both of these brigades reach Centreville,
+hungry and weary, but otherwise, for the most part, in good shape.
+
+But during this grand all-day attack, by two of McDowell's divisions,
+directly aided by part of a third, upon the left of the Enemy's original
+Bull Run line of defense--which attack, while it has failed in its
+purpose, has also utterly upset and defeated the Enemy's purpose to
+carry out Beauregard's plan of attacking Centreville that same morning--
+what has the Left Wing of McDowell's Army been doing? Let us go back to
+Sunday morning, and ascertain:
+
+All the Army of McDowell, save his Left Wing--which, comprising the two
+brigades (Blenker's and Davies's) of Miles's Division, and Richardson's
+Brigade of Tyler's Division that fought the preliminary battle of
+Blackburn's Ford, is now under the command of Miles,--moved away from
+Centreville, down the Warrenton Pike, as we have seen, very early in the
+morning.
+
+Blenker remains with his brigade as a reserve, on the heights a little
+East of Centreville, to throw up intrenchments; which, however, he does
+not do, for lack of trenching implements. Richardson and Davies are to
+make a feint, at Blackburn's Ford, so as to draw the Enemy's troops
+there, while the heavy blow of McDowell's Right Wing and Centre falls
+upon the left flank and rear of the Enemy's Bull Run line.
+
+Richardson's Brigade is already down the ridge, in his old position at
+Blackburn's Ford, when Davies with his brigade reaches it, from
+Centreville, and, by virtue of seniority, takes command of the two
+brigades. Leaving Richardson's Brigade and Greene's Battery exactly on
+the battle-ground of the 18th July, Davies posts two regiments (the 18th
+and 32nd New York) of his own brigade, with Hunt's Battery, on the brow
+of a hill, in an open wheat field, some eighty yards to the South-
+Eastward of Richardson, distant some 1,500 yards from Longstreet's
+batteries on the Western side of Bull Run,--and commences a rapid fire,
+upon the Enemy's position at Blackburn's Ford, from both of the Union
+batteries.
+
+At 10 o'clock, there is a lull in this Union fire. The Artillery
+ammunition is running short. The demonstration, however, seems, thus
+far, to be successful--judging by the movement of Rebel troops toward
+Blackburn's Ford. The lull continues until 11 o'clock. At that time
+Miles arrives at his front, in a towering rage.
+
+On his way down the ridge, that morning, early, Davies had made a
+discovery. While passing a roadway, his guide had casually remarked:
+"There is a road that leads around to the Enemy's camp, direct." "Ah!"
+--said Davies--"and can they get through that road?" "Oh, yes," replied
+the guide. Davies had at once halted, and, after posting his 16th and
+31st New York Regiments, with two guns of Hunt's Battery, near this
+road, at its junction with the ridge road running up to Centreville and
+Black burn's Ford, had proceeded, with the rest of his regiments and
+guns, to the position where Miles finds him.
+
+But Miles has discovered what Davies has done, in this matter of the
+flanking roadway; and--without knowing, or apparently caring to know,
+the reason underlying the posting of the two regiments and two guns in
+its vicinity,--flies into "a terrible passion" because of it; in "no
+very measured language," gives Davies "a severe dressing down;" and
+orders him to bring both regiments and guns down to the front. Davies
+complies, and says nothing. Miles also orders him to continue the
+firing from his batteries, without regard to the quantity of ammunition.
+This order, also, Davies obeys--and the firing proceeds, for two solid
+hours, until another order comes, about 1 o'clock P.M., to stop firing.
+
+The fact is, that Miles is not at all himself--but is suffering under
+such a strain of mental excitement, he afterward claims, that he is not
+responsible.
+
+Miles, however, returns to Centreville about noon; and no sooner is he
+gone, than Davies at once sends back pioneers to obstruct that road
+which would bring the Enemy around his left flank and rear, to
+Centreville. These, work so industriously, that they cut down a quarter
+of a mile of trees, and block the road up completely. Davies also posts
+a few pickets there, in case of accidents. It is well he does so. It
+is not long before the Enemy makes an attempt to get around to his rear,
+by that road; but, finding it both obstructed and picketed, retires
+again. Davies does not see the Rebels making that attempt, but catches
+sight of them on their return, and gives them a severe shelling for
+their pains.
+
+Davies keeps up his firing, more or less-according to the condition of
+the Enemy and of his own ammunition--until 4 o'clock, when the firing
+occasioned by the Union flanking movement, six miles to his right,
+ceases. Then there reaches him a note from Richardson, so badly
+penciled that he can only make out the one word "beaten,"--but cannot,
+for the life of him, make out, whether the beaten one is our Right Wing,
+or the Enemy!
+
+Of what followed, he tells the story himself,--under oath, before the
+Committee on the Conduct of the War--so graphically, that the temptation
+to give it, in his own words, is irresistible. "I saw unmistakable
+evidence," said he, "that we were going to be attacked on our Left Wing.
+I got all ready for the attack, but did not change my front.
+
+"About 5 o'clock, I think, the Rebels made their appearance back upon
+this very road up which they had gone before; but instead of keeping up
+the road, they turned past a farm-house, went through the farm-yard, and
+came down and formed right in front of me, in a hollow, out of my sight.
+Well, I let them all come down there, keeping a watch upon their
+movements. I told the Artillery not to fire any shot at them until they
+saw the rear column go down, so as to get them all down in the little
+hollow or basin, there. There was a little basin there, probably a
+quarter of a mile every way. I should think that, maybe, 3,000 men
+filed down, before I changed front.
+
+"We lay there, with two regiments back, and the Artillery in front,
+facing Bull Run. As soon as about 3,000 of the Enemy got down in this
+basin, I changed the front of the Artillery around to the left, in face
+of the Enemy, and put a company of Infantry between each of the pieces
+of Artillery, and then deployed the balance of the regiments right and
+left, and made my line-of-battle.
+
+"I gave directions to the Infantry not to fire a shot, under any
+circumstances, until they got the word of command from me. I
+furthermore said I would shoot the first man that fired a shot before I
+gave the command to do so.
+
+"I gave them orders all to lie down on their faces. They, (the Rebels)
+were just over the brow of the hill, so that, if they came up in front
+of us, they could not hit a man.
+
+"As soon as I saw the rear column, I told * * * Lieutenant Benjamin to
+fire. * * * He fired the first shot when the rear column presented
+itself. It just went over their heads, and hit a horse and rider in
+their rear. As soon as the first shot was fired, I gave the order for
+the whole six pieces of Artillery to open with grape and canister. The
+effect was terrible. They were all there, right before us, about 450
+yards off, and had not suspected that we were going to fire at all,
+though they did not know what the reason was. Hunt's Battery (belonging
+to Richardson--who had by mistake got Greene's) performed so well, that,
+in thirty minutes, we dispersed every one of them!
+
+"I do not know how many were killed, but we so crippled their entire
+force that they never came after us an inch. A man, who saw the effect
+of the firing, in the valley, said it was just like firing into a wheat
+field; the column gave way at once, before the grape and canister; they
+were just within available distance. I knew very well that if they but
+got into that basin, the first fire would cut them all to pieces; and it
+did. We continued to fire for thirty minutes, when there was nothing
+more to fire at, and no more shots were returned."
+
+At a later hour--while remaining victorious at their well defended
+position, with the Enemy at their front, dispersed and silenced,--these
+two brigades of the Left Wing, receive orders to fall back on
+Centreville, and encamp. With the brigade of Richardson, and Greene's
+Battery in advance, Davies's own brigade and Hunt's Battery following,
+they fall back on the heights of Centreville "without the least
+confusion and in perfect order"--reaching them at 7 P.M.
+
+Meantime Miles has been relieved from command, and McDowell has ordered
+Blenker's Brigade to take position a mile or more in advance of
+Centreville, toward Bull Run, on both sides of the Warrenton Pike, to
+protect the retreat, now being made, in "a few collected bodies," but
+mainly in great disorder--owing partly to the baggage-wagons choking the
+road, along which both venturesome civilians and fagged-out troops are
+retreating upon Centreville. This confused retreat passes through
+Blenker's lines until 9 o'clock P.M.--and then, all is secure.
+
+At midnight, McDowell has decided to make no stand at Centreville, but
+to retire upon the defensive works at Washington. The order to retreat,
+is given, and, with the rear well guarded by Richardson's and Blenker's
+Brigades, is carried out, the van of the retreat, with no Enemy
+pursuing, degenerating finally into a "mob," which carries more or less
+panic into Washington itself, as well as terrible disappointment and
+chagrin to all the Loyal States of the Union.
+
+Knowing what we now do, concerning the Battle of Bull Run, it is
+somewhat surprising, at this day, to read the dispatches sent by
+McDowell to General Scott's headquarters at Washington, immediately
+after it. They are in these words:
+
+ "CENTREVILLE, July 21, 1861--5:45 P.M.
+
+"We passed Bull Run, engaged the Enemy, who, it seems, had just been
+re-enforced by General Johnston. We drove them for several hours, and
+finally routed them."
+
+ ["No one who did not share in the sad experience will be able to
+ realize the consternation which the news of this discomfiture--
+ grossly exaggerated--diffused over the loyal portion of our
+ Country. Only the tidings which had reached Washington up to four
+ o'clock--all presaging certain and decisive victory--were permitted
+ to go North by telegraph that day and evening; so that, on Monday
+ morning, when the crowd of fugitives from our grand Army was
+ pouring into Washington, a heedless, harmless, worthless mob, the
+ Loyal States were exulting over accounts of a decisive triumph.
+ But a few hours brought different advices; and these were as much
+ worse than the truth as the former had been better: our Army had
+ been utterly destroyed-cut to pieces, with a loss of twenty-five to
+ thirty thousand men, besides all its artillery and munitions, and
+ Washington lay at the mercy of the Enemy, who were soon to advance
+ to the capture and sack of our great commercial cities. Never
+ before had so black a day as that black Monday lowered upon the
+ loyal hearts of the North; and the leaden, weeping skies reflected
+ and heightened, while they seemed to sympathize with, the general
+ gloom. It would have been easy, with ordinary effort and care, to
+ have gathered and remanded to their camps or forts around
+ Alexandria or Arlington, all the wretched stragglers to whom fear
+ had lent wings, and who, throwing away their arms and equipments,
+ and abandoning all semblance of Military order or discipline, had
+ rushed to the Capital to hide therein their shame, behind a cloud
+ of exaggerations and falsehoods. The still effective batteries,
+ the solid battalions, that were then wending their way slowly back
+ to their old encampments along the South bank of the Potomac,
+ depressed but unshaken, dauntless and utterly unassailed, were
+ unseen and unheard from; while the panic-stricken racers filled and
+ distended the general ear with their tales of impregnable
+ intrenchments and masked batteries, of regiments slaughtered,
+ brigades utterly cut to pieces, etc., making out their miserable
+ selves to be about all that was left of the Army. That these men
+ were allowed thus to straggle into Washington, instead of being
+ peremptorily stopped at the bridges and sent back to the
+ encampments of their several regiments, is only to be accounted for
+ on the hypothesis that the reason of our Military magnates had been
+ temporarily dethroned, so as to divest them of all moral
+ responsibility," Greeley's Am. Conflict, pp. 552-53., vol. I.]
+
+"They rallied and repulsed us, but only to give us again the victory,
+which seemed complete. But our men, exhausted with fatigue and thirst,
+and confused by firing into each other, were attacked by the Enemy's
+reserves, and driven from the position we had gained, overlooking
+Manassas. After this, the men could not be rallied, but slowly left the
+field. In the meantime the Enemy outflanked Richardson at Blackburn's
+Ford, and we have now to hold Centreville till our men can get behind
+it. Miles's Division is holding the town. It is reported that Colonel
+Cameron is killed, Hunter and Heintzelman wounded, neither dangerously.
+ "IRWIN MCDOWELL,
+ "Brigadier-General, Commanding.
+
+"Lieutenant-Colonel TOWNSEND."
+
+
+ "FAIRFAX COURT HOUSE, July 21, 1861.
+
+"The men having thrown away their haversacks in the battle, and left
+them behind, they are without food; have eaten nothing since breakfast.
+We are without artillery ammunition. The larger part of the men are a
+confused mob, entirely demoralized. It was the opinion of all the
+commanders that no stand could be made this side of the Potomac. We
+will, however, make the attempt at Fairfax Court House. From a prisoner
+we learn that 20,000 from Johnston joined last night, and they march on
+us to-night.
+ "IRWIN MCDOWELL.
+
+"Colonel TOWNSEND"
+
+
+ "FAIRFAX COURT HOUSE, [July] 22, 1861.
+
+"Many of the volunteers did not wait for authority to proceed to the
+Potomac, but left on their own decision. They are now pouring through
+this place in a state of utter disorganization. They could not be
+prepared for action by to-morrow morning even were they willing. I
+learn from prisoners that we are to be pressed here to-night and
+tomorrow morning, as the Enemy's force is very large, and they are
+elated. I think we heard cannon on our rear-guard. I think now, as all
+of my commanders thought at Centreville, there is no alternative but to
+fall back to the Potomac, and I shall proceed to do so with as much
+regularity as possible.
+ "IRWIN MCDOWELL.
+
+"Colonel TOWNSEND."
+
+
+ "ARLINGTON, July 22, 1861.
+
+"I avail myself of the re-establishing of telegraph to report my
+arrival. When I left the forks of the Little River turnpike and
+Columbia turnpike, where I had been for a couple of hours turning
+stragglers and parties of regiments upon this place and Alexandria, I
+received intelligence that the rear-guard, under Colonel Richardson, had
+left Fairfax Court House, and was getting along well. Had not been
+attacked. I am now trying to get matters a little organized over here.
+ "IRWIN MCDOWELL.
+ "Brigadier-General.
+"E. D. TOWNSEND."
+
+
+McDowell had unquestionably been repulsed, in his main attack, with his
+Right Wing, and much of his Army was badly demoralized; but, on the
+other hand, it may be well to repeat that the Enemy's plan of attack
+that same morning had been frustrated, and most of his forces so badly
+shattered and demoralized that he dared not follow up the advantage
+which, more by our own blunders than by his prowess, he had gained.
+
+If the Union forces--or at least the Right Wing of them--were whipped,
+the Enemy also was whipped. Jackson himself confesses that while he
+had, at the last moment, broken our centre, our forces had turned both
+of his flanks. The Enemy was, in fact, so badly used up, that he not
+only dared not pursue us to Washington--as he would have down had he
+been able--but he was absolutely afraid McDowell would resume the
+attack, on the right of the original Bull Run line, that very night!
+For, in a letter to General Beauregard; dated Richmond, Virginia, August
+4, 1861, Jefferson Davis,--who was on the ground at Bull Run, July
+21st,--alluding to the Battle of Bull Run, and Beauregard's excuses for
+not pursuing the Union troops, says:
+
+"I think you are unjust to yourself in putting your failure to pursue
+the Enemy to Washington, to the account of short supplies of subsistence
+and transportation. Under the circumstances of our Army, and in the
+absence of the knowledge since acquired--if, indeed, the statements be
+true--it would have been extremely hazardous to have done more than was
+performed. You will not fail to remember that, so far from knowing that
+the Enemy was routed, a large part of our forces was moved by you, in
+the night of the 21st, to repel a supposed attack upon our right, and
+the next day's operations did not fully reveal what has since been
+reported of the Enemy's panic."
+
+And Jefferson Davis's statement is corroborated by the Report of Colonel
+Withers, of the 18th Virginia, who, after starting with other regiments,
+in an attempt to cut off the Union retreat, was recalled to the Stone
+Bridge,--and who says: "Before reaching the point we designed to occupy
+(near the Stone Bridge) we were met by another order to march
+immediately to Manassas Junction, as an attack was apprehended that
+night. Although it was now after sunset, and my men had had no food all
+day, when the command to march to Manassas was given, they cheerfully
+took the route to that place."
+
+Colonel Davies, who, as we have seen, commanded McDowell's stubborn Left
+Wing, was after all, not far wrong, when, in his testimony before the
+Committee on the Conduct of the War, he declared, touching the story of
+the Bull Run Battle: "It ought to have read that we were victorious with
+the 13,000 troops of the Left Wing, and defeated in the 18,000 of the
+Right Wing. That is all that Bull Run amounts to."
+
+In point of fact, the Battle of Bull Run--the first pitched battle of
+the War--was a drawn battle.
+
+War was now fully inaugurated--Civil War--a stupendous War between two
+great Sections of one common Country; those of our People, on the one
+side, fighting for the dissolution of the Union--and incidentally for
+Free Trade, and for Slavery; those on the other side, fighting for the
+preservation of the Union--and incidentally for Protection to our Free
+Industries, and for the Freedom of the Slave.
+
+As soon as the Republican Party controlled both Houses of Congress it
+provided Protection to our Free Industries, and to the Free Labor
+engaged in them, by the Morill Tariff Act of 1860--the foundation Act of
+all subsequent enactments on the subject. In subsequent pages of this
+work we shall see how the Freedom of the Slave was also accomplished by
+the same great Party.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XIV.
+
+ THE COLORED CONTRABAND.
+
+When the first gun was fired at Fort Sumter, its sullen echoes sounded
+the funeral knell of Slavery. Years before, it had been foretold, and
+now it was to happen. Years before, it bad been declared, by competent
+authority, that among the implications of the Constitution was that of
+the power of the General Government to Emancipate the Slaves, as a War
+measure. Hence, in thus commencing the War of the Rebellion, the South
+marched with open eyes upon this, as among other of the legitimate and
+logical results of such a War.
+
+Patrick Henry, in opposing the ratification by Virginia of the Federal
+Constitution, had declared to the Slaveholders of that State that "Among
+ten thousand implied powers" which Congress may assume, "they may, if we
+be engaged in War, liberate every one of your Slaves, if they please, *
+* * Have they not power to provide for the General Defense and Welfare?
+May they not think that these call for the abolition of Slavery? May
+they not pronounce all Slaves Free? and will they not be warranted by
+that power? * * * They have the power, in clear, unequivocal terms,
+and will clearly and certainly exercise it."
+
+So, too, in his great speech of May 25, 1836, in the House of
+Representatives, John Quincy Adams had declared that in "the last great
+conflict which must be fought between Slavery and Emancipation,"
+Congress "must and will interfere" with Slavery, "and they will not only
+possess the Constitutional power so to interfere, but they will be bound
+in duty to do it, by the express provisions of the Constitution itself."
+And he followed this declaration with the equally emphatic words: "From
+the instant that your Slave-holding States become the theatre of War-
+civil, servile, or foreign--from that instant, the War powers of
+Congress extend to interference with the Institution of Slavery in every
+Way by which it can be interfered with."
+
+The position thus announced by these expounders of the Constitution--the
+one from Virginia, the other from Massachusetts--was not to be shaken
+even by the unanimous adoption, February 11, 1861, by the House of
+Representatives on roll call, of the resolution of Mr. Sherman, of Ohio,
+in these words:
+
+"Resolved, That neither the Congress of the United States nor the people
+or governments of the non-Slaveholding States have the Constitutional
+right to legislate upon or interfere with Slavery in any of the
+Slaveholding States in the Union."
+
+Ex-President J. Q. Adams's cogent exposition of the Constitution,
+twenty-five years before, in that same House, demonstrating not only
+that Congress had the right but the Constitutional power to so
+interfere--and his further demonstration April 15, 1842, of his
+statement that under the laws of War, "when a Country is invaded, and
+two hostile armies are set in martial array, the Commanders of both
+Armies have power to Emancipate all the Slaves in the invaded
+territory"--as not to be overcome by a mere vote of one House, however
+unanimous. For the time being, however, it contributed, with other
+circumstances, to confuse the public mind and conscience. Indeed as
+early as May of 1861, the attitude of our Government and its troops
+toward Negro Slaves owned or used by Rebels in rebellious States, began
+to perturb the public, bother the Administration, and worry the Military
+officers.
+
+For instance, in Major-General McClellan's proclamation to the Union men
+of West Virginia, issued May 26, 1861, he said:
+
+"The General Government cannot close its ears to the demand you have
+made for assistance. I have ordered troops to cross the river. They
+come as your friends and brothers--as enemies only to armed Rebels, who
+are preying upon you; your homes, your families, and your property are
+safe under our protection. All your rights shall be religiously
+respected, notwithstanding all that has been said by the Traitors to
+induce you to believe our advent among you will be signalized by an
+interference with your Slaves. Understand one thing clearly: not only
+will we abstain from all such interference, but we will, on the
+contrary, with an iron hand crush any attempt at insurrection on their
+part."
+
+On the other hand, the very next day, May 27, 1861, Major-General
+Butler, in command of the "Department of A Virginia," wrote to
+Lieutenant-General Scott as follows:
+
+"Since I wrote my last dispatch the question in regard to Slave property
+is becoming one of very serious magnitude. The inhabitants of Virginia
+are using their Negroes in the batteries, and are preparing to send the
+women and children South. The escapes from them are very numerous, and
+a squad has come in this morning to my pickets bringing their women and
+children. Of course these cannot be dealt with upon the theory on which
+I designed to treat the services of able-bodied men and women who might
+come within my lines, and of which I gave you a detailed account in my
+last dispatch. I am in the utmost doubt what to do with this species of
+Property.
+
+"Up to this time I have had come within my lines men and women with
+their children, entire families, each family belonging to the same
+owner. I have, therefore, determined to employ, as I can do very
+profitably, the able-bodied persons in the party, issuing proper food
+for the support of all, and charging against their services the expense
+of care and sustenance of the non-laborers, keeping a strict and
+accurate account as well of the services as of the expenditure, having
+the worth of the services, and the cost of the expenditure, determined
+by a Board of Survey, to be hereafter detailed. I know of no other
+manner in which to dispose of this subject and the questions connected
+therewith.
+
+"As a matter of Property to the Insurgents, it will be of very great
+moment, the number that I now have amounting, as I am informed, to what,
+in good times, would be of the value of sixty thousand dollars. Twelve
+of these Negroes, I am informed, have escaped from the batteries on
+Sewall's Point, which, this morning, fired upon my expedition as it
+passed by out of range. As a means of offense, therefore, in the
+Enemy's hands, these Negroes, when able-bodied, are of the last
+importance. Without them the batteries could not have been erected, at
+least for many weeks.
+
+"As a Military question it would seem to be a measure of necessity to
+deprive their masters of their services. How can this be done? As a
+political question and a question of humanity, can I receive the
+services of a father and mother, and not take the children? Of the
+humanitarian aspect I have no doubt. Of the political one I have no
+right to judge. I therefore submit all this to your better judgment,
+and as the questions have a political aspect, I have ventured, and I
+trust I am not wrong in so doing, to duplicate the parts of my dispatch
+relating to this subject, and forward them to the Secretary of War."
+
+In reply to the duplicate copy of this letter received by him, Secretary
+Cameron thus answered:
+
+ "WASHINGTON, May 30, 1861.
+
+"SIR: Your action in respect to the Negroes who came within your lines
+from the service of the Rebels is approved. The Department is sensible
+of the embarrassments which must surround officers conducting Military
+operations in a State by the laws of which Slavery is sanctioned.
+
+"The Government cannot recognize the rejection by any State of the
+Federal obligations, nor can it refuse the performance of the Federal
+obligations resting upon itself. Among these Federal obligations,
+however, none can be more important than that of suppressing and
+dispersing armed combinations formed for the purpose of overthrowing its
+whole Constitutional authority.
+
+"While, therefore, you will permit no interference by the persons under
+your command, with the relations of Persons held to Service under the
+laws of any State, you will, on the other hand, so long as any State,
+within which your Military operations are conducted, is under the
+control of such armed combinations, refrain from surrendering to alleged
+masters any Person who may come within your lines.
+
+"You will employ such Persons in the services to which they may be best
+adapted, keeping an account of the labor by them performed, of the value
+of it, and the expenses of their maintenance. The question of their
+final disposition will be reserved for future determination.
+
+ "SIMON CAMERON,
+ "Secretary of War.
+
+"To Major General BUTLER."
+
+
+Great tenderness, however, was exhibited by many of the Union Generals
+for the doomed Institution. On June 3, 1861, from Chambersburg, Pa., a
+proclamation signed "By order of Major General Patterson, F. J. Porter,
+Asst. Adj. General," was issued from "Headquarters Department of
+Pennsylvania," "To the United States troops of this Department," in
+which they are admonished "that, in the coming campaign in Virginia,
+while it is your duty to punish Sedition, you must protect the Loyal,
+and, should the occasion offer, at once suppress Servile Insurrection."
+
+
+"General Orders No. 33," issued from "Headquarters Department of
+Washington," July 17, 1861, "By command of Brigadier General Mansfield,
+Theo. Talbot, Assistant Adjutant General," were to this effect:
+"Fugitive Slaves will under no pretext whatever, be permitted to reside,
+or be in any way harbored, in the quarters or camps of the troops
+serving in this Department. Neither will such Slaves be allowed to
+accompany troops on the march. Commanders of troops will be held
+responsible for a strict observance of this order." And early in August
+a Military order was issued at Washington "that no Negroes, without
+sufficient evidence of their being Free or of their right to travel, are
+permitted to leave the city upon the cars."
+
+But Bull Run did much to settle the Military as well as public mind in
+proper grooves on this subject.
+
+Besides employing Negro Slaves to aid Rebellion, by the digging of
+ditches, the throwing up of intrenchments, and the erection of
+batteries, their Rebel masters placed in their hands arms with which to
+shoot down Union soldiers at the Battle of Bull Run, which, as we have
+seen, occurred on Sunday, July 21, 1861--and resulted in a check to the
+Union Cause.
+
+The terror and confusion and excitement already referred to, that
+prevailed in Washington all that night and the next day, as the panic-
+stricken crowd of soldiers and civilians poured over the Long Bridge,
+footsore with running, faint with weariness, weak with hunger, and
+parched with thirst and the dust of the rout, can hardly be described.
+
+But, however panicky the general condition of the inhabitants of the
+National Capital, the Congress bravely maintained its equanimity.
+
+In the Senate, on the day following the disaster, a bill touching the
+Confiscation of Property used for insurrectionary purposes being up for
+consideration, the following amendment was offered to it:
+
+"And be it further enacted, That whenever any person claiming to be
+entitled to the Service or Labor of any other Person under the laws of
+any State, shall employ such Person in aiding or promoting any
+Insurrection, or in resisting the Laws of the United States, or shall
+permit him to be so employed, he shall forfeit all right to such Service
+or Labor, and the Person whose Labor or Service is thus claimed shall be
+thenceforth discharged therefrom, any law to the contrary
+notwithstanding."
+
+This amendment, emancipating Slaves employed by their masters to aid
+Rebellion, was adopted by 33 yeas to 6 nays.
+
+As showing the feeling expressed right upon the very heels of what
+seemed to be a great disaster, and when rumor, at any rate, placed the
+victorious Enemy at the very gates of the Capital City, a few lines from
+the debate may be interesting.
+
+Mr. Trumbull said: "I am glad the yeas and nays have been called to let
+us see who is willing to vote that the Traitorous owner of a Negro shall
+employ him to shoot down the Union men of the Country, and yet insist
+upon restoring him to the Traitor that owns him. I understand that
+Negroes were in the fight which has recently occurred. I take it that
+Negroes who are used to destroy the Union, and to shoot down the Union
+men by the consent of Traitorous masters, ought not to be restored to
+them. If the Senator from Kentucky is in favor of restoring them, let
+him vote against the amendment."
+
+Senator Wilson, of Massachusetts, said: "I shall vote with more heart
+than I vote for ordinary measures, for this proposition. I hope the
+Senate and the House of Representatives will sustain it, and that this
+Government will carry it out with an inflexibility that knows no change.
+The idea that men who are in arms destroying their Country shall be
+permitted to use others for that purpose, and that we shall stand by and
+issue orders to our Commanders, that we should disgrace our Cause and
+our Country, by returning such men to their Traitorous masters, ought
+not longer to be entertained. The time has come for that to cease; and,
+by the blessing of God, so far as I am concerned, I mean it shall cease.
+
+"If there is anybody in this Chamber that chooses to take the other
+path, let him do it; let him know what our purpose is. Our purpose is
+to save this Government and save this Country, and to put down Treason;
+and if Traitors use bondsmen to destroy this Country, my doctrine is
+that the Government shall at once convert these bondsmen into men that
+cannot be used to destroy our Country. I have no apologies to make for
+this position, I take it proudly.
+
+"I think the time has come when this Government, and the men who are in
+arms under the Government, should cease to return to Traitors their
+Fugitive Slaves, whom they are using to erect batteries to murder brave
+men who are fighting under the flag of their Country. The time has come
+when we should deal with the men who are organizing Negro companies, and
+teaching them to shoot down loyal men for the only offence of upholding
+the flag of their Country.
+
+"I hope further, Sir, that there is a public sentiment in this Country
+that will blast men who will rise, in the Senate or out it, to make
+apologies for Treason, or to defend or to maintain the doctrine that
+this Government is bound to protect Traitors in converting their Slaves
+into tools for the destruction of the Republic."
+
+Senator McDougall, of California, said: "I regard this as a Confiscation
+for Treason, and I am for the proposition."
+
+Mr. Ten Eyck, said: "No longer ago than Saturday last I voted in the
+Judiciary Committee against this amendment, for two reasons: First, I
+did not believe that persons in Rebellion against this Government would
+make use of such means as the employment of Persons held to Labor or
+Service, in their Armies; secondly, because I did not know what was to
+become of these poor wretches if they were discharged. God knows we do
+not want them in our Section of the Union. But, Sir, having learned and
+believing that these persons have been employed with arms in their hands
+to shed the blood of the Union-loving men of this Country, I shall now
+vote in favor of that amendment with less regard to what may become of
+these people than I had on Saturday. I will merely instance that there
+is a precedent for this. If I recollect history aright, General
+Jackson, in the Seminole War, declared that every Slave who was taken in
+arms against the United States should be set Free,"
+
+So, too, in the House of Representatives, the retrograde of a badly
+demoralized Army, its routed fragments still coming in with alarming
+stories of a pursuing Enemy almost at the gates of the city, had no
+terrors for our legislators; and there was something of Roman dignity,
+patriotism, and courage, in the adoption, on that painfully memorable
+Blue Monday, (the first--[Offered by Mr. Crittenden, of Kentucky]--with
+only two dissenting votes, on a yea and nay vote; and, the second--
+[Offered by Mr. Vandever, of Iowa.]--with entire unanimity) of the
+following Resolutions:
+
+"Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United
+States, That the present deplorable Civil War has been forced upon the
+Country by the Disunionists of the Southern States, now in arms against
+the Constitutional Government, and in arms around the Capital; that in
+this National emergency, Congress, banishing all feelings of mere
+passion or resentment, will recollect only its duty to the whole
+Country; that this War is not waged on their part in any spirit of
+oppression, or for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, or purpose of
+overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established Institutions
+of those States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the
+Constitution, and to preserve the Union with all the dignity, equality,
+and rights of the several States unimpaired; and that as soon as these
+objects are accomplished, the War ought to cease."
+
+"Resolved, That the maintenance of the Constitution, the preservation of
+the Union, and the enforcement of the Laws, are sacred trusts which must
+be executed; that no disaster shall discourage us from the most ample
+performance of this high duty; and that we pledge to the Country and the
+World, the employment of every resource, National and individual, for
+the suppression, overthrow, and punishment of Rebels in arms."
+
+The first of these Resolutions was intended to calm the fears of the
+Border States--excited by Rebel emissaries; the second, to restore
+confidence and courage to the patriot hearts of Union-men, everywhere.
+Both were effectual.
+
+And here it will hardly be amiss to glance, for an instant, toward the
+Senate Chamber; and especially at one characteristic incident. It was
+the afternoon of August the 1st, 1861,--scarce ten days since the check
+to the Union arms at Bull Run; and Breckinridge, of Kentucky, not yet
+expelled from the United States Senate, was making in that Body his
+great speech against the "Insurrection and Sedition Bill," and upon "the
+sanctity of the Constitution."
+
+Baker, of Oregon,--who, as Sumner afterward said: "with a zeal that
+never tired, after recruiting men drawn by the attraction of his name,
+in New York and Philadelphia and elsewhere, held his Brigade in camp,
+near the Capitol, so that he passed easily from one to the other, and
+thus alternated the duties of a Senator and a General," having reached
+the Capitol, direct from his Brigade-camp, entered the Senate Chamber,
+in his uniform, while Breckinridge was speaking.
+
+When the Kentucky Senator "with Treason in his heart, if not on his
+lips," resumed his seat, the gray-haired soldier-Senator at once rose to
+reply. "He began,"--said Charles Sumner, in alluding to the incident--
+"simply and calmly; but as he proceeded, his fervid soul broke forth in
+words of surpassing power. As on a former occasion he had presented the
+well-ripened fruits of study, so now he spoke with the spontaneous
+utterance of his own mature and exuberant eloquence--meeting the
+polished Traitor at every point with weapons keener and brighter than
+his own."
+
+After demolishing Breckinridge's position touching the alleged
+Unconstitutionality of the measure, and characterzing his other
+utterances as "reproof, malediction, and prediction combined," the
+Patriot from the Far-West turned with rising voice and flashing eye upon
+the gloomy Kentuckian:
+
+"I would ask him," said he, "what would you have us do now--a
+Confederate Army within twenty miles of us, advancing, or threatening to
+advance, to overwhelm your Government; to shake the pillars of the
+Union, to bring it around your head, if you stay here, in ruins? Are we
+to stop and talk about an uprising sentiment in the North against the
+War? Are we to predict evil, and retire from what we predict? Is it
+not the manly part to go on as we have begun, to raise money, and levy
+Armies, to organize them, to prepare to advance; when we do advance, to
+regulate that advance by all the laws and regulations that civilization
+and humanity will allow in time of battle? Can we do anything more? To
+talk to us about stopping, is idle; we will never stop. Will the
+Senator yield to Rebellion? Will he shrink from armed Insurrection?
+Will his State justify it? Will its better public opinion allow it?
+Shall we send a flag of Truce? What would he have? Or would he conduct
+this War so feebly, that the whole World would smile at us in derision?"
+
+And then cried the orator-his voice rising to a higher key, penetrating,
+yet musical as the blast from a silver trumpet: "What would he have?
+These speeches of his, sown broadcast over the Land, what clear distinct
+meaning have they? Are they not intended for disorganization in our
+very midst? Are they not intended to dull our weapons? Are they not
+intended to destroy our zeal? Are they not intended to animate our
+enemies? Sir, are they not words of brilliant, polished Treason, even
+in the very Capitol of the Nation?
+
+"What would have been thought, if, in another Capitol, in another
+Republic, in a yet more martial age, a Senator as grave, not more
+eloquent or dignified than the Senator from Kentucky, yet with the Roman
+purple flowing over his shoulder, had risen in his place, surrounded by
+all the illustrations of Roman glory, and declared that the cause of
+advancing Hannibal was just, and that Carthage ought to be dealt with in
+terms of peace? What would have been thought if, after the battle of
+Cannae, a Senator there had risen in his place and denounced every levy
+of the Roman People, every expenditure of its treasure, and every appeal
+to the old recollections and the old glories?"
+
+The speaker paused. The sudden and intent silence was broken by another
+voice: "He would have been hurled from the Tarpeian rock."
+
+"Sir," continued the soldier-orator, "a Senator, himself learned far
+more than myself in such lore, [Mr. Fessenden,] tells me, in a voice
+that I am glad is audible, that he would have been hurled from the
+Tarpeian Rock! It is a grand commentary upon the American Constitution
+that we permit these words [Senator Breckinridge's] to be uttered.
+
+"I ask the Senator to recollect, too, what, save to send aid and comfort
+to the Enemy, do these predictions of his amount to? Every word thus
+uttered falls as a note of inspiration upon every Confederate ear.
+Every sound thus uttered is a word, (and, falling from his lips, a
+mighty word) of kindling and triumph to a Foe that determines to
+advance.
+
+"For me, I have no such word as a Senator, to utter. For me"--and here
+his eyes flashed again while his martial voice rang like a clarion-call
+to battle--"amid temporary defeat, disaster, disgrace, it seems that my
+duty calls me to utter another word, and that word is, bold, sudden,
+forward, determined, WAR, according to the laws of War, by Armies, by
+Military Commanders clothed with full power, advancing with all the past
+glories of the Republic urging them on to conquest!
+
+ * * * * * *
+
+"I tell the Senator," continued the inspired Patriot, "that his
+predictions, sometimes for the South, sometimes for the Middle States,
+sometimes for the North-East, and then wandering away in airy visions
+out to the Far Pacific, about the dread of our people, as for loss of
+blood and treasure, provoking them to Disloyalty, are false in
+sentiment, false in fact, and false in Loyalty. The Senator from
+Kentucky is mistaken in them all.
+
+"Five hundred million dollars! What then? Great Britain gave more than
+two thousand million in the great Battle for Constitutional Liberty
+which she led at one time almost single-handed against the World. Five
+hundred thousand men! What then? We have them; they are ours; they are
+the children of the Country; they belong to the whole Country; they are
+our sons; our kinsmen; and there are many of us who will give them all
+up before we will abate one word of our just demand, or will retreat one
+inch from the line which divides right from wrong.
+
+"Sir, it is not a question of men or of money in that sense. All the
+money, all the men, are, in our judgment, well bestowed in such a cause.
+When we give them, we know their value. Knowing their value well, we
+give them with the more pride and the, more joy. Sir, how can we
+retreat? Sir, how can we make Peace? Who shall treat? What
+Commissioners? Who would go? Upon what terms? Where is to be your
+boundary line? Where the end of the principles we shall have to give
+up? What will become of Constitutional Government? What will become of
+public Liberty? What of past glories? What of future hopes?
+
+"Shall we sink into the insignificance of the grave--a degraded,
+defeated, emasculated People, frightened by the results of one battle,
+and scared at the visions raised by the imagination of the Senator from
+Kentucky on this floor? No, Sir! a thousand times, no, Sir! We will
+rally--if, indeed, our words be necessary--we will rally the People, the
+Loyal People, of the whole Country. They will pour forth their
+treasure, their money, their men, without stint, without measure. The
+most peaceable man in this body may stamp his foot upon this Senate
+Chamber floor, as of old a warrior and a Senator did, and from that
+single tramp there will spring forth armed Legions.
+
+"Shall one battle determine the fate of empire, or a dozen?--the loss of
+one thousand men, or twenty thousand? or one hundred million or five
+hundred million dollars? In a year's Peace--in ten years, at most, of
+peaceful progress--we can restore them all. There will be some graves
+reeking with blood, watered by the tears of affection. There will be
+some privation; there will be some loss of luxury; there will be
+somewhat more need for labor to procure the necessaries of life. When
+that is said, all is said. If we have the Country, the whole Country,
+the Union, the Constitution, Free Government--with these there will
+return all the blessings of well-ordered civilization; the path of the
+Country will be a career of greatness and of glory such as, in the olden
+time, our Fathers saw in the dim visions of years yet to come, and such
+as would have been ours now, to-day, if it had not been for the Treason
+for which the Senator too often seeks to apologize."
+
+This remarkable speech was the last utterance of that glorious and
+courageous soul, in the National Senate. Within three months, his
+lifeless body, riddled by Rebel rifle balls, was borne away from the
+fatal field of Ball's Bluff--away, amid the lamentations of a Nation--
+away, across land and ocean--to lie beside his brave friend Broderick,
+on that Lone Mountain whose solemn front looks out upon the calm
+Pacific.
+
+He had not lived in vain. In his great speech at the American Theatre
+in San Francisco, after his election by Oregon (1860) to represent her
+in the United States Senate, he had aroused the people to a sense of
+shame, that, as he said: "Here, in a land of written Constitutional
+Liberty it is reserved for us to teach the World that, under the
+American Stars and Stripes, Slavery marches in solemn procession; that,
+under the American flag, Slavery is protected to the utmost verge of
+acquired territory; that under the American banner, the name of Freedom
+is to be faintly heard, the songs of Freedom faintly sung; that, while
+Garibaldi, Victor Emanuel, every great and good man in the World,
+strives, struggles, fights, prays, suffers and dies, sometimes on the
+scaffold, sometimes in the dungeon, often on the field of battle,
+rendered immortal by his blood and his valor; that, while this triumphal
+procession marches on through the arches of Freedom--we, in this land,
+of all the World, shrink back trembling when Freedom is but mentioned!"
+
+And never was a shamed people more suddenly lifted up from that shame
+into a grand frenzy of patriotic devotion than were his auditors, when,
+with the inspiration of his matchless genius, he continued:
+
+"As for me, I dare not, will not, be false to Freedom. Where the feet
+of my youth were planted, there, by Freedom, my feet shall ever stand.
+I will walk beneath her banner. I will glory in her strength. I have
+watched her in history struck down on an hundred chosen fields of
+battle. I have seen her friends fly from her; her foes gather around
+her. I have seen her bound to the stake; I have seen them give her
+ashes to the winds. But when they turned to exult, I have seen her
+again meet them face to face, resplendent in complete steel, brandishing
+in her strong right hand a flaming sword, red with Insufferable light!
+I take courage. The People gather around her. The genius of America
+will, at last, lead her sons to Freedom."
+
+Never were grander utterances delivered by man in all the ages; never
+was there exhibited a more sublime faith; never a truer spirit of
+prophecy; never a more heroic spirit.
+
+He was then on his way to Washington; on his way to perform the last
+acts in the drama of his own career--on his way to death. He knew the
+time had come, of which, ten years before, he had prophetically spoken
+in the House of Representatives, when he said: "I have only to say that,
+if the time should come when Disunion rules the hour, and discord is to
+reign supreme, I shall again be ready to give the best blood in my veins
+to my Country's Cause. I shall be prepared to meet all antagonists with
+lance in rest, to do battle in every land, in defense of the
+Constitution of the Country which I have sworn to support, to the last
+extremity, against Disunionists, and all its Enemies, whether of the
+South or North; to meet them everywhere, at all times, with speech or
+hand, with word or blow, until thought and being shall be no longer
+mine." And right nobly did he fulfil in all respects his promise; so
+that at the end--as was afterward well said of him by Mr. Colfax--he had
+mounted so high, that, "doubly crowned, as statesman, and as warrior--
+
+ 'From the top of Fame's ladder he stepped to the Sky!'"
+
+ [This orator and hero was a naturalized Englishman, and commanded
+ an American regiment in the Mexican War.]
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XV.
+
+ FREEDOM'S EARLY DAWN.
+
+On the day following Baker's great reply to Breckinridge, another
+notable speech was made, in the House of Representatives--notable,
+especially, in that it foreshadowed Emancipation, and, coming so soon
+after Bull Run, seemed to accentuate a new departure in political
+thought as an outgrowth of that Military reverse. It was upon the
+Confiscation Act, and it was Thaddeus Stevens who made it. Said he:
+
+"If we are justified in taking property from the Enemy in War, when you
+have rescued an oppressed People from the oppression of that Enemy, by
+what principle of the Law of Nations, by what principle of philanthropy,
+can you return them to the bondage from which you have delivered them,
+and again rivet the chains you have once broken? It is a disgrace to
+the Party which advocates it. It is against the principle of the Law of
+Nations. It is against every principle of philanthropy. I for one,
+shall never shrink from saying when these Slaves are once conquered by
+us, 'Go and be Free.' God forbid that I should ever agree that they
+should be returned again to their masters! I do not say that this War
+is made for that purpose. Ask those who made the War, what is its
+object. Do not ask us. * * * Our object is to subdue the Rebels.
+
+"But," continued he, "it is said that if we hold out this thing, they
+will never submit--that we cannot conquer them--that they will suffer
+themselves to be slaughtered, and their whole country to be laid waste.
+Sir, War is a grievous thing at best, and Civil War more than any other;
+but if they hold this language, and the means which they have suggested
+must be resorted to; if their whole country must be laid waste, and made
+a desert, in order to save this Union from destruction, so let it be. I
+would rather, Sir, reduce them to a condition where their whole country
+is to be re-peopled by a band of freemen than to see them perpetrate the
+destruction of this People through our agency. I do not say that it is
+time to resort to such means, and I do not know when the time will come;
+but I never fear to express my sentiments. It is not a question with me
+of policy, but a question of principle.
+
+"If this War is continued long, and is bloody, I do not believe that the
+free people of the North will stand by and see their sons and brothers
+and neighbors slaughtered by thousands and tens of thousands by Rebels,
+with arms in their hands, and forbear to call upon their enemies to be
+our friends, and to help us in subduing them; I for one, if it continues
+long, and has the consequences mentioned, shall be ready to go for it,
+let it horrify the gentleman from New York (Mr. Diven) or anybody else.
+That is my doctrine, and that will be the doctrine of the whole free
+people of the North before two years roll round, if this War continues.
+
+"As to the end of the War, until the Rebels are subdued, no man in the
+North thinks of it. If the Government are equal to the People, and I
+believe they are, there will be no bargaining, there will be no
+negotiation, there will be no truces with the Rebels, except to bury the
+dead, until every man shall have laid down his arms, disbanded his
+organization, submitted himself to the Government, and sued for mercy.
+And, Sir, if those who have the control of the Government are not fit
+for this task and have not the nerve and mind for it, the People will
+take care that there are others who are--although, Sir, I have not a bit
+of fear of the present Administration, or of the present Executive.
+
+"I have spoken more freely, perhaps, than gentlemen within my hearing
+might think politic, but I have spoken just what I felt. I have spoken
+what I believe will be the result; and I warn Southern gentlemen, that
+if this War is to continue, there will be a time when my friend from New
+York (Mr. Diven) will see it declared by this free Nation, that every
+bondman in the South--belonging to a Rebel, recollect; I confine it to
+them--shall be called upon to aid us in War against their masters, and
+to restore this Union."
+
+The following letter of instruction from Secretary Cameron, touching the
+Fugitive Slave question, dated seven days after Thaddeus Stevens'
+speech, had also an interesting bearing on the subject:
+
+ "WASHINGTON, August 8, 1861.
+
+"GENERAL: The important question of the proper disposition to be made of
+Fugitives from Service in States in Insurrection against the Federal
+Government, to which you have again directed my attention in your letter
+of July 30, has received my most attentive consideration.
+
+"It is the desire of the President that all existing rights, in all the
+States, be fully respected and maintained. The War now prosecuted on
+the part of the Federal Government is a War for the Union, and for the
+preservation of all Constitutional rights of States, and the citizens of
+the States, in the Union. Hence, no question can arise as to Fugitives
+from Service within the States and Territories in which the authority of
+the Union is fully acknowledged. The ordinary forms of Judicial
+proceeding, which must be respected by Military and Civil authorities
+alike, will suffice for the enforcement of all legal claims.
+
+"But in States wholly or partially under Insurrectionary control, where
+the Laws of the United States are so far opposed and resisted that they
+cannot be effectually enforced, it is obvious that rights dependent on
+the execution of those laws must, temporarily, fail; and it is equally
+obvious that rights dependent on the laws of the States within which
+Military operations are conducted must be necessarily subordinated to
+the Military exigences created by the Insurrection, if not wholly
+forfeited by the Treasonable conduct of parties claiming them. To this
+general rule, rights to Services can form no exception.
+
+"The Act of Congress, approved August 6, 1861, declares that if Persons
+held to Service shall be employed in hostility to the United States, the
+right to their services shall be forfeited, and such Persons shall be
+discharged therefrom. It follows, of necessity, that no claim can be
+recognized by the Military authorities of the Union to the services of
+such Persons when fugitives.
+
+"A more difficult question is presented in respect to Persons escaping
+from the Service of Loyal masters. It is quite apparent that the laws
+of the State, under which only the services of such fugitives can be
+claimed, must needs be wholly, or almost wholly, suspended, as to
+remedies, by the Insurrection and the Military measures necessitated by
+it. And it is equally apparent that the substitution of Military for
+Judicial measures for the enforcement of such claims must be attended by
+great inconveniences, embarrassments, and injuries.
+
+"Under these circumstances it seems quite clear that the substantial
+rights of Loyal masters will be best protected by receiving such
+fugitives, as well as fugitives from Disloyal masters, into the service
+of the United States, and employing them under such organizations and in
+such occupations as circumstances may suggest or require.
+
+"Of course a record should be kept showing the name and description of
+the fugitives, the name and the character, as Loyal or Disloyal, of the
+master, and such facts as may be necessary to a correct understanding of
+the circumstances of each case after tranquillity shall have been
+restored. Upon the return of Peace, Congress will, doubtless, properly
+provide for all the persons thus received into the service of the Union,
+and for just compensation to Loyal masters. In this way only, it would
+seem, can the duty and safety of the Government and the just rights of
+all be fully reconciled and harmonized.
+
+"You will therefore consider yourself as instructed to govern your
+future action, in respect to Fugitives from Service, by the principles
+here stated, and will report from time to time, and at least twice in
+each month, your action in the premises to this Department.
+
+"You will, however, neither authorize, nor permit any interference, by
+the troops under your command, with the servants of peaceful citizens in
+house or field; nor will you, in any way, encourage such servants to
+leave the lawful Service of their masters; nor will you, except in cases
+where the Public Safety may seem to require, prevent the voluntary
+return of any Fugitive, to the Service from which he may have escaped."
+
+"I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
+
+ "SIMON CAMERON,
+ "Secretary of War.
+
+"Major-General B. F. BUTLER,
+"Commanding Department of Virginia,
+"Fortress Monroe."
+
+
+Whether or not inspired by the prophetic speech of Thaddeus Stevens,
+aforesaid, the month of August was hardly out before its prophecy seemed
+in a fair way of immediate fulfilment. Major-General John Charles
+Fremont at that time commanded the Eastern Department--comprising the
+States of Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, and Kentucky-and he startled the
+Country by issuing the following Emancipation proclamation:
+
+
+ "HEADQUARTERS OF THE WESTERN DEPARTMENT.
+
+ "St. Louis, August 30, 1861.
+
+"Circumstances, in my judgment, of sufficient urgency, render it
+necessary that the commanding general of this Department should assume
+the administrative powers of the State. Its disorganized condition, the
+helplessness of the civil authority, the total insecurity of life, and
+the devastation of property by bands of murderers and marauders, who
+infest nearly every county of the State, and avail themselves of the
+public misfortunes and the vicinity of a hostile force to gratify
+private and neighborhood vengeance, and who find an enemy wherever they
+find plunder, finally demand the severest measures to repress the daily
+increasing crimes and outrages which are driving off the inhabitants and
+ruining the State.
+
+"In this condition, the public safety and the success of our arms
+require unity of purpose, without let or hinderance, to the prompt
+administration of affairs.
+
+"In order, therefore, to suppress disorder, to maintain as far as now
+practicable the public peace, and to give security and protection to the
+persons and property of loyal citizens, I do hereby extend and declare
+established Martial Law throughout the State of Missouri.
+
+"The lines of the Army of Occupation in this State are for the present
+declared to extend from Leavenworth by way of the posts of Jefferson
+City, Rolla, and Ironton, to Cape Girardeau, on the Mississippi river.
+
+"All persons who shall betaken with arms in their hands within these
+lines shall be tried by Court-Martial, and if found guilty will be shot.
+
+"The property, real and personal, of all persons, in the State of
+Missouri, who shall take up arms against the United States, or who shall
+be directly proven to have taken an active part with their Enemies in
+the field, is declared to be confiscated to the public use, and their
+Slaves, if any they have, are hereby declared Free men.
+
+"All persons who shall be proven to have destroyed, after the
+publication of this order, railroad tracks, bridges, or telegraphs,
+shall suffer the extreme penalty of the law.
+
+"All persons engaged in Treasonable correspondence, in giving or
+procuring aid to the Enemies of the United States, in fomenting tumults,
+in disturbing the public tranquillity by creating and circulating false
+reports or incendiary documents, are in their own interests warned that
+they are exposing themselves to sudden and severe punishment.
+
+"All persons who have been led away from their allegiance, are required
+to return to their homes forthwith; any such absence, without sufficient
+cause, will be held to be presumptive evidence against them.
+
+"The object of this declaration is to place in the hands of the Military
+authorities the power to give instantaneous effect to existing laws, and
+to supply such deficiencies as the conditions of War demand. But this
+is not intended to suspend the ordinary Tribunals of the Country, where
+the Law will be administered by the Civil officers in the usual manner,
+and with their customary authority, while the same can be peaceably
+exercised.
+
+"The commanding general will labor vigilantly for the public Welfare,
+and in his efforts for their safety hopes to obtain not only the
+acquiescence, but the active support of the Loyal People of the Country.
+
+ "J. C. FREMONT,
+ "Major-General Commanding."
+
+
+Fremont's Proclamation of Confiscation and Emancipation, was hailed with
+joy by some Patriots in the North, but was by others looked upon as rash
+and premature and inexpedient; while it bitterly stirred the anger of
+the Rebels everywhere.
+
+The Rebel Jeff. Thompson, then in command of the Rebel forces about St.
+Louis, at once issued the following savage proclamation of retaliation:
+
+
+ "HEADQUARTERS FIRST MILITARY DISTRICT, M. S. G.
+
+ 'St. Louis, August 31, 1861.
+
+"To all whom it may concern:
+
+"Whereas Major-General John C. Fremont, commanding the minions of
+Abraham Lincoln in the State of Missouri, has seen fit to declare
+Martial Law throughout the whole State, and has threatened to shoot any
+citizen-soldier found in arms within certain limits; also, to Confiscate
+the property and Free the Negroes belonging to the members of the
+Missouri State Guard:
+
+"Therefore, know ye, that I, M. Jeff. Thompson, Brigadier-General of
+the First Military District of Missouri, having not only the Military
+authority of Brigadier-General, but certain police powers granted by
+Acting-Governor Thomas C. Reynolds, and confirmed afterward by Governor
+Jackson, do most solemnly promise that for every member of the Missouri
+State Guard, or soldier of our allies, the Armies of the Confederate
+States, who shall be put to death in pursuance of the said order of
+General Fremont, I will hang, draw, and quarter a minion of said Abraham
+Lincoln.
+
+"While I am anxious that this unfortunate War shall be conducted, if
+possible, upon the most liberal principles of civilized warfare--and
+every order that I have issued has been with that object--yet, if this
+rule is to be adopted (and it must first be done by our Enemies) I
+intend to exceed General Fremont in his excesses, and will make all
+tories that come within my reach rue the day that a different policy was
+adopted by their leaders.
+
+"Already mills, barns, warehouses, and other private property have been
+wastefully and wantonly destroyed by the Enemy in this district, while
+we have taken nothing except articles strictly contraband or absolutely
+necessary. Should these things be repeated, I will retaliate ten-fold,
+so help me God!"
+
+ "M. JEFF. THOMPSON,
+ "Brigadier-General Commanding."
+
+
+
+"President Lincoln, greatly embarrassed by the precipitate action of his
+subordinate, lost no time in suggesting to General Fremont certain
+modifications of his Emancipation proclamation-as follows:
+
+"[PRIVATE.]
+ "WASHINGTON, D. C., September 2, 1861.
+
+"MY DEAR SIR: Two points in your proclamation of August 30th give me
+some anxiety:
+
+"First. Should you shoot a man according to the proclamation, the
+Confederates would very certainly shoot our best man in their hands, in
+retaliation; and so, man for man, indefinitely. It is, therefore, my
+order that you allow no man to be shot under the proclamation without
+first having my approbation or consent.
+
+"Second. I think there is great danger that the closing paragraph, in
+relation to the Confiscation of Property, and the liberating Slaves of
+Traitorous owners, will alarm our Southern Union friends, and turn them
+against us; perhaps ruin our rather fair prospect for Kentucky.
+
+"Allow me, therefore, to ask that you will, as of your own motion,
+modify that paragraph so as to conform to the first and fourth sections
+of the Act of Congress entitled, 'An Act to Confiscate Property used for
+Insurrectionary purposes,' approved August 6, 1861, a copy of which Act
+I herewith send you.
+
+"This letter is written in a spirit of caution, and not of censure.
+
+"I send it by a special messenger, in that it may certainly and speedily
+reach you.
+ "Yours very truly,
+ "A. LINCOLN.
+
+"Major-General FREMONT."
+
+
+General Fremont replied to President Lincoln's suggestions, as follows:
+
+ "HEADQUARTERS WESTERN DEPARTMENT,
+ "St. Louis, September 8, 1861.
+
+"MY DEAR SIR: Your letter of the second, by special
+messenger, I know to have been written before you had received my
+letter, and before my telegraphic dispatches and the rapid developments
+of critical conditions here had informed you of affairs in this quarter.
+I had not written to you fully and frequently, first, because in the
+incessant change of affairs I would be exposed to give you contradictory
+accounts; and., secondly, because the amount of the subjects to be laid
+before you would demand too much of your time.
+
+"Trusting to have your confidence, I have been leaving it to events
+themselves to show you whether or not I was shaping affairs here
+according to your ideas. The shortest communication between Washington
+and St. Louis generally involves two days, and the employment of two
+days, in time of War, goes largely toward success or disaster. I
+therefore went along according to my own judgment, leaving the result of
+my movement to justify me with you.
+
+"And so in regard to my proclamation of the thirtieth. Between the
+Rebel Armies, the Provisional Government, and the home Traitors, I felt
+the position bad, and saw danger. In the night I decided upon the
+proclamation and the form of it--I wrote it the next morning and printed
+it the same day. I did it without consultation or advice with any one,
+acting solely with my best judgment to serve the Country and yourself,
+and perfectly willing to receive the amount of censure which should be
+thought due, if I had made a false movement.
+
+"This is as much a movement in the War, as a battle, and, in going into
+these, I shall have to act according to my judgment of the ground before
+me, as I did on this occasion. If upon reflection, your better judgment
+still decides that I am wrong in the article respecting the Liberation
+of Slaves, I have to ask that you will openly direct me to make the
+correction. The implied censure will be received as a soldier always
+should the reprimand of his chief.
+
+"If I were to retract of my own accord, it would imply that I myself
+thought it wrong, and that I had acted without the reflection which the
+gravity of the point demanded. But I did not. I acted with full
+deliberation, and upon the certain conviction that it was a measure
+right and necessary, and I think so still.
+
+"In regard to the other point of the proclamation to which you refer, I
+desire to say that I do not think the Enemy can either misconstrue or
+urge anything against it, or undertake to make unusual retaliation. The
+shooting of men who shall rise in arms against an Army in the Military
+occupation of a Country, is merely a necessary measure of defense, and
+entirely according to the usages of civilized warfare. The article does
+not at all refer to prisoners of war, and certainly our Enemies have no
+grounds for requiring that we should waive in their benefit any of the
+ordinary advantages which the usages of War allow to us.
+
+"As promptitude is itself an advantage in War, I have also to ask that
+you will permit me to carry out upon the spot the provisions of the
+proclamation in this respect.
+
+"Looking at affairs from this point of view, I am satisfied that strong
+and vigorous measures have now become necessary to the success of our
+Arms; and hoping that my views may have the honor to meet your approval,
+
+ "I am, with respect and regard, very truly yours,
+ "J. C. FREMONT.
+
+"THE PRESIDENT."
+
+
+President Lincoln subsequently rejoined, ordering a modification of the
+proclamation. His letter ran thus:
+
+"WASHINGTON, September 11, 1861.
+
+"SIR: Yours of the 8th, in answer to mine of the 2d instant, is just
+received. Assuming that you, upon the ground, could better judge of the
+necessities of your position than I could at this distance, on seeing
+your Proclamation of August 30th, I perceived no general objection to
+it.
+
+"The particular clause, however, in relation to the Confiscation of
+Property and the Liberation of Slaves, appeared to me to be
+objectionable in its non-conformity to the Act of Congress, passed the
+6th of last August, upon the same subjects; and hence I wrote you
+expressing my wish that that clause should be modified accordingly.
+
+"Your answer, just received, expresses the preference, on your part,
+that I should make an open order for the modification, which I very
+cheerfully do.
+
+"It is therefore Ordered, that the said clause of said proclamation be
+so modified, held, and construed as to conform to, and not to transcend,
+the provisions on the same subject contained in the Act of Congress
+entitled, 'An Act to Confiscate Property used for Insurrectionary
+Purposes,' approved August 6, 1861, and that said Act be published at
+length with this Order.
+
+ "Your obedient servant,
+ "A. LINCOLN.
+
+"Major-General JOHN C. FREMONT."
+
+
+In consequence, however, of the agitation on the subject, the extreme
+delicacy with which it was thought advisable in the earliest stages of
+the Rebellion to treat it, and the confusion of ideas among Military men
+with regard to it, the War Department issued the following General
+Instructions on the occasion of the departure of the Port Royal
+Expedition, commanded by General T. W. Sherman:
+
+
+ "WAR DEPARTMENT, October 14, 1861.
+
+"SIR: In conducting Military Operations within States declared by the
+Proclamation of the President to be in a State of Insurrection, you will
+govern yourself, so far as Persons held to Service under the laws of
+such States are concerned, by the principles of the letters addressed by
+me to Major-General Butler on the 30th of May and the 8th of August,
+copies of which are herewith furnished to you.
+
+"As special directions, adapted to special circumstances, cannot be
+given, much must be referred to your own discretion as Commanding
+General of the Expedition. You will, however, in general avail yourself
+of the services of any Persons, whether Fugitives from Labor or not, who
+may offer them to the National Government; you will employ such Persons
+in such services as they may be fitted for, either as ordinary
+employees, or, if special circumstances seem to require it, in any other
+capacity with such organization, in squads, companies, or otherwise, as
+you deem most beneficial to the service. This, however, not to mean a
+general arming of them for Military service.
+
+"You will assure all Loyal masters that Congress will provide just
+compensation to them for the loss of the services of the Persons so
+employed.
+
+"It is believed that the course thus indicated will best secure the
+substantial rights of Loyal masters, and the benefits to the United
+States of the services of all disposed to support the Government, while
+it avoids all interference with the social systems or local Institutions
+of every State, beyond that which Insurrection makes unavoidable and
+which a restoration of peaceful relations to the Union, under the
+Constitution, will immediately remove.
+ "Respectfully,
+ "SIMON CAMERON,
+ "Secretary of War.
+
+"Brigadier-General T. W. SHERMAN,
+"Commanding Expedition to the Southern Coast."
+
+
+Brigadier-General Thomas W. Sherman, acting upon his own interpretation
+of these instructions, issued a proclamation to the people of South
+Carolina, upon occupying the Forts at Port Royal, in which he said:
+
+"In obedience to the orders of the President of these United States of
+America, I have landed on your shores with a small force of National
+troops. The dictates of a duty which, under these circumstances, I owe
+to a great sovereign State, and to a proud and hospitable people, among
+whom I have passed some of the pleasantest days of my life, prompt me to
+proclaim that we have come amongst you with no feelings of personal
+animosity, no desire to harm your citizens, destroy your property, or
+interfere with any of your lawful rights or your social or local
+Institutions, beyond what the causes herein alluded to may render
+unavoidable."
+
+Major-General Wool, at Fortress Monroe, where he had succeeded General
+Butler, likewise issued a Special Order on the subject of Contrabands,
+as follows:
+
+
+"HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA,
+"FORT MONROE, October 14, 1861.
+"[Special Orders No. 72.]
+
+"All Colored Persons called Contrabands, employed as servants by
+officers and others residing within Fort Monroe, or outside of the Fort
+at Camp Hamilton and Camp Butler, will be furnished with their
+subsistence and at least eight dollars per month for males, and four
+dollars per month for females, by the officers or others thus employing
+them.
+
+"So much of the above-named sums, as may be necessary to furnish
+clothing, to be decided by the Chief Quartermaster of the Department,
+will be applied to that purpose, and the remainder will be paid into his
+hands to create a fund for the support of those Contrabands who are
+unable to work for their own support.
+
+"All able-bodied Colored Persons who are under the protection of the
+troops of this Department, and who are not employed as servants, will be
+immediately put to work in either the Engineer's or Quartermaster's
+Department.
+
+"By command of Major-General Wool:
+
+"[Signed] WILLIAM D. WHIPPLE,
+"Assistant Adjutant General."
+
+
+He subsequently also issued the following General Order:
+
+"HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA,
+"FORT MONROE, November 1, 1861.
+"[General Orders No. 34.]
+
+"The following pay and allowances will constitute the valuation of the
+Labor of the Contrabands at work in the Engineer, Ordnance,
+Quartermaster, Commissary, and Medical Departments at this Post, to be
+paid as hereinafter mentioned;
+
+"Class 1st.--Negro man over eighteen years of age, and able-bodied, ten
+dollars per month, one ration and the necessary amount of clothing.
+
+"Class 2d.--Negro boys from 12 to 18 years of age, and sickly and infirm
+Negro men, five dollars per month, one ration, and the necessary amount
+of clothing.
+
+"The Quartermaster will furnish all the clothing. The Department
+employing these men will furnish the subsistence specified above, and as
+an incentive to good behavior (to be withheld at the direction of the
+chiefs of the departments respectively), each individual of the first
+class will receive $2 per month, and each individual of the second class
+$1 per month, for their own use. The remainder of the money valuation
+of their Labor, will be turned over to the Quartermaster, who will
+deduct from it the cost of the clothing issued to them; the balance will
+constitute a fund to be expended by the Quartermaster under the
+direction of the Commanding officer of the Department of Virginia for
+the support of the women and children and those that are unable to work.
+
+"For any unusual amount of Labor performed, they may receive extra pay,
+varying in amount from fifty cents to one dollar, this to be paid by the
+departments employing them, to the men themselves, and to be for their
+own use.
+
+"Should any man be prevented from working, on account of sickness, for
+six consecutive days, or ten days in any one month, one-half of the
+money value will be paid. For being prevented from laboring for a
+longer period than ten days in any one month all pay and allowances
+cease.
+
+"By command of Major-General Wool:
+
+"[Signed] "WILLIAM D. WHIPPLE,
+"Assistant Adjutant General."
+
+
+On November 13, 1861, Major-General Dix, in a proclamation addressed to
+the people of Accomac and Northampton Counties, Va., ordered the
+repulsion of Fugitive Slaves seeking to enter the Union lines, in these
+words:
+
+"The Military Forces of the United States are about to enter your
+Counties as a part of the Union. They will go among you as friends, and
+with the earnest hope that they may not, by your own acts, be forced to
+become your enemies. They will invade no rights of person or property.
+On the contrary, your Laws, your Institutions, your Usages, will be
+scrupulously respected. There need be no fear that the quietude of any
+fireside will be disturbed, unless the disturbance is caused by
+yourselves.
+
+"Special directions have been given not to interfere with the condition
+of any Person held to domestic service; and, in order that there may be
+no ground for mistake or pretext for misrepresent action, Commanders of
+Regiments and Corps have been instructed not to permit any such Persons
+to come within their lines."
+
+On the 20th of November, 1861, Major General Halleck issued the
+following Genera., Order--which went even further, in that it expelled,
+as well as repelled Fugitive Slaves from our lines:
+
+
+"HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF MISSOURI,
+"St. Louis, November 20, 1861.
+"[General Orders No. 3.]
+
+"I. It has been represented that important information respecting the
+number and condition of our Forces, is conveyed to the Enemy by means of
+Fugitive Slaves who are admitted within our lines. In order to remedy
+this evil, it is directed that no such Persons be hereafter permitted to
+enter the lines of any camp, or of any forces on the march; and that any
+now within such lines be immediately excluded therefrom."
+
+This Order was subsequently explained in a letter, of December 8, 1861,
+from General Halleck to Hon. F. P. Blair, in which he said:
+
+" * * * Order No. 3 was in my mind, clearly a Military necessity.
+Unauthorized persons, black or white, Free or Slaves, must be kept out
+of our camps, unless we are willing to publish to the Enemy everything
+we do or intend to do. It was a Military and not a political order. I
+am ready to carry out any lawful instructions in regard to Fugitive
+Slaves which my superiors may give me, and to enforce any law which
+Congress may pass. But I cannot make law, and will not violate it. You
+know my private opinion on the policy of Confiscating the Slave Property
+of Rebels in Arms. If Congress shall pass it, you may be certain that I
+shall enforce it. Perhaps my policy as to the treatment of Rebels and
+their property is as well set out in Order No. 13, issued the day
+(December 4, 1861), your letter was written, as I could now describe
+it."
+
+It may be well also to add here, as belonging to this period of
+doubtfulness touching the status of escaped Slaves, the following
+communication sent by Secretary Seward to General McClellan, touching
+"Contrabands" in the District of Columbia:
+
+
+"DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
+"WASHINGTON, December 4, 1861.
+
+"To Major-General GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN, Washington:
+
+"GENERAL: I am directed by the President to call your attention to the
+following subject:
+
+"Persons claimed to be held to Service or Labor under the laws of the
+State of Virginia, and actually employed in hostile service against the
+Government of the United States, frequently escape from the lines of the
+Enemy's Forces and are received within the lines of the Army of the
+Potomac.
+
+"This Department understands that such Persons afterward coming into the
+city of Washington are liable to be arrested by the city police, upon
+the presumption, arising from color, that they are Fugitives from
+Service or Labor.
+
+"By the 4th section of the Act of Congress approved August 6, 1861,
+entitled, 'An Act to Confiscate Property used for Insurrectionary
+purposes,' such hostile employment is made a full and sufficient answer
+to any further claim to Service or Labor. Persons thus employed and
+escaping are received into the Military protection of the United States,
+and their arrest as Fugitives from Service or Labor should be
+immediately followed by the Military arrest of the parties making the
+seizure.
+
+"Copies of this communication will be sent to the Mayor of the city of
+Washington and to the Marshal of the District of Columbia, that any
+collision between the Civil and Military authorities may be avoided.
+
+"I am, General, your very obedient,
+
+ "WILLIAM H. SEWARD."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XVI.
+
+ "COMPENSATED GRADUAL EMANCIPATION."
+
+Thus far the reader's eye has been able to review in their successive
+order some of the many difficulties and perplexities which beset the
+pathway of President Lincoln as he felt his way in the dark, as it were,
+toward Emancipation. It must seem pretty evident now, however, that his
+chief concern was for the preservation of the Union, even though all
+other things--Emancipation with them--had to be temporarily sacrificed.
+
+Something definite, however, had been already gained. Congress had
+asserted its right under the War powers of the Constitution, to release
+from all claim to Service or Labor those Slaves whose Service or Labor
+had been used in hostility to the Union. And while some of the Union
+Generals obstructed the execution of the Act enforcing that right, by
+repelling and even as we have seen, expelling, from the Union lines all
+Fugitive Slaves--whether such as had or had not been used in hostility
+to us--yet still the cause of Freedom to all, was slowly and silently
+perhaps, yet surely and irresistibly, marching on until the time when,
+becoming a chief factor in the determination of the question of "whether
+we should have a Country at all," it should triumph coincidently with
+the preservation of the Republic.
+
+But now a new phase of the Slave question arose--a question not
+involving what to do with Fugitive Slaves of any sort, whether engaged
+or not engaged in performing services hostile to the Union cause, but
+what to do with Slaves whom their panic-stricken owners had, for the
+time being, abandoned in the presence of our Armies.
+
+This question was well discussed in the original draft of the report of
+the Secretary of War, December 1, 1861 in which Secretary Cameron said:
+
+"It has become a grave question for determination what shall be done
+with the Slaves abandoned by their owners on the advance of our troops
+into Southern territory, as in the Beaufort district of South Carolina.
+The whole White population therein is six thousand, while the number of
+Negroes exceeds thirty-two thousand. The panic which drove their
+masters in wild confusion from their homes, leaves them in undisputed
+possession of the soil. Shall they, armed by their masters, be placed
+in the field to fight against us, or shall their labor be continually
+employed in reproducing the means for supporting the Armies of
+Rebellion?
+
+"The War into which this Government has been forced by rebellious
+Traitors is carried on for the purpose of repossessing the property
+violently and treacherously seized upon by the Enemies of the
+Government, and to re-establish the authority and Laws of the United
+States in the places where it is opposed or overthrown by armed
+Insurrection and Rebellion. Its purpose is to recover and defend what
+is justly its own.
+
+"War, even between Independent Nations, is made to subdue the Enemy, and
+all that belongs to that Enemy, by occupying the hostile country, and
+exercising dominion over all the men and things within its territory.
+This being true in respect to Independent Nations at war with each
+other, it follows that Rebels who are laboring by force of arms to
+overthrow a Government, justly bring upon themselves all the
+consequences of War, and provoke the destruction merited by the worst of
+crimes. That Government would be false to National trust, and would
+justly excite the ridicule of the civilized World, that would abstain
+from the use of any efficient means to preserve its own existence, or to
+overcome a rebellious and traitorous Enemy, by sparing or protecting the
+property of those who are waging War against it.
+
+"The principal wealth and power of the Rebel States is a peculiar
+species of Property, consisting of the service or labor of African
+Slaves, or the descendants of Africans. This Property has been
+variously estimated at the value of from seven hundred million to one
+thousand million dollars.
+
+"Why should this Property be exempt from the hazards and consequences of
+a rebellious War?
+
+"It was the boast of the leader of the Rebellion, while he yet had a
+seat in the Senate of the United States, that the Southern States would
+be comparatively safe and free from the burdens of War, if it should be
+brought on by the contemplated Rebellion, and that boast was accompanied
+by the savage threat that 'Northern towns and cities would become the
+victims of rapine and Military spoil,' and that 'Northern men should
+smell Southern gunpowder and feel Southern steel.'
+
+"No one doubts the disposition of the Rebels to carry that threat into
+execution. The wealth of Northern towns and cities, the produce of
+Northern farms, Northern workshops and manufactories would certainly be
+seized, destroyed, or appropriated as Military spoil. No property in
+the North would be spared from the hands of the Rebels, and their rapine
+would be defended under the laws of War. While the Loyal States thus
+have all their property and possessions at stake, are the insurgent
+Rebels to carry on warfare against the Government in peace and security
+to their own property?
+
+"Reason and justice and self-preservation forbid that such should be;
+the policy of this Government, but demand, on the contrary, that, being
+forced by Traitors and Rebels to the extremity of war, all the rights
+and powers of war should be exercised to bring it to a speedy end.
+
+"Those who war against the Government justly forfeit all rights of
+property, privilege, or security, derived from the Constitution and
+Laws, against which they are in armed Rebellion; and as the labor and
+service of their Slaves constitute the chief Property of the Rebels,
+such Property should share the common fate of War to which they have
+devoted the property of Loyal citizens.
+
+"While it is plain that the Slave Property of the South is justly
+subjected to all the consequences of this Rebellious War, and that the
+Government would be untrue to its trust in not employing all the rights
+and powers of War to bring it to a speedy close, the details of the plan
+for doing so, like all other Military measures, must, in a great degree,
+be left to be determined by particular exigencies. The disposition of
+other property belonging to the Rebels that becomes subject to our arms
+is governed by the circumstances of the case.
+
+"The Government has no power to hold Slaves, none to restrain a Slave of
+his Liberty, or to exact his service. It has a right, however, to use
+the voluntary service of Slaves liberated by War from their Rebel
+masters, like any other property of the Rebels, in whatever mode may be
+most efficient for the defense of the Government, the prosecution of the
+War, and the suppression of Rebellion. It is clearly a right of the
+Government to arm Slaves when it may become necessary, as it is to take
+gunpowder from the Enemy; whether it is expedient to do so, is purely a
+Military question. The right is unquestionable by the laws of War. The
+expediency must be determined by circumstances, keeping in view the
+great object of overcoming the Rebels, reestablishing the Laws, and
+restoring Peace to the Nation.
+
+"It is vain and idle for the Government to carry on this War, or hope to
+maintain its existence against rebellious force, without employing all
+the rights and powers of War. As has been said, the right to deprive
+the Rebels of their Property in Slaves and Slave Labor is as clear and
+absolute as the right to take forage from the field, or cotton from the
+warehouse, or powder and arms from the magazine. To leave the Enemy in
+the possession of such property as forage and cotton and military
+stores, and the means of constantly reproducing them, would be madness.
+It is, therefore, equal madness to leave them in peaceful and secure
+possession of Slave Property, more valuable and efficient to them for
+war than forage, cotton, military stores. Such policy would be National
+suicide.
+
+"What to do with that species of Property is a question that time and
+circumstances will solve, and need not be anticipated further than to
+repeat that they cannot be held by the Government as Slaves. It would
+be useless to keep them as prisoners of War; and self-preservation, the
+highest duty of a Government, or of individuals, demands that they
+should be disposed of or employed in the most effective manner that will
+tend most speedily to suppress the Insurrection and restore the
+authority of the Government. If it shall be found that the men who have
+been held by the Rebels as Slaves, are capable of bearing arms and
+performing efficient Military service, it is the right, and may become
+the duty, of this Government to arm and equip them, and employ their
+services against the Rebels, under proper Military regulations,
+discipline, and command.
+
+"But in whatever manner they may be used by the Government, it is plain
+that, once liberated by the rebellious act of their masters they should
+never again be restored to bondage. By the master's Treason and
+Rebellion he forfeits all right to the labor and service of his Slave;
+and the Slave of the rebellious master, by his service to the
+Government, becomes justly entitled to Freedom and protection.
+
+"The disposition to be made of the Slaves of Rebels, after the close of
+the War, can be safely left to the wisdom and patriotism of Congress.
+The Representatives of the People will unquestionably secure to the
+Loyal Slaveholders every right to which they are entitled under the
+Constitution of the Country."
+
+This original draft of the report was modified, at the instance of
+President Lincoln, to the following--and thus appeared in Secretary
+Cameron's report of that date, as printed:
+
+"It is already a grave question what shall be done with those Slaves who
+were abandoned by their owners on the advance of our troops into
+Southern territory, as at Beaufort district, in South Carolina. The
+number left within our control at that point is very considerable, and
+similar cases will probably occur. What should be done with them? Can
+we afford to send them forward to their masters, to be by them armed
+against us, or used in producing supplies to sustain the Rebellion?
+
+"Their labor may be useful to us; withheld from the Enemy it lessens his
+Military resources, and withholding them has no tendency to induce the
+horrors of Insurrection, even in the Rebel communities. They constitute
+a Military resource, and, being such, that they should not be turned
+over to the Enemy is too plain to discuss. Why deprive him of supplies
+by a blockade, and voluntarily give him men to produce them?
+
+"The disposition to be made of the Slaves of Rebels, after the close of
+the War, can be safely left to the wisdom and patriotism of Congress.
+The Representatives of the People will unquestionably secure to the
+Loyal Slaveholders every right to which they are entitled under the
+Constitution of the Country.
+
+SIMON CAMERON.
+"Secretary of War."
+
+
+The language of this modification is given to show that the President,
+at the close of the year 1861, had already reached a further step
+forward toward Emancipation--and the sound reasoning upon which he made
+that advance. He was satisfying his own mind and conscience as he
+proceeded, and thus, while justifying himself to himself, was also
+simultaneously carrying conviction to the minds and consciences of the
+People, whose servant and agent he was.
+
+That these abandoned Slaves would "constitute a Military resource" and
+"should not be turned over to the Enemy" and that "their labor may be
+useful to us" were propositions which could not be gainsaid. But to
+quiet uncalled-for apprehensions, and to encourage Southern loyalty, he
+added, in substance, that at the close of this War--waged solely for the
+preservation of the Union--Congress would decide the doubtful status of
+the Slaves of Rebels, while the rights of Union Slave-holders would be
+secured.
+
+The Contraband-Slave question, however, continued to agitate the public
+mind for many months--owing to the various ways in which it was treated
+by the various Military commanders, to whose discretion its treatment,
+in their several commands, was left--a discretion which almost
+invariably leaned toward the political bias of the commander. Thus, in
+a proclamation, dated St. Louis, February 23, 1862, Halleck, commanding
+the Department of Missouri, said:
+
+"Soldiers! let no excess on your part tarnish the glory of our arms!
+
+"The order heretofore issued in this department, in regard to pillaging
+and marauding, the destruction of private property, and the stealing or
+concealment of Slaves, must be strictly enforced. It does not belong to
+the Military to decide upon the relation of Master and Slave. Such
+questions must be settled by the civil Courts. No Fugitive Slaves will
+therefore be admitted within our lines or camps, except when especially
+ordered by the General Commanding. * * * "
+
+And Buell, commanding the Department of the Ohio, in response to a
+communication on the subject from the Chairman of the Military Committee
+of the Kentucky Legislature, wrote, March 6, 1862:
+
+"It has come to my knowledge that Slaves sometimes make their way
+improperly into our lines, and in some instances they may be enticed
+there, but I think the number has been magnified by report. Several
+applications have been made to me by persons whose servants have been
+found in our camps, and in every instance that I know of the master has
+recovered his servant and taken him away."
+
+Thus, while some of our Commanders, like Dix and Halleck, repelled or
+even expelled the Fugitive Slave from their lines; and others, like
+Buell and Hooker, facilitated the search for, and restoration to his
+master, of the black Fugitive found within our lines; on the other hand,
+Fremont, as we have seen, and Doubleday and Hunter, as we shall yet see,
+took totally different ground on this question.
+
+President Lincoln, however, harassed as he was by the extremists on both
+sides of the Slavery question, still maintained that calm statesman-like
+middle-course from which the best results were likely to flow. But he
+now thought the time had come to broach the question of a compensated,
+gradual Emancipation.
+
+Accordingly, on March 6, 1862, he sent to Congress the following
+message:
+
+"Fellow citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:
+
+"I recommend the adoption of a joint Resolution by your honorable
+bodies, which shall be substantially as follows:
+
+"Resolved, That the United States ought to co-operate with any State
+which may adopt gradual abolishment of Slavery, giving to such State
+pecuniary aid, to be used by such State in its discretion, to compensate
+for the inconveniences, public and private, produced by such change of
+system.
+
+"If the proposition contained in the Resolution does not meet the
+approval of Congress and the Country, there is the end; but if it does
+command such approval, I deem it of importance that the States and
+people immediately interested should be at once distinctly notified of
+the fact, so that they may begin to consider whether to accept or reject
+it, The Federal Government would find its highest interest in such a
+measure, as one of the most efficient means of self preservation.
+
+"The leaders of the existing Insurrection entertain the hope that this
+Government will ultimately be forced to acknowledge the Independence of
+some part of the disaffected region, and that all the Slave States North
+of such part will then say, 'the Union for which we have struggled being
+already gone, we now choose to go with the Southern Section.'
+
+"To deprive them of this hope, substantially ends the Rebellion; and the
+initiation of Emancipation completely deprives them of it, as to all the
+States initiating it. The point is not that all the States tolerating
+Slavery would very soon, if at all, initiate Emancipation; but that,
+while the offer is equally made to all, the more Northern shall, by such
+initiation, make it certain to the more Southern that in no event will
+the former ever join the latter in their proposed Confederacy. I say,
+'initiation,' because in my judgment, gradual, and not sudden
+Emancipation, is better for all.
+
+"In the mere financial or pecuniary view, any member of Congress, with
+the census tables and Treasury reports before him, can readily see for
+himself how very soon the current expenditures of this War would
+purchase, at fair valuation, all the Slaves in any named State.
+
+"Such a proposition on the part of the General Government sets up no
+claim of a right by Federal authority to interfere with Slavery within
+State limits, referring, as it does, the absolute control of the subject
+in each case to the State and its people immediately interested. It is
+proposed as a matter of perfectly free choice with them.
+
+"In the Annual Message last December, I thought fit to say, 'the Union
+must be preserved; and hence all indispensable means must be employed.'
+I said this, not hastily, but deliberately. War has been made, and
+continues to be an indispensable means to this end. A practical
+reacknowledgment of the National authority would render the War
+unnecessary, and it would at once cease. If, however, resistance
+continues, the War must also continue; and it is impossible to foresee
+all the incidents which may attend, and all the ruin which may follow
+it. Such as may seem indispensable, or may obviously promise great
+efficiency toward ending the struggle, must and will come.
+
+"The proposition now made, though an offer only, I hope it may be
+esteemed no offense to ask whether the pecuniary consideration tendered
+would not be of more value to the States and private persons concerned,
+than are the Institution, and Property in it, in the present aspect of
+affairs?
+
+"While it is true that the adoption of the proposed resolution would be
+merely initiatory, and not within itself a practical measure, it is
+recommended in the hope that it would soon lead to important practical
+results. In full view of my great responsibility to my God and to my
+Country, I earnestly beg the attention of Congress and the People to the
+subject.
+
+"March 6, 1862."
+
+
+In compliance with the above suggestion from the President, a Joint
+Resolution, in the precise words suggested, was introduced into the
+House, March 10, by Roscoe Conkling, and on the following day was
+adopted in the House by 97 yeas to 36 nays.
+
+Of the 36 members of the House who voted against this Resolution, were
+34 Democrats, and among them were Messrs. Crisfield of Maryland, and
+Messrs. Crittenden, Mallory, and Menzies of Kentucky. These gentleman
+afterward made public a report, drawn by themselves, of an interesting
+interview they had held with President Lincoln on this important
+subject, in the words following:
+
+
+"MEMORANDUM OF AN INTERVIEW BETWEEN THE PRESIDENT AND SOME BORDER SLAVE-
+STATE REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 10, 1862.
+
+"'DEAR SIR:--I called, at the request of the President, to ask you to
+come to the White House to-morrow morning, at nine o'clock, and bring
+such of your colleagues as are in town.'"
+
+
+"'WASHINGTON, March 10, 1862.
+
+"Yesterday on my return from church I found Mr. Postmaster General Blair
+in my room, writing the above note, which he immediately suspended, and
+verbally communicated the President's invitation; and stated that the
+President's purpose was to have some conversation with the delegations
+of Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware, in explanation
+of his Message of the 6th inst.
+
+"This morning these delegations, or such of them as were in town,
+assembled at the White House at the appointed time, and after some
+little delay were admitted to an audience.
+
+"After the usual salutations and we were seated, the President said, in
+substance, that he had invited us to meet him to have some conversation
+with us in explanation of his Message of the 6th; that since he had sent
+it in, several of the gentlemen then present had visited him, but had
+avoided any allusion to the Message, and he therefore inferred that the
+import of the Message had been misunderstood, and was regarded as
+inimical to the interests we represented; and he had resolved he would
+talk with us, and disabuse our minds of that erroneous opinion.
+
+"The President then disclaimed any intent to injure the interests or
+wound the sensibilities of the Slave States. On the contrary, his
+purpose was to protect the one and respect the other; that we were
+engaged in a terrible, wasting, and tedious War; immense Armies were in
+the field, and must continue in the field as long as the War lasts; that
+these Armies must, of necessity, be brought into contact with Slaves in
+the States we represented and in other States as they advanced; that
+Slaves would come to the camps, and continual irritation was kept up;
+that he was constantly annoyed by conflicting and antagonistic
+complaints; on the one side, a certain class complained if the Slave was
+not protected by the Army; persons were frequently found who,
+participating in these views, acted in a way unfriendly to the
+Slaveholder; on the other hand, Slaveholders complained that their
+rights were interfered with, their Slaves induced to abscond, and
+protected within the lines, these complaints were numerous, loud, and
+deep; were a serious annoyance to him and embarrassing to the progress
+of the War; that it kept alive a spirit hostile to the Government in the
+States we represented; strengthened the hopes of the Confederates that
+at some day the Border States would unite with them, and thus tend to
+prolong the War; and he was of opinion, if this Resolution should be
+adopted by Congress and accepted by our States, these causes of
+irritation and these hopes would be removed, and more would be
+accomplished towards shortening the War than could be hoped from the
+greatest victory achieved by Union Armies; that he made this proposition
+in good faith, and desired it to be accepted, if at all, voluntarily,
+and in the same patriotic spirit in which it was made; that Emancipation
+was a subject exclusively under the control of the States, and must be
+adopted or rejected by each for itself; that he did not claim nor had
+this Government any right to coerce them for that purpose; that such was
+no part of his purpose in making this proposition, and he wished it to
+be clearly understood; that he did not expect us there to be prepared to
+give him an answer, but he hoped we would take the subject into serious
+consideration; confer with one another, and then take such course as we
+felt our duty and the interests of our constituents required of us.
+
+"Mr. Noell, of Missouri, said that in his State, Slavery was not
+considered a permanent Institution; that natural causes were there in
+operation which would, at no distant day, extinguish it, and he did not
+think that this proposition was necessary for that; and, besides that,
+he and his friends felt solicitous as to the Message on account of the
+different constructions which the Resolution and Message had received.
+The New York Tribune was for it, and understood it to mean that we must
+accept gradual Emancipation according to the plan suggested, or get
+something worse.
+
+"The President replied, he must not be expected to quarrel with the New
+York Tribune before the right time; he hoped never to have to do it; he
+would not anticipate events. In respect to Emancipation in Missouri, he
+said that what had been observed by Mr. Noell was probably true, but the
+operation of these natural causes had not prevented the irritating
+conduct to which he had referred, or destroyed the hopes of the
+Confederates that Missouri would at some time range herself alongside of
+them, which, in his judgment, the passage of this Resolution by
+Congress, and its acceptance by Missouri, would accomplish.
+
+"Mr. Crisfield, of Maryland, asked what would be the effect of the
+refusal of the State to accept this proposal, and desired to know if the
+President looked to any policy beyond the acceptance or rejection of
+this scheme.
+
+"The President replied that he had no designs beyond the action of the
+States on this particular subject. He should lament their refusal to
+accept it, but he had no designs beyond their refusal of it.
+
+"Mr. Menzies, of Kentucky, inquired if the President thought there was
+any power, except in the States themselves, to carry out his scheme of
+Emancipation?
+
+"The President replied, he thought there could not be. He then went off
+into a course of remark not qualifying the foregoing declaration, nor
+material to be repeated to a just understanding of his meaning.
+
+"Mr. Crisfield said he did not think the people of Maryland looked upon
+Slavery as a permanent Institution; and he did not know that they would
+be very reluctant to give it up if provision was made to meet the loss,
+and they could be rid of the race; but they did not like to be coerced
+into Emancipation, either by the direct action of the Government or by
+indirection, as through the Emancipation of Slaves in this District, or
+the Confiscation of Southern Property as now threatened; and he thought
+before they would consent to consider this proposition they would
+require to be informed on these points.
+
+"The President replied that 'unless he was expelled by the act of God or
+the Confederate Armies, he should occupy that house for three years, and
+as long as he remained there, Maryland had nothing to fear, either for
+her Institutions or her interests, on the points referred to.'
+
+"Mr. Crisfield immediately added: 'Mr. President, what you now say could
+be heard by the people of Maryland, they would consider your proposition
+with a much better feeling than I fear without it they will be inclined
+to do.'
+
+"The President: 'That (meaning a publication of what he said), will not
+do; it would force me into a quarrel before the proper time;' and again
+intimating, as he had before done, that a quarrel with the 'Greeley
+faction' was impending, he said, 'he did not wish to encounter it before
+the proper time, nor at all if it could be avoided.'
+
+"Governor Wickliffe, of Kentucky, then asked him respecting the
+Constitutionality of his scheme.
+
+"The President replied: 'As you may suppose, I have considered that; and
+the proposition now submitted does not encounter any Constitutional
+difficulty. It proposes simply to co-operate with any State by giving
+such State pecuniary aid;' and he thought that the Resolution, as
+proposed by him, would be considered rather as the expression of a
+sentiment than as involving any Constitutional question.
+
+"Mr. Hall, of Missouri, thought that if this proposition was adopted at
+all, it should be by the votes of the Free States, and come as a
+proposition from them to the Slave States, affording them an inducement
+to put aside this subject of discord; that it ought not to be expected
+that members representing Slaveholding Constituencies should declare at
+once, and in advance of any proposition to them, for the Emancipation of
+Slaves.
+
+"The President said he saw and felt the force of the objection; it was a
+fearful responsibility, and every gentleman must do as he thought best;
+that he did not know how this scheme was received by the Members from
+the Free States; some of them had spoken to him and received it kindly;
+but for the most part they were as reserved and chary as we had been,
+and he could not tell how they would vote.
+
+"And, in reply to some expression of Mr. Hall as to his own opinion
+regarding Slavery, he said he did not pretend to disguise his Anti-
+Slavery feeling; that he thought it was wrong and should continue to
+think so; but that was not the question we had to deal with now.
+Slavery existed, and that, too, as well by the act of the North, as of
+the South; and in any scheme to get rid of it, the North, as well as the
+South, was morally bound to do its full and equal share. He thought the
+Institution, wrong, and ought never to have existed; but yet he
+recognized the rights of Property which had grown out of it, and would
+respect those rights as fully as similar rights in any other property;
+that Property can exist, and does legally exist. He thought such a law,
+wrong, but the rights of Property resulting must be respected; he would
+get rid of the odious law, not by violating the right, but by
+encouraging the proposition, and offering inducements to give it up."
+
+"Here the interview, so far as this subject is concerned, terminated by
+Mr. Crittenden's assuring the President that whatever might be our final
+action, we all thought him solely moved by a high patriotism and sincere
+devotion to the happiness and glory of his Country; and with that
+conviction we should consider respectfully the important suggestions he
+had made.
+
+"After some conversation on the current war news we retired, and I
+immediately proceeded to my room and wrote out this paper.
+ "J. W. CRISFIELD."
+
+"We were present at the interview described in the foregoing paper of
+Mr. Crisfield, and we certify that the substance of what passed on the
+occasion is in this paper, faithfully and fully given.
+
+"J. W. MENZIES,
+"J. J. CRITTENDEN,
+"R. MALLORY.
+"March 10, 1862."
+
+
+Upon the passage of the Joint-Resolution in the House only four
+Democrats (Messrs. Cobb, Haight, Lehman, and Sheffield) voted in the
+affirmative, and but two Republicans (Francis Thomas, and Leary) in the
+negative. On the 2nd of April, it passed the Senate by a vote of 32
+yeas--all Republicans save Messrs. Davis and Thomson--to 10 nays, all
+Democrats.
+
+Meantime the question of the treatment of the "Contraband" in our
+Military camps, continued to grow in importance.
+
+On March 26, 1862, General Hooker issued the following order touching
+certain Fugitive Slaves and their alleged owners:
+
+"HEADQUARTERS, HOOKER'S DIVISION, CAMP BAKER,
+"LOWER POTOMAC, March 26, 1862.
+
+"To BRIGADE AND REGIMENTAL COMMANDERS OF THIS DIVISION:
+
+"Messrs. Nally, Gray, Dummington, Dent, Adams, Speake, Price, Posey,
+and Cobey, citizens of Maryland, have Negroes supposed to be with some
+of the regiments of this Division; the Brigadier General commanding
+directs that they be permitted to visit all the camps of his command, in
+search of their Property, and if found, that they be allowed to take
+possession of the same, without any interference whatever. Should any
+obstacle be thrown in their way by any officer or soldier in the
+Division, they will be at once reported by the regimental commanders to
+these headquarters.
+
+"By command of Brigadier General Hooker;
+
+"JOSEPH DICKINSON,
+"Assistant Adjutant General."
+
+
+On the following day, by direction of General Sickles, the following
+significant report was made touching the above order:
+
+"HEADQUARTERS, SECOND REGIMENT, EXCELSIOR BRIGADE.
+"CAMP HALL, March 27, 1862.
+
+"LIEUTENANT:--In compliance with verbal directions from Brigadier
+General D. E. Sickles, to report as to the occurrence at this camp on
+the afternoon of the 26th instant, I beg leave to submit the following:
+
+"At about 3:30 o'clock P. M., March 26, 1862, admission within our lines
+was demanded by a party of horsemen (civilians), numbering, perhaps,
+fifteen. They presented the lieutenant commanding the guard, with an
+order of entrance from Brigadier General Joseph Hooker, Commanding
+Division (copy appended), the order stating that nine men should be
+admitted.
+
+"I ordered that the balance of the party should remain without the
+lines; which was done. Upon the appearance of the others, there was
+visible dissatisfaction and considerable murmuring among the soldiers,
+to so great an extent that I almost feared for the safety of the
+Slaveholders. At this time General Sickles opportunely arrived, and
+instructed me to order them outside the camp, which I did, amidst the
+loud cheers of our soldiers.
+
+"It is proper to add, that before entering our lines, and within about
+seventy-five or one hundred yards of our camp, one of their number
+discharged two pistol shots at a Negro, who was running past them, with
+an evident intention of taking his life. This justly enraged our men.
+
+ "All of which is respectfully submitted.
+
+ "Your obedient servant,
+ "JOHN TOLEN.
+ "Major Commanding Second Regiment, E. B.
+
+"To Lieutenant J. L. PALMER, Jr.,
+"A. D. C. and A. A. A. General."
+
+
+On April 6, the following important dispatch, in the nature of an order,
+was issued by General Doubleday to one of his subordinate officers:
+
+"HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DEFENSES,
+"NORTH OF THE POTOMAC,
+"WASHINGTON, April 6, 1862.
+
+"SIR:--I am directed by General Doubleday to say, in answer to your
+letter of the 2d instant, that all Negroes coming into the lines of any
+of the camps or forts under his command, are to be treated as persons,
+and not as chattels.
+
+"Under no circumstances has the Commander of a fort or camp the power of
+surrendering persons claimed as Fugitive Slaves, as it cannot be done
+without determining their character.
+
+"The Additional Article of War recently passed by Congress positively
+prohibits this.
+
+"The question has been asked, whether it would not be better to exclude
+Negroes altogether from the lines. The General is of the opinion that
+they bring much valuable information, which cannot be obtained from any
+other source. They are acquainted with all the roads, paths, fords, and
+other natural features of the country, and they make excellent guides.
+They also know and frequently have exposed the haunts of Secession spies
+and Traitors and the existence of Rebel organizations. They will not,
+therefore, be excluded.
+
+"The General also directs me to say that civil process cannot be served
+directly in the camps or forts of his command, without full authority be
+obtained from the Commanding Officer for that purpose.
+
+"I am very respectfully, your obedient servant,
+
+"E. P. HALSTED,
+"Assistant Adjutant General.
+
+"Lieut. Col. JOHN D. SHANE,
+"Commanding 76th Reg. N. Y. Vols."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XVII.
+
+ BORDER-STATE OPPOSITION.
+
+On April 3, 1862, the United States Senate passed a Bill to liberate all
+Persons of African descent held to Service or Labor within the District
+of Columbia, and prohibiting Slavery or involuntary servitude in the
+District except as a punishment for crime--an appropriation being made
+to pay to loyal owners an appraised value of the liberated Slaves not to
+exceed $300 for each Slave. The vote on its passage in the Senate was
+29 yeas to 14 nays--all the yeas being Republican, and all but two of
+the nays Democratic.
+
+April 11th, the Bill passed the House by 92 yeas to 39 nays--all the
+yeas save 5 being Republican, and all the nays, save three, being
+Democratic.
+
+April 7, 1862, the House adopted a resolution, by 67 yeas to 52 nays--
+all the yeas, save one, Republican, and all the nays, save 12,
+Democratic--for the appointment of a Select Committee of nine, to
+consider and report whether any plan could be proposed and recommended
+for the gradual Emancipation of all the African Slaves, and the
+extinction of Slavery in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky,
+Tennessee, and Missouri, by the people or local authorities thereof, and
+how far and in what way the Government of the United States could and
+ought equitably to aid in facilitating either of those objects.
+
+On the 16th President Lincoln sent the following Message to Congress:
+
+"Fellow citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:
+
+"The Act entitled 'An Act for the release of certain Persons held to
+Service or Labor in the District of Columbia,' has this day been
+approved and signed.
+
+"I have never doubted the Constitutional authority of Congress to
+abolish Slavery in this District; and I have ever desired to see the
+National Capital freed from the Institution in some satisfactory way.
+Hence there has never been in my mind any question upon the subject
+except the one of expediency, arising in view of all the circumstances.
+
+"If there be matters within and about this Act which might have taken a
+course or shape more satisfactory to my judgment, I do not attempt to
+specify them. I am gratified that the two principles of compensation
+and colonization are both recognized and practically applied in the Act.
+
+"In the matter of compensation, it is provided that claims may be
+presented within ninety days from the passage of the Act, 'but not
+thereafter;' and there is no saving for minors, femmes covert, insane,
+or absent persons. I presume this is an omission by mere oversight, and
+I recommend that it be supplied by an amendatory or Supplemental Act.
+
+"ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
+"April 16, 1862."
+
+
+Subsequently, in order to meet the President's views, such an amendatory
+or Supplemental Act was passed and approved.
+
+But now, Major General Hunter having taken upon himself to issue an
+Emancipation proclamation, May 9, 1862, the President, May 19, 1862,
+issued a proclamation rescinding it as follows:
+
+"Whereas there appears in the public prints what purports to be a
+proclamation of Major General Hunter, in the words and figures
+following, to wit:
+
+"'HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH,
+'HILTON HEAD, S. C., May 9, 1862.
+'[General Orders No. 11.]
+
+'The three States of Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina, comprising
+the Military Department of the South, having deliberately declared
+themselves no longer under the protection of the United States of
+America, and having taken up arms against the said United States, it
+becomes a Military necessity to declare them under Martial Law. This
+was accordingly done on the 25th day of April, 1862. Slavery and
+Martial Law, in a Free Country, are altogether incompatible; the Persons
+in these three States--Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina-heretofore
+held as Slaves, are therefore declared forever Free.
+
+'DAVID HUNTER,
+'Major-General Commanding.
+
+'Official:
+ED. W. SMITH,
+'Acting Assistant Adjutant General.'
+
+
+"And whereas the same is producing some excitement and misunderstanding,
+
+"Therefore, I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, proclaim
+and declare, that the Government of the United States had no knowledge,
+information, or belief, of an intention on the part of General Hunter to
+issue such a proclamation; nor has it yet any authentic information that
+the document is genuine. And further, that neither General Hunter, nor
+any other Commander, or person, has been authorized by the Government of
+the United States to make proclamations declaring the Slaves of any
+State Free; and that the supposed proclamation, now in question, whether
+genuine or false, is altogether void, so far as respects such
+declaration.
+
+"I further make known that whether it be competent for me, as Commander-
+in-Chief of the Army and Navy, to declare the Slaves of any State or
+States free, and whether, at any time, in any case, it shall have become
+a necessity indispensable to the maintenance of the Government, to
+exercise such supposed power, are questions which, under my
+responsibility, I reserve to myself, and which I cannot feel justified
+in leaving to the decision of Commanders in the field. These are
+totally different questions from those of police regulations in armies
+and camps.
+
+"On the sixth day of March last, by a Special Message, I recommended to
+Congress the adoption of a Joint Resolution to be substantially as
+follows:
+
+"' Resolved, That the United States ought to co-operate with any State
+which may adopt a gradual abolishment of Slavery, giving to such State
+pecuniary aid, to be used by such State, in its discretion, to
+compensate for the inconveniences, public and private, produced by such
+change of system.'
+
+"The Resolution, in the language above quoted, was adopted by large
+majorities in both branches of Congress, and now stands an authentic,
+definite, and solemn proposal of the Nation to the States and people
+most immediately interested in the subject-matter. To the people of
+those States I now earnestly appeal--I do not argue--I beseech you to
+make the argument for yourselves--you cannot, if you would, be blind to
+the signs of the times--I beg of you a calm and enlarged consideration
+of them, ranging, if it may be, far above personal and partisan
+politics. This proposal makes common cause for a common object, casting
+no reproaches upon any. It acts not the Pharisee. The changes it
+contemplates would come gently as the dews of Heaven, not rending or
+wrecking anything. Will you not embrace it? So much good has not been
+done, by one effort, in all past time, as, in the providence of God, it
+is now your high privilege to do. May the vast future not have to
+lament that you have neglected it.
+
+"In witness thereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
+the United States to be affixed.
+
+"Done at the city of Washington this nineteenth day of May, in the year
+of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the
+Independence of the United States the eighty-sixth.
+
+"By the President. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
+
+"WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State."
+
+
+On June 5th, 1862, General T. Williams issued the following Order:
+
+"HEADQUARTERS SECOND BRIGADE,
+"BATON ROUGE, June 5, 1862.
+"[General Orders No. 46.]
+
+"In consequence of the demoralizing and disorganizing tendencies to the
+troops, of harboring runaway Negroes, it is hereby ordered that the
+respective Commanders of the camps and garrisons of the several
+regiments, Second Brigade, turn all such Fugitives in their camps or
+garrisons out beyond the limits of their respective guards and
+sentinels.
+
+"By order of Brigadier-General T. Williams:
+
+"WICKHAM HOFFMAN,
+"Assistant-Adjutant General."
+
+
+Lieutenant-Colonel D. R. Anthony, of the Seventh Kansas Volunteers,
+commanding a Brigade, issued the following order, at a date subsequent
+to the Battle of Pittsburg Landing and the evacuation of Corinth:
+
+"HEADQUARTERS MITCHELL'S BRIGADE,
+"ADVANCE COLUMN, FIRST BRIGADE, FIRST DIVISION,
+"GENERAL ARMY OF THE MISSISSIPPI,
+"CAMP ETHERIDGE, TENNESSEE, June 18, 1862.
+"[General Orders No. 26.]
+
+"1. The impudence--and impertinence of the open and armed Rebels,
+Traitors, Secessionists, and Southern-Rightsmen of this section of the
+State of Tennessee, in arrogantly demanding the right to search our camp
+for Fugitive Slaves, has become a nuisance, and will no longer be
+tolerated. "Officers will see that this class of men, who visit our
+camp for this purpose, are excluded from our lines.
+
+"2. Should any such persons be found within our lines, they will be
+arrested and sent to headquarters.
+
+"3. Any officer or soldier of this command who shall arrest and deliver
+to his master a Fugitive Slave, shall be summarily and severely
+punished, according to the laws relative to such crimes.
+
+"4. The strong Union sentiment in this Section is most gratifying, and
+all officers and soldiers, in their intercourse with the loyal, and
+those favorably disposed, are requested to act in their usual kind and
+courteous manner and protect them to the fullest extent.
+
+"By order of D. R. Anthony, Lieutenant-Colonel Seventh Kansas
+Volunteers, commanding:
+
+"W. W. H. LAWRENCE,
+"Captain and Assistant-Adjutant General."
+
+
+Lieutenant-Colonel Anthony was subsequently placed under arrest for
+issuing the above order.
+
+It was about this time, also, that General McClellan addressed to
+President Lincoln a letter on "forcible Abolition of Slavery," and "a
+Civil and Military policy"--in these terms:
+
+"HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,
+"CAMP NEAR HARRISON'S LANDING, VA., July 7, 1862.
+
+"MR. PRESIDENT:--You have been fully informed that the Rebel Army is in
+the front, with the purpose of overwhelming us by attacking our
+positions or reducing us by blocking our river communications. I cannot
+but regard our condition as critical, and I earnestly desire, in view of
+possible contingencies, to lay before your Excellency, for your private
+consideration, my general views concerning the existing state of the
+Rebellion, although they do not strictly relate to the situation of this
+Army, or strictly come within the scope of my official duties. These
+views amount to convictions, and are deeply impressed upon my mind and
+heart.
+
+"Our cause must never be abandoned; it is the cause of Free institutions
+and Self-government. The Constitution and the Union must be preserved,
+whatever may be the cost in time, treasure, and blood.
+
+"If Secession is successful, other dissolutions are clearly to be seen
+in the future. Let neither Military disaster, political faction, nor
+Foreign War shake your settled purpose to enforce the equal operation of
+the Laws of the United States upon the people of every State.
+
+"The time has come when the Government must determine upon a Civil and
+Military policy, covering the whole ground of our National trouble.
+
+"The responsibility of determining, declaring, and supporting such Civil
+and Military policy, and of directing the whole course of National
+affairs in regard to the Rebellion, must now be assumed and exercised by
+you, or our Cause will be lost. The Constitution gives you power, even
+for the present terrible exigency.
+
+"This Rebellion has assumed the character of a War; as such it should be
+regarded, and it should be conducted upon the highest principles known
+to Christian civilization. It should not be a War looking to the
+subjugation of the people of any State, in any event. It should not be
+at all a war upon population, but against armed forces and political
+organizations. Neither Confiscation of property, political executions
+of persons, territorial organizations of States, or forcible Abolition
+of Slavery, should be contemplated for a moment.
+
+"In prosecuting the War, all private property and unarmed persons should
+be strictly protected, subject only to the necessity of Military
+operations; all private property taken for Military use should be paid
+or receipted for; pillage and waste should be treated as high crimes;
+all unnecessary trespass sternly prohibited and offensive demeanor by
+the military towards citizens promptly rebuked.
+
+"Military arrests should not be tolerated, except in places where active
+hostilities exist; and oaths, not required by enactments,
+Constitutionally made, should be neither demanded nor received.
+
+"Military Government should be confined to the preservation of public
+order and the protection of political right. Military power should not
+be allowed to interfere with the relations of Servitude, either by
+supporting or impairing the authority of the master, except for
+repressing disorder, as in other cases. Slaves, contraband under the
+Act of Congress, seeking Military protection, should receive it.
+
+"The right of the Government to appropriate permanently to its own
+service claims to Slave-labor should be asserted, and the right of the
+owner to compensation therefor should be recognized.
+
+"This principle might be extended, upon grounds of Military necessity
+and security, to all the Slaves of a particular State, thus working
+manumission in such State; and in Missouri, perhaps in Western Virginia
+also, and possibly even in Maryland, the expediency of such a measure is
+only a question of time.
+
+"A system of policy thus Constitutional, and pervaded by the influences
+of Christianity and Freedom, would receive the support of almost all
+truly Loyal men, would deeply impress the Rebel masses and all foreign
+nations, and it might be humbly hoped that it would commend itself to
+the favor of the Almighty.
+
+"Unless the principles governing the future conduct of our Struggle
+shall be made known and approved, the effort to obtain requisite forces
+will be almost hopeless. A declaration of radical views, especially
+upon Slavery, will rapidly disintegrate our present Armies.
+
+"The policy of the Government must be supported by concentrations of
+Military power. The National Forces should not be dispersed in
+expeditions, posts of occupation, and numerous armies, but should be
+mainly collected into masses, and brought to bear upon the Armies of the
+Confederate States. Those Armies thoroughly defeated, the political
+structure which they support would soon cease to exist,
+
+"In carrying out any system of policy which you may form, you will
+require a Commander-in-chief of the Army, one who possesses your
+confidence, understands your views, and who is competent to execute your
+orders, by directing the Military Forces of the Nation to the
+accomplishment of the objects by you proposed. I do not ask that place
+for myself, I am willing to serve you in such position as you may assign
+me, and I will do so as faithfully as ever subordinate served superior.
+
+"I may be on the brink of Eternity; and as I hope forgiveness from my
+Maker, I have written this letter with sincerity towards you and from
+love for my Country.
+
+"Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
+
+"GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN,
+"Major-General Commanding.
+
+"His Excellency A. LINCOLN, President."
+
+
+July 12, 1862, Senators and Representatives of the Border Slave-holding
+States, having been specially invited to the White House for the
+purpose, were addressed by President Lincoln, as follows:
+
+"GENTLEMEN:--After the adjournment of Congress, now near, I shall have
+no opportunity of seeing you for several months. Believing that you of
+the Border States hold more power for good than any other equal number
+of members, I feel it a duty which I cannot justifiably waive, to make
+this appeal to you.
+
+"I intend no reproach or complaint when I assure you that, in my
+opinion, if you all had voted for the Resolution in the Gradual
+Emancipation Message of last March, the War would now be substantially
+ended. And the plan therein proposed is yet one of the most potent and
+swift means of ending it. Let the States which are in Rebellion see
+definitely and certainly that in no event will the States you represent
+ever join their proposed Confederacy, and they cannot much longer
+maintain the contest.
+
+"But you cannot divest them of their hope to ultimately have you with
+them so long as you show a determination to perpetuate the Institution
+within your own States. Beat them at elections, as you have
+overwhelmingly done, and nothing daunted, they still claim you as their
+own. You and I know what the lever of their power is. Break that lever
+before their faces, and they can shake you no more forever.
+
+"Most of you have treated me with kindness and consideration, and I
+trust you will not now think I improperly touch what is exclusively your
+own, when, for the sake of the whole Country, I ask, 'Can you, for your
+States, do better than to take the course I urge?' Discarding punctilio
+and maxims adapted to more manageable times, and looking only to the
+unprecedentedly stern facts of our case, can you do better in any
+possible event?
+
+"You prefer that the Constitutional relations of the States to the
+Nation shall be practically restored without disturbance of the
+Institution; and, if this were done, my whole duty, in this respect,
+under the Constitution and my oath of office, would be performed. But
+it is not done, and we are trying to accomplish it by War.
+
+"The incidents of the War cannot be avoided. If the War continues long,
+as it must, if the object be not sooner attained, the Institution in
+your States will be extinguished by mere friction and abrasion--by the
+mere incidents of the War. It will be gone, and you will have nothing
+valuable in lieu of it. Much of its value is gone already.
+
+"How much better for you and for your people to take the step which at
+once shortens the War and secures substantial compensation for that
+which is sure to be wholly lost in any other event! How much better to
+thus save the money which else we sink forever in the War! How: much
+better to do it while we can, lest the War ere long render us
+pecuniarily unable to do it! How much better for you, as seller, and
+the Nation, as buyer, to sell out and buy out that without which the War
+could never have been, than to sink both the thing to be sold and the
+price of it in cutting one another's throats!
+
+"I do not speak of Emancipation at once, but of a decision at once to
+Emancipate gradually. Room in South America for colonization can be
+obtained cheaply and in abundance, and when numbers shall be large
+enough to be company and encouragement for one another, the freed people
+will not be so reluctant to go.
+
+"I am pressed with a difficulty not yet mentioned; one which threatens
+division among those who, united, are none too strong. An instance of
+it is known to you. General Hunter is an honest man. He was, and I
+hope still is, my friend. I value him none the less for his agreeing
+with me in the general wish that all men everywhere could be freed. He
+proclaimed all men Free within certain States, and I repudiated the
+proclamation. He expected more good and less harm from the measure than
+I could believe would follow.
+
+"Yet, in repudiating it, I gave dissatisfaction, if not offense, to many
+whose support the Country cannot afford to lose. And this is not the
+end of it. The pressure in this direction is still upon me, and is
+increasing. By conceding what I now ask, you can relieve me, and, much
+more, can relieve the Country in this important point.
+
+"Upon these considerations I have again begged your attention to the
+Message of March last. Before leaving the Capitol, consider and discuss
+it among yourselves. You are Patriots and Statesmen, and as such I pray
+you consider this proposition; and, at the least, commend it to the
+consideration of your States and people. As you would perpetuate
+popular Government for the best people in the World, I beseech you that
+you do in nowise omit this.
+
+"Our common Country is in great peril, demanding the loftiest views and
+boldest action to bring a speedy relief. Once relieved, its form of
+Government is saved to the World, its beloved history and cherished
+memories are vindicated, and its happy future fully assured and rendered
+inconceivable grand. To you, more than to any others, the privilege is
+given to assure that happiness and swell that grandeur, and to link your
+own names therewith forever."
+
+The gentlemen representing in Congress the Border-States, to whom this
+address was made, subsequently met and discussed its subject matter, and
+made written reply in the shape of majority and minority replies, as
+follows:
+
+THE MAJORITY REPLY:
+
+"WASHINGTON, July 14, 1862.
+
+"TO THE PRESIDENT:
+
+"The undersigned, Representatives of Kentucky, Virginia, Missouri, and
+Maryland, in the two Houses of Congress, have listened to your address
+with the profound sensibility naturally inspired by the high source from
+which it emanates, the earnestness which marked its delivery, and the
+overwhelming importance of the subject of which it treats. We have
+given it a most respectful consideration, and now lay before you our
+response. We regret that want of time has not permitted us to make it
+more perfect.
+
+"We have not been wanting, Mr. President, in respect to you, and in
+devotion to the Constitution and the Union. We have not been
+indifferent to the great difficulties surrounding you, compared with
+which all former National troubles have been but as the summer cloud;
+and we have freely given you our sympathy and support. Repudiating the
+dangerous heresies of the Secessionists, we believed, with you, that the
+War on their part is aggressive and wicked, and the objects for which it
+was to be prosecuted on ours, defined by your Message at the opening of
+the present Congress, to be such as all good men should approve.
+
+"We have not hesitated to vote all supplies necessary to carry it on
+vigorously. We have voted all the men and money you have asked for, and
+even more; we have imposed onerous taxes on our people, and they are
+paying them with cheerfulness and alacrity; we have encouraged
+enlistments, and sent to the field many of our best men; and some of our
+number have offered their persons to the enemy as pledges of their
+sincerity and devotion to the Country.
+
+"We have done all this under the most discouraging circumstances, and in
+the face of measures most distasteful to us and injurious to the
+interests we represent, and in the hearing of doctrines avowed by those
+who claim to be your friends, must be abhorrent to us and our
+constituents.
+
+"But, for all this, we have never faltered, nor shall we as long as we
+have a Constitution to defend and a Government which protects us. And
+we are ready for renewed efforts, and even greater sacrifices, yea, any
+sacrifice, when we are satisfied it is required to preserve our
+admirable form of Government and the priceless blessings of
+Constitutional Liberty.
+
+"A few of our number voted for the Resolution recommended by your
+Message of the 6th of March last, the greater portion of us did not, and
+we will briefly state the prominent reasons which influenced our action.
+
+"In the first place, it proposed a radical change of our social system,
+and was hurried through both Houses with undue haste, without reasonable
+time for consideration and debate, and with no time at all for
+consultation with our constituents, whose interests it deeply involved.
+It seemed like an interference by this Government with a question which
+peculiarly and exclusively belonged to our respective States, on which
+they had not sought advice or solicited aid.
+
+"Many of us doubted the Constitutional power of this Government to make
+appropriations of money for the object designated, and all of us thought
+our finances were in no condition to bear the immense outlay which its
+adoption and faithful execution would impose upon the National Treasury.
+If we pause but a moment to think of the debt its acceptance would have
+entailed, we are appalled by its magnitude. The proposition was
+addressed to all the States, and embraced the whole number of Slaves.
+
+"According to the census of 1860 there were then nearly four million
+Slaves in the Country; from natural increase they exceed that number
+now. At even the low average of $300, the price fixed by the
+Emancipation Act for the Slaves of this District, and greatly below
+their real worth, their value runs up to the enormous sum of
+$1,200,000,000; and if to that we add the cost of deportation and
+colonization, at $100 each, which is but a fraction more than is
+actually paid--by the Maryland Colonization Society, we have
+$400,000,000 more.
+
+"We were not willing to impose a tax on our people sufficient to pay the
+interest on that sum, in addition to the vast and daily increasing debt
+already fixed upon them by exigencies of the War, and if we had been
+willing, the Country could not bear it. Stated in this form the
+proposition is nothing less than the deportation from the Country of
+$1,600,000,000 worth of producing labor, and the substitution, in its
+place, of an interest-bearing debt of the same amount.
+
+"But, if we are told that it was expected that only the States we
+represent would accept the proposition, we respectfully submit that even
+then it involves a sum too great for the financial ability of this
+Government at this time. According to the census of 1860:
+
+ Slaves
+ Kentucky had ........... 225,490
+ Maryland ............... 87,188
+ Virginia ............... 490,887
+ Delaware ............... 1,798
+ Missouri ............... 114,965
+ Tennessee .............. 275,784
+
+ Making in the whole .. 1,196,112
+
+ At the same rate of valuation these would
+ amount to ......... $358,933,500
+
+ Add for deportation and colonization $100
+ each ............... 118,244,533
+
+ And we have the
+ enormous sum of ... $478,038,133
+
+
+"We did not feel that we should be justified in voting for a measure
+which, if carried out, would add this vast amount to our public debt at
+a moment when the Treasury was reeling under the enormous expenditure of
+the War.
+
+"Again, it seemed to us that this Resolution was but the annunciation of
+a sentiment which could not or was not likely to be reduced to an actual
+tangible proposition. No movement was then made to provide and
+appropriate the funds required to carry it into effect; and we were not
+encouraged to believe that funds would be provided. And our belief has
+been fully justified by subsequent events.
+
+"Not to mention other circumstances, it is quite sufficient for our
+purpose to bring to your notice the fact that, while this resolution was
+under consideration in the Senate, our colleague, the Senator from
+Kentucky, moved an amendment appropriating $500,000 to the object
+therein designated, and it was voted down with great unanimity.
+
+"What confidence, then, could we reasonably feel that if we committed
+ourselves to the policy it proposed, our constituents would reap the
+fruits of the promise held out; and on what ground could we, as fair
+men, approach them and challenge their support?
+
+"The right to hold Slaves, is a right appertaining to all the States of
+this Union. They have the right to cherish or abolish the Institution,
+as their tastes or their interests may prompt, and no one is authorized
+to question the right or limit the enjoyment. And no one has more
+clearly affirmed that right than you have. Your Inaugural Address does
+you great honor in this respect, and inspired the Country with
+confidence in your fairness and respect for the Law. Our States are in
+the enjoyment of that right.
+
+"We do not feel called on to defend the Institution or to affirm it is
+one which ought to be cherished; perhaps, if we were to make the
+attempt, we might find that we differ even among ourselves. It is
+enough for our purpose to know that it is a right; and, so knowing, we
+did not see why we should now be expected to yield it.
+
+"We had contributed our full share to relieve the Country at this
+terrible crisis; we had done as much as had been required of others in
+like circumstances; and we did not see why sacrifices should be expected
+of us from which others, no more loyal, were exempt. Nor could we see
+what good the Nation would derive from it.
+
+"Such a sacrifice submitted to by us would not have strengthened the arm
+of this Government or weakened that of the Enemy. It was not necessary
+as a pledge of our Loyalty, for that had been manifested beyond a
+reasonable doubt, in every form, and at every place possible. There was
+not the remotest probability that the States we represent would join in
+the Rebellion, nor is there now, or of their electing to go with the
+Southern Section in the event of a recognition of the Independence of
+any part of the disaffected region.
+
+"Our States are fixed unalterably in their resolution to adhere to and
+support the Union. They see no safety for themselves, and no hope for
+Constitutional Liberty, but by its preservation. They will, under no
+circumstances, consent to its dissolution; and we do them no more than
+justice when we assure you that, while the War is conducted to prevent
+that deplorable catastrophe, they will sustain it as long as they can
+muster a man, or command a dollar.
+
+"Nor will they ever consent, in any event, to unite with the Southern
+Confederacy. The bitter fruits of the peculiar doctrines of that region
+will forever prevent them from placing their security and happiness in
+the custody of an association which has incorporated in its Organic Law
+the seeds of its own destruction.
+
+"We cannot admit, Mr. President, that if we had voted for the Resolution
+in the Emancipation Message of March last, the War would now be
+substantially ended. We are unable to see how our action in this
+particular has given, or could give, encouragement to the Rebellion.
+The Resolution has passed; and if there be virtue in it, it will be
+quite as efficacious as if we had voted for it.
+
+"We have no power to bind our States in this respect by our votes here;
+and, whether we had voted the one way or the other, they are in the same
+condition of freedom to accept or reject its provisions.
+
+"No, Sir, the War has not been prolonged or hindered by our action on
+this or any other measure. We must look for other causes for that
+lamented fact. We think there is not much difficulty, not much
+uncertainty, in pointing out others far more probable and potent in
+their agencies to that end.
+
+"The Rebellion derives its strength from the Union of all classes in the
+Insurgent States; and while that Union lasts the War will never end
+until they are utterly exhausted. We know that, at the inception of
+these troubles, Southern society was divided, and that a large portion,
+perhaps a majority, were opposed to Secession. Now the great mass of
+Southern people are united.
+
+"To discover why they are so, we must glance at Southern society, and
+notice the classes into which it has been divided, and which still
+distinguish it. They are in arms, but not for the same objects; they
+are moved to a common end, but by different and even inconsistent
+reasons.
+
+"The leaders, which comprehend what was previously known as the State
+Rights Party, and is much the lesser class, seek to break down National
+Independence and set up State domination. With them it is a War against
+Nationality.
+
+"The other class is fighting, as it supposes, to maintain and preserve
+its rights of Property and domestic safety, which it has been made to
+believe are assailed by this Government. This latter class are not
+Disunionists per se; they are so only because they have been made to
+believe that this Administration is inimical to their rights, and is
+making War on their domestic Institutions. As long as these two classes
+act together they will never assent to a Peace.
+
+"The policy, then, to be pursued, is obvious. The former class will
+never be reconciled, but the latter may be. Remove their apprehensions;
+satisfy them that no harm is intended to them and their Institutions;
+that this Government is not making War on their rights of Property, but
+is simply defending its legitimate authority, and they will gladly
+return to their allegiance as soon as the pressure of Military dominion
+imposed by the Confederate authority is removed from them.
+
+"Twelve months ago, both Houses of Congress, adopting the spirit of your
+Message, then but recently sent in, declared with singular unanimity the
+objects of the War, and the Country instantly bounded to your side to
+assist you in carrying it on. If the spirit of that Resolution had been
+adhered to, we are confident that we should before now have seen the end
+of this deplorable conflict. But what have we seen?
+
+"In both Houses of Congress we have heard doctrines subversive of the
+principles of the Constitution, and seen measure after measure, founded
+in substance on those doctrines, proposed and carried through, which can
+have no other effect than to distract and divide loyal men, and
+exasperate and drive still further from us and their duty the people of
+the rebellious States.
+
+"Military officers, following these bad examples, have stepped beyond
+the just limits of their authority in the same direction, until in
+several instances you have felt the necessity of interfering to arrest
+them. And even the passage of the Resolution to which you refer has
+been ostentatiously proclaimed as the triumph of a principle which the
+people of the Southern States regard as ruinous to them. The effect of
+these measures was foretold, and may now be seen in the indurated state
+of Southern feeling.
+
+"To these causes, Mr. President, and not to our omission to vote for the
+Resolution recommended by you, we solemnly believe we are to attribute
+the terrible earnestness of those in arms against the Government, and
+the continuance of the War. Nor do we (permit us to say, Mr. President,
+with all respect to you) agree that the Institution of Slavery is 'the
+lever of their power,' but we are of the opinion that 'the lever of
+their power' is the apprehension that the powers of a common Government,
+created for common and equal protection to the interests of all, will be
+wielded against the Institutions of the Southern States.
+
+"There is one other idea in your address we feel called on to notice.
+After stating the fact of your repudiation of General Hunter's
+Proclamation, you add:
+
+"'Yet, in repudiating it, I gave dissatisfaction, if not offense, to
+many whose support the Country cannot afford to lose. And this is not
+the end of it. The pressure in this direction is still upon me and is
+increasing. By conceding what I now ask, you can relieve me, and, much
+more, can relieve the Country, in this important point,'
+
+"We have anxiously looked into this passage to discover its true import,
+but we are yet in painful uncertainty. How can we, by conceding what
+you now ask, relieve you and the Country from the increasing pressure to
+which you refer? We will not allow ourselves to think that the
+proposition is, that we consent to give up Slavery, to the end that the
+Hunter proclamation may be let loose on the Southern people, for it is
+too well known that we would not be parties to any such measure, and we
+have too much respect for you to imagine you would propose it.
+
+"Can it mean that by sacrificing our interest in Slavery we appease the
+spirit that controls that pressure, cause it to be withdrawn, and rid
+the Country of the pestilent agitation of the Slavery question? We are
+forbidden so to think, for that spirit would not be satisfied with the
+liberation of 100,000 Slaves, and cease its agitation while 3,000,000
+remain in bondage. Can it mean that by abandoning Slavery in our States
+we are removing the pressure from you and the Country, by preparing for
+a separation on the line of the Cotton States?
+
+"We are forbidden so to think, because it is known that we are, and we
+believe that you are, unalterably opposed to any division at all. We
+would prefer to think that you desire this concession as a pledge of our
+support, and thus enable you to withstand a pressure which weighs
+heavily on you and the Country.
+
+"Mr. President, no such sacrifice is necessary to secure our support.
+Confine yourself to your Constitutional authority; confine your
+subordinates within the same limits; conduct this War solely for the
+purpose of restoring the Constitution to its legitimate authority;
+concede to each State and its loyal citizens their just rights, and we
+are wedded to you by indissoluble ties. Do this, Mr. President, and you
+touch the American heart, and invigorate it with new hope. You will, as
+we solemnly believe, in due time restore Peace to your Country, lift it
+from despondency to a future of glory, and preserve to your countrymen,
+their posterity, and man, the inestimable treasure of a Constitutional
+Government.
+
+"Mr. President, we have stated with frankness and candor the reasons on
+which we forbore to vote for the Resolution you have mentioned; but you
+have again presented this proposition, and appealed to us with an
+earnestness and eloquence which have not failed to impress us, to
+'consider it, and at the least to commend it to the consideration of our
+States and people.'
+
+"Thus appealed to by the Chief Magistrate of our beloved Country, in the
+hour of its greatest peril, we cannot wholly decline. We are willing to
+trust every question relating to their interest and happiness to the
+consideration and ultimate judgment of our own people.
+
+"While differing from you as to the necessity of Emancipating the Slaves
+of our States as a means of putting down the Rebellion, and while
+protesting against the propriety of any extra-territorial interference
+to induce the people of our States to adopt any particular line of
+policy on a subject which peculiarly and exclusively belongs to them,
+yet, when you and our brethren of the Loyal States sincerely believe
+that the retention of Slavery by us is an obstacle to Peace and National
+harmony, and are willing to contribute pecuniary aid to compensate our
+States and people for the inconveniences produced by such a change of
+system, we are not unwilling that our people shall consider the
+propriety of putting it aside.
+
+"But we have already said that we regard this Resolution as the
+utterance of a sentiment, and we had no confidence that it would assume
+the shape of a tangible practical proposition, which would yield the
+fruits of the sacrifice it required. Our people are influenced by the
+same want of confidence, and will not consider the proposition in its
+present impalpable form. The interest they are asked to give up is, to
+them, of immense importance, and they ought not to be expected even to
+entertain the proposal until they are assured that when they accept it
+their just expectations will not be frustrated.
+
+"We regard your plan as a proposition from the Nation to the States to
+exercise an admitted Constitutional right in a particular manner, and
+yield up a valuable interest. Before they ought to consider the
+proposition, it should be presented in such a tangible, practical,
+efficient shape, as to command their confidence that its fruits are
+contingent only upon their acceptance. We cannot trust anything to the
+contingencies of future legislation.
+
+"If Congress, by proper and necessary legislation, shall provide
+sufficient funds and place them at your disposal to be applied by you to
+the payment of any of our States, or the citizens thereof, who shall
+adopt the Abolishment of Slavery, either gradual or immediate, as they
+may determine, and the expense of deportation and colonization of the
+liberated Slaves, then will our States and people take this proposition
+into careful consideration, for such decision as in their judgment is
+demanded by their interest, their honor, and their duty to the whole
+Country. We have the honor to be, with great respect,
+
+"C. A. WICKLIFFE, Ch'man,
+CHAS. B. CALVERT,
+GARRETT DAVIS,
+C. L. L. LEARY,
+R. WILSON,
+EDWIN H. WEBSTER,
+J. J. CRITTENDEN,
+R. MALLORY,
+JOHN S. CARLILE,
+AARON HARDING,
+J. W. CRISFIELD,
+JAMES S. ROLLINS,
+J. S. JACKSON,
+J. W. MENZIES,
+H. GRIDER,
+THOMAS L. PRICE,
+JOHN S. PHELPS,
+G. W. DUNLAP,
+FRANCIS THOMAS,
+WILLIAM A. HALL."
+
+
+THE MINORITY REPLY.
+
+"WASHINGTON, July 15, 1863.
+
+"MR. PRESIDENT:--The undersigned, members of Congress from the Border
+States, in response to your address of Saturday last, beg leave to say
+that they attended a meeting, on the same day the address was delivered,
+for the purpose of considering the same. The meeting appointed a
+Committee to report a response to your address. That report was made on
+yesterday, and the action of the majority indicated clearly that the
+response, or one in substance the same, would be adopted and presented
+to you.
+
+"Inasmuch as we cannot, consistently with our own sense of duty to the
+Country, under the existing perils which surround us, concur in that
+response, we feel it to be due to you and to ourselves to make to you a
+brief and candid answer over our own signatures.
+
+"We believe that the whole power of the Government, upheld and sustained
+by all the influences and means of all loyal men in all Sections, and of
+all Parties, is essentially necessary to put down the Rebellion and
+preserve the Union and the Constitution. We understand your appeal to
+us to have been made for the purpose of securing this result.
+
+"A very large portion of the People in the Northern States believe that
+Slavery is the 'lever-power of the Rebellion.' It matters not whether
+this belief be well-founded or not. The belief does exist, and we have
+to deal with things as they are, and not as we would have them be.
+
+"In consequence of the existence of this belief, we understand that an
+immense pressure is brought to bear for the purpose of striking down
+this Institution through the exercise of Military authority. The
+Government cannot maintain this great struggle if the support and
+influence of the men who entertain these opinions be withdrawn. Neither
+can the Government hope for early success if the support of that element
+called "Conservative" be withdrawn.
+
+"Such being the condition of things, the President appeals to the
+Border-State men to step forward and prove their patriotism by making
+the first sacrifice. No doubt, like appeals have been made to extreme
+men in the North to meet us half-way, in order that the whole moral,
+political, pecuniary, and physical force of the Nation may be firmly and
+earnestly united in one grand effort to save the Union and the
+Constitution.
+
+"Believing that such were the motives that prompted your Address, and
+such the results to which it looked, we cannot reconcile it to our sense
+of duty, in this trying hour, to respond in a spirit of fault-finding or
+querulousness over the things that are past.
+
+"We are not disposed to seek for the cause of present misfortunes in the
+errors and wrongs of others who now propose to unite with us in a common
+purpose.
+
+"But, on the other hand, we meet your address in the spirit in which it
+was made, and, as loyal Americans, declare to you and to the World that
+there is no sacrifice that we are not ready to make to save the
+Government and institutions of our fathers. That we, few of us though
+there may be, will permit no man, from the North or from the South, to
+go further than we in the accomplishment of the great work before us.
+That, in order to carry out these views, we will, so far as may be in
+our power, ask the people of the Border States calmly, deliberately, and
+fairly to consider your recommendations.
+
+"We are the more emboldened to assume this position from the fact, now
+become history, that the leaders of the Southern Rebellion have offered
+to abolish Slavery among them as a condition to foreign intervention in
+favor of their Independence as a Nation.
+
+"If they can give up Slavery to destroy the Union, we can surely ask our
+people to consider the question of Emancipation to save the Union.
+
+"With great respect, your obedient servants,
+
+"JOHN W. NOELL,
+"SAMUEL L. CASEY,
+"GEORGE P. FISHER,
+"A. J. CLEMENTS,
+"WILLIAM G. BROWN,
+"JACOB B. BLAIR,
+"W. T. WILLEY."
+
+
+ [The following separate replies, subsequently made, by
+ Representative Maynard of Tennessee, and Senator Henderson of
+ Missouri, are necessarily given to complete this part of the Border
+ State record.]
+
+ MR. MAYNARD'S REPLY.
+
+"HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, July 16, 1862.
+
+"SIR:--The magnitude and gravity of the proposition submitted by you to
+Representatives from the Slave States would naturally occasion
+diversity, if not contrariety, of opinion. You will not, therefore, be
+surprised that I have not been able to concur in view with the majority
+of them.
+
+"This is attributable, possibly, to the fact that my State is not a
+Border State, properly so called, and that my immediate constituents are
+not yet disenthralled from the hostile arms of the Rebellion. This fact
+is a physical obstacle in the way of my now submitting to their
+consideration this, or any other proposition looking to political
+action, especially such as, in this case, would require a change in the
+Organic Law of the State.
+
+"But do not infer that I am insensible to your appeal. I am not; you
+are surrounded with difficulties far greater than have embarrassed any
+of your predecessors. You need the support of every American citizen,
+and you ought to have it--active, zealous and honest. The union of all
+Union men to aid you in preserving the Union, is the duty of the time.
+Differences as to policy and methods must be subordinated to the common
+purpose.
+
+"In looking for the cause of this Rebellion, it is natural that each
+Section and each Party should ascribe as little blame as possible to
+itself, and as much as possible to its opponent Section and Party.
+Possibly you and I might not agree on a comparison of our views. That
+there should be differences of opinion as to the best mode of conducting
+our Military operations, and the best men to lead our Armies, is equally
+natural. Contests on such questions weaken ourselves and strengthen our
+enemies. They are unprofitable, and possibly unpatriotic. Somebody
+must yield, or we waste our strength in a contemptible struggle among
+ourselves.
+
+"You appeal to the loyal men of the Slave States to sacrifice something
+of feeling and a great deal of interest. The sacrifices they have
+already made and the sufferings they have endured give the best
+assurance that the appeal will not have been made in vain. He who is
+not ready to yield all his material interests, and to forego his most
+cherished sentiments and opinions for the preservation of his Country,
+although he may have periled his life on the battle-field in her
+defense, is but half a Patriot. Among the loyal people that I
+represent, there are no half-patriots.
+
+"Already the Rebellion has cost us much, even to our undoing; we are
+content, if need be, to give up the rest, to suppress it. We have stood
+by you from the beginning of this struggle, and we mean to stand by you,
+God willing, till the end of it.
+
+"I did not vote for the Resolution to which you allude, solely for the
+reason that I was absent at the Capital of my own State. It is right.
+
+"Should any of the Slave States think proper to terminate that
+Institution, as several of them, I understand, or at least some of their
+citizens propose, justice and a generous comity require that the Country
+should interpose to aid in lessening the burden, public and private,
+occasioned by so radical a change in its social and industrial
+relations.
+
+"I will not now speculate upon the effect, at home or abroad, of the
+adoption of your policy, nor inquire what action of the Rebel leaders
+has rendered something of the kind important. Your whole administration
+gives the highest assurancee that you are moved, not so much from a
+desire to see all men everywhere made free, as from a higher desire to
+preserve free institutions for the benefit of men already free; not to
+make Slaves, Freemen, but to prevent Freemen from being made Slaves; not
+to destroy an Institution, which a portion of us only consider bad, but
+to save institutions which we all alike consider good. I am satisfied
+you would not ask from any of your fellow-citizens a sacrifice not, in
+your judgment, imperatively required by the safety of the Country.
+
+"This is the spirit of your appeal, and I respond to it in the same
+spirit.
+
+"I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
+
+ "HORACE MAYNARD.
+
+"To the PRESIDENT."
+
+
+
+ SENATOR HENDERSON'S REPLY.
+
+"WASHINGTON CITY, July 21, 1862.
+
+"MR. PRESIDENT:--The pressure of business in the Senate during the last
+few days of the session prevented my attendance at the meeting of the
+Border-State members, called to consider your proposition in reference
+to gradual emancipation in our States.
+
+"It is for this reason only, and not because I fail to appreciate their
+importance or properly respect your suggestions, that my name does not
+appear to any of the several papers submitted in response. I may also
+add that it was my intention, when the subject came up practically for
+consideration in the Senate, to express fully my views in regard to it.
+This of course would have rendered any other response unnecessary. But
+the want of time to consider the matter deprived me of that opportunity,
+and, lest now my silence be misconstrued, I deem it proper to say to you
+that I am by no means indifferent to the great questions so earnestly,
+and as I believe so honestly, urged by you upon our consideration.
+
+"The Border States, so far, are the chief sufferers by this War, and the
+true Union men of those States have made the greatest sacrifices for the
+preservation of the Government. This fact does not proceed from
+mismanagement on the part of the Union authorities, or a want of regard
+for our people, but it is the necessary result of the War that is upon
+us.
+
+"Our States are the battle-fields. Our people, divided among
+themselves, maddened by the struggle, and blinded by the smoke of
+battle, invited upon our soil contending armies--the one to destroy the
+Government, the other to maintain it. The consequence to us is plain.
+The shock of the contest upturns Society and desolates the Land. We
+have made sacrifices, but at last they were only the sacrifices demanded
+by duty, and unless we are willing to make others, indeed any that the
+good of the Country, involved in the overthrow of Treason, may expect at
+our hands, our title to patriotism is not complete.
+
+"When you submitted your proposition to Congress, in March last, 'that
+the United States ought to co-operate with any State which may adopt a
+gradual abolishment of Slavery, giving to such State pecuniary aid, to
+be used by such State in its discretion, to compensate for the
+inconveniences, public and private, produced by such change of system,'
+I gave it a most cheerful support, and I am satisfied it would have
+received the approbation of a large majority of the Border States
+delegations in both Branches of Congress, if, in the first place, they
+had believed the War, with its continued evils--the most prominent of
+which, in a material point of view, is its injurious effect on the
+Institution of Slavery in our States--could possibly have been
+protracted for another twelve months; and if, in the second place, they
+had felt assured that the party having the majority in Congress would,
+like yourself, be equally prompt in practical action as in the
+expression of a sentiment.
+
+"While scarcely any one doubted your own sincerity in the premises, and
+your earnest wish speedily to terminate the War, you can readily
+conceive the grounds for difference of opinion where conclusions could
+only be based on conjecture.
+
+"Believing, as I did, that the War was not so near its termination as
+some supposed, and feeling disposed to accord to others the same
+sincerity of purpose that I should claim for myself under similar
+circumstances, I voted for the proposition. I will suppose that others
+were actuated by no sinister motives.
+
+"In doing so, Mr. President, I desire to be distinctly understood by you
+and by my constituents. I did not suppose at the time that I was
+personally making any sacrifice by supporting the Resolution, nor that
+the people of my State were called upon to make any sacrifices, either
+in considering or accepting the proposition, if they saw fit.
+
+"I agreed with you in the remarks contained in the Message accompanying
+the Resolution, that 'the Union must be preserved, and hence all
+indispensable means must be employed. * * * War has been and continues
+to be an indispensable means to this end. A practical reacknowledgment
+of the National authority would render the War unnecessary, and it would
+at once cease. If, however, resistance continues, the War must also
+continue; and it is impossible to foresee all the incidents which may
+attend and all the ruin which may follow it.'
+
+"It is truly 'impossible' to foresee all the evils resulting from a War
+so stupendous as the present. I shall be much rejoiced if something
+more dreadful than the sale of Freedom to a few Slaves in the Border
+States shall not result from it.
+
+"If it closes with the Government of our Fathers secure, and
+Constitutional Liberty in all its purity guaranteed to the White man,
+the result will be better than that having a place in the fears of many
+good men at present, and much better than the past history of such
+revolutions can justify us in expecting.
+
+"In this period of the Nation's distress, I know of no human institution
+too sacred for discussion; no material interest belonging to the citizen
+that he should not willingly place upon the altar of his Country, if
+demanded by the public good.
+
+"The man who cannot now sacrifice Party and put aside selfish
+considerations is more than half disloyal. Such a man does not deserve
+the blessings of good government. Pride of opinion, based upon
+Sectional jealousies, should not be permitted to control the decision of
+any political question. These remarks are general, but apply with
+peculiar force to the People of the Border States at present.
+
+"Let us look at our condition. A desolating War is upon us. We cannot
+escape it if we would. If the Union Armies were to-day withdrawn from
+the Border States without first crushing the Rebellion in the South, no
+rational man can doubt for a moment that the adherents of the Union
+Cause in those States would soon be driven in exile from their homes by
+the exultant Rebels, who have so long hoped to return and take vengeance
+upon us.
+
+"The People of the Border States understand very well the unfriendly and
+selfish spirit exercised toward them by the leaders of this Cotton-State
+Rebellion, beginning some time previous to its outbreak. They will not
+fail to remember their insolent refusal to counsel with us, and their
+haughty assumption of responsibility upon themselves for their misguided
+action.
+
+"Our people will not soon forget that, while declaiming against
+Coercion, they closed their doors against the exportation of Slaves from
+the Border States into the South, with the avowed purpose of forcing us
+into Rebellion through fears of losing that species of Property. They
+knew very well the effect to be produced on Slavery by a Civil War,
+especially in those States into which hostile Armies might penetrate,
+and upon the soil of which the great contests for the success of
+Republican Government were to be decided.
+
+"They wanted some intermediate ground for the conflict of arms-territory
+where the population would be divided. They knew, also, that by keeping
+Slavery in the Border States the mere 'friction and abrasion' to which
+you so appropriately allude, would keep up a constant irritation,
+resulting necessarily from the frequent losses to which the owners would
+be subjected.
+
+"They also calculated largely, and not without reason, upon the
+repugnance of Non-Slaveholders in those States to a Free Negro
+population. In the meantime they intended persistently to charge the
+overthrow of Slavery to be the object of the Government, and hostility
+to this Institution the origin of the War. By this means the
+unavoidable incidents of the strife might easily he charged as the
+settled purposes of the Government.
+
+"Again, it was well understood, by these men, that exemplary conduct on
+the part of every officer and soldier employed by the Government could
+not in the nature of things be expected, and the hope was entertained,
+upon the most reasonable grounds, that every commission of wrong and
+every omission of duty would produce a new cause for excitement and a
+new incentive to Rebellion.
+
+"By these means the War was to be kept in the Border States, regardless
+of our interests, until an exhausted Treasury should render it necessary
+to send the tax-gatherer among our people, to take the little that might
+be left them from the devastations of War.
+
+"They then expected a clamor for Peace by us, resulting in the
+interference of France and England, whose operatives in the meantime
+would be driven to want, and whose aristocracy have ever been ready to
+welcome a dissolution of the American Union.
+
+"This cunningly-devised plan for securing a Gulf-Confederacy, commanding
+the mouths of the great Western rivers, the Gulf of Mexico, and the
+Southern Atlantic ocean, with their own territory unscathed by the
+horrors of war, and surrounded by the Border States, half of whose
+population would be left in sympathy with them, for many years to come,
+owing to the irritations to which I have alluded, has, so far, succeeded
+too well.
+
+"In Missouri they have already caused us to lose a third or more of the
+Slaves owned at the time of the last census. In addition to this, I can
+make no estimate of the vast amount of property of every character that
+has been destroyed by Military operations in the State. The loss from
+general depreciation of values, and the utter prostration of every
+business-interest of our people, is wholly beyond calculation.
+
+"The experience of Missouri is but the experience of other Sections of
+the Country similarly situated. The question is therefore forced upon
+us, 'How long is this War to continue; and, if continued, as it has
+been, on our soil, aided by the Treason and folly of our own citizens,
+acting in concert with the Confederates, how long can Slavery, or, if
+you please, any other property-interest, survive in our States?'
+
+"As things now are, the people of the Border-States yet divided, we
+cannot expect an immediate termination of the struggle, except upon
+condition of Southern Independence, losing thereby control of the lower
+Mississippi. For this, we in Missouri are not prepared, nor are we
+prepared to become one of the Confederate States, should the terrible
+calamity of Dissolution occur.
+
+"This, I presume, the Union men of Missouri would resist to the death.
+And whether they should do so or not, I will not suppose for an instant,
+that the Government of the United States would, upon any condition,
+submit to the loss of territory so essential to its future commercial
+greatness as is the State of Missouri.
+
+"But should all other reasons fail to prevent such a misfortune to our
+people of Missouri, there is one that cannot fail. The Confederates
+never wanted us, and would not have us. I assume, therefore, that the
+War will not cease, but will be continued until the Rebellion shall be
+overcome. It cannot and will not cease, so far as the people of
+Missouri are concerned, except upon condition of our remaining in the
+Union, and the whole West will demand the entire control of the
+Mississippi river to the Gulf.
+
+"Our interest is therefore bound up with the interests of those States
+maintaining the Union, and especially with the great States of the West
+that must be consulted in regard to the terms of any Peace that may be
+suggested, even by the Nations of Europe, should they at any time
+unfortunately depart from their former pacific policy and determine to
+intervene in our affairs.
+
+"The War, then, will have to be continued until the Union shall be
+practically restored. In this alone consists the future safety of the
+Border-States themselves. A separation of the Union is ruinous to them.
+The preservation of the Union can only be secured by a continuation of
+the War. The consequences of that continuation may be judged of by the
+experience of the last twelve months. The people of my State are as
+competent to pass judgment in the premises as I am. I have every
+confidence in their intelligence, their honesty, and their patriotism.
+
+"In your own language, the proposition you make 'sets up no claim of a
+right by Federal authority to interfere with Slavery within State
+limits,' referring, as it does, the absolute control of the subject in
+each case to the State and its people immediately interested. It is
+proposed as a matter of perfectly free choice with them.
+
+"In this view of the subject I can frankly say to you that, personally,
+I never could appreciate the objections so frequently urged against the
+proposition. If I understood you properly, it was your opinion, not
+that Slavery should be removed in order to secure our loyalty to the
+Government, for every personal act of your administration precludes such
+an inference, but you believe that the peculiar species of Property was
+in imminent danger from the War in which we were engaged, and that
+common justice demanded remuneration for the loss of it.
+
+"You then believe, and again express the opinion, that the peculiar
+nature of the contest is such that its loss is almost inevitable, and
+lest any pretext for a charge of injustice against the Government be
+given to its enemies, you propose to extend to the people of those
+States standing by the Union, the choice of payment for their Slaves or
+the responsibility of loss, should it occur, without complaint against
+the Government.
+
+"Placing the matter in this light, (a mere remuneration for losses
+rendered inevitable by the casualties of War), the objection of a
+Constitutional character may be rendered much less formidable in the
+minds of Northern Representatives whose constituents will have to share
+in the payment of the money; and, so far as the Border States are
+concerned, this objection should be most sparingly urged, for it being a
+matter entirely of their 'own free choice,' in case of a desire to
+accept, no serious argument will likely be urged against the receipt of
+the money, or a fund for Colonization.
+
+"But, aside from the power derived from the operations of war, there may
+be found numerous precedents in the legislation of the past, such as
+grants of land and money to the several States for specified objects
+deemed worthy by the Federal Congress. And in addition to this may be
+cited a deliberate opinion of Mr. Webster upon this very subject, in one
+of the ablest arguments of his life.
+
+"I allude to this question of power merely in vindication of the
+position assumed by me in my vote for the Resolution of March last.
+
+"In your last communication to us, you beg of us 'to commend this
+subject to the consideration of our States and people.' While I
+entirely differ with you in the opinion expressed, that had the members
+from the Border States approved of your Resolution of March last 'the
+War would now be substantially ended,' and while I do not regard the
+suggestion 'as one of the most potent and swift means of ending' the
+War, I am yet free to say that I have the most unbounded confidence in
+your sincerity of purpose in calling our attention to the dangers
+surrounding us.
+
+"I am satisfied that you appreciate the troubles of the Border States,
+and that your suggestions are intended for our good. I feel the force
+of your urgent appeal, and the logic of surrounding circumstances brings
+conviction even to an unwilling believer.
+
+"Having said that, in my judgment, you attached too much importance to
+this measure as a means for suppressing the Rebellion, it is due to you
+that I shall explain.
+
+"Whatever may be the status of the Border States in this respect, the
+War cannot be ended until the power of the Government is made manifest
+in the seceded States. They appealed to the sword; give them the sword.
+They asked for War; let them see its evils on their own soil.
+
+"They have erected a Government, and they force obedience to its
+behests. This structure must be destroyed; this image, before which an
+unwilling People have been compelled to bow, must be broken. The
+authority of the Federal Government must be felt in the heart of the
+rebellious district. To do this, let armies be marched upon them at
+once, and let them feel what they have inflicted on us in the Border.
+Do not fear our States; we will stand by the Government in this work.
+
+"I ought not to disguise from you or the people of my State, that
+personally I have fixed and unalterable opinions on the subject of your
+communication. Those opinions I shall communicate to the people in that
+spirit of frankness that should characterize the intercourse of the
+Representative with his constituents.
+
+"If I were to-day the owner of the lands and Slaves of Missouri, your
+proposition, so far as that State is concerned, would be immediately
+accepted. Not a day would be lost. Aside from public considerations,
+which you suppose to be involved in the proposition, and which no
+Patriot, I agree, should disregard at present, my own personal interest
+would prompt favorable and immediate action.
+
+"But having said this, it is proper that I say something more. The
+Representative is the servant and not the master of the People. He has
+no authority to bind them to any course of action, or even to indicate
+what they will, or will not, do when the subject is exclusively theirs
+and not his.
+
+"I shall take occasion, I hope honestly, to give my views of existing
+troubles and impending dangers, and shall leave the rest to them,
+disposed, as I am, rather to trust their judgment upon the case stated
+than my own, and at the same time most cheerfully to acquiesce in their
+decision.
+
+"For you, personally, Mr. President, I think I can pledge the kindest
+considerations of the people of Missouri, and I shall not hesitate to
+express the belief that your recommendation will be considered by them
+in the same spirit of kindness manifested by you in its presentation to
+us, and that their decision will be such as is demanded 'by their
+interests, their honor, and their duty to the whole Country.'
+
+"I am very respectfully, your obedient servant,
+
+ "J. B. HENDERSON.
+
+"To his Excellency,
+"A. LINCOLN, PRESIDENT."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+ FREEDOM PROCLAIMED TO ALL.
+
+
+While mentally revolving the question of Emancipation--now, evidently
+"coming to a head,"--no inconsiderable portion of Mr. Lincoln's thoughts
+centered upon, and his perplexities grew out of, his assumption that the
+"physical difference" between the Black and White--the African and
+Caucasian races, precluded the idea of their living together in the one
+land as Free men and equals.
+
+In his speeches during the great Lincoln-Douglas debate we have seen
+this idea frequently advanced, and so, in his later public utterances as
+President.
+
+As in his appeal to the Congressional delegations from the Border-States
+on the 12th of July, 1862, he had held out to them the hope that "the
+Freed people will not be so reluctant to go" to his projected colony in
+South America, when their "numbers shall be large enough to be company
+and encouragement for one another," so, at a later date--on the 14th of
+August following--he appealed to the Colored Free men themselves to help
+him found a proposed Negro colony in New Granada, and thus aid in the
+solution of this part of the knotty problem, by the disenthrallment of
+the new race from its unhappy environments here.
+
+The substance of the President's interesting address, at the White
+House, to the delegation of Colored men, for whom he had sent, was thus
+reported at the time:
+
+"Having all been seated, the President, after a few preliminary
+observations, informed them that a sum of money had been appropriated by
+Congress, and placed at his disposition, for the purpose of aiding the
+colonization in some country of the people, or a portion of them, of
+African descent, thereby making it his duty, as it had for a long time
+been his inclination, to favor that cause; and why, he asked, should the
+people of your race be colonized, and where?
+
+"Why should they leave this Country? This is perhaps the first question
+for proper consideration. You and we are different races. We have
+between us a broader difference than exists between almost any other two
+races. Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss; but this
+physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think.
+Your race suffers very greatly, many of them by living among us, while
+ours suffers from your presence. In a word we suffer on each side. If
+this is admitted, it affords a reason, at least, why we should be
+separated. You here are Freemen, I suppose?
+
+"A VOICE--Yes, Sir.
+
+"THE PRESIDENT--Perhaps you have long been free, or all your lives.
+Your race are suffering, in my judgment, the greatest wrong inflicted on
+any people. But even when you cease to be Slaves, you are yet far
+removed from being placed on an equality with the White race. You are
+cut off from many of the advantages which the other race enjoys. The
+aspiration of men is to enjoy equality with the best when free; but on
+this broad continent not a single man of your race is made the equal of
+a single man of ours. Go where you are treated the best, and the ban is
+still upon you. I do not propose to discuss this, but to present it as
+a fact, with which we have to deal. I cannot alter it if I would. It
+is a fact about which we all think and feel alike, I and you. We look
+to our condition.
+
+"Owing to the existence of the two races on this continent, I need not
+recount to you the effects upon White men, growing out of the
+institution of Slavery. I believe in its general evil effects on the
+White race. See our present condition--the Country engaged in War! our
+white men cutting one another's throats--none knowing how far it will
+extend--and then consider what we know to be the truth. But for your
+race among us there could not be War, although many men engaged on
+either side do not care for you one way or the other. Nevertheless, I
+repeat, without the institution of Slavery, and the Colored race as a
+basis, the War could not have an existence. It is better for us both,
+therefore, to be separated.
+
+"I know that there are Free men among you who, even if they could better
+their condition, are not as much inclined to go out of the Country as
+those who, being Slaves, could obtain their Freedom on this condition.
+I suppose one of the principal difficulties in the way of colonization
+is that the free colored man cannot see that his comfort would be
+advanced by it. You may believe that you can live in Washington, or
+elsewhere in the United States, the remainder of your life; perhaps more
+so than you can in any foreign country, and hence you may come to the
+conclusion that you have nothing to do with the idea of going to a
+foreign country.
+
+"This is, (I speak in no unkind sense) an extremely selfish view of the
+case. But you ought to do something to help those who are not so
+fortunate as yourselves. There is an unwillingness on the part of our
+People, harsh as it may be, for you free Colored people to remain with
+us. Now if you could give a start to the White people you would open a
+wide door for many to be made free. If we deal with those who are not
+free at the beginning, and whose intellects are clouded by Slavery, we
+have very poor material to start with.
+
+"If intelligent Colored men, such as are before me, could move in this
+matter, much might be accomplished. It is exceedingly important that we
+have men at the beginning capable of thinking as White men, and not
+those who have been systematically oppressed. There is much to
+encourage you.
+
+"For the sake of your race you should sacrifice something of your
+present comfort for the purpose of being as grand in that respect as the
+White people. It is a cheering thought throughout life, that something
+can be done to ameliorate the condition of those who have been subject
+to the hard usages of the World. It is difficult to make a man
+miserable while he feels he is worthy of himself and claims kindred to
+the great God who made him.
+
+"In the American Revolutionary War, sacrifices were made by men engaged
+in it, but they were cheered by the future. General Washington himself
+endured greater physical hardships than if he had remained a British
+subject, yet he was a happy man, because he was engaged in benefiting
+his race, in doing something for the children of his neighbors, having
+none of his own.
+
+"The Colony of Liberia has been in existence a long time. In a certain
+sense it is a success. The old President of Liberia, Roberts, has just
+been with me the first time I ever saw him. He says they have, within
+the bounds of that Colony, between three and four hundred thousand
+people, or more than in some of our old States, such as Rhode Island, or
+Delaware, or in some of our newer States, and less than in some of our
+larger ones. They are not all American colonists or their descendants.
+Something less than 12,000 have been sent thither from this Country.
+Many of the original settlers have died, yet, like people elsewhere,
+their offspring outnumber those deceased.
+
+"The question is, if the Colored people are persuaded to go anywhere,
+why not there? One reason for unwillingness to do so is that some of
+you would rather remain within reach of the country of your nativity. I
+do not know how much attachment you may have toward our race. It does
+not strike me that you have the greatest reason to love them. But still
+you are attached to them at all events.
+
+"The place I am thinking about having for a colony, is in Central
+America. It is nearer to us than Liberia--not much more than one-fourth
+as far as Liberia, and within seven days' run by steamers. Unlike
+Liberia, it is a great line of travel--it is a highway. The country is
+a very excellent one for any people, and with great natural resources
+and advantages, and especially because of the similarity of climate with
+your native soil, thus being suited to your physical condition.
+
+"The particular place I have in view, is to be a great highway from the
+Atlantic or Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean, and this particular
+place has all the advantages for a colony. On both sides there are
+harbors among the finest in the World. Again, there is evidence of very
+rich coal mines. A certain amount of coal is valuable in any country.
+Why I attach so much importance to coal is, it will afford an
+opportunity to the inhabitants for immediate employment till they get
+ready to settle permanently in their homes.
+
+"If you take colonists where there is no good landing, there is a bad
+show; and so, where there is nothing to cultivate, and of which to make
+a farm. But if something is started so that you can get your daily
+bread as soon as you reach there, it is a great advantage. Coal land is
+the best thing I know of, with which to commence an enterprise.
+
+"To return--you have been talked to upon this subject, and told that a
+speculation is intended by gentlemen who have an interest in the
+country, including the coal mines. We have been mistaken all our lives
+if we do not know Whites, as well as Blacks, look to their self-
+interest. Unless among those deficient of intellect, everybody you
+trade with makes something. You meet with these things here and
+everywhere. If such persons have what will be an advantage to them, the
+question is, whether it cannot be made of advantage to you?
+
+"You are intelligent, and know that success does not as much depend on
+external help, as on self-reliance. Much, therefore, depends upon
+yourselves. As to the coal mines, I think I see the means available for
+your self-reliance. I shall, if I get a sufficient number of you
+engaged, have provision made that you shall not be wronged. If you will
+engage in the enterprise, I will spend some of the money intrusted to
+me. I am not sure you will succeed. The Government may lose the money,
+but we cannot succeed unless we try; but we think, with care, we can
+succeed.
+
+"The political affairs in Central America are not in quite as
+satisfactory condition as I wish. There are contending factions in that
+quarter; but it is true, all the factions are agreed alike on the
+subject of colonization, and want it; and are more generous than we are
+here. To your Colored race they have no objection. Besides, I would
+endeavor to have you made equals, and have the best assurance that you
+should be the equals of the best.
+
+"The practical thing I want to ascertain is, whether I can get a number
+of able-bodied men, with their wives and children, who are willing to
+go, when I present evidence of encouragement and protection. Could I
+get a hundred tolerably intelligent men, with their wives and children,
+and able to 'cut their own fodder' so to speak? Can I have fifty? If I
+could find twenty-five able-bodied men, with a mixture of women and
+children--good things in the family relation, I think I could make a
+successful commencement.
+
+"I want you to let me know whether this can be done or not. This is the
+practical part of my wish to see you. These are subjects of very great
+importance--worthy of a month's study, of a speech delivered in an hour.
+I ask you, then, to consider seriously, not as pertaining to yourselves
+merely, nor for your race, and ours, for the present time, but as one of
+the things, if successfully managed, for the good of mankind--not
+confined to the present generation, but as:
+
+ "From age to age descends the lay
+ To millions yet to be,
+ Till far its echoes roll away
+ Into eternity."'
+
+President Lincoln's well-meant colored colonization project, however,
+fell through, owing partly to opposition to it in Central America, and
+partly to the very natural and deeply-rooted disinclination of the
+Colored free men to leave the land of their birth.
+
+Meanwhile, limited Military Emancipation of Slaves was announced and
+regulated, on the 22d July, 1862, by the following Executive
+Instructions, which were issued from the War Department by order of the
+President--the issue of which was assigned by Jefferson Davis as one
+reason for his Order of August 1, 1862, directing "that the commissioned
+officers of Pope's and Steinwehr's commands be not entitled, when
+captured, to be treated as soldiers and entitled to the benefit of the
+cartel of exchange:"
+
+
+"WAR DEPARTMENT,
+"WASHINGTON, D.C., July 22, 1862.
+
+"First. Ordered that Military Commanders within the States of Virginia,
+North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana,
+Texas, and Arkansas, in an orderly manner seize and use any property,
+real or personal, which may be necessary or convenient for their several
+commands, for supplies, or for other Military purposes; and that while
+property may be destroyed for proper Military objects, none shall be
+destroyed in wantonness or malice.
+
+"Second. That Military and Naval Commanders shall employ as laborers,
+within and from said States, so many Persons of African descent as can
+be advantageously used for Military or Naval purposes, giving them
+reasonable wages for their labor.
+
+"Third. That, as to both property, and Persons of African descent,
+accounts shall be kept sufficiently accurate and in detail to show
+quantities and amounts, and from whom both property and such Persons
+shall have come, as a basis upon which compensation can be made in
+proper cases; and the several departments of this Government shall
+attend to and perform their appropriate parts towards the execution of
+these orders.
+
+"By Order of the President:
+
+ "EDWIN M. STANTON,
+ "Secretary of War."
+
+
+On the 9th of August, 1862, Major General McClellan promulgated the
+Executive Order of July 22, 1862, from his Headquarters at Harrison's
+Landing, Va., with certain directions of his own, among which were the
+following:
+
+"Inhabitants, especially women and children, remaining peaceably at
+their homes, must not be molested; and wherever commanding officers find
+families peculiarly exposed in their persons or property to marauding
+from this Army, they will, as heretofore, so far as they can do with
+safety and without detriment to the service, post guards for their
+protection.
+
+"In protecting private property, no reference is intended to Persons
+held to service or labor by reason of African Descent. Such Persons
+will be regarded by this Army, as they heretofore have been, as
+occupying simply a peculiar legal status under State laws, which
+condition the Military authorities of the United States are not required
+to regard at all in districts where Military operations are made
+necessary by the rebellious action of the State governments.
+
+"Persons subject to suspicion of hostile purposes, residing or being
+near our Forces, will be, as heretofore, subject to arrest and
+detention, until the cause or necessity is removed. All such arrested
+parties will be sent, as usual, to the Provost-Marshal General, with a
+statement of the facts in each case.
+
+"The General Commanding takes this occasion to remind the officers and
+soldiers of this Army that we are engaged in supporting the Constitution
+and the Laws of the United States and suppressing Rebellion against
+their authority; that we are not engaged in a War of rapine, revenge, or
+subjugation; that this is not a contest against populations, but against
+armed forces and political organizations; that it is a struggle carried
+on with the United States, and should be conducted by us upon the
+highest principles known to Christian civilization.
+
+"Since this Army commenced active operations, Persons of African
+descent, including those held to service or labor under State laws, have
+always been received, protected, and employed as laborers at wages.
+Hereafter it shall be the duty of the Provost-Marshal General to cause
+lists to be made of all persons of African descent employed in this Army
+as laborers for Military purposes--such lists being made sufficiently
+accurate and in detail to show from whom such persons shall have come.
+
+"Persons so subject and so employed have always understood that after
+being received into the Military service of the United States, in any
+capacity, they could never be reclaimed by their former holders. Except
+upon such understanding on their part, the order of the President, as to
+this class of Persons, would be inoperative. The General Commanding
+therefore feels authorized to declare to all such employees, that they
+will receive permanent Military protection against any compulsory return
+to a condition of servitude."
+
+Public opinion was now rapidly advancing, under the pressure of Military
+necessity, and the energetic efforts of the immediate Emancipationists,
+to a belief that Emancipation by Presidential Proclamation would be wise
+and efficacious as an instrumentality toward subduing the Rebellion;
+that it must come, sooner or later--and the sooner, the better.
+
+Indeed, great fault was found, by some of these, with what they
+characterized as President Lincoln's "obstinate slowness" to come up to
+their advanced ideas on the subject. He was even accused of failing to
+execute existing laws touching confiscation of Slaves of Rebels coming
+within the lines of the Union Armies. On the 19th of August, 1862, a
+letter was addressed to him by Horace Greeley which concluded thus:
+
+"On the face of this wide Earth, Mr. President, there is not one
+disinterested, determined, intelligent champion of the Union Cause who
+does not feel that all attempts to put down the Rebellion, and at the
+same time uphold its inciting cause, are preposterous and futile--that
+the Rebellion, if crushed out to-morrow, would be renewed within a year
+if Slavery were left in full vigor--that Army officers, who remain to
+this day devoted to Slavery, can at best be but half-way loyal to the
+Union--and that every hour of deference to Slavery is an hour of added
+and deepened peril to the Union.
+
+"I appeal to the testimony of your embassadors in Europe. It is freely
+at your service, not mine. Ask them to tell you candidly whether the
+seeming subserviency of your policy to the Slaveholding, Slavery-
+upholding interest, is not the perplexity, the despair, of Statesmen of
+all parties; and be admonished by the general answer.
+
+"I close, as I began, with the statement that what an immense majority
+of the loyal millions of your countrymen require of you, is a frank,
+declared, unqualified, ungrudging execution of the Laws of the Land,
+more especially of the Confiscation Act. That Act gives Freedom to the
+Slaves of Rebels coming within our lines, or whom those lines may at any
+time inclose. We ask you to render it due obedience by publicly
+requiring all your subordinates to recognize and obey it.
+
+"The Rebels are everywhere using the late Anti-Negro riots in the North
+--as they have long used your officers' treatment of Negroes in the
+South--to convince the Slaves that they have nothing to hope from a
+Union success--that we mean in that case to sell them into a bitter
+Bondage to defray the cost of the War.
+
+"Let them impress this as a truth on the great mass of their ignorant
+and credulous Bondmen, and the Union will never be restored--never. We
+can not conquer ten millions of people united in solid phalanx against
+us, powerfully aided by Northern sympathizers and European allies.
+
+"We must have scouts, guides, spies, cooks, teamsters, diggers, and
+choppers, from the Blacks of the South--whether we allow them to fight
+for us or not--or we shall be baffled and repelled.
+
+"As one of the Millions who would gladly have avoided this struggle, at
+any sacrifice but that of principle and honor, but who now feel that the
+triumph of the Union is indispensable not only to the existence of our
+Country, but to the well-being of mankind, I entreat you to render a
+hearty and unequivocal obedience to the Law of the Land.
+ "Yours,
+ "HORACE GREELEY."
+
+
+To this letter, President Lincoln at once made the following memorable
+reply:
+
+ "EXECUTIVE MANSION,
+ "WASHINGTON, Friday, August 22, 1862.
+
+"HON. HORACE GREELEY
+
+"DEAR SIR:--I have just read yours of the 19th inst. addressed to myself
+through the New York Tribune.
+
+"If there be in it any statements or assumptions of fact which I may
+know to be erroneous, I do not now and here controvert them.
+
+"If there be any inferences which I may believe to be falsely drawn, I
+do not now and here argue against them.
+
+"If there be perceptible in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, I
+waive it in deference to an old friend whose heart I have always
+supposed to be right.
+
+"As to the policy I 'seem to be pursuing,' as you say, I have not meant
+to leave any one in doubt. I would save the Union. I would save it in
+the shortest way under the Constitution.
+
+"The sooner the National authority can be restored, the nearer the Union
+will be--the Union as it was.
+
+"If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the
+same time save Slavery, I do not agree with them.
+
+"If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the
+same time destroy Slavery, I do not agree, with them.
+
+"My paramount object is to save the Union and not either to save or
+destroy Slavery.
+
+"If I could save the Union without freeing any Slave, I would do it--and
+if I could save it by freeing all the Slaves, I would do it--and if I
+could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do
+that.
+
+"What I do about Slavery and the Colored race, I do because I believe it
+helps to save the Union, and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not
+believe it would help to save the Union.
+
+"I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the
+cause, and shall do more whenever I believe doing more will help the
+cause.
+
+"I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors, and I shall
+adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views.
+
+"I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty,
+and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all
+men everywhere could be free.
+ "Yours,
+ "A. LINCOLN."
+
+
+On the 13th of September, 1862, a deputation from all the religious
+denominations of Chicago presented to President Lincoln a memorial for
+the immediate issue of a Proclamation of Emancipation, to which, and the
+Chairman's remarks, he thus replied:
+
+"The subject presented in the Memorial is one upon which I have thought
+much for weeks past, and I may even say, for months. I am approached
+with the most opposite opinions, and advice, and that by religious men,
+who are equally certain that they represent the Divine will. I am sure
+that either the one or the other class is mistaken in that belief, and
+perhaps, in some respects, both. I hope it will not be irreverent for
+me to say that if it is probable that God would reveal His will to
+others, on a point so connected with my duty, it might be supposed He
+would reveal it directly to me; for, unless I am more deceived in myself
+than I often am, it is my earnest desire to know the will of Providence
+in this matter. And if I can learn what it is, I will do it!
+
+"These are not, however, the days of miracles, and I suppose it will be
+granted that I am not to expect a direct Revelation; I must study the
+plain physical aspects of the case, ascertain what is possible, and
+learn what appears to be wise and right!
+
+"The subject is difficult, and good men do not agree. For instance, the
+other day, four gentlemen, of standing and intelligence, from New York,
+called, as a delegation, on business connected with the War; but, before
+leaving, two of them earnestly besought me to proclaim general
+Emancipation, upon which the other two at once attacked them.
+
+"You know also that the last Session of Congress had a decided majority
+of Anti-Slavery men, yet they could not unite on this policy. And the
+same is true of the religious people; why the Rebel soldiers are praying
+with a great deal more earnestness, I fear, than our own troops, and
+expecting God to favor their side; for one of our soldiers, who had been
+taken prisoner, told Senator Wilson, a few days since, that he met
+nothing so discouraging as the evident sincerity of those he was among,
+in their prayers. But we will talk over the merits of the case.
+
+"What good would a Proclamation of Emancipation from me do, especially
+as we are now situated? I do not want to issue a document that the
+whole World will see must necessarily be inoperative, like the Pope's
+Bull against the Comet! Would my word free the Slaves, when I cannot
+even enforce the Constitution in the Rebel States? Is there a single
+Court or Magistrate, or individual that would be influenced by it there?
+And what reason is there to think it would have any greater effect upon
+the Slaves than the late law of Congress, which I approved and which
+offers protection and Freedom to the Slaves of Rebel masters who came
+within our lines? Yet I cannot learn that that law has caused a single
+Slave to come over to us.
+
+"And suppose they could be induced by a Proclamation of Freedom from me
+to throw themselves upon us, what should we do with them? How can we
+feed and care for such a multitude? General Butler wrote me a few days
+since that he was issuing more rations to the Slaves who have rushed to
+him, than to all the White troops under his command. They eat, and that
+is all; though it is true General Butler is feeding the Whites also, by
+the thousand; for it nearly amounts to a famine there.
+
+"If, now, the pressure of the War should call off our forces from New
+Orleans to defend some other point, what is to prevent the masters from
+reducing the Blacks to Slavery again; for I am told that whenever the
+Rebels take any Black prisoners, Free or Slave, they immediately auction
+them off! They did so with those they took from a boat that was aground
+in the Tennessee river a few days ago.
+
+"And then I am very ungenerously attacked for it! For instance, when,
+after the late battles at and near Bull Run, an expedition went out from
+Washington, under a flag of truce, to bury the dead and bring in the
+wounded, and the Rebels seized the Blacks who went along to help, and
+sent them into Slavery, Horace Greeley said in his paper that the
+Government would probably do nothing about it. What could I do?
+
+"Now, then, tell me, if you please, what possible result of good would
+follow the issuing of such a Proclamation as you desire? Understand, I
+raise no objections against it on legal or Constitutional grounds, for,
+as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, in time of War, I suppose I
+have a right to take any measure which may best subdue the Enemy, nor do
+I urge objections of a moral nature, in view of possible consequences of
+insurrection and massacre at the South. I view this matter as a
+practical War measure, to be decided on according to the advantages or
+disadvantages it may offer to the suppression of the Rebellion.
+
+ * * * * * * * * *
+
+"I admit that Slavery is at the root of the Rebellion, or, at least, its
+sine qua non. The ambition of politicians may have instigated them to
+act, but they would have been impotent without Slavery as their
+instrument. I will also concede that Emancipation would help us in
+Europe, and convince them that we are incited by something more than
+ambition. I grant, further, that it would help somewhat at the North,
+though not so much, I fear, as you and those you represent imagine.
+
+"Still, some additional strength would be added in that way to the War,
+and then, unquestionably, it would weaken the Rebels by drawing off
+their laborers, which is of great importance; but I am not so sure we
+could do much with the Blacks. If we were to arm them, I fear that in
+a few weeks the arms would be in the hands of the Rebels; and, indeed,
+thus far, we have not had arms enough to equip our White troops.
+
+"I will mention another thing, though it meet only your scorn and
+contempt. There are 50,000 bayonets in the Union Army from the Border
+Slave States. It would be a serious matter if, in consequence of a
+Proclamation such as you desire, they should go over to the Rebels. I
+do not think they all would--not so many, indeed, as a year ago, or as
+six months ago--not so many to-day, as yesterday. Every day increases
+their Union feeling. They are also getting their pride enlisted, and
+want to beat the Rebels.
+
+"Let me say one thing more: I think you should admit that we already
+have an important principle to rally and unite the People, in the fact
+that Constitutional Government is at stake. This is a fundamental idea
+going down about as deep as anything!
+
+ * * * * * * * * *
+
+"Do not misunderstand me because I have mentioned these objections.
+They indicate the difficulties that have thus far prevented my action in
+some such way as you desire.
+
+"I have not decided against a Proclamation of Liberty to the Slaves, but
+hold the matter under advisement. And I can assure you that the subject
+is on my mind, by day and night, more than any other. Whatever shall
+appear to be God's will I will do.
+
+"I trust that in the freedom with which I have canvassed your views I
+have not in any respect injured your feelings."
+
+
+On the 22d day of September, 1862, not only the Nation, but the whole
+World, was electrified by the publication--close upon the heels of the
+Union victory of Antietam--of the Proclamation of Emancipation--weighted
+with consequences so wide and far-reaching that even at this late day
+they cannot all be discerned. It was in these words:
+
+
+
+"I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States of America, and
+Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy thereof, do hereby proclaim and
+declare that hereafter, as heretofore, the War will be prosecuted for
+the object of practically restoring the Constitutional relation between
+the United States and each of the States and the people thereof, in
+which States that relation is or may be suspended or disturbed.
+
+"That it is my purpose, upon the next meeting of Congress, to again
+recommend the adoption of a practical measure tendering pecuniary aid to
+the free acceptance or rejection of all Slave States, so called, the
+people whereof may not then be in Rebellion against the United States,
+and which States may then have voluntarily adopted, or thereafter may
+voluntarily adopt, immediate or gradual abolishment of Slavery within
+their respective limits; and that the effort to colonize Persons of
+African descent with their consent upon this continent or elsewhere,
+with the previously obtained consent of the Governments existing there,
+will be continued.
+
+"That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand
+eight hundred and sixty-three, all Persons held as Slaves within any
+State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in
+Rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and
+forever Free; and the Executive Government of the United States,
+including the Military and Naval authority thereof, will recognize and
+maintain the Freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to
+repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for
+their actual Freedom.
+
+"That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by
+Proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which
+the people thereof respectively, shall then be in Rebellion against the
+United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall
+on that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United
+States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the
+qualified voters of such States shall have participated, shall, in the
+absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive
+evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not in Rebellion
+against the United States.
+
+"That attention is hereby called to an Act of Congress entitled 'An Act
+to make an additional Article of War,' approved March 31, 1862, and
+which Act is in the words and figures following:
+
+"'Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
+States of America in Congress assembled, That hereafter the following
+shall be promulgated as an additional Article of War, for the government
+of the Army of the United States, and shall be obeyed and observed as
+such.
+
+"ARTICLE--All officers or persons in the Military or Naval service of
+the United States are prohibited from employing any of the forces under
+their respective commands for the purpose of returning Fugitives from
+service or labor who may have escaped from any persons to whom such
+service or labor is claimed to be due, and any officer who shall be
+found guilty by a court-martial of violating this article shall be
+dismissed from the service.
+
+"'SECTION 2.--And be it further enacted, That this Act shall take effect
+from and after its passage.'
+
+"Also to the ninth and tenth sections of an Act entitled 'An Act to
+suppress Insurrection, to punish Treason and Rebellion, to seize and
+confiscate property of Rebels, and for other purposes,' approved July
+17, 1862, and which sections are in the words and figures following:
+
+"'SEC. 9.--And be it further enacted, That all Slaves of persons who
+shall hereafter be engaged in Rebellion against the Government of the
+United States or who shall in any way give aid or comfort thereto,
+escaping from such persons and taking refuge within the lines of the
+Army; and all Slaves captured from such persons or deserted by them, and
+coming under the control of the Government of the United States; and all
+Slaves of such persons found on [or] being within any place occupied by
+Rebel forces and afterward occupied by the forces of the United States,
+shall be deemed captives of war, and shall be forever Free of their
+servitude, and not again held as Slaves.
+
+"'SEC. 10.--And be it further enacted, That no Slave escaping into any
+State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, from any other State,
+shall be delivered up, or in any way impeded or hindered of his liberty,
+except for crime, or some offense against the laws, unless the person
+claiming said Fugitive shall first make oath that the person to whom the
+labor or service of such Fugitive is alleged to be due is his lawful
+owner, and has not borne arms against the United States in the present
+Rebellion, nor in any way given aid and comfort thereto; and no person
+engaged in the Military or Naval service of the United States shall,
+under any pretense whatever, assume to decide on the validity of the
+claim of any person to the service or labor of any other person, or
+surrender up any such Person to the claimant, on pain of being dismissed
+from the service."
+
+"And I do hereby enjoin upon and order all persons engaged in the
+Military and Naval service of the United States to observe, obey, and
+enforce, within their respective spheres of service, the Act and
+sections above recited.
+
+"And the Executive will in due time recommend that all
+citizens of the United States who shall have remained loyal thereto
+throughout the Rebellion shall (upon the restoration of the
+Constitutional relation between the United States and their respective
+States and people, if that relation shall have been suspended or
+disturbed) be compensated for all losses by acts of the United States,
+including the loss of Slaves.
+
+"In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of
+the United States to be affixed.
+
+"Done at the city of Washington this twenty-second day of September, in
+the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and of
+the Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.
+
+"By the President:
+"ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
+
+"WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State."
+
+
+This Proclamation, promising Freedom to an Enslaved race, was hailed
+with acclamations everywhere save in the rebellious Southern-Slave
+States, and in the Border-Slave States.
+
+At a meeting of Governors of Loyal States, held at Altoona,
+Pennsylvania, to take measures for the more active support of the
+Government, an Address was adopted, on the very day that the
+Proclamation was promulgated, which well expressed the general feeling
+prevailing throughout the Northern States, at this time. It was in
+these patriotic words:
+
+"After nearly one year and a half spent in contest with an armed and
+gigantic Rebellion against the National Government of the United States,
+the duty and purpose of the Loyal States and people continue, and must
+always remain as they were at its origin--namely to restore and
+perpetuate the authority of this Government and the life of the Nation.
+No matter what consequences are involved in our fidelity, this work of
+restoring the Republic, preserving the institutions of democratic
+Liberty, and justifying the hopes and toils of our Fathers, shall not
+fail to be performed.
+
+"And we pledge, without hesitation, to the President of the United
+States, the most loyal and cordial support, hereter as heretofore, in
+the exercise of the functions of his great office. We recognize in him
+the chief Executive magistrate of the Nation, the Commander-in-Chief of
+the Army and Navy of the United States, their responsible and
+constitutional head, whose rightful authority and power, as well as the
+Constitutional powers of Congress, must be rigorously and religiously
+guarded and preserved, as the condition on which alone our form of
+Government and the constitutional rights and liberties of the People
+themselves can be saved from the wreck of anarchy or from the gulf
+'despotism.
+
+"In submission to the laws which may have been or which may be duly
+enacted, and to the lawful orders of the President, cooperating always
+in our own spheres with the National Government, we mean to continue in
+the most rigorous exercise of all our lawful and proper powers,
+contending against Treason, Rebellion, and the public Enemies, and,
+whether in public life or in private station, supporting the arms of the
+Union, until its Cause shall conquer, until final victory shall perch
+upon its standard, or the Rebel foe will yield a dutiful, rightful, and
+unconditional submission. And, impressed with the conviction that an
+Army of reserve ought, until the War shall end, to be constantly kept on
+foot, to be raised, armed, equipped, and trained at home, and ready for
+emergencies, we respectfully ask the President to call such a force of
+volunteers for one year's service, of not less than one hundred thousand
+in the aggregate, the quota of each State to be raised after it shall
+have led its quota of the requisitions already made, both for volunteers
+and militia. We believe that this would be a Leasure of Military
+prudence, while it would greatly promote the Military education of the
+People.
+
+"We hail with heartfelt gratitude and encouraged hope the Proclamation
+of the President, issued on the 22nd instant, declaring Emancipated from
+their bondage all Persons held to Service or Labor as Slaves in the
+Rebel States, whose Rebellion shall last until the first day of January
+next ensuing.
+
+"The right of any person to retain authority to compel any portion of
+the subjects of the National Government to rebel against it, or to
+maintain its Enemies, implies in those who are allowed possession of
+such authority the right to rebel themselves; and therefore, the right
+to establish Martial Law or Military Government in a State or Territory
+in Rebellion implies the right and the duty of the Government to
+liberate the minds of all men living therein by appropriate
+Proclamations and assurances of protection, in order that all who are
+capable, intellectually and morally, of loyalty and obedience, may not
+be forced into Treason as the unwilling tools of rebellious Traitors.
+
+"To have continued indefinitely the most efficient cause, support, and
+stay of the Rebellion, would have been, in our judgment, unjust to the
+Loyal people whose treasure and lives are made a willing sacrifice on
+the altar of patriotism--would have discriminated against the wife who
+is compelled to surrender her husband, against the parent who is to
+surrender his child, to the hardships of the camp and the perils of
+battle, in favor of Rebel masters permitted to retain their Slaves. It
+would have been a final decision alike against humanity, justice, the
+rights and dignity of the Government, and against sound and wise
+National policy.
+
+"The decision of the President to strike at the root of the Rebellion
+will lend new vigor to efforts, and new life and hope to the hearts of
+the People. Cordially tendering to the President our respectful
+assurances of personal and official confidence, we trust and believe
+that the policy now inaugurated will be crowned with success, will give
+speedy and triumphant victories over our enemies, and secure to this
+Nation and this People the blessing and favor of Almighty God.
+
+"We believe that the blood of the heroes who have already fallen, and
+those who may yet give their lives to their Country, will not have been
+shed in vain.
+
+"The splendid valor of our soldiers, their patient endurance, their
+manly patriotism, and their devotion to duty, demand from us and from
+all their countrymen the homage of the sincerest gratitude and the
+pledge of our constant reinforcement and support. A just regard for
+these brave men, whom we have contributed to place in the field, and for
+the importance of the duties which may lawfully pertain to us hereafter,
+has called us into friendly conference.
+
+"And now, presenting to our National Chief Magistrate this conclusion of
+our deliberations, we devote ourselves to our Country's service, and we
+will surround the President with our constant support, trusting that the
+fidelity and zeal of the Loyal States and People will always assure him
+that he will be constantly maintained in pursuing, with the utmost
+vigor, this War for the preservation of the National life and hope of
+humanity.
+
+"A. G. CURTIN,
+"JOHN A. ANDREW,
+"RICHARD YATES,
+"ISRAEL WASHBURNE, Jr.,
+"EDWARD SOLOMON,
+"SAMUEL J. KIRKWOOD,
+"O. P. MORTON,--By D. G. ROSE, his Representative,
+"WM. SPRAGUE,
+"F. H. PEIRPOINT,
+"DAVID TOD,
+"N. S. BERRY,
+"AUSTIN BLAIR."
+
+
+Some two months after the issue of his great Proclamation of Liberty,
+President Lincoln (in his Second Annual Message to Congress, December 1,
+1862), took occasion again to refer to compensated Emancipation, and,
+indeed, to the entire matter of Slavery and Freedom, in most instructive
+and convincing manner, as follows:
+
+"On the 22d day of September last, a Proclamation was issued by the
+Executive, a copy of which is herewith submitted.
+
+"In accordance with the purpose in the second paragraph of that paper, I
+now respectfully recall your attention to what may be called
+'compensated Emancipation.'
+
+"A Nation may be said to consist of its territory, its people, and its
+laws. The territory is the only part which is of certain durability.
+'One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh, but the
+Earth abideth forever.' It is of the first importance to duly consider
+and estimate this ever-enduring part.
+
+"That portion of the Earth's surface which is owned and inhabited by the
+People of the United States, is well adapted to be the home of one
+National family; and it is not well adapted for two, or more. Its vast
+extent, and its variety of climate and productions, are of advantage, in
+this age, for one People, whatever they might have been in former ages.
+Steam, telegraphs, and intelligence, have brought these to be an
+advantageous combination for one united People.
+
+"In the Inaugural Address I briefly pointed out the total inadequacy of
+Disunion, as a remedy for the differences between the people of the two
+Sections. I did so in language which I cannot improve, and which,
+therefore, I beg to repeat:
+
+"'One Section of our Country believes Slavery is right, and ought to be
+extended, while the other believes it is wrong, and ought not to be
+extended. This is the only substantial dispute. The Fugitive Slave
+clause of the Constitution, and the law for the suppression of the
+foreign Slave Trade, are each as well enforced, perhaps, as any law can
+ever be in a community where the moral sense of the People imperfectly
+supports the law itself.
+
+"The great body of the People abide by the dry legal obligation in both
+cases, and a few break over in each. This, I think, cannot be perfectly
+cured; and it would be worse in both cases after the separation of the
+Sections, than before. The foreign Slave Trade, now imperfectly
+suppressed, would be ultimately revived without restriction in one
+Section; while Fugitive Slaves, now only partially surrendered, would
+not be surrendered at all by the other.
+
+"Physically speaking, we cannot separate. We cannot remove our
+respective Sections from each other, nor build an impassable wall
+between them. A husband and wife may be divorced, and each go out of
+the presence and beyond the reach of the other; but the different parts
+of our Country cannot do this. They cannot but remain face to face; and
+intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue between them.
+
+"'Is it possible, then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or
+more satisfactory after separation than before? Can aliens make
+treaties easier than friends can make laws? Can treaties be more
+faithfully enforced between aliens than laws can among friends? suppose
+you go to War, you cannot fight always; and when, after much loss on
+both sides, and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the identical old
+questions as to terms of intercourse are again upon you.'
+
+"There is no line, straight or crooked, suitable for a National boundary
+upon which to divide. Trace through, from East to West, upon the line
+between the Free and Slave Country, and we shall find a little more than
+one third of its length are rivers, easy to be crossed, and populated,
+or soon to be populated, thickly upon both sides; while nearly all its
+remaining length are merely surveyors' lines, over which people may walk
+back and forth without any consciousness of their presence.
+
+"No part of this line can be made any more difficult to pass, by writing
+it down on paper or parchment as a National boundary. The fact of
+separation, if it comes, gives up, on the part of the seceding Section,
+the Fugitive Slave clause, along with all other Constitutional
+obligations upon the Section seceded from, while I should expect no
+treaty stipulations would ever be made to take its place.
+
+"But there is another difficulty. The great interior region, bounded
+East by the Alleghanies, North by the British dominions, West by the
+Rocky Mountains, and South by the line along which the culture of corn
+and cotton meets, and which includes part of Virginia, part of
+Tennessee, all of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin,
+Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, and the Territories of
+Dakota, Nebraska, and part of Colorado, already has above ten million
+people, and will have fifty millions within fifty years, if not
+prevented by any political folly or mistake.
+
+"It contains more than one-third of the country owned by the United
+States-certainly more than one million square miles. Once half as
+populous as Massachusetts already is, it would have more than seventy-
+five million people. A glance at the map shows that, territorially
+speaking, it is the great body of the Republic. The other parts are but
+marginal borders to it, the magnificent region sloping West, from the
+Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, being the deepest and also the richest
+in undeveloped resources. In the production of provisions, grains,
+grasses, and all which proceed from them, this great interior region is
+naturally one of the most important in the World.
+
+"Ascertain from the statistics the small proportion of the region which
+has, as yet, been brought into cultivation, and also the large and
+rapidly increasing amount of its products, and we shall be overwhelmed
+with the magnitude of the prospect presented. And yet this region has
+no sea coast, touches no ocean anywhere. As part of one Nation, its
+people now find, and may forever find, their way to Europe by New York,
+to South America and Africa by New Orleans, and to Asia by San
+Francisco.
+
+"But separate our common Country into two nations, as designed by the
+present Rebellion, and every man of this great interior region is
+thereby cut off from some one or more of these outlets, not, perhaps, by
+a physical barrier, but by embarrassing and onerous trade regulations.
+
+"And this is true, wherever a dividing or boundary line may be fixed.
+Place it between the now Free and Slave country, or place it South of
+Kentucky, or North of Ohio, and still the truth remains, that none South
+of it can trade to any port or place North of it, and none North of it
+can trade to any port or place South of it except upon terms dictated by
+a Government foreign to them.
+
+"These outlets, East, West, and South, are indispensable to the well-
+being of the people inhabiting, and to inhabit, this vast interior
+region. Which of the three may be the best, is no proper question.
+All, are better than either; and all, of right belong to that People,
+and to their successors forever. True to themselves, they will not ask
+where a line of separation shall be, but will vow rather that there
+shall be no such line.
+
+"Nor are the marginal regions less interested in these communications to
+and through them, to the great outside World. They too, and each of
+them, must have access to this Egypt of the West without paying toll at
+the crossing of any National boundary.
+
+"Our National strife springs not from our permanent part; not from the
+Land we inhabit; not from our National homestead. There is no possible
+severing of this, but would multiply, and not mitigate, evils among us.
+In all its adaptations and aptitudes it demands Union, and abhors
+separation. In fact it would, ere long, force reunion, however much of
+blood and treasure the separation might have cost.
+
+"Our strife pertains to ourselves--to the passing generations of men;
+and it can, without convulsion, be hushed forever--with the passing of
+one generation.
+
+"In this view I recommend the adoption of the following Resolution and
+Articles Amendatory of the Constitution of the United States.
+
+"'Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
+States of America, in Congress assembled, (two-thirds of both Houses
+concurring). That the following Articles be proposed to the
+Legislatures (or Conventions) of the several States, as Amendments to
+the Constitution of the United States, all or any of which Articles when
+ratified by three-fourths of the said Legislatures (or Conventions) to
+be valid as part or parts of the said Constitution, namely:
+
+"'ARTICLE--Every State wherein Slavery now exists, which shall abolish
+the same therein, at any time, or times, before the first day of
+January, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred, shall
+receive compensation from the United States, as follows, to wit;
+
+"'The President of the United States shall deliver to every such State,
+bonds of the United States, bearing interest at the rate of per cent.
+per annum, to an amount equal to the aggregate sum of for each Slave
+shown to have been therein by the eighth census of the United States,
+said bonds to be delivered to such States by installments, or in one
+parcel, at the completion of the abolishment, accordingly as the same
+shall have been gradual, or at one time, within such State; and interest
+shall begin to run upon any such bond only from the proper time of its
+delivery as aforesaid. Any State having received bonds as aforesaid,
+and afterward reintroducing or tolerating Slavery therein, shall refund
+to the United States the bonds so received, or the value thereof, and
+all interest paid thereon.
+
+"'ARTICLE--All Slaves who shall have enjoyed actual freedom by the
+chances of the War at any time before the end of the Rebellion, shall be
+forever Free; but all owners of such, who shall not have been disloyal,
+shall be compensated for them, at the same rates as is provided for
+States adopting abolishment of Slavery, but in such way that no Slave
+shall be twice accounted for.
+
+"'ARTICLE--Congress may appropriate money, and otherwise provide for
+colonizing Free Colored Persons, with their own consent, at any place or
+places within the United States.'
+
+
+"I beg indulgence to discuss these proposed Articles at some length.
+Without Slavery the Rebellion could never have existed; without Slavery
+it could not continue.
+
+"Among the friends of the Union there is great diversity of sentiment
+and of policy in regard to Slavery, and the African race among us. Some
+would perpetuate Slavery; some would abolish it suddenly, without
+compensation; some would abolish it gradually, and with compensation;
+some would remove the Freed people from us; and some would retain them
+with us; and there are yet other minor diversities. Because of these
+diversities, we waste much strength in struggles among ourselves.
+
+"By mutual Concession we should harmonize and act together. This would
+be Compromise; but it would be Compromise among the friends, and not
+with the enemies of the Union. These Articles are intended to embody a
+plan of such mutual concessions. If the plan shall be adopted, it is
+assumed that Emancipation will follow, at least, in several of the
+States.
+
+"As to the first Article, the main points are: first, the Emancipation;
+secondly, the length of time for consummating it--thirty-seven years;
+and, thirdly, the compensation.
+
+"The Emancipation will be unsatisfactory to the advocates of perpetual
+Slavery; but the length of time should greatly mitigate their
+dissatisfaction. The time spares both races from the evils of sudden
+derangement--in fact from the necessity of any derangement--while most
+of those whose habitual course of thought will be disturbed by the
+measure will have passed away before its consummation. They will never
+see it.
+
+"Another class will hail the prospect of Emancipation, but will
+deprecate the length of time. They will feel that it gives too little
+to the now living Slaves. But it really gives them much. It saves them
+from the vagrant destitution which must largely attend immediate
+Emancipation in localities where their numbers are very great; and it
+gives the inspiring assurance that their posterity shall be Free
+forever.
+
+"The plan leaves to each State, choosing to act under it, to abolish
+Slavery now, or at the end of the century, or at any intermediate time,
+or by degrees, extending over the whole or any part of the period; and
+it obliges no two States to proceed alike. It also provides for
+compensation,--and generally, the mode of making it. This, it would
+seem, must further mitigate the dissatisfaction of those who favor
+perpetual Slavery, and especially of those who are to receive the
+compensation. Doubtless some of those who are to pay, and not to
+receive, will object. Yet the measure is both just and economical.
+
+"In a certain sense, the liberation of Slaves is the destruction of
+Property--Property acquired by descent, or by purchase, the same as any
+other property. It is no less true for having been often said, that the
+people of the South are not more responsible for the original
+introduction of this Property than are the people of the North; and when
+it is remembered how unhesitatingly we all use cotton and sugar, and
+share the profits of dealing in them, it may not be quite safe to say
+that the South has been more responsible than the North for its
+continuance.
+
+"If, then, for a common object, this Property is to be sacrificed, is it
+not just that it be done at a common charge?
+
+"And if, with less money, or money more easily paid, we can preserve the
+benefits of the Union by this means than we can by the War alone, is it
+not also economical to do it? Let us consider it then. Let us
+ascertain the sum we have expended in the War since compensated
+Emancipation was proposed last March, and consider whether, if that
+measure had been promptly accepted, by even some of the Slave States,
+the same sum would not have done more to close the War than has been
+otherwise done. If so, the measure would save money, and, in that view,
+would be a prudent and economical measure.
+
+"Certainly it is not so easy to pay something as it is to pay nothing;
+but it is easier to pay a large sum than it is to pay a larger one. And
+it is easier to pay any sum when we are able, than it is to pay it
+before we are able. The War requires large sums, and requires them at
+once.
+
+"The aggregate sum necessary for compensated Emancipation of course
+would be large. But it would require no ready cash, nor the bonds,
+even, any faster than the Emancipation progresses. This might not, and
+probably would not, close before the end of the thirty-seven years. At
+that time we shall probably have a hundred million people to share the
+burden, instead of thirty-one millions, as now. And not only so, but
+the increase of our population may be expected to continue, for a long
+time after that period, as rapidly as before; because our territory will
+not have become full.
+
+"I do not state this inconsiderately. At the same ratio of increase
+which we have maintained, on an average, from our first National census
+in 1790, until that of 1860, we should, in 1900, have a population of
+103,208,415. And why may we not continue that ratio far beyond that
+period?
+
+"Our abundant room--our broad National homestead--is our ample resource.
+Were our territory as limited as are the British Isles, very certainly
+our population could not expand as stated. Instead of receiving the
+foreign born, as now, we should be compelled to send part of the Native-
+born away.
+
+"But such is not our condition. We have two million nine hundred and
+sixty-three thousand square miles. Europe has three million and eight
+hundred thousand, with a population averaging seventy-three and one-
+third persons to the square mile. Why may not our Country at some time,
+average as many? Is it less fertile? Has it more waste surface by
+mountains, rivers, lakes, deserts, or other causes? Is it inferior to
+Europe in any natural advantage?
+
+"If, then, we are at some time to be as populous as Europe, how soon?
+As to when this may be, we can judge by the past and the present; as to
+when it will be, if ever, depends much on whether we maintain the Union.
+
+"Several of our States are already above the average of Europe--seventy-
+three and a third to the square mile. Massachusetts has 157; Rhode
+Island, 133; Connecticut, 99; New York and New Jersey, each, 80. Also
+two other great States, Pennsylvania and Ohio, are not far below, the
+former having 63, and the latter 59. The States already above the
+European average, except New York, have increased in as rapid a ratio,
+since passing that point, as ever before; while no one of them is equal
+to some other parts of our Country in natural capacity for sustaining a
+dense population.
+
+"Taking the Nation in the aggregate, and we find its population and
+ratio of increase, for the several decennial periods, to be as follows:
+
+YEAR. POPULATION. RATIO OF INCREASE
+
+1790 3,929,827
+
+1800 5,305,937 35.02 Per Cent.
+
+1810 7,239,814 36.45
+
+1820 9,638,131 33.13
+
+1830 12,866,020 33.49
+
+1840 17,069,453 32.67
+
+1850 23,191,876 35.87
+
+1860 31,443,790 35.58
+
+"This shows an average Decennial Increase of 34.69 per cent. in
+population through the seventy years from our first to our last census
+yet taken. It is seen that the ratio of increase, at no one of these
+seven periods, is either two per cent. below or two per cent. above the
+average; thus showing how inflexible, and, consequently, how reliable,
+the law of Increase, in our case, is.
+
+"Assuming that it will continue, gives the following results:
+
+YEAR. POPULATION.
+
+1870 42,323,041
+
+1880 56,967,216
+
+1890 76,677,872
+
+1900 103,208,415
+
+1910 138,918,526
+
+1920 186,984,335
+
+1930 251,680,914
+
+"These figures show that our Country may be as populous as Europe now is
+at some point between 1920 and 1930--say about 1925--our territory, at
+seventy-three and a third persons to the square mile, being of capacity
+to contain 217,186,000.
+
+"And we will reach this, too, if we do not ourselves relinquish the
+chance by the folly and evils of Disunion or by long and exhausting War
+springing from the only great element of National discord among us.
+While it cannot be foreseen exactly how much one huge example of
+Secession, breeding lesser ones indefinitely, would retard population,
+civilization and prosperity, no one can doubt that the extent of it
+would be very great and injurious.
+
+"The proposed Emancipation would shorten the War, perpetuate Peace,
+insure this increase of population, and proportionately the wealth of
+the Country. With these, we should pay all the Emancipation would cost,
+together with our other debt, easier than we should pay our other debt
+without it.
+
+"If we had allowed our old National debt to run at six per cent. per
+annum, simple interest, from the end of our Revolutionary Struggle until
+to-day, without paying anything on either principal or interest, each
+man of us would owe less upon that debt now than each man owed upon it
+then; and this because our increase of men through the whole period has
+been greater than six per cent.; has run faster than the interest upon
+the debt. Thus, time alone, relieves a debtor Nation, so long as its
+population increases faster than unpaid interest accumulates on its
+debt.
+
+"This fact would be no excuse for delaying payment of what is justly
+due, but it shows the great importance of time in this connection--the
+great advantage of a policy by which we shall not have to pay until we
+number a hundred millions, what, by a different policy, we would have to
+pay now, when we number but thirty-one millions. In a word, it shows
+that a dollar will be much harder to pay for the War, than will be a
+dollar for Emancipation on the proposed plan. And then the latter will
+cost no blood, no precious life. It will be a saving of both.
+
+"As to the Second Article, I think it would be impracticable to return
+to Bondage the class of Persons therein contemplated. Some of them,
+doubtless, in the property sense, belong to loyal owners and hence
+provision is made in this Article for compensating such.
+
+"The Third Article relates to the future of the Freed people. It does
+not oblige, but merely authorizes, Congress to aid in colonizing such as
+may consent. This ought not to be regarded as objectionable on the one
+hand or on the other, insomuch as it comes to nothing, unless by the
+mutual consent of the people to be deported, and the American voters,
+through their Representatives in Congress.
+
+"I cannot make it better known than it already is, that I strongly favor
+colonization. And yet I wish to say there is an objection urged against
+free Colored persons remaining in the Country which is largely
+imaginary, if not sometimes malicious.
+
+"It is insisted that their presence would injure and displace White
+labor and White laborers. If there ever could be a proper time for mere
+catch arguments, that time surely is not now. In times like the present
+men should utter nothing for which they would not willingly be
+responsible through Time and in Eternity.
+
+"Is it true, then, that Colored people can displace any more White labor
+by being Free, than by remaining Slaves? If they stay in their old
+places, they jostle no White laborers; if they leave their old places,
+they leave them open to White laborers. Logically, there is neither
+more nor less of it.
+
+"Emancipation, even without deportation, would probably enhance the
+wages of White labor, and, very surely would not reduce them. Thus, the
+customary amount of labor would still have to be performed; the freed
+people would surely not do more than their old proportion of it and,
+very probably, for a time would do less, leaving an increased part to
+White laborers, bringing their labor into greater demand, and
+consequently enhancing the wages of it.
+
+"With deportation, even to a limited extent, enhanced wages to White
+labor is mathematically certain. Labor is like any other commodity in
+the market-increase the demand for it and you increase the price of it.
+Reduce the supply of Black labor by colonizing the Black laborer out of
+the Country, and by precisely so much you increase the demand for and
+wages of White labor.
+
+"But it is dreaded that the freed people will swarm forth and cover the
+whole Land! Are they not already in the Land? Will liberation make
+them any more numerous? Equally distributed among the Whites of the
+whole Country, there would be but one Colored, in seven Whites. Could
+the one, in any way, greatly disturb the seven?
+
+"There are many communities now, having more than one free Colored
+person to seven Whites; and this, without any apparent consciousness of
+evil from it. The District of Columbia, and the States of Maryland and
+Delaware, are all in this condition. The District has more than one
+free Colored to six Whites; and yet, in its frequent petitions to
+Congress I believe it has never presented the presence of free Colored
+persons as one of its grievances.
+
+"But why should Emancipation South, send the freed people North? people
+of any color, seldom run, unless there be something to run from.
+Heretofore, Colored people, to some extent, have fled North from
+bondage, and now, perhaps, from both bondage and destitution. But if
+gradual Emancipation and deportation be adopted, they will have neither
+to flee from.
+
+"Their old masters will give them wages at least until new laborers can
+be procured; and the freed men, in turn, will gladly give their labor
+for the wages, till new homes can be found for them, in congenial
+climes, and with people of their own blood and race.
+
+"This proposition can be trusted on the mutual interests involved. And,
+in any event, cannot the North decide for itself, whether to receive
+them?
+
+"Again, as practice proves more than theory, in any case, has there been
+any irruption of Colored people Northward because of the abolishment of
+Slavery in this District last Spring? What I have said of the
+proportion of free Colored persons to the Whites in the District is from
+the census of 1860, having no reference to persons called Contrabands,
+nor to those made free by the Act of Congress abolishing Slavery here.
+
+"The plan consisting of these Articles is recommended, not but that a
+restoration of the National authority would be accepted without its
+adoption.
+
+"Nor will the War, nor proceedings under the Proclamation of September
+22, 1862, be stayed because of the recommendation of this plan. Its
+timely adoption, I doubt not, would bring restoration, and thereby stay
+both.
+
+"And, notwithstanding this plan, the recommendation that Congress
+provides by law for compensating any State which may adopt Emancipation
+before this plan shall have been acted upon, is hereby earnestly
+renewed. Such would be only an advance part of the plan, and the same
+arguments apply to both.
+
+"This plan is recommended as a means, not in exclusion of, but
+additional to, all others, for restoring and preserving the National
+authority throughout the Union. The subject is presented exclusively in
+its economical aspect.
+
+"The plan would, I am confident, secure Peace more speedily, and
+maintain it more permanently, than can be done by force alone; while all
+it would cost, considering amounts, and manner of payment, and times of
+payment, would be easier paid than will be the additional cost of the
+War, if we rely solely upon force. It is much, very much, that it would
+cost no blood at all.
+
+"The plan is proposed as permanent Constitutional Law. It cannot become
+such without the concurrence of, first, two-thirds of Congress, and
+afterward, three-fourths of the Slave States. The requisite three-
+fourths of the States will necessarily include seven of the Slave
+States. Their concurrence, if obtained, will give assurance of their
+severally adopting Emancipation at no very distant day upon the new
+Constitutional terms. This assurance would end the struggle now and
+save the Union forever.
+
+"I do not forget the gravity which should characterize a paper addressed
+to the Congress of the Nation by the Chief Magistrate of the Nation.
+Nor do I forget that some of you are my seniors, nor that many of you
+have more experience than I in the conduct of public affairs. Yet I
+trust that in view of the great responsibility resting upon me, you will
+perceive no want of respect to yourselves in any undue earnestness I may
+seem to display.
+
+"Is it doubted, then, that the plan I propose, if adopted, would shorten
+the War, and thus lessen its expenditure of money and of blood? Is it
+doubted that it would restore the National authority and National
+prosperity, and perpetuate both indefinitely? Is it doubted that we
+here--Congress and Executive--can secure its adoption; will not the good
+people respond to a united and earnest appeal from us? Can we, can
+they, by any other means so certainly or so speedily assure these vital
+objects; we can succeed only by concert.
+
+"It is not, 'Can any of us imagine better?' but,'Can we all do better?'
+Object whatsoever is possible, still the question recurs, 'Can we do
+better? The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy
+present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise
+with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act
+anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our
+Country.
+
+"Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We, of this Congress and
+this Administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No
+personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of
+us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor
+or dishonor, to the latest generation.
+
+"We say we are for the Union. The World will not forget that we say
+this. We know how to save the Union.
+
+"The World knows we do know how to save it. We even we here--hold the
+power, and bear the responsibility.
+
+"In giving Freedom to the Slave, we assure Freedom to the Free-Honorable
+alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or
+meanly lose, the last, best hope of Earth. Other means may succeed;
+this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just--a way
+which, if followed, the World would forever applaud, and God must
+forever bless.
+
+ "ABRAHAM LINCOLN."
+
+
+The popular Branch of Congress responded with heartiness to what Mr.
+Lincoln had done. On December 11, 1862, resolutions were offered by Mr.
+Yeaman in the House of Representatives, as follows:
+
+"Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate Concurring), That
+the Proclamation of the President of the United States, of date the 22d
+of September, 1862, is not warranted by the Constitution.
+
+"Resolved, That the policy of Emancipation as indicated in that
+Proclamation, is not calculated to hasten the restoration of Peace, was
+not well chosen as a War measure, and is an assumption of power
+dangerous to the rights of citizens and to the perpetuity of a Free
+People."
+
+These resolutions were laid on the table by 95 yeas to 47 nays--the yeas
+all Republicans, save three, and the nays all Democrats save five.
+
+On December 15, 1862, Mr. S. C. Fessenden, of Maine, offered resolutions
+to the House, in these words:
+
+"Resolved, That the Proclamation of the President of the United States,
+of the date of 22d September, 1862, is warranted by the Constitution.
+
+"Resolved, That the policy of Emancipation, as indicated in that
+Proclamation, is well adapted to hasten the restoration of Peace, was
+well chosen as a War measure, and is an exercise of power with proper
+regard for the rights of the States, and the perpetuity of Free
+Government."
+
+These resolutions were adopted by 78 yeas to 52 nays--the yeas all
+Republicans, save two, and the nays all Democrats, save seven.
+
+The Proclamation of September 22d, 1862, was very generally endorsed and
+upheld by the People at large; and, in accordance with its promise, it
+was followed at the appointed time, January 1st, 1863, by the
+supplemental Proclamation specifically Emancipating the Slaves in the
+rebellious parts of the United States--in the following terms:
+
+"WHEREAS, On the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord
+one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a Proclamation was issued by
+the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the
+following, to wit:
+
+"'That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand
+eight hundred and sixty-three, all Persons held as Slaves within any
+State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be
+in Rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward,
+and forever Free; and the Executive Government of the United States,
+including the Military and Naval Authority thereof, will recognize and
+maintain the Freedom of such Persons, and will do no act or acts to
+repress such Persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for
+their actual Freedom.
+
+"'That the Executive will, on the First day of January aforesaid, by
+Proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which
+the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in Rebellion against the
+United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall
+on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United
+States, by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the
+qualified voters of such States shall have participated, shall, in the
+absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive
+evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in
+Rebellion against the United States.'
+
+"Now, therefore, I ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, by
+virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and
+Navy of the United States, in time of actual armed Rebellion against the
+authority and Government of the United States, and as a fit and
+necessary War measure for suppressing said Rebellion, do, on this First
+day of January, in the Year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
+sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly
+proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days from the day first
+above mentioned, Order and designate as the States and parts of States
+wherein the people thereof, respectively, are this day in Rebellion
+against the United States, the following, to wit:
+
+"Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes of St. Bernard,
+Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension,
+Assumption, Terre Bonne, Lafouche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans,
+including the City of New Orleans,) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida,
+Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the
+forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties
+of Berkeley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann,
+and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which
+excepted parts are for the present left precisely as if this
+Proclamation were not issued.
+
+"And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do Order
+and declare that all Persons held as Slaves within said designated
+States and parts of States are, and henceforward shall be, Free; and
+that the Executive Government of the United States, including the
+Military and Naval authorities thereof; will recognize and maintain the
+Freedom of said Persons.
+
+"And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be Free, to abstain
+from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence; and I recommend to
+them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for
+reasonable wages.
+
+"And I further declare and make known that such Persons, of suitable
+condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States
+to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man
+vessels of all sorts in said service.
+
+"And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice,
+warranted by the Constitution upon Military necessity, I invoke the
+considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God.
+
+"In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of
+the United States to be affixed.
+
+"Done at the City of Washington, this First day of January, in the year
+of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the
+Independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh.
+
+"By the President:
+"ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
+
+"WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XIX.
+
+ HISTORICAL REVIEW.
+
+
+Let us now refresh recollection by glancing backward over the history of
+our Country, and we shall see, as recorded in these pages, that, from
+the first, there existed in this Nation a class of individuals greedily
+ambitious of power and determined to secure and maintain control of this
+Government; that they left unturned no stone which would contribute to
+the fostering and to the extension of African Slavery; that, hand in
+hand with African Slavery--and as a natural corollary to it--they
+advocated Free Trade as a means of degrading Free White labor to the
+level of Black Slave labor, and thus increasing their own power; that
+from the first, ever taking advantage of the general necessities of the
+Union, they arrogantly demanded and received from a brow-beaten People,
+concession after concession, and compromise after compromise; that every
+possible pretext and occasion was seized by them to increase,
+consolidate, and secure their power, and to extend the territorial
+limits over which their peculiar Pro-Slavery and Pro-Free-Trade
+doctrines prevailed; and that their nature was so exacting, and their
+greed so rapacious, that it was impossible ever to satisfy them.
+
+Nor were they burdened with over-much of that high sense of honor--a
+quality of which they often vaunted themselves--which impelled others to
+stand by their agreements. It seemed as though they considered the most
+sacred promises and covenants of no account, and made only to be
+trampled upon, when in the way of their Moloch.
+
+We remember the bitter Slavery agitation in Congress over the admission
+of the State of Missouri, and how it eventuated in the Missouri
+Compromise. That compromise, we have seen, they afterward trod upon,
+and broke, with as little compunction as they would have stepped upon
+and crushed a toad.
+
+They felt their own growing power, and gloried in their strength and
+arrogance; and Northern timidity became a scoff and by-word in their
+mouths.
+
+The fact is, that from its very conception, as well as birth, they hated
+and opposed the Union, because they disliked a Republican and preferred
+a Monarchical form of Government. Their very inability to prevent the
+consummation of that Union, imbittered them. Hence their determinaion
+to seize every possible occasion and pretext afterward to destroy it,
+believing, as they doubtless did, that upon the crumbled and mouldering
+ruins of a dissevered Union and ruptured Republic, Monarchical ideas
+might the more easily take root and grow. But experience had already
+taught them that it would be long before their real object could even be
+covertly hinted at, and that in the meantime it must be kept out of
+sight by the agitation of other political issues. The formulation and
+promulgation therefore, by Jefferson, in the Kentucky Resolutions of
+1798, and by Madison, in the Virginia Resolutions of 1799, of the
+doctrine of States Rights already referred to, was a perfect "God-send"
+to these men. For it not only enabled them to keep from public view and
+knowledge their ultimate aim and purpose, but constituted the whip which
+they thenceforth everlastingly flourished and cracked over the shrinking
+heads of other and more patriotic people--the whip with which, through
+the litter of their broken promises, they ruthlessly rode into, and, for
+so long a period of years held on to, supreme power and place in the
+Land.
+
+Including within the scope of States Rights, the threats of
+Nullification, Disunion and Secession--ideas abhorrent to the Patriot's
+mind--small wonder is it that, in those days, every fresh demand made by
+these political autocrats was tremblingly acceded to, until patience and
+concession almost utterly exhausted themselves.
+
+Originally disturbing only South Carolina and Georgia to any extent,
+these ambitious men, who believed in anything rather than a Republic,
+and who were determined to destroy the Union, gradually spread the
+spirit of jealousy and discontent into other States of the South; their
+immediate object being to bring the Southern States into the closest
+possible relations the one with the other; to inspire them all with
+common sympathies and purposes; to compact and solidify them, so that in
+all coming movements against the other States of the Union, they might
+move with proportionately increased power, and force, and effect,
+because of such unity of aim and strength.
+
+This spirit of Southern discontent, and jealousy of the Northern States,
+was, as we have seen, artfully fanned by the Conspirators, in heated
+discussions over the Tariff Acts of 1824, and 1828, and 1832, until, by
+the latter date, the people of the Cotton-States were almost frantic,
+and ready to fight over their imaginary grievances. Then it was that
+the Conspirators thought the time had come, for which they had so long
+and so earnestly prayed and worked, when the cotton Sampson should wind
+his strong arms around the pillars of the Constitution and pull down the
+great Temple of our Union--that they might rear upon its site another
+and a stronger edifice, dedicated not to Freedom, but to Free-Trade and
+to other false gods.
+
+South Carolina was to lead off, and the other Cotton States would
+follow. South Carolina did lead off--but the other Cotton-States did
+not follow.
+
+It has been shown in these pages how South Carolina declared the Tariff
+Acts aforesaid, null and void, armed herself to resist force, and
+declared that any attempt of the general Government to enforce those
+Acts would cause her to withdraw from the Union. But Jackson as we know
+throttled the treason with so firm a grip that Nullification and
+Secession and Disunion were at once paralyzed.
+
+The concessions to the domineering South, in Clay's Compromise Tariff of
+1833, let the Conspirators down easily, so to speak; and they pretended
+to be satisfied. But they were satisfied only as are the thirsty sands
+of Africa with the passing shower.
+
+The Conspirators had, however, after all, made substantial gains. They
+had established a precedent for an attempt to secede. That was
+something. They had demonstrated that a single Southern State could
+stand up, armed and threatening, strutting, blustering, and bullying,
+and at least make faces at the general Government without suffering any
+very dreadful consequences. That was still more.
+
+They had also ascertained that, by adopting such a course, a single
+Southern State could force concessions from the fears of the rest of the
+United States. That was worth knowing, because the time might come,
+when it might be desirable not only for one but for all the Southern
+States to secede upon some other pretext, and when it would be awkward,
+and would interfere with the Disunion programme, to have the other
+States either offer or make concessions.
+
+They had also learned the valuable lesson that the single issue of Free-
+Trade was not sufficiently strong of itself to unite all the Southern
+States in a determination to secede, and thus dissolve the Union. They
+saw they must agitate some other issue to unify the South more
+thoroughly and justify Disunion. On looking over the whole field they
+concluded that the Slavery question would best answer their purpose, and
+they adopted it.
+
+It was doubtless a full knowledge of the fact that they had adopted it,
+that led Jackson to make the declaration, heretofore in these pages
+given, which has been termed "prophetic." At any rate, thenceforth the
+programme of the Conspirators was to agitate the Slavery question in all
+ways possible, so as to increase, extend and solidify the influence and
+strength of the Slave power; strain the bonds uniting them with the Free
+States; and weaken the Free States by dividing them upon the question.
+At the same time the Free-Trade question was to be pressed forward to a
+triumphal issue, so that the South might be enriched and strengthened,
+and the North impoverished and weakened, by the result.
+
+That was their programme, in the rough, and it was relentlessly adhered
+to. Free-Trade and Slavery by turns, if not together, from that time
+onward, were ever at the front, agitating our People both North and
+South, and not only consolidating the Southern States on those lines, as
+the Conspirators designed, but also serving ultimately to consolidate,
+to some extent--in a manner quite unlooked for by the Conspirators--
+Northern sentiment, on the opposite lines of Protection and Freedom.
+
+The Compromise Tariff Act of 1833--which Clay was weak enough to
+concede, and even stout old Jackson to permit to become law without his
+signature--gave to the Conspirators great joy for years afterward, as
+they witnessed the distress and disaster brought by it to Northern homes
+and incomes--not distress and disaster alone, but absolute and
+apparently irreparable ruin.
+
+The reaction occasioned by this widespread ruin having brought the Whigs
+into power, led to the enactment of the Protective-Tariff of 1842 and--
+to the chagrin of the Conspirators--industrial prosperity and plenty to
+the Free North again ensued.
+
+Even as Cain hated his brother Abel because his sacrifices were
+acceptable in the sight of God, while his own were not, so the Southern
+Conspirators, and other Slave-owners also, had, by this time, come to
+hate the Northern free-thinking, free-acting, freedom-loving mechanic
+and laboring man, because the very fact and existence of his Godgiven
+Freedom and higher-resulting civilization was a powerful and perpetual
+protest against the--abounding iniquities and degradations of Slavery as
+practiced by themselves.
+
+Hence, by trickery, by cajoling the People With his, and their own,
+assurances that he was in favor of Protection--they secured the election
+in 1844 of a Free-Trade President, the consequent repeal of the
+Protective-Tariff of 1842--which had repaired the dreadful mischief
+wrought by the Compromise Act of 1833--and the enactment of the infamous
+Free-Trade Tariff of 1846, which blasted the manufacturing and farming
+and trade industries of the Country again, as with fire.
+
+The discovery of the great gold fields of California, and the enormous
+amount of the precious metal poured by her for many succeeding years
+into the lap of the Nation, alone averted what otherwise would
+inevitably have been total ruin. As it was, in 1860, the National
+credit had sunk to a lower point than ever before in all its history.
+It was confessedly bankrupt, and ruin stalked abroad throughout the
+United States.
+
+But while, with rapid pen, the carrying out of that part of the Southern
+Conspirators' Disunion programme which related to Free-Trade, is thus
+brought again to mind, the other part of that programme, which related
+to Slavery, must not be neglected or overlooked. On this question they
+had determined, as we have seen, to agitate without ceasing--having in
+view, primarily, as already hinted, the extension of Slave territory and
+the resulting increase of Slave power in the Land; and, ulteriorly, the
+solidifying of that power, and Disunion of the Republic, with a view to
+its conversion into an Oligarchy, if not a Monarchy.
+
+The bitterness of the struggle over the admission of Missouri as a Slave
+State in 1820, under the Missouri Compromise, was to be revived by the
+Conspirators, at the earliest possible moment.
+
+Accordingly in 1836--only three years after the failure of Nullification
+in South Carolina, the Territory, of Arkansas was forced in as a Slave
+State, and simultaneously the Slave-owning henchmen of the Conspirators,
+previously settled there for the purpose, proclaimed the secession from
+Mexico, and independence, of Texas. This was quickly followed, in 1844,
+by Calhoun's hastily negotiated treaty of annexation with Texas; its
+miscarriage in the Senate; and the Act of March 2, 1845--with its sham
+compromise--consenting to the admission of Texas to the Union of States.
+
+Then came the War with Mexico; the attempt by means of the Wilmot
+proviso to check the growing territorial-greed and rapacity of the
+Slave-power; and the acquisition by the United States, of California and
+New Mexico, under the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, which brought
+Peace.
+
+Then occurred the agitation over the organization of Territorial
+governments for Oregon, California, and New Mexico, and the strong
+effort to extend to the Pacific Ocean the Missouri-Compromise line of
+36 30', and to extend to all future Territorial organizations the
+principles of that compromise.
+
+Then came the struggle in 1850, over the admission of California as a
+State, and New Mexico and Utah to Territorial organization--ending in
+the passage of Clay's Compromise measures of 1850.
+
+Yet still the Southern Conspirators--whose forces, both in Congress and
+out, were now well-disciplined, compacted, solidified, experienced, and
+bigotedly enthusiastic and overbearing--were not satisfied. It was not
+their intention to be satisfied with anything less than the destruction
+of the Union and of our Republican form of Government. The trouble was
+only beginning, and, so far, almost everything had progressed to their
+liking. The work must proceed.
+
+In 1852-3 they commenced the Kansas-Nebraska agitation; and, what with
+their incessant political and colonizing movements in those Territories;
+the frequent and dreadful atrocities committed by their tools, the
+Border-ruffians; the incessant turmoil created by cruelties to their
+Fugitive-slaves; their persistent efforts to change the Supreme Court to
+their notions; these-with the decision and opinion of the Supreme Court
+in the Dred Scott case--together worked the Slavery question up to a
+dangerous degree of heat, by the year 1858.
+
+And, by 1860--when the people of the Free States, grown sick unto death
+of the rule of the Slave-power in the General Government, arose in their
+political might, and shook off this "Old Man of the Sea," electing,
+beyond cavil and by the Constitutional mode, to the Presidential office,
+a man who thoroughly represented in himself their conscience, on the one
+hand, which instinctively revolted against human Slavery as a wrong
+committed against the laws of God, and their sense of justice and equity
+on the other, which would not lightly overlook, or interfere with vested
+rights under the Constitution and the laws of man--the Conspirators had
+reached the point at which they had been aiming ever since that failure
+in 1832 of their first attempt at Disunion, in South Carolina.
+
+They had now succeeded in irritating both the Free and the Slave-holding
+Sections of our Country against each other, to an almost unbearable
+point; had solidified the Southern States on the Slavery and Free-Trade
+questions; and at last--the machinations of these same Conspirators
+having resulted in a split in the Democratic Party, and the election of
+the Republican candidate to the Presidency, as the embodiment of the
+preponderating National belief in Freedom and equality to all before the
+Law, with Protection to both Labor and Capital--they also had the
+pretext for which they had both been praying and scheming and preparing
+all those long, long years--they, and some of their fathers before them.
+
+It cannot be too often repeated that to secure a Monarchy, or at least
+an Oligarchy, over which the leading Conspirators should rule for life--
+whether that Monarchy or that Oligarchy should comprise the States of
+the South by themselves, or all the States on a new basis of Union--was
+the great ultimate aim of the Conspirators; and this could be secured
+only by first disrupting the then existing Republican Union of
+Republican States.
+
+The doctrine of the right of Secession had now long been taught, and had
+become a part of the Southern Slave-holders' Democratic creed, as fully
+as had the desirability of Slavery and Free-Trade--and even many of the
+Northern Democrats, and some Republicans as well, were not much inclined
+to dispute, although they cared not to canvass, the point.
+
+The programme of action was therefore much the same as had been laid
+down in the first attempt in 1832:--first South Carolina would secede
+and declare her independence; then the other Slave States in quick
+succession would do likewise; then a new Constitution for a solid
+Southern Union; then, if necessary, a brief War to cement it--which
+would end, of course, in the independence of the South at least, but
+more probably in the utter subjugation and humiliation of the Free
+States.
+
+When the time should come, during, or after this War--as come, in their
+belief, it would--for a change in the form of Government, then they
+could seize the first favorable occasion and change it. At present,
+however, the cry must be for "independence." That accomplished, the
+rest would be easy. And until that independence was accomplished, no
+terms of any sort, no settlement of any kind, were either to be proposed
+or accepted by them.
+
+These were their dreams, their ambitions, their plans; and the tenacious
+courage with which they stuck to them "through thick and thin," through
+victory and disaster, were worthy of a better cause.
+
+While, therefore, the pretexts for Secession were "Slavery" and "Free-
+Trade"--both of which were alleged to be jeopardized in the election and
+inauguration of Abraham Lincoln--yet, no sooner had hostilities
+commenced between the seceding States and the Union, than they declared
+to the World that their fight was not for Slavery, but for Independence.
+
+They dared not acknowledge to the World that they fought for Slavery,
+lest the sympathies of the World should be against them. But it was
+well understood by the Southern masses, as well as the other people of
+the Union, that both Slavery and Free-Trade were involved in the fight--
+as much as independence, and the consequent downfall of the Union.
+
+President Lincoln, however, had made up his mind to do all he properly
+could to placate the South. None knew better than he, the history of
+this Secession movement, as herein described. None knew better than he,
+the fell purpose and spirit of the Conspirators. Yet still, his kindly
+heart refused to believe that the madness of the Southern leaders was so
+frenzied, and their hatred of Free men, Free labor, and Free
+institutions, so implacable, that they would wilfully refuse to listen
+to reason and ever insist on absolutely inadmissible terms of
+reconcilation.
+
+From the very beginning of his Administration, he did all that was
+possible to mollify their resentment and calm their real or pretended
+fears. Nor was this from any dread or doubt as to what the outcome of
+an armed Conflict would be; for, in his speech at Cincinnati, in the
+Autumn of 1859, he had said, while addressing himself to Kentuckians and
+other Southern men: "Why, gentlemen, I think you are as gallant and as
+brave men as live; that you can fight as bravely in a good cause, man
+for man, as any other people living; that you have shown yourselves
+capable of this upon various occasions; but man for man, you are not
+better than we are, and there are not so many of you as there are of us.
+You will never make much of a hand at whipping us. If we were fewer in
+numbers than you, I think that you could whip us; if we were equal it
+would likely be a drawn battle; but being inferior in numbers, you will
+make nothing by attempting to master us."
+
+And early in 1860, in his famous New York Cooper Institute speech he had
+said "Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let
+us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it." He plainly
+believed to the end, that "right makes might;" and he believed in the
+power of numbers--as also did Napoleon, if we may judge from his famous
+declaration that "The God of battles is always on the side of the
+heaviest battalions." Yet, so believing, President Lincoln exerted
+himself in all possible ways to mollify the South. His assurances,
+however, were far from satisfying the Conspirators. They never had been
+satisfied with anything in the shape of concession. They never would
+be. They had been dissatisfied with and had broken all the compacts and
+compromises, and had spit upon all the concessions, of the past; and
+nothing would now satisfy them, short of the impossible.
+
+They were not satisfied now with Lincoln's promise that the Government
+would not assail them--organized as, by this time, they were into a so-
+called Southern "Confederacy" of States--and they proceeded accordingly
+to assail that Government which would not assail them. They opened fire
+on Fort Sumter.
+
+This was done, as has duly appeared, in the hope that the shedding of
+blood would not only draw the States of the Southern Confederacy more
+closely together in their common cause, and prevent the return of any of
+them to their old allegiance, but also to so influence the wavering
+allegiance to the Union, of the Border States, as to strengthen that
+Confederacy and equivalently weaken that Union, by their Secession.
+
+Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas, of the Border States
+that were wavering, were thus gathered into the Confederate fold, by
+this policy of blood-spilling--carried bodily thither, by a desperate
+and frenzied minority, against the wishes of a patriotic majority.
+
+Virginia, especially, was a great accession to the Rebel cause. She
+brought to it the prestige of her great name. To secure the active
+cooperation of "staid old Virginia," "the Mother of Statesmen," in the
+struggle, was, in the estimation of the Rebels, an assurance of victory
+to their cause. And the Secession of Virginia for a time had a
+depressing influence upon the friends of the Union everywhere.
+
+The refusal of West Virginia to go with the rest of the State into
+Rebellion, was, to be sure, some consolation; and the checkmating of the
+Conspirators' designs to secure to the Confederacy the States of
+Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri, helped the confidence of Union men. In
+fact, as long as the National Capital was secure, it was felt that the
+Union was still safe.
+
+But while the Confederacy, by the firing upon Fort Sumter, and thus
+assailing that Government which Lincoln had promised would not assail
+the Rebels, had gained much in securing the aid of the States mentioned,
+yet the Union Cause, by that very act, had gained more. For the echoes
+of the Rebel guns of Fort Moultrie were the signal for such an uprising
+of the Patriots of the North and West and Middle States, as, for the
+moment, struck awe to the hearts of Traitors and inspired with courage
+and hopefulness the hearts of Union men throughout the Land.
+
+Moreover it put the Rebels in their proper attitude, in the eyes of the
+World--as the first aggressors--and thus deprived them, to a certain
+extent, of that moral support from the outside which flows from
+sympathy.
+
+Those echoes were the signal, not only of that call to arms which led to
+such an uprising, but for the simultaneous calling together of the
+Thirty-seventh Congress of the United States in Extra Session--the
+Congress whose measures ultimately enabled President Lincoln and the
+Union Armies to subdue the Rebellion and save the Union--the Congress
+whose wise and patriotic deliberations resulted in the raising of those
+gigantic Armies and Navies, and in supplying the unlimited means,
+through the Tariff and National Bank Systems and otherwise, by which
+those tremendous Forces could be both created and effectively operated--
+the Congress which cooperated with President Lincoln and those Forces in
+preparing the way for the destruction of the very corner-stone of the
+Confederacy, Slavery itself.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XX.
+
+ LINCOLN'S TROUBLES AND TEMPTATIONS.
+
+The Rebels themselves, as has already been noted, by the employment of
+their Slaves in the construction of earthworks and other fortifications,
+and even in battle, at Bull Run and elsewhere, against the Union Forces,
+brought the Thirty-seventh Congress, as well as the Military Commanders,
+and the President, to an early consideration of the Slavery question.
+But it was none the less a question to be treated with the utmost
+delicacy.
+
+The Union men, as well as the Secession-sympathizers, of Kentucky and
+Tennessee and Missouri and Maryland, largely believed in Slavery, or at
+least were averse to any interference with it. These, would not see
+that the right to destroy that unholy Institution could pertain to any
+authority, or be justified by any exigency; much less that, as held by
+some authorities, its existence ceased at the moment when its hands, or
+those of the State in which it had existed, were used to assail the
+General Government.
+
+They looked with especial suspicion and distrust upon the guarded
+utterances of the President upon all questions touching the future of
+the Colored Race.
+
+ [At Faneuil Hall, Edward Everett is reported to have said, in
+ October of 1864:
+
+ "It is very doubtful whether any act of the Government of the
+ United States was necessary to liberate the Slaves in a State which
+ is in Rebellion. There is much reason for the opinion that, by the
+ simple act of levying War against the United States, the relation
+ of Slavery was terminated; certainly, so far as concerns the duty
+ of the United States to recognize it, or to refrain from
+ interfering with it.
+
+ "Not being founded on the Law of Nature, and resting solely on
+ positive Local Law--and that, not of the United States--as soon as
+ it becomes either the motive or pretext of an unjust War against
+ the Union--an efficient instrument in the hands of the Rebels for
+ carrying on the War--source of Military strength to the Rebellion,
+ and of danger to the Government at home and abroad, with the
+ additional certainty that, in any event but its abandonment, it
+ will continue, in all future time to work these mischiefs, who can
+ suppose it is the duty of the United States to continue to
+ recognize it.
+
+ "To maintain this would be a contradiction in terms. It would be
+ two recognize a right in a Rebel master to employ his Slave in acts
+ of Rebellion and Treason, and the duty of the Slave to aid and abet
+ his master in the commission of the greatest crime known to the
+ Law. No such absurdity can be admitted; and any citizen of the
+ United States, from thee President down, who should, by any overt
+ act, recognize the duty of a Slave to obey a Rebel master in a
+ hostile operation, would himself be giving aid and comfort to the
+ Enemy."]
+
+They believed that when Fremont issued the General Order-heretofore
+given in full--in which that General declared that "The property, real
+and personal, of all persons, in the State of Missouri, who shall take
+up arms against the United States, or who shall be directly proven to
+have taken an active part with their enemies in the field, is declared
+to be confiscated to the public use, and their Slaves, if any they have,
+are hereby declared Free men," it must have been with the concurrence,
+if not at the suggestion, of the President; and, when the President
+subsequently, September 11,1861, made an open Order directing that this
+clause of Fremont's General Order, or proclamation, should be "so
+modified, held, and construed, as to conform to, and not to transcend,
+the provisions on the same subject contained in the Act of Congress
+entitled 'An Act to Confiscate Property used for Insurrectionary
+Purposes,' approved August 6, 1861," they still were not satisfied.
+
+ [The sections of the above Act, bearing upon the matter, are the
+ first and fourth, which are in these words:
+
+ "That if, during the present or any future insurrection against the
+ Government of the United States, after the President of the United
+ States shall have declared, by proclamation, that the laws of the
+ United States are opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed, by
+ combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course
+ of judicial proceedings, or by the power vested in the marshals by
+ law, any person or persons, his, her, or their agent, attorney, or
+ employee, shall purchase or acquire, sell or give, any property of
+ whatsoever kind or description, with intent to use or employ the
+ same, or suffer the same to be used or employed, in aiding,
+ abetting, or promoting such insurrection or resistance to the laws,
+ or any persons engaged therein; or if any person or persons, being
+ the owner or owners of any such property, shall knowingly use or
+ employ, or consent to the use or employment of the same as
+ aforesaid, all such property is hereby declared to be lawful
+ subject of prize and capture wherever found; and it shall be the
+ duty of the President of the United States to cause the same to be
+ seized, confiscated and condemned."
+
+ * * * * * * * *
+
+ "SEC. 4. That whenever hereafter, during the present insurrection
+ against the Government of the United States, any person claimed to
+ be held to Labor or Service under the law of any State shall be
+ required or permitted by the person to whom such Labor or Service
+ is claimed to be due, or by the lawful agent of such person, to
+ take up arms against the United States; or shall be required or
+ permitted by the person to whom such Labor or Service is claimed to
+ be due, or his lawful agent, to work or to be employed in or upon
+ any fort, navy-yard, dock, armory, ship, entrenchment, or in any
+ Military or Naval service whatsoever, against the Government and
+ lawful authority of the United States, then, and in every such
+ case, the person to whom such Labor or Service is claimed to be
+ due, shall forfeit his claim to such Labor, any law of the State or
+ of the United States to the contrary notwithstanding. And whenever
+ thereafter the person claiming such Labor or Service shall seek to
+ enforce his claim, it shall be a full and sufficient answer to such
+ claim that the person whose Service or Labor is claimed had been
+ employed in hostile service against the Government of the United
+ States, contrary to the provisions of this act."
+
+It seemed as impossible to satisfy these Border-State men as it had been
+to satisfy the Rebels themselves.
+
+The Act of Congress, to which President Lincoln referred
+in his Order modifying Fremont's proclamation, had itself been opposed
+by them, under the lead of their most influential Representative and
+spokesman, Mr. Crittenden, of Kentucky, in its passage through that
+Body. It did not satisfy them.
+
+Neither had they been satisfied, when, within one year and four days
+after "Slavery opened its batteries of Treason, upon Fort Sumter," that
+National curse and shame was banished from the Nation's Capital by
+Congressional enactment.
+
+They were not satisfied even with Mr. Lincoln's conservative suggestions
+embodied in the Supplemental Act.
+
+Nor were they satisfied with the General Instructions, of October 14,
+1861, from the War Department to its Generals, touching the employment
+of Fugitive Slaves within the Union Lines, and the assurance of just
+compensation to loyal masters, therein contained, although all avoidable
+interference with the Institution was therein reprobated.
+
+Nothing satisfied them. It was indeed one of the most curious of the
+many phenomena of the War of the Rebellion, that when--as at the end of
+1861--it had become evident, as Secretary Cameron held, that it "would
+be National suicide" to leave the Rebels in "peaceful and secure
+possession of Slave Property, more valuable and efficient to them for
+War, than forage, cotton, and Military stores," and that the Slaves
+coming within our lines could not "be held by the Government as Slaves,"
+and should not be held as prisoners of War--still the loyal people of
+these Border-States, could not bring themselves to save that Union,
+which they professed to love, by legislation on this tender subject.
+
+On the contrary, they opposed all legislation looking to any
+interference with such Slave property. Nothing that was proposed by Mr.
+Lincoln, or any other, on this subject, could satisfy them.
+
+Congress enacted a law, approved March 13, 1862, embracing an additional
+Article of War, which prohibited all officers "from employing any of the
+forces under their respective Commands for the purpose of returning
+Fugitives from Service or Labor who may have escaped from
+any persons to whom such Service or Labor is claimed to be due," and
+prescribed that "Any officer who shall be found guilty by Court-Martial
+of violating this Article shall be dismissed from the Service." In both
+Houses, the loyal Border-State Representatives spoke and voted against
+its passage.
+
+One week previously (March 6, 1862), President Lincoln, in an admirable
+Message, hitherto herein given at length, found himself driven to broach
+to Congress the subject of Emancipation. He had, in his First Annual
+Message (December, 1861), declared that "the Union must be preserved;
+and hence all indispensable means must be employed;" but now, as a part
+of the War Policy, he proposed to Congress the adoption of a Joint
+Resolution declaring "That the United States ought to cooperate with any
+State which may adopt gradual abolishment of Slavery, giving to such
+State, pecuniary aid, to be used by such State in its discretion, to
+compensate for the inconveniences, public and private, produced by such
+change of System."
+
+It was high time, he thought, that the idea of a gradual, compensated
+Emancipation, should begin to occupy the minds of those interested, "so
+that," to use his own words, "they may begin to consider whether to
+accept or reject it," should Congress approve the suggestion.
+
+Congress did approve, and adopt, the Joint-Resolution, as we know--
+despite the opposition from the loyal element of the Border States--an
+opposition made in the teeth of their concession that Mr. Lincoln, in
+recommending its adoption, was "solely moved by a high patriotism and
+sincere devotion to the glory of his Country."
+
+But, consistently with their usual course, they went to the House of
+Representatives, fresh from the Presidential presence, and, with their
+ears still ringing with the common-sense utterances of the President,
+half of them voted against the Resolution, while the other half
+refrained from voting at all. And their opposition to this wise and
+moderate proposition was mainly based upon the idea that it carried with
+it a threat--a covert threat.
+
+It certainly was a warning, taking it in connection with the balance of
+the Message, but a very wise and timely one.
+
+These loyal Border-State men, however, could not see its wisdom, and at
+a full meeting held upon the subject decided to oppose it, as they
+afterward did. Its conciliatory spirit they could not comprehend; the
+kindly, temperate warning, they would not heed. The most moderate of
+them all,--[Mr. Crittenden of Kentucky.]--in the most moderate of his
+utterances, could not bring himself to the belief that this Resolution
+was "a measure exactly suited to the times."
+
+ [And such was the fatuity existing among the Slave-holders of the
+ Border States, that not one of those Slave States had wisdom enough
+ to take the liberal offer thus made by the General Government, of
+ compensation. They afterward found their Slaves freed without
+ compensation.]
+
+So, also, one month later, (April 11, 1862), when the Senate Bill
+proposing Emancipation in the District of Columbia, was before the
+House, the same spokesman and leader of the loyal Border-State men
+opposed it strenuously as not being suited to the times. For, he
+persuasively protested: "I do not say that you have not the power; but
+would not that power be, at such a time as this, most unwisely and
+indiscreetly exercised. That is the point. Of all the times when an
+attempt was ever made to carry this measure, is not this the most
+inauspicious? Is it not a time when the measure is most likely to
+produce danger and mischief to the Country at large? So it seems to
+me."
+
+It was not now, nor would it ever be, the time, to pass this, or any
+other measure, touching the Institution of Slavery, likely to benefit
+that Union to which these men professed such love and loyalty.
+
+Their opposition, however, to the march of events, was of little avail--
+even when backed, as was almost invariably the case, by the other
+Democratic votes from the Free States. The opposition was obstructive,
+but not effectual. For this reason it was perhaps the more irritating
+to the Republicans, who were anxious to put Slavery where their great
+leader, Mr. Lincoln, had long before said it should be placed--"in
+course of ultimate extinction."
+
+This very irritation, however, only served to press such Anti-Slavery
+Measures more rapidly forward. By the 19th of June, 1862, a Bill "to
+secure Freedom to all persons within the Territories of the United
+States"--after a more strenuous fight against it than ever, on the part
+of Loyal and Copperhead Democrats, both from the Border and Free
+States,--had passed Congress, and been approved by President Lincoln.
+It provided, in just so many words, "That, from and after the passage of
+this Act, there shall be neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude in
+any of the Territories of the United States now existing, or which may
+at any time hereafter be formed or acquired by the United States,
+otherwise than in punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been
+duly convicted."
+
+Here, then, at last, was the great end and aim, with which Mr. Lincoln
+and the Republican Party started out, accomplished. To repeat his
+phrase, Slavery was certainly now in course of ultimate extinction.
+
+But since that doctrine had been first enunciated by Mr. Lincoln, events
+had changed the aspect of things. War had broken out, and the Slaves of
+those engaged in armed Rebellion against the authority of the United
+States Government, had been actually employed, as we have seen, on Rebel
+works and fortifications whose guns were trailed upon the Armies of the
+Union.
+
+And now, the question of Slavery had ceased to be simply whether it
+should be put in course of ultimate extinction, but whether, as a War
+Measure--as a means of weakening the Enemy and strengthening the Union--
+the time had not already come to extinguish it, so far, at least, as the
+Slaves of those participating in the Rebellion, were concerned.
+
+Congress, as has been heretofore noted, had already long and heatedly
+debated various propositions referring to Slavery and African
+Colonization, and had enacted such of them as, in its wisdom, were
+considered necessary; and was now entering a further stormy period of
+contention upon various other projects touching the Abolition of the
+Fugitive Slave Laws, the Confiscation of Rebel Property, and the
+Emancipation of Slaves--all of which, of course, had been, and would be,
+vehemently assailed by the loyal Border-States men and their Free-State
+Democratic allies.
+
+This contention proceeded largely upon the lines of construction of that
+clause in the Constitution of the United States and its Amendments,
+which provides that no person shall be deprived of Life, Liberty, or
+Property, without due process of Law, etc. The one side holding that,
+since the beginning of our Government, Slaves had been, under this
+clause, Unconstitutionally deprived of their Liberty; the other side
+holding that Slaves being "property," it would be Unconstitutional under
+the same clause, to deprive the Slave-owner of his Slave property.
+
+Mr. Crittenden, the leader of the loyal Border-States men in Congress,
+was at this time especially eloquent on this latter view of the
+Constitution. In his speech of April 23, 1862, in the House of
+Representatives, he even undertook to defend American Slavery under the
+shield of English Liberty!
+
+Said he: "It is necessary for the prosperity of any Government, for
+peace and harmony, that every man who acquires property shall feel that
+he shall be protected in the enjoyment of it, and in his right to hold
+it. It elevates the man; it gives him a feeling of dignity. It is the
+great old English doctrine of Liberty. Said Lord Mansfield, the rain
+may beat against the cabin of an Englishman, the snow may penetrate it,
+but the King dare not enter it without the consent of its owner. That
+is the true English spirit. It is the source of England's power."
+
+And again: "The idea of property is deeply seated in our minds. By the
+English Law and by the American Law you have the right to take the life
+of any man who attempts, by violence, to take your property from you.
+So far does the Spirit of these Laws go. Let us not break down this
+idea of property. It is the animating spirit of the Country. Indeed it
+is the Spirit of Liberty and Freedom."
+
+There was at this time, a growing belief in the minds of these loyal
+Border-States men, that this question of Slavery-abolition was reaching
+a crisis. They saw "the handwriting on the wall," but left no stone
+unturned to prevent, or at least to avert for a time, the coming
+catastrophe. They egged Congress, in the language of the distinguished
+Kentuckian, to "Let these unnecessary measures alone, for the present;"
+and, as to the President, they now, not only volunteered in his defense,
+against the attacks of others, but strove also to capture him by their
+arch flatteries.
+
+"Sir,"--said Mr. Crittenden, in one of his most eloquent bursts, in the
+House of Representatives,--"it is not my duty, perhaps, to defend the
+President of the United States. * * * I voted against Mr. Lincoln, and
+opposed him honestly and sincerely; but Mr. Lincoln has won me to his
+side. There is a niche in the Temple of Fame, a niche near to
+Washington, which should be occupied by the statue of him who shall,
+save this Country. Mr. Lincoln has a mighty destiny. It is for him, if
+he will, to step into that niche. It is for him to be but President of
+the People of the United States, and there will his statue be. But, if
+he choose to be, in these times, a mere sectarian and a party man, that
+niche will be reserved for some future and better Patriot. It is in his
+power to occupy a place next Washington,--the Founder, and the
+Preserver, side by side. Sir, Mr. Lincoln is no coward. His not doing
+what the Constitution forbade him to do, is no proof of his cowardice."
+
+On the other hand, Owen Lovejoy, the fiery Abolitionist, the very next
+day after the above remarks of Mr. Crittenden were delivered in the
+House, made a great speech in reply, taking the position that "either
+Slavery, or the Republic, must perish; and the question for us to decide
+is, which shall it be?"
+
+He declared to the House: "You cannot put down the rebellion and restore
+the Union, without destroying Slavery." He quoted the sublime language
+of Curran touching the Spirit of the British Law, which consecrates the
+soil of Britain to the genius of Universal Emancipation,
+
+ [In these words:
+
+ "I speak in the Spirit of the British law, which makes Liberty
+ commensurate with, and inseparable from, the British soil; which
+ proclaims even to the stranger and the sojourner the moment he sets
+ his foot upon British earth, that the ground on which he treads is
+ holy, and consecrated by the genius Of UNIVERSAL EMANCIPATION.
+
+ "No matter in what language his doom may have been pronounced; no
+ matter what complexion incompatible with Freedom, an Indian or an
+ African sun may have burnt upon him; no matter in what disastrous
+ battle his Liberty may have been cloven down; no matter with what
+ solemnities he may have been devoted upon the altar of Slavery; the
+ first moment he touches the sacred soil of Britain, the altar and
+ the god sink together in the dust; his Soul walks abroad in her own
+ majesty; his Body swells beyond the measure of his chains, that
+ burst from around him, and he stands redeemed, regenerated, and
+ disenthralled by the irresistible genius of UNIVERSAL
+ EMANCIPATION."]
+
+And Cowper's verse, wherein the poet says:
+
+ "Slaves cannot breathe in England; if their lungs
+ Receive our air, that moment they are Free,"
+
+--and, after expressing his solicitude to have this true of America, as
+it already was true of the District of Columbia, he proceeded to say:
+
+"The gentleman from Kentucky says he has a niche for Abraham Lincoln.
+Where is it? He pointed upward! But, Sir, should the President follow
+the counsels of that gentleman, and become the defender and perpetuator
+of human Slavery, he should point downward to some dungeon in the Temple
+of Moloch, who feeds on human blood and is surrounded with fires, where
+are forged manacles and chains for human limbs--in the crypts and
+recesses of whose Temple, woman is scourged, and man tortured, and
+outside whose walls are lying dogs, gorged with human flesh, as Byron
+describes them stretched around Stamboul. That is a suitable place for
+the statue of one who would defend and perpetuate human Slavery."
+
+And then--after saying that "the friends of American Slavery need not
+beslime the President with their praise. He is an Anti-Slavery man. He
+hates human Bondage "--the orator added these glowing words:
+
+"I, too, have a niche for Abraham Lincoln; but it is in Freedom's Holy
+Fane, and not in the blood-besmeared Temple of human Bondage; not
+surrounded by Slaves, fetters and chains, but with the symbols of
+Freedom; not dark with Bondage, but radiant with the light of Liberty.
+In that niche he shall stand proudly, nobly, gloriously, with shattered
+fetters and broken chains and slave-whips beneath his feet. If Abraham
+Lincoln pursues the path, evidently pointed out for him in the
+providence of God, as I believe he will, then he will occupy the proud
+position I have indicated. That is a fame worth living for; ay, more,
+that is a fame worth dying for, though that death led through the blood
+of Gethsemane and the agony of the Accursed Tree. That is a fame which
+has glory and honor and immortality and Eternal Life. Let Abraham
+Lincoln make himself, as I trust he will, the Emancipator, the
+Liberator, as he has the opportunity of doing, and his name shall not
+only be enrolled in this Earthly Temple, but it will be traced on the
+living stones of that Temple which rears itself amid the Thrones and
+Hierarchies of Heaven, whose top-stone is to be brought in with shouting
+of 'Grace, grace unto it!'"
+
+We have seen how the loyal Border-State men, through their chosen
+Representative--finding that their steady and unfaltering opposition to
+all Mr. Lincoln's propositions, while quite ineffectual, did not serve
+by any means to increase his respect for their peculiar kind of loyalty
+--offered him posthumous honors and worship if he would but do as they
+desired. Had they possessed the power, no doubt they would have taken
+him up into an exceeding high mountain and have offered to him all the
+Kingdoms of the Earth to do their bidding. But their temptations were
+of no avail.
+
+President Lincoln's duty, and inclination alike--no less than the
+earnest importunities of the Abolitionists--carried him in the opposite
+direction; but carried him no farther than he thought it safe, and wise,
+to go. For, in whatever he might do on this burning question of
+Emancipation, he was determined to secure that adequate support from the
+People without which even Presidential Proclamations are waste paper.
+
+But now, May 9, 1862, was suddenly issued by General Hunter, commanding
+the "Department of the South," comprising Georgia, Florida and South
+Carolina, his celebrated Order announcing Martial Law, in those States,
+as a Military Necessity, and--as "Slavery and Martial Law in a Free
+Country are altogether incompatible"--declaring all Slaves therein,
+"forever Free."
+
+This second edition, as it were, of Fremont's performance, at once threw
+the loyal Border-State men into a terrible ferment. Again, they, and
+their Copperhead and other Democratic friends of the North, meanly
+professed belief that this was but a part of Mr. Lincoln's programme,
+and that his apparent backwardness was the cloak to hide his Anti-
+Slavery aggressiveness and insincerity.
+
+How hurtful the insinuations, and even direct charges, of the day, made
+by these men against President Lincoln, must have been to his honest,
+sincere, and sensitive nature, can scarcely be conceived by those who
+did not know him; while, on the other hand, the reckless impatience of
+some of his friends for "immediate and universal Emancipation," and
+their complaints at his slow progress toward that goal of their hopes,
+must have been equally trying.
+
+True to himself, however, and to the wise conservative course which he
+had marked out, and, thus far, followed, President Lincoln hastened to
+disavow Hunter's action in the premises, by a Proclamation, heretofore
+given, declaring that no person had been authorized by the United States
+Government to declare the Slaves of any State, Free; that Hunter's
+action in this respect was void; that, as Commander-in-chief he reserved
+solely to himself, the questions, first, as to whether he had the power
+to declare the Slaves of any State or States, Free, and, second, whether
+the time and necessity for the exercise of such supposed power had
+arrived. And then, as we may remember, he proceeded to cite the
+adoption, by overwhelming majorities in Congress, of the Joint
+Resolution offering pecuniary aid from the National Government to "any
+State which may adopt a gradual abolishment of Slavery;" and to make a
+most earnest appeal, for support, to the Border-States and to their
+people, as being "the most interested in the subject matter."
+
+In his Special Message to Congress,--[Of March 6, 1862.]--recommending
+the passage of that Joint Resolution, he had plainly and emphatically
+declared himself against sudden Emancipation of Slaves. He had therein
+distinctly said: "In my judgment, gradual, and not immediate,
+Emancipation, is better for all." And now, in this second appeal of his
+to the Border-States men, to patriotically close with the proposal
+embraced in that. Resolution, he said: "The changes it contemplates
+would come gently as the dews of Heaven, not rending or wrecking
+anything. Will you not embrace it? So much good has not been done, by
+one effort, in all past time, as, in the providence of God, it is now
+your high privilege to do! May the vast future not have to lament that
+you have neglected it!"
+
+ [The following letter, from Sumner, shows the impatience of some of
+ the President's friends, the confidence he inspired in others
+ nearer in his counsels, and how entirely, at this time, his mind
+ was absorbed in his project for gradual and compensated
+ Emancipation.]
+
+ "SENATE CHAMBER, June 5, 1862.
+
+ "MY DEAR SIR.--Your criticism of the President is hasty. I am
+ confident that, if you knew him as I do, you would not make it. Of
+ course the President cannot be held responsible for the
+ misfeasances of subordinates, unless adopted or at least tolerated
+ by him. And I am sure that nothing unjust or ungenerous will be
+ tolerated, much less adopted, by him.
+
+ "I am happy to let you know that he has no sympathy with Stanly in
+ his absurd wickedness, closing the schools, nor again in his other
+ act of turning our camp into a hunting ground for Slaves. He
+ repudiates both--positively. The latter point has occupied much of
+ his thought; and the newspapers have not gone too far in recording
+ his repeated declarations, which I have often heard from his own
+ lips, that Slaves finding their way into the National lines are
+ never to be Re-enslaved--This is his conviction, expressed without
+ reserve.
+
+ "Could you have seen the President--as it was my privilege often--
+ while he was considering the great questions on which he has
+ already acted--the invitation to Emancipation in the States,
+ Emancipation in the District of Columbia, and the acknowledgment of
+ the Independence of Hayti and Liberia--even your zeal would have
+ been satisfied, for you would have felt the sincerity of his
+ purpose to do what he could to carry forward the principles of the
+ Declaration of Independence.
+
+ "His whole soul was occupied, especially by the first proposition,
+ which was peculiarly his own. In familiar intercourse with him, I
+ remember nothing more touching than the earnestness and
+ completeness with which he embraced this idea. To his mind, it was
+ just and beneficent, while it promised the sure end of Slavery. Of
+ course, to me, who had already proposed a bridge of gold for the
+ retreating fiend, it was most welcome. Proceeding from the
+ President, it must take its place among the great events of
+ history.
+
+ "If you are disposed to be impatient at any seeming
+ shortcomings, think, I pray you, of what has been done in a brief
+ period, and from the past discern the sure promise of the future.
+ Knowing something of my convictions and of the ardor with which I
+ maintain them, you may, perhaps, derive some assurance from my
+ confidence; I may say to you, therefore, stand by the
+ Administration. If need be, help it by word and act, but stand by
+ it and have faith in it.
+
+ "I wish that you really knew the President, and had heard the
+ artless expression of his convictions on those questions which
+ concern you so deeply. You might, perhaps, wish that he were less
+ cautious, but you would be grateful that he is so true to all that
+ you have at heart. Believe me, therefore, you are wrong, and I
+ regret it the more because of my desire to see all our friends
+ stand firmly together.
+
+ "If I write strongly it is because I feel strongly; for my constant
+ and intimate intercourse with the President, beginning with the 4th
+ of March, not only binds me peculiarly to his Administration, but
+ gives me a personal as well as a political interest in seeing that
+ justice is done him.
+
+ "Believe me, my dear Sir, with much regard, ever faithfully yours,
+ "CHARLES SUMNER."
+
+But stones are not more deaf to entreaty than were the ears of the loyal
+Border-State men and their allies to President Lincoln's renewed appeal.
+"Ephraim" was "wedded to his idols."
+
+McClellan too--immediately after his retreat from the Chickahominy to
+the James River--seized the opportunity afforded by the disasters to our
+arms, for which he was responsible, to write to President Lincoln a
+letter (dated July 7, 1862) in which he admonished him that owing to the
+"critical" condition of the Army of the Potomac, and the danger of its
+being "overwhelmed" by the Enemy in front, the President must now
+substantially assume and exercise the powers of a Dictator, or all would
+be lost; that "neither Confiscation of property * * * nor forcible
+Abolition of Slavery, should be contemplated for a moment;" and that "A
+declaration of Radical views, especially upon Slavery, will rapidly
+disintegrate our present Armies."
+
+Harried, and worried, on all sides,--threatened even by the Commander of
+the Army of the Potomac,--it is not surprising, in view of the
+apparently irreconcilable attitude of the loyal Border-State men to
+gradual and compensated Emancipation, that the tension of President
+Lincoln's mind began to feel a measure of relief in contemplating
+Military Emancipation in the teeth of all such threats.
+
+He had long since made up his mind that the existence of Slavery was not
+compatible with the preservation of the Union. The only question now
+was, how to get rid of it? If the worst should come to the worst--
+despite McClellan's threat--he would have to risk everything on the turn
+of the die--would have to "play his last card;" and that "last card" was
+Military Emancipation. Yet still he disliked to play it. The time and
+necessity for it had not yet arrived--although he thought he saw them
+coming.
+
+ [In the course of an article in the New York Tribune, August, 1885,
+ Hon. George S. Boutwell tells of an interview in "July or early
+ in August" of 1862, with President Lincoln, at which the latter
+ read two letters: one from a Louisiana man "who claimed to be a
+ Union man," but sought to impress the President with "the dangers
+ and evils of Emancipation;" the other, Mr. Lincoln's reply to him,
+ in which, says Mr. B., "he used this expression: 'you must not
+ expect me to give up this Government without playing my last card.'
+ Emancipation was his last card."]
+
+Things were certainly, at this time, sufficiently unpromising to chill
+the sturdiest Patriot's heart. It is true, we had scored some important
+victories in the West; but in the East, our arms seemed fated to
+disaster after disaster. Belmont, Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, and
+Pittsburg Landing, were names whose mention made the blood of Patriots
+to surge in their veins; and Corinth, too, had fallen. But in the East,
+McClellan's profitless campaign against Richmond, and especially his
+disastrous "change of base" by a "masterly" seven days' retreat,
+involving as many bloody battles, had greatly dispirited all Union men,
+and encouraged the Rebels and Rebel-sympathizers to renewed hopes and
+efforts.
+
+And, as reverses came to the Union Arms, so seemed to grow
+proportionately the efforts, on all sides, to force forward, or to stave
+off, as the case might be, the great question of the liberation and
+arming of the Slaves, as a War Measure, under the War powers of the
+Constitution. It was about this time (July 12, 1862) that President
+Lincoln determined to make a third, and last, attempt to avert the
+necessity for thus emancipating and arming the Slaves. He invited all
+the Senators and Representatives in Congress from the Border-States, to
+an interview at the White House, and made to them the appeal, heretofore
+in these pages given at length.
+
+It was an earnest, eloquent, wise, kindly, patriotic, fatherly appeal in
+behalf of his old proposition, for a gradual, compensated Emancipation,
+by the Slave States, aided by the resources of the National Government.
+
+At the very time of making it, he probably had, in his drawer, the rough
+draft of the Proclamation which was soon to give Liberty to all the
+Colored millions of the Land.
+
+ [McPherson gives a letter, written from Washington, by Owen Lovejoy
+ (Feb. 22, 1864), to Wm. Lloyd Garrison, in which the following
+ passage occurs:
+
+ "Recurring to the President, there are a great many reports
+ concerning him which seem to be reliable and authentic, which,
+ after all, are not so. It was currently reported among the Anti-
+ Slavery men of Illinois that the Emancipation Proclamation was
+ extorted from him by the outward pressure, and particularly by the
+ Delegation from the Christian Convention that met at Chicago.
+
+ "Now, the fact is this, as I had it from his own lips: He had
+ written the Proclamation in the Summer, as early as June, I think--
+ but will not be certain as to the precise time--and called his
+ Cabinet together, and informed them he had written it and meant to
+ make it, but wanted to read it to them for any criticism or remarks
+ as to its features or details.
+
+ "After having done so, Mr. Seward suggested whether it would not be
+ well for him to withhold its publication until after we had gained
+ some substantial advantage in the Field, as at that time we had met
+ with many reverses, and it might be considered a cry of despair.
+ He told me he thought the suggestion a wise one, and so held on to
+ the Proclamation until after the Battle of Antietam.]
+
+Be that as it may, however, sufficient evidences exist, to prove that he
+must have been fully aware, at the time of making that appeal to the
+supposed patriotism of these Border-State men, how much, how very much,
+depended on the manner of their reception of it.
+
+To him, that meeting was a very solemn and portentous one. He had
+studied the question long and deeply--not from the standpoint of his own
+mere individual feelings and judgment, but from that of fair
+Constitutional construction, as interpreted by the light of Natural or
+General Law and right reason. What he sought to impress upon them was,
+that an immediate decision by the Border-States to adopt, and in due
+time carry out, with the financial help of the General Government, a
+policy of gradual Emancipation, would simultaneously solve the two
+intimately-blended problems of Slavery-destruction and Union-
+preservation, in the best possible manner for the pockets and feelings
+of the Border-State Slave-holder, and for the other interests of both
+Border-State Slave-holder and Slave.
+
+His great anxiety was to "perpetuate," as well as to save, to the People
+of the World, the imperiled form of Popular Government, and assure to it
+a happy and a grand future.
+
+He begged these Congressmen from the Border-States, to help him carry
+out this, his beneficent plan, in the way that was best for all, and
+thus at the same time utterly deprive the Rebel Confederacy of that
+hope, which still possessed them, of ultimately gathering these States
+into their rebellious fold. And he very plainly, at the same time,
+confessed that he desired this relief from the Abolition pressure upon
+him, which had been growing more intense ever since he had repudiated
+the Hunter proclamation.
+
+But the President's earnest appeal to these loyal Representatives in
+Congress from the Border-States, was, as we have seen, in vain. It
+might as well have been made to actual Rebels, for all the good it did.
+For, a few days afterward, they sent to him a reply signed by more than
+two-thirds of those present, hitherto given at length in these pages, in
+which-after loftily sneering at the proposition as "an interference by
+this Government with a question which peculiarly and exclusively
+belonged to" their "respective States, on which they had not sought
+advice or solicited aid," throwing doubts upon the Constitutional power
+of the General Government to give the financial aid, and undertaking by
+statistics to prove that it would absolutely bankrupt the Government to
+give such aid,--they insultingly declared, in substance, that they could
+not "trust anything to the contingencies of future legislation," and
+that Congress must "provide sufficient funds" and place those funds in
+the President's hands for the purpose, before the Border-States and
+their people would condescend even to "take this proposition into
+careful consideration, for such decision as in their judgment is
+demanded by their interest, their honor, and their duty to the whole
+Country."
+
+Very different in tone, to be sure, was the minority reply, which, after
+stating that "the leaders of the Southern Rebellion have offered to
+abolish Slavery among them as a condition to Foreign Intervention in
+favor of their Independence as a Nation," concluded with the terse and
+loyal deduction: "If they can give up Slavery to destroy the Union, we
+can surely ask our people to consider the question of Emancipation to
+save the Union."
+
+But those who signed this latter reply were few, among the many.
+Practically, the Border-State men were a unit against Mr. Lincoln's
+proposition, and against its fair consideration by their people. He
+asked for meat, and they gave him a stone.
+
+Only a few days before this interview, President Lincoln--alarmed by the
+report of McClellan, that the magnificent Army of the Potomac under his
+command, which, only three months before, had boasted 161,000 men, had
+dwindled down to not more than "50,000 men left with their colors"--had
+been to the front, at Harrison's Landing, on the James river, and,
+although he had not found things quite so disheartening as he had been
+led to believe, yet they were bad enough, for only 86,000 men were found
+by him on duty, while 75,000 were unaccounted for--of which number
+34,4172 were afterward reported as "absent by authority."
+
+This condition of affairs, in connection with the fact that McClellan
+was always calling for more troops, undoubtedly had its influence in
+bringing Mr. Lincoln's mind to the conviction, hitherto mentioned, of
+the fast-approaching Military necessity for Freeing and Arming the
+Slaves.
+
+It was to ward this off, if possible, that he had met and appealed to
+the Border-State Representatives. They had answered him with sneers and
+insults; and nothing was left him but the extreme course of almost
+immediate Emancipation.
+
+Long and anxiously he had thought over the matter, but the time for
+action was at hand.
+
+And now, it cannot be better told, than in President Lincoln's own
+words, as given to the portrait-painter Carpenter, and recorded in the
+latter's, "Six months in the White House," what followed:
+
+"It had got to be," said he, "midsummer, 1862. Things had gone on from
+bad to worse, until I felt that we had reached the end of our rope on
+the plan of operations we had been pursuing; that we had about played
+our last card, and must change our tactics, or lose the game!
+
+"I now determined upon the adoption of the Emancipation Policy; and,
+without consultation with, or the knowledge of, the Cabinet, I prepared
+the original draft of the Proclamation, and, after much anxious thought,
+called a Cabinet meeting upon the subject. This was the last of July,
+or the first part of the month of August, 1862." (The exact date he did
+not remember.)
+
+"This Cabinet meeting took place, I think, upon a Saturday. All were
+present, excepting Mr. Blair, the Postmaster-General, who was absent at
+the opening of the discussion, but came in subsequently. I said to the
+Cabinet, that I had resolved upon this step, and had not called them
+together to ask their advice, but to lay the subject-matter of a
+Proclamation before them; suggestions as to which would be in order,
+after they had heard it read.
+
+"Mr. Lovejoy was in error" when he stated "that it excited no comment,
+excepting on the part of Secretary Seward. Various suggestions were
+offered. Secretary Chase wished the language stronger, in reference to
+the arming of the Blacks. Mr. Blair, after he came in, deprecated the
+policy, on the ground that it would cost the Administration the fall
+elections.
+
+"Nothing, however, was offered, that I had not already
+fully anticipated and settled in my own mind, until Secretary Seward
+spoke. He said in substance: 'Mr. President, I approve of the
+Proclamation, but I question the expediency of its issue at this
+juncture. The depression of the public mind, consequent upon our
+repeated reverses, is so great that I fear the effect of so important a
+step. It may be viewed as the last Measure of an exhausted Government,
+a cry for help, the Government stretching forth its hands to Ethiopia,
+instead of Ethiopia stretching forth her hands to the Government.'
+
+"His idea," said the President "was that it would be considered our last
+shriek, on the retreat." (This was his precise expression.) "' Now,'
+continued Mr. Seward, 'while I approve the Measure, I suggest, Sir, that
+you postpone its issue, until you can give it to the Country supported
+by Military success, instead of issuing it, as would be the case now,
+upon the greatest disasters of the War!'"
+
+Mr. Lincoln continued: "The wisdom of the view of the Secretary of
+State, struck me with very great force. It was an aspect of the case
+that, in all my thought upon the subject, I had entirely overlooked.
+The result was that I put the draft of the Proclamation aside, as you do
+your sketch for a picture, waiting for a victory."
+
+It may not be amiss to interrupt the President's narration to Mr.
+Carpenter, at this point, with a few words touching "the Military
+Situation."
+
+After McClellan's inexplicable retreat from before the Rebel Capital--
+when, having gained a great victory at Malvern Hills, Richmond would
+undoubtedly have been ours, had he but followed it up, instead of
+ordering his victorious troops to retreat like "a whipped Army"--[See
+General Hooker's testimony before the Committee on the Conduct of the
+War.]--his recommendation, in the extraordinary letter (of July 7th) to
+the President, for the creation of the office of General-in-Chief, was
+adopted, and Halleck, then at Corinth, was ordered East, to fill it.
+
+Pope had previously been called from the West, to take
+command of the troops covering Washington, comprising some 40,000 men,
+known as the Army of Virginia; and, finding cordial cooperation with
+McClellan impossible, had made a similar suggestion.
+
+Soon after Halleck's arrival, that General ordered the transfer of the
+Army of the Potomac, from Harrison's Landing to Acquia creek--on the
+Potomac--with a view to a new advance upon Richmond, from the
+Rappahannock river.
+
+While this was being slowly accomplished, Lee, relieved from fears for
+Richmond, decided to advance upon Washington, and speedily commenced the
+movement.
+
+On the 8th of August, 1862, Stonewall Jackson, leading the Rebel
+advance, had crossed the Rapidan; on the 9th the bloody Battle of Cedar
+Mountain had been fought with part of Pope's Army; and on the 11th,
+Jackson had retreated across the Rapidan again.
+
+Subsequently, Pope having retired across the Rappahannock, Lee's Forces,
+by flanking Pope's Army, again resumed their Northern advance. August
+28th and 29th witnessed the bloody Battles of Groveton and Gainesville,
+Virginia; the 30th saw the defeat of Pope, by Lee, at the second great
+Battle of Bull Run, and the falling back of Pope's Army toward
+Washington; and the succeeding Battle of Chantilly took place September
+1, 1862.
+
+It is not necessary at this time to even touch upon the causes and
+agencies which brought such misfortune to the Union Arms, under Pope.
+It is sufficient to say here, that the disaster of the second Bull Run
+was a dreadful blow to the Union Cause, and correspondingly elated the
+Rebels.
+
+Jefferson Davis, in transmitting to the Rebel Congress at Richmond,
+Lee's victorious announcements, said, in his message: "From these
+dispatches it will be seen that God has again extended His shield over
+our patriotic Army, and has blessed the cause of the Confederacy with a
+second signal victory, on the field already memorable by the gallant
+achievement of our troops."
+
+Flushed with victory, but wisely avoiding the fortifications of the
+National Capital, Lee's Forces now swept past Washington; crossed the
+Potomac, near Point of Rocks, at its rear; and menaced both the National
+Capital and Baltimore.
+
+Yielding to the apparent necessity of the moment, the President again
+placed. McClellan in command of the Armies about Washington, to wit:
+the Army of the Potomac; Burnside's troops that had come up from North
+Carolina; what remained of Pope's Army of Virginia; and the large
+reinforcements from fresh levies, constantly and rapidly pouring in.
+
+ [This was probably about the time of the occurrence of an amusing
+ incident, touching Lincoln, McClellan, and the fortifications
+ around Washington, afterward told by General J. G. Barnard, then
+ Chief of Engineers on the staff of General George B. McClellan.--
+ See New York Tribune, October 21, 1885. It seems that the
+ fortifications having been completed, McClellan invited Mr. Lincoln
+ and his Cabinet to inspect them. "On the day appointed," said
+ Barnard, "the Inspection commenced at Arlington, to the Southwest
+ of Washington, and in front of the Enemy. We followed the line of
+ the works southerly, and recrossed the Potomac to the easterly side
+ of the river, and continued along the line easterly of Washington
+ and into the heaviest of all the fortifications on the northerly
+ side of Washington. When we reached this point the President asked
+ General McClellan to explain the necessity of so strong a
+ fortification between Washington and the North.
+
+ "General McClellan replied: 'Why, Mr. President, according to
+ Military Science it is our duty to guard against every possible or
+ supposable contingency that may arise. For example, if under any
+ circumstances, however fortuitous, the Enemy, by any chance or
+ freak, should, in a last resort, get in behind Washington, in his
+ efforts to capture the city, why, there the fort is to defend it.'
+
+ "'Yes, that's so General,' said the President; 'the precaution is
+ doubtless a wise one, and I'm glad to get so clear an explanation,
+ for it reminds me of an interesting question once discussed for
+ several weeks in our Lyceum, or Moot Court, at Springfield, Ill.,
+ soon after I began reading law.'
+
+ "'Ah!' says General McClellan. 'What question was that, Mr.
+ President?'
+
+ "'The question,' Mr. Lincoln replied, 'was, "Why does man have
+ breasts?"' and he added that after many evenings' debate, the
+ question was submitted to the presiding Judge, who wisely decided
+ 'That if under any circumstances, however fortuitous, or by any
+ chance or freak, no matter of what nature or by what cause, a man
+ should have a baby, there would be the breasts to nurse it.'"]
+
+Yet, it was not until the 17th of September that the Battle of Antietam
+was fought, and Lee defeated--and then only to be allowed to slip back,
+across the Potomac, on the 18th--McClellan leisurely following him,
+across that river, on the 2nd of November!
+
+ [Arnold, in his "Life of Abraham Lincoln," says that President
+ Lincoln said of him: "With all his failings as a soldier, McClellan
+ is a pleasant and scholarly gentleman. He is an admirable
+ Engineer, but" he added, "he seems to have a special talent for a
+ stationary Engine."]
+
+On the 5th, McClellan was relieved,--Burnside taking the command,--and
+Union men breathed more freely again.
+
+But to return to the subject of Emancipation. President Lincoln's own
+words have already been given--in conversation with Carpenter--down to
+the reading of the Proclamation to his Cabinet, and Seward's suggestion
+to "wait for a victory" before issuing it, and how, adopting that
+advice, he laid the Proclamation aside, waiting for a victory.
+
+"From time to time," said Mr. Lincoln, continuing his narration, "I
+added or changed a line, touching it up here and there, anxiously
+waiting the progress of events. Well, the next news we had was of
+Pope's disaster at Bull Run. Things looked darker than ever. Finally,
+came the week of the Battle of Antietam. I determined to wait no
+longer.
+
+"The news came, I think, on Wednesday, that the advantage was on our
+side. I was then staying at the Soldiers' Home (three miles out of
+Washington.) Here I finished writing the second draft of the
+preliminary Proclamation; came up on Saturday; called the Cabinet
+together to hear it; and it was published the following Monday."
+
+It is not uninteresting to note, in this connection, upon the same
+authority, that at the final meeting of the Cabinet prior to this issue
+of the Proclamation, when the third paragraph was read, and the words of
+the draft "will recognize the Freedom of such Persons," were reached,
+Mr. Seward suggested the insertion of the words "and maintain" after the
+word "recognize;" and upon his insistance, the President said, "the
+words finally went in."
+
+At last, then, had gone forth the Fiat--telegraphed and read throughout
+the Land, on that memorable 22d of September, 1862--which, with the
+supplemental Proclamation of January 1, 1863, was to bring joy and
+Freedom to the millions of Black Bondsmen of the South.
+
+Just one month before its issue, in answer to Horace Greeley's Open
+letter berating him for "the seeming subserviency" of his "policy to the
+Slave-holding, Slave up-holding interest," etc., President Lincoln had
+written his famous "Union letter" in which he had conservatively said:
+"My paramount object is to save the Union, and not either to save or
+destroy Slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any Slave, I
+would do it--and if I could save it by freeing all the Slaves, I would
+do it--and if I could save it by freeing some, and leaving others alone,
+I would also do that."
+
+No one outside of his Cabinet dreamed, at the time he made that answer,
+that the Proclamation of Emancipation was already written, and simply
+awaited a turn in the tide of battle for its issue!
+
+Still less could it have been supposed, when, on the 13th of September--
+only two days before Stonewall Jackson had invested, attacked, and
+captured Harper's Ferry with nearly 12,000 prisoners, 73 cannon, and
+13,000 small arms, besides other spoils of War--Mr. Lincoln received the
+deputation from the religious bodies of Chicago, bearing a Memorial for
+the immediate issue of such a Proclamation.
+
+The very language of his reply,--where he said to them: "It is my
+earnest desire to know the will of Providence in this matter. And if I
+can learn what it is, I will do it! These are not, however, the days of
+miracles, and I suppose it will be granted that I am not to expect a
+direct revelation. I must study the plain physical aspects of the case,
+ascertain what is possible, and learn what appears to be wise and
+right"--when taken in connection with the very strong argument with
+which he followed it up, against the policy of Emancipation advocated in
+the Memorial, and his intimation that a Proclamation of Emancipation
+issued by him "must necessarily be inoperative, like the Pope's Bull
+against the Comet!"--would almost seem to have been adopted with the
+very object of veiling his real purpose from the public eye, and leaving
+the public mind in doubt. At all events, it had that effect.
+
+Arnold, in his "Life of Lincoln," says of this time, when General Lee
+was marching Northward toward Pennsylvania, that "now, the President,
+with that tinge of superstition which ran through his character, 'made,'
+as he said, 'a solemn vow to God, that, if Lee was driven back, he would
+issue the Proclamation;'" and, in the light of that statement, the
+concluding words of Mr. Lincoln's reply to the deputation aforesaid:--"I
+can assure you that the subject is on my mind, by day and night, more
+than any other. Whatever shall appear to be God's will, I will do,"--
+have a new meaning.
+
+The Emancipation Proclamation, when issued, was a great surprise, but
+was none the less generally well-received by the Union Armies, and
+throughout the Loyal States of the Union, while, in some of them, its
+reception was most enthusiastic.
+
+It happened, too, as we have seen, that the Convention of the Governors
+of the Loyal States met at Altoona, Penn., on the very day of its
+promulgation, and in an address to the President adopted by these loyal
+Governors, they publicly hailed it "with heartfelt gratitude and
+encouraged hope," and declared that "the decision of the President to
+strike at the root of the Rebellion will lend new vigor to efforts, and
+new life and hope to the hearts, of the People."
+
+On the other hand, the loyal Border-States men were dreadfully exercised
+on the subject; and those of them in the House of Representatives
+emphasized their disapproval by their votes, when, on the 11th and 15th
+of the following December, Resolutions, respectively denouncing, and
+endorsing, "the policy of Emancipation, as indicated in that
+Proclamation," of September 22, 1862, were offered and voted on.
+
+In spite of the loyal Border-States men's bitter opposition, however,
+the Resolution endorsing that policy as a War Measure, and declaring the
+Proclamation to be "an exercise of power with proper regard for the
+rights of the States and the perpetuity of Free Government," as we have
+seen, passed the House.
+
+Of course the Rebels themselves, against whom it was aimed, gnashed
+their teeth in impotent rage over the Proclamation. But they lost no
+time in declaring that it was only a proof of what they had always
+announced: that the War was not for the preservation of the American
+Union, but for the destruction of African Slavery, and the spoilation of
+the Southern States.
+
+Through their friends and emissaries, in the Border and other Loyal
+States of the Union,--the "Knights of the Golden Circle,"--
+
+ [The "Knights of the Golden Circle" was the most extensive of these
+ Rebel organizations. It was "an auxiliary force to the Rebel
+ Army." Its members took an obligation of the most binding
+ character, the violation of which was punishable by death, which
+ obligation, in the language of another, "pledged them to use every
+ possible means in their power to aid the Rebels to gain their
+ Independence; to aid and assist Rebel prisoners to escape; to vote
+ for no one for Office who was not opposed to the further
+ prosecution of the War; to encourage desertions from the Union
+ Army; to protect the Rebels in all things necessary to carry out
+ their designs, even to the burning and destroying of towns and
+ cities, if necessary to produce the desired result; to give such
+ information as they had, at all times, of the movements of our
+ Armies, and of the return of soldiers to their homes; and to try
+ and prevent their going back to their regiments at the front."
+
+ In other words the duty of the Organization and of its members, was
+ to hamper, oppose, and prevent all things possible that were being
+ done at any time for the Union Cause, and to encourage, forward,
+ and help all things possible in behalf of the Rebel Cause.
+
+ It was to be a flanking force of the Enemy--a reverse fire--a fire
+ in the rear of the Union Army, by Northern men; a powerful
+ cooperating force--all the more powerful because secret--operating
+ safely because secretly and in silence--and breeding discontent,
+ envy, hatred, and other ill feelings wherever possible, in and out
+ of Army circles, from the highest to the lowest, at all possible
+ times, and on all possible occasions.]
+
+--the "Order of American Knights" or "Sons of Liberty," and other
+Copperhead organizations, tainted with more or less of Treason--they
+stirred up all the old dregs of Pro-Slavery feeling that could possibly
+he reached; but while the venomous acts and utterances of such
+organizations, and the increased and vindictive energy of the armed
+Rebels themselves, had a tendency to disquiet the public mind with
+apprehensions as to the result of the Proclamation, and whether, indeed,
+Mr. Lincoln himself would be able to resist the pressure, and stand up
+to his promise of that Supplemental Proclamation which would give
+definiteness and practical effect to the preliminary one, the masses of
+the people of the Loyal States had faith in him.
+
+There was also another element, in chains, at the South, which at this
+time must have been trembling with that mysterious hope of coming
+Emancipation for their Race, conveyed so well in Whittier's lines,
+commencing: "We pray de Lord; he gib us signs, dat some day we be Free"
+--a hope which had long animated them, as of something almost too good
+for them to live to enjoy, but which, as the War progressed, appeared to
+grow nearer and nearer, until now they seemed to see the promised Land,
+flowing with milk and honey, its beautiful hills and vales smiling under
+the quickening beams of Freedom's glorious sun. But ah! should they
+enter there?--or must they turn away again into the old wilderness of
+their Slavery, and this blessed Liberty, almost within their grasp,
+mockingly elude them?
+
+They had not long to wait for an answer. The 1st of January, 1863,
+arrived, and with it--as a precious New Year's Gift--came the
+Supplemental Proclamation, bearing the sacred boon of Liberty to the
+Emancipated millions.
+
+At last, at last, no American need blush to stand up and proclaim his
+land indeed, and in truth, "the Land of Freedom."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXI.
+
+ THE ARMED-NEGRO.
+
+Little over five months had passed, since the occurrence of the great
+event in the history of the American Nation mentioned in the preceding
+Chapter, before the Freed Negro, now bearing arms in defense of the
+Union and of his own Freedom, demonstrated at the first attack on Port
+Hudson the wisdom of emancipating and arming the Slave, as a War
+measure. He seemed thoroughly to appreciate and enter into the spirit
+of the words; "who would be Free, himself must strike the blow."
+
+At the attack (of May 27th, 1863), on Port Hudson, where it held the
+right, the "Black Brigade" covered itself with glory.
+
+ At Baton Rouge, before starting for Port Hudson, the color-guard of
+ the First Louisiana Regiment--of the Black Brigade--received the
+ Regimental flags from their white colonel, (Col. Stafford,) then
+ under arrest, in a speech which ended with the injunction: "Color-
+ guard, protect, defend, die for, but do not surrender these flags;"
+ to which Sergeant Planciancois replied: "Colonel, I will bring
+ these colors to you in honor, or report to God the reason why!" He
+ fell, mortally wounded, in one of the many desperate charges at
+ Port Hudson, with his face to the Enemy, and the colors in his
+ hand.
+
+Banks, in his Report, speaking of the Colored regiments, said: "Their
+conduct was heroic. No troops could be more determined or more daring.
+They made, during the day, three charges upon the batteries of the
+Enemy, suffering very heavy losses, and holding their positions at
+nightfall with the other troops on the right of our line. The highest
+commendation is bestowed upon them by all the officers in command on the
+right."
+
+The New York Times' correspondent said:--"The deeds of heroism performed
+by these Colored men were such as the proudest White men might emulate.
+Their colors are torn to pieces by shot, and literally bespattered by
+blood and brains. The color-sergeant of the 1st Louisiana, on being
+mortally wounded (the top of his head taken off by a sixpounder), hugged
+the colors to his breast, when a struggle ensued between the two color-
+corporals on each side of him, as to who should have the honor of
+bearing the sacred standard, and during this generous contention one was
+seriously wounded."
+
+So again, on Sunday the 6th of June following, at Milliken's Bend, where
+an African brigade, with 160 men of the 23rd Iowa, although surprised in
+camp by a largely superior force of the Enemy, repulsed him gallantly--
+of which action General Grant, in his official Report, said: "In this
+battle, most of the troops engaged were Africans, who had but little
+experience in the use of fire-arms. Their conduct is said, however, to
+have been most gallant."
+
+So, also, in the bloody assault of July 18th, on Fort Wagner, which was
+led by the 54th Massachusetts (Colored) Regiment with intrepidity, and
+where they planted, and for some time maintained, their Country's flag
+on the parapet, until they "melted away before the Enemy's fire, their
+bodies falling down the slope and into the ditch."
+
+And from that time on, through the War--at Wilson's Wharf, in the many
+bloody charges at Petersburg, at Deep Bottom, at Chapin's Farm, Fair
+Oaks, and numerous other battle-fields, in Virginia and elsewhere, right
+down to Appomattox--the African soldier fought courageously, fully
+vindicating the War-wisdom of Abraham Lincoln in emancipating and arming
+the Race.
+
+The promulgation of this New Year's Proclamation of Freedom
+unquestionably had a wonderful effect in various ways, upon the outcome
+of the War.
+
+It cleared away the cobwebs which the arguments of the loyal Border-
+State men, and of the Northern Copperheads and other Disunion and Pro-
+Slavery allies of the Rebels were forever weaving for the
+discouragement, perplexity and ensnarement, of the thoroughly loyal out-
+and-out Union men of the Land. It largely increased our strength in
+fighting material. It brought to us the moral support of the World,
+with the active sympathy of philanthropy's various forces. And besides,
+it correspondingly weakened the Rebels. Every man thus freed from his
+Bondage, and mustered into the Union Armies, was not only a gain of one
+man on the Union side, but a loss of one man to the Enemy. It is not,
+therefore, surprising that the Disunion Conspirators--whether at the
+South or at the North--were furious.
+
+The Chief Conspirator, Jefferson Davis, had already, (December 23,
+1862,) issued a proclamation of outlawry against General B. F. Butler,
+for arming certain Slaves that had become Free upon entering his lines--
+the two last clauses of which provided: "That all Negro Slaves captured
+in arms, be at once delivered over to the Executive authorities of the
+respective States to which they belong, to be dealt with according to
+the laws of said States," and "That the like orders be executed in all
+cases with respect to all commissioned Officers of the United States,
+when found serving in company with said Slaves in insurrection against
+the authorities of the different States of this Confederacy."
+
+He now called the attention of the Rebel Congress to President Lincoln's
+two Proclamations of Emancipation, early in January of 1863; and that
+Body responded by adopting, on the 1st of May of that year, a
+Resolution, the character of which was so cold-bloodedly atrocious, that
+modern Civilization might well wonder and Christianity shudder at its
+purport.
+
+ [It was in these words:
+
+ "Resolved, by the Congress of the Confederate States of America, In
+ response to the Message of the President, transmitted to Congress
+ at the commencement of the present session, That, in the opinion of
+ Congress, the commissioned officers of the Enemy ought not to be
+ delivered to the authorities of the respective States, as suggested
+ in the said Message, but all captives taken by the Confederate
+ forces ought to be dealt with and disposed of by the Confederate
+ Government.
+
+ "SEC. 2.--That, in the judgment of Congress, the proclamations of
+ the President of the United States, dated respectively September
+ 22, 1862, and January 1, 1863, and the other measures of the
+ Government of the United States and of its authorities, commanders,
+ and forces, designed or tending to emancipate slaves in the
+ Confederate States, or to abduct such slaves, or to incite them to
+ insurrection, or to employ negroes in war against the Confederate
+ States, or to overthrow the institution of African Slavery, and
+ bring on a servile war in these States, would, if successful,
+ produce atrocious consequences, and they are inconsistent with the
+ spirit of those usages which, in modern warfare, prevail among
+ civilized nations; they may, therefore, be properly and lawfully
+ repressed by retaliation.
+
+ "SEC. 3.--That in every case wherein, during the present war, any
+ violation of the laws or usages of war among civilized nations
+ shall be, or has been, done and perpetrated by those acting under
+ authority of the Government of the United States, on persons or
+ property of citizens of the Confederate States, or of those under
+ the protection or in the land or naval service of the Confederate
+ States, or of any State of the Confederacy, the President of the
+ Confederate States is hereby authorized to cause full and ample
+ retaliation to be made for every such violation, in such manner and
+ to such extent as he may think proper.
+
+ "SEC. 4.--That every white person, being a commissioned officer, or
+ acting as such, who, during the present war, shall command negroes
+ or mulattoes in arms against the Confederate States, or who shall
+ arm, train, organize, or prepare negroes or mulattoes for military
+ service against the Confederate States, or who shall voluntarily
+ aid negroes or mulattoes in any military enterprise, attack, or
+ conflict in such service, shall be deemed as inciting servile
+ insurrection, and shall, if captured, be put to death, or be
+ otherwise punished at the discretion of the Court.
+
+ "SEC. 5.--Every person, being a commissioned officer, or acting as
+ such in the service of the Enemy, who shall, during the present
+ war, excite, attempt to excite, or cause to be excited, a servile
+ insurrection, or who shall incite, or cause to be incited, a slave
+ to rebel, shall, if captured, be put to death, or be otherwise
+ punished at the discretion of the court.
+
+ "SEC. 6.--Every person charged with an offense punishable under the
+ preceding resolutions shall, during the present war, be tried
+ before the military court attached to the army or corps by the
+ troops of which he shall have been captured, or by such other
+ military court as the President may direct, and in such manner and
+ under such regulations as the President shall prescribe; and, after
+ conviction, the President may commute the punishment in such manner
+ and on such terms as he may deem proper.
+
+ "SEC. 7.--All negroes and mulattoes who shall be engaged in war, or
+ be taken in arms against the Confederate States, or shall give aid
+ or comfort to the enemies of the Confederate States, shall, when
+ captured in the Confederate States, be delivered to the authorities
+ of the State or States in which they shall be captured, to be dealt
+ with according to the present or future laws of such State or
+ States."]
+
+But atrocious as were the provisions of the Resolution, or Act
+aforesaid, in that they threatened death or Slavery to every Black man
+taken with Union arms in his hand, and death to every White commissioned
+officer commanding Black soldiers, yet the manner in which they were
+executed was still more barbarous.
+
+At last it became necessary to adopt some measure by which captured
+Colored Union soldiers might be protected equally with captured White
+Union soldiers from the frequent Rebel violations of the Laws of War in
+the cases of the former.
+
+President Lincoln, therefore, issued an Executive Order prescribing
+retaliatory measures.
+
+ [In the following words:
+
+ "EXECUTIVE MANSION,
+
+ "WASHINGTON, July 30, 1863.
+
+ "It is the duty of every Government to give protection to its
+ citizens, of whatever class, color, or condition, and especially to
+ those who are duly organized as soldiers in the public service.
+ The Law of Nations, and the usages and customs of War, as carried
+ on by civilized Powers, permit no distinction as to color in the
+ treatment of prisoners of War, as public enemies.
+
+ "To sell or Enslave any captured person, on account of his Color,
+ and for no offense against the Laws of War, is a relapse into
+ barbarism, and a crime against the civilization of the age.
+
+ "The Government of the United States will give the same protection
+ to all its soldiers, and if the Enemy shall sell or Enslave any one
+ because of his color, the offense shall be punished by Retaliation
+ upon the Enemy's prisoners in our possession.
+
+ "It is therefore Ordered, that, for every soldier of the United
+ States killed in violation of the Laws of War, a Rebel soldier
+ shall be executed; and for every one Enslaved by the Enemy or sold
+ into Slavery, a Rebel soldier shall be placed at hard work on the
+ public works, and continued at such labor until the other shall be
+ released and receive the treatment due to a prisoner of War.
+
+ "By order of the Secretary of War. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. E. D.
+ TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant-General."]
+
+It was hoped that the mere announcement of the decision of our
+Government to retaliate, would put an instant stop to the barbarous
+conduct of the Rebels toward the captured Colored Union troops, but the
+hope was vain. The atrocities continued, and their climax was capped by
+the cold-blooded massacres perpetrated by Forrest's 5,000 Cavalry, after
+capturing Fort Pillow, a short distance above Memphis, on the
+Mississippi river.
+
+The garrison of that Fort comprised less than 600 Union soldiers, about
+one-half of whom were White, and the balance Black. These brave fellows
+gallantly defended the Fort against eight times their number, from
+before sunrise until the afternoon, when--having failed to win by fair
+means, under the Laws of War,--the Enemy treacherously crept up the
+ravines on either side of the Fort, under cover of flags of truce, and
+then, with a sudden rush, carried it, butchering both Blacks and Whites
+--who had thrown away their arms, and were striving to escape--until
+night temporarily put an end to the sanguinary tragedy.
+
+On the following morning the massacre was completed by the butchery and
+torture of wounded remnants of these brave Union defenders--some being
+buried alive, and others nailed to boards, and burned to death.
+
+ [For full account of these hideous atrocities, see testimony of
+ survivors before the Committee on Conduct and Expenditures of the
+ War. (H. R. Report, No. 65, 1st S. 38th Cong.)]
+
+And all this murderous malignity, for what?--Simply, and only, because
+one-half of the Patriot victims had Black skins, while the other half
+had dared to fight by the side of the Blacks!
+
+In the after-days of the War, the cry with which our Union Black
+regiments went into battle:--"Remember Fort Pillow!"--inspired them to
+deeds of valor, and struck with terror the hearts of the Enemy. On many
+a bloody field, Fort Pillow was avenged.
+
+It is a common error to suppose that the first arming of the Black man
+was on the Union side. The first Black volunteer company was a Rebel
+one, raised early in May, 1861, in the city of Memphis, Tenn.; and at
+Charleston, S. C., Lynchburg, Va., and Norfolk, Va., large bodies of
+Free Negroes volunteered, and were engaged, earlier than that, to do
+work on the Rebel batteries.
+
+On June 28th of the same year, the Rebel Legislature of Tennessee passed
+an Act not only authorizing the Governor "to receive into the Military
+service of the State all male Free persons of Color between the ages of
+fifteen and fifty, or such number as may be necessary, who may be sound
+in mind and body, and capable of actual service," but also prescribing
+"That in the event a sufficient number of Free persons of Color to meet
+the wants of the State shall not tender their services, the Governor is
+empowered, through the Sheriffs of the different counties, to press such
+persons until the requisite number is obtained."
+
+At a review of Rebel troops, at New Orleans, November 23, 1861, "One
+regiment comprised 1,400 Free Colored men." Vast numbers of both Free
+Negroes and Slaves were employed to construct Rebel fortifications
+throughout the War, in all the Rebel States. And on the 17th of
+February, 1864, the Rebel Congress passed an Act which provides in its
+first section "That all male Free Negroes * * * resident in the
+Confederate States, between the ages of eighteen and fifty years, shall
+be held liable to perform such duties with the Army, or in connection
+with the Military defenses of the Country, in the way of work upon the
+fortifications, or in Government works for the production or preparation
+of materials of War, or in Military hospitals, as the Secretary of War
+or the Commanding General of the Trans-Mississippi Department may, from
+time to time, prescribe:" while the third section provides that when the
+Secretary of War shall "be unable to procure the service of Slaves in
+any Military Department, then he is authorized to impress the services
+of as many male Slaves, not to exceed twenty thousand, as may be
+required, from time to time, to discharge the duties indicated in the
+first section of the Act."
+
+And this Act of, the Rebel Congress was passed only forty days before
+the fiendish massacre of the Union Whites and Blacks who together, at
+Fort Pillow, were performing for the Union, "such duties with the Army,"
+and "in connection with the Military defenses of the Country," as had
+been prescribed for them by their Commanding General!
+
+Under any circumstances--and especially under this state of facts--
+nothing could excuse or palliate that shocking and disgraceful and
+barbarous crime against humanity; and the human mind is incapable of
+understanding how such savagery can be accounted for, except upon the
+theory that "He that nameth Rebellion nameth not a singular, or one only
+sin, as is theft, robbery, murder, and such like; but he nameth the
+whole puddle and sink of all sins against God and man; against his
+country, his countrymen, his children, his kinsfolk, his friends, and
+against all men universally; all sins against God and all men heaped
+together, nameth he that nameth Rebellion."
+
+The inconsistency of the Rebels, in getting insanely and murderously
+furious over the arming of Negroes for the defense of the imperiled
+Union and the newly gained liberties of the Black Race, when they had
+themselves already armed some of them and made them fight to uphold the
+Slave-holders' Rebellion and the continued Enslavement of their race, is
+already plain enough.
+
+ [The writer is indebted to the courtesy of a prominent South
+ Carolinian, for calling his attention to the "Singular coincidence,
+ that a South Carolinian should have proposed in 1778, what was
+ executed in 1863-64--the arming of Negroes for achieving their
+ Freedom"--as shown in the following very curious and interesting
+ letters written by the brave and gifted Colonel John Laurens, of
+ Washington's staff, to his distinguished father:
+
+ HEAD QUARTERS, 14th Jan., 1778.
+
+ I barely hinted to you, my dearest father, my desire to augment the
+ Continental forces from an untried source. I wish I had any
+ foundation to ask for an extraordinary addition to those favours
+ which I have already received from you. I would solicit you to
+ cede me a number of your able bodied men slaves, instead of leaving
+ me a fortune.
+
+ I would bring about a two-fold good; first I would advance those
+ who are unjustly deprived of the rights of mankind to a state which
+ would be a proper gradation between abject slavery and perfect
+ liberty, and besides I would reinforce the defenders of liberty
+ with a number of gallant soldiers. Men, who have the habit of
+ subordination almost indelibly impressed on them, would have one
+ very essential qualification of soldiers. I am persuaded that if I
+ could obtain authority for the purpose, I would have a corps of
+ such men trained, uniformly clad, equip'd and ready in every
+ respect to act at the opening of the next campaign. The ridicule
+ that may be thrown on the color, I despise, because I am sure of
+ rendering essential service to my country.
+
+ I am tired of the languor with which so sacred a war as this is
+ carried on. My circumstances prevent me from writing so long a
+ letter as I expected and wish'd to have done on a subject which I
+ have much at heart. I entreat you to give a favorable answer to
+ Your most affectionate
+ JOHN LAURENS.
+
+ The Honble Henry Laurens Esq.
+ President of Congress.
+
+
+ HEAD QUARTERS, 2nd Feb., 1778.
+
+ My Dear Father:
+
+ The more I reflect upon the difficulties and delays which are
+ likely to attend the completing our Continental regiments, the more
+ anxiously is my mind bent upon the scheme, which I lately
+ communicated to you. The obstacles to the execution of it had
+ presented themselves to me, but by no means appeared
+ insurmountable. I was aware of having that monstrous popular
+ prejudice, open-mouthed against me, of undertaking to transform
+ beings almost irrational, into well disciplined soldiers, of being
+ obliged to combat the arguments, and perhaps the intrigues, of
+ interested persons. But zeal for the public service, and an ardent
+ desire to assert the rights of humanity, determined me to engage in
+ this arduous business, with the sanction of your consent. My own
+ perseverance, aided by the countenance of a few virtuous men, will,
+ I hope, enable me to accomplish it.
+
+ You seem to think, my dear father, that men reconciled by long
+ habit to the miseries of their condition, would prefer their
+ ignominious bonds to the untasted sweets of liberty, especially
+ when offer'd upon the terms which I propose.
+
+ I confess, indeed, that the minds of this unhappy species must be
+ debased by a servitude, from which they can hope for no relief but
+ death, and that every motive to action but fear, must be nearly
+ extinguished in them. But do you think they are so perfectly
+ moulded to their state as to be insensible that a better exists?
+ Will the galling comparison between themselves and their masters
+ leave them unenlightened in this respect? Can their self love be
+ so totally annihilated as not frequently to induce ardent wishes
+ for a change?
+
+ You will accuse me, perhaps, my dearest friend, of consulting my
+ own feelings too much; but I am tempted to believe that this
+ trampled people have so much human left in them, as to be capable
+ of aspiring to the rights of men by noble exertions, if some friend
+ to mankind would point the road, and give them a prospect of
+ success. If I am mistaken in this, I would avail myself, even of
+ their weakness, and, conquering one fear by another, produce equal
+ good to the public. You will ask in this view, how do you consult
+ the benefit of the slaves? I answer, that like other men, they are
+ creatures of habit. Their cowardly ideas will be gradually
+ effaced, and they will be modified anew. Their being rescued from
+ a state of perpetual humiliation, and being advanced as it were, in
+ the scale of being, will compensate the dangers incident to their
+ new state.
+
+ The hope that will spring in each man's mind, respecting his own
+ escape, will prevent his being miserable. Those who fall in battle
+ will not lose much; those who survive will obtain their reward.
+ Habits of subordination, patience under fatigues, sufferings and
+ privations of every kind, are soldierly qualifications, which these
+ men possess in an eminent degree.
+
+ Upon the whole, my dearest friend and father, I hope that my plan
+ for serving my country and the oppressed negro race will not appear
+ to you the chimera of a young mind, deceived by a false appearance
+ of moral beauty, but a laudable sacrifice of private interest, to
+ justice and the public good.
+
+ You say, that my resources would be small, on account of the
+ proportion of women and children. I do not know whether I am
+ right, for I speak from impulse, and have not reasoned upon the
+ matter. I say, altho' my plan is at once to give freedom to the
+ negroes, and gain soldiers to the states; in case of concurrence, I
+ should sacrifice the former interest, and therefore we change the
+ women and children for able-bodied men. The more of these I could
+ obtain, the better; but forty might be a good foundation to begin
+ upon.
+
+ It is a pity that some such plan as I propose could not be more
+ extensively executed by public authority. A well-chosen body of
+ 5,000 black men, properly officer'd, to act as light troops, in
+ addition to our present establishment, might give us decisive
+ success in the next campaign.
+
+ I have long deplored the wretched state of these men, and
+ considered in their history, the bloody wars excited in Africa, to
+ furnish America with slaves--the groans of despairing multitudes,
+ toiling for the luxuries of merciless tyrants.
+
+ I have had the pleasure of conversing with you, sometimes, upon the
+ means of restoring them to their rights. When can it be better
+ done, than when their enfranchisement may be made conducive to the
+ public good, and be modified, as not to overpower their weak minds?
+
+ You ask, what is the general's opinion, upon this subject? He is
+ convinced, that the numerous tribes of blacks in the southern parts
+ of the continent, offer a resource to us that should not be
+ neglected. With respect to my particular plan, he only objects to
+ it, with the arguments of pity for a man who would be less rich
+ than he might be.
+
+ I am obliged, my dearest friend and father, to take my leave for
+ the present; you will excuse whatever exceptionable may have
+ escaped in the course of my letter, and accept the assurance of
+ filial love, and respect of
+ Your
+ JOHN LAURENS]
+
+If, however, it be objected that the arming of Negroes by the Rebels was
+exceptional and local, and, that otherwise, the Rebels always used their
+volunteer or impressed Negro forces in work upon fortifications and
+other unarmed Military Works, and never proposed using them in the clash
+of arms, as armed soldiers against armed White men, the contrary is
+easily proven.
+
+In a message to the Rebel Congress, November 7, 1864, Jefferson Davis
+himself, while dissenting at that time from the policy, advanced by
+many, of "a general levy and arming of the Slaves, for the duty of
+soldiers," none the less declared that "should the alternative ever be
+presented of subjugation, or of the employment of the Slave as a
+soldier, there seems no reason to doubt what should then be our
+decision."
+
+In the meantime, however, he recommended the employment of forty
+thousand Slaves as pioneer and engineer laborers, on the ground that
+"even this limited number, by their preparatory training in intermediate
+duties Would form a more valuable reserve force in case of urgency, than
+threefold their number suddenly called from field labor; while a fresh
+levy could, to a certain extent, supply their places in the special
+service" of pioneer and engineer work; and he undertook to justify the
+inconsistency between his present recommendation, and his past attitude,
+by declaring that "A broad, moral distinction exists between the use of
+Slaves as soldiers in defense of their homes, and the incitement of the
+same persons to insurrection against their masters, for," said he, "the
+one is justifiable, if necessary; the other is iniquitous and unworthy
+of a civilized people."
+
+So also, while a Bill for the arming of Slaves was pending before the
+Rebel Congress early in 1865, General Robert E. Lee wrote, February
+18th, from the Headquarters of the Rebel Armies, to Hon. E. Barksdale,
+of the Rebel House of Representatives, a communication, in which, after
+acknowledging the receipt of a letter from him of February 12th, "with
+reference to the employment of Negroes as soldiers," he said: "I think
+the Measure not only expedient but necessary * * * in my opinion, the
+Negroes, under proper circumstances, will make efficient soldiers. * *
+* I think those who are employed, should be freed. It would be neither
+just nor wise, in my opinion, to require them to remain as Slaves"--
+thus, not only approving the employment of Black Slaves as soldiers, to
+fight White Union men, but justifying their Emancipation as a reward for
+Military service. And, a few days afterward, that Rebel Congress passed
+a Bill authorizing Jefferson Davis to take into the Rebel Army as many
+Negro Slaves "as he may deem expedient, for and during the War, to
+perform Military service in whatever capacity he may direct," and at the
+same time authorizing General Lee to organize them as other "troops" are
+organized.
+
+ [This Negro soldier Bill, according to McPherson's Appendix, p.
+ 611-612, passed both Houses, and was in these words:
+
+ A Bill to increase the Military Forces of the Confederate States.
+
+ "The Congress of the Confederate States of America do Enact, That
+ in order to provide additional forces to repel invasion, maintain
+ the rightful possession of the Confederate States, secure their
+ Independence and preserve their Institutions, the President be and
+ he is hereby authorized to ask for and accept from the owners of
+ Slaves the services of such number of able-bodied Negro men as he
+ may deem expedient for and during the War, to perform Military
+ service in whatever capacity he may direct.
+
+ "SEC. 2.--That the General-in-Chief be authorized to organize the
+ said Slaves into companies, battalions, regiments, and brigades,
+ under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of War may
+ prescribe, and to be commanded by such officers as the President
+ may appoint.
+
+ "SEC. 3.--That, while employed in the Service, the said troops
+ shall receive the same rations, clothing, and compensation as are
+ allowed to other troops in the same branch of the Service.
+
+ "SEC. 4.--That if, under the previous sections of this Act, the
+ President shall not be able to raise a sufficient number of troops
+ to prosecute the War successfully and maintain the Sovereignty of
+ the States, and the Independence of the Confederate States, then he
+ is hereby authorized to call on each State, whenever he thinks it
+ expedient, for her quota of 300,000 troops, in addition to those
+ subject to Military service, under existing laws, or so many
+ thereof as the President may deem necessary, to be raised from such
+ classes of the population, irrespective of color, in each State, as
+ the proper authorities thereof may determine: Provided, that not
+ more than 25 per cent. of the male Slaves, between the ages of 18
+ and 45, in any State, shall be called for under the provisions of
+ this Act.
+
+ "SEC. 5.--That nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize
+ a change in the relation of said Slaves."]
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXII.
+
+ FREEDOM'S SUN STILL RISING.
+
+After President Lincoln had issued his Proclamation of Emancipation, the
+friends of Freedom clearly perceived--and none of them more clearly than
+himselfthat until the incorporation of that great Act into the
+Constitution of the United States itself, there could be no real
+assurance of safety to the liberties of the emancipated; that unless
+this were done there would be left, even after the suppression of the
+Rebellion, a living spark of dissension which might at any time again be
+fanned into the flames of Civil War.
+
+Hence, at all proper times, Mr. Lincoln favored and even
+urged Congressional action upon the subject. It was not, however, until
+the following year that definite action may be said to have commenced in
+Congress toward that end; and, as Congress was slow, he found it
+necessary to say in his third Annual Message: "while I remain in my
+present position I shall not attempt to retract or modify the
+Emancipation Proclamation; nor shall I return to Slavery any person who
+is Free by the terms of that Proclamation, or by any of the Acts of
+Congress,"
+
+Meantime, however, occurred the series of glorious
+Union victories in the West, ending with the surrender to Grant's
+triumphant Forces on the 4th of July, 1863, of Vicksburg--"the Gibraltar
+of the West"--with its Garrison, Army, and enormous quantities of arms
+and munitions of war; thus closing a brilliant and successful Campaign
+with a blow which literally "broke the back" of the Rebellion; while,
+almost simultaneously, July 1-3, the Union Forces of the East, under
+Meade, gained the great victory of Gettysburg, and, driving the hosts of
+Lee from Pennsylvania, put a second and final end to Rebel invasion of
+Northern soil; gaining it, on ground dedicated by President Lincoln,
+before that year had closed--as a place of sepulture for the Patriot-
+soldiers who there had fallenin a brief, touching and immortal Address,
+which every American child should learn by heart, and every American
+adult ponder deeply, as embodying the very essence of true
+Republicanism.
+
+ [President Lincoln's Address, when the National Cemetery at
+ Gettysburg, Pa., was dedicated Nov. 19, 1863, was in these
+ memorable words:
+
+ "Fourscore and seven years ago, our Fathers brought forth upon this
+ continent a new Nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the
+ proposition that all men are created equal.
+
+ "Now we are engaged in a great Civil War, testing whether that
+ Nation, or any Nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long
+ endure.
+
+ "We are met on a great battlefield of that War. We have come here
+ to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for
+ those who here gave their lives that that Nation might live.
+
+ "It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
+
+ "But in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate,
+ we can not hallow, this ground. The brave men, living and dead,
+ who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our power to add
+ or detract.
+
+ "The World will little note, nor long remember, what we say here;
+ but it can never forget what they did here.
+
+ "It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the
+ unfinished work which they who fought here have, thus far, so nobly
+ advanced.
+
+ "It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task
+ remaining before us; that from these honored dead we take increased
+ devotion to that Cause for which they gave the last full measure of
+ devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not
+ have died in vain; that this Nation, under God, shall have a new
+ birth of Freedom; and that Government of the People, by the People,
+ and for the People, shall not perish front the Earth."]
+
+That season of victory for the Union arms, coming, as it did, upon a
+season of depression and doubtfulness, was doubly grateful to the loyal
+heart of the Nation. Daylight seemed to be breaking at last.
+Gettysburg had hurled back the Southern invader from our soil; and
+Vicksburg, with the immediately resulting surrender of Port Hudson, had
+opened the Mississippi river from Cairo to the Gulf, and split the
+Confederacy in twain.
+
+But it happened just about this time that, the enrollment of the whole
+Militia of the United States (under the Act of March, 1863), having been
+completed, and a Draft for 300,000 men ordered to be made and executed,
+if by a subsequent time the quotas of the various States should not be
+filled by volunteering, certain malcontents and Copperheads, inspired by
+agents and other friends of the Southern Conspirators, started and
+fomented, in the city of New York, a spirit of unreasoning opposition
+both to voluntary enlistment, and conscription under the Draft, that
+finally culminated, July 13th, in a terrible Riot, lasting several days,
+during which that great metropolis was in the hands, and completely at
+the mercy, of a brutal mob of Secession sympathizers, who made day and
+night hideous with their drunken bellowings, terrorized everybody even
+suspected of love for the Union, plundered and burned dwellings,
+including a Colored Orphan Asylum, and added to the crime of arson, that
+of murdering the mob-chased, terror-stricken Negroes, by hanging them to
+the lamp-posts.
+
+These Riots constituted a part of that "Fire in the Rear" with which the
+Rebels and their Northern Democratic sympathizers had so frequently
+menaced the Armies of the Union.
+
+Alluding to them, the N. Y. Tribune on July 15th, while its office was
+invested and threatened with attack and demolition, bravely said: "They
+are, in purpose and in essence, a Diversion in favor of Jefferson Davis
+and Lee. Listen to the yells of the mob and the harangues of its
+favorite orators, and you will find them surcharged with 'Nigger,'
+'Abolition,' 'Black Republican,' denunciation of prominent Republicans,
+The Tribune, etc. etc.--all very wide of the Draft and the exemption.
+Had the Abolitionists, instead of the Slaveholders, revolted, and
+undertaken to upset the Government and dissolve the Union, nine-tenths
+of these rioters would have eagerly voluntered to put them down. It is
+the fear, stimulated by the recent and glorious triumphs of the Union
+Arms, that Slavery and the Rebellion must suffer, which is at the bottom
+of all this arson, devastation, robbery, and murder."
+
+The Democratic Governor, Seymour, by promising to "have this Draft
+suspended and stopped," did something toward quieting the Riots, but it
+was not until the Army of the Potomac, now following Lee's retreat, was
+weakened by the sending of several regiments to New York that the Draft-
+rioting spirit, in that city, and to a less extent in other cities, was
+thoroughly cowed.
+
+ [In reply to Gov. Seymour's appeal for delay in the execution of
+ the Draft Law, in order to test its Constitutionality, Mr. Lincoln,
+ on the 7th of August, said he could not consent to lose the time
+ that would be involved in obtaining a decision from the U. S.
+ Supreme Court on that point, and proceeded: "We are contending with
+ an Enemy who, as I understand, drives every able-bodied man he can
+ reach into his ranks, very much as a butcher drives bullocks into a
+ slaughter-pen. No time is wasted, no argument is used.
+
+ "This system produces an Army which will soon turn upon our now
+ victorious soldiers already in the field, if they shall not be
+ sustained by recruits as they should be.
+
+ It produces an Army with a rapidity not to be matched on our side,
+ if we first waste time to re-experiment with the Volunteer system,
+ already deemed by Congress, and palpably, in fact, so far exhausted
+ as to be inadequate; and then more time to obtain a Court decision
+ as to whether a law is Constitutional which requires a part of
+ those not now in the Service to go to those who are already in it,
+ and still more time to determine with absolute certainty that we
+ get those who are to go, in the precisely legal proportion to those
+ who are not to go.
+
+ "My purpose is to be in my action Just and Constitutional, and yet
+ Practical, in performing the important duty with which I am
+ charged, of maintaining the Unity and the Free principles of our
+ common Country."]
+
+Worried and weakened by this Democratic opposition to the Draft, and the
+threatened consequent delays and dangers to the success of the Union
+Cause, and depressed moreover by the defeat of the National forces under
+Rosecrans at Chickamauga; yet, the favorable determination of the Fall
+elections on the side of Union and Freedom, and the immense majorities
+upholding those issues, together with Grant's great victory (November,
+1863) of Chattanooga--where the three days of fighting in the
+Chattanooga Valley and up among the clouds of Lookout Mountain and
+Mission Ridge, not only effaced the memory of Rosecrans's previous
+disaster, but brought fresh and imperishable laurels to the Union Arms--
+stiffened the President's backbone, and that of Union men everywhere.
+
+Not that Mr. Lincoln had shown any signs of weakness or wavering, or any
+loss of hope in the ultimate result of this War for the preservation of
+the Union--which now also involved Freedom to all beneath its banner.
+On the contrary, a letter of his written late in August shows
+conclusively enough that he even then began to see clearly the coming
+final triumph--not perhaps as "speedy," as he would like, in its coming,
+but none the less sure to come in God's "own good time," and furthermore
+not appearing "to be so distant as it did" before Gettysburg, and
+especially Vicksburg, was won; for, said he: "The signs look better.
+The Father of Waters again goes unvexed to the Sea".
+
+ [This admirable letter, reviewing "the situation" and his policy,
+ was in these words
+
+ EXECUTIVE MANSION,
+ WASHINGTON, August 26. 1863.
+
+ HON. JAMES C. CONKLING
+
+ MY DEAR SIR; Your letter inviting me to attend a Mass Meeting of
+ unconditional Union men to be held at the Capital of Illinois, on
+ the 3rd day of September, has been received. It would be very
+ agreeable for me thus to meet my old friends at my own home; but I
+ cannot just now be absent from here so long a time as a visit there
+ would require.
+
+ The meeting is to be of all those who maintain unconditional
+ devotion to the Union; and I am sure that my old political friends
+ will thank me for tendering, as I do, the Nation's gratitude to
+ those other noble men whom no partisan malice or partisan hope can
+ make false to the Nation's life.
+
+ There are those who are dissatisfied with me. To such I would say:
+ you desire Peace, and you blame me that we do not have it. But how
+ can we attain it? There are but three conceivable ways: First, to
+ suppress the Rebellion by force of Arms. This I am trying to do.
+ Are you for it? If you are, so far we are agreed. If you are not
+ for it, a second way is to give up the Union. I am against this.
+ Are you for it? If you are, you should say so plainly. If you are
+ not for Force, nor yet for Dissolution, there only remains some
+ imaginable Compromise.
+
+ I do not believe that any Compromise embracing the maintenance of
+ the Union is now possible. All that I learn leads to a directly
+ opposite belief. The strength of the Rebellion is its Military,
+ its Army. That Army dominates all the Country, and all the people,
+ within its range. Any offer of terms made by any man or men within
+ that range, in opposition to that Army, is simply nothing for the
+ present: because such man or men have no power whatever to enforce
+ their side of a Compromise, if one were made with them.
+
+ To illustrate: Suppose refugees from the South, and Peace men of
+ the North, get together in Convention, and frame and proclaim a
+ Compromise embracing a restoration of the Union. In what way can
+ that Compromise be used to keep Lee's Army out of Pennsylvania?
+ Meade's Army can keep Lee's Army out of Pennsylvania, and, I think,
+ can ultimately drive it out of existence. But no paper Compromise
+ to which the controllers of Lee's Army are not agreed, can at all
+ affect that Army. In an effort at such Compromise we would waste
+ time, which the Enemy would improve to our disadvantage; and that
+ would be all.
+
+ A Compromise, to be effective, must be made either with those who
+ control the Rebel Army, or with the people, first liberated from
+ the domination of that Army, by the success of our own Army. Now,
+ allow me to assure you that no word or intimation from that Rebel
+ Army, or from any of the men controlling it, in relation to any
+ Peace Compromise, has ever come to my knowledge or belief. All
+ charges and insinuations to the contrary are deceptive and
+ groundless. And I promise you that if any such proposition shall
+ hereafter come, it shall not be rejected and kept a secret from
+ you. I freely acknowledge myself to be the servant of the People,
+ according to the bond of service, the United States Constitution;
+ and that, as such, I am responsible to them.
+
+ But, to be plain. You are dissatisfied with me about the Negro.
+ Quite likely there is a difference of opinion between you and
+ myself upon that subject. I certainly wish that all men could be
+ Free, while you, I suppose, do not. Yet I have neither adopted nor
+ proposed any measure which is not consistent with even your view,
+ provided that you are for the Union. I suggested compensated
+ Emancipation; to which you replied you wished not to be taxed to
+ buy Negroes. But I had not asked you to be taxed to buy Negroes,
+ except in such a way as to save you from greater taxation to save
+ the Union, exclusively by other means.
+
+ You dislike the Emancipation Proclamation, and perhaps would have
+ it retracted. You say it is Unconstitutional. I think
+ differently. I think the Constitution invests the Commander-in-
+ Chief with the Law of War in Time of War. The most that can be
+ said, if so much, is, that Slaves are property. Is there, has
+ there ever been, any question that, by the Law of War, property,
+ both of enemies and friends, may be taken when needed? And is it
+ not needed whenever it helps us and hurts the Enemy? Armies, the
+ World over, destroy enemies' property when they cannot use it; and
+ even destroy their own to keep it from the Enemy. Civilized
+ belligerents do all in their power to help themselves or hurt the
+ Enemy, except a few things regarded as barbarous or cruel. Among
+ the exceptions are the massacre of vanquished foes and non-
+ combatants, male and female.
+
+ But the Proclamation, as law, either is valid or is not valid. If
+ it is not valid, it needs no retraction. If it is valid it cannot
+ be retracted, any more than the dead can be brought to life. Some
+ of you profess to think its retraction would operate favorably for
+ the Union. Why better after the retraction than before the issue?
+ There was more than a year and a half of trial to suppress the
+ Rebellion before the Proclamation was issued, the last one hundred
+ days of which passed under an explicit notice that it was coming,
+ unless averted by those in revolt returning to their allegiance.
+ The War has certainly progressed as favorably for us since the
+ issue of the Proclamation as before.
+
+ I know as fully as one can know the opinions of others that some of
+ the Commanders of our Armies in the field, who have given us our
+ most important victories, believe the Emancipation policy and the
+ use of Colored troops constitute the heaviest blows yet dealt to
+ the Rebellion, and that at least one of those important successes
+ could not have been achieved when it was, but for the aid of Black
+ soldiers.
+
+ Among the Commanders who hold these views are some who have never
+ had an affinity with what is called "Abolitionism," or with
+ "Republican party politics," but who hold them purely as Military
+ opinions. I submit their opinions as entitled to some weight
+ against the objections often urged that Emancipation and arming the
+ Blacks are unwise as Military measures, and were not adopted as
+ such, in good faith.
+
+ You say that you will not fight to Free Negroes. Some of them seem
+ willing to fight for you; but no matter. Fight you, then,
+ exclusively to save the Union. I issued the Proclamation on
+ purpose to aid you in saving the Union. Whenever you shall have
+ conquered all resistance to the Union, if I shall urge you to
+ continue fighting, it will be an apt time then for you to declare
+ you will not fight to Free Negroes. I thought that in your
+ struggle for the Union, to whatever extent the Negroes should cease
+ helping the Enemy, to that extent it weakened the Enemy in his
+ resistance to you. Do you think differently? I thought whatever
+ Negroes can be got to do as soldiers, leaves just so much less for
+ White soldiers to do in saving the Union. Does it appear otherwise
+ to you? But Negroes, like other people, act upon motives. Why
+ should they do anything for us if we will do nothing for them? If
+ they stake their lives for us they must be prompted by the
+ strongest motives, even the promise of Freedom. And the promise,
+ being made, must be kept.
+
+ The signs look better. The Father of Waters again goes unvexed to
+ the Sea. Thanks to the great Northwest for it; nor yet wholly to
+ them. Three hundred miles up, they met New England, Empire,
+ Keystone, and Jersey, hewing their way right and left. The Sunny
+ South, too, in more colors than one, also lent a helping hand. On
+ the spot, their part of the history was jotted down in Black and
+ White. The job was a great National one, and let none be slighted
+ who bore an honorable part in it. And while those who have cleared
+ the Great River may well be proud, even that is not all. It is
+ hard to say that anything has been more bravely and well done than
+ at Antietam, Murfreesboro, Gettysburg, and on many fields of less
+ note. Nor must Uncle Sam's web-feet be forgotten. At all the
+ watery margins they have been present, not only on the deep Sea,
+ the broad Bay, and the rapid River, but also up the narrow, muddy
+ Bayou, and wherever the ground was a little damp they had been, and
+ made their tracks. Thanks to all. For the Great Republic--for the
+ principle it lives by, and keeps alive--for Man's vast future--
+ thanks to all.
+
+ Peace does not appear so distant as it did. I hope it will come
+ soon, and come to stay; and so come as to be worth the keeping in
+ all future time. It will then have been proved that among Freemen
+ there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet,
+ and that they who take such appeal are sure to lose their case and
+ pay the cost. And there will be some Black men who can remember
+ that, with silent tongue, and clinched teeth, and steady eye, and
+ well poised bayonet, they have helped mankind on to this great
+ consummation, while I fear there will be some White ones unable to
+ forget that with malignant heart and deceitful speech they have
+ striven to hinder it.
+
+ Still, let us not be over sanguine of a speedy, final triumph. Let
+ us be quite sober. Let us diligently apply the means, never
+ doubting that a just God, in his own good time, will give us the
+ rightful result.
+
+ Yours very truly,
+ A. LINCOLN.]
+
+
+But Chattanooga, and the grand majorities in all the Fall State-
+elections, save that of New Jersey,--and especially the manner in which
+loyal Ohio sat down upon the chief Copperhead-Democrat and Treason-
+breeder of the North, Vallandigham--came most auspiciously to strengthen
+the President's hands.
+
+ [The head of the Knights of the Golden Circle, and the Democratic
+ candidate for Governor of Ohio]
+
+And now he saw, more clearly still, the approach of that time when the
+solemn promise and declaration of Emancipation might be recorded upon
+the sacred roll of the Constitution, and thus be made safe for all time.
+
+In his Annual Message of December, 1863, therefore, President Lincoln,
+after adverting to the fact that "a year ago the War had already lasted
+nearly twenty months," without much ground for hopefulness, proceeded to
+say:
+
+"The preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, issued in September, was
+running its assigned period to the beginning of the New Year. A month
+later the final Proclamation came, including the announcement that
+Colored men of suitable condition would be received into the War
+service. The policy of Emancipation, and of employing Black soldiers,
+gave to the future a new aspect, about which hope, and fear, and doubt,
+contended in uncertain conflict.
+
+"According to our political system, as a matter of Civil Administration,
+the General Government had no lawful power to effect Emancipation in any
+State, and for a long time it had been hoped that the Rebellion could be
+suppressed without resorting to it as a Military measure. It was all
+the while deemed possible that the necessity for it might come, and that
+if it should, the crisis of the contest would then be presented. It
+came, and, as was anticipated, it was followed by dark and doubtful
+days.
+
+"Eleven months having now passed, we are permitted to take another view
+* * * Of those who were Slaves at the beginning of the Rebellion, full
+one hundred thousand are now in the United States Military service,
+about one half of which number actually bear arms in the ranks; thus
+giving the double advantage of taking so much labor from the Insurgent
+cause, and supplying the places which otherwise must be filled with so
+many White men. So far as tested, it is difficult to say they are not
+as good soldiers as any.
+
+"No servile insurrection, or tendency to violence or cruelty, has marked
+the measures of Emancipation and arming the Blacks. These measures have
+been much discussed in Foreign Countries, and contemporary with such
+discussion the tone of public sentiment there is much improved. At
+home, the same measures have been fully discussed, supported,
+criticised, and denounced, and the annual elections following are highly
+encouraging to those whose official duty it is to bear the Country
+through this great trial. Thus we have the new reckoning. The crisis
+which threatened to divide the friends of the Union is past."
+
+After alluding to his Proclamation of Amnesty, issued simultaneously
+with this Message, to all repentant Rebels who would take an oath
+therein prescribed, and contending that such an oath should be (as he
+had drawn it) to uphold not alone the Constitution and the Union, but
+the Laws and Proclamations touching Slavery as well, President Lincoln
+continued:
+
+"In my judgment they have aided and will further aid, the Cause for
+which they were intended. To now abandon them, would be not only to
+relinquish a lever of power, but would also be a cruel and an astounding
+breach of faith." And, toward the close of the Message, he added:
+
+"The movements by State action, for Emancipation, in several of the
+States not included in the Emancipation Proclamation, are matters of
+profound gratulation. And while I do not repeat in detail what I have
+heretofore so earnestly urged upon the subject, my general views remain
+unchanged; and I trust that Congress will omit no fair opportunity of
+AIDING THESE IMPORTANT STEPS TO A GREAT CONSUMMATION."
+
+Mr. Lincoln's patient but persistent solicitude, his earnest and
+unintermitted efforts--exercised publicly through his Messages and
+speeches, and privately upon Members of Congress who called upon, or
+whose presence was requested by him at the White House--in behalf of
+incorporating Emancipation in the Constitution, were now to give
+promise, at least, of bearing good fruit.
+
+Measures looking to this end were submitted in both Houses of Congress
+soon after its meeting, and were referred to the respective Judiciary
+Committees of the same, and on the 10th of February, 1864, Mr. Trumbull
+reported to the Senate, from the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which he
+was Chairman, a substitute Joint Resolution providing for the submission
+to the States of an Amendment to the United States Constitution in the
+following words:
+
+"ART. XIII., SEC. I. Neither Slavery nor Involuntary Servitude, except
+as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly
+convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to
+their jurisdiction.
+
+"SEC. II. Congress shall have power to enforce this Article by
+appropriate legislation."
+
+This proposed Amendment came up for consideration in the Senate, on the
+28th of March, and a notable debate ensued.
+
+On the same day, in the House of Representatives, Thaddeus Stevens--with
+the object perhaps of ascertaining the strength, in that Body, of the
+friends of out-and-out Emancipation--offered a Resolution proposing to
+the States the following Amendments to the United States Constitution:
+
+"ART. I. Slavery and Involuntary Servitude, except for the punishment
+of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, is forever
+prohibited in the United States and all its Territories.
+
+"ART. II. So much of Article four, Section two, as refers to the
+delivery up of Persons held to Service or Labor, escaping into another
+State, is annulled."
+
+The test was made upon a motion to table the Resolution, which motion
+was defeated by 38 yeas to 69 nays, and showed the necessity for
+converting three members from the Opposition. Subsequently, at the
+instance of Mr. Stevens himself, the second Article of the Resolution
+was struck out by 72 yeas to 26 nays.
+
+The proceedings in both Houses of Congress upon these propositions to
+engraft upon the National Constitution a provision guaranteeing Freedom
+to all men upon our soil, were now interrupted by the death of one who
+would almost have been willing to die twice over, if, by doing so, he
+could have hastened their adoption.
+
+Owen Lovejoy, the life-long apostle of Abolitionism, the fervid
+gospeller of Emancipation, was dead; and it seemed almost the irony of
+Fate that, at such a time, when Emancipation most needed all its friends
+to make it secure, its doughtiest champion should fall.
+
+But perhaps the eloquent tributes paid to his memory, in the Halls of
+Congress, helped the Cause no less. They at least brought back to the
+public mind the old and abhorrent tyrannies of the Southern Slave power;
+how it had sought not not only to destroy freedom of Action, but freedom
+of Speech, and hesitated not to destroy human Life with these; reminded
+the Loyal People of the Union of much that was hateful, from which they
+had escaped; and strengthened the purpose of Patriots to fix in the
+chief corner-stone of the Constitution, imperishable muniments of human
+Liberty.
+
+Lovejoy's brother had been murdered at Alton, Illinois, while
+vindicating freedom of Speech and of the Press; and the blood of that
+martyr truly became "the seed of the Church." Arnold--recalling a
+speech of Owen Lovejoy's at Chicago, and a passage in it, descriptive of
+the martyrdom,--said to the House, on this sad occasion: "I remember
+that, after describing the scene of that death, in words--which stirred
+every heart, he said he went a pilgrim to his brother's grave, and,
+kneeling upon the sod beneath which sleeps that brother, he swore, by
+the everlasting God, eternal hostility to African Slavery." And,
+continued Arnold, "Well and nobly has he kept that oath."
+
+Washburne, too, reminded the House of the memorable episode in that very
+Hall when, (April 5, 1860), the adherents of Slavery crowding around
+Lovejoy with fierce imprecations and threats, seeking then and there to
+prevent Free Speech, "he displayed that undaunted courage and matchless
+bearing which extorted the admiration of even his most deadly foes."
+"His"--continued the same speaker--"was the eloquence of Mirabeau, which
+in the Tiers Etat and in the National Assembly made to totter the throne
+of France; it was the eloquence of Danton, who made all France to
+tremble from his tempestuous utterances in the National Convention.
+Like those apostles of the French Revolution, his eloquence could stir
+from the lowest depths all the passions of Man; but unlike them, he was
+as good and as pure as he was eloquent and brave, a noble minded
+Christian man, a lover of the whole human Race, and of universal Liberty
+regulated by Law."
+
+Grinnell, in his turn, told also with real pathos, of his having
+recently seen Lovejoy in the chamber of sickness. "When," said
+Grinnell, "I expressed fears for his recovery, I saw the tears course
+down his manly cheek, as he said 'Ah! God's will be done, but I have
+been laboring, voting, and praying for twenty years that I might see the
+great day of Freedom which is so near and which I hope God will let me
+live to rejoice in. I want a vote on my Bill for the destruction of
+Slavery, root and branch.'"
+
+
+ [Sumner, afterward speaking of Lovejoy and this Measure, said: "On
+ the 14th of December, 1863, he introduced a Bill, whose title
+ discloses its character: 'A Bill to give effect to the Declaration
+ of Independence, and also to certain Provisions of the Constitution
+ of the United States.' It proceeds to recite that All Men were
+ Created Equal, and were Endowed by the Creator with the Inalienable
+ Right to Life, Liberty and the Fruits of honest Toil; that the
+ Government of the United States was Instituted to Secure those
+ Rights; that the Constitution declares that No Person shall be
+ Deprived of Liberty without due Process of Law, and also provides--
+ article five, clause two--that this Constitution, and the Laws of
+ the United States made in pursuance thereof, shall be the Supreme
+ Law of the Land, and the Judges in each State shall be bound
+ thereby, anything in the Constitution and Laws of any State to the
+ contrary notwithstanding; that it is now demonstrated by the
+ Rebellion that Slavery is absolutely incompatible with the Union,
+ Peace, and General Welfare for which Congress is to Provide; and it
+ therefore Enacts that All Persons heretofore held in Slavery in any
+ of the States or Territories of the United States are declared
+ Freedmen, and are Forever Released from Slavery or Involuntary
+ Servitude except as Punishment for Crime on due conviction. On the
+ same day he introduced another Bill to Protect Freedmen and to
+ Punish any one for Enslaving them. These were among his last
+ Public acts,"--Cong. Globe, 1st S., 38th C., Pt. 2, p. 1334]
+
+And staunch old Thaddeus Stevens said: "The change to him, is great
+gain. The only regret we can feel is that he did not live to see the
+salvation of his Country; to see Peace and Union restored, and universal
+Emancipation given to his native land. But such are the ways of
+Providence. Moses was not permitted to enter the Promised Land with
+those he had led out of Bondage; he beheld it from afar off, and slept
+with his fathers." "The deceased," he impressively added, "needs no
+perishable monuments of brass or marble to perpetuate his name. So long
+as the English language shall be spoken or deciphered, so long as
+Liberty shall have a worshipper, his name will be known!"
+
+What influence the death of Owen Lovejoy may have had on the subsequent
+proceedings touching Emancipation interrupted as we have seen by his
+demise--cannot be known; but among all the eloquent tributes to his
+memory called forth by the mournful incident, perhaps none, could he
+have heard it, would have better pleased him than those two opening
+sentences of Charles Summer's oration in the Senate--where he said of
+Owen Lovejoy: "Could his wishes prevail, he would prefer much that
+Senators should continue in their seats and help to enact into Law some
+one of the several Measures now pending to secure the obliteration of
+Slavery. Such an Act would be more acceptable to him than any personal
+tribute,--" unless it might be these other words, which followed from
+the same lips: "How his enfranchised Soul would be elevated even in
+those Abodes to which he has been removed, to know that his voice was
+still heard on Earth encouraging, exhorting, insisting that there should
+be no hesitation anywhere in striking at Slavery; that this unpardonable
+wrong, from which alone the Rebellion draws its wicked life, must be
+blasted by Presidential proclamation, blasted by Act of Congress,
+blasted by Constitutional prohibition, blasted in every possible way, by
+every available agency, and at every occurring opportunity, so that no
+trace of the outrage may continue in the institutions of the Land, and
+especially that its accursed foot-prints may no longer defile the
+National Statute-book. Sir, it will be in vain that you pass
+Resolutions in tribute to him, if you neglect that Cause for which he
+lived, and do not hearken to his voice!"
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+ "THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT" IN THE SENATE.
+
+During the great debate, which now opened in the Senate, upon the
+Judiciary Committee's substitute resolution for the Amendment of the
+Constitution, so as forever to prohibit Slavery within the United
+States, and to empower Congress to pass such laws as would make that
+prohibition effective--participated in by Messrs. Trumbull, Wilson,
+Saulsbury, Davis, Harlan, Powell, Sherman, Clark, Hale, Hendricks,
+Henderson, Sumner, McDougall and others--the whole history of Slavery
+was enquired into and laid bare.
+
+Trumbull insisted that Slavery was at the bottom of all the internal
+troubles with which the Nation had from its birth been afflicted, down
+to this wicked Rebellion, with all the resulting "distress, desolation,
+and death;" and that by 1860, it had grown to such power and arrogance
+that "its advocates demanded the control of the Nation in
+its interests, failing in which, they attempted its overthrow." He
+reviewed, at some length, what had been done by our Government with
+regard to Slavery, since the breaking out of hostilities against us in
+that mad attempt against the National life; how, "in the earlier stages
+of the War, there was an indisposition on the part of the Executive
+Authority to interfere with Slavery at all;" how, for a long time,
+Slaves, escaping to our lines, were driven back to their Rebel masters;
+how the Act of Congress of July, 1861, which gave Freedom to all Slaves
+allowed by their Rebel masters to assist in the erection of Rebel works
+and fortifications, had "not been executed," and, said Mr. Trumbull, "so
+far as I am advised, not a single Slave has been set at liberty under
+it;" how, "it was more than a year after its enactment before any
+considerable number of Persons of African descent were organized and
+armed" under the subsequent law of December, 1861, which not only gave
+Freedom to all Slaves entering our Military lines, or who, belonging to
+Rebel masters, were deserted by them, or were found in regions once
+occupied by Rebel forces and later by those of the Union, but also
+empowered the President to organize and arm them to aid in the
+suppression of the Rebellion; how, it was not until this law had been
+enacted that Union officers ceased to expel Slaves coming within our
+lines--and then only when dismissal from the public service was made the
+penalty for such expulsion; how, by his Proclamations of Emancipation,
+of September, 1862, and January, 1863, the President undertook to
+supplement Congressional action--which had, theretofore, been confined
+to freeing the Slaves of Rebels, and of such of these only as had come
+within the lines of our Military power-by also declaring, Free, the
+Slaves "who were in regions of country from which the authority of the
+United States was expelled;" and how, the "force and effect" of these
+Proclamations were variously understood by the enemies and friends of
+those measures--it being insisted on the one side that Emancipation as a
+War-stroke was within the Constitutional War-power of the President as
+Commander-in-Chief, and that, by virtue of those Proclamations, "all
+Slaves within the localities designated become ipso facto Free," and on
+the other, that the Proclamations were "issued without competent
+authority," and had not effected and could not effect, "the Emancipation
+of a single Slave," nor indeed could at any time, without additional
+legislation, go farther than to liberate Slaves coming within the Union
+Army lines.
+
+After demonstrating that "any and all these laws and Proclamations,
+giving to each the largest effect claimed by its friends, are
+ineffectual to the destruction of Slavery," and protesting that some
+more effectual method of getting rid of that Institution must be
+adopted, he declared, as his judgment, that "the only effectual way of
+ridding the Country of Slavery, so that it cannot be resuscitated, is by
+an Amendment of the Constitution forever prohibiting it within the
+jurisdiction of the United States."
+
+He then canvassed the chances of adoption of such an Amendment by an
+affirmative vote of two thirds in each House of Congress, and of its
+subsequent ratification by three-fourths of the States of the Union, and
+declared that "it is reasonable to suppose that if this proposed
+Amendment passes Congress, it will, within a year, receive the
+ratification of the requisite number of States to make it a part of the
+Constitution." His prediction proved correct--but only after a
+protracted struggle.
+
+Henry Wilson also made a strong speech, but on different grounds. He
+held that the Emancipation Proclamations formed, together, a "complete,
+absolute, and final decree of Emancipation in Rebel States," and, being
+"born of Military necessity" and "proclaimed by the Commander-in-Chief
+of the Army and Navy, is the settled and irrepealable Law of the
+Republic, to be observed, obeyed, and enforced, by Army and Navy, and is
+the irreversible voice of the Nation."
+
+He also reviewed what had been done since the outbreak of the Rebellion,
+by Congress and the President, by Laws and Proclamations; and, while
+standing by the Emancipation Proclamations, declared that "the crowning
+Act, in this series of Acts, for the restriction and extinction of
+Slavery in America, is this proposed Amendment to the Constitution
+prohibiting the existence of Slavery in the Republic of the United
+States."
+
+The Emancipation Proclamation, according to his view, only needed
+enforcement, to give "Peace and Order, Freedom and Unity, to a now
+distracted Country;" but the "crowning act" of incorporating this
+Amendment into the Constitution would do even more than all this, in
+that it would "obliterate the last lingering vestiges of the Slave
+System; its chattelizing, degrading, and bloody codes; its malignant,
+barbarizing spirit; all it was, and is; everything connected with it or
+pertaining to it, from the face of the Nation it has scarred with moral
+desolation, from the bosom of the Country it has reddened with the blood
+and strewn with the graves of patriotism."
+
+While the debate proceeded, President Lincoln watched it with careful
+interest. Other matters, however, had, since the Battle of Chattanooga,
+largely engrossed his attention.
+
+The right man had at last been found--it was believed--to control as
+well as to lead our Armies. That man was Ulysses S. Grant. The grade
+of Lieutenant General of the Army of the United States--in desuetude
+since the days of Washington, except by brevet, in the case of Winfield
+Scott,--having been especially revived by Congress for and filled by the
+appointment and confirmation of Grant, March 2, 1864, that great soldier
+immediately came on to Washington, received his commission at the hands
+of President Lincoln, in the cabinet chamber of the White House, on the
+9th, paid a flying visit to the Army of the Potomac, on the 10th, and at
+once returned to Nashville to plan future movements.
+
+On the 12th, a General Order of the War Department (No. 98) was issued,
+relieving Major-General Halleck, "at his own request," from duty as
+"General-in-Chief" of the Army, and assigning Lieutenant-General U. S.
+Grant to "the command of the Armies of the United States," "the
+Headquarters of the Army" to be in Washington, and also with Lieutenant-
+General Grant in the Field, Halleck being assigned to "duty, in
+Washington, as Chief-of-staff of the Army, under the direction of the
+Secretary of War and the Lieutenant-General commanding."
+
+By the same order, Sherman was assigned to the command of the "Military
+Division of the Mississippi," composed of the Departments of the Ohio,
+the Cumberland, the Tennessee, and the Arkansas; and McPherson to that
+of the Department and Army of the Tennessee.
+
+On the 23rd of March, Grant was back again at Washington, and at once
+proceeded to Culpepper Court-house, Virginia, where his Headquarters in
+the field were, for a time, to be.
+
+Here he completed his plans, and reorganized his Forces, for the coming
+conflicts, in the South-west and South-east, which were to result in a
+full triumph to the Union Arms, and Peace to a preserved Union.
+
+It is evident, from the utterances of Mr. Lincoln when Vicksburg fell,
+that he had then become pretty well satisfied that Grant was "the coming
+man," to whom it would be safe to confide the management and chief
+leadership of our Armies. Chattanooga merely confirmed that belief--as
+indeed it did that of Union men generally. But the concurrent judgment
+of Congress and the President had now, as we have seen, placed Grant in
+that chief command; and the consequent relief to Mr. Lincoln, in thus
+having the heavy responsibility of Army-control, long unwillingly
+exercised by him, taken from his own shoulders and placed upon those of
+the one great soldier in whom he had learned to have implicit faith,--a
+faith earned by steady and unvaryingly successful achievements in the
+Field--must have been most grateful.
+
+Other responsibilities would still press heavily enough upon the
+President's time and attention. Questions touching the Military and
+Civil government of regions of the Enemy's country, conquered by the
+Union arms; of the rehabilitation or reconstruction of the Rebel States;
+of a thousand and one other matters, of greater or lesser perplexity,
+growing out of these and other questions; besides the ever pressing and
+gigantic problems involved in the raising of enormous levies of troops,
+and prodigious sums of money, needed in securing, moving, and supplying
+them, and defraying the extraordinary expenses growing out of the
+necessary blockade of thousands of miles of Southern Coast, and other
+Naval movements; not to speak of those expenditures belonging to the
+more ordinary business transactions of the Government.
+
+But chief of all things claiming his especial solicitude, as we have
+seen, was this question of Emancipation by Constitutional enactment, the
+debate upon which was now proceeding in the Senate. That solicitude was
+necessarily increased by the bitter opposition to it of Northern
+Copperheads, and by the attitude of the Border-State men, upon whose
+final action, the triumph or defeat of this great measure must
+ultimately depend.
+
+Many of the latter, were, as has already been shown in these pages,
+loyal men; but the loyalty of some of these to their Country, was still
+so questionably and so thoroughly tainted with their worshipful devotion
+to Slavery--although they must have been blind indeed not to have
+discovered, long ere this, that it was a "slowly-dying cause"--that they
+were ever on the alert to delay, hamper, and defeat, any action, whether
+Executive or Legislative, and however necessary for the preservation of
+the Union and the overthrow of its mortal enemies, which, never so
+lightly, impinged upon their "sacred Institution."
+
+This fact was well set forth, in this very debate, by a Senator from New
+England--[Wilson of Massachusetts]--when, after adjuring the anti-
+Slavery men of the age, not to forget the long list of Slavery's crimes,
+he eloquently proceeded:
+
+"Let them remember, too, that hundreds of thousands of our countrymen in
+Loyal States--since Slavery raised the banners of Insurrection, and sent
+death, wounds, sickness, and sorrow, into the homes of the People--have
+resisted, and still continue to resist, any measure for the defense of
+the Nation, if that measure tended to impair the vital and animating
+powers of Slavery. They resisted the Act making Free the Slaves used by
+Rebels for Military purposes; the Confiscation of Rebel property and the
+Freedom of the Slaves of Rebel masters; the Abolition of Slavery in the
+Capital of the Nation, and the consecration of the Territories to Free
+Labor and Free laboring men; the Proclamation of Emancipation; the
+enlistment of Colored men to fight the battles of the Country; the
+Freedom of the Black soldier, who is fighting, bleeding, dying for the
+Country; and the Freedom of his wife and children. And now, when War
+has for nearly three years menaced the life of the Nation, bathed the
+Land in blood, and filled two hundred thousand graves with our slain
+sons, these men of the Loyal States still cling to the falling fortunes
+of the relentless and unappeasable Enemy of their Country and its
+democratic institutions; they mourn, and will not be comforted, over the
+expiring System, in the Border Slave-States; and, in tones of
+indignation or of anguish, they utter lamentations over the Proclamation
+of Emancipation, and the policy that is bringing Rebel States back again
+radiant with Freedom."
+
+Among these "loyal" Democratic opponents of Emancipation, in any shape,
+or any where, were not wanting men--whether from Loyal Northern or
+Border States--who still openly avowed that Slavery was right; that
+Rebellion, to preserve its continuance, was justifiable; and that there
+was no Constitutional method of uprooting it.
+
+Saulsbury of Delaware, was representative and spokesman of this class,
+and he took occasion during this very debate--[In the Senate, March 31,
+1864.]--to defend Slavery as a Divine Institution, which had the
+sanction both of the Mosaic and Christian Dispensations!
+
+ [Said he: "Slavery had existed under some form or other from the
+ first period of recorded history. It dates back even beyond the
+ period of Abraham, the Father of the Faithful, in whose seed all
+ the Nations of the Earth were to be blessed. We find that,
+ immediately after the Flood, the Almighty, for purposes inscrutable
+ to us, condemned a whole race to Servitude: 'Vayomer Orur Knoan
+ Efet Afoatim Yeahio Le-echot:' 'And he said, Cursed be Canaan;
+ Slave of Slaves he shall be to his brethren.' It continued among
+ all people until the advent of the Christian era. It was
+ recognized in that New Dispensation, which was to supersede the
+ Old. It has the sanction of God's own Apostle; for when Paul sent
+ back Onesimus to Philemon, whom did he send? A Freeman? No, Sir.
+ He sent his (doulos,) a Slave, born as such, not even his
+ andrapodon, who was such by captivity in War. Among all people,
+ and in all ages, has this Institution, if such it is to be called,
+ existed, and had the countenance of wise and good men, and even of
+ the Christian Church itself, until these modern times, up at least
+ to the Nineteenth Century. It exists in this Country, and has
+ existed from the beginning."
+
+ Mr. Harlan's reply to the position of Mr. Saulsbury that Slavery is
+ right, is a Divine Institution, etc., was very able and
+ interesting. He piled up authority after authority, English as
+ well as American, to show that there is no support of Slavery--and
+ especially of the title to services of the adult offspring of a
+ Slave--at Common Law; and, after also proving, by the mouth of a
+ favorite son of Virginia, that it has no legal existence by virtue
+ of any Municipal or Statutory Law, he declared that the only
+ remaining Law that can be cited for its support is the Levitical
+ Code"--as follows:
+
+ "'Both thy Bondmen, and thy Bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall
+ be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy
+ Bondmen and Bondmaids.
+
+ "'Moreover, of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among
+ you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you,
+ which they begat in your land; and they shall be your possession.
+
+ "'And ye shall take them as an Inheritance for your children after
+ you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your Bondmen
+ forever."'
+
+ "I remark," said he, "in this connection, that the Levitical Code,
+ or the Hebrew Law, contains a provision for the Naturalization of
+ Foreigners, whether captives of War, or voluntary emigrants. By
+ compliance with the requirements of this law they became citizens,
+ entitled to all the rights and privileges and immunities of native
+ Hebrews. The Hebrew Slave Code, applicable to Enslaved Hebrews, is
+ in these words:
+
+ "'And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold
+ unto thee, and serve thee six years, then in the seventh year thou
+ shalt let him go Free from thee.'
+
+ "Here I request the attention of those who claim compensation for
+ Emancipated Slaves to the text:
+
+ "'And when thou sendest him out Free from thee, thou shalt not let
+ him go away empty:
+
+ "'Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy floor'--
+
+ "Which means granaries--
+
+ "'and out of thy wine-press: of that wherewith the Lord thy God
+ hath blessed thee, thou shalt give unto him.'
+
+ "'It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou sendest him away Free
+ from thee, for he hath been worth a double-hired servant to thee,
+ in serving thee six years.'
+
+ "These Hebrew Statutes provide that the heathen might be purchased
+ and held as Slaves, and their posterity after them; that under
+ their Naturalization Laws all strangers and sojourners, Bond and
+ Free, have the privilege of acquiring the rights of citizenship;
+ that all Hebrews, natives or naturalized, might assert and maintain
+ their right to Freedom.
+
+ "At the end of six years a Hebrew Slave thus demanding his Liberty,
+ was not to be sent away empty; the owner, so far from claiming
+ compensation from his neighbors or from the Public Treasury for
+ setting him Free, was bound to divide with the Freedman, of his own
+ possessions: to give him of his flocks, of his herds, of his
+ granary, and of his winepress, of everything with which the Lord
+ Almighty had blessed the master during the years of his Servitude;
+ and then the owner was admonished that he was not to regard it as a
+ hardship to be required to Liberate the Slave, and to divide with
+ him of his substance.
+
+ "The Almighty places the Liberated Slave's claim to a division of
+ his former master's property on the eternal principles of Justice,
+ the duty to render an equivalent for an equivalent. The Slave
+ having served six years must be paid for his Service, must be paid
+ liberally because he had been worth even more than a hired servant
+ during the period of his enslavement.
+
+ "If, then," continued Mr. Harlan, "the justice of this claim cannot
+ be found either in Reason, Natural Justice, or the principles of
+ the Common Law, or in any positive Municipal or Statute regulation
+ of any State, or in the Hebrew Code written by the Finger of God
+ protruded from the flame of fire on the summit of Sinai, I ask
+ whence the origin of the title to the services of the adult
+ offspring of the Slave mother? or is it not manifest that there is
+ no just title? Is it not a mere usurpation without any known mode
+ of justification, under any existing Code of Laws, human or
+ Divine?"]
+
+He also undertook to justify Secession on the singular ground that "we
+are sprung from a Race of Secessionists," the proof of which he held to
+be in the fact that, while the preamble to, as well as the body of the
+Convention of Ratification of, the old Articles of Confederation between
+the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and
+Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennslyvania,
+Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and
+Georgia, declared that Confederation to be a "Perpetual Union," yet,
+within nine years thereafter, all the other States Seceded from New
+York, Virginia, North Carolina, and Rhode Island by ratifying the new
+Constitution for "a more perfect Union."
+
+He also endeavored to maintain the extraordinary proposition that "if
+the Senate of the United States were to adopt this Joint-resolution, and
+were to submit it to all the States of this Union, and if three-fourths
+of the States should ratify the Amendment, it would not be binding on
+any State whose interest was affected by it, if that State protested
+against it!" And beyond all this, he re-echoed the old, old cry of the
+Border-state men, that "the time is unpropitious for such a measure as
+this."
+
+Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland, however, by his great speech, of April
+5th, in the Senate, did much to clear the tangle in the minds of some
+faltering Union statesmen on this important subject.
+
+He reviewed the question of human Slavery from the time when the
+Constitutional Convention was held; showed that at that period, as well
+as at the time of the Declaration of our Independence "there was but one
+sentiment upon the subject among enlightened Southern statesmen"--and
+that was, that Slavery "is a great affliction to any Country where it
+prevails;" and declared that "a prosperous and permanent Peace can never
+be secured if the Institution is permitted to survive."
+
+He then traversed the various methods by which statesmen were seeking to
+prevent that survival of Slavery, addressing himself by turns to the
+arguments of those who, with John Sherman, "seemed," said he, "to
+consider it as within the power of Congress by virtue of its Legislative
+authority;" to those of the "many well-judging men, with the President
+at their head, who," to again use his own words, "seem to suppose that
+it is within the reach of the Executive;" and lastly, to those "who
+express the opinion that it is not within the scope of either Executive
+or Legislative authority, or of Constitutional Amendment;" and after
+demolishing the arguments of those who held the two former of these
+positions, he proceeded to rebut the assumption that Slavery could not
+be abolished at all because it was not originally abolished by the
+Constitution.
+
+Continuing, he said: "Remember, now, the question is, can that
+Institution, which deals with Humanity as Property, which claims to
+shackle the mind, the soul, and the body, which brings to the level of
+the brute a portion of the race of Man, cease to be within the reach of
+the political power of the People of the United States, not because it
+was not at one time within their power, but because at that time they
+did not exert the power?
+
+"What says the Preamble to the Constitution? How pregnant with a
+conclusive answer is the Preamble, to the proposition that Slavery
+cannot be abolished! What does that Preamble state to have been the
+chief objects that the great and wise and good men had at heart, in
+recommending the Constitution, with that Preamble, to the adoption of
+the American People? That Justice might be established; that
+Tranquillity might be preserved; that the common Defense and general
+Welfare might be maintained; and, last and chief of all, that Liberty
+might be secured.
+
+"Is there no Justice in putting an end to human Slavery? Is there no
+danger to the Tranquillity of the Country in its existence? May it not
+interfere with the common Defense and general Welfare? And, above all,
+is it consistent with any notion, which the mind of man can conceive, of
+human Liberty?"
+
+He held that the very Amendatory clause of the Constitution under which
+it was proposed to make this Amendment, was probably inserted there from
+a conviction of that coming time "when Justice would call so loudly for
+the extinction of the Institution that her call could not be disobeyed,"
+and, when "the Peace and Tranquillity of the Land would demand, in
+thunder tones," its destruction, "as inconsistent with such Peace and
+Tranquillity."
+
+To the atrocious pretence that "there was a right to make a Slave of any
+human being"--which he said would have shocked every one of the framers
+of the Constitution had they heard it; and, what he termed, the nauseous
+declaration that "Slavery of the Black race is of Divine origin," and
+was intended to be perpetual; he said:
+
+"The Saviour of Mankind did not put an end to it by physical power, or
+by the declaration of any existing illegality, in word. His mission
+upon Earth was not to propagate His doctrines by force. He came to
+save, not to conquer. His purpose was not to march armed legions
+throughout the habitable Globe, securing the allegiance of those for
+whose safety He was striving. He warred by other influences. He aimed
+at the heart, principally. He inculcated his doctrines, more ennobling
+than any that the World, enlightened as it was before His advent upon
+Earth, had been able to discover. He taught to Man the obligation of
+brotherhood. He announced that the true duty of Man was to do to others
+as he would have others do to him--to all men, the World over; and
+unless some convert to the modern doctrine that Slavery itself finds not
+only a guarantee for its existence, but for its legal existence, in the
+Scripture, excepts from the operation of the influences which His
+morality brought to bear on the mind of the Christian world, the Black
+man, and shows that it was not intended to apply to Black men, then it
+is not true, it cannot be true, that He designed His doctrine not to be
+equally applicable to the Black and to the White, to the Race of Man as
+he then existed, or as he might exist in all after-time."
+
+To the assumption that the African Slaves were too utterly deficient and
+degraded, mentally and morally, to appreciate the blessings of Freedom,
+he opposed the eloquent fact that "wherever the flag of the United
+States, the symbol of human Liberty, now goes; under it, from their
+hereditary bondage, are to be found men and women and children
+assembling and craving its protection 'fleeing from' the iron of
+oppression that had pierced their souls, to the protection of that flag
+where they are 'gladdened by the light of Liberty.'"
+
+"It is idle to deny," said he--"we feel it in our own persons--how, with
+reference to that sentiment, all men are brethren. Look to the
+illustrations which the times now afford, how, in the illustration of
+that sentiment, do we differ from the Black man? He is willing to incur
+every personal danger which promises to result in throwing down his
+shackles, and making him tread the Earth, which God has created for all,
+as a man, and not as a Slave."
+
+Said he: "It is an instinct of the Soul. Tyranny may oppress it for
+ages and centuries; the pall of despotism may hang over it; but the
+sentiment is ever there; it kindles into a flame in the very furnace of
+affliction, and it avails itself of the first opportunity that offers,
+promising the least chance of escape, and wades through blood and
+slaughter to achieve it, and, whether it succeeds or fails,
+demonstrates, vindicates in the very effort, the inextinguishable right
+to Liberty."
+
+He thought that mischiefs might result from this measure, owing to the
+uneducated condition of the Slave, but they would be but temporary. At
+all events to "suffer those Africans," said he, "whom we are calling
+around our standard, and asking to aid us in restoring the Constitution
+and the power of the Government to its rightful authority, to be reduced
+to bondage again," would be "a disgrace to the Nation." The
+"Institution" must be terminated.
+
+"Terminate it," continued he, "and the wit of man will, as I think, be
+unable to devise any other topic upon which we can be involved in a
+fratricidal strife. God and nature, judging by the history of the past,
+intend us to be one. Our unity is written in the mountains and the
+rivers, in which we all have an interest. The very differences of
+climate render each important to the other, and alike important.
+
+"That mighty horde which, from time to time, have gone from the
+Atlantic, imbued with all the principles of human Freedom which animated
+their fathers in running the perils of the mighty Deep and seeking
+Liberty here, are now there; and as they have said, they will continue
+to say, until time shall be no more: 'We mean that the Government in
+future shall be, as it has been in the past--Once an exemplar of human
+Freedom, for the light and example of the World; illustrating in the
+blessings and the happiness it confers, the truth of the principles
+incorporated into the Declaration of Independence, that Life and Liberty
+are Man's inalienable right."
+
+Fortunately the Democratic opposition, in the Senate, to
+this measure, was too small in numbers to beat the proposed Amendment,
+but by offering amendments to it, its enemies succeeded in delaying its
+adoption.
+
+However, on the 5th of April, an amendment, offered by Garrett Davis,
+was acted upon. It was to strike out all after the preamble of the
+XIIIth Article of Amendment to the Constitution, proposed by the
+Judiciary Committee, and insert the words:
+
+"No Negro, or Person whose mother or grandmother is or was a Negro,
+shall be a citizen of the United States and be eligible to any Civil or
+Military office, or to any place of trust or profit under the United
+States."
+
+Mr. Davis's amendment was rejected by a vote of 5 yeas to 32 nays; when
+he immediately moved to amend, by adding precisely the same words at the
+end of Section 1 of the proposed Article. It was again rejected. He
+then moved to amend by adding to the said Section these words:
+
+"But no Slave shall be entitled to his or her Freedom under this
+Amendment if resident at the time it takes effect in any State, the laws
+of which forbid Free Negroes to reside therein, until removed from such
+State by the Government of the United States."
+
+This also was rejected. Whereupon Mr. Powell moved to add, at the end
+of the first Section, the words:
+
+"No Slave shall be Emancipated by this Article unless the owner thereof
+shall be first paid the value of the Slave or Slaves so Emancipated."
+
+This likewise was rejected, on a yea and nay vote, by 2 yeas (Davis and
+Powell) to 34 nays; when Mr. Davis moved another amendment, viz.: to add
+at the end of Section 2 of the proposed Article, the following:
+
+"And when this Amendment of the Constitution shall have taken effect by
+Freeing the Slaves, Congress shall provide for the distribution and
+settlement of all the population of African descent in the United States
+among the several States and Territories thereof, in proportion to the
+White population of each State and Territory to the aggregate population
+of those of African descent."
+
+This met a like fate; whereupon the Senate adjourned, but, on the
+following day, the matter came up again for consideration:
+
+Hale, of New Hampshire, jubilantly declared that "this is a day that I
+and many others have long wished for, long hoped for, long striven for.
+* * * A day when the Nation is to commence its real life; or, if it is
+not the day, it is the dawning of the day; the day is near at hand * * *
+when the American People are to wake up to the meaning of the sublime
+truths which their fathers uttered years ago, and which have slumbered,
+dead-letters, upon the pages of our Constitution, of our Declaration of
+Independence, and of our history."
+
+McDougall, of California, on the other hand,--utterly regardless of the
+grandly patriotic resolutions of the Legislature of his State, which had
+just been presented to the Senate by his colleague--lugubriously
+declared:
+
+"In my judgment, it may well be said of us:
+
+ 'Let the Heavens be hung in black
+ And let the Earth put mourning on,'
+
+for in the history of no Free People, since the time the Persians came
+down upon Athens, have I known as melancholy a period as this day and
+year of Our Lord in our history; and if we can, by the blessing of God
+and by His favor, rise above it, it will be by His special providence,
+and by no act of ours."
+
+The obstructive tactics were now resumed, Mr. Powell leading off by a
+motion to amend, by adding to the Judiciary Committee's proposed
+Thirteenth Article of the Constitution, the following:
+
+"ART. 14.--The President and Vice-President shall hold their Offices for
+the term of four--[Which he subsequently modified to: 'six years']--
+years. The person who has filled the Office of President shall not be
+reeligible."
+
+This amendment was rejected by 12 yeas to 32 nays; whereupon Mr. Powell
+moved to add to the Committee's Proposition another new Article, as
+follows:
+
+"ART. 14.--The principal Officer in each of the Executive Departments,
+and all persons connected with the Diplomatic Service, may be removed
+from office at the pleasure of the President. All other officers of the
+Executive Departments may be removed at any time by the President or
+other appointing power when their services are unnecessary, or for
+dishonesty, incapacity, inefficiency, misconduct, or neglect of duty,
+and when so removed, the removal shall be reported to the Senate,
+together with the reasons therefor."
+
+This amendment also being rejected, Mr. Powell offered another, which
+was to add a separate Article as follows:
+
+"ART. 14.--Every law, or Resolution having the force of law, shall
+relate to but one subject, and that shall be expressed in its title."
+
+This also being rejected--the negative vote being, as in other cases,
+without reference to the merits of the proposition--and Mr. Powell
+having now apparently exhausted his obstructive amendatory talents, Mr.
+Davis came to the aid of his Kentucky colleague by moving an amendment,
+to come in as an additional Article, being a new plan of Presidential
+election designed to do away with the quadrennial Presidential campaign
+before the People by giving to each State the right to nominate one
+candidate, and leaving it to a Convention of both Houses of Congress--
+and, in case of disagreement, to the Supreme Court of the United States
+--to elect a President and a Vice-President.
+
+The rejection of this proposition apparently exhausted the stock of
+possible amendments possessed by the Democratic opposition, and the
+Joint Resolution, precisely as it came from the Judiciary Committee,
+having been agreed to by that body, "as in Committee of the Whole," was
+now, April 6th, reported to the Senate for its concurrence.
+
+On the following day, Mr. Hendricks uttered a lengthy jeremiad on the
+War, and its lamentable results; intimated that along the Mississippi,
+the Negroes, freed by the advance of our invading Armies and Navies,
+instead of being happy and industrious, were without protection or
+provision and almost without clothing, while at least 200,000 of them
+had prematurely perished, and that such was the fate reserved for the
+4,000,000 Negroes if liberated; and declared he would not vote for the
+Resolution, "because," said he, "the times are not auspicious."
+
+Very different indeed was the attitude of Mr. Henderson, of Missouri,
+Border-State man though he was. In the course of a speech, of much
+power, which he opened with an allusion to the 115,000 Slaves owned in
+his State in 1860--as showing how deeply interested Missouri "must be in
+the pending proposition"--the Senator announced that: "Our great
+interest, as lovers of the Union, is in the preservation and
+perpetuation of the Union." He declared himself a Slaveholder, yet none
+the less desired the adoption of this Thirteenth Article of Amendment,
+for, said he: "We cannot save the Institution if we would. We ought not
+if we could. * * * If it were a blessing, I, for one, would be
+defending it to the last. It is a curse, and not a blessing. Therefore
+let it go. * * * Let the iniquity be cast away!"
+
+It was about this time that a remarkable letter written by Mr. Lincoln
+to a Kentuckian, on the subject of Emancipation, appeared in print. It
+is interesting as being not alone the President's own statement of his
+views, from the beginning, as to Slavery, and how he came to be "driven"
+to issue the Proclamation of Emancipation, and as showing how the Union
+Cause had gained by its issue, but also in disclosing, indirectly, how
+incessantly the subject was revolved in his own mind, and urged by him
+upon the minds of others. The publication of the letter, moreover, was
+not without its effect on the ultimate action of the Congress and the
+States in adopting the Thirteenth Amendment. It ran thus:
+
+
+
+ "EXECUTIVE MANSION.
+ "WASHINGTON, April 4, 1864.
+
+"A. G. HODGES, Esq., Frankfort, Ky.
+
+"MY DEAR SIR: You ask me to put in writing the substance of--what I
+verbally said the other day, in your presence, to Governor Bramlette and
+Senator Dixon. It was about as follows:
+
+"I am naturally anti-Slavery. If Slavery is not wrong, nothing is
+wrong. I cannot remember when I did not so think and feel, and yet I
+have never understood that the 'Presidency conferred upon me an
+unrestricted right to act officially upon this judgment and feeling.
+
+"It was in the oath I took, that I would to the best of my ability
+preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. I
+could not take the Office without taking the oath. Nor was it my view
+that I might take an oath to get power, and break the oath in using the
+power.
+
+"I understood, too, that in ordinary and Civil Administration this oath
+even forbade me to practically indulge my primary abstract judgment on
+the moral question of Slavery. I had publicly declared this many times,
+and in many ways.
+
+"And I aver that, to this day, I have done no Official act in mere
+deference to my abstract judgment and feeling on Slavery.
+
+"I did understand, however, that my oath to preserve the Constitution to
+the best of my ability, imposed upon me the duty of preserving by every
+indispensable means, that Government--that Nation, of which that
+Constitution was the Organic Law.
+
+"Was it possible to lose the Nation and yet preserve the Constitution?
+
+"By General Law, life and limb must be protected; yet often a limb must
+be amputated to save a life; but a life is never wisely given to save a
+limb. I felt that measures, otherwise Unconstitutional, might become
+lawful, by becoming Indispensable to the Constitution through the
+preservation of the Nation.
+
+"Right or wrong, I assumed this ground, and now avow it. I could not
+feel that, to the best of my ability, I have even tried to preserve the
+Constitution, if, to save Slavery, or any minor matter, I should permit
+the wreck of Government, Country, and Constitution, altogether.
+
+"When, early in the War, General Fremont attempted Military
+Emancipation, I forbade it, because I did not then think it an
+Indispensable Necessity.
+
+"When, a little later, General Cameron, then Secretary of War, suggested
+the Arming of the Blacks, I objected, because I did not yet think it an
+Indispensable Necessity.
+
+"When, still later, General Hunter attempted Military Emancipation, I
+again forbade it, because I did not yet think the Indispensable
+Necessity had come.
+
+"When in March, and May, and July, 1862, I made earnest and successive
+appeals to the Border-States to favor compensated Emancipation, I
+believed the Indispensable Necessity for Military Emancipation and
+arming the Blacks would come, unless averted by that measure.
+
+"They declined the proposition, and I was, in my best judgment, driven
+to the alternative of either surrendering the Union, and with it, the
+Constitution, or of laying strong hand upon the Colored element. I
+chose the latter. In choosing it, I hoped for greater gain than loss,
+but of this I was not entirely confident.
+
+"More than a year of trial now shows no loss by it in our Foreign
+Relations, none in our home popular sentiment, none in our white
+Military force, no loss by it anyhow, or anywhere. On the contrary, it
+shows a gain of quite a hundred and thirty thousand soldiers, seamen,
+and laborers.
+
+"These are palpable facts, about which, as facts, there can be no
+cavilling. We have the men; and we could not have had them without the
+measure.
+
+"And now let any Union man who complains of this measure, test himself
+by writing down in one line, that he is for subduing the Rebellion by
+force of arms; and in the next, that he is for taking one hundred and
+thirty thousand men from the Union side, and placing them where they
+would be best for the measure he condemns. If he cannot face his case
+so stated, it is only because he cannot face the truth.
+
+"I add a word which was not in the verbal conversation. In telling this
+tale, I attempt no compliment to my own sagacity. I claim not to have
+controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me.
+Now at the end of three years' struggle, the Nation's condition is not
+what either Party, or any man, devised or expected. God alone can claim
+it.
+
+"Whither it is tending seems plain. If God now wills the removal of a
+great wrong, and wills also that we of the North, as well as you of the
+South, shall pay fairly for our complicity in that wrong, impartial
+history will find therein new causes to attest and revere the Justice
+and goodness of God.
+ "Yours truly,
+ "A. LINCOLN."
+
+
+The 8th of April (1864) turned out to be the decisive field-day in the
+Senate. Sumner endeavored to close the debate on that day in a speech
+remarkable no less for its power and eloquence of statement, its
+strength of Constitutional exposition, and its abounding evidences of
+extensive historical research and varied learning, than for its
+patriotic fervor and devotion to human Freedom.
+
+Toward the end of that great speech, however, he somewhat weakened its
+force by suggesting a change in the phraseology of the proposed
+Thirteenth Amendment, so that, instead of almost precisely following the
+language of the Jeffersonian Ordinance of 1787, as recommended by the
+Judiciary Committee of the Senate, it should read thus:
+
+"All Persons are Equal before the Law, so that no person can hold
+another as a Slave; and the Congress may make all laws necessary and
+proper to carry this Article into effect everywhere within the United
+States and the jurisdiction thereof."
+
+Mr. Sumner's idea in antagonizing the Judiciary Committee's proposition
+with this, was to introduce into our Organic Act, distinctive words
+asserting the "Equality before the Law" of all persons, as expressed in
+the Constitutional Charters of Belgium, Italy and Greece, as well as in
+the various Constitutions of France--beginning with that of September,
+1791, which declared (Art. 1) that "Men are born and continue Free and
+Equal in Rights;" continuing in that of June, 1793, which declares that
+"All Men are Equal by Nature and before the Law:" in that of June, 1814,
+which declares that "Frenchmen are Equal before the Law, whatever may be
+otherwise their title and ranks;" and in the Constitutional Charter of
+August, 1830 in similar terms to the last.
+
+"But," said he, "while desirous of seeing the great rule of Freedom
+which we are about to ordain, embodied in a text which shall be like the
+precious casket to the more precious treasure, yet * * * I am consoled
+by the thought that the most homely text containing such a rule will be
+more beautiful far than any words of poetry or eloquence, and that it
+will endure to be read with gratitude when the rising dome of this
+Capitol, with the Statue of Liberty which surmounts it, has crumbled to
+dust."
+
+Mr. Sumner's great speech, however, by no means ended the debate. It
+brought Mr. Powell to his feet with a long and elaborate contention
+against the general proposition, in the course of which he took occasion
+to sneer at Sumner's "most remarkable effort," as one of his "long
+illogical rhapsodies on Slavery, like:
+
+ '--a Tale
+ Told by an Idiot, full of sound and fury,
+ Signifying nothing.'"
+
+He professed that he wanted "the Union to be restored with the
+Constitution as it is;" that he verily believed the passage of this
+Amendment would be "the most effective Disunion measure that could be
+passed by Congress"--and, said he, "As a lover of the Union I oppose
+it."
+
+ [This phrase slightly altered, in words, but not in meaning, to
+ "The Union as it was, and the Constitution as it is," afterward
+ became the Shibboleth under which the Democratic Party in the
+ Presidential Campaign of 1864, marched to defeat.]
+
+He endeavored to impute the blame for the War, to the northern
+Abolitionists, for, said he: "Had there been no Abolitionists, North,
+there never would have been a Fire-eater, South,"--apparently ignoring
+the palpable fact that had there been no Slavery in the South, there
+could have been no "Abolitionists, North."
+
+He heatedly denounced the "fanatical gentlemen" who desired the passage
+of this measure; declared they intended by its passage "to destroy the
+Institution of Slavery or to destroy the Union," and exclaimed: "Pass
+this Amendment and you make an impassable chasm, as if you were to put a
+lake of burning fire, between the adhering States and those who are out.
+You will then have to make it a War of conquest and extermination before
+you can ever bring them back under the flag of the Government. There is
+no doubt about that proposition."
+
+Mr. Sumner, at this point, withdrew his proposed amendment, at the
+suggestion of Mr. Howard, who expressed a preference "to dismiss all
+reference to French Constitutions and French Codes, and go back to the
+good old Anglo-Saxon language employed by our Fathers, in the Ordinance
+of 1787, (in) an expression adjudicated upon repeatedly, which is
+perfectly well understood both by the public and by Judicial Tribunals--
+a phrase, which is peculiarly near and dear to the people of the
+Northwestern Territory, from whose soil Slavery was excluded by it."
+
+ [The following is the language of "the Ordinance of 1787" thus
+ referred to:
+
+ "ART. 6.--There shall be neither Slavery nor Involuntary Servitude
+ in the said Territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes,
+ whereof the party shall have been duly convicted: * * *."]
+
+Mr. Davis thereupon made another opposition speech and, at its
+conclusion, Mr. Saulsbury offered, as a substitute, an Article,
+comprising no less than twenty sections--that, he said, "embodied in
+them some things" which "did not meet his personal approbation," but he
+had consented to offer them to the Senate as "a Compromise"--as "a Peace
+offering."
+
+The Saulsbury substitute being voted down, the debate closed with a
+speech by Mr. McDougall--an eloquent protest from his standpoint, in
+which, after endorsing the wild statement of Mr. Hendricks that 250,000
+of the people of African descent had been prematurely destroyed on the
+Mississippi, he continued.
+
+"This policy will ingulf them. It is as simple a truth as has ever been
+taught by any history. The Slaves of ancient time were not the Slaves
+of a different Race. The Romans compelled the Gaul and the Celt,
+brought them to their own Country, and some of them became great poets,
+and some eloquent orators, and some accomplished wits, and they became
+citizens of the Republic of Greece, and of the Republic of Rome, and of
+the Empire.
+
+"This is not the condition of these persons with whom we are now
+associated, and about whose affairs we undertake to establish
+administration. They can never commingle with us. It may not be within
+the reading of some learned Senators, and yet it belongs to demonstrated
+Science, that the African race and the European are different; and I
+here now say it as a fact established by science, that the eighth
+generation of the Mixed race formed by the union of the African and
+European, cannot continue their species. Quadroons have few children;
+with Octoroons reproduction is impossible.
+
+"It establishes as a law of nature that the African has no proper
+relation to the European, Caucasian, blood. I would have them kindly
+treated. * * * Against all such policy and all such conduct I shall
+protest as a man, in the name of humanity, and of law, and of truth, and
+of religion."
+
+The amendment made, as in Committee of the Whole, having been concurred
+in, etc., the Joint Resolution, as originally reported by the Judiciary
+Committee, was at last passed, (April 8th)--by a vote of 38 yeas to 6
+nays--Messrs. Hendricks and McDougall having the uneviable distinction
+of being the only two Senators, (mis-)representing Free States, who
+voted against this definitive Charter of American Liberty.
+
+ [The full Senate vote, on passing the Thirteenth Amendment, was:
+
+ YEAS-Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Chandler, Clark, Collamer, Conness,
+ Cowan, Dixon, Doolittle, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Hale,
+ Harding, Harlan, Harris, Henderson, Howard, Howe, Johnson, Lane of
+ Indiana, Lane of Kansas, Morgan, Morrill, Nesmith, Pomeroy, Ramsey,
+ Sherman, Sprague, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Van Winkle, Wade,
+ Wilkinson, Willey, and Wilson--38.
+
+ NAYs--Messrs. Davis, Hendricks, McDougall, Powell, Riddle, and
+ Saulsbury.]
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+ TREASON IN THE NORTHERN CAMPS.
+
+The immortal Charter of Freedom had, as we have seen, with comparative
+ease, after a ten days' debate, by the power of numbers, run the
+gauntlet of the Senate; but now it was to be subjected to the much more
+trying and doubtful ordeal of the House. What would be its fate there?
+This was a question which gave to Mr. Lincoln, and the other friends of
+Liberty and Union, great concern.
+
+It is true that various votes had recently been taken in that body, upon
+propositions which had an indirect bearing upon the subject of
+Emancipation, as, for instance, that of the 1st of February, 1864, when,
+by a vote of 80 yeas to 46 nays, it had adopted a Resolution declaring
+"That a more vigorous policy to enlist, at an early day, and in larger
+numbers, in our Army, persons of African descent, would meet the
+approbation of the House;" and that vote, although indirect, being so
+very nearly a two-thirds vote, was most encouraging. But, on the other
+hand, a subsequent Resolution, squarely testing the sense of the House
+upon the subject, had been carried by much less than a two-thirds vote.
+
+This latter Resolution, offered by Mr. Arnold, after conference with Mr.
+Lincoln, with the very purpose of making a test, was in these direct
+terms:
+
+"Resolved, That the Constitution shall be so amended as to Abolish
+Slavery in the United States wherever it now exists, and to prohibit its
+existence in every part thereof forever."
+
+The vote, adopting it, was but 78 yeas to 62 nays. * This vote,
+therefore, upon the Arnold Resolution, being nowhere near the two-thirds
+affirmative vote necessary to secure the passage through the House of
+the Senate Joint Resolution on this subject amendatory of the
+Constitution, was most discouraging.
+
+It was definite enough, however, to show the necessity of a change from
+the negative to the affirmative side of at least fifteen votes. While
+therefore the outlook was discouraging it was far from hopeless. The
+debate in the Senate had already had its effect upon the public mind.
+That, and the utterances of Mr. Lincoln--and further discussion in the
+House, it was thought, might produce such a pressure from the loyal
+constituencies both in the Free and Border Slave-States as to compel
+success.
+
+But from the very beginning of the year 1864, as if instinctively aware
+that their Rebel friends were approaching the crisis of their fate, and
+needed now all the help that their allies of the North could give them,
+the Anti-War Democrats, in Congress, and out, had been stirring
+themselves with unusual activity.
+
+In both Houses of Congress, upon all possible occasions, they had been
+striving, as they still strove, with the venom of their widely-
+circulated speeches, to poison the loyal Northern and Border-State mind,
+in the hope that the renomination of Mr. Lincoln might be defeated, the
+chance for Democratic success at the coming Presidential election be
+thereby increased, and, if nothing else came of it, the Union Cause be
+weakened and the Rebel Cause correspondingly strengthened.
+
+At the same time, evidently under secret instructions from their
+friends, the Conspirators in arms, they endeavored to create heart-
+burnings and jealousies and ill-feeling between the Eastern (especially
+the New England) States and the Western States, and unceasingly attacked
+the Protective-Tariff, Internal Revenue, the Greenback, the Draft, and
+every other measure or thing upon which the life of the Union depended.
+
+Most of these Northern-Democratic agitators, "Stealing the livery of
+Heaven to serve the Devil in," endeavored to conceal their treacherous
+designs under a veneer of gushing lip-loyalty, but that disguise was
+"too thin" to deceive either their contemporaries or those who come
+after them. Some of their language too, as well as their blustering
+manner, strangely brought back to recollection the old days of Slavery
+when the plantation-whip was cracked in the House, and the air was blue
+with execration of New England.
+
+Said Voorhees, of Indiana, (January 11, 1864) when the House was
+considering a Bill "to increase the Internal Revenue and for other
+purposes:"
+
+"I want to know whether the West has any friends upon the floor of this
+House? We pay every dollar that is to be levied by this Tax Bill. * *
+* The Manufacturing Interest pays not a dollar into the public Treasury
+that stays there. And yet airs of patriotism are put on here by men
+representing that interest. I visited New England last Summer, * * *
+when I heard the swelling hum of her Manufactories, and saw those who
+only a short time ago worked but a few hands, now working their
+thousands, and rolling up their countless wealth, I felt that it was an
+unhealthy prosperity. To my mind it presented a wealth wrung from the
+labor, the sinews, the bone and muscle of the men who till the soil,
+taxed to an illegitimate extent to foster and support that great System
+of local wealth. * * * I do not intend to stand idly by and see one
+portion of the Country robbed and oppressed for the benefit of another."
+
+And the same day, replying to Mr. Morrill of Vermont, he exclaimed: "Let
+him show me that the plethoric, bloated Manufacturers of New England are
+paying anything to support the Government, and I will recognize it."
+
+Washburne, of Illinois got back at this part of Mr. Voorhees's speech
+rather neatly, by defending the North-west as being "not only willing to
+stand taxation" which had been "already imposed, but * * * any
+additional taxation which," said he, "may be necessary to crush out this
+Rebellion, and to hang the Rebels in the South, and the Rebel
+sympathizers in the North." And, he pointedly added: "Complaint has
+been made against New England. I know that kind of talk. I have heard
+too often that kind of slang about New England. I heard it here for ten
+years, when your Barksdales, and your Keitts's, and your other Traitors,
+now in arms against the Government, filled these Halls with their
+pestilential assaults not only upon New England, but on the Free North
+generally."
+
+Kelley of Pennsylvania, however, more fitly characterized the speech of
+Voorhees, when he termed it "a pretty, indeed a somewhat striking,
+paraphrase of the argument of Mr. Lamar, the Rebel Agent,--[in 1886,
+Secretary of the Interior]--to his confreres in Treason, as we find it
+in the recently published correspondence: 'Drive gold coin out of the
+Country, and induce undue Importation of Foreign products so as to
+strike down the Financial System. You can have no further hope for
+Foreign recognition. It is evident the weight of arms is against us;
+and it is clear that we can only succeed by striking down the Financial
+System of the Country.' It was an admirable paraphrase of the
+Instructions of Mr. Lamar to the Rebel Agents in the North."
+
+The impression was at this time abroad, and there were not wanting
+elements of proof, that certain members of Congress were trusted
+Lieutenants of the Arch-copperhead and Outlaw, Vallandigham. Certain it
+is, that many of these leaders, six months before, attended and
+addressed the great gathering from various parts of the Country, of
+nearly one hundred thousand Vallandigham-Anti-War Peace-Democrats, at
+Springfield, Illinois--the very home of Abraham Lincoln--which adopted,
+during a lull, when they were not yelling themselves hoarse for
+Vallandigham, a resolution declaring against "the further offensive
+prosecution of the War" as being subversive of the Constitution and
+Government, and proposing a National Peace Convention, and, as a
+consequence, Peace, "the Union as it was," and, substantially such
+Constitutional guarantees as the Rebels might choose to demand! And
+this too, at a time (June 13, 1863), when Grant, after many recent
+glorious victories, had been laying siege to Vicksburg, and its Rebel
+Army of 37,000 men, for nearly a month, with every reason to hope for
+its speedy fall.
+
+No wonder that under such circumstances, the news of such a gathering of
+the Northern Democratic sympathizers with Treason, and of their adoption
+of such treasonable Resolutions, should encourage the Rebels in the same
+degree that Union men were disheartened! No wonder that Lee, elated by
+this and other evidences of Northern sympathy with Rebellion, at once
+determined to commence a second grand invasion of the North, and on the
+very next day (June 14th,) moved Northward with all his Rebel hosts to
+be welcomed, he fondly hoped, by his Northern friends of Maryland and
+elsewhere! As we have seen, it took the bloody Battle of Gettysburg to
+undeceive him as to the character of that welcome.
+
+Further than this, Mr. Cox had stumped Ohio, in the succeeding election,
+in a desperate effort to make the banished Traitor, Vallandigham--the
+Chief Northern commander of the "Knights of the Golden Circle"
+(otherwise known as the "Order of the Sons of Liberty," and "O. A. K."
+or "Order of American Knights")--Governor of that great State.
+
+ [The Rebel General Sterling Price being the chief Southern
+ commander of this many-named treasonable organization, which in the
+ North alone numbered over 500,000 men.
+
+ August, 1864.--See Report of Judge Advocate Holt on certain "Secret
+ Associations," in Appendix,]
+
+And it only lacked a few months of the time when quantities of copies of
+the treasonable Ritual of the "Order of American Knights"--as well as
+correspondence touching the purchase of thousands of Garibaldi rifles
+for transportation to the West--were found in the offices of leading
+Democrats then in Congress.
+
+When, therefore, it is said, and repeated, that there were not wanting
+elements of proof, outside of Congressional utterances and actions, that
+leading Democrats in Congress were trusted Lieutenants of the Supreme
+Commander of over half a million of Northern Rebel-sympathizers bound
+together, and to secrecy, by oaths, which were declared to be paramount
+to all other oaths, the violation of which subjected the offender to a
+shameful death somewhat like that, of being "hung, drawn, and
+quartered," which was inflicted in the middle ages for the crime of
+Treason to the Crown--it will be seen that the statement is supported by
+circumstantial, if not by positive and direct, evidence.
+
+Whether the Coxes, the Garret Davises, the Saulsburys, the Fernando
+Woods, the Alexander Longs, the Allens, the Holmans, and many other
+prominent Congressmen of that sort,--were merely in close communion with
+these banded "Knights," or were actual members of their secret
+organizations, may be an open question. But it is very certain that if
+they all were not oath-bound members, they generally pursued the precise
+methods of those who were; and that, as a rule, while they often loudly
+proclaimed loyalty and love for the Union, they were always ready to act
+as if their loyalty and love were for the so-called Confederacy.
+
+Indeed, it was one of these other "loyal" Democrats, who even preceded
+Voorhees, in raising the Sectional cry of: The West, against New
+England. It was on this same Internal Revenue Bill, that Holman of
+Indiana had, the day before Voorhees's attack, said:
+
+"If the Manufacture of the Northwest is to be taxed so heavily, a
+corresponding rate of increase must be imposed on the Manufactures of
+New England and Pennsylvania, or, will gentlemen tax us without limit
+for the benefit of their own Section? * * * I protest against what I
+believe is intended to be a discrimination against one Section of the
+Country, by increasing the tax three-fold, without a corresponding
+increase upon the burdens of other Sections."
+
+But these dreadfully "loyal" Democrats--who did the bidding of
+traitorous masters in their Treason to the Union, and thus, while
+posturing as "Patriots," "fired upon the rear" of our hard-pressed
+Armies--were super-sensitive on this point. And, when they could get
+hold of a quiet sort of a man, inclined to peaceful methods of
+discussion, how they would, terrier-like, pounce upon him, and extract
+from him, if they could, some sort of negative satisfaction!
+
+Thus, for instance, on the 22nd of January, when one of these quiet men
+--Morris of New York--was in the midst of an inoffensive speech, Mr. Cox
+"bristled up," and blusteringly asked whether he meant to say that he
+(Cox) had "ever been the apologist or the defender of a Traitor?"
+
+And Morris not having said so, mildly replied that he did "not so
+charge"--all of which little bit of by-play hugely pleased the touchy
+Mr. Cox, and his clansmen.
+
+But on the day following, their smiles vanished under the words of
+Spalding or Ohio, who, after referring to the crocodile-tears shed by
+Democratic Congressmen over the Confiscation Resolution--on the pretense
+that it would hunt down "innocent women and children" of the Rebels,
+when they had never a word of sympathy for the widows and children of
+the two hundred thousand dead soldiers of the Union-continued:
+
+"They can see our poor soldiers return, minus an arm, minus a leg, as
+they pass through these lobbies, but their only care is to protect the
+property of Rebels. And we are asked by one of my colleagues, (Mr. Cox)
+does the gentleman from New York intend to call us Traitors? My friend,
+Mr. Morris, modestly answered no! If he had asked that question of me,
+he knows what my answer would have been! I have seen Rebel officers at
+Johnson's Island, and I have taken them by the hand because they have
+fought us fairly in the field and did not seek to break down the
+Government while living under its protection. Yes, Sir, that gentleman
+knows that I would have said to him that I have more respect for an open
+and avowed Traitor in the field, than for a sympathizer in this Hall.
+Four months have scarcely gone by since that gentleman and his political
+friends were advocating the election of a man for the Gubernatorial
+office in my State, who was an open and avowed advocate of Secession--AN
+OUTLAW AT THAT!"
+
+And old Thaddeus Stevens--the clear-sighted and courageous "Old
+Commoner"--followed up Spalding, and struck very close to the root and
+animus of the Democratic opposition, when he exclaimed:
+
+"All this struggle by calm and dignified and moderate 'Patriots;' all
+this clamor against 'Radicals;' all this cry of 'the Union as it Was,
+and the Constitution as it Is;' is but a persistent effort to
+reestablish Slavery, and to rivet anew and forever the chains of Bondage
+on the limbs of Immortal beings. May the God of Justice thwart their
+designs and paralyze their wicked efforts!"
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXV.
+
+ "THE FIRE IN THE REAR."
+
+The treacherous purposes of professedly-loyal Copperheads being seen
+through, and promptly and emphatically denounced to the Country by Union
+statesmen, the Copperheads aforesaid concluded that the profuse
+circulation of their own Treason-breeding speeches--through the medium
+of the treasonable organizations before referred to, permeating the
+Northern States,--would more than counteract all that Union men could
+say or do. Besides, the fiat had gone forth, from their Rebel masters
+at Richmond, to Agitate the North.
+
+Hence, day after day, Democrat after Democrat, in the one House or the
+other, continued to air his disloyal opinions, and to utter more or less
+virulent denunciations of the Government which guarded and protected
+him.
+
+Thus, Brooks, of New York, on the 25th of January (1864), sneeringly
+exclaimed: "Why, what absurdity it is to talk at this Capitol of
+prosecuting the War by the liberation of Slaves, when from the dome of
+this building there can be heard at this hour the booming of cannon in
+the distance!"
+
+Thus, also, on the day following, Fernando Wood--the same man who, while
+Mayor of New York at the outbreak of the Rebellion, had, under Rebel-
+guidance, proposed the Secession from the Union, and the Independence,
+of that great Metropolis,--declared to the House that: "No Government
+has pursued a foe with such unrelenting, vindictive malignity as we are
+now pursuing those who came into the Union with us, whose blood has been
+freely shed on every battle-field of the Country until now, with our
+own; who fought by our side in the American Revolution, and in the War
+of 1812 with Great Britain; who bore our banners bravest and highest in
+our victorious march from Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico, and who but
+yesterday sat in these Halls contributing toward the maintenance of our
+glorious institutions."
+
+Then he went on, in the spirit of prophecy, to declare that: "No purely
+agricultural people, fighting for the protection of their own Domestic
+Institutions upon their own soil, have ever yet been conquered. I say
+further, that no revolted people have ever been subdued after they have
+been able to maintain an Independent government for three years." And
+then, warming up to an imperative mood, he made this explicit
+announcement: "We are at War. * * * Whether it be a Civil War,
+Rebellion, Revolution, or Foreign War, it matters little. IT MUST
+CEASE; and I want this Administration to tell the American People WHEN
+it will cease!" Again, only two days afterward, he took occasion to
+characterize a Bill, amendatory of the enrollment Act, as "this
+infamous, Unconstitutional conscription Act!"
+
+C. A. White, of Ohio, was another of the malcontents who undertook, with
+others of the same Copperhead faith, to "maintain, that," as he
+expressed it, "the War in which we are at present engaged is wrong in
+itself; that the policy adopted by the Party in power for its
+prosecution is wrong; that the Union cannot be restored, or, if
+restored, maintained, by the exercise of the coercive power of the
+Government, by War; that the War is opposed to the restoration of the
+Union, destructive of the rights of the States and the liberties of the
+People. It ought, therefore, to be brought to a speedy and immediate
+close."
+
+It was about this time also that, emboldened by immunity from punishment
+for these utterances in the interest of armed Rebels, Edgerton of
+Indiana, was put forward to offer resolutions "for Peace, upon the basis
+of a restoration of the Federal Union under the Constitution as it is,"
+etc.
+
+Thereafter, in both Senate and House, such speeches by Rebel-
+sympathizers, the aiders and abettors of Treason, grew more frequent and
+more virulent than ever. As was well said to the House, by one of the
+Union members from Ohio (Mr. Eckley):
+
+"A stranger, if he listened to the debates here, would think himself in
+the Confederate Congress. I do not believe that if these Halls were
+occupied to-day by Davis, Toombs, Wigfall, Rhett, and Pryor, they could
+add anything to the violence of assault, the falsity of accusation, or
+the malignity of attack, with which the Government has been assailed,
+and the able, patriotic, and devoted men who are charged with its
+Administration have been maligned, in both ends of the Capitol. The
+closing scenes of the Thirty-Sixth Congress, the treasonable
+declarations there made, contain nothing that we cannot hear, in the
+freedom of debate, without going to Richmond or to the camps of Treason,
+where most of the actors in those scenes are now in arms against us."
+
+With such a condition of things in Congress, it is not surprising that
+the Richmond Enquirer announced that the North was "distracted,
+exhausted, and impoverished," and would, "through the agency of a strong
+conservative element in the Free States," soon treat with the Rebels "on
+acceptable terms."
+
+Things indeed had reached such a pass, in the House of Representatives
+especially, that it was felt they could not much longer go on in this
+manner; that an example must be made of some one or other of these
+Copperheads. But the very knowledge of the existence of such a feeling
+of just and patriotic irritation against the continued free utterance of
+such sentiments in the Halls of Congress, seemed only to make some of
+them still more defiant. And, when the 8th of April dawned, it was
+known among all the Democrats in Congress, that Alexander Long proposed
+that day to make a speech which would "go a bow-shot beyond them all" in
+uttered Treason. He would speak right out, what the other Conspirators
+thought and meant, but dared not utter, before the World.
+
+A crowded floor, and packed galleries, were on hand to listen to the
+written, deliberate Treason, as it fell from his lips in the House. His
+speech began with an arraignment of the Government for treachery,
+incompetence, failure, tyranny, and all sorts of barbarous actions and
+harsh intentions, toward the Rebels--which led him to the indignant
+exclamation:
+
+"Will they throw down their arms and submit to the terms? Who shall
+believe that the free, proud American blood, which courses with as quick
+pulsation through their veins as our own, will not be spilled to the
+last drop in resistance?"
+
+Warming up, he proceeded to say: "Can the Union be restored by War? I
+answer most unhesitatingly and deliberately, No, never; 'War is final,
+eternal separation.'"
+
+He claimed that the War was "wrong;" that it was waged "in violation of
+the Constitution," and would "if continued, result speedily in the
+destruction of the Government and the loss of Civil Liberty, and ought
+therefore, to immediately cease."
+
+He held also "that the Confederate States are out of the Union,
+occupying the position of an Independent Power de facto; have been
+acknowledged as a belligerent both by Foreign Nations and our own
+Government; maintained their Declaration of Independence, for three
+years, by force of arms; and the War has cut asunder all the obligations
+that bound them under the Constitution."
+
+"Much better," said he, "would it have been for us in the beginning,
+much better would it be for us now, to consent to a division of our
+magnificent Empire, and cultivate amicable relations with our estranged
+brethren, than to seek to hold them to us by the power of the sword. *
+* * I am reluctantly and despondingly forced to the conclusion that the
+Union is lost, never to be restored. * * * I see neither North nor
+South, any sentiment on which it is possible to build a Union. * * * in
+attempting to preserve our Jurisdiction over the Southern States we have
+lost our Constitutional Form of Government over the Northern. * * * The
+very idea upon which this War is founded, coercion of States, leads to
+despotism. * * * I now believe that there are but two alternatives, and
+they are either an acknowledgment of the Independence of the South as an
+independent Nation, or their complete subjugation and extermination as a
+People; and of these alternatives I prefer the former."
+
+As Long took his seat, amid the congratulations of his Democratic
+friends, Garfield arose, and, to compliments upon the former's peculiar
+candor and honesty, added denunciation for his Treason. After drawing
+an effective parallel between Lord Fairfax and Robert E. Lee, both of
+whom had cast their lots unwillingly with the enemies of this Land, when
+the Wars of the Revolution and of the Rebellion respectively opened,
+Garfield proceeded:
+
+"But now, when hundreds of thousands of brave souls have gone up to God
+under the shadow of the Flag, and when thousands more, maimed and
+shattered in the Contest, are sadly awaiting the deliverance of death;
+now, when three years of terrific warfare have raged over us, when our
+Armies have pushed the Rebellion back over mountains and rivers and
+crowded it back into narrow limits, until a wall of fire girds it; now,
+when the uplifted hand of a majestic People is about to let fall the
+lightning of its conquering power upon the Rebellion; now, in the quiet
+of this Hall, hatched in the lowest depths of a similar dark Treason,
+there rises a Benedict Arnold and proposes to surrender us all up, body
+and spirit, the Nation and the Flag, its genius and its honor, now and
+forever, to the accursed Traitors to our Country. And that proposition
+comes--God forgive and pity my beloved State!--it comes from a citizen
+of the honored and loyal Commonwealth of Ohio! I implore you, brethren
+in this House, not to believe that many such births ever gave pangs to
+my mother-State such as she suffered when that Traitor was born!"
+
+As he uttered these sturdy words, the House and galleries were agitated
+with that peculiar rustling movement and low murmuring sound known as a
+"sensation," while the Republican side with difficulty restrained the
+applause they felt like giving, until he sadly proceeded:
+
+"I beg you not to believe that on the soil of that State another such
+growth has ever deformed the face of Nature and darkened the light of
+God's day."
+
+The hush that followed was broken by the suggestive whisper:
+"Vallandigham!"
+
+"But, ah," continued the Speaker--as his voice grew sadder still--"I am
+reminded that there are other such. My zeal and love for Ohio have
+carried me too far. I retract. I remember that only a few days since,
+a political Convention met at the Capital of my State, and almost
+decided, to select from just such material, a representative for the
+Democratic Party in the coming contest; and today, what claims to be a
+majority of the Democracy of that State say that they have been cheated
+or they would have made that choice!"
+
+ [This refers to Horatio Seymour, the Democratic Governor of New
+ York.]
+
+After referring to the "insidious work" of the "Knights of the Golden
+Circle" in seeking "to corrupt the Army and destroy its efficiency;" the
+"riots and murders which," said he, "their agents are committing
+throughout the Loyal North, under the lead and guidance of the Party
+whose Representatives sit yonder across the aisle;" he continued: "and
+now, just as the time is coming on when we are to select a President for
+the next four years, one rises among them and fires the Beacon, throws
+up the blue-light--which will be seen, and rejoiced over, at the Rebel
+Capital in Richmond--as the signal that the Traitors in our camp are
+organized and ready for their hellish work! I believe the utterance of
+to-day is the uplifted banner of revolt. I ask you to mark the signal
+that blazes here, and see if there will not soon appear the answering
+signals of Traitors all over the Land. * * * If these men do mean to
+light the torch of War in all our homes; if they have resolved to begin
+the fearful work which will redden our streets, and this Capitol, with
+blood, the American People should know it at once, and prepare to meet
+it."
+
+At the close of Mr. Garfield's patriotic and eloquent remarks, Mr. Long
+again got the floor, declared that what he had said, he believed to be
+right, and he would "stand by it," though he had to "stand solitary and
+alone," and "even if it were necessary to brave bayonets, and prisons,
+and all the tyranny which may be imposed by the whole power and force of
+the Administration."
+
+Said he: "I have deliberately uttered my sentiments in that speech, and
+I will not retract one syllable of it." And, to "rub it in" a little
+stronger, he exclaimed, as he took his seat, just before adjournment:
+"Give me Liberty, even if confined to an Island of Greece, or a Canton
+of Switzerland, rather than an Empire and a Despotism as we have here
+to-day!"
+
+This treasonable speech naturally created much excitement throughout the
+Country.
+
+On the following day (Saturday, April 9, 1864), immediately after
+prayer, the reading of the Journal being dispensed with, the Speaker of
+the House (Colfax) came down from the Speaker's Chair, and, from the
+floor, offered a Preamble and Resolution, which ended thus:
+
+"Resolved, That Alexander Long, a Representative from the second
+district of Ohio, having, on the 8th day of April, 1864, declared
+himself in favor of recognizing the Independence and Nationality of the
+so-called Confederacy now in arms against the Union, and thereby 'given
+aid, Countenance and encouragement to persons engaged in armed hostility
+to the United States,' is hereby expelled."
+
+The debate which ensued consumed nearly a week, and every member of
+prominence, on both the Republican and Democratic sides, took part in
+it--the Democrats almost invariably being careful to protest their own
+loyalty, and yet attempting to justify the braver and more candid
+utterances of the accused member.
+
+Mr. Cox led off, April 9th, in the defense, by counterattack. He quoted
+remarks made to the House (March 18, 1864) by Mr. Julian, of Indiana, to
+the effect that "Our Country, united and Free, must be saved, at
+whatever hazard or cost; and nothing, not even the Constitution, must be
+allowed to hold back the uplifted arm of the Government in blasting the
+power of the Rebels forever;"--and upon this, adopting the language of
+another--[Judge Thomas, of Massachusetts.]--Mr. Cox declared that "to
+make this a War, with the sword in one hand to defend the Constitution,
+and a hammer in the other to break it to pieces, is no less treasonable
+than Secession itself; and that, outside the pale of the Constitution,
+the whole struggle is revolutionary."
+
+He thought, for such words as he had just quoted, Julian ought to have
+been expelled, if those of Long justified expulsion!
+
+Finally, being pressed by Julian to define his own position, as between
+the Life of the Nation, and the Infraction of the United States
+Constitution, Mr. Cox said: "I will say this, that UNDER NO
+CIRCUMSTANCES CONCEIVABLE BY THE HUMAN MIND WOULD I EVER VIOLATE THAT
+CONSTITUTION FOR ANY PURPOSE!"
+
+This sentiment was loudly applauded, and received with cries of "THAT IS
+IT!" "THAT'S IT!" by the Democratic side of the House, apparently in
+utter contempt for the express and emphatic declaration of Jefferson
+that: "A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the
+highest duties of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws
+of Necessity, of Self-preservation, of SAVING OUR COUNTRY WHEN IN
+DANGER, are of higher obligation. To LOSE OUR COUNTRY by a scrupulous
+adherence to written law WOULD BE TO LOSE THE LAW ITSELF, with Life,
+Liberty, Property, and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus
+absolutely SACRIFICING THE END TO THE MEANS."
+
+ [In a letter to J. B. Colvin, Sept. 20, 1810, quoted at the time
+ for their information, and which may be found at page 542 of vol.
+ v., of Jefferson's Works.]
+
+Indeed these extreme sticklers for the letter of the Constitution, who
+would have sacrificed Country, kindred, friends, honesty, truth, and all
+ambitions on Earth and hopes for Heaven, rather than violate it--for
+that is what Mr. Cox's announcement and the Democratic endorsement of it
+meant, if they meant anything--were of the same stripe as those
+querulous Ancients, for the benefit of whom the Apostle wrote: "For THE
+LETTER KILLETH, but the Spirit giveth life."
+
+And now, inspired apparently by the reckless utterances
+of Long, if not by the more cautious diatribe of Cox, Harris of
+Maryland, determining if possible to outdo them all, not only declared
+that he was willing to go with his friend Long wherever the House chose
+to send him, but added: "I am a peace man, a radical peace man; and I am
+for Peace by the recognition of the South, for the recognition of the
+Southern Confederacy; and I am for acquiescence in the doctrine of
+Secession." And, said he, in the midst of the laughter which followed
+the sensation his treasonable words occasioned, "Laugh as you may, you
+have got to come to it!" And then, with that singular obfuscation of
+ideas engendered, in the heads of their followers, by the astute Rebel-
+sympathizing leaders, he went on:
+
+"I am for Peace, and I am for Union too. I am as good a Union man as
+any of you. [Laughter.] I am a better Union man than any of you!
+[Great Laughter.] * * * I look upon War as Disunion."
+
+After declaring that, if the principle of the expulsion Resolution was
+to be carried out, his "friend," Mr. Long, "would be a martyr in a
+glorious cause"--he proceeded to announce his own candidacy for
+expulsion, in the following terms:
+
+"Mr. Speaker, in the early part of this Secession movement, there was a
+Resolution offered, pledging men and money to carry on the War. My
+principles were then, and are now, against the War. I stood, solitary
+and alone, in voting against that Resolution, and whenever a similar
+proposition is brought here it will meet with my opposition. Not one
+dollar, nor one man, I swear, by the Eternal, will I vote for this
+infernal, this stupendous folly, more stupendous than ever disgraced any
+civilized People on the face of God's Earth. If that be Treason, make
+the most of it!
+
+"The South asked you to let them go in peace. But no, you said you
+would bring them into subjugation. That is not done yet, and God
+Almighty grant that it never may be. I hope that you will never
+subjugate the South. If she is to be ever again in the Union, I hope it
+will be with her own consent; and I hope that that consent will be
+obtained by some other mode than by the sword. 'If this be Treason,
+make the most of it!'"
+
+An extraordinary scene at once occurred--Mr. Tracy desiring "to know
+whether, in these Halls, the gentleman from Maryland invoked Almighty
+God that the American Arms should not prevail?" "Whether such language
+is not Treason?" and "whether it is in order to talk Treason in this
+Hall?"--his patriotic queries being almost drowned in the incessant
+cries of "Order!" "Order!" and great disorder, and confusion, on the
+Democratic side of the House.
+
+Finally the treasonable language was taken down by the Clerk, and, while
+a Resolution for the expulsion of Mr. Harris was being written out, Mr.
+Fernando Wood--coming, as he said, from a bed of "severe sickness,"
+quoted the language used by Mr. Long, to wit:
+
+"I now believe there are but two alternatives, and they are either the
+acknowledgment of the Independence of the South as an independent
+Nation, or their complete subjugation and extermination as a People; and
+of these alternatives I prefer the former"--and declared that "if he is
+to be expelled for the utterance of that sentiment, you may include me
+in it, because I concur fully in that sentiment."
+
+ [He afterwards (April 11,) said he did not agree with Mr. Long's
+ opinions.]
+
+Every effort was unavailingly made by the Democrats, under the lead of
+Messrs. Cox--[In 1886 American Minister at Constantinople.]--and
+Pendleton,--[In 1886 American Minister at Berlin.]--to prevent action
+upon the new Resolution of expulsion, which was in these words:
+
+"Whereas, Hon. Benjamin G. Harris, a member of the House of
+Representatives of the United States from the State of Maryland, has on
+this day used the following language, to wit: 'The South asked you to
+let them go in peace. But no; you said you would bring them into
+subjection. That is not done yet, and God Almighty grant that it never
+may be. I hope that you will never subjugate the South.' And whereas,
+such language is treasonable, and is a gross disrespect of this House:
+Therefore, "Be it Resolved, That the said Benjamin G. Harris be expelled
+from this House."
+
+Upon reaching a vote, however, the Resolution was lost, there being only
+81 yeas, to 58 (Democratic) nays--two-thirds not having voted
+affirmatively. Subsequently, despite Democratic efforts to obstruct, a
+Resolution, declaring Harris to be "an unworthy Member" of the House,
+and "severely" censuring him, was adopted.
+
+The debate upon the Long-expulsion Resolution now proceeded, and its
+mover, in view of the hopelessness of securing a two-thirds affirmative
+vote, having accepted an amendment comprising other two Resolutions and
+a Preamble, the question upon adopting these was submitted on the 14th
+of April. They were in the words following:
+
+"Whereas, ALEXANDER LONG, a Representative from the second district of
+Ohio, by his open declarations in the National Capitol, and publications
+in the City of New York, has shown himself to be in favor of a
+recognition of the so-called Confederacy now trying to establish itself
+upon the ruins of our Country, thereby giving aid and comfort to the
+Enemy in that destructive purpose--aid to avowed Traitors, in creating
+an illegal Government within our borders, comfort to them by assurances
+of their success and affirmations of the justice of their Cause; and
+whereas, such conduct is at the same time evidence of disloyalty, and
+inconsistent with his oath of office, and his duty as a Member of this
+Body: Therefore,
+
+"Resolved, That the said Alexander Long, a Representative from the
+second district of Ohio, be, and he is hereby declared to be an unworthy
+Member of the House of Representatives.
+
+"Resolved, That the Speaker shall read these Resolutions to the said
+Alexander Long during the session of the House."
+
+The first of these Resolutions was adopted, by 80 yeas to 69 nays; the
+second was tabled, by 71 yeas to 69 nays; and the Preamble was agreed
+to, by 78 yeas to 63 nays.
+
+And, among the 63 Democrats, who were not only unwilling to declare
+Alexander Long "an unworthy Member," or to have the Speaker read such a
+declaration to him in a session of the House, but also refused by their
+votes even to intimate that his conduct evidenced disloyalty, or gave
+aid and comfort to the Enemy, were the names of such democrats as Cox,
+Eldridge, Holman, Kernan, Morrisson, Pendleton, Samuel J. Randall,
+Voorhees, and Fernando Wood.
+
+Hence Mr. Long not only escaped expulsion for his treasonable
+utterances, but did not even receive the "severe censure" which, in
+addition to being declared (like himself) "an unworthy Member," had been
+voted to Mr. Harris for recklessly rushing into the breach to help him!
+
+ [The Northern Democracy comprised two well-recognized classes: The
+ Anti-War (or Peace) Democrats, commonly called "Copperheads," who
+ sympathized with the Rebellion, and opposed the War for the Union;
+ and the War (or Union) Democrats, who favored a vigorous
+ prosecution of the War for the preservation of the Union.]
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+ "THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT" DEFEATED IN THE HOUSE.
+
+The debate in the House of Representatives, upon the Thirteenth
+Amendment to the Constitution--interrupted by the treasonable episode
+referred to in the last Chapter--was subsequently resumed.
+
+Meanwhile, however, Fort Pillow had been stormed, and its garrison of
+Whites and Blacks, massacred.
+
+And now commenced the beginning of the end-so far as the Military aspect
+of the Rebellion was concerned. Early in May, Sherman's Atlanta
+Campaign commenced, and, simultaneously, General Grant began his
+movement toward Richmond. In quick succession came the news of the
+bloody battles of the Wilderness, and those around Spottsylvania, Va.;
+at Buzzard Roost Gap, Snake Creek Gap, and Dalton, Ga.; Drury's Bluff,
+Va.; Resaca, Ga.; the battles of the North Anna, Va.; those around
+Dallas, and New Hope church, Ga; the crossing of Grant's forces to the
+South side of the James and the assault on Petersburg. While the Union
+Armies were thus valiantly attacking and beating those of the Rebels, on
+many a sanguinary field the loyal men of the North, both in and out of
+Congress, pressed for favorable action upon the Thirteenth Amendment.
+"Friends of the wounded in Fredericksburg from the Battle of the
+Wilderness"--exclaimed Horace Greeley in the New York Tribune, of May
+31st,--"friends and relatives of the soldiers of Grant's Army beyond the
+Wilderness, let us all join hands and swear upon our Country's altar
+that we will never cease this War until African Slavery in the United
+States is dead forever, and forever buried!"
+
+Peace Democrats, however, were deaf to all such entreaties. On the very
+same day, Mr. Holman, in the House, objected even to the second reading
+of the Joint Resolution Amendatory of the Constitution, and there were
+so many "Peace Democrats" to back him, that the vote was: 55 yeas to 76
+nays, on the question "shall the Joint Resolution be rejected!"
+
+The old cry, that had been repeated by Hendricks and others, in the
+Senate and House, time and again, was still used--threadbare though it
+was--"this is not the right time for it!" On this very day, for
+instance, Mr. Herrick said: "I ask if this is the proper time for our
+People to consider so grave a measure as the Amendment of the
+Constitution in so vital a point? * * * this is no fitting time for
+such work."
+
+Very different was the attitude of Kellogg, of New York, and well did he
+show up the depths to which the Democracy--the Peace Democracy--had now
+fallen. "We are told," said he, "of a War Democracy, and such there
+are--their name is legion--good men and true; they are found in the
+Union ranks bearing arms in support of the Government and the
+Administration that wields it. At the ballot-box, whether at home or in
+the camp, they are Union men, and vote as they fight, and hold little in
+common with the political leaders of the Democratic Party in or out of
+this Hall--the Seymours, the Woods, the Vallandighams, the Woodwards,
+and their indorsers, who hold and control the Democratic Party here, and
+taint it with Treason, till it is a stench in the nostrils of all
+patriotic men."
+
+After referring to the fact that the leaders of the Rebellion had from
+the start relied confidently upon assistance from the Northern
+Democracy, he proceeded:
+
+"The Peace Democracy, and mere Party-hacks in the North, are fulfilling
+their masters' expectations industriously, unceasingly, and as far as in
+them lies. Not even the shouts for victory, in these Halls, can divert
+their Southern allies here. A sullen gloom at the defeat and
+discomfiture of their Southern brethren settles down on their disastrous
+countenances, from which no ray of joy can be reflected. * * * They
+even vote solid against a law to punish guerrillas.
+
+"Sir," continued he, "in my judgment, many of those who withhold from
+their Country the support they would otherwise give, find allegiance to
+Party too strong for their patriotism. * * * Rejecting the example and
+counsels of Stanton and Dickinson and Butler and Douglas and Dix and
+Holt and Andrew Johnson and Logan and Rosecrans and Grant and a host of
+others, all Democrats of the straightest sect, to forget all other ties,
+and cleave only to their Country for their Country's sake, and rejecting
+the overtures and example of the Republican Party to drop and forget
+their Party name, that all might unite and band together for their
+Country's salvation as Union men, they turn a deaf ear and cold
+shoulder, and sullenly pass by on the other side, thanking God they are
+not as other men are, and lend, if at all, a calculating, qualified, and
+conditional and halting support, under protest, to their Country's
+cause; thus justifying the only hope of the Rebellion to-day, that Party
+spirit at the North will distract its counsels, divide and discourage
+and palsy its efforts, and ultimately make way for the Traitor and the
+parricide to do their worst."
+
+Besides the set speeches made against the proposed
+Constitutional amendment in the House, Peace-Democrats of the Senate
+continued to keep up a running fire at it in that Chamber, on every
+possible occasion. Garrett Davis was especially garrulous on the
+subject, and also launched the thunders of his wrath at the President
+quite frequently and even vindictively. For instance, speaking in the
+Senate--[May 31,1864,]--of the right of Property in Slaves; said he:
+
+"This new-born heresy 'Military Necessity,' as President Lincoln claims,
+and exercises it, is the sum of all political and Military villanies * *
+* and it is no less absurd than it is villanous. * * * The man has
+never spoken or lived who can prove by any provision of the
+Constitution, or by any principle, or by any argument to be deduced
+logically and fairly from it, that he has any such power as this vast,
+gigantic, all-conquering and all-crushing power of Military Necessity
+which he has the audacity to claim.
+
+"This modern Emperor, this Tiberius, a sort of a Tiberius, and his
+Sejanus, a sort of a Sejanus, the head of the War Department, are
+organizing daily their Military Courts to try civilians. * * *
+
+"Sir, I want one labor of love before I die. I want the President of
+the United States, I want his Secretary of War, I want some of his high
+officers in Military command to bring a civilian to a Military
+execution, and me to have the proud privilege of prosecuting them for
+murder. * * * I want the law and its just retribution to be visited
+upon these great delinquents.
+
+"I would sooner, if I had the power, bring about such an atonement as
+that, than I would even put down the Rebellion. It would be a greater
+victory in favor of Freedom and Constitutional Liberty, a thousand-fold,
+of all the People of America besides, than the subjugation of the Rebel
+States could possibly be."
+
+But there seemed to be no end to the' attacks upon the Administration,
+made, in both Houses, by these peculiar Peace-Democrats. Union blood
+might flow in torrents on the fields of the rebellious South, atrocities
+innumerable might be committed by the Rebels, cold-blooded massacres of
+Blacks and Whites, as at Fort Pillow, might occur without rebuke from
+them; but let the Administration even dare to sneeze, and--woe to the
+Administration.
+
+It was not the Thirteenth Amendment only, that they assailed, but
+everything else which the Administration thought might help it in its
+effort to put down the Rebellion. Nor was it so much their malignant
+activity in opposition to any one measure intended to strengthen the
+hands of the Union, but to all such measures; and superadded to this was
+the incessant bringing forward, in both Houses of Congress, by these
+restless Rebel-sympathizers, of Peace-Resolutions, the mere presentation
+of which would be, and were, construed by the Rebel authorities at
+Richmond, as evidences of a weakening.
+
+Even some of the best of the Peace-Democrats, like S. S. Cox, for
+instance, not only assailed the Tariff--under which the Union Republican
+Party sought to protect and build up American Industry, as well as to
+raise as much revenue as possible to help meet the enormous current
+expenditures of the Government--but also denounced our great paper-money
+system, which alone enabled us to secure means to meet all deficiencies
+in the revenues otherwise obtained, and thus to ultimately conquer the
+hosts of Rebellion.
+
+He declared (June 2, 1864) that "The People are the victims of the
+joint-robbery of a system of bounties under the guise of duties, and of
+an inconvertible and depreciated paper currency under the guise of
+money," and added: "No man is now so wise and gifted that he can save
+this Nation from bankruptcy. * * * No borrowing system can save us.
+The scheme of making greenbacks a legal tender, which enabled the debtor
+to cheat his creditor, thereby playing the old game of kingcraft, to
+debase the currency in order to aid the designs of despotism, may float
+us for a while amidst the fluctuations and bubbles of the day; but as no
+one possesses the power to repeal the Law of the Almighty, which decrees
+(and as our Constitution has established) that gold and silver shall be
+the standard of value in the World, so they will ever thus remain,
+notwithstanding the legislation of Congress."
+
+Not satisfied with this sort of "fire in the rear," it was attempted by
+means of Democratic Free-Trade and antipaper-currency sophistries, to
+arouse jealousies, heart-burnings and resentful feelings in the breasts
+of those living in different parts of the Union--to implant bitter
+Sectional antagonisms and implacable resentments between the Eastern
+States, on the one hand, and the Western States, on the other--and thus,
+by dividing, to weaken the Loyal Union States.
+
+That this was the cold-blooded purpose of all who pursued this course,
+would no doubt be warmly denied by some of them; but the fact remains no
+less clear, that the effect of that course, whether so intended or not,
+was to give aid and comfort to the Enemy at that critical time when the
+Nation most needed all the men, money, and moral as well as material
+support, it was possible to get, to put an end to the bloody Rebellion,
+now--under the continuous poundings of Grant's Army upon that of Lee in
+Virginia, and the advance of Sherman's Army upon that of Johnston in
+Georgia--tottering to its overthrow. Thus this same speaker (S. S. Cox),
+in his untimely speech, undertook to divide the Union-loving States
+"into two great classes: the Protected States and the Unprotected
+States;" and--having declared that "The Manufacturing States, mainly the
+New England States and Pennsylvania, are the Protected States," and "The
+Agricultural States," mainly the eleven Western States, which he named,
+"are the Unprotected States"--proceeded to intemperately and violently
+arraign New England, and especially Massachusetts, in the same way that
+had years before been adopted by the old Conspirators of the South when
+they sought--alas, too successfully!--to inflame the minds of Southern
+citizens to a condition of unreasoning frenzy which made attempted
+Nullification and subsequent armed Rebellion and Secession possible.
+
+Well might the thoroughly loyal Grinnell, of Iowa--after exposing what
+he termed the "sophistry of figures" by which Mr. Cox had seen fit "to
+misrepresent and traduce" the Western States-exclaim: "Sir, I have no
+words which I can use to execrate sufficiently such language, in
+arraying the Sections in opposition during a time of War; as if we were
+not one People, descended from one stock, having one interest, and bound
+up in one destiny!"
+
+The damage that might have been done to the Union Cause by such
+malignant Democratic attacks upon the National unity and strength, may
+be imagined when we reflect that at this very time the annual expenses
+of our Government were over $600,000,000, and growing still larger; and
+that $1.90 in legal tender notes of the United States was worth but
+$1.00 in gold, with a downward tendency. Said stern old Thaddeus
+Stevens, alluding on this occasion, to Statesmanship of the peculiar
+stamp of the Coxes and Fernando Woods: "He who in this time will pursue
+such a course of argument for the mere sake of party, can never hope to
+be ranked among Statesmen; nay, Sir, he will not even rise to the
+dignity of a respectable Demagogue!"
+
+Within a week after this, (June 9, 1864), we find in the Senate also,
+similarly insidious attacks upon the strength of the Government, made by
+certain Northern Democrats, who never tired of undermining Loyalty, and
+creating and spreading discontent among the People. The Bill then up,
+for consideration, was one "to prohibit the discharge of persons from
+liability to Military duty, by reason of the payment of money."
+
+In the terribly bloody Campaign that had now been entered upon by Grant
+--in the West, under Sherman, and in the East, under his own personal
+eye--it was essential to send to the front, every man possible. Hence
+the necessity for a Bill of this sort, which moreover provided, in order
+as far as possible to popularize conscription, that all calls for drafts
+theretofore made under the Enrolling Act of March 3, 1863, should be for
+not over one year's service, etc.
+
+This furnished the occasion for Mr. Hendricks, among other Peace
+Democrats, to make opposing speeches. He, it seems, had all along been
+opposed to drafting Union soldiers; and because, during the previous
+Winter, the Senate had been unwilling to abolish the clause permitting a
+drafted man to pay a commutation of $300 (with which money a substitute
+could be procured) instead of himself going, at a time when men were not
+quite so badly needed as now, therefore Mr. Hendricks pretended to think
+it very strange and unjustifiable that now, when everything depended on
+getting every possible man in the field, the Senate should think of
+"abandoning that which it thought right last Winter!"
+
+He opposed drafting; but if drafting must be resorted to, then he
+thought that what he termed "the Horror of the Draft" should be felt by
+as many of the Union people as possible!--or, in his own words: "the
+Horror of the Draft ought to be divided among the People." As if this
+were not sufficient to conjure dreadful imaginings, he added: "if one
+set of men are drafted this year to serve twelve months, and they have
+to go because the power of the Government makes them go, whether they
+can go well or not, then at the end of the year their neighbors should
+be subjected to the same Horror, and let this dreadful demand upon the
+service, upon the blood, and upon the life of the People be distributed
+upon all."
+
+And, in order apparently to still further intensify public feeling
+against all drafting, and sow the seeds of dissatisfaction in the hearts
+of those drafted at this critical time, when the fate of the Union and
+of Republican Government palpably depended upon conscription, he added:
+"It is not so right to say to twenty men in a neighborhood: 'You shall
+go; you shall leave your families whether you can or not; you shall go
+without the privilege of commutation whether you leave starving wives
+and children behind you or not,' and then say to every other man of the
+neighborhood: 'Because we have taken these twenty men for three years,
+you shall remain with your wives and children safely and comfortably at
+home for these three years.' I like this feature of the amendment,
+because it distributes the Horror of the Draft more equally and justly
+over the whole People."
+
+Not satisfied with rolling the "Horror of the Draft" so often and
+trippingly over his tongue, he also essayed the role of Prophet in the
+interest of the tottering god of Slavery. "The People," said he,
+"expect great results from this Campaign; and when another year comes
+rolling around, and it is found that this War is not closed, and that
+there is no reasonable probability of its early close, my colleague
+(Lane) and other Senators who agree with him will find that the People
+will say that this effusion of blood must stop; that THERE MUST BE SOME
+ADJUSTMENT. I PROPHESY THIS."
+
+And, as a further declaration likely to give aid and comfort to the
+Rebel leaders, he said: "I do not believe many men are going to be
+obtained by a draft; I do not believe a very good Army will be got by a
+draft; I do not believe an Army will be put in the field, by a draft,
+that will whip General Lee."
+
+But while all such statements were, no doubt, intended to help the foes
+of the Union, and dishearten or dismay its friends, the really loyal
+People, understanding their fell object, paid little heed to them. The
+predictions of these Prophets of evil fell flat upon the ears of lovers
+of their Country. Conspirators, however much they might masquerade in
+the raiment of Loyalty, could not wholly conceal the ear-marks of
+Treason. The hand might be the hand of Esau, but the voice was the
+voice of Jacob.
+
+On the 8th of June--after a month of terrific and bloody fighting
+between the immediate forces of Grant and Lee--a dispatch from Sherman,
+just received at Washington, was read to the House of Representatives,
+which said: "The Enemy is not in our immediate front, but his signals
+are seen at Lost Mountain, and Kenesaw." So, at the same time, at the
+National Capital, while the friends of the Union there, were not
+immediately confronted with an armed Enemy, yet the signals of his
+Allies could be seen, and their fire upon our rear could be heard, daily
+and almost hourly, both in the Senate and the House of Representatives.
+
+The fight in the House, upon the Thirteenth Amendment, now seemed
+indeed, to be reaching a climax. During the whole of June 14th, until
+midnight, speech after speech on the subject, followed each other in
+rapid succession. Among the opposition speeches, perhaps those of
+Fernando Wood and Holman were most notable for extravagant and
+unreasoning denunciation of the Administration and Party in power--whose
+every effort was put forth, and strained at this very time to the
+utmost, to save the Union.
+
+Holman, for instance, declared that, "Of all the measures of this
+disastrous Administration, each in its turn producing new calamities,
+this attempt to tamper with the Constitution threatens the most
+permanent injury." He enumerated the chief measures of the
+Administration during its three and a half years of power-among them the
+Emancipation Proclamation, the arming of the Blacks, and what he
+sneeringly termed "their pet system of finance" which was to "sustain
+the public credit for infinite years," but which "even now," said he,
+"totters to its fall!" And then, having succeeded in convincing himself
+of Republican failure, he exultingly exclaimed: "But why enumerate?
+What measure of this Administration has failed to be fatal! Every step
+in your progress has been a mistake. I use the mildest terms of
+censure!"
+
+Fernando Wood, in his turn also, "mildly" remarked upon Republican
+policy as "the bloody and brutal policy of the Administration Party."
+He considered this "the crisis of the fate of the Union;" declared that
+Slavery was "the best possible condition to insure the happiness of the
+Negro race"--a position which, on the following day, he "reaffirmed"--
+and characterized those members of the Democratic Party who saw Treason
+in the ways and methods and expressions of Peace Democrats of his own
+stamp, as a "pack of political jackals known as War Democrats."
+
+On the 15th of June, Farnsworth made a reply to Ross--who had claimed to
+be friendly to the Union soldier--in which the former handled the
+Democratic Party without gloves. "What," said he, referring to Mr.
+Ross, "has been the course of that gentleman and his Party on this floor
+in regard to voting supplies to the Army? What has been their course in
+regard to raising money to pay the Army? His vote will be found
+recorded in almost every instance against the Appropriation Bills,
+against ways and means for raising money to pay the Army. It is only a
+week ago last Monday, that a Bill was introduced here to punish
+guerrillas * * * and how did my colleague vote? Against the Bill.* * *
+On the subject of arming Slaves, of putting Negroes into the Army, how
+has my colleague and his Party voted? Universally against it. They
+would strip from the backs of these Black soldiers, now in the service
+of the Country, their uniforms, and would send them back to Slavery with
+chains and manacles. And yet they are the friends of the soldier!"* * *
+"On the vote to repeal the Fugitive Slave Law, how did that (Democratic)
+side of the House vote? Does not the Fugitive Slave Law affect the
+Black soldier in the Army who was a Slave? That side of the House are
+in favor of continuing the Fugitive Slave Law, and of disbanding Colored
+troops. How did that side of the House vote on the question of arming
+Slaves and paying them as soldiers? They voted against it. They are in
+favor of disbanding the Colored regiments, and, armed with the Fugitive
+Slave Law, sending them back to their masters!"
+
+He took occasion also to meet various Democratic arguments against the
+Resolution,--among them, one, hinging on the alleged right of Property
+in Slaves. This was a favorite idea with the Border-State men
+especially, that Slaves were Property--mere chattels as it were,--and,
+only the day before, a Northern man, Coffroth of Pennsylvania, had said:
+
+"Sir, we should pause before proceeding any further in this
+Unconstitutional and censurable legislation. The mere abolition of
+Slavery is not my cause of complaint. I care not whether Slavery is
+retained or abolished by the people of the States in which it exists--
+the only rightful authority. The question to me is, has Congress a
+right to take from the people of the South their Property; or, in other
+words, having no pecuniary interest therein, are we justified in freeing
+the Slave-property of others? Can we Abolish Slavery in the Loyal State
+of Kentucky against her will? If this Resolution should pass, and be
+ratified by three-fourths of the States--States already Free--and
+Kentucky refuses to ratify it, upon what principle of right or law would
+we be justified in taking this Slave-property of the people of Kentucky?
+Would it be less than stealing?"
+
+And Farnsworth met this idea--which had also been advanced by Messrs.
+Ross, Fernando Wood, and Pruyn--by saying: "What constitutes property?
+I know it is said by some gentlemen on the other side, that what the
+statute makes property, is property. I deny it. What 'vested right'
+has any man or State in Property in Man? We of the North hold property,
+not by virtue of statute law, not by virtue of enactments. Our property
+consists in lands, in chattels, in things. Our property was made
+property by Jehovah when He gave Man dominion over it. But nowhere did
+He give dominion of Man over Man. Our title extends back to the
+foundation of the World. That constitutes property. There is where we
+get our title. There is where we get our 'vested rights' to property."
+
+Touching the ethics of Slavery, Mr. Arnold's speech on the same occasion
+was also able, and in parts eloquent, as where he said: 'Slavery is to-
+day an open enemy striking at the heart of the Republic. It is the soul
+and body, the spirit and motive of the Rebellion. It is Slavery which
+marshals yonder Rebel hosts, which confront the patriot Armies of Grant
+and Sherman. It is the savage spirit of this barbarous Institution
+which starves the Union prisoners at Richmond, which assassinates them
+at Fort Pillow, which murders the wounded on the field of battle, and
+which fills up the catalogue of wrong and outrage which mark the conduct
+of the Rebels during all this War.
+
+"In view of all the long catalogue of wrongs which Slavery has inflicted
+upon the Country, I demand to-day, of the Congress of the United States,
+the death of African Slavery. We can have no permanent Peace, while
+Slavery lives. It now reels and staggers toward its last deathstruggle.
+Let us strike the monster this last decisive blow."
+
+And, after appealing to both Border-State men, and Democrats of the Free
+States, not to stay the passage of this Resolution which "will strike
+the Rebellion at the heart," he continued: "Gentlemen may flatter
+themselves with a restoration of the Slave-power in this Country. 'The
+Union as it was!' It is a dream, never again to be realized. The
+America of the past, has gone forever. A new Nation is to be born from
+the agony through which the People are now passing. This new Nation is
+to be wholly Free. Liberty, Equality before the Law, is to be the great
+Corner-stone."
+
+So, too, Mr. Ingersoll eloquently said--among many other good things:--
+"It is well to eradicate an evil. That Slavery is an evil, no sane,
+honest man will deny. It has been the great curse of this Country from
+its infancy to the present hour, And now that the States in Rebellion
+have given the Loyal States the opportunity to take off that curse, to
+wipe away the foul stain, I say let it be done. We owe it to ourselves;
+we owe it to posterity; we owe it to the Slaves themselves to
+exterminate Slavery forever by the adoption of the proposed Amendment to
+the Constitution. * * * I believe Slavery is the mother of this
+Rebellion, that this Rebellion can be attributed to no other cause but
+Slavery; from that it derived its life, and gathers its strength to-day.
+Destroy the mother, and the child dies. Destroy the cause, and the
+effect will disappear.
+
+"Slavery has ever been the enemy of liberal principles. It has ever
+been the friend of ignorance, prejudice, and all the unlawful, savage,
+and detestable passions which proceed therefrom. It has ever been
+domineering, arrogant, exacting, and overbearing. It has claimed to be
+a polished aristocrat, when in reality it has only been a coarse,
+swaggering, and brutal boor. It has ever claimed to be a gentleman,
+when in reality it has ever been a villain. I think it is high time to
+clip its overgrown pretensions, strip it of its mask, and expose it, in
+all its hideous deformity, to the detestation of all honest and
+patriotic men."
+
+After Mr. Samuel J. Randall had, at a somewhat later hour, pathetically
+and poetically invoked the House, in its collective unity, as a
+"Woodman," to "spare that tree" of the Constitution, and to "touch not a
+single bough," because, among other reasons, "in youth it sheltered"
+him; and furthermore, because "the time" was "most inopportune;" and,
+after Mr. Rollins, of Missouri, had made a speech, which he afterward
+suppressed; Mr. Pendleton closed the debate in an able effort, from his
+point of view, in which he objected to the passage of the Joint
+Resolution because "the time is not auspicious;" because, said he, "it
+is impossible that the Amendment proposed, should be ratified without a
+fraudulent use of the power to admit new States, or a fraudulent use of
+the Military power of the Federal Government in the Seceded States,"--
+and, said he, "if you should attempt to amend the Constitution by such
+means, what binding obligation would it have?"
+
+He objected, also, because "the States cannot, under the pretense of
+amending the Constitution, subvert the structure, spirit, and theory of
+this Government." "But," said he, "if this Amendment were within the
+Constitutional power of amendment; if this were a proper time to
+consider it; if three-fourths of the States were willing to ratify it;
+and if it did not require the fraudulent use of power, either in this
+House or in the Executive Department, to secure its adoption, I would
+still resist the passage of this Resolution. It is another step toward
+consolidation, and consolidation is Despotism; confederation is
+Liberty."
+
+It was about 4 o'clock in the afternoon of June 15th, that the House
+came to a vote, on the passage of the Joint Resolution. At first the
+strain of anxiety on both sides was great, but, as the roll proceeded,
+it soon became evident that the Resolution was doomed to defeat. And so
+it transpired. The vote stood 93 yeas, to 65 nays--Mr. Ashley having
+changed his vote, from the affirmative to the negative, for the purpose
+of submitting, at the proper time, a motion to reconsider.
+
+That same evening, Mr. Ashley made the motion to reconsider the vote by
+which the proposed Constitutional Amendment was rejected; and the motion
+was duly entered in the Journal, despite the persistent efforts of
+Messrs. Cox, Holman, and others, to prevent it.
+
+On the 28th of June, just prior to the Congressional Recess, Mr. Ashley
+announced that he had been disappointed in the hope of securing enough
+votes from the Democratic side of the House to carry the Amendment.
+"Those," said he, "who ought to have been the champions of this great
+proposition are unfortunately its strongest opponents. They have
+permitted the golden opportunity to pass. The record is made up, and we
+must go to the Country on this issue thus presented." And then he gave
+notice that he would call the matter up, at the earliest possible moment
+after the opening of the December Session of Congress.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+ SLAVERY DOOMED AT THE POLLS.
+
+The record was indeed made up, and the issue thus made, between Slavery
+and Freedom, would be the chief one before the People. Already the
+Republican National Convention, which met at Baltimore, June 7, 1864,
+had not only with "enthusiastic unanimity," renominated Mr. Lincoln for
+the Presidency, but amid "tremendous applause," the delegates rising and
+waving their hats--had adopted a platform which declared, in behalf of
+that great Party: "That, as Slavery was the cause, and now constitutes
+the strength, of this Rebellion, and as it must be, always and
+everywhere, hostile to the principles of Republican government, Justice
+and the National safety demand its utter and complete extirpation from
+the soil of the Republic; and that while we uphold and maintain the Acts
+and Proclamations by which the Government, in its own defense, has aimed
+a death-blow at this gigantic evil, we are in favor, furthermore, of
+such an Amendment to the Constitution, to be made by the People in
+conformity with its provisions, as shall terminate and forever prohibit
+the existence of Slavery within the limits or the jurisdiction of the
+United States."
+
+So, too, with vociferous plaudits, had they received and adopted another
+Resolution, wherein they declared "That we approve and applaud the
+practical wisdom, the unselfish patriotism and the unswerving fidelity
+to the Constitution and the principles of American Liberty, with which
+Abraham Lincoln has discharged, under circumstances of unparalleled
+difficulty, the great duties and responsibilities of the Presidential
+Office; that we approve and endorse, as demanded by the emergency, and
+essential to the preservation of the Nation, and as within the
+provisions of the Constitution; the Measures and Acts which he has
+adopted to defend the Nation against its open and secret foes; that we
+approve, especially, the Proclamation of Emancipation, and the
+employment, as Union soldiers, of men heretofore held in Slavery; and
+that we have full confidence in his determination to carry these and all
+other Constitutional Measures essential to the salvation of the Country,
+into full and complete effect."
+
+Thus heartily, thoroughly and unreservedly, endorsed in all the great
+acts of his Administration--and even more emphatically, if possible, in
+his Emancipation policy--by the unanimous vote of his Party, Mr.
+Lincoln, although necessarily "chagrined and disappointed" by the House-
+vote which had defeated the Thirteenth Amendment, might well feel
+undismayed. He always had implicit faith in the People; he felt sure
+that they would sustain him; and this done, why could not the votes of a
+dozen, out of the seventy Congressional Representatives opposing that
+Amendment, be changed? Even failing in this, it must be but a question
+of time. He thought he could afford to bide that time.
+
+On the 29th of August, the Democratic National Convention met at
+Chicago. Horatio Seymour was its permanent President; that same
+Governor of New York whom the 4th of July, 1863, almost at the moment
+when Vicksburg and Gettysburg had brought great encouragement to the
+Union cause, and when public necessity demanded the enforcement of the
+Draft in order to drive the Rebel invader from Northern soil and bring
+the Rebellion speedily to an end--had threateningly said to the
+Republicans, in the course of a public speech, during the Draft-riots at
+New York City: "Remember this, that the bloody, and treasonable, and
+revolutionary doctrine of public necessity can be proclaimed by a mob as
+well as by a Government. * * * When men accept despotism, they may have
+a choice as to who the despot shall be!"
+
+In his speech to this Democratic-Copperhead National Convention,
+therefore, it is not surprising that he should, at this time, declare
+that "this Administration cannot now save this Union, if it would."
+That the body which elected such a presiding officer,--after the bloody
+series of glorious Union victories about Atlanta, Ga., then fast leading
+up to the fall of that great Rebel stronghold, (which event actually
+occurred long before most of these Democratic delegates, on their
+return, could even reach their homes)--should adopt a Resolution
+declaring that the War was a "failure," was not surprising either.
+
+That Resolution--"the material resolution of the Chicago platform," as
+Vallandigham afterward characters it, was written and "carried through
+both the Subcommittee and the General Committee" by that Arch-Copperhead
+and Conspirator himself.--[See his letter of October 22, 1864, to the
+editor of the New York News,]
+
+It was in these words: "Resolved, That this Convention does explicitly
+declare as the sense of the American People, that after four years of
+failure to restore the Union by the experiment of War, during which,
+under the pretense of a military necessity, or War-power higher than the
+Constitution, the Constitution itself has been disregarded in every
+part, and public Liberty and private right alike trodden down and the
+material prosperity of the Country essentially impaired--Justice,
+Humanity, Liberty, and the public welfare demand that immediate efforts
+be made for a cessation of hostilities, with a view to an ultimate
+Convention of the States, or other peaceable means, to the end that at
+the earliest practicable moment Peace may be restored on the basis of
+the Federal Union of the States."
+
+With a Copperhead platform, this Democratic Convention thought it
+politic to have a Union candidate for the Presidency. Hence, the
+nomination of General McClellan; but to propitiate the out-and-out
+Vallandigham Peace men, Mr. Pendleton was nominated to the second place
+on the ticket.
+
+This combination was almost as great a blunder as was the platform--than
+which nothing could have been worse. Farragut's Naval victory at
+Mobile, and Sherman's capture of Atlanta, followed so closely upon the
+adjournment of the Convention as to make its platform and candidates the
+laughing stock of the Nation; and all the efforts of Democratic orators,
+and of McClellan himself, in his letter of acceptance, could not prevent
+the rise of that great tidalwave of Unionism which was soon to engulf
+the hosts of Copperhead-Democracy.
+
+The Thanksgiving-services in the churches, and the thundering salutes of
+100 guns from every Military and Naval post in the United States, which
+--during the week succeeding that Convention's sitting--betokened the
+Nation's especial joy and gratitude to the victorious Union Forces of
+Sherman and Farragut for their fortuitously-timed demonstration that the
+"experiment of War" for the restoration of the Union was anything but a
+"Failure" all helped to add to the proportions of that rapidly-swelling
+volume of loyal public feeling.
+
+The withdrawal from the canvass, of General Fremont, nominated for the
+Presidency by the "radical men of the Nation," at Cleveland, also
+contributed to it. In his letter of withdrawal, September 17th, he
+said:
+
+"The Presidential contest has, in effect, been entered upon in such a
+way that the union of the Republican Party has become a paramount
+necessity. The policy of the Democratic Party signifies either
+separation, or reestablishment with Slavery. The Chicago platform is
+simply separation. General McClellan's letter of acceptance is
+reestablishment, with Slavery. The Republican candidate is, on the
+contrary, pledged to the reestablishment of the Union without Slavery;
+and, however hesitating his policy may be, the pressure of his Party
+will, we may hope, force him to it. Between these issues, I think no
+man of the Liberal Party can remain in doubt."
+
+And now, following the fall of Atlanta before Sherman's Forces, Grant
+had stormed "Fort Hell," in front of Petersburg; Sheridan had routed the
+Rebels, under Early, at Winchester, and had again defeated Early at
+Fisher's Hill; Lee had been repulsed in his attack on Grant's works at
+Petersburg; and Allatoona had been made famous, by Corse and his 2,000
+Union men gallantly repulsing the 5,000 men of Hood's Rebel Army, who
+had completely surrounded and attacked them in front, flank, and rear.
+
+All these Military successes for the Union Cause helped the Union
+political campaign considerably, and, when supplemented by the
+remarkable results of the October elections in Pennsylvania, Indiana,
+and Maryland, made the election of Lincoln and Johnson a foregone
+conclusion.
+
+The sudden death of Chief-Justice Taney, too, happening, by a strange
+coincidence, simultaneously with the triumph of the Union Party of
+Maryland in carrying the new Constitution of that State, which
+prohibited Slavery within her borders, seemed to have a significance*
+not without its effect upon the public mind, now fast settling down to
+the belief that Slavery everywhere upon the soil of the United States
+must die.
+
+ [Greeley well said of it: "His death, at this moment, seemed to
+ mark the transition from the Era of Slavery to that of Universal
+ Freedom."]
+
+Then came, October 19th, the Battle of Cedar Creek, Va. where the Rebel
+General Early, during Sheridan's absence, surprised and defeated the
+latter's forces, until Sheridan, riding down from Winchester, turned
+defeat into victory for the Union Arms, and chased the armed Rebels out
+of the Shenandoah Valley forever; and the fights of October 27th and
+28th, to the left of Grant's position, at Petersburg, by which the
+railroad communications of Lee's Army at Richmond were broken up.
+
+At last, November 8, 1864, dawned the eventful day of election. By
+midnight of that date it was generally believed, all over the Union,
+that Lincoln and Johnson were overwhelmingly elected, and that the Life
+as well as Freedom of the Nation had thus been saved by the People.
+
+Late that very night, President Lincoln was serenaded by a Pennsylvania
+political club, and, in responding to the compliment, modestly said:
+
+"I earnestly believe that the consequences of this day's work (if it be
+as you assure, and as now seems probable) will be to the lasting
+advantage, if not to the very salvation, of the Country. I cannot at
+this hour say what has been the result of the election. But whatever it
+may be, I have no desire to modify this opinion, that all who have
+labored to-day in behalf of the Union organization have wrought for the
+best interests of their Country and the World, not only for the present
+but for all future ages.
+
+"I am thankful to God," continued he, "for this approval of the People;
+but, while deeply gratified for this mark of their confidence in me, if
+I know my heart, my gratitude is free from any taint of personal
+triumph. I do not impugn the motives of any one opposed to me. It is
+no pleasure to me to triumph over any one; but I give thanks to the
+Almighty for this evidence of the People's resolution to stand by Free
+Government and the rights of Humanity."
+
+On the 10th of November, in response to another serenade given at the
+White House, in the presence of an immense and jubilantly enthusiastic
+gathering of Union men, by the Republican clubs of the District of
+Columbia, Mr. Lincoln said:
+
+"It has long been a grave question whether any Government, not too
+strong for the Liberties of its People, can be strong enough to maintain
+its existence in great emergencies. On this point the present
+Rebellion. has brought our Republic to a severe test, and a
+Presidential election, occurring in regular course during the Rebellion,
+has added not a little to the strain. * * * But the election, along
+with its incidental and undesired strife, has done good, too. It has
+demonstrated that a People's Government can sustain a National election
+in the midst of a great Civil War, until now it has not been known to
+the World that this was a possibility. It shows, also, how sound and
+how strong we still are.
+
+"But," said he, "the Rebellion continues; and now that the election is
+over, may not all having a common interest reunite in a common effort to
+save our common Country?
+
+"For my own part," continued he--as the cheering, elicited by this
+forcible appeal, ceased--"I have striven, and shall strive, to avoid
+placing any obstacle in the way. So long as I have been here I have not
+willingly planted a thorn in any man's bosom. While I am deeply
+sensible to the high compliment of a reelection, and duly grateful, as I
+trust, to Almighty God for having directed my countrymen to a right
+conclusion, as I think, for their own good, it adds nothing to my
+satisfaction that any other man may be disappointed or pained by the
+result."
+
+And, as the renewed cheering evoked by this kindly, Christian utterance
+died away again, he impressively added: "May I ask those who have not
+differed with me, to join with me in this same spirit, towards those who
+have?"
+
+So, too, on the 17th of November, in his response to the complimentary
+address of a delegation of Union men from Maryland.
+
+ [W. H. Purnell, Esq., in behalf of the Committee, delivered an
+ address, in which he said they rejoiced that the People, by such an
+ overwhelming and unprecedented majority, had again reelected Mr.
+ Lincoln to the Presidency and endorsed his course--elevating him to
+ the proudest and most honorable position on Earth. They felt under
+ deep obligation to him because he had appreciated their condition
+ as a Slave-State. It was not too much to say that by the exercise
+ of rare discretion on his part, Maryland to-day occupies her
+ position in favor of Freedom. Slavery has been abolished therefrom
+ by the Sovereign Decree of the People. With deep and lasting
+ gratitude they desired that his Administration, as it had been
+ approved in the past, might also be successful in the future, and
+ result in the Restoration of the Union, with Freedom as its
+ immutable basis. They trusted that, on retiring from his high and
+ honorable position, the universal verdict might be that he deserved
+ well of mankind, and that favoring Heaven might 'Crown his days
+ with loving kindness and tender mercies.']
+
+The same kindly anxiety to soften and dispel the feeling of bitterness
+that had been engendered in the malignant bosoms of the Copperhead-
+Democracy by their defeat, was apparent when he said with emphasis and
+feeling:
+
+"I have said before, and now repeat, that I indulge in no feeling of
+triumph over any man who has thought or acted differently from myself.
+I have no such feeling toward any living man;" and again, after
+complimenting Maryland for doing "more than double her share" in the
+elections, in that she had not only carried the Republican ticket, but
+also the Free Constitution, he added: "Those who have differed with us
+and opposed us will yet see that the result of the Presidential election
+is better for their own good than if they had been successful."
+
+The victory of the Union-Republican Party at this election was an
+amazing one, and in the words of General Grant's dispatch of
+congratulation to the President, the fact of its "having passed off
+quietly" was, in itself, "a victory worth more to the Country than a
+battle won,"--for the Copperheads had left no stone unturned in their
+efforts to create the utmost possible rancor, in the minds of their
+partisans, against the Administration and its Party.
+
+Of twenty-five States voting, Lincoln and Johnson had carried the
+electoral votes of twenty-two of them, viz.: Maine, New Hampshire,
+Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New York,
+Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Michigan,
+Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, California, Oregon, Kansas, West Virginia,
+and Nevada; while McClellan and Pendleton had carried the twenty-one
+electoral votes of the remaining three, viz.: New Jersey, Delaware, and
+Kentucky--the popular vote reaching the enormous number of 2,216,067 for
+Lincoln, to 1,808,725 for McClellan--making Lincoln's popular majority
+407,342, and his electoral majority 191!
+
+But if the figures upon the Presidential candidacy were so gratifying
+and surprising to all who held the cause of Union above all others, no
+less gratifying and surprising were those of the Congressional
+elections, which indicated an entire revulsion of popular feeling on the
+subject of the Administration's policy. For, while in the current
+Congress (the 38th), there were only 106 Republican-Union to 77
+Democratic Representatives, in that for which the elections had just
+been held, (the 39th), there would be 143 Republican-Union to 41
+Democratic Representatives.
+
+It was at once seen, therefore, that, should the existing House of
+Representatives fail to adopt the Thirteenth Amendment to the
+Constitution, there would be much more than the requisite two-thirds
+majority for such a Measure in both Houses of the succeeding Congress;
+and moreover that in the event of its failure at the coming Session, it
+was more than probable that President Lincoln would consider himself
+justified in calling an Extra Session of the Thirty-ninth Congress for
+the especial purpose of taking such action. So far then, as the
+prospects of the Thirteenth Amendment were concerned, they looked
+decidedly more encouraging.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+ FREEDOM AT LAST ASSURED.
+
+As to the Military situation, a few words are, at this time, necessary:
+Hood had now marched Northward, with some 50,000 men, toward Nashville,
+Tenn., while Sherman, leaving Thomas and some 35,000 men behind, to
+thwart him, had abandoned his base, and was marching Southward from
+Atlanta, through Georgia, toward the Sea.
+
+On the 30th of November, 1864, General Schofield, in command of the 4th
+and 23rd Corps of Thomas's Army, decided to make a stand against Hood's
+Army, at Franklin, in the angle of the Harpeth river, in order to give
+time for the Union supply-trains to cross the river. Here, with less
+than 20,000 Union troops, behind some hastily constructed works, he had
+received the impetuous and overwhelming assault of the Enemy--at first
+so successful as to threaten a bloody and disastrous rout to the Union
+troops--and, by a brilliant counter-charge, and subsequent obstinate
+defensive-fighting, had repulsed the Rebel forces, with nearly three
+times the Union losses, and withdrew the next day in safety to the
+defenses of Nashville.
+
+A few days later, Hood, with his diminished Rebel Army, sat down before
+the lines of Thomas's somewhat augmented Army, which stretched from bank
+to bank of the bight of the Cumberland river upon which Nashville is
+situated.
+
+And now a season of intense cold set in, lasting a week or ten days.
+During this period of apparent inaction on both sides--which aroused
+public apprehension in the North, and greatly disturbed General Grant--I
+was ordered to City Point, by the General-in-Chief, with a view to his
+detailing me to Thomas's Command, at Nashville.
+
+On the way, I called on President Lincoln, at the White House. I found
+him not very well, and with his feet considerably swollen. He was
+sitting on a chair, with his feet resting on a table, while a barber was
+shaving him. Shaking him by the hand, and asking after his health, he
+answered, with a humorous twinkle of the eye, that he would illustrate
+his condition by telling me a story. Said he: "Two of my neighbors, on
+a certain occasion, swapped horses. One of these horses was large, but
+quite thin. A few days after, on inquiry being made of the man who had
+the big boney horse, how the animal was getting along?--whether
+improving or not?--the owner said he was doing finely; that he had
+fattened almost up to the knees already!"
+
+Afterward--when, the process of shaving had been completed, we passed to
+another room--our conversation naturally turned upon the War; and his
+ideas upon all subjects connected with it were as clear as those of any
+other person with whom I ever talked. He had an absolute conviction as
+to the ultimate outcome of the War--the final triumph of the Union Arms;
+and I well remember, with what an air of complete relief and perfect
+satisfaction he said to me, referring to Grant--"We have now at the head
+of the Armies, a man in whom all the People can have confidence."
+
+But to return to Military operations: On December 10th? Sherman reached
+the sea-board and commenced the siege of Savannah, Georgia; on the 13th,
+Fort McAllister was stormed and Sherman's communications opened with the
+Sea; on the 15th and 16th, the great Battle of Nashville was fought,
+between the Armies of Thomas and Hood, and a glorious victory gained by
+the Union Arms--Hood's Rebel forces being routed, pursued for days, and
+practically dispersed; and, before the year ended, Savannah surrendered,
+and was presented to the Nation, as "a Christmas gift," by Sherman.
+
+And now the last Session of the Thirty-eighth Congress having commenced,
+the Thirteenth Amendment might at any time come up again in the House.
+In his fourth and last Annual Message, just sent in to that Body,
+President Lincoln had said:
+
+"At the last Session of Congress a proposed Amendment of the
+Constitution abolishing Slavery throughout the United States, passed the
+Senate, but failed for lack of the requisite two-thirds vote in the
+House of Representatives. Although the present is the same Congress,
+and nearly the same members, and without questioning the wisdom or
+patriotism of those who stood in opposition, I venture to recommend the
+reconsideration and passage of the measure at the present Session. Of
+course the abstract question is not changed; but an intervening election
+shows, almost certainly, that the next Congress will pass the measure if
+this does not. Hence there is only a question of time as to when the
+proposed Amendment will go to, the States for their action. And as it
+is to so go, at all, events, may we not agree that the sooner the
+better? It is not claimed that the election has imposed a duty on
+members to change their views or their votes, any farther than, as an
+additional element to be considered, their judgment may be affected by
+it. It is the voice of the People now, for the first time, heard upon
+the question. In a great National crisis like ours, unanimity of action
+among those seeking a common end is very desirable--almost
+indispensable. And yet no approach to such unanimity is attainable
+unless some deference shall be paid to the will of the majority simply
+because it is the will of the majority. In this case the common end is
+the maintenance of the Union; and, among the means to secure that end,
+such will, through the election, is most clearly declared in favor of
+such Constitutional Amendment."
+
+After affirming that, on the subject of the preservation of the Union,
+the recent elections had shown the existence of "no diversity among the
+People;" that "we have more men now than we had when the War began;"
+that "we are gaining strength" in all ways; and that, after the
+evidences given by Jefferson Davis of his unchangeable opposition to
+accept anything short of severance from the Union, "no attempt at
+negotiation with the Insurgent leader could result in any good," he
+appealed to the other Insurgents to come back to the fold--the door of
+amnesty and pardon, being still "open to all." But, he continued:
+
+"In presenting the abandonment of armed resistance to the National
+Authority, on the part of the Insurgents, as the only indispensable
+condition to ending the War, on the part of the Government, I retract
+nothing heretofore said as to Slavery. I repeat the declaration made a
+year ago, that 'while I remain in my present position I shall not
+attempt to retract or modify the Emancipation Proclamation, nor shall I
+return to Slavery any Person who is Free by the terms of that
+Proclamation, or by any of the Acts of Congress.' If the People should,
+by whatever mode or means, make it an Executive duty to Reenslave such
+Persons, another, and not I, must be their instrument to perform it. In
+stating a single condition of Peace I mean simply to say that the War
+will cease on the part of the Government, whenever it shall have ceased
+on the part of those who began it."
+
+On the 22d of December, 1864, in accordance with the terms of a
+Concurrent Resolution that had passed both Houses, Congress adjourned
+until January 5, 1865. During the Congressional Recess, however, Mr.
+Lincoln, anxious for the fate of the Thirteenth Amendment, exerted
+himself, as it afterward appeared, to some purpose, in its behalf, by
+inviting private conferences with him, at the White House, of such of
+the Border-State and other War-Democratic Representatives as had before
+voted against the measure, but whose general character gave him ground
+for hoping that they might not be altogether deaf to the voice of reason
+and patriotism.
+
+ [Among those for whom he sent was Mr. Rollins, of
+ Missouri, who afterward gave the following interesting account of
+ the interview:
+
+ "The President had several times in my presence expressed his deep
+ anxiety in favor of the passage of this great measure. He and
+ others had repeatedly counted votes in order to ascertain, as far
+ as they could, the strength of the measure upon a second trial in
+ the House. He was doubtful about its passage, and some ten days or
+ two weeks before it came up for consideration in the House, I
+ received a note from him, written in pencil on a card, while
+ sitting at my desk in the House, stating that he wished to see me,
+ and asking that I call on him at the White House. I responded that
+ I would be there the next morning at nine o'clock.
+
+ "I was prompt in calling upon him and found him alone in his
+ office. He received me in the most cordial manner, and said in his
+ usual familiar way: 'Rollins, I have been wanting to talk to you
+ for some time about the Thirteenth Amendment proposed to the
+ Constitution of the United States, which will have to be voted on
+ now, before a great while.'
+
+ "I said: 'Well, I am here, and ready to talk upon that subject.
+
+ "He said: 'You and I were old Whigs, both of us followers of that
+ great statesman, Henry Clay, and I tell you I never had an opinion
+ upon the subject of Slavery in my life that I did not get from him.
+ I am very anxious that the War should be brought to a close at the
+ earliest possible date, and I don't believe this can be
+ accomplished as long as those fellows down South can rely upon the
+ Border-States to help them; but if the Members from the Border-
+ States would unite, at least enough of them to pass the Thirteenth
+ Amendment to the Constitution, they would soon see that they could
+ not expect much help from that quarter, and be willing to give up
+ their opposition and quit their War upon the Government; that is my
+ chief hope and main reliance to bring the War to a speedy close,
+ and I have sent for you as an old Whig friend to come and see me,
+ that I might make an appeal to you to vote for this Amendment. It
+ is going to be very close; a few votes one way or the other will
+ decide it.'
+
+ "To this, I responded: 'Mr. President, so far as I am concerned,
+ you need not have sent for me to ascertain my views on this
+ subject, for although I represent perhaps the strongest Slave-
+ district in Missouri, and have the misfortune to be one of the
+ largest Slave-owners in the country where I reside, I had already
+ determined to vote for the Amendment.
+
+ "He arose from his chair, and grasping me by the hand, gave it a
+ hearty shake, and said: 'I am most delighted to hear that.'
+
+ "He asked me how many more of the Missouri delegates in the House
+ would vote for it.
+
+ "I said I could not tell; the Republicans of course would; General
+ Loan, Mr. Blow, Mr. Boyd, and Colonel McClurg.
+
+ "He said, 'Won't General Price vote for it? He is a good Union
+ man.' I said I could not answer.
+
+ "'Well, what about General King?'
+
+ "I told him I did not know.
+
+ "He then asked about Judges Hall and Norton.
+
+ "I said they would both vote against it, I thought.
+
+ "'Well,' he said, 'are you on good terms with Price and King?'
+
+ "I responded in the affirmative, and that I was on easy terms with
+ the entire delegation.
+
+ "He then asked me if I would not talk with those who might be
+ persuaded to vote for the amendment, and report to him as soon as I
+ could find out what the prospect was.'
+
+ "I answered that I would do so with pleasure, and remarked at the
+ same time, that when I was a young man, in 1848, I was the Whig
+ competitor of King for Governor of Missouri, and, as he beat me
+ very badly, I thought now he should pay me back by voting as I
+ desired him on this important question.
+
+ "I promised the President I would talk to this gentleman upon the
+ subject.
+
+ "He said: 'I would like you to talk to all the Border-State men
+ whom you can approach properly, and tell them of my anxiety to have
+ the measure pass; and let me know the prospect of the Border-State
+ vote,' which I promised to do.
+
+ "He again said: 'The passage of this Amendment will clinch the
+ whole subject; it will bring the War, I have no doubt, rapidly to a
+ close.'"--Arnold's Life of Lincoln, pp. 358-359,]
+
+On the 5th of January, 1865, the Christmas Recess having expired,
+Congress re-assembled. The motion to reconsider the vote-by which the
+Joint Resolution, to amend the Constitution by the abolition of Slavery,
+had been defeated--was not called up, on that day, as its friends had
+not all returned; but the time was mainly consumed in able speeches, by
+Mr. Creswell of Maryland, and Stevens of Pennsylvania, in which the
+former declared that "whether we would or not, we must establish Freedom
+if we would exterminate Treason. Events have left us no choice. The
+People have learned their duty and have instructed us accordingly." And
+Mr. Thaddeus Stevens solemnly said: "We are about to ascertain the
+National will, by another vote to amend the Constitution. If gentlemen
+opposite will yield to the voice of God and Humanity, and vote for it, I
+verily believe the sword of the Destroying Angel will be stayed, and
+this People be reunited. If we still harden our hearts, and blood must
+still flow, may the ghosts of the slaughtered victims sit heavily upon
+the souls of those who cause it!"
+
+On the 6th of January, Mr. Ashley called up his motion to reconsider the
+vote defeating the Thirteenth Amendment, and opened the debate with a
+lengthy and able speech in favor of that measure, in concluding which he
+said:
+
+"The genius of history, with iron pen, is waiting to record our verdict
+where it will remain forever for all the coming generations of men to
+approve or condemn. God grant that this verdict may be one over which
+the friends of Liberty, impartial and universal, in this Country and
+Europe, and in every Land beneath the sun, may rejoice; a verdict which
+shall declare that America is Free; a verdict which shall add another
+day of jubilee, and the brightest of all, to our National calendar."
+
+The debate was participated in by nearly all the prominent men, on both
+sides of the House--the speeches of Messrs. Cox, Brooks, Voorhees,
+Mallory, Holman, Woods and Pendleton being the most notable, in
+opposition to, and those of Scofield, Rollins, Garfield and Stevens, in
+favor of, the Amendment. That of Scofield probably stirred up "the
+adversary" more thoroughly than any other; that of Rollins was more
+calculated to conciliate and capture the votes of hesitating, or Border-
+State men; that of Garfield was perhaps the most scholarly and eloquent;
+while that of Stevens was remarkable for its sledge-hammer pungency and
+characteristic brevity.
+
+Mr. Pendleton, toward the end of his speech, had said of Mr. Stevens:
+"Let him be careful, lest when the passions of these times be passed
+away, and the historian shall go back to discover where was the original
+infraction of the Constitution, he may find that sin lies at the door of
+others than the people now in arms." And it was this that brought the
+sterling old Patriot again to his feet, in vindication of the acts of
+his liberty-inspired life, and in defense of the power to amend the
+Constitution, which had been assailed.
+
+The personal antithesis with which he concluded his remarks was in
+itself most dramatically effective, Said he:
+
+"So far as the appeals of the learned gentleman (Mr. Pendleton) are
+concerned, in his pathetic winding up, I will be willing to take my
+chance, when we all moulder in the dust. He may have his epitaph
+written, if it be truly written, 'Here rests the ablest and most
+pertinacious defender of Slavery, and opponent of Liberty;' and I will
+be satisfied if my epitaph shall be written thus: 'Here lies one who
+never rose to any eminence, and who only courted the low ambition to
+have it said that he had striven to ameliorate the condition of the
+poor, the lowly, the downtrodden, of every race, and language, and
+color."
+
+As he said these words, the crowded floors and galleries broke out into
+involuntary applause for the grand "Old Commoner"--who only awaited its
+cessation, to caustically add: "I shall be content, with such a eulogy
+on his lofty tomb and such an inscription on my humble grave, to trust
+our memories to the judgment of after ages."
+
+The debate, frequently interrupted by Appropriation Bills, and other
+important and importunate measures, lasted until the 31st of January,
+when Mr. Ashley called the previous question on his motion to
+reconsider.
+
+Mr. Stiles at once moved to table the motion to reconsider. Mr.
+Stiles's motion was lost by 57 yeas to 111 nays. This was in the nature
+of a test-vote, and the result, when announced, was listened to, with
+breathless attention, by the crowded House and galleries. It was too
+close for either side to be satisfied; but it showed a gain to the
+friends of the Amendment; that was something. How the final vote would
+be, none could tell. Meanwhile it was known, from the announcements on
+the floor, that Rogers was absent through his own illness and Voorhees
+through illness in his family.
+
+The previous question being seconded and the main question ordered, the
+yeas and nays were called on the motion to reconsider--and the intense
+silence succeeding the monotonous calling of the names was broken by the
+voice of the Speaker declaring the motion to reconsider, carried, by 112
+yeas to 57 nays.
+
+This vote created a slight sensation. There was a gain of one,
+(English), at any rate, from among those not voting on the previous
+motion. Now, if there should be but the change of a single vote, from
+the nays to the yeas, the Amendment would be carried!
+
+The most intensely anxious solicitude was on nearly every face, as Mr.
+Mallory, at this critical moment, made the point of order that "a vote
+to reconsider the vote by which the subject now before the House was
+disposed of, in June last, requires two-thirds of this Body," and
+emphatically added: "that two-thirds vote has not been obtained."
+
+A sigh of relief swept across the galleries, as the Speaker overruled
+the point of order. Other attempted interruptions being resolutely met
+and defeated by Mr. Ashley, in charge of the Resolution, the "previous
+question" was demanded, seconded, and the main question ordered--which
+was on the passage of the Resolution.
+
+And now, amid the hush of a breathless and intent anxiety--so absolute
+that the scratch of the recording pencil could be heard--the Clerk
+commenced to call the roll!
+
+So consuming was the solicitude, on all sides, for the fate of this
+portentous measure, that fully one-half the Representatives kept tally
+at their desks as the vote proceeded, while the heads of the gathered
+thousands of both sexes, in the galleries, craned forward, as though
+fearing to lose the startlingly clear responses, while the roll-call
+progressed.
+
+When it reached the name of English--Governor English, a Connecticut
+Democrat, who had not voted on the first motion, to table the motion to
+reconsider, but had voted "yea" on the motion to reconsider,--and he
+responded with a clear-cut "aye" on the passage of the Resolution--it
+looked as though light were coming at last, and applause involuntarily
+broke forth from the Republican side of the floor, spreading instantly
+to the galleries, despite the efforts of the Speaker to preserve order.
+
+So, when Ganson of New York, and other Democrats, voted "aye," the
+applause was renewed again and again, and still louder again, when, with
+smiling face--which corroborated the thrilling, fast-spreading, whisper,
+that "the Amendment is safe!"--Speaker Colfax directed the Clerk to call
+his name, as a member of the House, and, in response to that call, voted
+"aye!"
+
+Then came dead silence, as the Clerk passed the result to the Speaker-
+during which a pin might have been heard to drop,--broken at last by the
+Speaker's ringing voice: "The Constitutional majority of two-thirds
+having voted in the affirmative, the Joint Resolution is passed."
+
+ [The enrolled Resolution received the approval and signature of the
+ President, Feb. 1, 1865,]
+
+The words had scarcely left the Speaker's lips, when House and galleries
+sprang to their feet, clapping their hands, stamping their feet, waving
+hats and handkerchiefs, and cheering so loudly and so long that it
+seemed as if this great outburst of enthusiasm--indulged in, in defiance
+of all parliamentary rules--would never cease!
+
+In his efforts to control it, Speaker Colfax hammered the desk until he
+nearly broke his mallet. Finally, by 4 o'clock, P.M., after several
+minutes of useless effort--during which the pounding of the mallet was
+utterly lost in the noisy enthusiasm and excitement, in which both the
+Freedom-loving men and women of the Land, there present, participated--
+the Speaker at last succeeded in securing a lull.
+
+Advantage was instantly taken of it, by the successor of the dead Owen
+Lovejoy, Mr. Ingersoll of Illinois, his young face flushing with the
+glow of patriotism, as he cried: "Mr. Speaker! In honor of this
+Immortal and Sublime Event I move that the House do now adjourn." The
+Speaker declared the motion carried, amid renewed demonstrations of
+enthusiasm.
+
+During all these uncontrollable ebullitions of popular feeling in behalf
+of personal Liberty and National Freedom and strength, the Democratic
+members of the House had sat, many of them moving uneasily in their
+seats, with chagrin painted in deep lines upon their faces, while others
+were bolt upright, as if riveted to their chairs, looking straight
+before them at the Speaker, in a vain attempt, belied by the pallid
+anger of their set countenances, to appear unconscious of the storm of
+popular feeling breaking around them, which they now doggedly perceived
+might be but a forecast of the joyful enthusiasm which on that day, and
+on the morrow, would spread from one end of the Land to the other.
+
+Harris, of Maryland, made a sort of "Last Ditch" protest against
+adjournment, by demanding the "yeas and nays" on the motion to adjourn.
+The motion was, however, carried, by 121 yeas to 24 nays; and, as the
+members left their places in the Hall--many of them to hurry with their
+hearty congratulations to President Lincoln at the White House--the
+triumph, in the Halls of our National Congress, of Freedom and Justice
+and Civilization, over Slavery and Tyranny and Barbarism, was already
+being saluted by the booming of one hundred guns on Capitol Hill.
+
+How large a share was Mr. Lincoln's, in that triumph, these pages have
+already sufficiently indicated. Sweet indeed must have been the joy
+that thrilled his whole being, when, sitting in the White House, he
+heard the bellowing artillery attest the success of his labors in behalf
+of Emancipation. Proud indeed must he have felt when, the following
+night, in response to the loud and jubilant cries of "Lincoln!"
+"Lincoln!" "Abe Lincoln!" "Uncle Abe!" and other affectionate calls,
+from a great concourse of people who, with music, had assembled outside
+the White House to give him a grand serenade and popular ovation, he
+appeared at an open window, bowed to the tumult of their acclamations,
+and declared that "The great Job is ended!"--adding, among other things,
+that the occasion was one fit for congratulation, and, said he, "I
+cannot but congratulate all present--myself, the Country, and the whole
+World--upon this great moral victory. * * * This ends the Job!"
+
+Substantially the job was ended. There was little doubt, after such a
+send off, by the President and by Congress, in view of the character of
+the State Legislatures, as well as the temper of the People, that the
+requisite number of States would be secured to ratify the Thirteenth
+Amendment. Already, on the 1st of February, that is to say, on the very
+day of this popular demonstration at the Executive Mansion, the
+President's own State, Illinois, had ratified it--and this circumstance
+added to the satisfaction and happiness which beamed from, and almost
+made beautiful, his homely face.
+
+Other States quickly followed; Maryland, on February 1st and 3rd; Rhode
+Island and Michigan, on February 2nd; New York, February 2nd and 3rd;
+West Virginia, February 3rd; Maine and Kansas, February 7th;
+Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, February 8th; Virginia, February 9th;
+Ohio and Missouri, February 10th; Nevada and Indiana, February 16th;
+Louisiana, February 17th; Minnesota, February 8th and 23rd; Wisconsin,
+March 1st; Vermont, March 9th; Tennessee, April 5th and 7th; Arkansas,
+April 20th; Connecticut, May 5th; New Hampshire, July 1st; South
+Carolina, November 13th; Alabama, December 2nd; North Carolina, December
+4th; Georgia, December 9th; Oregon, December 11th; California, December
+20th; and Florida, December 28th;--all in 1865; with New Jersey, closely
+following, on January 23rd; and Iowa, January 24th;--in 1866.
+
+Long ere this last date, however, the Secretary of State (Mr. Seward)
+had been able to, and did, announce (November 18, 1865) the ratification
+of the Amendment by the requisite number of States, and certified that
+the same had "become, to all intents and purposes, valid as a part of
+the Constitution of the United States."
+
+Not until then, was "the job" absolutely ended; but, as has been already
+mentioned, it was, at the time Mr. Lincoln spoke, as good as ended. It
+was a foregone conclusion, that the great end for which he, and so many
+other great and good men of the Republic had for so many years been
+earnestly striving, would be an accomplished fact. They had not failed;
+they had stood firm; the victory which he had predicted six years before
+had come!
+
+ [He had said in his Springfield speech, of 1858: "We
+ shall not fail; if we stand firm we shall not fail; wise counsels
+ may accelerate, or mistakes delay, but sooner or later the Victory
+ is sure to come."]
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+ LINCOLN'S SECOND INAUGURATION.
+
+While the death of Slavery in America was decreed, as we have seen; yet,
+the sanguine anticipations of Mr. Lincoln, and other friends of Freedom,
+that such a decree, imperishably grafted into the Constitution, must at
+once end the Rebellion, and bring Peace with a restored Union, were not
+realized. The War went on. Grant was still holding Lee, at Petersburg,
+near Richmond, while Sherman's victorious Army was about entering upon a
+campaign from Savannah, up through the Carolinas.
+
+During the previous Summer, efforts had been made, by Horace Greeley,
+and certain parties supposed to represent the Rebel authorities, to lay
+the ground-work for an early Peace and adjustment of the differences
+between the Government of the United States and the Rebels, but they
+miscarried. They led, however, to the publication of the following
+important conciliatory Presidential announcement:
+
+ "EXECUTIVE MANSION,
+ "WASHINGTON, July 18, 1864.
+
+"To whom it may concern:
+
+"Any proposition which embraces the restoration of Peace, the integrity
+of the whole Union, and the abandonment of Slavery, and which comes by
+and with an authority that can control the Armies now at War against the
+United States, will be received and considered by the Executive
+Government of the United States, and will be met by liberal terms on
+substantial and collateral points; and the bearer or bearers thereof
+shall have safe conduct both ways.
+
+"(Signed) ABRAHAM LINCOLN."
+
+
+About the same time, other efforts were being made, with a similar
+object in view, but which came to naught. The visit of Messrs. Jacques
+and Gilmore to the Rebel Capital on an informal Peace-errand was, at
+least, valuable in this, that it secured from the head and front of the
+armed Conspiracy, Jefferson Davis himself, the following definite
+statement:
+
+"I desire Peace as much as you do; I deplore bloodshed as much as you
+do; but I feel that not one drop of the blood shed in this War is on my
+hands. I can look up to my God and say this. I tried all in my power
+to avert this War. I saw it coming, and for twelve years I worked night
+and day to prevent it; but I could not. The North was mad and blind; it
+would not let us govern ourselves; and so the War came: and now it must
+go on till the last man of this generation falls in his tracks, and his
+children seize his musket and fight our battle, unless you acknowledge
+our right to self-government. We are not fighting for Slavery. We are
+fighting for INDEPENDENCE; and that, or EXTERMINATION, we WILL have."
+
+ [The Nation, July 2, 1885, contained the following
+ remarks, which may be pertinently quoted in support of this
+ authoritative statement that the South was "not fighting for
+ Slavery," but for Independence--that is to say: for Power, and what
+ would flow from it.]
+
+ ["The Charleston News and Courier a fortnight ago remarked that
+ 'not more than one Southern soldier in ten or fifteen was a
+ Slaveholder, or had any interest in Slave Property.' The
+ Laurensville Herald disputed the statement, and declared that 'the
+ Southern Army was really an Army of Slaveholders and the sons of
+ Slaveholders.' The Charleston paper stands by its original
+ position, and cites figures which are conclusive. The Military
+ population of the eleven States which seceded, according to the
+ census of 1860, was 1,064,193. The entire number of Slaveholders
+ in the Country at the same time was 383,637, but of these 77,335
+ lived in the Border States, so that the number in the Seceding
+ States was only 306,302. Most of the small Slaveholders, however,
+ were not Slave-owners, but Slave hirers, and Mr. De Bow, the
+ statistician who supervised the census of 1850, estimated that but
+ little over half the holders were actually owners. The proportion
+ of owners diminished between 1850 and 1860, and the News and
+ Courier thinks that there were not more than 150,000 Slave-owners
+ in the Confederate States when the War broke out. This would be
+ one owner to every seven White males between eighteen and forty-
+ five; but as many of the owners were women, and many of the men
+ were relieved from Military service, the Charleston paper is
+ confirmed in its original opinion that there were ten men in the
+ Southern Army who were not Slave-owners for every soldier who had
+ Slaves of his own."]
+
+And when these self-constituted Peace-delegates had fulfilled the duty
+which their zeal had impelled them to perform, and were taking their
+leave of the Rebel chieftain, Jefferson Davis added:
+
+"Say to Mr. Lincoln, from me, that I shall at any time be pleased to
+receive proposals for PEACE on the basis of our INDEPENDENCE. It will
+be useless to approach me with any other."
+
+Thus the lines had been definitely and distinctly drawn, on both sides.
+The issue of Slavery became admittedly, as between the Government and
+the Rebels, a dead one. The great cardinal issue was now clearly seen
+and authoritatively admitted to be, "the integrity of the whole Union"
+on the one side, and on the other, "Independence of a part of it."
+These precise declarations did great good to the Union Cause in the
+North, and not only helped the triumphant re-election of Mr. Lincoln,
+but also contributed to weaken the position of the Northern advocates of
+Slavery, and to bring about, as we have seen, the extinction of that
+inherited National curse, by Constitutional Amendment.
+
+During January, of 1865, Francis P. Blair having been permitted to pass
+both the Union and Rebel Army lines, showed to Mr. Lincoln a letter,
+written to the former, by Jefferson Davis--and which the latter had
+authorized him to read to the President--stating that he had always
+been, and was still, ready to send or to receive Commissioners "to enter
+into a Conference, with a view to secure Peace to the two Countries."
+On the 18th of that month, purposing to having it shown to Jefferson
+Davis, Mr. Lincoln wrote to Mr. Blair a letter in which, after referring
+to Mr. Davis, he said: "You may say to him that I have constantly been,
+am now, and shall continue, ready to receive any agent whom he, or any
+other influential person now resisting the National Authority, may
+informally send to me, with the view of securing Peace to the People of
+our common Country." On the 21st of January, Mr. Blair was again in
+Richmond; and Mr. Davis had read and retained Mr. Lincoln's letter to
+Blair, who specifically drew the Rebel chieftain's attention to the fact
+that "the part about 'our common Country' related to the part of Mr.
+Davis's letter about 'the two Countries,' to which Mr. Davis replied
+that he so understood it." Yet subsequently, he sent Messrs. Alexander
+H. Stephens, R. M. T. Hunter, and John A. Campbell as Commissioners,
+with instructions, (January 28, 1865,) which, after setting forth the
+language of Mr. Lincoln's letter, proceeded strangely enough to say: "In
+conformity with the letter of Mr. Lincoln, of which the foregoing is a
+copy, you are to proceed to Washington city for informal Conference with
+him upon the issues involved in the existing War, and for the purpose of
+securing Peace to the two Countries!" The Commissioners themselves
+stated in writing that "The substantial object to be obtained by the
+informal Conference is, to ascertain upon what terms the existing War
+can be terminated honorably. * * * Our earnest desire is, that a just
+and honorable Peace may be agreed upon, and we are prepared to receive
+or to submit propositions which may, possibly, lead to the attainment of
+that end." In consequence of this peculiarly "mixed" overture, the
+President sent Secretary Seward to Fortress Monroe, to informally confer
+with the parties, specifically instructing him to "make known to them
+that three things are indispensable, to wit:
+
+"1. The restoration of the National Authority throughout all the
+States.
+
+"2. No receding, by the Executive of the United States, on the Slavery
+question, from the position assumed thereon in the late Annual Message
+to Congress, and in preceding documents.
+
+"3. No cessation of hostilities short of an end of the War and the
+disbanding of all forces hostile to the Government."
+
+Mr. Lincoln also instructed the Secretary to "inform them that all
+propositions of theirs, not inconsistent with the above, will be
+considered and passed upon in a spirit of sincere liberality;" to "hear
+all they may choose to say, and report it" to him, and not to "assume to
+definitely consummate anything." Subsequently, the President, in
+consequence of a dispatch from General Grant to Secretary Stanton,
+decided to go himself to Fortress Monroe.
+
+ Following is the dispatch:
+
+ [In Cipher]
+
+ OFFICE UNITED STATES MILITARY TELEGRAPH. WAR DEPARTMENT.
+
+ "The following telegram received at Washington, 4.35 A.M., February
+ 2, 1865. From City Point, Va., February 1, 10.30 P.M., 1865
+
+ "Now that the interview between Major Eckert, under his written
+ instructions, and Mr. Stephens and party has ended, I will state
+ confidentially, but not officially, to become a matter of record,
+ that I am convinced, upon conversation with Messrs. Stephens and
+ Hunter, that their intentions are good and their desire sincere to
+ restore Peace and Union. I have not felt myself at liberty to
+ express, even, views of my own, or to account for my reticency.
+ This has placed me in an awkward position, which I could have
+ avoided by not seeing them in the first instance. I fear now their
+ going back without any expression from any one in authority will
+ have a bad influence. At the same time I recognize the
+ difficulties in the way of receiving these informal Commissioners
+ at this time, and do not know what to recommend. I am sorry,
+ however, that Mr. Lincoln cannot have an interview with the two
+ named in this dispatch, if not all three now within our lines.
+ Their letter to me was all that the President's instructions
+ contemplated to secure their safe conduct, if they had used the
+ same language to Major Eckert.
+
+ "U. S. GRANT,
+ "Lieutenant General.
+
+ "Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON,
+ "Secretary of War."
+
+ Mr. Stephens is stated by a Georgia paper to have repeated the
+ following characteristic anecdote of what occurred during the
+ interview. "The three Southern gentlemen met Mr. Lincoln and Mr.
+ Seward, and after some preliminary remarks, the subject of Peace
+ was opened. Mr. Stephens, well aware that one who asks much may
+ get more than he who confesses to humble wishes at the outset,
+ urged the claims of his Section with that skill and address for
+ which the Northern papers have given him credit. Mr. Lincoln,
+ holding the vantage ground of conscious power, was, however,
+ perfectly frank, and submitted his views almost in the form of an
+ argument. * * * Davis had, on this occasion, as on that of Mr.
+ Stephens's visit to Washington, made it a condition that no
+ Conference should be had unless his rank as Commander or President
+ should first be recognized. Mr. Lincoln declared that the only
+ ground on which he could rest the justice of War--either with his
+ own people, or with foreign powers--was that it was not a War for
+ conquest, for that the States had never been separated from the
+ Union. Consequently, he could not recognize another Government
+ inside of the one of which he alone was President; nor admit the
+ separate Independence of States that were yet a part of the Union.
+ 'That' said he 'would be doing what you have so long asked Europe
+ to do in vain, and be resigning the only thing the Armies of the
+ Union have been fighting for.' Mr. Hunter made a long reply to
+ this, insisting that the recognition of Davis's power to make a
+ Treaty was the first and indispensable step to Peace, and referred
+ to the correspondence between King Charles I., and his Parliament,
+ as a trustworthy precedent of a Constitutional ruler treating with
+ Rebels. Mr. Lincoln's face then wore that indescribable expression
+ which generally preceded his hardest hits, and he remarked: 'Upon
+ questions of history I must refer you to Mr. Seward, for he is
+ posted in such things, and I don't pretend to be bright. My only
+ distinct recollection of the matter is that Charles lost his head,'
+ That settled Mr. Hunter for a while." Arnold's Lincoln, p. 400.
+
+On the night of February 2nd, Mr. Lincoln reached Hampton Roads, and
+joined Secretary Seward on board a steamer anchored off the shore. The
+next morning, from another steamer, similarly anchored, Messrs.
+Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell were brought aboard the President's
+steamer and a Conference with the President and Secretary of several
+hours' duration was the result. Mr. Lincoln's own statement of what
+transpired was in these words:
+
+"No question of preliminaries to the meeting was then and there made or
+mentioned. No other person was present; no papers were exchanged or
+produced; and it was, in advance, agreed that the conversation was to be
+informal and verbal merely. On our part, the whole substance of the
+instructions to the Secretary of State, hereinbefore recited, was stated
+and insisted upon, and nothing was said inconsistent therewith; while,
+by the other party, it was not said that in any event or on any
+condition, they ever would consent to Re-union; and yet they equally
+omitted to declare that they never would so consent. They seemed to
+desire a postponement of that question, and the adoption of some other
+course first, which, as some of them seemed to argue, might or might not
+lead to Reunion; but which course, we thought, would amount to an
+indefinite postponement. The Conference ended without result."
+
+In his communication to the Rebel Congress at Richmond, February 6.
+1865, Jefferson Davis, after mentioning his appointment of Messrs.
+Stephens, Hunter and Campbell, for the purpose stated, proceeded to say:
+
+"I herewith transmit, for the information of Congress, the report of the
+eminent citizens above named, showing that the Enemy refused to enter
+into negotiations with the Confederate States, or any one of them
+separately, or to give to our people any other terms or guarantees than
+those which the conqueror may grant, or to permit us to have Peace on
+any other basis than our unconditional submission to their rule, coupled
+with the acceptance of their recent legislation on the subject of the
+relations between the White and Black population of each State."
+
+On the 5th and 9th of February, public meetings were held at Richmond,
+in connection with these Peace negotiations. At the first, Jefferson
+Davis made a speech in which the Richmond Dispatch reported him as
+emphatically asserting that no conditions of Peace "save the
+Independence of the Confederacy could ever receive his sanction. He
+doubted not that victory would yet crown our labors, * * * and sooner
+than we should ever be united again he would be willing to yield up
+everything he had on Earth, and if it were possible would sacrifice a
+thousand lives before he would succumb." Thereupon the meeting of
+Rebels passed resolutions "spurning" Mr. Lincoln's terms "with the
+indignation due to so gross an insult;" declared that the circumstances
+connected with his offer could only "add to the outrage and stamp it as
+a designed and premeditated indignity" offered to them; and invoking
+"the aid of Almighty God" to carry out their "resolve to maintain" their
+"Liberties and Independence"--to which, said they, "we mutually pledge
+our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." So too, at the second
+of these meetings, presided over by R. M. T. Hunter, and addressed by
+the Rebel Secretary Judah P. Benjamin, resolutions were adopted amid
+"wild and long continued cheering," one of which stated that they would
+"never lay down" their "arms until" their "Independence" had "been won,"
+while another declared a full confidence in the sufficiency of their
+resources to "conduct the War successfully and to that issue," and
+invoked "the People, in the name of the holiest of all causes, to spare
+neither their blood nor their treasure in its maintenance and support."
+
+As during these Peace negotiations, General Grant, by express direction
+of President Lincoln, had not changed, hindered, nor delayed, any of his
+"Military movements or plans," so, now that the negotiations had failed,
+those Military movements were pressed more strenuously than ever.
+
+ [The main object of this Conference on the part of the Rebels was
+ to secure an immediate truce, or breathing spell, during which they
+ could get themselves in better condition for continuing the War.
+ Indeed a portion of Mr. Seward's letter of Feb. 7, 1865, to Mr.
+ Adams, our Minister at the Court of St. James, giving him an
+ account of the Conference with the party of Insurgent
+ Commissioners, would not alone indicate this, but also that it was
+ proposed by that "Insurgent party," that both sides, during the
+ time they would thus cease to fight one another, might profitably
+ combine their forces to drive the French invaders out of Mexico and
+ annex that valuable country. At least, the following passage in
+ that letter will bear that construction:
+
+ "What the Insurgent party seemed chiefly to favor was a
+ postponement of the question of separation, upon which the War is
+ waged, and a mutual direction of efforts of the Government, as well
+ as those of the Insurgents, to some extrinsic policy or scheme for
+ a season, during which passions might be expected to subside, and
+ the Armies be reduced, and trade and intercourse between the People
+ of both Sections resumed. It was suggested by them that through
+ such postponements we might now have immediate Peace, with some not
+ very certain prospect of an ultimate satisfactory adjustment of
+ political relations between this Government, and the States,
+ Section, or People, now engaged in conflict with it."
+
+ For the whole of this letter see McPherson's History of the
+ Rebellion, p. 570.]
+
+Fort Fisher, North Carolina, had already been captured by a combined
+Military and Naval attack of the Union forces under General Terry and
+Admiral Porter; and Sherman's Army was now victoriously advancing from
+Savannah, Georgia, Northwardly through South Carolina. On the 17th of
+February, Columbia, the capital of the latter State, surrendered, and,
+the day following, Charleston was evacuated, and its defenses, including
+historic Fort Sumter, were once more under that glorious old flag of the
+Union which four years before had been driven away, by shot and shell
+and flame, amid the frantic exultations of the temporarily successful
+armed Conspirators of South Carolina. On the 22nd of February, General
+Schofield, who had been sent by Grant with his 23rd Corps, by water, to
+form a junction with Terry's troops about Fort Fisher, and capture
+Wilmington, North Carolina, had also accomplished his purpose
+successfully.
+
+The Rebel Cause now began to look pretty desperate, even to Rebel eyes.
+
+ [Hundreds of Rebels were now deserting from Lee's Armies about
+ Richmond, every night, owing partly to despondency. "These
+ desertions," wrote Lee, on the 24th February, "have a very bad
+ effect upon the troops who remain, and give rise to painful
+ apprehensions." Another cause was the lack of food and clothing.
+ Says Badeau (Military History of Ulysses S. Grant, vol. iii., p.
+ 399): "On the 8th of January, Lee wrote to the Rebel Government
+ that the entire Right Wing of his Army had been in line for three
+ days and nights, in the most inclement weather of the season.
+ 'Under these circumstances,' he said, 'heightened by assaults and
+ fire of the Enemy, some of the men had been without meat for three
+ days, and all were suffering from reduced rations and scant
+ clothing. Colonel Cole, chief commissary, reports that he has not
+ a pound of meat at his disposal. If some change is not made, and
+ the commissary department reorganized, I apprehend dire results.
+ The physical strength of the men, if their courage survives, must
+ fail under this treatment. Our Cavalry has to be dispersed for
+ want of forage. Fitz Lee's and Lomax's Divisions are scattered
+ because supplies cannot be transported where their services are
+ required. I had to bring Fitz Lee's Division sixty miles Sunday
+ night, to get them in position. Taking these facts in connection
+ with the paucity of our numbers, you must not be surprised if
+ calamity befalls us.'" Badeau's (Grant, vol. iii., p. 401,)]
+
+Toward the end of February, the Rebel General Longstreet having
+requested an interview with General Ord "to arrange for the exchange of
+citizen prisoners, and prisoners of war, improperly captured," General
+Grant authorized General Ord to hold such interview t and "to arrange
+definitely for such as were confined in his department, arrangements for
+all others to be submitted for approval." In the course of that
+interview "a general conversation ensued on the subject of the War,"
+when it would seem that Longstreet suggested the idea of a composition
+of the questions at issue, and Peace between the United States and the
+Rebels, by means of a Military Convention. It is quite probable that
+this idea originated with Jefferson Davis, as a /dernier ressort/; for
+Longstreet appears to have communicated directly with Davis concerning
+his interview or "interviews" with Ord. On the 28th of February, 1865
+the Rebel Chief wrote to Lee, as follows:
+
+ "RICHMOND, VA., February 28.
+
+"Gen. R. E. LEE, Commanding, etc.,
+
+"GENERAL: You will learn by the letter of General Longstreet the result
+of his second interview with General Ord. The points as to whether
+yourself or General Grant should invite the other to a Conference is not
+worth discussing. If you think the statements of General Ord render it
+probably useful that the Conference suggested should be had, you will
+proceed as you may prefer, and are clothed with all the supplemental
+authority you may need in the consideration of any proposition for a
+Military Convention, or the appointment of a Commissioner to enter into
+such an arrangement as will cause at least temporary suspension of
+hostilities.
+ "Very truly yours
+ "JEFFERSON DAVIS."
+
+
+Thereupon General Lee wrote, and sent to General Grant, the following
+communication:
+
+ "HEADQUARTERS C. S. ARMIES, March 2, 1865.
+"Lieut. Gen. U. S. GRANT,
+"Commanding United States Armies:
+
+"GENERAL: Lieut.-Gen. Longstreet has informed me that, in a recent
+conversation between himself and Maj.-Gen. Ord, as to the possibility of
+arriving at a satisfactory adjustment of the present unhappy
+difficulties by means of a Military Convention, General Ord stated that
+if I desired to have an interview with you on the subject, you would not
+decline, provided I had authority to act. Sincerely desirous to leave
+nothing untried which may put an end to the calamities of War, I propose
+to meet you at such convenient time and place as you may designate, with
+the hope that, upon an interchange of views, it may be found practicable
+to submit the subjects of controversy between the belligerents to a
+Convention of the kind mentioned.
+
+"In such event, I am authorized to do whatever the result of the
+proposed interview may render necessary or advisable. Should you accede
+to this proposition, I would suggest that, if agreeable to you, we meet
+at the place selected by Generals Ord and Longstreet, for the interview,
+at 11 A.M., on Monday next.
+
+ "Very respectfully your obedient servant,
+ "R. E. LEE, General."
+
+
+Upon receipt of this letter, General Grant sent a telegraphic dispatch
+to Secretary Stanton, informing him of Lee's proposition. It reached
+the Secretary of War just before midnight of March 3rd. He, and the
+other members of the Cabinet were with the President, in the latter's
+room at the Capitol, whither they had gone on this, the last, night of
+the last Session of the Thirty-Eighth Congress, the Cabinet to advise,
+and the President to act, upon bills submitted to him for approval. The
+Secretary, after reading the dispatch, handed it to Mr. Lincoln. The
+latter read and thought over it briefly, and then himself wrote the
+following reply:
+
+"WASHINGTON, March, 3, 1865, 12 P.M.
+
+"LIEUTENANT GENERAL GRANT: The President directs me to say to you that
+he wishes you to have no Conference with General Lee, unless it be for
+the capitulation of General Lee's Army, or on some other minor and
+purely Military matter. He instructs me to say to you that you are not
+to decide, discuss, or confer upon any political question. Such
+questions the President holds in his own hands, and will submit them to
+no Military Conferences or Conventions. Meanwhile you are to press to
+the utmost your Military advantages.
+ "EDWIN M. STANTON,
+ "Secretary of War."
+
+
+General Grant received this dispatch, on the day following, and at once
+wrote and sent to General Lee a communication in which, after referring
+to the subject of the exchange of prisoners, he said: "In regard to
+meeting you on the 6th inst., I would state that--I have no authority to
+accede to your proposition for a Conference on the subject proposed.
+Such authority is vested in the President of the United States alone.
+General Ord could only have meant that I would not refuse an interview
+on any subject on which I have a right to act; which, of course, would
+be such as are purely of a Military character, and on the subject of
+exchange, which has been entrusted to me."
+
+Thus perished the last reasonable hope entertained by the Rebel
+Chieftains to ward off the inevitable and mortal blow that was about to
+smite their Cause.
+
+The 4th of March, 1865, had come. The Thirty-Eighth Congress was no
+more. Mr. Lincoln was about to be inaugurated, for a second term, as
+President of the United States. The previous night had been vexed with
+a stormy snow-fall. The morning had also been stormy and rainy. By
+mid-day, however, as if to mark the event auspiciously, the skies
+cleared and the sun shone gloriously upon the thousands and tens of
+thousands who had come to Washington, to witness the second Inauguration
+of him whom the people had now, long since, learned to affectionately
+term "Father Abraham"--of him who had become the veritable Father of his
+People. As the President left the White House, to join the grand
+procession to the Capitol, a brilliant meteor shot athwart the heavens,
+above his head. At the time, the superstitious thought it an Omen of
+triumph--of coming Peace--but in the sad after-days when armed Rebellion
+had ceased and Peace had come, it was remembered, with a shudder, as a
+portent of ill. When, at last, Mr. Lincoln stood, with bared head, upon
+the platform at the eastern portico of the Capitol, where four years
+before, he had made his vows before the People, under such very
+different circumstances and surroundings, the contrast between that time
+and this--and all the terrible and eventful history of the interim--
+could not fail to present itself to every mind of all those congregated,
+whether upon the platform among the gorgeously costumed foreign
+diplomats, the full-uniformed Military and Naval officers of the United
+States, and the more soberly-clad statesmen and Civic and Judicial
+functionaries of the Land, or in the vast and indiscriminate mass of the
+enthusiastic people in front and on both sides of it. As Chief Justice
+Chase administered the oath, and Abraham Lincoln, in view of all the
+people, reverently bowed his head and kissed the open Bible, at a
+passage in Isaiah (27th and 28th verses of the 5th Chapter) which it was
+thought "admonished him to be on his guard, and not to relax at all, in
+his efforts," the people, whose first cheers of welcome had been stayed
+by the President's uplifted hand, broke forth in a tumult of cheering,
+until again hushed by the clear, strong, even voice of the President, as
+he delivered that second Inaugural Address, whose touching tenderness,
+religious resignation, and Christian charity, were clad in these
+imperishable words:
+
+"FELLOW COUNTRYMEN: At this second appearing to take the Oath of the
+Presidential office, there is less occasion for an extended address than
+there was at the first. Then, a statement, somewhat in detail, of a
+course to be pursued, seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration
+of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly
+called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still
+absorbs the attention and engrosses the energy of the Nation, little
+that is new could be presented. The progress of our Arms, upon which
+all else depends, is as well known to the public as to myself; and it
+is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high
+hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.
+
+"On the occasion corresponding to this, four years ago, all thoughts
+were anxiously directed to an impending Civil War. All dreaded it--all
+sought to avert it. While the Inaugural Address was being delivered
+from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without War,
+Insurgent agents were in the city, seeking to destroy it without War--
+seeking to dissolve the Union, and divide the effects, by negotiation.
+Both parties deprecated War; but one of them would make War rather than
+let the Nation survive; and the other would accept War rather than let
+it perish--and the War came.
+
+"One-eighth of the whole population were colored Slaves, not distributed
+generally over the Union, but localized in the Southern part of it.
+These Slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew
+that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the War. To strengthen,
+perpetuate and extend this interest was the object for which the
+Insurgents would rend the Union, even by War; while the Government
+claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement
+of it. Neither Party expected for the War the magnitude or the duration
+which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of
+the conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself
+should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less
+fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible, and pray to the
+same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem
+strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in
+wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces; but let us
+judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be
+answered--that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His
+own purposes. 'Woe unto the World because of offences! for it must
+needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence
+cometh.' If we shall suppose that American Slavery is one of those
+offences which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which,
+having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and
+that He gives to both North and South this terrible War, as the woe due
+to those by Whom the offence came, shall we discern therein any
+departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living
+God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope--fervently do we pray--
+that this mighty scourge of War may speedily pass away. Yet, if God
+wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondman's two
+hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until
+every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn
+with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must
+be said, 'The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'
+
+"With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the
+right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the
+work we are in; to bind up the Nation's wounds, to care for him who
+shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan--to do
+all which may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting Peace among
+ourselves, and with all Nations."
+
+With utterances so just and fair, so firm and hopeful, so penitent and
+humble, so benignant and charitable, so mournfully tender and sweetly
+solemn, so full of the fervor of true piety and the very pathos of
+patriotism, small wonder is it that among those numberless thousands
+who, on this memorable occasion, gazed upon the tall, gaunt form of
+Abraham Lincoln, and heard his clear, sad voice, were some who almost
+imagined they saw the form and heard the voice of one of the great
+prophets and leaders of Israel; while others were more reminded of one
+of the Holy Apostles of the later Dispensation who preached the glorious
+Gospel "On Earth, Peace, good will toward Men," and received in the end
+the crown of Christian martyrdom. But not one soul of those present--
+unless his own felt such presentiment--dreamed for a moment that, all
+too soon, the light of those brave and kindly eyes was fated to go out
+in darkness, that sad voice to be hushed forever, that form to lie
+bleeding and dead, a martyred sacrifice indeed, upon the altar of his
+Country!
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXX.
+
+ COLLAPSE OF THE ARMED CONSPIRACY.
+
+Meantime, Sherman's Armies were pressing along upward, toward Raleigh,
+from Columbia, marching through swamps and over quicksands and across
+swollen streams--cold, wet, hungry, tired--often up to their armpits in
+water, yet keeping their powder dry, and silencing opposing batteries or
+driving the Enemy, who doggedly retired before them, through the
+drenching rains which poured down unceasingly for days, and even weeks,
+at a time. On the 16th of March, 1865, a part of Sherman's Forces met
+the Enemy, under General Joe Johnston, at Averysboro, N. C., and forced
+him to retire. On the 19th and 20th of March, occurred the series of
+engagements, about Mill Creek and the Bentonville and Smithfield cross-
+roads, which culminated in the attack upon the Enemy, of the 21st of
+March, and his evacuation, that night, of his entire line of works, and
+retreat upon Smithfield. This was known as the Battle of Bentonville,
+and was the last battle fought between the rival Forces under Sherman
+and Johnston. The Armies of Sherman, now swollen by having formed a
+junction with the troops under Schofield and Terry, which had come from
+Newbern and Wilmington, went into camp at Goldsboro, North Carolina, to
+await the rebuilding of the railroads from those two points on the
+coast, and the arrival of badly needed clothing, provision, and other
+supplies, after which the march would be resumed to Burksville,
+Virginia. By the 25th of March, the railroad from Newbern was in
+running order, and General Sherman, leaving General Schofield in command
+of his eighty thousand troops, went to Newbern and Morehead City, and
+thence by steamer to City Point, for a personal interview with General
+Grant. On the same day, Lee made a desperate but useless assault, with
+twenty thousand (of his seventy thousand) men upon Fort Stedman--a
+portion of Grant's works in front of Petersburg. On the 27th, President
+Lincoln reached City Point, on the James River, in the steamer "Ocean
+Queen." Sherman reached City Point the same day, and, after meeting the
+General-in-Chief, Grant took him on board the "Ocean Queen" to see the
+President. Together they explained to Mr. Lincoln the Military
+situation, during the "hour or more" they were with him. Of this
+interview with Mr. Lincoln, General Sherman afterwards wrote: "General
+Grant and I explained to him that my next move from Goldsboro would
+bring my Army, increased to eighty thousand men by Schofield's and
+Terry's reinforcements, in close communication with General Grant's
+Army, then investing Lee in Richmond, and that unless Lee could effect
+his escape, and make junction with Johnston in North Carolina, he would
+soon be shut up in Richmond with no possibility of supplies, and would
+have to surrender. Mr. Lincoln was extremely interested in this view of
+the case, and when we explained that Lee's only chance was to escape,
+join Johnston, and, being then between me in North Carolina, and Grant
+in Virginia, could choose which to fight. Mr. Lincoln seemed unusually
+impressed with this; but General Grant explained that, at the very
+moment of our conversation, General Sheridan was passing his Cavalry
+across James River, from the North to the South; that he would, with
+this Cavalry, so extend his left below Petersburg as to meet the South
+Shore Road; and that if Lee should 'let go' his fortified lines, he
+(Grant) would follow him so close that he could not possibly fall on me
+alone in North Carolina. I, in like manner, expressed the fullest
+confidence that my Army in North Carolina was willing to cope with Lee
+and Johnston combined, till Grant could come up. But we both agreed
+that one more bloody battle was likely to occur before the close of the
+War. Mr. Lincoln * * * more than once exclaimed: 'Must more blood be
+shed? Cannot this last bloody battle be avoided?' We explained that we
+had to presume that General Lee was a real general; that he must see
+that Johnston alone was no barrier to my progress; and that if my Army
+of eighty thousand veterans should reach Burksville, he was lost in
+Richmond; and that we were forced to believe he would not await that
+inevitable conclusion, but make one more desperate effort."
+
+President Lincoln's intense anxiety caused him to remain at City Point,
+from this time forth, almost until the end--receiving from General
+Grant, when absent, at the immediate front, frequent dispatches, which,
+as fast as received and read, he transmitted to the Secretary of War, at
+Washington. Grant had already given general instructions to Major-
+Generals Meade, Ord, and Sheridan, for the closing movements of his
+immediate Forces, against Lee and his lines of supply and possible
+retreat. He saw that the time had come for which he had so long waited,
+and he now felt "like ending the matter." On the morning of the 29th of
+March--preliminary dispositions having been executed--the movements
+began. That night, Grant wrote to Sheridan, who was at Dinwiddie Court
+House, with his ten thousand Cavalry: "Our line is now unbroken from the
+Appomattox to Dinwiddie. * * * I feel now like ending the matter, if
+it is possible to do so, before going back. * * * In the morning, push
+around the Enemy, if you can, and get on his right rear. * * * We will
+all act together as one Army, until it is seen what can be done with the
+Enemy." The rain fell all that night in torrents. The face of the
+country, where forests, swamps, and quicksands alternated in presenting
+apparently insuperable obstacles to immediate advance, was very
+discouraging next morning, but Sheridan's heart was gladdened by orders
+to seize Five Forks.
+
+On the 31st, the Battle of Dinwiddie Court House occurred--the Enemy
+attacking Sheridan and Warren with a largely superior force. During the
+night, Sheridan was reinforced with the Fifth Corps, and other troops.
+On April 1st, Sheridan fought, and won, the glorious Battle of Five
+Forks, against this detached Rebel force, and, besides capturing 6,000
+prisoners and six pieces of artillery, dispersed the rest to the North
+and West, away from the balance of Lee's Army. That night, after Grant
+received the news of this victory, he went into his tent, wrote a
+dispatch, sent it by an orderly, and returning to the fire outside his
+tent, calmly said: "I have ordered an immediate assault along the
+lines." This was afterward modified to an attack at three points, on
+the Petersburg works, at 4 o'clock in the morning--a terrific
+bombardment, however, to be kept up all night. Grant also sent more
+reinforcements to Sheridan. On the morning of April 2nd, the assault
+was made, and the Enemy's works were gallantly carried, while Sheridan
+was coming up to the West of Petersburg.
+
+The Rebel Chieftain Lee, when his works were stormed and carried, is
+said to have exclaimed: "It has happened as I thought; the lines have
+been stretched until they broke." At 10.30 A. M. he telegraphed to
+Jefferson Davis: "My lines are broken in three places. Richmond must be
+evacuated this evening." This dispatch of Parke, Ord on Wright's left,
+Humphreys on Ord's left and Warren on Humphrey's left-Sheridan being to
+the rear and left of Warren, reached Davis, while at church. All
+present felt, as he retired, that the end of the Rebellion had come. At
+10.40 A. M. Lee reported further: "I see no prospect of doing more than
+holding our position here till night. I am not certain that I can do
+that. If I can, I shall withdraw tonight, North of the Appomattox, and
+if possible, it will be better to withdraw the whole line to-night from
+James river. * * * Our only chance of concentrating our Forces is to
+do so near Danville railroad, which I shall endeavor to do at once. I
+advise that all preparations be made for leaving Richmond to-night. I
+will advise you later, according to circumstances. "At 7 o'clock P. M.
+Lee again communicated to the Rebel Secretary of War this information:
+"It is absolutely necessary that we should abandon our position to-
+night, or run the risk of being cut off in the morning. I have given
+all the orders to officers on both sides of the river, and have taken
+every precaution that I can to make the movement successful. It will be
+a difficult operation, but I hope not impracticable. Please give all
+orders that you find necessary, in and about Richmond. The troops will
+all be directed to Amelia Court House." This was the last dispatch sent
+by Lee to the Rebel Government.
+
+On the 3rd of April, Petersburg and Richmond were evacuated, and again
+under the Union flag, while Grant's immediate Forces were pressing
+forward to cut off the retreat of Lee, upon Amelia Court House and
+Danville, in an effort to form a junction with Johnston. On the 6th,
+the important Battle of Sailor's Creek, Va., was fought and won by
+Sheridan. On the evening of the 7th, at the Farmville hotel, where Lee
+had slept the night before, Grant, after sending dispatches to Sheridan
+at Prospect Station, Ord at Prince Edward's Court House, and Mead at
+Rice Station, wrote the following letter to Lee:
+
+ "FARMVILLE, April 7th, 1865.
+
+"GENERAL: The results of the last week must convince you of the
+hopelessness of further resistance, on the part of the Army of Northern
+Virginia, in this struggle. I feel that it is so, and regard it as my
+duty to shift from myself the responsibility of any further effusion of
+blood, by asking of you the surrender of that portion of the Confederate
+States' army known as the Army of Northern Virginia.
+
+"U. S. GRANT,
+"Lieutenant-General."
+
+
+Lee, however, in replying to this demand, and in subsequent
+correspondence, seemed to be unable to see "the hopelessness of further
+resistance." He thought "the emergency had not yet come." Hence, Grant
+decided to so press and harass him, as to bring the emergency along
+quickly. Accordingly, by the night of the 8th of April, Sheridan with
+his Cavalry had completely headed Lee off, at Appomattox Court House.
+By morning, Ord's forces had reached Sheridan, and were in line behind
+him. Two Corps of the Army of the Potomac, under Meade, were also, by
+this time, close on the Enemy's rear. And now the harassed Enemy,
+conscious that his rear was threatened, and seeing only Cavalry in his
+front, through which to fight his way, advanced to the attack. The
+dismounted Cavalry of Sheridan contested the advance, in order to give
+Ord and Griffin as much time as possible to form, then, mounting and
+moving rapidly aside, they suddenly uncovered, to the charging Rebels,
+Ord's impenetrable barrier of Infantry, advancing upon them at a double-
+quick! At the same time that this appalling sight staggered them, and
+rolled them back in despair, they became aware that Sheridan's impetuous
+Cavalry, now mounted, were hovering on their left flank, evidently about
+to charge!
+
+Lee at once concluded that the emergency "had now come," and sent, both
+to Sheridan and Meade, a flag of truce, asking that hostilities cease,
+pending negotiations for a surrender--having also requested of Grant an
+audience with a view to such surrender. That afternoon the two great
+rival Military Chieftains met by appointment in the plain little farm-
+house of one McLean--Lee dressed in his best full-dress uniform and
+sword, Grant in a uniform soiled and dusty, and without any sword--and,
+after a few preliminary words, as to the terms proposed by Grant, the
+latter sat down to the table, and wrote the following:
+
+ "APPOMATTOX COURT HOUSE,
+ "VIRGINIA, April 9, 1865.
+
+"GENERAL: In accordance with the substance of my letter to you of the
+8th instant, I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of Northern
+Virginia on the following terms, to wit: Rolls of all the officers and
+men to be made in duplicate, one copy to be given to an officer to be
+designated by me, the other to be retained by such officer or officers
+as you may designate. The officers to give their individual paroles not
+to take up arms against the Government of the United States, until
+properly exchanged; and each company or regimental commander to sign a
+like parole for the men of their commands. The arms, artillery, and
+public property to be parked and stacked, and turned over to the
+officers appointed by me to receive them. This will not embrace the
+side-arms of the officers nor their private horses or baggage. This
+done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to his home, not to
+be disturbed by United States authority so long as they observe their
+paroles and the laws in force where they may reside.
+
+ "U. S. GRANT,
+ "Lieutenant-General.
+
+"General R. E. LEE."
+
+After some further conversation, in which Grant intimated that his
+officers receiving paroles would be instructed to "allow the Cavalry and
+Artillery men to retain their horses, and take them home to work their
+little farms"--a kindness which Lee said, would "have the best possible
+effect," the latter wrote his surrender in the following words:
+
+ "HEAD-QUARTERS, ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA,
+ April 9, 1865.
+
+"GENERAL: I received your letter of this date containing the terms of
+the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, as proposed by you. As
+they are substantially the same as those expressed in your letter of the
+8th instant, they are accepted. I will proceed to designate the proper
+officers to carry the stipulations into effect.
+ "R. E. LEE, General.
+
+"Lieutenant-General U. S. GRANT."
+
+
+Before parting, Lee told Grant that his men were starving; and Grant at
+once ordered 25,000 rations to be issued to the surrendered Rebels--and
+then the Rebel Chieftain, shaking hands with the Victor, rode away to
+his conquered legions. It was 4.30 P.M. when Grant, on his way to his
+own headquarters, now with Sheridan's command, dismounted from his
+horse, and sitting on a stone by the roadside, wrote the following
+dispatch:
+
+ "Hon. E. M. STANTON,
+ Secretary of War, Washington.
+
+"General Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia this afternoon on
+terms proposed by myself. The accompanying additional correspondence
+will show the conditions fully.
+ "U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant General."
+
+
+Meanwhile on the 5th of April, Grant, who had kept Sherman, as well as
+Sheridan, advised of his main movements, had also ordered the former to
+press Johnston's Army as he was pressing Lee, so as, between them, they
+might "push on, and finish the job." In accordance with this order,
+Sherman's Forces advanced toward Smithfield, and, Johnston having
+rapidly retreated before them, entered Raleigh, North Carolina, on the
+13th. The 14th of April, brought the news of the surrender of Lee to
+Grant, and the same day a correspondence was opened between Sherman and
+Johnston, looking to the surrender of the latter's Army--terms for which
+were actually agreed upon, subject, however, to approval of Sherman's
+superiors. Those terms, however, being considered unsatisfactory, were
+promptly disapproved, and similar terms to those allowed to Lee's Army,
+were substituted, and agreed to, the actual surrender taking place April
+26th, near Durham, North Carolina. On the 21st, Macon, Georgia, with
+12,000 Rebel Militia, and sixty guns, was surrendered to Wilson's
+Cavalry-command, by General Howell Cobb. On the 4th of May, General
+Richard Taylor surrendered all the armed Rebel troops, East of the
+Mississippi river; and on the 26th of May, General Kirby Smith
+surrendered all of them, West of that river.
+
+On that day, organized, armed Rebellion against the United States
+ceased, and became a thing of the past. It had been conquered, stamped
+out, and extinguished, while its civic head, Jefferson Davis, captured
+May 11th, at Irwinsville, Georgia, while attempting to escape, was, with
+other leading Rebels, a prisoner in a Union fort. Four years of armed
+Rebellion had been enough for them. They were absolutely sick of it.
+And the magnanimity of the terms given them by Grant, completed their
+subjugation. "The wisdom of his course," says Badeau, "was proved by
+the haste which the Rebels made to yield everything they had fought for.
+They were ready not only to give up their arms, but literally to implore
+forgiveness of the Government. They acquiesced in the abolition of
+Slavery. They abandoned the heresy of Secession, and waited to learn
+what else their conquerors would dictate. They dreamed not of political
+power. They only asked to be let live quietly under the flag they had
+outraged, and attempt in some degree to rebuild their shattered
+fortunes. The greatest General of the Rebellion asked for pardon."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+ ASSASSINATION!
+
+But while some of the great Military events alluded to in the preceding
+Chapter, had been transpiring at the theatre of War, something else had
+happened at the National Capital, so momentous, so atrocious, so
+execrable, that it was with difficulty the victorious soldiers of the
+Union, when they first heard the news, could be restrained from turning
+upon the then remaining armed Rebels, and annihilating them in their
+righteous fury.
+
+Let us go back, for a moment, to President Lincoln, whom we left on
+board the Ocean Queen, at City Point, toward the end of March and the
+beginning of April, receiving dispatches from Grant, who was
+victoriously engaged at the front. On the very day that Richmond fell--
+April 4th--President Lincoln, with his little son "Tad," Admiral Porter,
+and others, visited the burning city, and held a reception in the
+parlors of the Mansion which had now, for so many years, been occupied
+by the Chief Conspirator, Jefferson Davis, and which had been
+precipitately abandoned when the flight of that Arch-Rebel and his
+"Cabinet" commenced. On the 6th, the President, accompanied by his
+wife, Vice-President Johnson, and others from Washington, again visited
+Richmond, and received distinguished Virginians, to whom he addressed
+words of wisdom and patriotism.
+
+ ["On this occasion," says Arnold, "he was called upon by several
+ prominent citizens of Virginia, anxious to learn what the policy of
+ the Government towards them would be. Without committing himself
+ to specific details, he satisfied them that his policy would be
+ magnanimous, forgiving, and generous. He told these Virginians
+ they must learn loyalty and devotion to the Nation. They need not
+ love Virginia less, but they must love the Republic more."]
+
+On the 9th of April, he returned to Washington, and the same day--his
+last Sunday on Earth--came the grand and glorious news of Lee's
+surrender.
+
+On the Wednesday evening following, he made a lengthy speech, at the
+White House, to the great crowd that had assembled about it, to
+congratulate him, and the Nation, upon the downfall of Rebellion. His
+first thought in that speech, was of gratitude to God. His second, to
+put himself in the background, and to give all the credit of Union
+Military success, to those who, under God, had achieved it. Said he:
+"We meet this evening, not in sorrow, but in gladness of heart. The
+evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond, and the surrender of the
+principal Insurgent Army, give hope of a righteous and speedy Peace,
+whose joyous expression cannot be restrained. In the midst of this,
+however, He from whom all blessings flow, must not be forgotten. A Call
+for a National Thanksgiving is being prepared, and will be duly
+promulgated. Nor must those whose harder part gives us the cause of
+rejoicing, be overlooked. Their honors must not be parcelled out with
+others. I myself was near the front, and had the high pleasure of
+transmitting much of the good news to you; but no part of the honor, for
+plan or execution, is mine. To General Grant, his skilful officers and
+brave men, all belongs."
+
+This speech was almost entirely devoted to the subject of reconstruction
+of the States lately in Rebellion, and to an argument in favor of the
+Reconstruction policy, under which a new and loyal government had been
+formed for the State of Louisiana. "Some twelve thousand voters in the
+heretofore Slave State of Louisiana," said he, "have sworn allegiance to
+the Union, assumed to be the rightful political power of the State, held
+elections, organized a State government, adopted a Free State
+Constitution, giving the benefit of public schools equally to Black and
+White, and empowering the Legislature to confer the elective franchise
+upon the colored man. Their Legislature has already voted to ratify the
+Constitutional Amendment recently passed by Congress, abolishing Slavery
+throughout the Nation. These twelve thousand persons are thus fully
+committed to the Union, and to perpetual Freedom in the State; committed
+to the very things, and nearly all the things, the Nation wants; and
+they ask the Nation's recognition and its assistance to make good that
+committal. Now, if we reject and spurn them, we do our utmost to
+disorganize and disperse them. We, in effect, say to the White men,
+'You are worthless, or worse; we will neither help you, nor be helped by
+you.' To the Blacks we say, 'This cup of Liberty which these, your old
+masters, hold to your lips, we will dash from you and leave you to the
+chances of gathering the spilled and scattered contents in some vague
+and undefined when, where, and how.' If this course, discouraging and
+paralyzing both White and Black, has any tendency to bring Louisiana
+into proper practical relations with the Union, I have, so far, been
+unable to perceive it. If, on the contrary, we recognize and sustain
+the new government of Louisiana, the converse of all this is made true."
+
+While, however, Mr. Lincoln thus upheld and defended this Louisiana plan
+of reconstruction, yet he conceded that in applying it to other States,
+with their varying conditions, "no exclusive and inflexible plan can
+safely be prescribed as to details and collaterals." The entire speech
+shows the greatest solicitude to make no mistake necessitating backward
+steps, and consequent delay in reconstructing the Rebel States into
+Loyal ones; and especially anxious was he, in this, his last public
+utterance, touching the outcome of his great life-work, Emancipation.
+"If," said he, "we reject Louisiana, we also reject one vote in favor of
+the proposed Amendment to the National Constitution. To meet this
+proposition it has been argued that no more than threefourths of those
+States which have not attempted Secession are necessary to validly
+ratify the Amendment. I do not commit myself against this further than
+to say that such a ratification would be questionable, and sure to be
+persistently questioned; whilst a ratification by three-fourths of all
+the States would be unquestioned and unquestionable."
+
+On Thursday, by the President's direction, a War Department Order was
+drawn up and issued, putting an end to drafting and recruiting, and the
+purchase of Military supplies, and removing all restrictions which
+Military necessity had imposed upon the trade and commerce and
+intercourse of any one part of the Union with the other. On Friday, the
+14th of April, there was a meeting of the Cabinet at noon, to receive a
+report from General Grant, in person--he having just arrived from the
+scene of Lee's surrender. Later, the President rode out with Mrs.
+Lincoln, and talked of the hard time they had had since coming to
+Washington; "but," continued he, "the War is over, and, with God's
+blessing, we may hope for four years of Peace and happiness, and then we
+will go back to Illinois, and pass the rest of our lives in quiet." At
+Ford's Theatre, that evening, was played "The American Cousin," and it
+had been announced that both the President and General Grant would be
+present. Grant, however, was prevented from attending. President
+Lincoln attended with reluctance--possibly because of a presentiment
+which he had that day had, that "something serious is going to happen,"
+of which he made mention at the Cabinet meeting aforesaid.
+
+It was about 9 o-clock P.M., that the President, with Mrs. Lincoln,
+Major Rathbone, and Miss Harris, entered the Theatre, and, after
+acknowledging with a bow the patriotic acclamations with which the
+audience saluted him, entered the door of the private box, reserved for
+his party, which was draped with the folds of the American flag. At
+half past 10 o'clock, while all were absorbed in the play, a pistol-shot
+was heard, and a man, brandishing a bloody dagger, was seen to leap to
+the stage from the President's box, crying "Sic Semper Tyrannis!" His
+spuired boot, catching in the bunting, tripped him, so that he half fell
+and injured one leg, but instantly recovered himself, and, shouting "The
+South is avenged!" rushed across the stage, and disappeared. It was an
+actor, John Wilkes Booth by name, who--inspired with all the mad,
+unreasoning, malignant hatred of everything representing Freedom and
+Union, which was purposely instilled into the minds and hearts of their
+followers and sympathizers by the Rebel leaders and their chief
+accomplices in the North--had basely skulked into the box, behind Mr.
+Lincoln, mortally wounded him with a pistol-bullet, and escaped--after
+stabbing Major Rathbone for vainly striving to arrest the vile
+assassin's flight.
+
+Thus this great and good Ruler of our reunited People was foully
+stricken down in the very moment of his triumph; when the Union troops
+were everywhere victorious; when Lee had surrendered the chief Army of
+the downfallen Confederacy; when Johnston was on the point of
+surrendering the only remaining Rebel force which could be termed an
+Army; on the self-same day too, which saw the identical flag of the
+Union, that four years before had been sadly hauled down from the
+flagstaff of Fort Sumter, triumphantly raised again over that historic
+fort; when, the War being at an end, everything in the future looked
+hopeful; at the very time when his merciful and kindly mind was
+doubtless far away from the mimic scenes upon which he looked, revolving
+beneficent plans for reconstructing and rebuilding the waste and
+desolate places in the South which War had made; at this time, of all
+times, when his clear and just perceptions and firm patriotism were most
+needed,
+
+ [For his last public words, two nights before, had been: "In the
+ present 'situation,' as the phrase goes, it may be my duty to make
+ some new announcement to the people of the South. I am
+ CONSIDERING, and shall not fail to act when satisfied that action
+ will be proper."]
+
+alike by conquerors and conquered, to guide and aid the Nation in the
+difficult task of reconstruction, and of the new departure, looming up
+before it, with newer and broader and better political issues upon which
+all Patriot might safely divide, while all the old issues of States-
+rights, Secession, Free-Trade, and Slavery, and all the mental and moral
+leprosy growing out of them, should lie buried far out of sight as dead-
+and-gone relics of the cruel and devastating War which they alone had
+brought on! Abraham Lincoln never spoke again. The early beams of the
+tomorrow's sun touched, but failed to warm, the lifeless remain of the
+great War-President and Liberator, as they were borne, in mournful
+silence, back to the White House, mute and ghastly witness of the sheer
+desperation of those who, although armed Rebellion, in the open field,
+by the fair and legitimate modes of Military warfare, had ceased, were
+determined still to keep up that cowardly "fire in the rear" which had
+been promised to the Rebel leaders by their Northern henchmen and
+sympathizers.
+
+The assassination of President Lincoln was but a part of the plot of
+Booth and his murderous Rebel-sympathizing fellow conspirators. It was
+their purpose also to kill Grant, and Seward, and other prominent
+members of the Cabinet, simultaneously, in the wild hope that anarchy
+might follow, and Treason find its opportunity. In this they almost
+miraculously failed, although Seward was badly wounded by one of the
+assassins.
+
+That the Rebel authorities were cognizant of, and encouraged, this
+dastardly plot, cannot be distinctly proven. But, while they naturally
+would be likely, especially in the face of the storm of public
+exasperation which it raised throughout the Union, to disavow all
+knowledge of, or complicity in, the vengeful murder of President
+Lincoln, and to destroy all evidences possible of any such guilty
+knowledge or complicity, yet there will ever be a strong suspicion that
+they were not innocent. From the time when it was first known that Mr.
+Lincoln had been elected President, the air was full of threats that he
+should not live to be inaugurated.
+
+That the assassination, consummated in April, 1865, would
+have taken place in February of 1861, had it not been for the timely
+efforts of Lieutenant-General Scott, Brigadier-General Stone, Hon.
+William H. Seward, Frederick W. Seward, Esq., and David S. Bookstaver of
+the Metropolitan Police of New York--is abundantly shown by
+Superintendent John A. Kennedy, in a letter of August 13, 1866, to be
+found in vol. ii., of Lossing's "Civil War in America," pages 147-149,
+containing also an extract from a letter of General Stone, in which the
+latter--after mentioning that General Scott and himself considered it
+"almost a certainty that Mr. Lincoln could not pass Baltimore alive by
+the train on the day fixed"--proceeds to say: "I recommended that Mr.
+Lincoln should be officially warned; and suggested that it would be
+altogether best that he should take the train of that evening from
+Philadelphia, and so reach Washington early the next day." * * *
+General Scott, after asking me how the details could be arranged in so
+short a time, and receiving my suggestion that Mr. Lincoln should be
+advised quietly to take the evening train, and that it would do him no
+harm to have the telegraph wires cut for a few hours, he directed me to
+seek Mr. W. H. Seward, to whom he wrote a few lines, which he handed to
+me. It was already ten o'clock, and when I reached Mr. Seward's house
+he had left; I followed him to the Capitol, but did not succeed in
+finding him until after 12 M. I handed him the General's note; he
+listened attentively to what I said, and asked me to write down my
+information and suggestions, and then, taking the paper I had written,
+he hastily left. The note I wrote was what Mr. Frederick Seward carried
+to Mr. Lincoln in Philadelphia. Mr. Lincoln has stated that it was this
+note which induced him to change his journey as he did. The stories of
+disguise are all nonsense; Mr. Lincoln merely took the sleeping-car in
+the night train.
+
+Equally certain also, is it, that the Rebel authorities were utterly
+indifferent to the means that might be availed of to secure success to
+Rebellion. Riots and arson, were among the mildest methods proposed to
+be used in the Northern cities, to make the War for the Union a
+"failure"--as their Northern Democratic allies termed it--while, among
+other more devilish projects, was that of introducing cholera and yellow
+fever into the North, by importing infected rags! Another much-talked-
+of scheme throughout the War, was that of kidnapping President Lincoln,
+and other high officials of the Union Government. There is also
+evidence, that the Rebel chiefs not only received, but considered, the
+plans of deperadoes and cut-throats looking to the success of the
+Rebellion by means of assassination. Thus, in a footnote to page 448,
+vol. ii., of his "Civil War in America," Lossing does not hesitate to
+characterize Jefferson Davis as "the crafty and malignant Chief
+Conspirator, who seems to have been ready at all times to entertain
+propositions to assassinate, by the hand of secret murder, the officers
+of the Government at Washington;" and, after fortifying that statement
+by a reference to page 523 of the first volume of his work, proceeds to
+say: "About the time (July, 1862) we are now considering, a Georgian,
+named Burnham, wrote to Jefferson Davis, proposing to organize a corps
+of five hundred assassins, to be distributed over the North, and sworn
+to murder President Lincoln, members of his Cabinet, and leading
+Republican Senators, and other supporters of the Government. This
+proposition was made in writing, and was regularly filed in the
+'Confederate War Department,' indorsed 'Respectfully referred to the
+Secretary of War, by order of the President,' and signed 'J. C Ives.'
+Other communications of similar tenor, 'respectfully referred' by
+Jefferson Davis, were placed on file in that 'War Department.'" All the
+denials, therefore, of the Rebel chieftains, as to their complicity in
+the various attempts to assassinate Abraham Lincoln, ending with his
+dastardly murder in April, 1865, will not clear their skirts of the
+odium of that unparalleled infamy. It will cling to them, living or
+dead, until that great Day of Judgment when the exact truth shall be
+made known, and "their sin shall find them out."
+
+ [The New York Tribune, August 16, 1885, under the heading "A NARROW
+ ESCAPE OF LINCOLN," quotes an interesting "Omaha Letter, to the St.
+ Paul Pioneer Press," as follows:
+
+ "That more than one attempt was made to assassinate Abraham Lincoln
+ is a fact known to John W. Nichols, ex-president of the Omaha Fire
+ Department. Mr. Nichols was one of the body-guard of President
+ Lincoln from the Summer of 1862 until 1865. The following
+ narrative, related to your correspondent by Mr. Nichols, is
+ strictly true, and the incident is not generally known:
+
+ One night about the middle of August, 1864, I was
+ doing sentinel duty at the large gate through which entrance was
+ had to the grounds of the Soldiers' Home. The grounds are situated
+ about a quarter of a mile off the Bladensburg road, and are reached
+ by devious driveways. About 11 o'clock I heard a rifle shot in the
+ direction of the city, and shortly afterwards I heard approaching
+ hoof-beats. In two or three minutes a horse came dashing-up, and I
+ recognized the belated President. The horse was very spirited, and
+ belonged to Mr. Lamon, marshal of the District of Columbia. This
+ horse was Mr. Lincoln's favorite, and when he was in the White
+ House stables he always chose him. As horse and rider approached
+ the gate, I noticed that the President was bareheaded. After
+ assisting him in checking his steed, the President said to me: 'He
+ came pretty near getting away with me, didn't he? He got the bit
+ in his teeth before I could draw the rein.' I then asked him where
+ his hat was, and he replied that somebody had fired a gun off down
+ at the foot of the hill, and that his horse had become scared and
+ jerked his hat off. I led the animal to the Executive Cottage, and
+ the President dismounted and entered. Thinking the affair rather
+ strange, a corporal and myself started in the direction of the
+ place from where the sound of the rifle report had proceeded, to
+ investigate the occurrence. When we reached the spot where the
+ driveway intersects with the main road we found the President's
+ hat--a plain silk hat-and upon examining it we discovered a bullet
+ hole through the crown. The shot had been fired upwards, and it
+ was evident that the person who fired the shot had secreted himself
+ close to the roadside. We listened and searched the locality
+ thoroughly, but to no avail. The next day I gave Mr. Lincoln his
+ hat and called his attention to the bullet hole. He rather
+ unconcernedly remarked that it was put there by some foolish
+ gunner, and was not intended for him. He said, however, that he
+ wanted the matter kept quiet, and admonished us to say nothing
+ about it. We all felt confident that it was an attempt to kill
+ him, and a well-nigh successful one, too. The affair was kept
+ quiet, in accordance with his request. After that, the President
+ never rode alone."']
+
+That this dark and wicked and bloody Rebellion, waged by the upholders
+and advocates of Slavery, Free Trade, and Secession, had descended so
+low as to culminate in murder--deliberate, cold-blooded, cowardly
+murder--at a time when the Southern Conspirators would apparently be the
+least benefitted by it, was regarded at first as evidencing their mad
+fatuity; and the public mind was dreadfully incensed.
+
+The successor of the murdered President-Andrew Johnson-lost little time
+in offering (May the 2d) rewards, ranging from $25,000 to $100,000, for
+the arrest of Jefferson Davis, Jacob Thompson,
+
+ [The same individual at whose death, in 1885, the Secretary of the
+ Interior, ordered the National flag of the Union--which he had
+ swindled, betrayed, fought, spit upon, and conspired against--to be
+ lowered at halfmast over the Interior Departmental Building, at
+ Washington, D. C.]
+
+Clement C. Clay, Beverly Tucker, George N. Sanders, and W. C. Cleary,
+in a Proclamation which directly charged that they, "and other Rebels
+and Traitors against the Government of the United States, harbored in
+Canada," had "incited, concerted, and procured" the perpetration of the
+appalling crime.
+
+On the 10th of May, one of them, Jacob Thompson, from his place of
+security, in Canada, published a letter claiming to be innocent;
+characterized himself as "a persecuted man;" arrayed certain suspicious
+facts in support of an intimation that Johnson himself was the only one
+man in the Republic who would be benefited by President Lincoln's death;
+and, as he was found "asleep" at the "unusual hour" of nine o'clock
+P.M., of the 14th of April, and had made haste to take the oath of
+office as President of the United States as soon as the breath had left
+the body of his predecessor, insinuated that he (Johnson) might with
+more reason be suspected of "complicity" in "the foul work" than the
+"Rebels and Traitors" charged with it, in his Proclamation; so charged,
+for the very purpose--Thompson insinuated--of shielding himself from
+discovery, and conviction!
+
+But while, for a moment, perhaps, there flitted across the public mind a
+half suspicion of the possibility of what this Rebel intimated as true,
+yet another moment saw it dissipated. For the People remembered that
+between "Andrew Johnson," one of the "poor white trash" of Tennessee,
+and the "aristocratic Slave-owners" of the South, who headed the
+Rebellion, there could be neither sympathy nor cooperation--nothing, but
+hatred; and that this same Andrew Johnson, who, by power of an
+indomitable will, self-education, and natural ability, had, despite the
+efforts of that "aristocracy," forced himself upward, step by step, from
+the tailor's bench, to the successful honors of alderman and Mayor, and
+then still upward through both branches of his State Legislature, into
+the House of Representatives and the Senate of the United States--and,
+in the latter Body, had so gallantly met, and worsted in debate, the
+chosen representatives of that class upon whose treasonable heads he
+poured forth in invective, the gathered hatred of a life-time--would
+probably be the very last man whom these same "aristocratic"
+Conspirators, "Rebels, and Traitors," would prefer as arbiter of their
+fate.
+
+The popular feeling responded heartily, at this time, to the
+denunciations which, in his righteous indignation, he had, in the
+Senate, and since, heaped upon Rebellion, and especially his declaration
+that "Treason must be made odious!"--utterances now substantially
+reiterated by him more vehemently than ever, and multiplied in posters
+and transparencies and newspapers all over the Land. Thus the public
+mind rapidly grew to believe it impossible that the Rebel leaders could
+gain, by the substitution, in the Executive chair, of this harsh,
+determined, despotic nature, for the mild, kindly, merciful, even-
+tempered, Abraham Lincoln. With Andrew Johnson for President, the
+People felt that justice would fall upon the heads of the guilty, and
+that the Country was safe. And so it happened that, while the mere
+instruments of the assassination conspiracy were hurried to an
+ignominious death, in the lull that followed, Jefferson Davis and others
+of the Rebel chiefs, who had been captured and imprisoned, were allowed
+to go "Scott-free, without even the semblance of a trial for their
+Treason!"
+
+It is not the purpose of this work to deal with the history of the
+Reconstruction or rehabilitation of the Rebel States; to look too
+closely into the devious ways and subtle methods through and by which
+the Rebel leaders succeeded in flattering the vanity, and worming
+themselves into the confidence and control, of Andrew Johnson--by
+pretending to believe that his occupation of the Presidential Office had
+now, at last, brought him to their "aristocratic" altitude, and to a
+hearty recognition by them of his "social equality;" or to follow,
+either in or out of Congress, the great political conflict, between
+their unsuspecting Presidential dupe and the Congress, which led to the
+impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson, for high crimes and
+misdemeanors in office, his narrow escape from conviction and
+deposition, and to much consequent excitement and turmoil among the
+People, which, but for wise counsels and prudent forethought of the
+Republican leaders, in both Civil and Military life, might have
+eventuated in the outbreak of serious civil commotions. Suffice it to
+say, that in due time; long after the Thirteenth Amendment to the United
+States Constitution had been ratified by three-fourths of all the
+States; after Johnson had vexed the White House, with his noisy
+presence, for the nearly four years succeeding the death of the great
+and good Lincoln; and after the People, with almost unexampled
+unanimity, had called their great Military hero, Grant, to the helm of
+State; the difficult and perplexing problems involved in the
+Reconstruction of the Union were, at last, successfully solved by the
+Republican Party, and every State that had been in armed Rebellion
+against that Union, was not only back again, with a Loyal State
+Constitution, but was represented in both branches of Congress, and in
+other Departments of the National Government.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+ TURNING BACK THE HANDS!
+
+
+And now, the War having ended in the defeat, conquest, and capture, of
+those who, inspired by the false teachings of Southern leaders, had
+arrayed themselves in arms beneath the standard of Rebellion, and fought
+for Sectional Independence against National Union, for Slavery against
+Freedom, and for Free Trade against a benignant Tariff protective alike
+to manufacturer, mechanic, and laborer, it might naturally be supposed
+that, with the collapse of this Rebellion, all the issues which made up
+"the Cause"--the "Lost Cause," as those leaders well termed it--would be
+lost with it, and disappear from political sight; that we would never
+again hear of a Section of the Nation, and last of all the Southern
+Section, organized, banded together, solidified in the line of its own
+Sectional ideas as against the National ideas prevailing elsewhere
+through the Union; that Free Trade, conscious of the ruin and desolation
+which it had often wrought, and of the awful sacrifices, in blood and
+treasure, that had been made in its behalf by the conquered South, would
+slink from sight and hide its famine-breeding front forever; and that
+Slavery, in all its various disguises, was banished, never more to
+obtrude its hateful form upon our Liberty-loving Land. That was indeed
+the supposition and belief which everywhere pervaded the Nation, when
+Rebellion was conquered by the legions of the Union--and which
+especially pervaded the South. Never were Rebels more thoroughly
+exhausted and sick of Rebellion and of everything that led to it, than
+these. As Badeau said, they made haste "to yield everything they had
+fought for," and "dreamed not of political power." They had been
+brought to their knees, suing for forgiveness, and thankful that their
+forfeit lives were spared.
+
+For awhile, with chastened spirit, the reconstructed South seemed to
+reconcile itself in good faith to the legitimate results of the War, and
+all went well. But Time and Peace soon obliterate the lessons and the
+memories of War. And it was not very long after the Rebellion had
+ceased, and the old issues upon which it was fought had disappeared from
+the arena of National politics, when its old leaders and their
+successors began slowly, carefully, and systematically, to relay the
+tumbled-down, ruined foundations and walls of the Lost Cause--a work in
+which, unfortunately, they were too well aided by the mistaken clemency
+and magnanimity of the Republican Party, in hastily removing the
+political disabilities of those leaders.
+
+Before proceeding farther, it is necessary to remark here, that, after
+the suppression of the Rebellion and adoption of the Thirteenth
+Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which prohibits
+Slavery and Involuntary Servitude within the United States, it soon
+became apparent that it was necessary to the protection of the Freedmen,
+in the civil and political rights and privileges which it was considered
+desirable to secure to them, as well as to the creation and fostering of
+a wholesome loyal sentiment in, and real reconstruction of, the States
+then lately insurgent, and for certain other reasons, that other
+safeguards, in the shape of further Amendments to the Constitution,
+should be adopted.
+
+Accordingly the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments were, on the 16th of
+June, 1866, and 27th of February, 1869, respectively, proposed by
+Congress to the Legislatures of the several States, and were declared
+duly ratified, and a part of the Constitution, respectively on the 28th
+of July, 1868, and March 30, 1870. Those Amendments were in these
+words:
+
+
+ "ARTICLE XIV.
+
+"SECTION 1.--All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and
+subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States
+and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce
+any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of
+the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life,
+liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person
+within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
+
+"SECTION 2.--Representatives shall be apportioned among the several
+States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number
+of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the
+right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President
+and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress,
+the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the
+Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such
+State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States,
+or in any way abridged, except for participation in Rebellion, or other
+crime, the basis of Representation therein shall be reduced in the
+proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the
+whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
+
+"SECTION 3.--No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress,
+or Elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or
+military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having
+previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of
+the United States, or as a member of any State Legislature, or as an
+executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution
+of the United States, shall have engaged in Insurrection or Rebellion
+against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But
+Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such
+disability.
+
+"SECTION 4.--The validity of the public debt of the United States,
+authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and
+bounties for services in suppressing Insurrection or Rebellion, shall
+not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall
+assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of Insurrection or
+Rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or
+Emancipation of any Slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims
+shall be held illegal and void.
+
+"SECTION 5.--The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate
+legislation, the provisions of this article."
+
+
+ "ARTICLE XV.
+
+"SECTION 1.--The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall
+not be denied or abridged by, the United States or by any State on
+account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
+
+"SECTION 2.--The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
+appropriate legislation."
+
+
+It would seem, then, from the provisions of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth,
+and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution, and the Congressional
+legislation subsequently enacted for the purpose of enforcing them, that
+not only the absolute personal Freedom of every man, woman, and child in
+the United States was thus irrevocably decreed; that United States
+citizenship was clearly defined; that the life, liberty, property,
+privileges and immunities of all were secured by throwing around them
+the "equal protection of the laws;" that the right of the United States
+citizen to vote, was placed beyond denial or abridgment, on "account of
+race, color, or previous condition of servitude;" but, to make this more
+certain, the basis of Congressional Representative-apportionment was
+changed from its former mixed relation, comprehending both persons and
+"property," so-called, to one of personal numbers--the Black man now
+counting quite as much as the White man, instead of only three-fifths as
+much; and it was decreed, that, except for crime, any denial to United
+States citizens, whether Black or White, of the right to vote at any
+election of Presidential electors, Congressional Representatives, State
+Governors, Judges, or Legislative members, "shall" work a reduction,
+proportioned to the extent of such denial, in the Congressional
+Representation of the State, or States, guilty of it. As a further
+safeguard, in the process of reconstruction, none of the insurgent
+States were rehabilitated in the Union except upon acceptance of those
+three Amendments as an integral part of the United States Constitution,
+to be binding upon it; and it was this Constitution as it is, and not
+the Constitution as it was, that all the Representatives, in both Houses
+of Congress, from those insurgent States--as well as all their State
+officers--swore to obey as the supreme law of the Land, when taking
+their respective oaths of office.
+
+Biding their time, and pretending to act in good faith, as the years
+rolled by, the distrust and suspicion with which the old Rebel-
+conspirators had naturally been regarded, gradually lessened in the
+public mind. With a glad heart, the Congress, year after year, removed
+the political disabilities from class after class of those who had
+incurred them, until at last all, so desiring, had been reinstated in
+the full privileges of citizenship, save the very few unrepentant
+instigators and leaders of the Rebellion, who, in the depths of that
+oblivion to which they seemingly had been consigned, continued to nurse
+the bitterness of their downfall into an implacable hatred of that
+Republic which had paralyzed the bloody hands of Rebellion, and
+shattered all their ambitious dreams of Oligarchic rule, if not of
+Empire.
+
+But, while the chieftains of the great Conspiracy--and of the armed
+Rebellion itself--remained at their homes unpunished, through the
+clemency of the American People; the active and malignant minds of some
+of them were plotting a future triumph for the "Lost Cause," in the
+overthrow, in consecutive detail, of the Loyal governments of the
+Southern States, by any and all means which might be by them considered
+most desirable, judicious, expedient, and effectual; the solidifying of
+these Southern States into a new Confederation, or league, in fact--with
+an unwritten but well understood Constitution of its own--to be known
+under the apparently harmless title of the "Solid South," whose mission
+it would be to build up, and strengthen, and populate, and enrich itself
+within the Union, for a time, greater or less, according to
+circumstances, and in the meanwhile to work up, with untiring devotion
+and energy, not only to this practical autonomy and Sectional
+Independence within the Union, but also to a practical re-enslavement of
+the Blacks, and to the vigorous reassertion and triumph, by the aid of
+British gold, of those pernicious doctrines of Free-Trade which, while
+beneficial to the Cotton-lords of the South, would again check and drag
+down the robust expansion of manufactures and commerce in all other
+parts of the Land, and destroy the glorious prosperity of farmers,
+mechanics, and laborers, while at the same time crippling Capital, in
+the North and West.
+
+In order to accomplish these results--after whatever of suspicion and
+distrust that might have still remained in Northern minds had been
+removed by the public declaration in 1874, by one of the ablest and most
+persuasively eloquent of Southern statesmen, that "The South--prostrate,
+exhausted, drained of her life-blood as well as of her material
+resources, yet still honorable and true--accepts the bitter award of the
+bloody arbitrament without reservation, resolutely determined to abide
+the result with chivalrous fidelity"--these old Rebel leaders commenced
+in good earnest to carry out their well organized programme, which they
+had already experimentally tested, to their own satisfaction, in certain
+localities.
+
+The plan was this: By the use of shot-guns and rifles, and cavalcades of
+armed white Democrats, in red shirts, riding around the country at dead
+of night, whipping prominent Republican Whites and Negroes to death, or
+shooting or hanging them if thought advisable, such terror would fall
+upon the colored Republican voters that they would keep away from the
+polls, and consequently the white Democrats, undeterred by such
+influences, and on the contrary, eager to take advantage of them, would
+poll not only a full vote, but a majority vote, on all questions,
+whether involving the mere election of Democratic officials, or
+otherwise; and where intimidation of this, or any other kind, should
+fail, then a resort to be had to whatever devices might be found
+necessary to make a fraudulent count and return, and thus secure
+Democratic triumph; and furthermore, when evidences of these
+intimidations and frauds should be presented to those people of the
+Union who believe in every citizen of this free Republic having one free
+vote, and that vote fairly counted, then to laugh the complainants out
+of Court with the cry that such stories are not true; are "campaign
+lies" devised solely for political effect; and are merely the product of
+Republican "outrage mills," ground out, to order.
+
+This plan was first thoroughly tried in Mississippi, and has hence been
+called the "Mississippi plan." So magically effectual was it, that,
+with variations adapted to locality and circumstances, this "Mississippi
+plan" soon enveloped the entire South in its mesh-work of fraud,
+barbarity, and blood. The massacres, and other outrages, while
+methodical, were remittent, wave-like, sometimes in one Southern State,
+sometimes another, and occurring only in years of hot political
+conflict, until one after another of those States had, by these crimes,
+been again brought under the absolute control of the old Rebel leaders.
+By 1876, they had almost succeeded in their entire programme. They had
+captured all, save three, of the Southern States, and strained every
+nerve and every resource of unprincipled ingenuity, of bribery and
+perjury, after the Presidential election of that year had taken place,
+in the effort to defeat the will of the People and "count in," the
+Presidential candidate of the Democratic Party.
+
+ [The shameful history of the "Tilden barrel" and the "Cipher
+ Dispatches" is too fresh in the public mind to be entirely
+ forgotten,]
+
+Failing in this effort, the very failure became a grievance. On the
+principle of a fleeing thief diverting pursuit by shouting "Stop thief,"
+the cry of "fraud" was raised by the Democratic leaders, North and
+South, against the Republican Party, and was iterated and reiterated so
+long and loudly, that soon they actually began, themselves, to believe,
+that President Hayes had been "counted in," by improper methods! At all
+events, under cover of the hue and cry thus raised, the Southern leaders
+hurried up their work of Southern solidification, by multiplied outrages
+on the "Mississippi plan," so that, by 1880, they were ready to dictate,
+and did dictate, the Democratic Presidential nominations.
+
+ [Senator Wallace, of Pennsylvania, telegraphed from Cincinnati his
+ congratulations to General Hancock, and added: "General Buell tells
+ me that Murat Halsted says Hancock's nomination by the Confederate
+ Brigadiers sets the old Rebel yell to the music of the Union." In
+ the Convention which nominated Hancock, Wade Hampton made a speech,
+ saying; "On behalf of the 'Solid South,' that South which once was
+ arrayed against the great soldier of Pennsylvania, I stand here to
+ pledge you its solid vote. [cheers] * * * There is no name which
+ is held in higher respect among the people of the South, than that
+ of the man you have given to us as our standard-bearer." And
+ afterward, in a speech at Staunton, Virginia, the same Southern
+ leader, in referring to the action of the Democratic Convention at
+ Cincinnati, said: "There was but one feeling among the Southern
+ delegates. That feeling was expressed when we said to our Northern
+ Democratic brethren 'Give us an available man.' They gave us that
+ man."]
+
+While these old Rebel leaders of the South had insisted upon, and had
+succeeded in, nominating a man whose record as a Union soldier would
+make him popular in the North and West, and while their knowledge of his
+availability for Southern purposes would help them in their work of
+absolutely solidifying the South, they took very good care also to press
+forward their pet Free-Trade issue--that principle so dear to the hearts
+of the Rebel Cotton-lords that, as has already been hinted, they
+incorporated it into their Constitution of Confederation in these words:
+
+"SEC. 8.--Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties,
+imposts and excises for revenue necessary to pay the debts, provide for
+the common defense, and carry on the Government of the Confederate
+States; but no bounty shall be granted from the Treasury, nor shall any
+duty or tax on importation from Foreign Nations be laid to promote or
+foster any branch of industry."
+
+It may also be remarked that, under the inspiration of those Southern
+leaders who afterward rebelled, it had been laid down as Democratic
+doctrine, in the National Democratic platform of 1856--and "reaffirmed"
+as such, in 1860--that "The time has come for the People of the United
+States to declare themselves in favor of * * * progressive Free-Trade.
+* * * That justice and sound policy forbid the Federal Government to
+foster one branch of industry to the detriment of another." But, by
+1864, the Republican Protective-Tariff of 1860, had so abundantly
+demonstrated, to all our people engaged in industrial occupations, the
+beneficence of the great principle of home industrial Protection, that
+Tariff-agitation actually ceased, and the National Democratic platform
+of that year had nothing to say in behalf of Free-Trade!
+
+After the close of the War, however, at the very first National
+Democratic Convention, in 1868, at which there were delegations from the
+lately rebellious States, the question was at once brought to the front,
+and, under the inspiration of the old Rebel leaders aforesaid, the
+Democratic platform again raised the banner of Free-Trade by declaring
+for a Tariff for revenue. But the mass of the People, at that time
+still freshly remembered the terrible commercial disasters and
+industrial depressions which had befallen the Land, through the
+practical operation of that baleful Democratic Free-Trade doctrine,
+before the Rebellion broke out, and sharply contrasted the misery and
+poverty and despair of those dark days of ruin and desolation, with the
+comfort and prosperity and hopefulness which had since come to them
+through the Republican Protective-Tariff Accordingly, the Republican
+Presidential candidate, representing the great principle of Protection
+to American Industries, was elected over the Democratic Free-Trade
+candidate, by 214 to 71 electoral votes-or nearly three to one!
+
+Taught, by this lesson, that the People were not yet sufficiently
+prepared for a successful appeal in behalf of anything like Free-Trade,
+the next National Democratic Convention, (that of 1872), under the same
+Southern inspiration, more cautiously declared, in its platform, that
+"Recognizing that there are in our midst, honest but irreconcilable
+differences of opinion, with regard to the respective systems of
+Protection and Free-Trade, we remit the discussion of the subject to the
+People in their Congressional districts, and to the decision of the
+Congress thereon, wholly free from Executive interference or dictation."
+The People, however, rebuked the moral cowardice thus exhibited by the
+Democracy--in avoiding a direct issue on the doctrine which Democracy
+itself had galvanized at least into simulated life,--by giving 286
+electoral votes to the Republican candidate, to 63 for the Democratic,--
+or in the proportion of nearly five to one.
+
+Warned, by this overwhelming defeat, not to flinch from, or avoid, or
+try to convert the great National question of Tariff, into a merely
+local one, the National Democratic platform of 1876, at the instigation
+of the old Rebel leaders of the now fast solidifying South, came out
+flat-footedly again with the "demand that all Custom-house taxation
+shall be only for revenue." This time, the electoral vote stood almost
+evenly divided, viz.: for the Republican candidate, 185; for the
+Democratic candidate, 184;--a result so extremely close, as to lead to
+the attempted perpetration of great frauds against the successful
+candidate; the necessary settlement of the questions growing out of
+them, by an Electoral commission--created by Congress at the instance of
+the Democratic Party; great irritation, among the defeated Democracy,
+over the just findings of that august Tribunal; and to the birth of the
+alleged Democratic "grievance," aforesaid.
+
+The closeness of this vote--their almost triumph, in 1876,--encouraged
+the Solid South to press upon the National Democratic Convention of
+1880, the expediency of adopting a Free-Trade "plank" similar to that
+with which, in 1876, they had so nearly succeeded. Hence the Democratic
+platform of 1880, also declared decidedly for "A Tariff for revenue
+only."
+
+The old Rebel leaders, at last in full control of the entire Democratic
+Party, had now got things pretty much as they wanted them. They had
+created that close corporation within the Union--that /imperium in
+imperio/ that oligarchically--governed league of States (within the
+Republic of the United States) which they termed the "Solid South," and
+which would vote as a unit, on all questions, as they directed; they had
+dictated the nomination, by the Democratic Party, of a Presidential
+candidate who would not dare to act counter to their wishes; and their
+pet doctrine of Free-Trade was held up, to the whole Democratic front,
+under the attractive disguise of a Tariff for revenue only.
+
+ [As Ex-Senator Toombs, of Georgia, wrote: "The old boys of the
+ South will see that 'Hancock' does the fair thing by them. In
+ other words, he will run the machine to suit them, or they will run
+ the thing themselves. They are not going to be played with any
+ longer."]
+
+In other words, they had already secured a "Solid South," an "available"
+candidate, and an "expedient" Free-Trade platform. All that remained
+for them, at this stage, to do, was to elect the candidate, and enact
+their Free-Trade doctrine into legislation. This was their current
+work, so to speak--to be first attended to--but not all their work; for
+one of the most brilliant and candid of their coadjutors had said, only
+a few months before: "We do not intend to stop until we have stricken
+the last vestige of your War measures from the Statute-book."
+
+Unfortunately, however, for their plans, an attempt made by them, under
+the lead of Mr. Morrison of Illinois, in 1876, to meddle with the
+Republican Protective-Tariff, had caused considerable public alarm, and
+had been credited with having much to do with a succeeding monetary
+panic, and industrial depression. Another and more determined effort,
+made by them in 1878, under the lead of their old Copperhead ally,
+Fernando Wood, to cut down the wise Protective duties imposed by the
+Tariff Act, about 15 per cent.,--together with the cold-blooded Free-
+Trade declaration of Mr. Wood, touching his ruinous Bill, that "Its
+reductions are trifling as compared with what they should be. * * * If
+I had the power to commence de novo, I should reduce the duties 50 per
+cent., instead of less than 15 per cent., upon an average
+as now proposed,"--an effort which was narrowly, and with great
+difficulty, defeated by the Republicans, aided by a mere handful of
+others,--had also occasioned great excitement throughout the Country,
+the suspension and failure of thousands of business firms, the
+destruction of confidence in the stability and profitableness of
+American industries, and great consequent suffering, and enforced
+idleness, to the working men and working women of the Land.
+
+The sad recollection of these facts--made more poignant by the airy
+declaration of the Democratic Presidential candidate, that the great
+National question of the Tariff is a mere "local issue,"--was largely
+instrumental, in connection with the insolent aggressiveness of the
+Southern leaders, in Congress, in occasioning their defeat in the
+Presidential contest of 1880, the Republican candidate receiving 214
+electoral votes, while the Democratic candidate received but 155
+electoral votes.
+
+In 1882, the House of Representatives was under Republican control, and,
+despite determined Democratic resistance, created a Tariff-commission,
+whose duty it was "to take into consideration, and to thoroughly
+investigate, all the various questions relating to the agricultural,
+commercial, mercantile, manufacturing, mining, and (other) industrial
+interests of the United States, so far as the same may be necessary to
+the establishment of a judicious Tariff, or a revision of the existing
+Tariff, upon a scale of justice to all interests."
+
+That same year, in the face of most protracted and persistent opposition
+by the great bulk of Democratic members, both of the Senate and House of
+Representatives, and an effort to substitute for it the utterly ruinous
+Democratic Free-Trade Tariff of 1846, the Bill recommended by this
+Republican Tariff-commission, was enacted; and, in 1883, a modified
+Tariff-measure, comprehending a large annual reduction of import duties,
+while also carefully preserving the great Republican American principle
+of Protection, was placed by the Republicans on the Statute-book,
+despite the renewed and bitter opposition of the Democrats, who, as
+usual, fought it desperately in both branches of Congress. But
+Republican efforts failed in 1884, in the interest of the wool-growers
+of the country, to restore the Protective-duties on wool, which had been
+sacrificed, in 1883, to an exigency created by Democratic opposition to
+them.
+
+Another Democratic effort, in the direction of Free-Trade, known as "the
+Morrison Tariff-Bill of 1884," was made in the latter year, which,
+besides increasing the free-list, by adding to it salt, coal, timber,
+and wood unmanufactured, as well as many manufactures thereof, decreased
+the import duties "horizontally" on everything else to the extent of
+twenty per cent. The Republicans, aided by a few Democrats, killed this
+undigested and indigestible Democratic Bill, by striking out its
+enacting clause.
+
+By this time, however, by dint of the incessant special-pleading in
+behalf of the obnoxious and un-American doctrine of Free-Trade,--or the
+nearest possible approach to it, consistent with the absolutely
+essential collection of revenues for the mere support of the Government
+--indulged in (by some of the professors) in our colleges of learning;
+through a portion of the press; upon the stump; and in Congress;
+together with the liberal use of British gold in the wide distribution
+of printed British arguments in its favor,--this pernicious but favorite
+idea of the Solid South had taken such firm root in the minds of the
+greater part of the Democratic Party in the North and West, as well as
+the South, that a declaration in the National Democratic platform in its
+favor was now looked for, as a matter of course. The "little leaven" of
+this monstrous un-American heresy seemed likely to leaven "the whole
+mass" of the Democracy.
+
+But, as in spite of the tremendous advantage given to that Party by the
+united vote of the Solid South, the Presidential contest of 1884 was
+likely to be so close that, to give Democracy any chance to win, the few
+Democrats opposed to Free-Trade must be quieted, the utterances of the
+Democratic National Platform of that year, on the subject, were so
+wonderfully pieced, and ludicrously intermixed, that they could be
+construed to mean "all things to all men."
+
+At last, after an exciting campaign, the Presidential election of 1884
+was held, and for the first time since 1856, the old Free-Trade
+Democracy of the South could rejoice over the triumph of their
+Presidential candidate.
+
+Great was the joy of the Solid South! At last, its numberless crimes
+against personal Freedom, and political Liberty, would reap a generous
+harvest. At last, participation in Rebellion would no more be regarded
+as a blot upon the political escutcheon. At last, commensurate rewards
+for all the long years of disconsolate waiting, and of hard work in
+night ridings, and house-burnings, and "nigger"-whippings, and "nigger"-
+shootings, and "nigger"-hangings, and ballot-box stuffings, and all the
+other dreadful doings to which these old leaders were impelled by a
+sense of Solid-Southern patriotism, and pride of race, and lust for
+power, would come, and come in profusion.
+
+Grand places in the Cabinet, and foreign Missions, for the old Rebels of
+distinction, now Chiefs of the "Solid-Southern" Conspiracy, and for
+those other able Northern Democrats who had helped them, during or since
+the Rebellion; fat consulates abroad, for others of less degree; post-
+offices, without stint, for the lesser lights; all this, and more, must
+now come. The long-hidden light of a glorious day was about to break.
+The "restoration of the Governnnent to the principles and practices of
+the earlier period," predicted by the unreconstructed "Rebel chieftains"
+those "same principles for which they fought for four years" the
+principles of Southern Independence, Slavery, Free Trade and Oligarchic
+rule--were now plainly in sight, and within reach!
+
+The triumph of the Free-Trade Democracy, if continued to another
+Presidential election, would make Free-Trade a certainty. The old forms
+of Slavery, to be sure, were dead beyond reanimation--perhaps; but, in
+their place, were other forms of Slavery, which attracted less attention
+and reprobation from the World at large, and yet were quite as effectual
+for all Southern purposes. The system of Peonage and contracted
+convict-labor, growing out of the codes of Black laws, were all-
+sufficient to keep the bulk of the Negro race in practical subjection
+and bondage. The solidifying of the South had already made the South
+not only practically independent within the Union, but the overshadowing
+power, potential enough to make, and unmake, the rulers and policies of
+the Democratic Party, and of that Union.
+
+This, indeed, was a grand outcome for the tireless efforts of the once
+defeated Conspirators! And as to Oligarchal rule--the rule of the few
+(and those the Southern chiefs) over the many,--was not that already
+accomplished? For these old Rebel leaders and oligarchs who had secured
+the supreme rule over the Solid South, had also, through their ability
+to wield the power of that Solid South within the Union, actually
+secured the power of practically governing the entire Union!
+
+That Union, then, which we have been wont to look upon as the grandest,
+noblest, freest, greatest Republic upon Earth,--is it really such, in
+all respects, at the present? Does the Free Republic of the United
+States exist, in fact, to-day?
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+ WHAT NEXT?
+
+And what next? Aye, what next? Do the patriotic, innocent-minded
+lovers of a Republican form of Government imagine, for an instant, that
+all danger to its continued existence and well-being has ceased to
+threaten?--that all the crises perilous to that beneficent popular
+governmental form have vanished?--that the climacteric came, and went,
+with the breaking out, and suppression, of the Rebellion?--and that
+there is nothing alarming in the outlook? Quite likely. The public
+mind has not yet been aroused to a sense of the actual revolution
+against Republican form of government that has already taken place in
+many of the Southern States, much less as to the likelihood of things to
+come. The people of any one of the Western, or Northern States,--take
+New York, for example,--feel prosperous and happy under the beneficent
+workings of the Republican Protective-Tariff system. Business, of all
+sorts, recovering from the numerous attacks made upon that prime bulwark
+of our American industries, if only let alone, will fairly hum, and look
+bright, so far as "the Almighty dollar" is concerned. They know they
+have their primaries and conventions, in their wards and counties
+throughout their State, and their State Conventions, and their
+elections. They know that the voice of the majority of their own
+people, uttered through the sacred ballot-box, is practically the Vox
+Dei--and that all bow to it. They know also, that this State government
+of theirs, with all its ramifications--whether as to its Executive, its
+Legislative, its Judicial, and other officials, either elective or
+appointed--is a Republican form of government, in the American sense--in
+the sense contemplated by the Fathers, when they incorporated into the
+revered Constitution of our Country the vital words: "The United States
+shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of
+government." But they do not realize the vastly different condition of
+things in many States of the Solid South, nor how it affects themselves.
+
+And what is this "republican" form of government, thus pledged? It is
+true that there are not wanting respectable authorities whose
+definitions of the words "republic," and "republican," are strongly
+inharmonious with their true meaning, as correctly understood by the
+great bulk of Americans. Thus, Brande asserts that "A republic may be
+either a democracy or an aristocracy!"--and proceeds to say: "In the
+former, the supreme power is vested in the whole body of the people, or
+in representatives elected by the people; in the latter, it is vested in
+a nobility, or a privileged class of comparatively a small number of
+persons." John Adams also wrote: "The customary meanings of the words
+republic and commonwealth have been infinite. They have been applied to
+every Government under heaven; that of Turkey and that of Spain, as well
+as that of Athens and of Rome, of Geneva and San Marino." But the true
+meaning of the word "republican" as applied to a "form of government,"
+and as commonly and almost invariably understood by those who, above all
+others in the wide World, should best understand and appreciate its
+blessings--to wit: the American People has none of the looseness and
+indefiniteness which these authorities throw about it.
+
+The prevailing and correct American idea is that "Republican" means: of,
+or pertaining to, a Republic; that "Republic" means a thing, affair, or
+matter, closely related to, and touching the "public;" and that the
+"public" are the "people"--not a small proportion of them, but "the
+people at large," the whole community, the Nation, the commonalty, the
+generality. Hence, "a Republican form of government" is, in their
+opinion, plainly that form which is most closely identified with, and
+representative of, the generality or majority of the people; or, in the
+language of Dr. J. E. Worcester, it is "That form of government or of a
+State, in which the supreme power is vested in the people, or in
+representatives elected by the people."
+
+It is obvious that there can be no such thing as "a republic," which is,
+at the same time, "an aristocracy;" for the moment that which was "a
+republic" becomes "an aristocracy," that moment it ceases to be "a
+republic." So also can there be no such thing as "a republic" which is
+"an oligarchy," for, as "a republic" is a government of the many, or, as
+President Lincoln well termed it, "a government of the people, by the
+people, for the people"--so it must cease to be "a republic," when the
+supreme power is in the hands of the oligarchic few.
+
+There can be but two kinds of republics proper--one a democratic
+republic, which is impossible for a great and populous Nation like ours,
+but which may have answered for some of the small republics of ancient
+Greece; the other, a representative republic, such as is boasted by the
+United States. And this is the kind palpably meant by the Fathers,
+when, for the very purpose of nipping in the bud any anti-republican
+Conspiracy likely to germinate from Slavery, they inserted in the Great
+Charter of American Liberties the solemn and irrevocable mandate: "The
+United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican
+Form of Government." That they meant this majority rule--this
+government by the many, instead of the few--this rule of the People, as
+against any possible minority rule, by, or through, oligarchs or
+aristocrats, is susceptible of proof in other ways.
+
+It is a safe guide, in attempting to correctly expound the Constitution
+of the United States, to be careful that the construction insisted on,
+is compatible and harmonious with the spirit of that great instrument;
+so that--as was said by an eloquent and distinguished Massachusetts
+statesman of twenty years ago, in discussing this very point--"the
+guarantee of a Republican form of government must have a meaning
+congenial with the purposes of the Constitution." Those purposes, of
+course, are expressed in its preamble, or in the body of the instrument,
+or in both. The preamble itself, in this case, is sufficient to show
+them. It commences with the significant words: "We THE PEOPLE of the
+United States"--words, instinct with the very consciousness of the
+possession of that supreme power by the People or public, which made
+this not only a Nation, but a Republic; and, after stating the purposes
+or objects sought by the People in thus instituting this Republic,
+proceeds to use that supreme political power vested in them, by
+ordaining and establishing "this CONSTITUTION for the United States of
+America." And, from the very first article, down to the last, of that
+"Constitution," or "structure," or "frame," or "form" of government,
+already self-evidently and self-consciously and avowedly Republican,
+that form is fashioned into a distinctively representative Republican
+government.
+
+The purposes themselves, as declared in the preamble, for which the
+People of the United States thus spake this representative Republic into
+being, are also full of light. Those purposes were "to form a more
+perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquillity, provide
+for the common defense, promote the General Welfare, and secure the
+Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity."
+
+How is it possible, for instance, that "the Blessings
+of Liberty" are to be secured to "ourselves and our Posterity," if
+citizens of the United States, despite the XVth Amendment of that
+Constitution, find-through the machinations of political organizations--
+their right to vote, both abridged and denied, in many of the States,
+"on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude?" How,
+if, in such States, "the right of the people to be secure in their
+persons, houses, and effects, against unreasonable searches and
+seizures," is habitually violated, despite the IVth Amendment of that
+Constitution? How, if, in such States, persons are notoriously and
+frequently "deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process
+of law," in violation of the Vth Amendment of that Constitution? Yet
+such is the state of affairs generally prevalent in many States of the
+Solid South.
+
+These provisions in the Constitution were, with others, placed there for
+the very purpose of securing "the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and
+our Posterity," of promoting the "General Welfare," of establishing
+"Justice," of insuring "domestic Tranquillity" and making "a more
+perfect Union"--and the violation of those provisions, or any one of
+them, in any part of our Land, by any part of our People, in any one of
+the States, is not only subversive of the Constitution, and
+revolutionary, but constitutes a demand, in itself, upon the National
+Government, to obey that imperative mandate of the Constitution (Sec. 4,
+article IV.) comprehended in the words: "The United States SHALL
+guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government."
+
+ [The meaning of these words is correctly given in an opinion of
+ Justice Bronson of New York (4 Hill's Reports, 146) in these words:
+
+ "The meaning of the section then seems to be, that no member of the
+ State shall be disfranchised or deprived of any of his rights or
+ privileges unless the matter shall be adjudged against him upon
+ trial had according to the course of common law. The words 'due
+ process of law' cannot mean less than a prosecution or suit
+ instituted and conducted according to the prescribed forms and
+ solemnities for ascertaining guilt or determining the title to
+ property."]
+
+It is well that the truth should be spoken out, and known of all men.
+The blame for this condition of things belongs partly to the Republican
+Party. The question is sometimes asked: "If these outrages against
+citizenship, against the purity of the ballot, against humanity, against
+both the letter and spirit of the Constitution of our Republic, are
+perpetrated, why is it that the Republican Party--so long in power
+during their alleged perpetration--did not put a stop to them?" The
+answer is: that while there are remedial measures, and measures of
+prevention, fully warranted by the Constitution--while there are
+Constitutional ways and means for the suppression of such outrages--yet,
+out of exceeding tenderness of heart, which prompted the hope and belief
+that the folly of continuing them must ere long come home to the
+Southern mind and conscience, the Republican Party has been loath to put
+them in force. The--best remedy of all, and the best manner of
+administering it, lies with the people themselves, of those States where
+these outrages are perpetrated. Let them stop it. The People of the
+United States may be long-suffering, and slow to wrath; but they will
+not permit such things to continue forever.
+
+When the Rebellion was quelled, the evil spirit which brought it about
+should have been utterly crushed out, and none of the questions involved
+in it should have been permitted to be raised again. But the Republican
+Party acted from its heart, instead of its head. It was merciful,
+forgiving, and magnanimous. In the magnificent sweep of its generosity
+to the erring son, it perhaps failed to insure the exact justice to the
+other sons which was their right. For, as has already been shown in
+these pages, Free-Trade, imbedded in the Rebel Constitution, as well as
+Slavery, entered into and became a part, and an essential part, of the
+Rebellion against the Union--to triumph with Slavery, if the Rebellion
+succeeded--to fall with Slavery, if the Rebellion failed. And, while
+Slavery and Free-Trade, were two leading ideas inspiring the Southern
+Conspirators and leaders in their Rebellion; Freedom to Man, and
+Protection to Labor, were the nobler ideas inspiring those who fought
+for the Union.
+
+The Morrill-Tariff of 1860, with modifications to it subsequently made
+by its Republican friends, secured to the Nation, through the triumph of
+the Union arms, great and manifold blessings and abundant prosperity
+flowing from the American Protective policy; while the Emancipation
+proclamations, together with the Constitutional amendments, and
+Congressional legislation, through the same triumph, and the acceptance
+of the legitimate results of the War, gave Freedom to all within the
+Nation's bound aries. This, at least, was the logical outcome of the
+failure of the Rebellion. Such was the general understanding, on all
+sides, at the conclusion of the War. Yet the Republican Party, in
+failing to stigmatize the heresy of Free Trade--which had so large an
+agency in bringing about the equally heretical doctrines of State
+Sovereignty and the right of Secession, and Rebellion itself,--as an
+issue or question settled by the War, as a part and parcel of the
+Rebellion, was guilty of a grave fault of omission, some of the ill-
+effects of which have already been felt, while others are yet to come.
+For, quickly after the War of the Rebellion closed,--as has been already
+mentioned--the defeated Rebel leaders, casting in their lot with their
+Democratic friends and allies, openly and without special rebuke,
+prevailed upon the National Democracy to adopt the Rebel Free-Trade
+Shibboleth of "a Tariff for revenue;" and that same Democracy, obtaining
+power and place, through violence and fraud and falsehood at the so-
+called "elections" in the Solid Southern States, now threatens the
+Country once more with iniquitous Free-Trade legislation, and all its
+attendant train of commercial disasters and general industrial ruin.
+
+Were Abraham Lincoln able bodily to revisit the United States to-day,
+how his keen gray eyes would open in amazement, to find that many
+legitimate fruits of our Union victories had been filched from us; that
+--save the honorable few, who, accepting the legitimate results of the
+War, were still honestly striving for the success of principles
+harmonizing with such results, and inuring to the general welfare--they
+who strove with all their might to wreck the Government,--were now,--
+through the fraudulent and forcible restriction of voters in their right
+to vote--at the helm of State; that these, who sought to ruin the
+Nation, had thus wrongfully usurped its rule; that Free-Trade--after
+"running-a-muck" of panic and disaster, from the birth of the Republic,
+to the outbreak of the Rebellion, with whose failure it should naturally
+have expired--was now reanimated, and stood, defiantly threatening all
+the great industries of our Land; that all his own painstaking efforts,
+and those of the band of devoted Patriots who stood by him to free the
+Southern Slaves, had mainly resulted in hiding from sight the repulsive
+chains of enforced servitude, under the outward garb of Freedom; that
+the old Black codes had simply been replaced by enactments adapted to
+the new conditions; that the old system of African Slavery had merely
+been succeeded by the heartless and galling system of African Peonage;
+that the sacrifices made by him--including that of his martyrdom--had,
+to a certain extent, been made in vain; that all the sacrifices, the
+sorrows, the sufferings, of this Nation, made in blood, in tears, and in
+vast expenditures of time and treasure, had, in some degree, and in a
+certain sense, been useless; that the Union, to be sure, was saved--but
+saved to be measurably perverted from its grand purpose; that the power
+which animated Rebellion and which was supposed to have expired in the
+"last ditch" with the "Lost Cause" had, by political legerdemain and
+jugglery and violence, been regained; that the time had actually come
+for Patriots to take back seats, while unrepentant Rebels came to the
+front; that the Republic still lived, but only by sufferance, with the
+hands of Southern oligarchs about its palpitating throat--a Republic,
+not such as he expected, where all men are equal before the law, and
+protected in their rights, but where the rights of a certain class are
+persistently trampled under foot; that the people of the Northern,
+Middle, and Western States, observing nothing beyond their own vicinage,
+so to speak, and finding that each of their own States is still
+Republican in its form of government, persistently, and perversely, shut
+their eyes to the election terrorism practiced in the Solid South by,
+which the 16 solid, Southern States were, and are, solidified by these
+conspiring oligarchs into one compact, and powerful, political mass,
+ever ready to be hurled, in and out of Congress, against the best
+interests of the Nation--16 States, not all "Republican" in form, but
+many of them Despotisms, in substance,--16 States, misnamed
+"Democratic," many of them ruled not by a majority, but by an Oligarch-
+ridden minority--16 States, leagued, banded, bound solidly together, as
+one great controlling Oligarchy, to hold, in its merciless and selfish
+hands, the balance of power within this Republican Union; and that these
+confederated Southern States are now actually able to dictate to all the
+other States of the Union, the particular man, or men, to whose rule the
+Nation must submit, and the particular policy, or policies, which the
+Nation must adopt and follow:
+
+"What next?"--you ask--"What next?" Alas, it is not difficult to
+predict! Power, lawlessly gained, is always mercilessly used. Power,
+usurped, is never tamely surrendered. The old French proverb, that
+"revolutions never go backward," is as true to-day, as when it was
+written. Already we see the signs of great preparations throughout the
+Solid South. Already we hear the shout of partisan hosts marshalled
+behind the leaders of the disarmed Rebellion, in order that the same old
+political organization which brought distress upon this Land shall again
+control the Government. Already the spirit of the former aggressiveness
+is defiantly bestirring itself. The old chieftains intend to take no
+more chances. They feel that their Great Conspiracy is now assured of
+success, inside the Union. They hesitate not to declare that the power
+once held by them, and temporarily lost, is regained. Like the Old Man
+of the Sea, they are now on top, and they:
+
+ MEAN TO KEEP THERE--IF THEY CAN.
+
+
+
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL ADDENDUM: As few readers 150 years later know of John Logan
+it seemed appropriate to the eBook editor to append this short biography
+taken from the Encyclopedia Britanica of 1911:
+
+
+LOGAN, JOHN ALEXANDER (1826-1886),
+American soldier and political leader, was born in what is now
+Murphysborough, Jackson county, Illinois, on the 9th of February 1826.
+He had no schooling until he was fourteen; he then studied for three
+years in Shiloh College, served in the Mexican War as a lieutenant of
+volunteers, studied law in the office of an uncle, graduated from the
+Law Department of Louisville University in 1851, and practised law with
+success. He entered politics as a Douglas Democrat, was elected county
+clerk in 1849, served in the State House of Representatives in 1853-1854
+and in 1857, and for a time, during the interval, was prosecuting
+attorney of the Third Judicial District of Illinois. In 1858 and 1860
+he was elected as a Democrat to the National House of Representatives.
+Though unattached and unenlisted, he fought at Bull Run, and then
+returned to Washington, resigned his seat, and entered the Union army as
+colonel of the 31st Illinois Volunteers, which he organized. He was
+regarded as one of the ablest officers who entered the army from civil
+life. In Grant's campaigns terminating in the capture of Vicksburg,
+which city Logan's division was the first to enter and of which he was
+military governor, he rose to the rank of major-general of volunteers;
+in November 1863 he succeeded Sherman in command of the XV. Army Corps;
+and after the death of McPherson he was in command of the Army of the
+Tennessee at the battle of Atlanta. When the war closed, Logan resumed
+his political career as a Republican, and was a member of the National
+House of Representatives from 1867 to 1871, and of the United States
+Senate from 1871 until 1877 and again from 1879 until his death, which
+took place at Washington, D.C., on the 26th of December 1886. In 1868
+he was one of the managers in the impeachment of President Johnson. His
+war record and his great personal following, especially in the Grand
+Army of the Republic, contributed to his nomination for Vice-President
+in 1884 on the ticket with James G. Blaine, but he was not elected. His
+impetuous oratory was popular on the platform. He was commander-in-
+chief of the Grand Army of the Republic from 1868 to 1871, and in this
+position successfully urged the observance of Memorial or Decoration
+Day, an idea which probably originated with him. He was the author of
+The Great Conspiracy: Its Origin and History (1886), an account of the
+Civil War, and of The Volunteer Soldier of America (1887). There is a
+fine statue of him by St. Gaudens in Chicago.
+
+The best biography is that by George F. Dawson, The Life and Services
+of Gen. John A. Logan, as Soldier and Statesman (Chicago and New York,
+1887).
+
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT CONSPIRACY, COMPLETE ***
+
+******* This file should be named jl08w10.txt or jl08w10.zip ********
+
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+<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
+<html>
+<head>
+<title>THE GREAT CONSPIRACY, Complete By John Logan</title>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
+<link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg">
+
+
+<style type="text/css">
+ <!--
+ body {background:#faebd7; margin:10%; text-align:justify}
+ P {
+ text-indent: 1em;
+ margin-top: .75em;
+ margin-bottom: .75em; }
+ H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; }
+ HR { width: 33%; text-align: center; }
+ blockquote {font-size: 95% }
+ .figleft {float: left;}
+ .figright {float: right;}
+ .toc { margin-left: 15%; margin-bottom: 0em;}
+ CENTER { padding: 10px;}
+ // -->
+</style>
+
+
+
+</head>
+<body>
+
+
+<h2><a href="#contents">THE GREAT CONSPIRACY, Complete</a></h2>
+<pre>
+
+Project Gutenberg's The Great Conspiracy, Complete, by John Alexander Logan
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
+
+
+Title: The Great Conspiracy, Complete
+
+Author: John Alexander Logan
+
+Release Date: August 16, 2006 [EBook #7140]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT CONSPIRACY, COMPLETE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<a name="contents"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<h3>CONTENTS</h3>
+
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="" cellPadding=4 border=3>
+
+<tr><td><a href="p1.htm"><b>Part 1.</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td><td> Chapter&nbsp;&nbsp;</td><td> I. </td><td> to&nbsp;&nbsp; </td><td> V.</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="p2.htm"><b>Part 2.</b></a></td><td> Chapter </td><td> VI.</td><td> to </td><td> X.</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="p3.htm"><b>Part 3.</b></a></td><td> Chapter</td><td> XI.&nbsp;&nbsp;</td><td>to </td><td> XIII.</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="p4.htm"><b>Part 4.</b></a></td><td> Chapter </td><td> XIV. </td><td> to </td><td> XVII.</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="p5.htm"><b>Part 5.</b></a></td><td> Chapter </td><td> XVIII.</td><td> to </td><td> XXI.</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="p6.htm"><b>Part 6.</b></a></td><td> Chapter </td><td> XXII.</td><td> to </td><td> XXVII.</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="p7.htm"><b>Part 7.</b></a></td><td> Chapter </td><td> XXVIII.&nbsp;&nbsp;</td><td> to </td><td> XXXIII.</td></tr>
+
+
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+<br><br>
+<br><br>
+
+<h1>
+<br>
+ THE GREAT CONSPIRACY<br>
+<br>
+ Its Origin and History<br>
+<br>
+ Complete<br>
+<br></h1>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="bookcover.jpg (102K)" src="images/bookcover.jpg" height="915" width="824">
+<br><br><br><br>
+<img alt="dedication.jpg (30K)" src="images/dedication.jpg" height="343" width="826">
+<br><br><br><br>
+<img alt="frontspiece.jpg (101K)" src="images/frontspiece.jpg" height="934" width="665">
+<br><br><br><br>
+<img alt="titlepage.jpg (65K)" src="images/titlepage.jpg" height="1134" width="692">
+<br><br><br><br>
+</center>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTERS</h2>
+
+<br>
+
+<center>
+<table summary="">
+
+
+<tr><td>I. </td><td><a href="p1.htm#ch1">A Preliminary Retrospect,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>II. </td><td><a href="p1.htm#ch2">Protection, and Free Trade,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>III. </td><td><a href="p1.htm#ch3">Growth of the Slavery Question,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>IV. </td><td><a href="p1.htm#ch4">Popular Sovereignty,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>V. </td><td><a href="p1.htm#ch5">Presidential Contest of 1860,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>VI. </td><td><a href="p2.htm#ch6">The Great Conspiracy Maturing,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>VII. </td><td><a href="p2.htm#ch7">Secession" Arming,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>VIII. </td><td><a href="p2.htm#ch8">The Rejected Olive Branch,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>IX. </td><td><a href="p2.htm#ch9">Slavery's Setting Sun,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>X. </td><td><a href="p2.htm#ch10">The War Drum&mdash;"On to Washington,"</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XI. </td><td><a href="p3.htm#ch11">Causes of Secession</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XII. </td><td><a href="p3.htm#ch12">Copperheadism vs. Union-Democracy,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XIII. </td><td><a href="p3.htm#ch13">The Storm of Battle,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XIV. </td><td><a href="p4.htm#ch14">The Colored Contraband,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XV. </td><td><a href="p4.htm#ch15">Freedom's Early Dawn,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XVI. </td><td><a href="p4.htm#ch16">Compensated, Gradual, Emancipation,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XVII. </td><td><a href="p4.htm#ch17">Border-State Opposition,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XVIII. </td><td><a href="p5.htm#ch18">Freedom Proclaimed to All,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XIX. </td><td><a href="p5.htm#ch19">Historical Review,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XX. </td><td><a href="p5.htm#ch20">Lincoln's Troubles and Temptations,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XXI. </td><td><a href="p5.htm#ch21">The Armed Negro</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XXII. </td><td><a href="p6.htm#ch22">Freedom's Sun still Rising,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XXIII. </td><td><a href="p6.htm#ch23">Thirteenth Amendment Passes the Senate</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XXIV. </td><td><a href="p6.htm#ch24">Treason in the Northern Camp,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XXV. </td><td><a href="p6.htm#ch25">The "Fire in the Rear,"</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XXVI. </td><td><a href="p6.htm#ch26">Thirteenth Amendment Defeated in House,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XXVII. </td><td><a href="p6.htm#ch27">Slavery Doomed at the Polls,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XXVIII.&nbsp;&nbsp; </td><td><a href="p7.htm#ch28">Freedom at last Assured,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XXIX. </td><td><a href="p7.htm#ch29">Lincoln's Second Inauguration,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XXX. </td><td><a href="p7.htm#ch30">Collapse of Armed Conspiracy,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XXXI. </td><td><a href="p7.htm#ch31">Assassination!</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XXXII. </td><td><a href="p7.htm#ch32">Turning Back the Hands,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XXXIII. </td><td><a href="p7.htm#ch33">What Next?</a></td></tr>
+
+
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br><br>
+
+<h2>MAPS and PORTRAITS</h2>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<h4><a href="p1.htm">Part One.</a></h4>
+<center>
+<table summary="">
+<tr><td>
+
+DANIEL WEBSTER,<br>
+STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS,<br>
+THOMAS JEFFERSON,<br>
+ABRAHAM LINCOLN,<br>
+
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+<br><br>
+
+<h4><a href="p2.htm">Part Two.</a></h4>
+<center>
+<table summary="">
+<tr><td>
+
+ISAAC W. HAYNE,<br>
+WM. H. SEWARD,<br>
+HENRY CLAY,<br>
+JEFFERSON DAVIS,<br>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+<br><br>
+<h4><a href="p3.htm">Part Three.</a></h4>
+<center>
+<table summary="">
+<tr><td>
+
+JOHN C. CALHOUN,<br>
+SEAT OF WAR IN VIRGINIA. (Map)<br>
+FIRST BULL RUN BATTLE-FIELD. (Map)<br>
+FIRST BULL RUN BATTLE-FIELD, (Map)<br>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+<br><br>
+<h4><a href="p4.htm">Part Four.</a></h4>
+<center>
+<table summary="">
+<tr><td>
+
+J. J. CRITTENDEN,<br>
+LOUIS T. WIGFALL.<br>
+DAVID HUNTER,<br>
+PATRICK HENRY,<br>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+<br><br>
+<h4><a href="p5.htm">Part Five.</a></h4>
+<center>
+<table summary="">
+<tr><td>
+EDWARD D. BAKER,<br>
+JOHN C. FREMONT,<br>
+SIMON CAMERON,<br>
+H. W. HALLECK,<br>
+
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+<br><br>
+<h4><a href="p6.htm">Part Six.</a></h4>
+<center>
+<table summary="">
+<tr><td>
+BENJ. F. BUTLER,<br>
+LYMAN TRUMBULL,<br>
+BENJ. F. WADE,<br>
+GEO. B. MCCLELLAN,<br>
+ELECTION RESULTS<br>
+
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+<br><br>
+<h4><a href="p7.htm">Part Seven.</a></h4>
+<center>
+<table summary="">
+<tr><td>
+
+THAD. STEVENS,<br>
+HENRY WINTER DAVIS,<br>
+J. C. BRECKINRIDGE,<br>
+
+
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr><br><br>
+
+
+<h3>CONTENTS</h3>
+
+
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="" cellPadding=4 border=3>
+
+<tr><td><a href="p1.htm"><b>Part 1.</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td><td> Chapter&nbsp;&nbsp;</td><td> I. </td><td> to&nbsp;&nbsp; </td><td> V.</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="p2.htm"><b>Part 2.</b></a></td><td> Chapter </td><td> VI.</td><td> to </td><td> X.</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="p3.htm"><b>Part 3.</b></a></td><td> Chapter</td><td> XI.&nbsp;&nbsp;</td><td>to </td><td> XIII.</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="p4.htm"><b>Part 4.</b></a></td><td> Chapter </td><td> XIV. </td><td> to </td><td> XVII.</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="p5.htm"><b>Part 5.</b></a></td><td> Chapter </td><td> XVIII.</td><td> to </td><td> XXI.</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="p6.htm"><b>Part 6.</b></a></td><td> Chapter </td><td> XXII.</td><td> to </td><td> XXVII.</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="p7.htm"><b>Part 7.</b></a></td><td> Chapter </td><td> XXVIII.&nbsp;&nbsp;</td><td> to </td><td> XXXIII.</td></tr>
+
+
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Conspiracy, Complete
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+</body>
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+<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
+<html>
+<head>
+<title>THE GREAT CONSPIRACY, Complete By John Logan</title>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
+<link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg">
+
+
+<style type="text/css">
+ <!--
+ body {background:#faebd7; margin:10%; text-align:justify}
+ P {
+ text-indent: 1em;
+ margin-top: .75em;
+ margin-bottom: .75em; }
+ H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; }
+ HR { width: 33%; text-align: center; }
+ blockquote {font-size: 95% }
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+<body>
+
+
+<h2><a href="#contents">THE GREAT CONSPIRACY, Complete</a></h2>
+<pre>
+
+Project Gutenberg's The Great Conspiracy, Complete, by John Alexander Logan
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
+
+
+Title: The Great Conspiracy, Complete
+
+Author: John Alexander Logan
+
+Release Date: August 16, 2006 [EBook #7140]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT CONSPIRACY, COMPLETE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<a name="contents"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<h3>CONTENTS</h3>
+
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="" cellPadding=4 border=3>
+
+<tr><td><a href="p1.htm"><b>Part 1.</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td><td> Chapter&nbsp;&nbsp;</td><td> I. </td><td> to&nbsp;&nbsp; </td><td> V.</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="p2.htm"><b>Part 2.</b></a></td><td> Chapter </td><td> VI.</td><td> to </td><td> X.</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="p3.htm"><b>Part 3.</b></a></td><td> Chapter</td><td> XI.&nbsp;&nbsp;</td><td>to </td><td> XIII.</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="p4.htm"><b>Part 4.</b></a></td><td> Chapter </td><td> XIV. </td><td> to </td><td> XVII.</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="p5.htm"><b>Part 5.</b></a></td><td> Chapter </td><td> XVIII.</td><td> to </td><td> XXI.</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="p6.htm"><b>Part 6.</b></a></td><td> Chapter </td><td> XXII.</td><td> to </td><td> XXVII.</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="p7.htm"><b>Part 7.</b></a></td><td> Chapter </td><td> XXVIII.&nbsp;&nbsp;</td><td> to </td><td> XXXIII.</td></tr>
+
+
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+<br><br>
+<br><br>
+
+<h1>
+<br>
+ THE GREAT CONSPIRACY<br>
+<br>
+ Its Origin and History<br>
+<br>
+ Complete<br>
+<br></h1>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="bookcover.jpg (102K)" src="images/bookcover.jpg" height="915" width="824">
+<br><br><br><br>
+<img alt="dedication.jpg (30K)" src="images/dedication.jpg" height="343" width="826">
+<br><br><br><br>
+<img alt="frontspiece.jpg (101K)" src="images/frontspiece.jpg" height="934" width="665">
+<br><br><br><br>
+<img alt="titlepage.jpg (65K)" src="images/titlepage.jpg" height="1134" width="692">
+<br><br><br><br>
+</center>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTERS</h2>
+
+<br>
+
+<center>
+<table summary="">
+
+
+<tr><td>I. </td><td><a href="p1.htm#ch1">A Preliminary Retrospect,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>II. </td><td><a href="p1.htm#ch2">Protection, and Free Trade,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>III. </td><td><a href="p1.htm#ch3">Growth of the Slavery Question,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>IV. </td><td><a href="p1.htm#ch4">Popular Sovereignty,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>V. </td><td><a href="p1.htm#ch5">Presidential Contest of 1860,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>VI. </td><td><a href="p2.htm#ch6">The Great Conspiracy Maturing,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>VII. </td><td><a href="p2.htm#ch7">Secession" Arming,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>VIII. </td><td><a href="p2.htm#ch8">The Rejected Olive Branch,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>IX. </td><td><a href="p2.htm#ch9">Slavery's Setting Sun,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>X. </td><td><a href="p2.htm#ch10">The War Drum&mdash;"On to Washington,"</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XI. </td><td><a href="p3.htm#ch11">Causes of Secession</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XII. </td><td><a href="p3.htm#ch12">Copperheadism vs. Union-Democracy,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XIII. </td><td><a href="p3.htm#ch13">The Storm of Battle,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XIV. </td><td><a href="p4.htm#ch14">The Colored Contraband,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XV. </td><td><a href="p4.htm#ch15">Freedom's Early Dawn,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XVI. </td><td><a href="p4.htm#ch16">Compensated, Gradual, Emancipation,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XVII. </td><td><a href="p4.htm#ch17">Border-State Opposition,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XVIII. </td><td><a href="p5.htm#ch18">Freedom Proclaimed to All,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XIX. </td><td><a href="p5.htm#ch19">Historical Review,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XX. </td><td><a href="p5.htm#ch20">Lincoln's Troubles and Temptations,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XXI. </td><td><a href="p5.htm#ch21">The Armed Negro</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XXII. </td><td><a href="p6.htm#ch22">Freedom's Sun still Rising,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XXIII. </td><td><a href="p6.htm#ch23">Thirteenth Amendment Passes the Senate</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XXIV. </td><td><a href="p6.htm#ch24">Treason in the Northern Camp,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XXV. </td><td><a href="p6.htm#ch25">The "Fire in the Rear,"</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XXVI. </td><td><a href="p6.htm#ch26">Thirteenth Amendment Defeated in House,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XXVII. </td><td><a href="p6.htm#ch27">Slavery Doomed at the Polls,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XXVIII.&nbsp;&nbsp; </td><td><a href="p7.htm#ch28">Freedom at last Assured,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XXIX. </td><td><a href="p7.htm#ch29">Lincoln's Second Inauguration,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XXX. </td><td><a href="p7.htm#ch30">Collapse of Armed Conspiracy,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XXXI. </td><td><a href="p7.htm#ch31">Assassination!</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XXXII. </td><td><a href="p7.htm#ch32">Turning Back the Hands,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>XXXIII. </td><td><a href="p7.htm#ch33">What Next?</a></td></tr>
+
+
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br><br>
+
+<h2>MAPS and PORTRAITS</h2>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<h4><a href="p1.htm">Part One.</a></h4>
+<center>
+<table summary="">
+<tr><td>
+
+DANIEL WEBSTER,<br>
+STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS,<br>
+THOMAS JEFFERSON,<br>
+ABRAHAM LINCOLN,<br>
+
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+<br><br>
+
+<h4><a href="p2.htm">Part Two.</a></h4>
+<center>
+<table summary="">
+<tr><td>
+
+ISAAC W. HAYNE,<br>
+WM. H. SEWARD,<br>
+HENRY CLAY,<br>
+JEFFERSON DAVIS,<br>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+<br><br>
+<h4><a href="p3.htm">Part Three.</a></h4>
+<center>
+<table summary="">
+<tr><td>
+
+JOHN C. CALHOUN,<br>
+SEAT OF WAR IN VIRGINIA. (Map)<br>
+FIRST BULL RUN BATTLE-FIELD. (Map)<br>
+FIRST BULL RUN BATTLE-FIELD, (Map)<br>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+<br><br>
+<h4><a href="p4.htm">Part Four.</a></h4>
+<center>
+<table summary="">
+<tr><td>
+
+J. J. CRITTENDEN,<br>
+LOUIS T. WIGFALL.<br>
+DAVID HUNTER,<br>
+PATRICK HENRY,<br>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+<br><br>
+<h4><a href="p5.htm">Part Five.</a></h4>
+<center>
+<table summary="">
+<tr><td>
+EDWARD D. BAKER,<br>
+JOHN C. FREMONT,<br>
+SIMON CAMERON,<br>
+H. W. HALLECK,<br>
+
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+<br><br>
+<h4><a href="p6.htm">Part Six.</a></h4>
+<center>
+<table summary="">
+<tr><td>
+BENJ. F. BUTLER,<br>
+LYMAN TRUMBULL,<br>
+BENJ. F. WADE,<br>
+GEO. B. MCCLELLAN,<br>
+ELECTION RESULTS<br>
+
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+<br><br>
+<h4><a href="p7.htm">Part Seven.</a></h4>
+<center>
+<table summary="">
+<tr><td>
+
+THAD. STEVENS,<br>
+HENRY WINTER DAVIS,<br>
+J. C. BRECKINRIDGE,<br>
+
+
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr><br><br>
+
+
+<h3>CONTENTS</h3>
+
+
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="" cellPadding=4 border=3>
+
+<tr><td><a href="p1.htm"><b>Part 1.</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td><td> Chapter&nbsp;&nbsp;</td><td> I. </td><td> to&nbsp;&nbsp; </td><td> V.</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="p2.htm"><b>Part 2.</b></a></td><td> Chapter </td><td> VI.</td><td> to </td><td> X.</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="p3.htm"><b>Part 3.</b></a></td><td> Chapter</td><td> XI.&nbsp;&nbsp;</td><td>to </td><td> XIII.</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="p4.htm"><b>Part 4.</b></a></td><td> Chapter </td><td> XIV. </td><td> to </td><td> XVII.</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="p5.htm"><b>Part 5.</b></a></td><td> Chapter </td><td> XVIII.</td><td> to </td><td> XXI.</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="p6.htm"><b>Part 6.</b></a></td><td> Chapter </td><td> XXII.</td><td> to </td><td> XXVII.</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="p7.htm"><b>Part 7.</b></a></td><td> Chapter </td><td> XXVIII.&nbsp;&nbsp;</td><td> to </td><td> XXXIII.</td></tr>
+
+
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Conspiracy, Complete
+by John Alexander Logan
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT CONSPIRACY, COMPLETE ***
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+</pre>
+
+</body>
+</html>
+
+
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+<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
+<html>
+<head>
+<title>THE GREAT CONSPIRACY, Part. 1. By John Logan</title>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
+
+
+
+<style type="text/css">
+ <!--
+ body {background:#faebd7; margin:10%; text-align:justify}
+ P {
+ text-indent: 1em;
+ margin-top: .75em;
+ margin-bottom: .75em; }
+ H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; }
+ HR { width: 33%; text-align: center; }
+ blockquote {font-size: 95% }
+ .figleft {float: left;}
+ .figright {float: right;}
+ .toc { margin-left: 15%; margin-bottom: 0em;}
+ CENTER { padding: 10px;}
+ // -->
+</style>
+
+
+
+</head>
+<body>
+
+<h2>THE GREAT CONSPIRACY, Part. 1</h2>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="" cellPadding=4 border=3>
+<tr><td>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="p2.htm">Next Part</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+</td><td>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="7140-h.htm">Main Index</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+<br><br><br><br><br><br>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<center><h1>
+<br>
+ THE GREAT CONSPIRACY<br>
+<br>
+ Its Origin and History<br>
+<br>
+ Part 1.<br>
+<br></h1>
+<br><br>
+
+<img alt="bookcover.jpg (102K)" src="images/bookcover.jpg" height="915" width="824">
+<br><br><br><br>
+<img alt="dedication.jpg (30K)" src="images/dedication.jpg" height="343" width="826">
+<br><br><br><br>
+<img alt="frontspiece.jpg (101K)" src="images/frontspiece.jpg" height="934" width="665">
+<br><br><br><br>
+<img alt="titlepage.jpg (65K)" src="images/titlepage.jpg" height="1134" width="692">
+<br><br><br><br>
+
+
+<h2><br>
+<br><br><br>
+PREFACE.
+</h2>
+</center>
+
+<p>In the preparation of this work it has been the writer's aim to present
+in it, with historical accuracy, authentic facts; to be fair and
+impartial in grouping them; and to be true and just in the conclusions
+necessarily drawn from them. While thus striving to be accurate, fair,
+and just, he has not thought it his duty to mince words, nor to refrain
+from "calling things by their right names;" neither has he sought to
+curry favor, in any quarter, by fulsome adulation on the one side, nor
+undue denunciation on the other, either of the living, or of the dead.
+But, while tracing the history of the Great Conspiracy, from its obscure
+birth in the brooding brains of a few ambitious men of the earliest days
+of our Republic, through the subsequent years of its devolution, down to
+the evil days of Nullification, and to the bitter and bloody period of
+armed Rebellion, or contemplating it in its still more recent and,
+perhaps, more sinister development, of to-day, he has conscientiously
+dealt with it, throughout, in the clear and penetrating light of the
+voluminous records so readily accessible at the seat of our National
+Government. So far as was practicable, he has endeavored to allow the
+chief characters in that Conspiracy&mdash;as well as the Union leaders, who,
+whether in Executive, Legislative, or Military service, devoted their
+best abilities and energies to its suppression&mdash;to speak for themselves,
+and thus while securing their own proper places in history, by a process
+of self-adjustment as it were, themselves to write down that history in
+their own language. If then there be found within these covers aught
+which may seem harsh to those directly or indirectly, nearly or
+remotely, connected with that Conspiracy, he may not unfairly exclaim:
+"Thou canst not say I did it." If he knows his own heart, the writer
+can truly declare, with his hand upon it, that it bears neither hatred,
+malice, nor uncharitableness, to those who, misled by the cunning
+secrecy of the Conspirators, and without an inkling or even a suspicion
+of their fell purposes, went manfully into the field, with a courage
+worthy of a better cause, and for four years of bloody conflict,
+believing that their cause was just, fought the armies of the Union, in
+a mad effort to destroy the best government yet devised by man upon this
+planet. And, perhaps, none can better understand than he, how hard, how
+very hard, it must be for men of strong nature and intense feeling,
+after taking a mistaken stand, and especially after carrying their
+conviction to the cannon's mouth, to acknowledge their error before the
+world. Hence, while he has endeavored truly to depict&mdash;or to let those
+who made history at the time help him to depict&mdash;the enormity of the
+offence of the armed Rebellion and of the heresies and plottings of
+certain Southern leaders precipitating it, yet not one word will be
+found, herein, condemnatory of those who, with manly candor, soldierly
+courage, and true patriotism, acknowledged that error when the ultimate
+arbitrament of the sword had decided against them. On the contrary, to
+all such as accept, in good faith, the results of the war of the
+Rebellion, the writer heartily holds out the hand of forgiveness for the
+past, and good fellowship for the future.</p>
+<br>
+<p>WASHINGTON, D. C.</p>
+<br>
+<p>April 15, 1886.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<br>
+
+<center>
+<table summary="">
+
+
+<tr><td>I. </td><td><a href="#ch1">A Preliminary Retrospect,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>II. </td><td><a href="#ch2">Protection, and Free Trade,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>III. </td><td><a href="#ch3">Growth of the Slavery Question,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>IV. </td><td><a href="#ch4">Popular Sovereignty,</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>V. </td><td><a href="#ch5">Presidential Contest of 1860,</a></td></tr>
+
+
+
+
+</table>
+</center>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2><a href="#ch1">CHAPTER I.</a><br>
+ A PRELIMINARY RETROSPECT.<br></h2>
+<br>
+AFRICAN SLAVERY IN AMERICA IN 1620&mdash;CONTROVERSY BETWEEN THE COLONIES AND
+ENGLAND IN 1699&mdash;GEORGIAN ABHORRENCE OF SLAVERY IN 1775&mdash;JEFFERSON AND
+THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE&mdash;SLAVERY A SOURCE OF WEAKNESS IN THE
+REVOLUTIONARY WAR&mdash;THE SESSION BY VIRGINIA OF THE GREAT
+NORTH-WEST&mdash;THEORDINANCE OF 1784 AND ITS FAILURE&mdash;THE ORDINANCE OF 1787 AND ITS
+ADOPTION&mdash;THE GERM OF SLAVERY AGITATION PLANTED&mdash;THE QUESTION IN THE
+CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION&mdash;SUBTERFUGES OF THE OLD CONSTITUTION&mdash;THE
+BULLDOZING OF THE FATHERS&mdash;THE FIRST FEDERAL CONGRESS, 1789&mdash;CONDITIONS
+OF TERRITORIAL CESSIONS FROM NORTH CAROLINA AND GEORGIA, 1789-1802&mdash;THE
+"COLONY OF LOUISIANA" (MISSISSIPPI VALLEY) PURCHASE OF 1803&mdash;THE
+TREATY&mdash;CONDITIONS TOUCHING SLAVERY&mdash;THE COTTON INDUSTRY REVOLUTIONIZED&mdash;RAPID
+POPULATING OF THE GREAT VALLEY, BY SLAVEHOLDERS AND SLAVES&mdash;JEFFERSON'S
+APPARENT INCONSISTENCY EXPLAINED&mdash;THE AFRICAN SLAVE
+TRADE&mdash;MULTIPLICATION OF SLAVES&mdash;LOUISIANA ADMITTED, 1812, AS A
+STATE&mdash;THE TERRITORY OF MISSOURI&mdash;THE MISSOURI STRUGGLE (1818-1820)
+IN A NUTSHELL&mdash; THE "MISSOURI COMPROMISE"<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2><a href="#ch2">CHAPTER II.</a><br>
+ PROTECTION AND FREE TRADE.<br></h2>
+<br>
+CHIEF CAUSE OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION&mdash;OUR INDEPENDENCE, INDUSTRIAL AS
+WELL AS POLITICAL&mdash;FAILURE OF THE CONFEDERATION DUE TO LACK OF
+INDUSTRIAL PROTECTION&mdash;MADISON'S TARIFF ACT OF 1789&mdash;HAMILTON'S TARIFF
+OF 1790&mdash;SOUTHERN STATESMEN AND SOUTHERN VOTES FOR EARLY
+TARIFFS&mdash;WASHINGTON AND JEFFERSON ON "PROTECTION "&mdash;EMBARGO OF 1807-8&mdash;WAR OF
+1812-15&mdash;CONSEQUENT INCREASE OF AMERICAN MANUFACTURES&mdash;BROUGHAM'S
+PLAN&mdash;RUIN THREATENED BY GLUT OF BRITISH GOODS&mdash;TARIFF ACT OF 1816&mdash;CALHOUN'S
+DEFENSE OF "PROTECTION"&mdash;NEW ENGLAND AGAINST THAT ACT&mdash;THE SOUTH SECURES
+ITS PASSAGE&mdash;THE PROTECTIVE TARIFF ACTS OF 1824 AND 1828&mdash;SUBSEQUENT
+PROSPERITY IN FREE STATES&mdash;THE BLIGHT OF SLAVERY&mdash;BIRTH OF THE FREE
+TRADE HERESY IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1797&mdash;SIMULTANEOUS BIRTH OF THE
+HERESY OF STATE RIGHTS&mdash;KENTUCKY RESOLUTIONS OF 1798&mdash;VIRGINIA
+RESOLUTIONS OF 1799&mdash;JEFFERSON'S REAL PURPOSE IN FORMULATING
+THEM&mdash;ACTIVITY OF THE FEW SOUTHERN FREE TRADERS&mdash;PLAUSIBLE ARGUMENTS AGAINST
+"PROTECTION"&mdash;INGENIOUS METHODS OF "FIRING THE SOUTHERN HEART"&mdash;SOUTHERN
+DISCONTENT WITH TARIFF OF 1824&mdash;INFLAMMATORY UTTERANCES&mdash;ARMED
+RESISTANCE URGED TO TARIFF OF 1828&mdash;WALTERBOROUGH ANTI-PROTECTIVE TARIFF
+ADDRESS&mdash;FREE TRADE AND NULLIFICATION ADVOCACY APPEARS IN CONGRESS&mdash;THE
+HAYNE-WEBSTER DEBATE&mdash;MODIFIED PROTECTIVE TARIFF OF 1832&mdash;SOUTH
+CAROLINA'S NULLIFICATION ORDINANCE&mdash;HAYNE ELECTED GOVERNOR OF SOUTH
+CAROLINA&mdash;HERESY OF "PARAMOUNT ALLEGIANCE TO THE STATE"&mdash;SOUTH CAROLINA
+ARMS HERSELF&mdash;PRESIDENT JACKSON STAMPS OUT SOUTHERN TREASON&mdash;CLAY'S
+COMPROMISE TARIFF OF 1833&mdash;CHIEF JUSTICE MARSHALL'S SOLEMN
+WARNING&mdash;JACKSON'S FORECAST<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2><a href="#ch3">CHAPTER III.</a><br>
+ GROWTH OF THE SLAVERY QUESTION.<br></h2>
+<br>
+"EMANCIPATION" IN NORTHERN AND MIDDLE STATES&mdash;VIRGINIA'S UNSUCCESSFUL
+EFFORT&mdash;CESSION OF THE FLORIDAS, 1819&mdash;BALANCE OF POWER&mdash;ADMISSION OF
+ARKANSAS,1836&mdash;SOUTHERN SLAVE HOLDERS' COLONIZATION OF TEXAS&mdash;TEXAN
+INDEPENDENCE, 1837&mdash;CALHOUN'S SECOND AND GREAT CONSPIRACY&mdash;DETERMINATION
+BEFORE 1839 TO SECEDE&mdash;PROTECTIVE TARIFF FEATURES AGAIN THE
+PRETEXT&mdash;CALHOUN, IN 1841, ASKING THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT FOR AID&mdash;NORTHERN
+OPPOSITION TO ACQUISITION OF TEXAS&mdash;RATIONALE OF THE LOUISIANA AND
+FLORIDA ACQUISITIONS&mdash;PROPOSED EXTENSION OF SLAVERY LIMITS&mdash;WEBSTER
+WARNS THE SOUTH&mdash;DISASTERS FOLLOWING COMPROMISE TARIFF OF
+1833&mdash;INDUSTRIAL RUIN OF 1840&mdash;ELECTION AND DEATH OF HARRISON&mdash;PROTECTIVE
+TARIFF OF 1842&mdash;POLK'S CAMPAIGN OF 1844&mdash;CLAY'S BLUNDER AND POLK'S
+CRIME&mdash;SOUTHERN TREACHERY&mdash;THE NORTH HOODWINKED&mdash;POLK ELECTED BY
+ABOLITION VOTE&mdash;SLAVE-HOLDING TEXAS UNDER A SHAM "COMPROMISE"&mdash;WAR WITH
+MEXICO&mdash;FREE-TRADE TARIFF OF 1846&mdash;WILMOT PROVISO&mdash;TREATY OF
+GUADALUPE&mdash;HIDALGO&mdash;SLAVERY CONTEST IN CONGRESS STILL GROWING&mdash;COMPROMISE
+OF 1850&mdash;A LULL&mdash;FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW&mdash;NEBRASKA BILL OF 1852-3&mdash;KANSAS-NEBRASKA
+BILL, 1853-4, REPORTED&mdash;PARLIAMENTARY "JUGGLERY"&mdash;THE TRIUMPH OF
+SLAVERY, IN CONGRESS&mdash;BLEEDING KANSAS&mdash;TOPEKA CONSTITUTION, 1855&mdash;KANSAS
+LEGISLATURE DISPERSED, 1856, BY UNITED STATES TROOPS&mdash;LECOMPTON
+CONSTITUTION OF 1857&mdash;FRAUDULENT TRIUMPH OF SLAVERY CONSTITUTION&mdash;ITS
+SUBSEQUENT DEFEAT&mdash;ELECTION OF BUCHANAN, 1856&mdash;KANSAS ADMITTED&mdash;MISERY
+AND RUIN CAUSED BY FREE-TRADE TARIFF OF 1846&mdash;FILLMORE AND BUCHANAN
+TESTIFY<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2><a href="#ch4">CHAPTER IV.</a><br>
+ "POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY."<br></h2>
+<br>
+DOUGLAS'S THEORY OF POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY&mdash;ILLINOIS LEGISLATIVE
+ENDORSEMENT OF IT, 1851&mdash;DOUGLAS'S POSITION ON KANSAS&mdash;NEBRASKA BILL,
+1854&mdash;DRED SCOTT DECISION&mdash;SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, REPUBLICAN CONVENTION
+OF 1858&mdash;LINCOLN'S REMARKABLE SPEECH TO THE CONVENTION&mdash;PIERCE AND
+BUCHANAN, TANEY AND DOUGLAS, CHARGED WITH PRO-SLAVERY
+CONSPIRACY&mdash;DOUGLAS'S GREAT SPEECH (JULY 9TH, 1858) AT CHICAGO, IN REPLY&mdash;LINCOLN'S
+POWERFUL REJOINDER, AT CHICAGO, (JULY 10TH)&mdash;THE ADMIXTURE OF RACES&mdash;THE
+VOTING "UP OR DOWN" OF SLAVERY&mdash;THE "ARGUMENTS OF KINGS"&mdash;TRUTHS OF THE
+DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE&mdash;DOUGLAS'S BLOOMINGTON SPEECH (JULY 16TH),
+OF VINDICATION AND ATTACK&mdash;HISTORY OF THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA STRUGGLE&mdash;THE
+UNHOLY ALLIANCE&mdash;THE TWO POINTS AT ISSUE&mdash;THE "WHITE MAN'S"
+COUNTRY&mdash;DOUGLAS'S PLEDGES TO WEBSTER AND CLAY&mdash;DOUGLAS'S SPRINGFIELD SPEECH,
+JULY 17TH&mdash;THE IRRECONCILABLE PRINCIPLES AT ISSUE BETWEEN LINCOLN AND
+HIMSELF&mdash;LINCOLN'S GREAT SPEECH, AT SPRINGFIELD, THE SAME
+EVENING&mdash;DOUGLAS'S TRIUMPHANT MARCHES AND ENTRIES&mdash;THE "OFFICES SEEN IN HIS
+ROUND, JOLLY, FRUITFUL FACE"&mdash;LINCOLN'S LEAN-FACED FIGHT, FOR PRINCIPLE
+ALONE&mdash;DOUGLAS'S VARIOUS SPEECHES REVIEWED&mdash;THE REAL QUESTION BETWEEN
+REPUBLICANS AND DOUGLAS MEN AND THE BUCHANAN MEN&mdash;JACKSON'S VETO OF THE
+NATIONAL BANK CHARTER&mdash;DEMOCRATIC REVOLT AGAINST THE SUPREME COURT
+DECISION&mdash;VINDICATION OF CLAY&mdash;"NEGRO EQUALITY"&mdash;MR. LINCOLN'S CHARGE,
+OF "CONSPIRACY AND DECEPTION" TO "NATIONALIZE SLAVERY," RENEWED&mdash;GREAT
+JOINT DEBATE OF 1858, BETWEEN LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS, ARRANGED
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2><a href="#ch5">CHAPTER V</a>.<br>
+ THE PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST OF 1860&mdash;<br>
+ THE CRISIS APPROACHING.<br></h2>
+<br>
+<br>
+HOW THE GREAT JOINT DEBATE OF 1858 RESULTED&mdash;THE "LITTLE GIANT" CAPTURES
+THE SENATORSHIP&mdash;THE "BIG GIANT" CAPTURES THE PEOPLE&mdash;THE RISING
+DEMOCRATIC STAR OF 1860&mdash;DOUGLAS'S GRAND TRIUMPHAL "PROGRESS" THROUGH
+THE LAND&mdash;A POPULAR DEMOCRATIC IDOL&mdash;FRESH AGGRESSIONS OF THE SLAVE
+POWER&mdash;NEW MEXICO'S SLAVE CODE OF 1859&mdash;HELPER'S "IMPENDING
+CRISIS"&mdash;JOHN BROWN AND HARPER'S FERRY&mdash;THE MEETING OF CONGRESS,
+DECEMBER, 1859&mdash;FORTY-FOUR BALLOTS FOR SPEAKER&mdash;DANGEROUSLY HEATED CONGRESSIONAL DEBATES
+ON SLAVERY&mdash;THE DEMOCRATIC SPLIT&mdash;JEFFERSON DAVIS'S ARROGANT
+DOUBLE-EDGED PRO-SLAVERY' RESOLUTIONS&mdash;DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION,
+CHARLESTON, S. C., 1860&mdash;DECLARATIONS OF THE MAJORITY AND MINORITY
+REPORTS AND BUTLER'S RECOMMENDATION, WITH VOTES THEREON&mdash;ADOPTION OF THE
+MINORITY (DOUGLAS) PLATFORM&mdash;SOUTHERN DELEGATES PROTEST AND "BOLT "&mdash;THE
+BOLTING CONVENTION ADJOURNS TILL JUNE AT RICHMOND&mdash;THE REGULAR
+CONVENTION BALLOTS AND ADJOURNS TO BALTIMORE&mdash;THE BALTIMORE
+CONVENTION&mdash;"THE AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADER A TRUE MISSIONARY"&mdash;MORE BOLTING&mdash;DOUGLAS'S
+NOMINATION FOR THE PRESIDENCY&mdash;THE BOLTING CONVENTION NOMINATES
+BRECKINRIDGE&mdash;THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION AND PLATFORM&mdash;NOMINATIONS OF
+LINCOLN, AND BELL&mdash;COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE FOUR RIVAL PARTY
+PLATFORMS&mdash;THE OCTOBER ELECTIONS&mdash;THE SOUTH PREPARING GLEEFULLY FOR
+SECESSION&mdash;GOVERNOR GIST'S TREASONABLE MESSAGE TO S. C. LEGISLATURE,
+NOV. 5&mdash;OTHER SIMILAR UTTERANCES<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br><br>
+
+<h2>IMAGES</h2>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<center>
+<table summary="">
+<tr><td>
+
+<a href="#webster">DANIEL WEBSTER,</a><br>
+<a href="#douglas">STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS,</a><br>
+<a href="#jefferson">THOMAS JEFFERSON,</a><br>
+<a href="#lincoln">ABRAHAM LINCOLN,</a><br>
+
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+<br><br>
+
+
+<br>
+<br><br><br>
+<br><br>
+<a name="webster"></a>
+<center>
+<img alt="p024-webster.jpg (88K)" src="images/p024-webster.jpg" height="856" width="591">
+</center>
+<br><br><br>
+<a name="ch1"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<center><h2>
+ PART ONE.<br><br>
+ CHAPTER I.<br><br>
+
+ A PRELIMINARY RETROSPECT.
+</h2></center><br>
+<p>
+To properly understand the condition of things preceding the great war
+of the Rebellion, and the causes underlying that condition and the war
+itself, we must glance backward through the history of the Country to,
+and even beyond, that memorable 30th of November, 1782, when the
+Independence of the United States of America was at last conceded by
+Great Britain. At that time the population of the United States was
+about 2,500,000 free whites and some 500,000 black slaves. We had
+gained our Independence of the Mother Country, but she had left fastened
+upon us the curse of Slavery. Indeed African Slavery had already in
+1620 been implanted on the soil of Virginia before Plymouth Rock was
+pressed by the feet of the Pilgrim Fathers, and had spread, prior to the
+Revolution, with greater or less rapidity, according to the surrounding
+adaptations of soil, production and climate, to every one of the
+thirteen Colonies.</p>
+
+<p>But while it had thus spread more or less throughout all the original
+Colonies, and was, as it were, recognized and acquiesced in by all, as
+an existing and established institution, yet there were many, both in
+the South and North, who looked upon it as an evil&mdash;an inherited
+evil&mdash;and were anxious to prevent the increase of that evil. Hence it was
+that even as far back as 1699, a controversy sprang up between the
+Colonies and the Home Government, upon the African Slavery question&mdash;a
+controversy continuing with more or less vehemence down to the
+Declaration of Independence itself.</p>
+
+<p>It was this conviction that it was not alone an evil but a dangerous
+evil, that induced Jefferson to embody in his original draft of that
+Declaration a clause strongly condemnatory of the African Slave Trade&mdash;a
+clause afterward omitted from it solely, he tells us, "in complaisance
+to South Carolina and Georgia, who had never* attempted to restrain the
+importation of slaves, and who, on the contrary, still wished to
+continue it," as well as in deference to the sensitiveness of Northern
+people, who, though having few slaves themselves, "had been pretty
+considerable carriers of them to others" a clause of the great
+indictment of King George III., which, since it was not omitted for any
+other reason than that just given, shows pretty conclusively that where
+the fathers in that Declaration affirmed that "all men are created
+equal," they included in the term "men," black as well as white, bond as
+well as free; for the clause ran thus: "Determined to keep open a market
+where MEN should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative for
+suppressing every Legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this
+execrable commerce. And that this assemblage of horrors might want no
+fact of distinguished dye, he is now exciting those very people to rise
+in arms among us, and purchase that liberty of which he has deprived
+them, by murdering the people on whom he also obtruded them; thus paying
+of former crimes committed against the LIBERTIES of our people with
+crimes which he urges them to commit against the LIVES of another."</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [Prior to 1752, when Georgia surrendered her charter and became a
+ Royal Colony, the holding of slaves within its limits was expressly
+ prohibited by law; and the Darien (Ga.) resolutions of 1775
+ declared not only a "disapprobation and abhorrence of the unnatural
+ practice of Slavery in America" as "a practice founded in injustice
+ and cruelty, and highly dangerous to our Liberties (as well as
+ lives) but a determination to use our utmost efforts for the
+ manumission of our slaves in this colony upon the most safe and
+ equitable footing for the masters and themselves."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>
+During the war of the Revolution following the Declaration of
+Independence, the half a million of slaves, nearly all of them in the
+Southern States, were found to be not only a source of weakness, but,
+through the incitements of British emissaries, a standing menace of
+peril to the Slaveholders. Thus it was that the South was overrun by
+hostile British armies, while in the North&mdash;comparatively free of this
+element of weakness&mdash;disaster after disaster met them. At last,
+however, in 1782, came the recognition of our Independence, and peace,
+followed by the evacuation of New York at the close of 1783.</p>
+
+<p>The lessons of the war, touching Slavery, had not been lost upon our
+statesmen. Early in 1784 Virginia ceded to the United States her claims
+of jurisdiction and otherwise over the vast territory north-west of the
+Ohio; and upon its acceptance, Jefferson, as chairman of a Select
+Committee appointed at his instance to consider a plan of government
+therefor, reported to the ninth Continental Congress an Ordinance to
+govern the territory ceded already, or to be ceded, by individual States
+to the United States, extending from the 31st to the 47th degree of
+north latitude, which provided as "fundamental conditions between the
+thirteen original States and those newly described" as embryo States
+thereafter&mdash;to be carved out of such territory ceded or to be ceded to
+the United States, not only that "they shall forever remain a part of
+the United States of America," but also that "after the year 1800 of the
+Christian era, there shall be neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude
+in any of the said States"&mdash;and that those fundamental conditions were
+"unalterable but by the joint consent of the United States in Congress
+assembled, and of the particular State within which such alteration
+is proposed to be made."</p>
+
+<p>But now a signal misfortune befell. Upon a motion to strike out the
+clause prohibiting Slavery, six States: New Hampshire, Massachusetts,
+Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and Pennsylvania, voted to retain
+the prohibitive clause, while three States, Maryland, Virginia and South
+Carolina, voted not to retain it. The vote of North Carolina was
+equally divided; and while one of the Delegates from New Jersey voted to
+retain it, yet as there was no other delegate present from that State,
+and the Articles of Confederation required the presence of "two or more"
+delegates to cast the vote of a State, the vote of New Jersey was lost;
+and, as the same Articles required an affirmative vote of a majority of
+all the States&mdash;and not simply of those present&mdash;the retention of the
+clause prohibiting Slavery was also lost. Thus was lost the great
+opportunity of restricting Slavery to the then existing Slave States,
+and of settling the question peaceably for all time. Three years
+afterward a similar Ordinance, since become famous as "the Ordinance of
+'87," for the government of the North-west Territory (from which the
+Free States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin have
+since been carved and admitted to the Union) was adopted in Congress by
+the unanimous vote of all the eight States present. And the sixth
+article of this Ordinance, or "Articles of Compact," which it was
+stipulated should "forever remain unalterable, unless by common
+consent," was in these words:</p>
+
+<p>"Art. 6. There shall be neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude in
+the said Territory, otherwise than in punishment of crimes, whereof the
+party shall have been duly convicted; provided always that any person
+escaping into the same from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in
+any one of the original States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed,
+and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor, or service, as
+aforesaid."</p>
+
+<p>But this Ordinance of '87, adopted almost simultaneously with the
+framing of our present Federal Constitution, was essentially different
+from the Ordinance of three years previous, in this: that while the
+latter included the territory south of the Ohio River as well as that
+north-west of it, this did not; and as a direct consequence of this
+failure to include in it the territory south of that river, the States
+of Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi, which were taken out of it, were
+subsequently admitted to the Union as Slave States, and thus greatly
+augmented their political power. And at a later period it was this
+increased political power that secured the admission of still other
+Slave States&mdash;as Florida, Louisiana and Texas&mdash;which enabled the Slave
+States to hold the balance of such power as against the original States
+that had become Free, and the new Free States of the North-west.</p>
+
+<p>Hence, while in a measure quieting the great question of Slavery for the
+time being, the Ordinance of '87 in reality laid the ground-work for the
+long series of irritations and agitations touching its restrictions and
+extension, which eventually culminated in the clash of arms that shook
+the Union from its centre to its circumference. Meanwhile, as we have
+seen&mdash;while the Ordinance of 1787 was being enacted in the last Congress
+of the old Confederation at New York&mdash;the Convention to frame the
+present Constitution was sitting at Philadelphia under the Presidency of
+George Washington himself. The old Confederation had proved itself to
+be "a rope of sand." A new and stronger form of government had become a
+necessity for National existence.</p>
+
+<p>To create it out of the discordant elements whose harmony was essential
+to success, was an herculean task, requiring the utmost forbearance,
+unselfishness, and wisdom. And of all the great questions, dividing the
+framers of that Constitution, perhaps none of them required a higher
+degree of self abnegation and patriotism than those touching human
+Slavery.</p>
+
+<p>The situation was one of extreme delicacy. The necessity for a closer
+and stronger Union of all the States was apparently absolute, yet this
+very necessity seemed to place a whip in the hands of a few States, with
+which to coerce the greater number of States to do their bidding. It
+seemed that the majority must yield to a small minority on even vital
+questions, or lose everything.</p>
+
+<p>Thus it was, that instead of an immediate interdiction of the African
+Slave Trade, Congress was empowered to prohibit it after the lapse of
+twenty years; that instead of the basis of Congressional Representation
+being the total population of each State, and that of direct taxation
+the total property of each State, a middle ground was conceded, which
+regarded the Slaves as both persons and property, and the basis both of
+Representation and of Direct Taxation was fixed as being the total Free
+population "plus three-fifths of all other persons" in each State; and
+that there was inserted in the Constitution a similar clause to that
+which we have seen was almost simultaneously incorporated in the
+Ordinance of '87, touching the reclamation and return to their owners of
+Fugitive Slaves from the Free States into which they may have escaped.</p>
+
+<p>The fact of the matter is, that the Convention that framed our
+Constitution lacked the courage of its convictions, and was "bulldozed"
+by the few extreme Southern Slave-holding States&mdash;South Carolina and
+Georgia especially. It actually paltered with those convictions and
+with the truth itself. Its convictions&mdash;those at least of a great
+majority of its delegates&mdash;were against not only the spread, but the
+very existence of Slavery; yet we have seen what they unwillingly agreed
+to in spite of those convictions; and they were guilty moreover of the
+subterfuge of using the terms "persons" and "service or labor" when they
+really meant "Slaves" and "Slavery." "They did this latter," Mr.
+Madison says, "because they did not choose to admit the right of
+property in man," and yet in fixing the basis of Direct Taxation as well
+as Congressional Representation at the total Free population of each
+State with "three-fifths of all other persons," they did admit the right
+of property in man! As was stated by Mr. Iredell to the North Carolina
+Ratification Convention, when explaining the Fugitive Slave clause:
+"Though the word 'Slave' is not mentioned, this is the meaning of it."
+And he added: "The Northern delegates, owing to their peculiar scruples
+on the subject of Slavery, did not choose the word 'Slave' to be
+mentioned."</p>
+
+<p>In March, 1789, the first Federal Congress met at New York. It at once
+enacted a law in accordance with the terms of the Ordinance
+of '87&mdash;adapting it to the changed order of things under the new Federal
+Constitution&mdash;prohibiting Slavery in the Territories of the North-west;
+and the succeeding Congress enacted a Fugitive-Slave law.</p>
+
+<p>In the same year (1789) North Carolina ceded her western territory (now
+Tennessee) south of the Ohio, to the United States, providing as one of
+the conditions of that cession, "that no regulation made, or to be made,
+by Congress, shall tend to emancipate Slaves." Georgia, also, in 1802,
+ceded her superfluous territorial domain (south of the Ohio, and now
+known as Alabama and Mississippi), making as a condition of its
+acceptance that the Ordinance of '87 "shall, in all its parts, extend to
+the territory contained in the present act of cession, the article only
+excepted which forbids Slavery."</p>
+
+<p>Thus while the road was open and had been taken advantage of, at the
+earliest moment, by the Federal Congress to prohibit Slavery in all the
+territory north-west of the Ohio River by Congressional enactment,
+Congress considered itself barred by the very conditions of cession from
+inhibiting Slavery in the territory lying south of that river. Hence it
+was that while the spread of Slavery was prevented in the one Section of
+our outlying territories by Congressional legislation, it was stimulated
+in the other Section by the enforced absence of such legislation. As a
+necessary sequence, out of the Territories of the one Section grew more
+Free States and out of the other more Slave States, and this condition
+of things had a tendency to array the Free and the Slave States in
+opposition to each other and to Sectionalize the flames of that Slavery
+agitation which were thus continually fed.</p>
+
+<p>Upon the admission of Ohio to Statehood in 1803, the remainder of the
+North-west territory became the Territory of Indiana. The inhabitants
+of this Territory (now known as the States of Indiana, Illinois,
+Michigan and Wisconsin), consisting largely of settlers from the Slave
+States, but chiefly from Virginia and Kentucky, very persistently (in
+1803, 1806 and 1807) petitioned Congress for permission to employ Slave
+Labor, but&mdash;although their petitions were favorably reported in most
+cases by the Committees to which they were referred&mdash;without avail,
+Congress evidently being of opinion that a temporary suspension in this
+respect of the sixth article of the Ordinance of '87 was "not
+expedient." These frequent rebuffs by Congress, together with the
+constantly increasing emigration from the Free States, prevented the
+taking of any further steps to implant Slavery on the soil of that
+Territory.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the vast territory included within the Valley of the
+Mississippi and known at that day as the "Colony of Louisiana," was, in
+1803, acquired to the United States by purchase from the French&mdash;to whom
+it had but lately been retroceded by Spain. Both under Spanish and
+French rule, Slavery had existed throughout this vast yet sparsely
+populated region. When we acquired it by purchase, it was already
+there, as an established "institution;" and the Treaty of acquisition
+not only provided that it should be "incorporated into the Union of the
+United States, and admitted as soon as possible, according to the
+principles of the Federal Constitution," but that its inhabitants in the
+meantime "should be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of
+their liberty, property, and the religion which they professed"&mdash;and,
+as "the right of property in man" had really been admitted in practice,
+if not in theory, by the framers of that Constitution itself&mdash;that
+institution was allowed to remain there. Indeed the sparseness of its
+population at the time of purchase and the amazing fertility of its soil
+and adaptability of its climate to Slave Labor, together with the then
+recent invention by Eli Whitney, of Massachusetts, of that wonderful
+improvement in the separation of cotton-fibre from its seed, known as
+the "cotton-gin"&mdash;which with the almost simultaneous inventions of
+Hargreaves, and Arkwright's cotton-spinning machines, and Watt's
+application of his steam engine, etc., to them, marvelously increased
+both the cotton supply and demand and completely revolutionized the
+cotton industry&mdash;contributed to rapidly and thickly populate the whole
+region with white Slave-holders and black Slaves, and to greatly enrich
+and increase the power of the former.</p>
+
+<p>When Jefferson succeeded in negotiating the cession of that vast and
+rich domain to the United States, it is not to be supposed that either
+the allurements of territorial aggrandizement on the one hand, or the
+impending danger to the continued ascendency of the political party
+which had elevated him to the Presidency, threatening it from all the
+irritations with republican France likely to grow out of such near
+proximity to her Colony, on the other, could have blinded his eyes to
+the fact that its acquisition must inevitably tend to the spread of that
+very evil, the contemplation of which, at a later day, wrung from his
+lips the prophetic words, "I tremble for my Country when I reflect that
+God is just." It is more reasonable to suppose that, as he believed the
+ascendency of the Republican party of that day essential to the
+perpetuity of the Republic itself, and revolted against being driven
+into an armed alliance with Monarchical England against what he termed
+"our natural friend," Republican France, he reached the conclusion that
+the preservation of his Republican principles was of more immediate
+moment than the question of the perpetuation and increase of human
+Slavery. Be that as it may, it none the less remains a curious fact
+that it was to Jefferson, the far-seeing statesman and hater of African
+Slavery and the author of the Ordinance of 1784&mdash;which sought to exclude
+Slavery from all the Territories of the United States south of, as well
+as north-west of the Ohio River&mdash;that we also owe the acquisition of the
+vast territory of the Mississippi Valley burdened with Slavery in such
+shape that only a War, which nearly wrecked our Republic, could get rid
+of!</p>
+
+<p>Out of that vast and fertile, but Slave-ridden old French Colony of
+"Louisiana" were developed in due time the rich and flourishing Slave
+States of Louisiana, Missouri and Arkansas.</p>
+
+<p>It will have been observed that this acquisition of the Colony of
+Louisiana and the contemporaneous inventions of the cotton-gin, improved
+cotton-spinning machinery, and the application to it of steam power, had
+already completely neutralized the wisdom of the Fathers in securing, as
+they thought, the gradual but certain extinction of Slavery in the
+United States, by that provision in the Constitution which enabled
+Congress, after an interval of twenty years, to prohibit the African
+Slave Trade; and which led the Congress, on March 22, 1794, to pass an
+Act prohibiting it; to supplement it in 1800 with another Act in the
+same direction; and on March 2, 1807, to pass another supplemental
+Act&mdash;to take effect January 1, 1808&mdash;still more stringent, and covering any
+such illicit traffic, whether to the United States or with other
+countries. Never was the adage that, "The best laid schemes o' mice an'
+men gang aft agley," more painfully apparent. Slaves increased and
+multiplied within the land, and enriched their white owners to such a
+degree that, as the years rolled by, instead of compunctions of
+conscience on the subject of African Slavery in America, the Southern
+leaders ultimately persuaded themselves to the belief that it was not
+only moral, and sanctioned by Divine Law, but that to perpetuate it was
+a philanthropic duty, beneficial to both races! In fact one of them
+declared it to be "the highest type of civilization."</p>
+
+<p>In 1812, the State of Louisiana, organized from the purchased Colony of
+the same name, was admitted to the Union, and the balance of the
+Louisiana purchase was thereafter known as the Territory of Missouri.</p>
+
+<p>In 1818 commenced the heated and protracted struggle in Congress over
+the admission of the State of Missouri&mdash;created from the Territory of
+that name&mdash;as a Slave State, which finally culminated in 1820 in the
+settlement known thereafter as the "Missouri Compromise."</p>
+
+<p>Briefly stated, that struggle may be said to have consisted in the
+efforts of the House on the one side, to restrict Slavery in the State
+of Missouri, and the efforts of the Senate on the other, to give it free
+rein. The House insisted on a clause in the Act of admission providing,
+"That the introduction of Slavery or involuntary servitude be
+prohibited, except for the punishment of crimes whereof the party has
+been duly convicted; and that all children born within the said State,
+after the admission thereof into the Union, shall be declared Free at
+the age of twenty-five years." The Senate resisted it&mdash;and the Bill
+fell. In the meantime, however, a Bill passed both Houses forming the
+Territory of Arkansas out of that portion of the Territory of Missouri
+not included in the proposed State of Missouri, without any such
+restriction upon Slavery. Subsequently, the House having passed a Bill
+to admit the State of Maine to the Union, the Senate amended it by
+tacking on a provision authorizing the people of Missouri to organize a
+State Government, without restriction as to Slavery. The House
+decidedly refused to accede to the Senate proposition, and the result of
+the disagreement was a Committee of Conference between the two Houses,
+and the celebrated "Missouri Compromise," which, in the language of
+another&mdash;[Hon. John Holmes of Massachusetts, of said Committee on
+Conference, March 2, 1820.]&mdash;, was: "that the Senate should give up its
+combination of Missouri with Maine; that the House should abandon its
+attempt to restrict Slavery in Missouri; and that both Houses should
+concur in passing the Bill to admit Missouri as a State, with" a
+"restriction or proviso, excluding Slavery from all territory north and
+west of the new State"&mdash;that "restriction or proviso" being in these
+words: "That in all that territory ceded by France to the United States
+under the name of Louisiana, which lies north of thirty-six degrees,
+thirty minutes north latitude, excepting only such part thereof as is
+included within the limits of the State contemplated by this act,
+Slavery and involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment of
+crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall be and is
+hereby forever prohibited; Provided always, that any person escaping
+into the same, from whom labor and service is lawfully claimed in any
+State or Territory of the United States, such Fugitive may be lawfully
+reclaimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or
+service, as aforesaid." At a subsequent session of Congress, at which
+Missouri asked admission as a State with a Constitution prohibiting her
+Legislature from passing emancipation laws, or such as would prevent the
+immigration of Slaves, while requiring it to enact such as would
+absolutely prevent the immigration of Free Negroes or Mulattoes, a
+further Compromise was agreed to by Congress under the inspiration of
+Mr. Clay, by which it was laid down as a condition precedent to her
+admission as a State&mdash;a condition subsequently complied with&mdash;that
+Missouri must pledge herself that her Legislature should pass no act "by
+which any of the citizens of either of the States should be excluded
+from the enjoyment of the privileges and immunities to which they are
+entitled under the Constitution of the United States."</p>
+
+<p>This, in a nut-shell, was the memorable Missouri Struggle, and the
+"Compromise" or Compromises which settled and ended it. But during that
+struggle&mdash;as during the formation of the Federal Constitution and at
+various times in the interval when exciting questions had arisen&mdash;the
+bands of National Union were more than once rudely strained, and this
+time to such a degree as even to shake the faith of some of the firmest
+believers in the perpetuity of that Union. It was during this bitter
+struggle that John Adams wrote to Jefferson: "I am sometimes Cassandra
+enough to dream that another Hamilton, another Burr, may rend this
+mighty fabric in twain, or perhaps into a leash, and a few more choice
+spirits of the same stamp might produce as many Nations in North America
+as there are in Europe."</p>
+
+<p>It is true that we had "sown the wind," but we had not yet "reaped the
+whirlwind."</p>
+
+<br><br><br>
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="douglas"></a>
+<center>
+<img alt="p052-douglas.jpg (82K)" src="images/p052-douglas.jpg" height="869" width="586">
+</center>
+
+<br><br><br>
+<a name="ch2"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<center><h2>
+
+ CHAPTER II.<br><br>
+
+ PROTECTION AND FREE TRADE.
+</h2></center><br>
+<p>We have seen that the first Federal Congress met at New York in March,
+1789. It organized April 6th. None knew better than its members that
+the war of the Americana Revolution chiefly grew out of the efforts of
+Great Britain to cripple and destroy our Colonial industries to the
+benefit of the British trader, and that the Independence conquered, was
+an Industrial as well as Political Independence; and none knew better
+than they, that the failure of the subsequent political Confederation of
+States was due mainly to its failure to encourage and protect the
+budding domestic manufactures of those States. Hence they hastened,
+under the leadership of James Madison, to pass "An Act laying a duty on
+goods, wares and merchandize imported into the United States," with a
+preamble, declaring it to be "necessary" for the "discharge of the debt
+of the United States and the encouragement and protection of
+manufactures." It was approved by President Washington July 4, 1789&mdash;a
+date not without its significance&mdash;and levied imports both specific and
+ad valorem. It was not only our first Tariff Act, but, next to that
+prescribing the oath used in organizing the Government, the first Act of
+the first Federal Congress; and was passed in pursuance of the
+declaration of President Washington in his first Message, that "The
+safety and interest of the People" required it. Under the inspiration
+of Alexander Hamilton the Tariff of 1790 was enacted at the second
+session of the same Congress, confirming the previous Act and increasing
+some of the protective duties thereby imposed.</p>
+
+<p>An analysis of the vote in the House of Representatives on this Tariff
+Bill discloses the fact that of the 39 votes for it, 21 were from
+Southern States, 13 from the Middle States, and 5 from New England
+States; while of the 13 votes against it, 9 were from New England
+States, 3 from Southern States, and 1 from Middle States. In other
+words, while the Southern States were for the Bill in the proportion of
+21 to 3, and the Middle States by 13 to 1, New England was against it by
+9 to 5; or again, while 10 of the 13 votes against it were from the New
+England and Middle States, 21 (or more than half) of the 39 votes for it
+were from Southern States.</p>
+
+<p>It will thus be seen&mdash;singularly enough in view of subsequent
+events&mdash;that we not only mainly owe our first steps in Protective Tariff
+legislation to the almost solid Southern vote, but that it was thus
+secured for us despite the opposition of New England. Nor did our
+indebtedness to Southern statesmen and Southern votes for the
+institution of the now fully established American System of Protection
+cease here, as we shall presently see.</p>
+
+<p>That Jefferson, as well as Washington and Madison, agreed with the views
+of Alexander Hamilton on Protection to our domestic manufactures as
+against those of foreign Nations, is evident in his Annual Message of
+December 14, 1806, wherein&mdash;discussing an anticipated surplus of Federal
+revenue above the expenditures, and enumerating the purposes of
+education and internal improvement to which he thinks the "whole surplus
+of impost" should during times of peace be applied; by which application
+of such surplus he prognosticates that "new channels of communication
+will be opened between the States; the lines of separation will
+disappear; their interests will be identified, and their Union cemented
+by new and indissoluble ties"&mdash;he says: "Shall we suppress the impost
+and give that advantage to foreign over domestic manufactures. On a few
+articles of more general and necessary use, the suppression in due
+season, will doubtless be right; but the great mass of the articles on
+which impost is paid is foreign luxuries, purchased by those only who
+are rich enough to afford themselves the use of them." But his embargo
+and other retaliatory measures, put in force in 1807 and 1808, and the
+War of 1812-15 with Great Britain, which closely followed, furnished
+Protection in another manner, by shutting the door to foreign imports
+and throwing our people upon their own resources, and contributed
+greatly to the encouragement and increase of our home
+manufactures&mdash;especially those of wool, cotton, and hemp.</p>
+
+<p>At the close of that War the traders of Great Britain determined, even
+at a temporary loss to themselves, to glut our market with their goods
+and thus break down forever, as they hoped, our infant manufactures.
+Their purpose and object were boldly announced in the House of Commons
+by Mr. Brougham, when he said: "Is it worth while to incur a loss upon
+the first importation, in order by the glut to stifle in the cradle
+those rising manufactures in the United States which the War had forced
+into existence contrary to the natural course of things." Against this
+threatened ruin, our manufacturers all over the United States&mdash;the sugar
+planters of Louisiana among them&mdash;clamored for Protection, and Congress
+at once responded with the Tariff Act of 1816.</p>
+
+<p>This law greatly extended and increased specific duties on, and
+diminished the application of the ad valorem principle to, foreign
+imports; and it has been well described as "the practical foundation of
+the American policy of encouragement of home manufactures&mdash;the practical
+establishment of the great industrial system upon which rests our
+present National wealth, and the power and the prosperity and happiness
+of our whole people." While Henry Clay of Kentucky, William Loundes of
+South Carolina, and Henry St. George Tucker of Virginia supported the
+Bill most effectively, no man labored harder and did more effective
+service in securing its passage than John C. Calhoun of South Carolina.
+The contention on their part was not for a mere "incidental protection"
+&mdash;much less a "Tariff for revenue only"&mdash;but for "Protection" in its
+broadest sense, and especially the protection of their cotton
+manufactures. Indeed Calhoun's defense of Protection, from the assaults
+of those from New England and elsewhere who assailed it on the narrow
+ground that it was inimical to commerce and navigation, was a notable
+one. He declared that:</p>
+
+<p>"It (the encouragement of manufactures) produced a system strictly
+American, as much so as agriculture, in which it had the decided
+advantage of commerce and navigation. The country will from this derive
+much advantage. Again it is calculated to bind together more closely
+our wide-spread Republic. It will greatly increase our mutual
+dependence and intercourse, and will, as a necessary consequence, excite
+an increased attention to internal improvements&mdash;a subject every way so
+intimately connected with the ultimate attainment of national strength
+and the perfection of our political institutions."</p>
+
+<p>He regarded the fact that it would make the parts adhere more closely;
+that it would form a new and most powerful cement far outweighing any
+political objections that might be urged against the system. In his
+opinion "the liberty and the union of the country were inseparably
+united; that as the destruction of the latter would most certainly
+involve the former, so its maintenance will with equal certainty
+preserve it;" and he closed with an impressive warning to the Nation of
+a "new and terrible danger" which threatened it, to wit: "disunion."
+Nobly as he stood up then&mdash;during the last term of his service in the
+House of Representatives&mdash;for the great principles of, the American
+System of Protection to manufactures, for the perpetuity of the Union,
+and for the increase of "National strength," it seems like the very
+irony of fate that a few years later should find him battling against
+Protection as "unconstitutional," upholding Nullification as a "reserved
+right" of his State, and championing at the risk of his neck that very
+"danger" to the "liberties" and life of his Country against which his
+prophetic words had already given solemn warning.</p>
+
+<p>Strange was it also, in view of the subsequent attitudes of the South
+and New England, that this essentially Protective Tariff Act of 1816
+should have been vigorously protested and voted against by New England,
+while it was ably advocated and voted for by the South&mdash;the 25 votes of
+the latter which secured its passage being more than sufficient to have
+secured its defeat had they been so inclined.</p>
+
+<p>The Tariff Acts of 1824 and 1828 followed the great American principle
+of Protection laid down and supported by the South in the Act of 1816,
+while widening, increasing, and strengthening it. Under their
+operation&mdash;especially under that of 1828, with its high duties on wool,
+hemp, iron, lead, and other staples&mdash;great prosperity smiled upon the
+land, and particularly upon the Free States.</p>
+
+<p>In the cotton-growing belt of the South, however, where the prosperity
+was relatively less, owing to the blight of Slavery, the very contrast
+bred discontent; and, instead of attributing it to the real cause, the
+advocates of Free Trade within that region insisted that the Protective
+Tariff was responsible for the condition of things existing there.</p>
+
+<p>A few restless and discontented spirits in the South had indeed agitated
+the subject of Free Trade as against Protected manufactures as early as
+1797, and, hand in hand with it, the doctrine of States Rights. And
+Jefferson himself, although, as we have already seen, attached to the
+American System of Protection and believing in its Constitutionality,
+unwittingly played into the hands of these Free Traders by drawing up
+the famous Kentucky Resolutions of '98 touching States Rights, which
+were closely followed by the Virginia Resolutions of 1799 in the same
+vein by Madison, also an out-and-out Protectionist. It was mainly in
+condemnation of the Alien and Sedition Laws, then so unpopular
+everywhere, that these resolutions were professedly fulminated, but they
+gave to the agitating Free Traders a States-Rights-Secession-weapon of
+which they quickly availed themselves.</p>
+
+<p>Their drift may be gathered from the first of the Kentucky Resolutions
+of '98, which was in these words: "Resolved, That the several States
+composing the United States of America are not united on the principle
+of unlimited submission to their General Government, but that, by a
+compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United
+States, and of amendments thereto, they constituted a General Government
+for special purposes&mdash;delegated to that Government certain definite
+powers, reserving, each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to
+their own self-government; and that whensoever the General Government
+assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of
+no force; that to this compact each State acceded as a State, and as an
+integral party, its co-States forming, as to itself, the other party;
+that the Government created by this compact was not made the exclusive
+or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself; since
+that would have made its discretion, and not the Constitution, the
+measure of its powers; but that, as in all other cases of compact among
+powers having no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge
+for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of
+redress."</p>
+
+<p>The Resolutions, after enumerating the Alien and Sedition and certain
+other laws as in point, conclude by calling upon the other States to
+join Kentucky in her opposition to such Federal usurpations of power as
+thus embodied, and express confidence: "That they will concur with this
+Commonwealth in considering the said Acts as so palpably against the
+Constitution as to amount to an undisguised declaration that that
+compact is not meant to be the measure of the powers of the General
+Government, but that it will proceed in the exercise over these States,
+of all powers whatsoever; that they will view this as seizing the rights
+of the States, and consolidating them in the hands of the General
+Government, with the power assumed to bind the States (not merely as to
+the cases made federal (casus foederis) but) in all cases whatsoever, by
+laws made, not with their consent, but by others against their consent;
+that this would be to surrender the form of government we have chosen,
+and live under one deriving its powers from its own will, and not from
+our authority; and that the co-States, returning to their natural rights
+in cases not made federal, will concur in declaring these Acts void and
+of no force, and will each take measures of its own in providing that
+neither these Acts, nor any others of the General Government, not
+plainly and intentionally authorized by the Constitution, shall be
+exercised within their respective territories."</p>
+
+<p>The doctrine of States Rights as formulated in these Resolutions,
+including the assumed right of a State to nullify laws of the General
+Government, naturally led up, as we shall see, not only to threats of
+disunion, but ultimately to a dreadful sectional War waged in the effort
+to secure it. That Jefferson, when he penned them, foresaw the terrible
+results to flow from these specious and pernicious doctrines, is not to
+be supposed for an instant; but that his conscience troubled him may be
+fairly inferred from the fact that he withheld from the World for twenty
+years afterward the knowledge that he was their author. It is probable
+that in this case, as in others, he was a victim of that casuistry which
+teaches that "the end justifies the means;" that he hoped and believed
+that the assertion of these baleful doctrines would act solely as a
+check upon any tendency to further centralization of power in the
+General Government and insure that strict construction of the
+Constitution.</p>
+
+<p>Though afterward violated by himself at the same time that he for the
+moment threw aside his scruples touching African slavery, when he added
+to our domain the great French Slave Colony of Louisiana&mdash;was none the
+less the great aim of his commanding intellect; and that he fortuitously
+believed in the "saving common sense" of his race and country as capable
+of correcting an existing evil when it shall have developed into ill
+effects.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [Mr. Jefferson takes this very ground, in almost the same words, in
+ his letter, 1803, to Wilson C. Nichols in the Louisiana Colony
+ purchase case, when, after proving by his own strict construction
+ of the Constitution that there was no power in that instrument to
+ make such purchase, and confessing the importance in that very case
+ of setting "an example against broad construction," he concludes:
+ "If, however, our friends shall think differently, certainly I
+ shall acquiesce with satisfaction; confiding that the good sense of
+ the country will correct the evil of construction when it shall
+ produce ill ejects."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>Be that as it may, however, the fact remains that the seeds thus sown by
+the hands of Jefferson on the "sacred soil" of Virginia and Kentucky,
+were dragon's teeth, destined in after years to spring up as legions of
+armed men battling for the subversion of that Constitution and the
+destruction of that Union which he so reverenced, and which he was so
+largely instrumental in founding&mdash;and which even came back in his own
+life to plague him and Madison during his embargo, and Madison's war of
+1812-15, in the utterances and attitude of some of the New England
+Federalists.</p>
+
+<p>The few Free Traders of the South&mdash;the Giles's and John Taylor's and men
+of that ilk&mdash;made up for their paucity in numbers by their unscrupulous
+ingenuity and active zeal. They put forth the idea that the American
+Protective Policy was a policy of fostering combinations by Federal
+laws, the effect of which was to transfer a considerable portion of the
+profits of slave labor from the Slave States to other parts of the Union
+where it was massed in the hands of a few individuals, and thus created
+a moneyed interest which avariciously influenced the General Government
+to the detriment of the entire community of people, who, made restive by
+the exactions of this power working through the Federal Government, were
+as a consequence driven to consider a possible dissolution of the Union,
+and make "estimates of resources and means of defense." As a means also
+of inflaming both the poor whites and Southern slave-holders by arousing
+the apprehensions of the latter concerning the "peculiar institution" of
+Slavery, they craftily declared that "If the maxim advanced by the
+advocates of the protecting duty system will justify Congress in
+assuming, or rather in empowering a few capitalists to assume, the
+direction of manufacturing labor, it also invests that body with a power
+of legislating for the direction of every other species of labor and
+assigning all occupations whatsoever to the care of the intelligence of
+mercenary combinations"&mdash;and hence untold misery to labor.</p>
+
+<p>They charged as a further means of firing the Southern heart, that this
+moneyed power, born of Protection, "works upon the passion of the States
+it has been able to delude by computations of their physical strength
+and their naval superiority; and by boasting of an ability to use the
+weakening circumstance of negro slavery to coerce the defrauded and
+discontented States into submission." And they declared as fundamental
+truths upon which they rested that "The Federal is not a National
+Government; it is a league between nations. By this league, a limited
+power only over persons and property was given to the representatives of
+the united nations. This power cannot be further extended, under the
+pretext of national good, because the league does not create a national
+government."</p>
+
+<p>It was the passage of the Tariff of 1824 that gave these crafty Free
+Traders their first great success in spreading their doctrine of Free
+Trade by coupling it with questions of slave labor, States Rights, and
+nullification, as laid down in the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions.
+These arguments created great excitement throughout the
+South&mdash;especially in South Carolina and Georgia&mdash;which was still further
+increased by the passage of the Tariff of 1828, since declared by
+eminent authority to have been "the highest and most protective ever
+adopted in this country."</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [Mr. Greeley, in his "History of the American Conflict," 1864.]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>Prior to the passage of this Tariff Act, excited assemblages met in some
+of the Southern States, and protested against it as an outrage upon
+their rights&mdash;arraying the South in seditious and treasonable attitude
+against not only the North but the Union, with threats of Secession. At
+one of these meetings in South Carolina, in 1827, one of their
+leaders&mdash;[Dr. Thomas Cooper, President of South Carolina College.]&mdash;declared that
+"a drilled and managed majority" in the House of Representatives had
+determined "at all hazards to support the claims of the Northern
+manufacturers, and to offer up the planting interest on the altar of
+monopoly." He denounced the American system of Protection exemplified
+in that Tariff measure as "a system by which the earnings of the South
+are to be transferred to the North&mdash;by which the many are to be
+sacrificed to the few&mdash;under which powers are usurped that were never
+conceded&mdash;by which inequality of rights, inequality of burthens,
+inequality of protection, unequal laws, and unequal taxes are to be
+enacted and rendered permanent&mdash;that the planter and the farmer under
+this system are to be considered as inferior beings to the spinner, the
+bleacher, and the dyer&mdash;that we of the South hold our plantations under
+this system, as the serfs and operatives of the North, subject to the
+orders and laboring for the benefit of the master-minds of
+Massachusetts, the lords of the spinning jenny and peers of the
+power-loom, who have a right to tax our earnings for their emolument, and to
+burthen our poverty and to swell their riches;" and after characterizing
+Protection as "a system of fraud, robbery and usurpation," he continued
+"I have said that we shall ere long be compelled to calculate the value
+of our Union; and to enquire of what use to us is this most unequal
+alliance, by which the South has always been the loser and the North
+always the gainer. Is it worth our while to continue this union of
+States, where the North demands to be our masters and we are required to
+be their tributaries? who with the most insulting mockery call the yoke
+they put upon our necks the 'American system!' The question, however,
+is fast approaching the alternative of submission or separation."</p>
+
+<p>Only a few days after this inflammatory speech at Columbus, S. C.,
+inciting South Carolinians to resist the pending Protective Tariff even
+to the lengths of Secession, during a grand banquet at Richmond, Va.,
+William B. Giles&mdash;another Free Trade leader&mdash;proposed, and those present
+drank a toast to the "Tariff Schemer" in which was embodied a
+declaration that "The Southerners will not long pay tribute." Despite
+these turbulent and treasonable mutterings, however, the "Jacksonian
+Congress" passed the Act&mdash;a majority of members from the Cotton and New
+England States voting against, while the vote of the Middle and Western
+Free States was almost solidly for, it.</p>
+
+<p>At a meeting held soon after the enactment of the Tariff of 1828, at
+Walterborough Court House, S. C., an address was adopted and issued
+which, after reciting the steps that had been taken by South Carolina
+during the previous year to oppose it, by memorials and otherwise, and
+stating that, despite their "remonstrances and implorations," a Tariff
+Bill had passed, not indeed, such as they apprehended, but "ten-fold
+worse in all its oppressive features," proceeded thus:</p>
+
+<p>"From the rapid step of usurpation, whether we now act or not, the day
+of open opposition to the pretended powers of the Constitution cannot be
+far off, and it is that it may not go down in blood that we now call
+upon you to resist. We feel ourselves standing underneath its mighty
+protection, and declaring forth its free and recorded spirit, when we
+say we must resist. By all the great principles of liberty&mdash;by the
+glorious achievements of our fathers in defending them&mdash;by their noble
+blood poured forth like water in maintaining them&mdash;by their lives in
+suffering, and their death in honor and in glory;&mdash;our countrymen! we
+must resist. Not secretly, as timid thieves or skulking smugglers&mdash;not
+in companies and associations, like money chafferers or stock
+jobbers&mdash;not separately and individually, as if this was ours and not our
+country's cause&mdash;but openly, fairly, fearlessly, and unitedly, as
+becomes a free, sovereign and independent people. Does timidity ask
+WHEN? We answer NOW!"</p>
+
+<p>These inflammatory utterances, in South Carolina especially, stirred the
+Southern heart more or less throughout the whole cotton belt; and the
+pernicious principles which they embodied found ardent advocates even in
+the Halls of Congress. In the Senate, Mr. Hayne, of South Carolina, was
+their chief and most vehement spokesman, and in 1830 occurred that
+memorable debate between him and Daniel Webster, which forever put an
+end to all reasonable justification of the doctrine of Nullification,
+and which furnished the ground upon which President Jackson afterward
+stood in denouncing and crushing it out with the strong arm of the
+Government.</p>
+
+<p>In that great debate Mr. Hayne's propositions were that the Constitution
+is a "compact between the States," that "in case of a plain, palpable
+violation of the Constitution by the General Government, a State may
+interpose; and that this interposition is constitutional"&mdash;a proposition
+with which Mr. Webster took direct issue, in these words: "I say, the
+right of a State to annul a law of Congress cannot be maintained, but on
+the ground of the inalienable right of man to resist oppression; that is
+to say, upon the ground of revolution. I admit that there is an
+ultimate violent remedy, above the Constitution and in defiance of the
+Constitution, which may be resorted to when a revolution is to be
+justified. But I do not admit that, under the Constitution, and in
+conformity with it, there is any mode in which a State Government, as a
+member of the Union, can interfere and stop the progress of the general
+movement by force of her own laws under any circumstances whatever."
+Mr. Webster insisted that "one of two things is true: either the laws of
+the Union are beyond the discretion and beyond the control of the
+States, or else we have no Constitution of General Government, and are
+thrust back again to the days of the Confederation;" and, in concluding
+his powerful argument, he declared that "even supposing the Constitution
+to be a compact between the States," Mr. Hayne's doctrine was "not
+maintainable, because, first, the General Government is not a party to
+the compact, but a Government established by it, and vested by it with
+the powers of trying and deciding doubtful questions; and secondly,
+because, if the Constitution be regarded as a compact, not one State
+only, but all the States are parties to that compact, and one can have
+no right to fix upon it her own peculiar construction."</p>
+
+<p>While the comparatively miserable condition of the cotton-growing States
+of the South was attributed by most of the Southern Free Traders solely
+to the Protective Tariff of 1828, yet there were some Southerners
+willing to concede&mdash;as did Mr. Hayne, in the Senate (1832)&mdash;that there
+were "other causes besides the Tariff" underlying that condition, and to
+admit that "Slaves are too improvident, too incapable of that minute,
+constant, delicate attention, and that persevering industry which are
+essential to manufacturing establishments," the existence of which would
+have made those States prosperous. But such admissions were unwilling
+ones, and the Cotton-lords held only with the more tenacity to the view
+that the Tariff was the chief cause of their condition.</p>
+
+<p>The Tariff Act of 1832, essentially modifying that of 1828, was passed
+with a view, in part, to quiet Southern clamor. But the Southern Cotton
+States refused to be mollified. On the contrary, the Free Traders of
+South Carolina proceeded to extreme measures, putting in action that
+which they had before but threatened. On November 19, 1832, the leading
+men of South Carolina met in Convention, and a few days
+thereafter&mdash;[November 24,1882]&mdash;unanimously passed an Ordinance of Nullification
+which declared the Tariff Acts of 1828 and 1832 "Unauthorized by the
+Constitution," and "null, void, and no law, nor binding on this State,
+its officers, or citizens." The people of the State were forbidden by
+it to pay, after the ensuing February 1st, the import-duties therein
+imposed. Under the provisions of the Ordinance, the State Legislature
+was to pass an act nullifying these Tariff laws, and any appeal to the
+United States Supreme Court against the validity of such nullifying act
+was prohibited. Furthermore, in the event of the Federal Government
+attempting to enforce these Tariff laws, the people of South Carolina
+would thenceforth consider themselves out of the Union, and will
+"forthwith proceed to organize a separate Government, and do all other
+acts and things which sovereign and independent States may of right do."</p>
+
+<p>At the subsequent meeting of the Legislature, Mr. Hayne, who had been a
+member of the Convention, having resigned his seat in the United States
+Senate, was elected Governor of the State. He declared in his message
+that he recognized "No allegiance as paramount to that which the
+citizens of South Carolina owe to the State of their birth or their
+adoption"&mdash;that doctrine of "paramount allegiance to the State" which in
+after-years gave so much trouble to the Union and to Union-loving
+Southerners&mdash;and declared that he held himself "bound by the highest of
+all obligations to carry into effect, not only the Ordinance of the
+Convention, but every act of the Legislature, and every judgment of our
+own Courts, the enforcement of which may devolve upon the Executive,"
+and "if," continued he, "the sacred soil of Carolina should be polluted
+by the footsteps of an invader, or be stained with the blood of her
+citizens, shed in her defense, I trust in Almighty God * * * even should
+she stand alone in this great struggle for constitutional liberty,
+encompassed by her enemies, that there will not be found, in the wide
+limits of the State, one recreant son who will not fly to the rescue,
+and be ready to lay down his life in her defense." In support of the
+contemplated treason, he even went to the length of calling for an
+enrolling of volunteer forces and of holding them ready for service.</p>
+
+<p>But while South Carolina stood in this treasonable and defiant attitude,
+arming for war against the Union, there happened to be in the
+Presidential chair one of her own sons&mdash;General Jackson. Foreseeing
+what was coming, he had, prior to the meeting of the Convention that
+framed the Nullification Ordinance, ordered General Scott to Charleston
+to look after "the safety of the ports of the United States"
+thereabouts, and had sent to the Collector of that port precise
+instructions as to his duty to resist in all ways any and all attempts
+made under such Ordinance to defeat the operation of the Tariff laws
+aforesaid. Having thus quietly prepared the arm of the General
+Government for the exercise of its power, he issued in December a
+Proclamation declaring his unalterable resolution to treat Nullification
+as Treason&mdash;and to crush it.</p>
+
+<p>In that famous document President Jackson said of Nullification: "If
+this doctrine had been established at an earlier day, the Union would
+have been dissolved in its infancy. The Excise law in Pennsylvania, the
+Embargo and Non-intercourse law in the Eastern States, the Carriage-tax
+in Virginia, were all deemed unconstitutional, and were more unequal in
+their operation than any of the laws now complained of; but fortunately,
+none of those States discovered that they had the right now claimed by
+South Carolina. * * * The discovery of this important feature in our
+Constitution was reserved for the present day. To the statesmen of
+South Carolina belongs the invention, and upon the citizens of that
+State will unfortunately fall the evils of reducing it to practice. * *
+* I consider, then, the power to annul a law of the United States,
+assumed by one State, incompatible with the existence of the Union,
+contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution, unauthorized
+by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on which it was founded
+and destructive of the great object for which it was formed. * * * To
+say that any State may at pleasure secede from the Union, is to say that
+the United States are not a Nation, because it would be a solecism to
+contend that any part of a Nation might dissolve its connection with the
+other parts, to their injury or ruin, without committing any, offense."</p>
+
+<p>Farther on, in his moving appeal to the South Carolinians, he bids them
+beware of their leaders: "Their object is disunion; be not deceived by
+names. Disunion, by armed force, is Treason." And then, reminding them
+of the deeds of their fathers in the Revolution, he proceeds: "I adjure
+you, as you honor their memory, as you love the cause of freedom to
+which they dedicated their lives, as you prize the peace of your
+country, the lives of its best citizens, and your own fair fame, to
+retrace your steps. Snatch from the archives of your State the
+disorganizing edict of its Convention&mdash;bid its members to reassemble and
+promulgate the decided expression of your will to remain in the path
+which alone can conduct you to safety, prosperity, and honor&mdash;tell them
+that, compared to disunion, all other evils are light, because that
+brings with it an accumulation of all&mdash;declare that you will never take
+the field unless the Star-spangled banner of your country shall float
+over you&mdash;that you will not be stigmatized when dead, and dishonored and
+scorned while you live, as the authors of the first attack on the
+Constitution of your country! Its destroyers you cannot be."</p>
+
+<p>After asserting his firm "determination to execute the laws&mdash;to preserve
+the Union by all constitutional means"&mdash;he concludes with the prayer,
+"May the great Ruler of Nations grant, that the signal blessings with
+which He has favored, ours may not, by the madness of party, or personal
+ambition be disregarded and lost; and may His wise providence bring
+those who have produced this crisis to see the folly before they feel
+the misery, of civil strife; and inspire a returning veneration for that
+Union, which, if we may dare to penetrate His designs, He has chosen as
+the only means of attaining the high destinies to which we may
+reasonably aspire."</p>
+
+<p>The firm attitude of General Jackson, together with the wise
+precautionary measures he had already taken, and the practical unanimity
+with which his declaration to crush out the Treason was hailed in most
+of the Southern as well as the Northern States, almost at once broke the
+back of Nullification.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p>
+ [In this connection the following letter, written at that time by
+ the great Chief Justice Marshall, to a cousin of his, on the
+ subject of State Sovereignty, is of interest, as showing how
+ clearly his penetrating intellect perceived the dangers to the
+ Union hidden in the plausible doctrine of State Rights:</p>
+
+<p> RICHMOND, May 7, 1833.</p>
+
+<p> "MY DEAR SIR:</p>
+
+<p> "I am much indebted to you for your pamphlet on Federal Relations,
+ which I have read with much satisfaction. No subject, as it seems
+ to me, is more misunderstood or more perverted. You have brought
+ into view numerous important historical facts which, in my
+ judgment, remove the foundation on which the Nullifiers and
+ Seceders have erected that superstructure which overshadows our
+ Union. You have, I think, shown satisfactorily that we never have
+ been perfectly distinct, independent societies, sovereign in the
+ sense in which the Nullifiers use the term. When colonies we
+ certainly were not. We were parts of the British empire, and
+ although not directly connected with each other so far as respected
+ government, we were connected in many respects, and were united to
+ the same stock. The steps we took to effect separation were, as
+ you have fully shown, not only revolutionary in their nature, but
+ they were taken conjointly. Then, as now, we acted in many
+ respects as one people. The representatives of each colony acted
+ for all. Their resolutions proceeded from a common source, and
+ operated on the whole mass. The army was a continental army
+ commanded by a continental general, and supported from a
+ continental treasury. The Declaration of Independence was made by
+ a common government, and was made for all the States.</p>
+
+<p> "Everything has been mixed. Treaties made by Congress have been
+ considered as binding all the States. Some powers have been
+ exercised by Congress, some by the States separately. The lines
+ were not strictly drawn. The inability of Congress to carry its
+ legitimate powers into execution has gradually annulled those
+ powers practically, but they always existed in theory.
+ Independence was declared `in the name and by the authority of the
+ good people of these colonies.' In fact we have always been united
+ in some respects, separate in others. We have acted as one people
+ for some purposes, as distinct societies for others. I think you
+ have shown this clearly, and in so doing have demonstrated the
+ fallacy of the principle on which either nullification or the right
+ of peaceful, constitutional secession is asserted.</p>
+
+<p> "The time is arrived when these truths must be more generally
+ spoken, or our Union is at an end. The idea of complete
+ sovereignty of the State converts our government into a league,
+ and, if carried into practice, dissolves the Union.</p>
+
+<p> "I am, dear sir,</p>
+
+<p> "Yours affectionately,</p>
+
+<p> "J. MARSHALL.</p>
+
+<p> "HUMPHREY MARSHALL, ESQ.,</p>
+
+<p> "FRANKFORT, KY."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>
+The Nullifiers hailed with pretended satisfaction the report from the
+House Committee on Ways and Means of a Bill making great reductions and
+equalizations of Tariff duties, as a measure complying with their
+demands, and postponed the execution of the Ordinance of Nullification
+until the adjournment of Congress; and almost immediately afterward Mr.
+Clay's Compromise Tariff Act of 1833 "whereby one tenth of the excess
+over twenty per cent. of each and every existing impost was to be taken
+off at the close of that year; another tenth two years thereafter; so
+proceeding until the 30th of June, 1842, when all duties should be
+reduced to a maximum of twenty per cent."&mdash;[Says Mr. Greeley, in his
+History aforesaid.]&mdash;agreed to by Calhoun and other Nullifiers, was
+passed, became a law without the signature of President Jackson, and
+South Carolina once more became to all appearances a contented,
+law-abiding State of the Union.</p>
+
+<p>But after-events proved conclusively that the enactment of this
+Compromise Tariff was a terrible blunder, if not a crime. Jackson had
+fully intended to hang Calhoun and his nullifying coadjutors if they
+persisted in their Treason. He knew that they had only seized upon the
+Tariff laws as a pretext with which to justify Disunion, and prophesied
+that "the next will be the Slavery or Negro question." Jackson's
+forecast was correct. Free Trade, Slavery and Secession were from that
+time forward sworn allies; and the ruin wrought to our industries by the
+disasters of 1840, plainly traceable to that Compromise Tariff measure
+of 1833, was only to be supplemented by much greater ruin and disasters
+caused by the Free Trade Tariff of 1846&mdash;and to be followed by the armed
+Rebellion of the Free Trade and Pro-Slavery States of the South in 1861,
+in a mad attempt to destroy the Union.</p>
+
+<br><br><br>
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="jefferson"></a>
+<center>
+<img alt="p078-jefferson.jpg (77K)" src="images/p078-jefferson.jpg" height="842" width="576">
+</center>
+<br><br><br>
+<a name="ch3"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<center><h2>
+
+ CHAPTER III.<br><br>
+
+ GROWTH OF THE SLAVERY QUESTION.
+</h2></center><br>
+<p>
+It will be remembered that during the period of the Missouri Struggle,
+1818-1820, the Territory of Arkansas was formed by an Act of Congress
+out of that part of the Missouri Territory not included in the proposed
+State of Missouri, and that the Act so creating the Territory of
+Arkansas contained no provision restricting Slavery. Early in 1836, the
+people of Arkansas Territory met in Convention and formed a Constitution
+under which, "and by virtue of the treaty of cession by France to the
+United States, of the Province of Louisiana," they asked admission to
+the Union as a State. Among other provisions of that Constitution was a
+section rendering the State Legislature powerless to pass laws for the
+emancipation of slaves without the consent of the owners, or to prevent
+emigrants to that State from bringing with them slaves. On June 15th of
+the same year, Arkansas was, under that Constitution, admitted to the
+Union as a Slave State, with the sole reservation, that nothing in the
+Act of admission should be construed as an assent by Congress to all or
+any of the propositions contained" in the said Constitution.</p>
+
+<p>Long ere this, all the Northern and Middle States had made provision for
+the emancipation of such slaves as remained within their borders, and
+only a few years previous (in 1829 and 1831-32) Virginia had made strong
+but insufficient efforts toward the same end. The failure to free
+Virginia of Slavery&mdash;the effort to accomplish which had been made by
+some of the greatest of her statesmen&mdash;only served to rivet the chains
+of human bondage more securely throughout all the Slave States, and from
+that time on, no serious agitation occurred in any one of them, looking
+toward even the most gradual emancipation. On the other hand, the
+advocates of the extension of the Slave-Power by the expansion of
+Slave-territory, were ever on the alert, they considered it of the last
+importance to maintain the balance of power between the Slave States and
+the Free States. Hence, while they had secured in 1819 the cession from
+Spain to the United States of the Slave-holding Floridas, and the
+organization of the Slave Territory of Florida in 1822&mdash;which
+subsequently came in as a Slave State under the same Act (1845) that
+admitted the Free State of Iowa&mdash;their greedy eyes were now cast upon
+the adjoining rich territories of Mexico.</p>
+
+<p>Efforts had (in 1827-1829) been made to purchase from Mexico the domain
+which was known as Texas. They had failed. But already a part of Texas
+had been settled by adventurous Americans under Mexican grants and
+otherwise; and General Sam Houston, an adherent of the Slave Power,
+having become a leading spirit among them, fomented a revolution. In
+March, 1836, Texas, under his guidance, proclaimed herself a Republic
+independent of Mexico.</p>
+
+<p>The War that ensued between Texas and Mexico ended in the flight of the
+Mexican Army and the capture of Santa Anna at San Jacinto, and a treaty
+recognizing Texan independence. In October, 1836, General Houston was
+inaugurated President of the Republic of Texas. Close upon this
+followed (in August, 1837) a proposition to our Government from the
+Texan envoy for the annexation of Texas to the United States. President
+Van Buren declined the offer. The Northern friends of Freedom were as
+much opposed to this annexation project as the advocates of Slavery were
+anxious for it. Even such conservative Northern Statesmen as Daniel
+Webster strongly opposed the project. In a speech delivered in New York
+[1837], after showing that the chief aim of our Government in the
+acquisition of the Territory of Louisiana was to gain command of the
+mouths of the great rivers to the sea, and that in the acquisition of
+the Floridas our policy was based on similar considerations, Mr. Webster
+declared that "no such necessity, no such policy, requires the
+annexation of Texas," and that we ought "for numerous and powerful
+reasons to be content with our present boundaries." He recognized that
+Slavery already existed under the guarantees of the Constitution and
+those guarantees must be fulfilled; that "Slavery, as it exists in the
+States, is beyond the power of Congress. It is a concern of the States
+themselves," but "when we come to speak of admitting new States, the
+subject assumes an entirely different aspect. Our rights and our duties
+are then both different. The Free States, and all the States, are then
+at liberty to accept or to reject;" and he added, "In my opinion the
+people of the United States will not consent to bring into the Union a
+new, vastly extensive and Slaveholding country, large enough for a half
+a dozen or a dozen States. In my opinion, they ought not to consent to
+it."</p>
+
+<p>Farther on, in the same speech&mdash;after alluding to the strong feeling in
+the Northern States against the extension of Slavery, not only as a
+question of politics, but of conscience and religious conviction as
+wellhe deems him a rash man indeed "who supposes that a feeling of this
+kind is to be trifled with or despised." Said he: "It will assuredly
+cause itself to be respected. It may be reasoned with; it may be made
+willing&mdash;I believe it is entirely willing&mdash;to fulfill all existing
+engagements and all existing duties&mdash;to uphold and defend the
+Constitution as it is established, with whatever regrets about some
+provisions which it does actually contain. But to coerce it into
+silence, to endeavor to restrain its free expression, to seek to
+compress and confine it, warm as it is, and more heated as such
+endeavors would inevitably render it,&mdash;should this be attempted, I know
+nothing, even in the Constitution or in the Union itself, which would
+not be endangered by the explosion which might follow."</p>
+
+<p>In 1840, General Harrison, the Whig candidate, was elected to the
+Presidency, but died within a few weeks after his inauguration in 1841,
+and was succeeded by John Tyler. The latter favored the Slave Power;
+and on April 12th, 1844, John C. Calhoun, his Secretary of State,
+concluded with Texas a treaty of annexation&mdash;which was, however,
+rejected by the Senate. Meanwhile the public mind was greatly agitated
+over the annexation and other, questions.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [In the London Index, a journal established there by Jefferson
+ Davis's agents to support the cause of the rebellious States, a
+ communication appeared during the early part of the war, Dec. 4,
+ 1861, supposed to have been written by Mr. Mason, of Virginia, in
+ which he said: "To tell the Norths, the Butes, the Wedderburns of
+ the present day, that previous to the year 1839 the sovereign
+ States of the South had unalterably resolved on the specific ground
+ of the violation of the Federal Constitution by the tariff of
+ spoliation which the New England States had imposed upon them&mdash;to
+ secede from the Union; to tell them that in that year the leader of
+ the South, Calhoun, urged an English gentleman, to whom he had
+ fully explained the position of the South, and the intolerable
+ tyranny which the North inflicted upon it, to be the bearer of
+ credentials from the chief persons of the South, in order to invite
+ the attention of the British Government to the coming event; that
+ on his death-bed (Washington, March 31, 1850), he called around him
+ his political friends&mdash;one of whom is now in England&mdash;warned them
+ that in no event could the Union survive the Presidential election
+ of 1860, though it might possibly break up before that urged them
+ to be prepared; leaving with his dying words the sacred cause of
+ Southern secession a solemn legacy in their hands&mdash;to have told
+ this to the Norths and Dartmouths of the present day, with more and
+ even stronger evidence of the coming events of November, 1860,
+ would have been like speaking to the stones of the street. In
+ November, 1860, they were thoroughly ignorant of all the momentous
+ antecedents of secession&mdash;of their nature, their character, their
+ bearing, import, and consequences."</p>
+
+<p> In the same correspondence the distinguished Rebel emissary
+ substantially let out the fact that Calhoun was indirectly, through
+ himself (Mason), in secret communication with the British
+ Government as far back as 1841, with a view to securing its
+ powerful aid in his aforesaid unalterable resolve to Secede from
+ the Union; and then Mr. Mason pleads&mdash;but pleads in vain&mdash;for the
+ armed intervention of England at this later day. Said he:</p>
+
+<p> "In the year 1841 the late Sir William Napier sent in two plans for
+ subduing the Union, to the War Office, in the first of which the
+ South was to be treated as an enemy, in the second as a friend and
+ ally. I was much consulted by him as to the second plan and was
+ referred to by name in it, as he showed by the acknowledgment of
+ this in Lord Fitzroy Somerset's letter of reply. This plan fully
+ provided for the contingency of an invasion of Canada, and its
+ application would, in eighteen or twenty months, have reduced the
+ North to a much more impotent condition than it exhibits at
+ present. At this very moment the most difficult portion of that
+ plan has been perfectly accomplished by the South itself; and the
+ North, in accordance with Sir William Napier's expectations, now
+ lies helpless before England, and at our absolute mercy. Nor is
+ there any doubt of this, and if Lord Palmerston is not aware of it
+ Mr. Seward certainly is. We have nothing remaining to do but to
+ stretch out our arm in the way Sir William Napier proposed, and the
+ Northern power&mdash;power as we ignorantly call it&mdash;must come to an
+ end. Sir William knew and well estimated the elements of which
+ that quasi power consisted; and he knew how to apply the
+ substantive power of England to dissolve it. In the best interest
+ of humanity, I venture to say that it is the duty of England to
+ apply this power without further delay&mdash;its duty to itself, to its
+ starving operatives, to France, to Europe, and to humanity. And in
+ the discharge of this great duty to the world at large there will
+ not even be the dignity of sacrifice or danger."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>Threats and counter-threats of Disunion were made on either hand by the
+opponents and advocates of Slavery-extension through annexation; nor was
+it less agitated on the subject of a Protective Tariff.</p>
+
+<p>The Compromise Tariff of 1833, together with President Jackson's
+upheaval of our financial system, produced, as has already been hinted,
+terrible commercial disasters. "In 1840," says competent authority, "all
+prices had ruinously fallen; production had greatly diminished, and in
+many departments of industry had practically ceased; thousands of
+working men were idle, with no hope of employment, and their families
+suffering from want. Our farmers were without markets, their products
+rotted in their barns, and their lands, teeming with rich harvests, were
+sold by the sheriff for debts and taxes. The Tariff, which robbed our
+industries of Protection failed to supply Government with its necessary
+revenues. The National Treasury in consequence was bankrupt, and the
+credit of the Nation had sunk very low."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Clay himself stated "the average depression in the value of property
+under that state of things which existed before the Tariff of 1842 came
+to the rescue of the country, at fifty per cent." And hence it was that
+Protection was made the chief issue of the Presidential campaign of
+1840, which eventuated in the election of Harrison and Tyler, and in the
+Tariff Act of August 30, 1842, which revived our trade and industries,
+and brought back to the land a full measure of prosperity. With those
+disasters fresh in the minds of the people, Protection continued to be a
+leading issue in the succeeding Presidential campaign of 1844&mdash;but
+coupled with the Texas-annexation issue. In that campaign Henry Clay
+was the candidate of the Whig party and James K. Polk of the Democratic
+party. Polk was an ardent believer in the annexation policy and stood
+upon a platform declaring for the "re-occupation of Oregon and the
+re-annexation of Texas at the earliest practicable moment"&mdash;as if the
+prefix "re" legitimatized the claim in either case; Clay, on the other
+hand, held that we had "fairly alienated our title to Texas by solemn
+National compacts, to the fulfilment of which we stand bound by good
+faith and National honor;" that "Annexation and War with Mexico are
+identical," and that he was "not willing to involve this country in a
+foreign War for the object of acquiring Texas."</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [In his letter of April 17, 1844, published in the National
+ Intelligencer.]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>As to the Tariff issue also, Clay was the acknowledged champion of the
+American system of Protection, while Polk was opposed to it, and was
+supported by the entire Free-trade sentiment, whether North or South.</p>
+
+<p>As the campaign progressed, it became evident that Clay would be
+elected. Then occurred some of those fatalities which have more than
+once, in the history of Presidential campaigns, overturned the most
+reasonable expectations and defeated the popular will. Mr. Clay
+committed a blunder and Mr. Polk an equivocation&mdash;to use the mildest
+possible term. Mr. Clay was induced by Southern friends to write a
+letter&mdash;[Published in the North Alabamian, Aug. 16, 1844.]&mdash;in which,
+after stating that "far from having any personal objection to the
+annexation of Texas, I should be glad to see it&mdash;without dishonor,
+without War, with the common consent of the Union, and upon just and
+fair terms," he added: "I do not think that the subject of Slavery ought
+to affect the question, one way or the other." Mr. Polk, on the other
+hand, wrote a letter in which he declared it to be "the duty of the
+Government to extend, as far as it may be practicable to do so, by its
+revenue laws and all other means within its power, fair and just
+Protection to all the great interests of the whole Union, embracing
+Agriculture, Manufactures, the Mechanic Arts, Commerce and Navigation."
+This was supplemented by a letter (August 8, 1844) from Judge Wilson
+McCandless of Pennsylvania, strongly upholding the Protective principle,
+claiming that Clay in his Compromise Tariff Bill had abandoned it, and
+that Polk and Dallas had "at heart the true interests of Pennsylvania."
+Clay, thus betrayed by the treachery of Southern friends, was greatly
+weakened, while Polk, by his beguiling letter, backed by the false
+interpretation put upon it by powerful friends in the North, made the
+North believe him a better Protectionist than Clay.</p>
+
+<p>Polk was elected, and rewarded the misplaced confidence by making Robert
+J. Walker his Secretary of the Treasury, and, largely through that
+great Free Trader's exertions, secured a repeal by Congress of the
+Protective Tariff of 1842 and the enactment of the ruinous Free Trade
+Tariff of 1846. Had Clay carried New York, his election was secure. As
+it happened, Polk had a plurality in New York of but 5,106 in an immense
+vote, and that slim plurality was given to him by the Abolitionists
+throwing away some 15,000 on Birney. And thus also it curiously
+happened that it was the Abolition vote which secured the election of
+the candidate who favored immediate annexation and the extension of the
+Slave Power!</p>
+
+<p>Emboldened and apparently sustained by the result of the election, the
+Slave Power could not await the inauguration of Mr. Polk, but proceeded
+at once, under whip and spur, to drive the Texas annexation scheme
+through Congress; and two days before the 4th of March, 1845, an Act
+consenting to the admission of the Republic of Texas as a State of the
+Union was approved by President Tyler.</p>
+
+<p>In that Act it was provided that "New States of convenient size, not
+exceeding four in number, in addition to the said State of Texas, and
+having sufficient population, may hereafter, by the consent of said
+State, be formed out of the territory thereof, which shall be entitled
+to admission under the provisions of the Federal Constitution; and such
+States as may be formed out of that portion of said territory lying
+south of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north latitude, commonly
+known as the Missouri Compromise line, shall be admitted into the Union
+with or without Slavery, as the people of each State asking admission
+may desire. And in such State or States as shall be formed out of said
+territory north of said Missouri Compromise line, Slavery or involuntary
+servitude (except for crime) shall be prohibited." As has been lucidly
+stated by another,&mdash;[Greeley's History]&mdash;"while seeming to curtail and
+circumscribe Slavery north of the above parallel (that of 36 30' north
+latitude), this measure really extended it northward to that parallel,
+which it had not yet approached, under the flag of Texas, within
+hundreds of miles. But the chief end of this sham Compromise was the
+involving of Congress in an indirect indorsement of the claim of Texas
+to the entire left bank of the Rio Grande, from its mouth to its source;
+and this was effected."</p>
+
+<p>Texas quickly consented to the Act of annexation, and in December, 1845,
+a Joint Resolution formally admitting her as a State of the Union,
+reported by Stephen A. Douglas, was duly passed.</p>
+
+<p>In May, 1846, the American forces under General Taylor, which had been
+dispatched to protect Texas from threatened assault, were attacked by
+the Mexican army, which at Palo Alto was badly defeated and at Resaca de
+la Palma driven back across the Rio Grande.</p>
+
+<p>Congress immediately declared that by this invasion a state of War
+existed between Mexico and the United States. Thus commenced the War
+with Mexico&mdash;destined to end in the triumph of the American Army, and
+the acquisition of large areas of territory to the United States. In
+anticipation of such triumph, President Polk lost little time in asking
+an appropriation of over two million dollars by Congress to facilitate
+negotiations for peace with, and territorial cession from, Mexico. And
+a Bill making such appropriation was quickly passed by the House of
+Representatives&mdash;but with the following significant proviso attached,
+which had been offered by Mr. Wilmot: "Provided. That as an express and
+fundamental condition to the acquisition of any territory from the
+Republic of Mexico by the United States, by virtue of any treaty that
+may be negotiated between them, and to the use by the Executive of the
+moneys herein appropriated, neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude
+shall ever exist in any part of said territory, except for crime,
+whereof the party shall first be duly convicted."</p>
+
+<p>The debate in the Senate upon the Wilmot proviso, which immediately
+ensued, was cut short by the expiration of the Session of Congress&mdash;and
+the Bill accordingly failed of passage.</p>
+
+<p>In February, 1848, the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was made between
+Mexico and the United States, and Peace reigned once more. About the
+same time a Bill was passed by the Senate providing Territorial
+Governments for Oregon, California and New Mexico, which provided for
+the reference of all questions touching Slavery in such Territories to
+the United States Supreme Court, for arbitration. The Bill, however,
+failed in the House. The ensuing Presidential campaign resulted in the
+election of General Taylor, the Whig candidate, who was succeeded upon
+his death, July 10, 1850, by Fillmore. Meanwhile, on the Oregon
+Territory Bill, in 1848, a strong effort had been made by Mr. Douglas
+and others to incorporate a provision extending to the Pacific Ocean the
+Missouri Compromise line of 36 30' of north latitude and extending to
+all future organizations of Territories of the United States the
+principles of said Compromise. This provision was adopted by the
+Senate, but the House struck it from the Bill; the Senate receded, and
+Oregon was admitted as a Free Territory. But the conflict in Congress
+between those who would extend and those who would restrict Slavery
+still continued, and indeed gathered vehemence with time. In 1850,
+California was clamoring for admission as a Free State to the Union, and
+New Mexico and Utah sought to be organized under Territorial
+Governments.</p>
+
+<p>In the heated discussions upon questions growing out of bills for these
+purposes, and to rectify the boundaries of Texas, it was no easy matter
+to reach an agreement of any sort. Finally, however, the Compromise of
+1850, offered by Mr. Clay, was practically agreed to and carried out,
+and under it: California was admitted as a Free State; New Mexico and
+Utah were admitted to Territorial organization without a word pro or con
+on the subject of Slavery; the State of Texas was awarded a pecuniary
+compensation for the rectification of her boundaries; the Slave Trade in
+the District of Columbia was abolished; and a more effectual Fugitive
+Slave Act passed.</p>
+
+<p>By both North and South, this Compromise of 1850, and the measures
+growing out of it, were very generally acquiesced in, and for a while it
+seemed as though a permanent settlement of the Slavery question had been
+reached. But in the Fugitive Slave law, thus hastily enacted, lay
+embedded the seed for further differences and excitements, speedily to
+germinate. In its operation it proved not only unnecessarily cruel and
+harsh, in the manner of the return to bondage of escaped slaves, but
+also afforded a shield and support to the kidnapping of Free Negroes
+from Northern States. The frequency of arrests in the Northern States,
+and the accompanying circumstances of cruelty and brutality in the
+execution of the law, soon made it especially odious throughout the
+North, and created an active feeling of commiseration for the unhappy
+victims of the Slave Power, which greatly intensified and increased the
+growing Anti-Slavery sentiment in the Free States.</p>
+
+<p>In 1852-53, an attempt was made in Congress to organize into the
+Territory of Nebraska, the region of country lying west of Iowa and
+Missouri. Owing to the opposition of the South the Bill was defeated.
+In 1853-4 a similar Bill was reported to the Senate by Mr. Douglas, but
+afterward at his own instance recommitted to the Committee on
+Territories, and reported back by him again in such shape as to create,
+instead of one, two Territories, that portion directly west of Missouri
+to be called Kansas, and the balance to be known as Nebraska&mdash;one of the
+sections of the Bill enacting:</p>
+
+<p>"That in order to avoid all misconstruction it is hereby declared to be
+the true intent and meaning of this Act, so far as the question of
+Slavery is concerned, to carry into practical operation the following
+propositions and principles, established by the Compromise measures of
+1850, to wit:</p>
+
+<p>"First, That all questions pertaining to Slavery in the Territories, and
+the new States to be formed therefrom, are to be left to the decision of
+the people residing therein through their appropriate representatives.</p>
+
+<p>"Second, That 'all cases involving title to slaves,' and 'questions of
+personal freedom,' are referred to the adjudication of the local
+tribunals with the right of appeal to the Supreme Court of the United
+States.</p>
+
+<p>"Third, That the provisions of the Constitution and laws of the United
+States, in respect to fugitives from service, are to be carried into
+faithful execution in all the `organized Territories,' the same as in
+the States."</p>
+
+<p>The sections authorizing Kansas and Nebraska to elect and send delegates
+to Congress also prescribed:</p>
+
+<p>"That the Constitution, and all laws of the United States which are not
+locally inapplicable, shall have the same force and effect within the
+said Territory, as elsewhere in the United States, except the section of
+the Act preparatory to the admission of Missouri into the Union,
+approved March 6th, 1820, which was superseded by the principles of the
+Legislation of 1850, commonly called the Compromise Measures, and is
+declared inoperative."</p>
+
+<p>And when "explaining this Kansas-Nebraska Bill" Mr. Douglas announced
+that, in reporting it, "The object of the Committee was neither to
+legislate Slavery in or out of the Territories; neither to introduce nor
+exclude it; but to remove whatever obstacle Congress had put there, and
+apply the doctrine of Congressional Non-intervention in accordance with
+the principles of the Compromise Measures of 1850, and allow the people
+to do as they pleased upon this as well as all other matters affecting
+their interests."</p>
+
+<p>A vigorous and able debate ensued. A motion by Mr. Chase to strike out
+the words "which was superseded by the principles of the legislation of
+1850, commonly called the Compromise Measures," was defeated decisively.
+Subsequently Mr. Douglas moved to strike out the same words and insert
+in place of them, these: "which being inconsistent with the principles
+of Non-intervention by Congress with Slavery in the States and
+Territories, as recognized by the legislation of 1850 (commonly called
+the Compromise Measures), is hereby declared inoperative and void; it
+being the true intent and meaning of this Act not to legislate Slavery
+into any Territory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave
+the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic
+institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the
+United States"&mdash;and the motion was agreed to by a vote of 35 yeas to 10
+nays. Mr. Chase immediately moved to add to the amendment just adopted
+these words: "Under which, the people of the Territory, through their
+appropriate representatives, may, if they see fit, prohibit the
+existence of Slavery therein;" but this motion was voted down by 36 nays
+to 10 yeas. This developed the rat in the meal-tub. The people were to
+be "perfectly free" to act either way on the subject of Slavery, so long
+as they did not prohibit Slavery! In this shape the Bill passed the
+Senate.</p>
+
+<p>Public sentiment in the North was greatly stirred by this direct attempt
+to repeal the Missouri Compromise. But by the superior parliamentary
+tactics of Southern Representatives in the House, whereby the radical
+friends of Freedom were shut out from the opportunity of amendment, a
+House Bill essentially the same as the Senate Bill was subsequently
+passed by the House, under the previous question, and afterward rapidly
+passed the Senate, and was approved by the President. At once commenced
+that long and terrible struggle between the friends of Free-Soil and the
+friends of Slavery, for the possession of Kansas, which convulsed the
+whole Country for years, and moistened the soil of that Territory with
+streams of blood, shed in numerous "border-ruffian" conflicts.</p>
+
+<p>The Territorial Government of Kansas was organized late in 1854, and an
+"election" for Delegate held, at which the Pro-Slavery candidate
+(Whitfield) was fraudulently elected. On March 30, 1855, a Territorial
+Legislature was similarly chosen by Pro-Slavery voters "colonized" from
+Missouri. That Legislature, upon its meeting, proceeded at once to
+enact most outrageous Pro-Slavery laws, which being vetoed by the
+Free-Soil Governor (Reeder), were passed over the veto, and the Free-Soil
+Governor had to give place to one who favored Slavery in Kansas. But
+the Free-Soil settlers of Kansas, in Mass Convention at Big Springs,
+utterly repudiated the bogus Legislature and all its acts, to which they
+refused submission.</p>
+
+<p>In consequence of these radical differences, two separate elections for
+Delegate in Congress were held by the opposing factions, at one of which
+was elected the Pro-Slavery Whitfield, and at the other the Free-Soiler
+Reeder. Furthermore, under a call issued by the Big Springs Convention,
+a Free-State Constitutional Convention was held in October, 1855, at
+Topeka, which framed a Free-State Constitution, and asked admission
+under it to the Union.</p>
+
+<p>In 1856, the House of Representatives&mdash;which, after a protracted
+struggle, had elected N. P. Banks Speaker&mdash;passed a Bill, by a bare
+majority, admitting Kansas under her Topeka Constitution; but the Senate
+defeated it. July 4, 1856, by order of President Pierce, the Free-State
+Legislature, chosen under the Topeka Constitution to meet at Topeka, was
+dispersed by United States Troops. Yet, despite all oppositions,
+discouragements, and outrages, the Free-State population of
+Kansas continued to increase from immigration.</p>
+
+<p>In 1857, the Pro-Slavery Legislature elected by the Pro-Slavery voters
+at their own special election&mdash;the Free-State voters declining to
+participate&mdash;called a Constitutional Convention at Lecompton, which
+formed a Pro-Slavery Constitution. This was submitted to the people in
+such dexterous manner that they could only vote "For the Constitution
+with Slavery" or "For the Constitution without Slavery"&mdash;and, as the
+Constitution prescribed that "the rights of property in Slaves now in
+the Territory, shall in no manner be interfered with," to vote "for the
+Constitution Without Slavery" was an absurdity only paralleled by the
+course of the United States Senate in refusing to permit the people of
+Kansas "to prohibit Slavery" while at the same time declaring them
+"perfectly free to act" as they chose in the matter.</p>
+
+<p>The Constitution, with Slavery, was thus adopted by a vote of over
+6,000. But in the meanwhile, at another general election held for the
+purpose, and despite all the frauds perpetrated by the Pro-Slavery men,
+a Free-State Legislature, and Free-State Delegate to Congress had been
+elected; and this Legislature submitted the Lecompton Pro-Slavery
+Constitution to the people, January 4, 1858, so that they could vote:
+"For the Lecompton Constitution with Slavery," "For the Lecompton
+Constitution without Slavery," or "Against the Lecompton Constitution."
+The consequence was that the Lecompton Constitution was defeated by a
+majority of over 10,000 votes&mdash;the Missouri Pro-Slavery colonists
+declining to recognize the validity of any further election on the
+subject.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, in part upon the issues growing out of this Kansas conflict,
+the political parties of the Nation had passed through another
+Presidential campaign (1856), in which the Democratic candidate Buchanan
+had been elected over Fremont the "Republican," and Fillmore the
+"American," candidates. Both Houses of Congress being now Democratic,
+Mr. Buchanan recommended them to accept and ratify the Lecompton
+Pro-Slavery Constitution.</p>
+
+<p>In March, 1858, the Senate passed a Bill&mdash;against the efforts of Stephen
+A. Douglas&mdash;accepting it. In the House, however, a substitute offered
+by Mr. Montgomery (Douglas Democrat) known as the Crittenden-Montgomery
+Compromise, was adopted. The Senate refused to concur, and the report
+of a Committee of Conference&mdash;providing for submitting to the Kansas
+people a proposition placing limitations upon certain public land
+advantages stipulated for in the Lecompton Constitution, and in case
+they rejected the proposition that another Constitutional Convention
+should be held&mdash;was adopted by both Houses; and the proposition being
+rejected by the people of Kansas, the Pro-Slavery Lecompton Constitution
+fell with it.</p>
+
+<p>In 1859 a Convention, called by the Territorial Legislature for the
+purpose, met at Wyandot, and framed a Free State Constitution which was
+adopted by the people in October of that year, and at the ensuing State
+election in December the State went Republican. In April, 1860, the
+House of Representatives passed a Bill admitting Kansas as a State under
+that Constitution, but the Democratic Senate adjourned without action on
+the Bill; and it was not until early in 1861 that Kansas was at last
+admitted.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, the Free Trade Tariff of 1846 had produced the train of
+business and financial disasters that its opponents predicted. Instead
+of prosperity everywhere in the land, there was misery and ruin. Even
+the discovery and working of the rich placer mines of California and the
+consequent flow, in enormous volume, of her golden treasure into the
+Eastern States, could not stay the wide-spread flood of disaster.
+President Fillmore, who had succeeded General Taylor on the latter's
+death, frequently called the attention of Congress to the evils produced
+by this Free Trade, and to the necessity of protecting our manufactures
+"from ruinous competition from abroad." So also with his successor,
+President Buchanan, who, in his Message of 1857, declared that "In the
+midst of unsurpassed plenty in all the productions and in all the
+elements of national wealth, we find our manufactures suspended, our
+public works retarded, our private enterprises of different kinds
+abandoned, and thousands of useful laborers thrown out of employment and
+reduced to want." Further than this, the financial credit of the Nation
+was at zero. It was financially bankrupt before the close of Buchanan's
+Presidential term.</p>
+
+<br><br><br>
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="lincoln"></a>
+<center>
+<img alt="p098-lincoln.jpg (86K)" src="images/p098-lincoln.jpg" height="874" width="590">
+</center>
+<br><br><br>
+<a name="ch4"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<center><h2>
+
+ CHAPTER IV.<br><br>
+
+ POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY.
+</h2></center><br>
+<p>But now occurred the great Presidential struggle of 1860&mdash;which
+involved not alone the principles of Protection, but those of human
+Freedom, and the preservation of the Union itself&mdash;between Abraham
+Lincoln of Illinois, the candidate of the Republican party, as against
+Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, the National or Douglas&mdash;Democratic
+candidate, John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky, the Administration or
+Breckinridge&mdash;Democratic candidate, and John Bell of Tennessee, the
+candidate of the Bell-Union party. The great preliminary struggle which
+largely influenced the determination of the Presidential political
+conflict of 1860, had, however, taken place in the State of Illinois,
+two years previously. To that preliminary political contest of 1858,
+therefore, we will now turn our eyes&mdash;and, in order to fully understand
+it, it may be well to glance back over a few years. In 1851 the
+Legislature of Illinois had adopted&mdash;[The vote in the House being 65
+yeas to 4 nays.]&mdash;the following resolution: "Resolved, That our Liberty
+and Independence are based upon the right of the people to form for
+themselves such a government as they may choose; that this great
+principle, the birthright of freemen, the gift of Heaven, secured to us
+by the blood of our ancestors, ought to be secured to future
+generations, and no limitation ought to be applied to this power in the
+organization of any Territory of the United States, of either
+Territorial Government or State Constitution, provided the government so
+established shall be Republican and in conformity with the Constitution
+of the United States." This resolution was a practical endorsement of
+the course of Stephen A. Douglas in supporting the Compromise measures
+of 1850, which he had defended as being "all founded upon the great
+principle that every people ought to possess the right to form and
+regulate their own domestic institutions in their own way," and that
+"the same principle" should be "extended to all of the Territories of
+the United States."</p>
+
+<p>In accordance with his views and the resolution aforesaid, Mr. Douglas
+in 1854, as we have already seen, incorporated in the Kansas-Nebraska
+Bill a clause declaring it to be "the true intent and meaning of the Act
+not to legislate Slavery into any State or Territory, or to exclude it
+therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and
+regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to
+the Constitution of the United States."</p>
+
+<p>His position, as stated by himself, was, substantially that the
+Lecompton Pro-Slavery Constitution was a fraud upon the people of
+Kansas, in that it did not embody the will of that people; and he denied
+the right of Congress to force a Constitution upon an unwilling
+people&mdash;without regard, on his part, to whether that Constitution allowed or
+prohibited Slavery or any other thing, whether good or bad. He held
+that the people themselves were the sole judges of whether it is good or
+bad, and whether desirable or not.</p>
+
+<p>The Supreme Court of the United States had in the meantime made a
+decision in a case afterward known as the "Dred Scott case," which was
+held back until after the Presidential election of 1856 had taken place,
+and added fuel to the political fire already raging. Dred Scott was a
+Negro Slave. His owner voluntarily took him first into a Free State,
+and afterward into a Territory which came within the Congressional
+prohibitive legislation aforesaid. That decision in brief was
+substantially that no Negro Slave imported from Africa, nor his
+descendant, can be a citizen of any State within the meaning of the
+Constitution; that neither the Congress nor any Territorial Legislature
+has under the Constitution of the United States, the power to exclude
+Slavery from any Territory of the United States; and that it is for the
+State Courts of the Slave State, into which the negro has been conveyed
+by his master, and not for the United States Courts, to decide whether
+that Negro, having been held to actual Slavery in a Free State, has, by
+virtue of residence in such State, himself become Free.</p>
+
+<p>Now it was, that the meaning of the words, "subject only to the
+Constitution," as used in the Kansas-Nebraska Act, began to be
+discerned. For if the people of a Territory were to be "perfectly
+free," to deal with Slavery as they chose, "subject only to the
+Constitution" they were by this Judicial interpretation of that
+instrument "perfectly free" to deal with Slavery in any way so long as
+they did not attempt "to exclude" it! The thing was all one-sided. Mr.
+Douglas's attitude in inventing the peculiar phraseology in the
+Kansas-Nebraska Act&mdash;which to some seemed as if expressly "made to order" for
+the Dred Scott decision&mdash;was criticized with asperity; the popularity,
+however, of his courageous stand against President Buchanan on the
+Lecompton fraud, seemed to make it certain that, his term in the United
+States Senate being about to expire, he would be overwhelmingly
+re-elected to that body.</p>
+
+<p>But at this juncture occurred something, which for a long time held the
+result in doubt, and drew the excited attention of the whole Nation to
+Illinois as the great battle-ground. In 1858 a Republican State
+Convention was held at Springfield, Ill., which nominated Abraham
+Lincoln as the Republican candidate for United States Senator to succeed
+Senator Douglas in the National Legislature. On June 16th&mdash;after such
+nomination&mdash;Mr. Lincoln made to the Convention a speech&mdash;in which, with
+great and incisive power, he assailed Mr. Douglas's position as well as
+that of the whole Democratic Pro-Slavery Party, and announced in compact
+and cogent phrase, from his own point of view, the attitude, upon the
+Slavery question, of the Republican Party.</p>
+
+<p>In that remarkable speech&mdash;which at once attracted the attention of the
+Country&mdash;Mr. Lincoln said: "We are now far into the fifth year, since a
+policy was initiated with the avowed object, and confident promise, of
+putting an end to Slavery agitation. Under the operation of that
+policy, that agitation has not only not ceased, but has constantly
+augmented. In my opinion it will not cease, until a crisis shall have
+been reached and passed. 'A House divided against itself cannot stand.'
+I believe this Government cannot endure permanently half Slave and half
+Free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved&mdash;I do not expect the
+House to fall&mdash;but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will
+become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of Slavery
+will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind
+shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate
+extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become
+alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new, North as well as
+South."</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [Governor Seward's announcement of an "irrepressible conflict" was
+ made four months later.]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>He then proceeded to lay bare and closely analyze the history of all
+that had been done, during the four years preceding, to produce the
+prevailing condition of things touching human Slavery; describing it as
+resulting from that, "now almost complete legal combination-piece of
+machinery, so to speak&mdash;compounded of the Nebraska doctrine and the Dred
+Scott decision." After stating the several points of that decision, and
+that the doctrine of the "Sacred right of self-government" had been
+perverted by the Nebraska "Squatter Sovereignty," argument to mean that,
+"if any one man chose to enslave another, no third man shall be allowed
+to object," he proceeded to show the grounds upon which he charged
+"pre-concert" among the builders of that machinery. Said he: "The people
+were to be left perfectly free, 'subject only to the Constitution.'
+What the Constitution had to do with it, outsiders could not see.
+Plainly enough now, it was an exactly fitted niche for the Dred Scott
+decision to afterward come in and declare the perfect freedom of the
+people to be just no freedom at all. Why was the amendment, expressly
+declaring the right of the people, voted down? Plainly enough now, the
+adoption of it would have spoiled the niche for the Dred Scott decision.
+Why was the Court decision held up? Why even a Senator's individual
+opinion withheld, till after the Presidential election? Plainly enough
+now: the speaking out then would have damaged the 'perfectly free'
+argument upon which the election was to be carried. Why the outgoing
+President's felicitation on the indorsement? Why the delay of a
+re-argument? Why the incoming President's advance exhortation in favor of
+the decision? These things look like the cautious patting and petting
+of a spirited horse, preparatory to mounting him, when it is dreaded
+that he may give the rider a fall. And why the hasty after-indorsement
+of the decision, by the President and others? We cannot absolutely know
+that all these exact adaptations are the result of pre-concert. But
+when we see a lot of framed timbers, different portions of which we know
+have been gotten out at different times and places and by different
+workmen&mdash;Stephen, Franklin, Roger, and James&mdash;[Douglas, Pierce, Taney
+and Buchanan.]&mdash;for instance&mdash;and when we see these timbers joined
+together, and see they exactly make the frame of a house or a mill, all
+the tenons and mortices exactly fitting, and all the lengths and
+proportions of the different pieces exactly adapted to their respective
+places, and not a piece too many or too few&mdash;not omitting even the
+scaffolding, or, if a single piece be lacking, we see the place in the
+frame exactly fitted and prepared yet to bring such piece in&mdash;in such a
+case, we find it impossible not to believe that Stephen and Franklin and
+Roger and James all understood one another from the beginning, and all
+worked upon a common plan or draft drawn up before the first blow was
+struck."</p>
+
+<p>He drew attention also to the fact that by the Nebraska Bill the people
+of a State, as well as a Territory, were to be left "perfectly free,"
+"subject only to the Constitution," and that the object of lugging a
+"State" into this merely Territorial law was to enable the United States
+Supreme Court in some subsequent decision to declare, when the public
+mind had been sufficiently imbued with Judge Douglas's notion of not
+caring "whether Slavery be voted up or voted down," that "the
+Constitution of the United States does not permit a State to exclude
+Slavery from its limits"&mdash;which would make Slavery "alike lawful in all
+the States." That, he declared to be Judge Douglas's present
+mission:&mdash;"His avowed mission is impressing the 'public heart' to care nothing
+about it." Hence Mr. Lincoln urged Republicans to stand by their cause,
+which must be placed in the hands of its friends, "Whose hands are free,
+whose hearts are in the work&mdash;who do care for the result;" for he held
+that "a living dog is better than a dead lion."</p>
+
+<p>On the evening of July 9, 1858, at Chicago, Mr. Douglas (Mr. Lincoln
+being present) spoke to an enthusiastic assemblage, which he fitly
+described as a "vast sea of human faces," and, after stating that he
+regarded "the Lecompton battle as having been fought and the victory
+won, because the arrogant demand for the admission of Kansas under the
+Lecompton Constitution unconditionally, whether her people wanted it or
+not, has been abandoned, and the principle which recognizes the right of
+the people to decide for themselves has been submitted in its place," he
+proceeded to vindicate his position throughout; declared that he opposed
+"the Lecompton monstrosity solely on the ground than it was a violation
+of the fundamental principles of free government; on the ground that it
+was not the act and deed of the people of Kansas; that it did not embody
+their will; that they were averse to it;" and hence he "denied the right
+of Congress to force it upon them, either as a Free State or a Slave
+State."</p>
+
+<p>Said he: "I deny the right of Congress to force a Slaveholding State
+upon an unwilling people. I deny their right to force a Free State upon
+an unwilling people. I deny their right to force a good thing upon a
+people who are unwilling to receive it. The great principle is the
+right of every community to judge and decide for itself, whether a thing
+is right or wrong, whether it would be good or evil for them to adopt
+it; and the right of free action, the right of free thought, the right
+of free judgment upon the question is dearer to every true American than
+any other under a free Government. * * * It is no answer to this
+argument to say that Slavery is an evil, and hence should not be
+tolerated. You must allow the people to decide for themselves whether
+it is good or evil." He then adverted to the arraignment of himself by
+Mr. Lincoln, and took direct issue with that gentleman on his
+proposition that, as to Freedom and Slavery, "the Union will become all
+one thing or all the other;" and maintained on the contrary, that "it is
+neither desirable nor possible that there should be uniformity in the
+local institutions and domestic regulations of the different States of
+this Union."</p>
+
+<p>Upon the further proposition of Mr. Lincoln, which Mr. Douglas described
+as "a crusade against the Supreme Court of the United States on account
+of the Dred Scott decision," and as "an appeal from the decision" of
+that Court "upon this high Constitutional question to a Republican
+caucus sitting in the country," he also took "direct and distinct issue
+with him." To "the reason assigned by Mr. Lincoln for resisting the
+decision of the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case * * * because it
+deprives the Negro of the privileges, immunities and rights of
+citizenship which pertain, according to that decision, only to the White
+man," Mr. Douglas also took exception thus: "I am free to say to you
+that in my opinion this Government of ours is founded on the White
+basis. It was made by the White man for the benefit of the White man,
+to be administered by White men, in such manner as they should
+determine. It is also true that a Negro, an Indian, or any other man of
+inferior race to a White man, should be permitted to enjoy, and humanity
+requires that he should have, all the rights, privileges, and immunities
+which he is capable of exercising consistent with the safety of society.
+* * * But you may ask me what are these rights and these privileges?
+My answer is, that each State must decide for itself the nature and
+extent of these rights. * * * Without indorsing the wisdom of that
+decision, I assert that Virginia has the same power by virtue of her
+sovereignty to protect Slavery within her limits, as Illinois has to
+banish it forever from our own borders. I assert the right of each
+State to decide for itself on all these questions, and I do not
+subscribe to the doctrine of my friend, Mr. Lincoln, that uniformity is
+either desirable or possible. I do not acknowledge that the States must
+all be Free or must all be Slave. I do not acknowledge that the Negro
+must have civil and political rights everywhere or nowhere. * * * I do
+not acknowledge any of these doctrines of uniformity in the local and
+domestic regulations in the different States. * * * Mr. Lincoln goes
+for a warfare upon the Supreme Court of the United States because of
+their judicial decision in the Dred Scott case. I yield obedience to
+the decisions in that Court&mdash;to the final determination of the highest
+judicial tribunal known to our Constitution. He objects to the Dred
+Scott decision because it does not put the Negro in the possession of
+the rights of citizenship on an equality with the White man. I am
+opposed to Negro equality. * * * I would extend to the Negro, and the
+Indian, and to all dependent races every right, every privilege, and
+every immunity consistent with the safety and welfare of the White
+races; but equality they never should have, either political or social,
+or in any other respect whatever. * * * My friends, you see that the
+issues are distinctly drawn."</p>
+
+<p>On the following evening (July 10th) at Chicago, Mr. Lincoln addressed
+another enthusiastic assemblage, in reply to Mr. Douglas; and, after
+protesting against a charge that had been made the previous night by the
+latter, of an "unnatural and unholy" alliance between Administration
+Democrats and Republicans to defeat him, as being beyond his own
+knowledge and belief, proceeded: "Popular Sovereignty! Everlasting
+Popular Sovereignty! Let us for a moment inquire into this vast matter
+of Popular Sovereignty. What is Popular Sovereignty? We recollect at
+an early period in the history of this struggle there was another name
+for the same thing&mdash;Squatter Sovereignty. It was not exactly Popular
+Sovereignty, but Squatter Sovereignty. What do those terms mean? What
+do those terms mean when used now? And vast credit is taken by our
+friend, the Judge, in regard to his support of it, when he declares the
+last years of his life have been, and all the future years of his life
+shall be, devoted to this matter of Popular Sovereignty. What is it?
+Why it is the Sovereignty of the People! What was Squatter Sovereignty?
+I suppose if it had any significance at all, it was the right of the
+people to govern themselves, to be sovereign in their own affairs while
+they were squatted down in a country not their own&mdash;while they had
+squatted on a territory that did not belong to them in the sense that a
+State belongs to the people who inhabit it&mdash;when it belonged to the
+Nation&mdash;such right to govern themselves was called 'Squatter
+Sovereignty.'</p>
+
+<p>"Now I wish you to mark. What has become of that Squatter Sovereignty?
+What has become of it? Can you get anybody to tell you now that the
+people of a Territory have any authority to govern themselves, in regard
+to this mooted question of Slavery, before they form a State
+Constitution? No such thing at all, although there is a general running
+fire and although there has been a hurrah made in every speech on that
+side, assuming that that policy had given the people of a Territory the
+right to govern themselves upon this question; yet the point is dodged.
+To-day it has been decided&mdash;no more than a year ago it was decided by
+the Supreme Court of the United States, and is insisted upon to-day,
+that the people of a Territory have no right to exclude Slavery from a
+Territory, that if any one man chooses to take Slaves into a Territory,
+all the rest of the people have no right to keep them out. This being
+so, and this decision being made one of the points that the Judge
+(Douglas) approved, * * * he says he is in favor of it, and sticks to
+it, and expects to win his battle on that decision, which says there is
+no such thing as Squatter Sovereignty; but that any man may take Slaves
+into a Territory and all the other men in the Territory may be opposed
+to it, and yet by reason of the Constitution they cannot prohibit it;
+when that is so, how much is left of this vast matter of Squatter
+Sovereignty, I should like to know? Again, when we get to the question
+of the right of the people to form a State Constitution as they please,
+to form it with Slavery or without Slavery&mdash;if that is anything new, I
+confess I don't know it * * *.</p>
+
+<p>"We do not remember that, in that old Declaration of Independence, it is
+said that 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
+created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
+inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit
+of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted
+among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.'
+There, is the origin of Popular Sovereignty. Who, then, shall come in
+at this day and claim that he invented it? The Lecompton Constitution
+connects itself with this question, for it is in this matter of the
+Lecompton Constitution that our friend, Judge Douglas, claims such vast
+credit. I agree that in opposing the Lecompton Constitution, so far as
+I can perceive, he was right. * * * All the Republicans in the Nation
+opposed it, and they would have opposed it just as much without Judge
+Douglas's aid as with it. They had all taken ground against it long
+before he did. Why, the reason that he urges against that Constitution,
+I urged against him a year before. I have the printed speech in my hand
+now. The argument that he makes, why that Constitution should not be
+adopted, that the people were not fairly represented nor allowed to
+vote, I pointed out in a speech a year ago which I hold in my hand now,
+that no fair chance was to be given to the people. * * * The Lecompton
+Constitution, as the Judge tells us, was defeated. The defeat of it was
+a good thing or it was not. He thinks the defeat of it was a good
+thing, and so do I, and we agree in that. Who defeated it?
+[A voice&mdash;'Judge Douglas.'] Yes, he furnished himself, and if you suppose he
+controlled the other Democrats that went with him, he furnished three
+votes, while the Republicans furnished twenty. That is what he did to
+defeat it. In the House of Representatives he and his friends furnished
+some twenty votes, and the Republicans furnished ninety odd. Now, who
+was it that did the work? * * * Ground was taken against it by the
+Republicans long before Douglas did it. The proportion of opposition to
+that measure is about five to one."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lincoln then proceeded to take up the issues which Mr. Douglas had
+joined with him the previous evening. He denied that he had said, or
+that it could be fairly inferred from what he had said, in his
+Springfield speech, that he was in favor of making War by the North upon
+the South for the extinction of Slavery, "or, in favor of inviting the
+South to a War upon the North, for the purpose of nationalizing
+Slavery." Said he: "I did not even say that I desired that Slavery
+should be put in course of ultimate extinction. I do say so now,
+however; so there need be no longer any difficulty about that. * * * I
+am tolerably well acquainted with the history of the Country and I know
+that it has endured eighty-two years half Slave and half Free. I
+believe&mdash;and that is what I meant to allude to there&mdash;I believe it has
+endured, because during all that time, until the introduction of the
+Nebraska Bill, the public mind did rest all the, time in the belief that
+Slavery was in course of ultimate extinction. That was what gave us the
+rest that we had through that period of eighty-two years; at least, so I
+believe.</p>
+
+<p>"I have always hated Slavery, I think, as much as any Abolitionist&mdash;I
+have been an Old Line Whig&mdash;I have always hated it, but I have always
+been quiet about it until this new era of the introduction of the
+Nebraska Bill began. I always believed that everybody was against it,
+and that it was in course of ultimate extinction. * * * The great mass
+of the Nation have rested in the belief that Slavery was in course of
+ultimate extinction. They had reason so to believe. The adoption of
+the Constitution and its attendant history led the People to believe so,
+and that such was the belief of the framers of the Constitution itself.
+Why did those old men about the time of the adoption of the Constitution
+decree that Slavery should not go into the new territory, where it had
+not already gone? Why declare that within twenty years the African
+Slave Trade, by which Slaves are supplied, might be cut off by Congress?
+Why were all these acts? I might enumerate more of these acts&mdash;but
+enough. What were they but a clear indication that the framers of the
+Constitution intended and expected the ultimate extinction of that
+institution?</p>
+
+<p>"And now, when I say, as I said in my speech that Judge Douglas has
+quoted from, when I say that I think the opponents of Slavery will
+resist the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind
+shall rest with the belief that it is in course of ultimate extinction,
+I only mean to say, that they will place it where the founders of this
+Government originally placed it. I have said a hundred times, and I
+have now no inclination to take it back, that I believe there is no
+right, and ought to be no inclination in the people of the Free States,
+to enter into the Slave States, and interfere with the question of
+Slavery at all. I have said that always; Judge Douglas has heard me say
+it&mdash;if not quite a hundred times, at least as good as a hundred times;
+and when it is said that I am in favor of interfering with Slavery where
+it exists, I know that it is unwarranted by anything I have ever
+intended, and as I believe, by anything I have ever said. If, by any
+means, I have ever used language which could fairly be so construe (as,
+however, I believe I never have) I now correct it. So much, then, for
+the inference that Judge Douglas draws, that I am in favor of setting
+the Sections at War with one another.</p>
+
+<p>"Now in relation to his inference that I am in favor of a general
+consolidation of all the local institutions of the various States * * *
+I have said, very many times in Judge Douglas's hearing, that no man
+believed more than I in the principle of self-government from beginning
+to end. I have denied that his use of that term applies properly. But
+for the thing itself, I deny that any man has ever gone ahead of me in
+his devotion to the principle, whatever he may have done in efficiency
+in advocating it. I think that I have said it in your hearing&mdash;that I
+believe each individual is naturally entitled to do as he pleases with
+himself and the fruit of his labor, so far as it in no wise interferes
+with any other man's rights&mdash;that each community, as a State, has a
+right to do exactly as it pleases with all the concerns within that
+State that interfere with the rights of no other State, and that the
+General Government, upon principle, has no right to interfere with
+anything other than that general class of things that does concern the
+whole. I have said that at all times.</p>
+
+<p>"I have said, as illustrations, that I do not believe in the right of
+Illinois to interfere with the cranberry laws of Indiana, the oyster
+laws of Virginia, or the liquor laws of Maine. I have said these things
+over and over again, and I repeat them here as my sentiments. * * *
+What can authorize him to draw any such inference? I suppose there
+might be one thing that at least enabled him to draw such an inference
+that would not be true with me or many others, that is, because he looks
+upon all this matter of Slavery as an exceedingly little thing&mdash;this
+matter of keeping one-sixth of the population of the whole Nation in a
+state of oppression and tyranny unequaled in the World.</p>
+
+<p>"He looks upon it as being an exceedingly little thing only equal to the
+cranberry laws of Indiana&mdash;as something having no moral question in
+it&mdash;as something on a par with the question of whether a man shall pasture
+his land with cattle, or plant it with tobacco&mdash;so little and so small a
+thing, that he concludes, if I could desire that anything should be done
+to bring about the ultimate extinction of that little thing, I must be
+in favor of bringing about an amalgamation of all the other little
+things in the Union.</p>
+
+<p>"Now it so happens&mdash;and there, I presume, is the foundation of this
+mistake&mdash;that the Judge thinks thus; and it so happens that there is a
+vast portion of the American People that do not look upon that matter as
+being this very little thing. They look upon it as a vast moral evil;
+they can prove it as such by the writings of those who gave us the
+blessings of Liberty which we enjoy, and that they so looked upon it,
+and not as an evil merely confining itself to the States where it is
+situated; while we agree that, by the Constitution we assented to, in
+the States where it exists we have no right to interfere with it,
+because it is in the Constitution; and we are by both duty and
+inclination to stick by that Constitution in all its letter and spirit,
+from beginning to end. * * * The Judge can have no issue with me on a
+question of establishing uniformity in the domestic regulations of the
+States. * * *</p>
+
+<p>"Another of the issues he says that is to be made with me, is upon his
+devotion to the Dred Scott decision, and my opposition to it. I have
+expressed heretofore, and I now repeat, my opposition to the Dred Scott
+decision; but I should be allowed to state the nature of that
+opposition. * * * What is fairly implied by the term Judge Douglas has
+used, 'resistance to the decision?' I do not resist it. If I wanted to
+take Dred Scott from his master, I would be interfering with property
+and that terrible difficulty that Judge Douglas speaks of, of
+interfering with property, would arise. But I am doing no such thing as
+that, but all that I am doing is refusing to obey it, as a political
+rule. If I were in Congress, and a vote should come up on a question
+whether Slavery should be prohibited in a new Territory, in spite of the
+Dred Scott decision, I would vote that it should. That is what I would
+do.</p>
+
+<p>"Judge Douglas said last night, that before the decision he might
+advance his opinion, and it might be contrary to the decision when it
+was made; but after it was made, he would abide by it until it was
+reversed. Just so! We let this property abide by the decision, but we
+will try to reverse that decision. We will try to put it where Judge
+Douglas would not object, for he says he will obey it until it is
+reversed. Somebody has to reverse that decision, since it is made, and
+we mean to reverse it, and we mean to do it peaceably.</p>
+
+<p>"What are the uses of decisions of Courts? They have two uses. As
+rules of property they have two uses. First, they decide upon the
+question before the Court. They decide in this case that Dred Scott is
+a Slave. Nobody resists that. Not only that, but they say to everybody
+else, that persons standing just as Dred Scott stands, are as he is.
+That is, they say that when a question comes up upon another person, it
+will be so decided again, unless the Court decides in another
+way&mdash;unless the Court overrules its decision.&mdash;Well, we mean to do what we
+can to have the Court decide the other way. That is one thing we mean
+to try to do.</p>
+
+<p>"The sacredness that Judge Douglas throws around this decision is a
+degree of sacredness that has never before been thrown around any other
+decision. I have never heard of such a thing. Why, decisions
+apparently contrary to that decision, or that good lawyers thought were
+contrary to that decision, have been made by that very Court before. It
+is the first of its kind; it is an astonisher in legal history. It is a
+new wonder of the world. It is based upon falsehood in the main as to
+the facts&mdash;allegations of facts upon which it stands are not facts at
+all in many instances; and no decision made on any question&mdash;the first
+instance of a decision made under so many unfavorable
+circumstances&mdash;thus placed, has ever been held by the profession as law, and it has
+always needed confirmation before the lawyers regarded it as settled
+law. But Judge Douglas will have it that all hands must take this
+extraordinary decision, made under these extraordinary circumstances,
+and give their vote in Congress in accordance with it, yield to it and
+obey it in every possible sense.</p>
+
+<p>"Circumstances alter cases. Do not gentlemen remember the case of that
+same Supreme Court, some twenty-five or thirty years ago, deciding that
+a National Bank was Constitutional? * * * The Bank charter ran out,
+and a recharter was granted by Congress. That re-charter was laid
+before General Jackson. It was urged upon him, when he denied the
+Constitutionality of the Bank, that the Supreme Court had decided that
+it was Constitutional; and General Jackson then said that the Supreme
+Court had no right to lay down a rule to govern a co-ordinate branch of
+the Government, the members of which had sworn to support the
+Constitution&mdash;that each member had sworn to support that Constitution as
+he understood it. I will venture here to say, that I have heard Judge
+Douglas say that he approved of General Jackson for that act. What has
+now become of all his tirade about 'resistance to the Supreme Court?'"</p>
+
+<p>After adverting to Judge Douglas's warfare on "the leaders" of the
+Republican party, and his desire to have "it understood that the mass of
+the Republican party are really his friends," Mr. Lincoln said: "If you
+indorse him, you tell him you do not care whether Slavery be voted up or
+down, and he will close, or try to close, your mouths with his
+declaration repeated by the day, the week, the month, and the year. Is
+that what you mean? * * * Now I could ask the Republican party, after
+all the hard names that Judge Douglas has called them by, all his
+repeated charges of their inclination to marry with and hug negroes&mdash;all
+his declarations of Black Republicanism&mdash;by the way, we are improving,
+the black has got rubbed off&mdash;but with all that, if he be indorsed by
+Republican votes, where do you stand? Plainly, you stand ready saddled,
+bridled, and harnessed, and waiting to be driven over to the
+Slavery-extension camp of the Nation&mdash;just ready to be driven over, tied
+together in a lot&mdash;to be driven over, every man with a rope around his
+neck, that halter being held by Judge Douglas. That is the question.
+If Republican men have been in earnest in what they have done, I think
+that they has better not do it. * * *</p>
+
+<p>"We were often&mdash;more than once at least&mdash;in the course of Judge
+Douglas's speech last night, reminded that this Government was made for
+White men&mdash;that he believed it was made for White men. Well, that is
+putting it in a shape in which no one wants to deny it; but the Judge
+then goes into his passion for drawing inferences that are not
+warranted. I protest, now and forever, against that counterfeit logic
+which presumes that because I do not want a Negro woman for a Slave I do
+necessarily want her for a wife. My understanding is that I need not
+have her for either; but, as God has made us separate, we can leave one
+another alone, and do one another much good thereby. There are White
+men enough to marry all the White women, and enough Black men to marry
+all the Black women, and in God's name let them be so married. The
+Judge regales us with the terrible enormities that take place by the
+mixture of races; that the inferior race bears the superior down. Why,
+Judge, if we do not let them get together in the Territories, they won't
+mix there.</p>
+
+<p>" * * * Those arguments that are made, that the inferior race are to be
+treated with as much allowance as they are capable of enjoying; that as
+much is to be done for them as their condition will allow&mdash;what are
+these arguments? They are the arguments that Kings have made for
+enslaving the People in all ages of the World. You will find that all
+the arguments in favor of king-craft were of this class; they always
+bestrode the necks of the People, not that they wanted to do it, but
+because the People were better off for being ridden! That is their
+argument, and this argument of the Judge is the same old Serpent that
+says: you work, and I eat; you toil, and I will enjoy the fruits of it.</p>
+
+<p>"Turn it whatever way you will&mdash;whether it come from the mouth of a
+King, an excuse for enslaving the People of his Country, or from the
+mouth of men of one race as a reason for enslaving the men of another
+race, it is all the same old Serpent; and I hold, if that course of
+argumentation that is made for the purpose of convincing the public mind
+that we should not care about this, should be granted, it does not stop
+with the Negro.</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to know, taking this old Declaration of Independence,
+which declares that all men are equal upon principle, and making
+exceptions to it, where will it stop? If one man says it does not mean
+a Negro, why not say it does not mean some other man? If that
+Declaration is not the truth, let us get the Statute Book, in which we
+find it, and tear it out! Who is so bold as to do it? If it is not
+true, let us tear it out!" [Cries of "No, no."] "Let us stick to it
+then; let us stand firmly by it, then. * * *</p>
+
+<p>" * * * The Saviour, I suppose, did not expect that any human creature
+could be perfect as the Father in Heaven; but He said, 'As your Father
+in Heaven is perfect, be ye also perfect.' He set that up as a
+standard, and he who did most toward reaching that standard, attained
+the highest degree of moral perfection. So I say, in relation to the
+principle that all men are created equal&mdash;let it be as nearly reached as
+we can. If we cannot give Freedom to every creature, let us do nothing
+that will impose Slavery upon any other creature. Let us then turn this
+Government back into the channel in which the framers of the
+Constitution originally placed it. Let us stand firmly by each other.
+* * * Let us discard all this quibbling * * * and unite as one People
+throughout this Land, until we shall once more stand up declaring that
+all men are created equal."</p>
+
+<p>At Bloomington, July 16th (Mr. Lincoln being present), Judge Douglas
+made another great speech of vindication and attack. After sketching
+the history of the Kansas-Nebraska struggle, from the introduction by
+himself of the Nebraska Bill in the United States Senate, in 1854, down
+to the passage of the "English" Bill&mdash;which prescribed substantially
+that if the people of Kansas would come in as a Slave-holding State,
+they should be admitted with but 35,000 inhabitants; but if they would
+come in as a Free State, they must have 93,420 inhabitants; which unfair
+restriction was opposed by Judge Douglas, but to which after it became
+law he "bowed in deference," because whatever decision the people of
+Kansas might make on the coming third of August would be "final and
+conclusive of the whole question"&mdash;he proceeded to compliment the
+Republicans in Congress, for supporting the Crittenden-Montgomery
+Bill&mdash;for coming "to the Douglas platform, abandoning their own, believing (in
+the language of the New York Tribune), that under the peculiar
+circumstances they would in that mode best subserve the interests of the
+Country;" and then again attacked Mr. Lincoln for his "unholy and
+unnatural alliance" with the Lecompton-Democrats to defeat him, because
+of which, said he: "You will find he does not say a word against the
+Lecompton Constitution or its supporters. He is as silent as the grave
+upon that subject. Behold Mr. Lincoln courting Lecompton votes, in
+order that he may go to the Senate as the representative of Republican
+principles! You know that the alliance exists. I think you will find
+that it will ooze out before the contest is over." Then with many
+handsome compliments to the personal character of Mr. Lincoln, and
+declaring that the question for decision was "whether his principles are
+more in accordance with the genius of our free institutions, the peace
+and harmony of the Republic" than those advocated by himself, Judge
+Douglas proceeded to discuss what he described as "the two points at
+issue between Mr. Lincoln and myself."</p>
+
+<p>Said he: "Although the Republic has existed from 1789 to this day,
+divided into Free States and Slave States, yet we are told that in the
+future it cannot endure unless they shall become all Free or all Slave.
+* * * He wishes to go to the Senate of the United States in order to
+carry out that line of public policy which will compel all the States in
+the South to become Free. How is he going to do it? Has Congress any
+power over the subject of Slavery in Kentucky or Virginia or any other
+State of this Union? How, then, is Mr. Lincoln going to carry out that
+principle which he says is essential to the existence of this Union, to
+wit: That Slavery must be abolished in all the States of the Union or
+must be established in them all? You convince the South that they must
+either establish Slavery in Illinois and in every other Free State, or
+submit to its abolition in every Southern State and you invite them to
+make a warfare upon the Northern States in order to establish Slavery
+for the sake of perpetuating it at home. Thus, Mr. Lincoln invites, by
+his proposition, a War of Sections, a War between Illinois and Kentucky,
+a War between the Free States and the Slave States, a War between the
+North and South, for the purpose of either exterminating Slavery in
+every Southern State or planting it in every Northern State. He tells
+you that the safety of the Republic, that the existence of this Union,
+depends upon that warfare being carried on until one Section or the
+other shall be entirely subdued. The States must all be Free or Slave,
+for a house divided against itself cannot stand. That is Mr. Lincoln's
+argument upon that question. My friends, is it possible to preserve
+Peace between the North and the South if such a doctrine shall prevail
+in either Section of the Union?</p>
+
+<p>"Will you ever submit to a warfare waged by the Southern States to
+establish Slavery in Illinois? What man in Illinois would not lose the
+last drop of his heart's blood before lie would submit to the
+institution of Slavery being forced upon us by the other States against
+our will? And if that be true of us, what Southern man would not shed
+the last drop of his heart's blood to prevent Illinois, or any other
+Northern State, from interfering to abolish Slavery in his State? Each
+of these States is sovereign under the Constitution; and if we wish to
+preserve our liberties, the reserved rights and sovereignty of each and
+every State must be maintained. * * * The difference between Mr.
+Lincoln and myself upon this point is, that he goes for a combination of
+the Northern States, or the organization of a sectional political party
+in the Free States, to make War on the domestic institutions of the
+Southern States, and to prosecute that War until they all shall be
+subdued, and made to conform to such rules as the North shall dictate to
+them.</p>
+
+<p>"I am aware that Mr. Lincoln, on Saturday night last, made a speech at
+Chicago for the purpose, as he said, of explaining his position on this
+question. * * * His answer to this point which I have been arguing,
+is, that he never did mean, and that I ought to know that he never
+intended to convey the idea, that he wished the people of
+the Free States to enter into the Southern States and interfere with
+Slavery. Well, I never did suppose that he ever dreamed of entering
+into Kentucky, to make War upon her institutions, nor will any
+Abolitionist ever enter into Kentucky to wage such War. Their mode of
+making War is not to enter into those States where Slavery exists, and
+there interfere, and render themselves responsible for the consequences.
+Oh, no! They stand on this side of the Ohio River and shoot across.
+They stand in Bloomington and shake their fists at the people of
+Lexington; they threaten South Carolina from Chicago. And they call
+that bravery! But they are very particular, as Mr. Lincoln says, not to
+enter into those States for the purpose of interfering with the
+institution of Slavery there. I am not only opposed to entering into
+the Slave States, for the purpose of interfering with their
+institutions, but I am opposed to a sectional agitation to control the
+institutions of other States. I am opposed to organizing a sectional
+party, which appeals to Northern pride, and Northern passion and
+prejudice, against Southern institutions, thus stirring up ill feeling
+and hot blood between brethren of the same Republic. I am opposed to
+that whole system of sectional agitation, which can produce nothing but
+strife, but discord, but hostility, and finally disunion. * * *</p>
+
+<p>"I ask Mr. Lincoln how it is that he purposes ultimately to bring about
+this uniformity in each and all the States of the Union? There is but
+one possible mode which I can see, and perhaps Mr. Lincoln intends to
+pursue it; that is, to introduce a proposition into the Senate to change
+the Constitution of the United States in order that all the State
+Legislatures may be abolished, State Sovereignty blotted out, and the
+power conferred upon Congress to make local laws and establish the
+domestic institutions and police regulations uniformly throughout the
+United States.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you prepared for such a change in the institutions of your country?
+Whenever you shall have blotted out the State Sovereignties, abolished
+the State Legislatures, and consolidated all the power in the Federal
+Government, you will have established a Consolidated Empire as
+destructive to the Liberties of the People and the Rights of the Citizen
+as that of Austria, or Russia, or any other despotism that rests upon
+the neck of the People. * * * There is but one possible way in which
+Slavery can be abolished, and that is by leaving a State, according to
+the principle of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, perfectly free to form and
+regulate its institutions in its own way. That was the principle upon
+which this Republic was founded, and it is under the operation of that
+principle that we have been able to preserve the Union thus far under
+its operation. Slavery disappeared from New Hampshire, from Rhode
+Island, from Connecticut, from New York, from New Jersey, from
+Pennsylvania, from six of the twelve original Slave-holding States; and
+this gradual system of emancipation went on quietly, peacefully, and
+steadily, so long as we in the Free States minded our own business, and
+left our neighbors alone.</p>
+
+<p>"But the moment the Abolition Societies were organized throughout the
+North, preaching a violent crusade against Slavery in the Southern
+States, this combination necessarily caused a counter-combination in the
+South, and a sectional line was drawn which was a barrier to any further
+emancipation. Bear in mind that emancipation has not taken place in any
+one State since the Free Soil Party was organized as a political party
+in this country. Emancipation went on gradually, in State after State,
+so long as the Free States were content with managing their own affairs
+and leaving the South perfectly free to do as they pleased; but the
+moment the North said we are powerful enough to control you of the
+South, the moment the North proclaimed itself the determined master of
+the South, that moment the South combined to resist the attack, and thus
+sectional parties were formed and gradual emancipation ceased in all the
+Slave-holding States.</p>
+
+<p>"And yet Mr. Lincoln, in view of these historical facts, proposes to
+keep up this sectional agitation, band all the Northern States together
+in one political Party, elect a President by Northern votes alone, and
+then, of course, make a Cabinet composed of Northern men, and administer
+the Government by Northern men only, denying all the Southern States of
+this Union any participation in the administration of affairs
+whatsoever. I submit to you, my fellow-citizens, whether such a line of
+policy is consistent with the peace and harmony of the Country? Can the
+Union endure under such a system of policy? He has taken his position
+in favor of sectional agitation and sectional warfare. I have taken
+mine in favor of securing peace, harmony, and good-will among all the
+States, by permitting each to mind its own business, and
+discountenancing any attempt at interference on the part of one State
+with the domestic concerns of the others. * * *</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lincoln tells you that he is opposed to the decision of the Supreme
+Court in the Dred Scott case. Well, suppose he is; what is he going to
+do about it? * * * Why, he says he is going to appeal to Congress. Let
+us see how he will appeal to Congress. He tells us that on the 8th of
+March, 1820, Congress passed a law called the Missouri Compromise,
+prohibiting Slavery forever in all the territory west of the Mississippi
+and north of the Missouri line of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes;
+that Dred Scott, a slave in Missouri, was taken by his master to Fort
+Snelling, in the present State of Minnesota, situated on the west branch
+of the Mississippi River, and consequently in the Territory where
+Slavery was prohibited by the Act of 1820; and that when Dred Scott
+appealed for his Freedom in consequence of having been taken into that
+Territory, the Supreme Court of the United States decided that Dred
+Scott did not become Free by being taken into that Territory, but that
+having been carried back to Missouri, was yet a Slave.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lincoln is going to appeal from that decision and reverse it. He
+does not intend to reverse it as to Dred Scott. Oh, no! But he will
+reverse it so that it shall not stand as a rule in the future. How will
+he do it? He says that if he is elected to the Senate he will introduce
+and pass a law just like the Missouri Compromise, prohibiting Slavery
+again in all the Territories. Suppose he does re-enact the same law
+which the Court has pronounced unconstitutional, will that make it
+Constitutional? * * * Will it be any more valid? Will he be able to
+convince the Court that the second Act is valid, when the first is
+invalid and void? What good does it do to pass a second Act? Why, it
+will have the effect to arraign the Supreme Court before the People, and
+to bring them into all the political discussions of the Country. Will
+that do any good? * * *</p>
+
+<p>"The functions of Congress are to enact the Statutes, the province of
+the Court is to pronounce upon their validity, and the duty of the
+Executive is to carry the decision into effect when rendered by the
+Court. And yet, notwithstanding the Constitution makes the decision of
+the Court final in regard to the validity of an Act of Congress, Mr.
+Lincoln is going to reverse that decision by passing another Act of
+Congress. When he has become convinced of the Folly of the proposition,
+perhaps he will resort to the same subterfuge that I have found others
+of his Party resort to, which is to agitate and agitate until he can
+change the Supreme Court and put other men in the places of the present
+incumbents."</p>
+
+<p>After ridiculing this proposition at some length, he proceeded:</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lincoln is alarmed for fear that, under the Dred Scott decision,
+Slavery will go into all the Territories of the United States. All I
+have to say is that, with or without this decision, Slavery will go just
+where the People want it, and not an inch further. * * * Hence, if the
+People of a Territory want Slavery, they will encourage it by passing
+affirmatory laws, and the necessary police regulations, patrol laws and
+Slave Code; if they do not want it, they will withhold that legislation,
+and, by withholding it, Slavery is as dead as if it was prohibited by a
+Constitutional prohibition, especially if, in addition, their
+legislation is unfriendly, as it would be if they were opposed to it."</p>
+
+<p>Then, taking up what he said was "Mr. Lincoln's main objection to the
+Dred Scott decision," to wit: "that that decision deprives the Negro of
+the benefits of that clause of the Constitution of the United States
+which entitles the citizens of each State to all the privileges and
+immunities of citizens of the several States," and admitting that such
+would be its effect, Mr. Douglas contended at some length that this
+Government was "founded on the White basis" for the benefit of the
+Whites and their posterity. He did "not believe that it was the design
+or intention of the signers of the Declaration of Independence or the
+frames of the Constitution to include Negroes, Indians, or other
+inferior races, with White men as citizens;" nor that the former "had
+any reference to Negroes, when they used the expression that all men
+were created equal," nor to "any other inferior race." He held that,
+"They were speaking only of the White race, and never dreamed that their
+language would be construed to apply to the Negro;" and after ridiculing
+the contrary view, insisted that, "The history of the Country shows that
+neither the signers of the Declaration, nor the Framers of the
+Constitution, ever supposed it possible that their language would be
+used in an attempt to make this Nation a mixed Nation of Indians,
+Negroes, Whites, and Mongrels."</p>
+
+<p>The "Fathers proceeded on the White basis, making the White people the
+governing race, but conceding to the Indian and Negro, and all inferior
+races, all the rights and all the privileges they could enjoy consistent
+with the safety of the society in which they lived. That," said he, "is
+my opinion now. I told you that humanity, philanthropy, justice, and
+sound policy required that we should give the Negro every right, every
+privilege, every immunity consistent with the safety and welfare of the
+State. The question, then, naturally arises, what are those rights and
+privileges, and what is the nature and extent of them? My answer is,
+that that is a question which each State and each Territory must decide
+for itself. * * * I am content with that position. My friend Lincoln
+is not. * * * He thinks that the Almighty made the Negro his equal and
+his brother. For my part I do not consider the Negro any kin to me, nor
+to any other White man; but I would still carry my humanity and my
+philanthropy to the extent of giving him every privilege and every
+immunity that he could enjoy, consistent with our own good."</p>
+
+<p>After again referring to the principles connected with non-interference
+in the domestic institutions of the States and Territories, and to the
+devotion of all his energies to them "since 1850, when," said he, "I
+acted side by side with the immortal Clay and the god-like Webster, in
+that memorable struggle in which Whigs and Democrats united upon a
+common platform of patriotism and the Constitution, throwing aside
+partisan feelings in order to restore peace and harmony to a distracted
+Country"&mdash;he alluded to the death-bed of Clay, and the pledges made by
+himself to both Clay and Webster to devote his own life to the
+vindication of the principles of that Compromise of 1850 as a means of
+preserving the Union; and concluded with this appeal: "This Union can
+only be preserved by maintaining the fraternal feeling between the North
+and the South, the East and the West. If that good feeling can be
+preserved, the Union will be as perpetual as the fame of its great
+founders. It can be maintained by preserving the sovereignty of the
+States, the right of each State and each Territory to settle its
+domestic concerns for itself, and the duty of each to refrain from
+interfering with the other in any of its local or domestic institutions.
+Let that be done, and the Union will be perpetual; let that be done, and
+this Republic, which began with thirteen States and which now numbers
+thirty-two, which when it began, only extended from the Atlantic to the
+Mississippi, but now reaches to the Pacific, may yet expand, North and
+South, until it covers the whole Continent, and becomes one vast
+ocean-bound Confederacy. Then, my friends, the path of duty, of honor, of
+patriotism, is plain. There are a few simple principles to be
+preserved. Bear in mind the dividing line between State rights and
+Federal authority; let us maintain the great principles of Popular
+Sovereignty, of State rights and of the Federal Union as the
+Constitution has made it, and this Republic will endure forever."</p>
+
+<p>On the next evening, July 17th, at Springfield, both Douglas and Lincoln
+addressed separate meetings.</p>
+
+<p>After covering much the same ground with regard to the history of the
+Kansas-Nebraska struggle and his own attitude upon it, as he did in his
+previous speech, Mr. Douglas declined to comment upon Mr. Lincoln's
+intimation of a Conspiracy between Douglas, Pierce, Buchanan, and Taney
+for the passage of the Nebraska Bill, the rendition of the Dred Scott
+decision, and the extension of Slavery, but proceeded to dilate on the
+"uniformity" issue between himself and Mr. Lincoln, in much the same
+strain as before, tersely summing up with the statement that "there is a
+distinct issue of principles&mdash;principles irreconcilable&mdash;between Mr.
+Lincoln and myself. He goes for consolidation and uniformity in our
+Government. I go for maintaining the Confederation of the Sovereign
+States under the Constitution, as our fathers made it, leaving each
+State at liberty to manage its own affairs and own internal
+institutions."</p>
+
+<p>He then ridiculed, at considerable length, Mr. Lincoln's proposed
+methods of securing a reversal by the United States Supreme Court of the
+Dred Scott decision&mdash;especially that of an "appeal to the People to
+elect a President who will appoint judges who will reverse the Dred
+Scott decision," which he characterized as "a proposition to make that
+Court the corrupt, unscrupulous tool of a political party," and asked,
+"when we refuse to abide by Judicial decisions, what protection is there
+left for life and property? To whom shall you appeal? To mob law, to
+partisan caucuses, to town meetings, to revolution? Where is the remedy
+when you refuse obedience to the constituted authorities?" In other
+respects the speech was largely a repetition of his Bloomington speech.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lincoln in his speech, the same night, at Springfield, opened by
+contrasting the disadvantages under which, by reason of an unfair
+apportionment of State Legislative representation and otherwise, the
+Republicans of Illinois labored in this fight. Among other
+disadvantages&mdash;whereby he said the Republicans were forced "to fight
+this battle upon principle and upon principle alone"&mdash;were those which
+he said arose "out of the relative positions of the two persons who
+stand before the State as candidates for the Senate."</p>
+
+<p>Said he: "Senator Douglas is of world-wide renown. All the anxious
+politicians of his Party, or who have been of his Party for years past,
+have been looking upon him as certainly, at no distant day, to be the
+President of the United States. They have seen in his round, jolly,
+fruitful face, Post-offices, Land-offices, Marshalships, and Cabinet
+appointments, Chargeships and Foreign Missions, bursting and sprouting
+out in wonderful exuberance, ready to be laid hold of by their greedy
+hands. And as they have been gazing upon this attractive picture so
+long, they cannot, in the little distraction that has taken place in the
+party, bring themselves to give up the charming hope; but with greedier
+anxiety they rush about him, sustain him, and give him marches,
+triumphal entries, and receptions, beyond what even in the days of his
+highest prosperity they could have brought about in his favor. On the
+contrary, nobody has ever expected me to be President. In my poor,
+lean, lank face, nobody has ever seen that any cabbages were sprouting
+out."</p>
+
+<p>Then he described the main points of Senator Douglas's plan of campaign
+as being not very numerous. "The first," he said, "is Popular
+Sovereignty. The second and third are attacks upon my speech made on
+the 16th of June. Out of these three points&mdash;drawing within the range of
+Popular Sovereignty the question of the Lecompton Constitution&mdash;he makes
+his principal assault. Upon these his successive speeches are
+substantially one and the same." Touching the first point, "Popular
+Sovereignty"&mdash;"the great staple" of Mr. Douglas's campaign&mdash;Mr. Lincoln
+affirmed that it was "the most arrant Quixotism that was ever enacted
+before a community."</p>
+
+<p>He said that everybody understood that "we have not been in a
+controversy about the right of a People to govern themselves in the
+ordinary matters of domestic concern in the States and Territories;"
+that, "in this controversy, whatever has been said has had reference to
+the question of Negro Slavery;" and "hence," said he, "when hereafter I
+speak of Popular Sovereignty, I wish to be understood as applying what I
+say to the question of Slavery only; not to other minor domestic matters
+of a Territory or a State."</p>
+
+<p>Having cleared away the cobwebs, Mr. Lincoln proceeded:</p>
+
+<p>"Does Judge Douglas, when he says that several of the past years of his
+life have been devoted to the question of 'Popular Sovereignty' * * *
+mean to say that he has been devoting his life to securing the People of
+the Territories the right to exclude Slavery from the Territories? If
+he means so to say, he means to deceive; because he and every one knows
+that the decision of the Supreme Court, which he approves, and makes
+special ground of attack upon me for disapproving, forbids the People of
+a Territory to exclude Slavery.</p>
+
+<p>"This covers the whole ground from the settlement of a Territory till it
+reaches the degree of maturity entitling it to form a State
+Constitution. * * * This being so, the period of time from the first
+settlement of a Territory till it reaches the point of forming a State
+Constitution, is not the thing that the Judge has fought for, or is
+fighting for; but, on the contrary, he has fought for, and is fighting
+for, the thing that annihilates and crushes out that same Popular
+Sovereignty. Well, so much being disposed of, what is left? Why, he is
+contending for the right of the People, when they come to make a State
+Constitution, to make it for themselves, and precisely as best suits
+themselves. I say again, that is Quixotic. I defy contradiction when I
+declare that the Judge can find no one to oppose him on that
+proposition. I repeat, there is nobody opposing that proposition on
+principle. * * * Nobody is opposing, or has opposed, the right of the
+People when they form a State Constitution, to form it for themselves.
+Mr. Buchanan and his friends have not done it; they, too, as well as the
+Republicans and the Anti-Lecompton Democrats, have not done it; but on
+the contrary, they together have insisted on the right of the People to
+form a Constitution for themselves. The difference between the Buchanan
+men, on the one hand, and the Douglas men and the Republicans, on the
+other, has not been on a question of principle, but on a question of
+fact * * * whether the Lecompton Constitution had been fairly formed by
+the People or not. * * * As to the principle, all were agreed.</p>
+
+<p>"Judge Douglas voted with the Republicans upon that matter of fact. He
+and they, by their voices and votes, denied that it was a fair emanation
+of the People. The Administration affirmed that it was. * * * This
+being so, what is Judge Douglas going to spend his life for? Is he
+going to spend his life in maintaining a principle that no body on earth
+opposes? Does he expect to stand up in majestic dignity and go through
+his apotheosis and become a god, in the maintaining of a principle which
+neither man nor mouse in all God's creation is opposing?"</p>
+
+<p>After ridiculing the assumption that Judge Douglas was entitled to all
+the credit for the defeat of the Lecompton Constitution in the House of
+Representatives&mdash;when the defeating vote numbered 120, of which 6 were
+Americans, 20 Douglas (or Anti-Lecompton) Democrats, and 94 Republicans
+&mdash;and hinting that perhaps he placed "his superior claim to credit, on
+the ground that he performed a good act which was never expected of
+him," or "upon the ground of the parable of the lost sheep," of which it
+had been said, "that there was more rejoicing over the one sheep that
+was lost and had been found, than over the ninety and nine in the
+fold&mdash;" he added: "The application is made by the Saviour in this parable,
+thus: 'Verily, I say unto you, there is more rejoicing in Heaven over
+one sinner that repenteth, than over ninety and nine just persons that
+need no repentance.' And now if the Judge claims the benefit of this
+parable, let him repent. Let him not come up here and say: 'I am the
+only just person; and you are the ninety-nine sinners!' Repentance
+before forgiveness is a provision of the Christian system, and on that
+condition alone will the Republicans grant his forgiveness."</p>
+
+<p>After complaining that Judge Douglas misrepresented his attitude as
+indicated in his 16th of June speech at Springfield, in charging that he
+invited "a War of Sections;"&mdash;that he proposed that "all the local
+institutions of the different States shall become consolidated and
+uniform," Mr. Lincoln denied that that speech could fairly bear such
+construction.</p>
+
+<p>In that speech he (Mr. L.) had simply expressed an expectation that
+"either the opponents of Slavery will arrest the further spread of it,
+and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is
+in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push it
+forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well
+as new, North as well as South." Since then, at Chicago, he had also
+expressed a "wish to see the spread of Slavery arrested, and to see it
+placed where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the
+course of ultimate extinction"&mdash;and, said he: "I said that, because I
+supposed, when the public mind shall rest in that belief, we shall have
+Peace on the Slavery question. I have believed&mdash;and now believe&mdash;the
+public mind did rest on that belief up to the introduction of the
+Nebraska Bill. Although I have ever been opposed to Slavery, so far I
+rested in the hope and belief that it was in the course of ultimate
+extinction. For that reason, it had been a minor question with me. I
+might have been mistaken; but I had believed, and now believe, that the
+whole public mind, that is, the mind of the great majority, had rested
+in that belief up to the Repeal of the Missouri Compromise. But upon
+that event, I became convinced that either I had been resting in a
+delusion, or the institution was being placed on a new basis&mdash;a basis
+for making it Perpetual, National, and Universal. Subsequent events
+have greatly confirmed me in that belief.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe that Bill to be the beginning of a Conspiracy for that
+purpose. So believing, I have since then considered that question a
+paramount one. So believing, I thought the public mind would never rest
+till the power of Congress to restrict the spread of it shall again be
+acknowledged and exercised on the one hand, or, on the other, all
+resistance be entirely crushed out. I have expressed that opinion and I
+entertain it to-night."</p>
+
+<p>Having given some pieces of evidence in proof of the "tendency," he had
+discovered, to the Nationalization of Slavery in these States, Mr.
+Lincoln continued: "And now, as to the Judge's inference, that because I
+wish to see Slavery placed in the course of ultimate extinction&mdash;placed
+where our fathers originally placed it&mdash;I wish to annihilate the State
+Legislatures&mdash;to force cotton to grow upon the tops of the Green
+Mountains&mdash;to freeze ice in Florida&mdash;to cut lumber on the broad Illinois
+prairies&mdash;that I am in favor of all these ridiculous and impossible
+things! It seems to me it is a complete answer to all this, to ask if,
+when Congress did have the fashion of restricting Slavery from Free
+Territory; when Courts did have the fashion of deciding that taking a
+Slave into a Free, Country made him Free&mdash;I say it is a sufficient
+answer to ask, if any of this ridiculous nonsense, about consolidation
+and uniformity, did actually follow? Who heard of any such thing,
+because of the Ordinance of '87? because of the Missouri Restriction
+because of the numerous Court decisions of that character?</p>
+
+<p>"Now, as to the Dred Scott decision; for upon that he makes his last
+point at me. He boldly takes ground in favor of that decision. This is
+one-half the onslaught and one-third of the entire plan of the campaign.
+I am opposed to that decision in a certain sense, but not in the sense
+which he puts on it. I say that in so far as it decided in favor of
+Dred Scott's master, and against Dred Scott and his family, I do not
+propose to disturb or resist the decision. I never have proposed to do
+any such thing. I think, that in respect for judicial authority, my
+humble history would not suffer in comparison with that of Judge
+Douglas. He would have the citizen conform his vote to that decision;
+the member of Congress, his; the President, his use of the veto power.
+He would make it a rule of political action for the People and all the
+departments of the Government. I would not. By resisting it as a
+political rule, I disturb no right of property, create no disorder,
+excite no mobs."</p>
+
+<p>After quoting from a letter of Mr. Jefferson (vol. vii., p. 177, of his
+Correspondence,) in which he held that "to consider the judges as the
+ultimate arbiters of all Constitutional questions," is "a very dangerous
+doctrine indeed; and one which would place us under the despotism of an
+Oligarchy," Mr. Lincoln continued: "Let us go a little further. You
+remember we once had a National Bank. Some one owed the Bank a debt; he
+was sued, and sought to avoid payment on the ground that the Bank was
+unconstitutional. The case went to the Supreme Court, and therein it
+was decided that the Bank was Constitutional. The whole Democratic
+party revolted against that decision. General Jackson himself asserted
+that he, as President, would not be bound to hold a National Bank to be
+Constitutional, even though the Court had decided it to be so. He fell
+in, precisely, with the view of Mr. Jefferson, and acted upon it under
+his official oath, in vetoing a charter for a National Bank.</p>
+
+<p>"The declaration that Congress does not possess this Constitutional
+power to charter a Bank, has gone into the Democratic platform, at their
+National Conventions, and was brought forward and reaffirmed in their
+last Convention at Cincinnati. They have contended for that
+declaration, in the very teeth of the Supreme Court, for more than a
+quarter of a century. In fact, they have reduced the decision to an
+absolute nullity. That decision, I repeat, is repudiated in the
+Cincinnati platform; and still, as if to show that effrontery can go no
+further, Judge Douglas vaunts in the very speeches in which he denounces
+me for opposing the Dred Scott decision, that he stands on the
+Cincinnati platform.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, I wish to know what the Judge can charge upon me, with respect to
+decisions of the Supreme Court, which does not lie in all its length,
+breadth, and proportions, at his own door? The plain truth is simply
+this: Judge Douglas is for Supreme Court decisions when he likes, and
+against them when he does not like them. He is for the Dred Scott
+decision because it tends to Nationalize Slavery&mdash;because it is a part
+of the original combination for that object. It so happens, singularly
+enough, that I never stood opposed to a decision of the Supreme Court
+till this. On the contrary, I have no recollection that he was ever
+particularly in favor of one till this. He never was in favor of any,
+nor (I) opposed to any, till the present one, which helps to Nationalize
+Slavery. Free men of Sangamon&mdash;Free men of Illinois, Free men
+everywhere&mdash;judge ye between him and me, upon this issue!</p>
+
+<p>"He says this Dred Scott case is a very small matter at
+most&mdash;that it has no practical effect; that at best, or rather I suppose
+at worst, it is but an abstraction. * * * How has the planting of
+Slavery in new countries always been effected? It has now been decided
+that Slavery cannot be kept out of our new Territories by any legal
+means. In what do our new Territories now differ in this respect from
+the old Colonies when Slavery was first planted within them?</p>
+
+<p>"It was planted, as Mr. Clay once declared, and as history proves true,
+by individual men in spite of the wishes of the people; the
+Mother-Government refusing to prohibit it, and withholding from the People of
+the Colonies the authority to prohibit it for themselves. Mr. Clay says
+this was one of the great and just causes of complaint against Great
+Britain by the Colonies, and the best apology we can now make for having
+the institution amongst us. In that precise condition our Nebraska
+politicians have at last succeeded in placing our own new Territories;
+the Government will not prohibit Slavery within them, nor allow the
+People to prohibit it."</p>
+
+<p>Alluding to that part of Mr. Douglas's speech the previous night
+touching the death-bed scene of Mr. Clay, with Mr. Douglas's promise to
+devote the remainder of his life to "Popular Sovereignty"&mdash;and to his
+relations with Mr. Webster&mdash;Mr. Lincoln said: "It would be amusing, if
+it were not disgusting, to see how quick these Compromise breakers
+administer on the political effects of their dead adversaries. If I
+should be found dead to-morrow morning, nothing but my insignificance
+could prevent a speech being made on my authority, before the end of
+next week. It so happens that in that 'Popular Sovereignty' with which
+Mr. Clay was identified, the Missouri Compromise was expressly reserved;
+and it was a little singular if Mr. Clay cast his mantle upon Judge
+Douglas on purpose to have that Compromise repealed. Again, the Judge
+did not keep faith with Mr. Clay when he first brought in the Nebraska
+Bill. He left the Missouri Compromise unrepealed, and in his report
+accompanying the Bill, he told the World he did it on purpose. The
+manes of Mr. Clay must have been in great agony, till thirty days later,
+when 'Popular Sovereignty' stood forth in all its glory."</p>
+
+<p>Touching Mr. Douglas's allegations of Mr. Lincoln's disposition to make
+Negroes equal with the Whites, socially and politically, the latter
+said: "My declarations upon this subject of Negro Slavery may be
+misrepresented, but cannot be misunderstood. I have said that I do not
+understand the Declaration (of Independence) to mean that all men were
+created equal in all respects. They are not equal in color; but I
+suppose that it does mean to declare that all men are equal in some
+respects; they are equal in their right to 'Life, Liberty, and the
+pursuit of Happiness.' Certainly the Negro is not our equal in
+color&mdash;perhaps not in many other respects; still, in the right to put into his
+mouth the bread that his own hands have earned, he is the equal of every
+other man, White or Black. In pointing out that more has been given
+you, you cannot be justified in taking away the little which has been
+given him. All I ask for the Negro is that if you do not like him, let
+him alone. If God gave him but little, that little let him enjoy.</p>
+
+<p>"The framers of the Constitution," continued Mr. Lincoln, "found the
+institution of Slavery amongst their other institutions at the time.
+They found that by an effort to eradicate it, they might lose much of
+what they had already gained. They were obliged to bow to the
+necessity. They gave Congress power to abolish the Slave Trade at the
+end of twenty years. They also prohibited it in the Territories where
+it did not exist. They did what they could, and yielded to the
+necessity for the rest. I also yield to all which follows from that
+necessity. What I would most desire would be the separation of the
+White and Black races."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lincoln closed his speech by referring to the "New Departure" of
+the Democracy&mdash;to the charge he had made, in his 16th of June speech,
+touching "the existence of a Conspiracy to Perpetuate and Nationalize
+Slavery"&mdash;which Mr. Douglas had not contradicted&mdash;and, said he, "on his
+own tacit admission I renew that charge. I charge him with having been
+a party to that Conspiracy, and to that deception, for the sole purpose
+of Nationalizing Slavery."</p>
+
+<p>This closed the series of preliminary speeches in the canvass. But they
+only served to whet the moral and intellectual and political appetite of
+the public for more. It was generally conceded that, at last, in the
+person of Mr. Lincoln, the "Little Giant" had met his match.</p>
+
+<p>On July 24, Mr. Lincoln opened a correspondence with Mr. Douglas, which
+eventuated in an agreement between them, July 31st, for
+joint-discussions, to take place at Ottawa, Freeport, Jonesboro, Charleston,
+Galesburgh, Quincy, and Alton, on fixed dates in August, September and
+October&mdash;at Ottawa, Mr. Douglas to open and speak one hour, Mr. Lincoln
+to have an hour and a half in reply, and Mr. Douglas to close in a half
+hour's speech; at Freeport, Mr. Lincoln to open and speak for one hour,
+Mr. Douglas to take the next hour and a half in reply, and Mr. Lincoln
+to have the next half hour to close; and so on, alternating at each
+successive place, making twenty-one hours of joint political debate.</p>
+
+<p>To these absorbingly interesting discussions, vast assemblages listened
+with breathless attention; and to the credit of all parties be it said,
+with unparalleled decorum. The People evidently felt that the greatest
+of all political principles&mdash;that of Human Liberty&mdash;was hanging on the
+issue of this great political contest between intellectual giants, thus
+openly waged before the World&mdash;and they accordingly rose to the dignity
+and solemnity of the occasion, vindicating by their very example the
+sacredness with which the Right of Free Speech should be regarded at all
+times and everywhere.</p>
+
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="p098-lincoln.jpg (86K)" src="images/p098-lincoln.jpg" height="874" width="590">
+</center>
+<br><br><br>
+
+<a name="ch5"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center><h2>
+
+ CHAPTER V.<br><br>
+
+ THE PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST OF 1860&mdash;<br>
+ THE CRISIS APPROACHING.
+</h2></center><br>
+<p>The immediate outcome of the remarkable joint-debate between the two
+intellectual giants of Illinois was, that while the popular vote stood
+124,698 for Lincoln, to 121,130 for Douglas&mdash;showing a victory for
+Lincoln among the People&mdash;yet, enough Douglas-Democrats were elected to
+the Legislature, when added to those of his friends in the Illinois
+Senate, who had been elected two years before, and "held over," to give
+him, in all, 54 members of both branches of the Legislature on joint
+ballot, against 46 for Mr. Lincoln. Lincoln had carried the people, but
+Douglas had secured the Senatorial prize for which they had striven&mdash;and
+by that Legislative vote was elected to succeed himself in the United
+States Senate. This result was trumpeted throughout the Union as a
+great Douglas victory.</p>
+
+<p>During the canvass of Illinois, Douglas's friends had seen to it that
+nothing on their part should be wanting to secure success. What with
+special car trains, and weighty deputations, and imposing processions,
+and flag raisings, the inspiration of music, the booming of cannon, and
+the eager shouts of an enthusiastic populace, his political journey
+through Illinois had been more like a Royal Progress than anything the
+Country had yet seen; and now that his reelection was accomplished, they
+proposed to make the most of it&mdash;to extend, as it were, the sphere of
+his triumph, or vindication, so that it would include not the State
+alone, but the Nation&mdash;and thus so accentuate and enhance his
+availability as a candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination
+of 1860, as to make his nomination and election to the Presidency of the
+United States an almost foregone conclusion.</p>
+
+<p>The programme was to raise so great a popular tidal-wave in his
+interest, as would bear him irresistibly upon its crest to the White
+House. Accordingly, as the idol of the Democratic popular heart,
+Douglas, upon his return to the National Capital, was triumphantly
+received by the chief cities of the Mississippi and the Atlantic
+sea-board. Hailed as victor in the great political contest in Illinois&mdash;upon
+the extended newspaper reports of which, the absorbed eyes of the entire
+nation, for months, had greedily fed&mdash;Douglas was received with much
+ostentation and immense enthusiasm at St. Louis, Memphis, New Orleans,
+New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington. Like the "Triumphs"
+decreed by Rome, in her grandest days, to the greatest of her victorious
+heroes, Douglas's return was a series of magnificent popular ovations,</p>
+
+<p>In a speech made two years before this period, Mr. Lincoln, while
+contrasting his own political career with that of Douglas, and modestly
+describing his own as "a flat failure" had said: "With him it has been
+one of splendid success. His name fills the Nation, and is not unknown
+even in foreign lands. I affect no contempt for the high eminence he
+has reached. So reached, that the oppressed of my species might have
+shared with me in the elevation, I would rather stand on that eminence
+than wear the richest crown that ever pressed a monarch's brow." And
+now the star of Douglas had reached a higher altitude, nearing its
+meridian splendor. He had become the popular idol of the day.</p>
+
+<p>But Douglas's partial victory&mdash;if such it was&mdash;so far from settling the
+public mind and public conscience, had the contrary effect. It added to
+the ferment which the Pro-Slavery Oligarchists of the South&mdash;and
+especially those of South Carolina&mdash;were intent upon increasing, until
+so grave and serious a crisis should arrive as would, in their opinion,
+furnish a justifiable pretext in the eyes of the World for the
+contemplated Secession of the Slave States from the Union.</p>
+
+<p>Under the inspiration of the Slave Power, and in the direct line of the
+Dred Scott decision, and of the "victorious" doctrine of Senator
+Douglas, which he held not inconsistent therewith, that the people of
+any Territory of the United States could do as they pleased as to the
+institution of Slavery within their own limits, and if they desired the
+institution, they had the right by local legislation to "protect and
+encourage it," the Legislature of the Territory of New Mexico at once
+(1859) proceeded to enact a law "for the protection of property in
+Slaves," and other measures similar to the prevailing Slave Codes in the
+Southern States.</p>
+
+<p>The aggressive attitude of the South&mdash;as thus evidenced anew&mdash;naturally
+stirred, to their very core, the Abolition elements of the North; on the
+other hand, the publication of Hinton Rowan Helper's "Impending Crisis,"
+which handled the Slavery question without gloves, and supported its
+views with statistics which startled the Northern mind, together with
+its alleged indorsement by the leading Republicans of the North,
+exasperated the fiery Southrons to an intense degree. Nor was the
+capture, in October, 1859, of Harper's Ferry, Virginia, by John Brown
+and his handful of Northern Abolitionist followers, and his subsequent
+execution in Virginia, calculated to allay the rapidly intensifying
+feeling between the Freedom-loving North and the Slaveholding South.
+When, therefore, the Congress met, in December, 1859, the sectional
+wrath of the Country was reflected in the proceedings of both branches
+of that body, and these again reacted upon the People of both the
+Northern and Southern States, until the fires of Slavery Agitation were
+stirred to a white heat.</p>
+
+<p>The bitterness of feeling in the House at this time, was shown, in part,
+by the fact that not until the 1st of February, 1860, was it able, upon
+a forty-fourth ballot, to organize by the election of a Speaker, and
+that from the day of its meeting on the 5th of December, 1859, up to
+such organization, it was involved in an incessant and stormy wrangle
+upon the Slavery question.</p>
+
+<p>So also in the Democratic Senate, the split in the Democratic Party,
+between the Lecompton and Anti-Lecompton Democracy, was widened, at the
+same time that the Republicans of the North were further irritated, by
+the significantly decisive passage of a series of resolutions proposed
+by Jefferson Davis, which, on the one hand, purposely and deliberately
+knifed Douglas's "Popular Sovereignty" doctrine and read out of the
+Party all who believed in it, by declaring "That neither Congress nor a
+Territorial Legislature, whether by direct legislation, or legislation
+of an indirect and unfriendly character, possesses power to annul or
+impair the Constitutional right of any citizen of the United States to
+take his Slave-property into the common Territories, and there hold and
+enjoy the same while the Territorial condition remains," and, on the
+other, purposely and deliberately slapped in the face the Republicans of
+the North, by declaring&mdash;among other things "That in the adoption of the
+Federal Constitution, the States adopting the same, acted severally as
+Free and Independent sovereignties, delegating a portion of their powers
+to be exercised by the Federal Government for the increased security of
+each against dangers, domestic as well as foreign; and that any
+intermeddling by any one or more States or by a combination of their
+citizens, with the domestic institutions of the others, on any pretext
+whatever, political, moral, or religious, with a view to their
+disturbance or subversion, is in violation of the Constitution,
+insulting to the States so interfered with, endangers their domestic
+peace and tranquillity&mdash;objects for which the Constitution was
+formed&mdash;and, by necessary consequence, tends to weaken and destroy the Union
+itself."</p>
+
+<p>Another of these resolutions declared Negro Slavery to be recognized in
+the Constitution, and that all "open or covert attacks thereon with a
+view to its overthrow," made either by the Non-Slave-holding States or
+their citizens, violated the pledges of the Constitution, "are a
+manifest breach of faith, and a violation of the most solemn
+obligations."</p>
+
+<p>This last was intended as a blow at the Freedom of Speech and of the
+Press in the North; and only served, as was doubtless intended, to still
+more inflame Northern public feeling, while at the same time endeavoring
+to place the arrogant and aggressive Slave Power in an attitude of
+injured innocence. In short, the time of both Houses of Congress was
+almost entirely consumed during the Session of 1859-60 in the heated,
+and sometimes even furious, discussion of the Slavery question; and
+everywhere, North and South, the public mind was not alone deeply
+agitated, but apprehensive that the Union was founded not upon a rock,
+but upon the crater of a volcano, whose long-smouldering energies might
+at any moment burst their confines, and reduce it to ruin and
+desolation.</p>
+
+<p>On the 23rd of April, 1860, the Democratic National Convention met at
+Charleston, South Carolina. It was several days after the permanent
+organization of the Convention before the Committee on Resolutions
+reported to the main body, and not until the 30th of April did it reach
+a vote upon the various reports, which had in the meantime been
+modified. The propositions voted upon were three:</p>
+
+<p>First, The Majority Report of the Committee, which reaffirmed the
+Cincinnati platform of 1856&mdash;with certain "explanatory" resolutions
+added, which boldly proclaimed: "That the Government of a Territory
+organized by an Act of Congress, is provisional and temporary; and,
+during its existence, all citizens of the United States have an equal
+right to settle with their property in the Territory, without their
+rights, either of person or property, being destroyed or impaired by
+Congressional or Territorial Legislation;" that "it is the duty of the
+Federal Government, in all its departments, to protect, when necessary,
+the rights of persons and property in the Territories, and wherever else
+its Constitutional authority extends;" that "when the settlers in a
+Territory, having an adequate population, form a State Constitution, the
+right of Sovereignty commences, and, being consummated by admission into
+the Union, they stand on an equal footing with the people of other
+States, and the State thus organized ought to be admitted into the
+Federal Union, whether its Constitution prohibits or recognizes the
+institution of Slavery;" and that "the enactments of State Legislatures
+to defeat the faithful execution of the Fugitive Slave Law, are hostile
+in character, subversive of the Constitution, and revolutionary in
+effect." The resolutions also included a declaration in favor of the
+acquisition of Cuba, and other comparatively minor matters.</p>
+
+<p>Second, The Minority Report of the Committee, which, after re-affirming
+the Cincinnati platform, declared that "Inasmuch as differences of
+opinion exist in the Democratic party as to the nature and extent of the
+powers of a Territorial Legislature, and as to the powers and duties of
+Congress, under the Constitution of the United States, over the
+institution of Slavery within the Territories * * * the Democratic Party
+will abide by the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States on
+the questions of Constitutional law."</p>
+
+<p>Third, The recommendation of Benjamin F. Butler, that the platform
+should consist simply of a re-affirmation of the Cincinnati platform,
+and not another word.</p>
+
+<p>The last proposition was first voted on, and lost, by 105 yeas to 198
+nays. The Minority platform was then adopted by 165 yeas to 138 nays.</p>
+
+<p>The aggressive Slave-holders (Majority) platform, and the Butler
+Compromise do-nothing proposition, being both defeated, and the Douglas
+(Minority) platform adopted, the Alabama delegation, under instructions
+from their State Convention to withdraw in case the National Convention
+refused to adopt radical Territorial Pro-Slavery resolutions, at once
+presented a written protest and withdrew from the Convention, and were
+followed, in rapid succession, by; the delegates from Mississippi,
+Louisiana (all but two), South Carolina, Florida, Texas, Arkansas (in
+part), Delaware (mostly), and Georgia (mostly)&mdash;the seceding delegates
+afterwards organizing in another Hall, adopting the above Majority
+platform, and after a four days' sitting, adjourning to meet at
+Richmond, Virginia, on the 11th of June.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, the Regular Democratic National Convention had proceeded to
+ballot for President&mdash;after adopting the two-thirds rule. Thirty-seven
+ballots having been cast, that for Stephen A. Douglas being, on the
+thirty-seventh, 151, the Convention, on the 3d of May, adjourned to meet
+again at Baltimore, June 18th.</p>
+
+<p>After re-assembling, and settling contested election cases, the
+delegates (in whole or in part) from Virginia, North Carolina,
+Tennessee, California, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland and Massachusetts,
+withdrew from the Convention, the latter upon the ground mainly that
+there had been "a withdrawal, in part, of a majority of the States,"
+while Butler, who had voted steadily for Jefferson Davis throughout all
+the balloting at Charleston, gave as an additional ground personal to
+himself, that "I will not sit in a convention where the African Slave
+Trade&mdash;which is piracy by the laws of my Country&mdash;is approvingly
+advocated"&mdash;referring thereby to a speech, that had been much applauded
+by the Convention at Charleston, made by a Georgia delegate (Gaulden),
+in which that delegate had said: "I would ask my friends of the South to
+come up in a proper spirit; ask our Northern friends to give us all our
+rights, and take off the ruthless restrictions which cut off the supply
+of Slaves from foreign lands. * * * I tell you, fellow Democrats, that
+the African Slave Trader is the true Union man (cheers and laughter). I
+tell you that the Slave Trading of Virginia is more immoral, more
+unchristian in every possible point of view, than that African Slave
+Trade which goes to Africa and brings a heathen and worthless man here,
+makes him a useful man, Christianizes him, and sends him and his
+posterity down the stream of Time, to enjoy the blessings of
+civilization. (Cheers and laughter.) * * * I come from the first
+Congressional District of Georgia. I represent the African Slave Trade
+interest of that Section. (Applause.) I am proud of the position I
+occupy in that respect. I believe that the African Slave Trader is a
+true missionary, and a true Christian. (Applause.) * * * Are you
+prepared to go back to first principles, and take off your
+unconstitutional restrictions, and leave this question to be settled by
+each State? Now, do this, fellow citizens, and you will have Peace in
+the Country. * * * I advocate the repeal of the laws prohibiting the
+African Slave Trade, because I believe it to be the true Union movement.
+* * * I believe that by re-opening this Trade and giving us Negroes to
+populate the Territories, the equilibrium of the two Sections will be
+maintained."</p>
+
+<p>After the withdrawal of the bolting delegates at Baltimore, the
+Convention proceeded to ballot for President, and at the end of the
+second ballot, Mr. Douglas having received "two-thirds of all votes
+given in the Convention" (183) was declared the "regular nominee of the
+Democratic Party, for the office of President of the United States."</p>
+
+<p>An additional resolution was subsequently adopted as a part of the
+platform, declaring that "it is in accordance with the true
+interpretation of the Cincinnati platform, that, during the existence of
+the Territorial Governments, the measure of restriction, whatever it may
+be, imposed by the Federal Constitution on the power of the Territorial
+Legislatures over the subject of the domestic relations, as the same has
+been, or shall hereafter be, finally determined by the Supreme Court of
+the United States, should be respected by all good citizens, and
+enforced with promptness and fidelity by every branch of the General
+Government."</p>
+
+<p>On the 11th of June, pursuant to adjournment, the Democratic Bolters'
+Convention met at Richmond, and, after adjourning to meet at Baltimore,
+finally met there on the 28th of that month&mdash;twenty-one States being, in
+whole or in part, represented. This Convention unanimously readopted
+the Southern-wing platform it had previously adopted at Charleston, and,
+upon the first ballot, chose, without dissent, John C. Breckinridge of
+Kentucky, as its candidate for the Presidential office.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, however, the National Conventions of other Parties had
+been held, viz.: that of the Republican Party at Chicago, which, with a
+session of three days, May 16-18, had nominated Abraham Lincoln of
+Illinois and Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, for President and Vice-President
+respectively; and that of the "Constitutional Union" (or Native
+American) Party which had severally nominated (May 19) for such
+positions, John Bell of Tennessee, and Edward Everett of Massachusetts.</p>
+
+<p>The material portion of the Republican National platform, adopted with
+entire unanimity by their Convention, was, so far as the Slavery and
+Disunion questions were concerned, comprised in these declarations:</p>
+
+<p>First, That the history of the nation, during the last four years, has
+fully established the propriety and necessity of the organization and
+perpetuation of the Republican Party; and that the causes which called
+it into existence are permanent in their nature, and now, more than ever
+before, demand its peaceful and Constitutional triumph.</p>
+
+<p>Second, That the maintenance of the principle, promulgated in the
+Declaration of Independence, and embodied in the Federal Constitution,
+"that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator
+with certain inalienable rights; that among these are Life, Liberty and
+the pursuit of Happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are
+instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the
+governed," is essential to the preservation of our Republican
+institutions; and that the Federal Constitution, the Rights of the
+States, and the Union of the States must and shall be preserved.</p>
+
+<p>Third, That to the Union of the States, this Nation owes its
+unprecedented increase in population, its surprising development of
+material resources, its rapid augmentation of wealth, its happiness at
+home, and its honor abroad; and we hold in abhorrence all schemes for
+Disunion, come from whatever source they may: And we congratulate the
+Country that no Republican member of Congress has uttered or
+countenanced the threats of Disunion, so often made by Democratic
+members, without rebuke, and with applause, from their political
+associates; and we denounce those threats of Disunion, in case of a
+popular overthrow of their ascendancy, as denying the vital principles
+of a free Government, and as an avowal of contemplated Treason, which it
+is the imperative duty of an indignant People, sternly to rebuke and
+forever silence.</p>
+
+<p>Fourth, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and
+especially the right of each State, to order and control its own
+domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is
+essential to that balance of powers on which the perfection and
+endurance of our political fabric depend; and we denounce the lawless
+invasion, by armed force, of any State or Territory, no matter under
+what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes.</p>
+
+<p>Fifth, That the present Democratic Administration has far exceeded our
+worst apprehensions, in its measureless subserviency to the exactions of
+a Sectional interest, as especially evinced in its desperate exertions
+to force the infamous Lecompton Constitution upon the protesting people
+of Kansas; in construing the personal relation between master and
+servant to involve an unqualified property in persons; in its attempted
+enforcement, everywhere, on land and sea, through the intervention of
+Congress and of the Federal Courts, of the extreme pretensions of a
+purely local interest; and in its general and unvarying abuse of the
+power intrusted to it by a confiding People.</p>
+
+<p>* * * * * * *</p>
+
+<p>Seventh, That the new dogma that the Constitution, of its own force,
+carries Slavery into any or all of the Territories of the United States,
+is a dangerous political heresy, at variance with the explicit
+provisions of that instrument itself, with contemporaneous exposition,
+and with legislation and judicial precedent; is revolutionary in its
+tendency and subversive of the peace and harmony of the Country.</p>
+
+<p>Eighth, That the normal condition of all the territory of the United
+States is that of Freedom; that as our Republican fathers, when they had
+abolished Slavery in all our National Territory, ordained that "No
+person should be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due
+process of law," it becomes our duty, by legislation, whenever such
+legislation is necessary, to maintain this provision of the Constitution
+against all attempts to violate it; and we deny the authority of
+Congress, of a Territorial Legislature, or of any individuals, to give
+legal existence to Slavery in any Territory of the United States.</p>
+
+<p>Ninth, That we brand the recent re-opening of the African Slave-trade
+under the cover of our National flag, aided by perversions of judicial
+power, as a crime against humanity and a burning shame to our Country
+and Age; and we call upon Congress to take prompt and efficient measures
+for the total and final suppression of that execrable traffic.</p>
+
+<p>Tenth, That in the recent vetoes, by their Federal Governors, of the
+acts of the Legislatures of Kansas and Nebraska, prohibiting Slavery in
+those Territories, we find a practical illustration of the boasted
+Democratic principle of Non-Intervention and Popular Sovereignty
+embodied in the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, and a demonstration of the
+deception and fraud involved therein.</p>
+
+<p>Eleventh, That Kansas should, of right, be immediately admitted as a
+State, under the Constitution recently formed and adopted by the House
+of Representatives.</p>
+
+<p> * * * * * * * * * *</p>
+
+<p>The National platform of the "Constitutional Union" Party, was adopted,
+unanimously, in these words:</p>
+
+<p>"Whereas, experience has demonstrated that platforms adopted by the
+partisan Conventions of the Country have had the effect to mislead and
+deceive the People, and at the same time to widen the political
+divisions of the Country, by the creation and encouragement of
+geographical and Sectional parties; therefore,</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved, That it is both the part of patriotism and of
+duty to recognize no political principle other than the Constitution of
+the Country, the Union of the States, and the Enforcement of the Laws,
+and that, as representatives of the Constitutional Union men of the
+Country, in National Convention assembled, we hereby pledge ourselves to
+maintain, protect, and defend, separately and unitedly, these great
+principles of public liberty and national safety, against all enemies,
+at home and abroad; believing that thereby peace may once more be
+restored to the Country, the rights of the people and of the States
+re-established, and the Government again placed in that condition of
+justice, fraternity, and equality which, under the example and
+Constitution of our fathers, has solemnly bound every citizen of the
+United States to maintain a more perfect Union, establish justice,
+insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote
+the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves
+and our posterity."</p>
+
+<p>Thus, by the last of June, 1860, the four National Parties with their
+platforms and candidates were all in the political field prepared for
+the onset.</p>
+
+<p>Briefly, the attitude of the standard-bearers representing the
+platform-principles of their several Parties, was this:</p>
+
+<p>Lincoln, representing the Republicans, held that Slavery is a wrong, to
+be tolerated in the States where it exists, but which must be excluded
+from the Territories, which are all normally Free and must be kept Free
+by Congressional legislation, if necessary; and that neither Congress,
+nor the Territorial Legislature, nor any individual, has power to give
+to it legal existence in such Territories.</p>
+
+<p>Breckinridge, representing the Pro-Slavery wing of the Democracy, held
+that Slavery is a right, which, when transplanted from the Slave-States
+into the Territories, neither Congressional nor Territorial legislation
+can destroy or impair, but which, on the contrary, must, when necessary,
+be protected everywhere by Congress and all other departments of the
+Government.</p>
+
+<p>Douglas, representing the Anti-Lecompton wing of Democracy, held that
+whether Slavery be right or wrong, the white inhabitants of the
+Territories have the sole right to determine whether it shall or shall
+not exist within their respective limits, subject to the Constitution
+and Supreme Court decisions thereon; and that neither Congress nor any
+State, nor any outside persons, must interfere with that right.</p>
+
+<p>Bell, representing the remaining political elements, held that it was
+all wrong to have any principles at all, except "the Constitution of the
+Country, the Union of the States, and the Enforcement of the Laws"&mdash;a
+platform which Horace Greeley well described as "meaning anything in
+general, and nothing in particular."</p>
+
+<p>The canvass that ensued was terribly exciting&mdash;Douglas alone, of all the
+Presidential candidates, bravely taking the field, both North and South,
+in person, in the hope that the magnetism of his personal presence and
+powerful intellect might win what, from the start&mdash;owing to the adverse
+machinations, in the Northern States, of the Administration or
+Breckinridge-Democratic wing&mdash;seemed an almost hopeless fight. In the
+South, the Democracy was almost a unit in opposition to Douglas,
+holding, as they did, that "Douglas Free-Soilism" was "far more
+dangerous to the South than the election of Lincoln; because it seeks to
+create a Free-Soil Party there; while, if Lincoln triumphs, the result
+cannot fail to be a South united in her own defense;" while the old Whig
+element of the South was as unitedly for Bell. In the North, the
+Democracy were split in twain, three-fourths of them upholding Douglas,
+and the balance, powerful beyond their numbers in the possession of
+Federal Offices, bitterly hostile to him, and anxious to beat him, even
+at the expense of securing the election of Lincoln.</p>
+
+<p>Douglas's fight was that the candidacy and platform of Bell were
+meaningless, those of both Lincoln and Breckinridge, Sectional, and that
+he alone bore aloft the standard of the entire Union; while, on the
+other hand, the supporters of Lincoln, his chief antagonist, claimed
+that&mdash;as the burden of the song from the lips of Douglas men, Bell men,
+and Breckinridge men alike, was the expression of a "fear that," in the
+language of Mr. Seward, "if the people elected Mr. Lincoln to the
+Presidency, they would wake up and find that they had no Country for him
+to preside over"&mdash;"therefore, all three of the parties opposing Mr.
+Lincoln were in the same boat, and hence the only true Union party, was
+the party which made no threats of Disunion, to wit, the Republican
+party."</p>
+
+<p>The October elections of 1860 made it plain that Mr. Lincoln would be
+elected. South Carolina began to "feel good" over the almost certainty
+that the pretext for Secession for which her leaders had been hoping in
+vain for thirty years, was at hand. On the 25th of October, at Augusta,
+South Carolina, the Governor, the Congressional delegation, and other
+leading South Carolinians, met, and decided that in the event of Mr.
+Lincoln's election, that State would secede. Similar meetings, to the
+same end, were also held about the same time, in others of the Southern
+States. On the 5th of November&mdash;the day before the Presidential
+election&mdash;the Legislature of South Carolina met at the special call of
+Governor Gist, and, having organized, received a Message from the
+Governor, in which, after stating that he had convened that Body in
+order that they might on the morrow "appoint the number of electors of
+President and Vice-President to which this State is entitled," he
+proceeded to suggest "that the Legislature remain in session, and take
+such action as will prepare the State for any emergency that may arise."
+He went on to "earnestly recommend that, in the event of Abraham
+Lincoln's election to the Presidency, a Convention of the people of this
+State be immediately called, to consider and determine for themselves
+the mode and measure of redress," and, he continued: "I am constrained
+to say that the only alternative left, in my judgment, is the Secession
+of South Carolina from the Federal Union. The indications from many of
+the Southern States justify the conclusion that the Secession of South
+Carolina will be immediately followed, if not adopted simultaneously, by
+them, and ultimately by the entire South. The long-desired cooperation
+of the other States having similar institutions, for which so many of
+our citizens have been waiting, seems to be near at hand; and, if we are
+true to ourselves, will soon be realized. The State has, with great
+unanimity declared that she has the right peaceably to Secede, and no
+power on earth can rightfully prevent it."</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [Referring to the Ordinance of Nullification adopted by the people
+ of South Carolina, November 24, 1832, growing out of the Tariff Act
+ of 1832&mdash;wherein it was declared that, in the event of the Federal
+ Government undertaking to enforce the provisions of that Act: "The
+ people of this State will thenceforth hold themselves absolved from
+ all further obligation to maintain or preserve their political
+ connection with the people of the other States, and will forthwith
+ proceed to organize a separate government, and do all other acts
+ and things which Sovereign and independent States may of right
+ do."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>He proceeded to say that "If, in the exercise of arbitrary power, and
+forgetful of the lessons of history, the Government of the United States
+should attempt coercion, it will become our solemn duty to meet force by
+force"&mdash;and promised that the decision of the aforesaid Convention
+"representing the Sovereignty of the State, and amenable to no earthly
+tribunal," should be, by him, "carried out to the letter." He
+recommended the thorough reorganization of the Militia; the arming of
+every man in the State between the ages of eighteen and forty-five; and
+the immediate enrollment of ten thousand volunteers officered by
+themselves; and concluded with a confident "appeal to the Disposer of
+all human events," in whose keeping the "Cause" was to be entrusted.</p>
+
+<p>That same evening (November 5), being the eve of the election, at
+Augusta, South Carolina, in response to a serenade, United States
+Senator Chestnut made a speech of like import, in which, after
+predicting the election of Mr. Lincoln, he said: "Would the South submit
+to a Black Republican President, and a Black Republican Congress, which
+will claim the right to construe the Constitution of the Country, and
+administer the Government in their own hands, not by the law of the
+instrument itself, nor by that of the fathers of the Country, nor by the
+practices of those who administered seventy years ago, but by rules
+drawn from their own blind consciences and crazy brains? * * * The
+People now must choose whether they would be governed by enemies, or
+govern themselves."</p>
+
+<p>He declared that the Secession of South Carolina was an "undoubted
+right," a "duty," and their "only safety" and as to himself, he would
+"unfurl the Palmetto flag, fling it to the breeze, and, with the spirit
+of a brave man, live and die as became" his "glorious ancestors, and
+ring the clarion notes of defiance in the ears of an insolent foe!"</p>
+
+<p>So also, in Columbia, South Carolina, Representative Boyce of that
+State, and other prominent politicians, harangued an enthusiastic crowd
+that night&mdash;Mr. Boyce declaring: "I think the only policy for us is to
+arm, as soon as we receive authentic intelligence of the election of
+Lincoln. It is for South Carolina, in the quickest manner, and by the
+most direct means, to withdraw from the Union. Then we will not submit,
+whether the other Southern States will act with us or with our enemies.
+They cannot take sides with our enemies; they must take sides with us.
+When an ancient philosopher wished to inaugurate a great revolution, his
+motto was to dare! to dare!"</p>
+
+<br><br>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="" cellPadding=4 border=3>
+<tr><td>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="p2.htm">Next Part</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+</td><td>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="7140-h.htm">Main Index</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
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+<title>THE GREAT CONSPIRACY, Part 2</title>
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+
+<h2>THE GREAT CONSPIRACY, Part 2</h2>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="" cellPadding=4 border=3>
+<tr><td>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="p1.htm">Previous Part</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+</td><td>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="7140-h.htm">Main Index</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+</td><td>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="p3.htm">Next Part</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+<br><br><br><br><br><br>
+
+
+
+<h1> THE GREAT CONSPIRACY</h1>
+<br>
+ <h2>Its Origin and History</h2>
+ <br>
+ <h3>By</h3>
+ <br>
+ <h1>John Logan</h1>
+<br><br>
+ <h2> Part 2.</h2>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<br><br><br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="titlepage.jpg (65K)" src="images/titlepage.jpg" height="1134" width="692">
+<br><br><br><br>
+<img alt="frontspiece.jpg (101K)" src="images/frontspiece.jpg" height="934" width="665">
+</center>
+
+<br><br><br><br>
+
+<h2>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+ CONTENTS</h2>
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2><a href="#ch6">CHAPTER VI.</a><br>
+ THE GREAT CONSPIRACY MATURING.</h2>
+<br>
+LINCOLN'S ELECTION ASSURED&mdash;SOUTHERN EXULTATION&mdash;NORTHERN GLOOM&mdash;"FIRING
+THE SOUTHERN HEART"&mdash;RESIGNATIONS OF FEDERAL OFFICERS AND SENATORS OF
+SOUTH CAROLINA&mdash;GOVERNOR BROWN, OF GEORGIA, DEFIES "FEDERAL
+COERCION"&mdash;ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS'S ARGUMENT AGAINST SECESSION&mdash;SOUTH CAROLINA
+CALLS AN "UNCONDITIONAL SECESSION CONVENTION"&mdash;THE CALL SETS THE SOUTH
+ABLAZE&mdash;PROCLAMATIONS OF THE GOVERNORS OF THE SOUTHERN STATES, FAVORING
+REVOLT&mdash;LOYAL ADDRESS OF GOVERNOR MAGOFFIN OF KENTUCKY&mdash;THE CLAMOR OF
+REVOLT SILENCES APPEALS FOR UNION&mdash;PRESIDENT BUCHANAN'S PITIFUL
+WEAKNESS&mdash;CONSPIRATORS IN HIS CABINET&mdash;IMBECILITY OF HIS LAST ANNUAL
+MESSAGE TO CONGRESS, DEC., 1860&mdash;ATTORNEY-GENERAL JEREMIAH BLACK'S
+OPINION AGAINST COERCION&mdash;CONTRAST AFFORDED BY GENERAL JACKSON'S LOYAL
+LOGIC&mdash;ENSUING DEBATES IN CONGRESS&mdash;SETTLED PURPOSE OF THE CONSPIRATORS
+TO RESIST PLACATION&mdash;FUTILE LABORS OF UNION MEN IN CONGRESS FOR A
+PEACEFUL SOLUTION&mdash;ABSURD DEMANDS OF THE IMPLACABLES&mdash;THE COMMERCIAL
+NORTH ON ITS KNEES TO THE SOUTH&mdash;CONCILIATION ABJECTLY BEGGED
+FOR&mdash;BRUTAL SNEERS AT THE NORTH, AND THREATS OF CLINGMAN, IVERSON, AND OTHER
+SOUTHERN FIREEATERS, IN THE U. S. SENATE&mdash;THEIR BLUSTER MET BY STURDY
+REPUBLICANS&mdash;BEN WADE GALLANTLY STANDS BY THE "VERDICT OF THE
+PEOPLE"&mdash;PEACEFUL-SETTLEMENT PROPOSITIONS IN THE HOUSE&mdash;ADRIAN'S RESOLUTION, AND
+VOTE&mdash;LOVEJOY'S COUNTER-RESOLUTION, AND VOTE&mdash;ADOPTION OF MORRIS'S UNION
+RESOLUTION IN HOUSE<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2><a href="#ch7">CHAPTER VII.</a><br>
+ SECESSION ARMING.<br></h2>
+<br>
+THE SOUTH CAROLINA SECESSION CONVENTION MEETS&mdash;SPEECHES AT "SECESSION
+HALL" OF PARKER, KEITT, INGLIS, BARNWELL, RHETT, AND GREGG, THE FIRST
+ORDINANCE OF SECESSION&mdash;ITS JUBILANT ADOPTION AND
+RATIFICATION&mdash;SECESSION STAMPEDE&mdash;A SOUTHERN CONGRESS PROPOSED&mdash;PICKENS'S PROCLAMATION
+OF SOVEREIGN INDEPENDENCE&mdash;SOUTH CAROLINA CONGRESSMEN
+WITHDRAW&mdash;DISSENSIONS IN BUCHANAN'S CABINET&mdash;COBB FLOYD, AND THOMPSON,
+DEMAND WITHDRAWAL OF FEDERAL TROOPS&mdash;BUCHANAN'S
+REPLY&mdash;SEIZURE OF FORTS, ETC.&mdash;THE "STAR OF THE WEST" FIRED ON&mdash;THE MAD
+RUSH OF REBELLIOUS EVENTS&mdash;SOUTH CAROLINA DEMANDS THE SURRENDER OF FORT
+SUMTER AND THE DEMAND REFUSED&mdash;SECRETARY HOLT'S LETTER TO CONSPIRING
+SENATORS AND REBEL AGENT&mdash;TROOP'S AT THE NATIONAL CAPITAL&mdash;HOLT'S
+REASONS THEREFOR&mdash;THE REVOLUTIONARY PROGRAMME&mdash;"ARMED OCCUPATION OF
+WASHINGTON CITY"&mdash;LINCOLN'S INAUGURATION TO BE PREVENTED&mdash;THE CRUMBLING
+AND DISSOLVING UNION&mdash;THE NORTH STANDS AGHAST&mdash;GREAT DEBATE IN CONGRESS,
+1860-1861&mdash;CLINGMAN ON THE SOUTHERN TARIFF-GRIEVANCE&mdash;DEFIANCE OF BROWN
+OF MISSISSIPPI&mdash;IVERSON'S BLOODY THREAT&mdash;WIGFALL'S UNSCRUPULOUS
+ADVICE&mdash;HIS INSULTING DEMANDS&mdash;BAKER'S GLORIOUSLY ELOQUENT RESPONSE&mdash;ANDY JOHNSON
+THREATENED WITH BULLETS&mdash;THE NORTH BULLIED&mdash;INSOLENT, IMPOSSIBLE TERMS OF
+PEACE&mdash;LINCOLN'S SPEECHES EN ROUTE FOR WASHINGTON&mdash;SAVE ARRIVAL&mdash;"I'LL
+TRY TO STEER HER THROUGH!"&mdash;THE SOUTH TAUNTS HIM&mdash;WIGFALL'S CHALLENGE
+TO THE BLOODY ISSUE OF ARMS!<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2><a href="#ch8">CHAPTER VIII.</a><br>
+ THE REJECTED OLIVE BRANCH.</h2>
+<br>
+THE VARIOUS COMPROMISES OFFERED BY THE NORTH&mdash;"THE CRITTENDEN
+COMPROMISE"&mdash;THE PEACE CONFERENCE&mdash;COMPROMISE PROPOSITIONS OF THE
+SOUTHERN CONSPIRATORS&mdash;IRRECONCILABLE ATTITUDE OF THE PLOTTERS&mdash;HISTORY
+OF THE COMPROMISE MEASURES IN CONGRESS&mdash;CLARK'S SUBSTITUTE TO CRITTENDEN
+RESOLUTIONS IN THE SENATE&mdash;ANTHONY'S MORE THAN EQUITABLE
+PROPOSITIONS&mdash;HIS AFFECTING APPEAL TO STONY HEARTS&mdash;THE CONSPIRACY DEVELOPING&mdash;SIX
+SOUTHERN SENATORS REFUSE TO VOTE AGAINST THE CLARK SUBSTITUTE&mdash;ITS
+CONSEQUENT ADOPTION, AND DEFEAT OF THE CRITTENDEN RESOLUTIONS&mdash;LYING
+TELEGRAMS FROM CONSPIRING SENATORS TO FURTHER INFLAME
+REBELLION&mdash;SAULSBURY'S AFTERSTATEMENT (1862) AS TO CAUSES OF FAILURE OF
+CRITTENDEN'S COMPROMISE&mdash;LATHAM'S GRAPHIC PROOF OF THE CONSPIRATORS'
+"DELIBERATE, WILFUL DESIGN" TO KILL COMPROMISE&mdash;ANDREW JOHNSON'S
+EVIDENCE AS TO THEIR ULTIMATE OBJECT "PLACE AND EMOLUMENT FOR
+THEMSELVES"&mdash;"THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT IN THE HANDS OF THE FEW"&mdash;THE
+CORWIN COMPROMISE RESOLUTION IN THE HOUSE&mdash;THE BURCH
+AMENDMENT&mdash;KELLOGG'S PROPOSITION&mdash;THE CLEMENS SUBSTITUTE&mdash;PASSAGE BY THE HOUSE OF
+CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PROHIBITING CONGRESSIONAL INTERFERENCE WITH
+SLAVERY WHERE IT EXISTS&mdash;ITS ADOPTION BY THE SENATE&mdash;THE CLARK
+SUBSTITUTE RECONSIDERED AND DEFEATED&mdash;PROPOSITIONS OF THE PEACE CONGRESS
+LOST&mdash;REJECTION OF THE CRITTENDEN COMPROMISE<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2><a href="#ch9">CHAPTER IX.</a><br>
+ SLAVERY'S SETTING AND FREEDOM'S DAWN.<br></h2>
+<br>
+THE LAST NIGHT OF THE 36TH CONGRESS&mdash;MR. CRITTENDEN'S PATRIOTIC
+APPEAL&mdash;"THE SADDEST SPECTACLE EVER SEEN"&mdash;IMPOTENCY OF THE BETRAYED AND FALLING
+STATE&mdash;DOUGLAS'S POWERFUL PLEA&mdash;PATRIOTISM OF HIMSELF AND
+SUPPORTERS&mdash;LOGAN SUMMARIZES THE COMPROMISES, AND APPEALS TO PATRIOTISM ABOVE
+PARTY&mdash;STATESMANLIKE BREADTH OF DOUGLAS, BAKER AND SEWARD&mdash;HENRY WINTER DAVIS
+ELOQUENTLY CONDENSES "THE SITUATION" IN A NUTSHELL&mdash;"THE FIRST FRUITS OF
+RECONCILIATION" OFFERED BY THE NORTH, SCORNED BY THE
+CONSPIRATORS&mdash;WIGFALL AGAIN SPEAKS AS THE MOUTHPIECE OF THE SOUTH&mdash;HE RAVES VIOLENTLY
+AT THE NORTH&mdash;THE SOUTH REJECTS PEACE "EITHER IN THE UNION, OR OUT OF
+IT"&mdash;THE DAWN OF FREEDOM APPEARS (MARCH 4TH, 1861)&mdash;INAUGURATION OF
+PRESIDENT LINCOLN&mdash;LINCOLN'S FIRST INAUGURAL&mdash;GRANDEUR AND PATHOS OF HIS
+PATRIOTIC UTTERANCES&mdash;HIS FIRST SLEEPLESS AND PRAYERFUL NIGHT AT THE
+WHITE HOUSE&mdash;THE MORROW, AND ITS BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT&mdash;THE MESSAGE OF
+"PEACE AND GOOD WILL" REGARDED AS A "CHALLENGE TO WAR"&mdash;PRESIDENT
+LINCOLN'S CABINET<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2><a href="#ch10">CHAPTER X.</a><br>
+ THE WAR-DRUM&mdash;"ON TO WASHINGTON!"<br></h2>
+<br>
+REBEL COMMISSIONERS AT WASHINGTON ON A "MISSION"&mdash;SEWARD "SITS DOWN" ON
+THEM&mdash;HE REFUSES TO RECOGNIZE "CONFEDERATE STATES"&mdash;THE REBEL
+COMMISSIONERS "ACCEPT THE GAGE OF BATTLE THUS THROWN DOWN TO
+THEM"&mdash;ATTEMPT TO PROVISION FORT SUMTER&mdash;THE REBELS NOTIFIED&mdash;THE FORT AND ITS
+SURROUNDINGS&mdash;THE FIRST GUN OF SLAVERY FIRED&mdash;TERRIFIC BOMBARDMENT OF
+THE FORT&mdash;THE GARRISON, STARVED AND BURNED OUT, EVACUATES, WITH ALL THE
+HONORS OF WAR&mdash;THE SOUTH CRAZY WITH EXULTATION&mdash;TE DEUMS SUNG, SALUTES
+FIRED, AND THE REBEL GOVERNMENT SERENADED&mdash;"ON TO WASHINGTON!" THE
+REBEL CRY&mdash;"GRAY JACKETS OVER THE BORDER"&mdash;PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S FIRST
+PROCLAMATION AND CALL FOR TROOPS&mdash;INSULTING RESPONSES OF GOVERNORS
+BURTON, HICKS, LETCHER, ELLIS, MAGOFFIN, HARRIS, JACKSON AND
+RECTOR&mdash;LOYAL RESPONSES FROM GOVERNORS OF THE FREE STATES&mdash;MAGICAL EFFECT OF THE
+CALL UPON THE LOYAL NORTH&mdash;FEELING IN THE BORDER-STATES&mdash;PRESIDENT
+LINCOLN'S CLEAR SUMMARY OF THE SITUATION AND ITS PHILOSOPHY&mdash;HIS PLAIN
+DUTY&mdash;THE WAR POWER&mdash;THE NATIONAL CAPITAL CUT OFF&mdash;EVACUATION OF
+HARPER'S FERRY&mdash;LOYAL TROOPS TO THE RESCUE&mdash;FIGHTING THEIR WAY THROUGH
+BALTIMORE&mdash;REBEL THREATS&mdash;"SCOTT THE ARCH&mdash;TRAITOR, AND LINCOLN THE
+BEAST"&mdash;BUTLER RELIEVES WASHINGTON&mdash;THE SECESSION OF VIRGINIA AND NORTH
+CAROLINA&mdash;SHAMEFUL EVACUATION OF NORFOLK NAVY YARD&mdash;SEIZURE OF MINTS AND
+ARSENALS&mdash;UNION AND REBEL FORCES CONCENTRATING&mdash;THE NATIONAL CAPITAL
+FORTIFIED&mdash;BLOCKADE OF SOUTHERN PORTS&mdash;DEATH OF ELLSWORTH&mdash;BUTLER
+CONFISCATES NEGRO PROPERTY AS "CONTRABAND OF WAR"&mdash;A REBEL YARN
+<br>
+<br>
+<br><br>
+
+<h3>PORTRAITS</h3>
+<center>
+<table summary="">
+<tr><td>
+
+<a href="#hayne">ISAAC W. HAYNE,</a><br>
+<a href="#seward">WM. H. SEWARD,</a><br>
+<a href="#clay">HENRY CLAY,</a><br>
+<a href="#davis">JEFFERSON DAVIS,</a><br>
+
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<a name="hayne"></a>
+<center>
+<img alt="p120-hayne.jpg (73K)" src="images/p120-hayne.jpg" height="849" width="577">
+</center>
+<br><br><br>
+
+<a name="ch6"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+
+
+<center>
+<h2> CHAPTER VI.<br>
+<br>
+ THE GREAT CONSPIRACY MATURING.<br></h2>
+</center>
+<p>The 6th of November, 1860, came and passed; on the 7th, the prevailing
+conviction that Lincoln would be elected had become a certainty, and
+before the close of that day, the fact had been heralded throughout the
+length and breadth of the Republic. The excitement of the People was
+unparalleled. The Republicans of the North rejoiced that at last the
+great wrong of Slavery was to be placed "where the People could rest in
+the belief that it was in the course of ultimate extinction!" The
+Douglas Democracy, naturally chagrined at the defeat of their great
+leader, were filled with gloomy forebodings touching the future of their
+Country; and the Southern Democracy, or at least a large portion of it,
+openly exulted that at last the long-wished-for opportunity for a revolt
+of the Slave Power, and a separation of the Slave from the Free States,
+was at hand. Especially in South Carolina were the "Fire-eating"
+Southrons jubilant over the event.</p>
+
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> ["South Carolina rejoiced over the election of Lincoln, with
+ bonfires and processions." p. 172, Arnold's "Life of Abraham
+ Lincoln."</p>
+
+<p> "There was great joy in Charleston, and wherever 'Fire Eaters' most
+ did congregate, on the morning of November 7th. Men rushed to
+ shake hands and congratulate each other on the glad tidings of
+ Lincoln's election. * * * Men thronged the streets, talking,
+ laughing, cheering, like mariners long becalmed on a hateful,
+ treacherous sea, whom a sudden breeze had swiftly wafted within
+ sight of their longed-for haven." p. 332, vol. i., Greeley's
+ American Conflict.]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>Meanwhile any number of joint resolutions looking to the calling of a
+Secession Convention, were introduced in the South Carolina Legislature,
+sitting at Columbia, having in view Secession contingent upon the
+"cooperation" of the other Slave States, or looking to immediate and
+"unconditional" Secession.</p>
+
+<p>On the evening of November 7th, Edmund Ruffin of Virginia&mdash;a Secession
+fanatic who had come from thence in hot haste&mdash;in response to a
+serenade, declared to the people of Columbia that: "The defense of the
+South, he verily believed, was only to be secured through the lead of
+South Carolina;" that, "old as he was, he had come here to join them in
+that lead;" and that "every day delayed, was a day lost to the Cause."
+He acknowledged that Virginia was "not as ready as South Carolina;" but
+declared that "The first drop of blood spilled on the soil of South
+Carolina would bring Virginia, and every Southern State, with them." He
+thought "it was perhaps better that Virginia, and all other border
+States, remain quiescent for a time, to serve as a guard against the
+North. * * * By remaining in the Union for a time, she would not only
+prevent coercive legislation in Congress, but any attempt for our
+subjugation."</p>
+
+<p>That same evening came news that, at Charleston, the Grand Jury of the
+United States District Court had refused to make any presentments,
+because of the Presidential vote just cast, which, they said, had "swept
+away the last hope for the permanence, for the stability, of the Federal
+Government of these Sovereign States;" and that United States District
+Judge Magrath had resigned his office, saying to the Grand Jury, as he
+did so: "In the political history of the United States, an event has
+happened of ominous import to fifteen Slave-holding States. The State
+of which we are citizens has been always understood to have deliberately
+fixed its purpose whenever that event should happen. Feeling an
+assurance of what will be the action of the State, I consider it my
+duty, without delay, to prepare to obey its wishes. That preparation is
+made by the resignation of the office I have held."</p>
+
+<p>The news of the resignations of the Federal Collector and District
+Attorney at Charleston, followed, with an intimation that that of the
+Sub-Treasurer would soon be forthcoming. On November 9th, a joint
+resolution calling an unconditional Secession Convention to meet at
+Columbia December 17th, was passed by the Senate, and on the 12th of
+November went through the House; and both of the United States Senators
+from South Carolina had now resigned their seats in the United States
+Senate.</p>
+
+<p>Besides all these and many other incitements to Secession was the fact
+that at Milledgeville, Georgia, Governor Brown had, November 12th,
+addressed a Georgian Military Convention, affirming "the right of
+Secession, and the duty of other Southern States to sustain South
+Carolina in the step she was then taking," and declaring that he "would
+like to see Federal troops dare attempt the coercion of a seceding
+Southern State! For every Georgian who fell in a conflict thus incited,
+the lives of two Federal Soldiers should expiate the outrage on State
+Sovereignty"&mdash;and that the Convention aforesaid had most decisively
+given its voice for Secession.</p>
+
+<p>It was about this time, however, that Alexander H. Stephens vainly
+sought to stem the tide of Secession in his own State, in a speech
+(November 14) before the Georgia Legislature, in which he declared that
+Mr. Lincoln "can do nothing unless he is backed by power in Congress.
+The House of Representatives is largely in the majority against him. In
+the Senate he will also be powerless. There will be a majority of four
+against him." He also cogently said: "Many of us have sworn to support
+it (the Constitution). Can we, therefore, for the mere election of a
+man to the Presidency&mdash;and that too, in accordance with the prescribed
+forms of the Constitution&mdash;make a point of resistance to the Government,
+and, without becoming the breakers of that sacred instrument ourselves,
+withdraw ourselves from it? Would we not be in the wrong?"</p>
+
+<p>But the occasional words of wisdom that fell from the lips of the few
+far-seeing statesmen of the South, were as chaff before the storm of
+Disunion raised by the turbulent Fire-eaters, and were blown far from
+the South, where they might have done some good for the Union cause,
+away up to the North, where they contributed to aid the success of the
+contemplated Treason and Rebellion, by lulling many of the people there,
+into a false sense of security. Unfortunately, also, even the ablest of
+the Southern Union men were so tainted with the heretical doctrine of
+States-Rights, which taught the "paramount allegiance" of the citizen to
+the State, that their otherwise powerful appeals for the preservation of
+the Union were almost invariably handicapped by the added protestation
+that in any event&mdash;and however they might deplore the necessity&mdash;they
+would, if need be, go with their State, against their own convictions of
+duty to the National Union.</p>
+
+<p>Hence in this same speech we find that Mr. Stephens destroyed the whole
+effect of his weighty and logical appeal against Secession from the
+Union, by adding to it, that, "Should Georgia determine to go out of the
+Union I shall bow to the will of her people. Their cause is my cause,
+and their destiny is my destiny; and I trust this will be the ultimate
+course of all."&mdash;and by further advising the calling of a Convention of
+the people to decide the matter; thus, in advance, as it were, binding
+himself hand and foot, despite his previous Union utterances, to do the
+fell bidding of the most rampant Disunionists. And thus, in due time,
+it befell, as we shall see, that this "saving clause" in his "Union
+speech," brought him at the end, not to that posture of patriotic
+heroism to which he aspired when he adjured his Georgian auditors to
+"let us be found to the last moment standing on the deck (of the
+Republic), with the Constitution of the United States waving over our
+heads," but to that of an imprisoned traitor and defeated rebel against
+the very Republic and Constitution which he had sworn to uphold and
+defend!</p>
+
+<p>The action of the South Carolina Legislature in calling an Unconditional
+Secession Convention, acted among the Southern States like a spark in a
+train of gunpowder. Long accustomed to incendiary resolutions of
+Pro-Slavery political platforms, as embodying the creed of Southern men;
+committed by those declarations to the most extreme action when, in
+their judgment, the necessity should arise; and worked up during the
+Presidential campaign by swarming Federal officials inspired by the
+fanatical Secession leaders; the entire South only needed the spark from
+the treasonable torch of South Carolina, to find itself ablaze, almost
+from one end to the other, with the flames of revolt.</p>
+
+<p>Governor after Governor, in State after State, issued proclamation after
+proclamation, calling together their respective Legislatures, to
+consider the situation and whether their respective States should join
+South Carolina in seceding from the Union. Kentucky alone, of them all,
+seemed for a time to keep cool, and look calmly and reasonably through
+the Southern ferment to the horrors beyond. In an address issued by
+Governor Magoffin of that State, to the people, he said:</p>
+
+<p>"To South Carolina and such other States as may wish to secede from the
+Union, I would say: The geography of this Country will not admit of a
+division; the mouth and sources of the Mississippi River cannot be
+separated without the horrors of Civil War. We cannot sustain you in
+this movement merely on account of the election of Mr. Lincoln. Do not
+precipitate by premature action into a revolution or Civil War, the
+consequences of which will be most frightful to all of us. It may yet
+be avoided. There is still hope, faint though it be. Kentucky is a
+Border State, and has suffered more than all of you. * * * She has a
+right to claim that her voice, and the voice of reason, and moderation
+and patriotism shall be heard and heeded by you. If you secede, your
+representatives will go out of Congress and leave us at the mercy of a
+Black Republican Government. Mr. Lincoln will have no check. He can
+appoint his Cabinet, and have it confirmed. The Congress will then be
+Republican, and he will be able to pass such laws as he may suggest.
+The Supreme Court will be powerless to protect us. We implore you to
+stand by us, and by our friends in the Free States; and let us all, the
+bold, the true, and just men in the Free and Slave States, with a united
+front, stand by each other, by our principles, by our rights, our
+equality, our honor, and by the Union under the Constitution. I believe
+this is the only way to save it; and we can do it."</p>
+
+<p>But this "still small voice" of conscience and of reason, heard like a
+whisper from the mouths of Stephens in Georgia, and Magoffin in
+Kentucky, was drowned in the clamor and tumult of impassioned harangues
+and addresses, and the drumming and tramp of the "minute men" of South
+Carolina, and other military organizations, as they excitedly prepared
+throughout the South for the dread conflict at arms which they
+recklessly invited, and savagely welcomed.</p>
+
+<p>We have seen how President Andrew Jackson some thirty years before, had
+stamped out Nullification and Disunion in South Carolina, with an iron
+heel.</p>
+
+<p>But a weak and feeble old man&mdash;still suffering from the effects of the
+mysterious National Hotel poisoning&mdash;was now in the Executive Chair at
+the White House. Well-meaning, doubtless, and a Union man at heart, his
+enfeebled intellect was unable to see, and hold firm to, the only true
+course. He lacked clearness of perception, decision of character, and
+nerve. He knew Secession was wrong, but allowed himself to be persuaded
+that he had no Constitutional power to prevent it. He had surrounded
+himself in the Cabinet with such unbending adherents and tools of the
+Slave-Power, as Howell Cobb of Georgia, his Secretary of the Treasury,
+John B. Floyd of Virginia, as Secretary of War, Jacob Thompson of
+Mississippi, as Secretary of the Interior, and Isaac Toucy of
+Connecticut, as Secretary of the Navy, before whose malign influence the
+councils of Lewis Cass of Michigan, the Secretary of State, and other
+Union men, in and out of the Cabinet, were quite powerless.</p>
+
+<p>When, therefore, the Congress met (December 3, 1860) and he transmitted
+to it his last Annual Message, it was found that, instead of treating
+Secession from the Jacksonian standpoint, President Buchanan feebly
+wailed over the threatened destruction of the Union, weakly apologized
+for the contemplated Treason, garrulously scolded the North as being to
+blame for it, and, while praying to God to "preserve the Constitution
+and the Union throughout all generations," wrung his nerveless hands in
+despair over his own powerlessness&mdash;as he construed the Constitution&mdash;to
+prevent Secession! Before writing his pitifully imbecile Message,
+President Buchanan had secured from his Attorney-General (Jeremiah S.
+Black of Pennsylvania) an opinion, in which the latter, after touching
+upon certain cases in which he believed the President would be justified
+in using force to sustain the Federal Laws, supposed the case of a State
+where all the Federal Officers had resigned and where there were neither
+Federal Courts to issue, nor officers to execute judicial process, and
+continued: "In that event, troops would certainly be out of place, and
+their use wholly illegal. If they are sent to aid the Courts and
+Marshals there must be Courts and Marshals to be aided. Without the
+exercise of these functions, which belong exclusively to the civil
+service, the laws cannot be executed in any event, no matter what may be
+the physical strength which the Government has at its command. Under
+such circumstances, to send a military force into any State, with orders
+to act against the people, would be simply making War upon them."</p>
+
+<p>Resting upon that opinion of Attorney-General Black, President Buchanan,
+in his Message, after referring to the solemn oath taken by the
+Executive "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed," and
+stating that there were now no longer any Federal Officers in South
+Carolina, through whose agency he could keep that oath, took up the laws
+of February 28, 1795, and March 3, 1807, as "the only Acts of Congress
+on the Statute-book bearing upon the subject," which "authorize the
+President, after he shall have ascertained that the Marshal, with his
+posse comitatus, is unable to execute civil or criminal process in any
+particular case, to call out the Militia and employ the Army and Navy to
+aid him in performing this service, having first, by Proclamation,
+commanded the insurgents to 'disperse and retire peaceably to their
+respective abodes, within a limited time'"&mdash;and thereupon held that
+"This duty cannot, by possibility, be performed in a State where no
+judicial authority exists to issue process, and where there is no
+Marshal to execute it; and where even if there were such an officer, the
+entire population would constitute one solid combination to resist him."
+And, not satisfied with attempting to show as clearly as he seemed to
+know how, his own inability under the laws to stamp out Treason, he
+proceeded to consider what he thought Congress also could not do under
+the Constitution. Said he: "The question fairly stated, is: Has the
+Constitution delegated to Congress the power to coerce into submission a
+State which is attempting to withdraw, or has actually withdrawn, from
+the Confederacy? If answered in the affirmative, it must be on the
+principle that the power has been conferred upon Congress to declare and
+make War against a State. After much serious reflection, I have arrived
+at the conclusion that no such power has been delegated to Congress or
+to any other department of the Federal Government." And further:
+"Congress possesses many means of preserving it (the Union) by
+conciliation; but the sword was not placed in their hands to preserve it
+by force."</p>
+
+<p>Thus, in President Buchanan's judgment, while, in another part of his
+Message, he had declared that no State had any right, Constitutional or
+otherwise, to Secede from that Union, which was designed for all
+time&mdash;yet, if any State concluded thus wrongfully to Secede, there existed no
+power in the Union, by the exercise of force, to preserve itself from
+instant dissolution! How imbecile the reasoning, how impotent the
+conclusion, compared with that of President Jackson, thirty years
+before, in his Proclamation against Nullification and Secession, wherein
+that sturdy patriot declared to the South Carolinians that "compared
+to Disunion, all other evils are light, because that brings with it an
+accumulation of all;" that "Disunion by armed force, is Treason;" and
+that he was determined "to execute the Laws," and "to preserve the
+Union!"</p>
+
+<p>President Buchanan's extraordinary Message&mdash;or so much of it as related
+to the perilous condition of the Union&mdash;was referred, in the House of
+Representatives, to a Select Committee of Thirty-three, comprising one
+member from each State, in which there was a very large preponderance of
+such as favored Conciliation without dishonor. But the debates in both
+Houses, in which the most violent language was indulged by the Southern
+Fire-eaters, as well as other events, soon proved that there was a
+settled purpose on the part of the Slave-Power and its adherents to
+resist and spit upon all attempts at placation.</p>
+
+<p>In the Senate also (December 5), a Select Committee of Thirteen was
+appointed, to consider the impending dangers to the Union, comprising
+Senators Powell of Kentucky, Hunter of Virginia, Crittenden of Kentucky,
+Seward of New York, Toombs of Georgia, Douglas of Illinois, Collamer of
+Vermont, Davis of Mississippi, Wade of Ohio, Bigler of Pennsylvania,
+Rice of Minnesota, Doolittle of Wisconsin, and Grimes of Iowa. Their
+labors were alike without practical result, owing to the irreconcilable
+attitude of the Southrons, who would accept nothing less than a total
+repudiation by the Republicans of the very principles upon which the
+recent Presidential contest had by them been fought and won. Nor would
+they even accept such a repudiation unless carried by vote of the
+majority of the Republicans. The dose that they insisted upon the
+Republican Party swallowing must not only be as noxious as possible, but
+must absolutely be mixed by that Party itself, and in addition, that
+Party must also go down on its knees, and beg the privilege of so mixing
+and swallowing the dose! That was the impossible attitude into which,
+by their bullying and threats, the Slave Power hoped to force the
+Republican Party&mdash;either that or "War."</p>
+
+<p>Project after project in both Houses of Congress looking to Conciliation
+was introduced, referred, reported, discussed, and voted on or not, as
+the case might be, in vain. And in the meantime, in New York, in
+Philadelphia, and elsewhere in the North, the timidity of Capital showed
+itself in great Conciliation meetings, where speeches were applauded and
+resolutions adopted of the most abject character, in behalf of "Peace,
+at any price," regardless of the sacrifice of honor and principles and
+even decency. In fact the Commercial North, with supplicating hands and
+beseeching face, sank on its knees in a vain attempt to propitiate its
+furious creditor, the South, by asking it not only to pull its nose, but
+to spit in its face, both of which it humbly and even anxiously offered
+for the purpose!*</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [Thus, in Philadelphia, December 13, 1860, at a great meeting held
+ at the call of the Mayor, in Independence Square, Mayor Henry led
+ off the speaking&mdash;which was nearly all in the same line&mdash;by saying:
+ "I tell you that if in any portion of our Confederacy, sentiments
+ have been entertained and cherished which are inimical to the civil
+ rights and social institutions of any other portion, those
+ sentiments should be relinquished." Another speaker, Judge George
+ W. Woodward, sneeringly asked: "Whence came these excessive
+ sensibilities that cannot bear a few slaves in a remote Territory
+ until the white people establish a Constitution?" Another, Mr.
+ Charles E. Lex (a Republican), speaking of the Southern People,
+ said: "What, then, can we say to them? what more than we have
+ expressed in the resolutions we have offered? If they are really
+ aggrieved by any laws upon our Statute-books opposed to their
+ rights&mdash;if upon examination any such are found to be in conflict
+ with the Constitution of these United States&mdash;nay, further, if they
+ but serve to irritate our brethren of the South, whether
+ Constitutional or not, I, for one, have no objection that they
+ should instantly be repealed." Another said, "Let us repeal our
+ obnoxious Personal Liberty bills * * *; let us receive our brother
+ of the South, if he will come among us for a little time, attended
+ by his servant, and permit him thus to come." And the resolutions
+ adopted were even still more abject in tone than the speeches.]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>But the South at present was too busy in perfecting its long-cherished
+plans for the disruption of the Union, to more than grimly smile at this
+evidence of what it chose to consider "a divided sentiment" in the
+North. While it weakened the North, it strengthened the South, and
+instead of mollifying the Conspirators against the Union, it inspired
+them with fresh energy in their fell purpose to destroy it.</p>
+
+<p>The tone of the Republican press, too, while more dignified, was
+thoroughly conciliatory. The Albany Evening Journal,&mdash;[November 30,
+1860]&mdash;the organ of Governor Seward, recognizing that the South, blinded
+by passion, was in dead earnest, but also recognizing the existence of
+"a Union sentiment there, worth cherishing," suggested "a Convention of
+the People, consisting of delegates appointed by the States, in which it
+would not be found unprofitable for the North and South, bringing their
+respective griefs, claims, and proposed reforms, to a common
+arbitrament, to meet, discuss, and determine upon a future"&mdash;before a
+final appeal to arms. So, too, Horace Greeley, in the New York
+Tribune,&mdash;[November 9, 1860.]&mdash;after weakly conceding, on his own part,
+the right of peaceable Secession, said: "But while we thus uphold the
+practical liberty, if not the abstract right, of Secession, we must
+insist that the step be taken, if it ever shall be, with the
+deliberation and gravity befitting so momentous an issue. Let ample
+time be given for reflection; let the subject be fully canvassed before
+the People; and let a popular vote be taken in every case, before
+Secession is decreed." Other leading papers of the Northern press, took
+similar ground for free discussion and conciliatory action.</p>
+
+<p>In the Senate, as well as the House of Representatives&mdash;as also was
+shown by the appointment, heretofore mentioned, of Select Committees to
+consider the gravity of the situation, and suggest a remedy&mdash;the same
+spirit of Conciliation and Concession, and desire for free and frank
+discussion, was apparent among most of the Northern and Border-State
+members of those Bodies. But these were only met by sneers and threats
+on the part of the Fire-eating Secession members of the South. In the
+Senate, Senator Clingman of North Carolina, sneeringly said: "They want
+to get up a free debate, as the Senator (Mr. Seward) from New York
+expressed it, in one of his speeches. But a Senator from Texas told me
+the other day that a great many of these free debaters were hanging from
+the trees of that country;" and Senator Iverson, of Georgia, said:
+"Gentlemen speak of Concession, of the repeal of the Personal Liberty
+bills. Repeal them all to-morrow, and you cannot stop this revolution."
+After declaring his belief that "Before the 4th of March, five States
+will have declared their independence" and that "three other States will
+follow as soon as the action of the people can be had;" he proceeded to
+allude to the refusal of Governor Houston of Texas to call together the
+Texas Legislature for action in accord with the Secession sentiment, and
+declared that "if he will not yield to that public sentiment, some Texan
+Brutus will arise to rid his country of this hoary-headed incubus that
+stands between the people and their sovereign will!" Then, sneering at
+the presumed cowardice of the North, he continued: "Men talk about their
+eighteen millions (of Northern population); but we hear a few days
+afterwards of these same men being switched in the face, and they
+tremble like sheep-stealing dogs! There will be no War. The North,
+governed by such far-seeing Statesmen as the Senator (Mr. Seward) from
+New York, will see the futility of this. In less than twelve months, a
+Southern Confederacy will be formed; and it will be the most successful
+Government on Earth. The Southern States, thus banded together, will be
+able to resist any force in the World. We do not expect War; but we
+will be prepared for it&mdash;and we are not a feeble race of Mexicans
+either."</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, there were Republicans in that Body who sturdily met
+the bluster of the Southern Fire-eaters with frank and courageous words
+expressing their full convictions on the situation and their belief that
+Concessions could not be made and that Compromises were mere waste
+paper. Thus, Senator Ben Wade of Ohio, among the bravest and manliest
+of them all, in a speech in the Senate, December 17, the very day on
+which the South Carolina Secession Convention was to assemble, said to
+the Fire-eaters: "I tell you frankly that we did lay down the principle
+in our platform, that we would prohibit, if we had the power, Slavery
+from invading another inch of the Free Soil of this Government. I stand
+to that principle to-day. I have argued it to half a million of people,
+and they stand by it; they have commissioned me to stand by it; and, so
+help me God, I will! * * * On the other hand, our platform repudiates
+the idea that we have any right, or harbor any ultimate intention to
+invade or interfere with your institutions in your own States. * * *
+It is not, by your own confessions, that Mr. Lincoln is expected to
+commit any overt act by which you may be injured. You will not even
+wait for any, you say; but, by anticipating that the Government may do
+you an injury, you will put an end to it&mdash;which means, simply and
+squarely, that you intend to rule or ruin this Government. * * * As to
+Compromises, I supposed that we had agreed that the Day of Compromises
+was at an end. The most solemn we have made have been violated, and are
+no more. * * * We beat you on the plainest and most palpable issue
+ever presented to the American people, and one which every man
+understood; and now, when we come to the Capital, we tell you that our
+candidates must and shall be inaugurated&mdash;must and shall administer this
+Government precisely as the Constitution prescribes. * * * I tell you
+that, with that verdict of the people in my pocket, and standing on the
+platform on which these candidates were elected, I would suffer anything
+before I would Compromise in any way."</p>
+
+<p>In the House of Representatives, on December 10, 1860, a number of
+propositions looking to a peaceful settlement of the threatened danger,
+were offered and referred to the Select Committee of Thirty-three. On
+the following Monday, December 17, by 154 yeas to 14 nays, the House
+adopted a resolution, offered by Mr. Adrian of New Jersey, in these
+words:</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved, That we deprecate the spirit of disobedience to the
+Constitution, wherever manifested; and that we earnestly recommend the
+repeal of all Statutes by the State Legislatures in conflict with, and
+in violation of, that sacred instrument, and the laws of Congress passed
+in pursuance thereof."</p>
+
+<p>On the same day, the House adopted, by 135 yeas to no nays, a resolution
+offered by Mr. Lovejoy of Illinois, in these words:</p>
+
+<p>"Whereas, The Constitution of the United States is the Supreme law of
+the Land, and ready and faithful obedience to it a duty of all good and
+law-abiding citizens; Therefore:</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved, That we deprecate the spirit of disobedience to the
+Constitution, wherever manifested; and that we earnestly recommend the
+repeal of all Nullification laws; and that it is the duty of the
+President of the United States to protect and defend the property of the
+United States."</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [This resolution, before adoption, was modified by declaring it to
+ be the duty of all citizens, whether "good and law abiding" or not,
+ to yield obedience to the Constitution, as will be seen by
+ referring to the proceedings in the Globe of that date, where the
+ following appears:</p>
+
+<p> "Mr. LOGAN. I hope there will be no objection on this side of the
+ House to the introduction of the [Lovejoy] resolution. I can see
+ no difference myself, between this resolution and the one
+ [Adrian's] just passed, except in regard to verbiage. I can find
+ but one objection to the resolution, and that is in the use of the
+ words declaring that all' law abiding' citizens should obey the
+ Constitution. I think that all men should do so.</p>
+
+<p> "Mr. LOVEJOY. I accept the amendment suggested by my Colleague.</p>
+
+<p> "Mr. LOGAN. It certainly should include members of Congress; but
+ if it is allowed to remain all 'good and law abiding' citizens, I
+ do not think it will include them. [Laughter.]</p>
+
+<p> "The resolution was modified by the omission of those words."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>It also adopted, by 115 yeas to 44 nays, a resolution offered by Mr.
+Morris of Illinois, as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved by the House of Representatives: That we properly estimate the
+immense value of our National Union to our collective and individual
+happiness; that we cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment
+to it; that we will speak of it as the palladium of our political safety
+and prosperity; that we will watch its preservation with jealous
+anxiety; that we will discountenance whatever may suggest even a
+suspicion that it can, in any event, be abandoned, and indignantly frown
+upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our
+Country from the rest, or enfeeble the sacred ties which now link
+together the various parts; that we regard it as a main pillar in the
+edifice of our real independence, the support of tranquillity at home,
+our peace abroad, our safety, our prosperity, and that very liberty
+which we so highly prize; that we have seen nothing in the past, nor do
+we see anything in the present, either in the election of Abraham
+Lincoln to the Presidency of the United States, or from any other
+existing cause, to justify its dissolution; that we regard its
+perpetuity as of more value than the temporary triumph of any Party or
+any man; that whatever evils or abuses exist under it ought to be
+corrected within the Union, in a peaceful and Constitutional way; that
+we believe it has sufficient power to redress every wrong and enforce
+every right growing out of its organization, or pertaining to its proper
+functions; and that it is a patriotic duty to stand by it as our hope in
+Peace and our defense in War."</p>
+
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<a name="seward"></a>
+<center>
+<img alt="p128-seward.jpg (74K)" src="images/p128-seward.jpg" height="847" width="590">
+</center>
+<br><br><br>
+<a name="ch7"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<center><h2>
+ CHAPTER VII.<br><br>
+
+ SECESSION ARMING.</h2></center><br>
+
+<p>While Congress was encouraging devotion to the Union, and its Committees
+striving for some mode by which the impending perils might be averted
+without a wholesale surrender of all just principles, the South Carolina
+Convention met (December 17, 1860) at Columbia, and after listening to
+inflammatory addresses by commissioners from the States of Alabama and
+Mississippi, urging immediate and unconditional Secession, unanimously
+and with "tremendous cheering" adopted a resolution: "That it is the
+opinion of the Convention that the State of South Carolina should
+forthwith Secede from the Federal Union, known as the United States of
+America,"&mdash;and then adjourned to meet at Charleston, South Carolina.</p>
+
+<p>The next day, and following days, it met there, at "Secession Hall,"
+listening to stimulating addresses, while a committee of seven worked
+upon the Ordinance of Secession. Among the statements made by orators,
+were several clear admissions that the rebellious Conspiracy had existed
+for very many years, and that Mr. Lincoln's election was simply the
+long-sought-for pretext for Rebellion. Mr. Parker said: "It is no
+spasmodic effort that has come suddenly upon us; it has been gradually
+culminating for a long period of thirty years. At last it has come to
+that point where we may say, the matter is entirely right." Mr. Inglis
+said: "Most of us have had this matter under consideration for the last
+twenty years; and I presume that we have by this time arrived at a
+decision upon the subject." Mr. Keitt said: "I have been engaged in
+this movement ever since I entered political life; * * * we have
+carried the body of this Union to its last resting place, and now we
+will drop the flag over its grave." Mr. Barnwell Rhett said: "The
+Secession of South Carolina is not an event of a day. It is not
+anything produced by Mr. Lincoln's election, or by the non-execution of
+the Fugitive Slave Law. It has been a matter which has been gathering
+head for thirty years." Mr. Gregg said: "If we undertake to set forth
+all the causes, do we not dishonor the memory of all the statesmen of
+South Carolina, now departed, who commenced forty years ago a war
+against the tariff and against internal improvement, saying nothing of
+the United States Bank, and other measures which may now be regarded as
+obsolete."</p>
+
+<p>On the 20th of December, 1860&mdash;the fourth day of the sittings&mdash;the
+Ordinance of Secession was reported by the Committee, and was at once
+unanimously passed, as also was a resolution that "the passage of the
+Ordinance be proclaimed by the firing of artillery and ringing of the
+bells of the city, and such other demonstrations as the people may deem
+appropriate on the passage of the great Act of Deliverance and Liberty;"
+after which the Convention jubilantly adjourned to meet, and ratify,
+that evening. At the evening session of this memorable Convention, the
+Governor and Legislature attending, the famous Ordinance was read as
+engrossed, signed by all the delegates, and, after announcement by the
+President that "the State of South Carolina is now and henceforth a Free
+and Independent Commonwealth;" amid tremendous cheering, the Convention
+adjourned. This, the first Ordinance of Secession passed by any of the
+Revolting States, was in these words:</p>
+
+<p>"An Ordinance to dissolve the Union between the State of South Carolina
+and other States united with her, under the compact entitled the
+'Constitution of the United States of America.'</p>
+
+<p>"We the people of the State of South Carolina in Convention assembled,
+do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, that the
+Ordinance adopted by us in Convention on the 23rd day of May, in the
+year of our Lord 1788, whereby the Constitution of the United States of
+America was ratified, and also all Acts and parts of Acts of the General
+Assembly of this State ratifying the amendments of the said
+Constitution, are hereby repealed; and that the Union now subsisting
+between South Carolina and other States, under the name of the United
+States of America, is hereby dissolved."</p>
+
+<p>Thus, and in these words, was joyously adopted and ratified, that solemn
+Act of Separation which was doomed to draw in its fateful train so many
+other Southern States, in the end only to be blotted out with the blood
+of hundreds of thousands of their own brave sons, and their equally
+courageous Northern brothers.</p>
+
+<p>State after State followed South Carolina in the mad course of Secession
+from the Union. Mississippi passed a Secession Ordinance, January 9,
+1861. Florida followed, January 10th; Alabama, January 11th; Georgia,
+January 18th; Louisiana, January 26th; and Texas, February 1st;
+Arkansas, North Carolina, and Virginia held back until a later period;
+while Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Maryland, and Delaware, abstained
+altogether from taking the fatal step, despite all attempts to bring
+them to it.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, however, South Carolina had put on all the dignity of
+a Sovereign and Independent State. Her Governor had a "cabinet"
+comprising Secretaries of State, War, Treasury, the Interior, and a
+Postmaster General. She had appointed Commissioners, to proceed to the
+other Slave-holding States, through whom a Southern Congress was
+proposed, to meet at Montgomery, Alabama; and had appointed seven
+delegates to meet the delegates from such other States in that proposed
+Southern Congress. On the 21st of December, 1860, three Commissioners
+(Messrs. Barnwell, Adams, and Orr) were also appointed to proceed to
+Washington, and treat for the cession by the United States to South
+Carolina, of all Federal property within the limits of the latter. On
+the 24th, Governor Pickens issued a Proclamation announcing the adoption
+of the Ordinance of Secession, declaring "that the State of South
+Carolina is, as she has a right to be, a separate sovereign, free and
+independent State, and as such, has a right to levy war, conclude peace,
+negotiate treaties, leagues or covenants, and to do all acts whatsoever
+that rightfully appertain to a free and independent State;" the which
+proclamation was announced as "Done in the eighty-fifth year of the
+Sovereignty and Independence of South Carolina." On the same day (the
+Senators from that State in the United States Senate having long since,
+as we have seen, withdrawn from that body) the Representatives of South
+Carolina in the United States House of Representatives withdrew.</p>
+
+<p>Serious dissensions in the Cabinet of President Buchanan, were now
+rapidly disintegrating the "official family" of the President. Lewis
+Cass, the Secretary of State, disgusted with the President's cowardice
+and weakness, and declining to be held responsible for Mr. Buchanan's
+promise not to reinforce the garrisons of the National Forts, under
+Major Anderson, in Charleston harbor, retired from the Cabinet December
+12th&mdash;Howell Cobb having already, "because his duty to Georgia required
+it," resigned the Secretaryship of the Treasury, and left it bankrupt
+and the credit of the Nation almost utterly destroyed.</p>
+
+<p>On the 26th of December, Major Anderson evacuated Fort Moultrie,
+removing all his troops and munitions of war to Fort Sumter&mdash;whereupon a
+cry went up from Charleston that this was in violation of the
+President's promise to take no step looking to hostilities, provided the
+Secessionists committed no overt act of Rebellion, up to the close of
+his fast expiring Administration. On the 29th, John B. Floyd, Secretary
+of War, having failed to secure the consent of the Administration to an
+entire withdrawal of the Federal garrison from the harbor of Charleston,
+also resigned, and the next day&mdash;he having in the meantime escaped in
+safety to Virginia&mdash;was indicted by the Grand Jury at Washington, for
+malfeasance and conspiracy to defraud the Government in the theft of
+$870,000 of Indian Trust Bonds from the Interior Department, and the
+substitution therefor of Floyd's acceptances of worthless
+army-transportation drafts on the Treasury Department.</p>
+
+<p>Jacob Thompson, Secretary of the Interior, also resigned, January 8th,
+1861, on the pretext that "additional troops, he had heard, have been
+ordered to Charleston" in the "Star of the West."&mdash;[McPherson's History
+of the Rebellion, p. 28.]</p>
+
+<p>Several changes were thus necessitated in Mr. Buchanan's cabinet, by
+these and other resignations, so that by the 18th of January, 1861,
+Jeremiah S. Black was Secretary of State; General John A. Dix, Secretary
+of the Treasury; Joseph Holt, Secretary of War; Edwin M. Stanton,
+Attorney General; and Horatio King, Postmaster General. But before
+leaving the Cabinet, the conspiring Southern members of it, and their
+friends, had managed to hamstring the National Government, by scattering
+the Navy in other quarters of the World; by sending the few troops of
+the United States to remote points; by robbing the arsenals in the
+Northern States of arms and munitions of war, so as to abundantly supply
+the Southern States at the critical moment; by bankrupting the Treasury
+and shattering the public credit of the Nation; and by other means no
+less nefarious. Thus swindled, betrayed, and ruined, by its degenerate
+and perfidious sons, the imbecile Administration stood with dejected
+mien and folded hands helplessly awaiting the coming catastrophe.</p>
+
+<p>On December 28th, 1860, the three Commissioners of South Carolina having
+reached Washington, addressed to the President a communication, in
+which&mdash;after reciting their powers and duties, under the Ordinance of
+Secession, and stating that they had hoped to have been ready to proceed
+to negotiate amicably and without "hostile collision," but that "the
+events&mdash;[The removal, to Fort Sumter, of Major Anderson's command, and
+what followed.]&mdash;of the last twenty-four hours render such an assurance
+impossible"&mdash;they declared that the troops must be withdrawn from
+Charleston harbor, as "they are a standing menace which render
+negotiation impossible," threatening speedily to bring the questions
+involved, to "a bloody issue."</p>
+
+<p>To this communication Mr. Buchanan replied at considerable length,
+December 30th, in an apologetic, self-defensive strain, declaring that
+the removal by Major Anderson of the Federal troops under his command,
+from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter was done "upon his own responsibility,
+and without authority," and that he (the President) "had intended to
+command him to return to his former position," but that events had so
+rapidly transpired as to preclude the giving of any such command;</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [The seizure by the Secessionists, under the Palmetto Flag, of
+ Castle Pinckney and Fort Moultrie; the simultaneous raising of that
+ flag over the Federal Custom House and Post Office at Charleston;
+ the resignation of the Federal Collector, Naval Officer and
+ Surveyor of that Port&mdash;all of which occurred December 27th; and the
+ seizure "by force of arms," December 30th, of the United States
+ Arsenal at that point.]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>and concluding, with a very slight stiffening of backbone, by saying:
+"After this information, I have only to add that, whilst it is my duty
+to defend Fort Sumter as a portion of the public property of the United
+States against hostile attacks, from whatever quarter they may come, by
+such means as I may possess for this purpose, I do not perceive how such
+a defense can be construed into a menace against the city of
+Charleston." To this reply of the President, the Commissioners made
+rejoinder on the 1st of January, 1861; but the President "declined to
+receive" the communication.</p>
+
+<p>From this time on, until the end of President Buchanan's term of office,
+and the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln as President, March 4th, 1861,
+events crowded each other so hurriedly, that the flames of Rebellion in
+the South were continually fanned, while the public mind in the North
+was staggered and bewildered, by them.</p>
+
+<p>On January 2nd, prior to the Secession of Georgia, Forts Pulaski and
+Jackson, commanding Savannah, and the Federal Arsenal at Augusta,
+Georgia, with two 12 pound howitzers, two cannon, 22,000 muskets and
+rifles, and ammunition in quantity, were seized by Rebel militia. About
+the same date, although North Carolina had not seceded, her Governor
+(Ellis) seized the Federal Arsenal at Fayetteville, Fort Macon, and
+other fortifications in that State, "to preserve them" from mob-seizure.</p>
+
+<p>January 4th, anticipating Secession, Alabama State troops seized Fort
+Morgan, with 5,000 shot and shell, and Mount Vernon Arsenal at Mobile,
+with 2,000 stand of arms, 150, 000 pounds of powder, some pieces of
+cannon, and a large quantity of other munitions of war. The United
+States Revenue cutter, "Lewis Cass," was also surrendered to Alabama.</p>
+
+<p>On the 5th, the Federal steamer "Star of the West," with reinforcements
+and supplies for Fort Sumter, left New York in the night&mdash;and Secretary
+Jacob Thompson notified the South Carolina Rebels of the fact.</p>
+
+<p>On the 9th, the "Star of the West" appeared off Charleston bar, and
+while steaming toward Fort Sumter, was fired upon by Rebel batteries at
+Fort Moultrie and Morris Island, and struck by a shot, whereupon she
+returned to New York without accomplishing her mission. That day the
+State of Mississippi seceded from the Union.</p>
+
+<p>On the 10th, the Federal storeship "Texas," with Federal guns and
+stores, was seized by Texans. On the same day Florida seceded.</p>
+
+<p>On the 11th, Forts Jackson and St. Philip, commanding the mouth of the
+Mississippi River, and Fort Pike, dominating Lake Pontchartrain, were
+seized by Louisiana troops; also the Federal Arsenal at Baton Rouge,
+with 50,000 small arms, 4 howitzers, 20 heavy pieces of ordnance, 2
+batteries, 300 barrels of powder, and other stores. The State of
+Alabama also seceded the same day.</p>
+
+<p>On the 12th&mdash;Fort Marion, the coast surveying schooner "Dana," the
+Arsenal at St. Augustine, and that on the Chattahoochee, with 500,000
+musket cartridges, 300,000 rifle cartridges and 50,000 pounds of powder,
+having previously been seized&mdash;Forts Barrancas and McRae, and the Navy
+Yard at Pensacola, were taken by Rebel troops of Florida, Alabama and
+Mississippi. On the same day, Colonel Hayne, of South Carolina, arrived
+at Washington as Agent or Commissioner to the National Government from
+Governor Pickens of that State.</p>
+
+<p>On the 14th, the South Carolina Legislature resolved "that any attempt
+by the Federal Government to reinforce Fort Sumter will be regarded as
+an act of open hostility, and a Declaration of War."</p>
+
+<p>On the 16th, Colonel Hayne, of South Carolina, developed his mission,
+which was to demand of the President the surrender of Fort Sumter to the
+South Carolina authorities&mdash;a demand that had already been made upon,
+and refused by, Major Anderson.</p>
+
+<p>The correspondence concerning this demand, between Colonel Hayne and ten
+Southern United States Senators;&mdash;[Senators Wigfall, Hemphill, Yulee,
+Mallory, Jeff. Davis, C. C. Clay, Fitzgerald, Iverson, Slidell, and
+Benjamin.]&mdash;the reply of the President, by Secretary Holt, to those
+Senators; Governor Pickens's review of the same; and the final demand;
+consumed the balance of the month of January; and ended, February 6th,
+in a further reply, through the Secretary of War, from the President,
+asserting the title of the United States to that Fort, and declining the
+demand, as "he has no Constitutional power to cede or surrender it."
+Secretary Holt's letter concluded by saying: "If, with all the
+multiplied proofs which exist of the President's anxiety for Peace, and
+of the earnestness with which he has pursued it, the authorities of that
+State shall assault Fort Sumter, and peril the lives of the handful of
+brave and loyal men shut up within its walls, and thus plunge our Common
+Country into the horrors of Civil War, then upon them and those they
+represent, must rest the responsibility."</p>
+
+<p>But to return from this momentary diversion: On the 18th of January,
+Georgia seceded; and on the 20th, the Federal Fort at Ship Island,
+Mississippi, and the United States Hospital on the Mississippi River
+were seized by Mississippi troops.</p>
+
+<p>On the 26th, Louisiana seceded. On the 28th, Louisiana troops seized
+all the quartermaster's and commissary stores held by Federal officials;
+and the United States Revenue cutter "McClelland" surrendered to the
+Rebels.</p>
+
+<p>On February 1st, the Louisiana Rebels seized the National Mint and
+Custom House at New Orleans, with $599,303 in gold and silver. On the
+same day the State of Texas seceded.</p>
+
+<p>On February 8th, the National Arsenal at Little Rock, Arkansas, with
+9,000 small arms, 40 cannon, and quantities of ammunition, was seized;
+and the same day the Governor of Georgia ordered the National Collector
+of the Port of Savannah to retain all collections and make no further
+payments to the United States Government.*</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p>
+ [It was during this eventful month that, certain United States
+ troops having assembled at the National Capital, and the House of
+ Representatives having asked the reason therefor, reply was made by
+ the Secretary of War as follows:</p>
+
+<p> "WAR DEPARTMENT, February 18, 1861.
+ [Congressional Globe, August 8, 1861, pp. 457,458]
+ "SIR: On the 11th February, the House of Representatives adopted a
+ resolution requesting the President, if not incompatible with the
+ public interests, to communicate 'the reasons that had induced him
+ to assemble so large a number of troops in this city, and why they
+ are kept here; and whether he has any information of a Conspiracy
+ upon the part of any portion of the citizens of this Country to
+ seize upon the Capital and prevent the Inauguration of the
+ President elect.'</p>
+
+<p> "This resolution having been submitted to this Department for
+ consideration and report, I have the honor to state, that the body
+ of troops temporarily transferred to this city is not as large as
+ is assumed by the resolution, though it is a well-appointed corps
+ and admirably adapted for the preservation of the public peace.
+ The reasons which led to their being assembled here will now be
+ briefly stated.</p>
+
+<p> "I shall make no comment upon the origin of the Revolution which,
+ for the last three months, has been in progress in several of the
+ Southern States, nor shall I enumerate the causes which have
+ hastened its advancement or exasperated its temper. The scope of
+ the questions submitted by the House will be sufficiently met by
+ dealing with the facts as they exist, irrespective of the cause
+ from which they have proceeded. That Revolution has been
+ distinguished by a boldness and completeness of success rarely
+ equaled in the history of Civil Commotions. Its overthrow of the
+ Federal authority has not only been sudden and wide-spread, but has
+ been marked by excesses which have alarmed all and been sources of
+ profound humiliation to a large portion of the American People.
+ Its history is a history of surprises and treacheries and ruthless
+ spoliations. The Forts of the United States have been captured and
+ garrisoned, and hostile flags unfurled upon their ramparts. Its
+ arsenals have been seized, and the vast amount of public arms they
+ contained appropriated to the use of the captors; while more than
+ half a million dollars, found in the Mint at New Orleans, has been
+ unscrupulously applied to replenish the coffers of Louisiana.
+ Officers in command of revenue cutters of the United States have
+ been prevailed on to violate their trusts and surrender the
+ property in their charge; and instead of being branded for their
+ crimes, they, and the vessels they betrayed, have been cordially
+ received into the service of the Seceded States. These movements
+ were attended by yet more discouraging indications of immorality.
+ It was generally believed that this Revolution was guided and urged
+ on by men occupying the highest positions in the public service,
+ and who, with the responsibilities of an oath to support the
+ Constitution still resting upon their consciences, did not hesitate
+ secretly to plan and openly to labor for, the dismemberment of the
+ Republic whose honors they enjoyed and upon whose Treasury they
+ were living. As examples of evil are always more potent than those
+ of good, this spectacle of demoralization on the part of States and
+ statesmen could not fail to produce the most deplorable
+ consequences. The discontented and the disloyal everywhere took
+ courage. In other States, adjacent to and supposed to sympathize
+ in sense of political wrong with those referred to, Revolutionary
+ schemes were set on foot, and Forts and arms of the United States
+ seized. The unchecked prevalence of the Revolution, and the
+ intoxication which its triumphs inspired, naturally suggested
+ wilder and yet more desperate enterprises than the conquest of
+ ungarrisoned Forts, or the plunder of an unguarded Mint. At what
+ time the armed occupation of Washington City became a part of the
+ Revolutionary Programme, is not certainly known. More than six
+ weeks ago, the impression had already extensively obtained that a
+ Conspiracy for the accomplishment of this guilty purpose was in
+ process of formation, if not fully matured. The earnest endeavors
+ made by men known to be devoted to the Revolution, to hurry
+ Virginia and Maryland out of the Union, were regarded as
+ preparatory steps for the subjugation of Washington. This plan was
+ in entire harmony with the aim and spirit of those seeking the
+ subversion of the Government, since no more fatal blow at its
+ existence could be struck than the permanent and hostile possession
+ of the seat of its power. It was in harmony, too, with the avowed
+ designs of the Revolutionists, which looked to the formation of a
+ Confederacy of all the Slave States, and necessarily to the
+ Conquest of the Capital within their limits. It seemed not very
+ indistinctly prefigured in a Proclamation made upon the floor of
+ the Senate, without qualification, if not exultingly, that the
+ Union was already dissolved&mdash;a Proclamation which, however
+ intended, was certainly calculated to invite, on the part of men of
+ desperate fortunes or of Revolutionary States, a raid upon the
+ Capital. In view of the violence and turbulent disorders already
+ exhibited in the South, the public mind could not reject such a
+ scheme as at all improbable. That a belief in its existence was
+ entertained by multitudes, there can be no doubt, and this belief I
+ fully shared. My conviction rested not only on the facts already
+ alluded to, but upon information, some of which was of a most
+ conclusive character, that reached the Government from many parts
+ of the Country, not merely expressing the prevalence of the opinion
+ that such an organization had been formed, but also often
+ furnishing the plausible grounds on which the opinion was based.
+ Superadded to these proofs, were the oft-repeated declarations of
+ men in high political positions here, and who were known to have
+ intimate affiliations with the Revolution&mdash;if indeed they did not
+ hold its reins in their hands&mdash;to the effect that Mr. Lincoln would
+ not, or should not be inaugurated at Washington. Such
+ declarations, from such men, could not be treated as empty bluster.
+ They were the solemn utterances of those who well understood the
+ import of their words, and who, in the exultation of the temporary
+ victories gained over their Country's flag in the South, felt
+ assured that events would soon give them the power to verify their
+ predictions. Simultaneously with these prophetic warnings, a
+ Southern journal of large circulation and influence, and which is
+ published near the city of Washington, advocated its seizure as a
+ possible political necessity.</p>
+
+<p> "The nature and power of the testimony thus accumulated may be best
+ estimated by the effect produced upon the popular mind.
+ Apprehensions for the safety of the Capital were communicated from
+ points near and remote, by men unquestionably reliable and loyal.
+ The resident population became disquieted, and the repose of many
+ families in the city was known to be disturbed by painful
+ anxieties. Members of Congress, too&mdash;men of calm and comprehensive
+ views, and of undoubted fidelity to their Country&mdash;frankly
+ expressed their solicitude to the President and to this Department,
+ and formally insisted that the defenses of the Capital should be
+ strengthened. With such warnings, it could not be forgotten that,
+ had the late Secretary of War heeded the anonymous letter which he
+ received, the tragedy at Harper's Ferry would have been avoided;
+ nor could I fail to remember that, had the early admonitions which
+ reached here in regard to the designs of lawless men upon the Forts
+ of Charleston Harbor been acted on by sending forward adequate
+ reinforcements before the Revolution began, the disastrous
+ political complications that ensued might not have occurred.</p>
+
+<p> "Impressed by these circumstances and considerations, I earnestly
+ besought you to allow the concentration, at this city, of a
+ sufficient military force to preserve the public peace from all the
+ dangers that seemed to threaten it. An open manifestation, on the
+ part of the Administration, of a determination, as well as of the
+ ability, to maintain the laws, would, I was convinced, prove the
+ surest, as also the most pacific, means of baffling and dissolving
+ any Conspiracy that might have been organized. It was believed too
+ that the highest and most solemn responsibility resting upon a
+ President withdrawing from the Government, was to secure to his
+ successor a peaceful Inauguration. So deeply, in my judgment, did
+ this duty concern the whole Country and the fair fame of our
+ Institutions, that, to guarantee its faithful discharge, I was
+ persuaded no preparation could be too determined or too complete.
+ The presence of the troops alluded to in the resolution is the
+ result of the conclusion arrived at by yourself and Cabinet, on the
+ proposition submitted to you by this Department. Already this
+ display of life and loyalty on the part of your Administration, has
+ produced the happiest effects. Public confidence has been
+ restored, and the feverish apprehension which it was so mortifying
+ to contemplate has been banished. Whatever may have been the
+ machinations of deluded, lawless men, the execution of their
+ purpose has been suspended, if not altogether abandoned in view of
+ preparations which announce more impressively than words that this
+ Administration is alike able and resolved to transfer in peace, to
+ the President elect, the authority that, under the Constitution,
+ belongs to him. To those, if such there be, who desire the
+ destruction of the Republic, the presence of these troops is
+ necessarily offensive; but those who sincerely love our
+ Institutions cannot fail to rejoice that, by this timely precaution
+ they have possibly escaped the deep dishonor which they must have
+ suffered had the Capital, like the Forts and Arsenals of the South,
+ fallen into the hands of the Revolutionists, who have found this
+ great Government weak only because, in the exhaustless beneficence
+ of its spirit, it has refused to strike, even in its own defense,
+ lest it should wound the aggressor.</p>
+
+<p> "I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,</p>
+
+<p> "J. HOLT.
+ "Secretary of War,</p>
+
+<p> "THE PRESIDENT."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>
+On February 20th, Forts Chadbourne and Belknap were seized by the Texan
+Rebels; and on the 22nd, the Federal General Twiggs basely surrendered
+to them all the fortifications under his control, his little Army, and
+all the Government stores in his possession&mdash;comprising $55,000 in
+specie, 35,000 stand of arms, 26 pieces of mounted artillery, 44
+dismounted guns, and ammunition, horses, wagons, forage, etc., valued at
+nearly $2,000,000.</p>
+
+<p>On the 2nd of March, the Texan Rebels seized the United States Revenue
+cutter "Dodge" at Galveston; and on the 6th, Fort Brown was surrendered
+to them.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, with surrender after surrender, and seizure after
+seizure, of its revenue vessels and fortifications and troops and arms
+and munitions of war in the Southern States&mdash;with Fort Sumter invested
+and at the mercy of any attack, and Fortress Monroe alone of all the
+National strongholds yet safe&mdash;with State after State seceding&mdash;what
+wonder that, while these events gave all encouragement to the Southern
+Rebels, the Patriots of the North stood aghast at the appalling
+spectacle of a crumbling and dissolving Union!</p>
+
+<p>During this period of National peril, the debates in both branches of
+Congress upon propositions for adjustment of the unfortunate differences
+between the Southern Seceders and the Union, as has been already hinted,
+contributed still further to agitate the public mind. Speech after
+speech by the ablest and most brilliant Americans in public life, for or
+against such propositions, and discussing the rightfulness or
+wrongfulness of Secession, were made in Congress day after day, and, by
+means of the telegraph and the press, alternately swayed the Northern
+heart with feelings of hope, chagrin, elation or despair.</p>
+
+<p>The Great Debate was opened in the Senate on almost the very first day
+of its session (December 4th, 1860), by Mr. Clingman, of North Carolina,
+who, referring to South Carolina, declared that "Instead of being
+precipitate, she and the whole South have been wonderfully patient." A
+portion of that speech is interesting even at this time, as showing how
+certain phases of the Tariff and Internal Improvement questions entered
+into the consideration of some of the Southern Secession leaders. Said
+he, "I know there are intimations that suffering will fall upon us of
+the South, if we secede. My people are not terrified by any such
+considerations. * * * They have no fears of the future if driven to
+rely on themselves. The Southern States have more territory than all
+the Colonies had when they Seceded from Great Britain, and a better
+territory. Taking its position, climate, and fertility into
+consideration, there is not upon Earth a body of territory superior to
+it. * * * The Southern States have, too, at this day, four times the
+population the Colonies had when they Seceded from Great Britain. Their
+exports to the North and to Foreign Countries were, last year, more than
+$300,000,000; and a duty of ten per cent. upon the same amount of
+imports would give $30,000,000 of revenue&mdash;twice as much as General
+Jackson's administration spent in its first year. Everybody can see,
+too, how the bringing in of $300,000,000 of imports into Southern ports
+would enliven business in our seaboard towns. I have seen with some
+satisfaction, also, Mr. President, that the war made upon us has
+benefitted certain branches of industry in my State. There are
+manufacturing establishments in North Carolina, the proprietors of which
+tell me that they are making fifty per cent. annually on their whole
+capital, and yet cannot supply one tenth of the demand for their
+production. The result of only ten per cent. duties in excluding
+products from abroad, would give life and impetus to mechanical and
+manufacturing industry, throughout the entire South. Our people
+understand these things, and they are not afraid of results, if forced
+to declare Independence. Indeed I do not see why Northern Republicans
+should wish to continue a connection with us upon any terms. * * *
+They want High Tariff likewise. They may put on five hundred per cent.
+if they choose, upon their own imports, and nobody on our side will
+complain. They may spend all the money they raise on railroads, or
+opening harbors, or anything on earth they desire, without interference
+from us; and it does seem to me that if they are sincere in their views
+they ought to welcome a separation."</p>
+
+<p>From the very commencement of this long three-months debate, it was the
+policy of the Southern leaders to make it appear that the Southern
+States were in an attitude of injured innocence and defensiveness
+against Northern aggression. Hence, it was that, as early as December
+5th, on the floor of the Senate, through Mr. Brown, of Mississippi, they
+declared: "All we ask is to be allowed to depart in Peace. Submit we
+will not; and if, because we will not submit to your domination, you
+choose to make War upon us, let God defend the Right!"</p>
+
+<p>At the same time it was esteemed necessary to try and frighten the North
+into acquiescence with this demand to be "let alone." Hence such
+utterances as those of Clingman and Iverson, to which reference has
+already been made, and the especially defiant close of the latter's
+speech, when&mdash;replying to the temperate but firm Union utterances of Mr.
+Hale&mdash;the Georgia Senator said: "Sir, I do not believe there will be any
+War; but if War is to come, let it come; we will meet the Senator from
+New Hampshire and all the myrmidons of Abolitionism and Black
+Republicanism everywhere upon our own soil; and, in the language of a
+distinguished member from Ohio in relation to the Mexican War, we will
+'welcome you with bloody hands to hospitable graves.'"</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, in order to encourage the revolting States to the
+speedy commission of overt acts of Rebellion and violence, that would
+precipitate War without a peradventure, utterances fell from Southern
+lips, in the National Senate Chamber, like those of Mr. Wigfall, when he
+said, during this first day of the debate: "Frederick the Great, on one
+occasion, when he had trumped up an old title to some of the adjacent
+territory, quietly put himself in possession and then offered to treat.
+Were I a South Carolinian, as I am a Texan, and I knew that my State was
+going out of the Union, and that this Government would attempt to use
+force, I would, at the first moment that that fact became manifest,
+seize upon the Forts and the arms and the munitions of war, and raise
+the cry 'To your tents, O Israel, and to the God of battles be this
+issue!"</p>
+
+<p>And, as we have already seen, the Rebels of the South were not slow in
+following the baleful advice to the letter. But it was not many days
+after this utterance when the Conspirators against the Union evidently
+began to fear that the ground for Rebellion, upon which they had planted
+themselves, would be taken from under their feet by the impulse of
+Compromise and Concession which stirred so strongly the fraternal spirit
+of the North. That peaceful impulse must be checked and exasperated by
+sneers and impossible demands. Hence, on December 12th we find one of
+the most active and favorite mouthpieces of Treason, Mr. Wigfall,
+putting forth such demands, in his most offensive manner.</p>
+
+<p>Said he: "If the two Senators from New York (Seward and King), the
+Senator from Ohio (Wade), the two Senators from Illinois (Douglas and
+Trumbull), the Senator from New Hampshire (Hale), the Senator from
+Maine, and others who are regarded as representative men, who have
+denied that by the Constitution of the United States, Slaves are
+recognized as Property; who have urged and advocated those acts which we
+regard as aggressive on the part of the People&mdash;if they will rise here,
+and say in their places, that they desire to propose amendments to the
+Constitution, and beg that we will vote for them; that they will, in
+good faith, go to their respective constituencies and urge the
+ratification; that they believe, if these Gulf States will suspend their
+action, that those amendments will be ratified and carried out in good
+faith; that they will cease preaching this 'irrepressible conflict'; and
+if, in those amendments, it is declared that Slaves are Property, that
+they shall be delivered up upon demand; and that they will assure us
+that Abolition societies shall be abolished; that Abolition speeches
+shall no longer be made; that we shall have peace and quiet; that we
+shall not be called cut-throats and pirates and murderers; that our
+women shall not be slandered&mdash;these things being said in good faith, the
+Senators begging that we will stay our hand until an honest effort can
+be made, I believe that there is a prospect of giving them a fair
+consideration!"</p>
+
+<p>Small wonder is it, that this labored and ridiculous piece of
+impertinence was received with ironical laughter on the Republican side
+of the Senate Chamber. And it was in reference to these threats, and
+these preposterous demands&mdash;including the suppression of the right of
+Free Discussion and Liberty of the Press&mdash;that, in the same chamber
+(January 7, 1861) the gallant and eloquent Baker said:</p>
+
+<p>"Your Fathers had fought for that right, and more than that, they had
+declared that the violation of that right was one of the great causes
+which impelled them to the Separation. * * * Sir, the Liberty of the
+Press is the highest safeguard to all Free Government. Ours could not
+exist without it. It is with us, nay, with all men, like a great
+exulting and abounding river, It is fed by the dews of Heaven, which
+distil their sweetest drops to form it. It gushes from the rill, as it
+breaks from the deep caverns of the Earth. It is fed by a thousand
+affluents, that dash from the mountaintop to separate again into a
+thousand bounteous and irrigating rills around. On its broad bosom it
+bears a thousand barks. There, Genius spreads its purpling sail.
+There, Poetry dips its silver oar. There, Art, Invention, Discovery,
+Science, Morality, Religion, may safely and securely float. It wanders
+through every land. It is a genial, cordial source of thought and
+inspiration, wherever it touches, whatever it surrounds. Sir, upon its
+borders, there grows every flower of Grace and every fruit of Truth. I
+am not here to deny that that Stream sometimes becomes a dangerous
+Torrent, and destroys towns and cities upon its bank; but I am here to
+say that without it, Civilization, Humanity, Government, all that makes
+Society itself, would disappear, and the World would return to its
+ancient Barbarism.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir, if that were to be possible, or so thought for a moment, the fine
+conception of the great Poet would be realized. If that were to be
+possible, though but for a moment, Civilization itself would roll the
+wheels of its car backward for two thousand years. Sir, if that were
+so, it would be true that:</p>
+
+<center>
+<table summary="">
+<tr><td>
+
+ 'As one by one in dread Medea's train,<br />
+ Star after Star fades off th' ethereal plain,<br />
+ Thus at her fell approach and secret might,<br />
+ Art after art goes out, and all is night.<br />
+ Philosophy, that leaned on Heaven before,<br />
+ Sinks to her second cause, and is no more.<br />
+ Religion, blushing, veils her sacred fires,<br />
+ And, unawares, Morality expires.'<br />
+
+
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+
+<p>"Sir, we will not risk these consequences, even for Slavery; we will not
+risk these consequences even for Union; we will not risk these
+consequences to avoid that Civil War with which you threaten us; that
+War which, you announce so deadly, and which you declare to be
+inevitable. * * * I will never yield to the idea that the great
+Government of this Country shall protect Slavery in any Territory now
+ours, or hereafter to be acquired. It is, in my opinion, a great
+principle of Free Government, not, to be surrendered.</p>
+
+<p>"It is in my judgment, the object of the great battle which we have
+fought, and which we have won. It is, in my poor opinion, the point
+upon which there is concord and agreement between the great masses of
+the North, who may agree in no other political opinion whatever. Be he
+Republican, or Democrat, or Douglas man, or Lincoln man; be he from the
+North, or the West, from Oregon, or from Maine, in my judgment
+nine-tenths of the entire population of the North and West are devoted, in
+the very depths of their hearts, to the great Constitutional idea that
+Freedom is the rule, that Slavery is the exception, that it ought not to
+be extended by virtue of the powers of the Government of the United
+States; and, come weal, come woe, it never shall be.</p>
+
+<p>"But, sir, I add one other thing. When you talk to me about Compromise
+or Concession, I am not sure that I always understand you. Do you mean
+that I am to give up my convictions of right? Armies cannot compel that
+in the breast of a Free People. Do you mean that I am to concede the
+benefits of the political struggle through which we have passed,
+considered politically, only? You are too just and too generous to ask
+that. Do you mean that we are to deny the great principle upon which
+our political action has been based? You know we cannot. But if you
+mean by Compromise and Concession to ask us to see whether we have not
+been hasty, angry, passionate, excited, and in many respects violated
+your feelings, your character, your right of property, we will look;
+and, as I said yesterday, if we have, we will undo it. Allow me to say
+again, if there be any lawyer or any Court that will advise us that our
+laws are unconstitutional, we will repeal them.</p>
+
+<p>"Now as to territory. I will not yield one inch to Secession; but there
+are things that I will yield, and there are things to which I will
+yield. It is somewhere told that when Harold of England received a
+messenger from a brother with whom he was at variance, to inquire on
+what terms reconciliation and peace could be effected between brothers,
+he replied in a gallant and generous spirit in a few words, 'the terms
+I offer are the affection of a brother; and the Earldom of
+Northumberland.' And, said the Envoy, as he marched up the Hall amid
+the warriors that graced the state of the King, 'if Tosti, thy brother,
+agree to this, what terms will you allow to his ally and friend,
+Hadrada, the giant.' 'We will allow,' said Harold, 'to Hadrada, the
+giant, seven feet of English ground, and if he be, as they say, a giant,
+some few inches more!' and, as he spake, the Hall rang with acclamation.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir, in that spirit I speak. I follow, at a humble distance, the ideas
+and the words of Clay, illustrious, to be venerated, and honored, and
+remembered, forever. * * * He said&mdash;I say: that I will yield no inch,
+no word, to the threat of Secession, unconstitutional, revolutionary,
+dangerous, unwise, at variance with the heart and the hope of all
+mankind save themselves. To that I yield nothing; but if States loyal
+to the Constitution, if people magnanimous and just, desiring a return
+of fraternal feeling, shall come to us and ask for Peace, for permanent,
+enduring peace and affection, and say, 'What will you grant? I say to
+them, 'Ask all that a gentleman ought to propose, and I will yield all
+that a gentleman ought to offer.' Nay, more: if you are galled because
+we claim the right to prohibit Slavery in territory now Free, or in any
+Territory which acknowledges our jurisdiction, we will evade&mdash;I speak
+but for myself&mdash;I will aid in evading that question; I will agree to
+make it all States, and let the People decide at once. I will agree to
+place them in that condition where the prohibition of Slavery will never
+be necessary to justify ourselves to our consciences or to our
+constituents. I will agree to anything which is not to force upon me
+the necessity of protecting Slavery in the name of Freedom. To that I
+never can and never will yield."</p>
+
+<p>The speeches of Seward, of Douglas, of Crittenden, of Andrew Johnson, of
+Baker, and others, in behalf of the Union, and those of Benjamin, Davis,
+Wigfall, Lane, and others, in behalf of Secession, did much toward
+fixing the responsibility for the approaching bloody conflict where it
+belonged. The speeches of Andrew Johnson of Tennessee&mdash;who, if he at a
+subsequent period of the Nation's history, proved himself not the
+worthiest son of the Republic, at this critical time, at all events, did
+grand service in the National Senate&mdash;especially had great and good
+effect on the public mind in the Northern and Border States. They were,
+therefore, gall and wormwood to the Secession leaders, who hoped to drag
+the Border States into the great Southern Confederacy of States already
+in process of formation.</p>
+
+<p>Their irritation was shown in threats of personal violence to Mr.
+Johnson, as when Wigfall&mdash;replying February 7th, 1861, to the latter's
+speech, said, "Now if the Senator wishes to denounce Secession and
+Nullification eo nomine, let him go back and denounce Jefferson; let him
+denounce Jackson, if he dare, and go back and look that Tennessee
+Democracy in the face, and see whether they will content themselves with
+riddling his effigy!"</p>
+
+<p>It would seem also, from another part of Wigfall's reply, that the
+speeches of Union Senators had been so effective that a necessity was
+felt on the part of the Southern Conspirators to still further attempt
+to justify Secession by shifting the blame to Northern shoulders, for,
+while referring to the Presidential canvass of 1860&mdash;and the attitude of
+the Southern Secession leaders during that exciting period&mdash;he said:
+"We (Breckinridge-Democrats) gave notice, both North and South, that if
+Abraham Lincoln was elected, this Union was dissolved. I never made a
+speech during the canvass without asserting that fact. * * * Then, I
+say, that our purpose was not to dissolve the Union; but the dire
+necessity has been put upon us. The question is, whether we shall live
+longer in a Union in which a Party, hostile to us in every respect, has
+the power in Congress, in the Executive department, and in the Electoral
+Colleges&mdash;a Party who will have the power even in the Judiciary. We
+think it is not safe. We say that each State has the clear indisputable
+right to withdraw if she sees fit; and six of the States have already
+withdrawn, and one other State is upon the eve of withdrawing, if she
+has not already done so. How far this will spread no man can tell!"</p>
+
+<p>As tending to show the peculiar mixture of brag, cajolery, and threats,
+involved in the attitude of the South, as expressed by the same favorite
+Southern mouthpiece, toward the Border-States on the one hand, and the
+Middle and New England States on the other, a further extract from this
+(February 7th) speech of the Texan Senator may be of interest. Said he:</p>
+
+<p>"With exports to the amount of hundreds of millions of dollars, our
+imports must be the same. With a lighter Tariff than any people ever
+undertook to live under, we could have larger revenue. We would be able
+to stand Direct Taxation to a greater extent than any people ever could
+before, since the creation of the World. We feel perfectly competent to
+meet all issues that may be presented, either by hostility from abroad
+or treason at home. So far as the Border-States are concerned, it is a
+matter that concerns them alone. Should they confederate with us,
+beyond all doubt New England machinery will be worked with the water
+power of Tennessee, of Kentucky, of Virginia and of Maryland; the Tariff
+laws that now give New England the monopoly in the thirty-three States,
+will give to these Border States a monopoly in the Slave-holding States.
+Should the non-Slave-holding States choose to side against us in
+organizing their Governments, and cling to their New England brethren,
+the only result will be, that the meat, the horses, the hemp, and the
+grain, which we now buy in Pennsylvania, in Ohio, in Indiana and
+Illinois, will be purchased in Kentucky and in Western Virginia and in
+Missouri. Should Pennsylvania stand out, the only result will be, that
+the iron which is now dug in Pennsylvania, will be dug in the mountains
+of Tennessee and of Virginia and of Kentucky and of North Carolina.
+These things we know.</p>
+
+<p>"We feel no anxiety at all, so far as money or men are concerned. We
+desire War with nobody; we intend to make no War; but we intend to live
+under just such a Government as we see fit. Six States have left this
+Union, and others are going to leave it simply because they choose to do
+it; that is all. We do not ask your consent; we do not wish it. We
+have revoked our ratification of the Treaty commonly known as the
+Constitution of the United States; a treaty for common defense and
+general welfare; and we shall be perfectly willing to enter into another
+Treaty with you, of peace and amity. Reject the olive branch and offer
+us the sword, and we accept it; we have not the slightest objection.
+Upon that subject we feel as the great William Lowndes felt upon another
+important subject, the Presidency, which he said was neither to be
+sought nor declined. When you invade our soil, look to your own
+borders. You say that you have too many people, too many towns, too
+dense a population, for us to invade you. I say to you Senators, that
+there is nothing that ever stops the march of an invading force, except
+a desert. The more populous a country, the more easy it is to subsist
+an army."</p>
+
+<p>After declaring that&mdash;"Not only are our non-Slaveholders loyal, but even
+our Negroes are. We have no apprehensions whatever of insurrection&mdash;not
+the slightest. We can arm our negroes, and leave them at home, when we
+are temporarily absent"&mdash;Mr. Wigfall proceeded to say: "We may as well
+talk plainly about this matter. This is probably the last time I shall
+have an opportunity of addressing you. There is another thing that an
+invading army cannot do. It cannot burn up plantations. You can pull
+down fences, but the Negroes will put them up the next morning. The
+worst fuel that ever a man undertook to make fire with, is dirt; it will
+not burn. Now I have told you what an invading army cannot do. Suppose
+I reverse the picture and tell you what it can do. An invading army in
+an enemy's country, where there is a dense population, can subsist
+itself at a very little cost; it does not always pay for what it gets.
+An invading army can burn down towns; an invading army can burn down
+manufactories; and it can starve operatives. It can do all these
+things. But an Invading army, and an army to defend a Country, both
+require a military chest. You may bankrupt every man south of North
+Carolina, so that his credit is reduced to such a point that he could
+not discount a note for thirty dollars, at thirty days; but the next
+autumn those Cotton States will have just as much money and as much
+credit as they had before. They pick money off the cotton plant. Every
+time that a Negro touches a cotton-pod with his hand, he pulls a piece
+of silver out of it, and he drops it into the basket in which it is
+carried to the gin-house. It is carried to the packing screw. A bale
+of cotton rolls out&mdash;in other words, five ten-dollar pieces roll
+out&mdash;covered with canvas. We shall never again make less than five million
+bales of cotton. * * * We can produce five million bales of cotton,
+every bale worth fifty dollars, which is the lowest market price it has
+been for years past. We shall import a bale of something else, for
+every bale of cotton that we export, and that bale will be worth fifty
+dollars. We shall find no difficulty under a War-Tariff in raising an
+abundance of money. We have been at Peace for a very long time, We are
+very prosperous. Our planters use their cotton, not to buy the
+necessaries of life, but for the superfluities, which they can do
+without. The States themselves have a mine of wealth in the loyalty and
+the wealth of their citizens. Georgia, Mississippi, any one of those
+States can issue its six per cent. bonds tomorrow, and receive cotton in
+payment to the extent almost of the entire crop. They can first borrow
+from their own citizens; they can tax them to an almost unlimited
+extent; and they can raise revenue from a Tariff to an almost unlimited
+extent.</p>
+
+<p>"How will it be with New England? where will their revenue come from?
+From your Custom-houses? what do you export? You have been telling us
+here for the last quarter of a century, that you cannot manufacture,
+even for the home market, under the Tariffs which we have given you.
+When this Tariff ceases to operate in your favor, and you have to pay
+for coming into our markets, what will you export? When your machinery
+ceases to move, and your operatives are turned out, will you tax your
+broken capitalist or your starving operative? When the navigation laws
+cease to operate, what will become of your shipping interest? You are
+going to blockade our ports, you say. That is a very innocent game; and
+you suppose we shall sit quietly down and submit to a blockade. I speak
+not of foreign interference, for we look not for it. We are just as
+competent to take Queen Victoria and Louis Napoleon under our
+protection, as they are to take us; and they are a great deal more
+interested to-day in receiving cotton from our ports than we are in
+shipping it. You may lock up every bale of cotton within the limits of
+the eight Cotton States, and not allow us to export one for three years,
+and we shall not feel it further than our military resources are
+concerned. Exhaust the supply of cotton in Europe for one week, and all
+Europe is in revolution.</p>
+
+<p>"These are facts. You will blockade us! Do you suppose we shall do
+nothing, even upon the sea? How many letters of marque and reprisal
+would it take to put the whole of your ships up at your wharves to rot?
+Will any merchant at Havre, or Liverpool, or any other portion of the
+habitable globe, ship a cargo upon a New England, or New York, or
+Philadelphia clipper, or other ship, when he knows that the seas are
+swarming with letters of marque and reprisal? Why the mere apprehension
+of such a thing will cut you out of the Carrying Trade of the civilized
+World. * * * I speak not of the absurdity of the position that you can
+blockade our ports, admitting at the same time that we are in the Union.
+Blockade is a remedy, as all writers on International law say, against a
+Foreign Power with whom you are at War. You cannot use a blockade
+against your own people. An embargo even, you cannot use. That is a
+remedy against a Foreign Nation with whom you expect to be at War. You
+must treat us as in the Union, or out of it. We have gone out. We are
+willing to live at peace with you; but, as sure as fate, whenever any
+flag comes into one of our ports, that has thirty-three stars upon it,
+that flag will be fired at. Displaying a flag with stars which we have
+plucked from that bright galaxy, is an insult to the State within whose
+waters that flag is displayed. You cannot enforce the laws without
+Coercion, and you cannot Coerce without War.</p>
+
+<p>"These matters, then, can be settled. How? By withdrawing your troops;
+admitting our right to Self-government clearly, unqualifiedly. Do this,
+and there is no difficulty about it. You say that you will not do it.
+Very well; we have no objection&mdash;none whatever. That is Coercion. When
+you have attempted it, you will find that you have made War. These,
+Senators, are facts. I come here to plead for Peace; but I have seen so
+much and felt so much, that I am becoming at last, to tell the plain
+truth of the matter, rather indifferent as to which way the thing turns.
+If you want War, you can have it. If you want Peace, you can get it;
+but I plead not for Peace."</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the Seceding States of the South were strengthening their
+attitude by Confederation. On February 4, 1861, the Convention of
+Seceding States, called by the South Carolina Convention at the time of
+her Secession, met, in pursuance of that call, at Montgomery, Alabama,
+and on the 9th adopted a Provisional Constitution and organized a
+Provisional Government by the election of Jefferson Davis of
+Mississippi, as President, and Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia, as
+Vice-President; to serve until a Presidential election could be held by
+the people of the Confederacy.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [At a later day, March 11, 1861, a permanent Constitution for the
+ "Confederate States" was adopted, and, in the Fall of the same
+ year, Messrs. Davis and Stephens were elected by popular vote, for
+ the term of six years ensuing, as President and Vice-President,
+ respectively, of the Confederacy.]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>Mr. Davis almost at once left Jackson, Mississippi, for Montgomery,
+where he arrived and delivered his Inaugural, February 17, having
+received on his road thither a succession of ovations from the
+enthusiastic Rebels, to which he had responded with no less than
+twenty-five speeches, very similar in tone to those made in the United States
+Senate by Mr. Wigfall and others of that ilk&mdash;breathing at once defiance
+and hopefulness, while admitting the difficulties in the way of the new
+Confederacy.</p>
+
+<p>"It may be," said he, at Jackson, "that we will be confronted by War;
+that the attempt will be made to blockade our ports, to starve us out;
+but they (the Union men of the North) know little of the Southern heart,
+of Southern endurance. No amount of privation could force us to remain
+in a Union on unequal terms. England and France would not allow our
+great staple to be dammed up within our present limits; the starving
+thousands in their midst would not allow it. We have nothing to
+apprehend from Blockade. But if they attempt invasion by land, we must
+take the War out of our territory. If War must come, it must be upon
+Northern, and not upon Southern soil. In the meantime, if they were
+prepared to grant us Peace, to recognize our equality, all is well."</p>
+
+<p>And, in his speech at Stevenson, Alabama, said he "Your Border States
+will gladly come into the Southern Confederacy within sixty days, as we
+will be their only friends. England will recognize us, and a glorious
+future is before us. The grass will grow in the Northern cities, where
+the pavements have been worn off by the tread of Commerce. We will
+carry War where it is easy to advance&mdash;where food for the sword and
+torch await our Armies in the densely populated cities; and though they
+may come and spoil our crops, we can raise them as before; while they
+cannot rear the cities which took years of industry and millions of
+money to build."</p>
+
+<p>Very different in tone to these, were the kindly and sensible utterances
+of Mr. Lincoln on his journey from Springfield to Washington, about the
+same time, for Inauguration as President of the United States. Leaving
+Springfield, Illinois, February 11th, he had pathetically said:</p>
+
+<p>"My friends: No one, not in my position, can realize the sadness I feel
+at this parting. To this people I owe all that I am. Here I have lived
+more than a quarter of a century. Here my children were born, and here
+one of them lies buried. I know not how soon I shall see you again. I
+go to assume a task more difficult than that which has devolved upon any
+other man since the days of Washington. He never would have succeeded
+except for the aid of Divine Providence, upon which he at all times
+relied. I feel that I cannot succeed without the same Divine blessing
+which sustained him; and on the same Almighty Being I place my reliance
+for support. And I hope you, my friends, will all pray that I may
+receive that Divine assistance, without which I cannot succeed, but with
+which success is certain. Again I bid you an affectionate farewell."</p>
+
+<p>At Indianapolis, that evening, the eve of his birthday anniversary,
+after thanking the assembled thousands for their "magnificent welcome,"
+and defining the words "Coercion" and "Invasion"&mdash;at that time so
+loosely used&mdash;he continued: "But if the United States should merely hold
+and retake her own Forts and other property, and collect the duties on
+foreign importation, or even withhold the mails from places where they
+were habitually violated, would any or all of these things be 'Invasion'
+or 'Coercion'? Do our professed lovers of the Union, who spitefully
+resolve that they will resist Coercion and Invasion, understand that
+such things as these on the part of the United States would be
+'Coercion' or 'Invasion' of a State? If so, their idea of means to
+preserve the object of their great affection would seem to be
+exceedingly thin and airy."</p>
+
+<p>At Columbus, Ohio, he spoke in a like calm, conservative, reasoning way
+&mdash;with the evident purpose of throwing oil on the troubled waters&mdash;when
+he said: "I have not maintained silence from any want of real anxiety.
+It is a good thing that there is no more than anxiety; for there is
+nothing going wrong. It is a consoling circumstance that, when we look
+out, there is nothing that really hurts anybody. We entertain different
+views upon political questions; but nobody is suffering anything. This
+is a consoling circumstance; and from it we may conclude that all we
+want is time, patience, and a reliance on that God who has never
+forsaken this People."</p>
+
+<p>So, too, at Pittsburg, Pa., February 15th, he said, of "our friends," as
+he termed them, the Secessionists: "Take even their own views of the
+questions involved, and there is nothing to justify the course they are
+pursuing. I repeat, then, there is no crisis, except such an one as may
+be gotten up at any time by turbulent men, aided by designing
+politicians. My advice to them, under the circumstances, is to keep
+cool. If the great American People only keep their temper both sides of
+the line, the trouble will come to an end, and the question which now
+distracts the Country be settled, just as surely as all other
+difficulties, of a like character, which have been originated in this
+Government, have been adjusted. Let the people on both sides keep their
+self-possession, and, just as other clouds have cleared away in due
+time, so will this great Nation continue to prosper as heretofore."</p>
+
+<p>And toward the end of that journey, on the 22nd of
+February&mdash;Washington's Birthday&mdash;in the Independence Hall at Philadelphia, after
+eloquently affirming his belief that "the great principle or idea that
+kept this Confederacy so long together was * * * that sentiment in the
+Declaration of Independence which gave Liberty not alone to the People
+of this Country, but" he hoped "to the World, for all future time * * *
+which gave promise that, in due time, the weight would be lifted from
+the shoulders of all men"&mdash;he added, in the same firm, yet temperate and
+reassuring vein: "Now, my friends, can this Country be saved on that
+basis? If it can, I will consider myself one of the happiest men in the
+world, if I can help to save it. If it cannot be saved on that basis,
+it will be truly awful. But, if this Country cannot be saved without
+giving up that principle, I was about to say I would rather be
+assassinated on this spot than surrender it. Now in my view of the
+present aspect of affairs, there need be no bloodshed or War. There is
+no necessity for it. I am not in favor of such a course; and I may say,
+in advance, that there will be no bloodshed, unless it be forced upon
+the Government, and then it will be compelled to act in self-defense. *
+* * I have said nothing but what I am willing to live by, and, if it be
+the pleasure of Almighty God, to die by."</p>
+
+<p>Thus, as he progressed on that memorable journey from his home in
+Illinois, through Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Columbus, Pittsburgh,
+Cleveland, Erie, Buffalo, Albany, New York, Trenton, Newark,
+Philadelphia, and Harrisburg&mdash;amid the prayers and blessings and
+acclamations of an enthusiastic and patriotic people&mdash;he uttered words
+of wise conciliation and firm moderation such as beseemed the high
+functions and tremendous responsibilities to which the voice of that
+liberty&mdash;and union-loving people had called him, and this too, with a
+full knowledge, when he made the Philadelphia speech, that the enemies
+of the Republic had already planned to assassinate him before he could
+reach Washington.</p>
+
+<p>The prudence of his immediate friends, fortunately defeated the
+murderous purpose&mdash;and by the simple device of taking the regular night
+express from Philadelphia instead of a special train next day&mdash;to
+Washington, he reached the National Capital without molestation early on
+the morning of the 23rd of February.</p>
+
+<p>That morning, after Mr. Lincoln's arrival, in company with Mr. Lovejoy,
+the writer visited him at Willard's Hotel. During the interview both
+urged him to "Go right along, protect the property of the Country, and
+put down the Rebellion, no matter at what cost in men and money." He
+listened with grave attention, and said little, but very clearly
+indicated his approval of all the sentiments thus expressed&mdash;and then,
+with the same firm and manly and cheerful faith in the outcome, he
+added: "As the Country has placed me at the helm of the Ship, I'll try
+to steer her through."</p>
+
+<p>The spirit in which he proposed to accomplish this superhuman task, was
+shown when he told the Southern people through the Civic authorities of
+Washington on the 27th of February&mdash;When the latter called upon
+him&mdash;that he had no desire or intention to interfere with any of their
+Constitutional rights&mdash;that they should have all their rights under the
+Constitution, "not grudgingly, but fully and fairly." And what was the
+response of the South to this generous and conciliatory message?
+Personal sneers&mdash;imputations of Northern cowardice&mdash;boasts of Southern
+prowess&mdash;scornful rejection of all compromise&mdash;and an insolent challenge
+to the bloody issue of arms!</p>
+
+<p>Said Mr. Wigfall, in the United States Senate, on March 2d, alluding to
+Mr. Lincoln, "I do not think that a man who disguises himself in a
+soldier's cloak and a Scotch cap (a more thorough disguise could not be
+assumed by such a man) and makes his entry between day and day, into the
+Capital of the Country that he is to govern&mdash;I hardly think that he is
+going to look War sternly in the face.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [Had Mr. Wigfall been able at this time to look four years into the
+ future and behold the downfall of the Southern Rebellion, the
+ flight of its Chieftains, and the capture of Jefferson Davis while
+ endeavoring to escape, with his body enclosed in a wrapper and a
+ woman's shawl over his head, as stated by Lieutenant-Colonel Stuart
+ of Jefferson Davis's Staff, p. 756, vol. ii., Greeley's American
+ Conflict&mdash;he would hardly have retailed this slander.]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>"I look for nothing else than that the Commissioners from the
+Confederated States will be received here and recognized by Abraham
+Lincoln. I will now predict that this Republican Party that is going to
+enforce the Laws, preserve the Union, and collect Revenue, will never
+attempt anything so silly; and that instead of taking Forts, the troops
+will be withdrawn from those which we now have. See if this does not
+turn out to be so, in less than a week or ten days."</p>
+
+<p>In the same insulting diatribe, he said: "It is very easy for men to
+bluster who know there is going to be no danger. Four or five million
+people living in a territory that extends from North Carolina down to
+the Rio Grande, who have exports to above three hundred million dollars,
+whose ports cannot be blockaded, but who can issue letters of marque and
+reprisal, and sweep your commerce from the seas, and who will do it, are
+not going to be trifled with by that sensible Yankee nation. Mark my
+words. I did think, at one time, there was going to be War; I do not
+think so now. * * * The Star of the West swaggered into Charleston
+harbor, received a blow planted full in the face, and staggered out.
+Your flag has been insulted; redress it if you dare! You have submitted
+to it for two months, and you will submit to it for ever. * * * We
+have dissolved the Union; mend it if you can; cement it with blood; try
+the experiment! we do not desire War; we wish to avoid it. * * * This
+we say; and if you choose to settle this question by the Sword, we feel,
+we know, that we have the Right. We interfere with you in no way. We
+ask simply that you will not interfere with us. * * * You tell us you
+will keep us in the Union. Try the experiment!"</p>
+
+<p>And then, with brutal frankness, he continued: "Now, whether what are
+called The Crittenden Resolutions will produce satisfaction in some of
+these Border States, or not, I am unaware; but I feel perfectly sure
+they would not be entertained upon the Gulf. As to the Resolutions
+which the Peace Congress has offered us, we might as well make a clean
+breast of it. If those Resolutions were adopted, and ratified by three
+fourths of the States of this Union, and no other cause ever existed, I
+make the assertion that the seven States now out of the Union, would go
+out upon that."</p>
+
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<a name="clay"></a>
+<center>
+<img alt="p132-clay.jpg (78K)" src="images/p132-clay.jpg" height="809" width="585">
+</center>
+<br><br><br>
+<a name="ch8"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center><h2>
+ CHAPTER VIII.<br><br>
+
+ THE REJECTED OLIVE BRANCH.</h2></center><br>
+
+
+<p>While instructive, it will also not be devoid of interest, to pause
+here, and examine the nature of the Crittenden Resolutions, and also the
+Resolutions of the Peace Congress, which, we have seen, were spurned by
+the Secession leaders, through their chief mouthpiece in the United
+States Senate.</p>
+
+<p>The Crittenden Compromise Resolutions * were in these words:</p>
+
+<p>"A Joint Resolution proposing certain Amendments to the Constitution of
+the United States:</p>
+
+<p>"Whereas, serious and alarming dissensions have arisen between the
+Northern and the Southern States, concerning the Rights and security of
+the Rights of the Slaveholding States, and especially their Rights in
+the common territory of the United States; and whereas, it is eminently
+desirable and proper that these dissensions, which now threaten the very
+existence of this Union, should be permanently quieted and settled by
+Constitutional provisions which shall do equal justice to all Sections,
+and thereby restore to the People that peace and good-will which ought
+to prevail between all the citizens of the United States; Therefore:</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
+States of America, in Congress assembled, (two thirds of both Houses
+concurring), the following articles be, and are hereby proposed and
+submitted as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, which
+shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of said
+Constitution, when ratified by Conventions of three-fourths of the
+several States:</p>
+
+<p>"Article I. In all the territory of the United States now held, or
+hereafter to be acquired, situate north of latitude 36 30', Slavery or
+involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, is prohibited,
+while such territory shall remain under Territorial government. In all
+the territory south of said line of latitude, Slavery of the African
+race is hereby recognized as existing, and shall not be interfered with
+by Congress, but shall be protected as Property by all the departments
+of the Territorial government during its continuance. And when any
+Territory, north or south of said line, within such boundaries as
+Congress may prescribe, shall contain the population requisite for a
+member of Congress, according to the then Federal ratio of
+representation of the People of the United States, it shall, if its own
+form of government be republican, be admitted into the Union, on an
+equal footing with the original States; with or without Slavery, as the
+Constitution of such new State may provide.</p>
+
+<p>"Article II. Congress shall have no power to abolish Slavery in places
+under its exclusive jurisdiction, and situate within the limits of
+States that permit the holding of Slaves.</p>
+
+<p>"Article III. Congress shall have no power to abolish Slavery within
+the District of Columbia; so long as it exists in the adjoining States
+of Virginia and Maryland, or either, nor without the consent of the
+inhabitants, nor without just compensation first made to such owners of
+Slaves as do not consent to such abolishment. Nor shall Congress, at
+any time, prohibit officers of the Federal government, or members of
+Congress whose duties require them to be in said District, from bringing
+with them their Slaves, and holding them as such during the time their
+duties may require them to remain there, and afterward taking them from
+the District.</p>
+
+<p>"Article IV. Congress shall have no power to prohibit or hinder the
+Transportation of Slaves from one State to another, or to a Territory in
+which Slaves are, by law, permitted to be held, whether that
+transportation be by land, navigable rivers, or by the sea.</p>
+
+<p>"Article V. That in addition to the provisions of the third paragraph
+of the second section of the fourth article of the Constitution of the
+United States, Congress shall have power to provide by law, and it shall
+be its duty to provide, that the United States shall pay to the owner
+who shall apply for it, the full value of his Fugitive Slaves in all
+cases where the Marshal, or other officer whose duty it was to arrest
+said Fugitive, was prevented from so doing by violence or intimidation,
+or where, after arrest, said Fugitive was rescued by force, and the
+owner thereby prevented and obstructed in the pursuit of his remedy for
+the recovery of his Fugitive Slave under the said clause of the
+Constitution and the laws made in pursuance thereof.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> ["No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws
+ thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any Law or
+ Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but
+ shall be delivered up on claim of the Party to whom such Service or
+ Labour may be due."&mdash;Art. IV., Sec. 2, P 3, U. S. Constitution.]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>"And in all such cases, when the United States shall pay for such
+Fugitive, they shall have the Right, in their own name, to sue the
+county in which said violence, intimidation, or rescue, was committed,
+and recover from it, with interest and damages, the amount paid by them
+for said Fugitive Slave. And the said county, after it has paid said
+amount to the United States, may, for its indemnity, sue and recover
+from the wrong-doers or rescuers by whom the owner was prevented from
+the recovery of his Fugitive Slave, in like manner as the owner himself
+might have sued and recovered.</p>
+
+<p>"Article VI. No future amendment of the Constitution shall affect the
+five preceding articles; nor the third paragraph of the second section
+of the first article of the Constitution, nor the third paragraph of
+the second section of the fourth article of said Constitution; and no
+amendment shall be made to the Constitution which shall authorize or
+give to Congress any power to abolish or interfere with Slavery in any
+of the States by whose laws it is or may be, allowed or permitted.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> ["Representatives and Direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the
+ several States which may be included within this Union, according
+ to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to
+ the whole Number of Free Persons, including those bound to Service
+ for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not Taxed, three-fifths
+ of all Other Persons," etc.&mdash;Art. 1., Sec. 2, P 3, U. S.
+ Constitution.]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>"And whereas, also, besides those causes of dissension embraced in the
+foregoing amendments proposed to the Constitution of the United States,
+there are others which come within the jurisdiction of Congress, and may
+be remedied by its legislative power; And whereas it is the desire of
+Congress, as far as its power will extend, to remove all just cause for
+the popular discontent and agitation which now disturb the peace of the
+Country and threaten the stability of its Institutions; Therefore:</p>
+
+<p>"1. Resolved by the Senate and house of Representatives in Congress
+assembled, that the laws now in force for the recovery of Fugitive
+Slaves are in strict pursuance of the plain and mandatory provisions of
+the Constitution, and have been sanctioned as valid and Constitutional
+by the judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States; that the
+Slaveholding States are entitled to the faithful observance and
+execution of those laws; and that they ought not to be repealed, or so
+modified or changed as to impair their efficiency; and that laws ought
+to be made for the punishment of those who attempt, by rescue of the
+Slave, or other illegal means, to hinder or defeat the due execution of
+said laws.</p>
+
+<p>"2. That all State laws which conflict with the Fugitive Slave Acts of
+Congress, or any other Constitutional Acts of Congress, or which, in
+their operation, impede, hinder, or delay, the free course and due
+execution of any of said Acts, are null and void by the plain provisions
+of the Constitution of the United States; yet those State laws, void as
+they are, have given color to practices, and led to consequences, which
+have obstructed the due administration and execution of Acts of
+Congress, and especially the Acts for the delivery of Fugitive Slaves;
+and have thereby contributed much to the discord and commotion now
+prevailing. Congress, therefore, in the present perilous juncture, does
+not deem it improper, respectfully and earnestly, to recommend the
+repeal of those laws to the several States which have enacted them, or
+such legislative corrections or explanations of them as may prevent
+their being used or perverted to such mischievous purposes.</p>
+
+<p>"3. That the Act of the 18th of September, 1850, commonly called the
+Fugitive Slave Law, ought to be so amended as to make the fee of the
+Commissioner, mentioned in the eighth section of the Act, equal in
+amount in the cases decided by him, whether his decision be in favor of,
+or against the claimant. And, to avoid misconstruction, the last clause
+of the fifth section of said Act, which authorizes the person holding a
+warrant for the arrest or detention of a Fugitive Slave to summon to his
+aid the posse comitatus, and which declares it to be the duty of all
+good citizens to assist him in its execution, ought to be so amended as
+to expressly limit the authority and duty to cases in which there shall
+be resistance, or danger of resistance or rescue.</p>
+
+<p>"4. That the laws for the suppression of the African Slave Trade, and
+especially those prohibiting the importation of Slaves into the United
+States, ought to be more effectual, and ought to be thoroughly executed;
+and all further enactments necessary to those ends ought to be promptly
+made."</p>
+
+<p>
+The Peace Conference, or "Congress," it may here be mentioned, was
+called, by action of the Legislature of Virginia, to meet at Washington,
+February 4, 1861. The invitation was extended to all of such "States of
+this Confederacy * * * whether Slaveholding or Non-Slaveholding, as are
+willing to unite with Virginia in an earnest effort to adjust the
+present unhappy controversies in the spirit in which the Constitution
+was originally formed, and consistently with its principles, so as to
+afford to the people of the Slaveholding States adequate guarantees for
+the security of their rights"&mdash;such States to be represented by
+Commissioners "to consider, and, if practicable, agree upon some
+suitable adjustment."</p>
+
+<p>The Conference, or "Congress," duly convened, at that place and time,
+and organized by electing ex-President John Tyler, of Virginia, its
+President. This Peace Congress&mdash;which comprised 133 Commissioners,
+representing the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts,
+Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware,
+Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio,
+Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Kansas&mdash;remained in session until
+February 27, 1861&mdash;and then submitted the result of its labors to
+Congress, with the request that Congress "will submit it to Conventions
+in the States, as Article Thirteen of the Amendments to the Constitution
+of the United States, in the following shape:</p>
+
+<p>"Section 1. In all the present territory of the United States, north of
+the parallel of 36 30' of north latitude, Involuntary Servitude, except
+in punishment of crime, is prohibited. In all the present territory
+south of that line, the status of Persons held to Involuntary Service or
+Labor, as it now exists, shall not be changed; nor shall any law be
+passed by Congress or the Territorial Legislature to hinder or prevent
+the taking of such Persons from any of the States of this Union to said
+Territory, nor to impair the Rights arising from said relation; but the
+same shall be subject to judicial cognizance in the Federal Courts,
+according to the course of the common law. When any Territory north or
+south of said line, within such boundary as Congress may prescribe,
+shall contain a population equal to that required for a member of
+Congress, it shall, if its form of government be republican, be admitted
+into the Union on an equal footing with the original States, with or
+without Involuntary Servitude, as the Constitution of such State may
+provide.</p>
+
+<p>"Section 2. No territory shall be acquired by the United States, except
+by discovery and for naval and commercial stations, depots, and transit
+routes, without the concurrence of a majority of all the Senators from
+States which allow Involuntary Servitude, and a majority of all the
+Senators from States which prohibit that relation; nor shall Territory
+be acquired by treaty, unless the votes of a majority of the Senators
+from each class of States hereinbefore mentioned be cast as a part of
+the two-thirds majority necessary to the ratification of such treaty.</p>
+
+<p>"Section 3. Neither the Constitution, nor any amendment thereof, shall
+be construed to give Congress power to regulate, abolish, or control,
+within any State, the relation established or recognized by the laws
+thereof touching Persons held to Labor or Involuntary Service therein,
+nor to interfere with or abolish Involuntary Service in the District of
+Columbia without the consent of Maryland, and without the consent of the
+owners, or making the owners who do not consent just compensation; nor
+the power to interfere with or prohibit Representatives and others from
+bringing with them to the District of Columbia, retaining, and taking
+away, Persons so held to Labor or Service; nor the power to interfere
+with or abolish Involuntary Service in places under the exclusive
+jurisdiction of the United States within those States and Territories
+where the same is established or recognized; nor the power to prohibit
+the removal or transportation of Persons held to Labor or Involuntary
+Service in any State or Territory of the United States to any other
+State or Territory thereof where it is established or recognized by law
+or usage; and the right during transportation, by sea or river, of
+touching at ports, shores, and landings, and of landing in case of
+distress, shall exist; but not the right of transit in or through any
+State or Territory, or of sale or traffic, against the laws thereof.
+Nor shall Congress have power to authorize any higher rate of taxation
+on Persons held to Labor or Service than on land. The bringing into the
+District of Columbia of Persons held to Labor or Service, for sale, or
+placing them in depots to be afterwards transferred to other places for
+sale as merchandize, is prohibited.</p>
+
+<p>"Section 4. The third paragraph of the second section of the fourth
+article of the Constitution shall not be construed to prevent any of the
+States, by appropriate legislation, and through the action of their
+judicial and ministerial officers, from enforcing the delivery of
+Fugitives from Labor to the person to whom such Service or Labor is due.</p>
+
+<p>"Section 5. The Foreign Slave Trade is hereby forever prohibited; and
+it shall be the duty of Congress to pass laws to prevent the importation
+of Slaves, Coolies, or Persons held to Service or Labor, into the United
+States and the Territories from places beyond the limits thereof.</p>
+
+<p>"Section 6. The first, third, and fifth sections, together with this
+section of these amendments, and the third paragraph of the second
+section of the first article of the Constitution, and the third
+paragraph of the second section of the fourth article thereof, shall not
+be amended or abolished without the consent of all the States.</p>
+
+<p>"Section 7. Congress shall provide by law that the United States shall
+pay to the owner the full value of the Fugitive from Labor, in all cases
+where the Marshal, or other officer, whose duty it was to arrest such
+Fugitive, was prevented from so doing by violence or intimidation from
+mobs or riotous assemblages, or when, after arrest, such Fugitive was
+rescued by like violence or intimidation, and the owner thereby deprived
+of the same; and the acceptance of such payment shall preclude the owner
+from further claim to such Fugitive. Congress shall provide by law for
+securing to the citizens of each State the privileges and immunities of
+citizens in the several States."</p>
+
+<p>
+To spurn such propositions as these&mdash;with all the concessions to the
+Slave Power therein contained&mdash;was equivalent to spurning any and all
+propositions that could possibly be made; and by doing this, the
+Seceding States placed themselves&mdash;as they perhaps desired&mdash;in an
+utterly irreconcilable attitude, and hence, to a certain extent, which
+had not entered into their calculations, weakened their "Cause" in the
+eyes of many of their friends in the North, in the Border States, and in
+the World. They had become Implacables. Practically considered, this
+was their great mistake. The Crittenden Compromise Resolutions covered
+and yielded to the Slaveholders of the South all and even more than they
+had ever dared seriously to ask or hope for, and had they been open to
+Conciliation, they could have undoubtedly carried that measure through
+both Houses of Congress and three-fourths of the States.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> ["Its advocates, with good reason, claimed a large majority of the
+ People in its favor, and clamored for its submission to a direct
+ popular vote. Had such a submission been accorded, it is very
+ likely that the greater number of those who voted at all would have
+ voted to ratify it. * * * The 'Conservatives,' so called, were
+ still able to establish this Crittenden Compromise by their own
+ proper strength, had they been disposed so to do. The President
+ was theirs; the Senate strongly theirs; in the House, they had a
+ small majority, as was evidenced in their defeat of John Sherman
+ for Speaker. Had they now come forward and said, with authority:
+ 'Enable us to pass the Crittenden Compromise, and all shall be
+ peace and harmony,' they would have succeeded without difficulty.
+ It was only through the withdrawal of pro-slavery members that the
+ Republicans had achieved an unexpected majority in either House.
+ Had those members chosen to return to the seats still awaiting
+ them, and to support Mr. Crittenden's proposition, they could have
+ carried it without difficulty."&mdash;Vol. 360, Greeley's Am. Conflict.]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>But no, they wilfully withdrew their Congressional membership, State by
+State, as each Seceded, and refused all terms save those which involved
+an absolute surrender to them on all points, including the impossible
+claim of the "Right of Secession."</p>
+
+<p>Let us now briefly trace the history of the Compromise measures in the
+two Houses of Congress.</p>
+
+<p>The Crittenden-Compromise Joint-Resolution had been introduced in the
+Senate at the opening of its session and referred to a Select Committee
+of Thirteen, and subsequently, January 16th, 1861, having been reported
+back, came up in that body for action. On that day it was amended by
+inserting the words "now held or hereafter to be acquired" after the
+words "In all the territory of the United States," in the first line of
+Article I., so that it would read as given above. This amendment&mdash;by
+which not only in all territory then belonging to the United States, but
+also by implication in all that might thereafter be acquired, Slavery
+South of 36 30' was to be recognized&mdash;was agreed to by 29 yeas to 21
+nays, as follows:</p>
+
+<p>YEAS.&mdash;Messrs. Baker, Bayard, Benjamin, Bigler, Bragg, Bright,
+Clingman, Crittenden, Douglas, Fitch, Green, Gwin, Hemphill, Hunter,
+Iverson, Johnson of Tennessee, Kennedy, Lane, Mason, Nicholson, Pearce,
+Polk, Powell, Pugh, Rice, Saulsbury, Sebastian, Slidell and Wigfall&mdash;29.</p>
+
+<p>NAYS.&mdash;Messrs. Anthony, Bingham, Cameron, Chandler, Clark, Collamer,
+Dixon, Doolittle, Durkee, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Hale, Harlan,
+King, Latham, Seward, Simmons, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Wade and
+Wilson&mdash;24.</p>
+
+<p>The question now recurred upon an amendment, in the nature of a
+substitute, offered by Mr. Clark, to strike out the preamble of the
+Crittenden proposition and all of the resolutions after the word
+"resolved," and insert:</p>
+
+<p>"That the provisions of the Constitution are ample for the preservation
+of the Union, and the protection of all the material interests of the
+Country; that it needs to be obeyed rather than amended; and that an
+extrication from our present dangers is to be looked for in strenuous
+efforts to preserve the peace, protect the public property, and enforce
+the laws, rather than in new Guarantees for particular interests,
+Compromises for particular difficulties, or Concessions to unreasonable
+demands.</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved, That all attempts to dissolve the present Union, or overthrow
+or abandon the present Constitution, with the hope or expectation of
+constructing a new one, are dangerous, illusory, and destructive; that
+in the opinion of the Senate of the United States no such Reconstruction
+is practicable; and, therefore, to the maintenance of the existing Union
+and Constitution should be directed all the energies of all the
+departments of the Government, and the efforts of all good citizens."</p>
+
+<p>
+Before reaching a vote on this amendment, Mr. Anthony, (January 16th)
+made a most conciliatory speech, pointing out such practical objections
+to the Crittenden proposition as occurred to his mind, and then,
+continuing, said: "I believe, Mr. President, that if the danger which
+menaces us is to be avoided at all, it must be by Legislation; which is
+more ready, more certain, and more likely to be satisfactory, than
+Constitutional Amendment. The main difficulty is the Territorial
+question. The demand of the Senators on the other side of the Chamber,
+and of those whom they represent, is that the territory south of the
+line of the Missouri Compromise shall be open to their peculiar
+Property. All this territory, except the Indian Reservation, is within
+the limits of New Mexico; which, for a part of its northern boundary,
+runs up two degrees above that line. This is now a Slave Territory;
+made so by Territorial Legislation; and Slavery exists there, recognized
+and protected. Now, I am willing, as soon as Kansas can be admitted, to
+vote for the admission of New Mexico as a State, with such Constitution
+as the People may adopt. This disposes of all the territory that is
+adapted to Slave Labor or that is claimed by the South. It ought to
+settle the whole question. Surely if we can dispose of all the
+territory that we have, we ought not to quarrel over that which we have
+not, and which we have no very honest way of acquiring. Let us settle
+the difficulties that threaten us now, and not anticipate those which
+may never come. Let the public mind have time to cool * * *. In
+offering to settle this question by the admission of New Mexico, we of
+the North who assent to it propose a great Sacrifice, and offer a large
+Concession.</p>
+
+<p>"* * * But we make the offer in a spirit of Compromise and good
+feeling, which we hope will be reciprocated. * * * I appeal to
+Senators on the other side, when we thus offer to bridge over full
+seven-eighths of the frightful chasm that separates us, will you not
+build the other eighth? When, with outstretched arms, we approach you
+so near that, by reaching out your hands you can clasp ours in the
+fraternal grasp from which they should never be separated, will you,
+with folded arms and closed eyes, stand upon extreme demands which you
+know we cannot accept, and for which, if we did, we could not carry our
+constituents? * * * Together our Fathers achieved the Independence of
+their Country; together they laid the foundations of its greatness and
+its glory; together they constructed this beautiful system under which
+it is our privilege to live, which it is our duty to preserve and to
+transmit. Together we enjoy that privilege; together we must perform
+that duty. I will not believe that, in the madness of popular folly and
+delusion, the most benignant Government that ever blessed humanity is to
+be broken up. I will not believe that this great Power which is
+marching with giant steps toward the first place among the Nations of
+the Earth, is to be turned 'backward on its mighty track.' There are no
+grievances, fancied or real, that cannot be redressed within the Union
+and under the Constitution. There are no differences between us that
+may not be settled if we will take them up in the spirit of those to
+whose places we have succeeded, and the fruits of whose labors we have
+inherited."</p>
+
+<p>And to this more than fair proposition to the Southerners&mdash;to this
+touching appeal in behalf of Peace&mdash;what was the response? Not a word!
+It seemed but to harden their hearts.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [Immediately after Mr. Anthony's appeal to the Southern Senators, a
+ motion was made by Mr. Collamer to postpone the Crittenden
+ Resolutions and take up the Kansas Admission Bill. Here was the
+ chance at once offered to them to respond to that appeal&mdash;to make a
+ first step, as it were. They would not make it. The motion was
+ defeated by 25 yeas to 30 nays&mdash;Messrs. Benjamin and Slidell of
+ Louisiana, Hemphill and Wigfall of Texas, Iverson of Georgia, and
+ Johnson of Arkansas, voting "nay." The question at once recurred
+ on the amendment of Mr. Clark&mdash;being a substitute for the
+ Crittenden Resolutions, declaring in effect all Compromise
+ unnecessary. To let that substitute be adopted, was to insure the
+ failure of the Crittenden proposition. Yet these same six Southern
+ Senators though present, refused to vote, and permitted the
+ substitute to be adopted by 25 yeas to 23 nays. The vote of Mr.
+ Douglas, who had been "called out for an instant into the
+ ante-room, and deprived of the opportunity of voting "&mdash;as he afterwards
+ stated when vainly asking unanimous consent to have his vote
+ recorded among the nays&mdash;would have made it 25 yeas to 24 nays, had
+ he been present and voting, while the votes of the six Southern
+ Senators aforesaid, had they voted, would have defeated the
+ substitute by 25 yeas to 30 nays. Then upon a direct vote on the
+ Crittenden Compromise there would not only have been the 30 in its
+ favor, but the vote of at least one Republican (Baker) in addition,
+ to carry it, and, although that would not have given the necessary
+ two-thirds, yet it would have been a majority handsome enough to
+ have ultimately turned the scales, in both Houses, for a peaceful
+ adjustment of the trouble, and have avoided all the sad
+ consequences which so speedily befell the Nation. But this would
+ not have suited the Treasonable purposes of the Conspirators. Ten
+ days before this they had probably arranged the Programme in this,
+ as well as other matters. Very certain it is that no time was lost
+ by them and their friends in making the best use for their Cause of
+ this vote, in the doubtful States of Missouri and North Carolina
+ especially. In the St. Louis journals a Washington dispatch,
+ purporting (untruly however) to come from Senators Polk and Green,
+ was published to this effect.</p>
+
+<p> "The Crittenden Resolutions were lost by a vote of 25 to 23. A
+ motion of Mr. Cameron to reconsider was lost; and thus ends all
+ hope of reconciliation. Civil War is now considered inevitable,
+ and late accounts declare that Fort Sumter will be attacked without
+ delay. The Missouri delegation recommend immediate Secession."</p>
+
+<p> This is but a sample of other similar dispatches sent elsewhere.
+ And the following dispatch, signed by Mr. Crittenden, and published
+ in the Raleigh, N. C., Register, to quiet the excitement raised by
+ the telegrams of the Conspirators, serves also to indicate that the
+ friends of Compromise were not disheartened by their defeat:</p>
+
+<p> "WASHINGTON, Jan. 17th, 9 P. M.</p>
+
+<p> "In reply the vote against my resolutions will be reconsidered.
+ Their failure was the result of the refusal of six Southern
+ Senators to vote. There is yet good hope of success.</p>
+
+<p> "JOHN J. CRITTENDEN."</p>
+
+<p>
+ There is instruction also to be drawn from the speeches of Senators
+ Saulsbury, and Johnson of Tennessee, made fully a year afterward
+ (Jan. 29-31, 1862) in the Senate, touching the defeat of the
+ Crittenden Compromise by the Clark substitute at this time.
+ Speaking of the second session of the Thirty-sixth Congress, Mr.
+ Saulsbury said:</p>
+
+<p> "At that session, while vainly striving with others for the
+ adoption of those measures, I remarked in my place in the Senate
+ that&mdash;</p>
+
+<p> "'If any Gibbon should hereafter write the Decline and Fall of the
+ American Republic, he would date its fall from the rejection by the
+ Senate of the propositions submitted by the Senator from Kentucky.'</p>
+
+<p> "I believed so then, and I believe so now. I never shall forget,
+ Mr. President, how my heart bounded for joy when I thought I saw a
+ ray of hope for their adoption in the fact that a Republican
+ Senator now on this floor came to me and requested that I should
+ inquire of Mr. Toombs, who was on the eve of his departure for
+ Georgia to take a seat in the Convention of that State which was to
+ determine the momentous question whether she should continue a
+ member of the Union or withdraw from it, whether, if the Crittenden
+ propositions were adopted, Georgia would remain in the Union.</p>
+
+<p> "Said Mr. Toombs:</p>
+
+<p> "'Tell him frankly for me that if those resolutions are adopted by
+ the vote of any respectable number of Republican Senators,
+ evidencing their good faith to advocate their ratification by their
+ people, Georgia will not Secede. This is the position I assumed
+ before the people of Georgia. I told them that if the party in
+ power gave evidence of an intention to preserve our rights in the
+ Union, we were bound to wait until their people could act.'</p>
+
+<p> "I communicated the answer. The Substitute of the Senator from New
+ Hampshire [Mr. Clark] was subsequently adopted, and from that day
+ to this the darkness and the tempest and the storm have thickened,
+ until thousands like myself, as good and as true Union men as you,
+ Sir, though you may question our motives, have not only despaired
+ but are without hope in the future."</p>
+
+<p> To this speech, Mr. Johnson of Tennessee subsequently replied as
+ follows in the United States Senate (Jan. 31, 1862)</p>
+
+<p> "Sir, it has been said by the distinguished Senator from Delaware
+ [Mr. Saulsbury] that the questions of controversy might all have
+ been settled by Compromise. He dealt rather extensively in the
+ Party aspect of the case, and seemingly desired to throw the onus
+ of the present condition of affairs entirely on one side. He told
+ us that, if so and so had been done, these questions could have
+ been settled, and that now there would have been no War. He
+ referred particularly to the resolution offered during the last
+ Congress by the Senator from New Hampshire [Mr. Clark], and upon
+ the vote on that he based his argument. * * * The Senator told us
+ that the adoption of the Clark amendment to the Crittenden
+ Resolutions defeated the settlement of the questions of
+ controversy; and that, but for that vote, all could have been peace
+ and prosperity now. We were told that the Clark amendment defeated
+ the Crittenden Compromise, and prevented a settlement of the
+ controversy. On this point I will read a portion of the speech of
+ my worthy and talented friend from California [Mr. Latham]; and
+ when I speak of him thus, I do it in no unmeaning sense I intend
+ that he, not I, shall answer the Senator from Delaware. * * * As
+ I have said, the Senator from Delaware told us that the Clark
+ amendment was the turning point in the whole matter; that from it
+ had flowed Rebellion, Revolution, War, the shooting and
+ imprisonment of people in different States&mdash;perhaps he meant to
+ include my own. This was the Pandora's box that has been opened,
+ out of which all the evils that now afflict the Land have flown. *
+ * * My worthy friend from California [Mr. Latham], during the last
+ session of Congress, made one of the best speeches he ever made. *
+ * * In the course of that speech, upon this very point he made use
+ of these remarks:</p>
+
+<p> "'Mr. President, being last winter a careful eye-witness of all
+ that occurred, I soon became satisfied that it was a deliberate,
+ wilful design, on the part of some representatives of Southern
+ States, to seize upon the election of Mr. Lincoln merely as an
+ excuse to precipitate this revolution upon the Country. One
+ evidence, to my mind, is the fact that South Carolina never sent
+ her Senators here.'</p>
+
+<p> "Then they certainly were not influenced by the Clark amendment.</p>
+
+<p> "'An additional evidence is, that when gentlemen on this floor, by
+ their votes, could have controlled legislation, they refused to
+ cast them for fear that the very Propositions submitted to this
+ body might have an influence in changing the opinions of their
+ constituencies. Why, Sir, when the resolutions submitted by the
+ Senator from New Hampshire [Mr. Clark], were offered as an
+ amendment to the Crittenden Propositions, for the manifest purpose
+ of embarrassing the latter, and the vote taken on the 16th of
+ January, 1861, I ask, what did we see? There were fifty-five
+ Senators at that time upon this floor, in person. The Globe of the
+ second Session, Thirty-Sixth Congress, Part I., page 409, shows
+ that upon the call of the yeas and nays immediately preceding the
+ vote on the substituting of Mr. Clark's amendment, there were
+ fifty-five votes cast. I will read the vote from the Globe:</p>
+
+<p> "'YEAS&mdash;Messrs. Anthony, Baker, Bingham, Cameron, Chandler, Clark,
+ Collamer, Dixon, Doolittle, Durkee, Fessenden, Foot, Foster,
+ Grimes, Hale, Harlan, King, Seward, Simmons, Sumner, Ten Eyck,
+ Trumbull, Wade, Wilkinson, and Wilson&mdash;25.</p>
+
+<p> "NAYS&mdash;Messrs. Bayard, Benjamin, Bigler, Bragg, Bright, Clingman,
+ Crittenden, Douglas, Fitch, Green, Gwin, Hemphill, Hunter, Iverson,
+ Johnson of Arkansas, Johnson of Tennessee, Kennedy, Lane, Latham,
+ Mason, Nicholson, Pearce, Polk, Powell, Pugh, Rice, Saulsbury,
+ Sebastian, Slidell and Wigfall&mdash;30.</p>
+
+<p> "The vote being taken immediately after, on the Clark Proposition,
+ was as follows:</p>
+
+<p> "YEAS&mdash;Messrs. Anthony, Baker, Bingham, Cameron, Chandler, Clark,
+ Collamer, Dixon, Doolittle, Durkee, Fessenden, Foot, Foster,
+ Grimes, Hale, Harlan, King, Seward, Simmons, Sumner, Ten Eyck,
+ Trumbull, Wade, Wilkinson and Wilson&mdash;25.</p>
+
+<p> "NAYS&mdash;Messrs. Bayard, Bigler, Bragg, Bright, Clingman, Crittenden,
+ Fitch, Green, Gwin, Hunter, Johnson of Tennessee, Kennefly, Lane,
+ Latham, Mason, Nicholson, Pearce, Polk, Powell, Pugh, Rice,
+ Saulsbury and Sebastian&mdash;23.</p>
+
+<p> "'Six senators retained their seats and refused to vote, thus
+ themselves allowing the Clark Proposition to supplant the
+ Crittenden Resolution by a vote of twenty-five to twenty-three.
+ Mr. Benjamin of Louisiana, Mr. Hemphill and Mr. Wigfall of Texas,
+ Mr. Iverson of Georgia, Mr. Johnson of Arkansas, and Mr. Slidell of
+ Louisiana, were in their seats, but refused to cast their votes.'</p>
+
+<p> "I sat right behind Mr. Benjamin, and I am not sure that my worthy
+ friend was not close by, when he refused to vote, and I said to
+ him, 'Mr. Benjamin, why do you not vote? Why not save this
+ Proposition, and see if we cannot bring the Country to it?' He
+ gave me rather an abrupt answer, and said he would control his own
+ action without consulting me or anybody else. Said I: 'Vote, and
+ show yourself an honest man.' As soon as the vote was taken, he
+ and others telegraphed South, 'We cannot get any Compromise.' Here
+ were six Southern men refusing to vote, when the amendment would
+ have been rejected by four majority if they had voted. Who, then,
+ has brought these evils on the Country? Was it Mr. Clark? He was
+ acting out his own policy; but with the help we had from the other
+ side of the chamber, if all those on this side had been true to the
+ Constitution and faithful to their constituents, and had acted with
+ fidelity to the Country, the amendment of the Senator from New
+ Hampshire could have been voted down, the defeat of which the
+ Senator from Delaware says would have saved the Country. Whose
+ fault was it? Who is responsible for it? * * * Who did it?
+ SOUTHERN TRAITORS, as was said in the speech of the Senator from
+ California. They did it. They wanted no Compromise. They
+ accomplished their object by withholding their votes; and hence the
+ Country has been involved in the present difficulty. Let me read
+ another extract from this speech of the Senator from California</p>
+
+<p> "'I recollect full well the joy that pervaded the faces of some of
+ those gentlemen at the result, and the sorrow manifested by the
+ venerable Senator from Kentucky [Mr. Crittenden]. The record shows
+ that Mr. Pugh, from Ohio, despairing of any Compromise between the
+ extremes of ultra Republicanism and Disunionists, working
+ manifestly for the same end, moved, immediately after the vote was
+ announced, to lay the whole subject on the table. If you will turn
+ to page 443, same volume, you will find, when, at a late period,
+ Mr. Cameron, from Pennsylvania, moved to reconsider the vote,
+ appeals having been made to sustain those who were struggling to
+ preserve the Peace of the Country, that the vote was reconsidered;
+ and when, at last, the Crittenden Propositions were submitted on
+ the 2d day of March, these Southern States having 'nearly all
+ Seceded, they were then lost but by one vote. Here is the vote:</p>
+
+<p> "YEAS&mdash;Messrs. Bayard, Bigler, Bright, Crittenden, Douglas, Gwin,
+ Hunter, Johnson of Tennessee, Kennedy, Lane, Latham, Mason,
+ Nicholson, Polk, Pugh, Rice, Sebastian, Thomson and Wigfall&mdash;19.</p>
+
+<p> "'NAYS&mdash;Messrs. Anthony, Bingham, Chandler, Clark, Dixon,
+ Doolittle, Durkee, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Harlan, King,
+ Morrill, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Wade, Wilkinson and
+ Wilson&mdash;20.</p>
+
+<p> "'If these Seceding Southern senators had remained, there would
+ have passed, by a large vote (as it did without them), an
+ amendment, by a two-third vote, forbidding Congress ever
+ interfering with Slavery in the States. The Crittenden Proposition
+ would have been indorsed by a majority vote, the subject finally
+ going before the People, who have never yet, after consideration,
+ refused Justice, for any length of time, to any portion of the
+ Country.</p>
+
+<p> "'I believe more, Mr. President, that these gentlemen were acting
+ in pursuance of a settled and fixed plan to break up and destroy
+ this Government.'</p>
+
+<p> "When we had it in our power to vote down the amendment of the
+ Senator from New Hampshire, and adopt the Crittenden Resolutions,
+ certain Southern Senators prevented it; and yet, even at a late day
+ of the session, after they had Seceded, the Crittenden Proposition
+ was only lost by one vote. If Rebellion and bloodshed and murder
+ have followed, to whose skirts does the responsibility attach?</p>
+
+<p> "What else was done at the very same session? The House of
+ Representatives passed, and sent to this body, a Proposition to
+ amend the Constitution of the United States, so as to prohibit
+ Congress from ever hereafter interfering with the Institution of
+ Slavery in the States, making that restriction a part of the
+ Organic law of the Land. That Constitutional Amendment came here
+ after the Senators from seven States had Seceded; and yet it was
+ passed by a two-third vote in the Senate. Have you ever heard of
+ any one of the States which had then Seceded, or which has since
+ Seceded, taking up that Amendment to the Constitution, and saying
+ they would ratify it, and make it a part of that instrument? No.
+ Does not the whole history of this Rebellion tell you that it was
+ Revolution that the Leaders wanted, that they started for, that
+ they intended to have? The facts to which I have referred show how
+ the Crittenden Proposition might have been carried; and when the
+ Senators from the Slave States were reduced to one-fourth of the
+ members of this body, the two Houses passed a Proposition to Amend
+ the Constitution, so as to guarantee to the States perfect security
+ in regard to the Institution of Slavery in all future time, and
+ prohibiting Congress from legislating on the subject.</p>
+
+<p> "But what more was done? After Southern Senators had treacherously
+ abandoned the Constitution and deserted their posts here, Congress
+ passed Bills for the Organization of three new Territories: Dakota,
+ Nevada, and Colorado; and in the sixth section of each of those
+ Bills, after conferring, affirmatively, power on the Territorial
+ Legislature, it went on to exclude certain powers by using a
+ negative form of expression; and it provided, among other things,
+ that the Legislature should have no power to legislate so as to
+ impair the right to private property; that it should lay no tax
+ discriminating against one description of Property in favor of
+ another; leaving the power on all these questions, not in the
+ Territorial Legislature, but in the People when they should come to
+ form a State Constitution.</p>
+
+<p> "Now, I ask, taking the Amendment to the Constitution, and taking
+ the three Territorial Bills, embracing every square inch of
+ territory in the possession of the United States, how much of the
+ Slavery question was left? What better Compromise could have been
+ made? Still we are told that matters might have been Compromised,
+ and that if we had agreed to Compromise, bloody Rebellion would not
+ now be abroad in the Land. Sir, Southern Senators are responsible
+ for it. They stood here with power to accomplish the result, and
+ yet treacherously, and, I may say, tauntingly they left this
+ chamber, and announced that they had dissolved their connection
+ with the Government. Then, when we were left in the hands of those
+ whom we had been taught to believe would encroach upon our Rights,
+ they gave us, in the Constitutional Amendment and in the three
+ Territorial Bills, all that had ever been asked; and yet gentlemen
+ talked Compromise!</p>
+
+<p> "Why was not this taken and accepted? No; it was not Compromise
+ that the Leaders wanted; they wanted Power; they wanted to Destroy
+ this Government, so that they might have place and emolument for
+ themselves. They had lost confidence in the intelligence and
+ virtue and integrity of the People, and their capacity to govern
+ themselves; and they intended to separate and form a government,
+ the chief corner-stone of which should be Slavery, disfranchising
+ the great mass of the People, of which we have seen constant
+ evidence, and merging the Powers of Government in the hands of the
+ Few. I know what I say. I know their feelings and their
+ sentiments. I served in the Senate here with them. I know they
+ were a Close Corporation, that had no more confidence in or respect
+ for the People than has the Dey of Algiers. I fought that Close
+ Corporation here. I knew that they were no friends of the People.
+ I knew that Slidell and Mason and Benjamin and Iverson and Toombs
+ were the enemies of Free Government, and I know so now. I
+ commenced the war upon them before a State Seceded; and I intend to
+ keep on fighting this great battle before the Country, for the
+ perpetuity of Free Government. They seek to overthrow it, and to
+ establish a Despotism in its place. That is the great battle which
+ is upon our hands. * * * Now, the Senator from Delaware tells us
+ that if that (Crittenden) Compromise had been made, all these
+ consequences would have been avoided. It is a mere pretense; it is
+ false. Their object was to overturn the Government. If they could
+ not get the Control of this Government, they were willing to divide
+ the Country and govern part of it."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>
+The Clark substitute was then agreed to, by 25 (Republican) yeas to 23
+Democratic and Conservative (Bell-Everett) nays&mdash;6 Pro-Slavery Senators
+not voting, although present; and then, without division, the Crittenden
+Resolutions were tabled&mdash;Mr. Cameron, however, entering a motion to
+reconsider. Subsequently the action of the Senate, both on the
+Resolutions and Substitute, was reconsidered, and March 2d the matter
+came up again, as will hereafter appear.</p>
+
+<p>Two days prior to this action in the Senate, Mr. Corwin, Chairman of the
+Select Committee of Thirty-three, reported to the House (January 14th),
+from a majority of that Committee, the following Joint Resolution:</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
+States of America in Congress assembled, That all attempts on the parts
+of the Legislatures of any of the States to obstruct or hinder the
+recovery and surrender of Fugitives from Service or Labor, are in
+derogation of the Constitution of the United States, inconsistent with
+the comity and good neighborhood that should prevail among the several
+States, and dangerous to the Peace of the Union.</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved, That the several States be respectfully requested to cause
+their Statutes to be revised, with a view to ascertain if any of them
+are in conflict with or tend to embarrass or hinder the execution of the
+Laws of the United States, made in pursuance of the second section of
+the Fourth Article of the Constitution of the United States for the
+delivery up of Persons held to Labor by the laws of any State and
+escaping therefrom; and the Senate and House of Representatives
+earnestly request that all enactments having such tendency be forthwith
+repealed, as required by a just sense of Constitutional obligations, and
+by a due regard for the Peace of the Republic; and the President of the
+United States is requested to communicate these resolutions to the
+Governors of the several States, with a request that they will lay the
+same before the Legislatures thereof respectively.</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved, That we recognize Slavery as now existing in fifteen of the
+United States by the usages and laws of those States; and we recognize
+no authority, legally or otherwise, outside of a State where it so
+exists, to interfere with Slaves or Slavery in such States, in disregard
+of the Rights of their owners or the Peace of society.</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved, That we recognize the justice and propriety of a faithful
+execution of the Constitution, and laws made in pursuance thereof, on
+the subject of Fugitive Slaves, or Fugitives from Service or Labor, and
+discountenance all mobs or hindrances to the execution of such laws, and
+that citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and
+immunities of citizens in the several States.</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved, That we recognize no such conflicting elements in its
+composition, or sufficient cause from any source, for a dissolution of
+this Government; that we were not sent here to destroy, but to sustain
+and harmonize the Institutions of the Country, and to see that equal
+justice is done to all parts of the same; and finally, to perpetuate its
+existence on terms of equality and justice to all the States.</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved, That a faithful observance, on the part of all the States, of
+all their Constitutional obligations to each other and to the Federal
+Government, is essential to the Peace of the Country.</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved, That it is the duty of the Federal Government to enforce the
+Federal Laws, protect the Federal property, and preserve the Union of
+these States.</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved, That each State be requested to revise its Statutes, and, if
+necessary, so to amend the same as to secure, without Legislation by
+Congress, to citizens of other States traveling therein, the same
+protection as citizens of such States enjoy; and also to protect the
+citizens of other States traveling or sojourning therein against popular
+violence or illegal summary punishment, without trial in due form of
+law, for imputed crimes.</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved, That each State be also respectfully requested to enact such
+laws as will prevent and punish any attempt whatever in such State to
+recognize or set on foot the lawless invasion of any other State or
+Territory.</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved, That the President be requested to transmit copies of the
+foregoing resolutions to the Governors of the several States, with a
+request that they be communicated to their respective Legislatures."</p>
+
+<p>
+This Joint Resolution, with amendments proposed to the same, came up in
+the House for action, on the 27th of February, 1861&mdash;the same day upon
+which the Peace Congress or Conference concluded its labors at
+Washington.</p>
+
+<p>The Proposition of Mr. Burch, of California, was the first acted upon.
+It was to amend the Select Committee's resolutions, as above given, by
+adding to them another resolution at the end thereof, as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved, etc., That it be, and is hereby, recommended to the several
+States of the Union that they, through their respective Legislatures,
+request the Congress of the United States to call a Convention of all
+the States, in accordance with Article Fifth of the Constitution, for
+the purpose of amending said Constitution in such manner and with regard
+to such subjects as will more adequately respond to the wants, and
+afford more sufficient Guarantees to the diversified and growing
+Interests of the Government and of the People composing the same."</p>
+
+<p>This (Burch) amendment, however, was defeated by 14 yeas to 109 nays.</p>
+
+<p>A Proposition of Mr. Kellogg, of Illinois, came up next for action. It
+was a motion to strike out all after the first word "That" in the
+Crittenden Proposition&mdash;which had been offered by Mr. Clemens as a
+substitute for the Committee Resolutions&mdash;and insert the following:</p>
+
+<p>"The following articles be, and are hereby, proposed and submitted as
+Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be
+valid, to all intents and purposes as part of said Constitution, when
+ratified by Conventions of three-fourths of the several States.</p>
+
+<p>"Article XIII. That in all the territory now held by the United States
+situate north of latitude 36 30' Involuntary Servitude, except in the
+punishment for crime, is prohibited while such territory shall remain
+under a Territorial government; that in all the territory now held south
+of said line, neither Congress nor any Territorial Legislature shall
+hinder or prevent the emigration to said territory of Persons; held to
+Service from any State of this Union, when that relation exists by
+virtue of any law or usage of such State, while it shall remain in a
+Territorial condition; and when any Territory north or south of said
+line, within such boundaries as Congress may prescribe, shall contain
+the population requisite for a member of Congress, according to the then
+Federal ratio of representation of the People of the United States, it
+may, if its form of government be Republican, be admitted into the Union
+on an equal footing with the original States, with or without the
+relation of Persons held to Service and Labor, as the Constitution of
+such new State may provide.</p>
+
+<p>"Article XIV. That nothing in the Constitution of the United States, or
+any amendment thereto, shall be so construed as to authorize any
+Department of the Government to in any manner interfere with the
+relation of Persons held to Service in any State where that relation
+exists, nor in any manner to establish or sustain that relation in any
+State where it is prohibited by the Laws or Constitution of such State.
+And that this Article shall not be altered or amended without the
+consent of every State in the Union.</p>
+
+<p>"Article XV. The third paragraph of the second section of the Fourth
+Article of the Constitution shall be taken and construed to authorize
+and empower Congress to pass laws necessary to secure the return of
+Persons held to Service or Labor under the laws of any State, who may
+have escaped therefrom, to the party to whom such Service or Labor may
+be due.</p>
+
+<p>"Article XVI. The migration or importation of Persons held to Service
+or Involuntary Servitude, into any State, Territory, or place within the
+United States, from any place or country beyond the limits of the United
+States or Territories thereof, is forever prohibited.</p>
+
+<p>"Article XVII. No territory beyond the present limits of the United
+States and the Territories thereof, shall be annexed to or be acquired
+by the United States, unless by treaty, which treaty shall be ratified
+by a vote of two-thirds of the Senate."</p>
+
+<p>The Kellogg Proposition was defeated by 33 yeas to 158
+nays.</p>
+
+<p>The Clemens Substitute was next voted on. This embraced the whole of
+the Crittenden Compromise Proposition, as amended in the Senate by
+inserting the provision as to all territory "hereafter acquired," with
+the addition of another proposed Article of Amendment to the
+Constitution, as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"Article VII. Section I. The elective franchise and the Right to hold
+office, whether Federal, State, Territorial, or Municipal, shall not be
+exercised by Persons who are, in whole or in part, of the African Race.</p>
+
+<p>"Section II. The United States shall have power to acquire from time to
+time districts of country in Africa and South America, for the
+colonization, at expense of the Federal Treasury, of such Free Negroes
+and Mulattoes as the several States may wish to have removed from their
+limits, and from the District of Columbia, and such other places as may
+be under the jurisdiction of Congress."</p>
+
+<p>The Clemens Substitute (or Crittenden Measure, with the addition of said
+proposed Article VII.), was defeated by 80 yeas to 113 nays, and then
+the Joint Resolution of the Select Committee as heretofore given&mdash;after
+a vain attempt to table it&mdash;was passed by 136 yeas to 53 nays.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately after this action, a Joint Resolution to amend the
+Constitution of the United States, which had also been previously
+reported by the Select Committee of Thirty-three, came before the House,
+as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"Be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
+States of America in Congress assembled, (two-thirds of both Houses
+concurring), That the following Article be proposed to the Legislatures
+of the several States as an Amendment to the Constitution of the United
+States, which, when ratified by three-fourths of said Legislatures,
+shall be valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part of the said
+Constitution, namely:</p>
+
+<p>"Article XII. No amendment of this Constitution having for its object
+any interference within the States with the relation between their
+citizens and those described in Section II. of the First Article of the
+Constitution as 'all other persons,' shall originate with any State that
+does not recognize that relation within its own limits, or shall be
+valid without the assent of every one of the States composing the
+Union."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Corwin submitted an Amendment striking out all the words after
+"namely;" and inserting the following:</p>
+
+<p>"Article XII. No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will
+authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within
+any State, with the Domestic Institutions thereof, including that of
+Persons held to Labor or Service by the laws of said State."</p>
+
+<p>Amid scenes of great disorder, the Corwin Amendment was adopted by 120
+yeas to 61 nays, and then the Joint Resolution as amended, was defeated
+(two-thirds not voting in the affirmative) by 123 yeas to 71 nays. On
+the following day (February 28th), amid still greater confusion and
+disorder, which the Speaker, despite frequent efforts, was unable to
+quell, that vote was reconsidered, and the Joint Resolution passed by
+133 yeas to 65 nays&mdash;a result which, when announced was received with
+"loud and prolonged applause, both on the floor, and in the galleries."</p>
+
+<p>On the 2d of March, the House Joint Resolution just given, proposing an
+Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting Congress from touching
+Slavery within any State where it exists, came up in the Senate for
+action.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Pugh moved to substitute for it the Crittenden Proposition.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Doolittle moved to amend the proposed substitute (the Crittenden
+Proposition), by the insertion of the following, as an additional
+Article:</p>
+
+<p>"Under this Constitution, as originally adopted, and as it now exists,
+no State has power to withdraw from the jurisdiction of the United
+States; but this Constitution, and all laws passed in pursuance of its
+delegated powers, are the Supreme Law of the Land, anything contained in
+any Constitution, Ordinance, or Act of any State, to the contrary
+notwithstanding."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Doolittle's amendment was lost by 18 yeas to 28 nays.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Pugh's substitute (the Crittenden Proposition), was lost by 14 yeas
+to 25 nays.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Bingham moved to amend the House Joint Resolution, by striking out
+all after the word "resolved," and inserting the words of the Clark
+Proposition as heretofore given, but the amendment was rejected by 13
+yeas to 25 nays.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Grimes moved to strike out all after the word "whereas" in the
+preamble of the House Joint Resolution, and insert the following:</p>
+
+<p>"The Legislatures of the States of Kentucky, New Jersey, and Illinois
+have applied to Congress to call a Convention for proposing Amendments
+to the Constitution of the United States: Therefore,</p>
+
+<p>"Be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
+States of America in Congress assembled, That the Legislatures of the
+other States be invited to take the subject of such a Convention into
+consideration, and to express their will on that subject to Congress, in
+pursuance of the Fifth Article of the Constitution."</p>
+
+<p>This amendment was also rejected, by 14 yeas to 25 nays.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Johnson, of Arkansas, offered, as an amendment to the House Joint
+Resolution, the propositions submitted by the Peace Congress or
+Conference, but the amendment was disagreed to by 3 yeas to 34 nays.</p>
+
+<p>The House Joint Resolution was then adopted by 24 yeas to 12 nays.</p>
+
+<p>Subsequently the Crittenden Proposition came up again as a separate
+order, with the Clark substitute to it (once carried, but reconsidered),
+pending. The Clark substitute was then rejected by 14 yeas to 22 nays.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Crittenden then offered the Propositions of the Peace
+Congress, as a substitute for his own&mdash;and they were rejected by 7 yeas
+to 28 nays.</p>
+
+<p>The Crittenden Proposition itself was then rejected, by
+19 yeas to 20 nays.</p>
+
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<a name="davis"></a>
+<center>
+<img alt="p138-davis.jpg (85K)" src="images/p138-davis.jpg" height="886" width="587">
+</center>
+<br><br><br>
+<a name="ch9"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<center><h2>
+ CHAPTER IX.<br><br>
+
+ SLAVERY'S SETTING, AND FREEDOM'S DAWN.</h2></center><br>
+
+<p>On that long last night of the 36th Congress&mdash;and of the Democratic
+Administration&mdash;to the proceedings of which reference was made in the
+preceding Chapter, several notable speeches were made, but there was
+substantially nothing done, in the line of Compromise. The only thing
+that had been accomplished was the passage, as we have seen, by
+two-thirds majority in both Houses, of the Joint Resolution proposing a
+Constitutional Amendment prohibiting Congress from meddling with Slavery
+in Slave States. There was no Concession nor Compromise in this,
+because Republicans, as well as Democrats, had always held that Congress
+had no such power. It is true that the Pro-slavery men had charged the
+Republicans with ultimate designs, through Congress, upon Slavery in the
+Slave States; and Mr. Crittenden pleaded for its passage as exhibiting a
+spirit, on their part, of reconciliation; that was all.</p>
+
+<p>In his speech that night&mdash;that memorable and anxious night preceding the
+Inauguration of President Lincoln&mdash;the venerable Mr. Crittenden,
+speaking before the Resolution was agreed to, well sketched the
+situation when he said in the Senate: "It is an admitted fact that our
+Union, to some extent, has already been dismembered; and that further
+dismemberment is impending and threatened. It is a fact that the
+Country is in danger. This is admitted on all hands. It is our duty,
+if we can, to provide a remedy for this. We are, under the Constitution
+and by the election of the People, the great guardians, as well as the
+administrators of this Government. To our wisdom they have trusted this
+great chart. Remedies have been proposed; resolutions have been
+offered, proposing for adoption measures which it was thought would
+satisfy the Country, and preserve as much of the Union as remained to us
+at least, if they were not enough at once to recall the Seceding States
+to the Union. We have passed none of these measures. The differences
+of opinion among Senators have been such that we have not been able to
+concur in any of the measures which have been proposed, even by bare
+majorities, much less by that two-thirds majority which is necessary to
+carry into effect some of the pacific measures which have been proposed.
+We are about to adjourn. We have done nothing. Even the Senate of the
+United States, beholding this great ruin around them, beholding
+Dismemberment and Revolution going on, and Civil War threatened as the
+result, have been able to do nothing; we have absolutely done nothing.
+Sir, is not this a remarkable spectacle? * * * How does it happen that
+not even a bare majority here, when the Country trusted to our hands is
+going to ruin, have been competent to devise any measure of public
+safety? How does it happen that we have not had unanimity enough to
+agree on any measure of that kind? Can we account for it to ourselves,
+gentlemen? We see the danger; we acknowledge our duty, and yet, with
+all this before us, we are acknowledging before the world that we can do
+nothing; acknowledging before the world, or appearing to all the world,
+as men who do nothing! Sir, this will make a strange record in the
+history of Governments and in the history of the world. Some are for
+Coercion; yet no army has been raised, no navy has been equipped. Some
+are for pacification; yet they have been able to do nothing; the dissent
+of their colleagues prevents them; and here we are in the midst of a
+falling Country, in the midst of a falling State, presenting to the eyes
+of the World the saddest spectacle it has ever seen. Cato is
+represented by Addison as a worthy spectacle, 'a great man falling with
+a falling State,' but he fell struggling. We fall with the ignominy on
+our heads of doing nothing, like the man who stands by and sees his
+house in flames, and says to himself, 'perhaps the fire will stop before
+it consumes all.'"</p>
+
+<p>One of the strong pleas made in the Senate that night, was by Mr.
+Douglas, when he said: "The great issue with the South has been that
+they would not submit to the Wilmot proviso. The Republican Party
+affirmed the doctrine that Congress must and could prohibit Slavery in
+the Territories. The issue for ten years was between Non-intervention
+on the part of Congress, and prohibition by Congress. Up to two years
+ago, neither the Senator (Mason) from Virginia, nor any other Southern
+Senator, desired affirmative legislation to protect Slavery. Even up to
+this day, not one of them has proposed affirmative legislation to
+protect it. Whenever the question has come up, they have decided that
+affirmative legislation to protect it was unnecessary; and hence, all
+that the South required on the Territorial question was 'hands off;
+Slavery shall not be prohibited by Act of Congress.' Now, what do we
+find? This very session, in view of the perils which surround the
+Country, the Republican Party, in both Houses of Congress, by a
+unanimous vote, have backed down from their platform and abandoned the
+doctrine of Congressional prohibition. This very week three Territorial
+Bills have been passed through both Houses of Congress without the
+Wilmot proviso, and no man proposed to enact it; not even one man on the
+other side of the Chamber would rise and propose the Wilmot proviso."</p>
+
+<p>"In organizing three Territories," continued he, "two of them South of
+the very line where they imposed the Wilmot proviso twelve years ago, no
+one on the other side of the Chamber proposed it. They have abandoned
+the doctrine of the President-elect upon that point. He said, and it is
+on record, that he had voted for the Wilmot proviso forty-two times, and
+would do it forty-two times more if he ever had a chance. Not one of
+his followers this year voted for it once. The Senator from New York
+(Mr. Seward) the embodiment of the Party, sat quietly and did not
+propose it. What more? Last year we were told that the Slave Code of
+New Mexico was to be repealed. I denounced the attempted interference.
+The House of Representatives passed the Bill, but the Bill remains on
+your table; no one Republican member has proposed to take it up and pass
+it. Practically, therefore, the Chicago platform is abandoned; the
+Philadelphia platform is abandoned; the whole doctrine for which the
+Republican Party contended, as to the Territories, is abandoned,
+surrendered, given up. Non-intervention is substituted in its place.
+Then, when we find that, on the Territorial question, the Republican
+Party, by a unanimous vote, have surrendered to the South all they ask,
+the Territorial question ought to be considered pretty well settled.
+The only question left was that of the States; and after having
+abandoned their aggressive policy as to the Territories, a portion of
+them are willing to unite with us, and deprive themselves of the power
+to do it in the States."</p>
+
+<p>"I submit," said he, "that these two great facts&mdash;these startling,
+tremendous facts&mdash;that they have abandoned their aggressive policy in
+the Territories, and are willing to give guarantees in the States, ought
+to be accepted as an evidence of a salutary change in Public Opinion at
+the North. All I would ask now of the Republican Party is, that they
+would insert in the Constitution the same principle that they have
+carried out practically in the Territorial Bills for Colorado, Dakota,
+and Nevada, by depriving Congress of the power hereafter to do what
+there cannot be a man of them found willing to do this year; but we
+cannot ask them to back down too much. I think they have done quite as
+much within one year, within three months after they have elected a
+President, as could be expected."</p>
+
+<p>That Douglas and his followers were also patriotically willing to
+sacrifice a favorite theory in the face of a National peril, was brought
+out, at the same time, by Mr. Baker, when he said to Mr. Douglas: "I
+desire to suggest (and being a little of a Popular Sovereignty man, it
+comes gracefully from me) that others of us have backed down too, from
+the idea that Congress has not the power to prohibit Slavery in the
+Territories; and we are proposing some of us in the Crittenden
+proposition, and some in the Amendment now before the Senate&mdash;to
+prohibit Slavery by the Constitution itself, in the Territories;"&mdash;and
+by Mr. Douglas, when he replied: "I think as circumstances change, the
+action of public men ought to change in a corresponding degree. * * * I
+am willing to depart from my cherished theory, by an Amendment to the
+Constitution by which we shall settle this question on the principles
+prescribed in the Resolutions of the Senator from Kentucky."</p>
+
+<p> In the House, Mr. Logan, had, on the 5th of February, 1861, said:</p>
+
+<p> "Men, Sir, North and South, who love themselves far better than
+ their Country, have brought us to this unhappy condition. * * *
+ Let me say to gentlemen, that I will go as far as any man in the
+ performance of a Constitutional duty to put down Rebellion, to
+ suppress Insurrection, and to enforce the laws; but when we
+ undertake the performance of these duties, let us act in such a
+ manner as will be best calculated to preserve and not destroy the
+ Government, and keep ourselves within the bounds of the
+ Constitution. * * * Sir, I have always denied, and do yet deny,
+ the Right of Secession. There is no warrant for it in the
+ Constitution. It is wrong, it is unlawful, unconstitutional, and
+ should be called by the right name, Revolution. No good, Sir, can
+ result from it, but much mischief may. It is no remedy for any
+ grievance.</p>
+
+<p> "I hold that all grievances can be much easier redressed inside the
+ Union than out of it. * * * If a collision must ensue between
+ this Government and any of our own people, let it come when every
+ other means of settlement has been tried and exhausted; and not
+ then, except when the Government shall be compelled to repel
+ assaults for the protection of its property, flag, and the honor of
+ the Country. * * *</p>
+
+<p> "I have been taught to believe that the preservation of this
+ glorious Union, with its broad flag waving over us, as the shield
+ for our protection on land and on sea, is paramount to all the
+ Parties and platforms that ever have existed, or ever can exist. I
+ would, to-day, if I had the power, sink my own Party, and every
+ other one, with all their platforms, into the vortex of ruin,
+ without heaving a sigh or shedding a tear, to save the Union, or
+ even stop the Revolution where it is."</p>
+
+<p> After enumerating the various propositions for adjustment, then
+ pending in the House, to wit: that of Senator Crittenden; that of
+ Senator Douglas; that of the Committee of Thirty-three; that of the
+ Border States; and those of Representatives McClernand, Kellogg,
+ and Morris, of Illinois, Mr. Logan took occasion to declare that
+ "in a crisis like this" he was "willing to give his support to any
+ of them," but his preference was for that of Mr. Morris.</p>
+
+<p> Said he: "He (Morris) proposes that neither Congress nor a
+ Territorial Legislature shall interfere with Slavery in the
+ Territories at all; but leaves the people, when they come to form
+ their State Constitution, to determine the question for themselves.
+ I think this is the best proposition, because it is a fair
+ concession on all sides. The Republicans give up their
+ Congressional intervention; those who are styled 'Squatter
+ Sovereigns' give up their Territorial legislative policy; and the
+ Southern (Slave) protectionists give up their
+ protection-intervention policy; thus every Party yields something. With this
+ proposition as an Article in the Constitution, it would satisfy
+ every conservative man in this Union, both North and South, I do
+ seriously and honestly believe.</p>
+
+<p> "Having indicated my preference of these propositions, and my
+ reasons for that preference, I have said all I desire to say on the
+ point, except to repeat again, that I will willingly vote for any
+ of them, or make any other sacrifice necessary to save the Union.
+ It makes no kind of difference to me what the sacrifice; if it will
+ save my Country, I am ready to make it." * * *</p>
+
+<p> "There are some in this Hall," said he, "that are almost ready to
+ strike the Party fetters from their limbs, and assist in measures
+ of Peace. Halt not; take the step; be independent and free at
+ once! Let us overcome Party passion and error; allow virtue and
+ good sense in this fateful hour to be triumphant; let us invoke
+ Deity to interpose and prepare the way for our Country's escape
+ from the perils by which we are now surrounded; and in view of our
+ present greatness and future prospects, our magnificent and growing
+ cities, our many institutions of learning, our once happy and
+ prosperous People, our fruitful fields and golden forests, our
+ enjoyment of all civil and religious blessings&mdash;let Parties die
+ that these be preserved. Such noble acts of patriotism and
+ concession, on your part, would cause posterity to render them
+ illustrious, and pause to contemplate the magnitude of the events
+ with which they were connected. * * * In the name of the patriotic
+ sires who breasted the storms and vicissitudes of the Revolution;
+ by all the kindred ties of this Country; in the name of the many
+ battles fought for your Freedom; in behalf of the young and the
+ old; in behalf of the Arts and Sciences, Civilization, Peace,
+ Order, Christianity, and Humanity, I appeal to you to strike from
+ your limbs the chains that bind them! Come forth from that
+ loathsome prison, Party Caucus; and in this hour&mdash;the most gloomy
+ and disheartening to the lovers of Free Institutions that has ever
+ existed during our Country's history&mdash;arouse the drooping spirits
+ of our countrymen, by putting forth your good strong arms to assist
+ in steadying the rocking pillars of the mightiest Republic that has
+ ever had an existence."</p>
+
+<p> "Mr. Speaker," continued he, "a word or two more, and I am done.
+ Revolution stalks over the Land. States have rebelled against the
+ constituted authorities of the Union, and now stand, sword in hand,
+ prepared to vindicate their new nationality. Others are preparing
+ to take a similar position. Rapidly transpiring events are
+ crowding on us with fearful velocity. Soon, circumstances may
+ force us into an unnatural strife, in which the hand of brother
+ shall be uplifted against brother, and father against son. My God,
+ what a spectacle! If all the evils and calamities that have ever
+ happened since the World began, could be gathered in one great
+ Catastrophe, its horrors could not eclipse, in their frightful
+ proportions, the Drama that impends over us. Whether this black
+ cloud that drapes in mourning the whole political heavens, shall
+ break forth in all the frightful intensity of War, and make
+ Christendom weep at the terrible atrocities that will be
+ enacted&mdash;or, whether it will disappear, and the sky resume its wonted
+ serenity, and the whole Earth be irradiated by the genial sunshine
+ of Peace once more&mdash;are the alternatives which this Congress, in my
+ judgment, has the power to select between."</p>
+
+<p>In this same broad spirit, Mr. Seward, in his great speech of January
+12th, had said: "Republicanism is subordinate to Union, as everything
+else is and ought to be&mdash;Republicanism, Democracy, every other political
+name and thing; all are subordinate&mdash;and they ought to disappear in the
+presence of the great question of Union." In another part of it, he had
+even more emphatically said: "I therefore * * * avow my adherence to the
+Union in its integrity and with all its parts, with my friends, with my
+Party, with my State, with my Country, or without either, as they may
+determine, in every event, whether of Peace or War, with every
+consequence of honor or dishonor, of life or death. Although I lament
+the occasion, I hail with cheerfulness the duty of lifting up my voice
+among distracted debates, for my whole Country and its inestimable
+Union." And as showing still more clearly the kindly and conciliatory
+attitude of the great Republican leader, when speaking of those others
+who seemed to be about to invoke revolutionary action to oppose&mdash;and
+overthrow the Government&mdash;he said: "In such a case I can afford to meet
+prejudice with Conciliation, exaction with Concession which surrenders
+no principle, and violence with the right hand of Peace."</p>
+
+<p>In the House of Representatives, too, the voice of patriotism was often
+heard through the loud clamor and disorder of that most disorderly and
+Treason-uttering session&mdash;was heard from the lips of statesmen, who rose
+high above Party, in their devotion to the Union. The calm,
+dispassionate recital by Henry Winter Davis (of Maryland), of the
+successive steps by which the Southern leaders had themselves created
+that very "North" of whose antagonism they complained, was one of the
+best of these, in some respects. He was one of the great Select
+Committee of Thirty-three, and it was (February 5th) after the
+Resolutions, heretofore quoted, had been reported by it, that he
+condensed the history of the situation into a nutshell, as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"We are at the end of the insane revel of partisan license which, for
+thirty years, has, in the United States, worn the mask of Government.
+We are about to close the masquerade by the dance of death. The Nations
+of the World look anxiously to see if the People, ere they tread that
+measure, will come to themselves.</p>
+
+<p> * * * * * * * * * * * * *</p>
+
+<p>"Southern politicians have created a North. Let us trace the process
+and draw the moral.</p>
+
+<p>"The laws of 1850 calmed and closed the Slavery agitation; and President
+Pierce, elected by the almost unanimous voice of the States, did not
+mention Slavery in his first two Messages. In 1854, the repeal of the
+Missouri Compromise, at the instance of the South, reopened the
+agitation.</p>
+
+<p>"Northern men, deserted by Southern Whigs, were left to unite for
+self-defense.</p>
+
+<p>"The invasion of Kansas, in 1855 and 1856, from Missouri; the making a
+Legislature and laws for that Territory, by the invaders; still further
+united the Northern people. The election of 1856 measured its extent.</p>
+
+<p>"The election of Mr. Buchanan and his opening policy in Kansas, soothed
+the irritation, and was rapidly demoralizing the new Party, when the
+Pro-Slavery Party in Kansas perpetrated, and the President and the South
+accepted, the Lecompton fraud, and again united the North more
+resolutely in resistance to that invasion of the rights of
+self-government.</p>
+
+<p>"The South for the first time failed to dictate terms; and the People
+vindicated by their votes the refusal of the Constitution.</p>
+
+<p>"Ere this result was attained, the opinions of certain Judges of the
+Supreme Court scattered doubts over the law of Slavery in the
+Territories; the South, while repudiating other decisions, instantly
+made these opinions the criterion of faithfulness to the Constitution;
+while the North was agitated by this new sanction of the extremest
+pretensions of their opponents.</p>
+
+<p>"The South did not rest satisfied with their Judicial triumph.</p>
+
+<p>"Immediately the claim was pressed for protection by Congress to
+Slavery, declared by the Supreme Court, they said, to exist in all the
+Territories.</p>
+
+<p>"This completed the union of the Free States in one great defensive
+league; and the result was registered in November. That result is now
+itself become the starting point of new agitation&mdash;the demand of new
+rights and new guarantees. The claim to access to the Territories was
+followed by the claim to Congressional protection, and that is now
+followed by the hitherto unheard of claim to a Constitutional Amendment
+establishing Slavery, not merely in territory now held, but in all
+hereafter held from the line of 36 30' to Cape Horn, while the debate
+foreshadows in the distance the claim of the right of transit and the
+placing of property in Slaves in all respects on the footing of other
+property&mdash;the topics of future agitation. How long the prohibition of
+the importation of Slaves will be exempted from the doctrine of
+equality, it needs no prophet to tell.</p>
+
+<p>"In the face of this recital, let the imputation of autocratic and
+tyrannical aspirations cease to be cast on the people of the Free
+States; let the Southern people dismiss their fears, return to their
+friendly confidence in their fellow-citizens of the North, and accept,
+as pledges of returning Peace, the salutary amendments of the law and
+the Constitution offered as the first fruits of Reconciliation."</p>
+
+<p>But calmness, kindness, and courtesy were alike thrown away in both
+Houses upon the implacable Southern leaders. As the last day of that
+memorable session, which closed in the failure of all peaceful measures
+to restore the Union, slowly dawned&mdash;with but a few hours lacking of the
+time when Mr. Lincoln would be inaugurated President of the United
+States&mdash;Mr. Wigfall thought proper, in the United States Senate, to
+sneer at him as "an ex-rail-splitter, an ex-grocery keeper, an
+ex-flatboat captain, and an ex-Abolition lecturer"&mdash;and proceeded to scold
+and rant at the North with furious volubility.</p>
+
+<p>"Then, briefly," said he, "a Party has come into power that represents
+the antagonism to my own Section of the Country. It represents two
+million men who hate us, and who, by their votes for such a man as they
+have elected, have committed an overt act of hostility. That they have
+done."</p>
+
+<p>"You have won the Presidency," said he, to the Republicans, "and you are
+now in the situation of the man who had won the elephant at a raffle.
+You do not know what to do with the beast now that you have it; and
+one-half of you to-day would give your right arms if you had been defeated.
+But you succeeded, and you have to deal with facts. Our objection to
+living in this Union, and therefore the difficulty of reconstructing it,
+is not your Personal Liberty bills, not the Territorial question, but
+that you utterly and wholly misapprehend the Form of Government."</p>
+
+<p>"You deny," continued he, "the Sovereignty of the States; you deny the
+right of self-government in the People; you insist upon Negro Equality;
+your people interfere impertinently with our Institutions and attempt to
+subvert them; you publish newspapers; you deliver lectures; you print
+pamphlets, and you send them among us, first, to excite our Slaves to
+insurrection against their masters, and next, to array one class of
+citizens against the other; and I say to you, that we cannot live in
+peace, either in the Union or out of it, until you have abolished your
+Abolition societies; not, as I have been misquoted, abolish or destroy
+your school-houses; but until you have ceased in your schoolhouses
+teaching your children to hate us; until you have ceased to convert your
+pulpits into hustings; until you content yourselves with preaching
+Christ, and Him crucified, and not delivering political harangues on the
+Sabbath; until you have ceased inciting your own citizens to make raids
+and commit robberies; until you have done these things we cannot live in
+the same Union with you. Until you do these things, we cannot live out
+of the Union at Peace."</p>
+
+<p>Such were the words&mdash;the spiteful, bitter words&mdash;with which this chosen
+spokesman of the South saluted the cold and cloudy dawn of that day
+which was to see the sceptre depart from the hands of the Slave Power
+forever.</p>
+
+<p>A few hours later, under the shadow of the main Pastern Portico of the
+Capitol at Washington&mdash;with the retiring President and Cabinet, the
+Supreme Court Justices, the Foreign Diplomatic Corps, and hundreds of
+Senators, Representatives and other distinguished persons filling the
+great platform on either side and behind them&mdash;Abraham Lincoln stood
+bareheaded before full thirty thousand people, upon whose uplifted faces
+the unveiled glory of the mild Spring sun now shone&mdash;stood reverently
+before that far greater and mightier Presence termed by himself, "My
+rightful masters, the American People"&mdash;and pleaded in a manly, earnest,
+and affectionate strain with "such as were dissatisfied," to listen to
+the "better angels" of their nature.</p>
+
+<p>Temperate, reasonable, kindly, persuasive&mdash;it seems strange that Mr.
+Lincoln's Inaugural Address did not disarm at least the personal
+resentment of the South toward him, and sufficiently strengthen the
+Union-loving people there, against the red-hot Secessionists, to put the
+"brakes" down on Rebellion. Said he:</p>
+
+<p>"Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States,
+that by the accession of a Republican Administration, their Property and
+their Peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never
+been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample
+evidence to the contrary has all the while existed, and been open to
+their inspection. It is found in nearly all the published speeches of
+him who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches,
+when I declare that 'I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to
+interfere with the Institution of Slavery in the States where it
+exists.' I believe I have no lawful right to do so; and I have no
+inclination to do so. Those who nominated and elected me, did so with
+the full knowledge that I had made this, and many similar declarations,
+and had never recanted them. * * *</p>
+
+<p>"I now reiterate these sentiments; and in doing so, I only press upon
+the public attention the most conclusive evidence of which the case is
+susceptible, that the Property, Peace, and Security of no Section are to
+be in any wise endangered by the now incoming Administration. I add,
+too, that all the protection which, consistently with the Constitution
+and the laws, can be given, will be cheerfully given to all the States,
+when lawfully demanded, for whatever cause&mdash;as cheerfully to one Section
+as to another.</p>
+
+<p>"I take the official oath to-day with no mental reservations, and with
+no purpose to construe the Constitution or laws by any hypercritical
+rules. * * *</p>
+
+<p>"A disruption of the Federal Union, heretofore only menaced, is now
+formidably attempted. I hold that, in contemplation of Universal Law,
+and of the Constitution, the Union of these States is perpetual.
+Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all
+National Governments. It is safe to assert that no Government proper
+ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination.
+Continue to execute all the express provisions of our National
+Constitution, and the Union will endure forever&mdash;it being impossible to
+destroy it, except by some action not provided for in the instrument
+itself.</p>
+
+<p>"Again, if the United States be not a Government proper, but an
+Association of States in the nature of a contract merely, can it, as a
+contract, be peaceably unmade by less than all the parties who made it?
+One party to a contract may violate it&mdash;break it, so to speak; but does
+it not require all, to lawfully rescind it?</p>
+
+<p>"Descending from these general principles, we find the proposition that,
+in legal contemplation, the Union is perpetual, confirmed by the history
+of the Union itself. The Union is much older than the Constitution. It
+was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was
+matured and continued in the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It
+was further matured, and the faith of all the then thirteen States
+expressly plighted and engaged that it should be perpetual, by the
+Articles of Confederation, in 1778; and, finally, in 1787, one of the
+declared objects, for ordaining and establishing the Constitution, was
+'to form a more perfect Union.' But, if destruction of the Union by
+one, or by a part only, of the States, be lawfully possible, the Union
+is less perfect than before, the Constitution having lost the vital
+element of perpetuity.</p>
+
+<p>"It follows, from these views, that no State, upon its own mere motion,
+can lawfully get out of the Union; that Resolves and Ordinances to that
+effect, are legally void; and that acts of violence within any State or
+States against the authority of the United States, are insurrectionary
+or revolutionary, according to circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>"I therefore consider that, in view of the Constitution and the laws,
+the Union is unbroken, and, to the extent of my ability, I shall take
+care, as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the
+laws of the Union shall be faithfully executed in all the States. * * *</p>
+
+<p>"I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as the declared
+purpose of the Union, that it will Constitutionally defend and maintain
+itself.</p>
+
+<p>"In doing this, there need be no bloodshed or violence, and there shall
+be none, unless it is forced upon the National Authority.</p>
+
+<p>"The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the
+property and places belonging to the Government, and to collect the
+duties and imposts; but, beyond what may be necessary for these objects,
+there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the People
+anywhere.</p>
+
+<p>"The mails, unless repelled, will continue to be furnished in all parts
+of the Union.</p>
+
+<p> * * * * * * *</p>
+
+<p>"Is there such perfect identity of interests among the States to compose
+a new Union, as to produce harmony only, and prevent renewed Secession?
+Plainly, the central idea of Secession is the essence of anarchy. A
+majority, held in restraint by Constitutional checks and limitations and
+always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and
+sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a Free People. Whoever
+rejects it, does, of necessity, fly to anarchy, or to despotism.
+Unanimity is impossible; the rule of a minority, as a permanent
+arrangement, is wholly inadmissible; so that, rejecting the majority
+principle, anarchy or despotism in some form is all that is left.</p>
+
+<p> * * * * * * *</p>
+
+<p>"Physically speaking, we cannot separate. We cannot remove our
+respective Sections from each other, nor build an impassable wall
+between them. A husband and wife may be divorced, and go out of the
+presence and beyond the reach of each other; but the different parts of
+our Country cannot do this. They cannot but remain face to face; and
+intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue between them. Is
+it possible, then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or more
+satisfactory after separation than before? Can aliens make treaties,
+easier than friends can make laws? Can treaties be more faithfully
+enforced between aliens, than laws can among friends? Suppose you go to
+War, you cannot fight always; and when, after much loss on both sides,
+and no gain on either you cease fighting, the identical old questions,
+as to terms of intercourse, are again upon you.</p>
+
+<p>"This Country, with its Institutions, belongs to the People who inhabit
+it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can
+exercise their Constitutional right of amending it, or their
+Revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it. I cannot be ignorant
+of the fact that many worthy and patriotic citizens are desirous of
+having the National Constitution amended. While I make no
+recommendations of Amendments, I fully recognize the rightful authority
+of the People over the whole subject, to be exercised in either of the
+modes prescribed in the instrument itself; and I should, under existing
+circumstances, favor, rather than oppose, a fair opportunity being
+afforded the People to act upon it. * * *</p>
+
+<p>"The Chief Magistrate derives all his authority from the People, and
+they have conferred none upon him to fix terms for the separation of the
+States. The People themselves can do this also, if they choose; but the
+Executive, as such, has nothing to do with it. His duty is to
+administer the present Government, as it came to his hands, and to
+transmit it, unimpaired by him, to his successor.</p>
+
+<p> * * * * * * *</p>
+
+<p>" * * * While the People retain their virtue and vigilance, no
+Administration, by any extreme of weakness or folly, can very seriously
+injure the Government in the short space of four years.</p>
+
+<p>"My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon this whole
+subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. If there be an
+object to hurry any of you, in hot haste, to a step which you would
+never take deliberately, that object will be frustrated by taking time;
+but no good object can be frustrated by it. Such of you as are now
+dissatisfied, still have the old Constitution unimpaired, and, on the
+sensitive point, the laws of your own framing under it; while the new
+Administration will have no immediate power, if it would, to change
+either. If it were admitted that you who are dissatisfied, hold the
+right side in the dispute, there still is no single good reason for
+precipitate action. Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm
+reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored Land, are still
+competent to adjust, in the best way, all our present difficulty.</p>
+
+<p>"In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is
+the momentous issue of Civil War. The Government will not assault you.
+You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You
+have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the Government, while I
+shall have the most solemn one to 'preserve, protect, and defend it'.</p>
+
+<p>"I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be
+enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds
+of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every
+battle-field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone,
+all over this broad Land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when
+again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our
+nature."</p>
+
+<p>Strange, indeed, must have been the thoughts that crowded through the
+brain and oppressed the heart of Abraham Lincoln that night&mdash;his first
+at the White House!</p>
+
+<p>The city of Washington swarmed with Rebels and Rebel sympathizers, and
+all the departments of Government were honey-combed with Treason and
+shadowed with treachery and espionage. Every step proposed or
+contemplated by the Government would be known to the so-called
+Government of the Confederate States almost as soon as thought of. All
+means, to thwart and delay the carrying out of the Government's
+purposes, that the excuses of routine and red-tape admitted of, would be
+used by the Traitors within the camp, to aid the Traitors without.</p>
+
+<p>No one knew all this, better than Mr. Lincoln. With no Army, no Navy,
+not even a Revenue cutter left&mdash;with forts and arsenals, ammunition and
+arms in possession of the Rebels, with no money in the National
+Treasury, and the National credit blasted&mdash;the position must, even to
+his hopeful nature, have seemed at this time desperate. To be sure,
+despite threats, neither few nor secret, which had been made, that he
+should not live to be inaugurated, he had passed the first critical
+point&mdash;had taken the inaugural oath&mdash;and was now duly installed in the
+White House. That was something, of course, to be profoundly thankful
+for. But the matter regarded by him of larger moment&mdash;the safety of the
+Union&mdash;how about that?</p>
+
+<p>How that great, and just, and kindly brain, in the dim shadows of that
+awful first night at the White House, must have searched up and down and
+along the labyrinths of history and "corridors of time," everywhere in
+the Past, for any analogy or excuse for the madness of this Secession
+movement&mdash;and searched in vain!</p>
+
+<p>With his grand and abounding faith in God, how Abraham Lincoln must have
+stormed the very gates of Heaven that night with prayer that he might be
+the means of securing Peace and Union to his beloved but distracted
+Country! How his great heart must have been racked with the
+alternations of hope and foreboding&mdash;of trustfulness and doubt!
+Anxiously he must have looked for the light of the morrow, that he might
+gather from the Press, the manner in which his Inaugural had been
+received. Not that he feared the North&mdash;but the South; how would the
+wayward, wilful, passionate South, receive his proffered olivef-branch?</p>
+
+<p>Surely, surely,&mdash;thus ran his thoughts&mdash;when the brave, and gallant, and
+generous people of that Section came to read his message of Peace and
+Good-will, they must see the suicidal folly of their course! Surely
+their hearts must be touched and the mists of prejudice dissolved, so
+that reason would resume her sway, and Reconciliation follow! A little
+more time for reflection would yet make all things right. The young men
+of the South, fired by the Southern leaders' false appeals, must soon
+return to reason. The prairie fire is terrible while it sweeps along,
+but it soon burns out. When the young men face the emblem of their
+Nation's glory&mdash;the flag of the land of their birth&mdash;then will come the
+reaction and their false leaders will be hurled from place and power,
+and all will again be right. Yea, when it comes to firing on the old,
+old flag, they will not, cannot, do it! Between the Compromise within
+their reach, and such Sacrilege as this, they cannot waver long.</p>
+
+<p>So, doubtless, all the long night, whether waking or sleeping, the mind
+of this true-hearted son of the West, throbbed with the mighty weight of
+the problem entrusted to him for solution, and the vast responsibilities
+which he had just assumed toward his fellow-men, his Nation, and his
+God.</p>
+
+<p>And when, at last, the long lean frame was thrown upon the couch, and
+"tired Nature's sweet restorer" held him briefly in her arms, the smile
+of hopefulness on the wan cheek told that, despite all the terrible
+difficulties of the situation, the sleeper was sustained by a strong and
+cheerful belief in the Providence of God, the Patriotism of the People,
+and the efficacy of his Inaugural Peace-offering to the South. But alas,
+and alas, for the fallibility of human judgment and human hopes!
+Instead of a message of Peace, the South chose to regard it as a message
+of Menace;* and it was not received in a much better spirit by some of
+the Northern papers, which could see no good in it&mdash;"no Union spirit in
+it"&mdash;but declared that it breathed the spirit of Sectionalism and
+mischief, and "is the knell and requiem of the Union, and the death of
+hope."</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> ["Mr. Lincoln fondly regarded his Inaugural as a resistless
+ proffering of the olive branch to the South; the Conspirators
+ everywhere interpreted it as a challenge to War."&mdash;Greeley's Am.
+ Conflict, vol. i., p. 428.]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>
+Bitter indeed must have been President Lincoln's disappointment and
+sorrow at the reception of his Inaugural. With the heartiest
+forgiveness, in the noblest spirit of paternal kindness, he had
+generously held out his arms, as far as they could reach, to clasp to
+his heart&mdash;to the great heart of the Union&mdash;the rash children of the
+South, if they would but let him. It was more with sorrow, than in
+anger, that he looked upon their contemptuous repulsion of his advances;
+and his soul still reproachfully yearned toward these his Southern
+brethren, as did that of a higher than he toward His misguided brethren,
+when He cried: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets,
+and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have
+gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens
+under her wings, and ye would not!"</p>
+
+<p>On the day following his Inauguration, President Lincoln sent to the
+United States Senate the names of those whom he had chosen to constitute
+his Cabinet, as follows: William H. Seward, of New York, Secretary of
+State; Salmon P. Chase, of Ohio, Secretary of the Treasury; Simon
+Cameron, of Pennsylvania, Secretary of War; Gideon Welles, of
+Connecticut, Secretary of the Navy; Caleb B. Smith, of Indiana,
+Secretary of the Interior; Edward Bates, of Missouri, Attorney General;
+and Montgomery Blair, of Maryland, Postmaster General.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, the President of the rebellious Confederacy,
+Jefferson Davis, had partly constituted his Cabinet already, as follows:
+Robert Toombs, of Georgia, Secretary of State; Charles G. Memminger, of
+South Carolina, Secretary of the Treasury; Leroy Pope Walker, of
+Alabama, Secretary of War; to whom he afterwards added: Stephen R.
+Mallory, of Florida, Secretary of the Navy; and John H. Reagan, of
+Texas, Postmaster-General.</p>
+
+<br><br><br><br>
+<a name="ch10"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<center><h2>
+ CHAPTER X.<br><br>
+
+ THE WAR-DRUM "ON TO WASHINGTON".</h2></center><br>
+
+<p>Scarcely one week had elapsed after the Administration of Mr. Lincoln
+began, when (March 11th) certain "Commissioners of the Southern
+Confederacy" (John Forsyth, of Alabama, and Martin J. Crawford, of
+Georgia), appeared at Washington and served a written request upon
+the State Department to appoint an early day when they might present to
+the President of the United States their credentials "from the
+Government of the Confederate States of America" to the Government of
+the United States, and open "the objects of the mission with which they
+are charged."</p>
+
+<p>Secretary Seward, with the President's sanction, declined official
+intercourse with Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford, in a "Memorandum" (March
+15th) reciting their request, etc., in which, after referring to
+President Lincoln's Inaugural Address&mdash;forwarded to them with the
+"Memorandum" he says: "A simple reference will be sufficient to satisfy
+those gentlemen that the Secretary of State, guided by the principles
+therein announced, is prevented altogether from admitting or assuming
+that the States referred to by them have, in law or in fact, withdrawn
+from the Federal Union, or that they could do so in the manner described
+by Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford, or in any other manner than with the
+consent and concert of the People of the United States, to be given
+through a National Convention, to be assembled in conformity with the
+provisions of the Constitution of the United States. Of course, the
+Secretary of State cannot act upon the assumption, or in any way admit,
+that the so-called Confederate States constitute a Foreign Power, with
+whom diplomatic relations ought to be established."</p>
+
+<p>On the 9th of April, Messrs. Forsyth, Crawford and Roman&mdash;as
+"Commissioners of the Southern Confederacy"&mdash;addressed to Secretary
+Seward a reply to the "Memorandum" aforesaid, in which the following
+passage occurs:</p>
+
+<p>"The undersigned, like the Secretary of State, have no purpose to
+'invite or engage in discussion' of the subject on which their two
+Governments are so irreconcilably at variance. It is this variance that
+has broken up the old Union, the disintegration of which has only begun.</p>
+
+<p>"It is proper, however, to advise you that it were well to dismiss the
+hopes you seem to entertain that, by any of the modes indicated, the
+people of the Confederate States will ever be brought to submit to the
+authority of the Government of the United States. You are dealing with
+delusions, too, when you seek to separate our people from our
+Government, and to characterize the deliberate, Sovereign act of that
+people as a 'perversion of a temporary and partisan excitement.' If you
+cherish these dreams, you will be awakened from them, and find them as
+unreal and unsubstantial as others in which you have recently indulged.</p>
+
+<p>"The undersigned would omit the performance of an obvious duty were they
+to fail to make known to the Government of the United States that the
+people of the Confederate States have declared their independence with a
+full knowledge of all the responsibilities of that act, and with as firm
+a determination to maintain it by all the means with which nature has
+endowed them as that which sustained their fathers when they threw off
+the authority of the British Crown.</p>
+
+<p>"The undersigned clearly understand that you have declined to appoint a
+day to enable them to lay the objects of the mission with which they are
+charged, before the President of the United States, because so to do
+would be to recognize the independence and separate nationality of the
+Confederate States. This is the vein of thought that pervades the
+memorandum before us.</p>
+
+<p>"The truth of history requires that it should distinctly appear upon the
+record, that the undersigned did not ask the Government of the United
+States to recognize the independence of the Confederate States. They
+only asked audience to adjust, in a spirit of amity and peace, the new
+relations springing from a manifest and accomplished revolution in the
+Government of the late Federal Union.</p>
+
+<p>"Your refusal to entertain these overtures for a peaceful solution, the
+active naval and military preparation of this Government, and a formal
+notice to the Commanding General of the Confederate forces in the harbor
+of Charleston that the President intends to provision Fort Sumter by
+forcible means, if necessary, are viewed by the undersigned, and can
+only be received by the World, as a Declaration of War against the
+Confederate States; for the President of the United States knows that
+Fort Sumter cannot be provisioned without the effusion of blood.</p>
+
+<p>"The undersigned, in behalf of their Government and people, accept the
+gage of battle thus thrown down to them, and, appealing to God and the
+judgment of mankind for the righteousness of their Cause, the people of
+the Confederate States will defend their liberties to the last, against
+this flagrant and open attempt at their subjugation to Sectional power."</p>
+
+<p>
+Let us now, for a moment, glance at the condition of Fort Sumter, and of
+the Government with regard to it:</p>
+
+<p>On the 5th of March, the day after President Lincoln had taken his oath
+of office, there was placed in his hands a letter of Major Anderson,
+commanding at Fort Sumter, in which that officer, under date of the 28th
+of February, expressed the opinion that "reinforcements could not be
+thrown into that fort within the time for his relief rendered necessary
+by the limited supply of provisions, and with a view of holding
+possession of the same, with a force of less than twenty thousand good
+and well-disciplined men."</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [President Lincoln's first Message, July 4, 1861.]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott concurred in that opinion, and as the
+provisions in the Fort would be exhausted before any such force could be
+raised and brought to the ground, evacuation and safe withdrawal of the
+Federal garrison from the Fort became a Military necessity, and was so
+regarded by the Administration.</p>
+
+<p>"It was believed, however"&mdash;in the language of Mr. Lincoln himself, in
+his first Message to Congress&mdash;"that to so abandon that position, under
+the circumstances, would be utterly ruinous: that the necessity under
+which it was to be done would not be fully understood; that by many it
+would be construed as a part of a voluntary policy; that at home it
+would discourage the friends of the Union, embolden its adversaries, and
+go far to insure to the latter a recognition abroad; that in fact it
+would be our National destruction consummated. This could not be
+allowed. Starvation was not yet upon the garrison; and ere it would be
+reached, Fort Pickens might be reinforced. This last would be a clear
+indication of policy, and would better enable the country to accept the
+evacuation of Fort Sumter as a Military necessity."</p>
+
+<p>Owing to misconception or otherwise, an order to reinforce Fort Pickens
+was not carried out, and an expedition to relieve Fort Sumter was then
+ordered to be dispatched. On the 8th of April President Lincoln, by
+messenger, notified Governor Pickens of South Carolina, "that he might
+expect an attempt would be made to provision the fort; and that if the
+attempt should not be resisted there would be no effort to throw in men,
+arms, or ammunition, without further notice, or in case of an attack
+upon the fort."</p>
+
+<p>A crisis was evidently approaching, and public feeling all over the
+Country was wrought up to the highest degree of tension and stood
+tip-toe with intense expectancy. The test of the doctrine of Secession was
+about to be made there, in the harbor of Charleston, upon which the eyes
+of Patriot and Rebel were alike feverishly bent.</p>
+
+<p>There, in Charleston harbor, grimly erect, stood the octagon-shaped Fort
+Sumter, mid-way of the harbor entrance, the Stars and Stripes proudly
+waving from its lofty central flagstaff, its guns bristling on every
+side through the casemates and embrasures, as if with a knowledge of
+their defensive power.</p>
+
+<p>About equidistant from Fort Sumter on either side of the
+harbor-entrance, were the Rebel works at Fort Moultrie and Battery Bee on
+Sullivan's Island, on the one side, and Cummings Point Battery, on
+Morris Island, on the other-besides a number of other batteries facing
+seaward along the sea-coast line of Morris Island. Further in, on the
+same side of the harbor, and but little further off from Fort Sumter,
+stood Fort Johnson on James Island, while Castle Pinckney and a Floating
+Battery were between the beleagured Fort and the city of Charleston.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, the Federal Fort was threatened with the concentrated fire of
+these well-manned Rebel fortifications on all sides, and in its then
+condition was plainly doomed; for, while the swarming Rebels, unmolested
+by Fort Sumter, had been permitted to surround that Fort with frowning
+batteries, whose guns outnumbered those of the Fort, as ten to one, and
+whose caliber was also superior, its own condition was anything but that
+of readiness for the inevitable coming encounter.</p>
+
+<p>That the officers' quarters, barracks, and other frame-work wooden
+buildings should have been permitted to remain as a standing invitation
+to conflagration from bombardment, can only be accounted for on the
+supposition that the gallant officer in command, himself a Southerner,
+would not believe it possible that the thousands of armed Americans by
+whom he was threatened and encircled, could fire upon the flag of their
+own native Country. He and his garrison of seventy men, were soon to
+learn the bitter truth, amid a tempest of bursting shot and shell, the
+furnace-heat of crackling walls, and suffocating volumes of dense smoke
+produced by an uncontrollable conflagration.</p>
+
+<p>The Rebel leaders at Washington had prevented an attack in January upon
+the forts in the harbor of Charleston, and at Pensacola.&mdash;[McPherson's
+History of the Rebellion, p. 112.]&mdash;In consequence of which failure to
+proceed to the last extremity at once, the energies of the Rebellion had
+perceptibly diminished.</p>
+
+<p>Said the Mobile Mercury: "The country is sinking into a fatal apathy,
+and the spirit and even the patriotism of the people is oozing out,
+under this do-nothing policy. If something is not done pretty soon,
+decisive, either evacuation or expulsion, the whole country will become
+so disgusted with the sham of Southern independence that the first
+chance the people get at a popular election they will turn the whole
+movement topsy-turvy so bad that it never on Earth can be righted
+again."</p>
+
+<p>After the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, however, the Rebel authorities at
+Montgomery lost no time, but strained every nerve to precipitate War.
+They felt that there was danger to the cause of Secession in delay; that
+there were wavering States outside the Confederacy, like Virginia, that
+might be dragged into the Confederacy by prompt and bloody work; and
+wavering States within, like Alabama, that must be kept in by similar
+means. Their emissaries were busy everywhere in the South, early in
+April, preaching an instant crusade against the old flag&mdash;inciting the
+people to demand instant hostilities against Fort Sumter&mdash;and to cross a
+Rubicon of blood, over which there could be no return.</p>
+
+<p>Many of the Rebel leaders seemed to be haunted by the fear (no doubt
+well founded) that unless blood was shed&mdash;unless an impassable barrier,
+crimsoned with human gore, was raised between the new Confederacy and
+the old Union&mdash;there would surely be an ever-present danger of that
+Confederacy falling to pieces. Hence they were now active in working
+the people up to the required point of frenzy.</p>
+
+<p>As a specimen of their speeches, may be quoted that of Roger A. Pryor,
+of Virginia, who, at Charleston, April 10, 1861, replying to a serenade,
+said:&mdash;[Charleston Mercury's report.]</p>
+
+<p>'Gentlemen, I thank you, especially that you have at last annihilated
+this accursed Union [Applause] reeking with corruption, and insolent
+with excess of tyranny. Thank God, it is at last blasted and riven by
+the lightning wrath of an outraged and indignant people. [Loud
+applause.] Not only is it gone, but gone forever. [Cries of, 'You're
+right,' and applause.] In the expressive language of Scripture, it is
+water spilt upon the ground, which cannot be gathered up. [Applause.]
+Like Lucifer, son of the morning, it has fallen, never to rise again.
+[Continued applause.]</p>
+
+<p>"For my part, gentlemen," he continued, as soon as he could be heard,
+"if Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin to-morrow were to abdicate their
+offices and were to give me a blank sheet of paper to write the
+condition of re-annexation to the defunct Union, I would scornfully
+spurn the overture. * * * I invoke you, and I make it in some sort a
+personal appeal&mdash;personal so far as it tends to our assistance in
+Virginia&mdash;I do invoke you, in your demonstrations of popular opinion, in
+your exhibitions of official intent, to give no countenance to this idea
+of reconstruction. [Many voices, emphatically, 'never,' and applause.]</p>
+
+<p>"In Virginia," resumed he, "they all say, if reduced to the dread
+dilemma of this memorable alternative, they will espouse the cause of
+the South as against the interest of the Northern Confederacy, but they
+whisper of reconstruction, and they say Virginia must abide in the
+Union, with the idea of reconstructing the Union which you have
+annihilated. I pray you, gentlemen, rob them of that idea. Proclaim to
+the World that upon no condition, and under no circumstances, will South
+Carolina ever again enter into political association with the
+Abolitionists of New England. [Cries of 'never,' and applause.]</p>
+
+<p>"Do not distrust Virginia," he continued; "as sure as tomorrow's sun
+will rise upon us, just so sure will Virginia be a member of this
+Southern Confederation. [Applause.] And I will tell you, gentlemen,
+what will put her in the Southern Confederacy in less than an hour by
+Shrewsbury clock&mdash;STRIKE A BLOW! [Tremendous applause.] The very
+moment that blood is shed, old Virginia will make common cause with her
+sisters of the South. [Applause.] It is impossible she should do
+otherwise."</p>
+
+<p>The question of the necessity of "Striking a Blow"&mdash;of the immediate
+"shedding of blood"&mdash;was not only discussed before the Southern people
+for the purpose of inflaming their rebellious zeal, but was also the
+subject of excited agitation in the Confederate Cabinet at this time.</p>
+
+<p>In a speech made by ex-United States Senator Clemens of Alabama, at
+Huntsville, Alabama, at the close of the Rebellion, he told the
+Alabamians how their State, which, as we have seen, was becoming
+decidedly shaky in its allegiance to the "Sham of Southern
+Independence," was kept in the Confederacy.</p>
+
+<p>Said he: "In 1861, shortly after the Confederate Government was put in
+operation, I was in the city of Montgomery. One day (April 11, 1861) I
+stepped into the office of the Secretary of War, General Walker, and
+found there, engaged in a very excited discussion, Mr. Jefferson Davis
+(the President), Mr. Memminger (Secretary of the Treasury), Mr. Benjamin
+(Attorney-General), Mr. Gilchrist, a member of our Legislature from
+Loundes county, and a number of other prominent gentlemen. They were
+discussing the propriety of immediately opening fire on Fort Sumter, to
+which General Walker, the Secretary of War, appeared to be opposed. Mr.
+Gilchrist said to him, 'Sir, unless you sprinkle blood in the face of
+the people of Alabama, they will be back in the old Union in less than
+ten days!' THE NEXT DAY GENERAL BEAUREGARD OPENED HIS BATTERIES ON
+SUMTER, AND ALABAMA WAS SAVED TO THE CONFEDERACY."</p>
+
+<p>On the 8th of April, G. T. Beauregard, "Brigadier General Commanding"
+the "Provisional Army C. S. A." at Charleston, S. C., notified the
+Confederate Secretary of War (Walker) at Montgomery, Ala., that "An
+authorized messenger from President Lincoln has just informed Gov.
+Pickens and myself that provisions will be sent to Fort Sumter
+peaceably, or otherwise by force."</p>
+
+<p>On the 10th, Confederate Secretary Walker telegraphed to Beauregard: "If
+you have no doubt of the authorized character of the agent who
+communicated to, you the intention of the Washington Government to
+supply Fort Sumter by force, you will at once demand its evacuation,
+and, if this is refused, proceed, in such manner as you may determine,
+to reduce it." To this Beauregard at once replied: "The demand will be
+made to-morrow at 12 o'clock." Thereupon the Confederate Secretary
+telegraphed again: "Unless there are special reasons connected with your
+own condition, it is considered proper that you should make the demand
+at an earlier hour." And Beauregard answered: "The reasons are special
+for 12 o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>On the 11th General Beauregard notified Secretary Walker: "The demand
+was sent at 2 P. M., and until 6 was allowed for the answer." The
+Secretary desiring to have the reply of Major Anderson, General
+Beauregard telegraphed: "Major Anderson replies: 'I have the honor to
+acknowledge the receipt of your communication demanding the evacuation
+of this Fort, and to say in reply thereto that it is a demand with which
+I regret that my sense of honor and of my obligation to my Government
+prevent my compliance.' He adds, verbally, 'I will await the first
+shot, and, if you do not batter us to pieces, we will be starved out in
+a few days.'"</p>
+
+<p>To this, the Confederate Secretary at once responded with: "Do not
+desire needlessly to bombard Fort Sumter. If Major Anderson will state
+the time at which, as indicated by himself, he will evacuate, and agree
+that, in the mean time, he will not use his guns against us unless ours
+should be employed against Fort Sumter, you are authorized thus to avoid
+the effusion of blood. If this or its equivalent be refused, reduce the
+Fort, as your judgment decides to be the most practicable."</p>
+
+<p>At 11 o'clock that night (April 11) General Beauregard sent to Major
+Anderson, by the hands of his aides-de-camp, Messrs. Chesnut and Lee, a
+further communication, in which, after alluding to the Major's verbal
+observation, the General said: "If you will state the time at which you
+will evacuate Fort Sumter, and agree that in the mean time you will not
+use your guns against us unless ours shall be employed against Fort
+Sumter, we shall abstain from opening fire upon you. Col. Chesnut and
+Capt. Lee are authorized by me to enter into such an agreement with you.
+You are therefore requested to communicate to them an open answer."</p>
+
+<p>To this, Major Robert Anderson, at 2.30 A.M. of the 12th, replied "that,
+cordially uniting with you in the desire to avoid the useless effusion
+of blood, I will, if provided with the necessary means of
+transportation, evacuate Fort Sumter by noon on the 15th inst., should I
+not receive prior to that time, controlling instructions from my
+Government, or additional supplies, and that I will not in the mean time
+open my fire upon your forces unless compelled to do so by some hostile
+act against this Fort or the flag of my Government, by the forces under
+your command, or by some portion of them, or by the perpetration of some
+act showing a hostile intention on your part against this Fort or the
+flag it bears." Thereupon General Beauregard telegraphed Secretary
+Walker: "He would not consent. I write to-day."</p>
+
+<p>At 3.20 A.M., Major Anderson received from Messrs. Chesnut and Lee a
+notification to this effect: "By authority of Brigadier General
+Beauregard, commanding the Provisional Forces of the Confederate States,
+we have the honor to notify you that he will open the fire of his
+batteries on Fort Sumter in one hour from this time." And a later
+dispatch from General Beauregard to Secretary Walker, April 12,
+laconically stated: "WE OPENED FIRE AT 4.30."</p>
+
+<p>At last the hour and the minute had come, for which the Slave Power of
+the South had for thirty years so impatiently longed. At last the
+moment had come, when all the long-treasured vengeance of the
+South&mdash;outgrown from questions of Tariff, of Slavery, and of Secession&mdash;was to
+be poured out in blood and battle; when the panoplied powers and forces
+of rebellious confederated States, standing face to face with the
+resolute patriotism of an outraged Union, would belch forth flame and
+fury and hurtling missiles upon the Federal Fort and the old flag
+floating o'er it.</p>
+
+<p>And whose the sacrilegious hand that dared be first raised against his
+Country and his Country's flag? Stevens's mortar battery at Sullivan's
+Island is ready to open, when a lean, long-haired old man, with eyes
+blazing in their deep fanatical sockets, totters hastily forward and
+ravenously seizing in his bony hands a lanyard, pulls the string, and,
+with a flash and roar, away speeds the shrieking shell on its mission of
+destruction; and, while shell after shell, and shot after shot, from
+battery after battery, screams a savage accompaniment to the boom and
+flash and bellow of the guns, that lean old man works his clutched
+fingers in an ecstasy of fiendish pleasure, and chuckles: "Aye, I told
+them at Columbia that night, that the defense of the South is only to be
+secured through the lead of South Carolina; and, old as I am, I had come
+here to join them in that lead&mdash;and I have done it."</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [Edmund Ruffin, see p. 100. This theory of the necessity of South
+ Carolina leading, had long been held, as in the following, first
+ published in the New York Tribune, July 3, 1862, which, among other
+ letters, was found in the house of William H. Trescot, on
+ Barnwell's Island, South Carolina, when re-occupied by United
+ States troops:</p>
+
+<p> "VIRGINIA CONVENTION, May 3, 1851</p>
+
+<p> "My DEAR, SIR:&mdash;You misunderstood my last letter, if you supposed
+ that I intended to visit South Carolina this Spring. I am
+ exceedingly obliged to you for your kind invitations, and it would
+ afford me the highest pleasure to interchange in person, sentiments
+ with a friend whose manner of thinking so closely agrees with my
+ own. But my engagements here closely confine me to this city, and
+ deny me such a gratification.</p>
+
+<p> "I would be especially glad to be in Charleston next week, and
+ witness the proceedings of your Convention of Delegates from the
+ Southern Rights Associations. The condition of things in your
+ State deeply interests me. Her wise foresight and manly
+ independence have placed her, as the head of the South, to whom
+ alone true-hearted men can look with any hope or pleasure.</p>
+
+<p> "Momentous are the consequences which depend upon your action.
+ Which party will prevail? The immediate Secessionists, or those
+ who are opposed to separate State action at this time? For my part
+ I forbear to form a wish. Were I a Carolinian, it would be very
+ different; but when I consider the serious effects the decision may
+ have on your future weal or woe, I feel that a citizen of a State
+ which has acted as Virginia, has no right to interfere, even by a
+ wish.</p>
+
+<p> "If the General Government allows you peaceably and freely to
+ Secede, neither Virginia, nor any other Southern State, would, in
+ my opinion, follow you at present. But what would be the effect
+ upon South Carolina? Some of our best friends have supposed that
+ it would cut off Charleston from the great Western trade, which she
+ is now striking for, and would retard very greatly the progress of
+ your State. I confess that I think differently. I believe
+ thoroughly in our own theories, and that, even if Charleston did
+ not grow quite as fast in her trade with other States, yet the
+ relief from Federal taxation would vastly stimulate your
+ prosperity. If so, the prestige of the Union would be destroyed,
+ and you would be the nucleus for a Southern Confederation at no
+ distant day.</p>
+
+<p> "But I do not doubt, from all I have been able toe to learn that the
+ Federal Government would use force, beginning with the form most
+ embarrassing to you, and least calculated to excite sympathy. I
+ mean a naval blockade. In that event, could you stand the reaction
+ feeling which the suffering commerce of Charleston would probably
+ manifest? Would you not lose that in which your strength consists,
+ the union of your people? I do not mean to imply an opinion, I
+ only ask the question.</p>
+
+<p> "If you could force this blockade, and bring the Government to
+ direct force, the feeling in Virginia would be very great. I trust
+ in God it would bring her to your aid. But it would be wrong in me
+ to deceive you by speaking certainly. I cannot express the deep
+ mortification I have felt at her course this Winter. But I do not
+ believe that the course of the Legislature is a fair expression of
+ popular feeling. In the East, at least, the great majority
+ believes in the right of Secession, and feels the deepest sympathy
+ with Carolina in her opposition to measures which they regard as
+ she does. But the West&mdash;Western Virginia&mdash;there is the rub! Only
+ 60,000 slaves to 494,000 whites! When I consider this fact, and
+ the kind of argument which has been heard in this body, I cannot
+ but regard with the greatest fear the question whether Virginia
+ would assist Carolina in such an issue.</p>
+
+<p> "I must acknowledge, my dear sir, that I look to the future with
+ almost as much apprehension as hope. You well object to the term
+ Democrat. Democracy, in its original philosophical sense, is
+ indeed incompatible with Slavery and the whole system of Southern
+ society. Yet, if you look back, what change will you find made in
+ any of your State Constitutions, or in our legislation&mdash;that is, in
+ its general course&mdash;for the last fifty years, which was not in the
+ direction of this Democracy? Do not its principles and theories
+ become daily more fixed in our practice? (I had almost said in the
+ opinions of our people, did I not remember with pleasure the great
+ improvement of opinion in regard to the abstract question of
+ Slavery). And if such is the case, what are we to hope in the
+ future? I do not hesitate to say that if the question is raised
+ between Carolina and the Federal Government, and the latter
+ prevails, the last hope of republican government, and, I fear, of
+ Southern civilization, is gone. Russia will then be a better
+ government than ours.</p>
+
+<p> "I fear that the confusion and interruptions amid which I write
+ have made this rather a rambling letter. Do you visit the North in
+ the Summer? I would be very happy to welcome you to the Old
+ Dominion.</p>
+
+<p> "I am much obliged to you for the offer to send me Hammond's Eulogy
+ on Calhoun, but I am indebted to the author for a copy.</p>
+
+<p> "With esteem and friendship, yours truly,</p>
+
+<p> "M. R. H. GARNETT.</p>
+
+<p> "WM. H. TRESCOT, ESQ."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>
+Next morning's New York herald, in its Charleston dispatch of April 12,
+announced to the World that "The first shot [fired at Fort Sumter] from
+Stevens's battery was fired by the venerable Edmund Ruffin, of
+Virginia," and added, "That ball will do more for the cause of
+Secession, in Virginia, than volumes of stump speeches."</p>
+
+<p>"Soon," says Greeley in his History, "the thunder of fifty heavy
+breaching cannon, in one grand volley, followed by the crashing and
+crumbling of brick, stone, and mortar around and above them, apprized
+the little garrison that their stay must necessarily be short."</p>
+
+<p>Says an eye-witness of the bombardment: "Shells burst with the greatest
+rapidity in every portion of the work, hurling the loose brick and stone
+in all directions, breaking the windows and setting fire to whatever
+woodwork they burst against. * * * The firing from the batteries on
+Cumming's Point was scattered over the whole of the gorge or rear of the
+Fort, till it looked like a sieve. The explosion of shells, and the
+quantity of deadly missiles that were hurled in every direction and at
+every instant of time, made it almost certain death to go out of the
+lower tier of casemates, and also made the working of the barbette or
+upper (uncovered) guns, which contained all our heaviest metal, and by
+which alone we could throw shells, quite impossible.</p>
+
+<p>"During the first day there was hardly an instant of time that there was
+a cessation of the whizzing of balls, which were sometimes coming half a
+dozen at once. There was not a portion of the work which was not taken
+in reverse from mortars. * * * During Friday, the officers' barracks
+were three times set on fire by the shells and three times put out under
+the most galling and destructive cannonade.</p>
+
+<p>"For the fourth time, the barracks were set on fire early on Saturday
+morning, and attempts were made to extinguish the flames; but it was
+soon discovered that red-hot shot were being thrown into the Fort with
+fearful rapidity, and it became evident that it would be impossible to
+put out the conflagration. The whole garrison was then set to work, or
+as many as could be spared, to remove the powder from the magazines,
+which was desperate work, rolling barrels of powder through the fire. *
+* * After the barracks were well on fire, the batteries directed upon
+Fort Sumter increased their cannonading to a rapidity greater than had
+been attained before."</p>
+
+<p>"About this time, the shells and ammunition in the upper
+service-magazines exploded, scattering the tower and upper portions of the
+building in every direction. The crash of the beams, the roar of the
+flames, and the shower of fragments of the Fort, with the blackness of
+the smoke, made the scene indescribably terrific and grand. This
+continued for several hours. * * * "</p>
+
+<p>"There was not a portion of the Fort where a breath of air could be got
+for hours, except through a wet cloth. The fire spread to the men's
+quarters on the right hand and on the left, and endangered the powder
+which had been taken out of the magazines. The men went through the
+fire, and covered the barrels with wet cloths, but the danger of the
+Fort's blowing up became so imminent that they were obliged to heave the
+barrels out of the embrasures."</p>
+
+<p>Major Anderson's official report tells the whole story briefly and well,
+in these words:</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> "STEAMSHIP BALTIC, OFF SANDY HOOK</p>
+
+<p> "April 18, 1861, 10.30 A.M., VIA NEW YORK.</p>
+
+<p>"Having defended Fort Sumter for thirty-four hours, until the quarters
+were entirely burnt, the main gates destroyed by fire, the gorge walls
+seriously injured, the magazine surrounded by flames, and its door
+closed from the effects of heat; four barrels and three cartridges of
+powder only being available, and no provisions remaining but pork, I
+accepted terms of evacuation offered by General Beauregard&mdash;being the
+same offered by him on the 11th inst., prior to the commencement of
+hostilities&mdash;and marched out of the Fort on Sunday afternoon, the 14th
+instant, with colors flying and drums beating, bringing away company and
+private property, and saluting my flag with fifty guns.</p>
+
+<p> "ROBERT ANDERSON,
+ "Major 1st Artillery, Commanding.</p>
+
+<p>"HON. SIMON CAMERON,
+"Secretary of War, Washington."</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>
+During all this thirty-four hours of bombardment, the South rejoiced
+with exceeding great joy that the time had come for the vindication of
+its peculiar ideas of State and other rights, even though it be with
+flames and the sword. At Charleston, the people were crazy with
+exultation and wine-feasting and drinking being the order of the day and
+night. But for the surrender, Fort Sumter would have been stormed that
+Sunday night. As it was, Sunday was turned into a day of general
+jubilation, and while the people cheered and filled the streets, all the
+Churches of Charleston celebrated, with more or less devotional fervor
+and ceremony, the bloodless victory.</p>
+
+<p>At Montgomery, the Chiefs of the Confederate Government were serenaded.
+"Salvos of artillery were fired, and the whole population seemed to be
+in an ecstasy of triumph."&mdash;[McPherson's History of the Rebellion, p.
+114]</p>
+
+<p>The Confederate Secretary of War, flushed with the success, predicted
+that the Confederate flag "will, before the first of May, float over the
+dome of the old Capitol at Washington" and "will eventually float over
+Faneuil Hall, in Boston."</p>
+
+<p>From Maryland to Mexico, the protests of Union men of the South were
+unheard in the fierce clamor of "On to Washington!"</p>
+
+<p>The Richmond Examiner said: "There never was half the unanimity among
+the people before, nor a tithe of the zeal upon any subject, that is now
+manifested to take Washington. From the mountain tops and valleys to
+the shores of the sea, there is one wild shout of fierce resolve to
+capture Washington City at all and every human hazard."</p>
+
+<p>So also, the Mobile Advertiser enthusiastically exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"We are prepared to fight, and the enemy is not. Now is the time for
+action, while he is yet unprepared. Let the fife sound 'Gray Jackets
+over the Border,' and let a hundred thousand men, with such arms as they
+can snatch, get over the border as quickly as they can. Let a division
+enter every Northern border State, destroy railroad connection to
+prevent concentration of the enemy, and the desperate strait of these
+States, the body of Lincoln's country, will compel him to a peace&mdash;or
+compel his successor, should Virginia not suffer him to escape from his
+doomed capital."</p>
+
+<p>It was on Friday morning, the 12th of April, as we have seen, that the
+first Rebel shot was fired at Fort Sumter. It was on Saturday afternoon
+and evening that the terms of surrender were agreed to, and on Sunday
+afternoon that the Federal flag was saluted and hauled down, and the
+surrender completed. On Monday morning, being the 15th of April, in all
+the great Northern Journals of the day appeared the following:</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p>"PROCLAMATION.</p>
+
+<p>"WHEREAS, the laws of the United States have been for some time past,
+and now are, opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed, in the
+States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi,
+Louisiana, and Texas, by Combinations too powerful to be suppressed by
+the ordinary course of Judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in
+the Marshals by law; now, therefore I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the
+United States, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution
+and the laws, have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth,
+the Militia of the several States of the Union to the aggregate number
+of 75,000, in order to suppress said Combinations, and to cause the laws
+to be duly executed.</p>
+
+<p>"The details for this object will be immediately communicated to the
+State authorities through the War Department. I appeal to all loyal
+citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the
+honor, the integrity, and existence of our National Union, and the
+perpetuity of popular government, and to redress wrongs already long
+enough endured. I deem it proper to say that the first service assigned
+to the forces hereby called forth, will probably be to repossess the
+forts, places, and property which have been seized from the Union; and
+in every event the utmost care will be observed, consistently with the
+objects aforesaid, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of, or
+interference with, property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens of
+any part of the Country; and I hereby command the persons composing the
+Combinations aforesaid, to disperse and retire peaceably to their
+respective abodes, within twenty days from this date.</p>
+
+<p>"Deeming that the present condition of public affairs presents an
+extraordinary occasion, I do hereby, in virtue of the power in me vested
+by the Constitution, convene both Houses of Congress. The Senators and
+Representatives are, therefore, summoned to assemble at their respective
+chambers at twelve o'clock, noon, on Thursday, the 4th day of July next,
+then and there to consider and determine such measures as, in their
+wisdom, the public safety and interest may seem to demand.</p>
+
+<p>"In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of
+the United States to be affixed.</p>
+
+<p>"Done at the city of Washington, this fifteenth day of April, in the
+year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and of the
+independence of the United States the eighty-fifth.</p>
+
+<p>"By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN.</p>
+
+<p>"WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State."</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>
+While in the North the official responses to this Call for troops were
+prompt and patriotic, in the Border and Slave States, not yet in
+Rebellion, they were anything but encouraging.</p>
+
+<p>The reply of Governor Burton, of Delaware, was by the issue of a
+proclamation "recommending the formation of volunteer companies for the
+protection of the lives and property of the people of Delaware against
+violence of any sort to which they may be exposed; the companies not
+being subject to be ordered by the Executive into the United States
+service&mdash;the law not vesting him with such authority&mdash;but having the
+option of offering their services to the General Government for the
+defense of its capital and the support of the Constitution and laws of
+the Country."</p>
+
+<p>Governor Hicks, of Maryland, in like manner, issued a proclamation for
+Maryland's quota of the troops, but stated that her four regiments would
+be detailed to serve within the limits of Maryland&mdash;or, for the defense
+of the National Capital.</p>
+
+<p>Governor Letcher, of Virginia, replied: "The militia of Virginia will
+not be furnished to the powers at Washington for any such use or purpose
+as they have in view. Your object is to subjugate the Southern States,
+and a requisition made upon me for such an object&mdash;an object, in my
+judgment, not within the purview of the Constitution or the Act of 1795
+&mdash;will not be complied with. You have chosen to inaugurate Civil War,
+and having done so, we will meet it in a spirit as determined as the
+Administration has exhibited toward the South."</p>
+
+<p>Governor Ellis, of North Carolina, replied to Secretary Cameron: "Your
+dispatch is received, and, if genuine&mdash;which its extraordinary character
+leads me to doubt&mdash;I have to say in reply that I regard the levy of
+troops made by the Administration, for the purpose of subjugating the
+States of the South, as in violation of the Constitution and a
+usurpation of power. I can be no party to this wicked violation of the
+laws of the country, and to this War upon the liberties of a free
+people. You can get no troops from North Carolina. I will reply more
+in detail when your Call is received by mail."</p>
+
+<p>Governor Magoffin, of Kentucky, replied: "Your dispatch is received. In
+answer I say emphatically, Kentucky will furnish no troops for the
+wicked purpose of subduing her sister Southern States."</p>
+
+<p>Governor Harris, of Tennessee, replied: "Tennessee will not furnish a
+single man for Coercion, but fifty thousand, if necessary, for the
+Defense of our rights or those of our Southern brethren."</p>
+
+<p>Governor Jackson, of Missouri, replied: "Your requisition is illegal,
+unconstitutional, revolutionary, inhuman, diabolical and cannot be
+complied with."</p>
+
+<p>Governor Rector, of Arkansas, replied: "None will be furnished. The
+demand is only adding insult to injury."</p>
+
+<p>Discouraging and even insulting as were most of these replies, the
+responses of the Governors of the Free States were, on the other hand,
+full of the ring of true martial Patriotism evoked by the fall of Sumter
+and the President's first call for troops. Twenty millions of Northern
+hearts were stirred by that Call, as they had never before been stirred.
+Party and faction became for the moment, a thing of the past.</p>
+
+<p>The Governors of the Free States made instant proclamation for
+volunteers, and the People responded not by thousands but by hundreds of
+thousands. New York, the Empire State, by her Governor and her
+Legislature placed all her tremendous resources at the service of the
+Union; and the great State of Pennsylvania, through Governor Curtin, did
+the same. Nor were the other States at all behind.</p>
+
+<p>The Loyal North felt that Law, Order, Liberty, the existence of the
+Nation itself was in peril, and must be both saved and vindicated. Over
+half a million of men&mdash;from the prairies of the West and the hills and
+cities of the East&mdash;from farms and counting houses, from factories and
+mines and workshops&mdash;sprang to arms at the Call, and begged to be
+enrolled. The merchants and capitalists throughout the North proffered
+to the Government their wealth and influence and best services. The
+press and the people responded as only the press and people of a Free
+land can respond&mdash;with all their heart and soul. "Fort Sumter," said
+one of the journals, "is lost, but Freedom is saved. Henceforth, the
+Loyal States are a unit in uncompromising hostility to Treason, wherever
+plotted, however justified. Fort Sumter is temporarily lost, but the
+Country is saved. Live the Republic!"</p>
+
+<p>This, in a nutshell, was the feeling everywhere expressed, whether by
+the great crowds that marched through the streets of Northern cities
+with drums beating and banners flying&mdash;cheering wildly for the Union,
+singing Union songs, and compelling those of doubtful loyalty to throw
+out to the breeze from their homes the glorified Stars and Stripes&mdash;by
+the great majority of newspapers&mdash;by the pulpit, by the rostrum, by the
+bench, by all of whatever profession or calling in Northern life. For
+the moment, the voice of the Rebel-sympathizer was hushed in the land,
+or so tremendously overborne that it seemed as if there was an absolute
+unanimity of love for the Union.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, in Border-States, bound to the South by ties of lineage and
+intermarriage and politics and business association, the feeling could
+not be the same as elsewhere. There, they were, so to speak, drawn both
+ways at once, by the beckoning hands of kindred on the one side, and
+Country on the other! Thus they long waited and hesitated, praying that
+something might yet happen to save the Union of their fathers, and
+prevent the shedding of brothers' blood, by brothers&mdash;hoping against
+hope-waited, in the belief that a position of armed neutrality might be
+permitted to them; and grieved, when they found this could not be.</p>
+
+<p>Each side to the great Conflict-at-arms naturally enough believed itself
+right, and that the other side was the first aggressor; but the judgment
+of Mankind has placed the blame where it properly belonged&mdash;on the
+shoulders of the Rebels. The calm, clear statement of President
+Lincoln, in his July Message to Congress, touching the assault and its
+preceding history&mdash;together with his conclusions&mdash;states the whole
+matter in such authentic and convincing manner that it may be said to
+have settled the point beyond further controversy. After stating that
+it "was resolved to notify the Governor of South Carolina that he might
+expect an attempt would be made to provision the Fort; and that if the
+attempt should not be resisted there would be no effort to throw in men,
+arms, or ammunition, without further notice, or in case of an attack on
+the Fort," Mr. Lincoln continues: "This notice was accordingly given;
+whereupon the Fort was attacked and bombarded to its fall, without even
+awaiting the arrival of the provisioning expedition."</p>
+
+<p>The President then proceeds: "It is thus seen that the assault upon and
+reduction of Fort Sumter was, in no sense, a matter of self-defense on
+the part of the assailants. They well knew that the garrison in the
+Fort could, by no possibility, commit aggression upon them. They
+knew&mdash;they were expressly notified&mdash;that the giving of bread to the few brave
+and hungry men of the garrison was all which would on that occasion be
+attempted, unless themselves, by resisting so much, should provoke more.
+They knew that this Government desired to keep the garrison in the Fort
+&mdash;not to assail them&mdash;but merely to maintain visible possession, and
+thus to preserve the Union from actual and immediate
+dissolution&mdash;trusting, as hereinbefore stated, to time, discussion, and the
+ballot-box for final adjustment; and they assailed and reduced the Fort for
+precisely the reverse object&mdash;to drive out the visible authority of the
+Federal Union, and thus force it to immediate dissolution.</p>
+
+<p>"That this was their object, the Executive well understood; and, having
+said to them, in the Inaugural Address, 'you can have no conflict
+without being yourselves the aggressors,' he took pains not only to keep
+this declaration good, but also to keep the case so free from the power
+of ingenious sophistry as that the World should not be able to
+misunderstand it.</p>
+
+<p>"By the affair at Fort Sumter, with its surrounding circumstances, that
+point was reached. Then and thereby the assailants of the Government
+began the Conflict of arms, without a gun in sight or in expectancy to
+return their fire, save only the few in the Fort sent to that harbor
+years before for their own protection, and still ready to give that
+protection in whatever was lawful. In this act, discarding all else,
+they have forced upon the Country, the distinct issue: 'Immediate
+dissolution or blood.'</p>
+
+<p>"And this issue embraces more than the fate of these United States. It
+presents to the whole family of Man the question whether a
+Constitutional Republic or Democracy&mdash;a government of the People by the
+same People&mdash;can or cannot maintain its territorial integrity against
+its own domestic foes. It presents the question whether discontented
+individuals, too few in numbers to control administration according to
+organic law in any case, can always, upon the pretences made in this
+case, or on any other pretences, or arbitrarily without any pretence,
+break up their Government, and thus practically put an end to free
+government upon the earth. It forces us to ask: 'Is there in all
+republics, this inherent and fatal weakness?' 'Must a Government of
+necessity be too strong for the liberties of its own people, or too weak
+to maintain its own existence?'</p>
+
+<p>"So viewing the issue, no choice was left but to call out the War power
+of the Government; and so to resist force, employed for its destruction,
+by force, for its preservation."</p>
+
+<p>The Call for Troops was made, as we have seen, on the 15th day of April.
+On the evening of the following day several companies of a Pennsylvania
+Regiment reported for duty in Washington. On the 18th, more
+Pennsylvania Volunteers, including a company of Artillery, arrived
+there.</p>
+
+<p>On the 19th of April, the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment&mdash;whose progress
+through New York city had been triumphal&mdash;was suddenly and unexpectedly
+assailed, in its passage through Baltimore, to the defense of the
+National Capital, by a howling mob of Maryland Secessionists&mdash;worked up
+to a pitch of States-rights frenzy by Confederate emissaries and
+influential Baltimore Secession-sympathizers, by news of the sudden
+evacuation of the Federal Arsenal at Harper's Ferry, and other exciting
+tidings&mdash;and had to fight its way through, leaving three soldiers of
+that regiment dead, and a number wounded, behind it.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [At a meeting of the "National Volunteer Association," at Monument
+ Square, Baltimore, the previous evening, says Greeley's History of
+ the American Conflict, page 462, "None of the speakers directly
+ advocated attacks on the Northern troops about to pass through the
+ city; but each was open in his hostility to 'Coercion,' and
+ ardently exhorted his hearers to organize, arm and drill, for the
+ Conflict now inevitable. Carr (Wilson C. N. Carr) said: 'I do not
+ care how many Federal troops are sent to Washington; they will soon
+ find themselves surrounded by such an army from Virginia and
+ Maryland, that escape to their homes will be impossible; and when
+ the 75,000 who are intended to invade the South shall have polluted
+ that soil with their touch, the South will extermininate and sweep
+ them from the Earth.' (Frantic cheering and yelling). The meeting
+ broke up with stentorian cheers for 'the South' and for 'President
+ Davis."']</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>Ten companies of Philadelphia troops, reaching Baltimore at the same
+time, unarmed, were also violently assailed by the crazy mob, and, after
+a two hours' fight, reached the cars and returned to Philadelphia.</p>
+
+<p>Washington City&mdash;already, by the Secession of Virginia, cut off from the
+South&mdash;was thus practically cut off from the North as well; and to
+isolate it more completely, the telegraph wires were cut down and the
+railroad bridges burned. A mere handful of regulars, the few volunteers
+that had got through before the outbreak in Baltimore, and a small
+number of Union residents and Government department clerks&mdash;these, under
+General Winfield Scott, constituted the paltry force that, for ten days
+after the Call for troops, held the National Capital.</p>
+
+<p>Informed, as the Rebels must have been, by their swarming spies, of the
+weakness of the Federal metropolis, it seems absolutely marvelous that
+instant advantage was not taken of it.</p>
+
+<p>The Richmond Examiner, of April 23d, said: "The capture of Washington
+City is perfectly within the power of Virginia and Maryland, if Virginia
+will only make the effort with her constituted authorities; nor is there
+a single moment to lose. * * * The fanatical yell for the immediate
+subjugation of the whole South is going up hourly from the united voices
+of all the North; and, for the purpose of making their work sure, they
+have determined to hold Washington City as the point whence to carry on
+their brutal warfare. Our people can take it&mdash;they will take it&mdash;and
+Scott, the arch-traitor, and Lincoln, the Beast, combined, cannot
+prevent it. The just indignation of an outraged and deeply injured
+people will teach the Illinois Ape to repeat his race and retrace his
+journey across the borders of the Free Negro States still more rapidly
+than he came. * * * Great cleansing and purification are needed and
+will be given to that festering sink of iniquity, that wallow of Lincoln
+and Scott&mdash;the desecrated city of Washington; and many indeed will be
+the carcasses of dogs and caitiff that will blacken the air upon the
+gallows before the great work is accomplished. So let it be!"</p>
+
+<p>But despite all this fanfaronade of brutal bluster, and various
+movements that looked somewhat threatening, and this complete isolation
+for more than a week from the rest of the World, the city of Washington
+was not seized by the Rebels, after all.</p>
+
+<p>This nervous condition of affairs, however, existed until the 25th&mdash;and
+to General Benjamin F. Butler is due the chief credit of putting an end
+to it. It seems he had reached the Susquehanna river at Perryville,
+with his Eighth Massachusetts Regiment on the 20th&mdash;the day after the
+Sixth Massachusetts had been mobbed at Baltimore&mdash;and, finding his
+further progress to Washington via Baltimore, barred by the destruction
+of the bridge across the Susquehanna, etc., he at once seized a large
+ferry steamer, embarked his men on her, steamed down the river and
+Chesapeake Bay to Annapolis, the capital of Maryland, took possession of
+the frigate Constitution, the Naval Academy, and the city itself,
+gathered supplies, and being reinforced by the arrival by water of the
+famous New York Seventh, and other regiments, repaired the branch
+railroad to Annapolis Junction (on the main line of railroad between
+Baltimore and Washington), and transferred his column from thence, by
+cars, on the 25th, to the National Capital&mdash;soon thereafter also taking
+military possession of Baltimore, which gave no further trouble to the
+Union Cause. In the meantime, however, other untoward events to that
+Cause had happened.</p>
+
+<p>Two days after the Call for troops, the Virginia Convention (April 17th)
+secretly voted to Secede from the Union. An expedition of Virginia
+troops was almost at once started to capture the Federal Arsenal at
+Harper's Ferry, which, as has already been intimated, was evacuated
+hastily on the night of the 18th, by the handful of Union regulars
+garrisoning it, after a futile effort to destroy the public property and
+stores it held. Another expedition was started to seize the Federal
+Navy Yard at Norfolk&mdash;a rich prize, containing as it did, between 2,000
+and 3,000 pieces of heavy ordnance (300 of them Dahlgrens), three old
+line-of-battle ships and a number of frigates, including the Cumberland
+and the fine forty-gun steam frigate Merrimac, together with thousands
+of kegs of powder and immense stores of other munitions of war, and
+supplies&mdash;that had cost in all some $10,000,000. Without an enemy in
+sight, however, this fine Navy Yard was shamefully evacuated, after
+partly scuttling and setting fire to the vessels&mdash;the Cumberland alone
+being towed away&mdash;and spiking the guns, and doing other not very
+material damage.</p>
+
+<p>So also, in North Carolina, Rebel influence was equally active. On the
+20th of April Governor Ellis seized the Federal Branch Mint at,
+Charlotte, and on the 22d the Federal Arsenal at Fayetteville. A few
+days thereafter his Legislature authorized him to tender to
+Virginia&mdash;which had already joined the Confederacy&mdash;or to the Government of the
+Confederate States itself, the volunteer forces of North Carolina. And,
+although at the end of January the people of that State had decided at
+the polls that no Secession Convention be held, yet the subservient
+Legislature did not hesitate, on demand, to call one together which met
+in May and ordained such Secession.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, by the end of May, 1861, the Confederacy had grown to comprise
+nine instead of seven States, and the Confederate troops were
+concentrating on Richmond&mdash;whither the Rebel Government was soon to
+remove, from Montgomery.</p>
+
+<p>By this time also not only had the ranks of the regular Union Army been
+filled and largely added to, but 42,000 additional volunteers had been
+called out by President Lincoln; and the blockade of the Southern ports
+(including those of Virginia and North Carolina) that had been
+proclaimed by him, was, despite all obstacles, now becoming effectual
+and respected.</p>
+
+<p>Washington City and its suburbs, by the influx of Union volunteers, had
+during this month become a vast armed camp; the Potomac river had been
+crossed and the Virginia hills (including Arlington heights) which
+overlooked the Federal Capital, had been occupied and fortified by Union
+troops; the young and gallant Colonel Ellsworth had been killed by a
+Virginia Rebel while pulling down a Rebel flag in Alexandria; and
+General Benjamin F. Butler, in command at Fortress Monroe, had by an
+inspiration, solved one of the knottiest points confronting our armies,
+by declaring of three Negroes who had fled from their master so as to
+escape working on Rebel fortifications, that they should not be returned
+to that master&mdash;under the Fugitive Slave Law, as demanded by a Rebel
+officer with a flag of truce&mdash;but were confiscated "property," and would
+be retained, as "contraband of war."</p>
+
+<p>It was about this time, too, that the New Orleans Picayune fell into
+line with other unscrupulous Rebel sheets, by gravely declaring that:
+"All the Massachusetts troops now in Washington are Negroes, with the
+exception of two or three drummer boys. General Butler, in command, is
+a native of Liberia. Our readers may recollect old Ben, the barber, who
+kept a shop in Poydras street, and emigrated to Liberia with a small
+competence. General Butler is his son." Little did the writer of that
+paragraph dream how soon New Orleans would crouch at the very feet of
+that same General!</p>
+
+<p>And now, while the armed hosts on either side are assembling in hostile
+array, or resting on their arms, preliminary to the approaching fray of
+battle, let us glance at the alleged causes underlying this great
+Rebellion against the Union.</p>
+
+<br><br>
+
+
+
+
+
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+<title>THE GREAT CONSPIRACY, Part 3. By John Logan</title>
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+
+<h2>THE GREAT CONSPIRACY, Part 3</h2>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="" cellPadding=4 border=3>
+<tr><td>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="p2.htm">Previous Part</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+</td><td>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="7140-h.htm">Main Index</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+</td><td>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="p4.htm">Next Part</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+
+<br><br><br><br><br><br>
+
+
+
+
+
+<center>
+<h1>
+
+ THE GREAT CONSPIRACY</h1>
+<h2>
+ Its Origin and History<br>
+<br>
+ Part 3.<br></h2>
+<br><br>
+ <h2>By John Logan
+
+<br>
+<br>
+ </h2>
+<br><br>
+<img alt="titlepage.jpg (65K)" src="images/titlepage.jpg" height="1134" width="692">
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<img alt="frontspiece.jpg (101K)" src="images/frontspiece.jpg" height="934" width="665">
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br><br>
+<h2>CONTENTS
+
+</h2></center>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2><a href="#ch11">CHAPTER XI.</a><br>
+ THE CAUSES OF SECESSION.</h2>
+<br>
+ABOUNDING EVIDENCES OF CONSPIRACY&mdash;MACLAY'S UNPUBLISHED DIARY
+1787-1791&mdash;PIERCE BUTLER'S FIERCE DENUNCIATION OF THE TARIFF&mdash;SOUTH CAROLINA
+WILL "LIVE FREE OR DIE GLORIOUS"&mdash;JACKSON'S LETTER TO CRAWFORD, ON
+TARIFF AND SLAVERY&mdash;BENTON'S TESTIMONY&mdash;HENRY CLAY'S EVIDENCE&mdash;NATHAN
+APPLETON'S&mdash;A TREASONABLE CAUCUS OF SOUTHERN CONGRESSMEN&mdash;ALEXANDER H.
+STEPHEN'S EVIDENCE ON THE CAUSES OF SECESSION&mdash;WIGFALL'S ADMISSIONS&mdash;THE
+ONE "REGRETTED" CLAUSE IN THE CONSTITUTION PRECLUDING MONARCHIAL
+STATES&mdash;ADMISSIONS OF REBEL COMMISSIONERS TO WASHINGTON&mdash;ADMISSIONS IN ADDRESS
+OF SOUTH CAROLINA TO THE SLAVE-HOLDERS&mdash;JEFFERSON DAVIS'S STATEMENT IN
+SPECIAL MESSAGE OF APRIL 29, 1861&mdash;DECLARATIONS OF REBEL COMMISSIONERS,
+TO LORD JOHN RUSSELL&mdash;HIGH TARIFF AND "NOT SLAVERY" THE PRINCIPAL
+CAUSE&mdash;PERSONAL LIBERTY BILLS&mdash;PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S DECLARATION OF THE
+UNDERLYING CAUSE OF REBELLION&mdash;A WAR UPON LABOR AND THE RIGHTS OF THE
+PEOPLE&mdash;ANDREW JOHNSON ON THE "DELIBERATE DESIGN" FOR A "CHANGE OF
+GOVERNMENT"&mdash;"TIRED OF FREE GOVERNMENT"&mdash;DOUGLAS ON THE "ENORMOUS
+CONSPIRACY"&mdash;THE REBEL PLOT TO SEIZE THE CAPITOL, AND
+HOLD IT&mdash;MCDOUGALL'S GRAPHIC EXPOSURE OF THE TREASONABLE CONSPIRACY&mdash;YANCEY'S
+FAMOUS "SLAUGHTER" LETTER&mdash;JEFFERSON DAVIS'S STANDARD OF REVOLT, RAISED
+IN 1858&mdash;LAMAR'S LETTER TO JEFF. DAVIS (186O)&mdash;CAUCUS OF TREASON, AT
+WASHINGTON&mdash;EVANS'S DISCLOSURES OF THE CAUCUS PROGRAMME OF
+SECESSION&mdash;CORROBORATING TESTIMONY&mdash;YULEE'S CAPTURED LETTER&mdash;CAUCUS
+RESOLUTIONS IN
+FULL<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2><a href="#ch12">CHAPTER XII.</a><br>
+ COPPERHEADISM VS. UNION DEMOCRACY.</h2>
+<br>
+NORTHERN COMPLICITY WITH TREASON&mdash;MAYOR FERNANDO WOOD RECOMMENDS
+SECESSION OF NEW YORK CITY&mdash;THE REBEL JUNTA AT WASHINGTON INSPIRES
+HIM&mdash;HE OBEYS ORDERS, BUT SHAKES AT THE KNEES&mdash;KEITT BRAGS OF THE "MILLIONS
+OF DEMOCRATS IN THE NORTH," FURNISHING A "WALL OF FIRE" AGAINST
+COERCION&mdash;ATTEMPTED REBEL&mdash;SEDUCTION OF NEW JERSEY&mdash;THE PRICE-BURNETT
+CORRESPONDENCE&mdash;SECESSION RESOLUTIONS OF THE PHILADELPHIA DEMOCRACY AT
+NATIONAL HALL&mdash;LANE OF OREGON "SERVES NOTICE" OF "WAR ENOUGH AT HOME"
+FOR REPUBLICANS&mdash;"NORTHERN DEMOCRATS NEED NOT CROSS THE BORDER TO FIND
+AN ENEMY"&mdash;EX-PRESIDENT PIERCE'S CAPTURED TREASONABLE LETTER TO JEFF.
+DAVIS&mdash;THE "FIGHTING" TO BE "WITHIN OUR OWN BORDERS, IN OUR OWN
+STREETS"&mdash;ATTITUDE OF DOUGLAS, AND THE DOUGLAS DEMOCRACY, AFTER
+SUMTER&mdash;DOUGLAS CALLS ON MR. LINCOLN AT THE WHITE HOUSE&mdash;HE PATRIOTICALLY
+SUSTAINS THE UNION&mdash;HE RALLIES THE WHOLE NORTH TO STAND BY THE
+FLAG&mdash;THERE CAN BE "NO NEUTRALS IN THIS WAR; ONLY PATRIOTS AND
+TRAITORS"&mdash;LAMENTED DEATH OF "THE LITTLE GIANT"&mdash;TRIBUTES OF TRUMBULL AND MCDOUGALL
+TO HIS MEMORY&mdash;LOGAN'S ATTITUDE AT THIS TIME, AND HIS RELATIONS TO
+DOUGLAS&mdash;THEIR LAST PRIVATE INTERVIEW&mdash;DOUGLAS'S INTENTION TO "JOIN THE
+ARMY AND FIGHT"&mdash;HIS LAST EFFORTS IN CONGRESS&mdash;"CONCILIATION," BEFORE
+SUMTER&mdash;"NO HALF-WAY GROUND" AFTER IT<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2><a href="#ch13">CHAPTER XIII.</a><br>
+ THE STORM OF BATTLE.<br></h2>
+<br>
+THE MILITARY SITUATION&mdash;THE GREAT UPRISING&mdash;POSITIONS AND NUMBERS OF THE
+UNION AND REBEL ARMIES&mdash;JOHNSTON EVACUATES HARPER'S FERRY, AND RETREATS
+UPON WINCHESTER&mdash;PATTERSON'S EXTRAORDINARY CONDUCT&mdash;HE DISOBEYS GENERAL
+SCOTT'S ORDERS TO "ATTACK AND WHIP THE ENEMY"&mdash;JOHNSTON CONSEQUENTLY
+FREE TO REINFORCE BEAUREGARD AT MANASSAS&mdash;FITZ JOHN PORTER'S
+ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THE DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES&mdash;MCDOWELL'S ADVANCE UPON
+BEAUREGARD&mdash;PRELIMINARY BATTLE AT BLACKBURN'S FORD&mdash;JUNCTION OF JOHNSTON
+WITH BEAUREGARD&mdash;REBEL PLANS OF ADVANCE AND ATTACK&mdash;CHANGE IN MCDOWELL'S
+PLANS&mdash;GREAT PITCHED-BATTLE OF BULL RUN, OR MANASSAS, INCLUDING THE
+SECOND BATTLE AT BLACKBURN'S FORD&mdash;VICTORY, AT FIRST, WITH
+MCDOWELL&mdash;THE CHECK&mdash;THE LEISURELY RETREAT&mdash;THE PANIC AT, AND NEAR, THE NATIONAL
+CAPITAL&mdash;THE WAR FULLY INAUGURATED<br>
+<br>
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+
+<h3>IMAGES</h3>
+<center>
+<table summary="">
+<tr><td>
+
+
+<a href="#calhoun">JOHN C. CALHOUN,</a><br>
+<a href="#virginia">SEAT OF WAR IN VIRGINIA.</a> (Map)<br>
+<a href="#bull1">FIRST BULL RUN BATTLE-FIELD.</a> (Map)<br>
+<a href="#bull2">FIRST BULL RUN BATTLE-FIELD,</a> (Map)<br>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<a name="calhoun"></a>
+<center>
+<img alt="p219-calhoun.jpg (74K)" src="images/p219-calhoun.jpg" height="799" width="589">
+</center>
+<br><br><br><br>
+
+
+<a name="ch11"></a>
+<br>
+
+<center>
+<h2>
+<br>
+ CHAPTER XI.<br>
+<br>
+ THE CAUSES OF SECESSION.<br>
+</h2></center>
+
+<p>In preceding Chapters of this work, it has been briefly shown, that from
+the very hour in which the Republic of the United States was born, there
+have not been wanting, among its own citizens, those who hated it, and
+when they could not rule, were always ready to do what they could, by
+Conspiracy, Sedition, Mutiny, Nullification, Secession, or otherwise, to
+weaken and destroy it. This fact, and the processes by which the
+Conspirators worked, is very well stated, in his documentary "History of
+the Rebellion," by Edward McPherson, when he says: "In the Slaveholding
+States, a considerable body of men have always been disaffected to the
+Union. They resisted the adoption of the National Constitution, then
+sought to refine away the rights and powers of the General Government,
+and by artful expedients, in a series of years, using the excitements
+growing out of passing questions, finally perverted the sentiments of
+large masses of men, and prepared them for Revolution."</p>
+
+<p>Before giving further incontestable proofs establishing this fact, and
+before endeavoring to sift out the true cause or causes of Secession,
+let us first examine such evidences as are submitted by him in support
+of his proposition.</p>
+
+<p>The first piece of testimony, is an extract from an unpublished journal
+of U. S. Senator Maclay of Pennsylvania, from March 4, 1789, to March 3,
+1791&mdash;the period of the First Congress under the Federal Constitution.
+It runs thus:</p>
+
+<p>"1789, June 9.&mdash;In relation to the Tariff Bill, the affair of confining
+the East India Trade to the citizens of America had been negatived, and
+a committee had been appointed to report on this business. The report
+came in with very high duties, amounting to a prohibition. But a new
+phenomenon had made its appearance in the House (meaning the Senate)
+since Friday.</p>
+
+<p>"Pierce Butler, from South Carolina, had taken his seat, and flamed like
+a meteor. He arraigned the whole Impost law, and then charged
+(indirectly) the whole Congress with a design of oppressing South
+Carolina. He cried out for encouraging the Danes and Swedes, and
+foreigners of every kind, to come and take away our produce. In fact he
+was for a Navigation Act reversed.</p>
+
+<p>"June 11.&mdash;Attended at the hall as usual.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Ralph Izard and Mr. Butler opposed the whole of the drawbacks in
+every shape whatever.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. (William) Grayson, of Virginia, warm on this subject, said we were
+not ripe for such a thing. We were a new Nation, and had no business
+for any such regulations&mdash;a Nation /sui generis/.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. (Richard Henry) Lee (of Virginia) said drawbacks were right, but
+would be so much abused, he could not think of admitting them.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. (Oliver) Ellsworth (of Connecticut) said New England rum would be
+exported, instead of West India, to obtain the drawback.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought it best to say a few words in reply to each. We were a new
+Nation, it was true, but we were not a new People. We were composed of
+individuals of like manners, habits, and customs with the European
+Nations. What, therefore, had been found useful among them, came well
+recommended by experience to us. Drawbacks stand as an example in this
+point of view to us. If the thing was right in itself, there could be
+no just argument drawn against the use of a thing from the abuse of it.
+It would be the duty of Government to guard against abuses, by prudent
+appointments and watchful attention to officers. That as to changing
+the kind of rum, I thought the collection Bill would provide for this,
+by limiting the exportation to the original casks and packages. I said
+a great deal more, but really did not feel much interest either way.
+But the debates were very lengthy.</p>
+
+<p>"Butler flamed away, and THREATENED A DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION, with
+regard to his State, as sure as God was in the firmament. He scattered
+his remarks over the whole Impost bill, calling it partial, oppressive,
+etc., and solely calculated to oppress South Carolina, and yet ever and
+anon declaring how clear of local views and how candid and dispassionate
+he was. He degenerates into mere declamation. His State would live
+free, or die glorious."</p>
+
+<p>The next piece of evidence is General Jackson's letter to Rev. A. J.
+Crawford, as follows:</p>
+
+<p>["Private."]</p>
+
+<p>"WASHINGTON, May 1, 1833.</p>
+
+<p>"MY DEAR SIR: * * * I have had a laborious task here, but Nullification
+is dead; and its actors and courtiers will only be remembered by the
+People to be execrated for their wicked designs to sever and destroy the
+only good Government on the globe, and that prosperity and happiness we
+enjoy over every other portion of the World. Haman's gallows ought to
+be the fate of all such ambitious men who would involve their Country in
+Civil War, and all the evils in its train, that they might reign and
+ride on its whirlwinds and direct the storm. The Free People of these
+United States have spoken, and consigned these wicked demagogues to
+their proper doom. Take care of your Nullifiers; you have them among
+you; let them meet with the indignant frowns of every man who loves his
+Country. The Tariff, it is now known, was a mere pretext&mdash;its burden
+was on your coarse woolens. By the law of July, 1832, coarse woolen was
+reduced to five per cent., for the benefit of the South. Mr. Clay's
+Bill takes it up and classes it with woolens at fifty per cent., reduces
+it gradually down to twenty per cent., and there it is to remain, and
+Mr. Calhoun and all the Nullifiers agree to the principle. The cash
+duties and home valuation will be equal to fifteen per cent. more, and
+after the year 1842, you pay on coarse woolens thirty-five per cent. If
+this is not Protection, I cannot understand; therefore the Tariff was
+only the pretext, and Disunion and a Southern Confederacy the real
+object. The next pretext will be the Negro or Slavery question.</p>
+
+<p>"My health is not good, but is improving a little. Present me kindly to
+your lady and family, and believe me to be your friend. I will always
+be happy to hear from you.
+ "ANDREW JACKSON."</p>
+
+<p>
+Another evidence is given in the following extract from Benton's "Thirty
+Years in the Senate," vol. ii., as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"The regular inauguration of this Slavery agitation dates from the year
+1835; but it had commenced two years before, and in this way:
+Nullification and Disunion had commenced in 1830, upon complaint against
+Protective Tariff. That, being put down in 1833 under President
+Jackson's proclamation and energetic measures, was immediately
+substituted by the Slavery agitation. Mr. Calhoun, when he went home
+from Congress in the spring of that year, told his friends that 'the
+South could never be united against the North on the Tariff
+question&mdash;that the sugar interest of Louisiana would keep her out&mdash;and that the
+basis of Southern Union must be shifted to the Slave question.' Then
+all the papers in his interest, and especially the one at Washington,
+published by Mr. Duff Green, dropped Tariff agitation, and commenced
+upon Slavery, and in two years had the agitation ripe for inauguration,
+on the Slavery question. And in tracing this agitation to its present
+stage, and to comprehend its rationale, it is not to be forgotten that
+it is a mere continuation of old Tariff Disunion, and preferred because
+more available."</p>
+
+<p>Again, from p. 490 of his private correspondence, Mr. Clay's words to an
+Alabamian, in 1844, are thus given:</p>
+
+<p>"From the developments now being made in South Carolina, it is perfectly
+manifest that a Party exists in that State seeking a Dissolution of the
+Union, and for that purpose employ the pretext of the rejection of Mr.
+Tyler's abominable treaty. South Carolina, being surrounded by Slave
+States, would, in the event of a Dissolution of the Union, suffer only
+comparative evils; but it is otherwise with Kentucky. She has the
+boundary of the Ohio extending four hundred miles on three Free States.
+What would our condition be in the event of the greatest calamity that
+could befall this Nation?"</p>
+
+<p>Allusion is also made to a letter written by Representative Nathan
+Appleton, of Boston, December 15, 1860, in which that gentleman said
+that when he was in Congress&mdash;in 1832-33&mdash;he had "made up his mind that
+Messrs. Calhoun, Hayne, McDuffie, etc., were desirous of a separation of
+the Slave States into a separate Confederacy, as more favorable to the
+security of Slave Property."</p>
+
+<p>After mentioning that "About 1835, some South Carolinians attempted a
+Disunion demonstration," our authority says: It is thus described by
+ex-Governor Francis Thomas of Maryland, in his speech in Baltimore, October
+29, 1861:</p>
+
+<p>"Full twenty years ago, when occupying my seat in the House of
+Representatives, I was surprised one morning, after the assembling of
+the House, to observe that all the members from the Slaveholding States
+were absent. Whilst reflecting on this strange occurrence, I was asked
+why I was not in attendance on the Southern Caucus assembled in the room
+of the Committee on Claims. I replied that I had received no
+invitation.</p>
+
+<p>"I then proposed to go to the Committee-room to see what was being done.
+When I entered, I found that little cock-sparrow, Governor Pickens, of
+South Carolina, addressing the meeting, and strutting about like a
+rooster around a barn-yard coop, discussing the following resolution:</p>
+
+<p>"' Resolved, That no member of Congress, representing a Southern
+constituency, shall again take his seat until a resolution is passed
+satisfactory to the South on the subject of Slavery.'</p>
+
+<p>"I listened to his language, and when he had finished, I obtained the
+floor, asking to be permitted to take part in the discussion. I
+determined at once to kill the Treasonable plot hatched by John C.
+Calhoun, the Catiline of America, by asking questions. I said to Mr.
+Pickens, 'What next do you propose we shall do? are we to tell the
+People that Republicanism is a failure? If you are for that, I am not.
+I came here to sustain and uphold American institutions; to defend the
+rights of the North as well as the South; to secure harmony and good
+fellowship between all Sections of our common Country.' They dared not
+answer these questions. The Southern temper had not then been gotten
+up. As my questions were not answered, I moved an adjournment of the
+Caucus /sine die/. Mr. Craig, of Virginia, seconded the motion, and the
+company was broken up. We returned to the House, and Mr. Ingersoll, of
+Pennsylvania, a glorious patriot then as now, introduced a resolution
+which temporarily calmed the excitement."</p>
+
+<p>The remarks upon this statement, made November 4, 1861, by the National
+Intelligencer, were as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"However busy Mr. Pickens may have been in the Caucus after it met, the
+most active man in getting it up and pressing the Southern members to go
+into it, was Mr. R. B. Rhett, also a member from South Carolina. The
+occasion, or alleged cause of this withdrawal from the House into secret
+deliberation was an anti-Slavery speech of Mr. Slade, of Vermont, which
+Mr. Rhett violently denounced, and proposed to the Southern members to
+leave the House and go into Conclave in one of the Committee-rooms,
+which they generally did, if not all of them. We are able to state,
+however, what may not have been known to Governor Thomas, that at least
+three besides himself, of those who did attend it, went there with a
+purpose very different from an intention to consent to any Treasonable
+measure. These three men were Henry A. Wise, Balie Peyton, and William
+Cost Johnson. Neither of them opened his lips in the Caucus; they went
+to observe; and we can assure Governor Thomas, that if Mr. Pickens or
+Mr. Calhoun, (whom he names) or any one else had presented a distinct
+proposition looking to Disunion, or Revolt, or Secession, he would have
+witnessed a scene not soon to be forgotten. The three whom we have
+mentioned were as brave as they were determined. Fortunately, perhaps,
+the man whom they went particularly to watch, remained silent and
+passive."</p>
+
+<p>Let us, however, pursue the inquiry a little further. On the 14th of
+November, 1860, Alexander H. Stephens addressed the Legislature of
+Georgia, and in a portion of that address&mdash;replying to a speech made
+before the same Body the previous evening by Mr. Toombs, in which the
+latter had "recounted the evils of this Government"&mdash;said:</p>
+
+<p>"The first [of these evils] was the Fishing Bounties, paid mostly to the
+sailors of New England. Our friend stated that forty-eight years of our
+Government was under the administration of Southern Presidents. Well,
+these Fishing Bounties began under the rule of a Southern President, I
+believe. No one of them, during the whole forty-eight years, ever set
+his Administration against the principle or policy of them. * * *</p>
+
+<p>"The next evil which my friend complained of, was the Tariff. Well, let
+us look at that for a moment. About the time I commenced noticing
+public matters, this question was agitating the Country almost as
+fearfully as the Slave question now is. In 1832, when I was in college,
+South Carolina was ready to Nullify or Secede from the Union on this
+account. And what have we seen? The Tariff no longer distracts the
+public counsels. Reason has triumphed! The present Tariff was voted
+for by Massachusetts and South Carolina. The lion and the lamb lay down
+together&mdash;every man in the Senate and House from Massachusetts and South
+Carolina, I think, voted for it, as did my honorable friend himself.
+And if it be true, to use the figure of speech of my honorable friend,
+that every man in the North that works in iron, and brass and wood, has
+his muscle strengthened by the protection of the Government, that
+stimulant was given by his vote and I believe (that of) every other
+Southern man.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. TOOMBS&mdash;The Tariff lessened the duties.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. STEPHENS&mdash;Yes, and Massachusetts with unanimity voted with the
+South to lessen them, and they were made just as low as Southern men
+asked them to be, and that is the rate they are now at. If reason and
+argument, with experience, produced such changes in the sentiments of
+Massachusetts from 1832 to 1857, on the subject of the Tariff, may not
+like changes be effected there by the same means&mdash;reason and argument,
+and appeals to patriotism on the present vexed question? And who can
+say that by 1875 or 1890, Massachusetts may not vote with South Carolina
+and Georgia upon all those questions that now distract the Country and
+threaten its peace and existence.</p>
+
+<p>"Another matter of grievance alluded to by my honorable friend was the
+Navigation Laws. This policy was also commenced under the
+Administration of one of these Southern Presidents who ruled so well,
+and has been continued through all of them since. * * * One of the
+objects (of these) was to build up a commercial American marine by
+giving American bottoms the exclusive Carrying Trade between our own
+ports. This is a great arm of national power. This object was
+accomplished. We have now an amount of shipping, not only coastwise,
+but to foreign countries, which puts us in the front rank of the Nations
+of the World. England can no longer be styled the Mistress of the Seas.
+What American is not proud of the result? Whether those laws should be
+continued is another question. But one thing is certain; no President,
+Northern or Southern, has ever yet recommended their repeal. * * *</p>
+
+<p>"These then were the true main grievances or grounds of complaint
+against the general system of our Government and its workings&mdash;I mean
+the administration of the Federal Government. As to the acts of the
+federal States I shall speak presently: but these three were the main
+ones used against the common head. Now, suppose it be admitted that all
+of these are evils in the system; do they overbalance and outweigh the
+advantages and great good which this same Government affords in a
+thousand innumerable ways that cannot be estimated? Have we not at the
+South, as well as the North, grown great, prosperous, and happy under
+its operations? Has any part of the World ever shown such rapid
+progress in the development of wealth, and all the material resources of
+national power and greatness, as the Southern States have under the
+General Government, notwithstanding all its defects?</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. TOOMBS&mdash;In spite of it.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. STEPHENS&mdash;My honorable friend says we have, in spite of the General
+Government; that without it, I suppose he thinks, we might have done as
+well, or perhaps better, than we have done in spite of it. * * *
+Whether we of the South would have been better off without the
+Government, is, to say the least, problematical. On the one side we can
+only put the fact, against speculation and conjecture on the other. * *
+* The influence of the Government on us is like that of the atmosphere
+around us. Its benefits are so silent and unseen that they are seldom
+thought of or appreciated.</p>
+
+<p>"We seldom think of the single element of oxygen in the air we breathe,
+and yet let this simple, unseen and unfelt agent be withdrawn, this
+life-giving element be taken away from this all-pervading fluid around
+us, and what instant and appalling changes would take place in all
+organic creation.</p>
+
+<p>"It may be that we are all that we are 'in spite of the General
+Government,' but it may be that without it we should have been far
+different from what we are now. It is true that there is no equal part
+of the Earth with natural resources superior perhaps to ours. That
+portion of this Country known as the Southern States, stretching from
+the Chesapeake to the Rio Grande, is fully equal to the picture drawn by
+the honorable and eloquent Senator last night, in all natural
+capacities. But how many ages and centuries passed before these
+capacities were developed to reach this advanced age of civilization.
+There these same hills, rich in ore, same rivers, same valleys and
+plains, are as they have been since they came from the hand of the
+Creator; uneducated and uncivilized man roamed over them for how long no
+history informs us.</p>
+
+<p>"It was only under our institutions that they could be developed. Their
+development is the result of the enterprise of our people, under
+operations of the Government and institutions under which we have lived.
+Even our people, without these, never would have done it. The
+organization of society has much to do with the development of the
+natural resources of any Country or any Land. The institutions of a
+People, political and moral, are the matrix in which the germ of their
+organic structure quickens into life&mdash;takes root, and develops in form,
+nature, and character. Our institutions constitute the basis, the
+matrix, from which spring all our characteristics of development and
+greatness. Look at Greece. There is the same fertile soil, the same
+blue sky, the same inlets and harbors, the same AEgean, the same
+Olympus; there is the same land where Homer sung, where Pericles spoke;
+it is in nature the same old Greece&mdash;but it is living Greece no more.</p>
+
+<p>"Descendants of the same people inhabit the country; yet what is the
+reason of this vast difference? In the midst of present degradation we
+see the glorious fragments of ancient works of art-temples, with
+ornaments and inscriptions that excite wonder and admiration&mdash;the
+remains of a once high order of civilization, which have outlived the
+language they spoke&mdash;upon them all, Ichabod is written&mdash;their glory has
+departed. Why is this so? I answer, their institutions have been
+destroyed. These were but the fruits of their forms of government, the
+matrix from which their great development sprang; and when once the
+institutions of a People have been destroyed, there is no earthly power
+that can bring back the Promethean spark to kindle them here again, any
+more than in that ancient land of eloquence, poetry and song.</p>
+
+<p>"The same may be said of Italy. Where is Rome, once the mistress of the
+World? There are the same seven hills now, the same soil, the same
+natural resources; the nature is the same, but what a ruin of human
+greatness meets the eye of the traveler throughout the length and
+breadth of that most down-trodden land! why have not the People of that
+Heaven-favored clime, the spirit that animated their fathers? Why this
+sad difference?</p>
+
+<p>"It is the destruction of their institutions that has caused it; and, my
+countrymen, if we shall in an evil hour rashly pull down and destroy
+those institutions which the patriotic hand of our fathers labored so
+long and so hard to build up, and which have done so much for us and the
+World, who can venture the prediction that similar results will not
+ensue? Let us avoid it if we can. I trust the spirit is among us that
+will enable us to do it. Let us not rashly try the experiment, for, if
+it fails, as it did in Greece and Italy, and in the South American
+Republics, and in every other place wherever liberty is once destroyed,
+it may never be restored to us again.</p>
+
+<p>"There are defects in our government, errors in administration, and
+short-comings of many kinds; but in spite of these defects and errors,
+Georgia has grown to be a great State. Let us pause here a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"When I look around and see our prosperity in everything, agriculture,
+commerce, art, science, and every department of education, physical and
+mental, as well as moral advancement&mdash;and our colleges&mdash;I think, in the
+face of such an exhibition, if we can, without the loss of power, or any
+essential right or interest, remain in the Union, it is our duty to
+ourselves and to posterity&mdash;let us not too readily yield to this
+temptation&mdash;to do so. Our first parents, the great progenitors of the
+human race, were not without a like temptation, when in the Garden of
+Eden. They were led to believe that their condition would be
+bettered&mdash;that their eyes would be opened&mdash;and that they would become as gods.
+They in an evil hour yielded&mdash;instead of becoming gods they only saw
+their own nakedness.</p>
+
+<p>"I look upon this Country, with our institutions, as the Eden of the
+World, the Paradise of the Universe. It may be that out of it we may
+become greater and more prosperous, but I am candid and sincere in
+telling you that I fear if we rashly evince passion, and without
+sufficient cause shall take that step, that instead of becoming greater
+or more peaceful, prosperous, and happy&mdash;instead of becoming gods, we
+will become demons, and at no distant day commence cutting one another's
+throats. This is my apprehension.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us, therefore, whatever we do, meet those difficulties, great as
+they are, like wise and sensible men, and consider them in the light of
+all the consequences which may attend our action. Let us see first
+clearly where the path of duty leads, and then we may not fear to tread
+therein."</p>
+
+<p>
+Said Senator Wigfall, of Texas, March 4, 1861, in the United States
+Senate, only a few hours before Mr. Lincoln's Inauguration:</p>
+
+<p>"I desire to pour oil on the waters, to produce harmony, peace and quiet
+here. It is early in the morning, and I hope I shall not say anything
+that may be construed as offensive. I rise merely that we may have an
+understanding of this question.</p>
+
+<p>"It is not Slavery in the Territories, it is not expansion, which is the
+difficulty. If the resolution which the Senator from Wisconsin
+introduced here, denying the right of Secession, had been adopted by
+two-thirds of each branch of this department of the Government, and had
+been ratified by three-fourths of the States, I have no hesitation in
+saying that, so far as the State in which I live and to which I owe my
+allegiance is concerned, if she had no other cause for a disruption of
+the Union taking place, she would undoubtedly have gone out.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [To insert as an additional article of amendment to the
+ Constitution, the following: "Under this Constitution, as
+ originally adopted, and as it now exists, no State has power to
+ withdraw from the jurisdiction of the United States: but this
+ Constitution, and all laws passed in pursuance of its delegated
+ powers, are the Supreme Law of the Land, anything contained in any
+ constitution, ordinance, or act of any State, to the contrary
+ notwithstanding."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>"The moment you deny the right of self-government to the free White men
+of the South, they will leave the Government. They believe in the
+Declaration of Independence. They believe that:</p>
+
+<p>"'Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from
+the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government
+becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the People to
+alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new Government, laying its
+foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as
+to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.'</p>
+
+<p>"That principle of the Declaration of Independence is the one upon which
+the free White men of the South predicated their devotion to the present
+Constitution of the United States; and it was the denial of that, as
+much as anything else, that has created the dissatisfaction in that
+Section of the Country.</p>
+
+<p>"There is no instrument of writing that has ever been written that has
+been more misapprehended and misunderstood and misrepresented than this
+same unfortunate Declaration of Independence, and no set of gentlemen
+have ever been so slandered as the fathers who drew and signed that
+Declaration.</p>
+
+<p>"If there was a thing on earth that they did not intend to assert, it
+was that a Negro was a White man. As I said here, a short time ago, one
+of the greatest charges they made against the British Government was,
+that old King George was attempting to establish the fact practically
+that all men were created Free and Equal. They charged him in the
+Declaration of Independence with inciting their Slaves to insurrection.
+That is one of the grounds upon which they threw off their allegiance to
+the British Parliament.</p>
+
+<p>"Another great misapprehension is, that the men who drafted that
+Declaration of Independence had any peculiar fancy for one form of
+government rather than another. They were not fighting to establish a
+Democracy in this country; they were not fighting to establish a
+Republican form of government in this Country. Nothing was further from
+their intention.</p>
+
+<p>"Alexander Hamilton, after he had fought for seven years, declared that
+the British form of government was the best that the ingenuity of man
+had ever devised; and when John Adams said to him, 'without its
+corruptions;' 'Why,' said he, 'its corruptions are its greatest
+excellence; without the corruptions, it would be nothing.'</p>
+
+<p>"In the Declaration of Independence, they speak of George III., after
+this fashion. They say:</p>
+
+<p>"'A prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define
+a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free People.'</p>
+
+<p>"Now, I ask any plain common-sense man what was the meaning of that?
+Was it that they were opposed to a Monarchical form of government? Was
+it that they believed a Monarchical form of government was incompatible
+with civil liberty? No, sir; they entertained no such absurd idea.
+None of them entertained it; but they say that George III, was a prince
+whose character was 'marked by every act which may define a tyrant' and
+that therefore he was 'unfit to be the ruler of a free People.' Had his
+character not been so marked by every quality which would define a
+tyrant, he might have been the fit ruler of a free People; ergo, a
+monarchical form of Government was not incompatible with civil liberty.</p>
+
+<p>"That was clearly the opinion of those men. I do not advocate it now;
+for I have said frequently that we are wiser than our fathers, and our
+children will be wiser than we are. One hundred years hence, men will
+understand their own affairs much better than we do. We understand our
+affairs better than those who preceded us one hundred years. But what I
+assert is, that the men of the Revolution did not believe that a
+Monarchical form of Government was incompatible with civil liberty.</p>
+
+<p>"What I assert is, that when they spoke of 'all men being created
+equal,' they were speaking of the White men who then had unsheathed
+their swords&mdash;for what purpose? To establish the right of
+self-government in themselves; and when they had achieved that, they
+established, not Democracies, but Republican forms of Government in the
+thirteen sovereign, separate and independent Colonies. Yet the
+Declaration of Independence is constantly quoted to prove Negro
+equality. It proves no such thing; it was intended to prove no such
+thing.</p>
+
+<p>"The 'glittering generalities' which a distinguished former Senator from
+Massachusetts (Mr. Choate) spoke of, as contained in the Declaration of
+Independence, one of them at least, about all men being created
+equal&mdash;was not original with Mr. Jefferson. I recollect seeing a pamphlet
+called the Principles of the Whigs and Jacobites, published about the
+year 1745, when the last of the Stuarts, called 'the Pretender,' was
+striking a blow that was fatal to himself, but a blow for his crown, in
+which pamphlet the very phraseology is used, word for word and letter
+for letter. I have not got it here to-night. I sent the other day to
+the Library to try and find it, but could not find it; it was burnt, I
+believe, with the pamphlets that were burnt some time ago.</p>
+
+<p>"That Mr. Jefferson copied it or plagiarized it, is not true, I suppose,
+any more than the charge that the distinguished Senator from New York
+plagiarized from the Federalist in preparing his celebrated compromising
+speech which was made here a short time ago. It was the cant phrase of
+the day in 1745, which was only about thirty years previous to the
+Declaration of Independence. This particular pamphlet, which I have
+read, was published; others were published at the same time. That sort
+of phraseology was used.</p>
+
+<p>"There was a war of classes in England; there were men who were
+contending for legitimacy; who were contending for the right of the
+Crown being inherent and depending on the will of God, 'the divine right
+of Kings,' for maintaining an hereditary landed-aristocracy; there was
+another Party who were contending against this doctrine of legitimacy,
+and the right of primogeniture. These were called the Whigs; they
+established this general phraseology in denouncing the divine right and
+the doctrine of legitimacy, and it became the common phraseology of the
+Country; so that in the obscure county of Mecklenburg, in North
+Carolina, a declaration containing the same assertions was found as in
+this celebrated Declaration of Independence, written by the immortal
+Jefferson.</p>
+
+<p>"Which of us, I ask, is there upon this floor who has not read and
+re-read whatever was written within the last twenty-five or thirty years by
+the distinguished men of this country? But enough of that.</p>
+
+<p>"As I said before, there ought not have been, and there did not
+necessarily result from our form of Government, any irrepressible
+conflict between the Slaveholding and the non-Slaveholding States.
+Nothing of the sort was necessary.</p>
+
+<p>"Strike out a single clause in the Constitution of the United States,
+that which secures to each State a Republican form of Government, and
+there is no reason why, under precisely such a Constitution as we have,
+States that are Monarchical and States that are Republican, could not
+live in peace and quiet. They confederate together for common defense
+and general welfare, each State regulating its domestic concerns in its
+own way; those which preferred a Republican form of Government
+maintaining it, and those which preferred a Monarchical form of
+Government maintaining it.</p>
+
+<p>"But how long could small States, with different forms of Government,
+live together, confederated for common defense and general welfare, if
+the people of one Section were to come to the conclusion that their
+institutions were better than those of the other, and thereupon
+straightway set about subverting the institutions of the other?"</p>
+
+<p>
+In the reply of the Rebel "Commissioners of the Southern Confederacy"
+to Mr. Seward, April 9, 1861, they speak of our Government as being
+"persistently wedded to those fatal theories of construction of the
+Federal Constitution always rejected by the statesmen of the South, and
+adhered to by those of the Administration school, until they have
+produced their natural and often-predicted result of the destruction of
+the Union, under which we might have continued to live happily and
+gloriously together, had the spirit of the ancestry who framed the
+common Constitution animated the hearts of all their sons."</p>
+
+<p>In the "Address of the people of South Carolina, assembled in
+Convention, to the people of the Slaveholding States of the United
+States," by which the attempt was made to justify the passage of the
+South Carolina Secession Ordinance of 1860, it is declared that:</p>
+
+<p>"Discontent and contention have moved in the bosom of the Confederacy,
+for the last thirty-five years. During this time South Carolina has
+twice called her people together in solemn Convention, to take into
+consideration, the aggressions and unconstitutional wrongs, perpetrated
+by the people of the North on the people of the South. These wrongs
+were submitted to by the people of the South, under the hope and
+expectation that they would be final. But such hope and expectation
+have proved to be vain. Instead of producing forbearance, our
+acquiescence has only instigated to new forms of aggressions and
+outrage; and South Carolina, having again assembled her people in
+Convention, has this day dissolved her connection with the States
+constituting the United States.</p>
+
+<p>"The one great evil from which all other evils have flowed, is the
+overthrow of the Constitution of the United States. The Government of
+the United States, is no longer the Government of Confederated
+Republics, but of a consolidated Democracy. It is no longer a free
+Government, but a Despotism. It is, in fact, such a Government as Great
+Britain attempted to set over our Fathers; and which was resisted and
+defeated by a seven years struggle for Independence.</p>
+
+<p>"The Revolution of 1776, turned upon one great principle,
+self-government,&mdash;and self-taxation, the criterion of self-government.</p>
+
+<p>"The Southern States now stand exactly in the same position towards the
+Northern States, that the Colonies did towards Great Britain. The
+Northern States, having the majority in Congress, claim the same power
+of omnipotence in legislation as the British Parliament. 'The General
+Welfare' is the only limit to the legislation of either; and the
+majority in Congress, as in the British Parliament, are the sole judges
+of the expediency of the legislation this 'General Welfare' requires.
+Thus the Government of the United States has become a consolidated
+Government; and the people of the Southern States are compelled to meet
+the very despotism their fathers threw off in the Revolution of 1776.</p>
+
+<p>"The consolidation of the Government of Great Britain over the Colonies,
+was attempted to be carried out by the taxes. The British Parliament
+undertook to tax the Colonies to promote British interests. Our fathers
+resisted this pretension. They claimed the right of self-taxation
+through their Colonial Legislatures. They were not represented in the
+British Parliament, and, therefore, could not rightly be taxed by its
+legislation. The British Government, however, offered them a
+representation in Parliament; but it was not sufficient to enable them
+to protect themselves from the majority, and they refused the offer.
+Between taxation without any representation, and taxation without a
+representation adequate to protection, there was no difference. In
+neither case would the Colonies tax themselves. Hence, they refused to
+pay the taxes laid by the British Parliament.</p>
+
+<p>"And so with the Southern States, towards the Northern States, in the
+vital matter of taxation. They are in a minority in Congress. Their
+representation in Congress is useless to protect them against unjust
+taxation; and they are taxed by the people of the North for their
+benefit, exactly as the people of Great Britain taxed our ancestors in
+the British Parliament for their benefit. For the last forty years, the
+taxes laid by the Congress of the United States have been laid with a
+view of subserving the interests of the North. The people of the South
+have been taxed by duties on imports, not for revenue, but for an object
+inconsistent with revenue&mdash;to promote, by prohibitions, Northern
+interests in the productions of their mines and manufactures.</p>
+
+<p>"There is another evil, in the condition of the Southern towards the
+Northern States, which our ancestors refused to bear towards Great
+Britain. Our ancestors not only taxed themselves, but all the taxes
+collected from them were expended amongst them. Had they submitted to
+the pretensions of the British Government, the taxes collected from
+them, would have been expended in other parts of the British Empire.
+They were fully aware of the effect of such a policy in impoverishing
+the people from whom taxes are collected, and in enriching those who
+receive the benefit of their expenditure.</p>
+
+<p>"To prevent the evils of such a policy, was one of the motives which
+drove them on to Revolution, yet this British policy has been fully
+realized towards the Southern States, by the Northern States. The
+people of the Southern States are not only taxed for the benefit of the
+Northern States, but after the taxes are collected, three fourths of
+them are expended at the North. This cause, with others, connected with
+the operation of the General Government, has made the cities of the
+South provincial. Their growth is paralyzed; they are mere suburbs of
+Northern cities. The agricultural productions of the South are the
+basis of the foreign commerce of the United States; yet Southern cities
+do not carry it on. Our foreign trade is almost annihilated. * * *</p>
+
+<p>"No man can for a moment believe, that our ancestors intended to
+establish over their posterity, exactly the same sort of Government they
+had overthrown. * * * Yet by gradual and steady encroachments on the
+part of the people of the North, and acquiescence on the part of the
+South, the limitations in the Constitution have been swept away; and the
+Government of the United States has become consolidated, with a claim of
+limitless powers in its operations. * * *</p>
+
+<p>"A majority in Congress, according to their interested and perverted
+views, is omnipotent. * * * Numbers with them, is the great element of
+free Government. A majority is infallible and omnipotent. 'The right
+divine to rule in Kings,' is only transferred to their majority. The
+very object of all Constitutions, in free popular Government, is to
+restrain the majority. Constitutions, therefore, according to their
+theory, must be most unrighteous inventions, restricting liberty. None
+ought to exist; but the body politic ought simply to have a political
+organization, to bring out and enforce the will of the majority. This
+theory is a remorseless despotism. In resisting it, as applicable to
+ourselves, we are vindicating the great cause of free Government, more
+important, perhaps, to the World, than the existence of all the United
+States."</p>
+
+<p>
+In his Special Message to the Confederate Congress at Montgomery, April
+29, 1861, Mr. Jefferson Davis said:</p>
+
+<p>"From a period as early as 1798, there had existed in all the States a
+Party, almost uninterruptedly in the majority, based upon the creed that
+each State was, in the last resort, the sole judge, as well of its
+wrongs as of the mode and measure of redress. * * * The Democratic
+Party of the United States repeated, in its successful canvas of 1836,
+the declaration, made in numerous previous political contests, that it
+would faithfully abide by and uphold the principles laid down in the
+Kentucky and Virginia Legislatures of [1798 and] 1799, and that it
+adopts those principles as constituting one of the main foundations of
+its political creed."</p>
+
+<p>In a letter addressed by the Rebel Commissioners in London (Yancey, Rost
+and Mann), August 14, 1861, to Lord John Russell, Secretary of Foreign
+Affairs, it appears that they said: "It was from no fear that the Slaves
+would be liberated, that Secession took place. The very Party in power
+has proposed to guarantee Slavery forever in the States, if the South
+would but remain in the Union." On the 4th of May preceding, Lord John
+had received these Commissioners at his house; and in a letter of May
+11, 1861, wrote, from the Foreign Office, to Lord Lyons, the British
+Minister at Washington, a letter, in which, alluding to his informal
+communication with them, he said: "One of these gentlemen, speaking for
+the others, dilated on the causes which had induced the Southern States
+to Secede from the Northern. The principal of these causes, he said,
+was not Slavery, but the very high price which, for the sake of
+Protecting the Northern manufacturers, the South were obliged to pay for
+the manufactured goods which they required. One of the first acts of
+the Southern Congress was to reduce these duties, and to prove their
+sincerity he gave as an instance that Louisiana had given up altogether
+that Protection on her sugar which she enjoyed by the legislation of the
+United States. As a proof of the riches of the South. He stated that
+of $350,000,000 of exports of produce to foreign countries $270,000,000
+were furnished by the Southern States." * * * They pointed to the new
+Tariff of the United States as a proof that British manufactures would
+be nearly excluded from the North, and freely admitted in the South.</p>
+
+<p>
+This may be as good a place as any other to say a few words touching
+another alleged "cause" of Secession. During the exciting period just
+prior to the breaking out of the great War of the Rebellion, the
+Slave-holding and Secession-nursing States of the South, made a terrible
+hubbub over the Personal Liberty Bills of the Northern States. And when
+Secession came, many people of the North supposed these Bills to be the
+prime, if not the only real cause of it. Not so. They constituted, as
+we now know, only a part of the mere pretext. But, none the less, they
+constituted a portion of the history of that eventful time, and cannot
+be altogether ignored.</p>
+
+<p>In order then, that the reader may quickly grasp, not only the general
+nature, but also the most important details of the Personal Liberty
+Bills (in force, in 1860, in many of the Free States) so frequently
+alluded to in the Debates of Congress, in speeches on the stump, and in
+the fulminations of Seceding States and their authorized agents,
+commissioners, and representatives, it may be well now, briefly to refer
+to them, and to state that no such laws existed in California, Illinois,
+Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, New York, Ohio and Oregon.</p>
+
+<p>Those of Maine provided that no officer of the State should in any way
+assist in the arrest or detention of a Fugitive Slave, and made it the
+duty of county attorneys to defend the Fugitive Slave against the claim
+of his master. A Bill to repeal these laws passed the Maine Senate, but
+failed in the House.</p>
+
+<p>That of Massachusetts provided for commissioners in each county to
+defend alleged Fugitives from Service or Labor; for payment by the
+Commonwealth of all expenses of defense; prohibited the issue or service
+of process by State officers for arrest of alleged Fugitives, or the use
+of any prisons in the State for their detention, or that of any person
+aiding their escape; prohibited the kidnapping or removal of alleged
+Fugitive Slaves by any person; prohibited all officers within the State,
+down to Town officers, from arresting, imprisoning, detaining or
+returning to Service "any Person for the reason that he is claimed or
+adjudged to be a Fugitive from Service or Labor"&mdash;all such prohibitions
+being enforced by heavy fines and imprisonment. The Act of March 25,
+1861, materially modified and softened the above provisions.</p>
+
+<p>New Hampshire's law, provided that all Slaves entering the State with
+consent of the master shall be Free, and made the attempt to hold any
+person as a Slave within the State a felony.</p>
+
+<p>Vermont's, prescribed that no process under the Fugitive Slave Law
+should be recognized by any of her Courts, officers, or citizens; nor
+any aid given in arresting or removing from the State any Person claimed
+as a Fugitive Slave; provided counsel for alleged Fugitives; for the
+issue of habeas corpus and trial by jury of issues of fact between the
+parties; ordained Freedom to all within the State who may have been held
+as Slaves before coming into it, and prescribed heavy penalties for any
+attempt to return any such to Slavery. A bill to repeal these laws,
+proposed November, 1860, in the Vermont House of Representatives, was
+beaten by two to one.</p>
+
+<p>Connecticut's, provided that there must be two witnesses to prove that a
+Person is a Slave; that depositions are not evidence; that false
+testifying in Fugitive Slave cases shall be punishable by fine of $5,000
+and five years in State prison.</p>
+
+<p>In New Jersey, the only laws touching the subject, permitted persons
+temporarily sojourning in the State to bring and hold their Slaves, and
+made it the duty of all State officers to aid in the recovery of
+Fugitives from Service.</p>
+
+<p>In Pennsylvania, barring an old dead-letter Statute, they simply
+prohibited any interference by any of the Courts, Aldermen, or Justices
+of the Peace, of the Commonwealth, with the functions of the
+Commissioner appointed under the United States Statute in Fugitive Slave
+cases.</p>
+
+<p>In Michigan, the law required States' attorneys to defend Fugitive
+Slaves; prescribed the privileges of habeas corpus and jury trial for
+all such arrested; prohibited the use of prisons of the State for their
+detention; required evidence of two credible witnesses as to identity;
+and provided heavy penalties of fine and imprisonment for the seizure of
+any Free Person, with intent to have such Person held in Slavery. A
+Bill to repeal the Michigan law was defeated in the House by about two
+to one.</p>
+
+<p>Wisconsin's Personal Liberty law was similar to that of Michigan, but
+with this addition, that no judgment recovered against any person in
+that State for violating the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 should be
+enforced by sale or execution of any real or personal property in that
+State.</p>
+
+<p>That of Rhode Island, forbade the carrying away of any Person by force
+out of the State; forbade the official aiding in the arrest or detention
+of a Fugitive Slave; and denied her jails to the United States for any
+such detention.</p>
+
+<p>Apropos of this subject, and before leaving it, it may be well to quote
+remarks of Mr. Simons of Rhode Island, in the United States Senate.
+Said he: "Complaint has been made of Personal Liberty Bills. Now, the
+Massachusetts Personal Liberty Bill was passed by a Democratic House, a
+Democratic Senate, and signed by a Democratic Governor, a man who was
+afterwards nominated by Mr. Polk for the very best office in New
+England, and was unanimously confirmed by a Democratic United States
+Senate. Further than this, the very first time the attention of the
+Massachusetts Legislature was called to the propriety of a repeal of
+this law was by a Republican Governor. Now, on the other hand, South
+Carolina had repealed a law imprisoning British colored sailors, but
+retained the one imprisoning those coming from States inhabited by her
+own brethren!"</p>
+
+<p>These Personal Liberty Bills were undoubtedly largely responsible for
+some of the irritation on the Slavery question preceding open
+hostilities between the Sections. But President Lincoln sounded the
+real depths of the Rebellion when he declared it to be a War upon the
+rights of the People. In his First Annual Message, December 3, 1861, he
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"It continues to develop that the insurrection is largely, if not
+exclusively, a War upon the first principle of popular government&mdash;the
+rights of the People. Conclusive evidence of this is found in the most
+grave and maturely considered public documents, as well as in the
+general tone of the insurgents. In those documents we find the
+abridgment of the existing right of suffrage, and the denial to the
+People of all right to participate in the selection of public officers,
+except the legislative, boldly advocated, with labored arguments to
+prove that large control of the People in government is the source of
+all political evil. Monarchy itself is sometimes hinted at as a
+possible refuge from the power of the People.</p>
+
+<p>"In my present position, I could scarcely be justified were I to omit
+raising a warning voice against this approach of returning despotism.</p>
+
+<p>"It is not needed, nor fitting here, that a general argument should be
+made in favor of popular institutions; but there is one point, with its
+connections, not so hackneyed as most others, to which I ask brief
+attention. It is the effort to place Capital on an equal footing with,
+if not above Labor, in the structure of the Government.</p>
+
+<p>"It is assumed that Labor is available only in connection with Capital;
+that nobody labors unless somebody else, owning Capital, somehow by the
+use of it induces him to labor. This assumed, it is next considered
+whether it is best that Capital shall hire laborers, and thus induce
+them to work by their own consent, or buy them, and drive them to it
+without their consent. Having proceeded so far, it is naturally
+concluded that all laborers are either hired laborers, or what we call
+Slaves. And further, it is assumed that whoever is once a hired laborer
+is fixed in that condition for life.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, there is no such relation between Capital and Labor as assumed;
+nor is there any such thing as a free man being fixed for life, in the
+condition of a hired laborer. Both these assumptions are false, and all
+inferences from them are groundless.</p>
+
+<p>"Labor is prior to, and independent of Capital. Capital is only the
+fruit of Labor, and could never have existed if Labor had not first
+existed. Labor is the superior of Capital, and deserves much the higher
+consideration. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of
+protection as any other rights. Nor is it denied that there is, and
+probably always will be, a relation between Labor and Capital, producing
+mutual benefits. The error is in assuming that the whole Labor of the
+community exists within that relation.</p>
+
+<p>"A few men own Capital, and that few, avoid labor themselves, and with
+their Capital hire or buy another few to labor for them. A large
+majority belong to neither class&mdash;neither work for others, nor have
+others working for them.</p>
+
+<p>"In most of the Southern States, a majority of the whole people of all
+colors are neither Slaves nor masters; while in the Northern, a large
+majority are neither hirers nor hired. Men with their families&mdash;wives,
+sons, and daughters&mdash;work for themselves, on their farms, in their
+houses, and in their shops, taking the whole product to themselves, and
+asking no favors of Capital on the one hand, nor of hired laborers or
+Slaves on the other.</p>
+
+<p>"It is not forgotten that a considerable number of persons mingle their
+own Labor with Capital&mdash;that is they labor with their own hands, and
+also buy or hire others to labor for them; but this is only a mixed, and
+not a distinct class. No principle stated is disturbed by the existence
+of this mixed class.</p>
+
+<p>"Again, as has already been said, there is not, of necessity, any such
+thing as the free hired-laborer being fixed to that condition for life.
+Many independent men everywhere in these States, a few years back in
+their lives, were hired laborers.</p>
+
+<p>"The prudent, penniless beginner in the World, labors for wages awhile,
+saves a surplus with which to buy tools or land for himself, then labors
+on his own account another while, and at length hires another new
+beginner to help him. This is the just and generous and prosperous
+system, which opens the way to all, gives hope to all, and consequent
+energy and progress, and improvement of condition to all.</p>
+
+<p>"No men living are more worthy to be trusted than those who toil up from
+poverty&mdash;none less inclined to take or touch aught which they have not
+honestly earned. Let them beware of surrendering a political power
+which they already possess, and which, if surrendered, will surely be
+used to close the door of advancement against such as they, and to fix
+new disabilities and burdens upon them, till all of Liberty shall be
+lost. * * * The struggle of to-day is not altogether for to-day-it is
+a vast future also. * * * "</p>
+
+<p>
+So too, Andrew Johnson, in his speech before the Senate, January 31,
+1862, spake well and truly when he said that "there has been a
+deliberate design for years to change the nature and character and
+genius of this Government." And he added: "Do we not know that these
+schemers have been deliberately at work, and that there is a Party in
+the South, with some associates in the North, and even in the West, that
+have become tired of Free Government, in which they have lost
+confidence."</p>
+
+<p>Said he: "They raise an outcry against 'Coercion,' that they may
+paralyze the Government, cripple the exercise of the great powers with
+which it was invested, finally to change its form and subject us to a
+Southern despotism. Do we not know it to be so? Why disguise this
+great truth? Do we not know that they have been anxious for a change of
+Government for years? Since this Rebellion commenced it has manifested
+itself in many quarters.</p>
+
+<p>"How long is it since the organ of the Government at Richmond, the
+Richmond Whig, declared that rather than live under the Government of
+the United States, they preferred to take the Constitutional Queen of
+Great Britain as their protector; that they would make an alliance with
+Great Britain for the purpose of preventing the enforcement of the Laws
+of the United States. Do we not know this?"</p>
+
+<p>
+Stephen A. Douglas also, in his great Union speech at Chicago, May 1,
+1861&mdash;only a few days before his lamented death&mdash;said:</p>
+
+<p>"The election of Mr. Lincoln is a mere pretext. The present Secession
+movement is the result of an enormous Conspiracy formed more than a year
+since formed by leaders in the Southern Confederacy more than twelve
+months ago. They use the Slavery question as a means to aid the
+accomplishment of their ends. They desired the election of a Northern
+candidate by a Sectional vote, in order to show that the two Sections
+cannot live together.</p>
+
+<p>"When the history of the two years from the Lecompton question down to
+the Presidential election shall be written, it will be shown that the
+scheme was deliberately made to break up this Union.</p>
+
+<p>"They desired a Northern Republican to be elected by a purely Northern
+vote, and then assign this fact as a reason why the Sections cannot live
+together. If the Disunion candidate&mdash;(Breckinridge) in the late
+Presidential contest had carried the united South, their scheme was, the
+Northern candidate successful, to seize the Capital last Spring, and by
+a united South and divided North, hold it.</p>
+
+<p>"Their scheme was defeated, in the defeat of the Disunion candidates in
+several of the Southern States.</p>
+
+<p>"But this is no time for a detail of causes. The Conspiracy is now
+known; Armies have been raised. War is levied to accomplish it. There
+are only two sides to the question.</p>
+
+<p>"Every man must be for the United States, or against it. There can be
+no Neutrals in this War; only Patriots or Traitors! [Cheer after
+Cheer]."</p>
+
+<p>
+In a speech made in the United States Senate, January 31, 1862, Senator
+McDougall of California&mdash;conceded to be intellectually the peer of any
+man in that Body&mdash;said:</p>
+
+<p>"We are at War. How long have we been at War? We have been engaged in
+a war of opinion, according to my historical recollection, since 1838.
+There has been a Systematic organized war against the Institutions
+established by our fathers, since 1832. This is known of all men who
+have read carefully the history of our Country. If I had the leisure,
+or had consulted the authorities, I would give it year by year, and date
+by date, from that time until the present, how men adversary to our
+Republican Institutions have been organizing War against us, because
+they did not approve of our Republican Institutions.</p>
+
+<p>"Before the Mexican War, it is well known that General Quitman, then
+Governor of Mississippi, was organizing to produce the same condition of
+things (and he hoped a better condition of things, for he hoped a
+successful Secession), to produce this same revolution that is now
+disturbing our whole Land. The War with Mexico, fighting for a Southern
+proposition, for which I fought myself, made the Nation a unit until
+1849; and then again they undertook an Organization to produce
+Revolution. These things are history. This statement is true, and
+cannot be denied among intelligent men anywhere, and cannot be denied in
+this Senate.</p>
+
+<p>"The great men who sat in Council in this Hall, the great men of the
+Nation, men whose equals are not, and I fear will not be for many years,
+uniting their judgments, settled the controversy in 1850. They did not
+settle it for the Conspirators of the South, for they were not parties
+to the compact. Clay and Webster, and the great men who united with
+them, had no relation with the extremes of either extreme faction. The
+Compromise was made, and immediately after it had been effected, again
+commenced the work of organization. I had the honor to come from my
+State on the Pacific into the other branch of the Federal Congress, and
+there I learned as early as 1853, that the work of Treason was as
+industriously pursued as it is being pursued to-day. I saw it; I felt
+it; I knew it. I went home to the shores of the Pacific instructed
+somewhat on this subject.</p>
+
+<p>"Years passed by. I engaged in my duties as a simple professional man,
+not connected with public affairs. The question of the last
+Presidential election arose before the Country&mdash;one of those great
+questions that are not appreciated, I regret from my heart, by the
+American Nation, when we elect a President, a man who has more power for
+his time than any enthroned Monarch in Europe. We organize a Government
+and place him in front as the head and the Chief of the Government.
+That question came before the American People.</p>
+
+<p>"At that time I was advised of this state of feeling&mdash;and I will state
+it in as exact form of words as I can state it, that it may be
+understood by Senators: Mr. Douglas is a man acceptable to the South.
+Mr. Douglas is a man to whom no one has just cause of exception
+throughout the South. Mr. Douglas is more acceptable to Mississippi and
+Louisiana than Mr. Breckinridge. Mr. Breckinridge is not acceptable to
+the South; or at least, if he is so, he is not in the same degree with
+Mr. Douglas. Mr. Douglas is the accepted man of a great National Party,
+and if he is brought into the field he will be triumphantly elected.
+THAT MUST NOT BE DONE, because THE ORGANIZATION FOR SECESSION IS
+MATURED. EVERYTHING IS PREPARED, and the election of Mr. Douglas would
+only postpone it for four years; and Now when we are PREPARED to carry
+out these things WE MUST INDULGE IN STRATAGEM, and the nomination of Mr.
+Breckinridge is a mere strategic movement to divide the great
+conservative Party of the Nation into two, so as to elect a Republican
+candidate AND CONSOLIDATE THE SOUTH BY THE CRY OF 'ABOLITIONIST!'</p>
+
+<p>"That is a mere simple statement of the truth, and it cannot be
+contradicted. Now, in that scheme all the men of counsel of that Party
+were engaged. * * * I, on the far shores of the Pacific understood
+those things as long ago as a year last September (1860). I was advised
+about this policy and well informed of it. * * *</p>
+
+<p>"I was at war, in California, in January (1861) last; in the maintenance
+of the opinions that I am now maintaining, I had to go armed to protect
+myself from violence. The country, whenever there was controversy, was
+agitated to its deepest foundations. That is known, perhaps, not to
+gentlemen who live up in Maine or Massachusetts, or where you are
+foreign to all this agitation; but known to all people where disturbance
+might have been effective in consequences. I felt it, and had to carry
+my life in my hand by the month, as did my friends surrounding me.</p>
+
+<p>"I say that all through last winter (that of 1860-61) War had been
+inaugurated in all those parts of the Country where disturbed elements
+could have efficient result. In January (1861), a year ago, I stood in
+the hall of the House of Representatives of my State, and there was War
+then, and angry faces and hostile men were gathered; and we knew then
+well that the Southern States had determined to withdraw themselves from
+the Federal Union.</p>
+
+<p>"I happened to be one of those men who said, 'they shall not do it;' and
+it appears to me that the whole argument is between that class of men
+and the class of men who said they would let them do it. * * * When
+this doctrine was started here of disintegrating the Cotton States from
+the rest of the Confederacy, I opposed it at once. I saw immediately
+that War was to be invoked. * * *</p>
+
+<p>"I will not say these things were understood by gentlemen of the
+Republican Party * * * but I, having been accepted and received as a
+Democrat of the old school from the olden time, and HAVING FAST SOUTHERN
+SYMPATHIES, I DID KNOW ALL ABOUT THEM. * * * I KNOW THAT SECESSION WAS A
+THING DETERMINED UPON. * * * I was advised of and understood the whole
+programme, KNEW HOW IT WAS TO BE DONE IN ITS DETAILS; and I being
+advised, made war against it. * * *</p>
+
+<p>"War had been, in fact, inaugurated. What is War? Was it the firing on
+our flag at Sumter? Was that the first adversary passage? To say so,
+is trifling with men's judgments and information. No, sir; when they
+organized a Government, and set us at defiance, they commenced War; and
+the various steps they took afterwards, by organizing their troops, and
+forming their armies, and advancing upon Sumter; all these were merely
+acts of War; but War was inaugurated whenever they undertook to say they
+would maintain themselves as a separate and independent government; and,
+after that time, every man who gave his assistance to them was a
+Traitor, according to the highest Law."</p>
+
+<p>The following letter, written by one of the most active of the Southern
+conspirators in 1858, during the great Douglas and Lincoln Debate of
+that year, to which extended reference has already been made, is of
+interest in this connection, not only as corroborative evidence of the
+fact that the Rebellion of the Cotton States had been determined on long
+before Mr. Lincoln was elected President, but as showing also that the
+machinery for "firing the Southern heart" and for making a "solid South"
+was being perfected even then. The subsequent split in the Democratic
+Party, and nomination of Breckinridge by the Southern wing of it, was
+managed by this same Yancey, simply as parts of the deliberate programme
+of Secession and Rebellion long before determined on by the Cotton Lords
+of the Cotton States.</p>
+
+<p>
+ "MONTGOMERY, June 15, 1858.</p>
+
+<p>"DEAR SIR:&mdash;Your kind favor of the 13th is received.</p>
+
+<p>"I hardly agree with you that a general movement can be made that will
+clean out the Augean Stable. If the Democracy were overthrown it would
+result in giving place to a greedier and hungrier swarm of flies.</p>
+
+<p>"The remedy of the South is not in such a process. It is in a diligent
+organization of her true men for prompt resistance to the next
+aggression. It must come in the nature of things. No National Party
+can save us. No Sectional Party can ever do it. But if we could do as
+our fathers did&mdash;organize 'Committees of Safety' all over the Cotton
+States (and it is only in them that we can hope for any effective
+movement), we shall fire the Southern heart, instruct the Southern mind,
+give courage to each other, and at the proper moment, by one organized,
+concerted action, we can precipitate the Cotton States into a
+revolution.</p>
+
+<p>"The idea has been shadowed forth in the South by Mr. Ruffin; has been
+taken up and recommended in the Advertiser under the name of 'League of
+United Southerners,' who, keeping up their old relations on all other
+questions, will hold the Southern issues paramount, and influence
+parties, legislatures and statesmen. I have no time to enlarge, but to
+suggest merely.</p>
+
+<p>"In haste, yours, etc.
+ "W. L. YANCEY.</p>
+
+<p>"To JAMES S. SLAUGHTER."</p>
+
+<p>
+At Jackson, Mississippi, in the fall of the same year (1858) just after
+the great Debate between Douglas and Lincoln had closed, Jefferson Davis
+had already raised the standard of Revolution, Secession and Disunion,
+during the course of a speech, in which he said: "If an Abolitionist be
+chosen President of the United States, you will have presented to you
+the question of whether you will permit the Government to pass into the
+hands of your avowed and implacable enemies? Without pausing for an
+answer, I will state my own position to be, that such a result would be
+a species of revolution by which the purposes of the Government would be
+destroyed, and the observance of its mere forms entitled to no respect.
+In that event, in such a manner as should be most expedient, I should
+deem it your duty to provide for your safety, outside of the Union with
+those who have already shown the will, and would have acquired the power
+to deprive you of your birthright, and to reduce you to worse than the
+Colonial dependence of your fathers."</p>
+
+<p>The "birthright" thus referred to was of course, the alleged right to
+have Slaves; but what was this "worse than Colonial dependence" to
+which, in addition to the peril supposed to threaten the Southern
+"birthright," the Cotton States of Mississippi were reduced?
+"Dependence" upon whom, and with regard to what? Plainly upon the
+North; and with regard, not to Slavery alone&mdash;for Jefferson Davis held,
+down to the very close of the War, that the South fought "not for
+Slavery"&mdash;but as to Tariff Legislation also. There was the rub! These
+Cotton Lords believed, or pretended to believe, that the High Tariff
+Legislation, advocated and insisted upon both by the Whigs and
+Republicans for the Protection of the American Manufacturer and working
+man, built up and made prosperous the North, and elevated Northern
+laborers; at the expense of the South, and especially themselves, the
+Cotton Lords aforesaid.</p>
+
+<p>We have already seen from the utterances of leading men in the South
+Carolina, Secession Convention, "that"&mdash;as Governor Hicks, himself a
+Southern man, said in his address to the people of Maryland, after the
+War broke out "neither the election of Mr. Lincoln, nor the
+non-execution of the Fugitive Slave Law, nor both combined, constitute their
+grievances. They declare that THE REAL CAUSE of their discontent DATES
+AS FAR BACK AS 1833."</p>
+
+<p>And what was the chief cause or pretext for discontent at that time?
+Nothing less than the Tariff. They wanted Free Trade, as well as
+Slavery. The balance of the Union wanted Protection, as well as
+Freedom.</p>
+
+<p>The subsequent War, then, was not a War waged for Slavery alone, but for
+Independence with a view to Free Trade, as set forth in the "Confederate
+Constitution," as soon as that Independence could be achieved. And the
+War on our part, while for the integrity of the Union in all its
+parts&mdash;for the life of the Nation itself, and for the freedom of man, should
+also have brought the triumph of the American idea of a Protective
+Tariff, whose chief object is the building up of American manufactures
+and the Protection of the Free working-man, in the essential matters of
+education, food, clothing, rents, wages, and work.</p>
+
+<p>It is mentioned in McPherson's History of the Rebellion, p. 392, that in
+a letter making public his reasons for going to Washington and taking
+his seat in Congress, Mr. James L. Pugh, a Representative from Alabama,
+November 24, 1860, said: "The sole object of my visit is to promote the
+cause of Secession."</p>
+
+<p>From the manner in which they acted after reaching Washington, it is not
+unreasonable to suppose that most of those persons representing, in both
+branches of Congress, the Southern States which afterwards seceded, came
+to the National Capital with a similar object in view&mdash;taking their
+salaries and mileages for services supposed to be performed for the
+benefit of the very Government they were conspiring to injure, and
+swearing anew the sacred oath to support and defend the very
+Constitution which they were moving heaven and earth to undermine and
+destroy!</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [As a part of the history of those times, the following letter is
+ not without interest:</p>
+
+<p> "OXFORD, December 24, 1860.</p>
+
+<p> "MY DEAR SIR:&mdash;I regretted having to leave Washington without
+ having with you a full conference as to the great events whose
+ shadows are upon us. The result of the election here is what the
+ most sanguine among us expected; that is, its general result is so.
+ It is as yet somewhat difficult to determine the distinctive
+ complexion of the convention to meet on the 7th of January. The
+ friends of Southern Independence, of firm and bona fide resistance,
+ won an overwhelming victory; but I doubt whether there is any
+ precise plan.</p>
+
+<p> "No doubt a large majority of the Convention will be for separate
+ Secession. But unless intervening events work important changes of
+ sentiment, not all of those elected as resistance men will be for
+ immediate and separate Secession. Our friends in Pontotoc, Tippah,
+ De Soto and Pauola took grounds which fell far short of that idea,
+ though their resolutions were very firm in regard to Disunion and
+ an ultimate result.</p>
+
+<p> "In the meantime the Disunion sentiment among the people is growing
+ every day more intense.</p>
+
+<p> "Upon the whole, you have great cause for gratification in the
+ action of your State.</p>
+
+<p> "The submissionists are routed, horse, foot, and dragoons, and any
+ concession by the North will fail to restore that sacred attachment
+ to the Union which was once so deeply radicated in the hearts of
+ our people. What they want now, is wise and sober leading. I
+ think that there might be more of dignity and prudent foresight in
+ the action of our State than have marked the proceedings of South
+ Carolina. I have often rejoiced that we have you to rest upon and
+ confide in. I do not know what we could do without you. That God
+ may preserve you to us, and that your mind may retain all its vigor
+ to carry us through these perilous times, is my most fervent
+ aspiration.</p>
+
+<p> "I am as ever, and forever, your supporter, ally and friend.</p>
+
+<p> "L. Q. C. LAMAR.</p>
+
+<p> "COL. JEFF. DAVIS, Washington, D. C."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>
+This was but a part of the deliberate, cold-blooded plan mapped out in
+detail, early in the session succeeding the election of Mr. Lincoln, in
+a secret Caucus of the Chief Plotters of the Treason. It was a secret
+conference, but the programme resolved on, soon leaked out.</p>
+
+<p>The following, which appeared in the Washington National Intelligencer
+on Friday, January 11, 1861, tells the story of this stage of the Great
+Conspiracy pretty clearly:</p>
+
+<p>"The subjoined communication, disclosing the designs of those who have
+undertaken to lead the movement now threatening a permanent dissolution
+of the Union, comes to us from a distinguished citizen of the South
+[understood to be Honorable Lemuel D. Evans, Representative from Texas
+in the 34th Congress, from March 4, 1855, to March 3, 1857] who formerly
+represented his State with great distinction in the popular branch of
+Congress.</p>
+
+<p>"Temporarily sojourning in this city he has become authentically
+informed of the facts recited in the subjoined letter, which he
+communicates to us under a sense of duty, and for the accuracy of which
+he makes himself responsible.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing but assurances coming from such an intelligent, reliable source
+could induce us to accept the authenticity of these startling
+statements, which so deeply concern not only the welfare but the honor
+of the Southern people.</p>
+
+<p>"To them we submit, without present comment, the programme to which they
+are expected to yield their implicit adhesion, without any scruples of
+conscience as without any regard for their own safety.</p>
+
+<p> "'WASHINGTON, January 9, 1861.</p>
+
+<p>"'I charge that on last Saturday night (January 5th), a Caucus was held
+in this city by the Southern Secession Senators from Florida, Georgia,
+Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas. It was then and
+there resolved in effect to assume to themselves the political power of
+the South, and, to control all political and military operations for the
+present, they telegraphed to complete the plan of seizing forts,
+arsenals, and custom-houses, and advised the Conventions now in session,
+and soon to assemble, to pass Ordinances for immediate Secession; but,
+in order to thwart any operations of the Government here, the
+Conventions of the Seceding States are to retain their representations
+in the Senate and the House.</p>
+
+<p>"'They also advised, ordered, or directed the assembling of a Convention
+of delegates from the Seceding States at Montgomery on the 13th of
+February. This can of course only be done by the revolutionary
+Conventions usurping the powers of the people, and sending delegates
+over whom they will lose all control in the establishment of a
+Provisional Government, which is the plan of the dictators.</p>
+
+<p>"'This Caucus also resolved to take the most effectual means to dragoon
+the Legislatures of Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, and
+Virginia into following the Seceding States. Maryland is also to be
+influenced by such appeals to popular passion as have led to the
+revolutionary steps which promise a conflict with the State and Federal
+Governments in Texas.</p>
+
+<p>"'They have possessed themselves of all the avenues of information in
+the South&mdash;the telegraph, the press, and the general control of the
+postmasters. They also confidently rely upon defections in the army and
+navy.</p>
+
+<p>"'The spectacle here presented is startling to contemplate. Senators
+entrusted with the representative sovereignty of the States, and sworn
+to support the Constitution of the United States, while yet acting as
+the privy councillors of the President, and anxiously looked to by their
+constituents to effect some practical plan of adjustment, deliberately
+conceive a Conspiracy for the overthrow of the Government through the
+military organizations, the dangerous secret order, the 'Knights of the
+Golden Circle,' 'Committees of Safety,' Southern leagues, and other
+agencies at their command; they have instituted as thorough a military
+and civil despotism as ever cursed a maddened Country.</p>
+
+<p>"'It is not difficult to foresee the form of government which a
+Convention thus hurriedly thrown together at Montgomery will irrevocably
+fasten upon a deluded and unsuspecting people. It must essentially be
+'a Monarchy founded upon military principles,' or it cannot endure.
+Those who usurp power never fail to forge strong chains.</p>
+
+<p>"'It may be too late to sound the alarm. Nothing may be able to arrest
+the action of revolutionary tribunals whose decrees are principally in
+'secret sessions.' But I call upon the people to pause and reflect
+before they are forced to surrender every principle of liberty, or to
+fight those who are becoming their masters rather than their servants.
+ "'EATON"</p>
+
+<p>"As confirming the intelligence furnished by our informant we may cite
+the following extract from the Washington correspondence of yesterday's
+Baltimore Sun:</p>
+
+<p>"'The leaders of the Southern movement are consulting as to the best
+mode of consolidating their interests into a Confederacy under a
+Provisional Government. The plan is to make Senator Hunter, of
+Virginia, Provisional President, and Jefferson Davis Commander-in-Chief
+of the army of defense. Mr. Hunter possesses in a more eminent degree
+the philosophical characteristics of Jefferson than any other statesman
+now living. Colonel Davis is a graduate of West Point, was
+distinguished for gallantry at Buena Vista, and served as Secretary of
+War under President Pierce, and is not second to General Scott in
+military science or courage.'</p>
+
+<p>"As further confirmatory of the above, the following telegraphic
+dispatch in the Charleston Mercury of January 7, 1861, is given:</p>
+
+<p>"'[From our Own Correspondent.]</p>
+
+<p>"'WASHINGTON, January 6.&mdash;The Senators from those of the Southern States
+which have called Conventions of their people, met in caucus last night,
+and adopted the following resolutions:</p>
+
+<p>"'Resolved, That we recommend to our respective States immediate
+Secession.</p>
+
+<p>"'Resolved, That we recommend the holding of a General Convention of the
+said States, to be holden in the city of Montgomery, Alabama, at some
+period not later than the 15th day of February, 1861.'</p>
+
+<p>"These resolutions were telegraphed this evening to the Conventions of
+Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. A third resolution is also known to
+have been adopted, but it is of a confidential character, not to be
+divulged at present. There was a good deal of discussion in the caucus
+on the question of whether the Seceding States ought to continue their
+delegations in Congress till the 4th of March, to prevent unfriendly
+legislation, or whether the Representatives of the Seceding States
+should all resign together, and leave a clear field for the opposition
+to pass such bills, looking to Coercion, as they may see fit. It is
+believed that the opinion that they should remain prevailed."</p>
+
+<p>Furthermore, upon the capture of Fernandina, Florida, in 1862, the
+following letter was found and published. Senator Yulee, the writer,
+was present and participated as one of the Florida Senators, in the
+traitorous "Consultation" therein referred to&mdash;and hence its especial
+value:</p>
+
+<p>
+"WASHINGTON, January 7, 1861.</p>
+
+<p>"My DEAR SIR:&mdash;On the other side is a copy of resolutions adopted at a
+consultation of the Senators from the Seceding States&mdash;in which Georgia,
+Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi, and Florida were
+present.</p>
+
+<p>"The idea of the meeting was that the States should go out at once, and
+provide for the early organization of a Confederate Government, not
+later than 15th February. This time is allowed to enable Louisiana and
+Texas to participate. It seemed to be the opinion that if we left here,
+force, loan, and volunteer Bills might be passed, which would put Mr.
+Lincoln in immediate condition for hostilities; whereas, by remaining in
+our places until the 4th of March, it is thought we can keep the hands
+of Mr. Buchanan tied, and disable the Republicans from effecting any
+legislation which will strengthen the hands of the incoming
+Administration.</p>
+
+<p>"The resolutions will be sent by the delegation to the President of the
+Convention. I have not been able to find Mr. Mallory (his Senatorial
+colleague) this morning. Hawkins (Representative from Florida) is in
+Connecticut. I have therefore thought it best to send you this copy of
+the resolutions.</p>
+
+<p> "In haste, yours truly
+ "D. L. YULEE.</p>
+
+<p>"JOSEPH FINEGAN, Esq.,
+"'Sovereignty Convention,' Tallahassee, Fla."</p>
+
+<br><br><br><br>
+
+<p>The resolutions "on the other side" of this letter, to which he refers,
+are as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved, 1&mdash;That in our opinion each of the Southern States should, as
+soon as may be, Secede from the Union.</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved, 2&mdash;That provision should be made for a Convention to organize
+a Confederacy of the Seceding States, the Convention to meet not later
+than the 15th of February, at the city of Montgomery, in the State of
+Alabama.</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved, That in view of the hostile legislation that is threatened
+against the Seceding States, and which may be consummated before the 4th
+of March, we ask instructions whether the delegations are to remain in
+Congress until that date for the purpose of defeating such legislation.</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved, That a committee be and are hereby appointed, consisting of
+Messrs. Davis, Slidell, and Mallory, to carry out the objects of this
+meeting."</p>
+
+<p>
+In giving this letter to the World&mdash;from its correspondent accompanying
+the expedition&mdash;the New York Times of March 15, 1862, made these
+forcible and clear-headed comments:</p>
+
+<p>"The telegraphic columns of the Times of January 7, 1861, contained the
+following Washington dispatch: 'The Southern Senators last night
+(January 5th) held a conference, and telegraphed to the Conventions of
+their respective States to advise immediate Secession.' Now, the
+present letter is a report by Mr. Yulee, who was present at this
+'consultation' as he calls it, of the resolutions adopted on this
+occasion, transmitted to the said Finegan, who by the way, was a member
+of the 'Sovereign Convention' of Florida, then sitting in the town of
+Tallahassee.</p>
+
+<p>"It will thus be seen that this remarkable letter, which breathes
+throughout the spirit of the Conspirator, in reality lets us into one of
+the most important of the numerous Secret Conclaves which the Plotters
+of Treason then held in the Capital. It was then, as it appears, that
+they determined to strike the blow and precipitate their States into
+Secession. But at the same time they resolved that it would be
+imprudent for them openly to withdraw, as in that case Congress might
+pass 'force, loan, and volunteer bills,' which would put Mr. Lincoln in
+immediate condition for hostilities. No, no! that would not do. (So
+much patriotic virtue they half suspected, half feared, was left in the
+Country.) On the contrary, 'by remaining in our places until the 4th of
+March it is thought we can keep the hands of Mr. Buchanan tied, and
+disable the Republicans from effecting any legislation which will
+strengthen the hands of the incoming Administration.' Ah what a tragic
+back-ground, full of things unutterable, is there!</p>
+
+<p>"It appears, however, that events were faster than they, and instead of
+being able to retain their seats up to the 4th of March, they were able
+to remain but a very few weeks. Mr. Davis withdrew on the 21st of
+January, just a fortnight after this 'consultation.' But for the rest,
+mark how faithfully the programme here drawn up by this knot of Traitors
+in secret session was realized. Each of the named States represented by
+this Cabal did, 'as soon as may be, Secede from the Union'&mdash;the
+Mississippi Convention passing its Ordinance on the heels of the receipt
+of these resolutions, on the 9th of January; Florida and Alabama on the
+11th; Louisiana on the 26th, and Texas on the 1st of February; while the
+'organization of the Confederate Government' took place at the very time
+appointed, Davis being inaugurated on the 18th of February.</p>
+
+<p>"And here is another Plot of the Traitors brought to light. These very
+men, on withdrawing from the Senate, urged that they were doing so in
+obedience to the command of their respective States. As Mr. Davis put
+it, in his parting speech, 'the Ordinance of Secession having passed the
+Convention of his State, he felt obliged to obey the summons, and retire
+from all official connection with the Federal Government.' This letter
+of Mr. Yulee's clearly reveals that they had themselves pushed their
+State Conventions to the adoption of the very measure which they had the
+hardihood to put forward as an imperious 'summons' which they could not
+disobey. It is thus that Treason did its Work."</p>
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="ch12"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<center>
+<h2>
+ CHAPTER XII.<br><br>
+
+ COPPERHEADISM VS. UNION DEMOCRACY.<br>
+</h2>
+</center>
+
+<p>When we remember that it was on the night of the 5th of January, 1861,
+that the Rebel Conspirators in the United States Senate met and plotted
+their confederated Treason, as shown in the Yulee letter, given in the
+preceding Chapter of this work, and that on the very next day, January
+6, 1861, Fernando Wood, then Mayor of the great city of New York, sent
+in to the Common Council of that metropolis, his recommendation that New
+York city should Secede from its own State, as well as the United
+States, and become "a Free City," which, said he, "may shed the only
+light and hope of a future reconstruction of our once blessed
+Confederacy," it is impossible to resist the conviction that this
+extraordinary movement of his, was inspired and prompted, if not
+absolutely directed, by the secret Rebel Conclave at Washington. It
+bears within itself internal evidences of such prompting.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, when Mayor Wood states the case in the following words, he seems
+to be almost quoting word for word an instruction received by him from
+these Rebel leaders&mdash;in connection with their plausible argument,
+upholding it. Says he:</p>
+
+<p>"Much, no doubt, can be said in favor of the justice and policy of a
+separation. It may be said that Secession or revolution in any of the
+United States would be subversive of all Federal authority, and, so far
+as the central Government is concerned, the resolving of the community
+into its original elements&mdash;that, if part of the States form new
+combinations and, Governments, other States may do the same. Then it
+may be said, why should not New York city, instead of supporting by her
+contributions in revenue two-thirds of the expenses of the United
+States, become also equally independent? As a Free City, with but
+nominal duty on imports, her local Government could be supported without
+taxation upon her people. Thus we could live free from taxes, and have
+cheap goods nearly duty free. In this she would have the whole and
+united support of the Southern States, as well as all the other States
+to whose interests and rights under the Constitution she has always been
+true."</p>
+
+<p>That is the persuasive casuistry peculiar to the minds of the Southern
+Secession leaders. It is naturally followed by a touch of that
+self-confident bluster, also at that time peculiar to Southern lips&mdash;as
+follows:</p>
+
+<p>"It is well for individuals or communities to look every danger square
+in the face, and to meet it calmly and bravely. As dreadful as the
+severing of the bonds that have hitherto united the States has been in
+contemplation, it is now apparently a stern and inevitable fact. We
+have now to meet it, with all the consequences, whatever they may be.
+If the Confederacy is broken up the Government is dissolved, and it
+behooves every distinct community, as well as every individual, to take
+care of themselves.</p>
+
+<p>"When Disunion has become a fixed and certain fact, why may not New York
+disrupt the bands which bind her to a venal and corrupt master&mdash;to a
+people and a Party that have plundered her revenues, attempted to ruin
+her commerce, taken away the power of self-government, and destroyed the
+Confederacy of which she was the proud Empire City? * * *"</p>
+
+<p>After thus restating, as it were, the views and "arguments" of the Rebel
+Junta, as we may presume them to have been pressed on him, he becomes
+suddenly startled at the Conclave's idea of meeting "all the
+consequences, whatever they may be," and, turning completely around,
+with blanching pen, concludes:</p>
+
+<p>"But I am not prepared to recommend the violence implied in these views.
+In stating this argument in favor of freedom, 'peaceably if we can,
+forcibly if we must,' let me not be misunderstood. The redress can be
+found only in appeals to the magnanimity of the people of the whole
+State." * * *</p>
+
+<p>If "these views" were his own, and not those of the Rebel Conclave, he
+would either have been "prepared to recommend the violence implied in
+them," or else he would have suppressed them altogether. But his
+utterance is that of one who has certain views for the first time placed
+before him, and shrinks from the consequences of their advocacy&mdash;shrinks
+from "the violence implied" in them&mdash;although for some reason he dares
+not refuse to place those views before the people.</p>
+
+<p>And, in carrying out his promise to do so&mdash;"In stating this argument,"
+presumably of the Rebel Conclave, "in favor of freedom, 'peaceably if we
+can, forcibly if we must'"&mdash;the language used is an admission that the
+argument is not his own. Were it his own, would he not have said in
+"making" it, instead of in "stating" it? Furthermore, had he been
+"making" it of his own accord, he would hardly have involved himself in
+such singular contradictions and explanations as are here apparent. He
+was plainly "stating" the Rebel Conclave's argument, not making one
+himself. He was obeying orders, under the protest of his fears. And
+those fears forced his trembling pen to write the saving-clause which
+"qualifies" the Conclave's second-hand bluster preceding it.</p>
+
+<p>That the Rebels hoped for Northern assistance in case of Secession, is
+very clear from many speeches made prior to and soon after the election
+of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency&mdash;and from other sources of information.
+Thus we find in a speech made by Representative L. M. Keitt, of South
+Carolina, in Charleston, November, 1860, the following language,
+reported by the Mercury:</p>
+
+<p>"But we have been threatened. Mr. Amos Kendall wrote a letter, in which
+he said to Colonel Orr, that if the State went out, three hundred
+thousand volunteers were ready to march against her. I know little
+about Kendall&mdash;and the less the better. He was under General Jackson;
+but for him the Federal treasury seemed to have a magnetic attraction.</p>
+
+<p>"Jackson was a pure man, but he had too many around him who made
+fortunes far transcending their salaries. [Applause.] And this Amos
+Kendall had the same good fortune under Van Buren. He (Kendall)
+threatened us on the one side, and John Hickman on the other. John
+Hickman said, defiantly, that if we went out of the Union, eighteen
+millions of Northern men would bring us back.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me tell you, there are a million of Democrats in the North who,
+when the Black Republicans attempt to march upon the South, will be
+found a wall of fire in the front. [Cries of 'that's so,' and
+applause.]"</p>
+
+<p>Harper's Weekly of May 28, 1864, commenting on certain letters of M. F.
+Maury and others, then just come to light, said:</p>
+
+<p>"How far Maury and his fellow-conspirators were justified in their hopes
+of seducing New Jersey into the Rebellion, may be gathered from the
+correspondence that took place, in the spring of 1861, between
+Ex-Governor Price, of New Jersey, who was one of the representatives from
+that State in the Peace Congress, and L. W. Burnet, Esq., of Newark.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Price, in answering the question what ought New Jersey to do, says:
+'I believe the Southern confederation permanent. The proceeding has
+been taken with forethought and deliberation&mdash;it is no hurried impulse,
+but an irrevocable act, based upon the sacred, as was supposed, equality
+of the States; and in my opinion every Slave State will in a short
+period of time be found united in one Confederacy. * * * Before that
+event happens, we cannot act, however much we may suffer in our material
+interests. It is in that contingency, then, that I answer the second
+part of your question:&mdash;What position for New Jersey will best accord
+with her interests, honor, and the patriotic instincts of her people? I
+say emphatically she would go with the South from every wise,
+prudential, and patriotic reason.'</p>
+
+<p>"Ex-Governor Price proceeds to say that he is confident the States of
+Pennsylvania and New York will 'choose also to cast their lot with the
+South, and after them, the Western and Northwestern States.'"</p>
+
+<p>The following resolution,* was adopted with others, by a meeting of
+Democrats held January 16, 1861, at National Hall, Philadelphia, and has
+been supposed to disclose "a plan, of which ex-Governor Price was likely
+aware:"</p>
+
+<p>"Twelfth&mdash;That in the deliberate judgment of the Democracy of
+Philadelphia, and, so far as we know it, of Pennsylvania, the
+dissolution of the Union by the separation of the whole South, a result
+we shall most sincerely lament, may release this Commonwealth to a large
+extent from the bonds which now connect her with the Confederacy, except
+so far as for temporary convenience she chooses to submit to them, and
+would authorize and require her citizens, through a Convention, to be
+assembled for that purpose, to determine with whom her lot should be
+cast, whether with the North and the East, whose fanaticism has
+precipitated this misery upon us, or with our brethren of the South,
+whose wrongs we feel as our own; or whether Pennsylvania should stand by
+herself, as a distinct community, ready when occasion offers, to bind
+together the broken Union, and resume her place of loyalty and
+devotion."</p>
+
+<p>Senator Lane of Oregon, replying to Senator Johnson of Tennessee,
+December 19, 1860, in the United States Senate, and speaking of and for
+the Northern Democracy, said:</p>
+
+<p>"They will not march with him under his bloody banner, or Mr. Lincoln's,
+to invade the soil of the gallant State of South Carolina, when she may
+withdraw from a Confederacy that has refused her that equality to which
+she is entitled, as a member of the Union, under the Constitution. On
+the contrary, when he or any other gentleman raises that banner and
+attempts to subjugate that gallant people, instead of marching with him,
+we will meet him there, ready to repel him and his forces. He shall not
+bring with him the Northern Democracy to strike down a people contending
+for rights that have been refused them in a Union that ought to
+recognize the equality of every member of the Confederacy. * * * I now
+serve notice that, when War is made upon that gallant South for
+withdrawing from a Union which refuses them their rights, the Northern
+Democracy will not join in the crusade. THE REPUBLICAN PARTY WILL HAVE
+WAR ENOUGH AT HOME. THE DEMOCRACY OF THE NORTH NEED NOT CROSS THE
+BORDER TO FIND AN ENEMY."</p>
+
+<p>The following letter from Ex-President Pierce is in the same misleading
+strain:</p>
+
+<p>"CLARENDON HOTEL, January 6, 1860.&mdash;[This letter was captured, at Jeff.
+Davis's house in Mississippi, by the Union troops.]</p>
+
+<p>"MY DEAR FRIEND:&mdash;I wrote you an unsatisfactory note a day or two since.
+I have just had a pleasant interview with Mr. Shepley, whose courage and
+fidelity are equal to his learning and talents. He says he would rather
+fight the battle with you as the standard-bearer in 1860, than under the
+auspices of any other leader. The feeling and judgment of Mr. S. in
+this relation is, I am confident, rapidly gaining ground in New England.
+Our people are looking for 'the coming man,' one who is raised by all
+the elements of his character above the atmosphere ordinarily breathed
+by politicians, a man really fitted for this exigency by his ability,
+courage, broad statesmanship, and patriotism. Colonel Seymour (Thomas
+H.) arrived here this morning, and expressed his views in this relation
+in almost the identical language used by Mr. Shepley.</p>
+
+<p>"It is true that, in the present state of things at Washington and
+throughout the country, no man can predict what changes two or three
+months may bring forth. Let me suggest that, in the running debates in
+Congress, full justice seems to me not to have been done to the
+Democracy of the North. I do not believe that our friends at the South
+have any just idea of the state of feeling, hurrying at this moment to
+the pitch of intense exasperation, between those who respect their
+political obligations and those who have apparently no impelling power
+but that which fanatical passion on the subject of Domestic Slavery
+imparts.</p>
+
+<p>"Without discussing the question of right, of abstract power to Secede,
+I have never believed that actual disruption of the Union can occur
+without blood; and if, through the madness of Northern Abolitionism,
+that dire calamity must come, THE FIGHTING WILL NOT BE ALONG MASON'S AND
+DIXON'S LINE MERELY. IT [WILL] BE WITHIN OUR OWN BORDERS, IN OUR OWN
+STREETS, BETWEEN THE TWO CLASSES OF CITIZENS TO WHOM I HAVE REFERRED.
+Those who defy law and scout Constitutional obligations will, if we ever
+reach the arbitrament of arms, FIND OCCUPATION ENOUGH AT HOME.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing but the state of Mrs. Pierce's health would induce me to leave
+the Country now, although it is quite likely that my presence at home
+would be of little service.</p>
+
+<p>"I have tried to impress upon our people, especially in New Hampshire
+and Connecticut, where the only elections are to take place during the
+coming spring, that while our Union meetings are all in the right
+direction, and well enough for the present, they will not be worth the
+paper upon which their resolutions are written unless we can overthrow
+political Abolitionism at the polls and repeal the Unconstitutional and
+obnoxious laws which, in the cause of 'personal liberty,' have been
+placed upon our statute-books. I shall look with deep interest, and not
+without hope, for a decided change in this relation.</p>
+
+<p> "Ever and truly your friend,
+ "FRANKLIN PIERCE.</p>
+
+<p>"Hon. JEFF. DAVIS,
+"Washington, D. C."</p>
+
+<p>
+But let us turn from contemplating the encouragements to Southern
+Treason and Rebellion, held out by Northern Democratic Copperheads, to
+the more pleasing spectacle of Loyalty and Patriotism exhibited by the
+Douglas wing of Democracy.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately after Sumter, and while the President was formulating his
+Message, calling for 75,000 volunteers, Douglas called upon him at the
+White House, regretted that Mr. Lincoln did not propose to call for
+thrice as many; and on the 18th of April, having again visited the White
+House, wrote, and gave the following dispatch to the Associated Press,
+for circulation throughout the Country:</p>
+
+<p>"April 18, 1861, Senator Douglas called on the President, and had an
+interesting conversation on the present condition of the Country. The
+substance of it was, on the part of Mr. Douglas, that while he was
+unalterably opposed to the administration in all its political issues,
+he was prepared to fully sustain the President in the exercise of all
+his Constitutional functions, to preserve the Union, maintain the
+Government, and defend the Federal Capital. A firm policy and prompt
+action was necessary. The Capital was in danger and must be defended at
+all hazards, and at any expense of men and money. He spoke of the
+present and future without any reference to the past."</p>
+
+<p>It is stated of this meeting and its immediate results: "The President
+was deeply gratified by the interview. To the West, Douglas
+telegraphed, 'I am for my Country and against all its assailants.' The
+fire of his patriotism spread to the masses of the North, and Democrat
+and Republican rallied to the support of the flag. In Illinois the
+Democratic and Republican presses vied with each other in the utterance
+of patriotic sentiments. * * * Large and numerously attended Mass
+meetings met, as it were with one accord, irrespective of parties, and
+the people of all shades of political opinions buried their party
+hatchets. Glowing and eloquent orators exhorted the people to ignore
+political differences in the present crisis, join in the common cause,
+and rally to the flag of the Union and the Constitution. It was a noble
+truce. From the many resolutions of that great outpouring of patriotic
+sentiment, which ignored all previous party ties, we subjoin the
+following:</p>
+
+<p>"'Resolved, that it is the duty of all patriotic citizens of Illinois,
+without distinction of party or sect, to sustain the Government through
+the peril which now threatens the existence of the Union; and of our
+Legislature to grant such aid of men and money as the exigency of the
+hour and the patriotism of our people shall demand.'</p>
+
+<p>"Governor Yates promptly issued his proclamation, dated the 15th of
+April, convening the Legislature for the 23rd inst. in Extraordinary
+Session.</p>
+
+<p> * * * * * * *</p>
+
+<p>"On the evening of the 25th of April, Mr. Douglas, who had arrived at
+the Capital the day before, addressed the General Assembly and a densely
+packed audience, in the Hall of Representatives, in that masterly
+effort, which must live and be enshrined in the hearts of his countrymen
+so long as our Government shall endure. Douglas had ever delighted in
+the mental conflicts of Party strife; but now, when his Country was
+assailed by the red hand of Treason, he was instantly divested of his
+Party armor and stood forth panoplied only in the pure garb of a true
+Patriot.</p>
+
+<p>"He taught his auditory&mdash;he taught his Country, for his speeches were
+telegraphed all over it&mdash;the duty of patriotism at that perilous hour of
+the Nation's Life. He implored both Democrats and Republicans to lay
+aside their Party creeds and Platforms; to dispense with Party
+Organizations and Party Appeals; to forget that they were ever divided
+until they had first rescued the Government from its assailants. His
+arguments were clear, convincing, and unanswerable; his appeals for the
+Salvation of his Country, irresistible. It was the last speech, but
+one, he ever made."</p>
+
+<p>Among other pithy and patriotic points made by him in that great speech
+&mdash;[July 9, 1861.]&mdash;were these: "So long as there was a hope of a
+peaceful solution, I prayed and implored for Compromise. I have spared
+no effort for a peaceful solution of these troubles; I have failed, and
+there is but one thing to do&mdash;to rally under the flag." "The South has
+no cause of complaint." "Shall we obey the laws or adopt the Mexican
+system of War, on every election." "Forget Party&mdash;all remember only
+your Country." "The shortest road to Peace is the most tremendous
+preparation for War." "It is with a sad heart and with a grief I have
+never before experienced, that I have to contemplate this fearful
+Struggle. * * * But it is our duty to protect the Government and the
+flag from every assailant, be he who he may."</p>
+
+<p>In Chicago, Douglas repeated his patriotic appeal for the preservation
+of the Union, and tersely declared that "There can be no Neutrals in
+this War&mdash;only Patriots and Traitors." In that city he was taken with a
+mortal illness, and expired at the Tremont House, June 3, 1861&mdash;just one
+month prior to the meeting of the called Session of Congress.</p>
+
+<p>The wonderful influence wielded by Douglas throughout the North, was
+well described afterward by his colleague, Judge Trumbull, in the
+Senate, when he said: "His course had much to do in producing that
+unanimity in support of the Government which is now seen throughout the
+Loyal States. The sublime spectacle of twenty million people rising as
+one man in vindication of Constitutional Liberty and Free Government,
+when assailed by misguided Rebels and plotting Traitors, is, to a
+considerable extent due to his efforts. His magnanimous and patriotic
+course in this trying hour of his Country's destiny was the crowning act
+of his life."</p>
+
+<p>And Senator McDougall of California&mdash;his life-long friend&mdash;in describing
+the shock of the first intelligence that reached him, of his friend's
+sudden death, with words of even greater power, continued: "But, as,
+powerless for the moment to resist the tide of emotions, I bowed my head
+in silent grief, it came to me that the Senator had lived to witness the
+opening of the present unholy War upon our Government; that, witnessing
+it, from the Capital of his State, as his highest and best position, he
+had sent forth a War-cry worthy of that Douglass, who, as ancient
+legends tell, with the welcome of the knightly Andalusian King, was
+told,</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> '"Take thou the leading of the van,
+ And charge the Moors amain;
+ There is not such a lance as thine
+ In all the hosts of Spain.'</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>"Those trumpet notes, with a continuous swell, are sounding still
+throughout all the borders of our Land. I heard them upon the mountains
+and in the valleys of the far State whence I come. They have
+communicated faith and strength to millions. * * * I ceased to grieve
+for Douglas. The last voice of the dead Douglas I felt to be stronger
+than the voice of multitudes of living men."</p>
+
+<p>And here it may not be considered out of place for a brief reference to
+the writer's own position at this time; especially as it has been much
+misapprehended and misstated. One of the fairest of these statements*
+runs thus:</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [Lusk's History of the Politics of Illinois from 1856 to 1884, p.
+ 175.]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>"It is said that Logan did not approve the great speech made by Senator
+Douglas, at Springfield, in April, 1861, wherein he took the bold ground
+that in the contest which was then clearly imminent to him, between the
+North and the South, that there could be but two parties, Patriots and
+Traitors. But granting that there was a difference between Douglas and
+Logan at that time, it did not relate to their adhesion to the Cause of
+their Country Logan had fought for the Union upon the plains of Mexico,
+and again stood ready to give his life, if need be, for his Country,
+even amid the cowardly slanders that were then following his pathway.</p>
+
+<p>"The difference between Douglas and Logan was this: Mr. Douglas was
+fresh from an extended campaign in the dissatisfied Sections of the
+Southern States, and he was fully apprised of their intention to attempt
+the overthrow of the Union, and was therefore in favor of the most
+stupendous preparations for War.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Logan, on the other hand, believed in exhausting all peaceable
+means before a resort to Arms, and in this he was like President
+Lincoln; but when he saw there was no alternative but to fight, he was
+ready and willing for armed resistance, and, resigning his seat in
+Congress, entered the Army, as Colonel of the Thirty-first Illinois
+Infantry, and remained in the field in active service until Peace was
+declared."</p>
+
+<p>This statement is, in the main, both fair and correct.</p>
+
+<p>It is no more correct, however, in intimating that "Logan did not
+approve the great speech made by Senator Douglas, at Springfield, in
+April, 1861, wherein he took the bold ground that in the contest which
+was then clearly imminent to him, between the North and the South, that
+there could be but two parties, Patriots and Traitors," than others have
+been in intimating that he was disloyal to the Union, prior to the
+breaking out of hostilities&mdash;a charge which was laid out flat in the
+Senate Chamber, April 19, 1881.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [In Dawson's Life of Logan, pp. 348-353, this matter is thus
+ alluded to:</p>
+
+<p> "In an early part of this work the base charge that Logan was not
+ loyal before the War has been briefly touched on. It may be well
+ here to touch on it more fully. As was then remarked, the only man
+ that ever dared insinuate to Logan's face that he was a Secession
+ sympathizer before the War, was Senator Ben Hill of Georgia, in the
+ United States Senate Chamber, March 30, 1881; and Logan instantly
+ retorted: 'Any man who insinuates that I sympathized with it at
+ that time insinuates what is false,' and Senator Hill at once
+ retracted the insinuation."</p>
+
+<p> "Subsequently, April 19, 1881, Senator Logan, in a speech,
+ fortified with indisputable record and documentary evidence,
+ forever set at rest the atrocious calumny. From that record it
+ appears that on the 17th December, 1860, while still a Douglas
+ Democrat, immediately after Lincoln's election, and long before his
+ inauguration, and before even the first gun of the war was fired,
+ Mr. Logan, then a Representative in the House, voted affirmatively
+ on a resolution, offered by Morris of Illinois, which declared an
+ 'immovable attachment' to 'our National Union,' and 'that it is our
+ patriotic duty to stand by it as our hope in peace and our defense
+ in war;' that on the 7th January, 1861, Mr. Adrian having offered
+ the following 'Resolved, That we fully approve of the bold and
+ patriotic act of Major Anderson in withdrawing from Fort Moultrie
+ to Fort Sumter, and of the determination of the President to
+ maintain that fearless officer in his present position; and that we
+ will support the President in all constitutional measures to
+ enforce the laws and preserve the Union'&mdash;Mr. Logan, in casting his
+ vote, said: 'As the resolution receives my unqualified approval, I
+ vote Aye;' and that further on the 5th of February, 1861, before
+ the inauguration of President Lincoln, in a speech made by Logan in
+ the House in favor of the Crittenden Compromise measures, he used
+ the following language touching Secession:</p>
+
+<p> "'Sir, I have always denied, and do yet deny, the right of
+ Secession. There is no warrant for it in the Constitution. It is
+ wrong, it is unlawful, unconstitutional, and should be called by
+ the right name&mdash;revolution. No good, sir, can result from it, but
+ much mischief may. It is no remedy for any grievances. I hold
+ that all grievances can be much easier redressed inside the Union
+ than out of it.'</p>
+
+<p> "In that same speech he also * * * said:</p>
+
+<p> "'I have been taught that the preservation of this glorious Union,
+ with its broad flag waving over us as the shield for our protection
+ on land and on sea, is paramount to all the parties and platforms
+ that ever have existed or ever can exist. I would, to day, if I
+ had the power, sink my own party and every other one, with all
+ their platforms, into the vortex of ruin, without heaving a sigh or
+ shedding a tear, to save the Union, or even stop the revolution
+ where it is.'</p>
+
+<p> "In this most complete speech of vindication&mdash;which Senator Logan
+ said he put upon record, 'First, that my children, after me, may
+ not have these slanders thrown in their faces without the power of
+ dispelling or refuting them; and second, that they may endure in
+ this Senate Chamber, so that it may be a notice to Senators of all
+ parties and all creeds that hereafter, while I am here in the
+ Senate, no insinuation of that kind will be submitted to by
+ me'&mdash;the proofs of the falsity of the charge were piled mountain-high,
+ and among them the following voluntary statements from two
+ Democratic Senators, who were with him before the War, in the House
+ of Representatives:</p>
+
+<p> "'United States Senate Chamber,
+ WASHINGTON, April 14, 1881.</p>
+
+<p> "'DEAR SIR: In a discussion in the Senate a few weeks since you
+ referred to the fact that a Southern Senator, who had served with
+ you in Congress before the War, could testify that during your term
+ of service there you gave no encouragement to the Secession of the
+ Southern States, adding, however, that you did not ask such
+ testimony. I was not sure at the time that your reference was to
+ me, as Senator Pugh of Alabama, was also a member of that Congress.</p>
+
+<p> "'Since then, having learned that your reference was to me, I
+ propose on the floor of the Senate, should suitable occasion offer,
+ to state what I know of your position and views at the time
+ referred to. But, as I may be absent from the Senate for some
+ time, I deem it best to give you this written statement, with full
+ authority to use it in any way that seems proper to you.</p>
+
+<p> "'When you first came to Congress in&mdash;&mdash;, you were a very ardent
+ and impetuous Democrat. In the division which took place between
+ Mr. Douglas and his friends, on the one hand, and the Southern
+ Democrats, on the other, you were a warm and uncompromising
+ supporter of Mr. Douglas; and in the course of that convention you
+ became somewhat estranged from your party associates in the South.
+ In our frequent discussions upon the subjects of difference, I
+ never heard a word of sympathy from your lips with Secession in
+ either theory or practice. On the contrary, you were vehement in
+ your opposition to it.'</p>
+
+<p> "'I remember well a conversation I had with you just before leaving
+ Washington to become a candidate for the Secession convention. You
+ expressed the deep regret you felt at my proposed action, and
+ deplored the contemplated movement in terms as strong as any I
+ heard from any Republican.'
+ Yours truly,
+ "'L. Q. C. LAMAR</p>
+
+<p> "'Hon. JOHN A. LOGAN.
+ "United States Senate, Washington, D. C.'</p>
+
+<p>
+ "Senate Chamber, April 14, 1881.</p>
+
+<p> "'Having read the above statement of Senator Lamar, I fully concur
+ with him in my recollection of your expressions and action in
+ opposition to Secession.
+ Truly yours, J. L. PUGH.'</p>
+
+<p> "At the conclusion of Senator Logan's speech of refutation, Senator
+ Brown of Georgia (Democrat) said:</p>
+
+<p> "'Our newspapers may have misrepresented his position. I am now
+ satisfied they did. I have heard the Senator's statement with
+ great interest, and I take pleasure in saying&mdash;for I had some idea
+ before that there was some shadow of truth in this report&mdash;that I
+ think his vindication' is full, complete, and conclusive.'</p>
+
+<p> "'I recollect very well during the war, when I was Governor of my
+ State and the Federal army was invading it, to have had a large
+ force of militia aiding the Confederate army, and that Gen. Logan
+ was considered by us as one of the ablest, most gallant, and
+ skillful leaders of the Federal army. We had occasion to feel his
+ power, and we learned to respect him.'</p>
+
+<p> "Senator Beck, of Kentucky (Democrat), referring to the fact that
+ he was kept out of the House at one time, and a great many
+ suggestions had been made to him as to General Logan, continued:</p>
+
+<p> "'As I said the other day, I never proposed to go into such things,
+ and never have done so; but at that time General Frank Blair was
+ here, and I submitted many of the papers I received to him,&mdash;I
+ never thought of using any of them,&mdash;and I remember the remark that
+ he made to me: Beck, John Logan was one of the hardest fighters of
+ the war; and when many men who were seeking to whistle him down the
+ wind because of his politics when the war began, were snugly fixed
+ in safe places, he was taking his life in his hand wherever the
+ danger was greatest&mdash;and I tore up every paper I got, and burnt it
+ in the fire before his eyes.'</p>
+
+<p> "Senator Dawes of Massachusetts (Republican), also took occasion to
+ say:</p>
+
+<p> "Mr. President, I do not know that anything which can be said on
+ this side would be of any consequence to the Senator from Illinois
+ in this matter. But I came into the House of Representatives at
+ the same session that the Senator did.</p>
+
+<p> "'He was at that time one of the most intense of Democrats, and I
+ was there with him when the Rebellion first took root and
+ manifested itself in open and flagrant war; and I wish to say as a
+ Republican of that day, when the Senator from Illinois was a
+ Democrat, that at the earliest possible moment when the Republican
+ Party was in anxiety as to the position of the Northern Democracy
+ on the question of forcible assault on the Union, nothing did they
+ hail with more delight than the early stand which the Senator from
+ Illinois, from the Democratic side of the House, took upon the
+ question of resistance to the Government of the United States.</p>
+
+<p> "I feel that it is right that I should state that he was among the
+ first, if not the very first, of the Northern Democrats who came
+ out openly and declared, whatever may have been their opinion about
+ the doctrines of the Republican Party, that when it came to a
+ question of forcible resistance, they should be counted on the side
+ of the Government, and in co-operation with the Republican Party in
+ the attempt to maintain its authority.'</p>
+
+<p> "'I am very glad, whether it be of any service or not, to bear this
+ testimony to the early stand the Senator from Illinois took while
+ he was still a Democrat, and the large influence he exerted upon
+ the Northern Democracy, which kept it from being involved in the
+ condition and in the work of the Southern Democracy at that
+ time.'"]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>So far from this being the case, the fact is&mdash;and it is here mentioned
+in part to bring out the interesting point that, had he lived, Douglas
+would have been no idle spectator of the great War that was about to be
+waged&mdash;that when Douglas visited Springfield, Illinois, to make that
+great speech in the latter part of April, 1861, the writer went there
+also, to see and talk over with him the grave situation of affairs, not
+only in the Nation generally, but particularly in Illinois. And on that
+occasion Mr. Douglas said to him, substantially: "The time has now
+arrived when a man must be either for or against his Country. Indeed so
+strongly do I feel this, and that further dalliance with this question
+is useless, that I shall myself take steps to join the Array, and fight
+for the maintenance of the Union."</p>
+
+<p>To this the writer replied that he was "equally well convinced that each
+and every man must take his stand," and that he also "purposed at an
+early day to raise a Regiment and draw the sword in that Union's
+defense."</p>
+
+<p>This was after Sumter, and only seventy days before Congress was to meet
+in Called Session. When that session met, Douglas had, weeks before,
+gone down to the grave amid the tears of a distracted Nation, with the
+solemn injunction upon his dying lips: "Obey the Laws and Defend the
+Constitution"&mdash;and the writer had returned to Washington, to take his
+seat in Congress, with that determination still alive in his heart.</p>
+
+<p>In fact there had been all along, substantial accord between Mr. Douglas
+and the writer. There really was no "difference between Douglas and
+Logan" as to "preparations for War," or in "exhausting all Peaceable
+means before a resort to Arms," and both were in full accord with
+President Lincoln on these points.</p>
+
+<p>Let us see if this is not of record: Take the writer's speech in the
+House of Representatives, February 5, 1861, and it will be seen that he
+said: "I will go as far as any man in the performance of a
+Constitutional duty to put down Rebellion, to suppress Insurrection, and
+to enforce the Laws." Again, he said, "If all the evils and calamities
+that have ever happened since the World began, could be gathered in one
+Great Catastrophe, its horrors could not eclipse, in their frightful
+proportions, the Drama that impends over us."</p>
+
+<p>From these extracts it is plain enough that even at this very early day
+the writer fully understood the "frightful proportions" of the impending
+struggle, and would "go as far as"&mdash;not only Mr. Douglas, but&mdash;"any man,
+to put down Rebellion"&mdash;which necessarily involved War, and
+"preparations for War." But none the less, but rather the more, because
+of the horrors which he foresaw must be inseparable from so terrible a
+War, was he anxious by timely mutual Concessions&mdash;"by any sacrifice," as
+he termed it&mdash;if possible, to avert it.</p>
+
+<p>He was ready to sink Party, self, and to accept any of the Propositions
+to that end&mdash;Mr. Douglas's among them.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [See his speech of February 5, 1861, Congressional Globe]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>In this attitude also he was in accord with Mr. Douglas, who, as well as
+the writer, was ready to make any sacrifice, of Party or self; to
+"exhaust every effort at peaceful adjustment," before resorting to War.
+The fact is they were much of the time in consultation, and always in
+substantial accord.</p>
+
+<p>In a speech made in the Senate, March 15, 1861, Mr. Douglas had reduced
+the situation to the following three alternative points:</p>
+
+<p>"1. THE RESTORATION AND PRESERVATION OF THE UNION by such Amendments to
+the Constitution as will insure the domestic tranquillity, safety, and
+equality of all the States, and thus restore peace, unity, and
+fraternity, to the whole Country.</p>
+
+<p>"2. A PEACEFUL DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION by recognizing the Independence
+of such States as refuse to remain in the Union without such
+Constitutional Amendments, and the establishment of a liberal system of
+commercial and social intercourse with them by treaties of commerce and
+amity.</p>
+
+<p>"3. WAR, with a view to the subjugation and military occupation of those
+States which have Seceded or may Secede from the Union."</p>
+
+<p>As a thorough Union man, he could never have agreed to a "Peaceful
+Dissolution of the Union." On the other hand he was equally averse to
+War, because he held that "War is Disunion. War is final, eternal
+Separation." Hence, all his energies and talents were given to carrying
+out his first-stated line of policy, and to persuading the Seceders to
+accept what in that line was offered to them by the dominant party.</p>
+
+<p>His speech in the Senate, March 25, 1861, was a remarkable effort in
+that respect. Mr. Breckinridge had previously spoken, and had declared
+that: "Whatever settlement may be made of other questions, this must be
+settled upon terms that will give them [the Southern States] either a
+right, in common with others, to emigrate into all the territory, or
+will secure to them their rights on a principle of equitable division."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Douglas replied: "Now, under the laws as they stand, in every
+Territory of the United States, without any exception, a Southern man
+can go with his Slave-property on equal terms with all other property.
+* * * Every man, either from the North or South, may go into the
+Territories with his property on terms of exact equality, subject to the
+local law; and Slave-property stands on an equal footing with all other
+kinds of property in the Territories of the United States. It now
+stands on an equal footing in all the Territories for the first time.</p>
+
+<p>"I have shown you that, up to 1859, little more than a year ago, it was
+prohibited in part of the Territories. It is not prohibited anywhere
+now. For the first time, under Republican rule, the Southern States
+have secured that equality of rights in the Territories for their
+Slave-property which they have been demanding so long."</p>
+
+<p>He held that the doctrine of Congressional prohibition in all the
+Territories, as incorporated in the Wilmot proviso, had now been
+repudiated by the Republicans of both Houses of Congress, who had "all
+come over to Non-intervention and Popular Sovereignty;" that the "Wilmot
+proviso is given up; that Congressional prohibition is given up; that
+the aggressive policy is repudiated; and hereafter the Southern man and
+the Northern man may move into the Territories with their Property on
+terms of entire equality, without excepting Slaves or any other kind of
+property."</p>
+
+<p>Continuing, he said: "What more do the Southern States want? What more
+can any man demand? Non-intervention is all you asked. Will it be said
+the South required in addition to this, laws of Congress to protect
+Slavery in the Territories? That cannot be said; for only last May, the
+Senate, by a nearly unanimous vote&mdash;a unanimous vote of the Southern
+men, with one or two exceptions&mdash;declared that affirmative legislation
+was not needed at this time. * * * What cause is there for further
+alarm in the Southern States, so far as the Territories are concerned?
+* * *</p>
+
+<p>"I repeat, the South has got all they ever claimed in all the
+Territories. * * * Then, sir, according to law, the Slaveholding
+States have got equality in the Territories. How is it in fact. * * *
+Now, I propose to show that they have got the actual equitable
+partition, giving them more than they were disposed to demand.</p>
+
+<p>"The Senator from Kentucky, * * * Mr. Crittenden, introduced a
+proposition for an equitable partition. That proposition was, that
+north of 36 30' Slavery should be prohibited, and South of it should be
+protected, by Territorial law. * * * What is now the case? It is true
+the Crittenden proposition has not yet become part of the Constitution;
+but it is also true that an equitable partition has been made by the
+vote of the people themselves, establishing, maintaining, and protecting
+Slavery in every inch of territory South of the thirty-seventh parallel,
+giving the South half a degree more than the Crittenden Proposition.</p>
+
+<p>"There stands your Slave-code in New Mexico protecting Slavery up to the
+thirty-seventh degree as effectually as laws can be made to protect it.
+There it stands the Law of the Land. Therefore the South has all below
+the thirty-seventh parallel, while Congress has not prohibited Slavery
+even North of it.</p>
+
+<p> * * * * * *</p>
+
+<p>"What more, then, is demanded? Simply that a Constitutional Amendment
+shall be adopted, affirming&mdash;what? Precisely what every Republican in
+both Houses of Congress has voted for within a month. Just do, by
+Constitutional Amendment, what you have voted in the Senate and House of
+Representatives, that is all. You are not even required to do that, but
+merely to vote for a proposition submitting the question to the People
+of the States whether they will make a Constitutional Amendment
+affirming the equitable partition of the Territories which the People
+have already made. * * *</p>
+
+<p>"You may ask, why does the South want us to do it by Constitutional
+Amendment, when we have just done it voluntarily by Law? The President
+of the United States, in his Inaugural, has told you the reason. He has
+informed you that all of these troubles grow out of the absence of a
+Constitutional provision defining the power of Congress over the subject
+of Slavery. * * * He thinks that the trouble has arisen from the
+absence of such a Constitutional Provision, and suggests a National
+Convention to enable the People to supply the defect, leaving the People
+to say what it is, instead of dictating to them what it shall be."</p>
+
+<p>It may here be remarked that while Mr. Douglas held that "So far as the
+doctrine of Popular Sovereignty and Nonintervention is concerned, the
+Colorado Bill, the Nevada Bill, and the Dakota Bill, are identically the
+same with the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, and in its precise language"&mdash;these
+former Bills having been passed at the last Session of the 36th
+Congress&mdash;the Republicans, on the contrary, held that neither in these
+nor other measures had they abandoned any distinctive Republican
+principle; while Breckinridge declared that they had passed those
+Territorial Bills, without the Wilmot proviso, because they felt
+perfectly secure in those Territories, with all the Federal patronage in
+Republican hands.</p>
+
+<p>However that may be, we have here, brought out in strong contrast, the
+conciliatory feeling which inspired such Union men as Douglas, and the
+strong and persistent efforts they made in behalf of Concession and
+Peace up to a period only a few weeks before the bombardment of Sumter;
+and the almost total revulsion in their sentiments after that event, as
+to the only proper means to preserve the Union. For it was only then
+that the truth, as it fell from Douglas's lips at Springfield, was fully
+recognized, to wit: that there was no half-way ground betwixt Patriotism
+and Treason; that War was an existing fact; and that Patriots must arm
+to defend and preserve the Union against the armed Traitors assailing
+it.</p>
+
+<p>At last, July 4, 1861, the Congress met, and proceeded at once with
+commendable alacrity and patriotism, to the consideration and enactment
+of measures sufficient to meet the extraordinary exigency, whether as
+regards the raising and equipment of the vast bodies of Union volunteers
+needed to put down Rebellion, or in the raising of those enormous
+amounts of money which the Government was now, or might thereafter be,
+called upon to spend like water in preserving the Union.</p>
+
+<p>It was at this memorable Session, of little over one month, that the
+chief of the great "War Measures" as they were termed, were enacted.</p>
+
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<a name="virginia"></a>
+<center>
+<img alt="p274-map.jpg (153K)" src="images/p274-map.jpg" height="797" width="637">
+</center>
+<br><br><br>
+
+<a name="ch13"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<center>
+<h2>
+ CHAPTER XIII.<br><br>
+
+ THE STORM OF BATTLE.<br>
+</h2>
+</center>
+
+
+<p>We have seen how Fort Sumter fell; how the patriotic North responded to
+President Lincoln's Call, for 75,000 three-months volunteers, with such
+enthusiasm that, had there been a sufficiency of arms and accoutrements,
+he might have had, within three months of that Call, an Army of 500,000
+men in the field; how he had called for 42,000 three-years volunteers
+early in May, besides swelling what little there was of a regular Army
+by ten full regiments; and how a strict blockade of the entire Southern
+Coast-line had not only been declared, but was now enforced and
+respected.</p>
+
+<p>General Butler, promoted Major-General for his Military successes at
+Annapolis and Baltimore, was now in command of Fortress Monroe and
+vicinity, with some 12,000 volunteers under him, confronted, on the
+Peninsula, by a nearly equal number of Rebel troops, under Generals
+Huger and Magruder&mdash;General Banks, with less than 10,000 Union troops,
+occupying Baltimore, and its vicinage.</p>
+
+<p>General Patterson, with some 20,000 Union troops&mdash;mostly Pennsylvania
+militia&mdash;was at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, with about an equal number
+of the Enemy, under General Joseph E. Johnston, at Harper's Ferry, on
+the Potomac, watching him.</p>
+
+<p>Some 50,000 Union troops were in camp, in and about Washington, on the
+Virginia side, under the immediate command of Generals McDowell and
+Mansfield&mdash;Lieutenant General Scott, at Washington, being in
+Chief-command of the Union Armies&mdash;and, confronting these Union forces, in
+Virginia, near the National Capital, were some 30,000 Rebel troops under
+the command of General Beauregard, whose success in securing the
+evacuation of Fort Sumter by its little garrison of half-starved Union
+soldiers, had magnified him, in the eyes of the rebellious South, into
+the proportions of a Military genius of the first order.</p>
+
+<p>There had been no fighting, nor movements, worthy of special note, until
+June 7th, when General Patterson advanced from Chambersburg,
+Pennsylvania, to Hagerstown, Maryland. General Johnston at once
+evacuated Harper's Ferry, and retreated upon Winchester, Virginia.</p>
+
+<p>General McClellan, in command of the Department of the Ohio, had,
+however, crossed the Ohio river, and by the 4th of July, being at
+Grafton, West Virginia, with his small Army of Union troops, to which a
+greatly inferior Rebel force was opposed, commenced that successful
+advance against it, which led, after Bull Run, to his being placed at
+the head of all the Armies of the United States.</p>
+
+<p>Subsequently Patterson crossed the Potomac, and after trifling away over
+one month's time, at last, on the 15th of July, got within nine miles of
+Winchester and Johnston's Army. Barring a spiritless reconnaissance,
+Patterson&mdash;who was a fervent Breckinridge-Democrat in politics, and
+whose Military judgment, as we shall see, was greatly influenced, if not
+entirely controlled, by his Chief of staff, Fitz John Porter&mdash;never got
+any nearer to the Enemy!</p>
+
+<p>Instead of attacking the Rebel force, under Johnston, or at least
+keeping it "employed," as he was ordered to do by General Scott; instead
+of getting nearer, and attempting to get between Winchester and the
+Shenandoah River, as was suggested to him by his second in command,
+General Sanford; and instead of permitting Sanford to go ahead, as that
+General desired to, with his own 8,000 men, and do it himself; General
+Patterson ordered him off to Charlestown&mdash;twelve miles to the Union left
+and rear,&mdash;and then took the balance of his Army, with himself, to the
+same place!</p>
+
+<p>In other words, while he had the most positive and definite orders, from
+General Scott, if not to attack and whip Johnston, to at least keep him
+busy and prevent that Rebel General from forming a junction, via the
+Manassas Gap railroad or otherwise, with Beauregard, Patterson
+deliberately moved his Army further away from Winchester and gave to the
+Enemy the very chance of escaping and forming that junction which was
+essential to Rebel success in the vicinity of Manassas.</p>
+
+<p>But for this disobedience of orders, Bull Run would doubtless have been
+a great victory to the Union Arms, instead of a reverse, and the War,
+which afterward lasted four years, might have been over in as many
+months.</p>
+
+<p>It is foreign to the design of this work, to present in it detailed
+descriptions of the battles waged during the great War of the Rebellion
+&mdash;it being the present intention of the writer, at some later day, to
+prepare and publish another work devoted to such stirring Military
+scenes. Yet, as it might seem strange and unaccountable for him to pass
+by, at this time, without any description or comment, the first pitched
+battle of the Rebellion, he is constrained to pause and view that
+memorable contest. And first, it may be well to say a word of the
+general topography of the country about the battle-field.</p>
+
+<p>The Alleghany Mountains, or that part of them with which we have now to
+do, stretch in three almost equidistant parallel ridges, from North-East
+to South-West, through the heart of Old Virginia. An occasional pass,
+or "Gap," through these ridges, affords communication, by good roads,
+between the enclosed parallel valleys and the Eastern part of that
+State.</p>
+
+<p>The Western of these Alleghany ridges bears the name of "Alleghany
+Mountains" proper; the Eastern is called the "Blue Ridge;" while the
+Middle Ridge, at its Northern end&mdash;which rests upon the Potomac, where
+that river sweeps through three parallel ridges almost at right angles
+to their own line of direction&mdash;is called the "Great North Mountain."</p>
+
+<p>The valley, between the Middle Ridge and the Blue Ridge, is known as the
+Shenandoah Valley, taking its name from the Shenandoah River, which, for
+more than one hundred miles, flows along the Western foot of the Blue
+Ridge, toward the North-East, until it empties into the Potomac, at
+Harper's Ferry.</p>
+
+<p>The Orange and Alexandria railroad runs from Alexandria,&mdash;on the
+opposite bank of the Potomac from Washington, and a few miles below the
+Capital,&mdash;in a general Southeasterly direction, to Culpepper
+Court-House; thence Southerly to Gordonsville, where it joins the Virginia
+Central&mdash;the Western branch of which runs thence through Charlotteville,
+Staunton, and Covington, across the ridges and valleys of the
+Alleghanies, while its Eastern branch, taking a general South-easterly
+direction, crosses the Richmond and Fredricksburg railroad at Hanover
+Junction, some twenty miles North of Richmond, and thence sweeps
+Southerly to the Rebel capital.</p>
+
+<p>It is along this Easterly branch of the Virginia Central that Rebel
+re-enforcements will be hurried to Beauregard, from Richmond to
+Gordonsville, and thence, by the Orange and Alexandria railroad, to
+Manassas Junction.</p>
+
+<p>Some twenty-five miles from Alexandria, a short railroad-feeder&mdash;which
+runs from Strasburg, in the Shenandoah Valley, through the Blue Ridge,
+at Manassas Gap, in an East-South-easterly direction&mdash;strikes the
+Alexandria and Orange railroad. The point of contact is Manassas
+Junction; and it is along this Manassas-Gap feeder that Johnston, with
+his Army at Winchester&mdash;some twenty miles North-North-East of
+Strasburg&mdash;expects, in case of attack by Patterson, to be re-enforced by
+Beauregard; or, in case the latter is assailed, to go to his assistance,
+after shaking off Patterson.</p>
+
+<p>This little link of railroad, known as the Manassas Gap railroad, is
+therefore an important factor in the game of War, now commencing in
+earnest; and it had, as we shall see, very much to do, not only with the
+advance of McDowell's Union Army upon Bull Run, but also with the result
+of the first pitched battle thereabout fought.</p>
+
+<p>From Alexandria, some twelve miles to the Westward, runs a fine turnpike
+road to Fairfax Court-House; thence, continuing Westward, but gradually
+and slightly dipping award the South, it passes through Germantown,
+Centreville, and Groveton, to Warrenton.</p>
+
+<p>This "Warrenton Pike"&mdash;as it is termed&mdash;also plays a somewhat
+conspicuous part, before, during, and after the Battle of Bull Run. For
+most of its length, from Fairfax Court-House to Warrenton, the Warrenton
+Pike pursues a course almost parallel with the Orange and Alexandria
+railroad aforesaid, while the stream of Bull Run, pursuing a
+South-easterly course, has a general direction almost parallel with that of
+the Manassas Gap railroad.</p>
+
+<p>We shall find that it is the diamond-shaped parallelogram, formed by the
+obtuse angle junction of the two railroads on the South, and the
+similarly obtuse-angled crossing of the stream of Bull Run by the
+Warrenton Pike on the North, that is destined to become the historic
+battle-field of the first "Bull Run," or "Manassas;" and it is in the
+Northern obtuse-angle of this parallelogram that the main fighting is
+done, upon a spot not much more than one mile square, three sides of the
+same being bounded respectively by the Bull Run stream, the Warrenton
+Pike, which crosses it on a stone bridge, and the Sudley Springs road,
+which crosses the Pike, at right-angles to it, near a stone house.</p>
+
+<p>On the 3rd of June, 1861, General McDowell, in command of the Department
+of North-Eastern Virginia, with head-quarters at Arlington, near
+Washington, receives from Colonel Townsend, Assistant Adjutant-General
+with Lieutenant-General Scott&mdash;who is in Chief command of all the Union
+Forces, with Headquarters at Washington&mdash;a brief but pregnant
+communication, the body of which runs thus: "General Scott desires you
+to submit an estimate of the number and composition of a column to be
+pushed toward Manassas Junction, and perhaps the Gap, say in four or
+five days, to favor Patterson's attack on Harper's Ferry. The rumor is
+that Arlington Heights will be attacked to-night."</p>
+
+<p>In response to this request, General McDowell submits, on the day
+following, an estimate that "the actual entire force at the head of the
+column should, for the purpose of carrying the position at Manassas and
+of occupying both the road to Culpepper, and the one to the Gap, be as
+much as 12,000 Infantry, two batteries of regular Artillery, and from
+six to eight companies of Cavalry, with an available reserve, ready to
+move forward from Alexandria by rail, of 5,000 Infantry and one heavy
+field battery, rifled if possible; these numbers to be increased or
+diminished as events may indicate." This force of raw troops he
+proposes to organize into field brigades under the command of "active
+and experienced colonels" of the regular Army. And while giving this
+estimate as to the number of troops necessary, he suggestively adds that
+"in proportion to the numbers used will be the lives saved; and as we
+have such numbers pressing to be allowed to serve, might it not be well
+to overwhelm and conquer as much by the show of force as by the use of
+it?"</p>
+
+<p>Subsequently McDowell presents to General Scott, and Mr. Lincoln's
+Cabinet, a project of advance and attack, which is duly approved and
+ordered to be put in execution. In that project or plan of operations,
+submitted by verbal request of General Scott, near the end of June,&mdash;the
+success of which is made contingent upon Patterson's holding Johnston
+engaged at Winchester in the Shenandoah Valley, and also upon Butler's
+holding the Rebel force near Fortress Monroe from coming to Beauregard's
+aid at Manassas Junction,&mdash;McDowell estimates Beauregard's strength at
+25,000, with a possible increase, bringing it up to 35,000 men. The
+objective point in McDowell's plan, is Manassas Junction, and he
+proposes "to move against Manassas with a force of 30,000 of all arms,
+organized into three columns, with a reserve of 10,000."</p>
+
+<p>McDowell is fully aware that the Enemy has "batteries in position at
+several places in his front, and defensive works on Bull Run, and
+Manassas Junction." These batteries he proposes to turn. He believes
+Bull Run to be "fordable at almost anyplace,"&mdash;an error which ultimately
+renders his plan abortive,&mdash;and his proposition is, after uniting his
+columns on the Eastern side of Bull Run, "to attack the main position by
+turning it, if possible, so as to cut off communications by rail with
+the South, or threaten to do so sufficiently to force the Enemy to leave
+his intrenchments to guard them."</p>
+
+<p>In other words, assuming the Enemy driven back, by minor flanking
+movements, or otherwise, upon his intrenched position at Bull Run, or
+Manassas, the plan is to turn his right, destroy the Orange and
+Alexandria railroad leading South, and the bridge at Bristol, so as to
+cut off his supplies. This done, the Enemy&mdash;if nothing worse ensues for
+him&mdash;will be in a "bad box."</p>
+
+<p>McDowell, however, has no idea that the Enemy will stand still to let
+this thing be done. On the contrary, he is well satisfied that
+Beauregard will accept battle on some chosen ground between Manassas
+Junction and Washington.</p>
+
+<p>On the afternoon of Tuesday, the 16th of July, the advance of McDowell's
+Army commences. That Army is organized into five divisions&mdash;four of
+which accompany McDowell, while a fifth is left to protect the defensive
+works of Washington, on the South bank of the Potomac. This latter, the
+Fourth Division, commanded by Brigadier-General Theodore Runyon,
+comprises eight unbrigaded New Jersey regiments of (three months, and
+three years) volunteers&mdash;none of which take part in the ensuing
+conflicts-at-arms.</p>
+
+<p>The moving column consists of the First Division, commanded by
+Brigadier-General Daniel Tyler, comprising four brigades, respectively
+under Brigadier-General R. C. Schenck, and Colonels E. D. Keyes, W. T.
+Sherman, and I. B. Richardson; the Second Division, commanded by Colonel
+David Hunter, comprising two brigades, under Colonels Andrew Porter and
+A. E. Burnside respectively; the Third Division, commanded by Colonel S.
+P. Heintzelman, comprising three brigades, under Colonels W. B.
+Franklin, O. B. Wilcox, and O. O. Howard, respectively; and the Fifth
+Division, commanded by Colonel Dixon S. Miles, comprising two brigades,
+under Colonels Lewis Blenker, and Thomas A. Davies, respectively.</p>
+
+<p>Tyler's Division leads the advance, moving along the Leesburg road to
+Vienna, on our right, with orders to cross sharply to its left, upon
+Fairfax Court House, the following (Wednesday) morning. Miles's
+Division follows the turnpike road to Annandale, and then moves, by the
+Braddock road,&mdash;along which Braddock, a century before, had marched his
+doomed army to disaster,&mdash;upon Fairfax Court House, then known to be
+held by Bonham's Rebel Brigade of South Carolinians. Hunter follows
+Miles, to Annandale, and thence advances direct upon Fairfax, by the
+turnpike road&mdash;McDowell's idea being to bag Bonham's Brigade, if
+possible, by a simultaneous attack on the front and both flanks. But
+the advance is too slow, and the Enemy's outposts, both there and
+elsewhere, have ample opportunity of falling safely back upon their main
+position, behind the stream of Bull Run.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [McDowell in his testimony before the "Committee on the Conduct of
+ the War," said: "At Fairfax Court House was the South Carolina
+ Brigade. And I do not suppose anything would have had a greater
+ cheering effect upon the troops, and perhaps upon the Country, than
+ the capture of that brigade. And if General Tyler could have got
+ down there any time in the forenoon instead of in the afternoon,
+ the capture of that brigade was beyond question. It was about
+ 5,000 or 6,000 men, and Tyler had 12,000, at the same time that we
+ were pressing on in front. He did not get down there until in the
+ afternoon; none of us got forward in time."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>This slowness is due to various causes. There is a pretty general
+dread, for example, among our troops, of threatened ambuscades, and
+hence the advance is more cautious than it otherwise would be. It is
+thought the part of wisdom, as it were, to "feel the way." The
+marching, moreover, is new to our troops. General Scott had checked
+McDowell when the latter undertook to handle eight regiments together,
+near Washington, by intimating that he was "trying to make a show."
+Thus the very essential knowledge of how to manoeuvre troops in large
+bodies, has been withheld from our Union generals, while the volunteer
+regiments have either rusted in camp from inaction, or have been denied
+the opportunity of acquiring that endurance and hardiness and discipline
+which frequent movement of troops confers. Hence, all unused to the
+discipline of the march, every moment some one falls out of line to
+"pick blackberries, or to get water." Says McDowell, in afterward
+reporting this march: "They would not keep in the ranks, order as much
+as you pleased. When they came where water was fresh, they would pour
+the old water out of their canteens and fill them with fresh water; they
+were not used to denying themselves much."</p>
+
+<p>Meantime, Heintzelman's Division is also advancing, by cross-roads, more
+to the left and South of the railroad line,&mdash;in accordance with
+McDowell's plan, which comprehends not only the bagging of Bonham, but
+an immediate subsequent demonstration, by Tyler, upon Centreville and
+beyond, while Heintzelman, supported by Hunter and Miles, shall swoop
+across Bull Run, at Wolf Run Shoals, some distance below Union Mills,
+turn the Enemy's right, and cut off his Southern line of railroad
+communications. Thus, by the evening of Wednesday, the 17th,
+Heintzelman is at Sangster's Station, while Tyler, Miles, and Hunter,
+are at Fairfax.</p>
+
+<p>It is a rather rough experience that now befalls the Grand Army of the
+Union. All unused, as we have seen, to the fatigues and other hardships
+of the march, the raw levies, of which it almost wholly consists, which
+started bright and fresh, strong and hopeful, full of the buoyant ardor
+of enthusiastic patriotism, on that hot July afternoon, only some thirty
+hours back, are now dust-begrimed, footsore, broken down, exhausted by
+the scorching sun, hungry, and without food,&mdash;for they have wasted the
+rations with which they started, and the supply-trains have not yet
+arrived. Thus, hungry and physically prostrated, "utterly played out,"
+as many of them confess, and demoralized also by straggling and loss of
+organization, they bivouac that night in the woods, and dream uneasy
+dreams beneath the comfortless stars.</p>
+
+<p>A mile beyond Fairfax Court House, on the Warrenton Turnpike, is
+Germantown. It is here that Tyler's Division has rested, on the night
+of the 17th. At 7 o'clock on the morning of Thursday, the 18th, in
+obedience to written orders from McDowell, it presses forward, on that
+"Pike," to Centreville, five miles nearer to the Enemy's position behind
+Bull Run&mdash;Richardson's Brigade in advance&mdash;and, at 9 o'clock, occupies
+it. Here McDowell has intended Tyler to remain, in accordance with the
+plan, which he has imparted to him in conversation, and in obedience to
+the written instructions to: "Observe well the roads to Bull Run and to
+Warrenton. Do not bring on an engagement, but keep up the impression
+that we are moving on Manassas,"&mdash;this advance, by way of Centreville,
+being intended solely as a "demonstration" to mask the real movement,
+which, as we have seen, is to be made by the other divisions across Wolf
+Run Shoals, a point on Bull Run, some five or six miles below Union
+Mills, and some seven miles below Blackburn's Ford.</p>
+
+<p>Upon the arrival of Richardson's Brigade, Thursday morning, at
+Centreville, it is found that, under cover of the darkness of the
+previous night, the Enemy has retreated, in two bodies, upon Bull Run,
+the one along the Warrenton Pike, the other (the largest) down the
+ridge-road from Centreville to Blackburn's Ford. Richardson's Brigade
+at once turns down the latter road and halts about a mile beyond
+Centreville, at a point convenient to some springs of water. Tyler soon
+afterward rides up, and, taking from that brigade two companies of light
+Infantry and a squadron of Cavalry, proceeds, with Colonel Richardson,
+to reconnoitre the Enemy, finding him in a strong position on the
+opposite bank of Bull Run, at Blackburn's Ford.</p>
+
+<p>While this is going on, McDowell has ridden in a Southerly direction
+down to Heintzelman's Division, at Sangster's Station, "to make
+arrangements to turn the Enemy's right, and intercept his communications
+with the South," but has found, owing to the narrowness and crookedness
+of the roads, and the great distance that must be traversed in making
+the necessary detour, that his contemplated movement is too risky to be
+ventured. Hence he at once abandons his original plan of turning the
+Enemy's right, and determines on "going around his left, where the
+country is more open, and the roads broad and good."</p>
+
+<p>McDowell now orders a concentration, for that night, of the four
+divisions, with two days cooked rations in their haversacks, upon and
+about Centreville,&mdash;the movement to commence as soon as they shall
+receive expected commissariat supplies. But, later on the
+18th,&mdash;learning that his advance, under Tyler, has, against orders, become
+engaged with the Enemy&mdash;he directs the concentration to be made at once.</p>
+
+<p>Let us examine, for a moment, how this premature engagement comes about.
+We left Tyler, accompanied by Richardson, with a squadron of Cavalry and
+a battalion of light Infantry making a reconnaissance, on Thursday
+morning the 18th, toward Blackburn's Ford. They approach within a mile
+of the ford, when they discover a Rebel battery on the farther bank of
+Bull Run&mdash;so placed as to enfilade the road descending from their own
+position of observation down to the ford,&mdash;strong Rebel infantry pickets
+and skirmishing parties being in front.</p>
+
+<p>Tyler at once orders up his two rifled guns, Ayres' Battery, and
+Richardson's entire Brigade&mdash;and later, Sherman's Brigade as a reserve.
+As soon as they come up,&mdash;about noon&mdash;he orders the rifled guns into
+battery on the crest of the hill, about one mile from, and looking down
+upon, the Rebel battery aforesaid, and opens upon the Enemy; giving him
+a dozen shells,&mdash;one of them making it lively for a body of Rebel
+Cavalry which appears between the ford and Manassas.</p>
+
+<p>The Rebel battery responds with half a dozen shots, and then ceases.
+Tyler now orders Richardson to advance his brigade and throw out
+skirmishers to scour the thick woods which cover the Bull Run
+bottom-land. Richardson at once rapidly deploys the battalion of light
+Infantry as skirmishers in advance of his brigade, pushes them forward
+to the edge of the woods, drives in the skirmishers of the Enemy in fine
+style, and supports their further advance into the woods, with the 1st
+Massachusetts Regiment.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Tyler, discovering a favorable opening in the woods, "low down
+on the bottom of the stream," for a couple of howitzers in battery,
+sends Captain Ayres of the 5th U. S. Artillery, and a detached section
+(two 12-pound howitzers) of his battery, with orders to post it himself
+on that spot, and sends Brackett's squadron of the 2d Cavalry to his
+support.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner does Ayres open fire on the Enemy, than he awakens a Rebel
+hornet's-nest. Volley after volley of musketry shows that the Bull Run
+bottom fairly swarms with Rebel troops, while another Rebel battery,
+more to the Rebel right, opens, with that already mentioned, a
+concentrated cross-fire upon him.</p>
+
+<p>And now Richardson orders up the 12th New York, Colonel Walrath, to the
+left of our battery. Forming it into line-of-battle, Richardson orders
+it to charge through the woods upon the Enemy. Gallantly the regiment
+moves forward, after the skirmishers, into the woods, but, being met by
+a very heavy fire of musketry and artillery along the whole line of the
+Enemy's position, is, for the most part, thrown back in confusion&mdash;a
+mere fragment* remaining in line, and retreating,&mdash;while the howitzers,
+and Cavalry also, are withdrawn.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime, however, Richardson has ordered up, and placed in
+line-of-battle, on the right of our battery, the 1st Massachusetts, the 2d
+Michigan (his own), and the 3d Michigan. The skirmishers in the woods
+still bravely hold their ground, undercover, and these three regiments
+are plucky, and anxious to assault the Enemy. Richardson proposes to
+lead them in a charge upon the Enemy's position, and drive him out of
+it; but Tyler declines to give permission, on the ground that this being
+"merely a reconnaissance," the object of which&mdash;ascertaining the
+strength and position of the Enemy&mdash;having been attained, a further
+attack is unnecessary. He therefore orders Richardson to "fall back in
+good order to our batteries on the hill,"&mdash;which he does.</p>
+
+<p>Upon reaching these batteries, Richardson forms his 2d Michigan, in
+"close column by division," on their right, and the 1st Massachusetts
+and 3d Michigan, in "line of battle," on their left&mdash;the 12th New York
+re-forming, under cover of the woods at the rear, later on. Then, with
+our skirmishers thrown into the woods in front, their scattering fire,
+and the musketry responses of the Rebels, are drowned in the volume of
+sound produced by the deafening contest which ensues between our
+Artillery, and that of the Enemy from his batteries behind Bull Run.</p>
+
+<p>This artillery-duel continues about one hour; and then seems to cease by
+mutual consent, about dusk&mdash;after 415 shots have been fired on the Union
+side, and have been responded to by an equal number from the Rebel
+batteries, "gun for gun"&mdash;the total loss in the engagement, on the Union
+side, being 83, to a total loss among the Enemy, of Thursday night,
+Richardson retires his brigade upon Centreville, in order to secure
+rations and water for his hungry and thirsty troops,&mdash;as no water has
+yet been found in the vicinity of the Union batteries aforesaid. On the
+morrow, however, when his brigade re-occupies that position, water is
+found in abundance, by digging for it.</p>
+
+<p>This premature attack, at Blackburn's Ford, by Tyler, against orders,
+having failed, throws a wet blanket upon the martial spirit of
+McDowell's Army. In like degree is the morale of the Rebel Army
+increased.</p>
+
+<p>It is true that Longstreet, in command of the Rebel troops at
+Blackburn's Ford, has not had things all his own way; that some of his
+artillery had to be "withdrawn;" that, as he acknowledges in his report,
+his brigade of three Virginia regiments (the 1st, 11th, and 17th) had
+"with some difficulty repelled" the Union assault upon his position;
+that he had to call upon General Early for re-enforcements; that Early
+re-enforced him with two Infantry regiments (the 7th Louisiana and 7th
+Virginia) at first; that one of these (the 7th Virginia) was "thrown
+into confusion;" that Early then brought up his own regiment (the 24th
+Virginia) under Lieutenant Colonel Hairston, and the entire seven guns
+of the "Washington Artillery;" and that but for the active "personal
+exertions" of Longstreet, in "encouraging the men under his command,"
+and the great numerical superiority of the Rebels, there might have been
+no Union "repulse" at all. Yet still the attack has failed, and that
+failure, while it dispirits the Patriot Army, inspires the Rebel Army
+with renewed courage.</p>
+
+<p>Under these circumstances, Friday, the 19th of July, is devoted to
+reconnaissances by the Engineer officers of the Union Army; to the
+cooking of the supplies, which have at last arrived; and to resting the
+weary and road-worn soldiers of the Union.</p>
+
+<p>Let us take advantage of this halt in the advance of McDowell's "Grand
+Army of the United States"&mdash;as it was termed&mdash;to view the Rebel position
+at, and about Manassas, and to note certain other matters having an
+important and even determining bearing upon the issue of the impending
+shock-at-arms.</p>
+
+<p>Beauregard has received early information of McDowell's advance from
+Arlington, and of his plans.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [This he admits, in his report, when he says; "Opportunely informed
+ of the determination of the Enemy to advance on Manassas, my
+ advanced brigades, on the night of the 16th of July, were made
+ aware, from these headquarters, of the impending movement,"]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>On Tuesday the 16th, he notifies his advanced brigades. On Wednesday,
+he sends a dispatch from Manassas, to Jefferson Davis, at Richmond,
+announcing that the Union troops have assailed his outposts in heavy
+force; that he has fallen back before them, on the line of Bull Run; and
+that he intends to make a stand at Mitchell's Ford (close to Blackburn's
+Ford) on that stream,&mdash;adding: if his (McDowell's) force is
+overwhelming, "I shall retire to the Rappahannock railroad bridge,
+saving my command for defense there, and future operations. Please
+inform Johnston of this, via Staunton, and also Holmes. Send forward
+any re-enforcements at the earliest possible instant, and by every
+possible means."</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, however, Beauregard loses no time in advantageously
+posting his troops. On the morning of the 18th of July, when the Union
+advance enters Centreville, he has withdrawn all his advanced brigades
+within the Rebel lines of Bull Run, resting them on the South side of
+that stream, from Union Mills Ford, near the Orange and Alexandria
+railroad bridge, up to the stone bridge over which the Warrenton Pike
+crosses the Run,&mdash;a distance of some six to eight miles.</p>
+
+<p>Between the Rebel left, at Stone Bridge, and the Rebel right, at Union
+Mills Ford, are several fords across Bull Run&mdash;the general course of the
+stream being from the North-West to South-East, to its confluence with
+the Occoquan River, some twelve miles from the Potomac River.</p>
+
+<p>Mitchell's Ford, the Rebel center, is about three miles to the
+South-West of, and about the same distance North-East from, Manassas Junction.
+But it may be well, right here, to locate all these fordable crossings
+of the rocky, precipitous, and well-wooded Bull Run stream, between the
+Stone Bridge and Union Mills Ford. Thus, half a mile below the Stone
+Bridge is Lewis's Ford; half a mile below that, Ball's Ford; half a mile
+below that, Island Ford; one and one-half miles below that, Mitchell's
+Ford&mdash;one mile below that.</p>
+
+<p>Blackburn's Ford; three-quarters of a mile farther down, McLean's Ford;
+and nearly two miles lower down the stream, Union Mills Ford.</p>
+
+<p>By Thursday morning, the 18th of July, Beauregard has advantageously
+posted the seven brigades into which he has organized his forces, at
+these various positions along his extended front, as follows:</p>
+
+<p>At the Stone Bridge, Brigadier-General N. G. Evans's Seventh Brigade, of
+one regiment and one battalion of Infantry, two companies of Cavalry,
+and a battery of four six-pounders.</p>
+
+<p>At Lewis's, Balls, and Island Fords&mdash;Colonel P. St. George Cocke's
+Fifth Brigade, of three regiments of Infantry, one battery of Artillery,
+and one company of Cavalry.</p>
+
+<p>At Mitchell's Ford, Brigadier-General M. L. Bonham's First Brigade, of
+four Infantry regiments, two batteries, and six companies of Cavalry.</p>
+
+<p>At Blackburn's Ford, Brigadier-General J. Longstreet's Fourth Brigade,
+of four Infantry regiments, with two 6-pounders.</p>
+
+<p>At McLean's Ford, Brigadier-General D. R. Jones's Third Brigade of three
+Infantry regiments, one Cavalry company, and two 6-pounders.</p>
+
+<p>At Union Mills Ford, Brigadier-General R. S. Ewell's Second Brigade, of
+three Infantry regiments, three Cavalry companies, and four 12-powder
+howitzers&mdash;Colonel Jubal A. Early's Sixth Brigade, of three Infantry
+regiments and three rifled pieces of Walton's Battery, being posted in
+the rear of, and as a support to, Ewell's Brigade.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [Johnston also found, on the 20th, the Reserve Brigade of Brig.
+ Gen. T. H. Holmes&mdash;comprising two regiments of Infantry, Walker's
+ Battery of Artillery, and Scott's Cavalry-with Early's Brigade, "in
+ reserve, in rear of the right."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>The disposition and strength of Beauregard's forces at these various
+points along his line of defense on Bull Run stream, plainly shows his
+expectation of an attack on his right; but he is evidently suspicious
+that it may come upon his centre; for, as far back as July 8th, he had
+issued special orders to the effect that:</p>
+
+<p>"Should the Enemy march to the attack of Mitchell's Ford, via
+Centreville, the following movements will be made with celerity:</p>
+
+<p>"I. The Fourth Brigade will march from Blackburn's Ford to attack him on
+the flank and centre.</p>
+
+<p>"II. The Third Brigade will be thrown to the attack of his centre and
+rear toward Centreville.</p>
+
+<p>"III. The Second and Sixth Brigades united will also push forward and
+attack him in the rear by way of Centreville, protecting their own right
+flanks and rear from the direction of Fairfax Station and Court House.</p>
+
+<p>"IV. In the event of the defeat of the Enemy, the troops at Mitchell's
+Ford and Stone Bridge, especially the Cavalry and Artillery, will join
+in the pursuit, which will be conducted with vigor but unceasing
+prudence, and continued until he shall have been driven beyond the
+Potomac."</p>
+
+<p>And it is not without interest to note Beauregard's subsequent
+indorsement on the back of these Special Orders, that: "The plan of
+attack prescribed within would have been executed, with modifications
+affecting First and Fifth Brigades, to meet the attack upon Blackburn's
+Ford, but for the expected coming of General Johnston's command, which
+was known to be en route to join me on [Thursday] the 18th of July."</p>
+
+<p>The knowledge thus possessed on Thursday, the 18th, by Beauregard, that
+Johnston's Army is on its way to join him, is of infinite advantage to
+the former. On the other hand, the complete ignorance, at this time, of
+McDowell on this point,&mdash;and the further fact that he has been lulled
+into a feeling of security on the subject, by General Scott's emphatic
+assurance to him that "if Johnston joins Beauregard, he shall have
+Patterson on his heels"&mdash;is a great disadvantage to the Union general.</p>
+
+<p>Were McDowell now aware of the real Military situation, he would
+unquestionably make an immediate attack, with the object of crushing
+Beauregard before Johnston can effect a junction with him. It would
+then be a mere matter of detail for the armies of McDowell, McClellan,
+and Patterson, to bag Johnston, and bring the armed Rebellion to an
+inglorious and speedy end. But Providence&mdash;through the plottings of
+individuals within our own lines&mdash;wills it otherwise.</p>
+
+<p>Long before this, Patterson has been informed by General Winfield Scott
+of the proposed movement by McDowell upon Manassas,&mdash;and of its date.</p>
+
+<p>On Saturday, July 13th, General Scott telegraphed to Patterson: "I
+telegraphed to you yesterday, if not strong enough to beat the Enemy
+early next week, make demonstrations so as to detain him in the Valley
+of Winchester; but if he retreats in force toward Manassas, and it be
+too hazardous to follow him, then consider the route via Keys Ferry,
+Leesburg, etc."</p>
+
+<p>On Wednesday, the 17th, Scott telegraphs to Patterson: "I have nothing
+official from you since Sunday (14th), but am glad to learn, through
+Philadelphia papers, that you have advanced. Do not let the Enemy amuse
+and delay you with a small force in front whilst he re-enforces the
+Junction with his main body. McDowell's first day's work has driven the
+Enemy beyond Fairfax Court House. The Junction will probably be carried
+by to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>On Thursday, the 18th, Patterson replies that to attack "the greatly
+superior force at Winchester when the three months volunteers' time was
+about up, and they were threatening to leave him&mdash;would be most
+hazardous" and then he asks: "Shall I attack?"</p>
+
+<p>Scott answers the same day: "I have certainly been expecting you to beat
+the Enemy. If not, to hear that you had felt him strongly, or, at
+least, had occupied him by threats and demonstrations. You have been at
+least his equal, and, I suppose, superior in numbers. Has he not stolen
+a march and sent re-enforcements toward Manassas Junction? A week is
+enough to win victories," etc.</p>
+
+<p>Patterson retorts, on the same day: "The Enemy has stolen no march upon
+me. I have kept him actively employed, and by threats, and
+reconnaissances in force, caused him to be re-enforced. I have
+accomplished in this respect more than the General-in-Chief asked, or
+could well be expected, in face of an Enemy far superior in numbers,
+with no line of communication to protect."</p>
+
+<p>In another dispatch, to Assistant Adjutant-General Townsend (with
+General Scott), he says, that same afternoon of Thursday, the 18th: "I
+have succeeded, in accordance with the wishes of the General-in-Chief,
+in keeping General Johnston's Force at Winchester. A reconnaissance in
+force, on Tuesday, caused him to be largely re-enforced from Strasburg."</p>
+
+<p>Again, on Friday, the 19th, he informs Colonel Townsend that: "The
+Enemy, from last information, are still at Winchester, and being
+re-enforced every night."</p>
+
+<p>It is not until Saturday, the 20th of July, that he telegraphs to
+Townsend: "With a portion of his force, Johnston left Winchester, by the
+road to Millwood, on the afternoon of the 18th." And he adds the
+ridiculous statement: "His whole force was about 35,200."</p>
+
+<p>Thus, despite all the anxious care of General Scott, to have Johnston's
+Army detained in the Shenandoah Valley, it has escaped Patterson so
+successfully, and entirely, that the latter does not even suspect its
+disappearance until the day before the pitched Battle of Bull Run is
+fought! Its main body has actually reached Manassas twenty-four hours
+before Patterson is aware that it has left Winchester!</p>
+
+<p>And how is it, that Johnston gets away from Patterson so neatly? And
+when does he do it?</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [The extraordinary conduct of General Patterson at this critical
+ period, when everything seemed to depend upon his exertions, was
+ afterward the subject of inquiry by the Joint-Committee on the
+ Conduct of the War. The testimony taken by that Committee makes it
+ clear, to any unprejudiced mind, that while Patterson himself may
+ have been loyal to the Union, he was weak enough to be swayed from
+ the path of duty by some of the faithless and unpatriotic officers
+ with whom he had partly surrounded himself&mdash;and especially by Fitz
+ John Porter, his Chief-of-staff. Let us examine the sworn
+ testimony of two or three witnesses on this point.</p>
+
+<p> General CHARLES W. SANFORD, who was second in command under
+ Patterson, and in command of Patterson's Left Wing, testified [see
+ pages 54-66, Report on Conduct of the War, Vol. 3, Part 2,] that he
+ was at a Council of War held at the White House, June 29th, when
+ the propriety of an attack on the Rebel lines at Manassas was
+ discussed; that he objected to any such movement until Patterson
+ was in such a position as to prevent the junction between General
+ Johnston's Army and the troops at Manassas; that on the 6th of
+ July, he was sent by General Scott, with four picked New York
+ regiments, to Patterson, and (waiving his own seniority rank)
+ reported to that General, at Williamsport; that Patterson gave him
+ command of a division of 8,000 men (and two batteries) out of a
+ total in his Army of 22,000; that he "delivered orders from General
+ Scott to General Patterson, and urged a forward movement as soon as
+ possible;" that there was "Some delay at Martinsburg,
+ notwithstanding the urgency of our matter," but they "left there on
+ [Monday] the 15th of July, and went in the direction of
+ Winchester,"&mdash;down to Bunker Hill,&mdash;Patterson with two divisions
+ going down the turnpike, and Sanford taking his division a little
+ in advance and more easterly on the side roads so as to be in a
+ position to flank Johnston's right; that on that afternoon (Monday,
+ July 15) General Patterson rode up to where Sanford was locating
+ his camp.</p>
+
+<p> Continuing his testimony, General Sanford said: "I was then within
+ about nine miles of Johnston's fortified camp at Winchester.
+ Patterson was complimenting me upon the manner in which my
+ regiments were located, and inquiring about my pickets, which I had
+ informed him I had sent down about three miles to a stream below.
+ I had driven out the Enemy's skirmishers ahead of us. They had
+ some cavalry there. In answer to his compliments about the
+ comfortable location I had made, I said: 'Very comfortable,
+ General, when shall we move on?' * * * He hesitated a moment or
+ two, and then said: 'I don't know yet when we shall move. And if I
+ did I would not tell my own father.' I thought that was rather a
+ queer speech to make to me under the circumstances. But I smiled
+ and said: 'General, I am only anxious that we shall get forward,
+ that the Enemy shall not escape us.' He replied: 'There is no
+ danger of that. I will have a reconnaissance to-morrow, and we
+ will arrange about moving at a very early period.' He then took
+ his leave.</p>
+
+<p> "The next day [Tuesday, July 16th], there was a reconnaissance on
+ the Winchester turnpike, about four or five miles below the
+ General's camp. He sent forward a section of artillery and some
+ cavalry, and they found a post-and-log fence across the Winchester
+ turnpike, and some of the Enemy's cavalry on the other side of it.
+ They gave them a round of grape. The cavalry scattered off, and
+ the reconnaissance returned. That was the only reconnaissance I
+ heard of while we were there. My own pickets went further than
+ that. But it was understood, the next afternoon, that we were to
+ march forward at daylight. I sent down Col. Morell, with 40 men,
+ to open a road down to Opequan Creek, within five miles of the camp
+ at Winchester, on the side-roads I was upon, which would enable me,
+ in the course of three hours, to get between Johnston and the
+ Shenandoah River, and effectually bar his way to Manassas. I had
+ my ammunition all distributed, and ordered my men to have 24 hours'
+ rations in their haversacks, independent of their breakfast. We
+ were to march at 4 o'clock the next morning. I had this road to
+ the Opequan completed that night. I had then with me, in addition
+ to my eight regiments amounting to about 8,000 men and a few
+ cavalry, Doubleday's heavy United States battery of 20 and 30
+ pounders, and a very good Rhode Island battery. And I was willing
+ to take the risk, whether Gen. Patterson followed me up or not, of
+ placing myself between Johnston and the Shenandoah River, rather
+ than let Johnston escape. And, at 4 o'clock [July 17th] I should
+ have moved over that road for that purpose, if I had had no further
+ orders. But, a little after 12 o'clock at night [July 16th-17th,]
+ I received a long order of three pages from Gen. Patterson,
+ instructing me to move on to Charlestown, which is nearly at right
+ angles to the road I was going to move on, and twenty-two miles
+ from Winchester. This was after I had given my orders for the
+ other movement."</p>
+
+<p> * * * * * * * * * *</p>
+
+<p> 'Question [by the Chairman].&mdash;And that left Johnston free?
+ "Answer&mdash;Yes, Sir; left him free to make his escape, which he did.
+ * * *"</p>
+
+<p> 'Question.&mdash;In what direction would Johnston have had to move to
+ get by you?
+ "Answer&mdash;Right out to the Shenandoah River, which he forded. He
+ found out from his cavalry, who were watching us, that we were
+ actually leaving, and he started at 1 o'clock that same day, with
+ 8,000 men, forded the Shenandoah where it was so deep that he
+ ordered his men to put their cartridge-boxes on their bayonets, got
+ out on the Leesburg road, and went down to Manassas."</p>
+
+<p> "Question [by the Chairman].&mdash;Did he [Patterson] assign any reason
+ for that movement?
+ "Answer.&mdash;I was, of course, very indignant about it, and so were
+ all my officers and men; so much so that when, subsequently, at
+ Harper's Ferry, Patterson came by my camp, there was a universal
+ groan&mdash;against all discipline, of course, and we suppressed it as
+ soon as possible. The excuse given by Gen. Patterson was this:
+ that he had received intelligence that he could rely upon, that
+ Gen. Johnston had been re-enforced by 20,000 men from Manassas,
+ and was going to make an attack upon him; and in the order which I
+ received that night&mdash;a long order of three pages&mdash;I was ordered to
+ occupy all the communicating roads, turning off a regiment here,
+ and two or three regiments there, and a battery at another place,
+ to occupy all the roads from Winchester to the neighborhood of
+ Charlestown, and all the cross-roads, and hold them all that day,
+ until Gen. Patterson's whole army went by me to Charlestown; and I
+ sat seven hours in the saddle near a place called Smithfield, while
+ Patterson, with his whole army, went by me on their way to
+ Charlestown, he being apprehensive, as he said, of an attack from
+ Johnston's forces."</p>
+
+<p> "Question [by Mr. Odell].&mdash;You covered his movement?
+ "Answer&mdash;Yes, Sir. Now the statement that he made, which came to
+ me through Colonel Abercrombie, who was Patterson's brother-in-law,
+ and commanded one division in that army, was, that Johnston had
+ been re-enforced; and Gen. Fitz-John Porter reported the same thing
+ to my officers. Gen. Porter was then the chief of Patterson's
+ staff, and was a very excellent officer, and an accomplished
+ soldier. They all had got this story, which was without the
+ slightest shadow of foundation; for there had not a single man
+ arrived at the camp since we had got full information that their
+ force consisted of 20,000 men, of whom 1,800 were sick with the
+ measles. The story was, however, that they had ascertained, by
+ reliable information, of this re-enforcement. Where they got their
+ information, I do not know. None such reached me; and I picked up
+ deserters and other persons to get all the information I could; and
+ we since have learned, as a matter of certainty, that Johnston's
+ forces never did exceed 20,000 men there. But the excuse Patterson
+ gave was, that Johnson had been re-enforced by 20,000 men from
+ Manassas, and was going to attack him. That was the reason he gave
+ then for this movement. But in this paper he has lately published,
+ he hints at another reason&mdash;another excuse&mdash;which was that it was
+ by order of Gen. Scott. Now, I know that the peremptory order of
+ Gen. Scott to Gen. Patterson, repeated over and over again, was
+ this&mdash;I was present on several occasions when telegraphic
+ communications went from Gen. Scott to Gen. Patterson: Gen. Scott's
+ orders to Gen. Patterson were that, if he were strong enough, he
+ was to attack and beat Johnston. But if not, then he was to place
+ himself in such a position as to keep Johnston employed, and
+ prevent him from making a junction with Beauregard at Manassas.
+ That was the repeated direction of Gen. Scott to Gen. Patterson;
+ and it was because of Patterson's hesitancy, and his hanging back,
+ and keeping so far beyond the reach of Johnston's camp, that I was
+ ordered to go up there and re-enforce him, and assist him in any
+ operations necessary to effect that object. The excuse of Gen.
+ Patterson now is, that he had orders from Gen. Scott to move to
+ Charlestown. Now, that is not so. But this state of things
+ existed: Before the movement was made from Martinsburg, General
+ Patterson suggested to General Scott that Charlestown would be a
+ better base of operations than Martinsburg and suggested that he
+ had better move on Charlestown, and thence make his approaches to
+ Winchester; that it would be better to do that than to move
+ directly to Winchester from Martinsburg; and General Scott wrote
+ back to say that, if he found that movement a better one, he was at
+ liberty to make it. But Gen. Patterson had already commenced his
+ movement on Winchester direct from Martinsburg, and had got as far
+ as Bunker Hill; so that the movement which he had formerly
+ suggested, to Charlestown, was suppressed by his own act. But that
+ is the pretence now given in his published speech for making the
+ movement from Bunker Hill to Charlestown, which was a retreat,
+ instead of the advance which the movement to Charlestown he first
+ proposed to Gen. Scott was intended to be."</p>
+
+<p> * * * * * * * * * * * *</p>
+
+<p> "Question [by the Chairman].&mdash;Was not that change of direction and
+ movement to Charlestown a total abandonment of the object which you
+ were pursuing?
+ "Answer.&mdash;Entirely an abandonment of the main principles of the
+ orders he was acting under."</p>
+
+<p> "Question.&mdash;And of course an abandonment of the purpose for which
+ you were there?
+ "Answer.&mdash;Yes, Sir.</p>
+
+<p> "Question [by Mr. Odell].&mdash;Was it not your understanding in leaving
+ here, and was it not the understanding also of Gen. Scott, that
+ your purpose in going there was to check Johnston with direct
+ reference to the movement here?
+ "Answer&mdash;Undoubtedly. It was in consequence of the suggestion made
+ by me at the Council at the President's house. * * * And upon the
+ suggestion of General Scott they wanted me to go up there and
+ assist Patterson in this movement against Johnston, so as to carry
+ out the point I had suggested of first checkmating Johnston before
+ the movement against Manassas was made here."</p>
+
+<p> * * * * * * * * *</p>
+
+<p> Question [by the Chairman].&mdash;Would there have been any difficulty
+ in preventing Johnston from going to Manassas?
+ "Answer.&mdash;None whatever."</p>
+
+<p> * * * * * * * * *</p>
+
+<p> "Question [by the Chairman.]&mdash;I have heard it suggested that he
+ (Patterson) undertook to excuse this movement on the ground that
+ the time of many of his troops had expired, and they refused to
+ accompany him.
+ "Answer.&mdash;That to my knowledge, is untrue. The time of none of
+ them had expired when this movement was made. All the troops that
+ were there were in the highest condition for the service. These
+ three-months' men, it may be well to state to you who are not
+ Military men, were superior to any other volunteer troops that we
+ had, in point of discipline. They were the disciplined troops of
+ the Country. The three-months' men were generally the organized
+ troops of the different States&mdash;New York, Pennsylvania, etc. We
+ had, for instance, from Patterson's own city, Philadelphia, one of
+ the finest regiments in the service, which was turned over to me,
+ at their own request; and the most of my regiments were disciplined
+ and organized troops. They were all in fine condition, anxious,
+ zealous, and earnest for a fight. They thought they were going to
+ attack Johnston's camp at Winchester. Although I had suggested to
+ Gen. Patterson that there was no necessity for that, the camp being
+ admirably fortified with many of their heavy guns from Norfolk, I
+ proposed to him to place ourselves between Johnston and the
+ Shenandoah, which would have compelled him to fight us there, or to
+ remain in his camp, either of which would have effected General
+ Scott's object. If I had got into a fight, it was very easy, over
+ this road I had just been opening, for Patterson to have
+ re-enforced me and to have come up to the fight in time. The
+ proposition was to place ourselves between Johnston's fortified
+ camp and the Shenandoah, where his fortified camp would have been
+ of no use to him."</p>
+
+<p> "Question.&mdash;Even if you had received a check there, it would have
+ prevented his junction with the forces at Manassas?
+ "Answer.&mdash;Yes, Sir; I would have risked a battle with my own
+ division rather than Johnston should have escaped. If he had
+ attacked me, I could have taken a position where I could have held
+ it, while Patterson could have fallen upon him and repulsed him."</p>
+
+<p> "Question [by Mr. Odell].&mdash;Had you any such understanding with
+ Patterson?
+ "Answer.&mdash;I told him I would move down on this side-road in
+ advance, leaving Gen. Patterson to sustain me if I got into a
+ fight. So, on the other hand, if he should attack Patterson, I was
+ near enough to fall upon Johnston's flank and to support Patterson.
+ By using this communication of mine to pass Opequan Creek&mdash;where, I
+ had informed Patterson, I had already pushed forward my pickets,
+ [200 men in the day and 400 more at night,] to prevent the Enemy
+ from burning the bridge&mdash;it would have enabled me to get between
+ Johnston and the Shenandoah River. On the morning [Wednesday, July
+ 17th] of our march to Charlestown, Stuart's cavalry, which figured
+ so vigorously at Bull Run, was upon my flank all day. They were
+ apparently about 800 strong. I saw them constantly on my flank for
+ a number of miles. I could distinguish them, with my glass, with
+ great ease. Finally, they came within about a mile of the line of
+ march I was pursuing and I sent a battery around to head them off,
+ and the 12th Regiment across the fields in double-quick time to
+ take them in the rear. I thought I had got them hemmed in. But
+ they broke down the fences, and went across the country to
+ Winchester, and I saw nothing more of them. They were then about
+ eight miles from Winchester, and must have got there in the course
+ of a couple of hours. That day [Wednesday, the 17th] at 10
+ o'clock&mdash;as was ascertained from those who saw him crossing the
+ Shenandoah&mdash;Johnston started from Winchester with 8,000 men, forded
+ the Shenandoah, and got to Manassas on Friday night; and his second
+ in command started the next day with all the rest of the available
+ troops&mdash;something like 9,000 men; leaving only the sick, and a few
+ to guard them, in the camp at Winchester&mdash;and they arrived at the
+ battle-field in the midst of the fight, got out of the cars, rushed
+ on the battle-field, and turned the scale. I have no doubt that,
+ if we had intercepted Johnston, as we ought to have done, the
+ battle of Bull Run would have been a victory for us instead of a
+ defeat. Johnston was undoubtedly the ablest general they had in
+ their army."</p>
+
+<p> Colonel CRAIG BIDDLE, testified that he was General Patterson's
+ aide-de-camp at the time. In answer to a question by the Chairman,
+ he continued:</p>
+
+<p> "Answer.&mdash;I was present, of course, at all the discussions. The
+ discussion at Martinsburg was as to whether or not General
+ Patterson should go on to Winchester. General Patterson was very
+ full of that himself. He was determined to go to Winchester; but
+ the opinions of all the regular officers who were with him, were
+ against it. The opinions of all the men in whose judgment I had
+ any confidence, were against it. They seemed to have the notion
+ that General Patterson had got his Irish blood up by the fight we
+ had had at Falling Waters, and was bound to go ahead. He decided
+ upon going ahead, against the remonstrances of General [Fitz John]
+ Porter, who advised against it. He told me he considered he had
+ done his duty, and said no more. The movement was delayed in
+ consequence of General Stone's command not being able to move right
+ away. It was then evident that there was so much opposition to it
+ that the General was induced to call a council of the general
+ officers in his command, at which I was present. They were
+ unanimously opposed to the advance. That was at Martinsburg."</p>
+
+<p> * * * * * * * * *</p>
+
+<p> "Question.&mdash;While at Bunker Hill, the night before you left there,
+ were any orders issued to march in the evening?
+ "Answer.&mdash;I think there were such orders."</p>
+
+<p> "Question.&mdash;Did not General Patterson issue orders at Bunker Hill,
+ the night before you marched to Charlestown, for an attack on the
+ Enemy?
+ "Answer.&mdash;I think such orders were written. I do not think they
+ were issued. I think General Patterson was again persuaded not to
+ make an advance."</p>
+
+<p> Colonel R. BUTLER PRICE, Senior aide to Patterson, testified as
+ follows:</p>
+
+<p> * * * * * * * * *</p>
+
+<p> "Question [by Mr. Gooch].&mdash;Was it not the intention to move from
+ Bunker Hill to Winchester?
+ "Answer.&mdash;Yes, Sir. At one time General Patterson had given an
+ order to move from Bunker Hill to Winchester. He was very
+ unwilling to leave Johnston even at Winchester without attacking
+ him; and on the afternoon before we left Bunker Hill he decided to
+ attack him, notwithstanding his strong force."</p>
+
+<p> "Question.&mdash;Behind his intrenchments?
+ "Answer.&mdash;Yes, Sir; it went so far that his order was written by
+ his adjutant, General [Fitz John] Porter. It was very much against
+ the wishes of General [Fitz John] Porter; and he asked General
+ Patterson if he would send for Colonel Abercrombie and Colonel
+ Thomas and consult them on the movement. General Patterson
+ replied: No, Sir; for I know they will attempt to dissuade me from
+ it, and I have made up my mind to fight Johnston under all
+ circumstances. That was the day before we left Bunker Hill. Then
+ Colonel [Fitz John] Porter asked to have Colonel Abercrombie and
+ Colonel Thomas sent for and consulted as to the best manner to
+ carry out his wishes. He consented, and they came, and after half
+ an hour they dissuaded him from it."</p>
+
+<p> "Question.&mdash;At that time General Patterson felt it was so important
+ to attack Johnston that he had determined to do it?
+ "Answer.&mdash;Yes, Sir; the order was not published, but it was
+ written."</p>
+
+<p> "Question.&mdash;You understood General Patterson to be influenced to
+ make that attempt because he felt there was a necessity for
+ detaining Johnston?
+ "Answer.&mdash;Yes, Sir; to detain him as long as he possibly could."</p>
+
+<p> "Question.&mdash;That order was not countermanded until late on Tuesday,
+ the 16th, was it?
+ "Answer.&mdash;That order never was published. It was written; but, at
+ the earnest solicitation of Colonel [Fitz John] Porter, it was
+ withheld until he could have a consultation with Colonel
+ Abercrombie and Colonel Thomas."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+
+
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<center>
+<a name="bull1"></a>
+<img alt="p288-map.jpg (98K)" src="images/p288-map.jpg" height="772" width="626">
+</center>
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+
+
+<p>It is about 1 o'clock on the morning of Thursday, July 18th,&mdash;that same
+day which witnesses the preliminary Battle of Blackburn's Ford&mdash;that
+Johnston, being at Winchester, and knowing of Patterson's peculiarly
+inoffensive and timid movement to his own left and rear, on Charlestown,
+receives from the Rebel Government at Richmond, a telegraphic dispatch,
+of July 17th, in these words: "General Beauregard is attacked. To
+strike the Enemy a decisive blow, a junction of all your effective force
+will be needed. If practicable, make the movement. * * * In all the
+arrangements exercise your discretion."</p>
+
+<p>Johnston loses no time in deciding that it is his duty to prevent, if
+possible, disaster to Beauregard's Army; that to do this he must effect
+a junction with him; and that this necessitates either an immediate
+fight with, and defeat of, Patterson,&mdash;which may occasion a fatal
+delay&mdash;or else, that Union general must be eluded. Johnston determines
+on the latter course.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving his sick, with some militia to make a pretense of defending the
+town in case of attack, Johnston secretly and rapidly marches his Army,
+of 9,000 effective men, Southeasterly from Winchester, at noon of
+Thursday, the 18th; across by a short cut, wading the Shenandoah River,
+and then on through Asby's Gap, in the Blue Ridge, that same night;
+still on, in the same direction, to a station on the Manassas Gap
+railroad, known as Piedmont, which is reached by the next (Friday)
+morning,&mdash;the erratic movements of Stuart's Cavalry entirely concealing
+the manoeuvre from the knowledge of Patterson.</p>
+
+<p>From Piedmont, the Artillery and Cavalry proceed to march the remaining
+twenty-five miles, or so, to Manassas Junction, by the roads. The 7th
+and 8th Georgia Regiments of Bartow's Brigade, with Jackson's
+Brigade,&mdash;comprising the 2d, 4th, 5th, 27th and 33d Virginia Regiments&mdash;are
+embarked on the cars, and hurriedly sent in advance, by rail, to
+Manassas, reaching there on that same (Friday) afternoon and evening.
+These are followed by General Johnston, with Bee's Brigade&mdash;comprising
+the 4th Alabama, 2d Mississippi, and a battalion of the 11th
+Mississippi&mdash;which arrive at Manassas about noon of Saturday, the 20th
+of July, the balance of Johnston's Infantry being billed for arrival
+that same day, or night.</p>
+
+<p>Upon Johnston's own arrival at Manassas, Saturday noon,&mdash;the very day
+that Patterson ascertains that "the bird has flown,"&mdash;after assuming
+command, by virtue of seniority, he proceeds to examine Beauregard's
+position. This he finds "too extensive, and the ground too densely
+wooded and intricate," to be learned quickly, and hence he is impelled
+to rely largely upon Beauregard for information touching the strength
+and positions of both the Rebel and Union Armies.</p>
+
+<p>Beauregard has now 21,833 men, and 29 pieces of artillery of his own
+"Army of the Potomac." Johnston's and Holmes's junction with him has
+raised the Rebel total to 32,000 effectives, and 55 guns. McDowell, on
+the other hand, who started with 30,000 effectives, finds himself on the
+19th&mdash;owing to the departure of one of his regiments and a battery of
+Artillery, because of the expiration of their term of enlistment,&mdash;with
+but "28,000 men at the utmost."&mdash;[Comte de Paris.]</p>
+
+<p>On the evening of Saturday, the 20th of July, Johnston and Beauregard
+hold an important consultation. The former feels certain that
+Patterson, with his more than 20,000 effectives, will now lose no time
+in essaying a junction with McDowell's Army, and that such junction will
+probably be effected by July 22nd. Hence he perceives the necessity of
+attacking McDowell, and if possible, with the combined Rebel Forces,
+whipping him before Patterson can come up to his assistance.</p>
+
+<p>At this consultation it is agreed by the two Rebel generals to assume
+the offensive, at once. Beauregard proposes a plan of battle&mdash;which is
+an immediate general advance of the Rebel centre and left,
+concentrating, from all the fords of Bull Run, upon Centreville, while
+the Rebel right advances toward Sangster's cross-roads, ready to fall
+either on Centreville, or upon Fairfax Court House, in its rear,
+according to circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>The plan proposed, is accepted at once by Johnston. The necessary order
+is drawn up by Beauregard that night; and at half past four o'clock on
+Sunday morning, July 21st, Johnston signs the written order. Nothing
+now remains, apparently, but the delivery of the order to the Rebel
+brigade commanders, a hurried preparation for the forward movement, and
+then the grand attack upon McDowell, at Centreville.</p>
+
+<p>Already, no doubt, the fevered brain of Beauregard pictures, in his
+vivid imagination, the invincible thunders of his Artillery, the
+impetuous advance of his Infantry, the glorious onset of his Cavalry,
+the flight and rout of the Union forces, his triumphal entry into
+Washington&mdash;Lincoln and Scott and the Congress crouching at his
+feet&mdash;and the victorious South and conquered North acclaiming him Dictator!
+The plan is Beauregard's own, and Beauregard is to have command. Hence
+all the glory of capturing the National Capital, must be Beauregard's.
+Why not? But "man proposes, and God disposes." The advance and attack,
+are, in that shape, never to be made.</p>
+
+<p>McDowell, in the meantime, all unconscious of what has transpired in the
+Shenandoah Valley, and between there and Manassas; never dreaming for an
+instant that Patterson has failed to keep Johnson there&mdash;even if he has
+not attacked and defeated him; utterly unsuspicious that his own
+lessened Union Army has now to deal with the Forces of Johnston and
+Beauregard combined&mdash;with a superior instead of an inferior force; is
+executing a plan of battle which he has decided upon, and announced to
+his general officers, on that same Saturday evening, at his Headquarters
+in Centreville.</p>
+
+<p>Instead of attempting to turn the Enemy's right, and cut off his
+communications with Richmond and the South, McDowell has now determined
+to attack the Enemy's left, cut his communication, via the Manassas Gap
+railroad, with Johnston's Army,&mdash;still supposed by him to be in the
+Valley of the Shenandoah&mdash;and, taking him in the left flank and rear,
+roll him upon Manassas, in disorder and defeat&mdash;with whatever might
+follow.</p>
+
+<p>That is the plan&mdash;in its general features. In executing it, Blenker's
+Brigade of Miles's Division is to remain at Centreville as a reserve,
+throwing up intrenchments about its Heights, upon which to fall back, in
+case of necessity; Davies's Brigade of the same Division, with
+Richardson's Brigade of Tyler's Division&mdash;as the Left Wing&mdash;are to
+demonstrate at Blackburn's Ford, toward the Enemy's right; Tyler's other
+three brigades, under Keyes, Schenck, and Sherman, are to feign an
+attack on the Enemy's left, posted behind the strongly-defended Stone
+Bridge over which the Warrenton turnpike, running Westward, on its way
+from Centreville to Warrenton, crosses Bull Run stream; while the strong
+divisions under Hunter and Heintzelman&mdash;forming McDowell's Right
+Wing&mdash;are to follow Tyler's Division Westward down the turnpike to a point
+within one mile and a half of the Stone Bridge, thence, by cross-road,
+diverge several miles to the North, then sweep around gradually to the
+West, and then Southwardly over Bull Run at Sudley Springs Ford,
+swooping down the Sudley road upon the Enemy's left flank and rear, near
+Stone Bridge, rolling it back toward his center, while Tyler's remaining
+three brigades cross the bridge and join in the assault. That is the
+whole plan in a nutshell.</p>
+
+<p>It has been McDowell's intention to push forward, from Centreville along
+the Warrenton Pike a few miles, on the evening of this Military
+conference; but he makes his first mistake, in allowing himself to be
+dissuaded from that, by those, who, in his own words, "have the greatest
+distance to go," and who prefer "starting early in the morning and
+making but one move."</p>
+
+<p>The attacking divisions now have orders to march at 2:30 A. M., in order
+"to avoid the heat," which is excessive. Tyler's three immediate
+brigades&mdash;or some of them&mdash;are slow in starting Westward, along the
+Warrenton Pike, to the Stone Bridge; and this leads to a two or three
+hours delay of the divisions of Hunter and Heintzelman, before they can
+follow that Pike beyond Centreville, and commence the secret detour to
+their right, along the cross-road leading to Sudley Springs.</p>
+
+<p>At 6:30 A.M., Tyler's Artillery gets into position, to cannonade the
+Enemy's batteries, on the West Bank of Bull Run, commanding the Stone
+Bridge, and opens fire. Half an hour before this, (at 6 A.M.), the
+Rebel artillerists, posted on a hill South of the Pike, and 600 yards
+West of the bridge, have caught sight of Tyler's Union blue-jackets.
+Those of the Rebel gunners whose eyes are directed to the North-East,
+soon see, nearly a mile away, up the gradual slope, a puff of blue
+smoke. Immediately the bang of a solitary rifle cannon is heard, and
+the scream of a rifled shot as it passes over their heads. At
+intervals, until past 9 A.M., that piece and others in the same
+position, keep hammering away at the Rebel left, under Evans, at Stone
+Bridge.</p>
+
+<p>The Rebel response to this cannonade, is very feeble. McDowell observes
+this. He suspects there has been a weakening of the Enemy's force at
+the bridge, in order to strengthen his right for some purpose. And what
+can that purpose be, but to throw his augmented right upon our left, at
+Blackburn's Ford, and so, along the ridge-road, upon Centreville? Thus
+McDowell guesses, and guesses well. To be in readiness to protect his
+own left and rear, by reenforcing Miles's Division, at Centreville and
+along the ridge to Blackburn's Ford, he temporarily holds back Howard's
+Brigade of Heintzelman's Division at the point where the cross-road to
+Sudley Springs Ford&mdash;along which Hunter's Division, followed by the
+Brigades of Franklin and Wilcox, of Heintzelman's Division, have already
+gone&mdash;intersects the Warrenton Pike.</p>
+
+<p>It is 9 o'clock. Beauregard, as yet unaware of McDowell's new plan,
+sends an order to Ewell, on his right, to hold himself ready "to take
+the offensive, at a moment's notice,"&mdash;and directing that Ewell be
+supported in his advance, toward Sangster's cross-roads and the rear of
+Centreville, by Holmes's Brigade. In accordance with that order, Ewell,
+who is "at Union Mills and its neighborhood," gets his brigade ready,
+and Holmes moves up to his support. After waiting two hours, Ewell
+receives another order, for both Ewell and Holmes "to resume their
+places." Something must have occurred since 9 o'clock, to defeat
+Beauregard's plan of attack on Centreville&mdash;with all its glorious
+consequences! What can it be? We shall see.</p>
+
+<p>While Tyler's Artillery has been cannonading the Rebel left, under
+Evans, at Stone Bridge,&mdash;fully impressed with the prevailing Union
+belief that the bridge is not only protected by strong masked batteries,
+heavy supports of Infantry, and by abatis as well as other defenses, but
+is also mined and ready to be blown up at the approach of our troops,
+when in reality the bridge is not mined, and the Rebel force in men and
+guns at that point has been greatly weakened in anticipation of
+Beauregard's projected advance upon Centreville,&mdash;the Union column,
+under Hunter and Heintzelman, is advancing from Centreville, in the
+scorching heat and suffocating dust of this tropical July morning,
+slowly, but surely, along the Warrenton Pike and the cross-road to
+Sudley Springs Ford&mdash;a distance of some eight miles of weary and
+toilsome marching for raw troops in such a temperature&mdash;in this order:
+Burnside's Brigade, followed by Andrew Porter's Brigade,&mdash;both of
+Hunter's Division; then Franklin's Brigade, followed by Willcox's
+Brigade,&mdash;both of Heintzelman's Division.</p>
+
+<p>It is half past 9 o'clock; before Burnside's Brigade has crossed the
+Bull Run stream, at Sudley's Ford, and the head of Andrew Porter's
+Brigade commences to ford it. The troops are somewhat slow in crossing.
+They are warm, tired, thirsty, and as to dust,&mdash;their hair and eyes and
+nostrils and mouths are full of it, while most of the uniforms, once
+blue, have become a dirty gray. The sky is clear. The sun already is
+fiercely hot. The men stop to drink and fill their canteens. It is
+well they do.</p>
+
+<p>McDowell, who has been waiting two or three hours at the turn, impatient
+at the delay, has ridden over to the front of the Flanking column, and
+now reaches Sudley's Ford. He feels that much valuable time is already
+lost. His plan has, in a measure, been frustrated by delay. He had
+calculated on crossing Bull Run, at Sudley's Ford, and getting to the
+rear of the Enemy's position, at Stone Bridge, before a sufficient Rebel
+force could be assembled to contest the Union advance. He sends back an
+aide with orders to the regimental commanders in the rear, to "break
+from column, and hurry forward separately, as fast as possible."
+Another aide he sends, with orders to Howard to bring his brigade
+across-fields. To Tyler he also sends orders to "press forward his
+attack, as large bodies of the Enemy are passing in front of him to
+attack the division (Hunter's) which has passed over."</p>
+
+<p>It may here be explained, that the Sudley road, running about six miles
+South-Southeasterly from Sudley Springs Ford to Manassas Junction, is
+crossed at right angles, about two miles South of the Springs, by the
+Warrenton Pike, at a point about one mile and a half West of the Stone
+Bridge. For nearly a mile South of Sudley Ford, the Sudley road passes
+through thick woods on the left, and alternate patches of wooded and
+cleared lands on the right. The country farther South, opens into
+rolling fields, occasionally cut by transverse gullies, and patched with
+woods. This is what Burnside's Brigade beholds, as it marches
+Southward, along the Sudley road, this eventful morning.</p>
+
+<p>Thus far, the cannonade of Tyler's batteries, and the weak return-fire
+of the Rebel Artillery, at Stone Bridge, over two miles South-East of
+Sudley Ford, is about the only music by which the Union march has kept
+time.</p>
+
+<p>But now, as Burnside's foremost regiment emerges from the woods, at half
+past 10 o'clock, the Artillery of the Enemy opens upon it.</p>
+
+<p>Let us see how this happens. Evans's Brigade, defending the Stone
+Bridge, and constituting the Enemy's extreme left, comprises, as has
+already been mentioned, Sloan's 4th South Carolina Regiment, Wheat's
+Louisiana battalion, Terry's squadron of Virginia Cavalry, and
+Davidson's section of Latham's Battery of six-pounders.</p>
+
+<p>Earlier in the morning Evans has supposed, from the cannonade of Tyler's
+batteries among the pines on the hills obliquely opposite the Enemy's
+left, as well as from the sound of the cannonade of the Union batteries
+away down the stream on the Enemy's right, near Blackburn's Ford, that
+McDowell is about to make an attack upon the whole front of the Rebel
+line of defense along Bull Run&mdash;by way of the Stone Bridge, and the
+various fords below it, which cross that stream. But by 10 o'clock,
+that Rebel general begins to feel doubtful, suspicious, and uneasy.
+Despite the booming of Tyler's guns, he has caught in the distance the
+rumbling sounds of Hunter's Artillery wheels.</p>
+
+<p>Evans finds himself pondering the meaning of those long lines of dust,
+away to his left; and then, like a flash, it bursts upon him, that all
+this Military hubbub in his front, and far away to his right, is but a
+feint; that the real danger is somehow connected with that mysterious
+far-away rumble, and those lines of yellow dust; that the main attack is
+to be on the unprepared left and rear of the Rebel position!</p>
+
+<p>No sooner has the Rebel brigade-commander thus divined the Union plan of
+attack, than he prepares, with the limited force at his command, to
+thwart it. Burnside and he are about equidistant, by this time, from
+the intersection of the Sudley road, running South, with the Warrenton
+Pike, running West. Much depends upon which of them shall be the first
+to reach it,&mdash;and the instinctive, intuitive knowledge of this, spurs
+Evans to his utmost energy. He leaves four of his fifteen companies,
+and Rogers's section of the Loudoun Artillery,&mdash;which has come up from
+Cocke's Brigade, at the ford below&mdash;to defend the approaches to the
+Stone Bridge, from the East side of Bull Run,&mdash;and, with the other
+eleven companies, and Latham's half-battery, he hurries Westward, along
+the Warrenton Pike, toward the Sudley road-crossing, to resist the
+impending Union attack.</p>
+
+<p>It is now 10:30 o'clock, and, as he hurries along, with anxious eyes,
+scanning the woods at the North, he suddenly catches the glitter of
+Burnside's bayonets coming down through them, East of the Sudley road,
+in "column of regiments" toward Young's Branch&mdash;a small stream turning,
+in a Northern and Southern loop, respectively above and below the
+Warrenton Pike, much as the S of a prostrate dollar-mark twines above
+and below its horizontal line, the vicinity of which is destined to be
+hotly-contested ground ere night-fall.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [Says Captain D. P. Woodbury, U. S. corps of engineers, and
+ who, with Captain Wright, guided the divisions of Hunter and
+ Heintzelman in making the detour to the upper part of Bull Run: "At
+ Sudley's Mills we lingered about an hour to give the men and horses
+ water and a little rest before going into action, our advance guard
+ in the mean time going ahead about three quarters of a mile.
+ Resuming our march, we emerged from the woods about one mile South
+ of the ford, and came upon a beautiful open valley about one and a
+ quarter miles square, bounded on the right or West by a wooded
+ ridge, on the Fast by the rough spurs or bluffs of Bull Run, on the
+ North by an open plain and ridge, on which our troops began to
+ form, and on the South by another ridge, on which the Enemy was
+ strongly posted, with woods behind their backs. The Enemy was also
+ in possession of the bluffs of Bull Run on our left."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>Sending word to Headquarters, Evans pushes forward and gaining Buck
+Ridge, to the North of the Northern loop of Young's Branch, forms his
+line-of-battle upon that elevation&mdash;which somewhat compensates him for
+the inferiority of his numbers&mdash;nearly at right angles to the Bull Run
+line; rapidly puts his Artillery in position; the Rebel guns open on
+Burnside's advance&mdash;their hoarse roar soon supplemented by the rattle of
+Rebel musketry, and the answering roar and rattle of the Union onset;
+and the Battle of Bull Run has commenced!</p>
+
+<p>It is after 10:30 A.M., and Beauregard and Johnston are upon an eminence
+in the rear of the centre of the Enemy's Bull Run line. They have been
+there since 8 o'clock. An hour ago, or more, their Signal Officer has
+reported a large body of Union troops crossing the Bull Run Valley, some
+two or three miles above the Stone Bridge; upon the strength of which,
+Johnston has ordered Bee's Brigade from near Cocke's position, with
+Hampton's Legion and Stonewall Jackson's Brigade from near Bonham's
+left, to move to the Rebel left, at Stone Bridge; and these troops are
+now hastening thither, guided by the sound of the guns.</p>
+
+<p>The artillery-firing is also heard by Johnston and Beauregard, but
+intervening wooded slopes prevent them from determining precisely whence
+it comes. Beauregard, with a badly-organized staff, is chaffing over
+the delay that has occurred in carrying out his own plan of battle. He
+is waiting to hear of the progress of the attack which he has ordered
+upon the Union Army,&mdash;supposed by him to be at Centreville,&mdash;and
+especially as to the advance of his right toward Sangster's Station. In
+the meantime also,&mdash;from early morning,&mdash;the Rebel commanders have heard
+heavy firing in the direction of Blackburn's Ford, toward their right,
+where the Artillery attached to the brigades of Davies and Richardson,
+constituting McDowell's Left Wing, is demonstrating in a lively manner,
+in accordance with McDowell's plan.</p>
+
+<p>It is 11 o'clock. Beauregard has become satisfied that his orders for
+the Rebel advance and attack on Centreville, have failed or miscarried.
+His plan is abandoned, and the orders countermanded. At the same time
+the growing volume of artillery-detonations upon the left of the Bull
+Run line of defense&mdash;together with the clouds of dust which indicate the
+route of march of Hunter's and Heintzelman's Divisions from near
+Centreville to the point of conflict, satisfies both Johnston and
+Beauregard, that a serious attack is imperilling the Rebel left.</p>
+
+<p>Beauregard at once proposes to Johnston "a modification of the abandoned
+plan," viz.: "to attack with the" Rebel "right, while the left stands on
+the defensive." But rapidly transpiring events conspire to make even
+the modified plan impracticable.</p>
+
+<p>Johnston, convinced by the still growing volume of battle-sounds on the
+Rebel left, that the main attack of McDowell is being made there, urges
+Beauregard to strengthen the left, as much as possible; and, after that
+general has sent orders to this end,&mdash;to Holmes and Early to come up
+with their Brigades from Union Mills Ford, moving "with all speed to the
+sound of the firing," and to Bonham to promptly send up, from Mitchell's
+Ford, a battery and two of his regiments&mdash;both he and Beauregard put
+spurs to their horses, and gallop at full speed toward the firing, four
+miles away on their left,&mdash;stopping on the way only long enough for
+Johnston to order his Chief-of-artillery, Colonel Pendleton, to "follow,
+with his own, and Alburtis's Batteries."</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile let us return and witness the progress of the battle, on the
+Rebel left,&mdash;where we were looking on, at 10:30 o'clock. Evans had then
+just posted his eleven companies of Infantry on Buck Ridge, with one of
+his two guns on his left, near the Sudley road, and the other not far
+from the Robinson House, upon the Northern spur of the elevated plateau
+just South of Young's Branch, and nearly midway between the Sudley road
+and Stone Bridge.</p>
+
+<p>The battle, as we have seen, has opened. As Burnside's Brigade appears
+on the slope, to the North of Buck Ridge (or Hill), it is received by a
+rapid, well-sustained, and uncomfortable, but not very destructive fire,
+from Evans's Artillery, and, as the Union regiments press forward, in
+column, full of impulsive ardor, the Enemy welcomes the head of the
+column with a hot musketry-fire also, delivered from the crest of the
+elevation behind which the Rebel Infantry lie flat upon the ground.</p>
+
+<p>This defense by Evan's demi-Brigade still continues, although half an
+hour, or more, has elapsed. Burnside has not yet been able to dislodge
+the Enemy from the position. Emboldened to temerity by this fact, Major
+Wheat's Louisiana battalion advances through the woods in front, upon
+Burnside, but is hurled back by a galling fire, which throws it into
+disorder and flight.</p>
+
+<p>At this moment, however, the brigades of Bee and Bartow&mdash;comprising the
+7th and 8th Georgia, 2nd Mississippi, 4th Alabama, 6th North Carolina,
+and two companies of the 11th Mississippi, with Imboden's Battery of
+four pieces&mdash;recently arrived with Johnston from Winchester, come up,
+form on the right of Sloan's 4th South Carolina Regiment, while Wheat
+rallies his remnant on Sloan's left, now resting on the Sudley road, and
+the whole new Rebel line opens a hot fire upon Burnside's Brigade.</p>
+
+<p>Hunter, for the purpose of better directing the Union attack, is at this
+moment rapidly riding to the left of the Union line,&mdash;which is advancing
+Southwardly, at right angles to Bull Run stream and the old line of
+Rebel defense thereon. He is struck by the fragment of a shell, and
+carried to the rear.</p>
+
+<p>Colonel John S. Slocum's, 2nd Rhode Island, Regiment, with Reynold's
+Rhode Island Battery (six 13-pounders), having been sent to the front of
+Burnside's left, and being closely pressed by the Enemy, Burnside's own
+regiment the 1st Rhode Island, is gallantly led by Major Balch to the
+support of the 2nd, and together they handsomely repulse the Rebel
+onset. Burnside now sends forward Martin's 71st New York, with its two
+howitzers, and Marston's 2nd New Hampshire,&mdash;his whole Brigade, of four
+regiments and a light artillery battery, being engaged with the heavy
+masked battery (Imboden's and two other pieces), and nearly seven full
+regiments of the Enemy.</p>
+
+<p>The regiments of Burnside's Brigade are getting considerably cut up.
+Colonels Slocum and Marston, and Major Balch, are wounded. There is
+some confusion in the ranks, and the Rhode Island Battery is in danger
+of capture, when General Andrew Porter&mdash;whose own brigade has just
+reached the field and is deploying to the right of Burnside's&mdash;succeeds
+Hunter in command of the division, and rides over to his left. Burnside
+asks him for Sykes's battalion of regulars, which is accordingly
+detached from the extreme right of Andrew Porter's Division, rapidly
+forms on the left, in support of the Rhode Island Battery, and opens a
+hot and effective fire which, in connection with the renewed fire of
+Burnside's rallied regiments, and the opening artillery practice of
+Griffin's Battery&mdash;that has just come up at a gallop and gone into a
+good position upon an eminence to the right of Porter's Division, and to
+the right of the Sudley road looking South&mdash;fairly staggers the Enemy.</p>
+
+<p>And now the brigades of Sherman and Keyes, having been ordered across
+Bull Run by General Tyler, are seen advancing from Poplar Ford, at the
+rear of our left,&mdash;Sherman's Brigade, headed by Corcoran's 69th New York
+Regiment, coming up on Burnside's left, while Keves's Brigade is
+following, to the left again of, Sherman.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [Sherman, in his Official Report, after mentioning the receipt by
+ him of Tyler's order to "cross over with the whole brigade to the
+ assistance of Colonel Hunter"&mdash;which he did, so far as the Infantry
+ was concerned, but left his battery under Ayres behind, on account
+ of the impassability of the bluff on the Western bank of Bull
+ Run&mdash;says: "Early in the day, when reconnoitering the ground, I had seen
+ a horseman descend from a bluff in our front, cross the stream, and
+ show himself in the open field, and, inferring we could cross over
+ at the same point, I sent forward a company as skirmishers, and
+ followed with the whole brigade, the New York Sixty-ninth leading."</p>
+
+<p> This is evidently the ford at the elbow of Bull Run, to the right
+ of Sherman's front, which is laid down on the Army-maps as "Poplar
+ Ford," and which McDowell's engineers had previously discovered and
+ mapped; and to which Major Barnard of the U. S. Engineer Corps
+ alludes when, in his Official Report, he says: "Midway between the
+ Stone Bridge and Sudley Spring our maps indicated another ford,
+ which was said to be good."</p>
+
+<p> The Comte de Paris, at page 241, vol. I. of his admirable "History
+ of the Civil War in America," and perhaps other Military
+ historians, having assumed and stated&mdash;upon the strength of this
+ passage in Sherman's Report&mdash;that "the Military instinct" of that
+ successful soldier had "discovered" this ford; and the impression
+ being thus conveyed, however undesignedly, to their readers, that
+ McDowell's Engineer corps, after spending two or three days in
+ reconnaissances, had failed to find the ford which Sherman had in a
+ few minutes "discovered" by "Military instinct;" it is surely due
+ to the truth of Military history, that the Engineers be fairly
+ credited with the discovery and mapping of that ford, the existence
+ of which should also have been known to McDowell's brigade
+ commanders.</p>
+
+<p> If, on the other hand, the Report of the Rebel Captain Arthur L.
+ Rogers, of the Loudoun Artillery, to General Philip St. George
+ Cocke, be correct, it would seem that Sherman attempted to cross
+ Bull Run lower down than Poplar Ford, which is "about one mile
+ above the Stone Bridge," but was driven back by the fire of
+ Rogers's guns to cross at that particular ford; for Rogers, in that
+ Report, says that about 11 o'clock A. M., the first section of the
+ Loudoun Artillery, under his command, "proceeded to the crest of
+ the hill on the West Side of Bull Run, commanding Stone Bridge. *
+ * * Here." continues he, "I posted my section of Artillery, and
+ opened a brisk fire upon a column of the Enemy's Infantry, supposed
+ to be two regiments, advancing towards me, and supported by his
+ battery of rifled cannon on the hills opposite. These poured into
+ my section a steady fire of shot and shell. After giving them some
+ fifty rounds, I succeeded in heading his column, and turned it up
+ Bull Run to a ford about one mile above Stone Bridge, where, with
+ the regiments which followed, they crossed, and proceeded to join
+ the rest of the Enemy's forces in front of the main body of our
+ Army."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>Before this developing, expanding, and advancing attack of the Union
+forces, the Rebel General Bee, who&mdash;since his coming up to support
+Evans, with his own and Bartow's Brigades, to which had since been added
+Hampton's Legion,&mdash;has been in command of this new Rebel line of defense
+upon the left of the Bull Run line, concludes that that attack is
+getting too strong for him, and orders his forces to retreat to the
+Southward, and re-form on a second line, parallel to their present line,
+and behind the rising ground at their rear. They do so, somewhat faster
+than he desires. The whole line of the Rebel centre gives way, followed
+by the wings, as far as the victorious Union troops can see.</p>
+
+<p>We must be blind if we cannot perceive that thus far, the outlook, from
+the Union point of view,&mdash;despite numberless mistakes of detail, and
+some, perhaps, more general in their character&mdash;is very good. The "Boys
+in Blue" are irresistibly advancing, driving the "Rebel Gray" back and
+back, without let or hindrance, over the Buck Hill ridge, over Young's
+Branch, back to, and even over, the Warrenton Pike. Time, to be sure,
+is flying&mdash;valuable time; but the Enemy also is retiring.&mdash;There is some
+slight confusion in parts of our own ranks; but there is much more in
+his. At present, we have decidedly the best of it. McDowell's plan has
+been, thus far, successful. Will that success continue? We shall see.</p>
+
+<p>Heintzelman's Division is coming, up from the rear, to the Union
+right&mdash;Franklin's Brigade, made up of the 5th and 11th Massachusetts, and 1st
+Minnesota, with Ricketts's splendid battery of six 10-pounder Parrotts,
+forming on the right of Andrew Porter's Brigade and Division; while
+Willcox's demi-Brigade, with its 11th ("Fire Zouaves") and 38th New
+York&mdash;having left Arnold's Battery of four pieces, with the 1st Michigan
+as its support, posted on a hill commanding Sudley's Ford&mdash;comes in, on
+the right of Franklin, thus forming the extreme right of the advancing
+Union line of attack.</p>
+
+<p>As our re-enforcing brigades come up, on our right, and on our left, the
+Enemy falls back, more and more discouraged and dismayed. It seems to
+him, as it does to us, "as though nothing can stop us." Jackson,
+however, is now hurrying up to the relief of the flying and disordered
+remnants of Bee's, Bartow's, and Evans's Brigades; and these
+subsequently rally, with Hampton's Legion, upon Jackson's strong brigade
+of fresh troops, so that, on a third new line, to which they have been
+driven back, they soon have&mdash;6,500 Infantry, 13 pieces of Artillery, and
+Stuart's cavalry&mdash;posted in a belt of pines which fringes the Southern
+skirt of the Henry House plateau&mdash;in a line-of-battle which, with its
+left resting upon the Sudley road, three-quarters of a mile South of its
+intersection with the Warrenton Pike, is the irregular hypothenuse of a
+right-angled triangle, formed by itself and those two intersecting
+roads, to the South-East of such intersection. It is within this
+right-angled triangular space that the battle, now proceeding, bids fair to
+rage most fiercely.</p>
+
+<p>Johnston and Beauregard, riding up from their rear, reach this new
+(third) line to which the Rebel troops have been driven, about noon.
+They find the brigades of Bee, Bartow, and Evans, falling back in great
+disorder, and taking shelter in a wooded ravine, South of the Robinson
+House and of the Warrenton Pike. Hampton's Legion, which has just been
+driven backward over the Pike, with great loss, still holds the Robinson
+House. Jackson, however, has reached the front of this line of defense,
+with his brigade of the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 27th, and 33rd Virginia Infantry,
+and Pendleton's Battery&mdash;all of which have been well rested, since their
+arrival, with other brigades of Johnston's Army of the Shenandoah, from
+Winchester, a day or two back.</p>
+
+<p>As Jackson comes up, on the left of "the ravine and woods occupied by
+the mingled remnants of Bee's, Bartow's and Evans's commands," he posts
+Imboden's, Stanard's, and Pendleton's Batteries in line, "below the brim
+of the Henry House plateau," perhaps one-eighth of a mile to the
+East-Southeastward of the Henry House, at his centre; Preston's 4th Virginia,
+and Echol's 27th Virginia, at the rear of the battery-line; Harper's 5th
+Virginia, with Radford's Cavalry, at its right; and, on its left,
+Allen's 2nd Virginia; with Cumming's 33rd Virginia to the left of that
+again, and Stuart's Cavalry covering the Rebel left flank.</p>
+
+<p>It is about this time that the chief Rebel generals find their position
+so desperate, as to necessitate extraordinary measures, and personal
+exposure, on their part. Now it is, that Jackson earns the famous
+sobriquet which sticks to him until he dies.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p>
+ [Bee approaches Jackson&mdash;so goes the story, according to Swinton;
+ he points to the disordered remnants of his own brigade mingled
+ with those of the brigades of Bartow and Evans huddled together in
+ the woods, and exclaims: "General, they are beating us back!"
+ "Sir," responds Jackson, drawing himself up, severely, "We'll give
+ them the bayonet!" And Bee, rushing back among his confused troops,
+ rallies them with the cry: "There is Jackson, standing like a Stone
+ wall! Let us determine to die here, and we will conquer."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>Now it is, that Johnston and Beauregard, accompanied by their staffs,
+ride backward and forward among the Rebel ranks, rallying and
+encouraging them. Now it is, that, Bee and Bartow and Hampton being
+wounded, and the Lieutenant-Colonel of the Hampton Legion killed,
+Beauregard leads a gallant charge of that legion in person. And now it
+is, that Johnston himself, finding all the field-officers of the 4th
+Alabama disabled, "impressively and gallantly charges to the front" with
+the colors of that regiment at his side!</p>
+
+<p>These conspicuous examples of bravery, inspire the Rebel troops with
+fresh courage, at this admittedly "critical" moment.</p>
+
+<p>Johnston now assigns to Beauregard the chief "command of the left" of
+the Bull Run line,&mdash;that is to say, the chief command of the Enemy's new
+line of defense, which, as we have seen, is on the left of, and at right
+angles to, the old Bull Run line&mdash;while he himself, riding back to the
+Lewis House, resumes "the command of the whole field."</p>
+
+<p>On his way to his rear, Johnston orders Cocke to send reenforcements to
+Beauregard. He also dispatches orders to hurry up to that Rebel
+general's support, the brigades of Holmes and Early from near the Union
+Mills Ford, and that of Bonham from Mitchell's Ford,&mdash;Ewell with his
+brigade, being also directed to "follow with all speed" from Union
+Mills Ford-making a total of over 10,000 fresh troops.</p>
+
+<p>From the "commanding elevation" of the Lewis House, Johnston can observe
+the position of the Union forces beyond Bull Run, at Blackburn's Ford
+and Stone Bridge; the coming of his own re-enforcing brigades from far
+down the valley, toward Manassas; and the manoeuvres of our advancing
+columns under McDowell.</p>
+
+<p>As the battle proceeds, the Enemy's strength on the third new line of
+defense increases, until he has 22 guns, 260 Cavalry, and 12 regiments
+of Infantry, now engaged. It is interesting to observe also, that, of
+these, 16 of the guns, 9 of the regiments, and all of the Cavalry
+(Stuart's), belong to Johnston's Army of the Shenandoah, while only 6
+guns and 3 Infantry regiments thus engaged, belong to Beauregard's Army
+of the Potomac. Thus the burden of the battle has been, and is being,
+borne by Johnston's, and not Beauregard's troops&mdash;in the proportion of
+about three of the former, to one of the latter,&mdash;which, for over two
+hours, maintain their position despite many successive assaults we make
+upon them.</p>
+
+<p>It is after 2 o'clock P.M., when Howard's Brigade, of Heintzelman's
+Division, reaches the battle-field, almost broken down with exhaustion.
+By order of Heintzelman it has moved at double-quick for a mile of the
+way, until, under the broiling heat, it can do so no longer. The last
+two miles of the weary tramp, while the head of the brigade has moved at
+quick time, the rear, having lost distances, moves, much of the time, at
+a double-quick. As a consequence, many of Howard's men drop out, and
+absolutely faint from exhaustion.</p>
+
+<p>As Howard's Brigade approaches the field, besides the ambulances and
+litters, conveying to the rear the wounded and dying, crowds of
+retreating stragglers meet and tell it to hurry along; that the Enemy
+has been driven back a mile; but, as it marches along, its regiments do
+not feel particularly encouraged by the disorganization so prevalent;
+and the fact that as they come into action, the thunders of the Rebel
+Artillery do not seem to meet an adequately voluminous response&mdash;from
+the Union side, seems to them, a portent of evil. Weary and fagged out,
+they are permitted to rest, for a while, under cover.</p>
+
+<p>Up to this time, our line, increased, as it has been, by the brigades of
+Sherman and Keyes, on the left of Burnside, and of Franklin and Wilcox,
+on the right of Porter, has continued to advance victoriously. Our
+troops are, to be sure, considerably scattered, having been "moved from
+point to point" a good deal. On our left, the Enemy has been driven
+back nearly a mile, and Keyes's Brigade is pushing down Bull Run, under
+shelter of the bluffs, trying to turn the right of the Enemy's new line,
+and give Schenck's Brigade a better chance for crossing the Stone
+Bridge, still commanded by some of the Rebel guns.</p>
+
+<p>Having "nothing to do" there, "several of the Union regiments" are
+coming over, from our left toward our right, with a view of overlapping,
+and turning, the Enemy's left.</p>
+
+<p>It is about half past 2 o'clock. The batteries of Griffin and Ricketts
+have already been advanced as far as the eminence, upon our right, upon
+which stands the Dogan House. Supported by Lyons's gallant 14th New
+York Chasseurs, Griffin's and Ricketts's Batteries are still pouring a
+terribly destructive fire into the batteries and columns of the Enemy,
+now behind the brow of the Henry House hill, wherever exposed, while
+Palmer's seven companies of Union Cavalry are feeling the Enemy's left
+flank, which McDowell proposes to turn. The flags of eight Union
+regiments, though "borne somewhat wearily" now point toward the hilly
+Henry House plateau, beyond which "disordered masses of Rebels" have
+been seen "hastily retiring."</p>
+
+<p>There is a lull in the battle. The terrible heat is exhausting to the
+combatants on both sides. Griffin and Ricketts have wrought such havoc
+with their guns, that "nothing remains to be fired at." Victory seems
+most surely to be ours.</p>
+
+<p>Away down at his headquarters at the Lewis House, the Rebel General
+Johnston stands watching the progress of the battle, as it goes against
+him. Nervously he glances, every now and then, over his left shoulder,
+as if expecting something. An officer is galloping toward him, from
+Manassas. He comes from the office of Beauregard's Adjutant-General, at
+that point. He rides up and salutes. "General," says he, breathlessly,
+"a United States Army has reached the line of the Manassas Gap railroad,
+and is now but three or four miles from our left flank!"</p>
+
+<p>Johnston clenches his teeth nervously. Thick beads of perspiration
+start from his forehead. He believes it is Patterson's Army that has
+followed "upon his heels" from before Winchester, faster than has been
+anticipated; and, as he thinks of Kirby Smith, who should long since
+have arrived with Elzey's Brigade&mdash;all, of his own "Army of the
+Shenandoah," that has not yet followed him to Manassas,&mdash;the exclamation
+involuntarily bursts from his lips: "Oh, for four regiments!"</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [Says a correspondent and eye-witness of the battle, writing to the
+ Richmond Dispatch, from the battle-field, July 23d: "Between two
+ and three o'clock large numbers of men were leaving the field, some
+ of them wounded, others exhausted by the long struggle, who gave us
+ gloomy reports; but, as the firing on both sides continued
+ steadily, we felt sure that our brave Southerners had not been
+ conquered by the overwhelming hordes of the North. It is, however,
+ due to truth to say that the result at this hour hung trembling in
+ the balance. We had lost numbers of our most distinguished
+ officers. Gens. Barlow and Bee had been stricken down; Lieut; Col.
+ Johnson of the Hampton Legion had been killed; Col. Hampton had
+ been wounded. But there was at hand a fearless general whose
+ reputation was staked on this battle: Gen. Beauregard promptly
+ offered to lead the Hampton Legion into action, which he executed
+ in a style unsurpassed and unsurpassable. Gen. Beauregard rode up
+ and down our lines, between the Enemy and his own men, regardless
+ of the heavy fire, cheering and encouraging our troops. About this
+ time, a shell struck his horse, taking its head off, and killing
+ the horses of his aides, Messrs. Ferguson and Hayward. * * * Gen.
+ Johnston also threw himself into the thickest of the fight, seizing
+ the colors of a Georgia (Alabama) regiment, and rallying then to
+ the charge. * * * Your correspondent heard Gen. Johnston exclaim
+ to Gen. Cocke, just at the critical moment, 'Oh, for four
+ regiments!' His wish was answered; for in the distance our
+ re-enforcements appeared. The tide of battle was turned in our favor
+ by the arrival of Gen. Kirby Smith, from Winchester, with 4,000 men
+ of Gen. Johnston's Division. Gen. Smith heard, while on the
+ Manassas Railroad cars, the roar of battle. He stopped the train,
+ and hurried his troops across the fields to the point just where he
+ was most needed. They were at first supposed to be the Enemy,
+ their arrival at that point of the field being entirely unexpected.
+ The Enemy fell back, and a panic seized them. Cheer after cheer
+ from our men went up, and we knew the battle had been won."</p>
+
+<p> Another Rebel correspondent who, as an officer of the Kentucky
+ battalion of General Johnston's Division of the Rebel Army,
+ participated in the battle, wrote to the Louisville Courier from
+ Manassas, July 22, an account of it, in which, after mentioning
+ that the Rebel Army had been forced back for two miles, he
+ continues; "The fortunes of the day were evidently against us.
+ Some of our best officers had been slain, and the flower of our
+ Army lay strewn upon the field, ghastly in death or gaping with
+ wounds. At noon, the cannonading is described as terrific. It was
+ an incessant roar for more than two hours, the havoc and
+ devastation at this time being fear ful. McDowell * * * had nearly
+ outflanked us, and they were just in the act of possessing
+ themselves of the Railway to Richmond. Then all would have been
+ lost. But most opportunely&mdash;I may say Providentially&mdash;at this
+ juncture, Gen. Johnston, [Kirby Smith it should be] with the
+ remnant of Johnston's Division&mdash;our Army, as we fondly call it, for
+ we have been friends and brothers in camp and field for three
+ months&mdash;reappeared, and made one other desperate struggle to obtain
+ the vantage-ground. Elzey's Brigade of Marylanders and Virginians
+ led the charge; and right manfully did they execute the work,"]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>"The prayer of the wicked availeth not," 'tis said; yet never was the
+prayer of the righteous more quickly answered than is that of the Rebel
+General-in-chief! Johnston himself, alluding to this exigent moment,
+afterward remarks, in his report: "The expected reenforcements appeared
+soon after." Instead of Patterson's Union Army, it is Kirby Smith,
+coming up, with Elzey's Brigade, from Winchester!</p>
+
+<p>Satisfied of the safe arrival of Kirby Smith, and ordering him up, with
+Elzey's Brigade, Johnston directs Kershaw's 2nd and Cash's 8th South
+Carolina Regiments, which have just come up, with Kemper's Battery, from
+Bonham's Brigade, to strengthen the Rebel left, against the attempt
+which we are still making to reach around it, about the Sudley road, to
+take it in reverse. Fisher's 6th North Carolina Regiment arriving about
+the same time, is also hurried along to help Beauregard.</p>
+
+<p>But during the victorious lull, heretofore alluded to, something is
+happening on our side, that is of very serious moment. Let us see what
+it is:</p>
+
+<p>The batteries of Griffin and Ricketts, at the Dogan House, having
+nothing to fire at, as we have seen, are resting, pleased with the
+consciousness of their brilliant and victorious service against the
+Rebel batteries and Infantry columns, when they are ordered by McDowell
+&mdash;who, with his staff, is upon elevated ground to the rear of our
+right,&mdash;to advance 1,000 yards further to the front, "upon a hill near
+the Henry House."</p>
+
+<p>Ricketts considers this a perilous job&mdash;but proceeds to execute the
+order as to his own battery. A small ravine is in his front. With
+Ricketts gallantly leading, the battery dashes across the ravine at full
+gallop, breaking one wheel as it goes, which is at once replaced. A
+fence lies across the way. The cannoniers demolish it. The battery
+ascends the hill near the Henry House, which is full of the Enemy's
+sharpshooters.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [For this, and what immediately follows, see the testimony of
+ Ricketts and others, before the Committee on the Conduct of the
+ War.]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>Soon as Ricketts gets his guns in battery, his men and horses begin to
+fall, under the fire of these sharpshooters. He turns his guns upon the
+Henry House,&mdash;and "literally riddles it." Amid the moans of the
+wounded, the death scream of a woman is heard! The Enemy had permitted
+her to remain in her doomed house!</p>
+
+<p>But the execution is not all on one side, by any means. Ricketts is in
+a very hot place&mdash;the hottest, he afterward declares, that he has ever
+seen in his life&mdash;and he has seen fighting before this.</p>
+
+<p>The Enemy is behind the woods, at the front and right of Ricketts's
+Battery. This, with the added advantage of the natural slope of the
+ground, enables him to deliver upon the brave Union artillerists a
+concentrated fire, which is terribly destructive, and disables so many
+of Rickett's horses that he cannot move, if he would. Rickett's own
+guns, however, are so admirably served, that a smooth-bore battery of
+the Enemy, which has been stubbornly opposing him, is driven back,
+despite its heavy supports.</p>
+
+<p>And Griffin's Battery now comes rapidly up into position on the left of,
+and in line with, Ricketts. For Griffin also has been ordered from the
+Dogan House hill, to this new, and dangerously exposed, position.</p>
+
+<p>But when Major Barry, General McDowell's Chief of Artillery, brings him
+the order, Griffin hesitates&mdash;for he has no Infantry support.</p>
+
+<p>"The Fire Zouaves&mdash;[The 11th New York]&mdash;will support you," says Barry,
+"They are just ready to follow you at the double-quick!"</p>
+
+<p>"Then why not let them go and get in position on the hill," says
+Griffin; "then, let Ricketts's and my batteries come into battery
+behind; and then, let them (the Zouaves) fall back?"</p>
+
+<p>Griffin advises, also, as a better position for his own battery, a hill
+500 yards in the rear of the Henry House hill. But advice is thrown
+away. His artillery-chief is inflexible.</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you," says Griffin again, "the Fire Zouaves won't support us."</p>
+
+<p>"They will," replies Barry. "At any rate it is General McDowell's order
+to go there!"</p>
+
+<p>That settles the business. "I will go," responds Griffin; "but mark my
+words, they will not support us!"</p>
+
+<p>Griffin's Battery, indeed, starts first, but, owing to the mistake of
+one of his officers, it has to be countermarched, so that Ricketts's is
+thrown to the front, and, as we have seen, first reaches the crest of
+the Henry House hill.</p>
+
+<p>Griffin, as he comes up with his guns, goes into battery on the left of
+Ricketts, and at once opens briskly on the Enemy. One of Griffin's guns
+has a ball lodged in the bore, which cannot be got in or out. His other
+five guns, with the six guns of Ricketts, make eleven pieces, which are
+now side by side-all of them driving away at the Enemy's (Stonewall
+Jackson's) strong batteries, not more than 300 yards away.</p>
+
+<p>They have been at it half an hour perhaps, when Griffin moves two of his
+pieces to the right of Ricketts, and commences firing with them. He has
+hardly been there five minutes, when a Rebel regiment coming out of the
+woods at Griffin's right front, gets over a rail fence, its Colonel
+steps out between his regiment (now standing up to the knees in rank
+grass) and the battery, and commences a speech to his men!</p>
+
+<p>Griffin orders one of his officers to load with canister, and let drive
+at them. The guns are loaded, and ready to fire, when up gallops Barry,
+exclaiming: "Captain, don't fire there; those are your
+battery-supports!"</p>
+
+<p>At this supreme moment, Reynolds's gorgeous looking Marines are sitting
+down in close column, on the ground, to the left of the Union batteries.
+The showy 11th New York "Fire Zouaves" are a little to the rear of the
+right of the guns. The gallant 14th New York Chasseurs, in their
+dust-covered red uniforms, who had followed Griffin's Battery, at some
+distance, have, only a little while since, pushed finely up, from the
+ravine at the rear of our batteries, into the woods, to the right of
+Griffin and Ricketts, at a double-quick. To the left of the batteries,
+close to the battalion of Marines, Heintzelman bestrides his horse, near
+some of his own Division.</p>
+
+<p>To Major Barry's startling declaration, Captain Griffin excitedly
+shouts: "They are Confederates! Sure as the world, they are
+Confederates!"</p>
+
+<p>But Barry thinks he knows better, and hastily responds: "I know they are
+your battery-support."</p>
+
+<p>Griffin spurs toward his pieces, countermands his previous order, and
+firing is resumed in the old direction.</p>
+
+<p>Andrew Porter, has just ridden up to Heintzelman's side, and now catches
+sight of the Rebel regiment. "What troops are those?" he asks of
+General Hientzelman, pointing in their direction.</p>
+
+<p>While Heintzelman is replying, and just as Averell drops his reins and
+levels his field-glass at them, "down come their pieces-rifles and
+muskets,&mdash;and probably," as Averell afterward said, "there never was
+such a destructive fire for a few minutes. It seemed as though every
+man and horse of that battery just laid right down, and died right off!"</p>
+
+<p>It is a dreadful mistake that has been made. And there seems to have
+been no excuse for it either. The deliberateness of the Rebel colonel
+has given Barry abundant time to have discovered his error. For Griffin
+subsequently declared, under oath, that, "After the officer who had been
+talking to the regiment had got through, he faced them to the left,
+marched them about fifty yards to the woods, then faced them to the
+right again, marched them about forty yards toward us, then opened fire
+upon us&mdash;and that was the last of us!"</p>
+
+<p>It is a terrible blunder. For, up to this moment, the battle is
+undeniably ours. And, while the Rebel colonel has been haranguing his
+brave men, there has been plenty of time to have "passed the word" along
+the line of our batteries, and poured canister into the Rebel regiment
+from the whole line of eleven guns, at point-blank range, which must
+inevitably have cut it all to pieces. The fate of the day hung balanced
+right there and then&mdash;with all the chances in favor of McDowell. But
+those chances are now reversed. Such are the fickle changes in the
+fortunes of battle!</p>
+
+<p>Instead of our batteries cutting to pieces the Rebel Infantry regiment,
+the Rebel Infantry regiment has mowed down the gallant artillerists of
+our batteries. Hardly a man of them escapes. Death and destruction
+reap a wondrous and instant harvest. Wounded, dying, or dead, lie the
+brave cannoniers at their guns, officers and men alike hors du combat,
+while wounded horses gallop wildly back, with bounding caissons, down
+the gentle declivity, carrying disorder, and further danger, in their
+mad flight.</p>
+
+<p>The supporting Fire Zouaves and Marines, on the right and left of our
+line of guns, stand, with staring eyes and dumb open-mouths, at the
+sudden turn of affairs. They are absolutely paralyzed with
+astonishment. They do not run at first. They stand, quaking and
+panic-stricken. They are urged to advance upon the Rebel regiment&mdash;"to give
+them a volley, and then try the bayonet." In vain! They fire perhaps
+100 scattering shots; and receive in return, as they break and run down
+the hill to the rear, volley after volley, of deadly lead, from the
+Rebel muskets.</p>
+
+<p>But, as this Rebel regiment (Cummings's 33rd Virginia) advances to seize
+the crippled and defenceless guns, it is checked, and driven back, by
+the 1st Michigan Regiment of Willcox's Brigade, which has pushed forward
+in the woods at our extreme right.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, having been ordered by McDowell to support Ricketts's
+Battery, Howard has formed his four tired regiments into two
+lines&mdash;Berry's 4th Maine, and Whitney's 2nd Vermont, on the right and left of
+the first; and Dunnell's 5th, and his own 3rd Maine, under Staples, in
+the second line. Howard himself leads his first line up the elevated
+plateau of the Henry House. Reaching the crest, the line delivers its
+fire, volley after volley, despite the concentrated hail of the Enemy's
+Artillery and muskets. As the second line advances, a Rebel
+cannon-ball, and an unfortunate charge of our own Cavalry, scatters most of the
+5th Maine. The 2nd Vermont, which has advanced 200 yards beyond the
+crest, rapidly firing, while the Enemy retires, is now, in turn, forced
+back by the Enemy's hot fire, and is replaced by the 3rd Maine, while
+the remnant of the 5th moves up to the extreme right of Howard's now
+single line. But the Rebel fire grows hotter and hotter, and owing to
+this, and a misunderstood order, Howard's line begins to dissolve, and
+then retires in confusion,&mdash;Howard and others vainly striving to rally
+his own utterly exhausted men.</p>
+
+<p>Sherman's Brigade, too, has come over from our left, and now advances
+upon the deadly plateau, where lie the disabled Union batteries&mdash;the
+prizes, in full sight of both Armies, for which each seems now to be so
+desperately striving.</p>
+
+<p>Quinby's 13th New York Rifles, in column of companies, leads the
+brigade, followed by Lieutenant-Colonel Peck's 2d Wisconsin, Cameron's
+79th New York (Highlanders), and Corcoran's 69th New York (Irish), "in
+line of battle." Down the slope, across the ravine, and up, on the
+other side, steadily presses Quinby, till he reaches the crest. He
+opens fire. An advancing Rebel regiment retires, as he pushes up to
+where the Union batteries and cannoniers lie wounded and dying&mdash;the
+other three regiments following in line-of-battle until near the crest,
+when the fire of the Enemy's rifles and musketry, added to his heavy
+cannonading, grows so severe that the brigade is forced back to shelter
+in a roadway leading up the plateau.</p>
+
+<p>Peck's 2nd Wisconsin, now emerges from this sheltered roadway, and
+steadily mounts the elevation, in the face of the Enemy's severe
+fire-returning it, with spirit, as it advances. But the Rebel fire becomes
+too galling. The gray-clad Wisconsin boys return to the sheltered road
+again, while the cry goes up from Sherman's ranks: "Our own men are
+firing at them!" Rallying at the road, the 2nd Wisconsin again returns,
+with desperate courage, to the crest of the hill, delivers its fire, and
+then, unable to withstand the dreadful carnage, falls back once more, in
+disorder.</p>
+
+<p>At this, the 79th (Highland) Regiment springs forward, to mount the brow
+of the fatal hill, swept as it is, with this storm of shot and shell and
+musket-balls. Up, through the lowering smoke, lit with the Enemy's
+incessant discharges in the woods beyond, the brave Highlanders jauntily
+march, and, with Cameron and their colors at their head, charge
+impetuously across the bloody hill-crest, and still farther, to the
+front. But it is not in human nature to continue that advance in the
+teeth of the withering fire from Jackson's batteries, strengthened, as
+they are, by Pelham's and Kemper's. The gallant fellows fall back,
+rally again, advance once more, retire again, and at last,&mdash;the heroic
+Cameron being mortally wounded,&mdash;fall back, in confusion, under the
+cover of the hill.</p>
+
+<p>And now, while Quinby's Regiment, on another ridge, more to the left, is
+also again engaging the Enemy, the 69th New York, led by the fearless
+Corcoran, dashes forward, up the Henry House hill, over the forbidding
+brow, and beyond. As the brave Irishmen reach the abandoned batteries,
+the hoarse roar of cannon, the sharp rattle of musketry-volleys, the
+scream of shot and shell, and the whistling of bullets, is at once
+deafening and appalling, while the air seems filled with the iron and
+leaden sleet which sweeps across the scorched and blasted plateau of the
+Henry House. Nobly the Irish Regiment holds its ground for a time; but,
+at last, it too falls back, before the hurtling tempest.</p>
+
+<p>The fortunes of the day are plainly turning against us. Time is also
+against us&mdash;as it has been all along&mdash;while it is with the Enemy. It is
+past 3 o'clock.</p>
+
+<p>Since we last looked at Beauregard's third new defensive line, there
+have been material accessions to it. The remains of the brigades of
+Bee, Evans, and Bartow, have been reformed on the right of Jackson's
+Brigade&mdash;Bee on his immediate right, Evans to the right of Bee, and
+Bartow to the right of Evans, with a battery which has been engaging
+Schenck's Brigade on the other side of Bull Run near the Stone Bridge;
+while Cocke's Brigade watches Bull Run to the rear of Bartow. On the
+left of Jackson's. Brigade, is now to be seen a part of Bonham's
+Brigade (Kershaw's 2nd South Carolina, and Cash's 8th South Carolina)
+with Kemper's Battery on its left. Kirby Smith has reached the front,
+from Manassas, and&mdash;in advancing from his position on the left of
+Bonham's demi-Brigade, just West of the Sudley road, with Elzey's
+Brigade, in a counter-attack upon our right-is wounded, and carried to
+the rear, leaving his command to Elzey. Stuart's Cavalry are in the
+woods, still farther to the Enemy's left, supporting Beckham's Battery.
+Early's Brigade is also coming up, from Union Mills Ford, not far to the
+rear of the Enemy's left, with the design of coming into line between
+Elzey's Brigade and Beckham's Battery, and out-flanking and attacking
+our right. But let us bring our eyes back to the bloody contest, still
+going on, for the possession of the batteries of Griffin and Ricketts.</p>
+
+<p>Arnold's Battery has raced up on our right, and is delivering shot,
+shell, spherical case, and canister, with effect, although exposed to a
+severe and accurate fire from the Enemy. Wilcox, with what is left of
+the 1st Michigan, after once retaking the batteries on the plateau, from
+the 7th Georgia, has got around the Enemy's left flank and is actually
+engaged with the Enemy's rear, while that Enemy's front is engaged with
+Franklin and Sherman! But Hobart Ward's 38th New York, which Wilcox has
+ordered up to support the 1st Michigan, on our extreme right, in this
+flanking movement, has been misdirected, and is now attacking the
+Enemy's centre, instead of his left; and Preston's 28th Virginia&mdash;which,
+with Withers's 18th Virginia, has come up to the Rebel left, from
+Cocke's Brigade, on the Enemy's right&mdash;finding the 1st Michigan broken,
+in the woods, attacks it, and wounds and captures Wilcox. Withers's
+Regiment has, with a yell&mdash;the old "Rebel yell," now rising everywhere
+from Rebel throats, and so often heard afterward,&mdash;charged the 14th New
+York Chasseurs, in the woods; and the Chasseurs, though retiring, have
+fired upon it with such precision as to throw some of their assailants
+into disorder.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [Says General Keyes, who had kept on down the Run, "on the extreme
+ left of our advance&mdash;having separated from Sherman on his right:&mdash;I
+ thought the day was won about 2 o'clock; but about half past 3
+ o'clock a sudden change in the firing took place, which, to my ear,
+ was very ominous. I knew that the moment the shout went up from
+ the other side, there appeared to be an instantaneous change in the
+ whole sound of the battle. * * * That, as far as I can learn, was
+ the shout that went up from the Enemy's line when they found out
+ for certain that it was Johnston [Kirby Smith] and not Patterson,
+ that had come."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>Meanwhile McDowell is making one more effort to retrieve the misfortunes
+of the day. Lawrence's 5th, and Clark's 11th Massachusetts, with
+Gorman's 1st Minnesota,&mdash;all belonging to Franklin's Brigade&mdash;together
+with Corcoran's 69th New York, of Sherman's Brigade, have been brought
+into line-of-battle, by the united efforts of Franklin, Averell, and
+other officers, at our centre, and with the remnants of two or three
+other regiments, are moving against the Enemy's centre, to support the
+attack of the Chasseurs&mdash;rallied and led forward again by Heintzelman
+upon the Rebel left, and that of the 38th New York upon the Rebel left
+centre,&mdash;in another effort to recapture the abandoned batteries.</p>
+
+<p>Charge after charge, is made by our gallant regiments, and
+counter-charge after counter-charge, is made by the fresh troops of the Enemy.
+For almost half an hour, has the contest over the batteries rolled
+backward and forward. Three several times have the batteries been
+taken, and re-taken,&mdash;much of the determined and desperate struggle
+going on, over the prostrate and bleeding bodies of the brave Union
+artillerists,&mdash;but without avail. Regiment after regiment, has been
+thrown back, by the deadly fusillade of the Enemy's musketry from the
+skirt of woods at his front and left, and the canister, case, and
+bursting shells, of his rapidly-served Artillery.</p>
+
+<p>It is now near upon 4 o'clock. Our last effort to recapture the
+batteries has failed. The Union line of advance has been seriously
+checked. Some of our own guns in those batteries are turned on us. The
+Enemy's Infantry make a rush over the blood-soaked brow of the fatal
+plateau, pouring into our men a deadly fire, as they advance,&mdash;while
+over to our right and rear, at the same moment, are seen the fresh
+regiments of Early's Brigade coming out of the woods&mdash;deploying rapidly
+in several lines&mdash;with Stuart's handful of Rebel Cavalry, while
+Beckham's guns, in the same quarter, open an oblique enfilading reverse
+fire upon us, in a lively manner.</p>
+
+<p>At once the minds of the fagged-out Union troops become filled with the
+dispiriting idea that the exhausting fight which they have made all day
+long, has been simply with Beauregard's Army of the Potomac, and that
+these fresh Rebel troops, on the Union right and rear, are the vanguard
+of Johnston's Army of the Shenandoah! After all the hard marching and
+fighting they have done during the last thirteen hours,&mdash;with empty
+stomachs, and parched lips, under a scorching sun that still, as it
+descends in the West, glowers down upon them, through the murky air,
+like a great, red, glaring eye,&mdash;the very thought is terrible!</p>
+
+<p>Without fear, yet equally without hope, the Union troops crumble to
+groups, and then to individuals. The attempt of McDowell to turn the
+left of the Enemy's Bull Run line, has failed.</p>
+
+<p>McDowell and his officers heroically but vainly strive, at great
+personal risk to themselves, to stem the tide of confusion, and
+disorder. Sykes's battalion of regulars, which has been at our left,
+now steadily moves obliquely across the field of battle toward our
+right, to a hill in the midground, which it occupies, and, with the aid
+of Arnold's Battery and Palmer's Cavalry, holds, while the exhausted and
+disorganized troops of the Union Army doggedly and slowly retire toward
+Sudley Ford, their rear covered by an irregular square of Infantry,
+which, mainly by the exertions of Colonel Corcoran, has been formed to
+resist a threatened charge of Stuart's Cavalry.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [At the rate of "not more than two, or two and a half, miles an
+ hour," and not "helter-skelter," as some narrators state.]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>It is not fear, that has got the better of our Union troops. It is
+physical exhaustion for one thing; it is thirst for another. Men must
+drink,&mdash;even if they have foolishly thrown away their canteens,&mdash;and
+many have retired to get water. It is the moral effect also&mdash;the
+terrible disappointment&mdash;of seeing what they suppose are Johnston's
+fresh troops from the Shenandoah Valley, without Patterson "on their
+heels," suddenly appear on their flank and rear. It is not fear; though
+some of them are panic-stricken, and, as they catch sight of Stuart's
+mounted men,&mdash;no black horse or uniform among them,&mdash;raise the cry of
+"The Black Horse Cavalry!&mdash;The Black Horse Cavalry!"</p>
+
+<p>The Union attack has been repulsed, it is true; but the Union soldiers,
+though disorganized, discouraged, and disappointed, are not dismayed.
+Their officers not yet having learned how to fight, and themselves
+lacking the cohesion of discipline, the men have lost their regimental
+organizations, and owing to the causes mentioned, slowly retire across
+Sudley Ford of Bull Run, in a condition of disintegration, their retreat
+being bravely covered by the 27th and 69th New York, (which have rallied
+and formed there), Sykes's Infantry battalion, Arnold's Battery, and
+Palmer's Cavalry.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [In his report to Major Barnard, Capt. D. P. Woodbury, of the
+ corps of Engineers, says: "It is not for me to give a history of
+ the battle. The Enemy was driven on our left, from cover to cover,
+ a mile and a half. Our position for renewing the action the next
+ morning was excellent; whence, then, our failure? It will not be
+ out of place, I hope, for me to give my own opinion of the cause of
+ this failure. An old soldier feels safe in the ranks, unsafe out
+ of the ranks, and the greater the danger the more pertinaciously he
+ clings to his place. The volunteer of three months never attains
+ this instinct of discipline. Under danger, and even under mere
+ excitement, he flies away from his ranks, and looks for safety in
+ dispersion. At four o'clock in the afternoon of the 21st, there
+ were more than twelve thousand volunteers on the battle-field of
+ Bull Run, who had entirely lost their regimental organizations.
+ They could no longer be handled as troops, for the officers and men
+ were not together. Men and officers mingled together
+ promiscuously; and it is worthy of remark that this disorganization
+ did not result from defeat or fear, for up to four o'clock we had
+ been uniformly successful. The instinct of discipline, which keeps
+ every man in his place, had not been acquired. We cannot suppose
+ that the troops of the Enemy had attained a higher degree of
+ discipline than our own, but they acted on the defensive, and were
+ not equally exposed to disorganization."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>While the divisions of Hunter and Heintzelman, which came down in the
+morning across Sudley Ford, are now, with one brigade (Sherman's) of
+Tyler's Division, retiring again, in this disordered condition, by that
+ford; two other brigades of Tyler's Division, viz., that of
+Schenck&mdash;which, at 4 o'clock, was just in the act of advancing upon, and across,
+the Stone Bridge, to join in the Union attack, and of Keyes, which was,
+at the same time, just succeeding in its effort to turn the right flank
+of the Enemy's third new line,&mdash;are withdrawing from the field, across
+Bull Run stream, by the Warrenton Pike, and other roads leading them
+directly toward Centreville. The brigades of both Keyes and Schenck are
+retiring in good order; that of Keyes, at "an ordinary pace," following
+close after McDowell, who, with his staff, has ridden across the
+battlefield and Bull Run; while part of that of Schenck, united with the
+2nd Maine (of Keyes' Brigade) and Ayres's Battery, "promptly and
+effectively" repulses a charge of the Enemy's Cavalry, and covers the
+rear of Tyler's Division. Both of these brigades reach Centreville,
+hungry and weary, but otherwise, for the most part, in good shape.</p>
+
+<p>But during this grand all-day attack, by two of McDowell's divisions,
+directly aided by part of a third, upon the left of the Enemy's original
+Bull Run line of defense&mdash;which attack, while it has failed in its
+purpose, has also utterly upset and defeated the Enemy's purpose to
+carry out Beauregard's plan of attacking Centreville that same
+morning&mdash;what has the Left Wing of McDowell's Army been doing? Let us go back to
+Sunday morning, and ascertain:</p>
+
+<p>All the Army of McDowell, save his Left Wing&mdash;which, comprising the two
+brigades (Blenker's and Davies's) of Miles's Division, and Richardson's
+Brigade of Tyler's Division that fought the preliminary battle of
+Blackburn's Ford, is now under the command of Miles,&mdash;moved away from
+Centreville, down the Warrenton Pike, as we have seen, very early in the
+morning.</p>
+
+<p>Blenker remains with his brigade as a reserve, on the heights a little
+East of Centreville, to throw up intrenchments; which, however, he does
+not do, for lack of trenching implements. Richardson and Davies are to
+make a feint, at Blackburn's Ford, so as to draw the Enemy's troops
+there, while the heavy blow of McDowell's Right Wing and Centre falls
+upon the left flank and rear of the Enemy's Bull Run line.</p>
+
+<p>Richardson's Brigade is already down the ridge, in his old position at
+Blackburn's Ford, when Davies with his brigade reaches it, from
+Centreville, and, by virtue of seniority, takes command of the two
+brigades. Leaving Richardson's Brigade and Greene's Battery exactly on
+the battle-ground of the 18th July, Davies posts two regiments (the 18th
+and 32nd New York) of his own brigade, with Hunt's Battery, on the brow
+of a hill, in an open wheat field, some eighty yards to the
+South-Eastward of Richardson, distant some 1,500 yards from Longstreet's
+batteries on the Western side of Bull Run,&mdash;and commences a rapid fire,
+upon the Enemy's position at Blackburn's Ford, from both of the Union
+batteries.</p>
+
+<p>At 10 o'clock, there is a lull in this Union fire. The Artillery
+ammunition is running short. The demonstration, however, seems, thus
+far, to be successful&mdash;judging by the movement of Rebel troops toward
+Blackburn's Ford. The lull continues until 11 o'clock. At that time
+Miles arrives at his front, in a towering rage.</p>
+
+
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<a name="bull2"></a>
+<center>
+<img alt="p304-map.jpg (427K)" src="images/p304-map.jpg" height="524" width="650">
+</center>
+<a href="images/p304-map.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"></a>
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+
+
+<p>On his way down the ridge, that morning, early, Davies had made a
+discovery. While passing a roadway, his guide had casually remarked:
+"There is a road that leads around to the Enemy's camp, direct." "Ah!"
+&mdash;said Davies&mdash;"and can they get through that road?" "Oh, yes," replied
+the guide. Davies had at once halted, and, after posting his 16th and
+31st New York Regiments, with two guns of Hunt's Battery, near this
+road, at its junction with the ridge road running up to Centreville and
+Black burn's Ford, had proceeded, with the rest of his regiments and
+guns, to the position where Miles finds him.</p>
+
+<p>But Miles has discovered what Davies has done, in this matter of the
+flanking roadway; and&mdash;without knowing, or apparently caring to know,
+the reason underlying the posting of the two regiments and two guns in
+its vicinity,&mdash;flies into "a terrible passion" because of it; in "no
+very measured language," gives Davies "a severe dressing down;" and
+orders him to bring both regiments and guns down to the front. Davies
+complies, and says nothing. Miles also orders him to continue the
+firing from his batteries, without regard to the quantity of ammunition.
+This order, also, Davies obeys&mdash;and the firing proceeds, for two solid
+hours, until another order comes, about 1 o'clock P.M., to stop firing.</p>
+
+<p>The fact is, that Miles is not at all himself&mdash;but is suffering under
+such a strain of mental excitement, he afterward claims, that he is not
+responsible.</p>
+
+<p>Miles, however, returns to Centreville about noon; and no sooner is he
+gone, than Davies at once sends back pioneers to obstruct that road
+which would bring the Enemy around his left flank and rear, to
+Centreville. These, work so industriously, that they cut down a quarter
+of a mile of trees, and block the road up completely. Davies also posts
+a few pickets there, in case of accidents. It is well he does so. It
+is not long before the Enemy makes an attempt to get around to his rear,
+by that road; but, finding it both obstructed and picketed, retires
+again. Davies does not see the Rebels making that attempt, but catches
+sight of them on their return, and gives them a severe shelling for
+their pains.</p>
+
+<p>Davies keeps up his firing, more or less&mdash;according to the condition of
+the Enemy and of his own ammunition&mdash;until 4 o'clock, when the firing
+occasioned by the Union flanking movement, six miles to his right,
+ceases. Then there reaches him a note from Richardson, so badly
+penciled that he can only make out the one word "beaten,"&mdash;but cannot,
+for the life of him, make out, whether the beaten one is our Right Wing,
+or the Enemy!</p>
+
+<p>Of what followed, he tells the story himself,&mdash;under oath, before the
+Committee on the Conduct of the War&mdash;so graphically, that the temptation
+to give it, in his own words, is irresistible. "I saw unmistakable
+evidence," said he, "that we were going to be attacked on our Left Wing.
+I got all ready for the attack, but did not change my front.</p>
+
+<p>"About 5 o'clock, I think, the Rebels made their appearance back upon
+this very road up which they had gone before; but instead of keeping up
+the road, they turned past a farm-house, went through the farm-yard, and
+came down and formed right in front of me, in a hollow, out of my sight.
+Well, I let them all come down there, keeping a watch upon their
+movements. I told the Artillery not to fire any shot at them until they
+saw the rear column go down, so as to get them all down in the little
+hollow or basin, there. There was a little basin there, probably a
+quarter of a mile every way. I should think that, maybe, 3,000 men
+filed down, before I changed front.</p>
+
+<p>"We lay there, with two regiments back, and the Artillery in front,
+facing Bull Run. As soon as about 3,000 of the Enemy got down in this
+basin, I changed the front of the Artillery around to the left, in face
+of the Enemy, and put a company of Infantry between each of the pieces
+of Artillery, and then deployed the balance of the regiments right and
+left, and made my line-of-battle.</p>
+
+<p>"I gave directions to the Infantry not to fire a shot, under any
+circumstances, until they got the word of command from me. I
+furthermore said I would shoot the first man that fired a shot before I
+gave the command to do so.</p>
+
+<p>"I gave them orders all to lie down on their faces. They, (the Rebels)
+were just over the brow of the hill, so that, if they came up in front
+of us, they could not hit a man.</p>
+
+<p>"As soon as I saw the rear column, I told * * * Lieutenant Benjamin to
+fire. * * * He fired the first shot when the rear column presented
+itself. It just went over their heads, and hit a horse and rider in
+their rear. As soon as the first shot was fired, I gave the order for
+the whole six pieces of Artillery to open with grape and canister. The
+effect was terrible. They were all there, right before us, about 450
+yards off, and had not suspected that we were going to fire at all,
+though they did not know what the reason was. Hunt's Battery (belonging
+to Richardson&mdash;who had by mistake got Greene's) performed so well, that,
+in thirty minutes, we dispersed every one of them!</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know how many were killed, but we so crippled their entire
+force that they never came after us an inch. A man, who saw the effect
+of the firing, in the valley, said it was just like firing into a wheat
+field; the column gave way at once, before the grape and canister; they
+were just within available distance. I knew very well that if they but
+got into that basin, the first fire would cut them all to pieces; and it
+did. We continued to fire for thirty minutes, when there was nothing
+more to fire at, and no more shots were returned."</p>
+
+<p>At a later hour&mdash;while remaining victorious at their well defended
+position, with the Enemy at their front, dispersed and silenced,&mdash;these
+two brigades of the Left Wing, receive orders to fall back on
+Centreville, and encamp. With the brigade of Richardson, and Greene's
+Battery in advance, Davies's own brigade and Hunt's Battery following,
+they fall back on the heights of Centreville "without the least
+confusion and in perfect order"&mdash;reaching them at 7 P.M.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime Miles has been relieved from command, and McDowell has ordered
+Blenker's Brigade to take position a mile or more in advance of
+Centreville, toward Bull Run, on both sides of the Warrenton Pike, to
+protect the retreat, now being made, in "a few collected bodies," but
+mainly in great disorder&mdash;owing partly to the baggage-wagons choking the
+road, along which both venturesome civilians and fagged-out troops are
+retreating upon Centreville. This confused retreat passes through
+Blenker's lines until 9 o'clock P.M.&mdash;and then, all is secure.</p>
+
+<p>At midnight, McDowell has decided to make no stand at Centreville, but
+to retire upon the defensive works at Washington. The order to retreat,
+is given, and, with the rear well guarded by Richardson's and Blenker's
+Brigades, is carried out, the van of the retreat, with no Enemy
+pursuing, degenerating finally into a "mob," which carries more or less
+panic into Washington itself, as well as terrible disappointment and
+chagrin to all the Loyal States of the Union.</p>
+
+<p>Knowing what we now do, concerning the Battle of Bull Run, it is
+somewhat surprising, at this day, to read the dispatches sent by
+McDowell to General Scott's headquarters at Washington, immediately
+after it. They are in these words:</p>
+
+<p> "CENTREVILLE, July 21, 1861&mdash;5:45 P.M.</p>
+
+<p>"We passed Bull Run, engaged the Enemy, who, it seems, had just been
+re-enforced by General Johnston. We drove them for several hours, and
+finally routed them."</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> ["No one who did not share in the sad experience will be able to
+ realize the consternation which the news of this
+ discomfiture&mdash;grossly exaggerated&mdash;diffused over the loyal portion of our
+ Country. Only the tidings which had reached Washington up to four
+ o'clock&mdash;all presaging certain and decisive victory&mdash;were permitted
+ to go North by telegraph that day and evening; so that, on Monday
+ morning, when the crowd of fugitives from our grand Army was
+ pouring into Washington, a heedless, harmless, worthless mob, the
+ Loyal States were exulting over accounts of a decisive triumph.
+ But a few hours brought different advices; and these were as much
+ worse than the truth as the former had been better: our Army had
+ been utterly destroyed-cut to pieces, with a loss of twenty-five to
+ thirty thousand men, besides all its artillery and munitions, and
+ Washington lay at the mercy of the Enemy, who were soon to advance
+ to the capture and sack of our great commercial cities. Never
+ before had so black a day as that black Monday lowered upon the
+ loyal hearts of the North; and the leaden, weeping skies reflected
+ and heightened, while they seemed to sympathize with, the general
+ gloom. It would have been easy, with ordinary effort and care, to
+ have gathered and remanded to their camps or forts around
+ Alexandria or Arlington, all the wretched stragglers to whom fear
+ had lent wings, and who, throwing away their arms and equipments,
+ and abandoning all semblance of Military order or discipline, had
+ rushed to the Capital to hide therein their shame, behind a cloud
+ of exaggerations and falsehoods. The still effective batteries,
+ the solid battalions, that were then wending their way slowly back
+ to their old encampments along the South bank of the Potomac,
+ depressed but unshaken, dauntless and utterly unassailed, were
+ unseen and unheard from; while the panic-stricken racers filled and
+ distended the general ear with their tales of impregnable
+ intrenchments and masked batteries, of regiments slaughtered,
+ brigades utterly cut to pieces, etc., making out their miserable
+ selves to be about all that was left of the Army. That these men
+ were allowed thus to straggle into Washington, instead of being
+ peremptorily stopped at the bridges and sent back to the
+ encampments of their several regiments, is only to be accounted for
+ on the hypothesis that the reason of our Military magnates had been
+ temporarily dethroned, so as to divest them of all moral
+ responsibility," Greeley's Am. Conflict, pp. 552-53., vol. I.]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>"They rallied and repulsed us, but only to give us again the victory,
+which seemed complete. But our men, exhausted with fatigue and thirst,
+and confused by firing into each other, were attacked by the Enemy's
+reserves, and driven from the position we had gained, overlooking
+Manassas. After this, the men could not be rallied, but slowly left the
+field. In the meantime the Enemy outflanked Richardson at Blackburn's
+Ford, and we have now to hold Centreville till our men can get behind
+it. Miles's Division is holding the town. It is reported that Colonel
+Cameron is killed, Hunter and Heintzelman wounded, neither dangerously.<br>
+ "IRWIN MCDOWELL,<br>
+ "Brigadier-General, Commanding.</p>
+
+<p>"Lieutenant-Colonel TOWNSEND."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+ "FAIRFAX COURT HOUSE, July 21, 1861.</p>
+
+<p>"The men having thrown away their haversacks in the battle, and left
+them behind, they are without food; have eaten nothing since breakfast.
+We are without artillery ammunition. The larger part of the men are a
+confused mob, entirely demoralized. It was the opinion of all the
+commanders that no stand could be made this side of the Potomac. We
+will, however, make the attempt at Fairfax Court House. From a prisoner
+we learn that 20,000 from Johnston joined last night, and they march on
+us to-night.<br>
+ "IRWIN MCDOWELL.</p>
+
+<p>"Colonel TOWNSEND"</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+ "FAIRFAX COURT HOUSE, [July] 22, 1861.</p>
+
+<p>"Many of the volunteers did not wait for authority to proceed to the
+Potomac, but left on their own decision. They are now pouring through
+this place in a state of utter disorganization. They could not be
+prepared for action by to-morrow morning even were they willing. I
+learn from prisoners that we are to be pressed here to-night and
+tomorrow morning, as the Enemy's force is very large, and they are
+elated. I think we heard cannon on our rear-guard. I think now, as all
+of my commanders thought at Centreville, there is no alternative but to
+fall back to the Potomac, and I shall proceed to do so with as much
+regularity as possible.<br>
+ "IRWIN MCDOWELL.</p>
+
+<p>"Colonel TOWNSEND."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+ "ARLINGTON, July 22, 1861.</p>
+
+<p>"I avail myself of the re-establishing of telegraph to report my
+arrival. When I left the forks of the Little River turnpike and
+Columbia turnpike, where I had been for a couple of hours turning
+stragglers and parties of regiments upon this place and Alexandria, I
+received intelligence that the rear-guard, under Colonel Richardson, had
+left Fairfax Court House, and was getting along well. Had not been
+attacked. I am now trying to get matters a little organized over here.<br>
+ "IRWIN MCDOWELL.<br>
+ "Brigadier-General.<br><br>
+"E. D. TOWNSEND."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+McDowell had unquestionably been repulsed, in his main attack, with his
+Right Wing, and much of his Army was badly demoralized; but, on the
+other hand, it may be well to repeat that the Enemy's plan of attack
+that same morning had been frustrated, and most of his forces so badly
+shattered and demoralized that he dared not follow up the advantage
+which, more by our own blunders than by his prowess, he had gained.</p>
+
+<p>If the Union forces&mdash;or at least the Right Wing of them&mdash;were whipped,
+the Enemy also was whipped. Jackson himself confesses that while he
+had, at the last moment, broken our centre, our forces had turned both
+of his flanks. The Enemy was, in fact, so badly used up, that he not
+only dared not pursue us to Washington&mdash;as he would have down had he
+been able&mdash;but he was absolutely afraid McDowell would resume the
+attack, on the right of the original Bull Run line, that very night!
+For, in a letter to General Beauregard; dated Richmond, Virginia, August
+4, 1861, Jefferson Davis,&mdash;who was on the ground at Bull Run, July
+21st,&mdash;alluding to the Battle of Bull Run, and Beauregard's excuses for
+not pursuing the Union troops, says:</p>
+
+<p>"I think you are unjust to yourself in putting your failure to pursue
+the Enemy to Washington, to the account of short supplies of subsistence
+and transportation. Under the circumstances of our Army, and in the
+absence of the knowledge since acquired&mdash;if, indeed, the statements be
+true&mdash;it would have been extremely hazardous to have done more than was
+performed. You will not fail to remember that, so far from knowing that
+the Enemy was routed, a large part of our forces was moved by you, in
+the night of the 21st, to repel a supposed attack upon our right, and
+the next day's operations did not fully reveal what has since been
+reported of the Enemy's panic."</p>
+
+<p>And Jefferson Davis's statement is corroborated by the Report of Colonel
+Withers, of the 18th Virginia, who, after starting with other regiments,
+in an attempt to cut off the Union retreat, was recalled to the Stone
+Bridge,&mdash;and who says: "Before reaching the point we designed to occupy
+(near the Stone Bridge) we were met by another order to march
+immediately to Manassas Junction, as an attack was apprehended that
+night. Although it was now after sunset, and my men had had no food all
+day, when the command to march to Manassas was given, they cheerfully
+took the route to that place."</p>
+
+<p>Colonel Davies, who, as we have seen, commanded McDowell's stubborn Left
+Wing, was after all, not far wrong, when, in his testimony before the
+Committee on the Conduct of the War, he declared, touching the story of
+the Bull Run Battle: "It ought to have read that we were victorious with
+the 13,000 troops of the Left Wing, and defeated in the 18,000 of the
+Right Wing. That is all that Bull Run amounts to."</p>
+
+<p>In point of fact, the Battle of Bull Run&mdash;the first pitched battle of
+the War&mdash;was a drawn battle.</p>
+
+<p>War was now fully inaugurated&mdash;Civil War&mdash;a stupendous War between two
+great Sections of one common Country; those of our People, on the one
+side, fighting for the dissolution of the Union&mdash;and incidentally for
+Free Trade, and for Slavery; those on the other side, fighting for the
+preservation of the Union&mdash;and incidentally for Protection to our Free
+Industries, and for the Freedom of the Slave.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the Republican Party controlled both Houses of Congress it
+provided Protection to our Free Industries, and to the Free Labor
+engaged in them, by the Morill Tariff Act of 1860&mdash;the foundation Act of
+all subsequent enactments on the subject. In subsequent pages of this
+work we shall see how the Freedom of the Slave was also accomplished by
+the same great Party.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+
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+<title>THE GREAT CONSPIRACY, Part 4. By John Logan</title>
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+
+<h2>THE GREAT CONSPIRACY, Part 4</h2>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="" cellPadding=4 border=3>
+<tr><td>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="p3.htm">Previous Part</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+</td><td>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="7140-h.htm">Main Index</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+</td><td>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="p5.htm">Next Part</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+<br><br><br><br><br><br>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<center><h1><br>
+
+ THE GREAT CONSPIRACY<br>
+<br>
+ Its Origin and History<br>
+<br><br><br>
+ Part 4.<br>
+ <br><br>
+ by John Logan</h1>
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2>
+
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<img alt="titlepage.jpg (65K)" src="images/titlepage.jpg" height="1134" width="692">
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<img alt="frontspiece.jpg (101K)" src="images/frontspiece.jpg" height="934" width="665">
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+
+<br>
+<br><br><br>
+CONTENTS
+
+</h2></center>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+
+ <h2><a href="#ch14">CHAPTER XIV.</a><br>
+ THE COLORED CONTRABAND.<br></h2>
+<br>
+THE KNELL OF SLAVERY&mdash;THE "IMPLIED POWERS" OF CONGRESS IN THE
+CONSTITUTION&mdash;PATRICK HENRY'S PREDICTION&mdash;JOHN QUINCY ADAMS'S
+PROPHECY&mdash;JOHN SHERMAN'S NON-INTERFERENCE&mdash;WITH-SLAVERY RESOLUTIONS&mdash;JOHN Q. ADAMS
+ON EMANCIPATION&mdash;POWERS OF CONGRESS AND MILITARY COMMANDERS&mdash;GENERAL
+MCCLELLAN'S WEST VIRGINIA PROCLAMATION OF NONINTERFERENCE WITH
+SLAVES&mdash;GENERAL BUTLER'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH GENERAL SCOTT AND SECRETARY
+CAMERON&mdash;CAMERON'S REPLY&mdash;MILITARY TENDERNESS FOR THE DOOMED
+INSTITUTION&mdash;CONGRESS, AFTER BULL RUN&mdash;CONFISCATION, AND EMANCIPATION,
+OF SLAVES USED TO AID REBELLION&mdash;RINGING WORDS OF TRUMBULL, WILSON,
+MCDOUGALL, AND TEN EYCK, IN THE SENATE&mdash;ROMAN COURAGE OF THE
+HOUSE&mdash;CRITTENDEN'S STATEMENTS&mdash;WAR RESOLUTIONS&mdash;BRECKINRIDGE'S TREASONABLE
+SPEECH UPON "THE SANCTITY" OF THE CONSTITUTION&mdash;BAKER'S GLORIOUS
+REPLY&mdash;HIS MATCHLESS APOSTROPHE TO FREEDOM&mdash;HIS SELF-SACRIFICING DEVOTION AND
+HEROIC DEATH AT BALL'S BLUFF
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2><a href="#ch15">CHAPTER XV.</a><br>
+ FREEDOM'S EARLY DAWN.<br></h2>
+<br>
+THADDEUS STEVENS'S STARTLING UTTERANCES&mdash;CAPTURED SLAVES MUST BE FREE
+FOREVER&mdash;"NO TRUCES WITH THE REBELS"&mdash;HIS PROPHECY AS TO ARMING SLAVES
+TO FIGHT REBELLION&mdash;SECRETARY CAMERON'S LETTER TOUCHING FUGITIVES FROM
+SERVICE&mdash;GENERAL FREMONT'S PROCLAMATION OF CONFISCATION AND
+EMANCIPATION&mdash;ITS EFFECT NORTH AND SOUTH&mdash;JEFF. THOMPSON'S SAVAGE
+PROCLAMATION OF RETALIATION&mdash;PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S EMBARRASSMENT&mdash;HE
+PRIVATELY SUGGESTS TO FREMONT CERTAIN MODIFICATIONS&mdash;FREMONT DEFENDS HIS
+COURSE&mdash;"STRONG AND VIGOROUS MEASURES NECESSARY TO SUCCESS"&mdash;THE
+PRESIDENT PUBLICLY ORDERS THE MODIFICATION OF FREMONT'S
+PROCLAMATION&mdash;THE MILITARY MIND GREATLY CONFUSED&mdash;GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS ISSUED BY THE
+WAR DEPARTMENT&mdash;GENERAL T. W. SHERMAN'S PORT ROYAL PROCLAMATION&mdash;GENERAL
+WOOL'S SPECIAL AND GENERAL ORDERS AS TO EMPLOYMENT OF
+"CONTRABANDS"&mdash;GENERAL DIX'S PROCLAMATION FOR REPULSION OF FUGITIVE SLAVES FROM HIS
+LINES&mdash;HALLECK ORDERS EXPULSION AS WELL AS REPULSION&mdash;HIS LETTER OF
+EXPLANATION TO FRANK P. BLAIR&mdash;SEWARD'S LETTER TO MCCLELLAN ON
+"CONTRABANDS" IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2><a href="#ch16">CHAPTER XVI.</a><br>
+ "COMPENSATED GRADUAL EMANCIPATION."<br></h2>
+<br>
+PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S ATTITUDE&mdash;SACRIFICES OF PATRIOTISM&mdash;ASSERTION BY
+CONGRESS OF ITS EMANCIPATING WAR-POWERS&mdash;THE CAUSE OF FREEDOM SLOWLY
+"MARCHING ON"&mdash;ABANDONED SLAVES OF BEAUFORT, S. C.&mdash;SECRETARY CAMERON
+FAVORS ARMING THEM&mdash;THE PRESIDENT'S CAUTIOUS ADVANCES&mdash;HE MODIFIES
+CAMERON'S REPORT TO CONGRESS ON THE SUBJECT&mdash;THE MILITARY MIND, ALL "AT
+SEA"&mdash;COMMANDERS GUIDED BY POLITICAL BIAS&mdash;HALLECK'S ST. LOUIS
+PROCLAMATION, 1862&mdash;BUELL'S LETTER&mdash;CONTRARY ACTION OF DIX AND HALLECK,
+BUELL AND HOOKER, FREMONT AND DOUBLEDAY&mdash;LINCOLN'S MIDDLE COURSE&mdash;HE
+PROPOSES TO CONGRESS, COMPENSATED GRADUAL EMANCIPATION&mdash;INTERVIEW
+BETWEEN MR. LINCOLN AND THE BORDER-STATE REPRESENTATIVES&mdash;INTERESTING
+REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT&mdash;MR. LINCOLN BETWEEN TWO FIRES&mdash;VIEWS, ON
+COMPENSATED EMANCIPATION, OF MESSRS. NOELL, CRISFIELD, MENZIES,
+WICKLIFFE, AND HALL&mdash;ROSCOE CONKLING'S JOINT RESOLUTION, ADOPTED BY BOTH
+HOUSES&mdash;HOOKER'S "CAMP BAKER" ORDER&mdash;MARYLAND FUGITIVE&mdash;SLAVE HUNTERS
+PERMITTED TO SEARCH THE CAMP&mdash;UNION SOLDIERS ENRAGED&mdash;SICKLES ORDERS THE
+SLAVE HUNTERS OFF&mdash;DOUBLEDAY'S DISPATCH AS TO "ALL NEGROES" ENTERING HIS
+LINES&mdash;TO BE "TREATED AS PERSONS, NOT AS CHATTELS"
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2><a href="#ch17">CHAPTER XVII.</a><br>
+ BORDER&mdash;STATE OPPOSITION.<br></h2>
+<br>
+APPOINTMENT OF A SELECT COMMITTEE, IN HOUSE, ON GRADUAL
+EMANCIPATION&mdash;DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA EMANCIPATION ACT&mdash;THE PRESIDENT'S SPECIAL MESSAGE
+OF APPROVAL&mdash;GEN. HUNTER'S EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION&mdash;PRESIDENT LINCOLN
+PROMPTLY RESCINDS IT BY PROCLAMATION&mdash;HIS SOLEMN AND IMPASSIONED APPEAL
+TO PEOPLE OF THE BORDER-STATES&mdash;HE BEGS THEIR CONSIDERATION OF GRADUAL
+COMPENSATED EMANCIPATION&mdash;GEN. WILLIAMS'S ORDER EXPELLING RUNAWAY
+NEGROES FROM CAMP, AT BATON ROUGE&mdash;LIEUT.-COL. ANTHONY'S ORDER EXCLUDING
+FUGITIVE-SLAVE HUNTERS FROM "CAMP ETHERIDGE"&mdash;GEN. MCCLELLAN'S FAMOUS
+"HARRISON'S LANDING LETTER" TO THE PRESIDENT&mdash;"FORCIBLE ABOLITION OF
+SLAVERY" AND "A CIVIL AND MILITARY POLICY"&mdash;SLAVEHOLDING BORDER-STATE
+SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES AT THE WHITE HOUSE&mdash;PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S
+ADDRESS TO THEM, JULY, 1862&mdash;GRADUAL EMANCIPATION THE
+THEME&mdash;COMPENSATION AND COLONIZATION TO ACCOMPANY IT&mdash;THE ABOLITION PRESSURE
+UPON THE PRESIDENT INCREASING&mdash;HE BEGS THE BORDER STATESMEN TO RELIEVE
+HIM AND THE COUNTRY IN ITS PERIL&mdash;THEIR VARIOUS RESPONSES
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<br><br><br>
+<h3>PORTRAITS.</h3>
+<center>
+<table summary="">
+<tr><td>
+
+<a href="#crittenden">J. J. CRITTENDEN</a><br>
+<a href="#wigfall">LOUIS T. WIGFALL</a><br>
+<a href="#hunter">DAVID HUNTER</a><br>
+<a href="#henry">PATRICK HENRY</a><br>
+
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<a name="crittenden"></a>
+<center>
+<img alt="p154-crittenden.jpg (69K)" src="images/p154-crittenden.jpg" height="842" width="588">
+</center>
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+
+<center><h2>
+<a name="ch14"></a>
+<br>
+<br>
+ CHAPTER XIV.<br>
+<br>
+ THE COLORED CONTRABAND.<br></h2></center>
+
+
+<p>When the first gun was fired at Fort Sumter, its sullen echoes sounded
+the funeral knell of Slavery. Years before, it had been foretold, and
+now it was to happen. Years before, it had been declared, by competent
+authority, that among the implications of the Constitution was that of
+the power of the General Government to Emancipate the Slaves, as a War
+measure. Hence, in thus commencing the War of the Rebellion, the South
+marched with open eyes upon this, as among other of the legitimate and
+logical results of such a War.</p>
+
+<p>Patrick Henry, in opposing the ratification by Virginia of the Federal
+Constitution, had declared to the Slaveholders of that State that "Among
+ten thousand implied powers" which Congress may assume, "they may, if we
+be engaged in War, liberate every one of your Slaves, if they please, *
+* * Have they not power to provide for the General Defense and Welfare?
+May they not think that these call for the abolition of Slavery? May
+they not pronounce all Slaves Free? and will they not be warranted by
+that power? * * * They have the power, in clear, unequivocal terms,
+and will clearly and certainly exercise it."</p>
+
+<p>So, too, in his great speech of May 25, 1836, in the House of
+Representatives, John Quincy Adams had declared that in "the last great
+conflict which must be fought between Slavery and Emancipation,"
+Congress "must and will interfere" with Slavery, "and they will not only
+possess the Constitutional power so to interfere, but they will be bound
+in duty to do it, by the express provisions of the Constitution itself."
+And he followed this declaration with the equally emphatic words: "From
+the instant that your Slave-holding States become the theatre of
+War&mdash;civil, servile, or foreign&mdash;from that instant, the War powers of
+Congress extend to interference with the Institution of Slavery in every
+Way by which it can be interfered with."</p>
+
+<p>The position thus announced by these expounders of the Constitution&mdash;the
+one from Virginia, the other from Massachusetts&mdash;was not to be shaken
+even by the unanimous adoption, February 11, 1861, by the House of
+Representatives on roll call, of the resolution of Mr. Sherman, of Ohio,
+in these words:</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved, That neither the Congress of the United States nor the people
+or governments of the non-Slaveholding States have the Constitutional
+right to legislate upon or interfere with Slavery in any of the
+Slaveholding States in the Union."</p>
+
+<p>Ex-President J. Q. Adams's cogent exposition of the Constitution,
+twenty-five years before, in that same House, demonstrating not only
+that Congress had the right but the Constitutional power to so
+interfere&mdash;and his further demonstration April 15, 1842, of his
+statement that under the laws of War, "when a Country is invaded, and
+two hostile armies are set in martial array, the Commanders of both
+Armies have power to Emancipate all the Slaves in the invaded
+territory"&mdash;as not to be overcome by a mere vote of one House, however
+unanimous. For the time being, however, it contributed, with other
+circumstances, to confuse the public mind and conscience. Indeed as
+early as May of 1861, the attitude of our Government and its troops
+toward Negro Slaves owned or used by Rebels in rebellious States, began
+to perturb the public, bother the Administration, and worry the Military
+officers.</p>
+
+<p>For instance, in Major-General McClellan's proclamation to the Union men
+of West Virginia, issued May 26, 1861, he said:</p>
+
+<p>"The General Government cannot close its ears to the demand you have
+made for assistance. I have ordered troops to cross the river. They
+come as your friends and brothers&mdash;as enemies only to armed Rebels, who
+are preying upon you; your homes, your families, and your property are
+safe under our protection. All your rights shall be religiously
+respected, notwithstanding all that has been said by the Traitors to
+induce you to believe our advent among you will be signalized by an
+interference with your Slaves. Understand one thing clearly: not only
+will we abstain from all such interference, but we will, on the
+contrary, with an iron hand crush any attempt at insurrection on their
+part."</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, the very next day, May 27, 1861, Major-General
+Butler, in command of the "Department of A Virginia," wrote to
+Lieutenant-General Scott as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"Since I wrote my last dispatch the question in regard to Slave property
+is becoming one of very serious magnitude. The inhabitants of Virginia
+are using their Negroes in the batteries, and are preparing to send the
+women and children South. The escapes from them are very numerous, and
+a squad has come in this morning to my pickets bringing their women and
+children. Of course these cannot be dealt with upon the theory on which
+I designed to treat the services of able-bodied men and women who might
+come within my lines, and of which I gave you a detailed account in my
+last dispatch. I am in the utmost doubt what to do with this species of
+Property.</p>
+
+<p>"Up to this time I have had come within my lines men and women with
+their children, entire families, each family belonging to the same
+owner. I have, therefore, determined to employ, as I can do very
+profitably, the able-bodied persons in the party, issuing proper food
+for the support of all, and charging against their services the expense
+of care and sustenance of the non-laborers, keeping a strict and
+accurate account as well of the services as of the expenditure, having
+the worth of the services, and the cost of the expenditure, determined
+by a Board of Survey, to be hereafter detailed. I know of no other
+manner in which to dispose of this subject and the questions connected
+therewith.</p>
+
+<p>"As a matter of Property to the Insurgents, it will be of very great
+moment, the number that I now have amounting, as I am informed, to what,
+in good times, would be of the value of sixty thousand dollars. Twelve
+of these Negroes, I am informed, have escaped from the batteries on
+Sewall's Point, which, this morning, fired upon my expedition as it
+passed by out of range. As a means of offense, therefore, in the
+Enemy's hands, these Negroes, when able-bodied, are of the last
+importance. Without them the batteries could not have been erected, at
+least for many weeks.</p>
+
+<p>"As a Military question it would seem to be a measure of necessity to
+deprive their masters of their services. How can this be done? As a
+political question and a question of humanity, can I receive the
+services of a father and mother, and not take the children? Of the
+humanitarian aspect I have no doubt. Of the political one I have no
+right to judge. I therefore submit all this to your better judgment,
+and as the questions have a political aspect, I have ventured, and I
+trust I am not wrong in so doing, to duplicate the parts of my dispatch
+relating to this subject, and forward them to the Secretary of War."</p>
+
+<p>In reply to the duplicate copy of this letter received by him, Secretary
+Cameron thus answered:</p>
+
+<p> "WASHINGTON, May 30, 1861.</p>
+
+<p>"SIR: Your action in respect to the Negroes who came within your lines
+from the service of the Rebels is approved. The Department is sensible
+of the embarrassments which must surround officers conducting Military
+operations in a State by the laws of which Slavery is sanctioned.</p>
+
+<p>"The Government cannot recognize the rejection by any State of the
+Federal obligations, nor can it refuse the performance of the Federal
+obligations resting upon itself. Among these Federal obligations,
+however, none can be more important than that of suppressing and
+dispersing armed combinations formed for the purpose of overthrowing its
+whole Constitutional authority.</p>
+
+<p>"While, therefore, you will permit no interference by the persons under
+your command, with the relations of Persons held to Service under the
+laws of any State, you will, on the other hand, so long as any State,
+within which your Military operations are conducted, is under the
+control of such armed combinations, refrain from surrendering to alleged
+masters any Person who may come within your lines.</p>
+
+<p>"You will employ such Persons in the services to which they may be best
+adapted, keeping an account of the labor by them performed, of the value
+of it, and the expenses of their maintenance. The question of their
+final disposition will be reserved for future determination.</p>
+
+<p> "SIMON CAMERON,<br>
+
+ "Secretary of War.</p>
+
+<p>"To Major General BUTLER."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+Great tenderness, however, was exhibited by many of the Union Generals
+for the doomed Institution. On June 3, 1861, from Chambersburg, Pa., a
+proclamation signed "By order of Major General Patterson, F. J. Porter,
+Asst. Adj. General," was issued from "Headquarters Department of
+Pennsylvania," "To the United States troops of this Department," in
+which they are admonished "that, in the coming campaign in Virginia,
+while it is your duty to punish Sedition, you must protect the Loyal,
+and, should the occasion offer, at once suppress Servile Insurrection."</p>
+
+<p>
+"General Orders No. 33," issued from "Headquarters Department of
+Washington," July 17, 1861, "By command of Brigadier General Mansfield,
+Theo. Talbot, Assistant Adjutant General," were to this effect:
+"Fugitive Slaves will under no pretext whatever, be permitted to reside,
+or be in any way harbored, in the quarters or camps of the troops
+serving in this Department. Neither will such Slaves be allowed to
+accompany troops on the march. Commanders of troops will be held
+responsible for a strict observance of this order." And early in August
+a Military order was issued at Washington "that no Negroes, without
+sufficient evidence of their being Free or of their right to travel, are
+permitted to leave the city upon the cars."</p>
+
+<p>But Bull Run did much to settle the Military as well as public mind in
+proper grooves on this subject.</p>
+
+<p>Besides employing Negro Slaves to aid Rebellion, by the digging of
+ditches, the throwing up of intrenchments, and the erection of
+batteries, their Rebel masters placed in their hands arms with which to
+shoot down Union soldiers at the Battle of Bull Run, which, as we have
+seen, occurred on Sunday, July 21, 1861&mdash;and resulted in a check to the
+Union Cause.</p>
+
+<p>The terror and confusion and excitement already referred to, that
+prevailed in Washington all that night and the next day, as the
+panic-stricken crowd of soldiers and civilians poured over the Long Bridge,
+footsore with running, faint with weariness, weak with hunger, and
+parched with thirst and the dust of the rout, can hardly be described.</p>
+
+<p>But, however panicky the general condition of the inhabitants of the
+National Capital, the Congress bravely maintained its equanimity.</p>
+
+<p>In the Senate, on the day following the disaster, a bill touching the
+Confiscation of Property used for insurrectionary purposes being up for
+consideration, the following amendment was offered to it:</p>
+
+<p>"And be it further enacted, That whenever any person claiming to be
+entitled to the Service or Labor of any other Person under the laws of
+any State, shall employ such Person in aiding or promoting any
+Insurrection, or in resisting the Laws of the United States, or shall
+permit him to be so employed, he shall forfeit all right to such Service
+or Labor, and the Person whose Labor or Service is thus claimed shall be
+thenceforth discharged therefrom, any law to the contrary
+notwithstanding."</p>
+
+<p>This amendment, emancipating Slaves employed by their masters to aid
+Rebellion, was adopted by 33 yeas to 6 nays.</p>
+
+<p>As showing the feeling expressed right upon the very heels of what
+seemed to be a great disaster, and when rumor, at any rate, placed the
+victorious Enemy at the very gates of the Capital City, a few lines from
+the debate may be interesting.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Trumbull said: "I am glad the yeas and nays have been called to let
+us see who is willing to vote that the Traitorous owner of a Negro shall
+employ him to shoot down the Union men of the Country, and yet insist
+upon restoring him to the Traitor that owns him. I understand that
+Negroes were in the fight which has recently occurred. I take it that
+Negroes who are used to destroy the Union, and to shoot down the Union
+men by the consent of Traitorous masters, ought not to be restored to
+them. If the Senator from Kentucky is in favor of restoring them, let
+him vote against the amendment."</p>
+
+<p>Senator Wilson, of Massachusetts, said: "I shall vote with more heart
+than I vote for ordinary measures, for this proposition. I hope the
+Senate and the House of Representatives will sustain it, and that this
+Government will carry it out with an inflexibility that knows no change.
+The idea that men who are in arms destroying their Country shall be
+permitted to use others for that purpose, and that we shall stand by and
+issue orders to our Commanders, that we should disgrace our Cause and
+our Country, by returning such men to their Traitorous masters, ought
+not longer to be entertained. The time has come for that to cease; and,
+by the blessing of God, so far as I am concerned, I mean it shall cease.</p>
+
+<p>"If there is anybody in this Chamber that chooses to take the other
+path, let him do it; let him know what our purpose is. Our purpose is
+to save this Government and save this Country, and to put down Treason;
+and if Traitors use bondsmen to destroy this Country, my doctrine is
+that the Government shall at once convert these bondsmen into men that
+cannot be used to destroy our Country. I have no apologies to make for
+this position, I take it proudly.</p>
+
+<p>"I think the time has come when this Government, and the men who are in
+arms under the Government, should cease to return to Traitors their
+Fugitive Slaves, whom they are using to erect batteries to murder brave
+men who are fighting under the flag of their Country. The time has come
+when we should deal with the men who are organizing Negro companies, and
+teaching them to shoot down loyal men for the only offence of upholding
+the flag of their Country.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope further, Sir, that there is a public sentiment in this Country
+that will blast men who will rise, in the Senate or out it, to make
+apologies for Treason, or to defend or to maintain the doctrine that
+this Government is bound to protect Traitors in converting their Slaves
+into tools for the destruction of the Republic."</p>
+
+<p>Senator McDougall, of California, said: "I regard this as a Confiscation
+for Treason, and I am for the proposition."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Ten Eyck, said: "No longer ago than Saturday last I voted in the
+Judiciary Committee against this amendment, for two reasons: First, I
+did not believe that persons in Rebellion against this Government would
+make use of such means as the employment of Persons held to Labor or
+Service, in their Armies; secondly, because I did not know what was to
+become of these poor wretches if they were discharged. God knows we do
+not want them in our Section of the Union. But, Sir, having learned and
+believing that these persons have been employed with arms in their hands
+to shed the blood of the Union-loving men of this Country, I shall now
+vote in favor of that amendment with less regard to what may become of
+these people than I had on Saturday. I will merely instance that there
+is a precedent for this. If I recollect history aright, General
+Jackson, in the Seminole War, declared that every Slave who was taken in
+arms against the United States should be set Free,"</p>
+
+<p>So, too, in the House of Representatives, the retrograde of a badly
+demoralized Army, its routed fragments still coming in with alarming
+stories of a pursuing Enemy almost at the gates of the city, had no
+terrors for our legislators; and there was something of Roman dignity,
+patriotism, and courage, in the adoption, on that painfully memorable
+Blue Monday, (the first&mdash;[Offered by Mr. Crittenden, of Kentucky]&mdash;with
+only two dissenting votes, on a yea and nay vote; and, the
+second&mdash;[Offered by Mr. Vandever, of Iowa.]&mdash;with entire unanimity) of the
+following Resolutions:</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United
+States, That the present deplorable Civil War has been forced upon the
+Country by the Disunionists of the Southern States, now in arms against
+the Constitutional Government, and in arms around the Capital; that in
+this National emergency, Congress, banishing all feelings of mere
+passion or resentment, will recollect only its duty to the whole
+Country; that this War is not waged on their part in any spirit of
+oppression, or for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, or purpose of
+overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established Institutions
+of those States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the
+Constitution, and to preserve the Union with all the dignity, equality,
+and rights of the several States unimpaired; and that as soon as these
+objects are accomplished, the War ought to cease."</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved, That the maintenance of the Constitution, the preservation of
+the Union, and the enforcement of the Laws, are sacred trusts which must
+be executed; that no disaster shall discourage us from the most ample
+performance of this high duty; and that we pledge to the Country and the
+World, the employment of every resource, National and individual, for
+the suppression, overthrow, and punishment of Rebels in arms."</p>
+
+<p>The first of these Resolutions was intended to calm the fears of the
+Border States&mdash;excited by Rebel emissaries; the second, to restore
+confidence and courage to the patriot hearts of Union-men, everywhere.
+Both were effectual.</p>
+
+<p>And here it will hardly be amiss to glance, for an instant, toward the
+Senate Chamber; and especially at one characteristic incident. It was
+the afternoon of August the 1st, 1861,&mdash;scarce ten days since the check
+to the Union arms at Bull Run; and Breckinridge, of Kentucky, not yet
+expelled from the United States Senate, was making in that Body his
+great speech against the "Insurrection and Sedition Bill," and upon "the
+sanctity of the Constitution."</p>
+
+<p>Baker, of Oregon,&mdash;who, as Sumner afterward said: "with a zeal that
+never tired, after recruiting men drawn by the attraction of his name,
+in New York and Philadelphia and elsewhere, held his Brigade in camp,
+near the Capitol, so that he passed easily from one to the other, and
+thus alternated the duties of a Senator and a General," having reached
+the Capitol, direct from his Brigade-camp, entered the Senate Chamber,
+in his uniform, while Breckinridge was speaking.</p>
+
+<p>When the Kentucky Senator "with Treason in his heart, if not on his
+lips," resumed his seat, the gray-haired soldier-Senator at once rose to
+reply. "He began,"&mdash;said Charles Sumner, in alluding to the
+incident&mdash;"simply and calmly; but as he proceeded, his fervid soul broke forth in
+words of surpassing power. As on a former occasion he had presented the
+well-ripened fruits of study, so now he spoke with the spontaneous
+utterance of his own mature and exuberant eloquence&mdash;meeting the
+polished Traitor at every point with weapons keener and brighter than
+his own."</p>
+
+<p>After demolishing Breckinridge's position touching the alleged
+Unconstitutionality of the measure, and characterizing his other
+utterances as "reproof, malediction, and prediction combined," the
+Patriot from the Far-West turned with rising voice and flashing eye upon
+the gloomy Kentuckian:</p>
+
+<p>"I would ask him," said he, "what would you have us do now&mdash;a
+Confederate Army within twenty miles of us, advancing, or threatening to
+advance, to overwhelm your Government; to shake the pillars of the
+Union, to bring it around your head, if you stay here, in ruins? Are we
+to stop and talk about an uprising sentiment in the North against the
+War? Are we to predict evil, and retire from what we predict? Is it
+not the manly part to go on as we have begun, to raise money, and levy
+Armies, to organize them, to prepare to advance; when we do advance, to
+regulate that advance by all the laws and regulations that civilization
+and humanity will allow in time of battle? Can we do anything more? To
+talk to us about stopping, is idle; we will never stop. Will the
+Senator yield to Rebellion? Will he shrink from armed Insurrection?
+Will his State justify it? Will its better public opinion allow it?
+Shall we send a flag of Truce? What would he have? Or would he conduct
+this War so feebly, that the whole World would smile at us in derision?"</p>
+
+<p>And then cried the orator-his voice rising to a higher key, penetrating,
+yet musical as the blast from a silver trumpet: "What would he have?
+These speeches of his, sown broadcast over the Land, what clear distinct
+meaning have they? Are they not intended for disorganization in our
+very midst? Are they not intended to dull our weapons? Are they not
+intended to destroy our zeal? Are they not intended to animate our
+enemies? Sir, are they not words of brilliant, polished Treason, even
+in the very Capitol of the Nation?</p>
+
+<p>"What would have been thought, if, in another Capitol, in another
+Republic, in a yet more martial age, a Senator as grave, not more
+eloquent or dignified than the Senator from Kentucky, yet with the Roman
+purple flowing over his shoulder, had risen in his place, surrounded by
+all the illustrations of Roman glory, and declared that the cause of
+advancing Hannibal was just, and that Carthage ought to be dealt with in
+terms of peace? What would have been thought if, after the battle of
+Cannae, a Senator there had risen in his place and denounced every levy
+of the Roman People, every expenditure of its treasure, and every appeal
+to the old recollections and the old glories?"</p>
+
+<p>The speaker paused. The sudden and intent silence was broken by another
+voice: "He would have been hurled from the Tarpeian rock."</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," continued the soldier-orator, "a Senator, himself learned far
+more than myself in such lore, [Mr. Fessenden,] tells me, in a voice
+that I am glad is audible, that he would have been hurled from the
+Tarpeian Rock! It is a grand commentary upon the American Constitution
+that we permit these words [Senator Breckinridge's] to be uttered.</p>
+
+<p>"I ask the Senator to recollect, too, what, save to send aid and comfort
+to the Enemy, do these predictions of his amount to? Every word thus
+uttered falls as a note of inspiration upon every Confederate ear.
+Every sound thus uttered is a word, (and, falling from his lips, a
+mighty word) of kindling and triumph to a Foe that determines to
+advance.</p>
+
+<p>"For me, I have no such word as a Senator, to utter. For me"&mdash;and here
+his eyes flashed again while his martial voice rang like a clarion-call
+to battle&mdash;"amid temporary defeat, disaster, disgrace, it seems that my
+duty calls me to utter another word, and that word is, bold, sudden,
+forward, determined, WAR, according to the laws of War, by Armies, by
+Military Commanders clothed with full power, advancing with all the past
+glories of the Republic urging them on to conquest!</p>
+
+<p> * * * * * *</p>
+
+<p>"I tell the Senator," continued the inspired Patriot, "that his
+predictions, sometimes for the South, sometimes for the Middle States,
+sometimes for the North-East, and then wandering away in airy visions
+out to the Far Pacific, about the dread of our people, as for loss of
+blood and treasure, provoking them to Disloyalty, are false in
+sentiment, false in fact, and false in Loyalty. The Senator from
+Kentucky is mistaken in them all.</p>
+
+<p>"Five hundred million dollars! What then? Great Britain gave more than
+two thousand million in the great Battle for Constitutional Liberty
+which she led at one time almost single-handed against the World. Five
+hundred thousand men! What then? We have them; they are ours; they are
+the children of the Country; they belong to the whole Country; they are
+our sons; our kinsmen; and there are many of us who will give them all
+up before we will abate one word of our just demand, or will retreat one
+inch from the line which divides right from wrong.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir, it is not a question of men or of money in that sense. All the
+money, all the men, are, in our judgment, well bestowed in such a cause.
+When we give them, we know their value. Knowing their value well, we
+give them with the more pride and the, more joy. Sir, how can we
+retreat? Sir, how can we make Peace? Who shall treat? What
+Commissioners? Who would go? Upon what terms? Where is to be your
+boundary line? Where the end of the principles we shall have to give
+up? What will become of Constitutional Government? What will become of
+public Liberty? What of past glories? What of future hopes?</p>
+
+<p>"Shall we sink into the insignificance of the grave&mdash;a degraded,
+defeated, emasculated People, frightened by the results of one battle,
+and scared at the visions raised by the imagination of the Senator from
+Kentucky on this floor? No, Sir! a thousand times, no, Sir! We will
+rally&mdash;if, indeed, our words be necessary&mdash;we will rally the People, the
+Loyal People, of the whole Country. They will pour forth their
+treasure, their money, their men, without stint, without measure. The
+most peaceable man in this body may stamp his foot upon this Senate
+Chamber floor, as of old a warrior and a Senator did, and from that
+single tramp there will spring forth armed Legions.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall one battle determine the fate of empire, or a dozen?&mdash;the loss of
+one thousand men, or twenty thousand? or one hundred million or five
+hundred million dollars? In a year's Peace&mdash;in ten years, at most, of
+peaceful progress&mdash;we can restore them all. There will be some graves
+reeking with blood, watered by the tears of affection. There will be
+some privation; there will be some loss of luxury; there will be
+somewhat more need for labor to procure the necessaries of life. When
+that is said, all is said. If we have the Country, the whole Country,
+the Union, the Constitution, Free Government&mdash;with these there will
+return all the blessings of well-ordered civilization; the path of the
+Country will be a career of greatness and of glory such as, in the olden
+time, our Fathers saw in the dim visions of years yet to come, and such
+as would have been ours now, to-day, if it had not been for the Treason
+for which the Senator too often seeks to apologize."</p>
+
+<p>This remarkable speech was the last utterance of that glorious and
+courageous soul, in the National Senate. Within three months, his
+lifeless body, riddled by Rebel rifle balls, was borne away from the
+fatal field of Ball's Bluff&mdash;away, amid the lamentations of a
+Nation&mdash;away, across land and ocean&mdash;to lie beside his brave friend Broderick,
+on that Lone Mountain whose solemn front looks out upon the calm
+Pacific.</p>
+
+<p>He had not lived in vain. In his great speech at the American Theatre
+in San Francisco, after his election by Oregon (1860) to represent her
+in the United States Senate, he had aroused the people to a sense of
+shame, that, as he said: "Here, in a land of written Constitutional
+Liberty it is reserved for us to teach the World that, under the
+American Stars and Stripes, Slavery marches in solemn procession; that,
+under the American flag, Slavery is protected to the utmost verge of
+acquired territory; that under the American banner, the name of Freedom
+is to be faintly heard, the songs of Freedom faintly sung; that, while
+Garibaldi, Victor Emanuel, every great and good man in the World,
+strives, struggles, fights, prays, suffers and dies, sometimes on the
+scaffold, sometimes in the dungeon, often on the field of battle,
+rendered immortal by his blood and his valor; that, while this triumphal
+procession marches on through the arches of Freedom&mdash;we, in this land,
+of all the World, shrink back trembling when Freedom is but mentioned!"</p>
+
+<p>And never was a shamed people more suddenly lifted up from that shame
+into a grand frenzy of patriotic devotion than were his auditors, when,
+with the inspiration of his matchless genius, he continued:</p>
+
+<p>"As for me, I dare not, will not, be false to Freedom. Where the feet
+of my youth were planted, there, by Freedom, my feet shall ever stand.
+I will walk beneath her banner. I will glory in her strength. I have
+watched her in history struck down on an hundred chosen fields of
+battle. I have seen her friends fly from her; her foes gather around
+her. I have seen her bound to the stake; I have seen them give her
+ashes to the winds. But when they turned to exult, I have seen her
+again meet them face to face, resplendent in complete steel, brandishing
+in her strong right hand a flaming sword, red with Insufferable light!
+I take courage. The People gather around her. The genius of America
+will, at last, lead her sons to Freedom."</p>
+
+<p>Never were grander utterances delivered by man in all the ages; never
+was there exhibited a more sublime faith; never a truer spirit of
+prophecy; never a more heroic spirit.</p>
+
+<p>He was then on his way to Washington; on his way to perform the last
+acts in the drama of his own career&mdash;on his way to death. He knew the
+time had come, of which, ten years before, he had prophetically spoken
+in the House of Representatives, when he said: "I have only to say that,
+if the time should come when Disunion rules the hour, and discord is to
+reign supreme, I shall again be ready to give the best blood in my veins
+to my Country's Cause. I shall be prepared to meet all antagonists with
+lance in rest, to do battle in every land, in defense of the
+Constitution of the Country which I have sworn to support, to the last
+extremity, against Disunionists, and all its Enemies, whether of the
+South or North; to meet them everywhere, at all times, with speech or
+hand, with word or blow, until thought and being shall be no longer
+mine." And right nobly did he fulfil in all respects his promise; so
+that at the end&mdash;as was afterward well said of him by Mr. Colfax&mdash;he had
+mounted so high, that, "doubly crowned, as statesman, and as warrior&mdash;</p>
+
+<p> 'From the top of Fame's ladder he stepped to the Sky!'"</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [This orator and hero was a naturalized Englishman, and commanded
+ an American regiment in the Mexican War.]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<a name="wigfall"></a>
+<center>
+<img alt="p180-wigfall.jpg (70K)" src="images/p180-wigfall.jpg" height="844" width="580">
+</center>
+<br><br><br>
+<a name="ch15"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<h2>
+ CHAPTER XV.<br><br>
+
+ FREEDOM'S EARLY DAWN.<br>
+</h2>
+</center>
+
+<p>On the day following Baker's great reply to Breckinridge, another
+notable speech was made, in the House of Representatives&mdash;notable,
+especially, in that it foreshadowed Emancipation, and, coming so soon
+after Bull Run, seemed to accentuate a new departure in political
+thought as an outgrowth of that Military reverse. It was upon the
+Confiscation Act, and it was Thaddeus Stevens who made it. Said he:</p>
+
+<p>"If we are justified in taking property from the Enemy in War, when you
+have rescued an oppressed People from the oppression of that Enemy, by
+what principle of the Law of Nations, by what principle of philanthropy,
+can you return them to the bondage from which you have delivered them,
+and again rivet the chains you have once broken? It is a disgrace to
+the Party which advocates it. It is against the principle of the Law of
+Nations. It is against every principle of philanthropy. I for one,
+shall never shrink from saying when these Slaves are once conquered by
+us, 'Go and be Free.' God forbid that I should ever agree that they
+should be returned again to their masters! I do not say that this War
+is made for that purpose. Ask those who made the War, what is its
+object. Do not ask us. * * * Our object is to subdue the Rebels.</p>
+
+<p>"But," continued he, "it is said that if we hold out this thing, they
+will never submit&mdash;that we cannot conquer them&mdash;that they will suffer
+themselves to be slaughtered, and their whole country to be laid waste.
+Sir, War is a grievous thing at best, and Civil War more than any other;
+but if they hold this language, and the means which they have suggested
+must be resorted to; if their whole country must be laid waste, and made
+a desert, in order to save this Union from destruction, so let it be. I
+would rather, Sir, reduce them to a condition where their whole country
+is to be re-peopled by a band of freemen than to see them perpetrate the
+destruction of this People through our agency. I do not say that it is
+time to resort to such means, and I do not know when the time will come;
+but I never fear to express my sentiments. It is not a question with me
+of policy, but a question of principle.</p>
+
+<p>"If this War is continued long, and is bloody, I do not believe that the
+free people of the North will stand by and see their sons and brothers
+and neighbors slaughtered by thousands and tens of thousands by Rebels,
+with arms in their hands, and forbear to call upon their enemies to be
+our friends, and to help us in subduing them; I for one, if it continues
+long, and has the consequences mentioned, shall be ready to go for it,
+let it horrify the gentleman from New York (Mr. Diven) or anybody else.
+That is my doctrine, and that will be the doctrine of the whole free
+people of the North before two years roll round, if this War continues.</p>
+
+<p>"As to the end of the War, until the Rebels are subdued, no man in the
+North thinks of it. If the Government are equal to the People, and I
+believe they are, there will be no bargaining, there will be no
+negotiation, there will be no truces with the Rebels, except to bury the
+dead, until every man shall have laid down his arms, disbanded his
+organization, submitted himself to the Government, and sued for mercy.
+And, Sir, if those who have the control of the Government are not fit
+for this task and have not the nerve and mind for it, the People will
+take care that there are others who are&mdash;although, Sir, I have not a bit
+of fear of the present Administration, or of the present Executive.</p>
+
+<p>"I have spoken more freely, perhaps, than gentlemen within my hearing
+might think politic, but I have spoken just what I felt. I have spoken
+what I believe will be the result; and I warn Southern gentlemen, that
+if this War is to continue, there will be a time when my friend from New
+York (Mr. Diven) will see it declared by this free Nation, that every
+bondman in the South&mdash;belonging to a Rebel, recollect; I confine it to
+them&mdash;shall be called upon to aid us in War against their masters, and
+to restore this Union."</p>
+
+<p>The following letter of instruction from Secretary Cameron, touching the
+Fugitive Slave question, dated seven days after Thaddeus Stevens'
+speech, had also an interesting bearing on the subject:</p>
+<br>
+<p> "WASHINGTON, August 8, 1861.</p>
+
+<p>"GENERAL: The important question of the proper disposition to be made of
+Fugitives from Service in States in Insurrection against the Federal
+Government, to which you have again directed my attention in your letter
+of July 30, has received my most attentive consideration.</p>
+
+<p>"It is the desire of the President that all existing rights, in all the
+States, be fully respected and maintained. The War now prosecuted on
+the part of the Federal Government is a War for the Union, and for the
+preservation of all Constitutional rights of States, and the citizens of
+the States, in the Union. Hence, no question can arise as to Fugitives
+from Service within the States and Territories in which the authority of
+the Union is fully acknowledged. The ordinary forms of Judicial
+proceeding, which must be respected by Military and Civil authorities
+alike, will suffice for the enforcement of all legal claims.</p>
+
+<p>"But in States wholly or partially under Insurrectionary control, where
+the Laws of the United States are so far opposed and resisted that they
+cannot be effectually enforced, it is obvious that rights dependent on
+the execution of those laws must, temporarily, fail; and it is equally
+obvious that rights dependent on the laws of the States within which
+Military operations are conducted must be necessarily subordinated to
+the Military exigences created by the Insurrection, if not wholly
+forfeited by the Treasonable conduct of parties claiming them. To this
+general rule, rights to Services can form no exception.</p>
+
+<p>"The Act of Congress, approved August 6, 1861, declares that if Persons
+held to Service shall be employed in hostility to the United States, the
+right to their services shall be forfeited, and such Persons shall be
+discharged therefrom. It follows, of necessity, that no claim can be
+recognized by the Military authorities of the Union to the services of
+such Persons when fugitives.</p>
+
+<p>"A more difficult question is presented in respect to Persons escaping
+from the Service of Loyal masters. It is quite apparent that the laws
+of the State, under which only the services of such fugitives can be
+claimed, must needs be wholly, or almost wholly, suspended, as to
+remedies, by the Insurrection and the Military measures necessitated by
+it. And it is equally apparent that the substitution of Military for
+Judicial measures for the enforcement of such claims must be attended by
+great inconveniences, embarrassments, and injuries.</p>
+
+<p>"Under these circumstances it seems quite clear that the substantial
+rights of Loyal masters will be best protected by receiving such
+fugitives, as well as fugitives from Disloyal masters, into the service
+of the United States, and employing them under such organizations and in
+such occupations as circumstances may suggest or require.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course a record should be kept showing the name and description of
+the fugitives, the name and the character, as Loyal or Disloyal, of the
+master, and such facts as may be necessary to a correct understanding of
+the circumstances of each case after tranquillity shall have been
+restored. Upon the return of Peace, Congress will, doubtless, properly
+provide for all the persons thus received into the service of the Union,
+and for just compensation to Loyal masters. In this way only, it would
+seem, can the duty and safety of the Government and the just rights of
+all be fully reconciled and harmonized.</p>
+
+<p>"You will therefore consider yourself as instructed to govern your
+future action, in respect to Fugitives from Service, by the principles
+here stated, and will report from time to time, and at least twice in
+each month, your action in the premises to this Department.</p>
+
+<p>"You will, however, neither authorize, nor permit any interference, by
+the troops under your command, with the servants of peaceful citizens in
+house or field; nor will you, in any way, encourage such servants to
+leave the lawful Service of their masters; nor will you, except in cases
+where the Public Safety may seem to require, prevent the voluntary
+return of any Fugitive, to the Service from which he may have escaped."</p>
+
+<p>"I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant,</p>
+
+<p> "SIMON CAMERON,<br>
+ "Secretary of War.</p>
+
+<p>"Major-General B. F. BUTLER,<br>
+"Commanding Department of Virginia,<br>
+"Fortress Monroe."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+Whether or not inspired by the prophetic speech of Thaddeus Stevens,
+aforesaid, the month of August was hardly out before its prophecy seemed
+in a fair way of immediate fulfilment. Major-General John Charles
+Fremont at that time commanded the Eastern Department&mdash;comprising the
+States of Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, and Kentucky&mdash;and he startled the
+Country by issuing the following Emancipation proclamation:</p>
+<br>
+<p>
+ "HEADQUARTERS OF THE WESTERN DEPARTMENT.</p>
+
+<p> "St. Louis, August 30, 1861.</p>
+
+<p>"Circumstances, in my judgment, of sufficient urgency, render it
+necessary that the commanding general of this Department should assume
+the administrative powers of the State. Its disorganized condition, the
+helplessness of the civil authority, the total insecurity of life, and
+the devastation of property by bands of murderers and marauders, who
+infest nearly every county of the State, and avail themselves of the
+public misfortunes and the vicinity of a hostile force to gratify
+private and neighborhood vengeance, and who find an enemy wherever they
+find plunder, finally demand the severest measures to repress the daily
+increasing crimes and outrages which are driving off the inhabitants and
+ruining the State.</p>
+
+<p>"In this condition, the public safety and the success of our arms
+require unity of purpose, without let or hinderance, to the prompt
+administration of affairs.</p>
+
+<p>"In order, therefore, to suppress disorder, to maintain as far as now
+practicable the public peace, and to give security and protection to the
+persons and property of loyal citizens, I do hereby extend and declare
+established Martial Law throughout the State of Missouri.</p>
+
+<p>"The lines of the Army of Occupation in this State are for the present
+declared to extend from Leavenworth by way of the posts of Jefferson
+City, Rolla, and Ironton, to Cape Girardeau, on the Mississippi river.</p>
+
+<p>"All persons who shall betaken with arms in their hands within these
+lines shall be tried by Court-Martial, and if found guilty will be shot.</p>
+
+<p>"The property, real and personal, of all persons, in the State of
+Missouri, who shall take up arms against the United States, or who shall
+be directly proven to have taken an active part with their Enemies in
+the field, is declared to be confiscated to the public use, and their
+Slaves, if any they have, are hereby declared Free men.</p>
+
+<p>"All persons who shall be proven to have destroyed, after the
+publication of this order, railroad tracks, bridges, or telegraphs,
+shall suffer the extreme penalty of the law.</p>
+
+<p>"All persons engaged in Treasonable correspondence, in giving or
+procuring aid to the Enemies of the United States, in fomenting tumults,
+in disturbing the public tranquillity by creating and circulating false
+reports or incendiary documents, are in their own interests warned that
+they are exposing themselves to sudden and severe punishment.</p>
+
+<p>"All persons who have been led away from their allegiance, are required
+to return to their homes forthwith; any such absence, without sufficient
+cause, will be held to be presumptive evidence against them.</p>
+
+<p>"The object of this declaration is to place in the hands of the Military
+authorities the power to give instantaneous effect to existing laws, and
+to supply such deficiencies as the conditions of War demand. But this
+is not intended to suspend the ordinary Tribunals of the Country, where
+the Law will be administered by the Civil officers in the usual manner,
+and with their customary authority, while the same can be peaceably
+exercised.</p>
+
+<p>"The commanding general will labor vigilantly for the public Welfare,
+and in his efforts for their safety hopes to obtain not only the
+acquiescence, but the active support of the Loyal People of the Country.</p>
+
+<p> "J. C. FREMONT,<br>
+ "Major-General Commanding."</p>
+<br>
+<p>
+Fremont's Proclamation of Confiscation and Emancipation, was hailed with
+joy by some Patriots in the North, but was by others looked upon as rash
+and premature and inexpedient; while it bitterly stirred the anger of
+the Rebels everywhere.</p>
+
+<p>The Rebel Jeff. Thompson, then in command of the Rebel forces about St.
+Louis, at once issued the following savage proclamation of retaliation:</p>
+
+<p>
+ "HEADQUARTERS FIRST MILITARY DISTRICT, M. S. G.</p>
+
+<p> 'St. Louis, August 31, 1861.</p>
+
+<p>"To all whom it may concern:</p>
+
+<p>"Whereas Major-General John C. Fremont, commanding the minions of
+Abraham Lincoln in the State of Missouri, has seen fit to declare
+Martial Law throughout the whole State, and has threatened to shoot any
+citizen-soldier found in arms within certain limits; also, to Confiscate
+the property and Free the Negroes belonging to the members of the
+Missouri State Guard:</p>
+
+<p>"Therefore, know ye, that I, M. Jeff. Thompson, Brigadier-General of
+the First Military District of Missouri, having not only the Military
+authority of Brigadier-General, but certain police powers granted by
+Acting-Governor Thomas C. Reynolds, and confirmed afterward by Governor
+Jackson, do most solemnly promise that for every member of the Missouri
+State Guard, or soldier of our allies, the Armies of the Confederate
+States, who shall be put to death in pursuance of the said order of
+General Fremont, I will hang, draw, and quarter a minion of said Abraham
+Lincoln.</p>
+
+<p>"While I am anxious that this unfortunate War shall be conducted, if
+possible, upon the most liberal principles of civilized warfare&mdash;and
+every order that I have issued has been with that object&mdash;yet, if this
+rule is to be adopted (and it must first be done by our Enemies) I
+intend to exceed General Fremont in his excesses, and will make all
+tories that come within my reach rue the day that a different policy was
+adopted by their leaders.</p>
+
+<p>"Already mills, barns, warehouses, and other private property have been
+wastefully and wantonly destroyed by the Enemy in this district, while
+we have taken nothing except articles strictly contraband or absolutely
+necessary. Should these things be repeated, I will retaliate ten-fold,
+so help me God!"</p>
+
+<p> "M. JEFF. THOMPSON,<br>
+ "Brigadier-General Commanding."</p>
+
+<br><br>
+
+<p>"President Lincoln, greatly embarrassed by the precipitate action of his
+subordinate, lost no time in suggesting to General Fremont certain
+modifications of his Emancipation proclamation&mdash;as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"[PRIVATE.]
+ "WASHINGTON, D. C., September 2, 1861.</p>
+
+<p>"MY DEAR SIR: Two points in your proclamation of August 30th give me
+some anxiety:</p>
+
+<p>"First. Should you shoot a man according to the proclamation, the
+Confederates would very certainly shoot our best man in their hands, in
+retaliation; and so, man for man, indefinitely. It is, therefore, my
+order that you allow no man to be shot under the proclamation without
+first having my approbation or consent.</p>
+
+<p>"Second. I think there is great danger that the closing paragraph, in
+relation to the Confiscation of Property, and the liberating Slaves of
+Traitorous owners, will alarm our Southern Union friends, and turn them
+against us; perhaps ruin our rather fair prospect for Kentucky.</p>
+
+<p>"Allow me, therefore, to ask that you will, as of your own motion,
+modify that paragraph so as to conform to the first and fourth sections
+of the Act of Congress entitled, 'An Act to Confiscate Property used for
+Insurrectionary purposes,' approved August 6, 1861, a copy of which Act
+I herewith send you.</p>
+
+<p>"This letter is written in a spirit of caution, and not of censure.</p>
+
+<p>"I send it by a special messenger, in that it may certainly and speedily
+reach you.<br>
+ "Yours very truly,<br>
+ "A. LINCOLN.</p>
+
+<p>"Major-General FREMONT."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+General Fremont replied to President Lincoln's suggestions, as follows:</p>
+
+<p> "HEADQUARTERS WESTERN DEPARTMENT,<br>
+ "St. Louis, September 8, 1861.</p>
+
+<p>"MY DEAR SIR: Your letter of the second, by special
+messenger, I know to have been written before you had received my
+letter, and before my telegraphic dispatches and the rapid developments
+of critical conditions here had informed you of affairs in this quarter.
+I had not written to you fully and frequently, first, because in the
+incessant change of affairs I would be exposed to give you contradictory
+accounts; and secondly, because the amount of the subjects to be laid
+before you would demand too much of your time.</p>
+
+<p>"Trusting to have your confidence, I have been leaving it to events
+themselves to show you whether or not I was shaping affairs here
+according to your ideas. The shortest communication between Washington
+and St. Louis generally involves two days, and the employment of two
+days, in time of War, goes largely toward success or disaster. I
+therefore went along according to my own judgment, leaving the result of
+my movement to justify me with you.</p>
+
+<p>"And so in regard to my proclamation of the thirtieth. Between the
+Rebel Armies, the Provisional Government, and the home Traitors, I felt
+the position bad, and saw danger. In the night I decided upon the
+proclamation and the form of it&mdash;I wrote it the next morning and printed
+it the same day. I did it without consultation or advice with any one,
+acting solely with my best judgment to serve the Country and yourself,
+and perfectly willing to receive the amount of censure which should be
+thought due, if I had made a false movement.</p>
+
+<p>"This is as much a movement in the War, as a battle, and, in going into
+these, I shall have to act according to my judgment of the ground before
+me, as I did on this occasion. If upon reflection, your better judgment
+still decides that I am wrong in the article respecting the Liberation
+of Slaves, I have to ask that you will openly direct me to make the
+correction. The implied censure will be received as a soldier always
+should the reprimand of his chief.</p>
+
+<p>"If I were to retract of my own accord, it would imply that I myself
+thought it wrong, and that I had acted without the reflection which the
+gravity of the point demanded. But I did not. I acted with full
+deliberation, and upon the certain conviction that it was a measure
+right and necessary, and I think so still.</p>
+
+<p>"In regard to the other point of the proclamation to which you refer, I
+desire to say that I do not think the Enemy can either misconstrue or
+urge anything against it, or undertake to make unusual retaliation. The
+shooting of men who shall rise in arms against an Army in the Military
+occupation of a Country, is merely a necessary measure of defense, and
+entirely according to the usages of civilized warfare. The article does
+not at all refer to prisoners of war, and certainly our Enemies have no
+grounds for requiring that we should waive in their benefit any of the
+ordinary advantages which the usages of War allow to us.</p>
+
+<p>"As promptitude is itself an advantage in War, I have also to ask that
+you will permit me to carry out upon the spot the provisions of the
+proclamation in this respect.</p>
+
+<p>"Looking at affairs from this point of view, I am satisfied that strong
+and vigorous measures have now become necessary to the success of our
+Arms; and hoping that my views may have the honor to meet your approval,</p>
+
+<p> "I am, with respect and regard, very truly yours,<br>
+ "J. C. FREMONT.</p>
+
+<p>"THE PRESIDENT."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+President Lincoln subsequently rejoined, ordering a modification of the
+proclamation. His letter ran thus:</p>
+
+<p>"WASHINGTON, September 11, 1861.</p>
+
+<p>"SIR: Yours of the 8th, in answer to mine of the 2d instant, is just
+received. Assuming that you, upon the ground, could better judge of the
+necessities of your position than I could at this distance, on seeing
+your Proclamation of August 30th, I perceived no general objection to
+it.</p>
+
+<p>"The particular clause, however, in relation to the Confiscation of
+Property and the Liberation of Slaves, appeared to me to be
+objectionable in its non-conformity to the Act of Congress, passed the
+6th of last August, upon the same subjects; and hence I wrote you
+expressing my wish that that clause should be modified accordingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Your answer, just received, expresses the preference, on your part,
+that I should make an open order for the modification, which I very
+cheerfully do.</p>
+
+<p>"It is therefore Ordered, that the said clause of said proclamation be
+so modified, held, and construed as to conform to, and not to transcend,
+the provisions on the same subject contained in the Act of Congress
+entitled, 'An Act to Confiscate Property used for Insurrectionary
+Purposes,' approved August 6, 1861, and that said Act be published at
+length with this Order.</p>
+
+<p> "Your obedient servant,<br>
+ "A. LINCOLN.</p>
+
+<p>"Major-General JOHN C. FREMONT."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+In consequence, however, of the agitation on the subject, the extreme
+delicacy with which it was thought advisable in the earliest stages of
+the Rebellion to treat it, and the confusion of ideas among Military men
+with regard to it, the War Department issued the following General
+Instructions on the occasion of the departure of the Port Royal
+Expedition, commanded by General T. W. Sherman:</p>
+
+<p>
+ "WAR DEPARTMENT, October 14, 1861.</p>
+
+<p>"SIR: In conducting Military Operations within States declared by the
+Proclamation of the President to be in a State of Insurrection, you will
+govern yourself, so far as Persons held to Service under the laws of
+such States are concerned, by the principles of the letters addressed by
+me to Major-General Butler on the 30th of May and the 8th of August,
+copies of which are herewith furnished to you.</p>
+
+<p>"As special directions, adapted to special circumstances, cannot be
+given, much must be referred to your own discretion as Commanding
+General of the Expedition. You will, however, in general avail yourself
+of the services of any Persons, whether Fugitives from Labor or not, who
+may offer them to the National Government; you will employ such Persons
+in such services as they may be fitted for, either as ordinary
+employees, or, if special circumstances seem to require it, in any other
+capacity with such organization, in squads, companies, or otherwise, as
+you deem most beneficial to the service. This, however, not to mean a
+general arming of them for Military service.</p>
+
+<p>"You will assure all Loyal masters that Congress will provide just
+compensation to them for the loss of the services of the Persons so
+employed.</p>
+
+<p>"It is believed that the course thus indicated will best secure the
+substantial rights of Loyal masters, and the benefits to the United
+States of the services of all disposed to support the Government, while
+it avoids all interference with the social systems or local Institutions
+of every State, beyond that which Insurrection makes unavoidable and
+which a restoration of peaceful relations to the Union, under the
+Constitution, will immediately remove.
+ "Respectfully,<br>
+ "SIMON CAMERON,<br>
+ "Secretary of War.</p>
+
+<p>"Brigadier-General T. W. SHERMAN,<br>
+"Commanding Expedition to the Southern Coast."</p>
+<br>
+<p>
+Brigadier-General Thomas W. Sherman, acting upon his own interpretation
+of these instructions, issued a proclamation to the people of South
+Carolina, upon occupying the Forts at Port Royal, in which he said:</p>
+
+<p>"In obedience to the orders of the President of these United States of
+America, I have landed on your shores with a small force of National
+troops. The dictates of a duty which, under these circumstances, I owe
+to a great sovereign State, and to a proud and hospitable people, among
+whom I have passed some of the pleasantest days of my life, prompt me to
+proclaim that we have come amongst you with no feelings of personal
+animosity, no desire to harm your citizens, destroy your property, or
+interfere with any of your lawful rights or your social or local
+Institutions, beyond what the causes herein alluded to may render
+unavoidable."</p>
+
+<p>Major-General Wool, at Fortress Monroe, where he had succeeded General
+Butler, likewise issued a Special Order on the subject of Contrabands,
+as follows:</p>
+
+<p>
+"HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA,<br>
+"FORT MONROE, October 14, 1861.<br>
+"[Special Orders No. 72.]</p>
+
+<p>"All Colored Persons called Contrabands, employed as servants by
+officers and others residing within Fort Monroe, or outside of the Fort
+at Camp Hamilton and Camp Butler, will be furnished with their
+subsistence and at least eight dollars per month for males, and four
+dollars per month for females, by the officers or others thus employing
+them.</p>
+
+<p>"So much of the above-named sums, as may be necessary to furnish
+clothing, to be decided by the Chief Quartermaster of the Department,
+will be applied to that purpose, and the remainder will be paid into his
+hands to create a fund for the support of those Contrabands who are
+unable to work for their own support.</p>
+
+<p>"All able-bodied Colored Persons who are under the protection of the
+troops of this Department, and who are not employed as servants, will be
+immediately put to work in either the Engineer's or Quartermaster's
+Department.</p>
+
+<p>"By command of Major-General Wool:</p>
+
+<p>"[Signed] WILLIAM D. WHIPPLE,<br>
+"Assistant Adjutant General."</p>
+<br>
+<p>
+He subsequently also issued the following General Order:</p>
+
+<p>"HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA,<br>
+"FORT MONROE, November 1, 1861.<br>
+"[General Orders No. 34.]</p>
+
+<p>"The following pay and allowances will constitute the valuation of the
+Labor of the Contrabands at work in the Engineer, Ordnance,
+Quartermaster, Commissary, and Medical Departments at this Post, to be
+paid as hereinafter mentioned;</p>
+
+<p>"Class 1st.&mdash;Negro man over eighteen years of age, and able-bodied, ten
+dollars per month, one ration and the necessary amount of clothing.</p>
+
+<p>"Class 2d.&mdash;Negro boys from 12 to 18 years of age, and sickly and infirm
+Negro men, five dollars per month, one ration, and the necessary amount
+of clothing.</p>
+
+<p>"The Quartermaster will furnish all the clothing. The Department
+employing these men will furnish the subsistence specified above, and as
+an incentive to good behavior (to be withheld at the direction of the
+chiefs of the departments respectively), each individual of the first
+class will receive $2 per month, and each individual of the second class
+$1 per month, for their own use. The remainder of the money valuation
+of their Labor, will be turned over to the Quartermaster, who will
+deduct from it the cost of the clothing issued to them; the balance will
+constitute a fund to be expended by the Quartermaster under the
+direction of the Commanding officer of the Department of Virginia for
+the support of the women and children and those that are unable to work.</p>
+
+<p>"For any unusual amount of Labor performed, they may receive extra pay,
+varying in amount from fifty cents to one dollar, this to be paid by the
+departments employing them, to the men themselves, and to be for their
+own use.</p>
+
+<p>"Should any man be prevented from working, on account of sickness, for
+six consecutive days, or ten days in any one month, one-half of the
+money value will be paid. For being prevented from laboring for a
+longer period than ten days in any one month all pay and allowances
+cease.</p>
+
+<p>"By command of Major-General Wool:</p>
+
+<p>"[Signed] "WILLIAM D. WHIPPLE,<br>
+"Assistant Adjutant General."</p>
+<br>
+<p>
+On November 13, 1861, Major-General Dix, in a proclamation addressed to
+the people of Accomac and Northampton Counties, Va., ordered the
+repulsion of Fugitive Slaves seeking to enter the Union lines, in these
+words:</p>
+
+<p>"The Military Forces of the United States are about to enter your
+Counties as a part of the Union. They will go among you as friends, and
+with the earnest hope that they may not, by your own acts, be forced to
+become your enemies. They will invade no rights of person or property.
+On the contrary, your Laws, your Institutions, your Usages, will be
+scrupulously respected. There need be no fear that the quietude of any
+fireside will be disturbed, unless the disturbance is caused by
+yourselves.</p>
+
+<p>"Special directions have been given not to interfere with the condition
+of any Person held to domestic service; and, in order that there may be
+no ground for mistake or pretext for misrepresent action, Commanders of
+Regiments and Corps have been instructed not to permit any such Persons
+to come within their lines."</p>
+
+<p>On the 20th of November, 1861, Major General Halleck issued the
+following Genera., Order&mdash;which went even further, in that it expelled,
+as well as repelled Fugitive Slaves from our lines:</p>
+
+<p>
+"HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF MISSOURI,<br>
+"St. Louis, November 20, 1861.<br>
+"[General Orders No. 3.]</p>
+
+<p>"I. It has been represented that important information respecting the
+number and condition of our Forces, is conveyed to the Enemy by means of
+Fugitive Slaves who are admitted within our lines. In order to remedy
+this evil, it is directed that no such Persons be hereafter permitted to
+enter the lines of any camp, or of any forces on the march; and that any
+now within such lines be immediately excluded therefrom."</p>
+
+<p>This Order was subsequently explained in a letter, of December 8, 1861,
+from General Halleck to Hon. F. P. Blair, in which he said:</p>
+
+<p>" * * * Order No. 3 was in my mind, clearly a Military necessity.
+Unauthorized persons, black or white, Free or Slaves, must be kept out
+of our camps, unless we are willing to publish to the Enemy everything
+we do or intend to do. It was a Military and not a political order. I
+am ready to carry out any lawful instructions in regard to Fugitive
+Slaves which my superiors may give me, and to enforce any law which
+Congress may pass. But I cannot make law, and will not violate it. You
+know my private opinion on the policy of Confiscating the Slave Property
+of Rebels in Arms. If Congress shall pass it, you may be certain that I
+shall enforce it. Perhaps my policy as to the treatment of Rebels and
+their property is as well set out in Order No. 13, issued the day
+(December 4, 1861), your letter was written, as I could now describe
+it."</p>
+
+<p>It may be well also to add here, as belonging to this period of
+doubtfulness touching the status of escaped Slaves, the following
+communication sent by Secretary Seward to General McClellan, touching
+"Contrabands" in the District of Columbia:</p>
+
+<p>
+"DEPARTMENT OF STATE,<br>
+"WASHINGTON, December 4, 1861.</p>
+
+<p>"To Major-General GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN, Washington:</p>
+
+<p>"GENERAL: I am directed by the President to call your attention to the
+following subject:</p>
+
+<p>"Persons claimed to be held to Service or Labor under the laws of the
+State of Virginia, and actually employed in hostile service against the
+Government of the United States, frequently escape from the lines of the
+Enemy's Forces and are received within the lines of the Army of the
+Potomac.</p>
+
+<p>"This Department understands that such Persons afterward coming into the
+city of Washington are liable to be arrested by the city police, upon
+the presumption, arising from color, that they are Fugitives from
+Service or Labor.</p>
+
+<p>"By the 4th section of the Act of Congress approved August 6, 1861,
+entitled, 'An Act to Confiscate Property used for Insurrectionary
+purposes,' such hostile employment is made a full and sufficient answer
+to any further claim to Service or Labor. Persons thus employed and
+escaping are received into the Military protection of the United States,
+and their arrest as Fugitives from Service or Labor should be
+immediately followed by the Military arrest of the parties making the
+seizure.</p>
+
+<p>"Copies of this communication will be sent to the Mayor of the city of
+Washington and to the Marshal of the District of Columbia, that any
+collision between the Civil and Military authorities may be avoided.</p>
+
+<p>"I am, General, your very obedient,</p>
+
+<p> "WILLIAM H. SEWARD."</p>
+
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<a name="hunter"></a>
+<center>
+<img alt="p312-hunter.jpg (63K)" src="images/p312-hunter.jpg" height="771" width="577">
+</center>
+<br><br><br>
+<a name="ch16"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<h2>
+ CHAPTER XVI.<br><br>
+
+ "COMPENSATED GRADUAL EMANCIPATION.".<br>
+</h2>
+</center>
+
+
+<p>Thus far the reader's eye has been able to review in their successive
+order some of the many difficulties and perplexities which beset the
+pathway of President Lincoln as he felt his way in the dark, as it were,
+toward Emancipation. It must seem pretty evident now, however, that his
+chief concern was for the preservation of the Union, even though all
+other things&mdash;Emancipation with them&mdash;had to be temporarily sacrificed.</p>
+
+<p>Something definite, however, had been already gained. Congress had
+asserted its right under the War powers of the Constitution, to release
+from all claim to Service or Labor those Slaves whose Service or Labor
+had been used in hostility to the Union. And while some of the Union
+Generals obstructed the execution of the Act enforcing that right, by
+repelling and even as we have seen, expelling, from the Union lines all
+Fugitive Slaves&mdash;whether such as had or had not been used in hostility
+to us&mdash;yet still the cause of Freedom to all, was slowly and silently
+perhaps, yet surely and irresistibly, marching on until the time when,
+becoming a chief factor in the determination of the question of "whether
+we should have a Country at all," it should triumph coincidently with
+the preservation of the Republic.</p>
+
+<p>But now a new phase of the Slave question arose&mdash;a question not
+involving what to do with Fugitive Slaves of any sort, whether engaged
+or not engaged in performing services hostile to the Union cause, but
+what to do with Slaves whom their panic-stricken owners had, for the
+time being, abandoned in the presence of our Armies.</p>
+
+<p>This question was well discussed in the original draft of the report of
+the Secretary of War, December 1, 1861 in which Secretary Cameron said:</p>
+
+<p>"It has become a grave question for determination what shall be done
+with the Slaves abandoned by their owners on the advance of our troops
+into Southern territory, as in the Beaufort district of South Carolina.
+The whole White population therein is six thousand, while the number of
+Negroes exceeds thirty-two thousand. The panic which drove their
+masters in wild confusion from their homes, leaves them in undisputed
+possession of the soil. Shall they, armed by their masters, be placed
+in the field to fight against us, or shall their labor be continually
+employed in reproducing the means for supporting the Armies of
+Rebellion?</p>
+
+<p>"The War into which this Government has been forced by rebellious
+Traitors is carried on for the purpose of repossessing the property
+violently and treacherously seized upon by the Enemies of the
+Government, and to re-establish the authority and Laws of the United
+States in the places where it is opposed or overthrown by armed
+Insurrection and Rebellion. Its purpose is to recover and defend what
+is justly its own.</p>
+
+<p>"War, even between Independent Nations, is made to subdue the Enemy, and
+all that belongs to that Enemy, by occupying the hostile country, and
+exercising dominion over all the men and things within its territory.
+This being true in respect to Independent Nations at war with each
+other, it follows that Rebels who are laboring by force of arms to
+overthrow a Government, justly bring upon themselves all the
+consequences of War, and provoke the destruction merited by the worst of
+crimes. That Government would be false to National trust, and would
+justly excite the ridicule of the civilized World, that would abstain
+from the use of any efficient means to preserve its own existence, or to
+overcome a rebellious and traitorous Enemy, by sparing or protecting the
+property of those who are waging War against it.</p>
+
+<p>"The principal wealth and power of the Rebel States is a peculiar
+species of Property, consisting of the service or labor of African
+Slaves, or the descendants of Africans. This Property has been
+variously estimated at the value of from seven hundred million to one
+thousand million dollars.</p>
+
+<p>"Why should this Property be exempt from the hazards and consequences of
+a rebellious War?</p>
+
+<p>"It was the boast of the leader of the Rebellion, while he yet had a
+seat in the Senate of the United States, that the Southern States would
+be comparatively safe and free from the burdens of War, if it should be
+brought on by the contemplated Rebellion, and that boast was accompanied
+by the savage threat that 'Northern towns and cities would become the
+victims of rapine and Military spoil,' and that 'Northern men should
+smell Southern gunpowder and feel Southern steel.'</p>
+
+<p>"No one doubts the disposition of the Rebels to carry that threat into
+execution. The wealth of Northern towns and cities, the produce of
+Northern farms, Northern workshops and manufactories would certainly be
+seized, destroyed, or appropriated as Military spoil. No property in
+the North would be spared from the hands of the Rebels, and their rapine
+would be defended under the laws of War. While the Loyal States thus
+have all their property and possessions at stake, are the insurgent
+Rebels to carry on warfare against the Government in peace and security
+to their own property?</p>
+
+<p>"Reason and justice and self-preservation forbid that such should be;
+the policy of this Government, but demand, on the contrary, that, being
+forced by Traitors and Rebels to the extremity of war, all the rights
+and powers of war should be exercised to bring it to a speedy end.</p>
+
+<p>"Those who war against the Government justly forfeit all rights of
+property, privilege, or security, derived from the Constitution and
+Laws, against which they are in armed Rebellion; and as the labor and
+service of their Slaves constitute the chief Property of the Rebels,
+such Property should share the common fate of War to which they have
+devoted the property of Loyal citizens.</p>
+
+<p>"While it is plain that the Slave Property of the South is justly
+subjected to all the consequences of this Rebellious War, and that the
+Government would be untrue to its trust in not employing all the rights
+and powers of War to bring it to a speedy close, the details of the plan
+for doing so, like all other Military measures, must, in a great degree,
+be left to be determined by particular exigencies. The disposition of
+other property belonging to the Rebels that becomes subject to our arms
+is governed by the circumstances of the case.</p>
+
+<p>"The Government has no power to hold Slaves, none to restrain a Slave of
+his Liberty, or to exact his service. It has a right, however, to use
+the voluntary service of Slaves liberated by War from their Rebel
+masters, like any other property of the Rebels, in whatever mode may be
+most efficient for the defense of the Government, the prosecution of the
+War, and the suppression of Rebellion. It is clearly a right of the
+Government to arm Slaves when it may become necessary, as it is to take
+gunpowder from the Enemy; whether it is expedient to do so, is purely a
+Military question. The right is unquestionable by the laws of War. The
+expediency must be determined by circumstances, keeping in view the
+great object of overcoming the Rebels, reestablishing the Laws, and
+restoring Peace to the Nation.</p>
+
+<p>"It is vain and idle for the Government to carry on this War, or hope to
+maintain its existence against rebellious force, without employing all
+the rights and powers of War. As has been said, the right to deprive
+the Rebels of their Property in Slaves and Slave Labor is as clear and
+absolute as the right to take forage from the field, or cotton from the
+warehouse, or powder and arms from the magazine. To leave the Enemy in
+the possession of such property as forage and cotton and military
+stores, and the means of constantly reproducing them, would be madness.
+It is, therefore, equal madness to leave them in peaceful and secure
+possession of Slave Property, more valuable and efficient to them for
+war than forage, cotton, military stores. Such policy would be National
+suicide.</p>
+
+<p>"What to do with that species of Property is a question that time and
+circumstances will solve, and need not be anticipated further than to
+repeat that they cannot be held by the Government as Slaves. It would
+be useless to keep them as prisoners of War; and self-preservation, the
+highest duty of a Government, or of individuals, demands that they
+should be disposed of or employed in the most effective manner that will
+tend most speedily to suppress the Insurrection and restore the
+authority of the Government. If it shall be found that the men who have
+been held by the Rebels as Slaves, are capable of bearing arms and
+performing efficient Military service, it is the right, and may become
+the duty, of this Government to arm and equip them, and employ their
+services against the Rebels, under proper Military regulations,
+discipline, and command.</p>
+
+<p>"But in whatever manner they may be used by the Government, it is plain
+that, once liberated by the rebellious act of their masters they should
+never again be restored to bondage. By the master's Treason and
+Rebellion he forfeits all right to the labor and service of his Slave;
+and the Slave of the rebellious master, by his service to the
+Government, becomes justly entitled to Freedom and protection.</p>
+
+<p>"The disposition to be made of the Slaves of Rebels, after the close of
+the War, can be safely left to the wisdom and patriotism of Congress.
+The Representatives of the People will unquestionably secure to the
+Loyal Slaveholders every right to which they are entitled under the
+Constitution of the Country."</p>
+
+<p>This original draft of the report was modified, at the instance of
+President Lincoln, to the following&mdash;and thus appeared in Secretary
+Cameron's report of that date, as printed:</p>
+
+<p>"It is already a grave question what shall be done with those Slaves who
+were abandoned by their owners on the advance of our troops into
+Southern territory, as at Beaufort district, in South Carolina. The
+number left within our control at that point is very considerable, and
+similar cases will probably occur. What should be done with them? Can
+we afford to send them forward to their masters, to be by them armed
+against us, or used in producing supplies to sustain the Rebellion?</p>
+
+<p>"Their labor may be useful to us; withheld from the Enemy it lessens his
+Military resources, and withholding them has no tendency to induce the
+horrors of Insurrection, even in the Rebel communities. They constitute
+a Military resource, and, being such, that they should not be turned
+over to the Enemy is too plain to discuss. Why deprive him of supplies
+by a blockade, and voluntarily give him men to produce them?</p>
+
+<p>"The disposition to be made of the Slaves of Rebels, after the close of
+the War, can be safely left to the wisdom and patriotism of Congress.
+The Representatives of the People will unquestionably secure to the
+Loyal Slaveholders every right to which they are entitled under the
+Constitution of the Country.</p>
+
+<p>SIMON CAMERON.<br>
+"Secretary of War."</p>
+<br>
+<p>
+The language of this modification is given to show that the President,
+at the close of the year 1861, had already reached a further step
+forward toward Emancipation&mdash;and the sound reasoning upon which he made
+that advance. He was satisfying his own mind and conscience as he
+proceeded, and thus, while justifying himself to himself, was also
+simultaneously carrying conviction to the minds and consciences of the
+People, whose servant and agent he was.</p>
+
+<p>That these abandoned Slaves would "constitute a Military resource" and
+"should not be turned over to the Enemy" and that "their labor may be
+useful to us" were propositions which could not be gainsaid. But to
+quiet uncalled-for apprehensions, and to encourage Southern loyalty, he
+added, in substance, that at the close of this War&mdash;waged solely for the
+preservation of the Union&mdash;Congress would decide the doubtful status of
+the Slaves of Rebels, while the rights of Union Slave-holders would be
+secured.</p>
+
+<p>The Contraband-Slave question, however, continued to agitate the public
+mind for many months&mdash;owing to the various ways in which it was treated
+by the various Military commanders, to whose discretion its treatment,
+in their several commands, was left&mdash;a discretion which almost
+invariably leaned toward the political bias of the commander. Thus, in
+a proclamation, dated St. Louis, February 23, 1862, Halleck, commanding
+the Department of Missouri, said:</p>
+
+<p>"Soldiers! let no excess on your part tarnish the glory of our arms!</p>
+
+<p>"The order heretofore issued in this department, in regard to pillaging
+and marauding, the destruction of private property, and the stealing or
+concealment of Slaves, must be strictly enforced. It does not belong to
+the Military to decide upon the relation of Master and Slave. Such
+questions must be settled by the civil Courts. No Fugitive Slaves will
+therefore be admitted within our lines or camps, except when especially
+ordered by the General Commanding. * * * "</p>
+
+<p>And Buell, commanding the Department of the Ohio, in response to a
+communication on the subject from the Chairman of the Military Committee
+of the Kentucky Legislature, wrote, March 6, 1862:</p>
+
+<p>"It has come to my knowledge that Slaves sometimes make their way
+improperly into our lines, and in some instances they may be enticed
+there, but I think the number has been magnified by report. Several
+applications have been made to me by persons whose servants have been
+found in our camps, and in every instance that I know of the master has
+recovered his servant and taken him away."</p>
+
+<p>Thus, while some of our Commanders, like Dix and Halleck, repelled or
+even expelled the Fugitive Slave from their lines; and others, like
+Buell and Hooker, facilitated the search for, and restoration to his
+master, of the black Fugitive found within our lines; on the other hand,
+Fremont, as we have seen, and Doubleday and Hunter, as we shall yet see,
+took totally different ground on this question.</p>
+
+<p>President Lincoln, however, harassed as he was by the extremists on both
+sides of the Slavery question, still maintained that calm statesman-like
+middle-course from which the best results were likely to flow. But he
+now thought the time had come to broach the question of a compensated,
+gradual Emancipation.</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly, on March 6, 1862, he sent to Congress the following
+message:</p>
+
+<p>"Fellow citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:</p>
+
+<p>"I recommend the adoption of a joint Resolution by your honorable
+bodies, which shall be substantially as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved, That the United States ought to co-operate with any State
+which may adopt gradual abolishment of Slavery, giving to such State
+pecuniary aid, to be used by such State in its discretion, to compensate
+for the inconveniences, public and private, produced by such change of
+system.</p>
+
+<p>"If the proposition contained in the Resolution does not meet the
+approval of Congress and the Country, there is the end; but if it does
+command such approval, I deem it of importance that the States and
+people immediately interested should be at once distinctly notified of
+the fact, so that they may begin to consider whether to accept or reject
+it, The Federal Government would find its highest interest in such a
+measure, as one of the most efficient means of self preservation.</p>
+
+<p>"The leaders of the existing Insurrection entertain the hope that this
+Government will ultimately be forced to acknowledge the Independence of
+some part of the disaffected region, and that all the Slave States North
+of such part will then say, 'the Union for which we have struggled being
+already gone, we now choose to go with the Southern Section.'</p>
+
+<p>"To deprive them of this hope, substantially ends the Rebellion; and the
+initiation of Emancipation completely deprives them of it, as to all the
+States initiating it. The point is not that all the States tolerating
+Slavery would very soon, if at all, initiate Emancipation; but that,
+while the offer is equally made to all, the more Northern shall, by such
+initiation, make it certain to the more Southern that in no event will
+the former ever join the latter in their proposed Confederacy. I say,
+'initiation,' because in my judgment, gradual, and not sudden
+Emancipation, is better for all.</p>
+
+<p>"In the mere financial or pecuniary view, any member of Congress, with
+the census tables and Treasury reports before him, can readily see for
+himself how very soon the current expenditures of this War would
+purchase, at fair valuation, all the Slaves in any named State.</p>
+
+<p>"Such a proposition on the part of the General Government sets up no
+claim of a right by Federal authority to interfere with Slavery within
+State limits, referring, as it does, the absolute control of the subject
+in each case to the State and its people immediately interested. It is
+proposed as a matter of perfectly free choice with them.</p>
+
+<p>"In the Annual Message last December, I thought fit to say, 'the Union
+must be preserved; and hence all indispensable means must be employed.'
+I said this, not hastily, but deliberately. War has been made, and
+continues to be an indispensable means to this end. A practical
+reacknowledgment of the National authority would render the War
+unnecessary, and it would at once cease. If, however, resistance
+continues, the War must also continue; and it is impossible to foresee
+all the incidents which may attend, and all the ruin which may follow
+it. Such as may seem indispensable, or may obviously promise great
+efficiency toward ending the struggle, must and will come.</p>
+
+<p>"The proposition now made, though an offer only, I hope it may be
+esteemed no offense to ask whether the pecuniary consideration tendered
+would not be of more value to the States and private persons concerned,
+than are the Institution, and Property in it, in the present aspect of
+affairs?</p>
+
+<p>"While it is true that the adoption of the proposed resolution would be
+merely initiatory, and not within itself a practical measure, it is
+recommended in the hope that it would soon lead to important practical
+results. In full view of my great responsibility to my God and to my
+Country, I earnestly beg the attention of Congress and the People to the
+subject.</p>
+
+<p>"March 6, 1862."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+In compliance with the above suggestion from the President, a Joint
+Resolution, in the precise words suggested, was introduced into the
+House, March 10, by Roscoe Conkling, and on the following day was
+adopted in the House by 97 yeas to 36 nays.</p>
+
+<p>Of the 36 members of the House who voted against this Resolution, were
+34 Democrats, and among them were Messrs. Crisfield of Maryland, and
+Messrs. Crittenden, Mallory, and Menzies of Kentucky. These gentleman
+afterward made public a report, drawn by themselves, of an interesting
+interview they had held with President Lincoln on this important
+subject, in the words following:</p>
+<br>
+<p>
+"MEMORANDUM OF AN INTERVIEW BETWEEN THE PRESIDENT AND SOME BORDER
+SLAVE-STATE REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 10, 1862.</p>
+
+<p>"'DEAR SIR:&mdash;I called, at the request of the President, to ask you to
+come to the White House to-morrow morning, at nine o'clock, and bring
+such of your colleagues as are in town.'"</p>
+
+<p>
+"'WASHINGTON, March 10, 1862.</p>
+
+<p>"Yesterday on my return from church I found Mr. Postmaster General Blair
+in my room, writing the above note, which he immediately suspended, and
+verbally communicated the President's invitation; and stated that the
+President's purpose was to have some conversation with the delegations
+of Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware, in explanation
+of his Message of the 6th inst.</p>
+
+<p>"This morning these delegations, or such of them as were in town,
+assembled at the White House at the appointed time, and after some
+little delay were admitted to an audience.</p>
+
+<p>"After the usual salutations and we were seated, the President said, in
+substance, that he had invited us to meet him to have some conversation
+with us in explanation of his Message of the 6th; that since he had sent
+it in, several of the gentlemen then present had visited him, but had
+avoided any allusion to the Message, and he therefore inferred that the
+import of the Message had been misunderstood, and was regarded as
+inimical to the interests we represented; and he had resolved he would
+talk with us, and disabuse our minds of that erroneous opinion.</p>
+
+<p>"The President then disclaimed any intent to injure the interests or
+wound the sensibilities of the Slave States. On the contrary, his
+purpose was to protect the one and respect the other; that we were
+engaged in a terrible, wasting, and tedious War; immense Armies were in
+the field, and must continue in the field as long as the War lasts; that
+these Armies must, of necessity, be brought into contact with Slaves in
+the States we represented and in other States as they advanced; that
+Slaves would come to the camps, and continual irritation was kept up;
+that he was constantly annoyed by conflicting and antagonistic
+complaints; on the one side, a certain class complained if the Slave was
+not protected by the Army; persons were frequently found who,
+participating in these views, acted in a way unfriendly to the
+Slaveholder; on the other hand, Slaveholders complained that their
+rights were interfered with, their Slaves induced to abscond, and
+protected within the lines, these complaints were numerous, loud, and
+deep; were a serious annoyance to him and embarrassing to the progress
+of the War; that it kept alive a spirit hostile to the Government in the
+States we represented; strengthened the hopes of the Confederates that
+at some day the Border States would unite with them, and thus tend to
+prolong the War; and he was of opinion, if this Resolution should be
+adopted by Congress and accepted by our States, these causes of
+irritation and these hopes would be removed, and more would be
+accomplished towards shortening the War than could be hoped from the
+greatest victory achieved by Union Armies; that he made this proposition
+in good faith, and desired it to be accepted, if at all, voluntarily,
+and in the same patriotic spirit in which it was made; that Emancipation
+was a subject exclusively under the control of the States, and must be
+adopted or rejected by each for itself; that he did not claim nor had
+this Government any right to coerce them for that purpose; that such was
+no part of his purpose in making this proposition, and he wished it to
+be clearly understood; that he did not expect us there to be prepared to
+give him an answer, but he hoped we would take the subject into serious
+consideration; confer with one another, and then take such course as we
+felt our duty and the interests of our constituents required of us.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Noell, of Missouri, said that in his State, Slavery was not
+considered a permanent Institution; that natural causes were there in
+operation which would, at no distant day, extinguish it, and he did not
+think that this proposition was necessary for that; and, besides that,
+he and his friends felt solicitous as to the Message on account of the
+different constructions which the Resolution and Message had received.
+The New York Tribune was for it, and understood it to mean that we must
+accept gradual Emancipation according to the plan suggested, or get
+something worse.</p>
+
+<p>"The President replied, he must not be expected to quarrel with the New
+York Tribune before the right time; he hoped never to have to do it; he
+would not anticipate events. In respect to Emancipation in Missouri, he
+said that what had been observed by Mr. Noell was probably true, but the
+operation of these natural causes had not prevented the irritating
+conduct to which he had referred, or destroyed the hopes of the
+Confederates that Missouri would at some time range herself alongside of
+them, which, in his judgment, the passage of this Resolution by
+Congress, and its acceptance by Missouri, would accomplish.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Crisfield, of Maryland, asked what would be the effect of the
+refusal of the State to accept this proposal, and desired to know if the
+President looked to any policy beyond the acceptance or rejection of
+this scheme.</p>
+
+<p>"The President replied that he had no designs beyond the action of the
+States on this particular subject. He should lament their refusal to
+accept it, but he had no designs beyond their refusal of it.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Menzies, of Kentucky, inquired if the President thought there was
+any power, except in the States themselves, to carry out his scheme of
+Emancipation?</p>
+
+<p>"The President replied, he thought there could not be. He then went off
+into a course of remark not qualifying the foregoing declaration, nor
+material to be repeated to a just understanding of his meaning.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Crisfield said he did not think the people of Maryland looked upon
+Slavery as a permanent Institution; and he did not know that they would
+be very reluctant to give it up if provision was made to meet the loss,
+and they could be rid of the race; but they did not like to be coerced
+into Emancipation, either by the direct action of the Government or by
+indirection, as through the Emancipation of Slaves in this District, or
+the Confiscation of Southern Property as now threatened; and he thought
+before they would consent to consider this proposition they would
+require to be informed on these points.</p>
+
+<p>"The President replied that 'unless he was expelled by the act of God or
+the Confederate Armies, he should occupy that house for three years, and
+as long as he remained there, Maryland had nothing to fear, either for
+her Institutions or her interests, on the points referred to.'</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Crisfield immediately added: 'Mr. President, what you now say could
+be heard by the people of Maryland, they would consider your proposition
+with a much better feeling than I fear without it they will be inclined
+to do.'</p>
+
+<p>"The President: 'That (meaning a publication of what he said), will not
+do; it would force me into a quarrel before the proper time;' and again
+intimating, as he had before done, that a quarrel with the 'Greeley
+faction' was impending, he said, 'he did not wish to encounter it before
+the proper time, nor at all if it could be avoided.'</p>
+
+<p>"Governor Wickliffe, of Kentucky, then asked him respecting the
+Constitutionality of his scheme.</p>
+
+<p>"The President replied: 'As you may suppose, I have considered that; and
+the proposition now submitted does not encounter any Constitutional
+difficulty. It proposes simply to co-operate with any State by giving
+such State pecuniary aid;' and he thought that the Resolution, as
+proposed by him, would be considered rather as the expression of a
+sentiment than as involving any Constitutional question.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Hall, of Missouri, thought that if this proposition was adopted at
+all, it should be by the votes of the Free States, and come as a
+proposition from them to the Slave States, affording them an inducement
+to put aside this subject of discord; that it ought not to be expected
+that members representing Slaveholding Constituencies should declare at
+once, and in advance of any proposition to them, for the Emancipation of
+Slaves.</p>
+
+<p>"The President said he saw and felt the force of the objection; it was a
+fearful responsibility, and every gentleman must do as he thought best;
+that he did not know how this scheme was received by the Members from
+the Free States; some of them had spoken to him and received it kindly;
+but for the most part they were as reserved and chary as we had been,
+and he could not tell how they would vote.</p>
+
+<p>"And, in reply to some expression of Mr. Hall as to his own opinion
+regarding Slavery, he said he did not pretend to disguise his
+Anti-Slavery feeling; that he thought it was wrong and should continue to
+think so; but that was not the question we had to deal with now.
+Slavery existed, and that, too, as well by the act of the North, as of
+the South; and in any scheme to get rid of it, the North, as well as the
+South, was morally bound to do its full and equal share. He thought the
+Institution, wrong, and ought never to have existed; but yet he
+recognized the rights of Property which had grown out of it, and would
+respect those rights as fully as similar rights in any other property;
+that Property can exist, and does legally exist. He thought such a law,
+wrong, but the rights of Property resulting must be respected; he would
+get rid of the odious law, not by violating the right, but by
+encouraging the proposition, and offering inducements to give it up."</p>
+
+<p>"Here the interview, so far as this subject is concerned, terminated by
+Mr. Crittenden's assuring the President that whatever might be our final
+action, we all thought him solely moved by a high patriotism and sincere
+devotion to the happiness and glory of his Country; and with that
+conviction we should consider respectfully the important suggestions he
+had made.</p>
+
+<p>"After some conversation on the current war news we retired, and I
+immediately proceeded to my room and wrote out this paper.<br><br>
+ "J. W. CRISFIELD."</p>
+<br>
+<p>"We were present at the interview described in the foregoing paper of
+Mr. Crisfield, and we certify that the substance of what passed on the
+occasion is in this paper, faithfully and fully given.</p>
+
+<p>"J. W. MENZIES,<br>
+"J. J. CRITTENDEN,<br>
+"R. MALLORY.<br>
+"March 10, 1862."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+Upon the passage of the Joint-Resolution in the House only four
+Democrats (Messrs. Cobb, Haight, Lehman, and Sheffield) voted in the
+affirmative, and but two Republicans (Francis Thomas, and Leary) in the
+negative. On the 2nd of April, it passed the Senate by a vote of 32
+yeas&mdash;all Republicans save Messrs. Davis and Thomson&mdash;to 10 nays, all
+Democrats.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime the question of the treatment of the "Contraband" in our
+Military camps, continued to grow in importance.</p>
+
+<p>On March 26, 1862, General Hooker issued the following order touching
+certain Fugitive Slaves and their alleged owners:</p>
+
+<p>"HEADQUARTERS, HOOKER'S DIVISION, CAMP BAKER,<br>
+"LOWER POTOMAC, March 26, 1862.</p>
+
+<p>"To BRIGADE AND REGIMENTAL COMMANDERS OF THIS DIVISION:</p>
+
+<p>"Messrs. Nally, Gray, Dummington, Dent, Adams, Speake, Price, Posey,
+and Cobey, citizens of Maryland, have Negroes supposed to be with some
+of the regiments of this Division; the Brigadier General commanding
+directs that they be permitted to visit all the camps of his command, in
+search of their Property, and if found, that they be allowed to take
+possession of the same, without any interference whatever. Should any
+obstacle be thrown in their way by any officer or soldier in the
+Division, they will be at once reported by the regimental commanders to
+these headquarters.</p>
+
+<p>"By command of Brigadier General Hooker;</p>
+
+<p>"JOSEPH DICKINSON,<br>
+"Assistant Adjutant General."</p>
+<br>
+<p>
+On the following day, by direction of General Sickles, the following
+significant report was made touching the above order:</p>
+
+<p>"HEADQUARTERS, SECOND REGIMENT, EXCELSIOR BRIGADE.<br>
+"CAMP HALL, March 27, 1862.</p>
+
+<p>"LIEUTENANT:&mdash;In compliance with verbal directions from Brigadier
+General D. E. Sickles, to report as to the occurrence at this camp on
+the afternoon of the 26th instant, I beg leave to submit the following:</p>
+
+<p>"At about 3:30 o'clock P. M., March 26, 1862, admission within our lines
+was demanded by a party of horsemen (civilians), numbering, perhaps,
+fifteen. They presented the lieutenant commanding the guard, with an
+order of entrance from Brigadier General Joseph Hooker, Commanding
+Division (copy appended), the order stating that nine men should be
+admitted.</p>
+
+<p>"I ordered that the balance of the party should remain without the
+lines; which was done. Upon the appearance of the others, there was
+visible dissatisfaction and considerable murmuring among the soldiers,
+to so great an extent that I almost feared for the safety of the
+Slaveholders. At this time General Sickles opportunely arrived, and
+instructed me to order them outside the camp, which I did, amidst the
+loud cheers of our soldiers.</p>
+
+<p>"It is proper to add, that before entering our lines, and within about
+seventy-five or one hundred yards of our camp, one of their number
+discharged two pistol shots at a Negro, who was running past them, with
+an evident intention of taking his life. This justly enraged our men.</p>
+
+<p> "All of which is respectfully submitted.</p>
+
+<p> "Your obedient servant,<br>
+ "JOHN TOLEN.<br>
+ "Major Commanding Second Regiment, E. B.</p>
+
+<p>"To Lieutenant J. L. PALMER, Jr.,<br>
+"A. D. C. and A. A. A. General."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+On April 6, the following important dispatch, in the nature of an order,
+was issued by General Doubleday to one of his subordinate officers:</p>
+
+<p>"HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DEFENSES,<br>
+"NORTH OF THE POTOMAC,<br>
+"WASHINGTON, April 6, 1862.</p>
+
+<p>"SIR:&mdash;I am directed by General Doubleday to say, in answer to your
+letter of the 2d instant, that all Negroes coming into the lines of any
+of the camps or forts under his command, are to be treated as persons,
+and not as chattels.</p>
+
+<p>"Under no circumstances has the Commander of a fort or camp the power of
+surrendering persons claimed as Fugitive Slaves, as it cannot be done
+without determining their character.</p>
+
+<p>"The Additional Article of War recently passed by Congress positively
+prohibits this.</p>
+
+<p>"The question has been asked, whether it would not be better to exclude
+Negroes altogether from the lines. The General is of the opinion that
+they bring much valuable information, which cannot be obtained from any
+other source. They are acquainted with all the roads, paths, fords, and
+other natural features of the country, and they make excellent guides.
+They also know and frequently have exposed the haunts of Secession spies
+and Traitors and the existence of Rebel organizations. They will not,
+therefore, be excluded.</p>
+
+<p>"The General also directs me to say that civil process cannot be served
+directly in the camps or forts of his command, without full authority be
+obtained from the Commanding Officer for that purpose.</p>
+
+<p>"I am very respectfully, your obedient servant,</p>
+
+<p>"E. P. HALSTED,<br>
+"Assistant Adjutant General.</p>
+
+<p>"Lieut. Col. JOHN D. SHANE,<br>
+"Commanding 76th Reg. N. Y. Vols."</p>
+
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<a name="henry"></a>
+<center>
+<img alt="p344-henry.jpg (75K)" src="images/p344-henry.jpg" height="784" width="587">
+</center>
+<br><br><br>
+<a name="ch17"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<h2>
+ CHAPTER XVII.<br><br>
+
+ BORDER-STATE OPPOSITION.<br>
+</h2>
+</center>
+
+<p>On April 3, 1862, the United States Senate passed a Bill to liberate all
+Persons of African descent held to Service or Labor within the District
+of Columbia, and prohibiting Slavery or involuntary servitude in the
+District except as a punishment for crime&mdash;an appropriation being made
+to pay to loyal owners an appraised value of the liberated Slaves not to
+exceed $300 for each Slave. The vote on its passage in the Senate was
+29 yeas to 14 nays&mdash;all the yeas being Republican, and all but two of
+the nays Democratic.</p>
+
+<p>April 11th, the Bill passed the House by 92 yeas to 39 nays&mdash;all the
+yeas save 5 being Republican, and all the nays, save three, being
+Democratic.</p>
+
+<p>April 7, 1862, the House adopted a resolution, by 67 yeas to 52
+nays&mdash;all the yeas, save one, Republican, and all the nays, save 12,
+Democratic&mdash;for the appointment of a Select Committee of nine, to
+consider and report whether any plan could be proposed and recommended
+for the gradual Emancipation of all the African Slaves, and the
+extinction of Slavery in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky,
+Tennessee, and Missouri, by the people or local authorities thereof, and
+how far and in what way the Government of the United States could and
+ought equitably to aid in facilitating either of those objects.</p>
+
+<p>On the 16th President Lincoln sent the following Message to Congress:</p>
+
+<p>"Fellow citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:</p>
+
+<p>"The Act entitled 'An Act for the release of certain Persons held to
+Service or Labor in the District of Columbia,' has this day been
+approved and signed.</p>
+
+<p>"I have never doubted the Constitutional authority of Congress to
+abolish Slavery in this District; and I have ever desired to see the
+National Capital freed from the Institution in some satisfactory way.
+Hence there has never been in my mind any question upon the subject
+except the one of expediency, arising in view of all the circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>"If there be matters within and about this Act which might have taken a
+course or shape more satisfactory to my judgment, I do not attempt to
+specify them. I am gratified that the two principles of compensation
+and colonization are both recognized and practically applied in the Act.</p>
+
+<p>"In the matter of compensation, it is provided that claims may be
+presented within ninety days from the passage of the Act, 'but not
+thereafter;' and there is no saving for minors, femmes covert, insane,
+or absent persons. I presume this is an omission by mere oversight, and
+I recommend that it be supplied by an amendatory or Supplemental Act.</p>
+
+<p>"ABRAHAM LINCOLN.<br>
+"April 16, 1862."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+Subsequently, in order to meet the President's views, such an amendatory
+or Supplemental Act was passed and approved.</p>
+
+<p>But now, Major General Hunter having taken upon himself to issue an
+Emancipation proclamation, May 9, 1862, the President, May 19, 1862,
+issued a proclamation rescinding it as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"Whereas there appears in the public prints what purports to be a
+proclamation of Major General Hunter, in the words and figures
+following, to wit:</p>
+
+<p>"'HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH,<br>
+'HILTON HEAD, S. C., May 9, 1862.<br>
+'[General Orders No. 11.]</p>
+
+<p>'The three States of Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina, comprising
+the Military Department of the South, having deliberately declared
+themselves no longer under the protection of the United States of
+America, and having taken up arms against the said United States, it
+becomes a Military necessity to declare them under Martial Law. This
+was accordingly done on the 25th day of April, 1862. Slavery and
+Martial Law, in a Free Country, are altogether incompatible; the Persons
+in these three States&mdash;Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina&mdash;heretofore
+held as Slaves, are therefore declared forever Free.</p>
+
+<p>'DAVID HUNTER,<br>
+'Major-General Commanding.</p>
+
+<p>'Official:<br>
+ED. W. SMITH,<br>
+'Acting Assistant Adjutant General.'</p>
+<br>
+<p>
+"And whereas the same is producing some excitement and misunderstanding,</p>
+
+<p>"Therefore, I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, proclaim
+and declare, that the Government of the United States had no knowledge,
+information, or belief, of an intention on the part of General Hunter to
+issue such a proclamation; nor has it yet any authentic information that
+the document is genuine. And further, that neither General Hunter, nor
+any other Commander, or person, has been authorized by the Government of
+the United States to make proclamations declaring the Slaves of any
+State Free; and that the supposed proclamation, now in question, whether
+genuine or false, is altogether void, so far as respects such
+declaration.</p>
+
+<p>"I further make known that whether it be competent for me, as
+Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, to declare the Slaves of any State or
+States free, and whether, at any time, in any case, it shall have become
+a necessity indispensable to the maintenance of the Government, to
+exercise such supposed power, are questions which, under my
+responsibility, I reserve to myself, and which I cannot feel justified
+in leaving to the decision of Commanders in the field. These are
+totally different questions from those of police regulations in armies
+and camps.</p>
+
+<p>"On the sixth day of March last, by a Special Message, I recommended to
+Congress the adoption of a Joint Resolution to be substantially as
+follows:</p>
+
+<p>"' Resolved, That the United States ought to co-operate with any State
+which may adopt a gradual abolishment of Slavery, giving to such State
+pecuniary aid, to be used by such State, in its discretion, to
+compensate for the inconveniences, public and private, produced by such
+change of system.'</p>
+
+<p>"The Resolution, in the language above quoted, was adopted by large
+majorities in both branches of Congress, and now stands an authentic,
+definite, and solemn proposal of the Nation to the States and people
+most immediately interested in the subject-matter. To the people of
+those States I now earnestly appeal&mdash;I do not argue&mdash;I beseech you to
+make the argument for yourselves&mdash;you cannot, if you would, be blind to
+the signs of the times&mdash;I beg of you a calm and enlarged consideration
+of them, ranging, if it may be, far above personal and partisan
+politics. This proposal makes common cause for a common object, casting
+no reproaches upon any. It acts not the Pharisee. The changes it
+contemplates would come gently as the dews of Heaven, not rending or
+wrecking anything. Will you not embrace it? So much good has not been
+done, by one effort, in all past time, as, in the providence of God, it
+is now your high privilege to do. May the vast future not have to
+lament that you have neglected it.</p>
+
+<p>"In witness thereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
+the United States to be affixed.</p>
+
+<p>"Done at the city of Washington this nineteenth day of May, in the year
+of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the
+Independence of the United States the eighty-sixth.</p>
+
+<p>"By the President. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.</p>
+
+<p>"WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+On June 5th, 1862, General T. Williams issued the following Order:</p>
+
+<p>"HEADQUARTERS SECOND BRIGADE,<br>
+"BATON ROUGE, June 5, 1862.<br>
+"[General Orders No. 46.]</p>
+
+<p>"In consequence of the demoralizing and disorganizing tendencies to the
+troops, of harboring runaway Negroes, it is hereby ordered that the
+respective Commanders of the camps and garrisons of the several
+regiments, Second Brigade, turn all such Fugitives in their camps or
+garrisons out beyond the limits of their respective guards and
+sentinels.</p>
+
+<p>"By order of Brigadier-General T. Williams:</p>
+
+<p>"WICKHAM HOFFMAN,<br>
+"Assistant-Adjutant General."</p>
+<br><br>
+
+<p>
+Lieutenant-Colonel D. R. Anthony, of the Seventh Kansas Volunteers,
+commanding a Brigade, issued the following order, at a date subsequent
+to the Battle of Pittsburg Landing and the evacuation of Corinth:</p>
+
+<p>"HEADQUARTERS MITCHELL'S BRIGADE,<br>
+"ADVANCE COLUMN, FIRST BRIGADE, FIRST DIVISION,<br>
+"GENERAL ARMY OF THE MISSISSIPPI,<br>
+"CAMP ETHERIDGE, TENNESSEE, June 18, 1862.<br>
+"[General Orders No. 26.]</p>
+
+<p>"1. The impudence&mdash;and impertinence of the open and armed Rebels,
+Traitors, Secessionists, and Southern-Rightsmen of this section of the
+State of Tennessee, in arrogantly demanding the right to search our camp
+for Fugitive Slaves, has become a nuisance, and will no longer be
+tolerated. "Officers will see that this class of men, who visit our
+camp for this purpose, are excluded from our lines.</p>
+
+<p>"2. Should any such persons be found within our lines, they will be
+arrested and sent to headquarters.</p>
+
+<p>"3. Any officer or soldier of this command who shall arrest and deliver
+to his master a Fugitive Slave, shall be summarily and severely
+punished, according to the laws relative to such crimes.</p>
+
+<p>"4. The strong Union sentiment in this Section is most gratifying, and
+all officers and soldiers, in their intercourse with the loyal, and
+those favorably disposed, are requested to act in their usual kind and
+courteous manner and protect them to the fullest extent.</p>
+
+<p>"By order of D. R. Anthony, <br>
+Lieutenant-Colonel Seventh Kansas Volunteers, commanding:</p>
+
+<p>"W. W. H. LAWRENCE,<br>
+"Captain and Assistant-Adjutant General."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+Lieutenant-Colonel Anthony was subsequently placed under arrest for
+issuing the above order.</p>
+
+<p>It was about this time, also, that General McClellan addressed to
+President Lincoln a letter on "forcible Abolition of Slavery," and "a
+Civil and Military policy"&mdash;in these terms:</p>
+
+<p>"HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,<br>
+"CAMP NEAR HARRISON'S LANDING, VA., July 7, 1862.</p>
+
+<p>"MR. PRESIDENT:&mdash;You have been fully informed that the Rebel Army is in
+the front, with the purpose of overwhelming us by attacking our
+positions or reducing us by blocking our river communications. I cannot
+but regard our condition as critical, and I earnestly desire, in view of
+possible contingencies, to lay before your Excellency, for your private
+consideration, my general views concerning the existing state of the
+Rebellion, although they do not strictly relate to the situation of this
+Army, or strictly come within the scope of my official duties. These
+views amount to convictions, and are deeply impressed upon my mind and
+heart.</p>
+
+<p>"Our cause must never be abandoned; it is the cause of Free institutions
+and Self-government. The Constitution and the Union must be preserved,
+whatever may be the cost in time, treasure, and blood.</p>
+
+<p>"If Secession is successful, other dissolutions are clearly to be seen
+in the future. Let neither Military disaster, political faction, nor
+Foreign War shake your settled purpose to enforce the equal operation of
+the Laws of the United States upon the people of every State.</p>
+
+<p>"The time has come when the Government must determine upon a Civil and
+Military policy, covering the whole ground of our National trouble.</p>
+
+<p>"The responsibility of determining, declaring, and supporting such Civil
+and Military policy, and of directing the whole course of National
+affairs in regard to the Rebellion, must now be assumed and exercised by
+you, or our Cause will be lost. The Constitution gives you power, even
+for the present terrible exigency.</p>
+
+<p>"This Rebellion has assumed the character of a War; as such it should be
+regarded, and it should be conducted upon the highest principles known
+to Christian civilization. It should not be a War looking to the
+subjugation of the people of any State, in any event. It should not be
+at all a war upon population, but against armed forces and political
+organizations. Neither Confiscation of property, political executions
+of persons, territorial organizations of States, or forcible Abolition
+of Slavery, should be contemplated for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"In prosecuting the War, all private property and unarmed persons should
+be strictly protected, subject only to the necessity of Military
+operations; all private property taken for Military use should be paid
+or receipted for; pillage and waste should be treated as high crimes;
+all unnecessary trespass sternly prohibited and offensive demeanor by
+the military towards citizens promptly rebuked.</p>
+
+<p>"Military arrests should not be tolerated, except in places where active
+hostilities exist; and oaths, not required by enactments,
+Constitutionally made, should be neither demanded nor received.</p>
+
+<p>"Military Government should be confined to the preservation of public
+order and the protection of political right. Military power should not
+be allowed to interfere with the relations of Servitude, either by
+supporting or impairing the authority of the master, except for
+repressing disorder, as in other cases. Slaves, contraband under the
+Act of Congress, seeking Military protection, should receive it.</p>
+
+<p>"The right of the Government to appropriate permanently to its own
+service claims to Slave-labor should be asserted, and the right of the
+owner to compensation therefor should be recognized.</p>
+
+<p>"This principle might be extended, upon grounds of Military necessity
+and security, to all the Slaves of a particular State, thus working
+manumission in such State; and in Missouri, perhaps in Western Virginia
+also, and possibly even in Maryland, the expediency of such a measure is
+only a question of time.</p>
+
+<p>"A system of policy thus Constitutional, and pervaded by the influences
+of Christianity and Freedom, would receive the support of almost all
+truly Loyal men, would deeply impress the Rebel masses and all foreign
+nations, and it might be humbly hoped that it would commend itself to
+the favor of the Almighty.</p>
+
+<p>"Unless the principles governing the future conduct of our Struggle
+shall be made known and approved, the effort to obtain requisite forces
+will be almost hopeless. A declaration of radical views, especially
+upon Slavery, will rapidly disintegrate our present Armies.</p>
+
+<p>"The policy of the Government must be supported by concentrations of
+Military power. The National Forces should not be dispersed in
+expeditions, posts of occupation, and numerous armies, but should be
+mainly collected into masses, and brought to bear upon the Armies of the
+Confederate States. Those Armies thoroughly defeated, the political
+structure which they support would soon cease to exist,</p>
+
+<p>"In carrying out any system of policy which you may form, you will
+require a Commander-in-chief of the Army, one who possesses your
+confidence, understands your views, and who is competent to execute your
+orders, by directing the Military Forces of the Nation to the
+accomplishment of the objects by you proposed. I do not ask that place
+for myself, I am willing to serve you in such position as you may assign
+me, and I will do so as faithfully as ever subordinate served superior.</p>
+
+<p>"I may be on the brink of Eternity; and as I hope forgiveness from my
+Maker, I have written this letter with sincerity towards you and from
+love for my Country.</p>
+
+<p>"Very respectfully, your obedient servant,</p>
+
+<p>"GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN,<br>
+"Major-General Commanding.</p>
+
+<p>"His Excellency A. LINCOLN, President."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+July 12, 1862, Senators and Representatives of the Border Slave-holding
+States, having been specially invited to the White House for the
+purpose, were addressed by President Lincoln, as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"GENTLEMEN:&mdash;After the adjournment of Congress, now near, I shall have
+no opportunity of seeing you for several months. Believing that you of
+the Border States hold more power for good than any other equal number
+of members, I feel it a duty which I cannot justifiably waive, to make
+this appeal to you.</p>
+
+<p>"I intend no reproach or complaint when I assure you that, in my
+opinion, if you all had voted for the Resolution in the Gradual
+Emancipation Message of last March, the War would now be substantially
+ended. And the plan therein proposed is yet one of the most potent and
+swift means of ending it. Let the States which are in Rebellion see
+definitely and certainly that in no event will the States you represent
+ever join their proposed Confederacy, and they cannot much longer
+maintain the contest.</p>
+
+<p>"But you cannot divest them of their hope to ultimately have you with
+them so long as you show a determination to perpetuate the Institution
+within your own States. Beat them at elections, as you have
+overwhelmingly done, and nothing daunted, they still claim you as their
+own. You and I know what the lever of their power is. Break that lever
+before their faces, and they can shake you no more forever.</p>
+
+<p>"Most of you have treated me with kindness and consideration, and I
+trust you will not now think I improperly touch what is exclusively your
+own, when, for the sake of the whole Country, I ask, 'Can you, for your
+States, do better than to take the course I urge?' Discarding punctilio
+and maxims adapted to more manageable times, and looking only to the
+unprecedentedly stern facts of our case, can you do better in any
+possible event?</p>
+
+<p>"You prefer that the Constitutional relations of the States to the
+Nation shall be practically restored without disturbance of the
+Institution; and, if this were done, my whole duty, in this respect,
+under the Constitution and my oath of office, would be performed. But
+it is not done, and we are trying to accomplish it by War.</p>
+
+<p>"The incidents of the War cannot be avoided. If the War continues long,
+as it must, if the object be not sooner attained, the Institution in
+your States will be extinguished by mere friction and abrasion&mdash;by the
+mere incidents of the War. It will be gone, and you will have nothing
+valuable in lieu of it. Much of its value is gone already.</p>
+
+<p>"How much better for you and for your people to take the step which at
+once shortens the War and secures substantial compensation for that
+which is sure to be wholly lost in any other event! How much better to
+thus save the money which else we sink forever in the War! How: much
+better to do it while we can, lest the War ere long render us
+pecuniarily unable to do it! How much better for you, as seller, and
+the Nation, as buyer, to sell out and buy out that without which the War
+could never have been, than to sink both the thing to be sold and the
+price of it in cutting one another's throats!</p>
+
+<p>"I do not speak of Emancipation at once, but of a decision at once to
+Emancipate gradually. Room in South America for colonization can be
+obtained cheaply and in abundance, and when numbers shall be large
+enough to be company and encouragement for one another, the freed people
+will not be so reluctant to go.</p>
+
+<p>"I am pressed with a difficulty not yet mentioned; one which threatens
+division among those who, united, are none too strong. An instance of
+it is known to you. General Hunter is an honest man. He was, and I
+hope still is, my friend. I value him none the less for his agreeing
+with me in the general wish that all men everywhere could be freed. He
+proclaimed all men Free within certain States, and I repudiated the
+proclamation. He expected more good and less harm from the measure than
+I could believe would follow.</p>
+
+<p>"Yet, in repudiating it, I gave dissatisfaction, if not offense, to many
+whose support the Country cannot afford to lose. And this is not the
+end of it. The pressure in this direction is still upon me, and is
+increasing. By conceding what I now ask, you can relieve me, and, much
+more, can relieve the Country in this important point.</p>
+
+<p>"Upon these considerations I have again begged your attention to the
+Message of March last. Before leaving the Capitol, consider and discuss
+it among yourselves. You are Patriots and Statesmen, and as such I pray
+you consider this proposition; and, at the least, commend it to the
+consideration of your States and people. As you would perpetuate
+popular Government for the best people in the World, I beseech you that
+you do in nowise omit this.</p>
+
+<p>"Our common Country is in great peril, demanding the loftiest views and
+boldest action to bring a speedy relief. Once relieved, its form of
+Government is saved to the World, its beloved history and cherished
+memories are vindicated, and its happy future fully assured and rendered
+inconceivable grand. To you, more than to any others, the privilege is
+given to assure that happiness and swell that grandeur, and to link your
+own names therewith forever."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>The gentlemen representing in Congress the Border-States, to whom this
+address was made, subsequently met and discussed its subject matter, and
+made written reply in the shape of majority and minority replies, as
+follows:</p>
+
+<p>THE MAJORITY REPLY:</p>
+
+<p>"WASHINGTON, July 14, 1862.</p>
+
+<p>"TO THE PRESIDENT:</p>
+
+<p>"The undersigned, Representatives of Kentucky, Virginia, Missouri, and
+Maryland, in the two Houses of Congress, have listened to your address
+with the profound sensibility naturally inspired by the high source from
+which it emanates, the earnestness which marked its delivery, and the
+overwhelming importance of the subject of which it treats. We have
+given it a most respectful consideration, and now lay before you our
+response. We regret that want of time has not permitted us to make it
+more perfect.</p>
+
+<p>"We have not been wanting, Mr. President, in respect to you, and in
+devotion to the Constitution and the Union. We have not been
+indifferent to the great difficulties surrounding you, compared with
+which all former National troubles have been but as the summer cloud;
+and we have freely given you our sympathy and support. Repudiating the
+dangerous heresies of the Secessionists, we believed, with you, that the
+War on their part is aggressive and wicked, and the objects for which it
+was to be prosecuted on ours, defined by your Message at the opening of
+the present Congress, to be such as all good men should approve.</p>
+
+<p>"We have not hesitated to vote all supplies necessary to carry it on
+vigorously. We have voted all the men and money you have asked for, and
+even more; we have imposed onerous taxes on our people, and they are
+paying them with cheerfulness and alacrity; we have encouraged
+enlistments, and sent to the field many of our best men; and some of our
+number have offered their persons to the enemy as pledges of their
+sincerity and devotion to the Country.</p>
+
+<p>"We have done all this under the most discouraging circumstances, and in
+the face of measures most distasteful to us and injurious to the
+interests we represent, and in the hearing of doctrines avowed by those
+who claim to be your friends, must be abhorrent to us and our
+constituents.</p>
+
+<p>"But, for all this, we have never faltered, nor shall we as long as we
+have a Constitution to defend and a Government which protects us. And
+we are ready for renewed efforts, and even greater sacrifices, yea, any
+sacrifice, when we are satisfied it is required to preserve our
+admirable form of Government and the priceless blessings of
+Constitutional Liberty.</p>
+
+<p>"A few of our number voted for the Resolution recommended by your
+Message of the 6th of March last, the greater portion of us did not, and
+we will briefly state the prominent reasons which influenced our action.</p>
+
+<p>"In the first place, it proposed a radical change of our social system,
+and was hurried through both Houses with undue haste, without reasonable
+time for consideration and debate, and with no time at all for
+consultation with our constituents, whose interests it deeply involved.
+It seemed like an interference by this Government with a question which
+peculiarly and exclusively belonged to our respective States, on which
+they had not sought advice or solicited aid.</p>
+
+<p>"Many of us doubted the Constitutional power of this Government to make
+appropriations of money for the object designated, and all of us thought
+our finances were in no condition to bear the immense outlay which its
+adoption and faithful execution would impose upon the National Treasury.
+If we pause but a moment to think of the debt its acceptance would have
+entailed, we are appalled by its magnitude. The proposition was
+addressed to all the States, and embraced the whole number of Slaves.</p>
+
+<p>"According to the census of 1860 there were then nearly four million
+Slaves in the Country; from natural increase they exceed that number
+now. At even the low average of $300, the price fixed by the
+Emancipation Act for the Slaves of this District, and greatly below
+their real worth, their value runs up to the enormous sum of
+$1,200,000,000; and if to that we add the cost of deportation and
+colonization, at $100 each, which is but a fraction more than is
+actually paid&mdash;by the Maryland Colonization Society, we have
+$400,000,000 more.</p>
+
+<p>"We were not willing to impose a tax on our people sufficient to pay the
+interest on that sum, in addition to the vast and daily increasing debt
+already fixed upon them by exigencies of the War, and if we had been
+willing, the Country could not bear it. Stated in this form the
+proposition is nothing less than the deportation from the Country of
+$1,600,000,000 worth of producing labor, and the substitution, in its
+place, of an interest-bearing debt of the same amount.</p>
+
+<p>"But, if we are told that it was expected that only the States we
+represent would accept the proposition, we respectfully submit that even
+then it involves a sum too great for the financial ability of this
+Government at this time. According to the census of 1860:</p>
+
+<center>
+<table summary="">
+
+
+
+
+ <tr><td> </td><td> &nbsp; </td><td> Slaves</td></tr>
+<tr><td> </td><td> Kentucky had </td><td>225,490</td></tr>
+<tr><td> </td><td> Maryland </td><td>87,188</td></tr>
+<tr><td> </td><td> Virginia </td><td>490,887</td></tr>
+<tr><td> </td><td>Delaware </td><td>1,798</td></tr>
+<tr><td> </td><td>Missouri </td><td>114,965</td></tr>
+<tr><td> </td><td>Tennessee </td><td>275,784</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+ <tr><td> </td><td>Making in the whole </td><td>1,196,112</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td> </td><td>At the same rate of valuation these would</td></tr>
+<tr><td> </td><td>amount to </td><td>$358,933,500</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td> </td><td>Add for deportation and colonization $100 each</td></tr>
+<tr><td> &nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td><td>$118,244,533</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+ <tr><td> </td><td> And we have the</td></tr>
+ <tr><td> </td><td> enormous sum of </td><td>$478,038,133</td></tr>
+
+
+</table>
+</center>
+
+<p>
+"We did not feel that we should be justified in voting for a measure
+which, if carried out, would add this vast amount to our public debt at
+a moment when the Treasury was reeling under the enormous expenditure of
+the War.</p>
+
+<p>"Again, it seemed to us that this Resolution was but the annunciation of
+a sentiment which could not or was not likely to be reduced to an actual
+tangible proposition. No movement was then made to provide and
+appropriate the funds required to carry it into effect; and we were not
+encouraged to believe that funds would be provided. And our belief has
+been fully justified by subsequent events.</p>
+
+<p>"Not to mention other circumstances, it is quite sufficient for our
+purpose to bring to your notice the fact that, while this resolution was
+under consideration in the Senate, our colleague, the Senator from
+Kentucky, moved an amendment appropriating $500,000 to the object
+therein designated, and it was voted down with great unanimity.</p>
+
+<p>"What confidence, then, could we reasonably feel that if we committed
+ourselves to the policy it proposed, our constituents would reap the
+fruits of the promise held out; and on what ground could we, as fair
+men, approach them and challenge their support?</p>
+
+<p>"The right to hold Slaves, is a right appertaining to all the States of
+this Union. They have the right to cherish or abolish the Institution,
+as their tastes or their interests may prompt, and no one is authorized
+to question the right or limit the enjoyment. And no one has more
+clearly affirmed that right than you have. Your Inaugural Address does
+you great honor in this respect, and inspired the Country with
+confidence in your fairness and respect for the Law. Our States are in
+the enjoyment of that right.</p>
+
+<p>"We do not feel called on to defend the Institution or to affirm it is
+one which ought to be cherished; perhaps, if we were to make the
+attempt, we might find that we differ even among ourselves. It is
+enough for our purpose to know that it is a right; and, so knowing, we
+did not see why we should now be expected to yield it.</p>
+
+<p>"We had contributed our full share to relieve the Country at this
+terrible crisis; we had done as much as had been required of others in
+like circumstances; and we did not see why sacrifices should be expected
+of us from which others, no more loyal, were exempt. Nor could we see
+what good the Nation would derive from it.</p>
+
+<p>"Such a sacrifice submitted to by us would not have strengthened the arm
+of this Government or weakened that of the Enemy. It was not necessary
+as a pledge of our Loyalty, for that had been manifested beyond a
+reasonable doubt, in every form, and at every place possible. There was
+not the remotest probability that the States we represent would join in
+the Rebellion, nor is there now, or of their electing to go with the
+Southern Section in the event of a recognition of the Independence of
+any part of the disaffected region.</p>
+
+<p>"Our States are fixed unalterably in their resolution to adhere to and
+support the Union. They see no safety for themselves, and no hope for
+Constitutional Liberty, but by its preservation. They will, under no
+circumstances, consent to its dissolution; and we do them no more than
+justice when we assure you that, while the War is conducted to prevent
+that deplorable catastrophe, they will sustain it as long as they can
+muster a man, or command a dollar.</p>
+
+<p>"Nor will they ever consent, in any event, to unite with the Southern
+Confederacy. The bitter fruits of the peculiar doctrines of that region
+will forever prevent them from placing their security and happiness in
+the custody of an association which has incorporated in its Organic Law
+the seeds of its own destruction.</p>
+
+<p>"We cannot admit, Mr. President, that if we had voted for the Resolution
+in the Emancipation Message of March last, the War would now be
+substantially ended. We are unable to see how our action in this
+particular has given, or could give, encouragement to the Rebellion.
+The Resolution has passed; and if there be virtue in it, it will be
+quite as efficacious as if we had voted for it.</p>
+
+<p>"We have no power to bind our States in this respect by our votes here;
+and, whether we had voted the one way or the other, they are in the same
+condition of freedom to accept or reject its provisions.</p>
+
+<p>"No, Sir, the War has not been prolonged or hindered by our action on
+this or any other measure. We must look for other causes for that
+lamented fact. We think there is not much difficulty, not much
+uncertainty, in pointing out others far more probable and potent in
+their agencies to that end.</p>
+
+<p>"The Rebellion derives its strength from the Union of all classes in the
+Insurgent States; and while that Union lasts the War will never end
+until they are utterly exhausted. We know that, at the inception of
+these troubles, Southern society was divided, and that a large portion,
+perhaps a majority, were opposed to Secession. Now the great mass of
+Southern people are united.</p>
+
+<p>"To discover why they are so, we must glance at Southern society, and
+notice the classes into which it has been divided, and which still
+distinguish it. They are in arms, but not for the same objects; they
+are moved to a common end, but by different and even inconsistent
+reasons.</p>
+
+<p>"The leaders, which comprehend what was previously known as the State
+Rights Party, and is much the lesser class, seek to break down National
+Independence and set up State domination. With them it is a War against
+Nationality.</p>
+
+<p>"The other class is fighting, as it supposes, to maintain and preserve
+its rights of Property and domestic safety, which it has been made to
+believe are assailed by this Government. This latter class are not
+Disunionists per se; they are so only because they have been made to
+believe that this Administration is inimical to their rights, and is
+making War on their domestic Institutions. As long as these two classes
+act together they will never assent to a Peace.</p>
+
+<p>"The policy, then, to be pursued, is obvious. The former class will
+never be reconciled, but the latter may be. Remove their apprehensions;
+satisfy them that no harm is intended to them and their Institutions;
+that this Government is not making War on their rights of Property, but
+is simply defending its legitimate authority, and they will gladly
+return to their allegiance as soon as the pressure of Military dominion
+imposed by the Confederate authority is removed from them.</p>
+
+<p>"Twelve months ago, both Houses of Congress, adopting the spirit of your
+Message, then but recently sent in, declared with singular unanimity the
+objects of the War, and the Country instantly bounded to your side to
+assist you in carrying it on. If the spirit of that Resolution had been
+adhered to, we are confident that we should before now have seen the end
+of this deplorable conflict. But what have we seen?</p>
+
+<p>"In both Houses of Congress we have heard doctrines subversive of the
+principles of the Constitution, and seen measure after measure, founded
+in substance on those doctrines, proposed and carried through, which can
+have no other effect than to distract and divide loyal men, and
+exasperate and drive still further from us and their duty the people of
+the rebellious States.</p>
+
+<p>"Military officers, following these bad examples, have stepped beyond
+the just limits of their authority in the same direction, until in
+several instances you have felt the necessity of interfering to arrest
+them. And even the passage of the Resolution to which you refer has
+been ostentatiously proclaimed as the triumph of a principle which the
+people of the Southern States regard as ruinous to them. The effect of
+these measures was foretold, and may now be seen in the indurated state
+of Southern feeling.</p>
+
+<p>"To these causes, Mr. President, and not to our omission to vote for the
+Resolution recommended by you, we solemnly believe we are to attribute
+the terrible earnestness of those in arms against the Government, and
+the continuance of the War. Nor do we (permit us to say, Mr. President,
+with all respect to you) agree that the Institution of Slavery is 'the
+lever of their power,' but we are of the opinion that 'the lever of
+their power' is the apprehension that the powers of a common Government,
+created for common and equal protection to the interests of all, will be
+wielded against the Institutions of the Southern States.</p>
+
+<p>"There is one other idea in your address we feel called on to notice.
+After stating the fact of your repudiation of General Hunter's
+Proclamation, you add:</p>
+
+<p>"'Yet, in repudiating it, I gave dissatisfaction, if not offense, to
+many whose support the Country cannot afford to lose. And this is not
+the end of it. The pressure in this direction is still upon me and is
+increasing. By conceding what I now ask, you can relieve me, and, much
+more, can relieve the Country, in this important point,'</p>
+
+<p>"We have anxiously looked into this passage to discover its true import,
+but we are yet in painful uncertainty. How can we, by conceding what
+you now ask, relieve you and the Country from the increasing pressure to
+which you refer? We will not allow ourselves to think that the
+proposition is, that we consent to give up Slavery, to the end that the
+Hunter proclamation may be let loose on the Southern people, for it is
+too well known that we would not be parties to any such measure, and we
+have too much respect for you to imagine you would propose it.</p>
+
+<p>"Can it mean that by sacrificing our interest in Slavery we appease the
+spirit that controls that pressure, cause it to be withdrawn, and rid
+the Country of the pestilent agitation of the Slavery question? We are
+forbidden so to think, for that spirit would not be satisfied with the
+liberation of 100,000 Slaves, and cease its agitation while 3,000,000
+remain in bondage. Can it mean that by abandoning Slavery in our States
+we are removing the pressure from you and the Country, by preparing for
+a separation on the line of the Cotton States?</p>
+
+<p>"We are forbidden so to think, because it is known that we are, and we
+believe that you are, unalterably opposed to any division at all. We
+would prefer to think that you desire this concession as a pledge of our
+support, and thus enable you to withstand a pressure which weighs
+heavily on you and the Country.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. President, no such sacrifice is necessary to secure our support.
+Confine yourself to your Constitutional authority; confine your
+subordinates within the same limits; conduct this War solely for the
+purpose of restoring the Constitution to its legitimate authority;
+concede to each State and its loyal citizens their just rights, and we
+are wedded to you by indissoluble ties. Do this, Mr. President, and you
+touch the American heart, and invigorate it with new hope. You will, as
+we solemnly believe, in due time restore Peace to your Country, lift it
+from despondency to a future of glory, and preserve to your countrymen,
+their posterity, and man, the inestimable treasure of a Constitutional
+Government.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. President, we have stated with frankness and candor the reasons on
+which we forbore to vote for the Resolution you have mentioned; but you
+have again presented this proposition, and appealed to us with an
+earnestness and eloquence which have not failed to impress us, to
+'consider it, and at the least to commend it to the consideration of our
+States and people.'</p>
+
+<p>"Thus appealed to by the Chief Magistrate of our beloved Country, in the
+hour of its greatest peril, we cannot wholly decline. We are willing to
+trust every question relating to their interest and happiness to the
+consideration and ultimate judgment of our own people.</p>
+
+<p>"While differing from you as to the necessity of Emancipating the Slaves
+of our States as a means of putting down the Rebellion, and while
+protesting against the propriety of any extra-territorial interference
+to induce the people of our States to adopt any particular line of
+policy on a subject which peculiarly and exclusively belongs to them,
+yet, when you and our brethren of the Loyal States sincerely believe
+that the retention of Slavery by us is an obstacle to Peace and National
+harmony, and are willing to contribute pecuniary aid to compensate our
+States and people for the inconveniences produced by such a change of
+system, we are not unwilling that our people shall consider the
+propriety of putting it aside.</p>
+
+<p>"But we have already said that we regard this Resolution as the
+utterance of a sentiment, and we had no confidence that it would assume
+the shape of a tangible practical proposition, which would yield the
+fruits of the sacrifice it required. Our people are influenced by the
+same want of confidence, and will not consider the proposition in its
+present impalpable form. The interest they are asked to give up is, to
+them, of immense importance, and they ought not to be expected even to
+entertain the proposal until they are assured that when they accept it
+their just expectations will not be frustrated.</p>
+
+<p>"We regard your plan as a proposition from the Nation to the States to
+exercise an admitted Constitutional right in a particular manner, and
+yield up a valuable interest. Before they ought to consider the
+proposition, it should be presented in such a tangible, practical,
+efficient shape, as to command their confidence that its fruits are
+contingent only upon their acceptance. We cannot trust anything to the
+contingencies of future legislation.</p>
+
+<p>"If Congress, by proper and necessary legislation, shall provide
+sufficient funds and place them at your disposal to be applied by you to
+the payment of any of our States, or the citizens thereof, who shall
+adopt the Abolishment of Slavery, either gradual or immediate, as they
+may determine, and the expense of deportation and colonization of the
+liberated Slaves, then will our States and people take this proposition
+into careful consideration, for such decision as in their judgment is
+demanded by their interest, their honor, and their duty to the whole
+Country. We have the honor to be, with great respect,</p>
+
+<p>"C. A. WICKLIFFE, Ch'man,<br>
+CHAS. B. CALVERT,<br>
+GARRETT DAVIS,<br>
+C. L. L. LEARY,<br>
+R. WILSON,<br>
+EDWIN H. WEBSTER,<br>
+J. J. CRITTENDEN,<br>
+R. MALLORY,<br>
+JOHN S. CARLILE,<br>
+AARON HARDING,<br>
+J. W. CRISFIELD,<br>
+JAMES S. ROLLINS,<br>
+J. S. JACKSON,<br>
+J. W. MENZIES,<br>
+H. GRIDER,<br>
+THOMAS L. PRICE,<br>
+JOHN S. PHELPS,<br>
+G. W. DUNLAP,<br>
+FRANCIS THOMAS,
+WILLIAM A. HALL."</p>
+
+
+<br><br>
+<p>
+THE MINORITY REPLY.</p>
+
+<p>"WASHINGTON, July 15, 1863.</p>
+
+<p>"MR. PRESIDENT:&mdash;The undersigned, members of Congress from the Border
+States, in response to your address of Saturday last, beg leave to say
+that they attended a meeting, on the same day the address was delivered,
+for the purpose of considering the same. The meeting appointed a
+Committee to report a response to your address. That report was made on
+yesterday, and the action of the majority indicated clearly that the
+response, or one in substance the same, would be adopted and presented
+to you.</p>
+
+<p>"Inasmuch as we cannot, consistently with our own sense of duty to the
+Country, under the existing perils which surround us, concur in that
+response, we feel it to be due to you and to ourselves to make to you a
+brief and candid answer over our own signatures.</p>
+
+<p>"We believe that the whole power of the Government, upheld and sustained
+by all the influences and means of all loyal men in all Sections, and of
+all Parties, is essentially necessary to put down the Rebellion and
+preserve the Union and the Constitution. We understand your appeal to
+us to have been made for the purpose of securing this result.</p>
+
+<p>"A very large portion of the People in the Northern States believe that
+Slavery is the 'lever-power of the Rebellion.' It matters not whether
+this belief be well-founded or not. The belief does exist, and we have
+to deal with things as they are, and not as we would have them be.</p>
+
+<p>"In consequence of the existence of this belief, we understand that an
+immense pressure is brought to bear for the purpose of striking down
+this Institution through the exercise of Military authority. The
+Government cannot maintain this great struggle if the support and
+influence of the men who entertain these opinions be withdrawn. Neither
+can the Government hope for early success if the support of that element
+called "Conservative" be withdrawn.</p>
+
+<p>"Such being the condition of things, the President appeals to the
+Border-State men to step forward and prove their patriotism by making
+the first sacrifice. No doubt, like appeals have been made to extreme
+men in the North to meet us half-way, in order that the whole moral,
+political, pecuniary, and physical force of the Nation may be firmly and
+earnestly united in one grand effort to save the Union and the
+Constitution.</p>
+
+<p>"Believing that such were the motives that prompted your Address, and
+such the results to which it looked, we cannot reconcile it to our sense
+of duty, in this trying hour, to respond in a spirit of fault-finding or
+querulousness over the things that are past.</p>
+
+<p>"We are not disposed to seek for the cause of present misfortunes in the
+errors and wrongs of others who now propose to unite with us in a common
+purpose.</p>
+
+<p>"But, on the other hand, we meet your address in the spirit in which it
+was made, and, as loyal Americans, declare to you and to the World that
+there is no sacrifice that we are not ready to make to save the
+Government and institutions of our fathers. That we, few of us though
+there may be, will permit no man, from the North or from the South, to
+go further than we in the accomplishment of the great work before us.
+That, in order to carry out these views, we will, so far as may be in
+our power, ask the people of the Border States calmly, deliberately, and
+fairly to consider your recommendations.</p>
+
+<p>"We are the more emboldened to assume this position from the fact, now
+become history, that the leaders of the Southern Rebellion have offered
+to abolish Slavery among them as a condition to foreign intervention in
+favor of their Independence as a Nation.</p>
+
+<p>"If they can give up Slavery to destroy the Union, we can surely ask our
+people to consider the question of Emancipation to save the Union.</p>
+
+<p>"With great respect, your obedient servants,</p>
+
+<p>"JOHN W. NOELL,<br>
+"SAMUEL L. CASEY,<br>
+"GEORGE P. FISHER,<br>
+"A. J. CLEMENTS,<br>
+"WILLIAM G. BROWN,<br>
+"JACOB B. BLAIR,
+"W. T. WILLEY."</p>
+
+<br><br>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p>
+ [The following separate replies, subsequently made, by
+ Representative Maynard of Tennessee, and Senator Henderson of
+ Missouri, are necessarily given to complete this part of the Border
+ State record.]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p> MR. MAYNARD'S REPLY.</p>
+
+<p>"HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, July 16, 1862.</p>
+
+<p>"SIR:&mdash;The magnitude and gravity of the proposition submitted by you to
+Representatives from the Slave States would naturally occasion
+diversity, if not contrariety, of opinion. You will not, therefore, be
+surprised that I have not been able to concur in view with the majority
+of them.</p>
+
+<p>"This is attributable, possibly, to the fact that my State is not a
+Border State, properly so called, and that my immediate constituents are
+not yet disenthralled from the hostile arms of the Rebellion. This fact
+is a physical obstacle in the way of my now submitting to their
+consideration this, or any other proposition looking to political
+action, especially such as, in this case, would require a change in the
+Organic Law of the State.</p>
+
+<p>"But do not infer that I am insensible to your appeal. I am not; you
+are surrounded with difficulties far greater than have embarrassed any
+of your predecessors. You need the support of every American citizen,
+and you ought to have it&mdash;active, zealous and honest. The union of all
+Union men to aid you in preserving the Union, is the duty of the time.
+Differences as to policy and methods must be subordinated to the common
+purpose.</p>
+
+<p>"In looking for the cause of this Rebellion, it is natural that each
+Section and each Party should ascribe as little blame as possible to
+itself, and as much as possible to its opponent Section and Party.
+Possibly you and I might not agree on a comparison of our views. That
+there should be differences of opinion as to the best mode of conducting
+our Military operations, and the best men to lead our Armies, is equally
+natural. Contests on such questions weaken ourselves and strengthen our
+enemies. They are unprofitable, and possibly unpatriotic. Somebody
+must yield, or we waste our strength in a contemptible struggle among
+ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>"You appeal to the loyal men of the Slave States to sacrifice something
+of feeling and a great deal of interest. The sacrifices they have
+already made and the sufferings they have endured give the best
+assurance that the appeal will not have been made in vain. He who is
+not ready to yield all his material interests, and to forego his most
+cherished sentiments and opinions for the preservation of his Country,
+although he may have periled his life on the battle-field in her
+defense, is but half a Patriot. Among the loyal people that I
+represent, there are no half-patriots.</p>
+
+<p>"Already the Rebellion has cost us much, even to our undoing; we are
+content, if need be, to give up the rest, to suppress it. We have stood
+by you from the beginning of this struggle, and we mean to stand by you,
+God willing, till the end of it.</p>
+
+<p>"I did not vote for the Resolution to which you allude, solely for the
+reason that I was absent at the Capital of my own State. It is right.</p>
+
+<p>"Should any of the Slave States think proper to terminate that
+Institution, as several of them, I understand, or at least some of their
+citizens propose, justice and a generous comity require that the Country
+should interpose to aid in lessening the burden, public and private,
+occasioned by so radical a change in its social and industrial
+relations.</p>
+
+<p>"I will not now speculate upon the effect, at home or abroad, of the
+adoption of your policy, nor inquire what action of the Rebel leaders
+has rendered something of the kind important. Your whole administration
+gives the highest assurance that you are moved, not so much from a
+desire to see all men everywhere made free, as from a higher desire to
+preserve free institutions for the benefit of men already free; not to
+make Slaves, Freemen, but to prevent Freemen from being made Slaves; not
+to destroy an Institution, which a portion of us only consider bad, but
+to save institutions which we all alike consider good. I am satisfied
+you would not ask from any of your fellow-citizens a sacrifice not, in
+your judgment, imperatively required by the safety of the Country.</p>
+
+<p>"This is the spirit of your appeal, and I respond to it in the same
+spirit.</p>
+
+<p>"I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,</p>
+
+<p> "HORACE MAYNARD.</p>
+
+<p>"To the PRESIDENT."</p>
+
+<br><br>
+
+<p> SENATOR HENDERSON'S REPLY.</p>
+
+<p>"WASHINGTON CITY, July 21, 1862.</p>
+
+<p>"MR. PRESIDENT:&mdash;The pressure of business in the Senate during the last
+few days of the session prevented my attendance at the meeting of the
+Border-State members, called to consider your proposition in reference
+to gradual emancipation in our States.</p>
+
+<p>"It is for this reason only, and not because I fail to appreciate their
+importance or properly respect your suggestions, that my name does not
+appear to any of the several papers submitted in response. I may also
+add that it was my intention, when the subject came up practically for
+consideration in the Senate, to express fully my views in regard to it.
+This of course would have rendered any other response unnecessary. But
+the want of time to consider the matter deprived me of that opportunity,
+and, lest now my silence be misconstrued, I deem it proper to say to you
+that I am by no means indifferent to the great questions so earnestly,
+and as I believe so honestly, urged by you upon our consideration.</p>
+
+<p>"The Border States, so far, are the chief sufferers by this War, and the
+true Union men of those States have made the greatest sacrifices for the
+preservation of the Government. This fact does not proceed from
+mismanagement on the part of the Union authorities, or a want of regard
+for our people, but it is the necessary result of the War that is upon
+us.</p>
+
+<p>"Our States are the battle-fields. Our people, divided among
+themselves, maddened by the struggle, and blinded by the smoke of
+battle, invited upon our soil contending armies&mdash;the one to destroy the
+Government, the other to maintain it. The consequence to us is plain.
+The shock of the contest upturns Society and desolates the Land. We
+have made sacrifices, but at last they were only the sacrifices demanded
+by duty, and unless we are willing to make others, indeed any that the
+good of the Country, involved in the overthrow of Treason, may expect at
+our hands, our title to patriotism is not complete.</p>
+
+<p>"When you submitted your proposition to Congress, in March last, 'that
+the United States ought to co-operate with any State which may adopt a
+gradual abolishment of Slavery, giving to such State pecuniary aid, to
+be used by such State in its discretion, to compensate for the
+inconveniences, public and private, produced by such change of system,'
+I gave it a most cheerful support, and I am satisfied it would have
+received the approbation of a large majority of the Border States
+delegations in both Branches of Congress, if, in the first place, they
+had believed the War, with its continued evils&mdash;the most prominent of
+which, in a material point of view, is its injurious effect on the
+Institution of Slavery in our States&mdash;could possibly have been
+protracted for another twelve months; and if, in the second place, they
+had felt assured that the party having the majority in Congress would,
+like yourself, be equally prompt in practical action as in the
+expression of a sentiment.</p>
+
+<p>"While scarcely any one doubted your own sincerity in the premises, and
+your earnest wish speedily to terminate the War, you can readily
+conceive the grounds for difference of opinion where conclusions could
+only be based on conjecture.</p>
+
+<p>"Believing, as I did, that the War was not so near its termination as
+some supposed, and feeling disposed to accord to others the same
+sincerity of purpose that I should claim for myself under similar
+circumstances, I voted for the proposition. I will suppose that others
+were actuated by no sinister motives.</p>
+
+<p>"In doing so, Mr. President, I desire to be distinctly understood by you
+and by my constituents. I did not suppose at the time that I was
+personally making any sacrifice by supporting the Resolution, nor that
+the people of my State were called upon to make any sacrifices, either
+in considering or accepting the proposition, if they saw fit.</p>
+
+<p>"I agreed with you in the remarks contained in the Message accompanying
+the Resolution, that 'the Union must be preserved, and hence all
+indispensable means must be employed. * * * War has been and continues
+to be an indispensable means to this end. A practical reacknowledgment
+of the National authority would render the War unnecessary, and it would
+at once cease. If, however, resistance continues, the War must also
+continue; and it is impossible to foresee all the incidents which may
+attend and all the ruin which may follow it.'</p>
+
+<p>"It is truly 'impossible' to foresee all the evils resulting from a War
+so stupendous as the present. I shall be much rejoiced if something
+more dreadful than the sale of Freedom to a few Slaves in the Border
+States shall not result from it.</p>
+
+<p>"If it closes with the Government of our Fathers secure, and
+Constitutional Liberty in all its purity guaranteed to the White man,
+the result will be better than that having a place in the fears of many
+good men at present, and much better than the past history of such
+revolutions can justify us in expecting.</p>
+
+<p>"In this period of the Nation's distress, I know of no human institution
+too sacred for discussion; no material interest belonging to the citizen
+that he should not willingly place upon the altar of his Country, if
+demanded by the public good.</p>
+
+<p>"The man who cannot now sacrifice Party and put aside selfish
+considerations is more than half disloyal. Such a man does not deserve
+the blessings of good government. Pride of opinion, based upon
+Sectional jealousies, should not be permitted to control the decision of
+any political question. These remarks are general, but apply with
+peculiar force to the People of the Border States at present.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us look at our condition. A desolating War is upon us. We cannot
+escape it if we would. If the Union Armies were to-day withdrawn from
+the Border States without first crushing the Rebellion in the South, no
+rational man can doubt for a moment that the adherents of the Union
+Cause in those States would soon be driven in exile from their homes by
+the exultant Rebels, who have so long hoped to return and take vengeance
+upon us.</p>
+
+<p>"The People of the Border States understand very well the unfriendly and
+selfish spirit exercised toward them by the leaders of this Cotton-State
+Rebellion, beginning some time previous to its outbreak. They will not
+fail to remember their insolent refusal to counsel with us, and their
+haughty assumption of responsibility upon themselves for their misguided
+action.</p>
+
+<p>"Our people will not soon forget that, while declaiming against
+Coercion, they closed their doors against the exportation of Slaves from
+the Border States into the South, with the avowed purpose of forcing us
+into Rebellion through fears of losing that species of Property. They
+knew very well the effect to be produced on Slavery by a Civil War,
+especially in those States into which hostile Armies might penetrate,
+and upon the soil of which the great contests for the success of
+Republican Government were to be decided.</p>
+
+<p>"They wanted some intermediate ground for the conflict of arms-territory
+where the population would be divided. They knew, also, that by keeping
+Slavery in the Border States the mere 'friction and abrasion' to which
+you so appropriately allude, would keep up a constant irritation,
+resulting necessarily from the frequent losses to which the owners would
+be subjected.</p>
+
+<p>"They also calculated largely, and not without reason, upon the
+repugnance of Non-Slaveholders in those States to a Free Negro
+population. In the meantime they intended persistently to charge the
+overthrow of Slavery to be the object of the Government, and hostility
+to this Institution the origin of the War. By this means the
+unavoidable incidents of the strife might easily he charged as the
+settled purposes of the Government.</p>
+
+<p>"Again, it was well understood, by these men, that exemplary conduct on
+the part of every officer and soldier employed by the Government could
+not in the nature of things be expected, and the hope was entertained,
+upon the most reasonable grounds, that every commission of wrong and
+every omission of duty would produce a new cause for excitement and a
+new incentive to Rebellion.</p>
+
+<p>"By these means the War was to be kept in the Border States, regardless
+of our interests, until an exhausted Treasury should render it necessary
+to send the tax-gatherer among our people, to take the little that might
+be left them from the devastations of War.</p>
+
+<p>"They then expected a clamor for Peace by us, resulting in the
+interference of France and England, whose operatives in the meantime
+would be driven to want, and whose aristocracy have ever been ready to
+welcome a dissolution of the American Union.</p>
+
+<p>"This cunningly-devised plan for securing a Gulf-Confederacy, commanding
+the mouths of the great Western rivers, the Gulf of Mexico, and the
+Southern Atlantic ocean, with their own territory unscathed by the
+horrors of war, and surrounded by the Border States, half of whose
+population would be left in sympathy with them, for many years to come,
+owing to the irritations to which I have alluded, has, so far, succeeded
+too well.</p>
+
+<p>"In Missouri they have already caused us to lose a third or more of the
+Slaves owned at the time of the last census. In addition to this, I can
+make no estimate of the vast amount of property of every character that
+has been destroyed by Military operations in the State. The loss from
+general depreciation of values, and the utter prostration of every
+business-interest of our people, is wholly beyond calculation.</p>
+
+<p>"The experience of Missouri is but the experience of other Sections of
+the Country similarly situated. The question is therefore forced upon
+us, 'How long is this War to continue; and, if continued, as it has
+been, on our soil, aided by the Treason and folly of our own citizens,
+acting in concert with the Confederates, how long can Slavery, or, if
+you please, any other property-interest, survive in our States?'</p>
+
+<p>"As things now are, the people of the Border-States yet divided, we
+cannot expect an immediate termination of the struggle, except upon
+condition of Southern Independence, losing thereby control of the lower
+Mississippi. For this, we in Missouri are not prepared, nor are we
+prepared to become one of the Confederate States, should the terrible
+calamity of Dissolution occur.</p>
+
+<p>"This, I presume, the Union men of Missouri would resist to the death.
+And whether they should do so or not, I will not suppose for an instant,
+that the Government of the United States would, upon any condition,
+submit to the loss of territory so essential to its future commercial
+greatness as is the State of Missouri.</p>
+
+<p>"But should all other reasons fail to prevent such a misfortune to our
+people of Missouri, there is one that cannot fail. The Confederates
+never wanted us, and would not have us. I assume, therefore, that the
+War will not cease, but will be continued until the Rebellion shall be
+overcome. It cannot and will not cease, so far as the people of
+Missouri are concerned, except upon condition of our remaining in the
+Union, and the whole West will demand the entire control of the
+Mississippi river to the Gulf.</p>
+
+<p>"Our interest is therefore bound up with the interests of those States
+maintaining the Union, and especially with the great States of the West
+that must be consulted in regard to the terms of any Peace that may be
+suggested, even by the Nations of Europe, should they at any time
+unfortunately depart from their former pacific policy and determine to
+intervene in our affairs.</p>
+
+<p>"The War, then, will have to be continued until the Union shall be
+practically restored. In this alone consists the future safety of the
+Border-States themselves. A separation of the Union is ruinous to them.
+The preservation of the Union can only be secured by a continuation of
+the War. The consequences of that continuation may be judged of by the
+experience of the last twelve months. The people of my State are as
+competent to pass judgment in the premises as I am. I have every
+confidence in their intelligence, their honesty, and their patriotism.</p>
+
+<p>"In your own language, the proposition you make 'sets up no claim of a
+right by Federal authority to interfere with Slavery within State
+limits,' referring, as it does, the absolute control of the subject in
+each case to the State and its people immediately interested. It is
+proposed as a matter of perfectly free choice with them.</p>
+
+<p>"In this view of the subject I can frankly say to you that, personally,
+I never could appreciate the objections so frequently urged against the
+proposition. If I understood you properly, it was your opinion, not
+that Slavery should be removed in order to secure our loyalty to the
+Government, for every personal act of your administration precludes such
+an inference, but you believe that the peculiar species of Property was
+in imminent danger from the War in which we were engaged, and that
+common justice demanded remuneration for the loss of it.</p>
+
+<p>"You then believe, and again express the opinion, that the peculiar
+nature of the contest is such that its loss is almost inevitable, and
+lest any pretext for a charge of injustice against the Government be
+given to its enemies, you propose to extend to the people of those
+States standing by the Union, the choice of payment for their Slaves or
+the responsibility of loss, should it occur, without complaint against
+the Government.</p>
+
+<p>"Placing the matter in this light, (a mere remuneration for losses
+rendered inevitable by the casualties of War), the objection of a
+Constitutional character may be rendered much less formidable in the
+minds of Northern Representatives whose constituents will have to share
+in the payment of the money; and, so far as the Border States are
+concerned, this objection should be most sparingly urged, for it being a
+matter entirely of their 'own free choice,' in case of a desire to
+accept, no serious argument will likely be urged against the receipt of
+the money, or a fund for Colonization.</p>
+
+<p>"But, aside from the power derived from the operations of war, there may
+be found numerous precedents in the legislation of the past, such as
+grants of land and money to the several States for specified objects
+deemed worthy by the Federal Congress. And in addition to this may be
+cited a deliberate opinion of Mr. Webster upon this very subject, in one
+of the ablest arguments of his life.</p>
+
+<p>"I allude to this question of power merely in vindication of the
+position assumed by me in my vote for the Resolution of March last.</p>
+
+<p>"In your last communication to us, you beg of us 'to commend this
+subject to the consideration of our States and people.' While I
+entirely differ with you in the opinion expressed, that had the members
+from the Border States approved of your Resolution of March last 'the
+War would now be substantially ended,' and while I do not regard the
+suggestion 'as one of the most potent and swift means of ending' the
+War, I am yet free to say that I have the most unbounded confidence in
+your sincerity of purpose in calling our attention to the dangers
+surrounding us.</p>
+
+<p>"I am satisfied that you appreciate the troubles of the Border States,
+and that your suggestions are intended for our good. I feel the force
+of your urgent appeal, and the logic of surrounding circumstances brings
+conviction even to an unwilling believer.</p>
+
+<p>"Having said that, in my judgment, you attached too much importance to
+this measure as a means for suppressing the Rebellion, it is due to you
+that I shall explain.</p>
+
+<p>"Whatever may be the status of the Border States in this respect, the
+War cannot be ended until the power of the Government is made manifest
+in the seceded States. They appealed to the sword; give them the sword.
+They asked for War; let them see its evils on their own soil.</p>
+
+<p>"They have erected a Government, and they force obedience to its
+behests. This structure must be destroyed; this image, before which an
+unwilling People have been compelled to bow, must be broken. The
+authority of the Federal Government must be felt in the heart of the
+rebellious district. To do this, let armies be marched upon them at
+once, and let them feel what they have inflicted on us in the Border.
+Do not fear our States; we will stand by the Government in this work.</p>
+
+<p>"I ought not to disguise from you or the people of my State, that
+personally I have fixed and unalterable opinions on the subject of your
+communication. Those opinions I shall communicate to the people in that
+spirit of frankness that should characterize the intercourse of the
+Representative with his constituents.</p>
+
+<p>"If I were to-day the owner of the lands and Slaves of Missouri, your
+proposition, so far as that State is concerned, would be immediately
+accepted. Not a day would be lost. Aside from public considerations,
+which you suppose to be involved in the proposition, and which no
+Patriot, I agree, should disregard at present, my own personal interest
+would prompt favorable and immediate action.</p>
+
+<p>"But having said this, it is proper that I say something more. The
+Representative is the servant and not the master of the People. He has
+no authority to bind them to any course of action, or even to indicate
+what they will, or will not, do when the subject is exclusively theirs
+and not his.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall take occasion, I hope honestly, to give my views of existing
+troubles and impending dangers, and shall leave the rest to them,
+disposed, as I am, rather to trust their judgment upon the case stated
+than my own, and at the same time most cheerfully to acquiesce in their
+decision.</p>
+
+<p>"For you, personally, Mr. President, I think I can pledge the kindest
+considerations of the people of Missouri, and I shall not hesitate to
+express the belief that your recommendation will be considered by them
+in the same spirit of kindness manifested by you in its presentation to
+us, and that their decision will be such as is demanded 'by their
+interests, their honor, and their duty to the whole Country.'</p>
+
+<p>"I am very respectfully, your obedient servant,</p>
+
+<p> "J. B. HENDERSON.</p>
+
+<p>"To his Excellency,<br>
+"A. LINCOLN, PRESIDENT."</p>
+
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="" cellPadding=4 border=3>
+<tr><td>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="p3.htm">Previous Part</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+</td><td>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="7140-h.htm">Main Index</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+</td><td>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="p5.htm">Next Part</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+
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+</table>
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+
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+<title>THE GREAT CONSPIRACY, Part 5</title>
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+
+<h2>THE GREAT CONSPIRACY, Part 5</h2>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="" cellPadding=4 border=3>
+<tr><td>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="p4.htm">Previous Part</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+</td><td>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="7140-h.htm">Main Index</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+</td><td>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="p6.htm">Next Part</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+
+<br><br><br><br><br><br>
+
+
+
+<center><h1><br>
+<br>
+ THE GREAT CONSPIRACY<br>
+<br>
+ Its Origin and History<br>
+<br><br>
+ Part 5.<br><br><br>
+
+ By John Logan<br><br>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+</h1><h2>
+
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<img alt="titlepage.jpg (65K)" src="images/titlepage.jpg" height="1134" width="692">
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<img alt="frontspiece.jpg (101K)" src="images/frontspiece.jpg" height="934" width="665">
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+CONTENTS
+</h2></center>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+ <h2><a href="#ch18">CHAPTER XVIII.</a><br>
+ FREEDOM PROCLAIMED TO ALL.<br></h2>
+<br>
+PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S PERSONAL APPEAL TO COLORED FREEMEN&mdash;HE BEGS THEM TO
+HELP IN THE COLONIZATION OF THEIR RACE&mdash;PROPOSED AFRICAN COLONY IN
+CENTRAL AMERICA&mdash;EXECUTIVE ORDER OF JULY 2, 1862&mdash;EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES
+FOR MILITARY PURPOSES OF THE UNION&mdash;JEFF. DAVIS RETALIATES&mdash;MCCLELLAN
+PROMULGATES THE EXECUTIVE ORDER WITH ADDENDA OF HIS OWN&mdash;HORACE
+GREELEY'S LETTER TO PRESIDENT LINCOLN&mdash;THE LATTER ACCUSED OF
+"SUBSERVIENCY" TO THE SLAVE HOLDERS&mdash;AN "UNGRUDGING EXECUTION OF THE
+CONFISCATION ACT" DEMANDED&mdash;MR. LINCOLN'S FAMOUS REPLY&mdash;HIS "PARAMOUNT
+OBJECT, TO SAVE THE UNION, AND NOT EITHER TO SAVE OR DESTROY
+SLAVERY"&mdash;VISIT TO THE WHITE HOUSE OF A RELIGIOUS DEPUTATION FROM
+CHICAGO&mdash;MEMORIAL ASKING FOR IMMEDIATE EMANCIPATION, BY PROCLAMATION&mdash;THE
+PRESIDENT'S REPLY TO THE DEPUTATION&mdash;"THE POPE'S BULL AGAINST THE
+COMET"&mdash;VARIOUS OBJECTIONS STATED TENTATIVELY&mdash;"A PROCLAMATION OF
+LIBERTY TO THE SLAVES" IS "UNDER ADVISEMENT"&mdash;THE PROCLAMATION OF
+EMANCIPATION ISSUED&mdash;ITS POPULAR RECEPTION&mdash;MEETING OF LOYAL GOVERNORS
+AT ALTOONA&mdash;THEIR STIRRING ADDRESS&mdash;HOMAGE TO OUR SOLDIERS&mdash;PLEDGED
+SUPPORT FOR VIGOROUS PROSECUTION OF THE WAR TO TRIUMPHANT END&mdash;PRESIDENT
+LINCOLN'S HISTORICAL RESUME AND DEFENSE OF EMANCIPATION&mdash;HE SUGGESTS TO
+CONGRESS, PAYMENT FOR SLAVES AT ONCE EMANCIPATED BY BORDER
+STATES&mdash;ACTION OF THE HOUSE, ON RESOLUTIONS SEVERALLY REPREHENDING AND ENDORSING
+THE PROCLAMATION&mdash;SUPPLEMENTAL EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION OF JAN. 1, 1863
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2> <a href="#ch19">CHAPTER XIX.</a><br>
+ HISTORICAL REVIEW.<br></h2>
+<br>
+COURSE OF SOUTHERN OLIGARCHS THROUGHOUT&mdash;THEIR EVERLASTING GREED AND
+RAPACITY&mdash;BROKEN COVENANTS AND AGGRESSIVE METHODS&mdash;THEIR UNIFORM GAINS
+UNTIL 1861&mdash;UPS AND DOWNS OF THE TARIFF&mdash;FREE TRADE, SLAVERY,
+STATES
+RIGHTS, SECESSION, ALL PARTS OF ONE CONSPIRACY&mdash;"INDEPENDENCE" THE FIRST
+OBJECT OF THE WAR&mdash;DREAMS, AMBITIONS, AND PLANS OF THE
+CONSPIRATORS&mdash;LINCOLN'S FAITH IN NORTHERN NUMBERS AND ENDURANCE&mdash;"RIGHT
+MAKES MIGHT"&mdash;THE SOUTH SOLIDLY-CEMENTED BY BLOOD&mdash;THE 37TH CONGRESS&mdash;ITS WAR
+MEASURES&mdash;PAVING THE WAY TO DOWNFALL OF SLAVERY AND REBELLION
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2><a href="#ch20">CHAPTER XX.</a><br>
+ LINCOLN'S TROUBLES AND TEMPTATIONS.<br></h2>
+<br>
+INTERFERENCE WITH SLAVERY FORCED BY THE WAR&mdash;EDWARD EVERETT'S
+OPINION&mdash;BORDER-STATES DISTRUST OF LINCOLN&mdash;IMPOSSIBILITY OF SATISFYING THEIR
+REPRESENTATIVES&mdash;THEIR JEALOUS SUSPICIONS AND CONGRESSIONAL
+ACTION&mdash;PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE OF KINDLY WARNING&mdash;STORMY CONTENTION IN
+CONGRESS&mdash;CRITTENDEN'S ARGUMENT ON "PROPERTY" IN MAN&mdash;BORDER&mdash;STATES "BID" FOR
+MR. LINCOLN&mdash;THE "NICHE IN THE TEMPLE OF FAME" OFFERED HIM&mdash;LOVEJOY'S
+ELOQUENT COUNTERBLAST&mdash;SUMNER (JUNE, 1862,) ON LINCOLN AND
+EMANCIPATION&mdash;THE PRESIDENT HARRIED AND WORRIED&mdash;SNUBBED BY BORDER
+STATESMEN&mdash;MCCLELLAN'S THREAT&mdash;ARMY-MISMANAGEMENT&mdash;ARMING THE BLACKS&mdash;HOW THE
+EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION WAS WRITTEN&mdash;CABINET SUGGESTIONS&mdash;MILITARY
+SITUATION&mdash;REBEL ADVANCE NORTHWARD&mdash;LINCOLN, AND THE
+BREAST-WORKS&mdash;WASHINGTON AND BALTIMORE MENACED&mdash;ANTIETAM, AND THE FIAT OF
+FREEDOM&mdash;BORDER-STATE DENUNCIATION&mdash;KNIGHTS OF THE GOLDEN CIRCLE, ETC.
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2><a href="#ch21">CHAPTER XXI.</a><br>
+ THE ARMED&mdash;NEGRO.<br></h2>
+<br>
+"WHO WOULD BE FREE, HIMSELF MUST STRIKE THE BLOW!"&mdash;THE COLORED TROOPS
+AT PORT HUDSON&mdash;THEIR HEROISM&mdash;STIRRING INCIDENTS&mdash;AT MILLIKEN'S
+BEND&mdash;AT FORT WAGNER&mdash;AT PETERSBURG AND ABOUT RICHMOND&mdash;THE REBEL CONSPIRATORS
+FURIOUS&mdash;OUTLAWRY OF GENERAL BUTLER, ETC.&mdash;JEFFERSON DAVIS'S MESSAGE TO
+THE REBEL CONGRESS&mdash;ATROCIOUS, COLD-BLOODED RESOLUTIONS OF THAT
+BODY&mdash;DEATH OR SLAVERY TO THE ARMED FREEMAN&mdash;PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S RETALIATORY
+ORDER&mdash;THE BLOODY BUTCHERY AT FORT PILLOW&mdash;SAVAGE MALIGNITY OF THE
+REBELS&mdash;A COMMON ERROR, CORRECTED&mdash;ARMING OF NEGROES COMMENCED BY THE
+REBELS&mdash;SIMILAR SCHEME OF A REVOLUTIONARY HERO, IN 1778&mdash;REBEL CONGRESSIONAL ACT,
+CONSCRIPTING NEGROES&mdash;JEFFERSON DAVIS'S POSITION&mdash;GENERAL LEE'S LETTER
+TO BARKSDALE ON THE SUBJECT
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br><br>
+<h3>PORTRAITS.</h3>
+<center>
+<table summary="">
+<tr><td>
+<a href="#baker">EDWARD D. BAKER</a><br>
+<a href="#fremont">JOHN C. FREMONT</a><br>
+<a href="#cameron">SIMON CAMERON</a><br>
+<a href="#halleck">H. W. HALLECK</a><br>
+
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<a name="baker"></a>
+<center>
+<img alt="p354-baker.jpg (76K)" src="images/p354-baker.jpg" height="808" width="577">
+</center>
+<br><br><br>
+<a name="ch18"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center><h2>
+<br>
+<br>
+ CHAPTER XVIII.<br>
+<br>
+ FREEDOM PROCLAIMED TO ALL.
+</h2></center>
+
+<p>While mentally revolving the question of Emancipation&mdash;now, evidently
+"coming to a head,"&mdash;no inconsiderable portion of Mr. Lincoln's thoughts
+centered upon, and his perplexities grew out of, his assumption that the
+"physical difference" between the Black and White&mdash;the African and
+Caucasian races, precluded the idea of their living together in the one
+land as Free men and equals.</p>
+
+<p>In his speeches during the great Lincoln-Douglas debate we have seen
+this idea frequently advanced, and so, in his later public utterances as
+President.</p>
+
+<p>As in his appeal to the Congressional delegations from the Border-States
+on the 12th of July, 1862, he had held out to them the hope that "the
+Freed people will not be so reluctant to go" to his projected colony in
+South America, when their "numbers shall be large enough to be company
+and encouragement for one another," so, at a later date&mdash;on the 14th of
+August following&mdash;he appealed to the Colored Free men themselves to help
+him found a proposed Negro colony in New Granada, and thus aid in the
+solution of this part of the knotty problem, by the disenthrallment of
+the new race from its unhappy environments here.</p>
+
+<p>The substance of the President's interesting address, at the White
+House, to the delegation of Colored men, for whom he had sent, was thus
+reported at the time:</p>
+
+<p>"Having all been seated, the President, after a few preliminary
+observations, informed them that a sum of money had been appropriated by
+Congress, and placed at his disposition, for the purpose of aiding the
+colonization in some country of the people, or a portion of them, of
+African descent, thereby making it his duty, as it had for a long time
+been his inclination, to favor that cause; and why, he asked, should the
+people of your race be colonized, and where?</p>
+
+<p>"Why should they leave this Country? This is perhaps the first question
+for proper consideration. You and we are different races. We have
+between us a broader difference than exists between almost any other two
+races. Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss; but this
+physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think.
+Your race suffers very greatly, many of them by living among us, while
+ours suffers from your presence. In a word we suffer on each side. If
+this is admitted, it affords a reason, at least, why we should be
+separated. You here are Freemen, I suppose?</p>
+
+<p>"A VOICE&mdash;Yes, Sir.</p>
+
+<p>"THE PRESIDENT&mdash;Perhaps you have long been free, or all your lives.
+Your race are suffering, in my judgment, the greatest wrong inflicted on
+any people. But even when you cease to be Slaves, you are yet far
+removed from being placed on an equality with the White race. You are
+cut off from many of the advantages which the other race enjoys. The
+aspiration of men is to enjoy equality with the best when free; but on
+this broad continent not a single man of your race is made the equal of
+a single man of ours. Go where you are treated the best, and the ban is
+still upon you. I do not propose to discuss this, but to present it as
+a fact, with which we have to deal. I cannot alter it if I would. It
+is a fact about which we all think and feel alike, I and you. We look
+to our condition.</p>
+
+<p>"Owing to the existence of the two races on this continent, I need not
+recount to you the effects upon White men, growing out of the
+institution of Slavery. I believe in its general evil effects on the
+White race. See our present condition&mdash;the Country engaged in War! our
+white men cutting one another's throats&mdash;none knowing how far it will
+extend&mdash;and then consider what we know to be the truth. But for your
+race among us there could not be War, although many men engaged on
+either side do not care for you one way or the other. Nevertheless, I
+repeat, without the institution of Slavery, and the Colored race as a
+basis, the War could not have an existence. It is better for us both,
+therefore, to be separated.</p>
+
+<p>"I know that there are Free men among you who, even if they could better
+their condition, are not as much inclined to go out of the Country as
+those who, being Slaves, could obtain their Freedom on this condition.
+I suppose one of the principal difficulties in the way of colonization
+is that the free colored man cannot see that his comfort would be
+advanced by it. You may believe that you can live in Washington, or
+elsewhere in the United States, the remainder of your life; perhaps more
+so than you can in any foreign country, and hence you may come to the
+conclusion that you have nothing to do with the idea of going to a
+foreign country.</p>
+
+<p>"This is, (I speak in no unkind sense) an extremely selfish view of the
+case. But you ought to do something to help those who are not so
+fortunate as yourselves. There is an unwillingness on the part of our
+People, harsh as it may be, for you free Colored people to remain with
+us. Now if you could give a start to the White people you would open a
+wide door for many to be made free. If we deal with those who are not
+free at the beginning, and whose intellects are clouded by Slavery, we
+have very poor material to start with.</p>
+
+<p>"If intelligent Colored men, such as are before me, could move in this
+matter, much might be accomplished. It is exceedingly important that we
+have men at the beginning capable of thinking as White men, and not
+those who have been systematically oppressed. There is much to
+encourage you.</p>
+
+<p>"For the sake of your race you should sacrifice something of your
+present comfort for the purpose of being as grand in that respect as the
+White people. It is a cheering thought throughout life, that something
+can be done to ameliorate the condition of those who have been subject
+to the hard usages of the World. It is difficult to make a man
+miserable while he feels he is worthy of himself and claims kindred to
+the great God who made him.</p>
+
+<p>"In the American Revolutionary War, sacrifices were made by men engaged
+in it, but they were cheered by the future. General Washington himself
+endured greater physical hardships than if he had remained a British
+subject, yet he was a happy man, because he was engaged in benefiting
+his race, in doing something for the children of his neighbors, having
+none of his own.</p>
+
+<p>"The Colony of Liberia has been in existence a long time. In a certain
+sense it is a success. The old President of Liberia, Roberts, has just
+been with me the first time I ever saw him. He says they have, within
+the bounds of that Colony, between three and four hundred thousand
+people, or more than in some of our old States, such as Rhode Island, or
+Delaware, or in some of our newer States, and less than in some of our
+larger ones. They are not all American colonists or their descendants.
+Something less than 12,000 have been sent thither from this Country.
+Many of the original settlers have died, yet, like people elsewhere,
+their offspring outnumber those deceased.</p>
+
+<p>"The question is, if the Colored people are persuaded to go anywhere,
+why not there? One reason for unwillingness to do so is that some of
+you would rather remain within reach of the country of your nativity. I
+do not know how much attachment you may have toward our race. It does
+not strike me that you have the greatest reason to love them. But still
+you are attached to them at all events.</p>
+
+<p>"The place I am thinking about having for a colony, is in Central
+America. It is nearer to us than Liberia&mdash;not much more than one-fourth
+as far as Liberia, and within seven days' run by steamers. Unlike
+Liberia, it is a great line of travel&mdash;it is a highway. The country is
+a very excellent one for any people, and with great natural resources
+and advantages, and especially because of the similarity of climate with
+your native soil, thus being suited to your physical condition.</p>
+
+<p>"The particular place I have in view, is to be a great highway from the
+Atlantic or Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean, and this particular
+place has all the advantages for a colony. On both sides there are
+harbors among the finest in the World. Again, there is evidence of very
+rich coal mines. A certain amount of coal is valuable in any country.
+Why I attach so much importance to coal is, it will afford an
+opportunity to the inhabitants for immediate employment till they get
+ready to settle permanently in their homes.</p>
+
+<p>"If you take colonists where there is no good landing, there is a bad
+show; and so, where there is nothing to cultivate, and of which to make
+a farm. But if something is started so that you can get your daily
+bread as soon as you reach there, it is a great advantage. Coal land is
+the best thing I know of, with which to commence an enterprise.</p>
+
+<p>"To return&mdash;you have been talked to upon this subject, and told that a
+speculation is intended by gentlemen who have an interest in the
+country, including the coal mines. We have been mistaken all our lives
+if we do not know Whites, as well as Blacks, look to their
+self-interest. Unless among those deficient of intellect, everybody you
+trade with makes something. You meet with these things here and
+everywhere. If such persons have what will be an advantage to them, the
+question is, whether it cannot be made of advantage to you?</p>
+
+<p>"You are intelligent, and know that success does not as much depend on
+external help, as on self-reliance. Much, therefore, depends upon
+yourselves. As to the coal mines, I think I see the means available for
+your self-reliance. I shall, if I get a sufficient number of you
+engaged, have provision made that you shall not be wronged. If you will
+engage in the enterprise, I will spend some of the money intrusted to
+me. I am not sure you will succeed. The Government may lose the money,
+but we cannot succeed unless we try; but we think, with care, we can
+succeed.</p>
+
+<p>"The political affairs in Central America are not in quite as
+satisfactory condition as I wish. There are contending factions in that
+quarter; but it is true, all the factions are agreed alike on the
+subject of colonization, and want it; and are more generous than we are
+here. To your Colored race they have no objection. Besides, I would
+endeavor to have you made equals, and have the best assurance that you
+should be the equals of the best.</p>
+
+<p>"The practical thing I want to ascertain is, whether I can get a number
+of able-bodied men, with their wives and children, who are willing to
+go, when I present evidence of encouragement and protection. Could I
+get a hundred tolerably intelligent men, with their wives and children,
+and able to 'cut their own fodder' so to speak? Can I have fifty? If I
+could find twenty-five able-bodied men, with a mixture of women and
+children&mdash;good things in the family relation, I think I could make a
+successful commencement.</p>
+
+<p>"I want you to let me know whether this can be done or not. This is the
+practical part of my wish to see you. These are subjects of very great
+importance&mdash;worthy of a month's study, of a speech delivered in an hour.
+I ask you, then, to consider seriously, not as pertaining to yourselves
+merely, nor for your race, and ours, for the present time, but as one of
+the things, if successfully managed, for the good of mankind&mdash;not
+confined to the present generation, but as:</p>
+<center>
+<table summary="">
+<tr><td>
+
+ 'From age to age descends the lay<br />
+ To millions yet to be,<br />
+ Till far its echoes roll away<br />
+ Into eternity.'"<br />
+
+
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+<p>President Lincoln's well-meant colored colonization project, however,
+fell through, owing partly to opposition to it in Central America, and
+partly to the very natural and deeply-rooted disinclination of the
+Colored free men to leave the land of their birth.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, limited Military Emancipation of Slaves was announced and
+regulated, on the 22d July, 1862, by the following Executive
+Instructions, which were issued from the War Department by order of the
+President&mdash;the issue of which was assigned by Jefferson Davis as one
+reason for his Order of August 1, 1862, directing "that the commissioned
+officers of Pope's and Steinwehr's commands be not entitled, when
+captured, to be treated as soldiers and entitled to the benefit of the
+cartel of exchange:"</p>
+
+<p>
+"WAR DEPARTMENT,<br>
+"WASHINGTON, D.C., July 22, 1862.</p>
+
+<p>"First. Ordered that Military Commanders within the States of Virginia,
+North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana,
+Texas, and Arkansas, in an orderly manner seize and use any property,
+real or personal, which may be necessary or convenient for their several
+commands, for supplies, or for other Military purposes; and that while
+property may be destroyed for proper Military objects, none shall be
+destroyed in wantonness or malice.</p>
+
+<p>"Second. That Military and Naval Commanders shall employ as laborers,
+within and from said States, so many Persons of African descent as can
+be advantageously used for Military or Naval purposes, giving them
+reasonable wages for their labor.</p>
+
+<p>"Third. That, as to both property, and Persons of African descent,
+accounts shall be kept sufficiently accurate and in detail to show
+quantities and amounts, and from whom both property and such Persons
+shall have come, as a basis upon which compensation can be made in
+proper cases; and the several departments of this Government shall
+attend to and perform their appropriate parts towards the execution of
+these orders.</p>
+
+<p>"By Order of the President:</p>
+
+<p> "EDWIN M. STANTON,<br>
+ "Secretary of War."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+On the 9th of August, 1862, Major General McClellan promulgated the
+Executive Order of July 22, 1862, from his Headquarters at Harrison's
+Landing, Va., with certain directions of his own, among which were the
+following:</p>
+
+<p>"Inhabitants, especially women and children, remaining peaceably at
+their homes, must not be molested; and wherever commanding officers find
+families peculiarly exposed in their persons or property to marauding
+from this Army, they will, as heretofore, so far as they can do with
+safety and without detriment to the service, post guards for their
+protection.</p>
+
+<p>"In protecting private property, no reference is intended to Persons
+held to service or labor by reason of African Descent. Such Persons
+will be regarded by this Army, as they heretofore have been, as
+occupying simply a peculiar legal status under State laws, which
+condition the Military authorities of the United States are not required
+to regard at all in districts where Military operations are made
+necessary by the rebellious action of the State governments.</p>
+
+<p>"Persons subject to suspicion of hostile purposes, residing or being
+near our Forces, will be, as heretofore, subject to arrest and
+detention, until the cause or necessity is removed. All such arrested
+parties will be sent, as usual, to the Provost-Marshal General, with a
+statement of the facts in each case.</p>
+
+<p>"The General Commanding takes this occasion to remind the officers and
+soldiers of this Army that we are engaged in supporting the Constitution
+and the Laws of the United States and suppressing Rebellion against
+their authority; that we are not engaged in a War of rapine, revenge, or
+subjugation; that this is not a contest against populations, but against
+armed forces and political organizations; that it is a struggle carried
+on with the United States, and should be conducted by us upon the
+highest principles known to Christian civilization.</p>
+
+<p>"Since this Army commenced active operations, Persons of African
+descent, including those held to service or labor under State laws, have
+always been received, protected, and employed as laborers at wages.
+Hereafter it shall be the duty of the Provost-Marshal General to cause
+lists to be made of all persons of African descent employed in this Army
+as laborers for Military purposes&mdash;such lists being made sufficiently
+accurate and in detail to show from whom such persons shall have come.</p>
+
+<p>"Persons so subject and so employed have always understood that after
+being received into the Military service of the United States, in any
+capacity, they could never be reclaimed by their former holders. Except
+upon such understanding on their part, the order of the President, as to
+this class of Persons, would be inoperative. The General Commanding
+therefore feels authorized to declare to all such employees, that they
+will receive permanent Military protection against any compulsory return
+to a condition of servitude."</p>
+
+<p>Public opinion was now rapidly advancing, under the pressure of Military
+necessity, and the energetic efforts of the immediate Emancipationists,
+to a belief that Emancipation by Presidential Proclamation would be wise
+and efficacious as an instrumentality toward subduing the Rebellion;
+that it must come, sooner or later&mdash;and the sooner, the better.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, great fault was found, by some of these, with what they
+characterized as President Lincoln's "obstinate slowness" to come up to
+their advanced ideas on the subject. He was even accused of failing to
+execute existing laws touching confiscation of Slaves of Rebels coming
+within the lines of the Union Armies. On the 19th of August, 1862, a
+letter was addressed to him by Horace Greeley which concluded thus:</p>
+
+<p>"On the face of this wide Earth, Mr. President, there is not one
+disinterested, determined, intelligent champion of the Union Cause who
+does not feel that all attempts to put down the Rebellion, and at the
+same time uphold its inciting cause, are preposterous and futile&mdash;that
+the Rebellion, if crushed out to-morrow, would be renewed within a year
+if Slavery were left in full vigor&mdash;that Army officers, who remain to
+this day devoted to Slavery, can at best be but half-way loyal to the
+Union&mdash;and that every hour of deference to Slavery is an hour of added
+and deepened peril to the Union.</p>
+
+<p>"I appeal to the testimony of your embassadors in Europe. It is freely
+at your service, not mine. Ask them to tell you candidly whether the
+seeming subserviency of your policy to the Slaveholding,
+Slavery-upholding interest, is not the perplexity, the despair, of Statesmen of
+all parties; and be admonished by the general answer.</p>
+
+<p>"I close, as I began, with the statement that what an immense majority
+of the loyal millions of your countrymen require of you, is a frank,
+declared, unqualified, ungrudging execution of the Laws of the Land,
+more especially of the Confiscation Act. That Act gives Freedom to the
+Slaves of Rebels coming within our lines, or whom those lines may at any
+time inclose. We ask you to render it due obedience by publicly
+requiring all your subordinates to recognize and obey it.</p>
+
+<p>"The Rebels are everywhere using the late Anti-Negro riots in the North
+&mdash;as they have long used your officers' treatment of Negroes in the
+South&mdash;to convince the Slaves that they have nothing to hope from a
+Union success&mdash;that we mean in that case to sell them into a bitter
+Bondage to defray the cost of the War.</p>
+
+<p>"Let them impress this as a truth on the great mass of their ignorant
+and credulous Bondmen, and the Union will never be restored&mdash;never. We
+can not conquer ten millions of people united in solid phalanx against
+us, powerfully aided by Northern sympathizers and European allies.</p>
+
+<p>"We must have scouts, guides, spies, cooks, teamsters, diggers, and
+choppers, from the Blacks of the South&mdash;whether we allow them to fight
+for us or not&mdash;or we shall be baffled and repelled.</p>
+
+<p>"As one of the Millions who would gladly have avoided this struggle, at
+any sacrifice but that of principle and honor, but who now feel that the
+triumph of the Union is indispensable not only to the existence of our
+Country, but to the well-being of mankind, I entreat you to render a
+hearty and unequivocal obedience to the Law of the Land.<br>
+ "Yours,<br>
+ "HORACE GREELEY."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+To this letter, President Lincoln at once made the following memorable
+reply:</p>
+
+<p> "EXECUTIVE MANSION,<br>
+ "WASHINGTON, Friday, August 22, 1862.</p>
+
+<p>"HON. HORACE GREELEY</p>
+
+<p>"DEAR SIR:&mdash;I have just read yours of the 19th inst. addressed to myself
+through the New York Tribune.</p>
+
+<p>"If there be in it any statements or assumptions of fact which I may
+know to be erroneous, I do not now and here controvert them.</p>
+
+<p>"If there be any inferences which I may believe to be falsely drawn, I
+do not now and here argue against them.</p>
+
+<p>"If there be perceptible in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, I
+waive it in deference to an old friend whose heart I have always
+supposed to be right.</p>
+
+<p>"As to the policy I 'seem to be pursuing,' as you say, I have not meant
+to leave any one in doubt. I would save the Union. I would save it in
+the shortest way under the Constitution.</p>
+
+<p>"The sooner the National authority can be restored, the nearer the Union
+will be&mdash;the Union as it was.</p>
+
+<p>"If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the
+same time save Slavery, I do not agree with them.</p>
+
+<p>"If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the
+same time destroy Slavery, I do not agree, with them.</p>
+
+<p>"My paramount object is to save the Union and not either to save or
+destroy Slavery.</p>
+
+<p>"If I could save the Union without freeing any Slave, I would do it&mdash;and
+if I could save it by freeing all the Slaves, I would do it&mdash;and if I
+could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do
+that.</p>
+
+<p>"What I do about Slavery and the Colored race, I do because I believe it
+helps to save the Union, and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not
+believe it would help to save the Union.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the
+cause, and shall do more whenever I believe doing more will help the
+cause.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors, and I shall
+adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views.</p>
+
+<p>"I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty,
+and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all
+men everywhere could be free.<br>
+ "Yours,<br>
+ "A. LINCOLN."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+On the 13th of September, 1862, a deputation from all the religious
+denominations of Chicago presented to President Lincoln a memorial for
+the immediate issue of a Proclamation of Emancipation, to which, and the
+Chairman's remarks, he thus replied:</p>
+
+<p>"The subject presented in the Memorial is one upon which I have thought
+much for weeks past, and I may even say, for months. I am approached
+with the most opposite opinions, and advice, and that by religious men,
+who are equally certain that they represent the Divine will. I am sure
+that either the one or the other class is mistaken in that belief, and
+perhaps, in some respects, both. I hope it will not be irreverent for
+me to say that if it is probable that God would reveal His will to
+others, on a point so connected with my duty, it might be supposed He
+would reveal it directly to me; for, unless I am more deceived in myself
+than I often am, it is my earnest desire to know the will of Providence
+in this matter. And if I can learn what it is, I will do it!</p>
+
+<p>"These are not, however, the days of miracles, and I suppose it will be
+granted that I am not to expect a direct Revelation; I must study the
+plain physical aspects of the case, ascertain what is possible, and
+learn what appears to be wise and right!</p>
+
+<p>"The subject is difficult, and good men do not agree. For instance, the
+other day, four gentlemen, of standing and intelligence, from New York,
+called, as a delegation, on business connected with the War; but, before
+leaving, two of them earnestly besought me to proclaim general
+Emancipation, upon which the other two at once attacked them.</p>
+
+<p>"You know also that the last Session of Congress had a decided majority
+of Anti-Slavery men, yet they could not unite on this policy. And the
+same is true of the religious people; why the Rebel soldiers are praying
+with a great deal more earnestness, I fear, than our own troops, and
+expecting God to favor their side; for one of our soldiers, who had been
+taken prisoner, told Senator Wilson, a few days since, that he met
+nothing so discouraging as the evident sincerity of those he was among
+in their prayers. But we will talk over the merits of the case.</p>
+
+<p>"What good would a Proclamation of Emancipation from me do, especially
+as we are now situated? I do not want to issue a document that the
+whole World will see must necessarily be inoperative, like the Pope's
+Bull against the Comet! Would my word free the Slaves, when I cannot
+even enforce the Constitution in the Rebel States? Is there a single
+Court or Magistrate, or individual that would be influenced by it there?
+And what reason is there to think it would have any greater effect upon
+the Slaves than the late law of Congress, which I approved and which
+offers protection and Freedom to the Slaves of Rebel masters who came
+within our lines? Yet I cannot learn that that law has caused a single
+Slave to come over to us.</p>
+
+<p>"And suppose they could be induced by a Proclamation of Freedom from me
+to throw themselves upon us, what should we do with them? How can we
+feed and care for such a multitude? General Butler wrote me a few days
+since that he was issuing more rations to the Slaves who have rushed to
+him, than to all the White troops under his command. They eat, and that
+is all; though it is true General Butler is feeding the Whites also, by
+the thousand; for it nearly amounts to a famine there.</p>
+
+<p>"If, now, the pressure of the War should call off our forces from New
+Orleans to defend some other point, what is to prevent the masters from
+reducing the Blacks to Slavery again; for I am told that whenever the
+Rebels take any Black prisoners, Free or Slave, they immediately auction
+them off! They did so with those they took from a boat that was aground
+in the Tennessee river a few days ago.</p>
+
+<p>"And then I am very ungenerously attacked for it! For instance, when,
+after the late battles at and near Bull Run, an expedition went out from
+Washington, under a flag of truce, to bury the dead and bring in the
+wounded, and the Rebels seized the Blacks who went along to help, and
+sent them into Slavery, Horace Greeley said in his paper that the
+Government would probably do nothing about it. What could I do?</p>
+
+<p>"Now, then, tell me, if you please, what possible result of good would
+follow the issuing of such a Proclamation as you desire? Understand, I
+raise no objections against it on legal or Constitutional grounds, for,
+as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, in time of War, I suppose I
+have a right to take any measure which may best subdue the Enemy, nor do
+I urge objections of a moral nature, in view of possible consequences of
+insurrection and massacre at the South. I view this matter as a
+practical War measure, to be decided on according to the advantages or
+disadvantages it may offer to the suppression of the Rebellion.</p>
+
+<p> * * * * * * * * *</p>
+
+<p>"I admit that Slavery is at the root of the Rebellion, or, at least, its
+sine qua non. The ambition of politicians may have instigated them to
+act, but they would have been impotent without Slavery as their
+instrument. I will also concede that Emancipation would help us in
+Europe, and convince them that we are incited by something more than
+ambition. I grant, further, that it would help somewhat at the North,
+though not so much, I fear, as you and those you represent imagine.</p>
+
+<p>"Still, some additional strength would be added in that way to the War,
+and then, unquestionably, it would weaken the Rebels by drawing off
+their laborers, which is of great importance; but I am not so sure we
+could do much with the Blacks. If we were to arm them, I fear that in
+a few weeks the arms would be in the hands of the Rebels; and, indeed,
+thus far, we have not had arms enough to equip our White troops.</p>
+
+<p>"I will mention another thing, though it meet only your scorn and
+contempt. There are 50,000 bayonets in the Union Army from the Border
+Slave States. It would be a serious matter if, in consequence of a
+Proclamation such as you desire, they should go over to the Rebels. I
+do not think they all would&mdash;not so many, indeed, as a year ago, or as
+six months ago&mdash;not so many to-day, as yesterday. Every day increases
+their Union feeling. They are also getting their pride enlisted, and
+want to beat the Rebels.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me say one thing more: I think you should admit that we already
+have an important principle to rally and unite the People, in the fact
+that Constitutional Government is at stake. This is a fundamental idea
+going down about as deep as anything!</p>
+
+<p> * * * * * * * * *</p>
+
+<p>"Do not misunderstand me because I have mentioned these objections.
+They indicate the difficulties that have thus far prevented my action in
+some such way as you desire.</p>
+
+<p>"I have not decided against a Proclamation of Liberty to the Slaves, but
+hold the matter under advisement. And I can assure you that the subject
+is on my mind, by day and night, more than any other. Whatever shall
+appear to be God's will I will do.</p>
+
+<p>"I trust that in the freedom with which I have canvassed your views I
+have not in any respect injured your feelings."</p>
+
+<p>
+On the 22d day of September, 1862, not only the Nation, but the whole
+World, was electrified by the publication&mdash;close upon the heels of the
+Union victory of Antietam&mdash;of the Proclamation of Emancipation&mdash;weighted
+with consequences so wide and far-reaching that even at this late day
+they cannot all be discerned. It was in these words:</p>
+
+<br><br>
+
+<p>"I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States of America, and
+Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy thereof, do hereby proclaim and
+declare that hereafter, as heretofore, the War will be prosecuted for
+the object of practically restoring the Constitutional relation between
+the United States and each of the States and the people thereof, in
+which States that relation is or may be suspended or disturbed.</p>
+
+<p>"That it is my purpose, upon the next meeting of Congress, to again
+recommend the adoption of a practical measure tendering pecuniary aid to
+the free acceptance or rejection of all Slave States, so called, the
+people whereof may not then be in Rebellion against the United States,
+and which States may then have voluntarily adopted, or thereafter may
+voluntarily adopt, immediate or gradual abolishment of Slavery within
+their respective limits; and that the effort to colonize Persons of
+African descent with their consent upon this continent or elsewhere,
+with the previously obtained consent of the Governments existing there,
+will be continued.</p>
+
+<p>"That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand
+eight hundred and sixty-three, all Persons held as Slaves within any
+State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in
+Rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and
+forever Free; and the Executive Government of the United States,
+including the Military and Naval authority thereof, will recognize and
+maintain the Freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to
+repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for
+their actual Freedom.</p>
+
+<p>"That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by
+Proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which
+the people thereof respectively, shall then be in Rebellion against the
+United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall
+on that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United
+States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the
+qualified voters of such States shall have participated, shall, in the
+absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive
+evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not in Rebellion
+against the United States.</p>
+
+<p>"That attention is hereby called to an Act of Congress entitled 'An Act
+to make an additional Article of War,' approved March 31, 1862, and
+which Act is in the words and figures following:</p>
+
+<p>"'Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
+States of America in Congress assembled, That hereafter the following
+shall be promulgated as an additional Article of War, for the government
+of the Army of the United States, and shall be obeyed and observed as
+such.</p>
+
+<p>"ARTICLE&mdash;All officers or persons in the Military or Naval service of
+the United States are prohibited from employing any of the forces under
+their respective commands for the purpose of returning Fugitives from
+service or labor who may have escaped from any persons to whom such
+service or labor is claimed to be due, and any officer who shall be
+found guilty by a court-martial of violating this article shall be
+dismissed from the service.</p>
+
+<p>"'SECTION 2.&mdash;And be it further enacted, That this Act shall take effect
+from and after its passage.'</p>
+
+<p>"Also to the ninth and tenth sections of an Act entitled 'An Act to
+suppress Insurrection, to punish Treason and Rebellion, to seize and
+confiscate property of Rebels, and for other purposes,' approved July
+17, 1862, and which sections are in the words and figures following:</p>
+
+<p>"'SEC. 9.&mdash;And be it further enacted, That all Slaves of persons who
+shall hereafter be engaged in Rebellion against the Government of the
+United States or who shall in any way give aid or comfort thereto,
+escaping from such persons and taking refuge within the lines of the
+Army; and all Slaves captured from such persons or deserted by them, and
+coming under the control of the Government of the United States; and all
+Slaves of such persons found on [or] being within any place occupied by
+Rebel forces and afterward occupied by the forces of the United States,
+shall be deemed captives of war, and shall be forever Free of their
+servitude, and not again held as Slaves.</p>
+
+<p>"'SEC. 10.&mdash;And be it further enacted, That no Slave escaping into any
+State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, from any other State,
+shall be delivered up, or in any way impeded or hindered of his liberty,
+except for crime, or some offense against the laws, unless the person
+claiming said Fugitive shall first make oath that the person to whom the
+labor or service of such Fugitive is alleged to be due is his lawful
+owner, and has not borne arms against the United States in the present
+Rebellion, nor in any way given aid and comfort thereto; and no person
+engaged in the Military or Naval service of the United States shall,
+under any pretense whatever, assume to decide on the validity of the
+claim of any person to the service or labor of any other person, or
+surrender up any such Person to the claimant, on pain of being dismissed
+from the service."</p>
+
+<p>"And I do hereby enjoin upon and order all persons engaged in the
+Military and Naval service of the United States to observe, obey, and
+enforce, within their respective spheres of service, the Act and
+sections above recited.</p>
+
+<p>"And the Executive will in due time recommend that all
+citizens of the United States who shall have remained loyal thereto
+throughout the Rebellion shall (upon the restoration of the
+Constitutional relation between the United States and their respective
+States and people, if that relation shall have been suspended or
+disturbed) be compensated for all losses by acts of the United States,
+including the loss of Slaves.</p>
+
+<p>"In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of
+the United States to be affixed.</p>
+
+<p>"Done at the city of Washington this twenty-second day of September, in
+the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and of
+the Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.</p>
+
+<p>"By the President:<br>
+"ABRAHAM LINCOLN.</p>
+
+<p>"WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+This Proclamation, promising Freedom to an Enslaved race, was hailed
+with acclamations everywhere save in the rebellious Southern-Slave
+States, and in the Border-Slave States.</p>
+
+<p>At a meeting of Governors of Loyal States, held at Altoona,
+Pennsylvania, to take measures for the more active support of the
+Government, an Address was adopted, on the very day that the
+Proclamation was promulgated, which well expressed the general feeling
+prevailing throughout the Northern States, at this time. It was in
+these patriotic words:</p>
+
+<p>"After nearly one year and a half spent in contest with an armed and
+gigantic Rebellion against the National Government of the United States,
+the duty and purpose of the Loyal States and people continue, and must
+always remain as they were at its origin&mdash;namely to restore and
+perpetuate the authority of this Government and the life of the Nation.
+No matter what consequences are involved in our fidelity, this work of
+restoring the Republic, preserving the institutions of democratic
+Liberty, and justifying the hopes and toils of our Fathers, shall not
+fail to be performed.</p>
+
+<p>"And we pledge, without hesitation, to the President of the United
+States, the most loyal and cordial support, hereto as heretofore, in
+the exercise of the functions of his great office. We recognize in him
+the chief Executive magistrate of the Nation, the Commander-in-Chief of
+the Army and Navy of the United States, their responsible and
+constitutional head, whose rightful authority and power, as well as the
+Constitutional powers of Congress, must be rigorously and religiously
+guarded and preserved, as the condition on which alone our form of
+Government and the constitutional rights and liberties of the People
+themselves can be saved from the wreck of anarchy or from the gulf
+'despotism.</p>
+
+<p>"In submission to the laws which may have been or which may be duly
+enacted, and to the lawful orders of the President, cooperating always
+in our own spheres with the National Government, we mean to continue in
+the most rigorous exercise of all our lawful and proper powers,
+contending against Treason, Rebellion, and the public Enemies, and,
+whether in public life or in private station, supporting the arms of the
+Union, until its Cause shall conquer, until final victory shall perch
+upon its standard, or the Rebel foe will yield a dutiful, rightful, and
+unconditional submission. And, impressed with the conviction that an
+Army of reserve ought, until the War shall end, to be constantly kept on
+foot, to be raised, armed, equipped, and trained at home, and ready for
+emergencies, we respectfully ask the President to call such a force of
+volunteers for one year's service, of not less than one hundred thousand
+in the aggregate, the quota of each State to be raised after it shall
+have led its quota of the requisitions already made, both for volunteers
+and militia. We believe that this would be a Leasure of Military
+prudence, while it would greatly promote the Military education of the
+People.</p>
+
+<p>"We hail with heartfelt gratitude and encouraged hope the Proclamation
+of the President, issued on the 22nd instant, declaring Emancipated from
+their bondage all Persons held to Service or Labor as Slaves in the
+Rebel States, whose Rebellion shall last until the first day of January
+next ensuing.</p>
+
+<p>"The right of any person to retain authority to compel any portion of
+the subjects of the National Government to rebel against it, or to
+maintain its Enemies, implies in those who are allowed possession of
+such authority the right to rebel themselves; and therefore, the right
+to establish Martial Law or Military Government in a State or Territory
+in Rebellion implies the right and the duty of the Government to
+liberate the minds of all men living therein by appropriate
+Proclamations and assurances of protection, in order that all who are
+capable, intellectually and morally, of loyalty and obedience, may not
+be forced into Treason as the unwilling tools of rebellious Traitors.</p>
+
+<p>"To have continued indefinitely the most efficient cause, support, and
+stay of the Rebellion, would have been, in our judgment, unjust to the
+Loyal people whose treasure and lives are made a willing sacrifice on
+the altar of patriotism&mdash;would have discriminated against the wife who
+is compelled to surrender her husband, against the parent who is to
+surrender his child, to the hardships of the camp and the perils of
+battle, in favor of Rebel masters permitted to retain their Slaves. It
+would have been a final decision alike against humanity, justice, the
+rights and dignity of the Government, and against sound and wise
+National policy.</p>
+
+<p>"The decision of the President to strike at the root of the Rebellion
+will lend new vigor to efforts, and new life and hope to the hearts of
+the People. Cordially tendering to the President our respectful
+assurances of personal and official confidence, we trust and believe
+that the policy now inaugurated will be crowned with success, will give
+speedy and triumphant victories over our enemies, and secure to this
+Nation and this People the blessing and favor of Almighty God.</p>
+
+<p>"We believe that the blood of the heroes who have already fallen, and
+those who may yet give their lives to their Country, will not have been
+shed in vain.</p>
+
+<p>"The splendid valor of our soldiers, their patient endurance, their
+manly patriotism, and their devotion to duty, demand from us and from
+all their countrymen the homage of the sincerest gratitude and the
+pledge of our constant reinforcement and support. A just regard for
+these brave men, whom we have contributed to place in the field, and for
+the importance of the duties which may lawfully pertain to us hereafter,
+has called us into friendly conference.</p>
+
+<p>"And now, presenting to our National Chief Magistrate this conclusion of
+our deliberations, we devote ourselves to our Country's service, and we
+will surround the President with our constant support, trusting that the
+fidelity and zeal of the Loyal States and People will always assure him
+that he will be constantly maintained in pursuing, with the utmost
+vigor, this War for the preservation of the National life and hope of
+humanity.</p>
+
+<p>"A. G. CURTIN,<br>
+"JOHN A. ANDREW,<br>
+"RICHARD YATES,<br>
+"ISRAEL WASHBURNE, Jr.,<br>
+"EDWARD SOLOMON,<br>
+"SAMUEL J. KIRKWOOD,<br>
+"O. P. MORTON,&mdash;By D. G. ROSE, his Representative,<br>
+"WM. SPRAGUE,<br>
+"F. H. PEIRPOINT,<br>
+"DAVID TOD,<br>
+"N. S. BERRY,
+"AUSTIN BLAIR."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+Some two months after the issue of his great Proclamation of Liberty,
+President Lincoln (in his Second Annual Message to Congress, December 1,
+1862), took occasion again to refer to compensated Emancipation, and,
+indeed, to the entire matter of Slavery and Freedom, in most instructive
+and convincing manner, as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"On the 22d day of September last, a Proclamation was issued by the
+Executive, a copy of which is herewith submitted.</p>
+
+<p>"In accordance with the purpose in the second paragraph of that paper, I
+now respectfully recall your attention to what may be called
+'compensated Emancipation.'</p>
+
+<p>"A Nation may be said to consist of its territory, its people, and its
+laws. The territory is the only part which is of certain durability.
+'One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh, but the
+Earth abideth forever.' It is of the first importance to duly consider
+and estimate this ever-enduring part.</p>
+
+<p>"That portion of the Earth's surface which is owned and inhabited by the
+People of the United States, is well adapted to be the home of one
+National family; and it is not well adapted for two, or more. Its vast
+extent, and its variety of climate and productions, are of advantage, in
+this age, for one People, whatever they might have been in former ages.
+Steam, telegraphs, and intelligence, have brought these to be an
+advantageous combination for one united People.</p>
+
+<p>"In the Inaugural Address I briefly pointed out the total inadequacy of
+Disunion, as a remedy for the differences between the people of the two
+Sections. I did so in language which I cannot improve, and which,
+therefore, I beg to repeat:</p>
+
+<p>"'One Section of our Country believes Slavery is right, and ought to be
+extended, while the other believes it is wrong, and ought not to be
+extended. This is the only substantial dispute. The Fugitive Slave
+clause of the Constitution, and the law for the suppression of the
+foreign Slave Trade, are each as well enforced, perhaps, as any law can
+ever be in a community where the moral sense of the People imperfectly
+supports the law itself.</p>
+
+<p>"The great body of the People abide by the dry legal obligation in both
+cases, and a few break over in each. This, I think, cannot be perfectly
+cured; and it would be worse in both cases after the separation of the
+Sections, than before. The foreign Slave Trade, now imperfectly
+suppressed, would be ultimately revived without restriction in one
+Section; while Fugitive Slaves, now only partially surrendered, would
+not be surrendered at all by the other.</p>
+
+<p>"Physically speaking, we cannot separate. We cannot remove our
+respective Sections from each other, nor build an impassable wall
+between them. A husband and wife may be divorced, and each go out of
+the presence and beyond the reach of the other; but the different parts
+of our Country cannot do this. They cannot but remain face to face; and
+intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue between them.</p>
+
+<p>"'Is it possible, then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or
+more satisfactory after separation than before? Can aliens make
+treaties easier than friends can make laws? Can treaties be more
+faithfully enforced between aliens than laws can among friends? suppose
+you go to War, you cannot fight always; and when, after much loss on
+both sides, and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the identical old
+questions as to terms of intercourse are again upon you.'</p>
+
+<p>"There is no line, straight or crooked, suitable for a National boundary
+upon which to divide. Trace through, from East to West, upon the line
+between the Free and Slave Country, and we shall find a little more than
+one third of its length are rivers, easy to be crossed, and populated,
+or soon to be populated, thickly upon both sides; while nearly all its
+remaining length are merely surveyors' lines, over which people may walk
+back and forth without any consciousness of their presence.</p>
+
+<p>"No part of this line can be made any more difficult to pass, by writing
+it down on paper or parchment as a National boundary. The fact of
+separation, if it comes, gives up, on the part of the seceding Section,
+the Fugitive Slave clause, along with all other Constitutional
+obligations upon the Section seceded from, while I should expect no
+treaty stipulations would ever be made to take its place.</p>
+
+<p>"But there is another difficulty. The great interior region, bounded
+East by the Alleghanies, North by the British dominions, West by the
+Rocky Mountains, and South by the line along which the culture of corn
+and cotton meets, and which includes part of Virginia, part of
+Tennessee, all of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin,
+Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, and the Territories of
+Dakota, Nebraska, and part of Colorado, already has above ten million
+people, and will have fifty millions within fifty years, if not
+prevented by any political folly or mistake.</p>
+
+<p>"It contains more than one-third of the country owned by the United
+States-certainly more than one million square miles. Once half as
+populous as Massachusetts already is, it would have more than
+seventy-five million people. A glance at the map shows that, territorially
+speaking, it is the great body of the Republic. The other parts are but
+marginal borders to it, the magnificent region sloping West, from the
+Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, being the deepest and also the richest
+in undeveloped resources. In the production of provisions, grains,
+grasses, and all which proceed from them, this great interior region is
+naturally one of the most important in the World.</p>
+
+<p>"Ascertain from the statistics the small proportion of the region which
+has, as yet, been brought into cultivation, and also the large and
+rapidly increasing amount of its products, and we shall be overwhelmed
+with the magnitude of the prospect presented. And yet this region has
+no sea coast, touches no ocean anywhere. As part of one Nation, its
+people now find, and may forever find, their way to Europe by New York,
+to South America and Africa by New Orleans, and to Asia by San
+Francisco.</p>
+
+<p>"But separate our common Country into two nations, as designed by the
+present Rebellion, and every man of this great interior region is
+thereby cut off from some one or more of these outlets, not, perhaps, by
+a physical barrier, but by embarrassing and onerous trade regulations.</p>
+
+<p>"And this is true, wherever a dividing or boundary line may be fixed.
+Place it between the now Free and Slave country, or place it South of
+Kentucky, or North of Ohio, and still the truth remains, that none South
+of it can trade to any port or place North of it, and none North of it
+can trade to any port or place South of it except upon terms dictated by
+a Government foreign to them.</p>
+
+<p>"These outlets, East, West, and South, are indispensable to the
+well-being of the people inhabiting, and to inhabit, this vast interior
+region. Which of the three may be the best, is no proper question.
+All, are better than either; and all, of right belong to that People,
+and to their successors forever. True to themselves, they will not ask
+where a line of separation shall be, but will vow rather that there
+shall be no such line.</p>
+
+<p>"Nor are the marginal regions less interested in these communications to
+and through them, to the great outside World. They too, and each of
+them, must have access to this Egypt of the West without paying toll at
+the crossing of any National boundary.</p>
+
+<p>"Our National strife springs not from our permanent part; not from the
+Land we inhabit; not from our National homestead. There is no possible
+severing of this, but would multiply, and not mitigate, evils among us.
+In all its adaptations and aptitudes it demands Union, and abhors
+separation. In fact it would, ere long, force reunion, however much of
+blood and treasure the separation might have cost.</p>
+
+<p>"Our strife pertains to ourselves&mdash;to the passing generations of men;
+and it can, without convulsion, be hushed forever&mdash;with the passing of
+one generation.</p>
+
+<p>"In this view I recommend the adoption of the following Resolution and
+Articles Amendatory of the Constitution of the United States.</p>
+
+<p>"'Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
+States of America, in Congress assembled, (two-thirds of both Houses
+concurring). That the following Articles be proposed to the
+Legislatures (or Conventions) of the several States, as Amendments to
+the Constitution of the United States, all or any of which Articles when
+ratified by three-fourths of the said Legislatures (or Conventions) to
+be valid as part or parts of the said Constitution, namely:</p>
+
+<p>"'ARTICLE&mdash;Every State wherein Slavery now exists, which shall abolish
+the same therein, at any time, or times, before the first day of
+January, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred, shall
+receive compensation from the United States, as follows, to wit;</p>
+
+<p>"'The President of the United States shall deliver to every such State,
+bonds of the United States, bearing interest at the rate of per cent.
+per annum, to an amount equal to the aggregate sum of for each Slave
+shown to have been therein by the eighth census of the United States,
+said bonds to be delivered to such States by installments, or in one
+parcel, at the completion of the abolishment, accordingly as the same
+shall have been gradual, or at one time, within such State; and interest
+shall begin to run upon any such bond only from the proper time of its
+delivery as aforesaid. Any State having received bonds as aforesaid,
+and afterward reintroducing or tolerating Slavery therein, shall refund
+to the United States the bonds so received, or the value thereof, and
+all interest paid thereon.</p>
+
+<p>"'ARTICLE&mdash;All Slaves who shall have enjoyed actual freedom by the
+chances of the War at any time before the end of the Rebellion, shall be
+forever Free; but all owners of such, who shall not have been disloyal,
+shall be compensated for them, at the same rates as is provided for
+States adopting abolishment of Slavery, but in such way that no Slave
+shall be twice accounted for.</p>
+
+<p>"'ARTICLE&mdash;Congress may appropriate money, and otherwise provide for
+colonizing Free Colored Persons, with their own consent, at any place or
+places within the United States.'</p>
+
+<p>
+"I beg indulgence to discuss these proposed Articles at some length.
+Without Slavery the Rebellion could never have existed; without Slavery
+it could not continue.</p>
+
+<p>"Among the friends of the Union there is great diversity of sentiment
+and of policy in regard to Slavery, and the African race among us. Some
+would perpetuate Slavery; some would abolish it suddenly, without
+compensation; some would abolish it gradually, and with compensation;
+some would remove the Freed people from us; and some would retain them
+with us; and there are yet other minor diversities. Because of these
+diversities, we waste much strength in struggles among ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>"By mutual Concession we should harmonize and act together. This would
+be Compromise; but it would be Compromise among the friends, and not
+with the enemies of the Union. These Articles are intended to embody a
+plan of such mutual concessions. If the plan shall be adopted, it is
+assumed that Emancipation will follow, at least, in several of the
+States.</p>
+
+<p>"As to the first Article, the main points are: first, the Emancipation;
+secondly, the length of time for consummating it&mdash;thirty-seven years;
+and, thirdly, the compensation.</p>
+
+<p>"The Emancipation will be unsatisfactory to the advocates of perpetual
+Slavery; but the length of time should greatly mitigate their
+dissatisfaction. The time spares both races from the evils of sudden
+derangement&mdash;in fact from the necessity of any derangement&mdash;while most
+of those whose habitual course of thought will be disturbed by the
+measure will have passed away before its consummation. They will never
+see it.</p>
+
+<p>"Another class will hail the prospect of Emancipation, but will
+deprecate the length of time. They will feel that it gives too little
+to the now living Slaves. But it really gives them much. It saves them
+from the vagrant destitution which must largely attend immediate
+Emancipation in localities where their numbers are very great; and it
+gives the inspiring assurance that their posterity shall be Free
+forever.</p>
+
+<p>"The plan leaves to each State, choosing to act under it, to abolish
+Slavery now, or at the end of the century, or at any intermediate time,
+or by degrees, extending over the whole or any part of the period; and
+it obliges no two States to proceed alike. It also provides for
+compensation,&mdash;and generally, the mode of making it. This, it would
+seem, must further mitigate the dissatisfaction of those who favor
+perpetual Slavery, and especially of those who are to receive the
+compensation. Doubtless some of those who are to pay, and not to
+receive, will object. Yet the measure is both just and economical.</p>
+
+<p>"In a certain sense, the liberation of Slaves is the destruction of
+Property&mdash;Property acquired by descent, or by purchase, the same as any
+other property. It is no less true for having been often said, that the
+people of the South are not more responsible for the original
+introduction of this Property than are the people of the North; and when
+it is remembered how unhesitatingly we all use cotton and sugar, and
+share the profits of dealing in them, it may not be quite safe to say
+that the South has been more responsible than the North for its
+continuance.</p>
+
+<p>"If, then, for a common object, this Property is to be sacrificed, is it
+not just that it be done at a common charge?</p>
+
+<p>"And if, with less money, or money more easily paid, we can preserve the
+benefits of the Union by this means than we can by the War alone, is it
+not also economical to do it? Let us consider it then. Let us
+ascertain the sum we have expended in the War since compensated
+Emancipation was proposed last March, and consider whether, if that
+measure had been promptly accepted, by even some of the Slave States,
+the same sum would not have done more to close the War than has been
+otherwise done. If so, the measure would save money, and, in that view,
+would be a prudent and economical measure.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly it is not so easy to pay something as it is to pay nothing;
+but it is easier to pay a large sum than it is to pay a larger one. And
+it is easier to pay any sum when we are able, than it is to pay it
+before we are able. The War requires large sums, and requires them at
+once.</p>
+
+<p>"The aggregate sum necessary for compensated Emancipation of course
+would be large. But it would require no ready cash, nor the bonds,
+even, any faster than the Emancipation progresses. This might not, and
+probably would not, close before the end of the thirty-seven years. At
+that time we shall probably have a hundred million people to share the
+burden, instead of thirty-one millions, as now. And not only so, but
+the increase of our population may be expected to continue, for a long
+time after that period, as rapidly as before; because our territory will
+not have become full.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not state this inconsiderately. At the same ratio of increase
+which we have maintained, on an average, from our first National census
+in 1790, until that of 1860, we should, in 1900, have a population of
+103,208,415. And why may we not continue that ratio far beyond that
+period?</p>
+
+<p>"Our abundant room&mdash;our broad National homestead&mdash;is our ample resource.
+Were our territory as limited as are the British Isles, very certainly
+our population could not expand as stated. Instead of receiving the
+foreign born, as now, we should be compelled to send part of the
+Native-born away.</p>
+
+<p>"But such is not our condition. We have two million nine hundred and
+sixty-three thousand square miles. Europe has three million and eight
+hundred thousand, with a population averaging seventy-three and
+one-third persons to the square mile. Why may not our Country at some time,
+average as many? Is it less fertile? Has it more waste surface by
+mountains, rivers, lakes, deserts, or other causes? Is it inferior to
+Europe in any natural advantage?</p>
+
+<p>"If, then, we are at some time to be as populous as Europe, how soon?
+As to when this may be, we can judge by the past and the present; as to
+when it will be, if ever, depends much on whether we maintain the Union.</p>
+
+<p>"Several of our States are already above the average of
+Europe&mdash;seventy-three and a third to the square mile. Massachusetts has 157; Rhode
+Island, 133; Connecticut, 99; New York and New Jersey, each, 80. Also
+two other great States, Pennsylvania and Ohio, are not far below, the
+former having 63, and the latter 59. The States already above the
+European average, except New York, have increased in as rapid a ratio,
+since passing that point, as ever before; while no one of them is equal
+to some other parts of our Country in natural capacity for sustaining a
+dense population.</p>
+
+<p>"Taking the Nation in the aggregate, and we find its population and
+ratio of increase, for the several decennial periods, to be as follows:</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p>YEAR. POPULATION. RATIO OF INCREASE</p>
+
+<p>1790&mdash; 3,929,827</p>
+
+<p>1800&mdash; 5,305,937 &mdash;35.02 Per Cent.</p>
+
+<p>1810&mdash; 7,239,814 &mdash;36.45</p>
+
+<p>1820&mdash; 9,638,131 &mdash;33.13</p>
+
+<p>1830&mdash; 12,866,020 &mdash;33.49</p>
+
+<p>1840&mdash; 17,069,453 &mdash;32.67</p>
+
+<p>1850&mdash; 23,191,876 &mdash;35.87</p>
+
+<p>1860&mdash; 31,443,790 &mdash;35.58</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>"This shows an average Decennial Increase of 34.69 per cent. in
+population through the seventy years from our first to our last census
+yet taken. It is seen that the ratio of increase, at no one of these
+seven periods, is either two per cent. below or two per cent. above the
+average; thus showing how inflexible, and, consequently, how reliable,
+the law of Increase, in our case, is.</p>
+
+<p>"Assuming that it will continue, gives the following results:</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p>YEAR. POPULATION.</p>
+
+<p>1870&mdash; 42,323,041</p>
+
+<p>1880&mdash; 56,967,216</p>
+
+<p>1890&mdash; 76,677,872</p>
+
+<p>1900&mdash; 103,208,415</p>
+
+<p>1910&mdash; 138,918,526</p>
+
+<p>1920&mdash; 186,984,335</p>
+
+<p>1930&mdash; 251,680,914</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>"These figures show that our Country may be as populous as Europe now is
+at some point between 1920 and 1930&mdash;say about 1925&mdash;our territory, at
+seventy-three and a third persons to the square mile, being of capacity
+to contain 217,186,000.</p>
+
+<p>"And we will reach this, too, if we do not ourselves relinquish the
+chance by the folly and evils of Disunion or by long and exhausting War
+springing from the only great element of National discord among us.
+While it cannot be foreseen exactly how much one huge example of
+Secession, breeding lesser ones indefinitely, would retard population,
+civilization and prosperity, no one can doubt that the extent of it
+would be very great and injurious.</p>
+
+<p>"The proposed Emancipation would shorten the War, perpetuate Peace,
+insure this increase of population, and proportionately the wealth of
+the Country. With these, we should pay all the Emancipation would cost,
+together with our other debt, easier than we should pay our other debt
+without it.</p>
+
+<p>"If we had allowed our old National debt to run at six per cent. per
+annum, simple interest, from the end of our Revolutionary Struggle until
+to-day, without paying anything on either principal or interest, each
+man of us would owe less upon that debt now than each man owed upon it
+then; and this because our increase of men through the whole period has
+been greater than six per cent.; has run faster than the interest upon
+the debt. Thus, time alone, relieves a debtor Nation, so long as its
+population increases faster than unpaid interest accumulates on its
+debt.</p>
+
+<p>"This fact would be no excuse for delaying payment of what is justly
+due, but it shows the great importance of time in this connection&mdash;the
+great advantage of a policy by which we shall not have to pay until we
+number a hundred millions, what, by a different policy, we would have to
+pay now, when we number but thirty-one millions. In a word, it shows
+that a dollar will be much harder to pay for the War, than will be a
+dollar for Emancipation on the proposed plan. And then the latter will
+cost no blood, no precious life. It will be a saving of both.</p>
+
+<p>"As to the Second Article, I think it would be impracticable to return
+to Bondage the class of Persons therein contemplated. Some of them,
+doubtless, in the property sense, belong to loyal owners and hence
+provision is made in this Article for compensating such.</p>
+
+<p>"The Third Article relates to the future of the Freed people. It does
+not oblige, but merely authorizes, Congress to aid in colonizing such as
+may consent. This ought not to be regarded as objectionable on the one
+hand or on the other, insomuch as it comes to nothing, unless by the
+mutual consent of the people to be deported, and the American voters,
+through their Representatives in Congress.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot make it better known than it already is, that I strongly favor
+colonization. And yet I wish to say there is an objection urged against
+free Colored persons remaining in the Country which is largely
+imaginary, if not sometimes malicious.</p>
+
+<p>"It is insisted that their presence would injure and displace White
+labor and White laborers. If there ever could be a proper time for mere
+catch arguments, that time surely is not now. In times like the present
+men should utter nothing for which they would not willingly be
+responsible through Time and in Eternity.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it true, then, that Colored people can displace any more White labor
+by being Free, than by remaining Slaves? If they stay in their old
+places, they jostle no White laborers; if they leave their old places,
+they leave them open to White laborers. Logically, there is neither
+more nor less of it.</p>
+
+<p>"Emancipation, even without deportation, would probably enhance the
+wages of White labor, and, very surely would not reduce them. Thus, the
+customary amount of labor would still have to be performed; the freed
+people would surely not do more than their old proportion of it and,
+very probably, for a time would do less, leaving an increased part to
+White laborers, bringing their labor into greater demand, and
+consequently enhancing the wages of it.</p>
+
+<p>"With deportation, even to a limited extent, enhanced wages to White
+labor is mathematically certain. Labor is like any other commodity in
+the market-increase the demand for it and you increase the price of it.
+Reduce the supply of Black labor by colonizing the Black laborer out of
+the Country, and by precisely so much you increase the demand for and
+wages of White labor.</p>
+
+<p>"But it is dreaded that the freed people will swarm forth and cover the
+whole Land! Are they not already in the Land? Will liberation make
+them any more numerous? Equally distributed among the Whites of the
+whole Country, there would be but one Colored, in seven Whites. Could
+the one, in any way, greatly disturb the seven?</p>
+
+<p>"There are many communities now, having more than one free Colored
+person to seven Whites; and this, without any apparent consciousness of
+evil from it. The District of Columbia, and the States of Maryland and
+Delaware, are all in this condition. The District has more than one
+free Colored to six Whites; and yet, in its frequent petitions to
+Congress I believe it has never presented the presence of free Colored
+persons as one of its grievances.</p>
+
+<p>"But why should Emancipation South, send the freed people North? people
+of any color, seldom run, unless there be something to run from.
+Heretofore, Colored people, to some extent, have fled North from
+bondage, and now, perhaps, from both bondage and destitution. But if
+gradual Emancipation and deportation be adopted, they will have neither
+to flee from.</p>
+
+<p>"Their old masters will give them wages at least until new laborers can
+be procured; and the freed men, in turn, will gladly give their labor
+for the wages, till new homes can be found for them, in congenial
+climes, and with people of their own blood and race.</p>
+
+<p>"This proposition can be trusted on the mutual interests involved. And,
+in any event, cannot the North decide for itself, whether to receive
+them?</p>
+
+<p>"Again, as practice proves more than theory, in any case, has there been
+any irruption of Colored people Northward because of the abolishment of
+Slavery in this District last Spring? What I have said of the
+proportion of free Colored persons to the Whites in the District is from
+the census of 1860, having no reference to persons called Contrabands,
+nor to those made free by the Act of Congress abolishing Slavery here.</p>
+
+<p>"The plan consisting of these Articles is recommended, not but that a
+restoration of the National authority would be accepted without its
+adoption.</p>
+
+<p>"Nor will the War, nor proceedings under the Proclamation of September
+22, 1862, be stayed because of the recommendation of this plan. Its
+timely adoption, I doubt not, would bring restoration, and thereby stay
+both.</p>
+
+<p>"And, notwithstanding this plan, the recommendation that Congress
+provides by law for compensating any State which may adopt Emancipation
+before this plan shall have been acted upon, is hereby earnestly
+renewed. Such would be only an advance part of the plan, and the same
+arguments apply to both.</p>
+
+<p>"This plan is recommended as a means, not in exclusion of, but
+additional to, all others, for restoring and preserving the National
+authority throughout the Union. The subject is presented exclusively in
+its economical aspect.</p>
+
+<p>"The plan would, I am confident, secure Peace more speedily, and
+maintain it more permanently, than can be done by force alone; while all
+it would cost, considering amounts, and manner of payment, and times of
+payment, would be easier paid than will be the additional cost of the
+War, if we rely solely upon force. It is much, very much, that it would
+cost no blood at all.</p>
+
+<p>"The plan is proposed as permanent Constitutional Law. It cannot become
+such without the concurrence of, first, two-thirds of Congress, and
+afterward, three-fourths of the Slave States. The requisite
+three-fourths of the States will necessarily include seven of the Slave
+States. Their concurrence, if obtained, will give assurance of their
+severally adopting Emancipation at no very distant day upon the new
+Constitutional terms. This assurance would end the struggle now and
+save the Union forever.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not forget the gravity which should characterize a paper addressed
+to the Congress of the Nation by the Chief Magistrate of the Nation.
+Nor do I forget that some of you are my seniors, nor that many of you
+have more experience than I in the conduct of public affairs. Yet I
+trust that in view of the great responsibility resting upon me, you will
+perceive no want of respect to yourselves in any undue earnestness I may
+seem to display.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it doubted, then, that the plan I propose, if adopted, would shorten
+the War, and thus lessen its expenditure of money and of blood? Is it
+doubted that it would restore the National authority and National
+prosperity, and perpetuate both indefinitely? Is it doubted that we
+here&mdash;Congress and Executive&mdash;can secure its adoption; will not the good
+people respond to a united and earnest appeal from us? Can we, can
+they, by any other means so certainly or so speedily assure these vital
+objects; we can succeed only by concert.</p>
+
+<p>"It is not, 'Can any of us imagine better?' but,'Can we all do better?'
+Object whatsoever is possible, still the question recurs, 'Can we do
+better? The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy
+present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise
+with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act
+anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our
+Country.</p>
+
+<p>"Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We, of this Congress and
+this Administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No
+personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of
+us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor
+or dishonor, to the latest generation.</p>
+
+<p>"We say we are for the Union. The World will not forget that we say
+this. We know how to save the Union.</p>
+
+<p>"The World knows we do know how to save it. We even we here&mdash;hold the
+power, and bear the responsibility.</p>
+
+<p>"In giving Freedom to the Slave, we assure Freedom to the Free-Honorable
+alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or
+meanly lose, the last, best hope of Earth. Other means may succeed;
+this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just&mdash;a way
+which, if followed, the World would forever applaud, and God must
+forever bless.</p>
+
+<p> "ABRAHAM LINCOLN."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+The popular Branch of Congress responded with heartiness to what Mr.
+Lincoln had done. On December 11, 1862, resolutions were offered by Mr.
+Yeaman in the House of Representatives, as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate Concurring), That
+the Proclamation of the President of the United States, of date the 22d
+of September, 1862, is not warranted by the Constitution.</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved, That the policy of Emancipation as indicated in that
+Proclamation, is not calculated to hasten the restoration of Peace, was
+not well chosen as a War measure, and is an assumption of power
+dangerous to the rights of citizens and to the perpetuity of a Free
+People."</p>
+
+<p>These resolutions were laid on the table by 95 yeas to 47 nays&mdash;the yeas
+all Republicans, save three, and the nays all Democrats save five.</p>
+
+<p>On December 15, 1862, Mr. S. C. Fessenden, of Maine, offered resolutions
+to the House, in these words:</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved, That the Proclamation of the President of the United States,
+of the date of 22d September, 1862, is warranted by the Constitution.</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved, That the policy of Emancipation, as indicated in that
+Proclamation, is well adapted to hasten the restoration of Peace, was
+well chosen as a War measure, and is an exercise of power with proper
+regard for the rights of the States, and the perpetuity of Free
+Government."</p>
+
+<p>These resolutions were adopted by 78 yeas to 52 nays&mdash;the yeas all
+Republicans, save two, and the nays all Democrats, save seven.</p>
+
+<p>The Proclamation of September 22d, 1862, was very generally endorsed and
+upheld by the People at large; and, in accordance with its promise, it
+was followed at the appointed time, January 1st, 1863, by the
+supplemental Proclamation specifically Emancipating the Slaves in the
+rebellious parts of the United States&mdash;in the following terms:</p>
+
+<p>"WHEREAS, On the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord
+one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a Proclamation was issued by
+the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the
+following, to wit:</p>
+
+<p>"'That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand
+eight hundred and sixty-three, all Persons held as Slaves within any
+State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be
+in Rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward,
+and forever Free; and the Executive Government of the United States,
+including the Military and Naval Authority thereof, will recognize and
+maintain the Freedom of such Persons, and will do no act or acts to
+repress such Persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for
+their actual Freedom.</p>
+
+<p>"'That the Executive will, on the First day of January aforesaid, by
+Proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which
+the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in Rebellion against the
+United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall
+on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United
+States, by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the
+qualified voters of such States shall have participated, shall, in the
+absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive
+evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in
+Rebellion against the United States.'</p>
+
+<p>"Now, therefore, I ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, by
+virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and
+Navy of the United States, in time of actual armed Rebellion against the
+authority and Government of the United States, and as a fit and
+necessary War measure for suppressing said Rebellion, do, on this First
+day of January, in the Year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
+sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly
+proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days from the day first
+above mentioned, Order and designate as the States and parts of States
+wherein the people thereof, respectively, are this day in Rebellion
+against the United States, the following, to wit:</p>
+
+<p>"Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes of St. Bernard,
+Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension,
+Assumption, Terre Bonne, Lafouche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans,
+including the City of New Orleans,) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida,
+Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the
+forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties
+of Berkeley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann,
+and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which
+excepted parts are for the present left precisely as if this
+Proclamation were not issued.</p>
+
+<p>"And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do Order
+and declare that all Persons held as Slaves within said designated
+States and parts of States are, and henceforward shall be, Free; and
+that the Executive Government of the United States, including the
+Military and Naval authorities thereof; will recognize and maintain the
+Freedom of said Persons.</p>
+
+<p>"And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be Free, to abstain
+from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence; and I recommend to
+them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for
+reasonable wages.</p>
+
+<p>"And I further declare and make known that such Persons, of suitable
+condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States
+to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man
+vessels of all sorts in said service.</p>
+
+<p>"And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice,
+warranted by the Constitution upon Military necessity, I invoke the
+considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God.</p>
+
+<p>"In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of
+the United States to be affixed.</p>
+
+<p>"Done at the City of Washington, this First day of January, in the year
+of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the
+Independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh.</p>
+
+<p>"By the President:<br>
+"ABRAHAM LINCOLN.</p>
+
+<p>"WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State."</p>
+
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<a name="fremont"></a>
+<center>
+<img alt="p368-fremont.jpg (70K)" src="images/p368-fremont.jpg" height="803" width="580">
+</center>
+<br><br><br>
+<a name="ch19"></a><br><br>
+<center>
+<h2>
+ CHAPTER XIX.<br><br>
+
+ HISTORICAL REVIEW.
+</h2>
+</center>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+Let us now refresh recollection by glancing backward over the history of
+our Country, and we shall see, as recorded in these pages, that, from
+the first, there existed in this Nation a class of individuals greedily
+ambitious of power and determined to secure and maintain control of this
+Government; that they left unturned no stone which would contribute to
+the fostering and to the extension of African Slavery; that, hand in
+hand with African Slavery&mdash;and as a natural corollary to it&mdash;they
+advocated Free Trade as a means of degrading Free White labor to the
+level of Black Slave labor, and thus increasing their own power; that
+from the first, ever taking advantage of the general necessities of the
+Union, they arrogantly demanded and received from a brow-beaten People,
+concession after concession, and compromise after compromise; that every
+possible pretext and occasion was seized by them to increase,
+consolidate, and secure their power, and to extend the territorial
+limits over which their peculiar Pro-Slavery and Pro-Free-Trade
+doctrines prevailed; and that their nature was so exacting, and their
+greed so rapacious, that it was impossible ever to satisfy them.</p>
+
+<p>Nor were they burdened with over-much of that high sense of honor&mdash;a
+quality of which they often vaunted themselves&mdash;which impelled others to
+stand by their agreements. It seemed as though they considered the most
+sacred promises and covenants of no account, and made only to be
+trampled upon, when in the way of their Moloch.</p>
+
+<p>We remember the bitter Slavery agitation in Congress over the admission
+of the State of Missouri, and how it eventuated in the Missouri
+Compromise. That compromise, we have seen, they afterward trod upon,
+and broke, with as little compunction as they would have stepped upon
+and crushed a toad.</p>
+
+<p>They felt their own growing power, and gloried in their strength and
+arrogance; and Northern timidity became a scoff and by-word in their
+mouths.</p>
+
+<p>The fact is, that from its very conception, as well as birth, they hated
+and opposed the Union, because they disliked a Republican and preferred
+a Monarchical form of Government. Their very inability to prevent the
+consummation of that Union, imbittered them. Hence their determination
+to seize every possible occasion and pretext afterward to destroy it,
+believing, as they doubtless did, that upon the crumbled and mouldering
+ruins of a dissevered Union and ruptured Republic, Monarchical ideas
+might the more easily take root and grow. But experience had already
+taught them that it would be long before their real object could even be
+covertly hinted at, and that in the meantime it must be kept out of
+sight by the agitation of other political issues. The formulation and
+promulgation therefore, by Jefferson, in the Kentucky Resolutions of
+1798, and by Madison, in the Virginia Resolutions of 1799, of the
+doctrine of States Rights already referred to, was a perfect "God-send"
+to these men. For it not only enabled them to keep from public view and
+knowledge their ultimate aim and purpose, but constituted the whip which
+they thenceforth everlastingly flourished and cracked over the shrinking
+heads of other and more patriotic people&mdash;the whip with which, through
+the litter of their broken promises, they ruthlessly rode into, and, for
+so long a period of years held on to, supreme power and place in the
+Land.</p>
+
+<p>Including within the scope of States Rights, the threats of
+Nullification, Disunion and Secession&mdash;ideas abhorrent to the Patriot's
+mind&mdash;small wonder is it that, in those days, every fresh demand made by
+these political autocrats was tremblingly acceded to, until patience and
+concession almost utterly exhausted themselves.</p>
+
+<p>Originally disturbing only South Carolina and Georgia to any extent,
+these ambitious men, who believed in anything rather than a Republic,
+and who were determined to destroy the Union, gradually spread the
+spirit of jealousy and discontent into other States of the South; their
+immediate object being to bring the Southern States into the closest
+possible relations the one with the other; to inspire them all with
+common sympathies and purposes; to compact and solidify them, so that in
+all coming movements against the other States of the Union, they might
+move with proportionately increased power, and force, and effect,
+because of such unity of aim and strength.</p>
+
+<p>This spirit of Southern discontent, and jealousy of the Northern States,
+was, as we have seen, artfully fanned by the Conspirators, in heated
+discussions over the Tariff Acts of 1824, and 1828, and 1832, until, by
+the latter date, the people of the Cotton-States were almost frantic,
+and ready to fight over their imaginary grievances. Then it was that
+the Conspirators thought the time had come, for which they had so long
+and so earnestly prayed and worked, when the cotton Sampson should wind
+his strong arms around the pillars of the Constitution and pull down the
+great Temple of our Union&mdash;that they might rear upon its site another
+and a stronger edifice, dedicated not to Freedom, but to Free-Trade and
+to other false gods.</p>
+
+<p>South Carolina was to lead off, and the other Cotton States would
+follow. South Carolina did lead off&mdash;but the other Cotton-States did
+not follow.</p>
+
+<p>It has been shown in these pages how South Carolina declared the Tariff
+Acts aforesaid, null and void, armed herself to resist force, and
+declared that any attempt of the general Government to enforce those
+Acts would cause her to withdraw from the Union. But Jackson as we know
+throttled the treason with so firm a grip that Nullification and
+Secession and Disunion were at once paralyzed.</p>
+
+<p>The concessions to the domineering South, in Clay's Compromise Tariff of
+1833, let the Conspirators down easily, so to speak; and they pretended
+to be satisfied. But they were satisfied only as are the thirsty sands
+of Africa with the passing shower.</p>
+
+<p>The Conspirators had, however, after all, made substantial gains. They
+had established a precedent for an attempt to secede. That was
+something. They had demonstrated that a single Southern State could
+stand up, armed and threatening, strutting, blustering, and bullying,
+and at least make faces at the general Government without suffering any
+very dreadful consequences. That was still more.</p>
+
+<p>They had also ascertained that, by adopting such a course, a single
+Southern State could force concessions from the fears of the rest of the
+United States. That was worth knowing, because the time might come,
+when it might be desirable not only for one but for all the Southern
+States to secede upon some other pretext, and when it would be awkward,
+and would interfere with the Disunion programme, to have the other
+States either offer or make concessions.</p>
+
+<p>They had also learned the valuable lesson that the single issue of
+Free-Trade was not sufficiently strong of itself to unite all the Southern
+States in a determination to secede, and thus dissolve the Union. They
+saw they must agitate some other issue to unify the South more
+thoroughly and justify Disunion. On looking over the whole field they
+concluded that the Slavery question would best answer their purpose, and
+they adopted it.</p>
+
+<p>It was doubtless a full knowledge of the fact that they had adopted it,
+that led Jackson to make the declaration, heretofore in these pages
+given, which has been termed "prophetic." At any rate, thenceforth the
+programme of the Conspirators was to agitate the Slavery question in all
+ways possible, so as to increase, extend and solidify the influence and
+strength of the Slave power; strain the bonds uniting them with the Free
+States; and weaken the Free States by dividing them upon the question.
+At the same time the Free-Trade question was to be pressed forward to a
+triumphal issue, so that the South might be enriched and strengthened,
+and the North impoverished and weakened, by the result.</p>
+
+<p>That was their programme, in the rough, and it was relentlessly adhered
+to. Free-Trade and Slavery by turns, if not together, from that time
+onward, were ever at the front, agitating our People both North and
+South, and not only consolidating the Southern States on those lines, as
+the Conspirators designed, but also serving ultimately to consolidate,
+to some extent&mdash;in a manner quite unlooked for by the
+Conspirators&mdash;Northern sentiment, on the opposite lines of Protection and Freedom.</p>
+
+<p>The Compromise Tariff Act of 1833&mdash;which Clay was weak enough to
+concede, and even stout old Jackson to permit to become law without his
+signature&mdash;gave to the Conspirators great joy for years afterward, as
+they witnessed the distress and disaster brought by it to Northern homes
+and incomes&mdash;not distress and disaster alone, but absolute and
+apparently irreparable ruin.</p>
+
+<p>The reaction occasioned by this widespread ruin having brought the Whigs
+into power, led to the enactment of the Protective-Tariff of 1842
+and&mdash;to the chagrin of the Conspirators&mdash;industrial prosperity and plenty to
+the Free North again ensued.</p>
+
+<p>Even as Cain hated his brother Abel because his sacrifices were
+acceptable in the sight of God, while his own were not, so the Southern
+Conspirators, and other Slave-owners also, had, by this time, come to
+hate the Northern free-thinking, free-acting, freedom-loving mechanic
+and laboring man, because the very fact and existence of his Godgiven
+Freedom and higher-resulting civilization was a powerful and perpetual
+protest against the&mdash;abounding iniquities and degradations of Slavery as
+practiced by themselves.</p>
+
+<p>Hence, by trickery, by cajoling the People With his, and their own,
+assurances that he was in favor of Protection&mdash;they secured the election
+in 1844 of a Free-Trade President, the consequent repeal of the
+Protective-Tariff of 1842&mdash;which had repaired the dreadful mischief
+wrought by the Compromise Act of 1833&mdash;and the enactment of the infamous
+Free-Trade Tariff of 1846, which blasted the manufacturing and farming
+and trade industries of the Country again, as with fire.</p>
+
+<p>The discovery of the great gold fields of California, and the enormous
+amount of the precious metal poured by her for many succeeding years
+into the lap of the Nation, alone averted what otherwise would
+inevitably have been total ruin. As it was, in 1860, the National
+credit had sunk to a lower point than ever before in all its history.
+It was confessedly bankrupt, and ruin stalked abroad throughout the
+United States.</p>
+
+<p>But while, with rapid pen, the carrying out of that part of the Southern
+Conspirators' Disunion programme which related to Free-Trade, is thus
+brought again to mind, the other part of that programme, which related
+to Slavery, must not be neglected or overlooked. On this question they
+had determined, as we have seen, to agitate without ceasing&mdash;having in
+view, primarily, as already hinted, the extension of Slave territory and
+the resulting increase of Slave power in the Land; and, ulteriorly, the
+solidifying of that power, and Disunion of the Republic, with a view to
+its conversion into an Oligarchy, if not a Monarchy.</p>
+
+<p>The bitterness of the struggle over the admission of Missouri as a Slave
+State in 1820, under the Missouri Compromise, was to be revived by the
+Conspirators, at the earliest possible moment.</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly in 1836&mdash;only three years after the failure of Nullification
+in South Carolina, the Territory, of Arkansas was forced in as a Slave
+State, and simultaneously the Slave-owning henchmen of the Conspirators,
+previously settled there for the purpose, proclaimed the secession from
+Mexico, and independence, of Texas. This was quickly followed, in 1844,
+by Calhoun's hastily negotiated treaty of annexation with Texas; its
+miscarriage in the Senate; and the Act of March 2, 1845&mdash;with its sham
+compromise&mdash;consenting to the admission of Texas to the Union of States.</p>
+
+<p>Then came the War with Mexico; the attempt by means of the Wilmot
+proviso to check the growing territorial-greed and rapacity of the
+Slave-power; and the acquisition by the United States, of California and
+New Mexico, under the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, which brought
+Peace.</p>
+
+<p>Then occurred the agitation over the organization of Territorial
+governments for Oregon, California, and New Mexico, and the strong
+effort to extend to the Pacific Ocean the Missouri-Compromise line of
+36 30', and to extend to all future Territorial organizations the
+principles of that compromise.</p>
+
+<p>Then came the struggle in 1850, over the admission of California as a
+State, and New Mexico and Utah to Territorial organization&mdash;ending in
+the passage of Clay's Compromise measures of 1850.</p>
+
+<p>Yet still the Southern Conspirators&mdash;whose forces, both in Congress and
+out, were now well-disciplined, compacted, solidified, experienced, and
+bigotedly enthusiastic and overbearing&mdash;were not satisfied. It was not
+their intention to be satisfied with anything less than the destruction
+of the Union and of our Republican form of Government. The trouble was
+only beginning, and, so far, almost everything had progressed to their
+liking. The work must proceed.</p>
+
+<p>In 1852-3 they commenced the Kansas-Nebraska agitation; and, what with
+their incessant political and colonizing movements in those Territories;
+the frequent and dreadful atrocities committed by their tools, the
+Border-ruffians; the incessant turmoil created by cruelties to their
+Fugitive-slaves; their persistent efforts to change the Supreme Court to
+their notions; these&mdash;with the decision and opinion of the Supreme Court
+in the Dred Scott case&mdash;together worked the Slavery question up to a
+dangerous degree of heat, by the year 1858.</p>
+
+<p>And, by 1860&mdash;when the people of the Free States, grown sick unto death
+of the rule of the Slave-power in the General Government, arose in their
+political might, and shook off this "Old Man of the Sea," electing,
+beyond cavil and by the Constitutional mode, to the Presidential office,
+a man who thoroughly represented in himself their conscience, on the one
+hand, which instinctively revolted against human Slavery as a wrong
+committed against the laws of God, and their sense of justice and equity
+on the other, which would not lightly overlook, or interfere with vested
+rights under the Constitution and the laws of man&mdash;the Conspirators had
+reached the point at which they had been aiming ever since that failure
+in 1832 of their first attempt at Disunion, in South Carolina.</p>
+
+<p>They had now succeeded in irritating both the Free and the Slave-holding
+Sections of our Country against each other, to an almost unbearable
+point; had solidified the Southern States on the Slavery and Free-Trade
+questions; and at last&mdash;the machinations of these same Conspirators
+having resulted in a split in the Democratic Party, and the election of
+the Republican candidate to the Presidency, as the embodiment of the
+preponderating National belief in Freedom and equality to all before the
+Law, with Protection to both Labor and Capital&mdash;they also had the
+pretext for which they had both been praying and scheming and preparing
+all those long, long years&mdash;they, and some of their fathers before them.</p>
+
+<p>It cannot be too often repeated that to secure a Monarchy, or at least
+an Oligarchy, over which the leading Conspirators should rule for
+life&mdash;whether that Monarchy or that Oligarchy should comprise the States of
+the South by themselves, or all the States on a new basis of Union&mdash;was
+the great ultimate aim of the Conspirators; and this could be secured
+only by first disrupting the then existing Republican Union of
+Republican States.</p>
+
+<p>The doctrine of the right of Secession had now long been taught, and had
+become a part of the Southern Slave-holders' Democratic creed, as fully
+as had the desirability of Slavery and Free-Trade&mdash;and even many of the
+Northern Democrats, and some Republicans as well, were not much inclined
+to dispute, although they cared not to canvass, the point.</p>
+
+<p>The programme of action was therefore much the same as had been laid
+down in the first attempt in 1832:&mdash;first South Carolina would secede
+and declare her independence; then the other Slave States in quick
+succession would do likewise; then a new Constitution for a solid
+Southern Union; then, if necessary, a brief War to cement it&mdash;which
+would end, of course, in the independence of the South at least, but
+more probably in the utter subjugation and humiliation of the Free
+States.</p>
+
+<p>When the time should come, during or after this War&mdash;as come, in their
+belief, it would&mdash;for a change in the form of Government, then they
+could seize the first favorable occasion and change it. At present,
+however, the cry must be for "independence." That accomplished, the
+rest would be easy. And until that independence was accomplished, no
+terms of any sort, no settlement of any kind, were either to be proposed
+or accepted by them.</p>
+
+<p>These were their dreams, their ambitions, their plans; and the tenacious
+courage with which they stuck to them "through thick and thin," through
+victory and disaster, were worthy of a better cause.</p>
+
+<p>While, therefore, the pretexts for Secession were "Slavery" and
+"Free-Trade"&mdash;both of which were alleged to be jeopardized in the election and
+inauguration of Abraham Lincoln&mdash;yet, no sooner had hostilities
+commenced between the seceding States and the Union, than they declared
+to the World that their fight was not for Slavery, but for Independence.</p>
+
+<p>They dared not acknowledge to the World that they fought for Slavery,
+lest the sympathies of the World should be against them. But it was
+well understood by the Southern masses, as well as the other people of
+the Union, that both Slavery and Free-Trade were involved in the
+fight&mdash;as much as independence, and the consequent downfall of the Union.</p>
+
+<p>President Lincoln, however, had made up his mind to do all he properly
+could to placate the South. None knew better than he, the history of
+this Secession movement, as herein described. None knew better than he,
+the fell purpose and spirit of the Conspirators. Yet still, his kindly
+heart refused to believe that the madness of the Southern leaders was so
+frenzied, and their hatred of Free men, Free labor, and Free
+institutions, so implacable, that they would wilfully refuse to listen
+to reason and ever insist on absolutely inadmissible terms of
+reconciliation.</p>
+
+<p>From the very beginning of his Administration, he did all that was
+possible to mollify their resentment and calm their real or pretended
+fears. Nor was this from any dread or doubt as to what the outcome of
+an armed Conflict would be; for, in his speech at Cincinnati, in the
+Autumn of 1859, he had said, while addressing himself to Kentuckians and
+other Southern men: "Why, gentlemen, I think you are as gallant and as
+brave men as live; that you can fight as bravely in a good cause, man
+for man, as any other people living; that you have shown yourselves
+capable of this upon various occasions; but man for man, you are not
+better than we are, and there are not so many of you as there are of us.
+You will never make much of a hand at whipping us. If we were fewer in
+numbers than you, I think that you could whip us; if we were equal it
+would likely be a drawn battle; but being inferior in numbers, you will
+make nothing by attempting to master us."</p>
+
+<p>And early in 1860, in his famous New York Cooper Institute speech he had
+said "Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let
+us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it." He plainly
+believed to the end, that "right makes might;" and he believed in the
+power of numbers&mdash;as also did Napoleon, if we may judge from his famous
+declaration that "The God of battles is always on the side of the
+heaviest battalions." Yet, so believing, President Lincoln exerted
+himself in all possible ways to mollify the South. His assurances,
+however, were far from satisfying the Conspirators. They never had been
+satisfied with anything in the shape of concession. They never would
+be. They had been dissatisfied with and had broken all the compacts and
+compromises, and had spit upon all the concessions, of the past; and
+nothing would now satisfy them, short of the impossible.</p>
+
+<p>They were not satisfied now with Lincoln's promise that the Government
+would not assail them&mdash;organized as, by this time, they were into a
+so-called Southern "Confederacy" of States&mdash;and they proceeded accordingly
+to assail that Government which would not assail them. They opened fire
+on Fort Sumter.</p>
+
+<p>This was done, as has duly appeared, in the hope that the shedding of
+blood would not only draw the States of the Southern Confederacy more
+closely together in their common cause, and prevent the return of any of
+them to their old allegiance, but also to so influence the wavering
+allegiance to the Union, of the Border States, as to strengthen that
+Confederacy and equivalently weaken that Union, by their Secession.</p>
+
+<p>Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas, of the Border States
+that were wavering, were thus gathered into the Confederate fold, by
+this policy of blood-spilling&mdash;carried bodily thither, by a desperate
+and frenzied minority, against the wishes of a patriotic majority.</p>
+
+<p>Virginia, especially, was a great accession to the Rebel cause. She
+brought to it the prestige of her great name. To secure the active
+cooperation of "staid old Virginia," "the Mother of Statesmen," in the
+struggle, was, in the estimation of the Rebels, an assurance of victory
+to their cause. And the Secession of Virginia for a time had a
+depressing influence upon the friends of the Union everywhere.</p>
+
+<p>The refusal of West Virginia to go with the rest of the State into
+Rebellion, was, to be sure, some consolation; and the checkmating of the
+Conspirators' designs to secure to the Confederacy the States of
+Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri, helped the confidence of Union men. In
+fact, as long as the National Capital was secure, it was felt that the
+Union was still safe.</p>
+
+<p>But while the Confederacy, by the firing upon Fort Sumter, and thus
+assailing that Government which Lincoln had promised would not assail
+the Rebels, had gained much in securing the aid of the States mentioned,
+yet the Union Cause, by that very act, had gained more. For the echoes
+of the Rebel guns of Fort Moultrie were the signal for such an uprising
+of the Patriots of the North and West and Middle States, as, for the
+moment, struck awe to the hearts of Traitors and inspired with courage
+and hopefulness the hearts of Union men throughout the Land.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover it put the Rebels in their proper attitude, in the eyes of the
+World&mdash;as the first aggressors&mdash;and thus deprived them, to a certain
+extent, of that moral support from the outside which flows from
+sympathy.</p>
+
+<p>Those echoes were the signal, not only of that call to arms which led to
+such an uprising, but for the simultaneous calling together of the
+Thirty-seventh Congress of the United States in Extra Session&mdash;the
+Congress whose measures ultimately enabled President Lincoln and the
+Union Armies to subdue the Rebellion and save the Union&mdash;the Congress
+whose wise and patriotic deliberations resulted in the raising of those
+gigantic Armies and Navies, and in supplying the unlimited means,
+through the Tariff and National Bank Systems and otherwise, by which
+those tremendous Forces could be both created and effectively
+operated&mdash;the Congress which cooperated with President Lincoln and those Forces in
+preparing the way for the destruction of the very corner-stone of the
+Confederacy, Slavery itself.</p>
+
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<a name="cameron"></a>
+<center>
+<img alt="p384-cameron.jpg (77K)" src="images/p384-cameron.jpg" height="792" width="582">
+</center>
+<br><br><br>
+<a name="ch20"></a><br><br>
+
+
+<center>
+<h2>
+ CHAPTER XX.<br><br>
+
+ LINCOLN'S TROUBLES AND TEMPTATIONS.
+</h2>
+</center>
+<br>
+
+<p>The Rebels themselves, as has already been noted, by the employment of
+their Slaves in the construction of earthworks and other fortifications,
+and even in battle, at Bull Run and elsewhere, against the Union Forces,
+brought the Thirty-seventh Congress, as well as the Military Commanders,
+and the President, to an early consideration of the Slavery question.
+But it was none the less a question to be treated with the utmost
+delicacy.</p>
+
+<p>The Union men, as well as the Secession-sympathizers, of Kentucky and
+Tennessee and Missouri and Maryland, largely believed in Slavery, or at
+least were averse to any interference with it. These, would not see
+that the right to destroy that unholy Institution could pertain to any
+authority, or be justified by any exigency; much less that, as held by
+some authorities, its existence ceased at the moment when its hands, or
+those of the State in which it had existed, were used to assail the
+General Government.</p>
+
+<p>They looked with especial suspicion and distrust upon the guarded
+utterances of the President upon all questions touching the future of
+the Colored Race.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [At Faneuil Hall, Edward Everett is reported to have said, in
+ October of 1864:</p>
+
+<p> "It is very doubtful whether any act of the Government of the
+ United States was necessary to liberate the Slaves in a State which
+ is in Rebellion. There is much reason for the opinion that, by the
+ simple act of levying War against the United States, the relation
+ of Slavery was terminated; certainly, so far as concerns the duty
+ of the United States to recognize it, or to refrain from
+ interfering with it.</p>
+
+<p> "Not being founded on the Law of Nature, and resting solely on
+ positive Local Law&mdash;and that, not of the United States&mdash;as soon as
+ it becomes either the motive or pretext of an unjust War against
+ the Union&mdash;an efficient instrument in the hands of the Rebels for
+ carrying on the War&mdash;source of Military strength to the Rebellion,
+ and of danger to the Government at home and abroad, with the
+ additional certainty that, in any event but its abandonment, it
+ will continue, in all future time to work these mischiefs, who can
+ suppose it is the duty of the United States to continue to
+ recognize it.</p>
+
+<p> "To maintain this would be a contradiction in terms. It would be
+ two recognize a right in a Rebel master to employ his Slave in acts
+ of Rebellion and Treason, and the duty of the Slave to aid and abet
+ his master in the commission of the greatest crime known to the
+ Law. No such absurdity can be admitted; and any citizen of the
+ United States, from thee President down, who should, by any overt
+ act, recognize the duty of a Slave to obey a Rebel master in a
+ hostile operation, would himself be giving aid and comfort to the
+ Enemy."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>They believed that when Fremont issued the General Order&mdash;heretofore
+given in full&mdash;in which that General declared that "The property, real
+and personal, of all persons, in the State of Missouri, who shall take
+up arms against the United States, or who shall be directly proven to
+have taken an active part with their enemies in the field, is declared
+to be confiscated to the public use, and their Slaves, if any they have,
+are hereby declared Free men," it must have been with the concurrence,
+if not at the suggestion, of the President; and, when the President
+subsequently, September 11,1861, made an open Order directing that this
+clause of Fremont's General Order, or proclamation, should be "so
+modified, held, and construed, as to conform to, and not to transcend,
+the provisions on the same subject contained in the Act of Congress
+entitled 'An Act to Confiscate Property used for Insurrectionary
+Purposes,' approved August 6, 1861," they still were not satisfied.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [The sections of the above Act, bearing upon the matter, are the
+ first and fourth, which are in these words:</p>
+
+<p> "That if, during the present or any future insurrection against the
+ Government of the United States, after the President of the United
+ States shall have declared, by proclamation, that the laws of the
+ United States are opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed, by
+ combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course
+ of judicial proceedings, or by the power vested in the marshals by
+ law, any person or persons, his, her, or their agent, attorney, or
+ employee, shall purchase or acquire, sell or give, any property of
+ whatsoever kind or description, with intent to use or employ the
+ same, or suffer the same to be used or employed, in aiding,
+ abetting, or promoting such insurrection or resistance to the laws,
+ or any persons engaged therein; or if any person or persons, being
+ the owner or owners of any such property, shall knowingly use or
+ employ, or consent to the use or employment of the same as
+ aforesaid, all such property is hereby declared to be lawful
+ subject of prize and capture wherever found; and it shall be the
+ duty of the President of the United States to cause the same to be
+ seized, confiscated and condemned."</p>
+
+<p> * * * * * * * *</p>
+
+<p> "SEC. 4. That whenever hereafter, during the present insurrection
+ against the Government of the United States, any person claimed to
+ be held to Labor or Service under the law of any State shall be
+ required or permitted by the person to whom such Labor or Service
+ is claimed to be due, or by the lawful agent of such person, to
+ take up arms against the United States; or shall be required or
+ permitted by the person to whom such Labor or Service is claimed to
+ be due, or his lawful agent, to work or to be employed in or upon
+ any fort, navy-yard, dock, armory, ship, entrenchment, or in any
+ Military or Naval service whatsoever, against the Government and
+ lawful authority of the United States, then, and in every such
+ case, the person to whom such Labor or Service is claimed to be
+ due, shall forfeit his claim to such Labor, any law of the State or
+ of the United States to the contrary notwithstanding. And whenever
+ thereafter the person claiming such Labor or Service shall seek to
+ enforce his claim, it shall be a full and sufficient answer to such
+ claim that the person whose Service or Labor is claimed had been
+ employed in hostile service against the Government of the United
+ States, contrary to the provisions of this act."</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>It seemed as impossible to satisfy these Border-State men as it had been
+to satisfy the Rebels themselves.</p>
+
+<p>The Act of Congress, to which President Lincoln referred
+in his Order modifying Fremont's proclamation, had itself been opposed
+by them, under the lead of their most influential Representative and
+spokesman, Mr. Crittenden, of Kentucky, in its passage through that
+Body. It did not satisfy them.</p>
+
+<p>Neither had they been satisfied, when, within one year and four days
+after "Slavery opened its batteries of Treason, upon Fort Sumter," that
+National curse and shame was banished from the Nation's Capital by
+Congressional enactment.</p>
+
+<p>They were not satisfied even with Mr. Lincoln's conservative suggestions
+embodied in the Supplemental Act.</p>
+
+<p>Nor were they satisfied with the General Instructions, of October 14,
+1861, from the War Department to its Generals, touching the employment
+of Fugitive Slaves within the Union Lines, and the assurance of just
+compensation to loyal masters, therein contained, although all avoidable
+interference with the Institution was therein reprobated.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing satisfied them. It was indeed one of the most curious of the
+many phenomena of the War of the Rebellion, that when&mdash;as at the end of
+1861&mdash;it had become evident, as Secretary Cameron held, that it "would
+be National suicide" to leave the Rebels in "peaceful and secure
+possession of Slave Property, more valuable and efficient to them for
+War, than forage, cotton, and Military stores," and that the Slaves
+coming within our lines could not "be held by the Government as Slaves,"
+and should not be held as prisoners of War&mdash;still the loyal people of
+these Border-States, could not bring themselves to save that Union,
+which they professed to love, by legislation on this tender subject.</p>
+
+<p>On the contrary, they opposed all legislation looking to any
+interference with such Slave property. Nothing that was proposed by Mr.
+Lincoln, or any other, on this subject, could satisfy them.</p>
+
+<p>Congress enacted a law, approved March 13, 1862, embracing an additional
+Article of War, which prohibited all officers "from employing any of the
+forces under their respective Commands for the purpose of returning
+Fugitives from Service or Labor who may have escaped from
+any persons to whom such Service or Labor is claimed to be due," and
+prescribed that "Any officer who shall be found guilty by Court-Martial
+of violating this Article shall be dismissed from the Service." In both
+Houses, the loyal Border-State Representatives spoke and voted against
+its passage.</p>
+
+<p>One week previously (March 6, 1862), President Lincoln, in an admirable
+Message, hitherto herein given at length, found himself driven to broach
+to Congress the subject of Emancipation. He had, in his First Annual
+Message (December, 1861), declared that "the Union must be preserved;
+and hence all indispensable means must be employed;" but now, as a part
+of the War Policy, he proposed to Congress the adoption of a Joint
+Resolution declaring "That the United States ought to cooperate with any
+State which may adopt gradual abolishment of Slavery, giving to such
+State, pecuniary aid, to be used by such State in its discretion, to
+compensate for the inconveniences, public and private, produced by such
+change of System."</p>
+
+<p>It was high time, he thought, that the idea of a gradual, compensated
+Emancipation, should begin to occupy the minds of those interested, "so
+that," to use his own words, "they may begin to consider whether to
+accept or reject it," should Congress approve the suggestion.</p>
+
+<p>Congress did approve, and adopt, the Joint-Resolution, as we
+know&mdash;despite the opposition from the loyal element of the Border States&mdash;an
+opposition made in the teeth of their concession that Mr. Lincoln, in
+recommending its adoption, was "solely moved by a high patriotism and
+sincere devotion to the glory of his Country."</p>
+
+<p>But, consistently with their usual course, they went to the House of
+Representatives, fresh from the Presidential presence, and, with their
+ears still ringing with the common-sense utterances of the President,
+half of them voted against the Resolution, while the other half
+refrained from voting at all. And their opposition to this wise and
+moderate proposition was mainly based upon the idea that it carried with
+it a threat&mdash;a covert threat.</p>
+
+<p>It certainly was a warning, taking it in connection with the balance of
+the Message, but a very wise and timely one.</p>
+
+<p>These loyal Border-State men, however, could not see its wisdom, and at
+a full meeting held upon the subject decided to oppose it, as they
+afterward did. Its conciliatory spirit they could not comprehend; the
+kindly, temperate warning, they would not heed. The most moderate of
+them all,&mdash;[Mr. Crittenden of Kentucky.]&mdash;in the most moderate of his
+utterances, could not bring himself to the belief that this Resolution
+was "a measure exactly suited to the times."</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [And such was the fatuity existing among the Slave-holders of the
+ Border States, that not one of those Slave States had wisdom enough
+ to take the liberal offer thus made by the General Government, of
+ compensation. They afterward found their Slaves freed without
+ compensation.]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>So, also, one month later, (April 11, 1862), when the Senate Bill
+proposing Emancipation in the District of Columbia, was before the
+House, the same spokesman and leader of the loyal Border-State men
+opposed it strenuously as not being suited to the times. For, he
+persuasively protested: "I do not say that you have not the power; but
+would not that power be, at such a time as this, most unwisely and
+indiscreetly exercised. That is the point. Of all the times when an
+attempt was ever made to carry this measure, is not this the most
+inauspicious? Is it not a time when the measure is most likely to
+produce danger and mischief to the Country at large? So it seems to
+me."</p>
+
+<p>It was not now, nor would it ever be, the time, to pass this, or any
+other measure, touching the Institution of Slavery, likely to benefit
+that Union to which these men professed such love and loyalty.</p>
+
+<p>Their opposition, however, to the march of events, was of little
+avail&mdash;even when backed, as was almost invariably the case, by the other
+Democratic votes from the Free States. The opposition was obstructive,
+but not effectual. For this reason it was perhaps the more irritating
+to the Republicans, who were anxious to put Slavery where their great
+leader, Mr. Lincoln, had long before said it should be placed&mdash;"in
+course of ultimate extinction."</p>
+
+<p>This very irritation, however, only served to press such Anti-Slavery
+Measures more rapidly forward. By the 19th of June, 1862, a Bill "to
+secure Freedom to all persons within the Territories of the United
+States"&mdash;after a more strenuous fight against it than ever, on the part
+of Loyal and Copperhead Democrats, both from the Border and Free
+States,&mdash;had passed Congress, and been approved by President Lincoln.
+It provided, in just so many words, "That, from and after the passage of
+this Act, there shall be neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude in
+any of the Territories of the United States now existing, or which may
+at any time hereafter be formed or acquired by the United States,
+otherwise than in punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been
+duly convicted."</p>
+
+<p>Here, then, at last, was the great end and aim, with which Mr. Lincoln
+and the Republican Party started out, accomplished. To repeat his
+phrase, Slavery was certainly now in course of ultimate extinction.</p>
+
+<p>But since that doctrine had been first enunciated by Mr. Lincoln, events
+had changed the aspect of things. War had broken out, and the Slaves of
+those engaged in armed Rebellion against the authority of the United
+States Government, had been actually employed, as we have seen, on Rebel
+works and fortifications whose guns were trailed upon the Armies of the
+Union.</p>
+
+<p>And now, the question of Slavery had ceased to be simply whether it
+should be put in course of ultimate extinction, but whether, as a War
+Measure&mdash;as a means of weakening the Enemy and strengthening the
+Union&mdash;the time had not already come to extinguish it, so far, at least, as the
+Slaves of those participating in the Rebellion, were concerned.</p>
+
+<p>Congress, as has been heretofore noted, had already long and heatedly
+debated various propositions referring to Slavery and African
+Colonization, and had enacted such of them as, in its wisdom, were
+considered necessary; and was now entering a further stormy period of
+contention upon various other projects touching the Abolition of the
+Fugitive Slave Laws, the Confiscation of Rebel Property, and the
+Emancipation of Slaves&mdash;all of which, of course, had been, and would be,
+vehemently assailed by the loyal Border-States men and their Free-State
+Democratic allies.</p>
+
+<p>This contention proceeded largely upon the lines of construction of that
+clause in the Constitution of the United States and its Amendments,
+which provides that no person shall be deprived of Life, Liberty, or
+Property, without due process of Law, etc. The one side holding that,
+since the beginning of our Government, Slaves had been, under this
+clause, Unconstitutionally deprived of their Liberty; the other side
+holding that Slaves being "property," it would be Unconstitutional under
+the same clause, to deprive the Slave-owner of his Slave property.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Crittenden, the leader of the loyal Border-States men in Congress,
+was at this time especially eloquent on this latter view of the
+Constitution. In his speech of April 23, 1862, in the House of
+Representatives, he even undertook to defend American Slavery under the
+shield of English Liberty!</p>
+
+<p>Said he: "It is necessary for the prosperity of any Government, for
+peace and harmony, that every man who acquires property shall feel that
+he shall be protected in the enjoyment of it, and in his right to hold
+it. It elevates the man; it gives him a feeling of dignity. It is the
+great old English doctrine of Liberty. Said Lord Mansfield, the rain
+may beat against the cabin of an Englishman, the snow may penetrate it,
+but the King dare not enter it without the consent of its owner. That
+is the true English spirit. It is the source of England's power."</p>
+
+<p>And again: "The idea of property is deeply seated in our minds. By the
+English Law and by the American Law you have the right to take the life
+of any man who attempts, by violence, to take your property from you.
+So far does the Spirit of these Laws go. Let us not break down this
+idea of property. It is the animating spirit of the Country. Indeed it
+is the Spirit of Liberty and Freedom."</p>
+
+<p>There was at this time, a growing belief in the minds of these loyal
+Border-States men, that this question of Slavery-abolition was reaching
+a crisis. They saw "the handwriting on the wall," but left no stone
+unturned to prevent, or at least to avert for a time, the coming
+catastrophe. They egged Congress, in the language of the distinguished
+Kentuckian, to "Let these unnecessary measures alone, for the present;"
+and, as to the President, they now, not only volunteered in his defense,
+against the attacks of others, but strove also to capture him by their
+arch flatteries.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir,"&mdash;said Mr. Crittenden, in one of his most eloquent bursts, in the
+House of Representatives,&mdash;"it is not my duty, perhaps, to defend the
+President of the United States. * * * I voted against Mr. Lincoln, and
+opposed him honestly and sincerely; but Mr. Lincoln has won me to his
+side. There is a niche in the Temple of Fame, a niche near to
+Washington, which should be occupied by the statue of him who shall,
+save this Country. Mr. Lincoln has a mighty destiny. It is for him, if
+he will, to step into that niche. It is for him to be but President of
+the People of the United States, and there will his statue be. But, if
+he choose to be, in these times, a mere sectarian and a party man, that
+niche will be reserved for some future and better Patriot. It is in his
+power to occupy a place next Washington,&mdash;the Founder, and the
+Preserver, side by side. Sir, Mr. Lincoln is no coward. His not doing
+what the Constitution forbade him to do, is no proof of his cowardice."</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, Owen Lovejoy, the fiery Abolitionist, the very next
+day after the above remarks of Mr. Crittenden were delivered in the
+House, made a great speech in reply, taking the position that "either
+Slavery, or the Republic, must perish; and the question for us to decide
+is, which shall it be?"</p>
+
+<p>He declared to the House: "You cannot put down the rebellion and restore
+the Union, without destroying Slavery." He quoted the sublime language
+of Curran touching the Spirit of the British Law, which consecrates the
+soil of Britain to the genius of Universal Emancipation,</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [In these words:</p>
+
+<p> "I speak in the Spirit of the British law, which makes Liberty
+ commensurate with, and inseparable from, the British soil; which
+ proclaims even to the stranger and the sojourner the moment he sets
+ his foot upon British earth, that the ground on which he treads is
+ holy, and consecrated by the genius Of UNIVERSAL EMANCIPATION.</p>
+
+<p> "No matter in what language his doom may have been pronounced; no
+ matter what complexion incompatible with Freedom, an Indian or an
+ African sun may have burnt upon him; no matter in what disastrous
+ battle his Liberty may have been cloven down; no matter with what
+ solemnities he may have been devoted upon the altar of Slavery; the
+ first moment he touches the sacred soil of Britain, the altar and
+ the god sink together in the dust; his Soul walks abroad in her own
+ majesty; his Body swells beyond the measure of his chains, that
+ burst from around him, and he stands redeemed, regenerated, and
+ disenthralled by the irresistible genius of UNIVERSAL
+ EMANCIPATION."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>And Cowper's verse, wherein the poet says:</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> "Slaves cannot breathe in England; if their lungs
+ Receive our air, that moment they are Free,"</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>&mdash;and, after expressing his solicitude to have this true of America, as
+it already was true of the District of Columbia, he proceeded to say:</p>
+
+<p>"The gentleman from Kentucky says he has a niche for Abraham Lincoln.
+Where is it? He pointed upward! But, Sir, should the President follow
+the counsels of that gentleman, and become the defender and perpetuator
+of human Slavery, he should point downward to some dungeon in the Temple
+of Moloch, who feeds on human blood and is surrounded with fires, where
+are forged manacles and chains for human limbs&mdash;in the crypts and
+recesses of whose Temple, woman is scourged, and man tortured, and
+outside whose walls are lying dogs, gorged with human flesh, as Byron
+describes them stretched around Stamboul. That is a suitable place for
+the statue of one who would defend and perpetuate human Slavery."</p>
+
+<p>And then&mdash;after saying that "the friends of American Slavery need not
+beslime the President with their praise. He is an Anti-Slavery man. He
+hates human Bondage "&mdash;the orator added these glowing words:</p>
+
+<p>"I, too, have a niche for Abraham Lincoln; but it is in Freedom's Holy
+Fane, and not in the blood-besmeared Temple of human Bondage; not
+surrounded by Slaves, fetters and chains, but with the symbols of
+Freedom; not dark with Bondage, but radiant with the light of Liberty.
+In that niche he shall stand proudly, nobly, gloriously, with shattered
+fetters and broken chains and slave-whips beneath his feet. If Abraham
+Lincoln pursues the path, evidently pointed out for him in the
+providence of God, as I believe he will, then he will occupy the proud
+position I have indicated. That is a fame worth living for; ay, more,
+that is a fame worth dying for, though that death led through the blood
+of Gethsemane and the agony of the Accursed Tree. That is a fame which
+has glory and honor and immortality and Eternal Life. Let Abraham
+Lincoln make himself, as I trust he will, the Emancipator, the
+Liberator, as he has the opportunity of doing, and his name shall not
+only be enrolled in this Earthly Temple, but it will be traced on the
+living stones of that Temple which rears itself amid the Thrones and
+Hierarchies of Heaven, whose top-stone is to be brought in with shouting
+of 'Grace, grace unto it!'"</p>
+
+<p>We have seen how the loyal Border-State men, through their chosen
+Representative&mdash;finding that their steady and unfaltering opposition to
+all Mr. Lincoln's propositions, while quite ineffectual, did not serve
+by any means to increase his respect for their peculiar kind of loyalty
+&mdash;offered him posthumous honors and worship if he would but do as they
+desired. Had they possessed the power, no doubt they would have taken
+him up into an exceeding high mountain and have offered to him all the
+Kingdoms of the Earth to do their bidding. But their temptations were
+of no avail.</p>
+
+<p>President Lincoln's duty, and inclination alike&mdash;no less than the
+earnest importunities of the Abolitionists&mdash;carried him in the opposite
+direction; but carried him no farther than he thought it safe, and wise,
+to go. For, in whatever he might do on this burning question of
+Emancipation, he was determined to secure that adequate support from the
+People without which even Presidential Proclamations are waste paper.</p>
+
+<p>But now, May 9, 1862, was suddenly issued by General Hunter, commanding
+the "Department of the South," comprising Georgia, Florida and South
+Carolina, his celebrated Order announcing Martial Law, in those States,
+as a Military Necessity, and&mdash;as "Slavery and Martial Law in a Free
+Country are altogether incompatible"&mdash;declaring all Slaves therein,
+"forever Free."</p>
+
+<p>This second edition, as it were, of Fremont's performance, at once threw
+the loyal Border-State men into a terrible ferment. Again, they, and
+their Copperhead and other Democratic friends of the North, meanly
+professed belief that this was but a part of Mr. Lincoln's programme,
+and that his apparent backwardness was the cloak to hide his
+Anti-Slavery aggressiveness and insincerity.</p>
+
+<p>How hurtful the insinuations, and even direct charges, of the day, made
+by these men against President Lincoln, must have been to his honest,
+sincere, and sensitive nature, can scarcely be conceived by those who
+did not know him; while, on the other hand, the reckless impatience of
+some of his friends for "immediate and universal Emancipation," and
+their complaints at his slow progress toward that goal of their hopes,
+must have been equally trying.</p>
+
+<p>True to himself, however, and to the wise conservative course which he
+had marked out, and, thus far, followed, President Lincoln hastened to
+disavow Hunter's action in the premises, by a Proclamation, heretofore
+given, declaring that no person had been authorized by the United States
+Government to declare the Slaves of any State, Free; that Hunter's
+action in this respect was void; that, as Commander-in-chief he reserved
+solely to himself, the questions, first, as to whether he had the power
+to declare the Slaves of any State or States, Free, and, second, whether
+the time and necessity for the exercise of such supposed power had
+arrived. And then, as we may remember, he proceeded to cite the
+adoption, by overwhelming majorities in Congress, of the Joint
+Resolution offering pecuniary aid from the National Government to "any
+State which may adopt a gradual abolishment of Slavery;" and to make a
+most earnest appeal, for support, to the Border-States and to their
+people, as being "the most interested in the subject matter."</p>
+
+<p>In his Special Message to Congress,&mdash;[Of March 6, 1862.]&mdash;recommending
+the passage of that Joint Resolution, he had plainly and emphatically
+declared himself against sudden Emancipation of Slaves. He had therein
+distinctly said: "In my judgment, gradual, and not immediate,
+Emancipation, is better for all." And now, in this second appeal of his
+to the Border-States men, to patriotically close with the proposal
+embraced in that. Resolution, he said: "The changes it contemplates
+would come gently as the dews of Heaven, not rending or wrecking
+anything. Will you not embrace it? So much good has not been done, by
+one effort, in all past time, as, in the providence of God, it is now
+your high privilege to do! May the vast future not have to lament that
+you have neglected it!"</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [The following letter, from Sumner, shows the impatience of some of
+ the President's friends, the confidence he inspired in others
+ nearer in his counsels, and how entirely, at this time, his mind
+ was absorbed in his project for gradual and compensated
+ Emancipation.]</p>
+
+<p> "SENATE CHAMBER, June 5, 1862.</p>
+
+<p> "MY DEAR SIR.&mdash;Your criticism of the President is hasty. I am
+ confident that, if you knew him as I do, you would not make it. Of
+ course the President cannot be held responsible for the
+ misfeasances of subordinates, unless adopted or at least tolerated
+ by him. And I am sure that nothing unjust or ungenerous will be
+ tolerated, much less adopted, by him.</p>
+
+<p> "I am happy to let you know that he has no sympathy with Stanly in
+ his absurd wickedness, closing the schools, nor again in his other
+ act of turning our camp into a hunting ground for Slaves. He
+ repudiates both&mdash;positively. The latter point has occupied much of
+ his thought; and the newspapers have not gone too far in recording
+ his repeated declarations, which I have often heard from his own
+ lips, that Slaves finding their way into the National lines are
+ never to be Re-enslaved&mdash;This is his conviction, expressed without
+ reserve.</p>
+
+<p> "Could you have seen the President&mdash;as it was my privilege
+often&mdash;while he was considering the great questions on which he has
+ already acted&mdash;the invitation to Emancipation in the States,
+ Emancipation in the District of Columbia, and the acknowledgment of
+ the Independence of Hayti and Liberia&mdash;even your zeal would have
+ been satisfied, for you would have felt the sincerity of his
+ purpose to do what he could to carry forward the principles of the
+ Declaration of Independence.</p>
+
+<p> "His whole soul was occupied, especially by the first proposition,
+ which was peculiarly his own. In familiar intercourse with him, I
+ remember nothing more touching than the earnestness and
+ completeness with which he embraced this idea. To his mind, it was
+ just and beneficent, while it promised the sure end of Slavery. Of
+ course, to me, who had already proposed a bridge of gold for the
+ retreating fiend, it was most welcome. Proceeding from the
+ President, it must take its place among the great events of
+ history.</p>
+
+<p> "If you are disposed to be impatient at any seeming
+ shortcomings, think, I pray you, of what has been done in a brief
+ period, and from the past discern the sure promise of the future.
+ Knowing something of my convictions and of the ardor with which I
+ maintain them, you may, perhaps, derive some assurance from my
+ confidence; I may say to you, therefore, stand by the
+ Administration. If need be, help it by word and act, but stand by
+ it and have faith in it.</p>
+
+<p> "I wish that you really knew the President, and had heard the
+ artless expression of his convictions on those questions which
+ concern you so deeply. You might, perhaps, wish that he were less
+ cautious, but you would be grateful that he is so true to all that
+ you have at heart. Believe me, therefore, you are wrong, and I
+ regret it the more because of my desire to see all our friends
+ stand firmly together.</p>
+
+<p> "If I write strongly it is because I feel strongly; for my constant
+ and intimate intercourse with the President, beginning with the 4th
+ of March, not only binds me peculiarly to his Administration, but
+ gives me a personal as well as a political interest in seeing that
+ justice is done him.</p>
+
+<p> "Believe me, my dear Sir, with much regard, ever faithfully yours,<br>
+ "CHARLES SUMNER."</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<br><br>
+<p>But stones are not more deaf to entreaty than were the ears of the loyal
+Border-State men and their allies to President Lincoln's renewed appeal.
+"Ephraim" was "wedded to his idols."</p>
+
+<p>McClellan too&mdash;immediately after his retreat from the Chickahominy to
+the James River&mdash;seized the opportunity afforded by the disasters to our
+arms, for which he was responsible, to write to President Lincoln a
+letter (dated July 7, 1862) in which he admonished him that owing to the
+"critical" condition of the Army of the Potomac, and the danger of its
+being "overwhelmed" by the Enemy in front, the President must now
+substantially assume and exercise the powers of a Dictator, or all would
+be lost; that "neither Confiscation of property * * * nor forcible
+Abolition of Slavery, should be contemplated for a moment;" and that "A
+declaration of Radical views, especially upon Slavery, will rapidly
+disintegrate our present Armies."</p>
+
+<p>Harried, and worried, on all sides,&mdash;threatened even by the Commander of
+the Army of the Potomac,&mdash;it is not surprising, in view of the
+apparently irreconcilable attitude of the loyal Border-State men to
+gradual and compensated Emancipation, that the tension of President
+Lincoln's mind began to feel a measure of relief in contemplating
+Military Emancipation in the teeth of all such threats.</p>
+
+<p>He had long since made up his mind that the existence of Slavery was not
+compatible with the preservation of the Union. The only question now
+was, how to get rid of it? If the worst should come to the
+worst&mdash;despite McClellan's threat&mdash;he would have to risk everything on the turn
+of the die&mdash;would have to "play his last card;" and that "last card" was
+Military Emancipation. Yet still he disliked to play it. The time and
+necessity for it had not yet arrived&mdash;although he thought he saw them
+coming.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [In the course of an article in the New York Tribune, August, 1885,
+ Hon. George S. Boutwell tells of an interview in "July or early
+ in August" of 1862, with President Lincoln, at which the latter
+ read two letters: one from a Louisiana man "who claimed to be a
+ Union man," but sought to impress the President with "the dangers
+ and evils of Emancipation;" the other, Mr. Lincoln's reply to him,
+ in which, says Mr. B., "he used this expression: 'you must not
+ expect me to give up this Government without playing my last card.'
+ Emancipation was his last card."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>Things were certainly, at this time, sufficiently unpromising to chill
+the sturdiest Patriot's heart. It is true, we had scored some important
+victories in the West; but in the East, our arms seemed fated to
+disaster after disaster. Belmont, Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, and
+Pittsburg Landing, were names whose mention made the blood of Patriots
+to surge in their veins; and Corinth, too, had fallen. But in the East,
+McClellan's profitless campaign against Richmond, and especially his
+disastrous "change of base" by a "masterly" seven days' retreat,
+involving as many bloody battles, had greatly dispirited all Union men,
+and encouraged the Rebels and Rebel-sympathizers to renewed hopes and
+efforts.</p>
+
+<p>And, as reverses came to the Union Arms, so seemed to grow
+proportionately the efforts, on all sides, to force forward, or to stave
+off, as the case might be, the great question of the liberation and
+arming of the Slaves, as a War Measure, under the War powers of the
+Constitution. It was about this time (July 12, 1862) that President
+Lincoln determined to make a third, and last, attempt to avert the
+necessity for thus emancipating and arming the Slaves. He invited all
+the Senators and Representatives in Congress from the Border-States, to
+an interview at the White House, and made to them the appeal, heretofore
+in these pages given at length.</p>
+
+<p>It was an earnest, eloquent, wise, kindly, patriotic, fatherly appeal in
+behalf of his old proposition, for a gradual, compensated Emancipation,
+by the Slave States, aided by the resources of the National Government.</p>
+
+<p>At the very time of making it, he probably had, in his drawer, the rough
+draft of the Proclamation which was soon to give Liberty to all the
+Colored millions of the Land.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [McPherson gives a letter, written from Washington, by Owen Lovejoy
+ (Feb. 22, 1864), to Wm. Lloyd Garrison, in which the following
+ passage occurs:</p>
+
+<p> "Recurring to the President, there are a great many reports
+ concerning him which seem to be reliable and authentic, which,
+ after all, are not so. It was currently reported among the
+ Anti-Slavery men of Illinois that the Emancipation Proclamation was
+ extorted from him by the outward pressure, and particularly by the
+ Delegation from the Christian Convention that met at Chicago.</p>
+
+<p> "Now, the fact is this, as I had it from his own lips: He had
+ written the Proclamation in the Summer, as early as June, I
+ think&mdash;but will not be certain as to the precise time&mdash;and called his
+ Cabinet together, and informed them he had written it and meant to
+ make it, but wanted to read it to them for any criticism or remarks
+ as to its features or details.</p>
+
+<p> "After having done so, Mr. Seward suggested whether it would not be
+ well for him to withhold its publication until after we had gained
+ some substantial advantage in the Field, as at that time we had met
+ with many reverses, and it might be considered a cry of despair.
+ He told me he thought the suggestion a wise one, and so held on to
+ the Proclamation until after the Battle of Antietam."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>Be that as it may, however, sufficient evidences exist, to prove that he
+must have been fully aware, at the time of making that appeal to the
+supposed patriotism of these Border-State men, how much, how very much,
+depended on the manner of their reception of it.</p>
+
+<p>To him, that meeting was a very solemn and portentous one. He had
+studied the question long and deeply&mdash;not from the standpoint of his own
+mere individual feelings and judgment, but from that of fair
+Constitutional construction, as interpreted by the light of Natural or
+General Law and right reason. What he sought to impress upon them was,
+that an immediate decision by the Border-States to adopt, and in due
+time carry out, with the financial help of the General Government, a
+policy of gradual Emancipation, would simultaneously solve the two
+intimately-blended problems of Slavery-destruction and
+Union-preservation, in the best possible manner for the pockets and feelings
+of the Border-State Slave-holder, and for the other interests of both
+Border-State Slave-holder and Slave.</p>
+
+<p>His great anxiety was to "perpetuate," as well as to save, to the People
+of the World, the imperiled form of Popular Government, and assure to it
+a happy and a grand future.</p>
+
+<p>He begged these Congressmen from the Border-States, to help him carry
+out this, his beneficent plan, in the way that was best for all, and
+thus at the same time utterly deprive the Rebel Confederacy of that
+hope, which still possessed them, of ultimately gathering these States
+into their rebellious fold. And he very plainly, at the same time,
+confessed that he desired this relief from the Abolition pressure upon
+him, which had been growing more intense ever since he had repudiated
+the Hunter proclamation.</p>
+
+<p>But the President's earnest appeal to these loyal Representatives in
+Congress from the Border-States, was, as we have seen, in vain. It
+might as well have been made to actual Rebels, for all the good it did.
+For, a few days afterward, they sent to him a reply signed by more than
+two-thirds of those present, hitherto given at length in these pages, in
+which-after loftily sneering at the proposition as "an interference by
+this Government with a question which peculiarly and exclusively
+belonged to" their "respective States, on which they had not sought
+advice or solicited aid," throwing doubts upon the Constitutional power
+of the General Government to give the financial aid, and undertaking by
+statistics to prove that it would absolutely bankrupt the Government to
+give such aid,&mdash;they insultingly declared, in substance, that they could
+not "trust anything to the contingencies of future legislation," and
+that Congress must "provide sufficient funds" and place those funds in
+the President's hands for the purpose, before the Border-States and
+their people would condescend even to "take this proposition into
+careful consideration, for such decision as in their judgment is
+demanded by their interest, their honor, and their duty to the whole
+Country."</p>
+
+<p>Very different in tone, to be sure, was the minority reply, which, after
+stating that "the leaders of the Southern Rebellion have offered to
+abolish Slavery among them as a condition to Foreign Intervention in
+favor of their Independence as a Nation," concluded with the terse and
+loyal deduction: "If they can give up Slavery to destroy the Union, we
+can surely ask our people to consider the question of Emancipation to
+save the Union."</p>
+
+<p>But those who signed this latter reply were few, among the many.
+Practically, the Border-State men were a unit against Mr. Lincoln's
+proposition, and against its fair consideration by their people. He
+asked for meat, and they gave him a stone.</p>
+
+<p>Only a few days before this interview, President Lincoln&mdash;alarmed by the
+report of McClellan, that the magnificent Army of the Potomac under his
+command, which, only three months before, had boasted 161,000 men, had
+dwindled down to not more than "50,000 men left with their colors"&mdash;had
+been to the front, at Harrison's Landing, on the James river, and,
+although he had not found things quite so disheartening as he had been
+led to believe, yet they were bad enough, for only 86,000 men were found
+by him on duty, while 75,000 were unaccounted for&mdash;of which number
+34,4172 were afterward reported as "absent by authority."</p>
+
+<p>This condition of affairs, in connection with the fact that McClellan
+was always calling for more troops, undoubtedly had its influence in
+bringing Mr. Lincoln's mind to the conviction, hitherto mentioned, of
+the fast-approaching Military necessity for Freeing and Arming the
+Slaves.</p>
+
+<p>It was to ward this off, if possible, that he had met and appealed to
+the Border-State Representatives. They had answered him with sneers and
+insults; and nothing was left him but the extreme course of almost
+immediate Emancipation.</p>
+
+<p>Long and anxiously he had thought over the matter, but the time for
+action was at hand.</p>
+
+<p>And now, it cannot be better told, than in President Lincoln's own
+words, as given to the portrait-painter Carpenter, and recorded in the
+latter's, "Six months in the White House," what followed:</p>
+
+<p>"It had got to be," said he, "midsummer, 1862. Things had gone on from
+bad to worse, until I felt that we had reached the end of our rope on
+the plan of operations we had been pursuing; that we had about played
+our last card, and must change our tactics, or lose the game!</p>
+
+<p>"I now determined upon the adoption of the Emancipation Policy; and,
+without consultation with, or the knowledge of, the Cabinet, I prepared
+the original draft of the Proclamation, and, after much anxious thought,
+called a Cabinet meeting upon the subject. This was the last of July,
+or the first part of the month of August, 1862." (The exact date he did
+not remember.)</p>
+
+<p>"This Cabinet meeting took place, I think, upon a Saturday. All were
+present, excepting Mr. Blair, the Postmaster-General, who was absent at
+the opening of the discussion, but came in subsequently. I said to the
+Cabinet, that I had resolved upon this step, and had not called them
+together to ask their advice, but to lay the subject-matter of a
+Proclamation before them; suggestions as to which would be in order,
+after they had heard it read.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lovejoy was in error" when he stated "that it excited no comment,
+excepting on the part of Secretary Seward. Various suggestions were
+offered. Secretary Chase wished the language stronger, in reference to
+the arming of the Blacks. Mr. Blair, after he came in, deprecated the
+policy, on the ground that it would cost the Administration the fall
+elections.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing, however, was offered, that I had not already
+fully anticipated and settled in my own mind, until Secretary Seward
+spoke. He said in substance: 'Mr. President, I approve of the
+Proclamation, but I question the expediency of its issue at this
+juncture. The depression of the public mind, consequent upon our
+repeated reverses, is so great that I fear the effect of so important a
+step. It may be viewed as the last Measure of an exhausted Government,
+a cry for help, the Government stretching forth its hands to Ethiopia,
+instead of Ethiopia stretching forth her hands to the Government.'</p>
+
+<p>"His idea," said the President "was that it would be considered our last
+shriek, on the retreat." (This was his precise expression.) "' Now,'
+continued Mr. Seward, 'while I approve the Measure, I suggest, Sir, that
+you postpone its issue, until you can give it to the Country supported
+by Military success, instead of issuing it, as would be the case now,
+upon the greatest disasters of the War!'"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lincoln continued: "The wisdom of the view of the Secretary of
+State, struck me with very great force. It was an aspect of the case
+that, in all my thought upon the subject, I had entirely overlooked.
+The result was that I put the draft of the Proclamation aside, as you do
+your sketch for a picture, waiting for a victory."</p>
+
+<p>It may not be amiss to interrupt the President's narration to Mr.
+Carpenter, at this point, with a few words touching "the Military
+Situation."</p>
+
+<p>After McClellan's inexplicable retreat from before the Rebel
+Capital&mdash;when, having gained a great victory at Malvern Hills, Richmond would
+undoubtedly have been ours, had he but followed it up, instead of
+ordering his victorious troops to retreat like "a whipped Army"&mdash;[See
+General Hooker's testimony before the Committee on the Conduct of the
+War.]&mdash;his recommendation, in the extraordinary letter (of July 7th) to
+the President, for the creation of the office of General-in-Chief, was
+adopted, and Halleck, then at Corinth, was ordered East, to fill it.</p>
+
+<p>Pope had previously been called from the West, to take
+command of the troops covering Washington, comprising some 40,000 men,
+known as the Army of Virginia; and, finding cordial cooperation with
+McClellan impossible, had made a similar suggestion.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after Halleck's arrival, that General ordered the transfer of the
+Army of the Potomac, from Harrison's Landing to Acquia creek&mdash;on the
+Potomac&mdash;with a view to a new advance upon Richmond, from the
+Rappahannock river.</p>
+
+<p>While this was being slowly accomplished, Lee, relieved from fears for
+Richmond, decided to advance upon Washington, and speedily commenced the
+movement.</p>
+
+<p>On the 8th of August, 1862, Stonewall Jackson, leading the Rebel
+advance, had crossed the Rapidan; on the 9th the bloody Battle of Cedar
+Mountain had been fought with part of Pope's Army; and on the 11th,
+Jackson had retreated across the Rapidan again.</p>
+
+<p>Subsequently, Pope having retired across the Rappahannock, Lee's Forces,
+by flanking Pope's Army, again resumed their Northern advance. August
+28th and 29th witnessed the bloody Battles of Groveton and Gainesville,
+Virginia; the 30th saw the defeat of Pope, by Lee, at the second great
+Battle of Bull Run, and the falling back of Pope's Army toward
+Washington; and the succeeding Battle of Chantilly took place September
+1, 1862.</p>
+
+<p>It is not necessary at this time to even touch upon the causes and
+agencies which brought such misfortune to the Union Arms, under Pope.
+It is sufficient to say here, that the disaster of the second Bull Run
+was a dreadful blow to the Union Cause, and correspondingly elated the
+Rebels.</p>
+
+<p>Jefferson Davis, in transmitting to the Rebel Congress at Richmond,
+Lee's victorious announcements, said, in his message: "From these
+dispatches it will be seen that God has again extended His shield over
+our patriotic Army, and has blessed the cause of the Confederacy with a
+second signal victory, on the field already memorable by the gallant
+achievement of our troops."</p>
+
+<p>Flushed with victory, but wisely avoiding the fortifications of the
+National Capital, Lee's Forces now swept past Washington; crossed the
+Potomac, near Point of Rocks, at its rear; and menaced both the National
+Capital and Baltimore.</p>
+
+<p>Yielding to the apparent necessity of the moment, the President again
+placed. McClellan in command of the Armies about Washington, to wit:
+the Army of the Potomac; Burnside's troops that had come up from North
+Carolina; what remained of Pope's Army of Virginia; and the large
+reinforcements from fresh levies, constantly and rapidly pouring in.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [This was probably about the time of the occurrence of an amusing
+ incident, touching Lincoln, McClellan, and the fortifications
+ around Washington, afterward told by General J. G. Barnard, then
+ Chief of Engineers on the staff of General George B.
+ McClellan.&mdash;See New York Tribune, October 21, 1885. It seems that the
+ fortifications having been completed, McClellan invited Mr. Lincoln
+ and his Cabinet to inspect them. "On the day appointed," said
+ Barnard, "the Inspection commenced at Arlington, to the Southwest
+ of Washington, and in front of the Enemy. We followed the line of
+ the works southerly, and recrossed the Potomac to the easterly side
+ of the river, and continued along the line easterly of Washington
+ and into the heaviest of all the fortifications on the northerly
+ side of Washington. When we reached this point the President asked
+ General McClellan to explain the necessity of so strong a
+ fortification between Washington and the North.</p>
+
+<p> "General McClellan replied: 'Why, Mr. President, according to
+ Military Science it is our duty to guard against every possible or
+ supposable contingency that may arise. For example, if under any
+ circumstances, however fortuitous, the Enemy, by any chance or
+ freak, should, in a last resort, get in behind Washington, in his
+ efforts to capture the city, why, there the fort is to defend it.'</p>
+
+<p> "'Yes, that's so General,' said the President; 'the precaution is
+ doubtless a wise one, and I'm glad to get so clear an explanation,
+ for it reminds me of an interesting question once discussed for
+ several weeks in our Lyceum, or Moot Court, at Springfield, Ill.,
+ soon after I began reading law.'</p>
+
+<p> "'Ah!' says General McClellan. 'What question was that, Mr.
+ President?'</p>
+
+<p> "'The question,' Mr. Lincoln replied, 'was, "Why does man have
+ breasts?"' and he added that after many evenings' debate, the
+ question was submitted to the presiding Judge, who wisely decided
+ 'That if under any circumstances, however fortuitous, or by any
+ chance or freak, no matter of what nature or by what cause, a man
+ should have a baby, there would be the breasts to nurse it.'"]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>Yet, it was not until the 17th of September that the Battle of Antietam
+was fought, and Lee defeated&mdash;and then only to be allowed to slip back,
+across the Potomac, on the 18th&mdash;McClellan leisurely following him,
+across that river, on the 2nd of November!</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [Arnold, in his "Life of Abraham Lincoln," says that President
+ Lincoln said of him: "With all his failings as a soldier, McClellan
+ is a pleasant and scholarly gentleman. He is an admirable
+ Engineer, but" he added, "he seems to have a special talent for a
+ stationary Engine."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+
+<p>On the 5th, McClellan was relieved,&mdash;Burnside taking the command,&mdash;and
+Union men breathed more freely again.</p>
+
+<p>But to return to the subject of Emancipation. President Lincoln's own
+words have already been given&mdash;in conversation with Carpenter&mdash;down to
+the reading of the Proclamation to his Cabinet, and Seward's suggestion
+to "wait for a victory" before issuing it, and how, adopting that
+advice, he laid the Proclamation aside, waiting for a victory.</p>
+
+<p>"From time to time," said Mr. Lincoln, continuing his narration, "I
+added or changed a line, touching it up here and there, anxiously
+waiting the progress of events. Well, the next news we had was of
+Pope's disaster at Bull Run. Things looked darker than ever. Finally,
+came the week of the Battle of Antietam. I determined to wait no
+longer.</p>
+
+<p>"The news came, I think, on Wednesday, that the advantage was on our
+side. I was then staying at the Soldiers' Home (three miles out of
+Washington.) Here I finished writing the second draft of the
+preliminary Proclamation; came up on Saturday; called the Cabinet
+together to hear it; and it was published the following Monday."</p>
+
+<p>It is not uninteresting to note, in this connection, upon the same
+authority, that at the final meeting of the Cabinet prior to this issue
+of the Proclamation, when the third paragraph was read, and the words of
+the draft "will recognize the Freedom of such Persons," were reached,
+Mr. Seward suggested the insertion of the words "and maintain" after the
+word "recognize;" and upon his insistence, the President said, "the
+words finally went in."</p>
+
+<p>At last, then, had gone forth the Fiat&mdash;telegraphed and read throughout
+the Land, on that memorable 22d of September, 1862&mdash;which, with the
+supplemental Proclamation of January 1, 1863, was to bring joy and
+Freedom to the millions of Black Bondsmen of the South.</p>
+
+<p>Just one month before its issue, in answer to Horace Greeley's Open
+letter berating him for "the seeming subserviency" of his "policy to the
+Slave-holding, Slave up-holding interest," etc., President Lincoln had
+written his famous "Union letter" in which he had conservatively said:
+"My paramount object is to save the Union, and not either to save or
+destroy Slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any Slave, I
+would do it&mdash;and if I could save it by freeing all the Slaves, I would
+do it&mdash;and if I could save it by freeing some, and leaving others alone,
+I would also do that."</p>
+
+<p>No one outside of his Cabinet dreamed, at the time he made that answer,
+that the Proclamation of Emancipation was already written, and simply
+awaited a turn in the tide of battle for its issue!</p>
+
+<p>Still less could it have been supposed, when, on the 13th of
+September&mdash;only two days before Stonewall Jackson had invested, attacked, and
+captured Harper's Ferry with nearly 12,000 prisoners, 73 cannon, and
+13,000 small arms, besides other spoils of War&mdash;Mr. Lincoln received the
+deputation from the religious bodies of Chicago, bearing a Memorial for
+the immediate issue of such a Proclamation.</p>
+
+<p>The very language of his reply,&mdash;where he said to them: "It is my
+earnest desire to know the will of Providence in this matter. And if I
+can learn what it is, I will do it! These are not, however, the days of
+miracles, and I suppose it will be granted that I am not to expect a
+direct revelation. I must study the plain physical aspects of the case,
+ascertain what is possible, and learn what appears to be wise and
+right"&mdash;when taken in connection with the very strong argument with
+which he followed it up, against the policy of Emancipation advocated in
+the Memorial, and his intimation that a Proclamation of Emancipation
+issued by him "must necessarily be inoperative, like the Pope's Bull
+against the Comet!"&mdash;would almost seem to have been adopted with the
+very object of veiling his real purpose from the public eye, and leaving
+the public mind in doubt. At all events, it had that effect.</p>
+
+<p>Arnold, in his "Life of Lincoln," says of this time, when General Lee
+was marching Northward toward Pennsylvania, that "now, the President,
+with that tinge of superstition which ran through his character, 'made,'
+as he said, 'a solemn vow to God, that, if Lee was driven back, he would
+issue the Proclamation;'" and, in the light of that statement, the
+concluding words of Mr. Lincoln's reply to the deputation aforesaid:&mdash;"I
+can assure you that the subject is on my mind, by day and night, more
+than any other. Whatever shall appear to be God's will, I will
+do,"&mdash;have a new meaning.</p>
+
+<p>The Emancipation Proclamation, when issued, was a great surprise, but
+was none the less generally well-received by the Union Armies, and
+throughout the Loyal States of the Union, while, in some of them, its
+reception was most enthusiastic.</p>
+
+<p>It happened, too, as we have seen, that the Convention of the Governors
+of the Loyal States met at Altoona, Penn., on the very day of its
+promulgation, and in an address to the President adopted by these loyal
+Governors, they publicly hailed it "with heartfelt gratitude and
+encouraged hope," and declared that "the decision of the President to
+strike at the root of the Rebellion will lend new vigor to efforts, and
+new life and hope to the hearts, of the People."</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, the loyal Border-States men were dreadfully exercised
+on the subject; and those of them in the House of Representatives
+emphasized their disapproval by their votes, when, on the 11th and 15th
+of the following December, Resolutions, respectively denouncing, and
+endorsing, "the policy of Emancipation, as indicated in that
+Proclamation," of September 22, 1862, were offered and voted on.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of the loyal Border-States men's bitter opposition, however,
+the Resolution endorsing that policy as a War Measure, and declaring the
+Proclamation to be "an exercise of power with proper regard for the
+rights of the States and the perpetuity of Free Government," as we have
+seen, passed the House.</p>
+
+<p>Of course the Rebels themselves, against whom it was aimed, gnashed
+their teeth in impotent rage over the Proclamation. But they lost no
+time in declaring that it was only a proof of what they had always
+announced: that the War was not for the preservation of the American
+Union, but for the destruction of African Slavery, and the spoilation of
+the Southern States.</p>
+
+<p>Through their friends and emissaries, in the Border and other Loyal
+States of the Union,&mdash;the "Knights of the Golden Circle,"&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [The "Knights of the Golden Circle" was the most extensive of these
+ Rebel organizations. It was "an auxiliary force to the Rebel
+ Army." Its members took an obligation of the most binding
+ character, the violation of which was punishable by death, which
+ obligation, in the language of another, "pledged them to use every
+ possible means in their power to aid the Rebels to gain their
+ Independence; to aid and assist Rebel prisoners to escape; to vote
+ for no one for Office who was not opposed to the further
+ prosecution of the War; to encourage desertions from the Union
+ Army; to protect the Rebels in all things necessary to carry out
+ their designs, even to the burning and destroying of towns and
+ cities, if necessary to produce the desired result; to give such
+ information as they had, at all times, of the movements of our
+ Armies, and of the return of soldiers to their homes; and to try
+ and prevent their going back to their regiments at the front."</p>
+
+<p> In other words the duty of the Organization and of its members, was
+ to hamper, oppose, and prevent all things possible that were being
+ done at any time for the Union Cause, and to encourage, forward,
+ and help all things possible in behalf of the Rebel Cause.</p>
+
+<p> It was to be a flanking force of the Enemy&mdash;a reverse fire&mdash;a fire
+ in the rear of the Union Army, by Northern men; a powerful
+ cooperating force&mdash;all the more powerful because secret&mdash;operating
+ safely because secretly and in silence&mdash;and breeding discontent,
+ envy, hatred, and other ill feelings wherever possible, in and out
+ of Army circles, from the highest to the lowest, at all possible
+ times, and on all possible occasions.]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>&mdash;the "Order of American Knights" or "Sons of Liberty," and other
+Copperhead organizations, tainted with more or less of Treason&mdash;they
+stirred up all the old dregs of Pro-Slavery feeling that could possibly
+he reached; but while the venomous acts and utterances of such
+organizations, and the increased and vindictive energy of the armed
+Rebels themselves, had a tendency to disquiet the public mind with
+apprehensions as to the result of the Proclamation, and whether, indeed,
+Mr. Lincoln himself would be able to resist the pressure, and stand up
+to his promise of that Supplemental Proclamation which would give
+definiteness and practical effect to the preliminary one, the masses of
+the people of the Loyal States had faith in him.</p>
+
+<p>There was also another element, in chains, at the South, which at this
+time must have been trembling with that mysterious hope of coming
+Emancipation for their Race, conveyed so well in Whittier's lines,
+commencing: "We pray de Lord; he gib us signs, dat some day we be Free"
+&mdash;a hope which had long animated them, as of something almost too good
+for them to live to enjoy, but which, as the War progressed, appeared to
+grow nearer and nearer, until now they seemed to see the promised Land,
+flowing with milk and honey, its beautiful hills and vales smiling under
+the quickening beams of Freedom's glorious sun. But ah! should they
+enter there?&mdash;or must they turn away again into the old wilderness of
+their Slavery, and this blessed Liberty, almost within their grasp,
+mockingly elude them?</p>
+
+<p>They had not long to wait for an answer. The 1st of January, 1863,
+arrived, and with it&mdash;as a precious New Year's Gift&mdash;came the
+Supplemental Proclamation, bearing the sacred boon of Liberty to the
+Emancipated millions.</p>
+
+<p>At last, at last, no American need blush to stand up and proclaim his
+land indeed, and in truth, "the Land of Freedom."</p>
+
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<a name="halleck"></a>
+<center>
+<img alt="p492-halleck.jpg (83K)" src="images/p492-halleck.jpg" height="817" width="596">
+</center>
+<br><br><br>
+<a name="ch21"></a><br><br>
+
+
+<center>
+<h2>
+ CHAPTER XXI.<br><br>
+
+ THE ARMED NEGRO.
+</h2>
+</center>
+<br>
+<p>Little over five months had passed, since the occurrence of the great
+event in the history of the American Nation mentioned in the preceding
+Chapter, before the Freed Negro, now bearing arms in defense of the
+Union and of his own Freedom, demonstrated at the first attack on Port
+Hudson the wisdom of emancipating and arming the Slave, as a War
+measure. He seemed thoroughly to appreciate and enter into the spirit
+of the words; "who would be Free, himself must strike the blow."</p>
+
+<p>At the attack (of May 27th, 1863), on Port Hudson, where it held the
+right, the "Black Brigade" covered itself with glory.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> At Baton Rouge, before starting for Port Hudson, the color-guard of
+ the First Louisiana Regiment&mdash;of the Black Brigade&mdash;received the
+ Regimental flags from their white colonel, (Col. Stafford,) then
+ under arrest, in a speech which ended with the injunction:
+ "Color-guard, protect, defend, die for, but do not surrender these flags;"
+ to which Sergeant Planciancois replied: "Colonel, I will bring
+ these colors to you in honor, or report to God the reason why!" He
+ fell, mortally wounded, in one of the many desperate charges at
+ Port Hudson, with his face to the Enemy, and the colors in his
+ hand.</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>Banks, in his Report, speaking of the Colored regiments, said: "Their
+conduct was heroic. No troops could be more determined or more daring.
+They made, during the day, three charges upon the batteries of the
+Enemy, suffering very heavy losses, and holding their positions at
+nightfall with the other troops on the right of our line. The highest
+commendation is bestowed upon them by all the officers in command on the
+right."</p>
+
+<p>The New York Times' correspondent said:&mdash;"The deeds of heroism performed
+by these Colored men were such as the proudest White men might emulate.
+Their colors are torn to pieces by shot, and literally bespattered by
+blood and brains. The color-sergeant of the 1st Louisiana, on being
+mortally wounded (the top of his head taken off by a sixpounder), hugged
+the colors to his breast, when a struggle ensued between the two
+color-corporals on each side of him, as to who should have the honor of
+bearing the sacred standard, and during this generous contention one was
+seriously wounded."</p>
+
+<p>So again, on Sunday the 6th of June following, at Milliken's Bend, where
+an African brigade, with 160 men of the 23rd Iowa, although surprised in
+camp by a largely superior force of the Enemy, repulsed him
+gallantly&mdash;of which action General Grant, in his official Report, said: "In this
+battle, most of the troops engaged were Africans, who had but little
+experience in the use of fire-arms. Their conduct is said, however, to
+have been most gallant."</p>
+
+<p>So, also, in the bloody assault of July 18th, on Fort Wagner, which was
+led by the 54th Massachusetts (Colored) Regiment with intrepidity, and
+where they planted, and for some time maintained, their Country's flag
+on the parapet, until they "melted away before the Enemy's fire, their
+bodies falling down the slope and into the ditch."</p>
+
+<p>And from that time on, through the War&mdash;at Wilson's Wharf, in the many
+bloody charges at Petersburg, at Deep Bottom, at Chapin's Farm, Fair
+Oaks, and numerous other battle-fields, in Virginia and elsewhere, right
+down to Appomattox&mdash;the African soldier fought courageously, fully
+vindicating the War-wisdom of Abraham Lincoln in emancipating and arming
+the Race.</p>
+
+<p>The promulgation of this New Year's Proclamation of Freedom
+unquestionably had a wonderful effect in various ways, upon the outcome
+of the War.</p>
+
+<p>It cleared away the cobwebs which the arguments of the loyal
+Border-State men, and of the Northern Copperheads and other Disunion and
+Pro-Slavery allies of the Rebels were forever weaving for the
+discouragement, perplexity and ensnarement, of the thoroughly loyal
+out-and-out Union men of the Land. It largely increased our strength in
+fighting material. It brought to us the moral support of the World,
+with the active sympathy of philanthropy's various forces. And besides,
+it correspondingly weakened the Rebels. Every man thus freed from his
+Bondage, and mustered into the Union Armies, was not only a gain of one
+man on the Union side, but a loss of one man to the Enemy. It is not,
+therefore, surprising that the Disunion Conspirators&mdash;whether at the
+South or at the North&mdash;were furious.</p>
+
+<p>The Chief Conspirator, Jefferson Davis, had already, (December 23,
+1862,) issued a proclamation of outlawry against General B. F. Butler,
+for arming certain Slaves that had become Free upon entering his
+lines&mdash;the two last clauses of which provided: "That all Negro Slaves captured
+in arms, be at once delivered over to the Executive authorities of the
+respective States to which they belong, to be dealt with according to
+the laws of said States," and "That the like orders be executed in all
+cases with respect to all commissioned Officers of the United States,
+when found serving in company with said Slaves in insurrection against
+the authorities of the different States of this Confederacy."</p>
+
+<p>He now called the attention of the Rebel Congress to President Lincoln's
+two Proclamations of Emancipation, early in January of 1863; and that
+Body responded by adopting, on the 1st of May of that year, a
+Resolution, the character of which was so cold-bloodedly atrocious, that
+modern Civilization might well wonder and Christianity shudder at its
+purport.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [It was in these words:</p>
+
+<p> "Resolved, by the Congress of the Confederate States of America, In
+ response to the Message of the President, transmitted to Congress
+ at the commencement of the present session, That, in the opinion of
+ Congress, the commissioned officers of the Enemy ought not to be
+ delivered to the authorities of the respective States, as suggested
+ in the said Message, but all captives taken by the Confederate
+ forces ought to be dealt with and disposed of by the Confederate
+ Government.</p>
+
+<p> "SEC. 2.&mdash;That, in the judgment of Congress, the proclamations of
+ the President of the United States, dated respectively September
+ 22, 1862, and January 1, 1863, and the other measures of the
+ Government of the United States and of its authorities, commanders,
+ and forces, designed or tending to emancipate slaves in the
+ Confederate States, or to abduct such slaves, or to incite them to
+ insurrection, or to employ negroes in war against the Confederate
+ States, or to overthrow the institution of African Slavery, and
+ bring on a servile war in these States, would, if successful,
+ produce atrocious consequences, and they are inconsistent with the
+ spirit of those usages which, in modern warfare, prevail among
+ civilized nations; they may, therefore, be properly and lawfully
+ repressed by retaliation.</p>
+
+<p> "SEC. 3.&mdash;That in every case wherein, during the present war, any
+ violation of the laws or usages of war among civilized nations
+ shall be, or has been, done and perpetrated by those acting under
+ authority of the Government of the United States, on persons or
+ property of citizens of the Confederate States, or of those under
+ the protection or in the land or naval service of the Confederate
+ States, or of any State of the Confederacy, the President of the
+ Confederate States is hereby authorized to cause full and ample
+ retaliation to be made for every such violation, in such manner and
+ to such extent as he may think proper.</p>
+
+<p> "SEC. 4.&mdash;That every white person, being a commissioned officer, or
+ acting as such, who, during the present war, shall command negroes
+ or mulattoes in arms against the Confederate States, or who shall
+ arm, train, organize, or prepare negroes or mulattoes for military
+ service against the Confederate States, or who shall voluntarily
+ aid negroes or mulattoes in any military enterprise, attack, or
+ conflict in such service, shall be deemed as inciting servile
+ insurrection, and shall, if captured, be put to death, or be
+ otherwise punished at the discretion of the Court.</p>
+
+<p> "SEC. 5.&mdash;Every person, being a commissioned officer, or acting as
+ such in the service of the Enemy, who shall, during the present
+ war, excite, attempt to excite, or cause to be excited, a servile
+ insurrection, or who shall incite, or cause to be incited, a slave
+ to rebel, shall, if captured, be put to death, or be otherwise
+ punished at the discretion of the court.</p>
+
+<p> "SEC. 6.&mdash;Every person charged with an offense punishable under the
+ preceding resolutions shall, during the present war, be tried
+ before the military court attached to the army or corps by the
+ troops of which he shall have been captured, or by such other
+ military court as the President may direct, and in such manner and
+ under such regulations as the President shall prescribe; and, after
+ conviction, the President may commute the punishment in such manner
+ and on such terms as he may deem proper.</p>
+
+<p> "SEC. 7.&mdash;All negroes and mulattoes who shall be engaged in war, or
+ be taken in arms against the Confederate States, or shall give aid
+ or comfort to the enemies of the Confederate States, shall, when
+ captured in the Confederate States, be delivered to the authorities
+ of the State or States in which they shall be captured, to be dealt
+ with according to the present or future laws of such State or
+ States."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>But atrocious as were the provisions of the Resolution, or Act
+aforesaid, in that they threatened death or Slavery to every Black man
+taken with Union arms in his hand, and death to every White commissioned
+officer commanding Black soldiers, yet the manner in which they were
+executed was still more barbarous.</p>
+
+<p>At last it became necessary to adopt some measure by which captured
+Colored Union soldiers might be protected equally with captured White
+Union soldiers from the frequent Rebel violations of the Laws of War in
+the cases of the former.</p>
+
+<p>President Lincoln, therefore, issued an Executive Order prescribing
+retaliatory measures.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [In the following words:</p>
+
+<p> "EXECUTIVE MANSION,</p>
+
+<p> "WASHINGTON, July 30, 1863.</p>
+
+<p> "It is the duty of every Government to give protection to its
+ citizens, of whatever class, color, or condition, and especially to
+ those who are duly organized as soldiers in the public service.
+ The Law of Nations, and the usages and customs of War, as carried
+ on by civilized Powers, permit no distinction as to color in the
+ treatment of prisoners of War, as public enemies.</p>
+
+<p> "To sell or Enslave any captured person, on account of his Color,
+ and for no offense against the Laws of War, is a relapse into
+ barbarism, and a crime against the civilization of the age.</p>
+
+<p> "The Government of the United States will give the same protection
+ to all its soldiers, and if the Enemy shall sell or Enslave any one
+ because of his color, the offense shall be punished by Retaliation
+ upon the Enemy's prisoners in our possession.</p>
+
+<p> "It is therefore Ordered, that, for every soldier of the United
+ States killed in violation of the Laws of War, a Rebel soldier
+ shall be executed; and for every one Enslaved by the Enemy or sold
+ into Slavery, a Rebel soldier shall be placed at hard work on the
+ public works, and continued at such labor until the other shall be
+ released and receive the treatment due to a prisoner of War.</p>
+
+<p> "By order of the Secretary of War. <br>
+ABRAHAM LINCOLN. E. D.<br>
+ TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant-General."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<br><br>
+<p>It was hoped that the mere announcement of the decision of our
+Government to retaliate, would put an instant stop to the barbarous
+conduct of the Rebels toward the captured Colored Union troops, but the
+hope was vain. The atrocities continued, and their climax was capped by
+the cold-blooded massacres perpetrated by Forrest's 5,000 Cavalry, after
+capturing Fort Pillow, a short distance above Memphis, on the
+Mississippi river.</p>
+
+<p>The garrison of that Fort comprised less than 600 Union soldiers, about
+one-half of whom were White, and the balance Black. These brave fellows
+gallantly defended the Fort against eight times their number, from
+before sunrise until the afternoon, when&mdash;having failed to win by fair
+means, under the Laws of War,&mdash;the Enemy treacherously crept up the
+ravines on either side of the Fort, under cover of flags of truce, and
+then, with a sudden rush, carried it, butchering both Blacks and Whites
+&mdash;who had thrown away their arms, and were striving to escape&mdash;until
+night temporarily put an end to the sanguinary tragedy.</p>
+
+<p>On the following morning the massacre was completed by the butchery and
+torture of wounded remnants of these brave Union defenders&mdash;some being
+buried alive, and others nailed to boards, and burned to death.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [For full account of these hideous atrocities, see testimony of
+ survivors before the Committee on Conduct and Expenditures of the
+ War. (H. R. Report, No. 65, 1st S. 38th Cong.)]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>And all this murderous malignity, for what?&mdash;Simply, and only, because
+one-half of the Patriot victims had Black skins, while the other half
+had dared to fight by the side of the Blacks!</p>
+
+<p>In the after-days of the War, the cry with which our Union Black
+regiments went into battle:&mdash;"Remember Fort Pillow!"&mdash;inspired them to
+deeds of valor, and struck with terror the hearts of the Enemy. On many
+a bloody field, Fort Pillow was avenged.</p>
+
+<p>It is a common error to suppose that the first arming of the Black man
+was on the Union side. The first Black volunteer company was a Rebel
+one, raised early in May, 1861, in the city of Memphis, Tenn.; and at
+Charleston, S. C., Lynchburg, Va., and Norfolk, Va., large bodies of
+Free Negroes volunteered, and were engaged, earlier than that, to do
+work on the Rebel batteries.</p>
+
+<p>On June 28th of the same year, the Rebel Legislature of Tennessee passed
+an Act not only authorizing the Governor "to receive into the Military
+service of the State all male Free persons of Color between the ages of
+fifteen and fifty, or such number as may be necessary, who may be sound
+in mind and body, and capable of actual service," but also prescribing
+"That in the event a sufficient number of Free persons of Color to meet
+the wants of the State shall not tender their services, the Governor is
+empowered, through the Sheriffs of the different counties, to press such
+persons until the requisite number is obtained."</p>
+
+<p>At a review of Rebel troops, at New Orleans, November 23, 1861, "One
+regiment comprised 1,400 Free Colored men." Vast numbers of both Free
+Negroes and Slaves were employed to construct Rebel fortifications
+throughout the War, in all the Rebel States. And on the 17th of
+February, 1864, the Rebel Congress passed an Act which provides in its
+first section "That all male Free Negroes * * * resident in the
+Confederate States, between the ages of eighteen and fifty years, shall
+be held liable to perform such duties with the Army, or in connection
+with the Military defenses of the Country, in the way of work upon the
+fortifications, or in Government works for the production or preparation
+of materials of War, or in Military hospitals, as the Secretary of War
+or the Commanding General of the Trans-Mississippi Department may, from
+time to time, prescribe:" while the third section provides that when the
+Secretary of War shall "be unable to procure the service of Slaves in
+any Military Department, then he is authorized to impress the services
+of as many male Slaves, not to exceed twenty thousand, as may be
+required, from time to time, to discharge the duties indicated in the
+first section of the Act."</p>
+
+<p>And this Act of, the Rebel Congress was passed only forty days before
+the fiendish massacre of the Union Whites and Blacks who together, at
+Fort Pillow, were performing for the Union, "such duties with the Army,"
+and "in connection with the Military defenses of the Country," as had
+been prescribed for them by their Commanding General!</p>
+
+<p>Under any circumstances&mdash;and especially under this state of
+facts&mdash;nothing could excuse or palliate that shocking and disgraceful and
+barbarous crime against humanity; and the human mind is incapable of
+understanding how such savagery can be accounted for, except upon the
+theory that "He that nameth Rebellion nameth not a singular, or one only
+sin, as is theft, robbery, murder, and such like; but he nameth the
+whole puddle and sink of all sins against God and man; against his
+country, his countrymen, his children, his kinsfolk, his friends, and
+against all men universally; all sins against God and all men heaped
+together, nameth he that nameth Rebellion."</p>
+
+<p>The inconsistency of the Rebels, in getting insanely and murderously
+furious over the arming of Negroes for the defense of the imperiled
+Union and the newly gained liberties of the Black Race, when they had
+themselves already armed some of them and made them fight to uphold the
+Slave-holders' Rebellion and the continued Enslavement of their race, is
+already plain enough.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [The writer is indebted to the courtesy of a prominent South
+ Carolinian, for calling his attention to the "Singular coincidence,
+ that a South Carolinian should have proposed in 1778, what was
+ executed in 1863-64&mdash;the arming of Negroes for achieving their
+ Freedom"&mdash;as shown in the following very curious and interesting
+ letters written by the brave and gifted Colonel John Laurens, of
+ Washington's staff, to his distinguished father:</p>
+
+<p> HEAD QUARTERS, 14th Jan., 1778.</p>
+
+<p> I barely hinted to you, my dearest father, my desire to augment the
+ Continental forces from an untried source. I wish I had any
+ foundation to ask for an extraordinary addition to those favours
+ which I have already received from you. I would solicit you to
+ cede me a number of your able bodied men slaves, instead of leaving
+ me a fortune.</p>
+
+<p> I would bring about a two-fold good; first I would advance those
+ who are unjustly deprived of the rights of mankind to a state which
+ would be a proper gradation between abject slavery and perfect
+ liberty, and besides I would reinforce the defenders of liberty
+ with a number of gallant soldiers. Men, who have the habit of
+ subordination almost indelibly impressed on them, would have one
+ very essential qualification of soldiers. I am persuaded that if I
+ could obtain authority for the purpose, I would have a corps of
+ such men trained, uniformly clad, equip'd and ready in every
+ respect to act at the opening of the next campaign. The ridicule
+ that may be thrown on the color, I despise, because I am sure of
+ rendering essential service to my country.</p>
+
+<p> I am tired of the languor with which so sacred a war as this is
+ carried on. My circumstances prevent me from writing so long a
+ letter as I expected and wish'd to have done on a subject which I
+ have much at heart. I entreat you to give a favorable answer to <br>
+ Your most affectionate <br>
+ JOHN LAURENS.</p>
+
+<p> The Honble Henry Laurens Esq.<br>
+ President of Congress.</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+ HEAD QUARTERS, 2nd Feb., 1778.</p>
+
+<p> My Dear Father:</p>
+
+<p> The more I reflect upon the difficulties and delays which are
+ likely to attend the completing our Continental regiments, the more
+ anxiously is my mind bent upon the scheme, which I lately
+ communicated to you. The obstacles to the execution of it had
+ presented themselves to me, but by no means appeared
+ insurmountable. I was aware of having that monstrous popular
+ prejudice, open-mouthed against me, of undertaking to transform
+ beings almost irrational, into well disciplined soldiers, of being
+ obliged to combat the arguments, and perhaps the intrigues, of
+ interested persons. But zeal for the public service, and an ardent
+ desire to assert the rights of humanity, determined me to engage in
+ this arduous business, with the sanction of your consent. My own
+ perseverance, aided by the countenance of a few virtuous men, will,
+ I hope, enable me to accomplish it.</p>
+
+<p> You seem to think, my dear father, that men reconciled by long
+ habit to the miseries of their condition, would prefer their
+ ignominious bonds to the untasted sweets of liberty, especially
+ when offer'd upon the terms which I propose.</p>
+
+<p> I confess, indeed, that the minds of this unhappy species must be
+ debased by a servitude, from which they can hope for no relief but
+ death, and that every motive to action but fear, must be nearly
+ extinguished in them. But do you think they are so perfectly
+ moulded to their state as to be insensible that a better exists?
+ Will the galling comparison between themselves and their masters
+ leave them unenlightened in this respect? Can their self love be
+ so totally annihilated as not frequently to induce ardent wishes
+ for a change?</p>
+
+<p> You will accuse me, perhaps, my dearest friend, of consulting my
+ own feelings too much; but I am tempted to believe that this
+ trampled people have so much human left in them, as to be capable
+ of aspiring to the rights of men by noble exertions, if some friend
+ to mankind would point the road, and give them a prospect of
+ success. If I am mistaken in this, I would avail myself, even of
+ their weakness, and, conquering one fear by another, produce equal
+ good to the public. You will ask in this view, how do you consult
+ the benefit of the slaves? I answer, that like other men, they are
+ creatures of habit. Their cowardly ideas will be gradually
+ effaced, and they will be modified anew. Their being rescued from
+ a state of perpetual humiliation, and being advanced as it were, in
+ the scale of being, will compensate the dangers incident to their
+ new state.</p>
+
+<p> The hope that will spring in each man's mind, respecting his own
+ escape, will prevent his being miserable. Those who fall in battle
+ will not lose much; those who survive will obtain their reward.
+ Habits of subordination, patience under fatigues, sufferings and
+ privations of every kind, are soldierly qualifications, which these
+ men possess in an eminent degree.</p>
+
+<p> Upon the whole, my dearest friend and father, I hope that my plan
+ for serving my country and the oppressed negro race will not appear
+ to you the chimera of a young mind, deceived by a false appearance
+ of moral beauty, but a laudable sacrifice of private interest, to
+ justice and the public good.</p>
+
+<p> You say, that my resources would be small, on account of the
+ proportion of women and children. I do not know whether I am
+ right, for I speak from impulse, and have not reasoned upon the
+ matter. I say, altho' my plan is at once to give freedom to the
+ negroes, and gain soldiers to the states; in case of concurrence, I
+ should sacrifice the former interest, and therefore we change the
+ women and children for able-bodied men. The more of these I could
+ obtain, the better; but forty might be a good foundation to begin
+ upon.</p>
+
+<p> It is a pity that some such plan as I propose could not be more
+ extensively executed by public authority. A well-chosen body of
+ 5,000 black men, properly officer'd, to act as light troops, in
+ addition to our present establishment, might give us decisive
+ success in the next campaign.</p>
+
+<p> I have long deplored the wretched state of these men, and
+ considered in their history, the bloody wars excited in Africa, to
+ furnish America with slaves&mdash;the groans of despairing multitudes,
+ toiling for the luxuries of merciless tyrants.</p>
+
+<p> I have had the pleasure of conversing with you, sometimes, upon the
+ means of restoring them to their rights. When can it be better
+ done, than when their enfranchisement may be made conducive to the
+ public good, and be modified, as not to overpower their weak minds?</p>
+
+<p> You ask, what is the general's opinion, upon this subject? He is
+ convinced, that the numerous tribes of blacks in the southern parts
+ of the continent, offer a resource to us that should not be
+ neglected. With respect to my particular plan, he only objects to
+ it, with the arguments of pity for a man who would be less rich
+ than he might be.</p>
+
+<p> I am obliged, my dearest friend and father, to take my leave for
+ the present; you will excuse whatever exceptionable may have
+ escaped in the course of my letter, and accept the assurance of
+ filial love, and respect of <br>
+ Your <br>
+ JOHN LAURENS]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<br><br>
+<p>If, however, it be objected that the arming of Negroes by the Rebels was
+exceptional and local, and, that otherwise, the Rebels always used their
+volunteer or impressed Negro forces in work upon fortifications and
+other unarmed Military Works, and never proposed using them in the clash
+of arms, as armed soldiers against armed White men, the contrary is
+easily proven.</p>
+
+<p>In a message to the Rebel Congress, November 7, 1864, Jefferson Davis
+himself, while dissenting at that time from the policy, advanced by
+many, of "a general levy and arming of the Slaves, for the duty of
+soldiers," none the less declared that "should the alternative ever be
+presented of subjugation, or of the employment of the Slave as a
+soldier, there seems no reason to doubt what should then be our
+decision."</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, however, he recommended the employment of forty
+thousand Slaves as pioneer and engineer laborers, on the ground that
+"even this limited number, by their preparatory training in intermediate
+duties Would form a more valuable reserve force in case of urgency, than
+threefold their number suddenly called from field labor; while a fresh
+levy could, to a certain extent, supply their places in the special
+service" of pioneer and engineer work; and he undertook to justify the
+inconsistency between his present recommendation, and his past attitude,
+by declaring that "A broad, moral distinction exists between the use of
+Slaves as soldiers in defense of their homes, and the incitement of the
+same persons to insurrection against their masters, for," said he, "the
+one is justifiable, if necessary; the other is iniquitous and unworthy
+of a civilized people."</p>
+
+<p>So also, while a Bill for the arming of Slaves was pending before the
+Rebel Congress early in 1865, General Robert E. Lee wrote, February
+18th, from the Headquarters of the Rebel Armies, to Hon. E. Barksdale,
+of the Rebel House of Representatives, a communication, in which, after
+acknowledging the receipt of a letter from him of February 12th, "with
+reference to the employment of Negroes as soldiers," he said: "I think
+the Measure not only expedient but necessary * * * in my opinion, the
+Negroes, under proper circumstances, will make efficient soldiers. * *
+* I think those who are employed, should be freed. It would be neither
+just nor wise, in my opinion, to require them to remain as
+Slaves"&mdash;thus, not only approving the employment of Black Slaves as soldiers, to
+fight White Union men, but justifying their Emancipation as a reward for
+Military service. And, a few days afterward, that Rebel Congress passed
+a Bill authorizing Jefferson Davis to take into the Rebel Army as many
+Negro Slaves "as he may deem expedient, for and during the War, to
+perform Military service in whatever capacity he may direct," and at the
+same time authorizing General Lee to organize them as other "troops" are
+organized.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [This Negro soldier Bill, according to McPherson's Appendix, p.
+ 611-612, passed both Houses, and was in these words:</p>
+
+<p> A Bill to increase the Military Forces of the Confederate States.</p>
+
+<p> "The Congress of the Confederate States of America do Enact, That
+ in order to provide additional forces to repel invasion, maintain
+ the rightful possession of the Confederate States, secure their
+ Independence and preserve their Institutions, the President be and
+ he is hereby authorized to ask for and accept from the owners of
+ Slaves the services of such number of able-bodied Negro men as he
+ may deem expedient for and during the War, to perform Military
+ service in whatever capacity he may direct.</p>
+
+<p> "SEC. 2.&mdash;That the General-in-Chief be authorized to organize the
+ said Slaves into companies, battalions, regiments, and brigades,
+ under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of War may
+ prescribe, and to be commanded by such officers as the President
+ may appoint.</p>
+
+<p> "SEC. 3.&mdash;That, while employed in the Service, the said troops
+ shall receive the same rations, clothing, and compensation as are
+ allowed to other troops in the same branch of the Service.</p>
+
+<p> "SEC. 4.&mdash;That if, under the previous sections of this Act, the
+ President shall not be able to raise a sufficient number of troops
+ to prosecute the War successfully and maintain the Sovereignty of
+ the States, and the Independence of the Confederate States, then he
+ is hereby authorized to call on each State, whenever he thinks it
+ expedient, for her quota of 300,000 troops, in addition to those
+ subject to Military service, under existing laws, or so many
+ thereof as the President may deem necessary, to be raised from such
+ classes of the population, irrespective of color, in each State, as
+ the proper authorities thereof may determine: Provided, that not
+ more than 25 per cent. of the male Slaves, between the ages of 18
+ and 45, in any State, shall be called for under the provisions of
+ this Act.</p>
+
+<p> "SEC. 5.&mdash;That nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize
+ a change in the relation of said Slaves."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<br><br>
+
+
+
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+
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+</td><td>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="p6.htm">Next Part</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
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+
+<h2>THE GREAT CONSPIRACY, Part 6</h2>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="" cellPadding=4 border=3>
+<tr><td>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="p5.htm">Previous Part</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+</td><td>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="7140-h.htm">Main Index</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+</td><td>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="p7.htm">Next Part</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+<br><br><br><br><br><br>
+
+
+
+
+<center>
+<h1>
+<br>
+ THE GREAT CONSPIRACY<br><br>
+<br>
+ Its Origin and History<br><br><br>
+<br>
+ Part 6.<br><br><br>
+
+ By John Logan
+<br></h1>
+<br>
+ <h2>
+
+ <br><br><br><br><br>
+ <img alt="titlepage.jpg (65K)" src="images/titlepage.jpg" height="1134" width="692">
+ <br><br><br><br><br>
+ <img alt="frontspiece.jpg (101K)" src="images/frontspiece.jpg" height="934" width="665">
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<br><br><br>
+CONTENTS
+</h2></center>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2> <a href="#ch22">CHAPTER XXII</a>.<br>
+ FREEDOM'S SUN STILL RISING.<br></h2>
+<br>
+DEFINITE CONGRESSIONAL ACTION, ON EMANCIPATION, GERMINATING&mdash;GLORIOUS
+NEWS FROM THE WEST AND EAST&mdash;FALL OF VICKSBURG&mdash;GETTYSBURG&mdash;LINCOLN'S
+GETTYSBURG ORATION&mdash;THE DRAFT&mdash;THE REBEL "FIRE IN THE REAR"&mdash;DRAFT RIOTS
+IN NEW YORK&mdash;LINCOLN'S LETTER, AUGUST, 1863, ON THE
+SITUATION&mdash;CHATTANOOGA&mdash;THE CHEERING FALL-ELECTIONS&mdash;VALLANDIGHAM'S
+DEFEAT&mdash;EMANCIPATION AS A "POLITICAL" MEASURE&mdash;"THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT" REPORTED
+IN THE SENATE&mdash;THADDEUS STEVENS'S RESOLUTIONS, AND TEST VOTE IN THE
+HOUSE&mdash;LOVEJOY'S DEATH&mdash;ELOQUENT TRIBUTES OF ARNOLD, WASHBURNE,
+GRINNELL, THADDEUS STEVENS, AND SUMNER
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2><a href="#ch23">CHAPTER XXIII.</a><br>
+ "THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT" IN THE SENATE.<br></h2>
+<br>
+GREAT DEBATE IN THE U. S. SENATE, ON EMANCIPATION&mdash;THE WHOLE VILLANOUS
+HISTORY OF SLAVERY, LAID BARE&mdash;SPEECHES OF TRUMBULL, HENRY WILSON,
+HARLAN, SHERMAN, CLARK, HALL, HENDERSON, SUMNER, REVERDY JOHNSON,
+MCDOUGALL, SAULSBURY, GARRETT DAVIS, POWELL, AND HENDRICKS&mdash;BRILLIANT
+ARRAIGNMENT AND DEFENSE OF "THE INSTITUTION"&mdash;U. S. GRANT, NOW "GENERAL
+IN CHIEF"&mdash;HIS PLANS PERFECTED, HE GOES TO THE VIRGINIA FRONT&mdash;MR.
+LINCOLN'S SOLICITUDE FOR THE THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT&mdash;BORDER&mdash;STATE
+OBSTRUCTIVE MOTIONS, AMENDMENTS, AND SUBSTITUTES, ALL VOTED DOWN&mdash;MR.
+LINCOLN'S LETTER TO HODGES, OF KENTUCKY, REVIEWING EMANCIPATION AS A
+WAR MEASURE&mdash;THE DECISIVE FIELD-DAY (APRIL 8, 1864)&mdash;THE DEBATE ABLY
+CLOSED&mdash;THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PASSED BY THE SENATE
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2><a href="#ch24">CHAPTER XXIV.</a><br>
+ TREASON IN THE NORTHERN CAMPS.<br></h2>
+<br>
+EMANCIPATION TEST&mdash;VOTES IN THE HOUSE&mdash;ARNOLD'S RESOLUTION&mdash;BLUE
+PROSPECTS FOR THE THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT&mdash;LINCOLN'S ANXIETY&mdash;CONGRESSIONAL
+COPPERHEADS&mdash;THINLY-DISGUISED TREASON&mdash;SPEECHES OF VOORHEES, WASHBURNE,
+AND KELLEY&mdash;SPRINGFIELD COPPERHEAD PEACE-CONVENTION&mdash;"THE UNION AS IT
+WAS"&mdash;PEACE ON ANY TERMS&mdash;VALLANDIGHAM'S LIEUTENANTS&mdash;ATTITUDE OF COX,
+DAVIS, SAULSBURY, WOOD, LONG, ALLEN, HOLMAN, AND OTHERS&mdash;NORTHERN
+ENCOURAGEMENT TO REBELS&mdash;CONSEQUENT SECOND INVASION, OF THE NORTH, BY
+LEE&mdash;500,000 TREASONABLE NORTHERN "SONS OF LIBERTY"&mdash;RITUAL AND OATHS OF
+THE "K. G. C." AND "O. A. K."&mdash;COPPERHEAD EFFORTS TO SPLIT THE NORTH
+AND WEST, ON TARIFF-ISSUES&mdash;SPALDING AND THAD. STEVENS DENOUNCE
+TREASON-BREEDING COPPERHEADS
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2><a href="#ch25">CHAPTER XXV.</a><br>
+ THE "FIRE IN THE REAR."<br></h2>
+<br>
+THE REBEL MANDATE&mdash;"AGITATE THE NORTH!"&mdash;OBEDIENT COPPERHEADS&mdash;THEIR
+DENUNCIATIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT&mdash;BROOKS, FERNANDO WOOD, AND WHITE, ON
+THE "FOLLY" OF THE WAR FOR THE UNION&mdash;EDGERTON'S PEACE
+RESOLUTIONS&mdash;ECKLEY, ON COPPERHEAD MALIGNITY&mdash;ALEXANDER LONG GOES "A BOW-SHOT BEYOND
+THEM ALL"&mdash;HE PROPOSES THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF SOUTHERN
+INDEPENDENCE&mdash;GARFIELD ELOQUENTLY DENOUNCES LONG'S TREASON&mdash;LONG DEFIANTLY REITERATES
+IT&mdash;SPEAKER COLFAX OFFERS A RESOLUTION TO EXPEL LONG&mdash;COX AND JULIAN'S
+VERBAL DUEL&mdash;HARRIS'S TREASONABLE BID FOR EXPULSION&mdash;EXTRAORDINARY SCENE
+IN THE HOUSE&mdash;FERNANDO WOOD'S BID&mdash;HE SUBSEQUENTLY "WEAKENS"&mdash;EXCITING
+DEBATE&mdash;LONG AND HARRIS VOTED "UNWORTHY MEMBERS" OF THE HOUSE
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2><a href="#ch26">CHAPTER XXVI.</a><br>
+ "THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT" DEFEATED IN THE HOUSE.<br></h2>
+<br>
+GLANCE AT THE MILITARY SITUATION&mdash;"BEGINNING OF THE END"&mdash;THE
+CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT&mdash;HOLMAN "OBJECTS" TO "SECOND READING"&mdash;KELLOGG
+SCORES THE COPPERHEAD-DEMOCRACY&mdash;CONTINUOUS "FIRE IN THE REAR" IN BOTH
+HOUSES&mdash;THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT ATTACKED&mdash;THE ADMINISTRATION
+ATTACKED&mdash;THE TARIFF ATTACKED&mdash;SPEECHES OF GARRETT DAVIS, AND
+COX&mdash;PEACE-RESOLUTIONS OF LAZEAR AND DAVIS&mdash;GRINNELL AND STEVENS, SCORE COX AND
+WOOD&mdash;HENDRICKS ON THE DRAFT&mdash;"ON" TO RICHMOND AND ATLANTA&mdash;VIOLENT
+DIATRIBES OF WOOD, AND HOLMAN&mdash;FARNSWORTH'S REPLY TO ROSS, PRUYN, AND
+OTHERS&mdash;ARNOLD, ON THE ETHICS OF SLAVERY&mdash;INGERSOLL'S ELOQUENT
+BURST&mdash;RANDALL, ROLLINS, AND PENDLETON, CLOSING THE DEBATE&mdash;THE THIRTEENTH
+AMENDMENT DEFEATED&mdash;ASHLEY'S MOTION TO RECONSIDER&mdash;CONGRESS ADJOURNS
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2><a href="#ch27">CHAPTER XXVII.</a><br>
+ SLAVERY DOOMED AT THE POLLS.<br></h2>
+<br>
+THE ISSUE BETWEEN FREEDOM AND SLAVERY&mdash;MR. LINCOLN'S
+RENOMINATION&mdash;ENDORSED, AT ALL POINTS, BY HIS PARTY&mdash;HIS FAITH IN THE PEOPLE&mdash;HORATIO
+SEYMOUR'S COPPERHEAD DECLARATIONS&mdash;THE NATIONAL DEMOCRACY DECLARE THE
+WAR "A FAILURE"&mdash;THEIR COPPERHEAD PLATFORM, AND UNION
+CANDIDATE&mdash;MCCLELLAN THEIR NOMINEE&mdash;VICTORIES AT ATLANTA AND MOBILE&mdash;FREMONT'S
+THIRD PARTY&mdash;SUCCESSES OF GRANT AND SHERIDAN&mdash;DEATH OF CHIEF-JUSTICE
+TANEY&mdash;MARYLAND BECOMES "FREE"&mdash;MORE UNION VICTORIES&mdash;REPUBLICAN
+"TIDAL-WAVE" SUCCESS&mdash;LINCOLN RE-ELECTED&mdash;HIS SERENADE-SPEECHES&mdash;AMAZING
+CONGRESSIONAL-RETURNS&mdash;THE DEATH OF SLAVERY INSURED&mdash;IT BECOMES SIMPLY A
+MATTER OF TIME
+<br>
+<br>
+<br><br><br><br>
+<h4>PORTRAITS.</h4>
+<center>
+<table summary="">
+<tr><td>
+
+<a href="#butler">BENJ. F. BUTLER</a><br>
+<a href="#trumbell">LYMAN TRUMBULL</a><br>
+<a href="#wade">BENJ. F. WADE</a><br>
+<a href="#mcclellan">GEO. B. MCCLELLAN</a><br>
+
+
+
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+<br><br>
+<br><br><br>
+<a name="butler"></a>
+<center>
+<img alt="p502-butler.jpg (85K)" src="images/p502-butler.jpg" height="863" width="584">
+</center>
+<br><br><br>
+<a name="ch22"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<center><h2>
+ CHAPTER XXII.<br>
+<br>
+ FREEDOM'S SUN STILL RISING.<br>
+</h2>
+<br>
+</center>
+<p>After President Lincoln had issued his Proclamation of Emancipation, the
+friends of Freedom clearly perceived&mdash;and none of them more clearly than
+himself that until the incorporation of that great Act into the
+Constitution of the United States itself, there could be no real
+assurance of safety to the liberties of the emancipated; that unless
+this were done there would be left, even after the suppression of the
+Rebellion, a living spark of dissension which might at any time again be
+fanned into the flames of Civil War.</p>
+
+<p>Hence, at all proper times, Mr. Lincoln favored and even
+urged Congressional action upon the subject. It was not, however, until
+the following year that definite action may be said to have commenced in
+Congress toward that end; and, as Congress was slow, he found it
+necessary to say in his third Annual Message: "while I remain in my
+present position I shall not attempt to retract or modify the
+Emancipation Proclamation; nor shall I return to Slavery any person who
+is Free by the terms of that Proclamation, or by any of the Acts of
+Congress."</p>
+
+<p>Meantime, however, occurred the series of glorious
+Union victories in the West, ending with the surrender to Grant's
+triumphant Forces on the 4th of July, 1863, of Vicksburg&mdash;"the Gibraltar
+of the West"&mdash;with its Garrison, Army, and enormous quantities of arms
+and munitions of war; thus closing a brilliant and successful Campaign
+with a blow which literally "broke the back" of the Rebellion; while,
+almost simultaneously, July 1-3, the Union Forces of the East, under
+Meade, gained the great victory of Gettysburg, and, driving the hosts of
+Lee from Pennsylvania, put a second and final end to Rebel invasion of
+Northern soil; gaining it, on ground dedicated by President Lincoln,
+before that year had closed&mdash;as a place of sepulture for the
+Patriot-soldiers who there had fallen in a brief, touching and immortal Address,
+which every American child should learn by heart, and every American
+adult ponder deeply, as embodying the very essence of true
+Republicanism.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [President Lincoln's Address, when the National Cemetery at
+ Gettysburg, Pa., was dedicated Nov. 19, 1863, was in these
+ memorable words:</p>
+
+<p> "Fourscore and seven years ago, our Fathers brought forth upon this
+ continent a new Nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the
+ proposition that all men are created equal.</p>
+
+<p> "Now we are engaged in a great Civil War, testing whether that
+ Nation, or any Nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long
+ endure.</p>
+
+<p> "We are met on a great battlefield of that War. We have come here
+ to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for
+ those who here gave their lives that that Nation might live.</p>
+
+<p> "It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.</p>
+
+<p> "But in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate,
+ we can not hallow, this ground. The brave men, living and dead,
+ who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our power to add
+ or detract.</p>
+
+<p> "The World will little note, nor long remember, what we say here;
+ but it can never forget what they did here.</p>
+
+<p> "It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the
+ unfinished work which they who fought here have, thus far, so nobly
+ advanced.</p>
+
+<p> "It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task
+ remaining before us; that from these honored dead we take increased
+ devotion to that Cause for which they gave the last full measure of
+ devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not
+ have died in vain; that this Nation, under God, shall have a new
+ birth of Freedom; and that Government of the People, by the People,
+ and for the People, shall not perish front the Earth."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>That season of victory for the Union arms, coming, as it did, upon a
+season of depression and doubtfulness, was doubly grateful to the loyal
+heart of the Nation. Daylight seemed to be breaking at last.
+Gettysburg had hurled back the Southern invader from our soil; and
+Vicksburg, with the immediately resulting surrender of Port Hudson, had
+opened the Mississippi river from Cairo to the Gulf, and split the
+Confederacy in twain.</p>
+
+<p>But it happened just about this time that, the enrollment of the whole
+Militia of the United States (under the Act of March, 1863), having been
+completed, and a Draft for 300,000 men ordered to be made and executed,
+if by a subsequent time the quotas of the various States should not be
+filled by volunteering, certain malcontents and Copperheads, inspired by
+agents and other friends of the Southern Conspirators, started and
+fomented, in the city of New York, a spirit of unreasoning opposition
+both to voluntary enlistment, and conscription under the Draft, that
+finally culminated, July 13th, in a terrible Riot, lasting several days,
+during which that great metropolis was in the hands, and completely at
+the mercy, of a brutal mob of Secession sympathizers, who made day and
+night hideous with their drunken bellowings, terrorized everybody even
+suspected of love for the Union, plundered and burned dwellings,
+including a Colored Orphan Asylum, and added to the crime of arson, that
+of murdering the mob-chased, terror-stricken Negroes, by hanging them to
+the lamp-posts.</p>
+
+<p>These Riots constituted a part of that "Fire in the Rear" with which the
+Rebels and their Northern Democratic sympathizers had so frequently
+menaced the Armies of the Union.</p>
+
+<p>Alluding to them, the N. Y. Tribune on July 15th, while its office was
+invested and threatened with attack and demolition, bravely said: "They
+are, in purpose and in essence, a Diversion in favor of Jefferson Davis
+and Lee. Listen to the yells of the mob and the harangues of its
+favorite orators, and you will find them surcharged with 'Nigger,'
+'Abolition,' 'Black Republican,' denunciation of prominent Republicans,
+The Tribune, etc. etc.&mdash;all very wide of the Draft and the exemption.
+Had the Abolitionists, instead of the Slaveholders, revolted, and
+undertaken to upset the Government and dissolve the Union, nine-tenths
+of these rioters would have eagerly volunteered to put them down. It is
+the fear, stimulated by the recent and glorious triumphs of the Union
+Arms, that Slavery and the Rebellion must suffer, which is at the bottom
+of all this arson, devastation, robbery, and murder."</p>
+
+<p>The Democratic Governor, Seymour, by promising to "have this Draft
+suspended and stopped," did something toward quieting the Riots, but it
+was not until the Army of the Potomac, now following Lee's retreat, was
+weakened by the sending of several regiments to New York that the
+Draft-rioting spirit, in that city, and to a less extent in other cities, was
+thoroughly cowed.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [In reply to Gov. Seymour's appeal for delay in the execution of
+ the Draft Law, in order to test its Constitutionality, Mr. Lincoln,
+ on the 7th of August, said he could not consent to lose the time
+ that would be involved in obtaining a decision from the U. S.
+ Supreme Court on that point, and proceeded: "We are contending with
+ an Enemy who, as I understand, drives every able-bodied man he can
+ reach into his ranks, very much as a butcher drives bullocks into a
+ slaughter-pen. No time is wasted, no argument is used.</p>
+
+<p> "This system produces an Army which will soon turn upon our now
+ victorious soldiers already in the field, if they shall not be
+ sustained by recruits as they should be.</p>
+
+<p> It produces an Army with a rapidity not to be matched on our side,
+ if we first waste time to re-experiment with the Volunteer system,
+ already deemed by Congress, and palpably, in fact, so far exhausted
+ as to be inadequate; and then more time to obtain a Court decision
+ as to whether a law is Constitutional which requires a part of
+ those not now in the Service to go to those who are already in it,
+ and still more time to determine with absolute certainty that we
+ get those who are to go, in the precisely legal proportion to those
+ who are not to go.</p>
+
+<p> "My purpose is to be in my action Just and Constitutional, and yet
+ Practical, in performing the important duty with which I am
+ charged, of maintaining the Unity and the Free principles of our
+ common Country."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>Worried and weakened by this Democratic opposition to the Draft, and the
+threatened consequent delays and dangers to the success of the Union
+Cause, and depressed moreover by the defeat of the National forces under
+Rosecrans at Chickamauga; yet, the favorable determination of the Fall
+elections on the side of Union and Freedom, and the immense majorities
+upholding those issues, together with Grant's great victory (November,
+1863) of Chattanooga&mdash;where the three days of fighting in the
+Chattanooga Valley and up among the clouds of Lookout Mountain and
+Mission Ridge, not only effaced the memory of Rosecrans's previous
+disaster, but brought fresh and imperishable laurels to the Union
+Arms&mdash;stiffened the President's backbone, and that of Union men everywhere.</p>
+
+<p>Not that Mr. Lincoln had shown any signs of weakness or wavering, or any
+loss of hope in the ultimate result of this War for the preservation of
+the Union&mdash;which now also involved Freedom to all beneath its banner.
+On the contrary, a letter of his written late in August shows
+conclusively enough that he even then began to see clearly the coming
+final triumph&mdash;not perhaps as "speedy," as he would like, in its coming,
+but none the less sure to come in God's "own good time," and furthermore
+not appearing "to be so distant as it did" before Gettysburg, and
+especially Vicksburg, was won; for, said he: "The signs look better.
+The Father of Waters again goes unvexed to the Sea".</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [This admirable letter, reviewing "the situation" and his policy,
+ was in these words</p>
+
+<p> EXECUTIVE MANSION,<br>
+ WASHINGTON, August 26. 1863.</p>
+
+<p> HON. JAMES C. CONKLING</p>
+
+<p> MY DEAR SIR; Your letter inviting me to attend a Mass Meeting of
+ unconditional Union men to be held at the Capital of Illinois, on
+ the 3rd day of September, has been received. It would be very
+ agreeable for me thus to meet my old friends at my own home; but I
+ cannot just now be absent from here so long a time as a visit there
+ would require.</p>
+
+<p> The meeting is to be of all those who maintain unconditional
+ devotion to the Union; and I am sure that my old political friends
+ will thank me for tendering, as I do, the Nation's gratitude to
+ those other noble men whom no partisan malice or partisan hope can
+ make false to the Nation's life.</p>
+
+<p> There are those who are dissatisfied with me. To such I would say:
+ you desire Peace, and you blame me that we do not have it. But how
+ can we attain it? There are but three conceivable ways: First, to
+ suppress the Rebellion by force of Arms. This I am trying to do.
+ Are you for it? If you are, so far we are agreed. If you are not
+ for it, a second way is to give up the Union. I am against this.
+ Are you for it? If you are, you should say so plainly. If you are
+ not for Force, nor yet for Dissolution, there only remains some
+ imaginable Compromise.</p>
+
+<p> I do not believe that any Compromise embracing the maintenance of
+ the Union is now possible. All that I learn leads to a directly
+ opposite belief. The strength of the Rebellion is its Military,
+ its Army. That Army dominates all the Country, and all the people,
+ within its range. Any offer of terms made by any man or men within
+ that range, in opposition to that Army, is simply nothing for the
+ present: because such man or men have no power whatever to enforce
+ their side of a Compromise, if one were made with them.</p>
+
+<p> To illustrate: Suppose refugees from the South, and Peace men of
+ the North, get together in Convention, and frame and proclaim a
+ Compromise embracing a restoration of the Union. In what way can
+ that Compromise be used to keep Lee's Army out of Pennsylvania?
+ Meade's Army can keep Lee's Army out of Pennsylvania, and, I think,
+ can ultimately drive it out of existence. But no paper Compromise
+ to which the controllers of Lee's Army are not agreed, can at all
+ affect that Army. In an effort at such Compromise we would waste
+ time, which the Enemy would improve to our disadvantage; and that
+ would be all.</p>
+
+<p> A Compromise, to be effective, must be made either with those who
+ control the Rebel Army, or with the people, first liberated from
+ the domination of that Army, by the success of our own Army. Now,
+ allow me to assure you that no word or intimation from that Rebel
+ Army, or from any of the men controlling it, in relation to any
+ Peace Compromise, has ever come to my knowledge or belief. All
+ charges and insinuations to the contrary are deceptive and
+ groundless. And I promise you that if any such proposition shall
+ hereafter come, it shall not be rejected and kept a secret from
+ you. I freely acknowledge myself to be the servant of the People,
+ according to the bond of service, the United States Constitution;
+ and that, as such, I am responsible to them.</p>
+
+<p> But, to be plain. You are dissatisfied with me about the Negro.
+ Quite likely there is a difference of opinion between you and
+ myself upon that subject. I certainly wish that all men could be
+ Free, while you, I suppose, do not. Yet I have neither adopted nor
+ proposed any measure which is not consistent with even your view,
+ provided that you are for the Union. I suggested compensated
+ Emancipation; to which you replied you wished not to be taxed to
+ buy Negroes. But I had not asked you to be taxed to buy Negroes,
+ except in such a way as to save you from greater taxation to save
+ the Union, exclusively by other means.</p>
+
+<p> You dislike the Emancipation Proclamation, and perhaps would have
+ it retracted. You say it is Unconstitutional. I think
+ differently. I think the Constitution invests the
+ Commander-in-Chief with the Law of War in Time of War. The most that can be
+ said, if so much, is, that Slaves are property. Is there, has
+ there ever been, any question that, by the Law of War, property,
+ both of enemies and friends, may be taken when needed? And is it
+ not needed whenever it helps us and hurts the Enemy? Armies, the
+ World over, destroy enemies' property when they cannot use it; and
+ even destroy their own to keep it from the Enemy. Civilized
+ belligerents do all in their power to help themselves or hurt the
+ Enemy, except a few things regarded as barbarous or cruel. Among
+ the exceptions are the massacre of vanquished foes and
+ non-combatants, male and female.</p>
+
+<p> But the Proclamation, as law, either is valid or is not valid. If
+ it is not valid, it needs no retraction. If it is valid it cannot
+ be retracted, any more than the dead can be brought to life. Some
+ of you profess to think its retraction would operate favorably for
+ the Union. Why better after the retraction than before the issue?
+ There was more than a year and a half of trial to suppress the
+ Rebellion before the Proclamation was issued, the last one hundred
+ days of which passed under an explicit notice that it was coming,
+ unless averted by those in revolt returning to their allegiance.
+ The War has certainly progressed as favorably for us since the
+ issue of the Proclamation as before.</p>
+
+<p> I know as fully as one can know the opinions of others that some of
+ the Commanders of our Armies in the field, who have given us our
+ most important victories, believe the Emancipation policy and the
+ use of Colored troops constitute the heaviest blows yet dealt to
+ the Rebellion, and that at least one of those important successes
+ could not have been achieved when it was, but for the aid of Black
+ soldiers.</p>
+
+<p> Among the Commanders who hold these views are some who have never
+ had an affinity with what is called "Abolitionism," or with
+ "Republican party politics," but who hold them purely as Military
+ opinions. I submit their opinions as entitled to some weight
+ against the objections often urged that Emancipation and arming the
+ Blacks are unwise as Military measures, and were not adopted as
+ such, in good faith.</p>
+
+<p> You say that you will not fight to Free Negroes. Some of them seem
+ willing to fight for you; but no matter. Fight you, then,
+ exclusively to save the Union. I issued the Proclamation on
+ purpose to aid you in saving the Union. Whenever you shall have
+ conquered all resistance to the Union, if I shall urge you to
+ continue fighting, it will be an apt time then for you to declare
+ you will not fight to Free Negroes. I thought that in your
+ struggle for the Union, to whatever extent the Negroes should cease
+ helping the Enemy, to that extent it weakened the Enemy in his
+ resistance to you. Do you think differently? I thought whatever
+ Negroes can be got to do as soldiers, leaves just so much less for
+ White soldiers to do in saving the Union. Does it appear otherwise
+ to you? But Negroes, like other people, act upon motives. Why
+ should they do anything for us if we will do nothing for them? If
+ they stake their lives for us they must be prompted by the
+ strongest motives, even the promise of Freedom. And the promise,
+ being made, must be kept.</p>
+
+<p> The signs look better. The Father of Waters again goes unvexed to
+ the Sea. Thanks to the great Northwest for it; nor yet wholly to
+ them. Three hundred miles up, they met New England, Empire,
+ Keystone, and Jersey, hewing their way right and left. The Sunny
+ South, too, in more colors than one, also lent a helping hand. On
+ the spot, their part of the history was jotted down in Black and
+ White. The job was a great National one, and let none be slighted
+ who bore an honorable part in it. And while those who have cleared
+ the Great River may well be proud, even that is not all. It is
+ hard to say that anything has been more bravely and well done than
+ at Antietam, Murfreesboro, Gettysburg, and on many fields of less
+ note. Nor must Uncle Sam's web-feet be forgotten. At all the
+ watery margins they have been present, not only on the deep Sea,
+ the broad Bay, and the rapid River, but also up the narrow, muddy
+ Bayou, and wherever the ground was a little damp they had been, and
+ made their tracks. Thanks to all. For the Great Republic&mdash;for the
+ principle it lives by, and keeps alive&mdash;for Man's vast
+ future&mdash;thanks to all.</p>
+
+<p> Peace does not appear so distant as it did. I hope it will come
+ soon, and come to stay; and so come as to be worth the keeping in
+ all future time. It will then have been proved that among Freemen
+ there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet,
+ and that they who take such appeal are sure to lose their case and
+ pay the cost. And there will be some Black men who can remember
+ that, with silent tongue, and clinched teeth, and steady eye, and
+ well poised bayonet, they have helped mankind on to this great
+ consummation, while I fear there will be some White ones unable to
+ forget that with malignant heart and deceitful speech they have
+ striven to hinder it.</p>
+
+<p> Still, let us not be over sanguine of a speedy, final triumph. Let
+ us be quite sober. Let us diligently apply the means, never
+ doubting that a just God, in his own good time, will give us the
+ rightful result.</p>
+
+<p> Yours very truly,<br>
+ A. LINCOLN.]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+But Chattanooga, and the grand majorities in all the Fall
+State-elections, save that of New Jersey,&mdash;and especially the manner in which
+loyal Ohio sat down upon the chief Copperhead-Democrat and
+Treason-breeder of the North, Vallandigham&mdash;came most auspiciously to strengthen
+the President's hands.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [The head of the Knights of the Golden Circle, and the Democratic
+ candidate for Governor of Ohio]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>And now he saw, more clearly still, the approach of that time when the
+solemn promise and declaration of Emancipation might be recorded upon
+the sacred roll of the Constitution, and thus be made safe for all time.</p>
+
+<p>In his Annual Message of December, 1863, therefore, President Lincoln,
+after adverting to the fact that "a year ago the War had already lasted
+nearly twenty months," without much ground for hopefulness, proceeded to
+say:</p>
+
+<p>"The preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, issued in September, was
+running its assigned period to the beginning of the New Year. A month
+later the final Proclamation came, including the announcement that
+Colored men of suitable condition would be received into the War
+service. The policy of Emancipation, and of employing Black soldiers,
+gave to the future a new aspect, about which hope, and fear, and doubt,
+contended in uncertain conflict.</p>
+
+<p>"According to our political system, as a matter of Civil Administration,
+the General Government had no lawful power to effect Emancipation in any
+State, and for a long time it had been hoped that the Rebellion could be
+suppressed without resorting to it as a Military measure. It was all
+the while deemed possible that the necessity for it might come, and that
+if it should, the crisis of the contest would then be presented. It
+came, and, as was anticipated, it was followed by dark and doubtful
+days.</p>
+
+<p>"Eleven months having now passed, we are permitted to take another view
+* * * Of those who were Slaves at the beginning of the Rebellion, full
+one hundred thousand are now in the United States Military service,
+about one half of which number actually bear arms in the ranks; thus
+giving the double advantage of taking so much labor from the Insurgent
+cause, and supplying the places which otherwise must be filled with so
+many White men. So far as tested, it is difficult to say they are not
+as good soldiers as any.</p>
+
+<p>"No servile insurrection, or tendency to violence or cruelty, has marked
+the measures of Emancipation and arming the Blacks. These measures have
+been much discussed in Foreign Countries, and contemporary with such
+discussion the tone of public sentiment there is much improved. At
+home, the same measures have been fully discussed, supported,
+criticised, and denounced, and the annual elections following are highly
+encouraging to those whose official duty it is to bear the Country
+through this great trial. Thus we have the new reckoning. The crisis
+which threatened to divide the friends of the Union is past."</p>
+
+<p>After alluding to his Proclamation of Amnesty, issued simultaneously
+with this Message, to all repentant Rebels who would take an oath
+therein prescribed, and contending that such an oath should be (as he
+had drawn it) to uphold not alone the Constitution and the Union, but
+the Laws and Proclamations touching Slavery as well, President Lincoln
+continued:</p>
+
+<p>"In my judgment they have aided and will further aid, the Cause for
+which they were intended. To now abandon them, would be not only to
+relinquish a lever of power, but would also be a cruel and an astounding
+breach of faith." And, toward the close of the Message, he added:</p>
+
+<p>"The movements by State action, for Emancipation, in several of the
+States not included in the Emancipation Proclamation, are matters of
+profound gratulation. And while I do not repeat in detail what I have
+heretofore so earnestly urged upon the subject, my general views remain
+unchanged; and I trust that Congress will omit no fair opportunity of
+AIDING THESE IMPORTANT STEPS TO A GREAT CONSUMMATION."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lincoln's patient but persistent solicitude, his earnest and
+unintermitted efforts&mdash;exercised publicly through his Messages and
+speeches, and privately upon Members of Congress who called upon, or
+whose presence was requested by him at the White House&mdash;in behalf of
+incorporating Emancipation in the Constitution, were now to give
+promise, at least, of bearing good fruit.</p>
+
+<p>Measures looking to this end were submitted in both Houses of Congress
+soon after its meeting, and were referred to the respective Judiciary
+Committees of the same, and on the 10th of February, 1864, Mr. Trumbull
+reported to the Senate, from the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which he
+was Chairman, a substitute Joint Resolution providing for the submission
+to the States of an Amendment to the United States Constitution in the
+following words:</p>
+
+<p>"ART. XIII., SEC. I. Neither Slavery nor Involuntary Servitude, except
+as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly
+convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to
+their jurisdiction.</p>
+
+<p>"SEC. II. Congress shall have power to enforce this Article by
+appropriate legislation."</p>
+
+<p>This proposed Amendment came up for consideration in the Senate, on the
+28th of March, and a notable debate ensued.</p>
+
+<p>On the same day, in the House of Representatives, Thaddeus Stevens&mdash;with
+the object perhaps of ascertaining the strength, in that Body, of the
+friends of out-and-out Emancipation&mdash;offered a Resolution proposing to
+the States the following Amendments to the United States Constitution:</p>
+
+<p>"ART. I. Slavery and Involuntary Servitude, except for the punishment
+of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, is forever
+prohibited in the United States and all its Territories.</p>
+
+<p>"ART. II. So much of Article four, Section two, as refers to the
+delivery up of Persons held to Service or Labor, escaping into another
+State, is annulled."</p>
+
+<p>The test was made upon a motion to table the Resolution, which motion
+was defeated by 38 yeas to 69 nays, and showed the necessity for
+converting three members from the Opposition. Subsequently, at the
+instance of Mr. Stevens himself, the second Article of the Resolution
+was struck out by 72 yeas to 26 nays.</p>
+
+<p>The proceedings in both Houses of Congress upon these propositions to
+engraft upon the National Constitution a provision guaranteeing Freedom
+to all men upon our soil, were now interrupted by the death of one who
+would almost have been willing to die twice over, if, by doing so, he
+could have hastened their adoption.</p>
+
+<p>Owen Lovejoy, the life-long apostle of Abolitionism, the fervid
+gospeller of Emancipation, was dead; and it seemed almost the irony of
+Fate that, at such a time, when Emancipation most needed all its friends
+to make it secure, its doughtiest champion should fall.</p>
+
+<p>But perhaps the eloquent tributes paid to his memory, in the Halls of
+Congress, helped the Cause no less. They at least brought back to the
+public mind the old and abhorrent tyrannies of the Southern Slave power;
+how it had sought not not only to destroy freedom of Action, but freedom
+of Speech, and hesitated not to destroy human Life with these; reminded
+the Loyal People of the Union of much that was hateful, from which they
+had escaped; and strengthened the purpose of Patriots to fix in the
+chief corner-stone of the Constitution, imperishable muniments of human
+Liberty.</p>
+
+<p>Lovejoy's brother had been murdered at Alton, Illinois, while
+vindicating freedom of Speech and of the Press; and the blood of that
+martyr truly became "the seed of the Church." Arnold&mdash;recalling a
+speech of Owen Lovejoy's at Chicago, and a passage in it, descriptive of
+the martyrdom,&mdash;said to the House, on this sad occasion: "I remember
+that, after describing the scene of that death, in words&mdash;which stirred
+every heart, he said he went a pilgrim to his brother's grave, and,
+kneeling upon the sod beneath which sleeps that brother, he swore, by
+the everlasting God, eternal hostility to African Slavery." And,
+continued Arnold, "Well and nobly has he kept that oath."</p>
+
+<p>Washburne, too, reminded the House of the memorable episode in that very
+Hall when, (April 5, 1860), the adherents of Slavery crowding around
+Lovejoy with fierce imprecations and threats, seeking then and there to
+prevent Free Speech, "he displayed that undaunted courage and matchless
+bearing which extorted the admiration of even his most deadly foes."
+"His"&mdash;continued the same speaker&mdash;"was the eloquence of Mirabeau, which
+in the Tiers Etat and in the National Assembly made to totter the throne
+of France; it was the eloquence of Danton, who made all France to
+tremble from his tempestuous utterances in the National Convention.
+Like those apostles of the French Revolution, his eloquence could stir
+from the lowest depths all the passions of Man; but unlike them, he was
+as good and as pure as he was eloquent and brave, a noble minded
+Christian man, a lover of the whole human Race, and of universal Liberty
+regulated by Law."</p>
+
+<p>Grinnell, in his turn, told also with real pathos, of his having
+recently seen Lovejoy in the chamber of sickness. "When," said
+Grinnell, "I expressed fears for his recovery, I saw the tears course
+down his manly cheek, as he said 'Ah! God's will be done, but I have
+been laboring, voting, and praying for twenty years that I might see the
+great day of Freedom which is so near and which I hope God will let me
+live to rejoice in. I want a vote on my Bill for the destruction of
+Slavery, root and branch.'"</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p>
+ [Sumner, afterward speaking of Lovejoy and this Measure, said: "On
+ the 14th of December, 1863, he introduced a Bill, whose title
+ discloses its character: 'A Bill to give effect to the Declaration
+ of Independence, and also to certain Provisions of the Constitution
+ of the United States.' It proceeds to recite that All Men were
+ Created Equal, and were Endowed by the Creator with the Inalienable
+ Right to Life, Liberty and the Fruits of honest Toil; that the
+ Government of the United States was Instituted to Secure those
+ Rights; that the Constitution declares that No Person shall be
+ Deprived of Liberty without due Process of Law, and also
+ provides&mdash;article five, clause two&mdash;that this Constitution, and the Laws of
+ the United States made in pursuance thereof, shall be the Supreme
+ Law of the Land, and the Judges in each State shall be bound
+ thereby, anything in the Constitution and Laws of any State to the
+ contrary notwithstanding; that it is now demonstrated by the
+ Rebellion that Slavery is absolutely incompatible with the Union,
+ Peace, and General Welfare for which Congress is to Provide; and it
+ therefore Enacts that All Persons heretofore held in Slavery in any
+ of the States or Territories of the United States are declared
+ Freedmen, and are Forever Released from Slavery or Involuntary
+ Servitude except as Punishment for Crime on due conviction. On the
+ same day he introduced another Bill to Protect Freedmen and to
+ Punish any one for Enslaving them. These were among his last
+ Public acts,"&mdash;Cong. Globe, 1st S., 38th C., Pt. 2, p. 1334]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>And staunch old Thaddeus Stevens said: "The change to him, is great
+gain. The only regret we can feel is that he did not live to see the
+salvation of his Country; to see Peace and Union restored, and universal
+Emancipation given to his native land. But such are the ways of
+Providence. Moses was not permitted to enter the Promised Land with
+those he had led out of Bondage; he beheld it from afar off, and slept
+with his fathers." "The deceased," he impressively added, "needs no
+perishable monuments of brass or marble to perpetuate his name. So long
+as the English language shall be spoken or deciphered, so long as
+Liberty shall have a worshipper, his name will be known!"</p>
+
+<p>What influence the death of Owen Lovejoy may have had on the subsequent
+proceedings touching Emancipation interrupted as we have seen by his
+demise&mdash;cannot be known; but among all the eloquent tributes to his
+memory called forth by the mournful incident, perhaps none, could he
+have heard it, would have better pleased him than those two opening
+sentences of Charles Summer's oration in the Senate&mdash;where he said of
+Owen Lovejoy: "Could his wishes prevail, he would prefer much that
+Senators should continue in their seats and help to enact into Law some
+one of the several Measures now pending to secure the obliteration of
+Slavery. Such an Act would be more acceptable to him than any personal
+tribute,&mdash;" unless it might be these other words, which followed from
+the same lips: "How his enfranchised Soul would be elevated even in
+those Abodes to which he has been removed, to know that his voice was
+still heard on Earth encouraging, exhorting, insisting that there should
+be no hesitation anywhere in striking at Slavery; that this unpardonable
+wrong, from which alone the Rebellion draws its wicked life, must be
+blasted by Presidential proclamation, blasted by Act of Congress,
+blasted by Constitutional prohibition, blasted in every possible way, by
+every available agency, and at every occurring opportunity, so that no
+trace of the outrage may continue in the institutions of the Land, and
+especially that its accursed foot-prints may no longer defile the
+National Statute-book. Sir, it will be in vain that you pass
+Resolutions in tribute to him, if you neglect that Cause for which he
+lived, and do not hearken to his voice!"</p>
+
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<a name="trumbell"></a>
+<center>
+<img alt="p528-trumbell.jpg (65K)" src="images/p528-trumbell.jpg" height="827" width="584">
+</center>
+<br><br><br>
+<a name="ch23"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<h2>
+ CHAPTER XXIII.<br><br>
+
+ "THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT" IN THE SENATE.
+
+</h2>
+</center>
+<br>
+<p>During the great debate, which now opened in the Senate, upon the
+Judiciary Committee's substitute resolution for the Amendment of the
+Constitution, so as forever to prohibit Slavery within the United
+States, and to empower Congress to pass such laws as would make that
+prohibition effective&mdash;participated in by Messrs. Trumbull, Wilson,
+Saulsbury, Davis, Harlan, Powell, Sherman, Clark, Hale, Hendricks,
+Henderson, Sumner, McDougall and others&mdash;the whole history of Slavery
+was enquired into and laid bare.</p>
+
+<p>Trumbull insisted that Slavery was at the bottom of all the internal
+troubles with which the Nation had from its birth been afflicted, down
+to this wicked Rebellion, with all the resulting "distress, desolation,
+and death;" and that by 1860, it had grown to such power and arrogance
+that "its advocates demanded the control of the Nation in
+its interests, failing in which, they attempted its overthrow." He
+reviewed, at some length, what had been done by our Government with
+regard to Slavery, since the breaking out of hostilities against us in
+that mad attempt against the National life; how, "in the earlier stages
+of the War, there was an indisposition on the part of the Executive
+Authority to interfere with Slavery at all;" how, for a long time,
+Slaves, escaping to our lines, were driven back to their Rebel masters;
+how the Act of Congress of July, 1861, which gave Freedom to all Slaves
+allowed by their Rebel masters to assist in the erection of Rebel works
+and fortifications, had "not been executed," and, said Mr. Trumbull, "so
+far as I am advised, not a single Slave has been set at liberty under
+it;" how, "it was more than a year after its enactment before any
+considerable number of Persons of African descent were organized and
+armed" under the subsequent law of December, 1861, which not only gave
+Freedom to all Slaves entering our Military lines, or who, belonging to
+Rebel masters, were deserted by them, or were found in regions once
+occupied by Rebel forces and later by those of the Union, but also
+empowered the President to organize and arm them to aid in the
+suppression of the Rebellion; how, it was not until this law had been
+enacted that Union officers ceased to expel Slaves coming within our
+lines&mdash;and then only when dismissal from the public service was made the
+penalty for such expulsion; how, by his Proclamations of Emancipation,
+of September, 1862, and January, 1863, the President undertook to
+supplement Congressional action&mdash;which had, theretofore, been confined
+to freeing the Slaves of Rebels, and of such of these only as had come
+within the lines of our Military power-by also declaring, Free, the
+Slaves "who were in regions of country from which the authority of the
+United States was expelled;" and how, the "force and effect" of these
+Proclamations were variously understood by the enemies and friends of
+those measures&mdash;it being insisted on the one side that Emancipation as a
+War-stroke was within the Constitutional War-power of the President as
+Commander-in-Chief, and that, by virtue of those Proclamations, "all
+Slaves within the localities designated become ipso facto Free," and on
+the other, that the Proclamations were "issued without competent
+authority," and had not effected and could not effect, "the Emancipation
+of a single Slave," nor indeed could at any time, without additional
+legislation, go farther than to liberate Slaves coming within the Union
+Army lines.</p>
+
+<p>After demonstrating that "any and all these laws and Proclamations,
+giving to each the largest effect claimed by its friends, are
+ineffectual to the destruction of Slavery," and protesting that some
+more effectual method of getting rid of that Institution must be
+adopted, he declared, as his judgment, that "the only effectual way of
+ridding the Country of Slavery, so that it cannot be resuscitated, is by
+an Amendment of the Constitution forever prohibiting it within the
+jurisdiction of the United States."</p>
+
+<p>He then canvassed the chances of adoption of such an Amendment by an
+affirmative vote of two thirds in each House of Congress, and of its
+subsequent ratification by three-fourths of the States of the Union, and
+declared that "it is reasonable to suppose that if this proposed
+Amendment passes Congress, it will, within a year, receive the
+ratification of the requisite number of States to make it a part of the
+Constitution." His prediction proved correct&mdash;but only after a
+protracted struggle.</p>
+
+<p>Henry Wilson also made a strong speech, but on different grounds. He
+held that the Emancipation Proclamations formed, together, a "complete,
+absolute, and final decree of Emancipation in Rebel States," and, being
+"born of Military necessity" and "proclaimed by the Commander-in-Chief
+of the Army and Navy, is the settled and irrepealable Law of the
+Republic, to be observed, obeyed, and enforced, by Army and Navy, and is
+the irreversible voice of the Nation."</p>
+
+<p>He also reviewed what had been done since the outbreak of the Rebellion,
+by Congress and the President, by Laws and Proclamations; and, while
+standing by the Emancipation Proclamations, declared that "the crowning
+Act, in this series of Acts, for the restriction and extinction of
+Slavery in America, is this proposed Amendment to the Constitution
+prohibiting the existence of Slavery in the Republic of the United
+States."</p>
+
+<p>The Emancipation Proclamation, according to his view, only needed
+enforcement, to give "Peace and Order, Freedom and Unity, to a now
+distracted Country;" but the "crowning act" of incorporating this
+Amendment into the Constitution would do even more than all this, in
+that it would "obliterate the last lingering vestiges of the Slave
+System; its chattelizing, degrading, and bloody codes; its malignant,
+barbarizing spirit; all it was, and is; everything connected with it or
+pertaining to it, from the face of the Nation it has scarred with moral
+desolation, from the bosom of the Country it has reddened with the blood
+and strewn with the graves of patriotism."</p>
+
+<p>While the debate proceeded, President Lincoln watched it with careful
+interest. Other matters, however, had, since the Battle of Chattanooga,
+largely engrossed his attention.</p>
+
+<p>The right man had at last been found&mdash;it was believed&mdash;to control as
+well as to lead our Armies. That man was Ulysses S. Grant. The grade
+of Lieutenant General of the Army of the United States&mdash;in desuetude
+since the days of Washington, except by brevet, in the case of Winfield
+Scott,&mdash;having been especially revived by Congress for and filled by the
+appointment and confirmation of Grant, March 2, 1864, that great soldier
+immediately came on to Washington, received his commission at the hands
+of President Lincoln, in the cabinet chamber of the White House, on the
+9th, paid a flying visit to the Army of the Potomac, on the 10th, and at
+once returned to Nashville to plan future movements.</p>
+
+<p>On the 12th, a General Order of the War Department (No. 98) was issued,
+relieving Major-General Halleck, "at his own request," from duty as
+"General-in-Chief" of the Army, and assigning Lieutenant-General U. S.
+Grant to "the command of the Armies of the United States," "the
+Headquarters of the Army" to be in Washington, and also with
+Lieutenant-General Grant in the Field, Halleck being assigned to "duty, in
+Washington, as Chief-of-staff of the Army, under the direction of the
+Secretary of War and the Lieutenant-General commanding."</p>
+
+<p>By the same order, Sherman was assigned to the command of the "Military
+Division of the Mississippi," composed of the Departments of the Ohio,
+the Cumberland, the Tennessee, and the Arkansas; and McPherson to that
+of the Department and Army of the Tennessee.</p>
+
+<p>On the 23rd of March, Grant was back again at Washington, and at once
+proceeded to Culpepper Court-house, Virginia, where his Headquarters in
+the field were, for a time, to be.</p>
+
+<p>Here he completed his plans, and reorganized his Forces, for the coming
+conflicts, in the South-west and South-east, which were to result in a
+full triumph to the Union Arms, and Peace to a preserved Union.</p>
+
+<p>It is evident, from the utterances of Mr. Lincoln when Vicksburg fell,
+that he had then become pretty well satisfied that Grant was "the coming
+man," to whom it would be safe to confide the management and chief
+leadership of our Armies. Chattanooga merely confirmed that belief&mdash;as
+indeed it did that of Union men generally. But the concurrent judgment
+of Congress and the President had now, as we have seen, placed Grant in
+that chief command; and the consequent relief to Mr. Lincoln, in thus
+having the heavy responsibility of Army-control, long unwillingly
+exercised by him, taken from his own shoulders and placed upon those of
+the one great soldier in whom he had learned to have implicit faith,&mdash;a
+faith earned by steady and unvaryingly successful achievements in the
+Field&mdash;must have been most grateful.</p>
+
+<p>Other responsibilities would still press heavily enough upon the
+President's time and attention. Questions touching the Military and
+Civil government of regions of the Enemy's country, conquered by the
+Union arms; of the rehabilitation or reconstruction of the Rebel States;
+of a thousand and one other matters, of greater or lesser perplexity,
+growing out of these and other questions; besides the ever pressing and
+gigantic problems involved in the raising of enormous levies of troops,
+and prodigious sums of money, needed in securing, moving, and supplying
+them, and defraying the extraordinary expenses growing out of the
+necessary blockade of thousands of miles of Southern Coast, and other
+Naval movements; not to speak of those expenditures belonging to the
+more ordinary business transactions of the Government.</p>
+
+<p>But chief of all things claiming his especial solicitude, as we have
+seen, was this question of Emancipation by Constitutional enactment, the
+debate upon which was now proceeding in the Senate. That solicitude was
+necessarily increased by the bitter opposition to it of Northern
+Copperheads, and by the attitude of the Border-State men, upon whose
+final action, the triumph or defeat of this great measure must
+ultimately depend.</p>
+
+<p>Many of the latter, were, as has already been shown in these pages,
+loyal men; but the loyalty of some of these to their Country, was still
+so questionably and so thoroughly tainted with their worshipful devotion
+to Slavery&mdash;although they must have been blind indeed not to have
+discovered, long ere this, that it was a "slowly-dying cause"&mdash;that they
+were ever on the alert to delay, hamper, and defeat, any action, whether
+Executive or Legislative, and however necessary for the preservation of
+the Union and the overthrow of its mortal enemies, which, never so
+lightly, impinged upon their "sacred Institution."</p>
+
+<p>This fact was well set forth, in this very debate, by a Senator from New
+England&mdash;[Wilson of Massachusetts]&mdash;when, after adjuring the
+anti-Slavery men of the age, not to forget the long list of Slavery's crimes,
+he eloquently proceeded:</p>
+
+<p>"Let them remember, too, that hundreds of thousands of our countrymen in
+Loyal States&mdash;since Slavery raised the banners of Insurrection, and sent
+death, wounds, sickness, and sorrow, into the homes of the People&mdash;have
+resisted, and still continue to resist, any measure for the defense of
+the Nation, if that measure tended to impair the vital and animating
+powers of Slavery. They resisted the Act making Free the Slaves used by
+Rebels for Military purposes; the Confiscation of Rebel property and the
+Freedom of the Slaves of Rebel masters; the Abolition of Slavery in the
+Capital of the Nation, and the consecration of the Territories to Free
+Labor and Free laboring men; the Proclamation of Emancipation; the
+enlistment of Colored men to fight the battles of the Country; the
+Freedom of the Black soldier, who is fighting, bleeding, dying for the
+Country; and the Freedom of his wife and children. And now, when War
+has for nearly three years menaced the life of the Nation, bathed the
+Land in blood, and filled two hundred thousand graves with our slain
+sons, these men of the Loyal States still cling to the falling fortunes
+of the relentless and unappeasable Enemy of their Country and its
+democratic institutions; they mourn, and will not be comforted, over the
+expiring System, in the Border Slave-States; and, in tones of
+indignation or of anguish, they utter lamentations over the Proclamation
+of Emancipation, and the policy that is bringing Rebel States back again
+radiant with Freedom."</p>
+
+<p>Among these "loyal" Democratic opponents of Emancipation, in any shape,
+or any where, were not wanting men&mdash;whether from Loyal Northern or
+Border States&mdash;who still openly avowed that Slavery was right; that
+Rebellion, to preserve its continuance, was justifiable; and that there
+was no Constitutional method of uprooting it.</p>
+
+<p>Saulsbury of Delaware, was representative and spokesman of this class,
+and he took occasion during this very debate&mdash;[In the Senate, March 31,
+1864.]&mdash;to defend Slavery as a Divine Institution, which had the
+sanction both of the Mosaic and Christian Dispensations!</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [Said he: "Slavery had existed under some form or other from the
+ first period of recorded history. It dates back even beyond the
+ period of Abraham, the Father of the Faithful, in whose seed all
+ the Nations of the Earth were to be blessed. We find that,
+ immediately after the Flood, the Almighty, for purposes inscrutable
+ to us, condemned a whole race to Servitude: 'Vayomer Orur Knoan
+ Efet Afoatim Yeahio Le-echot:' 'And he said, Cursed be Canaan;
+ Slave of Slaves he shall be to his brethren.' It continued among
+ all people until the advent of the Christian era. It was
+ recognized in that New Dispensation, which was to supersede the
+ Old. It has the sanction of God's own Apostle; for when Paul sent
+ back Onesimus to Philemon, whom did he send? A Freeman? No, Sir.
+ He sent his (doulos,) a Slave, born as such, not even his
+ andrapodon, who was such by captivity in War. Among all people,
+ and in all ages, has this Institution, if such it is to be called,
+ existed, and had the countenance of wise and good men, and even of
+ the Christian Church itself, until these modern times, up at least
+ to the Nineteenth Century. It exists in this Country, and has
+ existed from the beginning."</p>
+
+<p> Mr. Harlan's reply to the position of Mr. Saulsbury that Slavery is
+ right, is a Divine Institution, etc., was very able and
+ interesting. He piled up authority after authority, English as
+ well as American, to show that there is no support of Slavery&mdash;and
+ especially of the title to services of the adult offspring of a
+ Slave&mdash;at Common Law; and, after also proving, by the mouth of a
+ favorite son of Virginia, that it has no legal existence by virtue
+ of any Municipal or Statutory Law, he declared that the only
+ remaining Law that can be cited for its support is the Levitical
+ Code"&mdash;as follows:</p>
+
+<p> "'Both thy Bondmen, and thy Bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall
+ be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy
+ Bondmen and Bondmaids.</p>
+
+<p> "'Moreover, of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among
+ you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you,
+ which they begat in your land; and they shall be your possession.</p>
+
+<p> "'And ye shall take them as an Inheritance for your children after
+ you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your Bondmen
+ forever."'</p>
+
+<p> "I remark," said he, "in this connection, that the Levitical Code,
+ or the Hebrew Law, contains a provision for the Naturalization of
+ Foreigners, whether captives of War, or voluntary emigrants. By
+ compliance with the requirements of this law they became citizens,
+ entitled to all the rights and privileges and immunities of native
+ Hebrews. The Hebrew Slave Code, applicable to Enslaved Hebrews, is
+ in these words:</p>
+
+<p> "'And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold
+ unto thee, and serve thee six years, then in the seventh year thou
+ shalt let him go Free from thee.'</p>
+
+<p> "Here I request the attention of those who claim compensation for
+ Emancipated Slaves to the text:</p>
+
+<p> "'And when thou sendest him out Free from thee, thou shalt not let
+ him go away empty:</p>
+
+<p> "'Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy floor'&mdash;</p>
+
+<p> "Which means granaries&mdash;</p>
+
+<p> "'and out of thy wine-press: of that wherewith the Lord thy God
+ hath blessed thee, thou shalt give unto him.'</p>
+
+<p> "'It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou sendest him away Free
+ from thee, for he hath been worth a double-hired servant to thee,
+ in serving thee six years.'</p>
+
+<p> "These Hebrew Statutes provide that the heathen might be purchased
+ and held as Slaves, and their posterity after them; that under
+ their Naturalization Laws all strangers and sojourners, Bond and
+ Free, have the privilege of acquiring the rights of citizenship;
+ that all Hebrews, natives or naturalized, might assert and maintain
+ their right to Freedom.</p>
+
+<p> "At the end of six years a Hebrew Slave thus demanding his Liberty,
+ was not to be sent away empty; the owner, so far from claiming
+ compensation from his neighbors or from the Public Treasury for
+ setting him Free, was bound to divide with the Freedman, of his own
+ possessions: to give him of his flocks, of his herds, of his
+ granary, and of his winepress, of everything with which the Lord
+ Almighty had blessed the master during the years of his Servitude;
+ and then the owner was admonished that he was not to regard it as a
+ hardship to be required to Liberate the Slave, and to divide with
+ him of his substance.</p>
+
+<p> "The Almighty places the Liberated Slave's claim to a division of
+ his former master's property on the eternal principles of Justice,
+ the duty to render an equivalent for an equivalent. The Slave
+ having served six years must be paid for his Service, must be paid
+ liberally because he had been worth even more than a hired servant
+ during the period of his enslavement.</p>
+
+<p> "If, then," continued Mr. Harlan, "the justice of this claim cannot
+ be found either in Reason, Natural Justice, or the principles of
+ the Common Law, or in any positive Municipal or Statute regulation
+ of any State, or in the Hebrew Code written by the Finger of God
+ protruded from the flame of fire on the summit of Sinai, I ask
+ whence the origin of the title to the services of the adult
+ offspring of the Slave mother? or is it not manifest that there is
+ no just title? Is it not a mere usurpation without any known mode
+ of justification, under any existing Code of Laws, human or
+ Divine?"]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>He also undertook to justify Secession on the singular ground that "we
+are sprung from a Race of Secessionists," the proof of which he held to
+be in the fact that, while the preamble to, as well as the body of the
+Convention of Ratification of, the old Articles of Confederation between
+the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and
+Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
+Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and
+Georgia, declared that Confederation to be a "Perpetual Union," yet,
+within nine years thereafter, all the other States Seceded from New
+York, Virginia, North Carolina, and Rhode Island by ratifying the new
+Constitution for "a more perfect Union."</p>
+
+<p>He also endeavored to maintain the extraordinary proposition that "if
+the Senate of the United States were to adopt this Joint-resolution, and
+were to submit it to all the States of this Union, and if three-fourths
+of the States should ratify the Amendment, it would not be binding on
+any State whose interest was affected by it, if that State protested
+against it!" And beyond all this, he re-echoed the old, old cry of the
+Border-state men, that "the time is unpropitious for such a measure as
+this."</p>
+
+<p>Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland, however, by his great speech, of April
+5th, in the Senate, did much to clear the tangle in the minds of some
+faltering Union statesmen on this important subject.</p>
+
+<p>He reviewed the question of human Slavery from the time when the
+Constitutional Convention was held; showed that at that period, as well
+as at the time of the Declaration of our Independence "there was but one
+sentiment upon the subject among enlightened Southern statesmen"&mdash;and
+that was, that Slavery "is a great affliction to any Country where it
+prevails;" and declared that "a prosperous and permanent Peace can never
+be secured if the Institution is permitted to survive."</p>
+
+<p>He then traversed the various methods by which statesmen were seeking to
+prevent that survival of Slavery, addressing himself by turns to the
+arguments of those who, with John Sherman, "seemed," said he, "to
+consider it as within the power of Congress by virtue of its Legislative
+authority;" to those of the "many well-judging men, with the President
+at their head, who," to again use his own words, "seem to suppose that
+it is within the reach of the Executive;" and lastly, to those "who
+express the opinion that it is not within the scope of either Executive
+or Legislative authority, or of Constitutional Amendment;" and after
+demolishing the arguments of those who held the two former of these
+positions, he proceeded to rebut the assumption that Slavery could not
+be abolished at all because it was not originally abolished by the
+Constitution.</p>
+
+<p>Continuing, he said: "Remember, now, the question is, can that
+Institution, which deals with Humanity as Property, which claims to
+shackle the mind, the soul, and the body, which brings to the level of
+the brute a portion of the race of Man, cease to be within the reach of
+the political power of the People of the United States, not because it
+was not at one time within their power, but because at that time they
+did not exert the power?</p>
+
+<p>"What says the Preamble to the Constitution? How pregnant with a
+conclusive answer is the Preamble, to the proposition that Slavery
+cannot be abolished! What does that Preamble state to have been the
+chief objects that the great and wise and good men had at heart, in
+recommending the Constitution, with that Preamble, to the adoption of
+the American People? That Justice might be established; that
+Tranquillity might be preserved; that the common Defense and general
+Welfare might be maintained; and, last and chief of all, that Liberty
+might be secured.</p>
+
+<p>"Is there no Justice in putting an end to human Slavery? Is there no
+danger to the Tranquillity of the Country in its existence? May it not
+interfere with the common Defense and general Welfare? And, above all,
+is it consistent with any notion, which the mind of man can conceive, of
+human Liberty?"</p>
+
+<p>He held that the very Amendatory clause of the Constitution under which
+it was proposed to make this Amendment, was probably inserted there from
+a conviction of that coming time "when Justice would call so loudly for
+the extinction of the Institution that her call could not be disobeyed,"
+and, when "the Peace and Tranquillity of the Land would demand, in
+thunder tones," its destruction, "as inconsistent with such Peace and
+Tranquillity."</p>
+
+<p>To the atrocious pretence that "there was a right to make a Slave of any
+human being"&mdash;which he said would have shocked every one of the framers
+of the Constitution had they heard it; and, what he termed, the nauseous
+declaration that "Slavery of the Black race is of Divine origin," and
+was intended to be perpetual; he said:</p>
+
+<p>"The Saviour of Mankind did not put an end to it by physical power, or
+by the declaration of any existing illegality, in word. His mission
+upon Earth was not to propagate His doctrines by force. He came to
+save, not to conquer. His purpose was not to march armed legions
+throughout the habitable Globe, securing the allegiance of those for
+whose safety He was striving. He warred by other influences. He aimed
+at the heart, principally. He inculcated his doctrines, more ennobling
+than any that the World, enlightened as it was before His advent upon
+Earth, had been able to discover. He taught to Man the obligation of
+brotherhood. He announced that the true duty of Man was to do to others
+as he would have others do to him&mdash;to all men, the World over; and
+unless some convert to the modern doctrine that Slavery itself finds not
+only a guarantee for its existence, but for its legal existence, in the
+Scripture, excepts from the operation of the influences which His
+morality brought to bear on the mind of the Christian world, the Black
+man, and shows that it was not intended to apply to Black men, then it
+is not true, it cannot be true, that He designed His doctrine not to be
+equally applicable to the Black and to the White, to the Race of Man as
+he then existed, or as he might exist in all after-time."</p>
+
+<p>To the assumption that the African Slaves were too utterly deficient and
+degraded, mentally and morally, to appreciate the blessings of Freedom,
+he opposed the eloquent fact that "wherever the flag of the United
+States, the symbol of human Liberty, now goes; under it, from their
+hereditary bondage, are to be found men and women and children
+assembling and craving its protection 'fleeing from' the iron of
+oppression that had pierced their souls, to the protection of that flag
+where they are 'gladdened by the light of Liberty.'"</p>
+
+<p>"It is idle to deny," said he&mdash;"we feel it in our own persons&mdash;how, with
+reference to that sentiment, all men are brethren. Look to the
+illustrations which the times now afford, how, in the illustration of
+that sentiment, do we differ from the Black man? He is willing to incur
+every personal danger which promises to result in throwing down his
+shackles, and making him tread the Earth, which God has created for all,
+as a man, and not as a Slave."</p>
+
+<p>Said he: "It is an instinct of the Soul. Tyranny may oppress it for
+ages and centuries; the pall of despotism may hang over it; but the
+sentiment is ever there; it kindles into a flame in the very furnace of
+affliction, and it avails itself of the first opportunity that offers,
+promising the least chance of escape, and wades through blood and
+slaughter to achieve it, and, whether it succeeds or fails,
+demonstrates, vindicates in the very effort, the inextinguishable right
+to Liberty."</p>
+
+<p>He thought that mischiefs might result from this measure, owing to the
+uneducated condition of the Slave, but they would be but temporary. At
+all events to "suffer those Africans," said he, "whom we are calling
+around our standard, and asking to aid us in restoring the Constitution
+and the power of the Government to its rightful authority, to be reduced
+to bondage again," would be "a disgrace to the Nation." The
+"Institution" must be terminated.</p>
+
+<p>"Terminate it," continued he, "and the wit of man will, as I think, be
+unable to devise any other topic upon which we can be involved in a
+fratricidal strife. God and nature, judging by the history of the past,
+intend us to be one. Our unity is written in the mountains and the
+rivers, in which we all have an interest. The very differences of
+climate render each important to the other, and alike important.</p>
+
+<p>"That mighty horde which, from time to time, have gone from the
+Atlantic, imbued with all the principles of human Freedom which animated
+their fathers in running the perils of the mighty Deep and seeking
+Liberty here, are now there; and as they have said, they will continue
+to say, until time shall be no more: 'We mean that the Government in
+future shall be, as it has been in the past&mdash;Once an exemplar of human
+Freedom, for the light and example of the World; illustrating in the
+blessings and the happiness it confers, the truth of the principles
+incorporated into the Declaration of Independence, that Life and Liberty
+are Man's inalienable right."</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately the Democratic opposition, in the Senate, to
+this measure, was too small in numbers to beat the proposed Amendment,
+but by offering amendments to it, its enemies succeeded in delaying its
+adoption.</p>
+
+<p>However, on the 5th of April, an amendment, offered by Garrett Davis,
+was acted upon. It was to strike out all after the preamble of the
+XIIIth Article of Amendment to the Constitution, proposed by the
+Judiciary Committee, and insert the words:</p>
+
+<p>"No Negro, or Person whose mother or grandmother is or was a Negro,
+shall be a citizen of the United States and be eligible to any Civil or
+Military office, or to any place of trust or profit under the United
+States."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Davis's amendment was rejected by a vote of 5 yeas to 32 nays; when
+he immediately moved to amend, by adding precisely the same words at the
+end of Section 1 of the proposed Article. It was again rejected. He
+then moved to amend by adding to the said Section these words:</p>
+
+<p>"But no Slave shall be entitled to his or her Freedom under this
+Amendment if resident at the time it takes effect in any State, the laws
+of which forbid Free Negroes to reside therein, until removed from such
+State by the Government of the United States."</p>
+
+<p>This also was rejected. Whereupon Mr. Powell moved to add, at the end
+of the first Section, the words:</p>
+
+<p>"No Slave shall be Emancipated by this Article unless the owner thereof
+shall be first paid the value of the Slave or Slaves so Emancipated."</p>
+
+<p>This likewise was rejected, on a yea and nay vote, by 2 yeas (Davis and
+Powell) to 34 nays; when Mr. Davis moved another amendment, viz.: to add
+at the end of Section 2 of the proposed Article, the following:</p>
+
+<p>"And when this Amendment of the Constitution shall have taken effect by
+Freeing the Slaves, Congress shall provide for the distribution and
+settlement of all the population of African descent in the United States
+among the several States and Territories thereof, in proportion to the
+White population of each State and Territory to the aggregate population
+of those of African descent."</p>
+
+<p>This met a like fate; whereupon the Senate adjourned, but, on the
+following day, the matter came up again for consideration:</p>
+
+<p>Hale, of New Hampshire, jubilantly declared that "this is a day that I
+and many others have long wished for, long hoped for, long striven for.
+* * * A day when the Nation is to commence its real life; or, if it is
+not the day, it is the dawning of the day; the day is near at hand * * *
+when the American People are to wake up to the meaning of the sublime
+truths which their fathers uttered years ago, and which have slumbered,
+dead-letters, upon the pages of our Constitution, of our Declaration of
+Independence, and of our history."</p>
+
+<p>McDougall, of California, on the other hand,&mdash;utterly regardless of the
+grandly patriotic resolutions of the Legislature of his State, which had
+just been presented to the Senate by his colleague&mdash;lugubriously
+declared:</p>
+
+<p>"In my judgment, it may well be said of us:</p>
+
+<center> 'Let the Heavens be hung in black<br>
+ And let the Earth put mourning on,'</center>
+
+<p>for in the history of no Free People, since the time the Persians came
+down upon Athens, have I known as melancholy a period as this day and
+year of Our Lord in our history; and if we can, by the blessing of God
+and by His favor, rise above it, it will be by His special providence,
+and by no act of ours."</p>
+
+<p>The obstructive tactics were now resumed, Mr. Powell leading off by a
+motion to amend, by adding to the Judiciary Committee's proposed
+Thirteenth Article of the Constitution, the following:</p>
+
+<p>"ART. 14.&mdash;The President and Vice-President shall hold their Offices for
+the term of four&mdash;[Which he subsequently modified to:
+'six years']&mdash;years. The person who has filled the Office of President shall not be
+reeligible."</p>
+
+<p>This amendment was rejected by 12 yeas to 32 nays; whereupon Mr. Powell
+moved to add to the Committee's Proposition another new Article, as
+follows:</p>
+
+<p>"ART. 14.&mdash;The principal Officer in each of the Executive Departments,
+and all persons connected with the Diplomatic Service, may be removed
+from office at the pleasure of the President. All other officers of the
+Executive Departments may be removed at any time by the President or
+other appointing power when their services are unnecessary, or for
+dishonesty, incapacity, inefficiency, misconduct, or neglect of duty,
+and when so removed, the removal shall be reported to the Senate,
+together with the reasons therefor."</p>
+
+<p>This amendment also being rejected, Mr. Powell offered another, which
+was to add a separate Article as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"ART. 14.&mdash;Every law, or Resolution having the force of law, shall
+relate to but one subject, and that shall be expressed in its title."</p>
+
+<p>This also being rejected&mdash;the negative vote being, as in other cases,
+without reference to the merits of the proposition&mdash;and Mr. Powell
+having now apparently exhausted his obstructive amendatory talents, Mr.
+Davis came to the aid of his Kentucky colleague by moving an amendment,
+to come in as an additional Article, being a new plan of Presidential
+election designed to do away with the quadrennial Presidential campaign
+before the People by giving to each State the right to nominate one
+candidate, and leaving it to a Convention of both Houses of
+Congress&mdash;and, in case of disagreement, to the Supreme Court of the United States
+&mdash;to elect a President and a Vice-President.</p>
+
+<p>The rejection of this proposition apparently exhausted the stock of
+possible amendments possessed by the Democratic opposition, and the
+Joint Resolution, precisely as it came from the Judiciary Committee,
+having been agreed to by that body, "as in Committee of the Whole," was
+now, April 6th, reported to the Senate for its concurrence.</p>
+
+<p>On the following day, Mr. Hendricks uttered a lengthy jeremiad on the
+War, and its lamentable results; intimated that along the Mississippi,
+the Negroes, freed by the advance of our invading Armies and Navies,
+instead of being happy and industrious, were without protection or
+provision and almost without clothing, while at least 200,000 of them
+had prematurely perished, and that such was the fate reserved for the
+4,000,000 Negroes if liberated; and declared he would not vote for the
+Resolution, "because," said he, "the times are not auspicious."</p>
+
+<p>Very different indeed was the attitude of Mr. Henderson, of Missouri,
+Border-State man though he was. In the course of a speech, of much
+power, which he opened with an allusion to the 115,000 Slaves owned in
+his State in 1860&mdash;as showing how deeply interested Missouri "must be in
+the pending proposition"&mdash;the Senator announced that: "Our great
+interest, as lovers of the Union, is in the preservation and
+perpetuation of the Union." He declared himself a Slaveholder, yet none
+the less desired the adoption of this Thirteenth Article of Amendment,
+for, said he: "We cannot save the Institution if we would. We ought not
+if we could. * * * If it were a blessing, I, for one, would be
+defending it to the last. It is a curse, and not a blessing. Therefore
+let it go. * * * Let the iniquity be cast away!"</p>
+
+<p>It was about this time that a remarkable letter written by Mr. Lincoln
+to a Kentuckian, on the subject of Emancipation, appeared in print. It
+is interesting as being not alone the President's own statement of his
+views, from the beginning, as to Slavery, and how he came to be "driven"
+to issue the Proclamation of Emancipation, and as showing how the Union
+Cause had gained by its issue, but also in disclosing, indirectly, how
+incessantly the subject was revolved in his own mind, and urged by him
+upon the minds of others. The publication of the letter, moreover, was
+not without its effect on the ultimate action of the Congress and the
+States in adopting the Thirteenth Amendment. It ran thus:</p>
+
+<br><br><br><br>
+
+<p> "EXECUTIVE MANSION.<br>
+ "WASHINGTON, April 4, 1864.</p>
+
+<p>"A. G. HODGES, Esq., Frankfort, Ky.</p>
+
+<p>"MY DEAR SIR: You ask me to put in writing the substance of&mdash;what I
+verbally said the other day, in your presence, to Governor Bramlette and
+Senator Dixon. It was about as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"I am naturally anti-Slavery. If Slavery is not wrong, nothing is
+wrong. I cannot remember when I did not so think and feel, and yet I
+have never understood that the 'Presidency conferred upon me an
+unrestricted right to act officially upon this judgment and feeling.</p>
+
+<p>"It was in the oath I took, that I would to the best of my ability
+preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. I
+could not take the Office without taking the oath. Nor was it my view
+that I might take an oath to get power, and break the oath in using the
+power.</p>
+
+<p>"I understood, too, that in ordinary and Civil Administration this oath
+even forbade me to practically indulge my primary abstract judgment on
+the moral question of Slavery. I had publicly declared this many times,
+and in many ways.</p>
+
+<p>"And I aver that, to this day, I have done no Official act in mere
+deference to my abstract judgment and feeling on Slavery.</p>
+
+<p>"I did understand, however, that my oath to preserve the Constitution to
+the best of my ability, imposed upon me the duty of preserving by every
+indispensable means, that Government&mdash;that Nation, of which that
+Constitution was the Organic Law.</p>
+
+<p>"Was it possible to lose the Nation and yet preserve the Constitution?</p>
+
+<p>"By General Law, life and limb must be protected; yet often a limb must
+be amputated to save a life; but a life is never wisely given to save a
+limb. I felt that measures, otherwise Unconstitutional, might become
+lawful, by becoming Indispensable to the Constitution through the
+preservation of the Nation.</p>
+
+<p>"Right or wrong, I assumed this ground, and now avow it. I could not
+feel that, to the best of my ability, I have even tried to preserve the
+Constitution, if, to save Slavery, or any minor matter, I should permit
+the wreck of Government, Country, and Constitution, altogether.</p>
+
+<p>"When, early in the War, General Fremont attempted Military
+Emancipation, I forbade it, because I did not then think it an
+Indispensable Necessity.</p>
+
+<p>"When, a little later, General Cameron, then Secretary of War, suggested
+the Arming of the Blacks, I objected, because I did not yet think it an
+Indispensable Necessity.</p>
+
+<p>"When, still later, General Hunter attempted Military Emancipation, I
+again forbade it, because I did not yet think the Indispensable
+Necessity had come.</p>
+
+<p>"When in March, and May, and July, 1862, I made earnest and successive
+appeals to the Border-States to favor compensated Emancipation, I
+believed the Indispensable Necessity for Military Emancipation and
+arming the Blacks would come, unless averted by that measure.</p>
+
+<p>"They declined the proposition, and I was, in my best judgment, driven
+to the alternative of either surrendering the Union, and with it, the
+Constitution, or of laying strong hand upon the Colored element. I
+chose the latter. In choosing it, I hoped for greater gain than loss,
+but of this I was not entirely confident.</p>
+
+<p>"More than a year of trial now shows no loss by it in our Foreign
+Relations, none in our home popular sentiment, none in our white
+Military force, no loss by it anyhow, or anywhere. On the contrary, it
+shows a gain of quite a hundred and thirty thousand soldiers, seamen,
+and laborers.</p>
+
+<p>"These are palpable facts, about which, as facts, there can be no
+cavilling. We have the men; and we could not have had them without the
+measure.</p>
+
+<p>"And now let any Union man who complains of this measure, test himself
+by writing down in one line, that he is for subduing the Rebellion by
+force of arms; and in the next, that he is for taking one hundred and
+thirty thousand men from the Union side, and placing them where they
+would be best for the measure he condemns. If he cannot face his case
+so stated, it is only because he cannot face the truth.</p>
+
+<p>"I add a word which was not in the verbal conversation. In telling this
+tale, I attempt no compliment to my own sagacity. I claim not to have
+controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me.
+Now at the end of three years' struggle, the Nation's condition is not
+what either Party, or any man, devised or expected. God alone can claim
+it.</p>
+
+<p>"Whither it is tending seems plain. If God now wills the removal of a
+great wrong, and wills also that we of the North, as well as you of the
+South, shall pay fairly for our complicity in that wrong, impartial
+history will find therein new causes to attest and revere the Justice
+and goodness of God.<br>
+ "Yours truly,<br>
+ "A. LINCOLN."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+The 8th of April (1864) turned out to be the decisive field-day in the
+Senate. Sumner endeavored to close the debate on that day in a speech
+remarkable no less for its power and eloquence of statement, its
+strength of Constitutional exposition, and its abounding evidences of
+extensive historical research and varied learning, than for its
+patriotic fervor and devotion to human Freedom.</p>
+
+<p>Toward the end of that great speech, however, he somewhat weakened its
+force by suggesting a change in the phraseology of the proposed
+Thirteenth Amendment, so that, instead of almost precisely following the
+language of the Jeffersonian Ordinance of 1787, as recommended by the
+Judiciary Committee of the Senate, it should read thus:</p>
+
+<p>"All Persons are Equal before the Law, so that no person can hold
+another as a Slave; and the Congress may make all laws necessary and
+proper to carry this Article into effect everywhere within the United
+States and the jurisdiction thereof."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Sumner's idea in antagonizing the Judiciary Committee's proposition
+with this, was to introduce into our Organic Act, distinctive words
+asserting the "Equality before the Law" of all persons, as expressed in
+the Constitutional Charters of Belgium, Italy and Greece, as well as in
+the various Constitutions of France&mdash;beginning with that of September,
+1791, which declared (Art. 1) that "Men are born and continue Free and
+Equal in Rights;" continuing in that of June, 1793, which declares that
+"All Men are Equal by Nature and before the Law:" in that of June, 1814,
+which declares that "Frenchmen are Equal before the Law, whatever may be
+otherwise their title and ranks;" and in the Constitutional Charter of
+August, 1830 in similar terms to the last.</p>
+
+<p>"But," said he, "while desirous of seeing the great rule of Freedom
+which we are about to ordain, embodied in a text which shall be like the
+precious casket to the more precious treasure, yet * * * I am consoled
+by the thought that the most homely text containing such a rule will be
+more beautiful far than any words of poetry or eloquence, and that it
+will endure to be read with gratitude when the rising dome of this
+Capitol, with the Statue of Liberty which surmounts it, has crumbled to
+dust."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Sumner's great speech, however, by no means ended the debate. It
+brought Mr. Powell to his feet with a long and elaborate contention
+against the general proposition, in the course of which he took occasion
+to sneer at Sumner's "most remarkable effort," as one of his "long
+illogical rhapsodies on Slavery, like:</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> '&mdash;a Tale
+ Told by an Idiot, full of sound and fury,
+ Signifying nothing.'"</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>He professed that he wanted "the Union to be restored with the
+Constitution as it is;" that he verily believed the passage of this
+Amendment would be "the most effective Disunion measure that could be
+passed by Congress"&mdash;and, said he, "As a lover of the Union I oppose
+it."</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [This phrase slightly altered, in words, but not in meaning, to
+ "The Union as it was, and the Constitution as it is," afterward
+ became the Shibboleth under which the Democratic Party in the
+ Presidential Campaign of 1864, marched to defeat.]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>He endeavored to impute the blame for the War, to the northern
+Abolitionists, for, said he: "Had there been no Abolitionists, North,
+there never would have been a Fire-eater, South,"&mdash;apparently ignoring
+the palpable fact that had there been no Slavery in the South, there
+could have been no "Abolitionists, North."</p>
+
+<p>He heatedly denounced the "fanatical gentlemen" who desired the passage
+of this measure; declared they intended by its passage "to destroy the
+Institution of Slavery or to destroy the Union," and exclaimed: "Pass
+this Amendment and you make an impassable chasm, as if you were to put a
+lake of burning fire, between the adhering States and those who are out.
+You will then have to make it a War of conquest and extermination before
+you can ever bring them back under the flag of the Government. There is
+no doubt about that proposition."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Sumner, at this point, withdrew his proposed amendment, at the
+suggestion of Mr. Howard, who expressed a preference "to dismiss all
+reference to French Constitutions and French Codes, and go back to the
+good old Anglo-Saxon language employed by our Fathers, in the Ordinance
+of 1787, (in) an expression adjudicated upon repeatedly, which is
+perfectly well understood both by the public and by Judicial
+Tribunals&mdash;a phrase, which is peculiarly near and dear to the people of the
+Northwestern Territory, from whose soil Slavery was excluded by it."</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [The following is the language of "the Ordinance of 1787" thus
+ referred to:</p>
+
+<p> "ART. 6.&mdash;There shall be neither Slavery nor Involuntary Servitude
+ in the said Territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes,
+ whereof the party shall have been duly convicted: * * *."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>Mr. Davis thereupon made another opposition speech and, at its
+conclusion, Mr. Saulsbury offered, as a substitute, an Article,
+comprising no less than twenty sections&mdash;that, he said, "embodied in
+them some things" which "did not meet his personal approbation," but he
+had consented to offer them to the Senate as "a Compromise"&mdash;as "a Peace
+offering."</p>
+
+<p>The Saulsbury substitute being voted down, the debate closed with a
+speech by Mr. McDougall&mdash;an eloquent protest from his standpoint, in
+which, after endorsing the wild statement of Mr. Hendricks that 250,000
+of the people of African descent had been prematurely destroyed on the
+Mississippi, he continued.</p>
+
+<p>"This policy will ingulf them. It is as simple a truth as has ever been
+taught by any history. The Slaves of ancient time were not the Slaves
+of a different Race. The Romans compelled the Gaul and the Celt,
+brought them to their own Country, and some of them became great poets,
+and some eloquent orators, and some accomplished wits, and they became
+citizens of the Republic of Greece, and of the Republic of Rome, and of
+the Empire.</p>
+
+<p>"This is not the condition of these persons with whom we are now
+associated, and about whose affairs we undertake to establish
+administration. They can never commingle with us. It may not be within
+the reading of some learned Senators, and yet it belongs to demonstrated
+Science, that the African race and the European are different; and I
+here now say it as a fact established by science, that the eighth
+generation of the Mixed race formed by the union of the African and
+European, cannot continue their species. Quadroons have few children;
+with Octoroons reproduction is impossible.</p>
+
+<p>"It establishes as a law of nature that the African has no proper
+relation to the European, Caucasian, blood. I would have them kindly
+treated. * * * Against all such policy and all such conduct I shall
+protest as a man, in the name of humanity, and of law, and of truth, and
+of religion."</p>
+
+<p>The amendment made, as in Committee of the Whole, having been concurred
+in, etc., the Joint Resolution, as originally reported by the Judiciary
+Committee, was at last passed, (April 8th)&mdash;by a vote of 38 yeas to 6
+nays&mdash;Messrs. Hendricks and McDougall having the unenviable distinction
+of being the only two Senators, (mis-)representing Free States, who
+voted against this definitive Charter of American Liberty.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [The full Senate vote, on passing the Thirteenth Amendment, was:</p>
+
+<p> YEAS&mdash;Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Chandler, Clark, Collamer, Conness,
+ Cowan, Dixon, Doolittle, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Hale,
+ Harding, Harlan, Harris, Henderson, Howard, Howe, Johnson, Lane of
+ Indiana, Lane of Kansas, Morgan, Morrill, Nesmith, Pomeroy, Ramsey,
+ Sherman, Sprague, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Van Winkle, Wade,
+ Wilkinson, Willey, and Wilson&mdash;38.</p>
+
+<p> NAYs&mdash;Messrs. Davis, Hendricks, McDougall, Powell, Riddle, and
+ Saulsbury.]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<a name="wade"></a>
+<center>
+<img alt="p552-wade.jpg (82K)" src="images/p552-wade.jpg" height="872" width="581">
+</center>
+<br><br><br>
+<a name="ch24"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<h2>
+ CHAPTER XXIV.<br><br>
+
+ TREASON IN THE NORTHERN CAMPS.
+
+</h2>
+</center>
+<br>
+
+
+<p>The immortal Charter of Freedom had, as we have seen, with comparative
+ease, after a ten days' debate, by the power of numbers, run the
+gauntlet of the Senate; but now it was to be subjected to the much more
+trying and doubtful ordeal of the House. What would be its fate there?
+This was a question which gave to Mr. Lincoln, and the other friends of
+Liberty and Union, great concern.</p>
+
+<p>It is true that various votes had recently been taken in that body, upon
+propositions which had an indirect bearing upon the subject of
+Emancipation, as, for instance, that of the 1st of February, 1864, when,
+by a vote of 80 yeas to 46 nays, it had adopted a Resolution declaring
+"That a more vigorous policy to enlist, at an early day, and in larger
+numbers, in our Army, persons of African descent, would meet the
+approbation of the House;" and that vote, although indirect, being so
+very nearly a two-thirds vote, was most encouraging. But, on the other
+hand, a subsequent Resolution, squarely testing the sense of the House
+upon the subject, had been carried by much less than a two-thirds vote.</p>
+
+<p>This latter Resolution, offered by Mr. Arnold, after conference with Mr.
+Lincoln, with the very purpose of making a test, was in these direct
+terms:</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved, That the Constitution shall be so amended as to Abolish
+Slavery in the United States wherever it now exists, and to prohibit its
+existence in every part thereof forever."</p>
+
+<p>The vote, adopting it, was but 78 yeas to 62 nays. * This vote,
+therefore, upon the Arnold Resolution, being nowhere near the two-thirds
+affirmative vote necessary to secure the passage through the House of
+the Senate Joint Resolution on this subject amendatory of the
+Constitution, was most discouraging.</p>
+
+<p>It was definite enough, however, to show the necessity of a change from
+the negative to the affirmative side of at least fifteen votes. While
+therefore the outlook was discouraging it was far from hopeless. The
+debate in the Senate had already had its effect upon the public mind.
+That, and the utterances of Mr. Lincoln&mdash;and further discussion in the
+House, it was thought, might produce such a pressure from the loyal
+constituencies both in the Free and Border Slave-States as to compel
+success.</p>
+
+<p>But from the very beginning of the year 1864, as if instinctively aware
+that their Rebel friends were approaching the crisis of their fate, and
+needed now all the help that their allies of the North could give them,
+the Anti-War Democrats, in Congress, and out, had been stirring
+themselves with unusual activity.</p>
+
+<p>In both Houses of Congress, upon all possible occasions, they had been
+striving, as they still strove, with the venom of their
+widely-circulated speeches, to poison the loyal Northern and Border-State mind,
+in the hope that the renomination of Mr. Lincoln might be defeated, the
+chance for Democratic success at the coming Presidential election be
+thereby increased, and, if nothing else came of it, the Union Cause be
+weakened and the Rebel Cause correspondingly strengthened.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time, evidently under secret instructions from their
+friends, the Conspirators in arms, they endeavored to create
+heart-burnings and jealousies and ill-feeling between the Eastern (especially
+the New England) States and the Western States, and unceasingly attacked
+the Protective-Tariff, Internal Revenue, the Greenback, the Draft, and
+every other measure or thing upon which the life of the Union depended.</p>
+
+<p>Most of these Northern-Democratic agitators, "Stealing the livery of
+Heaven to serve the Devil in," endeavored to conceal their treacherous
+designs under a veneer of gushing lip-loyalty, but that disguise was
+"too thin" to deceive either their contemporaries or those who come
+after them. Some of their language too, as well as their blustering
+manner, strangely brought back to recollection the old days of Slavery
+when the plantation-whip was cracked in the House, and the air was blue
+with execration of New England.</p>
+
+<p>Said Voorhees, of Indiana, (January 11, 1864) when the House was
+considering a Bill "to increase the Internal Revenue and for other
+purposes:"</p>
+
+<p>"I want to know whether the West has any friends upon the floor of this
+House? We pay every dollar that is to be levied by this Tax Bill. * *
+* The Manufacturing Interest pays not a dollar into the public Treasury
+that stays there. And yet airs of patriotism are put on here by men
+representing that interest. I visited New England last Summer, * * *
+when I heard the swelling hum of her Manufactories, and saw those who
+only a short time ago worked but a few hands, now working their
+thousands, and rolling up their countless wealth, I felt that it was an
+unhealthy prosperity. To my mind it presented a wealth wrung from the
+labor, the sinews, the bone and muscle of the men who till the soil,
+taxed to an illegitimate extent to foster and support that great System
+of local wealth. * * * I do not intend to stand idly by and see one
+portion of the Country robbed and oppressed for the benefit of another."</p>
+
+<p>And the same day, replying to Mr. Morrill of Vermont, he exclaimed: "Let
+him show me that the plethoric, bloated Manufacturers of New England are
+paying anything to support the Government, and I will recognize it."</p>
+
+<p>Washburne, of Illinois got back at this part of Mr. Voorhees's speech
+rather neatly, by defending the North-west as being "not only willing to
+stand taxation" which had been "already imposed, but * * * any
+additional taxation which," said he, "may be necessary to crush out this
+Rebellion, and to hang the Rebels in the South, and the Rebel
+sympathizers in the North." And, he pointedly added: "Complaint has
+been made against New England. I know that kind of talk. I have heard
+too often that kind of slang about New England. I heard it here for ten
+years, when your Barksdales, and your Keitts's, and your other Traitors,
+now in arms against the Government, filled these Halls with their
+pestilential assaults not only upon New England, but on the Free North
+generally."</p>
+
+<p>Kelley of Pennsylvania, however, more fitly characterized the speech of
+Voorhees, when he termed it "a pretty, indeed a somewhat striking,
+paraphrase of the argument of Mr. Lamar, the Rebel Agent,&mdash;[in 1886,
+Secretary of the Interior]&mdash;to his confreres in Treason, as we find it
+in the recently published correspondence: 'Drive gold coin out of the
+Country, and induce undue Importation of Foreign products so as to
+strike down the Financial System. You can have no further hope for
+Foreign recognition. It is evident the weight of arms is against us;
+and it is clear that we can only succeed by striking down the Financial
+System of the Country.' It was an admirable paraphrase of the
+Instructions of Mr. Lamar to the Rebel Agents in the North."</p>
+
+<p>The impression was at this time abroad, and there were not wanting
+elements of proof, that certain members of Congress were trusted
+Lieutenants of the Arch-copperhead and Outlaw, Vallandigham. Certain it
+is, that many of these leaders, six months before, attended and
+addressed the great gathering from various parts of the Country, of
+nearly one hundred thousand Vallandigham-Anti-War Peace-Democrats, at
+Springfield, Illinois&mdash;the very home of Abraham Lincoln&mdash;which adopted,
+during a lull, when they were not yelling themselves hoarse for
+Vallandigham, a resolution declaring against "the further offensive
+prosecution of the War" as being subversive of the Constitution and
+Government, and proposing a National Peace Convention, and, as a
+consequence, Peace, "the Union as it was," and, substantially such
+Constitutional guarantees as the Rebels might choose to demand! And
+this too, at a time (June 13, 1863), when Grant, after many recent
+glorious victories, had been laying siege to Vicksburg, and its Rebel
+Army of 37,000 men, for nearly a month, with every reason to hope for
+its speedy fall.</p>
+
+<p>No wonder that under such circumstances, the news of such a gathering of
+the Northern Democratic sympathizers with Treason, and of their adoption
+of such treasonable Resolutions, should encourage the Rebels in the same
+degree that Union men were disheartened! No wonder that Lee, elated by
+this and other evidences of Northern sympathy with Rebellion, at once
+determined to commence a second grand invasion of the North, and on the
+very next day (June 14th,) moved Northward with all his Rebel hosts to
+be welcomed, he fondly hoped, by his Northern friends of Maryland and
+elsewhere! As we have seen, it took the bloody Battle of Gettysburg to
+undeceive him as to the character of that welcome.</p>
+
+<p>Further than this, Mr. Cox had stumped Ohio, in the succeeding election,
+in a desperate effort to make the banished Traitor, Vallandigham&mdash;the
+Chief Northern commander of the "Knights of the Golden Circle"
+(otherwise known as the "Order of the Sons of Liberty," and "O. A. K."
+or "Order of American Knights")&mdash;Governor of that great State.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [The Rebel General Sterling Price being the chief Southern
+ commander of this many-named treasonable organization, which in the
+ North alone numbered over 500,000 men.</p>
+
+<p> August, 1864.&mdash;See Report of Judge Advocate Holt on certain "Secret
+ Associations," in Appendix,]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>And it only lacked a few months of the time when quantities of copies of
+the treasonable Ritual of the "Order of American Knights"&mdash;as well as
+correspondence touching the purchase of thousands of Garibaldi rifles
+for transportation to the West&mdash;were found in the offices of leading
+Democrats then in Congress.</p>
+
+<p>When, therefore, it is said, and repeated, that there were not wanting
+elements of proof, outside of Congressional utterances and actions, that
+leading Democrats in Congress were trusted Lieutenants of the Supreme
+Commander of over half a million of Northern Rebel-sympathizers bound
+together, and to secrecy, by oaths, which were declared to be paramount
+to all other oaths, the violation of which subjected the offender to a
+shameful death somewhat like that, of being "hung, drawn, and
+quartered," which was inflicted in the middle ages for the crime of
+Treason to the Crown&mdash;it will be seen that the statement is supported by
+circumstantial, if not by positive and direct, evidence.</p>
+
+<p>Whether the Coxes, the Garret Davises, the Saulsburys, the Fernando
+Woods, the Alexander Longs, the Allens, the Holmans, and many other
+prominent Congressmen of that sort,&mdash;were merely in close communion with
+these banded "Knights," or were actual members of their secret
+organizations, may be an open question. But it is very certain that if
+they all were not oath-bound members, they generally pursued the precise
+methods of those who were; and that, as a rule, while they often loudly
+proclaimed loyalty and love for the Union, they were always ready to act
+as if their loyalty and love were for the so-called Confederacy.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, it was one of these other "loyal" Democrats, who even preceded
+Voorhees, in raising the Sectional cry of: The West, against New
+England. It was on this same Internal Revenue Bill, that Holman of
+Indiana had, the day before Voorhees's attack, said:</p>
+
+<p>"If the Manufacture of the Northwest is to be taxed so heavily, a
+corresponding rate of increase must be imposed on the Manufactures of
+New England and Pennsylvania, or, will gentlemen tax us without limit
+for the benefit of their own Section? * * * I protest against what I
+believe is intended to be a discrimination against one Section of the
+Country, by increasing the tax three-fold, without a corresponding
+increase upon the burdens of other Sections."</p>
+
+<p>But these dreadfully "loyal" Democrats&mdash;who did the bidding of
+traitorous masters in their Treason to the Union, and thus, while
+posturing as "Patriots," "fired upon the rear" of our hard-pressed
+Armies&mdash;were super-sensitive on this point. And, when they could get
+hold of a quiet sort of a man, inclined to peaceful methods of
+discussion, how they would, terrier-like, pounce upon him, and extract
+from him, if they could, some sort of negative satisfaction!</p>
+
+<p>Thus, for instance, on the 22nd of January, when one of these quiet men
+&mdash;Morris of New York&mdash;was in the midst of an inoffensive speech, Mr. Cox
+"bristled up," and blusteringly asked whether he meant to say that he
+(Cox) had "ever been the apologist or the defender of a Traitor?"</p>
+
+<p>And Morris not having said so, mildly replied that he did "not so
+charge"&mdash;all of which little bit of by-play hugely pleased the touchy
+Mr. Cox, and his clansmen.</p>
+
+<p>But on the day following, their smiles vanished under the words of
+Spalding or Ohio, who, after referring to the crocodile-tears shed by
+Democratic Congressmen over the Confiscation Resolution&mdash;on the pretense
+that it would hunt down "innocent women and children" of the Rebels,
+when they had never a word of sympathy for the widows and children of
+the two hundred thousand dead soldiers of the Union&mdash;continued:</p>
+
+<p>"They can see our poor soldiers return, minus an arm, minus a leg, as
+they pass through these lobbies, but their only care is to protect the
+property of Rebels. And we are asked by one of my colleagues, (Mr. Cox)
+does the gentleman from New York intend to call us Traitors? My friend,
+Mr. Morris, modestly answered no! If he had asked that question of me,
+he knows what my answer would have been! I have seen Rebel officers at
+Johnson's Island, and I have taken them by the hand because they have
+fought us fairly in the field and did not seek to break down the
+Government while living under its protection. Yes, Sir, that gentleman
+knows that I would have said to him that I have more respect for an open
+and avowed Traitor in the field, than for a sympathizer in this Hall.
+Four months have scarcely gone by since that gentleman and his political
+friends were advocating the election of a man for the Gubernatorial
+office in my State, who was an open and avowed advocate of Secession&mdash;AN
+OUTLAW AT THAT!"</p>
+
+<p>And old Thaddeus Stevens&mdash;the clear-sighted and courageous "Old
+Commoner"&mdash;followed up Spalding, and struck very close to the root and
+animus of the Democratic opposition, when he exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"All this struggle by calm and dignified and moderate 'Patriots;' all
+this clamor against 'Radicals;' all this cry of 'the Union as it Was,
+and the Constitution as it Is;' is but a persistent effort to
+reestablish Slavery, and to rivet anew and forever the chains of Bondage
+on the limbs of Immortal beings. May the God of Justice thwart their
+designs and paralyze their wicked efforts!"</p>
+
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<a name="mcclellan"></a>
+<center>
+<img alt="p594-mcclellan.jpg (63K)" src="images/p594-mcclellan.jpg" height="764" width="581">
+</center>
+<br><br><br>
+<a name="ch25"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<h2>
+ CHAPTER XXV.<br><br>
+
+ "THE FIRE IN THE REAR."
+
+</h2>
+</center>
+<br>
+
+
+<p>The treacherous purposes of professedly-loyal Copperheads being seen
+through, and promptly and emphatically denounced to the Country by Union
+statesmen, the Copperheads aforesaid concluded that the profuse
+circulation of their own Treason-breeding speeches&mdash;through the medium
+of the treasonable organizations before referred to, permeating the
+Northern States,&mdash;would more than counteract all that Union men could
+say or do. Besides, the fiat had gone forth, from their Rebel masters
+at Richmond, to Agitate the North.</p>
+
+<p>Hence, day after day, Democrat after Democrat, in the one House or the
+other, continued to air his disloyal opinions, and to utter more or less
+virulent denunciations of the Government which guarded and protected
+him.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, Brooks, of New York, on the 25th of January (1864), sneeringly
+exclaimed: "Why, what absurdity it is to talk at this Capitol of
+prosecuting the War by the liberation of Slaves, when from the dome of
+this building there can be heard at this hour the booming of cannon in
+the distance!"</p>
+
+<p>Thus, also, on the day following, Fernando Wood&mdash;the same man who, while
+Mayor of New York at the outbreak of the Rebellion, had, under
+Rebel-guidance, proposed the Secession from the Union, and the Independence,
+of that great Metropolis,&mdash;declared to the House that: "No Government
+has pursued a foe with such unrelenting, vindictive malignity as we are
+now pursuing those who came into the Union with us, whose blood has been
+freely shed on every battle-field of the Country until now, with our
+own; who fought by our side in the American Revolution, and in the War
+of 1812 with Great Britain; who bore our banners bravest and highest in
+our victorious march from Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico, and who but
+yesterday sat in these Halls contributing toward the maintenance of our
+glorious institutions."</p>
+
+<p>Then he went on, in the spirit of prophecy, to declare that: "No purely
+agricultural people, fighting for the protection of their own Domestic
+Institutions upon their own soil, have ever yet been conquered. I say
+further, that no revolted people have ever been subdued after they have
+been able to maintain an Independent government for three years." And
+then, warming up to an imperative mood, he made this explicit
+announcement: "We are at War. * * * Whether it be a Civil War,
+Rebellion, Revolution, or Foreign War, it matters little. IT MUST
+CEASE; and I want this Administration to tell the American People WHEN
+it will cease!" Again, only two days afterward, he took occasion to
+characterize a Bill, amendatory of the enrollment Act, as "this
+infamous, Unconstitutional conscription Act!"</p>
+
+<p>C. A. White, of Ohio, was another of the malcontents who undertook, with
+others of the same Copperhead faith, to "maintain, that," as he
+expressed it, "the War in which we are at present engaged is wrong in
+itself; that the policy adopted by the Party in power for its
+prosecution is wrong; that the Union cannot be restored, or, if
+restored, maintained, by the exercise of the coercive power of the
+Government, by War; that the War is opposed to the restoration of the
+Union, destructive of the rights of the States and the liberties of the
+People. It ought, therefore, to be brought to a speedy and immediate
+close."</p>
+
+<p>It was about this time also that, emboldened by immunity from punishment
+for these utterances in the interest of armed Rebels, Edgerton of
+Indiana, was put forward to offer resolutions "for Peace, upon the basis
+of a restoration of the Federal Union under the Constitution as it is,"
+etc.</p>
+
+<p>Thereafter, in both Senate and House, such speeches by
+Rebel-sympathizers, the aiders and abettors of Treason, grew more frequent and
+more virulent than ever. As was well said to the House, by one of the
+Union members from Ohio (Mr. Eckley):</p>
+
+<p>"A stranger, if he listened to the debates here, would think himself in
+the Confederate Congress. I do not believe that if these Halls were
+occupied to-day by Davis, Toombs, Wigfall, Rhett, and Pryor, they could
+add anything to the violence of assault, the falsity of accusation, or
+the malignity of attack, with which the Government has been assailed,
+and the able, patriotic, and devoted men who are charged with its
+Administration have been maligned, in both ends of the Capitol. The
+closing scenes of the Thirty-Sixth Congress, the treasonable
+declarations there made, contain nothing that we cannot hear, in the
+freedom of debate, without going to Richmond or to the camps of Treason,
+where most of the actors in those scenes are now in arms against us."</p>
+
+<p>With such a condition of things in Congress, it is not surprising that
+the Richmond Enquirer announced that the North was "distracted,
+exhausted, and impoverished," and would, "through the agency of a strong
+conservative element in the Free States," soon treat with the Rebels "on
+acceptable terms."</p>
+
+<p>Things indeed had reached such a pass, in the House of Representatives
+especially, that it was felt they could not much longer go on in this
+manner; that an example must be made of some one or other of these
+Copperheads. But the very knowledge of the existence of such a feeling
+of just and patriotic irritation against the continued free utterance of
+such sentiments in the Halls of Congress, seemed only to make some of
+them still more defiant. And, when the 8th of April dawned, it was
+known among all the Democrats in Congress, that Alexander Long proposed
+that day to make a speech which would "go a bow-shot beyond them all" in
+uttered Treason. He would speak right out, what the other Conspirators
+thought and meant, but dared not utter, before the World.</p>
+
+<p>A crowded floor, and packed galleries, were on hand to listen to the
+written, deliberate Treason, as it fell from his lips in the House. His
+speech began with an arraignment of the Government for treachery,
+incompetence, failure, tyranny, and all sorts of barbarous actions and
+harsh intentions, toward the Rebels&mdash;which led him to the indignant
+exclamation:</p>
+
+<p>"Will they throw down their arms and submit to the terms? Who shall
+believe that the free, proud American blood, which courses with as quick
+pulsation through their veins as our own, will not be spilled to the
+last drop in resistance?"</p>
+
+<p>Warming up, he proceeded to say: "Can the Union be restored by War? I
+answer most unhesitatingly and deliberately, No, never; 'War is final,
+eternal separation.'"</p>
+
+<p>He claimed that the War was "wrong;" that it was waged "in violation of
+the Constitution," and would "if continued, result speedily in the
+destruction of the Government and the loss of Civil Liberty, and ought
+therefore, to immediately cease."</p>
+
+<p>He held also "that the Confederate States are out of the Union,
+occupying the position of an Independent Power de facto; have been
+acknowledged as a belligerent both by Foreign Nations and our own
+Government; maintained their Declaration of Independence, for three
+years, by force of arms; and the War has cut asunder all the obligations
+that bound them under the Constitution."</p>
+
+<p>"Much better," said he, "would it have been for us in the beginning,
+much better would it be for us now, to consent to a division of our
+magnificent Empire, and cultivate amicable relations with our estranged
+brethren, than to seek to hold them to us by the power of the sword. *
+* * I am reluctantly and despondingly forced to the conclusion that the
+Union is lost, never to be restored. * * * I see neither North nor
+South, any sentiment on which it is possible to build a Union. * * * in
+attempting to preserve our Jurisdiction over the Southern States we have
+lost our Constitutional Form of Government over the Northern. * * * The
+very idea upon which this War is founded, coercion of States, leads to
+despotism. * * * I now believe that there are but two alternatives, and
+they are either an acknowledgment of the Independence of the South as an
+independent Nation, or their complete subjugation and extermination as a
+People; and of these alternatives I prefer the former."</p>
+
+<p>As Long took his seat, amid the congratulations of his Democratic
+friends, Garfield arose, and, to compliments upon the former's peculiar
+candor and honesty, added denunciation for his Treason. After drawing
+an effective parallel between Lord Fairfax and Robert E. Lee, both of
+whom had cast their lots unwillingly with the enemies of this Land, when
+the Wars of the Revolution and of the Rebellion respectively opened,
+Garfield proceeded:</p>
+
+<p>"But now, when hundreds of thousands of brave souls have gone up to God
+under the shadow of the Flag, and when thousands more, maimed and
+shattered in the Contest, are sadly awaiting the deliverance of death;
+now, when three years of terrific warfare have raged over us, when our
+Armies have pushed the Rebellion back over mountains and rivers and
+crowded it back into narrow limits, until a wall of fire girds it; now,
+when the uplifted hand of a majestic People is about to let fall the
+lightning of its conquering power upon the Rebellion; now, in the quiet
+of this Hall, hatched in the lowest depths of a similar dark Treason,
+there rises a Benedict Arnold and proposes to surrender us all up, body
+and spirit, the Nation and the Flag, its genius and its honor, now and
+forever, to the accursed Traitors to our Country. And that proposition
+comes&mdash;God forgive and pity my beloved State!&mdash;it comes from a citizen
+of the honored and loyal Commonwealth of Ohio! I implore you, brethren
+in this House, not to believe that many such births ever gave pangs to
+my mother-State such as she suffered when that Traitor was born!"</p>
+
+<p>As he uttered these sturdy words, the House and galleries were agitated
+with that peculiar rustling movement and low murmuring sound known as a
+"sensation," while the Republican side with difficulty restrained the
+applause they felt like giving, until he sadly proceeded:</p>
+
+<p>"I beg you not to believe that on the soil of that State another such
+growth has ever deformed the face of Nature and darkened the light of
+God's day."</p>
+
+<p>The hush that followed was broken by the suggestive whisper:
+"Vallandigham!"</p>
+
+<p>"But, ah," continued the Speaker&mdash;as his voice grew sadder still&mdash;"I am
+reminded that there are other such. My zeal and love for Ohio have
+carried me too far. I retract. I remember that only a few days since,
+a political Convention met at the Capital of my State, and almost
+decided, to select from just such material, a representative for the
+Democratic Party in the coming contest; and today, what claims to be a
+majority of the Democracy of that State say that they have been cheated
+or they would have made that choice!"</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [This refers to Horatio Seymour, the Democratic Governor of New
+ York.]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>After referring to the "insidious work" of the "Knights of the Golden
+Circle" in seeking "to corrupt the Army and destroy its efficiency;" the
+"riots and murders which," said he, "their agents are committing
+throughout the Loyal North, under the lead and guidance of the Party
+whose Representatives sit yonder across the aisle;" he continued: "and
+now, just as the time is coming on when we are to select a President for
+the next four years, one rises among them and fires the Beacon, throws
+up the blue-light&mdash;which will be seen, and rejoiced over, at the Rebel
+Capital in Richmond&mdash;as the signal that the Traitors in our camp are
+organized and ready for their hellish work! I believe the utterance of
+to-day is the uplifted banner of revolt. I ask you to mark the signal
+that blazes here, and see if there will not soon appear the answering
+signals of Traitors all over the Land. * * * If these men do mean to
+light the torch of War in all our homes; if they have resolved to begin
+the fearful work which will redden our streets, and this Capitol, with
+blood, the American People should know it at once, and prepare to meet
+it."</p>
+
+<p>At the close of Mr. Garfield's patriotic and eloquent remarks, Mr. Long
+again got the floor, declared that what he had said, he believed to be
+right, and he would "stand by it," though he had to "stand solitary and
+alone," and "even if it were necessary to brave bayonets, and prisons,
+and all the tyranny which may be imposed by the whole power and force of
+the Administration."</p>
+
+<p>Said he: "I have deliberately uttered my sentiments in that speech, and
+I will not retract one syllable of it." And, to "rub it in" a little
+stronger, he exclaimed, as he took his seat, just before adjournment:
+"Give me Liberty, even if confined to an Island of Greece, or a Canton
+of Switzerland, rather than an Empire and a Despotism as we have here
+to-day!"</p>
+
+<p>This treasonable speech naturally created much excitement throughout the
+Country.</p>
+
+<p>On the following day (Saturday, April 9, 1864), immediately after
+prayer, the reading of the Journal being dispensed with, the Speaker of
+the House (Colfax) came down from the Speaker's Chair, and, from the
+floor, offered a Preamble and Resolution, which ended thus:</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved, That Alexander Long, a Representative from the second
+district of Ohio, having, on the 8th day of April, 1864, declared
+himself in favor of recognizing the Independence and Nationality of the
+so-called Confederacy now in arms against the Union, and thereby 'given
+aid, Countenance and encouragement to persons engaged in armed hostility
+to the United States,' is hereby expelled."</p>
+
+<p>The debate which ensued consumed nearly a week, and every member of
+prominence, on both the Republican and Democratic sides, took part in
+it&mdash;the Democrats almost invariably being careful to protest their own
+loyalty, and yet attempting to justify the braver and more candid
+utterances of the accused member.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Cox led off, April 9th, in the defense, by counterattack. He quoted
+remarks made to the House (March 18, 1864) by Mr. Julian, of Indiana, to
+the effect that "Our Country, united and Free, must be saved, at
+whatever hazard or cost; and nothing, not even the Constitution, must be
+allowed to hold back the uplifted arm of the Government in blasting the
+power of the Rebels forever;"&mdash;and upon this, adopting the language of
+another&mdash;[Judge Thomas, of Massachusetts.]&mdash;Mr. Cox declared that "to
+make this a War, with the sword in one hand to defend the Constitution,
+and a hammer in the other to break it to pieces, is no less treasonable
+than Secession itself; and that, outside the pale of the Constitution,
+the whole struggle is revolutionary."</p>
+
+<p>He thought, for such words as he had just quoted, Julian ought to have
+been expelled, if those of Long justified expulsion!</p>
+
+<p>Finally, being pressed by Julian to define his own position, as between
+the Life of the Nation, and the Infraction of the United States
+Constitution, Mr. Cox said: "I will say this, that UNDER NO
+CIRCUMSTANCES CONCEIVABLE BY THE HUMAN MIND WOULD I EVER VIOLATE THAT
+CONSTITUTION FOR ANY PURPOSE!"</p>
+
+<p>This sentiment was loudly applauded, and received with cries of "THAT IS
+IT!" "THAT'S IT!" by the Democratic side of the House, apparently in
+utter contempt for the express and emphatic declaration of Jefferson
+that: "A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the
+highest duties of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws
+of Necessity, of Self-preservation, of SAVING OUR COUNTRY WHEN IN
+DANGER, are of higher obligation. To LOSE OUR COUNTRY by a scrupulous
+adherence to written law WOULD BE TO LOSE THE LAW ITSELF, with Life,
+Liberty, Property, and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus
+absolutely SACRIFICING THE END TO THE MEANS."</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [In a letter to J. B. Colvin, Sept. 20, 1810, quoted at the time
+ for their information, and which may be found at page 542 of vol.
+ v., of Jefferson's Works.]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>Indeed these extreme sticklers for the letter of the Constitution, who
+would have sacrificed Country, kindred, friends, honesty, truth, and all
+ambitions on Earth and hopes for Heaven, rather than violate it&mdash;for
+that is what Mr. Cox's announcement and the Democratic endorsement of it
+meant, if they meant anything&mdash;were of the same stripe as those
+querulous Ancients, for the benefit of whom the Apostle wrote: "For THE
+LETTER KILLETH, but the Spirit giveth life."</p>
+
+<p>And now, inspired apparently by the reckless utterances
+of Long, if not by the more cautious diatribe of Cox, Harris of
+Maryland, determining if possible to outdo them all, not only declared
+that he was willing to go with his friend Long wherever the House chose
+to send him, but added: "I am a peace man, a radical peace man; and I am
+for Peace by the recognition of the South, for the recognition of the
+Southern Confederacy; and I am for acquiescence in the doctrine of
+Secession." And, said he, in the midst of the laughter which followed
+the sensation his treasonable words occasioned, "Laugh as you may, you
+have got to come to it!" And then, with that singular obfuscation of
+ideas engendered, in the heads of their followers, by the astute
+Rebel-sympathizing leaders, he went on:</p>
+
+<p>"I am for Peace, and I am for Union too. I am as good a Union man as
+any of you. [Laughter.] I am a better Union man than any of you!
+[Great Laughter.] * * * I look upon War as Disunion."</p>
+
+<p>After declaring that, if the principle of the expulsion Resolution was
+to be carried out, his "friend," Mr. Long, "would be a martyr in a
+glorious cause"&mdash;he proceeded to announce his own candidacy for
+expulsion, in the following terms:</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Speaker, in the early part of this Secession movement, there was a
+Resolution offered, pledging men and money to carry on the War. My
+principles were then, and are now, against the War. I stood, solitary
+and alone, in voting against that Resolution, and whenever a similar
+proposition is brought here it will meet with my opposition. Not one
+dollar, nor one man, I swear, by the Eternal, will I vote for this
+infernal, this stupendous folly, more stupendous than ever disgraced any
+civilized People on the face of God's Earth. If that be Treason, make
+the most of it!</p>
+
+<p>"The South asked you to let them go in peace. But no, you said you
+would bring them into subjugation. That is not done yet, and God
+Almighty grant that it never may be. I hope that you will never
+subjugate the South. If she is to be ever again in the Union, I hope it
+will be with her own consent; and I hope that that consent will be
+obtained by some other mode than by the sword. 'If this be Treason,
+make the most of it!'"</p>
+
+<p>An extraordinary scene at once occurred&mdash;Mr. Tracy desiring "to know
+whether, in these Halls, the gentleman from Maryland invoked Almighty
+God that the American Arms should not prevail?" "Whether such language
+is not Treason?" and "whether it is in order to talk Treason in this
+Hall?"&mdash;his patriotic queries being almost drowned in the incessant
+cries of "Order!" "Order!" and great disorder, and confusion, on the
+Democratic side of the House.</p>
+
+<p>Finally the treasonable language was taken down by the Clerk, and, while
+a Resolution for the expulsion of Mr. Harris was being written out, Mr.
+Fernando Wood&mdash;coming, as he said, from a bed of "severe sickness,"
+quoted the language used by Mr. Long, to wit:</p>
+
+<p>"I now believe there are but two alternatives, and they are either the
+acknowledgment of the Independence of the South as an independent
+Nation, or their complete subjugation and extermination as a People; and
+of these alternatives I prefer the former"&mdash;and declared that "if he is
+to be expelled for the utterance of that sentiment, you may include me
+in it, because I concur fully in that sentiment."</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [He afterwards (April 11,) said he did not agree with Mr. Long's
+ opinions.]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>Every effort was unavailingly made by the Democrats, under the lead of
+Messrs. Cox&mdash;[In 1886 American Minister at Constantinople.]&mdash;and
+Pendleton,&mdash;[In 1886 American Minister at Berlin.]&mdash;to prevent action
+upon the new Resolution of expulsion, which was in these words:</p>
+
+<p>"Whereas, Hon. Benjamin G. Harris, a member of the House of
+Representatives of the United States from the State of Maryland, has on
+this day used the following language, to wit: 'The South asked you to
+let them go in peace. But no; you said you would bring them into
+subjection. That is not done yet, and God Almighty grant that it never
+may be. I hope that you will never subjugate the South.' And whereas,
+such language is treasonable, and is a gross disrespect of this House:
+Therefore, Be it Resolved, That the said Benjamin G. Harris be expelled
+from this House."</p>
+
+<p>Upon reaching a vote, however, the Resolution was lost, there being only
+81 yeas, to 58 (Democratic) nays&mdash;two-thirds not having voted
+affirmatively. Subsequently, despite Democratic efforts to obstruct, a
+Resolution, declaring Harris to be "an unworthy Member" of the House,
+and "severely" censuring him, was adopted.</p>
+
+<p>The debate upon the Long-expulsion Resolution now proceeded, and its
+mover, in view of the hopelessness of securing a two-thirds affirmative
+vote, having accepted an amendment comprising other two Resolutions and
+a Preamble, the question upon adopting these was submitted on the 14th
+of April. They were in the words following:</p>
+
+<p>"Whereas, ALEXANDER LONG, a Representative from the second district of
+Ohio, by his open declarations in the National Capitol, and publications
+in the City of New York, has shown himself to be in favor of a
+recognition of the so-called Confederacy now trying to establish itself
+upon the ruins of our Country, thereby giving aid and comfort to the
+Enemy in that destructive purpose&mdash;aid to avowed Traitors, in creating
+an illegal Government within our borders, comfort to them by assurances
+of their success and affirmations of the justice of their Cause; and
+whereas, such conduct is at the same time evidence of disloyalty, and
+inconsistent with his oath of office, and his duty as a Member of this
+Body: Therefore,</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved, That the said Alexander Long, a Representative from the
+second district of Ohio, be, and he is hereby declared to be an unworthy
+Member of the House of Representatives.</p>
+
+<p>"Resolved, That the Speaker shall read these Resolutions to the said
+Alexander Long during the session of the House."</p>
+
+<p>The first of these Resolutions was adopted, by 80 yeas to 69 nays; the
+second was tabled, by 71 yeas to 69 nays; and the Preamble was agreed
+to, by 78 yeas to 63 nays.</p>
+
+<p>And, among the 63 Democrats, who were not only unwilling to declare
+Alexander Long "an unworthy Member," or to have the Speaker read such a
+declaration to him in a session of the House, but also refused by their
+votes even to intimate that his conduct evidenced disloyalty, or gave
+aid and comfort to the Enemy, were the names of such democrats as Cox,
+Eldridge, Holman, Kernan, Morrisson, Pendleton, Samuel J. Randall,
+Voorhees, and Fernando Wood.</p>
+
+<p>Hence Mr. Long not only escaped expulsion for his treasonable
+utterances, but did not even receive the "severe censure" which, in
+addition to being declared (like himself) "an unworthy Member," had been
+voted to Mr. Harris for recklessly rushing into the breach to help him!</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [The Northern Democracy comprised two well-recognized classes: The
+ Anti-War (or Peace) Democrats, commonly called "Copperheads," who
+ sympathized with the Rebellion, and opposed the War for the Union;
+ and the War (or Union) Democrats, who favored a vigorous
+ prosecution of the War for the preservation of the Union.]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<br><br><br><br>
+<a name="ch26"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<h2>
+ CHAPTER XXVI.<br><br>
+
+ "THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT" DEFEATED IN THE HOUSE.
+
+</h2>
+</center>
+<br>
+
+<p>The debate in the House of Representatives, upon the Thirteenth
+Amendment to the Constitution&mdash;interrupted by the treasonable episode
+referred to in the last Chapter&mdash;was subsequently resumed.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, however, Fort Pillow had been stormed, and its garrison of
+Whites and Blacks, massacred.</p>
+
+<p>And now commenced the beginning of the end&mdash;so far as the Military aspect
+of the Rebellion was concerned. Early in May, Sherman's Atlanta
+Campaign commenced, and, simultaneously, General Grant began his
+movement toward Richmond. In quick succession came the news of the
+bloody battles of the Wilderness, and those around Spottsylvania, Va.;
+at Buzzard Roost Gap, Snake Creek Gap, and Dalton, Ga.; Drury's Bluff,
+Va.; Resaca, Ga.; the battles of the North Anna, Va.; those around
+Dallas, and New Hope church, Ga; the crossing of Grant's forces to the
+South side of the James and the assault on Petersburg. While the Union
+Armies were thus valiantly attacking and beating those of the Rebels, on
+many a sanguinary field the loyal men of the North, both in and out of
+Congress, pressed for favorable action upon the Thirteenth Amendment.
+"Friends of the wounded in Fredericksburg from the Battle of the
+Wilderness"&mdash;exclaimed Horace Greeley in the New York Tribune, of May
+31st,&mdash;"friends and relatives of the soldiers of Grant's Army beyond the
+Wilderness, let us all join hands and swear upon our Country's altar
+that we will never cease this War until African Slavery in the United
+States is dead forever, and forever buried!"</p>
+
+<p>Peace Democrats, however, were deaf to all such entreaties. On the very
+same day, Mr. Holman, in the House, objected even to the second reading
+of the Joint Resolution Amendatory of the Constitution, and there were
+so many "Peace Democrats" to back him, that the vote was: 55 yeas to 76
+nays, on the question "shall the Joint Resolution be rejected!"</p>
+
+<p>The old cry, that had been repeated by Hendricks and others, in the
+Senate and House, time and again, was still used&mdash;threadbare though it
+was&mdash;"this is not the right time for it!" On this very day, for
+instance, Mr. Herrick said: "I ask if this is the proper time for our
+People to consider so grave a measure as the Amendment of the
+Constitution in so vital a point? * * * this is no fitting time for
+such work."</p>
+
+<p>Very different was the attitude of Kellogg, of New York, and well did he
+show up the depths to which the Democracy&mdash;the Peace Democracy&mdash;had now
+fallen. "We are told," said he, "of a War Democracy, and such there
+are&mdash;their name is legion&mdash;good men and true; they are found in the
+Union ranks bearing arms in support of the Government and the
+Administration that wields it. At the ballot-box, whether at home or in
+the camp, they are Union men, and vote as they fight, and hold little in
+common with the political leaders of the Democratic Party in or out of
+this Hall&mdash;the Seymours, the Woods, the Vallandighams, the Woodwards,
+and their indorsers, who hold and control the Democratic Party here, and
+taint it with Treason, till it is a stench in the nostrils of all
+patriotic men."</p>
+
+<p>After referring to the fact that the leaders of the Rebellion had from
+the start relied confidently upon assistance from the Northern
+Democracy, he proceeded:</p>
+
+<p>"The Peace Democracy, and mere Party-hacks in the North, are fulfilling
+their masters' expectations industriously, unceasingly, and as far as in
+them lies. Not even the shouts for victory, in these Halls, can divert
+their Southern allies here. A sullen gloom at the defeat and
+discomfiture of their Southern brethren settles down on their disastrous
+countenances, from which no ray of joy can be reflected. * * * They
+even vote solid against a law to punish guerrillas.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," continued he, "in my judgment, many of those who withhold from
+their Country the support they would otherwise give, find allegiance to
+Party too strong for their patriotism. * * * Rejecting the example and
+counsels of Stanton and Dickinson and Butler and Douglas and Dix and
+Holt and Andrew Johnson and Logan and Rosecrans and Grant and a host of
+others, all Democrats of the straightest sect, to forget all other ties,
+and cleave only to their Country for their Country's sake, and rejecting
+the overtures and example of the Republican Party to drop and forget
+their Party name, that all might unite and band together for their
+Country's salvation as Union men, they turn a deaf ear and cold
+shoulder, and sullenly pass by on the other side, thanking God they are
+not as other men are, and lend, if at all, a calculating, qualified, and
+conditional and halting support, under protest, to their Country's
+cause; thus justifying the only hope of the Rebellion to-day, that Party
+spirit at the North will distract its counsels, divide and discourage
+and palsy its efforts, and ultimately make way for the Traitor and the
+parricide to do their worst."</p>
+
+<p>Besides the set speeches made against the proposed
+Constitutional amendment in the House, Peace-Democrats of the Senate
+continued to keep up a running fire at it in that Chamber, on every
+possible occasion. Garrett Davis was especially garrulous on the
+subject, and also launched the thunders of his wrath at the President
+quite frequently and even vindictively. For instance, speaking in the
+Senate&mdash;[May 31,1864,]&mdash;of the right of Property in Slaves; said he:</p>
+
+<p>"This new-born heresy 'Military Necessity,' as President Lincoln claims,
+and exercises it, is the sum of all political and Military villianies * *
+* and it is no less absurd than it is villianous. * * * The man has
+never spoken or lived who can prove by any provision of the
+Constitution, or by any principle, or by any argument to be deduced
+logically and fairly from it, that he has any such power as this vast,
+gigantic, all-conquering and all-crushing power of Military Necessity
+which he has the audacity to claim.</p>
+
+<p>"This modern Emperor, this Tiberius, a sort of a Tiberius, and his
+Sejanus, a sort of a Sejanus, the head of the War Department, are
+organizing daily their Military Courts to try civilians. * * *</p>
+
+<p>"Sir, I want one labor of love before I die. I want the President of
+the United States, I want his Secretary of War, I want some of his high
+officers in Military command to bring a civilian to a Military
+execution, and me to have the proud privilege of prosecuting them for
+murder. * * * I want the law and its just retribution to be visited
+upon these great delinquents.</p>
+
+<p>"I would sooner, if I had the power, bring about such an atonement as
+that, than I would even put down the Rebellion. It would be a greater
+victory in favor of Freedom and Constitutional Liberty, a thousand-fold,
+of all the People of America besides, than the subjugation of the Rebel
+States could possibly be."</p>
+
+<p>But there seemed to be no end to the' attacks upon the Administration,
+made, in both Houses, by these peculiar Peace-Democrats. Union blood
+might flow in torrents on the fields of the rebellious South, atrocities
+innumerable might be committed by the Rebels, cold-blooded massacres of
+Blacks and Whites, as at Fort Pillow, might occur without rebuke from
+them; but let the Administration even dare to sneeze, and&mdash;woe to the
+Administration.</p>
+
+<p>It was not the Thirteenth Amendment only, that they assailed, but
+everything else which the Administration thought might help it in its
+effort to put down the Rebellion. Nor was it so much their malignant
+activity in opposition to any one measure intended to strengthen the
+hands of the Union, but to all such measures; and superadded to this was
+the incessant bringing forward, in both Houses of Congress, by these
+restless Rebel-sympathizers, of Peace-Resolutions, the mere presentation
+of which would be, and were, construed by the Rebel authorities at
+Richmond, as evidences of a weakening.</p>
+
+<p>Even some of the best of the Peace-Democrats, like S. S. Cox, for
+instance, not only assailed the Tariff&mdash;under which the Union Republican
+Party sought to protect and build up American Industry, as well as to
+raise as much revenue as possible to help meet the enormous current
+expenditures of the Government&mdash;but also denounced our great paper-money
+system, which alone enabled us to secure means to meet all deficiencies
+in the revenues otherwise obtained, and thus to ultimately conquer the
+hosts of Rebellion.</p>
+
+<p>He declared (June 2, 1864) that "The People are the victims of the
+joint-robbery of a system of bounties under the guise of duties, and of
+an inconvertible and depreciated paper currency under the guise of
+money," and added: "No man is now so wise and gifted that he can save
+this Nation from bankruptcy. * * * No borrowing system can save us.
+The scheme of making greenbacks a legal tender, which enabled the debtor
+to cheat his creditor, thereby playing the old game of kingcraft, to
+debase the currency in order to aid the designs of despotism, may float
+us for a while amidst the fluctuations and bubbles of the day; but as no
+one possesses the power to repeal the Law of the Almighty, which decrees
+(and as our Constitution has established) that gold and silver shall be
+the standard of value in the World, so they will ever thus remain,
+notwithstanding the legislation of Congress."</p>
+
+<p>Not satisfied with this sort of "fire in the rear," it was attempted by
+means of Democratic Free-Trade and antipaper-currency sophistries, to
+arouse jealousies, heart-burnings and resentful feelings in the breasts
+of those living in different parts of the Union&mdash;to implant bitter
+Sectional antagonisms and implacable resentments between the Eastern
+States, on the one hand, and the Western States, on the other&mdash;and thus,
+by dividing, to weaken the Loyal Union States.</p>
+
+<p>That this was the cold-blooded purpose of all who pursued this course,
+would no doubt be warmly denied by some of them; but the fact remains no
+less clear, that the effect of that course, whether so intended or not,
+was to give aid and comfort to the Enemy at that critical time when the
+Nation most needed all the men, money, and moral as well as material
+support, it was possible to get, to put an end to the bloody Rebellion,
+now&mdash;under the continuous poundings of Grant's Army upon that of Lee in
+Virginia, and the advance of Sherman's Army upon that of Johnston in
+Georgia&mdash;tottering to its overthrow. Thus this same speaker (S. S. Cox),
+in his untimely speech, undertook to divide the Union-loving States
+"into two great classes: the Protected States and the Unprotected
+States;" and&mdash;having declared that "The Manufacturing States, mainly the
+New England States and Pennsylvania, are the Protected States," and "The
+Agricultural States," mainly the eleven Western States, which he named,
+"are the Unprotected States"&mdash;proceeded to intemperately and violently
+arraign New England, and especially Massachusetts, in the same way that
+had years before been adopted by the old Conspirators of the South when
+they sought&mdash;alas, too successfully!&mdash;to inflame the minds of Southern
+citizens to a condition of unreasoning frenzy which made attempted
+Nullification and subsequent armed Rebellion and Secession possible.</p>
+
+<p>Well might the thoroughly loyal Grinnell, of Iowa&mdash;after exposing what
+he termed the "sophistry of figures" by which Mr. Cox had seen fit "to
+misrepresent and traduce" the Western States&mdash;exclaim: "Sir, I have no
+words which I can use to execrate sufficiently such language, in
+arraying the Sections in opposition during a time of War; as if we were
+not one People, descended from one stock, having one interest, and bound
+up in one destiny!"</p>
+
+<p>The damage that might have been done to the Union Cause by such
+malignant Democratic attacks upon the National unity and strength, may
+be imagined when we reflect that at this very time the annual expenses
+of our Government were over $600,000,000, and growing still larger; and
+that $1.90 in legal tender notes of the United States was worth but
+$1.00 in gold, with a downward tendency. Said stern old Thaddeus
+Stevens, alluding on this occasion, to Statesmanship of the peculiar
+stamp of the Coxes and Fernando Woods: "He who in this time will pursue
+such a course of argument for the mere sake of party, can never hope to
+be ranked among Statesmen; nay, Sir, he will not even rise to the
+dignity of a respectable Demagogue!"</p>
+
+<p>Within a week after this, (June 9, 1864), we find in the Senate also,
+similarly insidious attacks upon the strength of the Government, made by
+certain Northern Democrats, who never tired of undermining Loyalty, and
+creating and spreading discontent among the People. The Bill then up,
+for consideration, was one "to prohibit the discharge of persons from
+liability to Military duty, by reason of the payment of money."</p>
+
+<p>In the terribly bloody Campaign that had now been entered upon by Grant
+&mdash;in the West, under Sherman, and in the East, under his own personal
+eye&mdash;it was essential to send to the front, every man possible. Hence
+the necessity for a Bill of this sort, which moreover provided, in order
+as far as possible to popularize conscription, that all calls for drafts
+theretofore made under the Enrolling Act of March 3, 1863, should be for
+not over one year's service, etc.</p>
+
+<p>This furnished the occasion for Mr. Hendricks, among other Peace
+Democrats, to make opposing speeches. He, it seems, had all along been
+opposed to drafting Union soldiers; and because, during the previous
+Winter, the Senate had been unwilling to abolish the clause permitting a
+drafted man to pay a commutation of $300 (with which money a substitute
+could be procured) instead of himself going, at a time when men were not
+quite so badly needed as now, therefore Mr. Hendricks pretended to think
+it very strange and unjustifiable that now, when everything depended on
+getting every possible man in the field, the Senate should think of
+"abandoning that which it thought right last Winter!"</p>
+
+<p>He opposed drafting; but if drafting must be resorted to, then he
+thought that what he termed "the Horror of the Draft" should be felt by
+as many of the Union people as possible!&mdash;or, in his own words: "the
+Horror of the Draft ought to be divided among the People." As if this
+were not sufficient to conjure dreadful imaginings, he added: "if one
+set of men are drafted this year to serve twelve months, and they have
+to go because the power of the Government makes them go, whether they
+can go well or not, then at the end of the year their neighbors should
+be subjected to the same Horror, and let this dreadful demand upon the
+service, upon the blood, and upon the life of the People be distributed
+upon all."</p>
+
+<p>And, in order apparently to still further intensify public feeling
+against all drafting, and sow the seeds of dissatisfaction in the hearts
+of those drafted at this critical time, when the fate of the Union and
+of Republican Government palpably depended upon conscription, he added:
+"It is not so right to say to twenty men in a neighborhood: 'You shall
+go; you shall leave your families whether you can or not; you shall go
+without the privilege of commutation whether you leave starving wives
+and children behind you or not,' and then say to every other man of the
+neighborhood: 'Because we have taken these twenty men for three years,
+you shall remain with your wives and children safely and comfortably at
+home for these three years.' I like this feature of the amendment,
+because it distributes the Horror of the Draft more equally and justly
+over the whole People."</p>
+
+<p>Not satisfied with rolling the "Horror of the Draft" so often and
+trippingly over his tongue, he also essayed the role of Prophet in the
+interest of the tottering god of Slavery. "The People," said he,
+"expect great results from this Campaign; and when another year comes
+rolling around, and it is found that this War is not closed, and that
+there is no reasonable probability of its early close, my colleague
+(Lane) and other Senators who agree with him will find that the People
+will say that this effusion of blood must stop; that THERE MUST BE SOME
+ADJUSTMENT. I PROPHESY THIS."</p>
+
+<p>And, as a further declaration likely to give aid and comfort to the
+Rebel leaders, he said: "I do not believe many men are going to be
+obtained by a draft; I do not believe a very good Army will be got by a
+draft; I do not believe an Army will be put in the field, by a draft,
+that will whip General Lee."</p>
+
+<p>But while all such statements were, no doubt, intended to help the foes
+of the Union, and dishearten or dismay its friends, the really loyal
+People, understanding their fell object, paid little heed to them. The
+predictions of these Prophets of evil fell flat upon the ears of lovers
+of their Country. Conspirators, however much they might masquerade in
+the raiment of Loyalty, could not wholly conceal the ear-marks of
+Treason. The hand might be the hand of Esau, but the voice was the
+voice of Jacob.</p>
+
+<p>On the 8th of June&mdash;after a month of terrific and bloody fighting
+between the immediate forces of Grant and Lee&mdash;a dispatch from Sherman,
+just received at Washington, was read to the House of Representatives,
+which said: "The Enemy is not in our immediate front, but his signals
+are seen at Lost Mountain, and Kenesaw." So, at the same time, at the
+National Capital, while the friends of the Union there, were not
+immediately confronted with an armed Enemy, yet the signals of his
+Allies could be seen, and their fire upon our rear could be heard, daily
+and almost hourly, both in the Senate and the House of Representatives.</p>
+
+<p>The fight in the House, upon the Thirteenth Amendment, now seemed
+indeed, to be reaching a climax. During the whole of June 14th, until
+midnight, speech after speech on the subject, followed each other in
+rapid succession. Among the opposition speeches, perhaps those of
+Fernando Wood and Holman were most notable for extravagant and
+unreasoning denunciation of the Administration and Party in power&mdash;whose
+every effort was put forth, and strained at this very time to the
+utmost, to save the Union.</p>
+
+<p>Holman, for instance, declared that, "Of all the measures of this
+disastrous Administration, each in its turn producing new calamities,
+this attempt to tamper with the Constitution threatens the most
+permanent injury." He enumerated the chief measures of the
+Administration during its three and a half years of power&mdash;among them the
+Emancipation Proclamation, the arming of the Blacks, and what he
+sneeringly termed "their pet system of finance" which was to "sustain
+the public credit for infinite years," but which "even now," said he,
+"totters to its fall!" And then, having succeeded in convincing himself
+of Republican failure, he exultingly exclaimed: "But why enumerate?
+What measure of this Administration has failed to be fatal! Every step
+in your progress has been a mistake. I use the mildest terms of
+censure!"</p>
+
+<p>Fernando Wood, in his turn also, "mildly" remarked upon Republican
+policy as "the bloody and brutal policy of the Administration Party."
+He considered this "the crisis of the fate of the Union;" declared that
+Slavery was "the best possible condition to insure the happiness of the
+Negro race"&mdash;a position which, on the following day, he
+"reaffirmed"&mdash;and characterized those members of the Democratic Party who saw Treason
+in the ways and methods and expressions of Peace Democrats of his own
+stamp, as a "pack of political jackals known as War Democrats."</p>
+
+<p>On the 15th of June, Farnsworth made a reply to Ross&mdash;who had claimed to
+be friendly to the Union soldier&mdash;in which the former handled the
+Democratic Party without gloves. "What," said he, referring to Mr.
+Ross, "has been the course of that gentleman and his Party on this floor
+in regard to voting supplies to the Army? What has been their course in
+regard to raising money to pay the Army? His vote will be found
+recorded in almost every instance against the Appropriation Bills,
+against ways and means for raising money to pay the Army. It is only a
+week ago last Monday, that a Bill was introduced here to punish
+guerrillas * * * and how did my colleague vote? Against the Bill.* * *
+On the subject of arming Slaves, of putting Negroes into the Army, how
+has my colleague and his Party voted? Universally against it. They
+would strip from the backs of these Black soldiers, now in the service
+of the Country, their uniforms, and would send them back to Slavery with
+chains and manacles. And yet they are the friends of the soldier!"* * *
+"On the vote to repeal the Fugitive Slave Law, how did that (Democratic)
+side of the House vote? Does not the Fugitive Slave Law affect the
+Black soldier in the Army who was a Slave? That side of the House are
+in favor of continuing the Fugitive Slave Law, and of disbanding Colored
+troops. How did that side of the House vote on the question of arming
+Slaves and paying them as soldiers? They voted against it. They are in
+favor of disbanding the Colored regiments, and, armed with the Fugitive
+Slave Law, sending them back to their masters!"</p>
+
+<p>He took occasion also to meet various Democratic arguments against the
+Resolution,&mdash;among them, one, hinging on the alleged right of Property
+in Slaves. This was a favorite idea with the Border-State men
+especially, that Slaves were Property&mdash;mere chattels as it were,&mdash;and,
+only the day before, a Northern man, Coffroth of Pennsylvania, had said:</p>
+
+<p>"Sir, we should pause before proceeding any further in this
+Unconstitutional and censurable legislation. The mere abolition of
+Slavery is not my cause of complaint. I care not whether Slavery is
+retained or abolished by the people of the States in which it
+exists&mdash;the only rightful authority. The question to me is, has Congress a
+right to take from the people of the South their Property; or, in other
+words, having no pecuniary interest therein, are we justified in freeing
+the Slave-property of others? Can we Abolish Slavery in the Loyal State
+of Kentucky against her will? If this Resolution should pass, and be
+ratified by three-fourths of the States&mdash;States already Free&mdash;and
+Kentucky refuses to ratify it, upon what principle of right or law would
+we be justified in taking this Slave-property of the people of Kentucky?
+Would it be less than stealing?"</p>
+
+<p>And Farnsworth met this idea&mdash;which had also been advanced by Messrs.
+Ross, Fernando Wood, and Pruyn&mdash;by saying: "What constitutes property?
+I know it is said by some gentlemen on the other side, that what the
+statute makes property, is property. I deny it. What 'vested right'
+has any man or State in Property in Man? We of the North hold property,
+not by virtue of statute law, not by virtue of enactments. Our property
+consists in lands, in chattels, in things. Our property was made
+property by Jehovah when He gave Man dominion over it. But nowhere did
+He give dominion of Man over Man. Our title extends back to the
+foundation of the World. That constitutes property. There is where we
+get our title. There is where we get our 'vested rights' to property."</p>
+
+<p>Touching the ethics of Slavery, Mr. Arnold's speech on the same occasion
+was also able, and in parts eloquent, as where he said: 'Slavery is
+to-day an open enemy striking at the heart of the Republic. It is the soul
+and body, the spirit and motive of the Rebellion. It is Slavery which
+marshals yonder Rebel hosts, which confront the patriot Armies of Grant
+and Sherman. It is the savage spirit of this barbarous Institution
+which starves the Union prisoners at Richmond, which assassinates them
+at Fort Pillow, which murders the wounded on the field of battle, and
+which fills up the catalogue of wrong and outrage which mark the conduct
+of the Rebels during all this War.</p>
+
+<p>"In view of all the long catalogue of wrongs which Slavery has inflicted
+upon the Country, I demand to-day, of the Congress of the United States,
+the death of African Slavery. We can have no permanent Peace, while
+Slavery lives. It now reels and staggers toward its last death-struggle.
+Let us strike the monster this last decisive blow."</p>
+
+<p>And, after appealing to both Border-State men, and Democrats of the Free
+States, not to stay the passage of this Resolution which "will strike
+the Rebellion at the heart," he continued: "Gentlemen may flatter
+themselves with a restoration of the Slave-power in this Country. 'The
+Union as it was!' It is a dream, never again to be realized. The
+America of the past, has gone forever. A new Nation is to be born from
+the agony through which the People are now passing. This new Nation is
+to be wholly Free. Liberty, Equality before the Law, is to be the great
+Corner-stone."</p>
+
+<p>So, too, Mr. Ingersoll eloquently said&mdash;among many other good
+things:&mdash;"It is well to eradicate an evil. That Slavery is an evil, no sane,
+honest man will deny. It has been the great curse of this Country from
+its infancy to the present hour, And now that the States in Rebellion
+have given the Loyal States the opportunity to take off that curse, to
+wipe away the foul stain, I say let it be done. We owe it to ourselves;
+we owe it to posterity; we owe it to the Slaves themselves to
+exterminate Slavery forever by the adoption of the proposed Amendment to
+the Constitution. * * * I believe Slavery is the mother of this
+Rebellion, that this Rebellion can be attributed to no other cause but
+Slavery; from that it derived its life, and gathers its strength to-day.
+Destroy the mother, and the child dies. Destroy the cause, and the
+effect will disappear.</p>
+
+<p>"Slavery has ever been the enemy of liberal principles. It has ever
+been the friend of ignorance, prejudice, and all the unlawful, savage,
+and detestable passions which proceed therefrom. It has ever been
+domineering, arrogant, exacting, and overbearing. It has claimed to be
+a polished aristocrat, when in reality it has only been a coarse,
+swaggering, and brutal boor. It has ever claimed to be a gentleman,
+when in reality it has ever been a villain. I think it is high time to
+clip its overgrown pretensions, strip it of its mask, and expose it, in
+all its hideous deformity, to the detestation of all honest and
+patriotic men."</p>
+
+<p>After Mr. Samuel J. Randall had, at a somewhat later hour, pathetically
+and poetically invoked the House, in its collective unity, as a
+"Woodman," to "spare that tree" of the Constitution, and to "touch not a
+single bough," because, among other reasons, "in youth it sheltered"
+him; and furthermore, because "the time" was "most inopportune;" and,
+after Mr. Rollins, of Missouri, had made a speech, which he afterward
+suppressed; Mr. Pendleton closed the debate in an able effort, from his
+point of view, in which he objected to the passage of the Joint
+Resolution because "the time is not auspicious;" because, said he, "it
+is impossible that the Amendment proposed, should be ratified without a
+fraudulent use of the power to admit new States, or a fraudulent use of
+the Military power of the Federal Government in the Seceded
+States,"&mdash;and, said he, "if you should attempt to amend the Constitution by such
+means, what binding obligation would it have?"</p>
+
+<p>He objected, also, because "the States cannot, under the pretense of
+amending the Constitution, subvert the structure, spirit, and theory of
+this Government." "But," said he, "if this Amendment were within the
+Constitutional power of amendment; if this were a proper time to
+consider it; if three-fourths of the States were willing to ratify it;
+and if it did not require the fraudulent use of power, either in this
+House or in the Executive Department, to secure its adoption, I would
+still resist the passage of this Resolution. It is another step toward
+consolidation, and consolidation is Despotism; confederation is
+Liberty."</p>
+
+<p>It was about 4 o'clock in the afternoon of June 15th, that the House
+came to a vote, on the passage of the Joint Resolution. At first the
+strain of anxiety on both sides was great, but, as the roll proceeded,
+it soon became evident that the Resolution was doomed to defeat. And so
+it transpired. The vote stood 93 yeas, to 65 nays&mdash;Mr. Ashley having
+changed his vote, from the affirmative to the negative, for the purpose
+of submitting, at the proper time, a motion to reconsider.</p>
+
+<p>That same evening, Mr. Ashley made the motion to reconsider the vote by
+which the proposed Constitutional Amendment was rejected; and the motion
+was duly entered in the Journal, despite the persistent efforts of
+Messrs. Cox, Holman, and others, to prevent it.</p>
+
+<p>On the 28th of June, just prior to the Congressional Recess, Mr. Ashley
+announced that he had been disappointed in the hope of securing enough
+votes from the Democratic side of the House to carry the Amendment.
+"Those," said he, "who ought to have been the champions of this great
+proposition are unfortunately its strongest opponents. They have
+permitted the golden opportunity to pass. The record is made up, and we
+must go to the Country on this issue thus presented." And then he gave
+notice that he would call the matter up, at the earliest possible moment
+after the opening of the December Session of Congress.</p>
+
+<br><br><br><br>
+<a name="ch27"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<h2>
+ CHAPTER XXVII.<br><br>
+
+ SLAVERY DOOMED AT THE POLLS.
+
+</h2>
+</center>
+<br>
+
+<p>The record was indeed made up, and the issue thus made, between Slavery
+and Freedom, would be the chief one before the People. Already the
+Republican National Convention, which met at Baltimore, June 7, 1864,
+had not only with "enthusiastic unanimity," renominated Mr. Lincoln for
+the Presidency, but amid "tremendous applause," the delegates rising and
+waving their hats&mdash;had adopted a platform which declared, in behalf of
+that great Party: "That, as Slavery was the cause, and now constitutes
+the strength, of this Rebellion, and as it must be, always and
+everywhere, hostile to the principles of Republican government, Justice
+and the National safety demand its utter and complete extirpation from
+the soil of the Republic; and that while we uphold and maintain the Acts
+and Proclamations by which the Government, in its own defense, has aimed
+a death-blow at this gigantic evil, we are in favor, furthermore, of
+such an Amendment to the Constitution, to be made by the People in
+conformity with its provisions, as shall terminate and forever prohibit
+the existence of Slavery within the limits or the jurisdiction of the
+United States."</p>
+
+<p>So, too, with vociferous plaudits, had they received and adopted another
+Resolution, wherein they declared "That we approve and applaud the
+practical wisdom, the unselfish patriotism and the unswerving fidelity
+to the Constitution and the principles of American Liberty, with which
+Abraham Lincoln has discharged, under circumstances of unparalleled
+difficulty, the great duties and responsibilities of the Presidential
+Office; that we approve and endorse, as demanded by the emergency, and
+essential to the preservation of the Nation, and as within the
+provisions of the Constitution; the Measures and Acts which he has
+adopted to defend the Nation against its open and secret foes; that we
+approve, especially, the Proclamation of Emancipation, and the
+employment, as Union soldiers, of men heretofore held in Slavery; and
+that we have full confidence in his determination to carry these and all
+other Constitutional Measures essential to the salvation of the Country,
+into full and complete effect."</p>
+
+<p>Thus heartily, thoroughly and unreservedly, endorsed in all the great
+acts of his Administration&mdash;and even more emphatically, if possible, in
+his Emancipation policy&mdash;by the unanimous vote of his Party, Mr.
+Lincoln, although necessarily "chagrined and disappointed"
+by the House-vote which had defeated the Thirteenth Amendment, might well feel
+undismayed. He always had implicit faith in the People; he felt sure
+that they would sustain him; and this done, why could not the votes of a
+dozen, out of the seventy Congressional Representatives opposing that
+Amendment, be changed? Even failing in this, it must be but a question
+of time. He thought he could afford to bide that time.</p>
+
+<p>On the 29th of August, the Democratic National Convention met at
+Chicago. Horatio Seymour was its permanent President; that same
+Governor of New York whom the 4th of July, 1863, almost at the moment
+when Vicksburg and Gettysburg had brought great encouragement to the
+Union cause, and when public necessity demanded the enforcement of the
+Draft in order to drive the Rebel invader from Northern soil and bring
+the Rebellion speedily to an end&mdash;had threateningly said to the
+Republicans, in the course of a public speech, during the Draft-riots at
+New York City: "Remember this, that the bloody, and treasonable, and
+revolutionary doctrine of public necessity can be proclaimed by a mob as
+well as by a Government. * * * When men accept despotism, they may have
+a choice as to who the despot shall be!"</p>
+
+<p>In his speech to this Democratic-Copperhead National Convention,
+therefore, it is not surprising that he should, at this time, declare
+that "this Administration cannot now save this Union, if it would."
+That the body which elected such a presiding officer,&mdash;after the bloody
+series of glorious Union victories about Atlanta, Ga., then fast leading
+up to the fall of that great Rebel stronghold, (which event actually
+occurred long before most of these Democratic delegates, on their
+return, could even reach their homes)&mdash;should adopt a Resolution
+declaring that the War was a "failure," was not surprising either.</p>
+
+<p>That Resolution&mdash;"the material resolution of the Chicago platform," as
+Vallandigham afterward characters it, was written and "carried through
+both the Subcommittee and the General Committee" by that Arch-Copperhead
+and Conspirator himself.&mdash;[See his letter of October 22, 1864, to the
+editor of the New York News,]</p>
+
+<p>It was in these words: "Resolved, That this Convention does explicitly
+declare as the sense of the American People, that after four years of
+failure to restore the Union by the experiment of War, during which,
+under the pretense of a military necessity, or War&mdash;power higher than the
+Constitution, the Constitution itself has been disregarded in every
+part, and public Liberty and private right alike trodden down and the
+material prosperity of the Country essentially impaired&mdash;Justice,
+Humanity, Liberty, and the public welfare demand that immediate efforts
+be made for a cessation of hostilities, with a view to an ultimate
+Convention of the States, or other peaceable means, to the end that at
+the earliest practicable moment Peace may be restored on the basis of
+the Federal Union of the States."</p>
+
+<p>With a Copperhead platform, this Democratic Convention thought it
+politic to have a Union candidate for the Presidency. Hence, the
+nomination of General McClellan; but to propitiate the out-and-out
+Vallandigham Peace men, Mr. Pendleton was nominated to the second place
+on the ticket.</p>
+
+<p>This combination was almost as great a blunder as was the platform&mdash;than
+which nothing could have been worse. Farragut's Naval victory at
+Mobile, and Sherman's capture of Atlanta, followed so closely upon the
+adjournment of the Convention as to make its platform and candidates the
+laughing stock of the Nation; and all the efforts of Democratic orators,
+and of McClellan himself, in his letter of acceptance, could not prevent
+the rise of that great tidal wave of Unionism which was soon to engulf
+the hosts of Copperhead-Democracy.</p>
+
+<p>The Thanksgiving-services in the churches, and the thundering salutes of
+100 guns from every Military and Naval post in the United States, which
+&mdash;during the week succeeding that Convention's sitting&mdash;betokened the
+Nation's especial joy and gratitude to the victorious Union Forces of
+Sherman and Farragut for their fortuitously-timed demonstration that the
+"experiment of War" for the restoration of the Union was anything but a
+"Failure" all helped to add to the proportions of that rapidly-swelling
+volume of loyal public feeling.</p>
+
+<p>The withdrawal from the canvass, of General Fremont, nominated for the
+Presidency by the "radical men of the Nation," at Cleveland, also
+contributed to it. In his letter of withdrawal, September 17th, he
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"The Presidential contest has, in effect, been entered upon in such a
+way that the union of the Republican Party has become a paramount
+necessity. The policy of the Democratic Party signifies either
+separation, or reestablishment with Slavery. The Chicago platform is
+simply separation. General McClellan's letter of acceptance is
+reestablishment, with Slavery. The Republican candidate is, on the
+contrary, pledged to the reestablishment of the Union without Slavery;
+and, however hesitating his policy may be, the pressure of his Party
+will, we may hope, force him to it. Between these issues, I think no
+man of the Liberal Party can remain in doubt."</p>
+
+<p>And now, following the fall of Atlanta before Sherman's Forces, Grant
+had stormed "Fort Hell," in front of Petersburg; Sheridan had routed the
+Rebels, under Early, at Winchester, and had again defeated Early at
+Fisher's Hill; Lee had been repulsed in his attack on Grant's works at
+Petersburg; and Allatoona had been made famous, by Corse and his 2,000
+Union men gallantly repulsing the 5,000 men of Hood's Rebel Army, who
+had completely surrounded and attacked them in front, flank, and rear.</p>
+
+<p>All these Military successes for the Union Cause helped the Union
+political campaign considerably, and, when supplemented by the
+remarkable results of the October elections in Pennsylvania, Indiana,
+and Maryland, made the election of Lincoln and Johnson a foregone
+conclusion.</p>
+
+<p>The sudden death of Chief-Justice Taney, too, happening, by a strange
+coincidence, simultaneously with the triumph of the Union Party of
+Maryland in carrying the new Constitution of that State, which
+prohibited Slavery within her borders, seemed to have a significance*
+not without its effect upon the public mind, now fast settling down to
+the belief that Slavery everywhere upon the soil of the United States
+must die.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [Greeley well said of it: "His death, at this moment, seemed to
+ mark the transition from the Era of Slavery to that of Universal
+ Freedom."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>Then came, October 19th, the Battle of Cedar Creek, Va. where the Rebel
+General Early, during Sheridan's absence, surprised and defeated the
+latter's forces, until Sheridan, riding down from Winchester, turned
+defeat into victory for the Union Arms, and chased the armed Rebels out
+of the Shenandoah Valley forever; and the fights of October 27th and
+28th, to the left of Grant's position, at Petersburg, by which the
+railroad communications of Lee's Army at Richmond were broken up.</p>
+
+<p>At last, November 8, 1864, dawned the eventful day of election. By
+midnight of that date it was generally believed, all over the Union,
+that Lincoln and Johnson were overwhelmingly elected, and that the Life
+as well as Freedom of the Nation had thus been saved by the People.</p>
+
+<p>Late that very night, President Lincoln was serenaded by a Pennsylvania
+political club, and, in responding to the compliment, modestly said:</p>
+
+<p>"I earnestly believe that the consequences of this day's work (if it be
+as you assure, and as now seems probable) will be to the lasting
+advantage, if not to the very salvation, of the Country. I cannot at
+this hour say what has been the result of the election. But whatever it
+may be, I have no desire to modify this opinion, that all who have
+labored to-day in behalf of the Union organization have wrought for the
+best interests of their Country and the World, not only for the present
+but for all future ages.</p>
+
+<p>"I am thankful to God," continued he, "for this approval of the People;
+but, while deeply gratified for this mark of their confidence in me, if
+I know my heart, my gratitude is free from any taint of personal
+triumph. I do not impugn the motives of any one opposed to me. It is
+no pleasure to me to triumph over any one; but I give thanks to the
+Almighty for this evidence of the People's resolution to stand by Free
+Government and the rights of Humanity."</p>
+
+<p>On the 10th of November, in response to another serenade given at the
+White House, in the presence of an immense and jubilantly enthusiastic
+gathering of Union men, by the Republican clubs of the District of
+Columbia, Mr. Lincoln said:</p>
+
+<p>"It has long been a grave question whether any Government, not too
+strong for the Liberties of its People, can be strong enough to maintain
+its existence in great emergencies. On this point the present
+Rebellion has brought our Republic to a severe test, and a
+Presidential election, occurring in regular course during the Rebellion,
+has added not a little to the strain. * * * But the election, along
+with its incidental and undesired strife, has done good, too. It has
+demonstrated that a People's Government can sustain a National election
+in the midst of a great Civil War, until now it has not been known to
+the World that this was a possibility. It shows, also, how sound and
+how strong we still are.</p>
+
+<p>"But," said he, "the Rebellion continues; and now that the election is
+over, may not all having a common interest reunite in a common effort to
+save our common Country?</p>
+
+<p>"For my own part," continued he&mdash;as the cheering, elicited by this
+forcible appeal, ceased&mdash;"I have striven, and shall strive, to avoid
+placing any obstacle in the way. So long as I have been here I have not
+willingly planted a thorn in any man's bosom. While I am deeply
+sensible to the high compliment of a reelection, and duly grateful, as I
+trust, to Almighty God for having directed my countrymen to a right
+conclusion, as I think, for their own good, it adds nothing to my
+satisfaction that any other man may be disappointed or pained by the
+result."</p>
+
+<p>And, as the renewed cheering evoked by this kindly, Christian utterance
+died away again, he impressively added: "May I ask those who have not
+differed with me, to join with me in this same spirit, towards those who
+have?"</p>
+
+<p>So, too, on the 17th of November, in his response to the complimentary
+address of a delegation of Union men from Maryland.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [W. H. Purnell, Esq., in behalf of the Committee, delivered an
+ address, in which he said they rejoiced that the People, by such an
+ overwhelming and unprecedented majority, had again reelected Mr.
+ Lincoln to the Presidency and endorsed his course&mdash;elevating him to
+ the proudest and most honorable position on Earth. They felt under
+ deep obligation to him because he had appreciated their condition
+ as a Slave-State. It was not too much to say that by the exercise
+ of rare discretion on his part, Maryland to-day occupies her
+ position in favor of Freedom. Slavery has been abolished therefrom
+ by the Sovereign Decree of the People. With deep and lasting
+ gratitude they desired that his Administration, as it had been
+ approved in the past, might also be successful in the future, and
+ result in the Restoration of the Union, with Freedom as its
+ immutable basis. They trusted that, on retiring from his high and
+ honorable position, the universal verdict might be that he deserved
+ well of mankind, and that favoring Heaven might 'Crown his days
+ with loving kindness and tender mercies.']</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>The same kindly anxiety to soften and dispel the feeling of bitterness
+that had been engendered in the malignant bosoms of the
+Copperhead-Democracy by their defeat, was apparent when he said with emphasis and
+feeling:</p>
+
+<p>"I have said before, and now repeat, that I indulge in no feeling of
+triumph over any man who has thought or acted differently from myself.
+I have no such feeling toward any living man;" and again, after
+complimenting Maryland for doing "more than double her share" in the
+elections, in that she had not only carried the Republican ticket, but
+also the Free Constitution, he added: "Those who have differed with us
+and opposed us will yet see that the result of the Presidential election
+is better for their own good than if they had been successful."</p>
+
+<p>The victory of the Union-Republican Party at this election was an
+amazing one, and in the words of General Grant's dispatch of
+congratulation to the President, the fact of its "having passed off
+quietly" was, in itself, "a victory worth more to the Country than a
+battle won,"&mdash;for the Copperheads had left no stone unturned in their
+efforts to create the utmost possible rancor, in the minds of their
+partisans, against the Administration and its Party.</p>
+
+<p>Of twenty-five States voting, Lincoln and Johnson had carried the
+electoral votes of twenty-two of them, viz.: Maine, New Hampshire,
+Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New York,
+Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Michigan,
+Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, California, Oregon, Kansas, West Virginia,
+and Nevada; while McClellan and Pendleton had carried the twenty-one
+electoral votes of the remaining three, viz.: New Jersey, Delaware, and
+Kentucky&mdash;the popular vote reaching the enormous number of 2,216,067 for
+Lincoln, to 1,808,725 for McClellan&mdash;making Lincoln's popular majority
+407,342, and his electoral majority 191!</p>
+
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<a name="poll"></a>
+<center>
+<img alt="p598-poll.jpg (170K)" src="images/p598-poll.jpg" height="959" width="637">
+</center>
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+
+<p>But if the figures upon the Presidential candidacy were so gratifying
+and surprising to all who held the cause of Union above all others, no
+less gratifying and surprising were those of the Congressional
+elections, which indicated an entire revulsion of popular feeling on the
+subject of the Administration's policy. For, while in the current
+Congress (the 38th), there were only 106 Republican-Union to 77
+Democratic Representatives, in that for which the elections had just
+been held, (the 39th), there would be 143 Republican-Union to 41
+Democratic Representatives.</p>
+
+<p>It was at once seen, therefore, that, should the existing House of
+Representatives fail to adopt the Thirteenth Amendment to the
+Constitution, there would be much more than the requisite two-thirds
+majority for such a Measure in both Houses of the succeeding Congress;
+and moreover that in the event of its failure at the coming Session, it
+was more than probable that President Lincoln would consider himself
+justified in calling an Extra Session of the Thirty-ninth Congress for
+the especial purpose of taking such action. So far then, as the
+prospects of the Thirteenth Amendment were concerned, they looked
+decidedly more encouraging.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="" cellPadding=4 border=3>
+<tr><td>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="p5.htm">Previous Part</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+</td><td>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="7140-h.htm">Main Index</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+</td><td>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="p7.htm">Next Part</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+
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+</table>
+</center>
+
+
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+<title>THE GREAT CONSPIRACY, Part 7, By John Logan</title>
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+
+<h2>THE GREAT CONSPIRACY, Part 7</h2>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="" cellPadding=4 border=3>
+<tr><td>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="p6.htm">Previous Part</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+</td><td>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="7140-h.htm">Main Index</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+<br><br><br><br><br><br>
+
+
+
+
+
+<center>
+<h1>
+<br>
+ THE GREAT CONSPIRACY<br>
+<br>
+ Its Origin and History<br><br>
+<br>
+ Part 7<br><br><br>
+
+ By John Logan
+<br></h1>
+<br>
+<h2>
+
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<img alt="titlepage.jpg (65K)" src="images/titlepage.jpg" height="1134" width="692">
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<img alt="frontspiece.jpg (101K)" src="images/frontspiece.jpg" height="934" width="665">
+<br><br>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br><br>
+<br>
+CONTENTS
+</h2></center>
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2><a href="#ch28">CHAPTER XXVIII.</a><br>
+ FREEDOM AT LAST ASSURED.<br></h2>
+<br>
+THE WINTER OF 1864&mdash;THE MILITARY SITUATION&mdash;THE "MARCH TO THE
+SEA"&mdash;THOMAS AND HOOD&mdash;LOGAN'S INTERVIEW WITH THE PRESIDENT&mdash;VICTORIES OF
+NASHVILLE AND SAVANNAH&mdash;MR. LINCOLN'S MESSAGE TO CONGRESS, ON THIRTEENTH
+AMENDMENT&mdash;CONGRESSIONAL RECESS&mdash;PRESIDENT LINCOLN STILL WORKING WITH,
+THE BORDER-STATE REPRESENTATIVES&mdash;ROLLINS'S INTERVIEW WITH HIM&mdash;THE
+THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT UP, IN THE HOUSE, AGAIN&mdash;VIGOROUS AND ELOQUENT
+DEBATE&mdash;SPEECHES OF COX, BROOKS, VOORHEES, MALLORY, HOLMAN, WOOD, AND
+PENDLETON, AGAINST THE AMENDMENT&mdash;SPEECHES OF CRESWELL, SCOFIELD,
+ROLLINS, GARFIELD, AND STEVENS, FOR IT&mdash;RECONSIDERATION OF ADVERSE
+VOTE&mdash;THE AMENDMENT ADOPTED&mdash;EXCITING SCENE IN THE HOUSE&mdash;THE GRAND SALUTE TO
+LIBERTY&mdash;SERENADE TO MR. LINCOLN&mdash;"THIS ENDS THE JOB"
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2><a href="#ch29">CHAPTER XXIX.</a><br>
+ LINCOLN'S SECOND INAUGURATION.<br></h2>
+<br>
+REBELLION ON ITS "LAST LEGS"&mdash;PEACE COMMISSIONS AND
+PROPOSITIONS&mdash;EFFORTS OF GREELEY, JACQUES, GILMORE, AND BLAIR&mdash;LINCOLN'S
+ADVANCES&mdash;JEFFERSON DAVIS'S DEFIANT MESSAGE TO HIM&mdash;THE PRESIDENT AND THE REBEL
+COMMISSIONERS AT HAMPTON ROADS&mdash;VARIOUS ACCOUNTS, OF THE SECRET
+CONFERENCE, BY PARTICIPANTS THE PROPOSITIONS ON BOTH SIDES&mdash;FAILURE&mdash;THE
+MILITARY OUTLOOK&mdash;THE REBEL CAUSE DESPERATE&mdash;REBEL
+DESERTIONS&mdash;"MILITARY" PEACE-CONVENTION PROPOSED BY REBELS&mdash;DECLINED&mdash;CORRESPONDENCE
+BETWEEN GRANT AND LEE, ETC.&mdash;THE SECOND INAUGURATION OF PRESIDENT
+LINCOLN&mdash;A STRANGE OMEN&mdash;HIS IMMORTAL SECOND-INAUGURAL
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2><a href="#ch30">CHAPTER XXX.</a><br>
+ COLLAPSE OF THE ARMED CONSPIRACY.<br></h2>
+<br>
+PROGRESS OF THE WAR&mdash;CAMPAIGN OF THE CAROLINAS, 1865&mdash;MEETING, AT CITY
+POINT, OF LINCOLN, GRANT, AND SHERMAN&mdash;SHERMAN'S ACCOUNT OF WHAT
+PASSED&mdash;GRANT NOW FEELS "LIKE ENDING THE MATTER"&mdash;THE BATTLES OF DINWIDDIE
+COURT HOUSE AND FIVE FORKS&mdash;UNION ASSAULT ON THE PETERSBURG WORKS&mdash;UNION
+VICTORY EVERYWHERE&mdash;PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND EVACUATED&mdash;LEE'S RETREAT CUT
+OFF BATTLE OF SAILOR'S CREEK&mdash;GRANT ASKS LEE TO SURRENDER&mdash;LEE
+DELAYS&mdash;SHERIDAN CATCHES HIM, AND HIS ARMY, IN A TRAP&mdash;THE REBELS SURRENDER, AT
+APPOMATTOX&mdash;GRANT'S GENEROUS AND MAGNANIMOUS TERMS&mdash;THE STARVING REBELS
+FED WITH UNION RATIONS&mdash;SURRENDER OF JOHNSTON'S ARMY&mdash;OTHER REBEL FORCES
+SURRENDER&mdash;THE REBELLION STAMPED OUT&mdash;CAPTURE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS&mdash;THE
+REBELS "YIELD EVERYTHING THEY HAD FOUGHT FOR"&mdash;THEY CRAVE PARDON AND
+OBLIVION FOR THEIR OFFENCES
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2><a href="#ch31">CHAPTER XXXI.</a><br>
+ ASSASSINATION!<br></h2>
+<br>
+PRESIDENT LINCOLN AT RICHMOND&mdash;HIS RECEPTIONS AT JEFFERSON DAVIS'S
+MANSION&mdash;RETURN TO WASHINGTON&mdash;THE NEWS OF LEE'S SURRENDER&mdash;LINCOLN'S
+LAST PUBLIC SPEECH&mdash;HIS THEME, "RECONSTRUCTION"&mdash;GRANT ARRIVES AT THE
+NATIONAL CAPITAL&mdash;PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S LAST CABINET MEETING&mdash;HIS FOND
+HOPES OF THE FUTURE&mdash;AN UNHEEDED PRESENTIMENT&mdash;AT FORD'S THEATRE&mdash;THE
+LAST ACCLAMATION OF THE PEOPLE&mdash;THE PISTOL SHOT THAT HORRIFIED THE
+WORLD&mdash;SCULKING, RED HANDED TREASON&mdash;THE ASSASSINATION PLOT-COMPLICITY
+OF THE REBEL AUTHORITIES, BELIEVED BY THE BEST INFORMED MEN&mdash;TESTIMONY
+AS TO THREE ATTEMPTS TO KILL LINCOLN&mdash;THE CHIEF REBEL-CONSPIRATORS
+"RECEIVE PROPOSITIONS TO ASSASSINATE"&mdash;A NATION'S WRATH&mdash;ANDREW
+JOHNSON'S VEHEMENT ASSEVERATIONS&mdash;"TREASON MUST BE MADE
+ODIOUS"&mdash;RECONSTRUCTION
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2><a href="#ch32">CHAPTER XXXII.</a><br>
+ TURNING BACK THE HANDS<br></h2>
+<br>
+"RECONSTRUCTION" OF THE SOUTH&mdash;MEMORIES OF THE WAR, DYING OUT&mdash;THE
+FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH AMENDMENTS&mdash;THE SOUTHERN STATES REHABILITATED
+BY ACCEPTANCE OF AMENDMENTS, ETC.&mdash;REMOVAL OF REBEL
+DISABILITIES&mdash;CLEMENCY OF THE CONQUERORS&mdash;THE OLD CONSPIRATORS HATCH A NEW
+CONSPIRACY&mdash;THE "LOST CAUSE" TO BE REGAINED&mdash;THE MISSISSIPPI SHOT-GUN PLAN&mdash;FRAUD,
+BARBARITY, AND MURDERS, EFFECT THE PURPOSE&mdash;THE "SOUTH" CEMENTED "SOLID"
+BY BLOOD&mdash;PEONAGE REPLACES SLAVERY&mdash;THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF
+1876&mdash;THE TILDEN "BARREL," AND "CIPHER DISPATCHES"&mdash;THE "FRAUD" CRY&mdash;THE OLD
+LEADERS DICTATE THE DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE OF 1880&mdash;THEIR
+FREE-TRADE ISSUE TO THE FRONT AGAIN&mdash;SUCCESSIVE DEMOCRATIC EFFORTS TO FORCE
+FREE-TRADE THROUGH THE HOUSE, SINCE REBELLION&mdash;EFFECT OF SUCH
+EFFORTS&mdash;REPUBLICAN MODIFICATIONS OF THEIR OWN PROTECTIVE TARIFF&mdash;THE "SOLID
+SOUTH" SUCCEEDS, AT LAST, IN "ELECTING" ITS CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT&mdash;IS
+THIS STILL A REPUBLIC, OR IS IT AN OLIGARCHY?
+<br>
+<br>
+ <h2><a href="#ch33">CHAPTER XXXIII.</a><br>
+ WHAT NEXT?<br></h2>
+<br>
+THE PRESENT OUTLOOK&mdash;COMMERCIAL PROSPECTS, BRIGHT&mdash;WHAT THE PEOPLE OF
+THE NORTHERN AND WESTERN STATES SEE&mdash;WHAT IS A "REPUBLICAN FORM OF
+GOVERNMENT?"&mdash;WHAT DID THE FATHERS MEAN BY IT&mdash;THE REASON FOR THE
+GUARANTEE IN THE NATIONAL CONSTITUTION&mdash;PURPOSES OF "THE PEOPLE" IN
+CREATING THIS REPUBLIC&mdash;THE "SOLID-SOUTHERN" OLIGARCHS DEFEAT THOSE
+PURPOSES&mdash;THE REPUBLICAN PARTY NOT BLAMELESS FOR THE PRESENT CONDITION
+OF THINGS&mdash;THE OLD REBEL-CHIEFTAINS AND COPPERHEADS, IN CONTROL&mdash;THEY
+GRASP ALMOST EVERYTHING THAT WAS LOST BY THE REBELLION&mdash;THEIR GROWING
+AGGRESSIVENESS&mdash;THE FUTURE&mdash;"WATCHMAN, WHAT OF THE NIGHT?"
+<br>
+<br><br><br><br>
+<h4>IMAGES.</h4>
+
+<center>
+<table summary="">
+<tr><td>
+
+<a href="#stevens">THAD. STEVENS</a><br>
+<a href="#davis">HENRY WINTER DAVIS</a><br>
+<a href="#breckinridge">J. C. BRECKINRIDGE</a><br>
+
+
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<a name="stevens"></a>
+<center>
+<img alt="p606-stevens.jpg (72K)" src="images/p606-stevens.jpg" height="809" width="586">
+</center>
+<br><br><br>
+<a name="ch28"></a>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center><h2> CHAPTER XXVIII.<br>
+<br>
+ FREEDOM AT LAST ASSURED.
+</h2></center>
+<br>
+
+<p>As to the Military situation, a few words are, at this time, necessary:
+Hood had now marched Northward, with some 50,000 men, toward Nashville,
+Tenn., while Sherman, leaving Thomas and some 35,000 men behind, to
+thwart him, had abandoned his base, and was marching Southward from
+Atlanta, through Georgia, toward the Sea.</p>
+
+<p>On the 30th of November, 1864, General Schofield, in command of the 4th
+and 23rd Corps of Thomas's Army, decided to make a stand against Hood's
+Army, at Franklin, in the angle of the Harpeth river, in order to give
+time for the Union supply-trains to cross the river. Here, with less
+than 20,000 Union troops, behind some hastily constructed works, he had
+received the impetuous and overwhelming assault of the Enemy&mdash;at first
+so successful as to threaten a bloody and disastrous rout to the Union
+troops&mdash;and, by a brilliant counter-charge, and subsequent obstinate
+defensive-fighting, had repulsed the Rebel forces, with nearly three
+times the Union losses, and withdrew the next day in safety to the
+defenses of Nashville.</p>
+
+<p>A few days later, Hood, with his diminished Rebel Army, sat down before
+the lines of Thomas's somewhat augmented Army, which stretched from bank
+to bank of the bight of the Cumberland river upon which Nashville is
+situated.</p>
+
+<p>And now a season of intense cold set in, lasting a week or ten days.
+During this period of apparent inaction on both sides&mdash;which aroused
+public apprehension in the North, and greatly disturbed General Grant&mdash;I
+was ordered to City Point, by the General-in-Chief, with a view to his
+detailing me to Thomas's Command, at Nashville.</p>
+
+<p>On the way, I called on President Lincoln, at the White House. I found
+him not very well, and with his feet considerably swollen. He was
+sitting on a chair, with his feet resting on a table, while a barber was
+shaving him. Shaking him by the hand, and asking after his health, he
+answered, with a humorous twinkle of the eye, that he would illustrate
+his condition by telling me a story. Said he: "Two of my neighbors, on
+a certain occasion, swapped horses. One of these horses was large, but
+quite thin. A few days after, on inquiry being made of the man who had
+the big boney horse, how the animal was getting along?&mdash;whether
+improving or not?&mdash;the owner said he was doing finely; that he had
+fattened almost up to the knees already!"</p>
+
+<p>Afterward&mdash;when, the process of shaving had been completed, we passed to
+another room&mdash;our conversation naturally turned upon the War; and his
+ideas upon all subjects connected with it were as clear as those of any
+other person with whom I ever talked. He had an absolute conviction as
+to the ultimate outcome of the War&mdash;the final triumph of the Union Arms;
+and I well remember, with what an air of complete relief and perfect
+satisfaction he said to me, referring to Grant&mdash;"We have now at the head
+of the Armies, a man in whom all the People can have confidence."</p>
+
+<p>But to return to Military operations: On December 10th? Sherman reached
+the sea-board and commenced the siege of Savannah, Georgia; on the 13th,
+Fort McAllister was stormed and Sherman's communications opened with the
+Sea; on the 15th and 16th, the great Battle of Nashville was fought,
+between the Armies of Thomas and Hood, and a glorious victory gained by
+the Union Arms&mdash;Hood's Rebel forces being routed, pursued for days, and
+practically dispersed; and, before the year ended, Savannah surrendered,
+and was presented to the Nation, as "a Christmas gift," by Sherman.</p>
+
+<p>And now the last Session of the Thirty-eighth Congress having commenced,
+the Thirteenth Amendment might at any time come up again in the House.
+In his fourth and last Annual Message, just sent in to that Body,
+President Lincoln had said:</p>
+
+<p>"At the last Session of Congress a proposed Amendment of the
+Constitution abolishing Slavery throughout the United States, passed the
+Senate, but failed for lack of the requisite two-thirds vote in the
+House of Representatives. Although the present is the same Congress,
+and nearly the same members, and without questioning the wisdom or
+patriotism of those who stood in opposition, I venture to recommend the
+reconsideration and passage of the measure at the present Session. Of
+course the abstract question is not changed; but an intervening election
+shows, almost certainly, that the next Congress will pass the measure if
+this does not. Hence there is only a question of time as to when the
+proposed Amendment will go to, the States for their action. And as it
+is to so go, at all, events, may we not agree that the sooner the
+better? It is not claimed that the election has imposed a duty on
+members to change their views or their votes, any farther than, as an
+additional element to be considered, their judgment may be affected by
+it. It is the voice of the People now, for the first time, heard upon
+the question. In a great National crisis like ours, unanimity of action
+among those seeking a common end is very desirable&mdash;almost
+indispensable. And yet no approach to such unanimity is attainable
+unless some deference shall be paid to the will of the majority simply
+because it is the will of the majority. In this case the common end is
+the maintenance of the Union; and, among the means to secure that end,
+such will, through the election, is most clearly declared in favor of
+such Constitutional Amendment."</p>
+
+<p>After affirming that, on the subject of the preservation of the Union,
+the recent elections had shown the existence of "no diversity among the
+People;" that "we have more men now than we had when the War began;"
+that "we are gaining strength" in all ways; and that, after the
+evidences given by Jefferson Davis of his unchangeable opposition to
+accept anything short of severance from the Union, "no attempt at
+negotiation with the Insurgent leader could result in any good," he
+appealed to the other Insurgents to come back to the fold&mdash;the door of
+amnesty and pardon, being still "open to all." But, he continued:</p>
+
+<p>"In presenting the abandonment of armed resistance to the National
+Authority, on the part of the Insurgents, as the only indispensable
+condition to ending the War, on the part of the Government, I retract
+nothing heretofore said as to Slavery. I repeat the declaration made a
+year ago, that 'while I remain in my present position I shall not
+attempt to retract or modify the Emancipation Proclamation, nor shall I
+return to Slavery any Person who is Free by the terms of that
+Proclamation, or by any of the Acts of Congress.' If the People should,
+by whatever mode or means, make it an Executive duty to Reenslave such
+Persons, another, and not I, must be their instrument to perform it. In
+stating a single condition of Peace I mean simply to say that the War
+will cease on the part of the Government, whenever it shall have ceased
+on the part of those who began it."</p>
+
+<p>On the 22d of December, 1864, in accordance with the terms of a
+Concurrent Resolution that had passed both Houses, Congress adjourned
+until January 5, 1865. During the Congressional Recess, however, Mr.
+Lincoln, anxious for the fate of the Thirteenth Amendment, exerted
+himself, as it afterward appeared, to some purpose, in its behalf, by
+inviting private conferences with him, at the White House, of such of
+the Border-State and other War-Democratic Representatives as had before
+voted against the measure, but whose general character gave him ground
+for hoping that they might not be altogether deaf to the voice of reason
+and patriotism.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [Among those for whom he sent was Mr. Rollins, of
+ Missouri, who afterward gave the following interesting account of
+ the interview:</p>
+
+<p> "The President had several times in my presence expressed his deep
+ anxiety in favor of the passage of this great measure. He and
+ others had repeatedly counted votes in order to ascertain, as far
+ as they could, the strength of the measure upon a second trial in
+ the House. He was doubtful about its passage, and some ten days or
+ two weeks before it came up for consideration in the House, I
+ received a note from him, written in pencil on a card, while
+ sitting at my desk in the House, stating that he wished to see me,
+ and asking that I call on him at the White House. I responded that
+ I would be there the next morning at nine o'clock.</p>
+
+<p> "I was prompt in calling upon him and found him alone in his
+ office. He received me in the most cordial manner, and said in his
+ usual familiar way: 'Rollins, I have been wanting to talk to you
+ for some time about the Thirteenth Amendment proposed to the
+ Constitution of the United States, which will have to be voted on
+ now, before a great while.'</p>
+
+<p> "I said: 'Well, I am here, and ready to talk upon that subject.</p>
+
+<p> "He said: 'You and I were old Whigs, both of us followers of that
+ great statesman, Henry Clay, and I tell you I never had an opinion
+ upon the subject of Slavery in my life that I did not get from him.
+ I am very anxious that the War should be brought to a close at the
+ earliest possible date, and I don't believe this can be
+ accomplished as long as those fellows down South can rely upon the
+ Border-States to help them; but if the Members from the
+ Border-States would unite, at least enough of them to pass the Thirteenth
+ Amendment to the Constitution, they would soon see that they could
+ not expect much help from that quarter, and be willing to give up
+ their opposition and quit their War upon the Government; that is my
+ chief hope and main reliance to bring the War to a speedy close,
+ and I have sent for you as an old Whig friend to come and see me,
+ that I might make an appeal to you to vote for this Amendment. It
+ is going to be very close; a few votes one way or the other will
+ decide it.'</p>
+
+<p> "To this, I responded: 'Mr. President, so far as I am concerned,
+ you need not have sent for me to ascertain my views on this
+ subject, for although I represent perhaps the strongest
+ Slave-district in Missouri, and have the misfortune to be one of the
+ largest Slave-owners in the country where I reside, I had already
+ determined to vote for the Amendment.</p>
+
+<p> "He arose from his chair, and grasping me by the hand, gave it a
+ hearty shake, and said: 'I am most delighted to hear that.'</p>
+
+<p> "He asked me how many more of the Missouri delegates in the House
+ would vote for it.</p>
+
+<p> "I said I could not tell; the Republicans of course would; General
+ Loan, Mr. Blow, Mr. Boyd, and Colonel McClurg.</p>
+
+<p> "He said, 'Won't General Price vote for it? He is a good Union
+ man.' I said I could not answer.</p>
+
+<p> "'Well, what about General King?'</p>
+
+<p> "I told him I did not know.</p>
+
+<p> "He then asked about Judges Hall and Norton.</p>
+
+<p> "I said they would both vote against it, I thought.</p>
+
+<p> "'Well,' he said, 'are you on good terms with Price and King?'</p>
+
+<p> "I responded in the affirmative, and that I was on easy terms with
+ the entire delegation.</p>
+
+<p> "He then asked me if I would not talk with those who might be
+ persuaded to vote for the amendment, and report to him as soon as I
+ could find out what the prospect was.'</p>
+
+<p> "I answered that I would do so with pleasure, and remarked at the
+ same time, that when I was a young man, in 1848, I was the Whig
+ competitor of King for Governor of Missouri, and, as he beat me
+ very badly, I thought now he should pay me back by voting as I
+ desired him on this important question.</p>
+
+<p> "I promised the President I would talk to this gentleman upon the
+ subject.</p>
+
+<p> "He said: 'I would like you to talk to all the Border-State men
+ whom you can approach properly, and tell them of my anxiety to have
+ the measure pass; and let me know the prospect of the Border-State
+ vote,' which I promised to do.</p>
+
+<p> "He again said: 'The passage of this Amendment will clinch the
+ whole subject; it will bring the War, I have no doubt, rapidly to a
+ close.'"&mdash;Arnold's Life of Lincoln, pp. 358-359,]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>On the 5th of January, 1865, the Christmas Recess having expired,
+Congress re-assembled. The motion to reconsider the vote-by which the
+Joint Resolution, to amend the Constitution by the abolition of Slavery,
+had been defeated&mdash;was not called up, on that day, as its friends had
+not all returned; but the time was mainly consumed in able speeches, by
+Mr. Creswell of Maryland, and Stevens of Pennsylvania, in which the
+former declared that "whether we would or not, we must establish Freedom
+if we would exterminate Treason. Events have left us no choice. The
+People have learned their duty and have instructed us accordingly." And
+Mr. Thaddeus Stevens solemnly said: "We are about to ascertain the
+National will, by another vote to amend the Constitution. If gentlemen
+opposite will yield to the voice of God and Humanity, and vote for it, I
+verily believe the sword of the Destroying Angel will be stayed, and
+this People be reunited. If we still harden our hearts, and blood must
+still flow, may the ghosts of the slaughtered victims sit heavily upon
+the souls of those who cause it!"</p>
+
+<p>On the 6th of January, Mr. Ashley called up his motion to reconsider the
+vote defeating the Thirteenth Amendment, and opened the debate with a
+lengthy and able speech in favor of that measure, in concluding which he
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"The genius of history, with iron pen, is waiting to record our verdict
+where it will remain forever for all the coming generations of men to
+approve or condemn. God grant that this verdict may be one over which
+the friends of Liberty, impartial and universal, in this Country and
+Europe, and in every Land beneath the sun, may rejoice; a verdict which
+shall declare that America is Free; a verdict which shall add another
+day of jubilee, and the brightest of all, to our National calendar."</p>
+
+<p>The debate was participated in by nearly all the prominent men, on both
+sides of the House&mdash;the speeches of Messrs. Cox, Brooks, Voorhees,
+Mallory, Holman, Woods and Pendleton being the most notable, in
+opposition to, and those of Scofield, Rollins, Garfield and Stevens, in
+favor of, the Amendment. That of Scofield probably stirred up "the
+adversary" more thoroughly than any other; that of Rollins was more
+calculated to conciliate and capture the votes of hesitating, or
+Border-State men; that of Garfield was perhaps the most scholarly and eloquent;
+while that of Stevens was remarkable for its sledge-hammer pungency and
+characteristic brevity.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Pendleton, toward the end of his speech, had said of Mr. Stevens:
+"Let him be careful, lest when the passions of these times be passed
+away, and the historian shall go back to discover where was the original
+infraction of the Constitution, he may find that sin lies at the door of
+others than the people now in arms." And it was this that brought the
+sterling old Patriot again to his feet, in vindication of the acts of
+his liberty-inspired life, and in defense of the power to amend the
+Constitution, which had been assailed.</p>
+
+<p>The personal antithesis with which he concluded his remarks was in
+itself most dramatically effective, Said he:</p>
+
+<p>"So far as the appeals of the learned gentleman (Mr. Pendleton) are
+concerned, in his pathetic winding up, I will be willing to take my
+chance, when we all moulder in the dust. He may have his epitaph
+written, if it be truly written, 'Here rests the ablest and most
+pertinacious defender of Slavery, and opponent of Liberty;' and I will
+be satisfied if my epitaph shall be written thus: 'Here lies one who
+never rose to any eminence, and who only courted the low ambition to
+have it said that he had striven to ameliorate the condition of the
+poor, the lowly, the downtrodden, of every race, and language, and
+color."</p>
+
+<p>As he said these words, the crowded floors and galleries broke out into
+involuntary applause for the grand "Old Commoner"&mdash;who only awaited its
+cessation, to caustically add: "I shall be content, with such a eulogy
+on his lofty tomb and such an inscription on my humble grave, to trust
+our memories to the judgment of after ages."</p>
+
+<p>The debate, frequently interrupted by Appropriation Bills, and other
+important and importunate measures, lasted until the 31st of January,
+when Mr. Ashley called the previous question on his motion to
+reconsider.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Stiles at once moved to table the motion to reconsider. Mr.
+Stiles's motion was lost by 57 yeas to 111 nays. This was in the nature
+of a test-vote, and the result, when announced, was listened to, with
+breathless attention, by the crowded House and galleries. It was too
+close for either side to be satisfied; but it showed a gain to the
+friends of the Amendment; that was something. How the final vote would
+be, none could tell. Meanwhile it was known, from the announcements on
+the floor, that Rogers was absent through his own illness and Voorhees
+through illness in his family.</p>
+
+<p>The previous question being seconded and the main question ordered, the
+yeas and nays were called on the motion to reconsider&mdash;and the intense
+silence succeeding the monotonous calling of the names was broken by the
+voice of the Speaker declaring the motion to reconsider, carried, by 112
+yeas to 57 nays.</p>
+
+<p>This vote created a slight sensation. There was a gain of one,
+(English), at any rate, from among those not voting on the previous
+motion. Now, if there should be but the change of a single vote, from
+the nays to the yeas, the Amendment would be carried!</p>
+
+<p>The most intensely anxious solicitude was on nearly every face, as Mr.
+Mallory, at this critical moment, made the point of order that "a vote
+to reconsider the vote by which the subject now before the House was
+disposed of, in June last, requires two-thirds of this Body," and
+emphatically added: "that two-thirds vote has not been obtained."</p>
+
+<p>A sigh of relief swept across the galleries, as the Speaker overruled
+the point of order. Other attempted interruptions being resolutely met
+and defeated by Mr. Ashley, in charge of the Resolution, the "previous
+question" was demanded, seconded, and the main question ordered&mdash;which
+was on the passage of the Resolution.</p>
+
+<p>And now, amid the hush of a breathless and intent anxiety&mdash;so absolute
+that the scratch of the recording pencil could be heard&mdash;the Clerk
+commenced to call the roll!</p>
+
+<p>So consuming was the solicitude, on all sides, for the fate of this
+portentous measure, that fully one-half the Representatives kept tally
+at their desks as the vote proceeded, while the heads of the gathered
+thousands of both sexes, in the galleries, craned forward, as though
+fearing to lose the startlingly clear responses, while the roll-call
+progressed.</p>
+
+<p>When it reached the name of English&mdash;Governor English, a Connecticut
+Democrat, who had not voted on the first motion, to table the motion to
+reconsider, but had voted "yea" on the motion to reconsider,&mdash;and he
+responded with a clear-cut "aye" on the passage of the Resolution&mdash;it
+looked as though light were coming at last, and applause involuntarily
+broke forth from the Republican side of the floor, spreading instantly
+to the galleries, despite the efforts of the Speaker to preserve order.</p>
+
+<p>So, when Ganson of New York, and other Democrats, voted "aye," the
+applause was renewed again and again, and still louder again, when, with
+smiling face&mdash;which corroborated the thrilling, fast-spreading, whisper,
+that "the Amendment is safe!"&mdash;Speaker Colfax directed the Clerk to call
+his name, as a member of the House, and, in response to that call, voted
+"aye!"</p>
+
+<p>Then came dead silence, as the Clerk passed the result to the Speaker&mdash;
+during which a pin might have been heard to drop,&mdash;broken at last by the
+Speaker's ringing voice: "The Constitutional majority of two-thirds
+having voted in the affirmative, the Joint Resolution is passed."</p>
+
+<p> [The enrolled Resolution received the approval and signature of the
+ President, Feb. 1, 1865,]</p>
+
+<p>The words had scarcely left the Speaker's lips, when House and galleries
+sprang to their feet, clapping their hands, stamping their feet, waving
+hats and handkerchiefs, and cheering so loudly and so long that it
+seemed as if this great outburst of enthusiasm&mdash;indulged in, in defiance
+of all parliamentary rules&mdash;would never cease!</p>
+
+<p>In his efforts to control it, Speaker Colfax hammered the desk until he
+nearly broke his mallet. Finally, by 4 o'clock, P.M., after several
+minutes of useless effort&mdash;during which the pounding of the mallet was
+utterly lost in the noisy enthusiasm and excitement, in which both the
+Freedom-loving men and women of the Land, there present,
+participated&mdash;the Speaker at last succeeded in securing a lull.</p>
+
+<p>Advantage was instantly taken of it, by the successor of the dead Owen
+Lovejoy, Mr. Ingersoll of Illinois, his young face flushing with the
+glow of patriotism, as he cried: "Mr. Speaker! In honor of this
+Immortal and Sublime Event I move that the House do now adjourn." The
+Speaker declared the motion carried, amid renewed demonstrations of
+enthusiasm.</p>
+
+<p>During all these uncontrollable ebullitions of popular feeling in behalf
+of personal Liberty and National Freedom and strength, the Democratic
+members of the House had sat, many of them moving uneasily in their
+seats, with chagrin painted in deep lines upon their faces, while others
+were bolt upright, as if riveted to their chairs, looking straight
+before them at the Speaker, in a vain attempt, belied by the pallid
+anger of their set countenances, to appear unconscious of the storm of
+popular feeling breaking around them, which they now doggedly perceived
+might be but a forecast of the joyful enthusiasm which on that day, and
+on the morrow, would spread from one end of the Land to the other.</p>
+
+<p>Harris, of Maryland, made a sort of "Last Ditch" protest against
+adjournment, by demanding the "yeas and nays" on the motion to adjourn.
+The motion was, however, carried, by 121 yeas to 24 nays; and, as the
+members left their places in the Hall&mdash;many of them to hurry with their
+hearty congratulations to President Lincoln at the White House&mdash;the
+triumph, in the Halls of our National Congress, of Freedom and Justice
+and Civilization, over Slavery and Tyranny and Barbarism, was already
+being saluted by the booming of one hundred guns on Capitol Hill.</p>
+
+<p>How large a share was Mr. Lincoln's, in that triumph, these pages have
+already sufficiently indicated. Sweet indeed must have been the joy
+that thrilled his whole being, when, sitting in the White House, he
+heard the bellowing artillery attest the success of his labors in behalf
+of Emancipation. Proud indeed must he have felt when, the following
+night, in response to the loud and jubilant cries of "Lincoln!"
+"Lincoln!" "Abe Lincoln!" "Uncle Abe!" and other affectionate calls,
+from a great concourse of people who, with music, had assembled outside
+the White House to give him a grand serenade and popular ovation, he
+appeared at an open window, bowed to the tumult of their acclamations,
+and declared that "The great Job is ended!"&mdash;adding, among other things,
+that the occasion was one fit for congratulation, and, said he, "I
+cannot but congratulate all present&mdash;myself, the Country, and the whole
+World&mdash;upon this great moral victory. * * * This ends the Job!"</p>
+
+<p>Substantially the job was ended. There was little doubt, after such a
+send off, by the President and by Congress, in view of the character of
+the State Legislatures, as well as the temper of the People, that the
+requisite number of States would be secured to ratify the Thirteenth
+Amendment. Already, on the 1st of February, that is to say, on the very
+day of this popular demonstration at the Executive Mansion, the
+President's own State, Illinois, had ratified it&mdash;and this circumstance
+added to the satisfaction and happiness which beamed from, and almost
+made beautiful, his homely face.</p>
+
+<p>Other States quickly followed; Maryland, on February 1st and 3rd; Rhode
+Island and Michigan, on February 2nd; New York, February 2nd and 3rd;
+West Virginia, February 3rd; Maine and Kansas, February 7th;
+Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, February 8th; Virginia, February 9th;
+Ohio and Missouri, February 10th; Nevada and Indiana, February 16th;
+Louisiana, February 17th; Minnesota, February 8th and 23rd; Wisconsin,
+March 1st; Vermont, March 9th; Tennessee, April 5th and 7th; Arkansas,
+April 20th; Connecticut, May 5th; New Hampshire, July 1st; South
+Carolina, November 13th; Alabama, December 2nd; North Carolina, December
+4th; Georgia, December 9th; Oregon, December 11th; California, December
+20th; and Florida, December 28th;&mdash;all in 1865; with New Jersey, closely
+following, on January 23rd; and Iowa, January 24th;&mdash;in 1866.</p>
+
+<p>Long ere this last date, however, the Secretary of State (Mr. Seward)
+had been able to, and did, announce (November 18, 1865) the ratification
+of the Amendment by the requisite number of States, and certified that
+the same had "become, to all intents and purposes, valid as a part of
+the Constitution of the United States."</p>
+
+<p>Not until then, was "the job" absolutely ended; but, as has been already
+mentioned, it was, at the time Mr. Lincoln spoke, as good as ended. It
+was a foregone conclusion, that the great end for which he, and so many
+other great and good men of the Republic had for so many years been
+earnestly striving, would be an accomplished fact. They had not failed;
+they had stood firm; the victory which he had predicted six years before
+had come!</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [He had said in his Springfield speech, of 1858: "We
+ shall not fail; if we stand firm we shall not fail; wise counsels
+ may accelerate, or mistakes delay, but sooner or later the Victory
+ is sure to come."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<br><br><br><br>
+<a name="ch29"></a>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<center>
+<h2>
+ CHAPTER XXIX.<br><br>
+
+ LINCOLN'S SECOND INAUGURATION.
+</h2>
+</center>
+<br>
+
+<p>While the death of Slavery in America was decreed, as we have seen; yet,
+the sanguine anticipations of Mr. Lincoln, and other friends of Freedom,
+that such a decree, imperishably grafted into the Constitution, must at
+once end the Rebellion, and bring Peace with a restored Union, were not
+realized. The War went on. Grant was still holding Lee, at Petersburg,
+near Richmond, while Sherman's victorious Army was about entering upon a
+campaign from Savannah, up through the Carolinas.</p>
+
+<p>During the previous Summer, efforts had been made, by Horace Greeley,
+and certain parties supposed to represent the Rebel authorities, to lay
+the ground-work for an early Peace and adjustment of the differences
+between the Government of the United States and the Rebels, but they
+miscarried. They led, however, to the publication of the following
+important conciliatory Presidential announcement:</p>
+
+<p> "EXECUTIVE MANSION,<br>
+ "WASHINGTON, July 18, 1864.</p>
+
+<p>"To whom it may concern:</p>
+
+<p>"Any proposition which embraces the restoration of Peace, the integrity
+of the whole Union, and the abandonment of Slavery, and which comes by
+and with an authority that can control the Armies now at War against the
+United States, will be received and considered by the Executive
+Government of the United States, and will be met by liberal terms on
+substantial and collateral points; and the bearer or bearers thereof
+shall have safe conduct both ways.</p>
+
+<p>"(Signed) ABRAHAM LINCOLN."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+About the same time, other efforts were being made, with a similar
+object in view, but which came to naught. The visit of Messrs. Jacques
+and Gilmore to the Rebel Capital on an informal Peace-errand was, at
+least, valuable in this, that it secured from the head and front of the
+armed Conspiracy, Jefferson Davis himself, the following definite
+statement:</p>
+
+<p>"I desire Peace as much as you do; I deplore bloodshed as much as you
+do; but I feel that not one drop of the blood shed in this War is on my
+hands. I can look up to my God and say this. I tried all in my power
+to avert this War. I saw it coming, and for twelve years I worked night
+and day to prevent it; but I could not. The North was mad and blind; it
+would not let us govern ourselves; and so the War came: and now it must
+go on till the last man of this generation falls in his tracks, and his
+children seize his musket and fight our battle, unless you acknowledge
+our right to self-government. We are not fighting for Slavery. We are
+fighting for INDEPENDENCE; and that, or EXTERMINATION, we WILL have."</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [The Nation, July 2, 1885, contained the following
+ remarks, which may be pertinently quoted in support of this
+ authoritative statement that the South was "not fighting for
+ Slavery," but for Independence&mdash;that is to say: for Power, and what
+ would flow from it.]</p>
+
+<p> ["The Charleston News and Courier a fortnight ago remarked that
+ 'not more than one Southern soldier in ten or fifteen was a
+ Slaveholder, or had any interest in Slave Property.' The
+ Laurensville Herald disputed the statement, and declared that 'the
+ Southern Army was really an Army of Slaveholders and the sons of
+ Slaveholders.' The Charleston paper stands by its original
+ position, and cites figures which are conclusive. The Military
+ population of the eleven States which seceded, according to the
+ census of 1860, was 1,064,193. The entire number of Slaveholders
+ in the Country at the same time was 383,637, but of these 77,335
+ lived in the Border States, so that the number in the Seceding
+ States was only 306,302. Most of the small Slaveholders, however,
+ were not Slave-owners, but Slave hirers, and Mr. De Bow, the
+ statistician who supervised the census of 1850, estimated that but
+ little over half the holders were actually owners. The proportion
+ of owners diminished between 1850 and 1860, and the News and
+ Courier thinks that there were not more than 150,000 Slave-owners
+ in the Confederate States when the War broke out. This would be
+ one owner to every seven White males between eighteen and
+ forty-five; but as many of the owners were women, and many of the men
+ were relieved from Military service, the Charleston paper is
+ confirmed in its original opinion that there were ten men in the
+ Southern Army who were not Slave-owners for every soldier who had
+ Slaves of his own."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>And when these self-constituted Peace-delegates had fulfilled the duty
+which their zeal had impelled them to perform, and were taking their
+leave of the Rebel chieftain, Jefferson Davis added:</p>
+
+<p>"Say to Mr. Lincoln, from me, that I shall at any time be pleased to
+receive proposals for PEACE on the basis of our INDEPENDENCE. It will
+be useless to approach me with any other."</p>
+
+<p>Thus the lines had been definitely and distinctly drawn, on both sides.
+The issue of Slavery became admittedly, as between the Government and
+the Rebels, a dead one. The great cardinal issue was now clearly seen
+and authoritatively admitted to be, "the integrity of the whole Union"
+on the one side, and on the other, "Independence of a part of it."
+These precise declarations did great good to the Union Cause in the
+North, and not only helped the triumphant re-election of Mr. Lincoln,
+but also contributed to weaken the position of the Northern advocates of
+Slavery, and to bring about, as we have seen, the extinction of that
+inherited National curse, by Constitutional Amendment.</p>
+
+<p>During January, of 1865, Francis P. Blair having been permitted to pass
+both the Union and Rebel Army lines, showed to Mr. Lincoln a letter,
+written to the former, by Jefferson Davis&mdash;and which the latter had
+authorized him to read to the President&mdash;stating that he had always
+been, and was still, ready to send or to receive Commissioners "to enter
+into a Conference, with a view to secure Peace to the two Countries."
+On the 18th of that month, purposing to having it shown to Jefferson
+Davis, Mr. Lincoln wrote to Mr. Blair a letter in which, after referring
+to Mr. Davis, he said: "You may say to him that I have constantly been,
+am now, and shall continue, ready to receive any agent whom he, or any
+other influential person now resisting the National Authority, may
+informally send to me, with the view of securing Peace to the People of
+our common Country." On the 21st of January, Mr. Blair was again in
+Richmond; and Mr. Davis had read and retained Mr. Lincoln's letter to
+Blair, who specifically drew the Rebel chieftain's attention to the fact
+that "the part about 'our common Country' related to the part of Mr.
+Davis's letter about 'the two Countries,' to which Mr. Davis replied
+that he so understood it." Yet subsequently, he sent Messrs. Alexander
+H. Stephens, R. M. T. Hunter, and John A. Campbell as Commissioners,
+with instructions, (January 28, 1865,) which, after setting forth the
+language of Mr. Lincoln's letter, proceeded strangely enough to say: "In
+conformity with the letter of Mr. Lincoln, of which the foregoing is a
+copy, you are to proceed to Washington city for informal Conference with
+him upon the issues involved in the existing War, and for the purpose of
+securing Peace to the two Countries!" The Commissioners themselves
+stated in writing that "The substantial object to be obtained by the
+informal Conference is, to ascertain upon what terms the existing War
+can be terminated honorably. * * * Our earnest desire is, that a just
+and honorable Peace may be agreed upon, and we are prepared to receive
+or to submit propositions which may, possibly, lead to the attainment of
+that end." In consequence of this peculiarly "mixed" overture, the
+President sent Secretary Seward to Fortress Monroe, to informally confer
+with the parties, specifically instructing him to "make known to them
+that three things are indispensable, to wit:</p>
+
+<p>"1. The restoration of the National Authority throughout all the
+States.</p>
+
+<p>"2. No receding, by the Executive of the United States, on the Slavery
+question, from the position assumed thereon in the late Annual Message
+to Congress, and in preceding documents.</p>
+
+<p>"3. No cessation of hostilities short of an end of the War and the
+disbanding of all forces hostile to the Government."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lincoln also instructed the Secretary to "inform them that all
+propositions of theirs, not inconsistent with the above, will be
+considered and passed upon in a spirit of sincere liberality;" to "hear
+all they may choose to say, and report it" to him, and not to "assume to
+definitely consummate anything." Subsequently, the President, in
+consequence of a dispatch from General Grant to Secretary Stanton,
+decided to go himself to Fortress Monroe.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> Following is the dispatch:</p>
+
+<p> [In Cipher]</p>
+
+<p> OFFICE UNITED STATES MILITARY TELEGRAPH. WAR DEPARTMENT.</p>
+
+<p> "The following telegram received at Washington, 4.35 A.M.,<br>
+February 2, 1865. From City Point, Va.,<br>
+February 1, 10.30 P.M., 1865</p>
+
+<p> "Now that the interview between Major Eckert, under his written
+ instructions, and Mr. Stephens and party has ended, I will state
+ confidentially, but not officially, to become a matter of record,
+ that I am convinced, upon conversation with Messrs. Stephens and
+ Hunter, that their intentions are good and their desire sincere to
+ restore Peace and Union. I have not felt myself at liberty to
+ express, even, views of my own, or to account for my reticency.
+ This has placed me in an awkward position, which I could have
+ avoided by not seeing them in the first instance. I fear now their
+ going back without any expression from any one in authority will
+ have a bad influence. At the same time I recognize the
+ difficulties in the way of receiving these informal Commissioners
+ at this time, and do not know what to recommend. I am sorry,
+ however, that Mr. Lincoln cannot have an interview with the two
+ named in this dispatch, if not all three now within our lines.
+ Their letter to me was all that the President's instructions
+ contemplated to secure their safe conduct, if they had used the
+ same language to Major Eckert.</p>
+
+<p> "U. S. GRANT,<br>
+ "Lieutenant General.</p>
+
+<p> "Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON,<br>
+ "Secretary of War."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p> Mr. Stephens is stated by a Georgia paper to have repeated the
+ following characteristic anecdote of what occurred during the
+ interview. "The three Southern gentlemen met Mr. Lincoln and Mr.
+ Seward, and after some preliminary remarks, the subject of Peace
+ was opened. Mr. Stephens, well aware that one who asks much may
+ get more than he who confesses to humble wishes at the outset,
+ urged the claims of his Section with that skill and address for
+ which the Northern papers have given him credit. Mr. Lincoln,
+ holding the vantage ground of conscious power, was, however,
+ perfectly frank, and submitted his views almost in the form of an
+ argument. * * * Davis had, on this occasion, as on that of Mr.
+ Stephens's visit to Washington, made it a condition that no
+ Conference should be had unless his rank as Commander or President
+ should first be recognized. Mr. Lincoln declared that the only
+ ground on which he could rest the justice of War&mdash;either with his
+ own people, or with foreign powers&mdash;was that it was not a War for
+ conquest, for that the States had never been separated from the
+ Union. Consequently, he could not recognize another Government
+ inside of the one of which he alone was President; nor admit the
+ separate Independence of States that were yet a part of the Union.
+ 'That' said he 'would be doing what you have so long asked Europe
+ to do in vain, and be resigning the only thing the Armies of the
+ Union have been fighting for.' Mr. Hunter made a long reply to
+ this, insisting that the recognition of Davis's power to make a
+ Treaty was the first and indispensable step to Peace, and referred
+ to the correspondence between King Charles I., and his Parliament,
+ as a trustworthy precedent of a Constitutional ruler treating with
+ Rebels. Mr. Lincoln's face then wore that indescribable expression
+ which generally preceded his hardest hits, and he remarked: 'Upon
+ questions of history I must refer you to Mr. Seward, for he is
+ posted in such things, and I don't pretend to be bright. My only
+ distinct recollection of the matter is that Charles lost his head,'
+ That settled Mr. Hunter for a while." Arnold's Lincoln, p. 400.</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>On the night of February 2nd, Mr. Lincoln reached Hampton Roads, and
+joined Secretary Seward on board a steamer anchored off the shore. The
+next morning, from another steamer, similarly anchored, Messrs.
+Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell were brought aboard the President's
+steamer and a Conference with the President and Secretary of several
+hours' duration was the result. Mr. Lincoln's own statement of what
+transpired was in these words:</p>
+
+<p>"No question of preliminaries to the meeting was then and there made or
+mentioned. No other person was present; no papers were exchanged or
+produced; and it was, in advance, agreed that the conversation was to be
+informal and verbal merely. On our part, the whole substance of the
+instructions to the Secretary of State, hereinbefore recited, was stated
+and insisted upon, and nothing was said inconsistent therewith; while,
+by the other party, it was not said that in any event or on any
+condition, they ever would consent to Re-union; and yet they equally
+omitted to declare that they never would so consent. They seemed to
+desire a postponement of that question, and the adoption of some other
+course first, which, as some of them seemed to argue, might or might not
+lead to Reunion; but which course, we thought, would amount to an
+indefinite postponement. The Conference ended without result."</p>
+
+<p>In his communication to the Rebel Congress at Richmond, February 6.
+1865, Jefferson Davis, after mentioning his appointment of Messrs.
+Stephens, Hunter and Campbell, for the purpose stated, proceeded to say:</p>
+
+<p>"I herewith transmit, for the information of Congress, the report of the
+eminent citizens above named, showing that the Enemy refused to enter
+into negotiations with the Confederate States, or any one of them
+separately, or to give to our people any other terms or guarantees than
+those which the conqueror may grant, or to permit us to have Peace on
+any other basis than our unconditional submission to their rule, coupled
+with the acceptance of their recent legislation on the subject of the
+relations between the White and Black population of each State."</p>
+
+<p>On the 5th and 9th of February, public meetings were held at Richmond,
+in connection with these Peace negotiations. At the first, Jefferson
+Davis made a speech in which the Richmond Dispatch reported him as
+emphatically asserting that no conditions of Peace "save the
+Independence of the Confederacy could ever receive his sanction. He
+doubted not that victory would yet crown our labors, * * * and sooner
+than we should ever be united again he would be willing to yield up
+everything he had on Earth, and if it were possible would sacrifice a
+thousand lives before he would succumb." Thereupon the meeting of
+Rebels passed resolutions "spurning" Mr. Lincoln's terms "with the
+indignation due to so gross an insult;" declared that the circumstances
+connected with his offer could only "add to the outrage and stamp it as
+a designed and premeditated indignity" offered to them; and invoking
+"the aid of Almighty God" to carry out their "resolve to maintain" their
+"Liberties and Independence"&mdash;to which, said they, "we mutually pledge
+our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." So too, at the second
+of these meetings, presided over by R. M. T. Hunter, and addressed by
+the Rebel Secretary Judah P. Benjamin, resolutions were adopted amid
+"wild and long continued cheering," one of which stated that they would
+"never lay down" their "arms until" their "Independence" had "been won,"
+while another declared a full confidence in the sufficiency of their
+resources to "conduct the War successfully and to that issue," and
+invoked "the People, in the name of the holiest of all causes, to spare
+neither their blood nor their treasure in its maintenance and support."</p>
+
+<p>As during these Peace negotiations, General Grant, by express direction
+of President Lincoln, had not changed, hindered, nor delayed, any of his
+"Military movements or plans," so, now that the negotiations had failed,
+those Military movements were pressed more strenuously than ever.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [The main object of this Conference on the part of the Rebels was
+ to secure an immediate truce, or breathing spell, during which they
+ could get themselves in better condition for continuing the War.
+ Indeed a portion of Mr. Seward's letter of Feb. 7, 1865, to Mr.
+ Adams, our Minister at the Court of St. James, giving him an
+ account of the Conference with the party of Insurgent
+ Commissioners, would not alone indicate this, but also that it was
+ proposed by that "Insurgent party," that both sides, during the
+ time they would thus cease to fight one another, might profitably
+ combine their forces to drive the French invaders out of Mexico and
+ annex that valuable country. At least, the following passage in
+ that letter will bear that construction:</p>
+
+<p> "What the Insurgent party seemed chiefly to favor was a
+ postponement of the question of separation, upon which the War is
+ waged, and a mutual direction of efforts of the Government, as well
+ as those of the Insurgents, to some extrinsic policy or scheme for
+ a season, during which passions might be expected to subside, and
+ the Armies be reduced, and trade and intercourse between the People
+ of both Sections resumed. It was suggested by them that through
+ such postponements we might now have immediate Peace, with some not
+ very certain prospect of an ultimate satisfactory adjustment of
+ political relations between this Government, and the States,
+ Section, or People, now engaged in conflict with it."</p>
+
+<p> For the whole of this letter see McPherson's History of the
+ Rebellion, p. 570.]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>Fort Fisher, North Carolina, had already been captured by a combined
+Military and Naval attack of the Union forces under General Terry and
+Admiral Porter; and Sherman's Army was now victoriously advancing from
+Savannah, Georgia, Northwardly through South Carolina. On the 17th of
+February, Columbia, the capital of the latter State, surrendered, and,
+the day following, Charleston was evacuated, and its defenses, including
+historic Fort Sumter, were once more under that glorious old flag of the
+Union which four years before had been driven away, by shot and shell
+and flame, amid the frantic exultations of the temporarily successful
+armed Conspirators of South Carolina. On the 22nd of February, General
+Schofield, who had been sent by Grant with his 23rd Corps, by water, to
+form a junction with Terry's troops about Fort Fisher, and capture
+Wilmington, North Carolina, had also accomplished his purpose
+successfully.</p>
+
+<p>The Rebel Cause now began to look pretty desperate, even to Rebel eyes.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [Hundreds of Rebels were now deserting from Lee's Armies about
+ Richmond, every night, owing partly to despondency. "These
+ desertions," wrote Lee, on the 24th February, "have a very bad
+ effect upon the troops who remain, and give rise to painful
+ apprehensions." Another cause was the lack of food and clothing.
+ Says Badeau (Military History of Ulysses S. Grant, vol. iii., p.
+ 399): "On the 8th of January, Lee wrote to the Rebel Government
+ that the entire Right Wing of his Army had been in line for three
+ days and nights, in the most inclement weather of the season.
+ 'Under these circumstances,' he said, 'heightened by assaults and
+ fire of the Enemy, some of the men had been without meat for three
+ days, and all were suffering from reduced rations and scant
+ clothing. Colonel Cole, chief commissary, reports that he has not
+ a pound of meat at his disposal. If some change is not made, and
+ the commissary department reorganized, I apprehend dire results.
+ The physical strength of the men, if their courage survives, must
+ fail under this treatment. Our Cavalry has to be dispersed for
+ want of forage. Fitz Lee's and Lomax's Divisions are scattered
+ because supplies cannot be transported where their services are
+ required. I had to bring Fitz Lee's Division sixty miles Sunday
+ night, to get them in position. Taking these facts in connection
+ with the paucity of our numbers, you must not be surprised if
+ calamity befalls us.'" Badeau's (Grant, vol. iii., p. 401,)]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>Toward the end of February, the Rebel General Longstreet having
+requested an interview with General Ord "to arrange for the exchange of
+citizen prisoners, and prisoners of war, improperly captured," General
+Grant authorized General Ord to hold such interview t and "to arrange
+definitely for such as were confined in his department, arrangements for
+all others to be submitted for approval." In the course of that
+interview "a general conversation ensued on the subject of the War,"
+when it would seem that Longstreet suggested the idea of a composition
+of the questions at issue, and Peace between the United States and the
+Rebels, by means of a Military Convention. It is quite probable that
+this idea originated with Jefferson Davis, as a <i>dernier resort</i>; for
+Longstreet appears to have communicated directly with Davis concerning
+his interview or "interviews" with Ord. On the 28th of February, 1865
+the Rebel Chief wrote to Lee, as follows:</p>
+
+<p> "RICHMOND, VA., February 28.</p>
+
+<p>"Gen. R. E. LEE, Commanding, etc.,</p>
+
+<p>"GENERAL: You will learn by the letter of General Longstreet the result
+of his second interview with General Ord. The points as to whether
+yourself or General Grant should invite the other to a Conference is not
+worth discussing. If you think the statements of General Ord render it
+probably useful that the Conference suggested should be had, you will
+proceed as you may prefer, and are clothed with all the supplemental
+authority you may need in the consideration of any proposition for a
+Military Convention, or the appointment of a Commissioner to enter into
+such an arrangement as will cause at least temporary suspension of
+hostilities.<br>
+ "Very truly yours <br>
+ "JEFFERSON DAVIS."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+Thereupon General Lee wrote, and sent to General Grant, the following
+communication:</p>
+
+<p> "HEADQUARTERS C. S. ARMIES, March 2, 1865.<br>
+"Lieut. Gen. U. S. GRANT,<br>
+"Commanding United States Armies:</p>
+
+<p>"GENERAL: Lieut.-Gen. Longstreet has informed me that, in a recent
+conversation between himself and Maj.-Gen. Ord, as to the possibility of
+arriving at a satisfactory adjustment of the present unhappy
+difficulties by means of a Military Convention, General Ord stated that
+if I desired to have an interview with you on the subject, you would not
+decline, provided I had authority to act. Sincerely desirous to leave
+nothing untried which may put an end to the calamities of War, I propose
+to meet you at such convenient time and place as you may designate, with
+the hope that, upon an interchange of views, it may be found practicable
+to submit the subjects of controversy between the belligerents to a
+Convention of the kind mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>"In such event, I am authorized to do whatever the result of the
+proposed interview may render necessary or advisable. Should you accede
+to this proposition, I would suggest that, if agreeable to you, we meet
+at the place selected by Generals Ord and Longstreet, for the interview,
+at 11 A.M., on Monday next.</p>
+
+<p> "Very respectfully your obedient servant,<br>
+ "R. E. LEE, General."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+Upon receipt of this letter, General Grant sent a telegraphic dispatch
+to Secretary Stanton, informing him of Lee's proposition. It reached
+the Secretary of War just before midnight of March 3rd. He, and the
+other members of the Cabinet were with the President, in the latter's
+room at the Capitol, whither they had gone on this, the last, night of
+the last Session of the Thirty-Eighth Congress, the Cabinet to advise,
+and the President to act, upon bills submitted to him for approval. The
+Secretary, after reading the dispatch, handed it to Mr. Lincoln. The
+latter read and thought over it briefly, and then himself wrote the
+following reply:</p>
+
+<p>"WASHINGTON, March, 3, 1865, 12 P.M.</p>
+
+<p>"LIEUTENANT GENERAL GRANT: The President directs me to say to you that
+he wishes you to have no Conference with General Lee, unless it be for
+the capitulation of General Lee's Army, or on some other minor and
+purely Military matter. He instructs me to say to you that you are not
+to decide, discuss, or confer upon any political question. Such
+questions the President holds in his own hands, and will submit them to
+no Military Conferences or Conventions. Meanwhile you are to press to
+the utmost your Military advantages.<br>
+ "EDWIN M. STANTON,<br>
+ "Secretary of War."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+General Grant received this dispatch, on the day following, and at once
+wrote and sent to General Lee a communication in which, after referring
+to the subject of the exchange of prisoners, he said: "In regard to
+meeting you on the 6th inst., I would state that&mdash;I have no authority to
+accede to your proposition for a Conference on the subject proposed.
+Such authority is vested in the President of the United States alone.
+General Ord could only have meant that I would not refuse an interview
+on any subject on which I have a right to act; which, of course, would
+be such as are purely of a Military character, and on the subject of
+exchange, which has been entrusted to me."</p>
+
+<p>Thus perished the last reasonable hope entertained by the Rebel
+Chieftains to ward off the inevitable and mortal blow that was about to
+smite their Cause.</p>
+
+<p>The 4th of March, 1865, had come. The Thirty-Eighth Congress was no
+more. Mr. Lincoln was about to be inaugurated, for a second term, as
+President of the United States. The previous night had been vexed with
+a stormy snow-fall. The morning had also been stormy and rainy. By
+mid-day, however, as if to mark the event auspiciously, the skies
+cleared and the sun shone gloriously upon the thousands and tens of
+thousands who had come to Washington, to witness the second Inauguration
+of him whom the people had now, long since, learned to affectionately
+term "Father Abraham"&mdash;of him who had become the veritable Father of his
+People. As the President left the White House, to join the grand
+procession to the Capitol, a brilliant meteor shot athwart the heavens,
+above his head. At the time, the superstitious thought it an Omen of
+triumph&mdash;of coming Peace&mdash;but in the sad after-days when armed Rebellion
+had ceased and Peace had come, it was remembered, with a shudder, as a
+portent of ill. When, at last, Mr. Lincoln stood, with bared head, upon
+the platform at the eastern portico of the Capitol, where four years
+before, he had made his vows before the People, under such very
+different circumstances and surroundings, the contrast between that time
+and this&mdash;and all the terrible and eventful history of the
+interim&mdash;could not fail to present itself to every mind of all those congregated,
+whether upon the platform among the gorgeously costumed foreign
+diplomats, the full-uniformed Military and Naval officers of the United
+States, and the more soberly-clad statesmen and Civic and Judicial
+functionaries of the Land, or in the vast and indiscriminate mass of the
+enthusiastic people in front and on both sides of it. As Chief Justice
+Chase administered the oath, and Abraham Lincoln, in view of all the
+people, reverently bowed his head and kissed the open Bible, at a
+passage in Isaiah (27th and 28th verses of the 5th Chapter) which it was
+thought "admonished him to be on his guard, and not to relax at all, in
+his efforts," the people, whose first cheers of welcome had been stayed
+by the President's uplifted hand, broke forth in a tumult of cheering,
+until again hushed by the clear, strong, even voice of the President, as
+he delivered that second Inaugural Address, whose touching tenderness,
+religious resignation, and Christian charity, were clad in these
+imperishable words:</p>
+
+<p>"FELLOW COUNTRYMEN: At this second appearing to take the Oath of the
+Presidential office, there is less occasion for an extended address than
+there was at the first. Then, a statement, somewhat in detail, of a
+course to be pursued, seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration
+of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly
+called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still
+absorbs the attention and engrosses the energy of the Nation, little
+that is new could be presented. The progress of our Arms, upon which
+all else depends, is as well known to the public as to myself; and it
+is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high
+hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.</p>
+
+<p>"On the occasion corresponding to this, four years ago, all thoughts
+were anxiously directed to an impending Civil War. All dreaded it&mdash;all
+sought to avert it. While the Inaugural Address was being delivered
+from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without War,
+Insurgent agents were in the city, seeking to destroy it without
+War&mdash;seeking to dissolve the Union, and divide the effects, by negotiation.
+Both parties deprecated War; but one of them would make War rather than
+let the Nation survive; and the other would accept War rather than let
+it perish&mdash;and the War came.</p>
+
+<p>"One-eighth of the whole population were colored Slaves, not distributed
+generally over the Union, but localized in the Southern part of it.
+These Slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew
+that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the War. To strengthen,
+perpetuate and extend this interest was the object for which the
+Insurgents would rend the Union, even by War; while the Government
+claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement
+of it. Neither Party expected for the War the magnitude or the duration
+which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of
+the conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself
+should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less
+fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible, and pray to the
+same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem
+strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in
+wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces; but let us
+judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be
+answered&mdash;that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His
+own purposes. 'Woe unto the World because of offences! for it must
+needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence
+cometh.' If we shall suppose that American Slavery is one of those
+offences which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which,
+having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and
+that He gives to both North and South this terrible War, as the woe due
+to those by Whom the offence came, shall we discern therein any
+departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living
+God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope&mdash;fervently do we
+pray&mdash;that this mighty scourge of War may speedily pass away. Yet, if God
+wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondman's two
+hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until
+every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn
+with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must
+be said, 'The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'</p>
+
+<p>"With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the
+right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the
+work we are in; to bind up the Nation's wounds, to care for him who
+shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan&mdash;to do
+all which may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting Peace among
+ourselves, and with all Nations."</p>
+
+<p>With utterances so just and fair, so firm and hopeful, so penitent and
+humble, so benignant and charitable, so mournfully tender and sweetly
+solemn, so full of the fervor of true piety and the very pathos of
+patriotism, small wonder is it that among those numberless thousands
+who, on this memorable occasion, gazed upon the tall, gaunt form of
+Abraham Lincoln, and heard his clear, sad voice, were some who almost
+imagined they saw the form and heard the voice of one of the great
+prophets and leaders of Israel; while others were more reminded of one
+of the Holy Apostles of the later Dispensation who preached the glorious
+Gospel "On Earth, Peace, good will toward Men," and received in the end
+the crown of Christian martyrdom. But not one soul of those
+present&mdash;unless his own felt such presentiment&mdash;dreamed for a moment that, all
+too soon, the light of those brave and kindly eyes was fated to go out
+in darkness, that sad voice to be hushed forever, that form to lie
+bleeding and dead, a martyred sacrifice indeed, upon the altar of his
+Country!</p>
+
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<a name="davis"></a>
+<center>
+<img alt="p608-hw davis.jpg (74K)" src="images/p608-hw%20davis.jpg" height="782" width="584">
+</center>
+<br><br><br><br>
+<a name="ch30"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<center>
+<h2>
+ CHAPTER XXX.<br><br>
+
+ COLLAPSE OF THE ARMED CONSPIRACY.
+</h2>
+</center>
+<br>
+
+<p>Meantime, Sherman's Armies were pressing along upward, toward Raleigh,
+from Columbia, marching through swamps and over quicksands and across
+swollen streams&mdash;cold, wet, hungry, tired&mdash;often up to their armpits in
+water, yet keeping their powder dry, and silencing opposing batteries or
+driving the Enemy, who doggedly retired before them, through the
+drenching rains which poured down unceasingly for days, and even weeks,
+at a time. On the 16th of March, 1865, a part of Sherman's Forces met
+the Enemy, under General Joe Johnston, at Averysboro, N. C., and forced
+him to retire. On the 19th and 20th of March, occurred the series of
+engagements, about Mill Creek and the Bentonville and Smithfield
+cross-roads, which culminated in the attack upon the Enemy, of the 21st of
+March, and his evacuation, that night, of his entire line of works, and
+retreat upon Smithfield. This was known as the Battle of Bentonville,
+and was the last battle fought between the rival Forces under Sherman
+and Johnston. The Armies of Sherman, now swollen by having formed a
+junction with the troops under Schofield and Terry, which had come from
+Newbern and Wilmington, went into camp at Goldsboro, North Carolina, to
+await the rebuilding of the railroads from those two points on the
+coast, and the arrival of badly needed clothing, provision, and other
+supplies, after which the march would be resumed to Burksville,
+Virginia. By the 25th of March, the railroad from Newbern was in
+running order, and General Sherman, leaving General Schofield in command
+of his eighty thousand troops, went to Newbern and Morehead City, and
+thence by steamer to City Point, for a personal interview with General
+Grant. On the same day, Lee made a desperate but useless assault, with
+twenty thousand (of his seventy thousand) men upon Fort Stedman&mdash;a
+portion of Grant's works in front of Petersburg. On the 27th, President
+Lincoln reached City Point, on the James River, in the steamer "Ocean
+Queen." Sherman reached City Point the same day, and, after meeting the
+General-in-Chief, Grant took him on board the "Ocean Queen" to see the
+President. Together they explained to Mr. Lincoln the Military
+situation, during the "hour or more" they were with him. Of this
+interview with Mr. Lincoln, General Sherman afterwards wrote: "General
+Grant and I explained to him that my next move from Goldsboro would
+bring my Army, increased to eighty thousand men by Schofield's and
+Terry's reinforcements, in close communication with General Grant's
+Army, then investing Lee in Richmond, and that unless Lee could effect
+his escape, and make junction with Johnston in North Carolina, he would
+soon be shut up in Richmond with no possibility of supplies, and would
+have to surrender. Mr. Lincoln was extremely interested in this view of
+the case, and when we explained that Lee's only chance was to escape,
+join Johnston, and, being then between me in North Carolina, and Grant
+in Virginia, could choose which to fight. Mr. Lincoln seemed unusually
+impressed with this; but General Grant explained that, at the very
+moment of our conversation, General Sheridan was passing his Cavalry
+across James River, from the North to the South; that he would, with
+this Cavalry, so extend his left below Petersburg as to meet the South
+Shore Road; and that if Lee should 'let go' his fortified lines, he
+(Grant) would follow him so close that he could not possibly fall on me
+alone in North Carolina. I, in like manner, expressed the fullest
+confidence that my Army in North Carolina was willing to cope with Lee
+and Johnston combined, till Grant could come up. But we both agreed
+that one more bloody battle was likely to occur before the close of the
+War. Mr. Lincoln * * * more than once exclaimed: 'Must more blood be
+shed? Cannot this last bloody battle be avoided?' We explained that we
+had to presume that General Lee was a real general; that he must see
+that Johnston alone was no barrier to my progress; and that if my Army
+of eighty thousand veterans should reach Burksville, he was lost in
+Richmond; and that we were forced to believe he would not await that
+inevitable conclusion, but make one more desperate effort."</p>
+
+<p>President Lincoln's intense anxiety caused him to remain at City Point,
+from this time forth, almost until the end&mdash;receiving from General
+Grant, when absent, at the immediate front, frequent dispatches, which,
+as fast as received and read, he transmitted to the Secretary of War, at
+Washington. Grant had already given general instructions to
+Major-Generals Meade, Ord, and Sheridan, for the closing movements of his
+immediate Forces, against Lee and his lines of supply and possible
+retreat. He saw that the time had come for which he had so long waited,
+and he now felt "like ending the matter." On the morning of the 29th of
+March&mdash;preliminary dispositions having been executed&mdash;the movements
+began. That night, Grant wrote to Sheridan, who was at Dinwiddie Court
+House, with his ten thousand Cavalry: "Our line is now unbroken from the
+Appomattox to Dinwiddie. * * * I feel now like ending the matter, if
+it is possible to do so, before going back. * * * In the morning, push
+around the Enemy, if you can, and get on his right rear. * * * We will
+all act together as one Army, until it is seen what can be done with the
+Enemy." The rain fell all that night in torrents. The face of the
+country, where forests, swamps, and quicksands alternated in presenting
+apparently insuperable obstacles to immediate advance, was very
+discouraging next morning, but Sheridan's heart was gladdened by orders
+to seize Five Forks.</p>
+
+<p>On the 31st, the Battle of Dinwiddie Court House occurred&mdash;the Enemy
+attacking Sheridan and Warren with a largely superior force. During the
+night, Sheridan was reinforced with the Fifth Corps, and other troops.
+On April 1st, Sheridan fought, and won, the glorious Battle of Five
+Forks, against this detached Rebel force, and, besides capturing 6,000
+prisoners and six pieces of artillery, dispersed the rest to the North
+and West, away from the balance of Lee's Army. That night, after Grant
+received the news of this victory, he went into his tent, wrote a
+dispatch, sent it by an orderly, and returning to the fire outside his
+tent, calmly said: "I have ordered an immediate assault along the
+lines." This was afterward modified to an attack at three points, on
+the Petersburg works, at 4 o'clock in the morning&mdash;a terrific
+bombardment, however, to be kept up all night. Grant also sent more
+reinforcements to Sheridan. On the morning of April 2nd, the assault
+was made, and the Enemy's works were gallantly carried, while Sheridan
+was coming up to the West of Petersburg.</p>
+
+<p>The Rebel Chieftain Lee, when his works were stormed and carried, is
+said to have exclaimed: "It has happened as I thought; the lines have
+been stretched until they broke." At 10.30 A. M. he telegraphed to
+Jefferson Davis: "My lines are broken in three places. Richmond must be
+evacuated this evening." This dispatch of Parke, Ord on Wright's left,
+Humphreys on Ord's left and Warren on Humphrey's left&mdash;Sheridan being to
+the rear and left of Warren, reached Davis, while at church. All
+present felt, as he retired, that the end of the Rebellion had come. At
+10.40 A. M. Lee reported further: "I see no prospect of doing more than
+holding our position here till night. I am not certain that I can do
+that. If I can, I shall withdraw tonight, North of the Appomattox, and
+if possible, it will be better to withdraw the whole line to-night from
+James river. * * * Our only chance of concentrating our Forces is to
+do so near Danville railroad, which I shall endeavor to do at once. I
+advise that all preparations be made for leaving Richmond to-night. I
+will advise you later, according to circumstances. "At 7 o'clock P. M.
+Lee again communicated to the Rebel Secretary of War this information:
+"It is absolutely necessary that we should abandon our position
+to-night, or run the risk of being cut off in the morning. I have given
+all the orders to officers on both sides of the river, and have taken
+every precaution that I can to make the movement successful. It will be
+a difficult operation, but I hope not impracticable. Please give all
+orders that you find necessary, in and about Richmond. The troops will
+all be directed to Amelia Court House." This was the last dispatch sent
+by Lee to the Rebel Government.</p>
+
+<p>On the 3rd of April, Petersburg and Richmond were evacuated, and again
+under the Union flag, while Grant's immediate Forces were pressing
+forward to cut off the retreat of Lee, upon Amelia Court House and
+Danville, in an effort to form a junction with Johnston. On the 6th,
+the important Battle of Sailor's Creek, Va., was fought and won by
+Sheridan. On the evening of the 7th, at the Farmville hotel, where Lee
+had slept the night before, Grant, after sending dispatches to Sheridan
+at Prospect Station, Ord at Prince Edward's Court House, and Mead at
+Rice Station, wrote the following letter to Lee:</p>
+
+<p> "FARMVILLE, April 7th, 1865.</p>
+
+<p>"GENERAL: The results of the last week must convince you of the
+hopelessness of further resistance, on the part of the Army of Northern
+Virginia, in this struggle. I feel that it is so, and regard it as my
+duty to shift from myself the responsibility of any further effusion of
+blood, by asking of you the surrender of that portion of the Confederate
+States' army known as the Army of Northern Virginia.</p>
+
+<p>"U. S. GRANT,<br>
+"Lieutenant-General."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+Lee, however, in replying to this demand, and in subsequent
+correspondence, seemed to be unable to see "the hopelessness of further
+resistance." He thought "the emergency had not yet come." Hence, Grant
+decided to so press and harass him, as to bring the emergency along
+quickly. Accordingly, by the night of the 8th of April, Sheridan with
+his Cavalry had completely headed Lee off, at Appomattox Court House.
+By morning, Ord's forces had reached Sheridan, and were in line behind
+him. Two Corps of the Army of the Potomac, under Meade, were also, by
+this time, close on the Enemy's rear. And now the harassed Enemy,
+conscious that his rear was threatened, and seeing only Cavalry in his
+front, through which to fight his way, advanced to the attack. The
+dismounted Cavalry of Sheridan contested the advance, in order to give
+Ord and Griffin as much time as possible to form, then, mounting and
+moving rapidly aside, they suddenly uncovered, to the charging Rebels,
+Ord's impenetrable barrier of Infantry, advancing upon them at a
+double-quick! At the same time that this appalling sight staggered them, and
+rolled them back in despair, they became aware that Sheridan's impetuous
+Cavalry, now mounted, were hovering on their left flank, evidently about
+to charge!</p>
+
+<p>Lee at once concluded that the emergency "had now come," and sent, both
+to Sheridan and Meade, a flag of truce, asking that hostilities cease,
+pending negotiations for a surrender&mdash;having also requested of Grant an
+audience with a view to such surrender. That afternoon the two great
+rival Military Chieftains met by appointment in the plain little
+farm-house of one McLean&mdash;Lee dressed in his best full-dress uniform and
+sword, Grant in a uniform soiled and dusty, and without any sword&mdash;and,
+after a few preliminary words, as to the terms proposed by Grant, the
+latter sat down to the table, and wrote the following:</p>
+<br>
+<p> "APPOMATTOX COURT HOUSE,<br>
+ "VIRGINIA, April 9, 1865.</p>
+
+<p>"GENERAL: In accordance with the substance of my letter to you of the
+8th instant, I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of Northern
+Virginia on the following terms, to wit: Rolls of all the officers and
+men to be made in duplicate, one copy to be given to an officer to be
+designated by me, the other to be retained by such officer or officers
+as you may designate. The officers to give their individual paroles not
+to take up arms against the Government of the United States, until
+properly exchanged; and each company or regimental commander to sign a
+like parole for the men of their commands. The arms, artillery, and
+public property to be parked and stacked, and turned over to the
+officers appointed by me to receive them. This will not embrace the
+side-arms of the officers nor their private horses or baggage. This
+done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to his home, not to
+be disturbed by United States authority so long as they observe their
+paroles and the laws in force where they may reside.</p>
+
+<p> "U. S. GRANT,<br>
+ "Lieutenant-General.</p>
+
+<p>"General R. E. LEE."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>After some further conversation, in which Grant intimated that his
+officers receiving paroles would be instructed to "allow the Cavalry and
+Artillery men to retain their horses, and take them home to work their
+little farms"&mdash;a kindness which Lee said, would "have the best possible
+effect," the latter wrote his surrender in the following words:</p>
+<br>
+<p> "HEAD-QUARTERS, ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA,
+ April 9, 1865.</p>
+
+<p>"GENERAL: I received your letter of this date containing the terms of
+the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, as proposed by you. As
+they are substantially the same as those expressed in your letter of the
+8th instant, they are accepted. I will proceed to designate the proper
+officers to carry the stipulations into effect.
+ "R. E. LEE, General.</p>
+
+<p>"Lieutenant-General U. S. GRANT."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+Before parting, Lee told Grant that his men were starving; and Grant at
+once ordered 25,000 rations to be issued to the surrendered Rebels&mdash;and
+then the Rebel Chieftain, shaking hands with the Victor, rode away to
+his conquered legions. It was 4.30 P.M. when Grant, on his way to his
+own headquarters, now with Sheridan's command, dismounted from his
+horse, and sitting on a stone by the roadside, wrote the following
+dispatch:</p>
+
+<p> "Hon. E. M. STANTON,<br>
+ Secretary of War, Washington.</p>
+
+<p>"General Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia this afternoon on
+terms proposed by myself. The accompanying additional correspondence
+will show the conditions fully.<br>
+ "U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant General."</p>
+<br><br>
+<p>
+Meanwhile on the 5th of April, Grant, who had kept Sherman, as well as
+Sheridan, advised of his main movements, had also ordered the former to
+press Johnston's Army as he was pressing Lee, so as, between them, they
+might "push on, and finish the job." In accordance with this order,
+Sherman's Forces advanced toward Smithfield, and, Johnston having
+rapidly retreated before them, entered Raleigh, North Carolina, on the
+13th. The 14th of April, brought the news of the surrender of Lee to
+Grant, and the same day a correspondence was opened between Sherman and
+Johnston, looking to the surrender of the latter's Army&mdash;terms for which
+were actually agreed upon, subject, however, to approval of Sherman's
+superiors. Those terms, however, being considered unsatisfactory, were
+promptly disapproved, and similar terms to those allowed to Lee's Army,
+were substituted, and agreed to, the actual surrender taking place April
+26th, near Durham, North Carolina. On the 21st, Macon, Georgia, with
+12,000 Rebel Militia, and sixty guns, was surrendered to Wilson's
+Cavalry-command, by General Howell Cobb. On the 4th of May, General
+Richard Taylor surrendered all the armed Rebel troops, East of the
+Mississippi river; and on the 26th of May, General Kirby Smith
+surrendered all of them, West of that river.</p>
+
+<p>On that day, organized, armed Rebellion against the United States
+ceased, and became a thing of the past. It had been conquered, stamped
+out, and extinguished, while its civic head, Jefferson Davis, captured
+May 11th, at Irwinsville, Georgia, while attempting to escape, was, with
+other leading Rebels, a prisoner in a Union fort. Four years of armed
+Rebellion had been enough for them. They were absolutely sick of it.
+And the magnanimity of the terms given them by Grant, completed their
+subjugation. "The wisdom of his course," says Badeau, "was proved by
+the haste which the Rebels made to yield everything they had fought for.
+They were ready not only to give up their arms, but literally to implore
+forgiveness of the Government. They acquiesced in the abolition of
+Slavery. They abandoned the heresy of Secession, and waited to learn
+what else their conquerors would dictate. They dreamed not of political
+power. They only asked to be let live quietly under the flag they had
+outraged, and attempt in some degree to rebuild their shattered
+fortunes. The greatest General of the Rebellion asked for pardon."</p>
+
+<br><br><br><br>
+<a name="ch31"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<h2>
+ CHAPTER XXXI.<br><br>
+
+ ASSASSINATION!
+</h2>
+</center>
+<br>
+
+<p>But while some of the great Military events alluded to in the preceding
+Chapter, had been transpiring at the theatre of War, something else had
+happened at the National Capital, so momentous, so atrocious, so
+execrable, that it was with difficulty the victorious soldiers of the
+Union, when they first heard the news, could be restrained from turning
+upon the then remaining armed Rebels, and annihilating them in their
+righteous fury.</p>
+
+<p>Let us go back, for a moment, to President Lincoln, whom we left on
+board the Ocean Queen, at City Point, toward the end of March and the
+beginning of April, receiving dispatches from Grant, who was
+victoriously engaged at the front. On the very day that Richmond
+fell&mdash;April 4th&mdash;President Lincoln, with his little son "Tad," Admiral Porter,
+and others, visited the burning city, and held a reception in the
+parlors of the Mansion which had now, for so many years, been occupied
+by the Chief Conspirator, Jefferson Davis, and which had been
+precipitately abandoned when the flight of that Arch-Rebel and his
+"Cabinet" commenced. On the 6th, the President, accompanied by his
+wife, Vice-President Johnson, and others from Washington, again visited
+Richmond, and received distinguished Virginians, to whom he addressed
+words of wisdom and patriotism.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> ["On this occasion," says Arnold, "he was called upon by several
+ prominent citizens of Virginia, anxious to learn what the policy of
+ the Government towards them would be. Without committing himself
+ to specific details, he satisfied them that his policy would be
+ magnanimous, forgiving, and generous. He told these Virginians
+ they must learn loyalty and devotion to the Nation. They need not
+ love Virginia less, but they must love the Republic more."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>On the 9th of April, he returned to Washington, and the same day&mdash;his
+last Sunday on Earth&mdash;came the grand and glorious news of Lee's
+surrender.</p>
+
+<p>On the Wednesday evening following, he made a lengthy speech, at the
+White House, to the great crowd that had assembled about it, to
+congratulate him, and the Nation, upon the downfall of Rebellion. His
+first thought in that speech, was of gratitude to God. His second, to
+put himself in the background, and to give all the credit of Union
+Military success, to those who, under God, had achieved it. Said he:
+"We meet this evening, not in sorrow, but in gladness of heart. The
+evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond, and the surrender of the
+principal Insurgent Army, give hope of a righteous and speedy Peace,
+whose joyous expression cannot be restrained. In the midst of this,
+however, He from whom all blessings flow, must not be forgotten. A Call
+for a National Thanksgiving is being prepared, and will be duly
+promulgated. Nor must those whose harder part gives us the cause of
+rejoicing, be overlooked. Their honors must not be parcelled out with
+others. I myself was near the front, and had the high pleasure of
+transmitting much of the good news to you; but no part of the honor, for
+plan or execution, is mine. To General Grant, his skilful officers and
+brave men, all belongs."</p>
+
+<p>This speech was almost entirely devoted to the subject of reconstruction
+of the States lately in Rebellion, and to an argument in favor of the
+Reconstruction policy, under which a new and loyal government had been
+formed for the State of Louisiana. "Some twelve thousand voters in the
+heretofore Slave State of Louisiana," said he, "have sworn allegiance to
+the Union, assumed to be the rightful political power of the State, held
+elections, organized a State government, adopted a Free State
+Constitution, giving the benefit of public schools equally to Black and
+White, and empowering the Legislature to confer the elective franchise
+upon the colored man. Their Legislature has already voted to ratify the
+Constitutional Amendment recently passed by Congress, abolishing Slavery
+throughout the Nation. These twelve thousand persons are thus fully
+committed to the Union, and to perpetual Freedom in the State; committed
+to the very things, and nearly all the things, the Nation wants; and
+they ask the Nation's recognition and its assistance to make good that
+committal. Now, if we reject and spurn them, we do our utmost to
+disorganize and disperse them. We, in effect, say to the White men,
+'You are worthless, or worse; we will neither help you, nor be helped by
+you.' To the Blacks we say, 'This cup of Liberty which these, your old
+masters, hold to your lips, we will dash from you and leave you to the
+chances of gathering the spilled and scattered contents in some vague
+and undefined when, where, and how.' If this course, discouraging and
+paralyzing both White and Black, has any tendency to bring Louisiana
+into proper practical relations with the Union, I have, so far, been
+unable to perceive it. If, on the contrary, we recognize and sustain
+the new government of Louisiana, the converse of all this is made true."</p>
+
+<p>While, however, Mr. Lincoln thus upheld and defended this Louisiana plan
+of reconstruction, yet he conceded that in applying it to other States,
+with their varying conditions, "no exclusive and inflexible plan can
+safely be prescribed as to details and collaterals." The entire speech
+shows the greatest solicitude to make no mistake necessitating backward
+steps, and consequent delay in reconstructing the Rebel States into
+Loyal ones; and especially anxious was he, in this, his last public
+utterance, touching the outcome of his great life-work, Emancipation.
+"If," said he, "we reject Louisiana, we also reject one vote in favor of
+the proposed Amendment to the National Constitution. To meet this
+proposition it has been argued that no more than three-fourths of those
+States which have not attempted Secession are necessary to validly
+ratify the Amendment. I do not commit myself against this further than
+to say that such a ratification would be questionable, and sure to be
+persistently questioned; whilst a ratification by three-fourths of all
+the States would be unquestioned and unquestionable."</p>
+
+<p>On Thursday, by the President's direction, a War Department Order was
+drawn up and issued, putting an end to drafting and recruiting, and the
+purchase of Military supplies, and removing all restrictions which
+Military necessity had imposed upon the trade and commerce and
+intercourse of any one part of the Union with the other. On Friday, the
+14th of April, there was a meeting of the Cabinet at noon, to receive a
+report from General Grant, in person&mdash;he having just arrived from the
+scene of Lee's surrender. Later, the President rode out with Mrs.
+Lincoln, and talked of the hard time they had had since coming to
+Washington; "but," continued he, "the War is over, and, with God's
+blessing, we may hope for four years of Peace and happiness, and then we
+will go back to Illinois, and pass the rest of our lives in quiet." At
+Ford's Theatre, that evening, was played "The American Cousin," and it
+had been announced that both the President and General Grant would be
+present. Grant, however, was prevented from attending. President
+Lincoln attended with reluctance&mdash;possibly because of a presentiment
+which he had that day had, that "something serious is going to happen,"
+of which he made mention at the Cabinet meeting aforesaid.</p>
+
+<p>It was about 9 o-clock P.M., that the President, with Mrs. Lincoln,
+Major Rathbone, and Miss Harris, entered the Theatre, and, after
+acknowledging with a bow the patriotic acclamations with which the
+audience saluted him, entered the door of the private box, reserved for
+his party, which was draped with the folds of the American flag. At
+half past 10 o'clock, while all were absorbed in the play, a pistol-shot
+was heard, and a man, brandishing a bloody dagger, was seen to leap to
+the stage from the President's box, crying "Sic Semper Tyrannis!" His
+spurred boot, catching in the bunting, tripped him, so that he half fell
+and injured one leg, but instantly recovered himself, and, shouting "The
+South is avenged!" rushed across the stage, and disappeared. It was an
+actor, John Wilkes Booth by name, who&mdash;inspired with all the mad,
+unreasoning, malignant hatred of everything representing Freedom and
+Union, which was purposely instilled into the minds and hearts of their
+followers and sympathizers by the Rebel leaders and their chief
+accomplices in the North&mdash;had basely skulked into the box, behind Mr.
+Lincoln, mortally wounded him with a pistol-bullet, and escaped&mdash;after
+stabbing Major Rathbone for vainly striving to arrest the vile
+assassin's flight.</p>
+
+<p>Thus this great and good Ruler of our reunited People was foully
+stricken down in the very moment of his triumph; when the Union troops
+were everywhere victorious; when Lee had surrendered the chief Army of
+the downfallen Confederacy; when Johnston was on the point of
+surrendering the only remaining Rebel force which could be termed an
+Army; on the self-same day too, which saw the identical flag of the
+Union, that four years before had been sadly hauled down from the
+flagstaff of Fort Sumter, triumphantly raised again over that historic
+fort; when, the War being at an end, everything in the future looked
+hopeful; at the very time when his merciful and kindly mind was
+doubtless far away from the mimic scenes upon which he looked, revolving
+beneficent plans for reconstructing and rebuilding the waste and
+desolate places in the South which War had made; at this time, of all
+times, when his clear and just perceptions and firm patriotism were most
+needed,</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [For his last public words, two nights before, had been: "In the
+ present 'situation,' as the phrase goes, it may be my duty to make
+ some new announcement to the people of the South. I am
+ CONSIDERING, and shall not fail to act when satisfied that action
+ will be proper."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>alike by conquerors and conquered, to guide and aid the Nation in the
+difficult task of reconstruction, and of the new departure, looming up
+before it, with newer and broader and better political issues upon which
+all Patriot might safely divide, while all the old issues of
+States-rights, Secession, Free-Trade, and Slavery, and all the mental and moral
+leprosy growing out of them, should lie buried far out of sight as
+dead-and-gone relics of the cruel and devastating War which they alone had
+brought on! Abraham Lincoln never spoke again. The early beams of the
+tomorrow's sun touched, but failed to warm, the lifeless remain of the
+great War-President and Liberator, as they were borne, in mournful
+silence, back to the White House, mute and ghastly witness of the sheer
+desperation of those who, although armed Rebellion, in the open field,
+by the fair and legitimate modes of Military warfare, had ceased, were
+determined still to keep up that cowardly "fire in the rear" which had
+been promised to the Rebel leaders by their Northern henchmen and
+sympathizers.</p>
+
+<p>The assassination of President Lincoln was but a part of the plot of
+Booth and his murderous Rebel-sympathizing fellow conspirators. It was
+their purpose also to kill Grant, and Seward, and other prominent
+members of the Cabinet, simultaneously, in the wild hope that anarchy
+might follow, and Treason find its opportunity. In this they almost
+miraculously failed, although Seward was badly wounded by one of the
+assassins.</p>
+
+<p>That the Rebel authorities were cognizant of, and encouraged, this
+dastardly plot, cannot be distinctly proven. But, while they naturally
+would be likely, especially in the face of the storm of public
+exasperation which it raised throughout the Union, to disavow all
+knowledge of, or complicity in, the vengeful murder of President
+Lincoln, and to destroy all evidences possible of any such guilty
+knowledge or complicity, yet there will ever be a strong suspicion that
+they were not innocent. From the time when it was first known that Mr.
+Lincoln had been elected President, the air was full of threats that he
+should not live to be inaugurated.</p>
+
+<p>That the assassination, consummated in April, 1865, would
+have taken place in February of 1861, had it not been for the timely
+efforts of Lieutenant-General Scott, Brigadier-General Stone, Hon.
+William H. Seward, Frederick W. Seward, Esq., and David S. Bookstaver of
+the Metropolitan Police of New York&mdash;is abundantly shown by
+Superintendent John A. Kennedy, in a letter of August 13, 1866, to be
+found in vol. ii., of Lossing's "Civil War in America," pages 147-149,
+containing also an extract from a letter of General Stone, in which the
+latter&mdash;after mentioning that General Scott and himself considered it
+"almost a certainty that Mr. Lincoln could not pass Baltimore alive by
+the train on the day fixed"&mdash;proceeds to say: "I recommended that Mr.
+Lincoln should be officially warned; and suggested that it would be
+altogether best that he should take the train of that evening from
+Philadelphia, and so reach Washington early the next day." * * *
+General Scott, after asking me how the details could be arranged in so
+short a time, and receiving my suggestion that Mr. Lincoln should be
+advised quietly to take the evening train, and that it would do him no
+harm to have the telegraph wires cut for a few hours, he directed me to
+seek Mr. W. H. Seward, to whom he wrote a few lines, which he handed to
+me. It was already ten o'clock, and when I reached Mr. Seward's house
+he had left; I followed him to the Capitol, but did not succeed in
+finding him until after 12 M. I handed him the General's note; he
+listened attentively to what I said, and asked me to write down my
+information and suggestions, and then, taking the paper I had written,
+he hastily left. The note I wrote was what Mr. Frederick Seward carried
+to Mr. Lincoln in Philadelphia. Mr. Lincoln has stated that it was this
+note which induced him to change his journey as he did. The stories of
+disguise are all nonsense; Mr. Lincoln merely took the sleeping-car in
+the night train.</p>
+
+<p>Equally certain also, is it, that the Rebel authorities were utterly
+indifferent to the means that might be availed of to secure success to
+Rebellion. Riots and arson, were among the mildest methods proposed to
+be used in the Northern cities, to make the War for the Union a
+"failure"&mdash;as their Northern Democratic allies termed it&mdash;while, among
+other more devilish projects, was that of introducing cholera and yellow
+fever into the North, by importing infected rags! Another
+much-talked-of scheme throughout the War, was that of kidnapping President Lincoln,
+and other high officials of the Union Government. There is also
+evidence, that the Rebel chiefs not only received, but considered, the
+plans of desperadoes and cut-throats looking to the success of the
+Rebellion by means of assassination. Thus, in a footnote to page 448,
+vol. ii., of his "Civil War in America," Lossing does not hesitate to
+characterize Jefferson Davis as "the crafty and malignant Chief
+Conspirator, who seems to have been ready at all times to entertain
+propositions to assassinate, by the hand of secret murder, the officers
+of the Government at Washington;" and, after fortifying that statement
+by a reference to page 523 of the first volume of his work, proceeds to
+say: "About the time (July, 1862) we are now considering, a Georgian,
+named Burnham, wrote to Jefferson Davis, proposing to organize a corps
+of five hundred assassins, to be distributed over the North, and sworn
+to murder President Lincoln, members of his Cabinet, and leading
+Republican Senators, and other supporters of the Government. This
+proposition was made in writing, and was regularly filed in the
+'Confederate War Department,' indorsed 'Respectfully referred to the
+Secretary of War, by order of the President,' and signed 'J. C Ives.'
+Other communications of similar tenor, 'respectfully referred' by
+Jefferson Davis, were placed on file in that 'War Department.'" All the
+denials, therefore, of the Rebel chieftains, as to their complicity in
+the various attempts to assassinate Abraham Lincoln, ending with his
+dastardly murder in April, 1865, will not clear their skirts of the
+odium of that unparalleled infamy. It will cling to them, living or
+dead, until that great Day of Judgment when the exact truth shall be
+made known, and "their sin shall find them out."</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [The New York Tribune, August 16, 1885, under the heading "A NARROW
+ ESCAPE OF LINCOLN," quotes an interesting "Omaha Letter, to the St.
+ Paul Pioneer Press," as follows:</p>
+
+<p> "That more than one attempt was made to assassinate Abraham Lincoln
+ is a fact known to John W. Nichols, ex-president of the Omaha Fire
+ Department. Mr. Nichols was one of the body-guard of President
+ Lincoln from the Summer of 1862 until 1865. The following
+ narrative, related to your correspondent by Mr. Nichols, is
+ strictly true, and the incident is not generally known:</p>
+
+<p> One night about the middle of August, 1864, I was
+ doing sentinel duty at the large gate through which entrance was
+ had to the grounds of the Soldiers' Home. The grounds are situated
+ about a quarter of a mile off the Bladensburg road, and are reached
+ by devious driveways. About 11 o'clock I heard a rifle shot in the
+ direction of the city, and shortly afterwards I heard approaching
+ hoof-beats. In two or three minutes a horse came dashing-up, and I
+ recognized the belated President. The horse was very spirited, and
+ belonged to Mr. Lamon, marshal of the District of Columbia. This
+ horse was Mr. Lincoln's favorite, and when he was in the White
+ House stables he always chose him. As horse and rider approached
+ the gate, I noticed that the President was bareheaded. After
+ assisting him in checking his steed, the President said to me: 'He
+ came pretty near getting away with me, didn't he? He got the bit
+ in his teeth before I could draw the rein.' I then asked him where
+ his hat was, and he replied that somebody had fired a gun off down
+ at the foot of the hill, and that his horse had become scared and
+ jerked his hat off. I led the animal to the Executive Cottage, and
+ the President dismounted and entered. Thinking the affair rather
+ strange, a corporal and myself started in the direction of the
+ place from where the sound of the rifle report had proceeded, to
+ investigate the occurrence. When we reached the spot where the
+ driveway intersects with the main road we found the President's
+ hat&mdash;a plain silk hat&mdash;and upon examining it we discovered a bullet
+ hole through the crown. The shot had been fired upwards, and it
+ was evident that the person who fired the shot had secreted himself
+ close to the roadside. We listened and searched the locality
+ thoroughly, but to no avail. The next day I gave Mr. Lincoln his
+ hat and called his attention to the bullet hole. He rather
+ unconcernedly remarked that it was put there by some foolish
+ gunner, and was not intended for him. He said, however, that he
+ wanted the matter kept quiet, and admonished us to say nothing
+ about it. We all felt confident that it was an attempt to kill
+ him, and a well-nigh successful one, too. The affair was kept
+ quiet, in accordance with his request. After that, the President
+ never rode alone."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>That this dark and wicked and bloody Rebellion, waged by the upholders
+and advocates of Slavery, Free Trade, and Secession, had descended so
+low as to culminate in murder&mdash;deliberate, cold-blooded, cowardly
+murder&mdash;at a time when the Southern Conspirators would apparently be the
+least benefitted by it, was regarded at first as evidencing their mad
+fatuity; and the public mind was dreadfully incensed.</p>
+
+<p>The successor of the murdered President&mdash;Andrew Johnson&mdash;lost little time
+in offering (May the 2d) rewards, ranging from $25,000 to $100,000, for
+the arrest of Jefferson Davis, Jacob Thompson,</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [The same individual at whose death, in 1885, the Secretary of the
+ Interior, ordered the National flag of the Union&mdash;which he had
+ swindled, betrayed, fought, spit upon, and conspired against&mdash;to be
+ lowered at halfmast over the Interior Departmental Building, at
+ Washington, D. C.]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>Clement C. Clay, Beverly Tucker, George N. Sanders, and W. C. Cleary,
+in a Proclamation which directly charged that they, "and other Rebels
+and Traitors against the Government of the United States, harbored in
+Canada," had "incited, concerted, and procured" the perpetration of the
+appalling crime.</p>
+
+<p>On the 10th of May, one of them, Jacob Thompson, from his place of
+security, in Canada, published a letter claiming to be innocent;
+characterized himself as "a persecuted man;" arrayed certain suspicious
+facts in support of an intimation that Johnson himself was the only one
+man in the Republic who would be benefited by President Lincoln's death;
+and, as he was found "asleep" at the "unusual hour" of nine o'clock
+P.M., of the 14th of April, and had made haste to take the oath of
+office as President of the United States as soon as the breath had left
+the body of his predecessor, insinuated that he (Johnson) might with
+more reason be suspected of "complicity" in "the foul work" than the
+"Rebels and Traitors" charged with it, in his Proclamation; so charged,
+for the very purpose&mdash;Thompson insinuated&mdash;of shielding himself from
+discovery, and conviction!</p>
+
+<p>But while, for a moment, perhaps, there flitted across the public mind a
+half suspicion of the possibility of what this Rebel intimated as true,
+yet another moment saw it dissipated. For the People remembered that
+between "Andrew Johnson," one of the "poor white trash" of Tennessee,
+and the "aristocratic Slave-owners" of the South, who headed the
+Rebellion, there could be neither sympathy nor cooperation&mdash;nothing, but
+hatred; and that this same Andrew Johnson, who, by power of an
+indomitable will, self-education, and natural ability, had, despite the
+efforts of that "aristocracy," forced himself upward, step by step, from
+the tailor's bench, to the successful honors of alderman and Mayor, and
+then still upward through both branches of his State Legislature, into
+the House of Representatives and the Senate of the United States&mdash;and,
+in the latter Body, had so gallantly met, and worsted in debate, the
+chosen representatives of that class upon whose treasonable heads he
+poured forth in invective, the gathered hatred of a life-time&mdash;would
+probably be the very last man whom these same "aristocratic"
+Conspirators, "Rebels, and Traitors," would prefer as arbiter of their
+fate.</p>
+
+<p>The popular feeling responded heartily, at this time, to the
+denunciations which, in his righteous indignation, he had, in the
+Senate, and since, heaped upon Rebellion, and especially his declaration
+that "Treason must be made odious!"&mdash;utterances now substantially
+reiterated by him more vehemently than ever, and multiplied in posters
+and transparencies and newspapers all over the Land. Thus the public
+mind rapidly grew to believe it impossible that the Rebel leaders could
+gain, by the substitution, in the Executive chair, of this harsh,
+determined, despotic nature, for the mild, kindly, merciful,
+even-tempered, Abraham Lincoln. With Andrew Johnson for President, the
+People felt that justice would fall upon the heads of the guilty, and
+that the Country was safe. And so it happened that, while the mere
+instruments of the assassination conspiracy were hurried to an
+ignominious death, in the lull that followed, Jefferson Davis and others
+of the Rebel chiefs, who had been captured and imprisoned, were allowed
+to go "Scott-free, without even the semblance of a trial for their
+Treason!"</p>
+
+<p>It is not the purpose of this work to deal with the history of the
+Reconstruction or rehabilitation of the Rebel States; to look too
+closely into the devious ways and subtle methods through and by which
+the Rebel leaders succeeded in flattering the vanity, and worming
+themselves into the confidence and control, of Andrew Johnson&mdash;by
+pretending to believe that his occupation of the Presidential Office had
+now, at last, brought him to their "aristocratic" altitude, and to a
+hearty recognition by them of his "social equality;" or to follow,
+either in or out of Congress, the great political conflict, between
+their unsuspecting Presidential dupe and the Congress, which led to the
+impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson, for high crimes and
+misdemeanors in office, his narrow escape from conviction and
+deposition, and to much consequent excitement and turmoil among the
+People, which, but for wise counsels and prudent forethought of the
+Republican leaders, in both Civil and Military life, might have
+eventuated in the outbreak of serious civil commotions. Suffice it to
+say, that in due time; long after the Thirteenth Amendment to the United
+States Constitution had been ratified by three-fourths of all the
+States; after Johnson had vexed the White House, with his noisy
+presence, for the nearly four years succeeding the death of the great
+and good Lincoln; and after the People, with almost unexampled
+unanimity, had called their great Military hero, Grant, to the helm of
+State; the difficult and perplexing problems involved in the
+Reconstruction of the Union were, at last, successfully solved by the
+Republican Party, and every State that had been in armed Rebellion
+against that Union, was not only back again, with a Loyal State
+Constitution, but was represented in both branches of Congress, and in
+other Departments of the National Government.</p>
+
+<br><br><br><br><br>
+<a name="breckinridge"></a>
+<center>
+<img alt="p244-breckinridge.jpg (83K)" src="images/p244-breckinridge.jpg" height="846" width="594">
+</center>
+<br><br><br><br>
+<a name="ch32"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<h2>
+ CHAPTER XXXII.<br><br>
+
+ TURNING BACK THE HANDS!
+</h2>
+</center>
+<br>
+
+
+<p>
+And now, the War having ended in the defeat, conquest, and capture, of
+those who, inspired by the false teachings of Southern leaders, had
+arrayed themselves in arms beneath the standard of Rebellion, and fought
+for Sectional Independence against National Union, for Slavery against
+Freedom, and for Free Trade against a benignant Tariff protective alike
+to manufacturer, mechanic, and laborer, it might naturally be supposed
+that, with the collapse of this Rebellion, all the issues which made up
+"the Cause"&mdash;the "Lost Cause," as those leaders well termed it&mdash;would be
+lost with it, and disappear from political sight; that we would never
+again hear of a Section of the Nation, and last of all the Southern
+Section, organized, banded together, solidified in the line of its own
+Sectional ideas as against the National ideas prevailing elsewhere
+through the Union; that Free Trade, conscious of the ruin and desolation
+which it had often wrought, and of the awful sacrifices, in blood and
+treasure, that had been made in its behalf by the conquered South, would
+slink from sight and hide its famine-breeding front forever; and that
+Slavery, in all its various disguises, was banished, never more to
+obtrude its hateful form upon our Liberty-loving Land. That was indeed
+the supposition and belief which everywhere pervaded the Nation, when
+Rebellion was conquered by the legions of the Union&mdash;and which
+especially pervaded the South. Never were Rebels more thoroughly
+exhausted and sick of Rebellion and of everything that led to it, than
+these. As Badeau said, they made haste "to yield everything they had
+fought for," and "dreamed not of political power." They had been
+brought to their knees, suing for forgiveness, and thankful that their
+forfeit lives were spared.</p>
+
+<p>For awhile, with chastened spirit, the reconstructed South seemed to
+reconcile itself in good faith to the legitimate results of the War, and
+all went well. But Time and Peace soon obliterate the lessons and the
+memories of War. And it was not very long after the Rebellion had
+ceased, and the old issues upon which it was fought had disappeared from
+the arena of National politics, when its old leaders and their
+successors began slowly, carefully, and systematically, to relay the
+tumbled-down, ruined foundations and walls of the Lost Cause&mdash;a work in
+which, unfortunately, they were too well aided by the mistaken clemency
+and magnanimity of the Republican Party, in hastily removing the
+political disabilities of those leaders.</p>
+
+<p>Before proceeding farther, it is necessary to remark here, that, after
+the suppression of the Rebellion and adoption of the Thirteenth
+Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which prohibits
+Slavery and Involuntary Servitude within the United States, it soon
+became apparent that it was necessary to the protection of the Freedmen,
+in the civil and political rights and privileges which it was considered
+desirable to secure to them, as well as to the creation and fostering of
+a wholesome loyal sentiment in, and real reconstruction of, the States
+then lately insurgent, and for certain other reasons, that other
+safeguards, in the shape of further Amendments to the Constitution,
+should be adopted.</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments were, on the 16th of
+June, 1866, and 27th of February, 1869, respectively, proposed by
+Congress to the Legislatures of the several States, and were declared
+duly ratified, and a part of the Constitution, respectively on the 28th
+of July, 1868, and March 30, 1870. Those Amendments were in these
+words:</p>
+
+<p>
+ "ARTICLE XIV.</p>
+
+<p>"SECTION 1.&mdash;All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and
+subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States
+and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce
+any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of
+the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life,
+liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person
+within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.</p>
+
+<p>"SECTION 2.&mdash;Representatives shall be apportioned among the several
+States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number
+of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the
+right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President
+and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress,
+the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the
+Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such
+State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States,
+or in any way abridged, except for participation in Rebellion, or other
+crime, the basis of Representation therein shall be reduced in the
+proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the
+whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.</p>
+
+<p>"SECTION 3.&mdash;No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress,
+or Elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or
+military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having
+previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of
+the United States, or as a member of any State Legislature, or as an
+executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution
+of the United States, shall have engaged in Insurrection or Rebellion
+against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But
+Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such
+disability.</p>
+
+<p>"SECTION 4.&mdash;The validity of the public debt of the United States,
+authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and
+bounties for services in suppressing Insurrection or Rebellion, shall
+not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall
+assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of Insurrection or
+Rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or
+Emancipation of any Slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims
+shall be held illegal and void.</p>
+
+<p>"SECTION 5.&mdash;The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate
+legislation, the provisions of this article."</p>
+
+<p>
+ "ARTICLE XV.</p>
+
+<p>"SECTION 1.&mdash;The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall
+not be denied or abridged by, the United States or by any State on
+account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.</p>
+
+<p>"SECTION 2.&mdash;The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
+appropriate legislation."</p>
+
+<p>
+It would seem, then, from the provisions of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth,
+and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution, and the Congressional
+legislation subsequently enacted for the purpose of enforcing them, that
+not only the absolute personal Freedom of every man, woman, and child in
+the United States was thus irrevocably decreed; that United States
+citizenship was clearly defined; that the life, liberty, property,
+privileges and immunities of all were secured by throwing around them
+the "equal protection of the laws;" that the right of the United States
+citizen to vote, was placed beyond denial or abridgment, on "account of
+race, color, or previous condition of servitude;" but, to make this more
+certain, the basis of Congressional Representative&mdash;apportionment was
+changed from its former mixed relation, comprehending both persons and
+"property," so-called, to one of personal numbers&mdash;the Black man now
+counting quite as much as the White man, instead of only three-fifths as
+much; and it was decreed, that, except for crime, any denial to United
+States citizens, whether Black or White, of the right to vote at any
+election of Presidential electors, Congressional Representatives, State
+Governors, Judges, or Legislative members, "shall" work a reduction,
+proportioned to the extent of such denial, in the Congressional
+Representation of the State, or States, guilty of it. As a further
+safeguard, in the process of reconstruction, none of the insurgent
+States were rehabilitated in the Union except upon acceptance of those
+three Amendments as an integral part of the United States Constitution,
+to be binding upon it; and it was this Constitution as it is, and not
+the Constitution as it was, that all the Representatives, in both Houses
+of Congress, from those insurgent States&mdash;as well as all their State
+officers&mdash;swore to obey as the supreme law of the Land, when taking
+their respective oaths of office.</p>
+
+<p>Biding their time, and pretending to act in good faith, as the years
+rolled by, the distrust and suspicion with which the old
+Rebel-conspirators had naturally been regarded, gradually lessened in the
+public mind. With a glad heart, the Congress, year after year, removed
+the political disabilities from class after class of those who had
+incurred them, until at last all, so desiring, had been reinstated in
+the full privileges of citizenship, save the very few unrepentant
+instigators and leaders of the Rebellion, who, in the depths of that
+oblivion to which they seemingly had been consigned, continued to nurse
+the bitterness of their downfall into an implacable hatred of that
+Republic which had paralyzed the bloody hands of Rebellion, and
+shattered all their ambitious dreams of Oligarchic rule, if not of
+Empire.</p>
+
+<p>But, while the chieftains of the great Conspiracy&mdash;and of the armed
+Rebellion itself&mdash;remained at their homes unpunished, through the
+clemency of the American People; the active and malignant minds of some
+of them were plotting a future triumph for the "Lost Cause," in the
+overthrow, in consecutive detail, of the Loyal governments of the
+Southern States, by any and all means which might be by them considered
+most desirable, judicious, expedient, and effectual; the solidifying of
+these Southern States into a new Confederation, or league, in fact&mdash;with
+an unwritten but well understood Constitution of its own&mdash;to be known
+under the apparently harmless title of the "Solid South," whose mission
+it would be to build up, and strengthen, and populate, and enrich itself
+within the Union, for a time, greater or less, according to
+circumstances, and in the meanwhile to work up, with untiring devotion
+and energy, not only to this practical autonomy and Sectional
+Independence within the Union, but also to a practical re-enslavement of
+the Blacks, and to the vigorous reassertion and triumph, by the aid of
+British gold, of those pernicious doctrines of Free-Trade which, while
+beneficial to the Cotton-lords of the South, would again check and drag
+down the robust expansion of manufactures and commerce in all other
+parts of the Land, and destroy the glorious prosperity of farmers,
+mechanics, and laborers, while at the same time crippling Capital, in
+the North and West.</p>
+
+<p>In order to accomplish these results&mdash;after whatever of suspicion and
+distrust that might have still remained in Northern minds had been
+removed by the public declaration in 1874, by one of the ablest and most
+persuasively eloquent of Southern statesmen, that "The South&mdash;prostrate,
+exhausted, drained of her life-blood as well as of her material
+resources, yet still honorable and true&mdash;accepts the bitter award of the
+bloody arbitrament without reservation, resolutely determined to abide
+the result with chivalrous fidelity"&mdash;these old Rebel leaders commenced
+in good earnest to carry out their well organized programme, which they
+had already experimentally tested, to their own satisfaction, in certain
+localities.</p>
+
+<p>The plan was this: By the use of shot-guns and rifles, and cavalcades of
+armed white Democrats, in red shirts, riding around the country at dead
+of night, whipping prominent Republican Whites and Negroes to death, or
+shooting or hanging them if thought advisable, such terror would fall
+upon the colored Republican voters that they would keep away from the
+polls, and consequently the white Democrats, undeterred by such
+influences, and on the contrary, eager to take advantage of them, would
+poll not only a full vote, but a majority vote, on all questions,
+whether involving the mere election of Democratic officials, or
+otherwise; and where intimidation of this, or any other kind, should
+fail, then a resort to be had to whatever devices might be found
+necessary to make a fraudulent count and return, and thus secure
+Democratic triumph; and furthermore, when evidences of these
+intimidations and frauds should be presented to those people of the
+Union who believe in every citizen of this free Republic having one free
+vote, and that vote fairly counted, then to laugh the complainants out
+of Court with the cry that such stories are not true; are "campaign
+lies" devised solely for political effect; and are merely the product of
+Republican "outrage mills," ground out, to order.</p>
+
+<p>This plan was first thoroughly tried in Mississippi, and has hence been
+called the "Mississippi plan." So magically effectual was it, that,
+with variations adapted to locality and circumstances, this "Mississippi
+plan" soon enveloped the entire South in its mesh-work of fraud,
+barbarity, and blood. The massacres, and other outrages, while
+methodical, were remittent, wave-like, sometimes in one Southern State,
+sometimes another, and occurring only in years of hot political
+conflict, until one after another of those States had, by these crimes,
+been again brought under the absolute control of the old Rebel leaders.
+By 1876, they had almost succeeded in their entire programme. They had
+captured all, save three, of the Southern States, and strained every
+nerve and every resource of unprincipled ingenuity, of bribery and
+perjury, after the Presidential election of that year had taken place,
+in the effort to defeat the will of the People and "count in," the
+Presidential candidate of the Democratic Party.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [The shameful history of the "Tilden barrel" and the "Cipher
+ Dispatches" is too fresh in the public mind to be entirely
+ forgotten,]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>Failing in this effort, the very failure became a grievance. On the
+principle of a fleeing thief diverting pursuit by shouting "Stop thief,"
+the cry of "fraud" was raised by the Democratic leaders, North and
+South, against the Republican Party, and was iterated and reiterated so
+long and loudly, that soon they actually began, themselves, to believe,
+that President Hayes had been "counted in," by improper methods! At all
+events, under cover of the hue and cry thus raised, the Southern leaders
+hurried up their work of Southern solidification, by multiplied outrages
+on the "Mississippi plan," so that, by 1880, they were ready to dictate,
+and did dictate, the Democratic Presidential nominations.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [Senator Wallace, of Pennsylvania, telegraphed from Cincinnati his
+ congratulations to General Hancock, and added: "General Buell tells
+ me that Murat Halsted says Hancock's nomination by the Confederate
+ Brigadiers sets the old Rebel yell to the music of the Union." In
+ the Convention which nominated Hancock, Wade Hampton made a speech,
+ saying; "On behalf of the 'Solid South,' that South which once was
+ arrayed against the great soldier of Pennsylvania, I stand here to
+ pledge you its solid vote. [cheers] * * * There is no name which
+ is held in higher respect among the people of the South, than that
+ of the man you have given to us as our standard-bearer." And
+ afterward, in a speech at Staunton, Virginia, the same Southern
+ leader, in referring to the action of the Democratic Convention at
+ Cincinnati, said: "There was but one feeling among the Southern
+ delegates. That feeling was expressed when we said to our Northern
+ Democratic brethren 'Give us an available man.' They gave us that
+ man."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>While these old Rebel leaders of the South had insisted upon, and had
+succeeded in, nominating a man whose record as a Union soldier would
+make him popular in the North and West, and while their knowledge of his
+availability for Southern purposes would help them in their work of
+absolutely solidifying the South, they took very good care also to press
+forward their pet Free-Trade issue&mdash;that principle so dear to the hearts
+of the Rebel Cotton-lords that, as has already been hinted, they
+incorporated it into their Constitution of Confederation in these words:</p>
+
+<p>"SEC. 8.&mdash;Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties,
+imposts and excises for revenue necessary to pay the debts, provide for
+the common defense, and carry on the Government of the Confederate
+States; but no bounty shall be granted from the Treasury, nor shall any
+duty or tax on importation from Foreign Nations be laid to promote or
+foster any branch of industry."</p>
+
+<p>It may also be remarked that, under the inspiration of those Southern
+leaders who afterward rebelled, it had been laid down as Democratic
+doctrine, in the National Democratic platform of 1856&mdash;and "reaffirmed"
+as such, in 1860&mdash;that "The time has come for the People of the United
+States to declare themselves in favor of * * * progressive Free-Trade.
+* * * That justice and sound policy forbid the Federal Government to
+foster one branch of industry to the detriment of another." But, by
+1864, the Republican Protective-Tariff of 1860, had so abundantly
+demonstrated, to all our people engaged in industrial occupations, the
+beneficence of the great principle of home industrial Protection, that
+Tariff-agitation actually ceased, and the National Democratic platform
+of that year had nothing to say in behalf of Free-Trade!</p>
+
+<p>After the close of the War, however, at the very first National
+Democratic Convention, in 1868, at which there were delegations from the
+lately rebellious States, the question was at once brought to the front,
+and, under the inspiration of the old Rebel leaders aforesaid, the
+Democratic platform again raised the banner of Free-Trade by declaring
+for a Tariff for revenue. But the mass of the People, at that time
+still freshly remembered the terrible commercial disasters and
+industrial depressions which had befallen the Land, through the
+practical operation of that baleful Democratic Free-Trade doctrine,
+before the Rebellion broke out, and sharply contrasted the misery and
+poverty and despair of those dark days of ruin and desolation, with the
+comfort and prosperity and hopefulness which had since come to them
+through the Republican Protective-Tariff Accordingly, the Republican
+Presidential candidate, representing the great principle of Protection
+to American Industries, was elected over the Democratic Free-Trade
+candidate, by 214 to 71 electoral votes-or nearly three to one!</p>
+
+<p>Taught, by this lesson, that the People were not yet sufficiently
+prepared for a successful appeal in behalf of anything like Free-Trade,
+the next National Democratic Convention, (that of 1872), under the same
+Southern inspiration, more cautiously declared, in its platform, that
+"Recognizing that there are in our midst, honest but irreconcilable
+differences of opinion, with regard to the respective systems of
+Protection and Free-Trade, we remit the discussion of the subject to the
+People in their Congressional districts, and to the decision of the
+Congress thereon, wholly free from Executive interference or dictation."
+The People, however, rebuked the moral cowardice thus exhibited by the
+Democracy&mdash;in avoiding a direct issue on the doctrine which Democracy
+itself had galvanized at least into simulated life,&mdash;by giving 286
+electoral votes to the Republican candidate, to 63 for the
+Democratic,&mdash;or in the proportion of nearly five to one.</p>
+
+<p>Warned, by this overwhelming defeat, not to flinch from, or avoid, or
+try to convert the great National question of Tariff, into a merely
+local one, the National Democratic platform of 1876, at the instigation
+of the old Rebel leaders of the now fast solidifying South, came out
+flat-footedly again with the "demand that all Custom-house taxation
+shall be only for revenue." This time, the electoral vote stood almost
+evenly divided, viz.: for the Republican candidate, 185; for the
+Democratic candidate, 184;&mdash;a result so extremely close, as to lead to
+the attempted perpetration of great frauds against the successful
+candidate; the necessary settlement of the questions growing out of
+them, by an Electoral commission&mdash;created by Congress at the instance of
+the Democratic Party; great irritation, among the defeated Democracy,
+over the just findings of that august Tribunal; and to the birth of the
+alleged Democratic "grievance," aforesaid.</p>
+
+<p>The closeness of this vote&mdash;their almost triumph, in 1876,&mdash;encouraged
+the Solid South to press upon the National Democratic Convention of
+1880, the expediency of adopting a Free-Trade "plank" similar to that
+with which, in 1876, they had so nearly succeeded. Hence the Democratic
+platform of 1880, also declared decidedly for "A Tariff for revenue
+only."</p>
+
+<p>The old Rebel leaders, at last in full control of the entire Democratic
+Party, had now got things pretty much as they wanted them. They had
+created that close corporation within the Union&mdash;that <i>imperium in
+imperio</i> that oligarchically&mdash;governed league of States (within the
+Republic of the United States) which they termed the "Solid South," and
+which would vote as a unit, on all questions, as they directed; they had
+dictated the nomination, by the Democratic Party, of a Presidential
+candidate who would not dare to act counter to their wishes; and their
+pet doctrine of Free-Trade was held up, to the whole Democratic front,
+under the attractive disguise of a Tariff for revenue only.</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [As Ex-Senator Toombs, of Georgia, wrote: "The old boys of the
+ South will see that 'Hancock' does the fair thing by them. In
+ other words, he will run the machine to suit them, or they will run
+ the thing themselves. They are not going to be played with any
+ longer."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<p>In other words, they had already secured a "Solid South," an "available"
+candidate, and an "expedient" Free-Trade platform. All that remained
+for them, at this stage, to do, was to elect the candidate, and enact
+their Free-Trade doctrine into legislation. This was their current
+work, so to speak&mdash;to be first attended to&mdash;but not all their work; for
+one of the most brilliant and candid of their coadjutors had said, only
+a few months before: "We do not intend to stop until we have stricken
+the last vestige of your War measures from the Statute-book."</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately, however, for their plans, an attempt made by them, under
+the lead of Mr. Morrison of Illinois, in 1876, to meddle with the
+Republican Protective-Tariff, had caused considerable public alarm, and
+had been credited with having much to do with a succeeding monetary
+panic, and industrial depression. Another and more determined effort,
+made by them in 1878, under the lead of their old Copperhead ally,
+Fernando Wood, to cut down the wise Protective duties imposed by the
+Tariff Act, about 15 per cent.,&mdash;together with the cold-blooded
+Free-Trade declaration of Mr. Wood, touching his ruinous Bill, that "Its
+reductions are trifling as compared with what they should be. * * * If
+I had the power to commence de novo, I should reduce the duties 50 per
+cent., instead of less than 15 per cent., upon an average
+as now proposed,"&mdash;an effort which was narrowly, and with great
+difficulty, defeated by the Republicans, aided by a mere handful of
+others,&mdash;had also occasioned great excitement throughout the Country,
+the suspension and failure of thousands of business firms, the
+destruction of confidence in the stability and profitableness of
+American industries, and great consequent suffering, and enforced
+idleness, to the working men and working women of the Land.</p>
+
+<p>The sad recollection of these facts&mdash;made more poignant by the airy
+declaration of the Democratic Presidential candidate, that the great
+National question of the Tariff is a mere "local issue,"&mdash;was largely
+instrumental, in connection with the insolent aggressiveness of the
+Southern leaders, in Congress, in occasioning their defeat in the
+Presidential contest of 1880, the Republican candidate receiving 214
+electoral votes, while the Democratic candidate received but 155
+electoral votes.</p>
+
+<p>In 1882, the House of Representatives was under Republican control, and,
+despite determined Democratic resistance, created a Tariff-commission,
+whose duty it was "to take into consideration, and to thoroughly
+investigate, all the various questions relating to the agricultural,
+commercial, mercantile, manufacturing, mining, and (other) industrial
+interests of the United States, so far as the same may be necessary to
+the establishment of a judicious Tariff, or a revision of the existing
+Tariff, upon a scale of justice to all interests."</p>
+
+<p>That same year, in the face of most protracted and persistent opposition
+by the great bulk of Democratic members, both of the Senate and House of
+Representatives, and an effort to substitute for it the utterly ruinous
+Democratic Free-Trade Tariff of 1846, the Bill recommended by this
+Republican Tariff-commission, was enacted; and, in 1883, a modified
+Tariff-measure, comprehending a large annual reduction of import duties,
+while also carefully preserving the great Republican American principle
+of Protection, was placed by the Republicans on the Statute-book,
+despite the renewed and bitter opposition of the Democrats, who, as
+usual, fought it desperately in both branches of Congress. But
+Republican efforts failed in 1884, in the interest of the wool-growers
+of the country, to restore the Protective-duties on wool, which had been
+sacrificed, in 1883, to an exigency created by Democratic opposition to
+them.</p>
+
+<p>Another Democratic effort, in the direction of Free-Trade, known as "the
+Morrison Tariff-Bill of 1884," was made in the latter year, which,
+besides increasing the free-list, by adding to it salt, coal, timber,
+and wood unmanufactured, as well as many manufactures thereof, decreased
+the import duties "horizontally" on everything else to the extent of
+twenty per cent. The Republicans, aided by a few Democrats, killed this
+undigested and indigestible Democratic Bill, by striking out its
+enacting clause.</p>
+
+<p>By this time, however, by dint of the incessant special-pleading in
+behalf of the obnoxious and un-American doctrine of Free-Trade,&mdash;or the
+nearest possible approach to it, consistent with the absolutely
+essential collection of revenues for the mere support of the Government
+&mdash;indulged in (by some of the professors) in our colleges of learning;
+through a portion of the press; upon the stump; and in Congress;
+together with the liberal use of British gold in the wide distribution
+of printed British arguments in its favor,&mdash;this pernicious but favorite
+idea of the Solid South had taken such firm root in the minds of the
+greater part of the Democratic Party in the North and West, as well as
+the South, that a declaration in the National Democratic platform in its
+favor was now looked for, as a matter of course. The "little leaven" of
+this monstrous un-American heresy seemed likely to leaven "the whole
+mass" of the Democracy.</p>
+
+<p>But, as in spite of the tremendous advantage given to that Party by the
+united vote of the Solid South, the Presidential contest of 1884 was
+likely to be so close that, to give Democracy any chance to win, the few
+Democrats opposed to Free-Trade must be quieted, the utterances of the
+Democratic National Platform of that year, on the subject, were so
+wonderfully pieced, and ludicrously intermixed, that they could be
+construed to mean "all things to all men."</p>
+
+<p>At last, after an exciting campaign, the Presidential election of 1884
+was held, and for the first time since 1856, the old Free-Trade
+Democracy of the South could rejoice over the triumph of their
+Presidential candidate.</p>
+
+<p>Great was the joy of the Solid South! At last, its numberless crimes
+against personal Freedom, and political Liberty, would reap a generous
+harvest. At last, participation in Rebellion would no more be regarded
+as a blot upon the political escutcheon. At last, commensurate rewards
+for all the long years of disconsolate waiting, and of hard work in
+night ridings, and house-burnings, and "nigger"-whippings, and
+"nigger"-shootings, and "nigger"-hangings, and ballot-box stuffings, and all the
+other dreadful doings to which these old leaders were impelled by a
+sense of Solid-Southern patriotism, and pride of race, and lust for
+power, would come, and come in profusion.</p>
+
+<p>Grand places in the Cabinet, and foreign Missions, for the old Rebels of
+distinction, now Chiefs of the "Solid-Southern" Conspiracy, and for
+those other able Northern Democrats who had helped them, during or since
+the Rebellion; fat consulates abroad, for others of less degree;
+post-offices, without stint, for the lesser lights; all this, and more, must
+now come. The long-hidden light of a glorious day was about to break.
+The "restoration of the Government to the principles and practices of
+the earlier period," predicted by the unreconstructed "Rebel chieftains"
+those "same principles for which they fought for four years" the
+principles of Southern Independence, Slavery, Free Trade and Oligarchic
+rule&mdash;were now plainly in sight, and within reach!</p>
+
+<p>The triumph of the Free-Trade Democracy, if continued to another
+Presidential election, would make Free-Trade a certainty. The old forms
+of Slavery, to be sure, were dead beyond reanimation&mdash;perhaps; but, in
+their place, were other forms of Slavery, which attracted less attention
+and reprobation from the World at large, and yet were quite as effectual
+for all Southern purposes. The system of Peonage and contracted
+convict-labor, growing out of the codes of Black laws, were
+all-sufficient to keep the bulk of the Negro race in practical subjection
+and bondage. The solidifying of the South had already made the South
+not only practically independent within the Union, but the overshadowing
+power, potential enough to make, and unmake, the rulers and policies of
+the Democratic Party, and of that Union.</p>
+
+<p>This, indeed, was a grand outcome for the tireless efforts of the once
+defeated Conspirators! And as to Oligarchal rule&mdash;the rule of the few
+(and those the Southern chiefs) over the many,&mdash;was not that already
+accomplished? For these old Rebel leaders and oligarchs who had secured
+the supreme rule over the Solid South, had also, through their ability
+to wield the power of that Solid South within the Union, actually
+secured the power of practically governing the entire Union!</p>
+
+<p>That Union, then, which we have been wont to look upon as the grandest,
+noblest, freest, greatest Republic upon Earth,&mdash;is it really such, in
+all respects, at the present? Does the Free Republic of the United
+States exist, in fact, to-day?</p>
+
+<br><br><br><br>
+<a name="ch33"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<h2>
+ CHAPTER XXXIII.<br><br>
+
+ WHAT NEXT?
+</h2>
+</center>
+<br>
+
+<p>And what next? Aye, what next? Do the patriotic, innocent-minded
+lovers of a Republican form of Government imagine, for an instant, that
+all danger to its continued existence and well-being has ceased to
+threaten?&mdash;that all the crises perilous to that beneficent popular
+governmental form have vanished?&mdash;that the climacteric came, and went,
+with the breaking out, and suppression, of the Rebellion?&mdash;and that
+there is nothing alarming in the outlook? Quite likely. The public
+mind has not yet been aroused to a sense of the actual revolution
+against Republican form of government that has already taken place in
+many of the Southern States, much less as to the likelihood of things to
+come. The people of any one of the Western, or Northern States,&mdash;take
+New York, for example,&mdash;feel prosperous and happy under the beneficent
+workings of the Republican Protective-Tariff system. Business, of all
+sorts, recovering from the numerous attacks made upon that prime bulwark
+of our American industries, if only let alone, will fairly hum, and look
+bright, so far as "the Almighty dollar" is concerned. They know they
+have their primaries and conventions, in their wards and counties
+throughout their State, and their State Conventions, and their
+elections. They know that the voice of the majority of their own
+people, uttered through the sacred ballot-box, is practically the Vox
+Dei&mdash;and that all bow to it. They know also, that this State government
+of theirs, with all its ramifications&mdash;whether as to its Executive, its
+Legislative, its Judicial, and other officials, either elective or
+appointed&mdash;is a Republican form of government, in the American sense&mdash;in
+the sense contemplated by the Fathers, when they incorporated into the
+revered Constitution of our Country the vital words: "The United States
+shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of
+government." But they do not realize the vastly different condition of
+things in many States of the Solid South, nor how it affects themselves.</p>
+
+<p>And what is this "republican" form of government, thus pledged? It is
+true that there are not wanting respectable authorities whose
+definitions of the words "republic," and "republican," are strongly
+inharmonious with their true meaning, as correctly understood by the
+great bulk of Americans. Thus, Brande asserts that "A republic may be
+either a democracy or an aristocracy!"&mdash;and proceeds to say: "In the
+former, the supreme power is vested in the whole body of the people, or
+in representatives elected by the people; in the latter, it is vested in
+a nobility, or a privileged class of comparatively a small number of
+persons." John Adams also wrote: "The customary meanings of the words
+republic and commonwealth have been infinite. They have been applied to
+every Government under heaven; that of Turkey and that of Spain, as well
+as that of Athens and of Rome, of Geneva and San Marino." But the true
+meaning of the word "republican" as applied to a "form of government,"
+and as commonly and almost invariably understood by those who, above all
+others in the wide World, should best understand and appreciate its
+blessings&mdash;to wit: the American People has none of the looseness and
+indefiniteness which these authorities throw about it.</p>
+
+<p>The prevailing and correct American idea is that "Republican" means: of,
+or pertaining to, a Republic; that "Republic" means a thing, affair, or
+matter, closely related to, and touching the "public;" and that the
+"public" are the "people"&mdash;not a small proportion of them, but "the
+people at large," the whole community, the Nation, the commonalty, the
+generality. Hence, "a Republican form of government" is, in their
+opinion, plainly that form which is most closely identified with, and
+representative of, the generality or majority of the people; or, in the
+language of Dr. J. E. Worcester, it is "That form of government or of a
+State, in which the supreme power is vested in the people, or in
+representatives elected by the people."</p>
+
+<p>It is obvious that there can be no such thing as "a republic," which is,
+at the same time, "an aristocracy;" for the moment that which was "a
+republic" becomes "an aristocracy," that moment it ceases to be "a
+republic." So also can there be no such thing as "a republic" which is
+"an oligarchy," for, as "a republic" is a government of the many, or, as
+President Lincoln well termed it, "a government of the people, by the
+people, for the people"&mdash;so it must cease to be "a republic," when the
+supreme power is in the hands of the oligarchic few.</p>
+
+<p>There can be but two kinds of republics proper&mdash;one a democratic
+republic, which is impossible for a great and populous Nation like ours,
+but which may have answered for some of the small republics of ancient
+Greece; the other, a representative republic, such as is boasted by the
+United States. And this is the kind palpably meant by the Fathers,
+when, for the very purpose of nipping in the bud any anti-republican
+Conspiracy likely to germinate from Slavery, they inserted in the Great
+Charter of American Liberties the solemn and irrevocable mandate: "The
+United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican
+Form of Government." That they meant this majority rule&mdash;this
+government by the many, instead of the few&mdash;this rule of the People, as
+against any possible minority rule, by, or through, oligarchs or
+aristocrats, is susceptible of proof in other ways.</p>
+
+<p>It is a safe guide, in attempting to correctly expound the Constitution
+of the United States, to be careful that the construction insisted on,
+is compatible and harmonious with the spirit of that great instrument;
+so that&mdash;as was said by an eloquent and distinguished Massachusetts
+statesman of twenty years ago, in discussing this very point&mdash;"the
+guarantee of a Republican form of government must have a meaning
+congenial with the purposes of the Constitution." Those purposes, of
+course, are expressed in its preamble, or in the body of the instrument,
+or in both. The preamble itself, in this case, is sufficient to show
+them. It commences with the significant words: "We THE PEOPLE of the
+United States"&mdash;words, instinct with the very consciousness of the
+possession of that supreme power by the People or public, which made
+this not only a Nation, but a Republic; and, after stating the purposes
+or objects sought by the People in thus instituting this Republic,
+proceeds to use that supreme political power vested in them, by
+ordaining and establishing "this CONSTITUTION for the United States of
+America." And, from the very first article, down to the last, of that
+"Constitution," or "structure," or "frame," or "form" of government,
+already self-evidently and self-consciously and avowedly Republican,
+that form is fashioned into a distinctively representative Republican
+government.</p>
+
+<p>The purposes themselves, as declared in the preamble, for which the
+People of the United States thus spake this representative Republic into
+being, are also full of light. Those purposes were "to form a more
+perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquillity, provide
+for the common defense, promote the General Welfare, and secure the
+Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity."</p>
+
+<p>How is it possible, for instance, that "the Blessings
+of Liberty" are to be secured to "ourselves and our Posterity," if
+citizens of the United States, despite the XVth Amendment of that
+Constitution, find&mdash;through the machinations of political
+organizations&mdash;their right to vote, both abridged and denied, in many of the States,
+"on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude?" How,
+if, in such States, "the right of the people to be secure in their
+persons, houses, and effects, against unreasonable searches and
+seizures," is habitually violated, despite the IVth Amendment of that
+Constitution? How, if, in such States, persons are notoriously and
+frequently "deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process
+of law," in violation of the Vth Amendment of that Constitution? Yet
+such is the state of affairs generally prevalent in many States of the
+Solid South.</p>
+
+<p>These provisions in the Constitution were, with others, placed there for
+the very purpose of securing "the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and
+our Posterity," of promoting the "General Welfare," of establishing
+"Justice," of insuring "domestic Tranquillity" and making "a more
+perfect Union"&mdash;and the violation of those provisions, or any one of
+them, in any part of our Land, by any part of our People, in any one of
+the States, is not only subversive of the Constitution, and
+revolutionary, but constitutes a demand, in itself, upon the National
+Government, to obey that imperative mandate of the Constitution (Sec. 4,
+article IV.) comprehended in the words: "The United States SHALL
+guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government."</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> [The meaning of these words is correctly given in an opinion of
+ Justice Bronson of New York (4 Hill's Reports, 146) in these words:</p>
+
+<p> "The meaning of the section then seems to be, that no member of the
+ State shall be disfranchised or deprived of any of his rights or
+ privileges unless the matter shall be adjudged against him upon
+ trial had according to the course of common law. The words 'due
+ process of law' cannot mean less than a prosecution or suit
+ instituted and conducted according to the prescribed forms and
+ solemnities for ascertaining guilt or determining the title to
+ property."]</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+
+<p>It is well that the truth should be spoken out, and known of all men.
+The blame for this condition of things belongs partly to the Republican
+Party. The question is sometimes asked: "If these outrages against
+citizenship, against the purity of the ballot, against humanity, against
+both the letter and spirit of the Constitution of our Republic, are
+perpetrated, why is it that the Republican Party&mdash;so long in power
+during their alleged perpetration&mdash;did not put a stop to them?" The
+answer is: that while there are remedial measures, and measures of
+prevention, fully warranted by the Constitution&mdash;while there are
+Constitutional ways and means for the suppression of such outrages&mdash;yet,
+out of exceeding tenderness of heart, which prompted the hope and belief
+that the folly of continuing them must ere long come home to the
+Southern mind and conscience, the Republican Party has been loath to put
+them in force. The&mdash;best remedy of all, and the best manner of
+administering it, lies with the people themselves, of those States where
+these outrages are perpetrated. Let them stop it. The People of the
+United States may be long-suffering, and slow to wrath; but they will
+not permit such things to continue forever.</p>
+
+<p>When the Rebellion was quelled, the evil spirit which brought it about
+should have been utterly crushed out, and none of the questions involved
+in it should have been permitted to be raised again. But the Republican
+Party acted from its heart, instead of its head. It was merciful,
+forgiving, and magnanimous. In the magnificent sweep of its generosity
+to the erring son, it perhaps failed to insure the exact justice to the
+other sons which was their right. For, as has already been shown in
+these pages, Free-Trade, imbedded in the Rebel Constitution, as well as
+Slavery, entered into and became a part, and an essential part, of the
+Rebellion against the Union&mdash;to triumph with Slavery, if the Rebellion
+succeeded&mdash;to fall with Slavery, if the Rebellion failed. And, while
+Slavery and Free-Trade, were two leading ideas inspiring the Southern
+Conspirators and leaders in their Rebellion; Freedom to Man, and
+Protection to Labor, were the nobler ideas inspiring those who fought
+for the Union.</p>
+
+<p>The Morrill-Tariff of 1860, with modifications to it subsequently made
+by its Republican friends, secured to the Nation, through the triumph of
+the Union arms, great and manifold blessings and abundant prosperity
+flowing from the American Protective policy; while the Emancipation
+proclamations, together with the Constitutional amendments, and
+Congressional legislation, through the same triumph, and the acceptance
+of the legitimate results of the War, gave Freedom to all within the
+Nation's bound aries. This, at least, was the logical outcome of the
+failure of the Rebellion. Such was the general understanding, on all
+sides, at the conclusion of the War. Yet the Republican Party, in
+failing to stigmatize the heresy of Free Trade&mdash;which had so large an
+agency in bringing about the equally heretical doctrines of State
+Sovereignty and the right of Secession, and Rebellion itself,&mdash;as an
+issue or question settled by the War, as a part and parcel of the
+Rebellion, was guilty of a grave fault of omission, some of the
+ill-effects of which have already been felt, while others are yet to come.
+For, quickly after the War of the Rebellion closed,&mdash;as has been already
+mentioned&mdash;the defeated Rebel leaders, casting in their lot with their
+Democratic friends and allies, openly and without special rebuke,
+prevailed upon the National Democracy to adopt the Rebel Free-Trade
+Shibboleth of "a Tariff for revenue;" and that same Democracy, obtaining
+power and place, through violence and fraud and falsehood at the
+so-called "elections" in the Solid Southern States, now threatens the
+Country once more with iniquitous Free-Trade legislation, and all its
+attendant train of commercial disasters and general industrial ruin.</p>
+
+<p>Were Abraham Lincoln able bodily to revisit the United States to-day,
+how his keen gray eyes would open in amazement, to find that many
+legitimate fruits of our Union victories had been filched from us; that
+&mdash;save the honorable few, who, accepting the legitimate results of the
+War, were still honestly striving for the success of principles
+harmonizing with such results, and inuring to the general welfare&mdash;they
+who strove with all their might to wreck the Government,&mdash;were
+now,&mdash;through the fraudulent and forcible restriction of voters in their right
+to vote&mdash;at the helm of State; that these, who sought to ruin the
+Nation, had thus wrongfully usurped its rule; that Free-Trade&mdash;after
+"running-a-muck" of panic and disaster, from the birth of the Republic,
+to the outbreak of the Rebellion, with whose failure it should naturally
+have expired&mdash;was now reanimated, and stood, defiantly threatening all
+the great industries of our Land; that all his own painstaking efforts,
+and those of the band of devoted Patriots who stood by him to free the
+Southern Slaves, had mainly resulted in hiding from sight the repulsive
+chains of enforced servitude, under the outward garb of Freedom; that
+the old Black codes had simply been replaced by enactments adapted to
+the new conditions; that the old system of African Slavery had merely
+been succeeded by the heartless and galling system of African Peonage;
+that the sacrifices made by him&mdash;including that of his martyrdom&mdash;had,
+to a certain extent, been made in vain; that all the sacrifices, the
+sorrows, the sufferings, of this Nation, made in blood, in tears, and in
+vast expenditures of time and treasure, had, in some degree, and in a
+certain sense, been useless; that the Union, to be sure, was saved&mdash;but
+saved to be measurably perverted from its grand purpose; that the power
+which animated Rebellion and which was supposed to have expired in the
+"last ditch" with the "Lost Cause" had, by political legerdemain and
+jugglery and violence, been regained; that the time had actually come
+for Patriots to take back seats, while unrepentant Rebels came to the
+front; that the Republic still lived, but only by sufferance, with the
+hands of Southern oligarchs about its palpitating throat&mdash;a Republic,
+not such as he expected, where all men are equal before the law, and
+protected in their rights, but where the rights of a certain class are
+persistently trampled under foot; that the people of the Northern,
+Middle, and Western States, observing nothing beyond their own vicinage,
+so to speak, and finding that each of their own States is still
+Republican in its form of government, persistently, and perversely, shut
+their eyes to the election terrorism practiced in the Solid South by,
+which the 16 solid, Southern States were, and are, solidified by these
+conspiring oligarchs into one compact, and powerful, political mass,
+ever ready to be hurled, in and out of Congress, against the best
+interests of the Nation&mdash;16 States, not all "Republican" in form, but
+many of them Despotisms, in substance,&mdash;16 States, misnamed
+"Democratic," many of them ruled not by a majority, but by an
+Oligarch-ridden minority&mdash;16 States, leagued, banded, bound solidly together, as
+one great controlling Oligarchy, to hold, in its merciless and selfish
+hands, the balance of power within this Republican Union; and that these
+confederated Southern States are now actually able to dictate to all the
+other States of the Union, the particular man, or men, to whose rule the
+Nation must submit, and the particular policy, or policies, which the
+Nation must adopt and follow:</p>
+
+<p>"What next?"&mdash;you ask&mdash;"What next?" Alas, it is not difficult to
+predict! Power, lawlessly gained, is always mercilessly used. Power,
+usurped, is never tamely surrendered. The old French proverb, that
+"revolutions never go backward," is as true to-day, as when it was
+written. Already we see the signs of great preparations throughout the
+Solid South. Already we hear the shout of partisan hosts marshalled
+behind the leaders of the disarmed Rebellion, in order that the same old
+political organization which brought distress upon this Land shall again
+control the Government. Already the spirit of the former aggressiveness
+is defiantly bestirring itself. The old chieftains intend to take no
+more chances. They feel that their Great Conspiracy is now assured of
+success, inside the Union. They hesitate not to declare that the power
+once held by them, and temporarily lost, is regained. Like the Old Man
+of the Sea, they are now on top, and they:</p>
+<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>
+<p> MEAN TO KEEP THERE&mdash;IF THEY CAN.</p>
+</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
+<br><br>
+
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="" cellPadding=4 border=3>
+<tr><td>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="p6.htm">Previous Part</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+</td><td>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="7140-h.htm">Main Index</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+
+
+</body>
+</html>
+
+
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